Monday, April 1, 2013

Judah's Glory is Still the Same: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Notice:

Judah's Glory, founded in 1987 has been an ongoing project of Elizabeth Kirkley Best who is sole author of the materials on the site.   Over the past few years,  there has been an unfortunate move of several persons to try and take over and rewrite sections of the site, or bible studies and tracts to reflect their own points of view,  often in doctrinal error, or because they wish to market the materials which they had no part in for a profit motive and nothing else.   This notice is to inform the Messianic and Christian community, that neither the site or materials have in any way legally changed hands, and will be in my hands without exception.    We encourage honesty and truth in Christian work:  the bible instructs us to 'hold things hones in the sight of all men',  to "defraud not one another",  and not to build on another's foundation.  While we have strictly adhered to this,  the same regard has not been given to my work,  which has become so difficult now as to constitute a civil rights issue of shutting down free speech.  The following should be self evident according to basic Christian principles, but are also issues of the law:

1.  My name and yours are LEGAL MARKS:  they cannot be used without our express and usually written permission.

2. The copyright of a work belongs first to the creator of the work, even before or without registration!!!!  Rewriting a work is a copyright violation and punishable by fines and even imprisonment.

3. All of us write on the same bible topics, so through 2000 years there must be hundreds or thousands of studies on Jairus' daughter, or the woman at the well, or on Elijah, etc,  but that does not mean that we can write exactly the same thing on a topic, or write in a way that prohibits someone from putting out their own work.  I recently had my bible notes stolen,  and now several very similar items are appearing on the net, one from someone known for being 'in the shadows' way too often.   We are supposed to go out of our way not to ruin another ministry.

4. WEBSITES AND BLOGS ARE OWNED:  So is email.  That means that even if you can illegally gain the password, you are not allowed on the site or its editor:  a stolen password is not implicit permission.  Very little on the net is so open source that anyone can 'have at it'.   Every site is owned and registered.

5. You do not own a copyright just by filling out a copyright registration:  the copyright is owned as mentioned above by the creator of the work,  who has to be a signatory to the copyright.

While this should be self evident, there are too many who are not aware of the legalities of work online or other published materials.   In the recent past someone ghosted a copy of my drive and began to freely pass around materials without knowledge of them to anyone who would pay a few bucks.  This is causing us and whoever they sold it too unending heartache,  when people put out versions of my work they do not know is over 15 or 20 years old:  while we still will mostly win,  it brings trouble and strife into the christian community which is unnecessary and divisive.

Judah's Glory will continue until my death, and then I will make a decision about whoat to do with the materials.  Please be wary of anyone claiming to be associated with this ministry, who tries to present or sell the material as open source or available for a fee:  our materials have always been free for use, but the use is not to steal copyrights but to teach Christ, the Messiah.

In His Love,
Elizabeth Kirkley Best

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