Friends,

I want to put something into words clearly for those of you closest to me who have stood by me and asked how I’m holding all of this together.

I need you to understand this: forgiveness is not the task of this season. Faithfulness is.

I am not saying forgiveness will never come. I am saying it cannot come out of order.

I am currently in an active legal dispute,
with ongoing consequences,
involving false statements, falsified documents, false accusations (to brethren and the authorities!), bank fraud, corporate fraud, and backdated documents that resulted in the closure and liquidation of a church, loss of my personal property, loss of my personal freedom, loss of medical care and deprivation that have already caused real and lasting harm to me and the congregation- all for financial profit.

In that context, forgiveness does not mean standing down mid-trial.

Scripture does not require emotional or relational closure while injustice is still unfolding. It requires faithful witness—truthfulness, endurance, and obedience without hatred.

Ecclesiastes reminds us:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3, ESV)

There is a time to heal.
And there is a time to stand.

Jesus Himself modeled this distinction:

“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
(John 2:24–25, ESV)

Jesus loved people.
Jesus forgave sins.
But Jesus withdrew access from those who were unsafe.

That is not bitterness.
That is discernment.

David understood this. When falsely accused and betrayed, he wrote:

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.”
(Psalm 37:1–2, ESV)

And again:

“Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.”
(Psalm 37:5–6, ESV)

Waiting on God’s justice is not passivity.
It is confidence without panic.

Paul speaks just as plainly:

“Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.”
(2 Timothy 4:14, ESV)

Paul names the harm accurately.
He entrusts judgment to God.
And he continues his defense.

Only afterward does he say:

“May it not be charged against them.”
(2 Timothy 4:16, ESV)

That order matters.

Psalm 94 goes even further and names exactly the kind of injustice I am facing:

“They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
They crush your people, O LORD,
and afflict your heritage.”
(Psalm 94:4–5, ESV)

And yet David does not despair:

“The LORD will not forsake his people;
he will not abandon his heritage.”
(Psalm 94:14, ESV)

That is the ground I am standing on.

Right now, faithfulness looks like:

  • telling the truth accurately and calmly
  • maintaining boundaries without apology
  • pursuing lawful justice without hatred
  • refusing to lie or minimize harm for the sake of false peace
  • not entrusting myself to those who have already proven unsafe

This is not unforgiveness.
It is obedience in season.

Scripture is clear about where judgment belongs:

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
(Romans 12:19, ESV)

Leaving judgment to God does not mean standing down while harm is ongoing.
It means I will not carry hatred while I stand firm.

False Peace, Compromise, and Closing the Door Completely

I want to add one clarification, because Scripture speaks very clearly about the danger of premature or false peace, especially when truth is actively being resisted.

Throughout the Bible, the Adversary does not seek reconciliation when he is exposed; he seeks compromise. False peace is often offered at the very moment truth begins to threaten power.

The prophets warned repeatedly against this:

“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”
(Jeremiah 6:14, ESV)

This kind of peace is not reconciliation—it is avoidance, and it always leaves the underlying harm intact.

In Scripture, when God required decisive action, the issue was never vengeance or cruelty. It was preventing corruption from remaining embedded. Partial measures—leaving lies unaddressed, leaving wrongdoing unresolved, leaving authority unchecked—always resulted in the same outcome: the problem returned, often stronger than before.

God explains the principle plainly:

“You shall make no covenant with them… lest they make you sin against the LORD your God.”
(Exodus 23:32–33, ESV)

The concern is not people, but access.
What is left standing eventually regains influence.

The New Testament makes this explicit by moving the conflict away from people and into the realm of truth and deception:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil.”
(Ephesians 6:12, ESV)

The call today is not to harm people, but to remove lies, expose wrongdoing, and permanently close doors that should never remain open.

Scripture commands decisiveness here:

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
(Ephesians 5:11, ESV)

Exposure precedes peace.
Truth precedes reconciliation.
Resolution precedes forgiveness.

Jesus Himself used strong metaphor—not to encourage harm, but to teach final separation from what corrupts:

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.”
(Matthew 5:30, ESV)

The meaning is unmistakable: anything that threatens life, truth, or integrity must lose its place entirely. Half-measures invite return.

This is why I am resisting calls for compromise that would leave falsehoods unaddressed or wrongdoing unresolved. That is not peace; it is postponement. Scripture never calls us to reconcile with lies, nor to grant renewed access to those who have already demonstrated harm.

Due Process and Timing (Matthew 5)

One additional fact is important for understanding why calls for reconciliation at this stage are premature.

Throughout this entire conflict, I have never once been given the opportunity to face my accusers among my so-called church brethren. Serious accusations and disciplinary decisions were made unilaterally, without my presence, without my input, without an interview, and without any meaningful attempt to hear my defense. I was judged and punished in absentia, based on hearsay and assertions that were never tested.

Scripture consistently condemns this kind of process:

“The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him.”
(Proverbs 18:17, ESV)

And again:

“You shall not pervert justice… justice, and only justice, you shall follow.”
(Deuteronomy 16:19–20, ESV)

Only now—after the damage has been done, after reputations have been harmed, after livelihoods and health have been affected, and after I am no longer physically confined and unable to speak—there are calls to “let bygones be bygones,” to “bury the hatchet,” and to extend the right hand of fellowship.

But Scripture is explicit about the order of reconciliation. Jesus teaches:

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go.
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
(Matthew 5:23–24, ESV)

Reconciliation in Scripture does not begin with silence, erasure, or mutual pretending. It begins with acknowledgment, presence, and truth. Only after that does fellowship resume.

That order was never followed then, and it cannot be skipped now.

This is why I cannot accept premature closure after the fact, when due process was denied at the outset. Peace offered after judgment, without truth or accountability, is not biblical reconciliation—it is avoidance.

The Psalms give language for this exact posture—refusing vengeance while trusting God to judge rightly:

**“Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’
your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.

Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who frame injustice by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.

But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.”**
(Psalm 94:16–23, ESV)

That passage does not call me to take matters into my own hands.
It calls me to stand, to refuse alliance with injustice, and to trust God to resolve what I cannot.

Until that work is finished, my responsibility is not premature closure, but faithfulness—to truth, to conscience, and to God.

When the battle is over—when the threat is removed and lies no longer carry power—then forgiveness will not be forced or performative. It will be real, and it will be free.

Until then, I am choosing faithfulness.

Thank you for standing with me, for seeing clearly, and for helping me carry truth without letting it turn into bitterness.

— Byron