Unbelievable... And yet, this is real folks. And, it can happen to you. Here’s my story. It’s long, but it’s as true as I can tell it. Read it if you will.
Late Friday afternoon (8/13) I found out my Ministry Outdoor Adventures PayPal account had been restricted. MOA is a legal, legitimate, faith based, 501c3, non-profit organization, recognized by both the State of Kansas and the Federal Government. As it’s founder and CEO, I make sure all of the bills are paid, and all of my paperwork is up to date, so I was a little baffled as to what might be going on. Then, within just a few moments, I also discovered that my Watchman Evangelism Ministries (also a legal, legitimate, faith based, 501c3, non profit organization, recognized by both the State of Kansas and the Federal Government, with all of it’s bills paid, and paperwork up to date) PayPal account had also been restricted. Hmmmm….
I was in a situation in which I literally had donors who wanted to donate through PayPal (as they had for years in the past) who were now, for some reason unbeknownst to me, not able to do so. Why? And, why had my accounts been restricted?
If you saw my post from 8/13/21 you saw the images of my “chat/instant messaging” with “customer support.” If not, scroll down on my timeline and check it out. Mind numbing… And totally unhelpful. In that post I also included a video of me telling my story and explaining the situation. Quite frankly, at the time, I was pretty ticked. (I still am.)
But, as the weekend went by I began to think to myself, “Well, maybe I over-reacted.” “Maybe they (PayPal) just had a glitch in their system.” “Maybe I can clear all of this up with a phone call to PayPal customer service on Monday.” I actually began to feel bad for my “over-reaction.” Ahhhh, but then Monday came along and things became even clearer.
On Monday AM, I began a journey of trying to get through to their equivalent of customer service. At first I gave up and resorted back to instant message “chatting.” (See screenshots of Monday’s conversation below.) Finally, after realizing I was getting nowhere, I gave that up, and once again tried calling. After again being placed on hold I finally opted for their “call back” feature, and waited… I was eventually called back. That’s when the real insanity began, and my eyes were truly opened.
I was told that my account was not just restricted, it had been permanently and irreparably restricted. And, that there was no way for me to work things out because I was in violation of their terms of use policy. I tried to inquire as to how I was in violation… after some more time on hold, I was then told it was due to the fact that Ministry Outdoor Adventures promotes the sale and use of firearms, ammunition and weapons. I tried to explain that MOA was a 501c3 and that my ministry, my non-profit, my business, takes persons in ministry on hunting trips in which firearms are used… and, that we have used perfectly legal knife and gun raffles as a means of raising support for the ministries that we do… But… there was no explanation I could provide, describe, or try to enunciate clearly and slowly enough, that was going to take me anywhere I needed to go with the customer service agent I was on the phone with. I was talking to a person with a bluetooth headset on, residing in a cubicle, who viewed me as a blinking light on her screen, an unpleasant problem she had to deal with, and was talking with me from what I suspect was actually some faraway place outside of the US. And, bless her heart, she obviously had no “button” on her touchscreen that could provide me either the real answers I needed or a conversation with a human being to whom I could reason with about my situation. But, I kept trying.
As the conversation continued… I discovered that not only had MOA been permanently restricted for the above mentioned reason, but so had my Watchman Evangelism Ministries PayPal account been permanently restricted. Really? Again, I tried to explain that though I was the Founder and CEO, Watchman Evangelism was a separate 501c3, with a different mission, a different EIN, and a different advisory board… It didn’t matter. In their view it too was in violation of their “Acceptable Use Policy.” Hmmmm…
I said “How did all of this happen? I’ve been a faithful customer since I began my ministries in 2015 (she insisted it was 2017)…” Whatever. I said “Okay, can you explain to me what happened here?” She said, “We received a report and our Back Office Team determined you were in terminal violation of our Acceptable Use Policy.” I said, “I was reported? By whom? And, what is a ‘Back Office Team?’” She said again, “It was determined that you were in violation…”. I said, “So, have your policies recently changed?” She said “Sir, you can view our Acceptable Use Policy at… (you know the drill here).” So, I verbally reiterated what you see posted in the screenshots of my chat with customer service. And, then I said, “Look, I understand that you are a person who is just trying to do your job. But please understand the company you work for is discriminating against me, treating me unfairly, and is in violation of my constitutional rights, they have deprived me of two months worth of support and donations, and they are literally preventing me from engaging in lawful, legal, legitimate business and ministry.” With that said, I then said “I’m done. Thank you for your help.”
That happened Monday morning. Now, since this all came to my attention last Friday, I began to do some more digging through as many old emails from PayPal as I could find. There were a myriad of them. Truly! And, among them were a large number of bogus PayPal “phishing” and “scam” emails. A bunch! But, I did however, also find several legitimate and regularly occurring ones from PayPal that would say things like “We’re making some changes to our legal agreements that will apply to you. There’s no action needed from you today. But if…” And, honestly, I would get to that point and just move on, because at first glance, everything seemed okay. And why should I worry… if I’m doing nothing wrong or different? Am I the only one who does that?
But, then, finally, I found two more emails, one to Watchman and one to MOA. (See posted screenshots.). And, though I’m not certain, I think I do actually remembered seeing them at the time, but I just assumed they were also bogus “scam” or “phishing” emails. Because… why would all of a sudden things change with PayPal? And, how could it be true that I could no longer do business with PayPal? That’s crazy! Surely PayPal would contact me personally if this were legitimate… Surely I’d get a phone call if I were in violation of something… surely I’d get a certified letter which is a common business practice when legal situations are unfolding… Or, surely if something were going on, a PayPal policy person or Customer Service Agent would be in touch with me via telephone if something were wrong… Nope. What I got, was one email for each 501c3. And then, unbeknownst to me, the PayPal “lights went out” for both MOA and Watchman Evangelism. But, the “business as usual” emails from PayPal, like the ones mentioned above, continued. (I even got one today, as if nothing were wrong). And, all the while, I had no idea I had been cut off. Permanently. Without a chance at restoration. Without recourse.
Looking back, I did notice though… that there weren’t any PayPal donations coming in. For a couple of months actually. Hmmmm… But, it was Summer, and gas prices were up, inflation was on the rise, a lot of people were still out of work, the economy was tanking… I just explained away the situation to myself, and filled in the blanks of my perceptions. But, then I mailed out my “2021 MOA Fall Elk Hunt Ministry Retreat Support Letters.” (As stated in my previous post, this is our biggest group ever, 17 ministry participants, working with 4 different outfitters, in 4 different locations in Colorado. No small financial undertaking.) And, that’s what led to the text I got from a confused donor who had received a letter from me and and who wanted to donate, but couldn’t, because PayPal wasn’t working… And, that’s how I got here.
Included in this lengthy post are screenshots of PayPal’s “Acceptable Use Policy” which was apparently most recently “Updated May 6, 2021”. I may be wrong, but I don’t recall seeing the specific changes I saw in the policy this time, the last time I had looked at it. But, it starts off with this phrase:
“You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:
1) Violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation.
2) Relate to transactions involving…”
…and then the policy goes into this very long list of “Prohibited Activities” which are clearly and blatantly illegal activities. It’s a “Captain Obvious” list, until… it comes to the end. If you look closely at the highlighted text I provided in the screenshot, buried at the bottom of their long list of multiple illegal and criminal acts and actions, there is also listed (literally at the very bottom) the following:
“… (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.”
Firearms aren’t illegal things. Are they? Ammunition isn’t an illegal thing. Is it? Firearm parts aren’t illegal things? Are they? Knives aren’t illegal things. Are they? Why are they placed at the bottom of a list of clearly unlawful and illegal activities? Ammunition, firearms, firearm parts and knives are law abiding citizen things. I mean, I personally carry a knife everywhere, and I carry a handgun, almost everywhere. I’m a law abiding citizen. Why is something that is Constitutionally legal, everywhere in the US, included on their “bad list?” As stated before, my ministry, Ministry Outdoor Adventures, takes people in ministry on hunting retreats and also regularly engages in activities in which safe and lawful firearm ownership and use are both promoted and encouraged. Is that in some way illegal? Where? How? And, as stated above, MOA also generates funding for its ministries and activities through legitimate and legal knife and firearm raffles, for charitable purposes. Is this illegal? As far as I know, it is completely legal, and everything associated with these raffles are handled according to all State and FFL rules and regulations. What’s PayPal’s problem?
I don’t know about you, but it sure seems to me that PayPal’s “Acceptable Use Policy” is discriminatory towards me and people, organizations and businesses like mine. Especially in light of the fact that they threw their cancelation blanket not only over MOA but also over Watchman Evangelism. That definitely feels discriminatory to me. That feels like “Conservative Profiling.” Why are they able to violate my personal, Constitutional Rights with their own leftist, anti-firearm, policies and politics? Why are their politics able to arbitrarily hinder my legitimate, legal ministry actions and activities?
Why do I, as a law abiding citizen, have to pay the price for shifts and changes in corporate policy that place me in violation of peremptory policies that have distanced themselves from the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the foundational laws of the land? In this age of insanity, when right has become wrong, and wrong has become right, I certainly cannot be the only conservative who believes they are being discriminated against in this or in similar ways.
Now, here’s the really scary thing… PayPal has scads of lawyers. Scads! Will I now be sued for simply stating my case? Is it wrong to speak up when you are wronged? Is it wrong to point out wrongdoing?
I’m nobody. Nobody. I’m just a guy who works hard everyday and has worked hard for years to build what I have and to get where I am. I’m a Christian, a husband, a father, a pastor, a theological and political conservative, an entrepreneur, and in 2015 I started and now run, two non-profit organizations that, in my opinion, do a lot of good. A lot of good! Maybe as you read this, you realize you’re a hard working “nobody” too. Personally speaking, just between you and me, I don’t make a lot of money, and maybe you don’t either. But, I sure do like the work that I do. And, I consider it an honor to be able to get up and do what I do every day.
Here’s the deal my friends. These huge tech companies… they may make billions and billions of dollars, but the reality is, we are their customers. Remember customers? Remember customer service? Remember back when the customer was always right? When companies changed policy to meet the needs of their customers and trained their employees and service personnel to do the same thing? These big tech companies have gotten so big, they don’t care about customers anymore. They can throw around whatever leftist, un-American, un-Constitutional policy they want whenever they want and nobody says a word. They have so much money and power they can squash a “nobody” like me (and you) at will. People like you and me, we are nothing to them. Personally, I think that needs to change. Now. And, I believe our Country, our United States of America, is currently in the condition it is in because far too many of us “nobody’s” have done… nothing… for far, far too long. Well, I’m done with that. Aren’t you? Somebody has to stand up. I’ve decided it’s going to be me. And, I’ve decided it’s going to be now. I don’t care what they do to me.
Will you join me? Here’s how.
First, if you will, I suggest a call to PayPal. Let them know you don’t appreciate their anti-second amendment policies. And, their profiling and discriminatory actions against conservative, faith based businesses and organizations. (844)368-6632
Second, while you have them on the phone, let them know that they have violated your personal ethical businesses policy and that you are no longer going to do business with them. Then, if you have a PayPal account cancel it.
Third, let others know about your action and why. And, encourage them to do the same.
Fourth, call Congress. Here’s the number for the Congressional Switchboard (202)224-3121. Let your elected Representatives and Senators know that you are against the leftist, woke, anti-Constitutional, anti-Conservative, anti-Faith, anti-Free Speech, anti-Free market, anti-American corporate policies and practices of big-tech, and that you expect to see them (as an elected representative) fight for your rights, and against big-tech, both as one of their constituents and as an American Citizen.
Will it make a difference? Believe me, if enough “nobody’s” stand up, and put leftist, “woke” big tech, and leftist “woke” corporate America on notice, someone will notice, and things can and will begin to change.
But, you’ve got to take action. If you just sit there… what happened to me, can and will, eventually, happen to you. And, by then, it literally may be too late.
Wake up America! Get up! Take action!
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