I intended not to comment any further on this blog regarding the information presented here, but I have decided to offer some clarifications.
First, as the Guenther account indicates, James McDonald and Homeschooling Today Magazine boast ties to HSLDA. HSLDA, a group of attorneys, is funded by the same benefactor who bankrolled Vision Forum initially and has given significant funds to Bill Gothard,
The patriocentrists (those involved in Vision Forum’s particular brand of so-called “Biblical patriarchy”) have a long reputation of threatening their critics with legal action and taking legal action against professing Christians. They circumvent the Apostle Paul’s instruction to keep all matters between Christians out of Caesar’s courts by campaigning to prove that those that oppose them are not Christian. Generally, they do so by abusing Matthew 18 or by bringing charges of discipline from within their parachurch organizations or by compelling a person’s local church to exact discipline on a local level. I also have documentation of James McDonald’s own threats of legal action against some of those who have merely disagreed with him privately. With all of these considerations, I posted the information that appears here because I have been advised that it can withstand legal scrutiny in a court of law. Without documentation and corroborating testimony, I would not have consented to post this information.
I would also like to note exactly why I altered the post concerning James McDonald’s business debt, the $75,000 debt wherein the McDonalds made no payment on the balance for over four years until information about the non-payment was noted on this blog, within another online discussion, and after information was divulged to one of the McDonalds’ supporters privately. The most appropriate representative within a private company very willingly disclosed a great deal of information to me concerning this matter on several occasions. The McDonald’s sale of their magazine out of state and then relocation to another state without informing this creditor of their new residence made it virtually impossible and unprofitable to collect on the debt. I was told that a sum of pennies on the dollar was offered to cancel the debt (a portion of the debt in lieu of full payment) which the creditor refused, something I believe that James now refers to as his “payment plan.”
I would like to make perfectly clear to the reader here that I altered the post containing documentation of this debt and removed the specifics, not because I doubt the veracity of what I posted here but out of concern and respect for the individual who disclosed this information to me. I am impressed that because the McDonalds hired an attorney to retaliate against his company for disclosing this information to me, this individual has likely been disciplined or has been threatened with the loss of his job for being so forthcoming with me. So I have removed that individual’s name, his company’s name and the details that likely threatened the McDonalds concerning the operation of James’ LLC out of respect and concern for the individual at the company who was so willing to do the right thing on behalf of any future unsuspecting creditors, individuals, homeschoolers, and Christians who might also be taken in by the stylings of the McDonalds. The McDonalds should be praised for finally consenting to begin payment of this debt after so long a time, but it is regrettable that they had to be compelled to do so by public exposure of their impropriety.
I have also been asked to comment on the blog that the McDonalds have set up to counter and malign me and information presented here on this blog. Based upon the personal testimonies and corroborated documentation that I have reviewed; I find what the McDonalds have written on their new blog to be audacious and inane confabulations designed to deceitfully cover the regretful truth about their history and behavior. Most notably, I would ask why James does not name the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly in his writings, calling it the “Presbyterian Organization in Question” or “POIQ” instead? I believe he is concerned about people searching for the documentation of his censure and deposition, thus failing to name the organization to decrease the chance of an unknowledgeable reader from searching for information confirming that he was discharged as a layman. Why does James not name the supposed location and name of the Southern Baptist Church (what he told the Peoria Journal Star paper and the RPCGA) where he claims ordination so that it can be simply verified? (I have heard testimony from various sources that James was not ordained as a pastor or elder per the McDonalds' own admission in the SBC or anywhere else as recently as the mid-nineties).
The McDonalds have finally disclosed to the public that they have both come together from different marriages, each bringing children into the marriage from those other unions. From my initial contact with Stacy in 2007, she has made the false assertion that I personally consider their remarriage a sin. She has thus tried to cast my protests as an issue of intolerance concerning the intramural issue of remarriage in general rather than as solely an issue of hypocrisy and deception on their part by failing to inform their very conservative target audience of their marital status. I am pleased that they have come forward to finally report their marital status publicly, though I believe that their assertion that people take issue with remarriage rather than their disregard and deception is a red herring and an appeal to emotional reasoning to distract people from the real issue. I believe that they showed disrespect and disregard for their following by concealing this information for so long because many in their target group hold to a conservative interpretation about the Scriptures concerning remarriage for pastors. They would also not widely qualify as “quiverfull family experts” within this conservative community if their blended family status was made common knowledge in the beginning of their homeschooling careers. Though I think it is helpful that they presented a defense of their doctrinal position on remarriage, I was disappointed to find the McDonald’s bold self-justification for their actions rather than expressions of repentance and contrition to the individuals and the Christian ministries that they mislead, particularly while marketing products during 2007 and early 2008.
It is unfortunate, because I believe personally that receiving a child that is not your own flesh as your own is one of the most godly things a person can do. Gentiles were not part of the Old Covenant, but God extended forgiveness to the Gentile, giving us the full benefit of His Name and His inheritance, offering us the spirit of adoption as His own children. Both James and Stacy have apparently received one another’s children and embraced them, bringing a blended family together in what appears to be a very successful way. They should be commended for doing so, and it is unfortunate that they have chosen to conceal this in the past, as they would find many who could benefit from their insights in this area. I pray that the McDonalds would stop trying to push against the truth and those whom they have hurt. I pray that they will choose to do right by them, honoring all of their debts of all varieties, so that everyone can be healed.
