I wanted to get down in print what he has actually said, because I find the video quite distracting. I left out all the “ums” and other vocalizations, and of course it was hard to get the pacing across, but here is the text of what he said, in essence. As I reviewed it, I saw just how shallow it was, and how he stumbled and almost choked when he first said “the Church” at the end.
Transcription of The Black Sheepdog video follows…
My dear friends, I wanted to just take a few moments to get together with you, first of all to assure you that I’m still alive. I’m still here. I know a lot of you have had concerns. But it’s been a rough month, I know that, it’s been a rough week, i t’s been a rough year, well, to be honest with you, it’s been a rough 10 years. Of course the last month or so has been the roughest of all, for you and for me too. I want to assure you that we’re gonna move into the future. I know our situation is not ideal, you know that and I know it too. I would not have wished for it to end this way. That’s not something that I would have wanted, but a lot of what happened is beyond my control. So we just have to deal with what we have. And what we have is change. And change is traumatic. And I think the older we grow, the more traumatic change is. So a radical change like I’m going through, in a certain way, some of you are going through it with me, that’s traumatic. They say that moving, when you‘re older, they equate it almost like a death in the family. When, if you live some place for 30 years and then you…your family grows up, you have to move out you move into a smaller place, it’s a traumatic thing. A friend of mine is retiring pretty soon, after 30 some years of work, same routine, going to work every day, there’s a certain trauma in that. But, life goes on. The only thing constant in this life is change. Things are gonna change, the changes are not always what we would desire; they’re not always the ideal thing. But I want you to know that we are gonna try to move on and make the best of it because as I’ve said before, I was faced what I thought was only two choices. Number one, I could just crawl under some rock and quietly die, Number two, numb. (I am not 100% sure of this word)
So I don’t think I’m gonna crawl under a rock and die just yet. But I don’t want you to think that I’m going to make a career out of controversy. I don’t have any desire to do that. I want to move on, do the best I can, make the best of the talents God has given me and make, continue to make some small contribution to humanity in general.
I want you to know kind of what we’re moving toward. Next week, I’m kinda drawing a line in the sand. I may make a statement or two between now and the end of next week concerning the controversy in the Church, but after next week, it’s my intention not to say any more about it. Because if not, if you don’t draw that line in the sand, it goes on forever. After that, we’re moving into the future. There’ll still be a thousand questions, they may remain unanswered forever. We’re moving into the future.
What are we moving into. Well, I have to use the talents God’s given me, and those are mostly verbal. So, writing and speaking, will continue to be my stock and trade so to speak. My autobiography is almost finished, we hope to get it out by early fall, the title is “The Black Sheepdog,” of course. We’re certainly going to be keeping you updated on the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. We’re gonna be keeping in touch with you so you know what we’re up to. We’re gonna be moving into radio broadcasting, starting with web radio, gradually into more conventional radio, hopefully, podcasting and so forth. So we’re gonna try to make use of the media that we have available to us, right now, as we go forward. I can only do what I can do, I can’t do what I don’t have access to, but we’ll still be available to you in some way. The message probably will be broader and reach a broader audience, that’s what we believe and that’s what we hope.
I want to leave you with a final thought. Don’t be sad, and don’t be mad. And don’t be bitter. And don’t be cynical, and love … the Church, no matter what. Remember, you follow Jesus Christ, and his Church, you don’t follow me. You love the Lord Jesus Christ and you love His Church, above everything else. I come way down at the bottom of the list, if at all, and I want to encourage you to keep your priorities straight, Always love the Lord Jesus and always love the Church, because that’s where your salvation lies. If I can in some small way, make a small contribution towards encouraging you, to inspiring hope, or whatever other positive thing that I can do in the future, I’m gonna try to do that. I thank you for your kindness, for your many prayers, for your encouragement and for your support, I don’t take it for granted, I value it, very much. You’re d my dear friends, and I hope I’ll still be with you in some form, for a long time. God bless you. (fade)
