Titus 1:9 - Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose.

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[An Open Letter of Clarification]

January 25, 2007

As one directly involved in the events described in Titus Chu's letter of July 22, 2006—"To the 21 brothers..."—I would like to respond to Titus' acccusation that Ron Kangas influenced the leading brothers in New Zealand not to invite him (Titus Chu) for a conference in New Zealand.

In the second paragraph of Part Four of his letter Titus states:

"...I do recall that one leading brother from New Zealand told me that they (in New Zealand) desired to invite me. However, after they fellowshipped with brother Ron Kangas, the matter was dropped."

This statement is not according to the facts. I can say this with certainty, because it is I who was the "one leading brother from New Zealand" mentioned.

To preface the event described in the letter: During or before 1994 a leading Chinese brother who migrated to New Zealand from Malaysia encouraged me to invite Titus Chu for a conference in New Zealand. We brothers in New Zealand normally practiced to fellowship with Brother Lee about which coworkers could come to help us with conferences, and during 1994 I went to Brother Lee's house and spoke to him about inviting Titus Chu. I was shocked by his reply; he very strongly said, "No!" and he added, "Do it yourselves." I recounted to the brothers in New Zealand how strong Brother Lee was in saying that we should not invite Titus Chu.

At that time I was unaware of the general state of things regarding Titus. However, in 1998 or 1999 I traveled to Canada with a Canadian brother who had graduated from the Full-Time Training in Hamilton. I felt I should accompany him back to Toronto and introduce him to the church. It was during that visit that I had breakfast with Titus Chu. I told him that we had thought of asking him to visit New Zealand, but that Brother Lee had said, "No." Titus assented, "Yes, I am not in favor at the moment, but wait till things settle down, and then I could come." I then said that—as Brother Ron Kangas was taking more of a lead in the ministry, I thought the saints in NZ would receive a real benefit by having Brother Ron come to be with us in person for a conference. According to my realization, Titus was happy with that.

I can confirm that Ron Kangas did not even know we had thought of asking Titus to come to NZ. There was absolutely no influence from Ron to discourage us from inviting Titus. Furthermore, Ron did not invite himself; that was initiated by the leading brothers in NZ.

In Titus' letter he refers to the incident, saying, "Doesn't that at least suggest the possibility that something was said to 'close the door' to my visit."

Something definitely was said to "close the door" for Titus to visit New Zealand. However, it was not said by Ron Kangas, as Titus intimated, but by Brother Lee. The accusation against Brother Ron Kangas is totally unfounded and misrepresents the real situation. It was Brother Lee who did not want Titus to visit New Zealand.

Ray Macnee

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