Vision Forum: You have lost another customer. I am grateful for the materials I received from Vision Forum (Thanksgiving Primer and Treasures of the Snow — I’ve been looking for the video for years). I am sorry that this mistake was made by Every Tribe Media, but I don’t think making them an enemy over this is the approach that best glorifies God.... Please remove me from your mailing list. I was afraid that I was going to receive these kind of e-mails from you, particularly on this subject.... My first thought when I heard the criticisms was to think about how the apostle Paul would have responded. His concern was that Christ be preached — even if it was out of evil motive. (Of course, in this case, the wrong motive would be on the part of the actor — not the filmmaker.) Philippians 1:15-18. Please also remove me from the list.... —Renee S.

Dear Renee: I thank you so much for your candid and honest expression of concern over our position on the decision by ETE to yoke with a homosexual activist in a Gospel film.

There are so many angles to this issue, but let me mention just one: Currently, children who watch the film and who are appropriately impressed with the outstanding acting job of Chad Allen in his starring role as a Christian martyr can learn more about Mr. Allen by doing a simple Google search with the actor’s name and the movie title. What they will find includes Mr. Allen’s Web site that features homo-erotic material and homosexual proselytizing. We believe this is defiling, wicked, and in opposition to the Gospel. The unwise decision on the part of our friends at ETE opened the door for this problem. On the other hand, we are grateful that ETE has finally removed from the End of the Spear Web site their comments about Mr. Allen’s theatrical productions which analogize our Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples to the sexually deviant behavior of which Mr. Allen is a practitioner and advocate.

Like you, we thank God whenever the Gospel is preached. In our view, however, the fact that God may use unrepentant, active rapists, murderers, Buddhists, Nazis, adulterers, or homosexuals to preach the Gospel does not mean that we should knowingly be yoked with them in the work of the Lord. Finally, I want to assure you that none of us view Every Tribe Entertainment as an enemy. We view them as friends who have created a very public controversy through unwise decisions, and have made some very regrettable statements about this controversy to the press. It was our view that their public actions and public statements, especially those boldly defending their choices, required a public response because of the ongoing harm and the confusion that was being caused. Of course, we respect your desire to be off our list and will remove you immediately. Warm Regards in Christ.