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From
Lorri's Desk
March
2008
Greetings
in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ!
First,
the good news--we are still here, continuing in
ministry, serving our Lord and Savior as we have
been called to do for the past 30 years. Jesus is
Lord!
Now
the bad news. The Canadian Government has made it
impossible for us to continue as a Christian
Charity and not compromise our faith. They have
shut down some 2,500 charities already over the
past year for various reasons.
The
government no longer allows critiques of other
faiths, even if done fairly and documented
thoroughly. Freedom of speech guaranteed under our
Charter in Canada does not extend to charities I
was bluntly told.
We
tried diligently to comply with government
demands, transferring ownership of our website and
magazine out of the Charity. We agreed to teach
only Christian doctrine under the charity banner,
with all critiques of other religions done under a
separate corporation. Surely this was enough! It
was not.
We
now cannot present Christianity as better than any
other religion. We cannot be "persuasive" when
presenting Christianity. We have been true to our
calling to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for
decades, and we have done this with integrity. We
have obeyed the command of God to defend the faith.
After all, we simply respond to attacks on our
Christian Faith by aberrant groups, which we
carefully document and then respond to from a
biblical perspective. We do so in a kind and
respectful way, but with uncompromising truth. Our
goal is to lead people to freedom in Christ.
Praise God, thousands have been set free! However,
this is not "politically correct" in
Canada.
Somehow
all our loving concern has been labeled "hate",
and our presentations, "uncharitable". We have a
growing pile of e-mails from ministries, Pastors,
and ordinary folks who are outraged at the
government's treatment of us. We have been
requested to speak of our experiences on several
talk shows already.
We
have decided that no more of the Lord's funds
should go to the expensive legal profession. Sadly,
our pockets are not deep enough to possibly "turn
the tide" for the whole nation through the courts.
When we finally realized that we could not prevail,
with great sadness, we wrote to the Charities
Division of Canada and asked to be revoked as a
Charity. What does this mean? The one thing it
means is that we can no longer receipt you, our
supporters, with tax-deductible receipts for your
gifts, after the revocation becomes
effective.
We
believe our supporters will still help us through
our corporation, MM Outreach, even without tax
receipts. We trust completely in God to continue
our work. We ask for your prayers over this time
of transition, and we thank all of our supporters
for your encouragement and your support. You have
been such a blessing over the years.
We
must now raise funds so that we can purchase our
own products that we created as volunteers, and
gifted to MacGregor Ministries. How ironic is
that!
We
must begin again from scratch as all ministry
monies and assets left are taxed 100% by the
Canadian Government, or we must transfer our assets
to a qualified donee Canadian charity approved of
by the government. Either way, we begin again from
zero, praising God as we continue to serve Him, no
matter what.
So,
good-bye MacGregor Ministries, the registered
Charity, and hello MM Outreach, a Ministry
Corporation! Please remember, no more cheques to
MacGregor Ministries please, just to MM Outreach in
both Canada and the USA. We continue to serve the
Lord with no change in our dedication to
Him!
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