LETTER FROM LLOYD
GOODWIN
Gospel
Assembly
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7135 Meredith Drive * Des Moines, Iowa 50322 |
Phone (515) 276-1331 |
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Lloyd L.
Goodwin - FOUNDER and SENIOR PASTOR Leander N. Ray - PASTOR |
276-3605 July 19, 1991 |
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Dear Sister Wanda:
Today I received your letter dated July 15, 1991.
I will try and give a proper and scriptural response to the same.
(I had asked him in my letter of the 15th
to call or have one of the elders call so we could get together to work things
out. He was letting me know that he didn't receive the letter by the 17th.)
Since you have not attended church for some time now
- and during the same time of your absence from the church you have been
contacting different church members sowing discord among the brethren, Proverbs
6:19 - what other response should you have expected from those who love their
church and would work as hard to defend it as you would to undermine it.
Knowing of the letters you had written, the elders were certainly within their
rights to ask you to refrain from speaking in my absence.
(I have to insert here that the reader should be
aware of what transpired in the forgoing letters. After having threatened my
life and all the other very true accusations to which I have witnesses,
all he is doing here is trying to cover him self in case of a law suit.
I did not go around trying to sow discord, I was just trying to get the elders
(at this time) to help me! Anyone who was in those services in 1991 knows that
there were things that needed to be worked out between us and that he did
knowingly do these things. June Goodwin did tell me on the phone
that she knew for a fact that I had been to bed with over 50 men! I know
this was because Lloyd Goodwin had told her this. In 1982 when I lived in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, I worked two jobs to be able to take care of my three
children. I barely made ends meet but when I received a little money from the
sale of our house in Des Moines, I sent a $500.00 check to him. I have
witnesses who saw him hold up that check and heard him say that he wasn't going
to cash it because it was dirty money. (He did cash the check.) He was
insinuating that I had gotten this money by prostitution! I talked to him on
the phone and he insinuated to me personally that I might be a
high-class call girl! I was in absolute shock when he said that. I told him I
couldn't believe he would even think something like that about me after knowing
me for six years! You must understand that at this time, I still believed that
he was The Man Of God. I was planning to move to one of the other
Assemblies.)
I know of nothing that needs to be worked out
between you and me, as I have instigated nothing that would bring about a
hostile or adversarial relationship between us. If I have, unknowingly, please forgive me. However, when you returned from your
last trip to the south, it seems you returned in a frame of mind that kept you
away from church. It was from then, at that time on, you began contacting
members of the church and sowing discord. As the senior pastor, responsible for
the stability and continuity of the church, I could not permit this threat to
the church to go unnoticed.
I do not know who is talking to you - but I have never lied about you to the church. For instance, neither I nor Sister June, nor anyone else
that I know, has ever accused you of being a prostitute or of having been in bed
with over fifty men as you allege in your letters. I have never said, or done,
any such thing. Again, I have never said or
done anything to separate (name withheld) or the people from you.
Again, as I said before, I regret to inform you
that your contacts with members of this assembly, by word of mouth and through
your letters, saying and writing things designed to mitigate and undermine my
influence with the people and diminish the hope and trust and fellowship of the
membership of this church…..has been the cause that has been responsible
for the people drawing back and withholding their fellowship from you. Not anything that I have done.
As for the time and money we have all given to
the church and others to churches everywhere, it was freely given without coercion of any kind. Just because we freely give to the church, does not mean
we somehow own a part of it or can determine in some way the direction the
church is to take. The final determination of all policies and decisions of the
church lies in the hands of the church elders. Acts 6:3-6. In some areas the
church may suggest - but "we"
(the apostles) will make the final
"appointing" after the apostles
"pray" to be sure these are
the ones selected by God, then the apostles will "lay" their hands on
them. The final determination of all matters pertaining to the church is in the
hands of the leadership of the church. Hebrews 13:7, 17.
(This part didn't even make sense. What was all
this talk about "we" the apostles. Was there another recognized apostle?
NO!)
As far as God raising you up, as a woman, to
instruct me - nothing could be farther from scripture. I Corinthians 14:34-35.
I Timothy 2:11-12. I Corinthians 11:3. There
are many good men in this fellowship that God can use to correct me if such correction
is, in fact, necessary.
(Even though his male chauvinism is
really shining here, what I would like to know, is where were these men????
Someone told me that at one time, Brother Karlson, Brother Ivan Geary and
Brother James Mercer tried to talk to him about something but his answer to
that was to send them to three different parts of the country a long ways from
each other.)
In closing, even if what you say I said is true,
which it is not - but even if it were true…..why do you not, as a Bible-believing
Christian, accept the scriptural teaching of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians
6:1,7. "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before
the unjust…..Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to
law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?"
(This was a real convenient cop out wasn't it?
What he was saying is "Why not just sit back and let me defraud you? Let
me steal your money and molest your women and destroy your families and lives.
That's what good Christians are supposed to do isn't it?")
And again, what about all those that have said
and done things to defame my character and try to ruin my reputation? My
position has always been that as was taught by the Apostle Paul in Romans
12:17-21. "Recompense to no man evil for evil…..Avenge not yourselves, but
rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord….."
(If he really believed this, why did he threaten
my life when I only told the truth? He felt like he was right next to God in
the hierarchy and therefore he had a right to take vengeance.")
Since the church is made up of voluntary,
associational members, as such they can also voluntarily leave. (You could only leave if you could disassociate
yourself mentally.) Since you have
chosen to disassociate yourself from my ministry and this fellowship, I would
hope that you will find what you are looking for elsewhere.
Respectfully submitted,
Lloyd L. Goodwin
Minister
LLG:clc
Letter from Vernon
Goodwin and Mine back to him