"Hey--I just wanted to let you know that I completely understand what you're talking about when you mentioned that it's time to move on. I realized today that I can. I have sooo many Aaliyah pictures on my walls and I would never even think about taking any down..fearing it would be disrespectful..but yesterday i was in manhattan and i got my name painted and i wanted to put it on my wall..and I was actually able to take some pics down to do it--and it made me feel like im really ready to move on with… It's not that I don't love her..I just can't spend the rest of my life mourning her..it's just time…. I owe a lot of my epiphany to you really, I haven't thought about it too much until yesterday..but now I realize what we all have to do." - Kristine, AO Staff Member

To our friends throughout the world:

Two months ago the Haughtons came up with a plan to help fund this site through 2004. Unfortunately a group outside the Haughtons objected and the plan was discontinued. We appreciate the Haughtons expressing their interest and support in the continuation of Aaliyahonline and lending their name to this effort.

As scheduled all Sloan Kettering / AO Donations will be returned via Certified Mail on 12/22/03 or electronically (the Pay Pal donations) on or about the week of 12/22/03. It will take time to reverse process all these transactions and to get the certified paperwork prepared for a smooth postal / accounting experience. As previously stated to the fans, no checks were cashed. You will be recieving your original checks and money orders.

Now that there is no fund to draw from, I have decided to close Aaliyahonline. Besides money, another reason I feel I have to do this is because I feel AO clashes with what I believe in. I feel this site contributes to people emulating her life to an unhealthy degree. I also feel this site contributes to idolatry. This is no reflection on Aaliyah, her legacy, or her music.

"...I think her name says it all - she's the highest most exalted one..." - Tahkyia Willis, Graveside Groupies (VH1)

"...and us being the same age, I modeled my persona after Aaliyah..." - Tahkyia Willis, Graveside Groupies (VH1)

The reactions of some people during this time has only reaffirmed the conviction behind my decision - I feel there's something wrong when adults are rallying behind children to move to another website or bulletin board - I feel there's something wrong when websites that were down now come to life upon news of the closure - I feel there's greed, power, and every other sin imaginable at play when it comes to this website. I feel these websites coming back isn't about Aaliyah - it's about personal pursuit of power - false power. I feel there's loneliness and confusion - and people looking for answers - answers I feel that are being sought in the wrong places. I feel it's time to consider turning the computer off, time to consider who the highest most exalted one is, and whom we should really pattern our life after - just what is our identity consisting of? This not only speaks to Christians, but everybody.

Aaliyah will always be special in my heart and this has been a special, but trying time in my life. But things change, and my life has changed dramatically in the last four months - baptism, personal ministry, service in the church, spiritual gifts, spiritual family, and a destiny for my life, part of a greater destiny in the kingdom of God. My life is different now. It's not about keeping this site up, or keeping Aaliyah's memory alive. It's about one thing and one thing alone -walking out the destiny my lord and savior has for me.

I feel this site contributed to or created the following things in the lives of the fans: extra-marital affairs, internet addictions, quest for power, jealousy, undesirable living situations, greed, and corruption. I feel I cannot be involved with anything which facilitates these things anymore. I've heard from fans on ALL these issues, most from the fans who experienced them. I feel this isn't what Aaliyah or God is about. I feel this is what we were about. As I worshipped the Lord on Sunday, I watched what felt I let this site do Monday thru Saturday. I don't stand for these things, and I cannot walk with the Lord and keep this running at the same time. James 1:8 states "he is a doubleminded man, unstable in all he does" (NIV). Another key passage is Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not what I say?" (NIV) .

I want to thank the Haughtons and their family friend who have been very supportive of this site, of me, and the decision to close. I want to thank Universal/Blackground Records for helping me achieve promotional goals for the site and the vigils.

And finally I want to thank God, who's made this all clear to me.

Sincerely,

Ron Hall (Known Previously as "Quinn")

Operations Director,

GospelUnited.com

I'd also like to leave you with this:

Putting anything above God for any reason is idolatry.

(Exodus 20:4-5) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

You may think that this is just talking about statues and images and icons and religious symbols. It's not. The television set is an idol if we worship it by giving it a prominent place in our home and put watching it above reading our Bibles, praying, studying, our housework, our family. Do your children have pictures in their rooms of sports heroes, movie stars, rock singers? They are worshipping idols. Anything that you put above God, no matter what your motives are, is idolatry. It is sin. God hates it.

What is it that you put above God?

From: http://www.1timothy4-13.com/files/proverbs/art08.html