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In 2006 my DVD Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free came out and since that time I have seen my share of scarecrows who are intent on destroying the message of women in ministry. One such scarecrow refuses to go away and it is time to create a blog post where others who have been hurt by the issue of women in ministry can share their pain.\u00a0 If you are a woman in ministry or a woman teacher and you have been hurt, abused or silenced and you would like to share a short story, this is the post for you to share with us. I will moderate the comments so that any scarecrow\/troll who would like to sound off against women in ministry will either have their comments moderated or removed.\u00a0 This is a safe place where others who are like minded can encourage you as there are many who come to this community of loving Christians who value the worth and ministry of women.<\/span><\/p>\n The reason I named this post Stubble, Straw and Scarecrows is because those who are vehemently opposed to women’s gifts used for the common good are planting chaff and their words are nothing more than stubble and straw. Stubble, straw,\u00a0<\/span>and scarecrows are not God’s tools nor are <\/span>they things to be afraid of. We are to fear God and allow Him to decide what gifts we receive for the fact is that the gift we receive from God comes with His permission to use His gift for God’s glory and the common good (1 Peter 4:11). No man can give us spiritual gifts and no man may kill God’s gifts within us. We are accountable to God and we must be faithful with what God has given us rather than holding back because of the fear of man.<\/span><\/p>\n I will start with my story.<\/span> In 2008, I had the opportunity to respond to accusations against women in ministry made by CARM (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry).\u00a0 Through this contact, I was eventually subjected to months of name calling by Diane Sellner who is the vice president of CARM and she is CARM’s head discussion board moderator who is a strong opponent against women in ministry. In 2008 Diane launched a concerted attack against me personally saying that God would shut down my ministry. What was my crime? My crime was my support of women’s rights to use God’s gifts for the common good, and for creating\u00a0 a DVD on this subject which was seen as persuasive and having influenced people on the CARM discussion boards.<\/span><\/p>\n There are some that visit my blog who were on the CARM boards at that time and they were witnesses to the attacks against me.\u00a0 Through Diane and her role as moderator of the CARM discussion board, I was accused of being despicable, a weak Christian, unstable, a heretic, evil, a danger to the body of Christ, poison, I “stink”, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a pathological liar, a hypocrite, brainwashed, a classic heretic nut case, dangerous, an <\/span>imposter and a deceiver, no ounce of character, my doctrine on women in ministry is said to be from the pit of hell, and that God will remove me from the web. On top of the name calling, Diane Sellner purchased my name three times as an internet domain name in an effort to try to prejudice people who would google my name. Diane linked the purchases of my name as domain names to a blog that she created where she identified me as a narcissist and she encouraged people not to listen to me. Diane was outed in August 2008 as the one who purchased my name, by the admission of her own boss at CARM.\u00a0 I have all of this well documented. Diane had purchased my name as a domain name with the help of a private registration which shielded her name from the public view, but with her boss at CARM admitting that he knew she had purchased my name three times in an effort to destroy my ministry, Diane no longer had the cloak of secrecy to hide. In a fizzled attempt to remove my ability to influence people for women in ministry, one year later, in 2009, Diane let her purchases of my name as domain names expire, although she has not stopped trying to harass as she continues to keep her blog targeted against me online with her own brand of name calling. What a sad example it is of her character.<\/span><\/p>\n This is an example of stubble, straw,\u00a0<\/span>and a scare crow,<\/span>\u00a0of just one such name of someone who has tried hard to stop my ministry, but God had other plans.\u00a0 That was in 2008 and it is now 2012.\u00a0 Since that time my DVD set has gone around the world and I regularly get emails from people who have been touched with<\/span>\u00a0the strong message that they have seen from the Scriptures that the DVDs present in context.\u00a0 The 4 DVD set Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free?<\/em> has helped many men and women to understand their prejudice against women in ministry and the strength of my argument has been the very passages that are used to hold women back. When the hard passages of Scripture on women in ministry are looked at carefully in their context, these passages no longer hold women back, but women have experienced a release to serve the Lord with all that He has given them and in every avenue that He has called them.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n But there is something that makes me sad. What makes me sad is the amount of people who are still being hurt by people like Diane Sellner. She has not yet repented. Through the years I have heard from those who are terribly hurt by Diane’s tactics and an internet search of her name shows some of the extent\u00a0<\/span>of the problem. I have flourished even though Diane has been focused on destroying me. But there are others who are not as strong who have been hurt and I believe that these people can use some love and support too. If you are on this blog post because of Diane Sellner and you need encouragement or a listening ear, email me. My contact info is listed at the top on the tab marked email. I don’t want to read bad stuff about Diane on my blog. If you need help, email me.<\/span><\/p>\n