Author: Donnie Davies

Thanks so much for the support, everybody. I tell you what, mysterious electronic attacks, phone calls from untracable numbers that claim to be the U.S. Postal Service offering to deliver lost packages and an enormous amount of hate mail is enough to make any Minister shrink from God’s mission. But I tell you friends, we can’t let ourselves be intimidated by the influence of a few well placed psychopaths. Liberty is the foundation of this Nation Under God and the people have the right to chose their own messages and have the right to read them as well.

Some people might think this is some kind of organized conspiracy against the message of the Westboro Baptist Church. I didn’t realize when I wrote my song that it might compete with their message. I mean, I was utterly clueless to that. Now that the DJs keep asking me about it I had to think about it and I think people in America have a right to choose their own message. That’s not the same thing as censorship. No one has a right to utterly control what you see, what you hear and what you think. That’s fundamentally anti-American and you should fight it with a resolve that strikes to the very core of your being even if it risks everything you have, otherwise America risks losing everything it is and should be.

First MySpace deleted my account and now they have deleted the account of our band. First they censored me and now they’ve censored people I’m connected to. If you are a MySpace user, dont allow this. Every one of you who believes in the Freedom of Expression, whether you like our song or not, needs to step up to bat. This is the time. Now.

I tell you everybody, it sure isn’t easy starting a Ministry like this. Your poor old Pastor Donnie was just awakened from the first real sleep he has had in days by his computer guys telling him that someone in San Diego on a DSL connection and another person in San Francisco on a cable connection had been trying to destroy our rolodex of people that sign up for the Evening Service newsletter. Last time we checked this was still America and its not illegal for a Pastor to conduct his Ministry. We thought we were backwards here in Texas and that you California boys were way ahead of the curve. We’re pretty disappointed to see what is supposedly the most free thinking state in the union having a monopoly on illegal electronic attacks on our Ministry. We would be even more disappointed to squander the funds of the Ministry on having our lawyers contact your ISP, identify your IP address and time of attack and bring charges against you in a court of law. Why don’t you guys turn in and let poor ol’ Donnie sleep?

Thanks Friends.

You know friends, all this attention is a real surprise and quite a burden. I also have to say, though, that it is still truly a Blessing. All the hateful comments are worth it if I can just bring your attention to a few important topics.

One subject near to my heart is New Orleans. I remember standing in my friend Christian’s front room listening to Ray Nagin ask us to leave our homes if we valued our very lives. Let me tell you, that is a shock and you can’t imagine it if you haven’t been there.

Christian is a carpenter and we knew he would need his tools once the storm was over. We spent the rest of the night loading up our two trucks with his woodworking gear and a few random, precious valuables. We slept an hour or two and then quickly visited my friend Jimmy who wanted to stay. We prayed for him to get his wife and child the heck out of town and were on our way. The route out Airline Highway and through Opelousas was easy as pie and we made it to Texas in just ten hours.

I thought back to those days because a message from a friend here on MySpace urged me to remember the trials of that storm. If I can survive what Katrina did to my home and my life then the little tempest I’m dealing with now is just a spring shower. To wit, he told me that when life hands us a calamity we can either fall apart or make it an opportunity to better ourselves. He pointed out the wonderful opportunity I have to direct people to important issues even while they are assailing me.

That said, here is part of the note he sent me explaining the rather bizarre censorship that Google Maps has perpetrated on the city of New Orleans. My house was near the levees and he told me to have a look at it and provided a link. I had quite a surprise. My home and all my neighbors homes had been magically rebuilt. You can imagine my surprise, friends, because they aren’t rebuilt. They are destroyed. I’ve seen it first hand. Google has replaced the pictures of the destroyed houses with pictures from before the storm. Why? Who knows friends. I sure don’t. Maybe it has something to do with why they censored me.

Here are the links, so you can judge for yourself:

As I explained, Donnie:

Here is an image of the area near your house, all as if nothing has ever happened.

and

Here is a link to some images the English newspaper The Register took that Google had up just after the storm. All quite destroyed.

The flooded and destroyed houses had gone back to being in perfectly fine shape. Why? Why would they do that? I don’t know. I’ll tell you though, the experiences I’ve had in the past few days have certainly raised some questions in my mind about who you can place your faith in and what you can believe is or isn’t real.

God Bless. I’m praying for us.

DonnieD