Feb 8
Rick Joyner

     I first want to apologize for this Bulletin being long overdue. We have tried to cover most of the issues that people have had questions about concerning Todd’s restoration in video bulletins simply because it was so much easier and faster that way. However, not everyone has been able to watch all of the videos, so I will try to address the most important issues and commonly asked questions in a series of Special Bulletins. I also want to apologize for this Bulletin being a bit long. Future Bulletins on this subject will be shorter; however, I want to answer some of the frequently asked questions in as much depth as possible in this one.

Present Status 

     After nearly a year and a half of working with Todd, I recently felt that it was time to release him into some limited ministry in our local church. This does not mean that Todd has been released back into ministry in general, nor does it mean that Todd is nearing the end of his restoration process. We do not know how long this will be, and as from the beginning, we want to be confident that it is the Lord’s timing with each step that is taken.

     Before Todd will be fully released back into ministry, we will ask for a council to endorse this, which will be composed of those who are respected throughout the body of Christ as true elders in the church. Of course, they would need to come to the comfort level that would enable them to become part of this council, which we think would be a worthy test of Todd’s present spiritual condition. This is not to imply that this would endorse anything that Todd has done in the past; rather that he recognized his mistakes and his sins, has genuinely repented of them, and has adequately “shut the gates of hell” that gave the devil access into his life in every area where this happened, making him now fit for release back into ministry. 

     At the same time, the expectation of this process should not be interpreted as resulting in Todd being made perfect or that some of the nuances of his style, which have been offensive to some, have been dealt with. There is no guarantee that Todd will never fall again, just as there are no guarantees for any of us. However, he will probably be far less likely to fall than those who have never fallen but have judged with pride or condemnation those who have. We see clearly in the Scriptures that the Lord has a lot of mercy for sinners, but none for the self-righteous, and that such pride usually precedes a fall. 

     This is not to imply that all who question or oppose Todd’s release are doing this out of pride, but it is a form of pride to make important or sweeping judgments with partial information. Therefore, we will try to provide all of the information possible to keep people from stumbling in this way and to judge Todd and our process rightly. 

     Todd is now very much in touch with the grace and mercy of the Lord, and to that degree, he will be made stronger in the Lord. As the Apostle Paul explained, the Lord’s grace is made perfect in weakness (see II Corinthians 12:9), and Todd has had some major weaknesses. The anointing on Todd’s ministry seems stronger than ever, which is probably a result of this deeper revelation of the grace and mercy that he needs. The miracles have been spectacular, and at least in one case have been lifesaving. I live to do the will of the Lord and to see as many people touched by God as possible. I will not make any apologies for this. It might have made my job easier if Todd was not so anointed, but that is up to the One who knows what is best far better than I do. Therefore, I resolve to be thankful for it and enjoy it, and I do. 

     We have received many testimonies from those watching our meetings on our IPTV channel at www.MorningStarTV.com. I’m sure that at least some of the explosive growth of those watching MorningStar TV is because of Todd. Since MorningStar TV is already being watched by people in more than 140 nations, I have heard a few concerns that this seems like Todd is being released back into international ministry. I can understand this objection; however, I do not agree with it. People are free to watch or not watch these meetings, just as they are free to come to our church or not come. We have visitors from many other nations in virtually every meeting we have, so what is the difference except in degree? Whether they visit our local church or if they watch our services on Morningstar TV, sometimes Todd will be ministering. I am glad to take the heat to see as many people touched as we are currently seeing.

Reason for Release in Local Church

     I felt that it was time to release Todd into limited ministry in our church because I had the leading of the Lord to do this. To me, this always trumps every other reason, but I had some other reasons, too. Some of the major issues, or strongholds, which had caused Todd’s problems, failures, and sins had been understood and repented of with considerable depth by Todd and Jessa. Todd’s personal relationship with the Lord has been restored and strengthened. Todd has an understanding of, and a vision for, entering the rest of the Lord, and he has done this to a great degree. As far as his spiritual health, Todd is probably now in a better place than many other ministries I know. However, he does still have issues that could hurt him, or cause problems in the future, some of which we have not even addressed yet. Therefore, he is still very much in the process of restoration, and so is everyone else that I know, including myself. 

     We are all in a restoration process if we are not perfect yet. So where do we draw the line and say that people are at a level of maturity where we can release them into ministry? This is one of those questions worthy of deep consideration because its impact on the church has been, and will be, huge. My position is that if we are going to do this right, we need to consider how the Lord did it. How did He do it?

     In Luke 10, the Lord sent the seventy out in teams of two. They cast out demons, healed the sick, and preached the gospel. They were so successful that the Lord said He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. It was in Luke 11 that these disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray. Think about it—they did all of this and they did not even know how to pray yet! 

     Look at the condition of the leadership in the church when the Lord went to the cross and basically left everything in their hands. They were fighting over who was the greatest on the very night He was crucified. They could not even stay awake for one hour to pray with the King of kings in His most desperate hour, then betrayed and denied Him, fleeing from Him when He needed His friends the most. This is after three years under the greatest Mentor there will ever be!

     It is hard to understand why the Lord would trust so much to men in any degree, much less to be representatives of His kingdom. In looking at the great heroes in the Bible, it seems that every one of them had failures and were a major embarrassment in some way, often in many ways. He is the King, so I have resolved to keep it simple and follow Him regardless of whether I understand everything or not. I am also resolved to do my best to stand for His truth and His people, regardless of the consequences. 

     It is interesting that the person who is considered the very first evangelist in Scripture is the woman at the well, since she was the first to go forth proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. She had been divorced five times and was living in sin at the time. It would be much easier to explain if the Lord had chosen someone far less controversial for this great honor. 

     Then there is the embarrassment of Peter, who lived with Jesus for several years, had seen all of His miracles, and had the revelation from the Father of who Jesus was, then denied Him three times in one night—one of the worst things he could do. Just a few weeks later, he was again in leadership preaching one of the most important evangelistic messages ever preached on the Day of Pentecost. I’m quite sure most of those new converts wondered just what kind of leadership the Lord had given them in the church. From the beginning, we certainly have had a leadership that would definitely be a stumbling block to those who care about appearances. 

     Many leaders feel that these embarrassing falls from those in high visibility in the church are causing many to stumble, and doubtless they do. However, the self-righteousness manifested by many when this happens is probably causing far more to reject the church and our message. How can anyone trust our message of redemption and restoration when we will not even restore our own fallen?

     An even more important point is that those who are forgiven much love much and tend to have more real faith—which is having a dependence on who Jesus is, not on who we are. Those who are immature are more dependent, and those who have received the mercy and grace of the Lord in a fresh way seem to be the most powerful in sharing it in a way that lead others who are struggling to receive salvation—making them some of the most powerful evangelists. 

     Being an elder in the church is a different matter. Many think that being any of the equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4 automatically makes one an elder, but it doesn’t. If this were true, why would Peter and John have to verify that they were elders in their Epistles? Being an elder is often superficially understood in much of the modern church movements. The New Testament model adopted by the early church was from the nation of Israel. In the church, we often honor people with these positions just because they have some maturity and wisdom, but in Israel an elder was a gatekeeper and a judge. Even prophets were not considered elders, but like watchmen on the walls of a city, they communicated what they saw to the elders who sat in the gates. However, it was the elders who determined the action to be taken from their reports. 

     This is a study worthy of much more depth than we have a place for here, and even though any minister could be an elder, having a ministry does not make you an elder. The woman at the well may have done a great job as an evangelist by getting people to meet Jesus, but this did not make her an elder. On the other hand, Peter was certainly an elder, a gatekeeper to the entire body of Christ, opening the gate of salvation to both the Jews and the Gentiles, having great authority over the church of the first century. Even so, he was prone to some serious mistakes, too.

     Todd may never be an elder, but he has already led an estimated one million people to the Lord, and I think he is destined to lead many millions more to salvation. This is fruit that remains, too. We were recently visited by the leader of more than twenty-two hundred churches in India. He told us about how people go to villages all over his region and ask young children their names, and a good number will say, “Todd Bentley.” Their parents named their children after him because he led them to the Lord in his crusades there. This church network, one of the strongest and fastest growing in India, credits much to Todd’s work there. His crusades did not leave new believers who had to make it on their own, but left churches, orphanages, and schools by raising up and working with strong local leaders. Of course, this was not done just by Todd, but by his whole team.

     A large part of my motivation for seeing Todd restored to ministry is to see more of this kind of fruit, and I am not at all ashamed of it. Many years ago, I was shown Todd’s calling. I know that what he has yet to do will greatly eclipse what he has already done. As Bob Jones said when the Outpouring broke out in Lakeland, “This is just previews of coming attractions.” 

     Even so, one of the greatest concerns I had about Lakeland was the prima donna attitude that began to manifest on Todd. People with this syndrome don’t think the rules that apply to others apply to them. This will cause you to start thinking you are the main reason for the revival, not Jesus, and not the lost. You’ll start seeing yourself as more important than any one person is, and even essential to the plan of God. This is the root of pride, which likely caused the fall of Satan, and has caused many falls since. 

     One of the biggest open doors to this prima donna syndrome is low self-esteem and rejection. These can cause one to be driven to prove their value to others. This is why the foundation of Todd’s restoration was entering the rest of the Lord and finding his acceptance in what the Lord had done, not what he could do. True faith has to be coupled with patience to attain the promises. 

     One reason why I felt it was time to release Todd into some limited ministry was because I have seen people with serious strongholds in their lives get free almost immediately when they receive the great encouragement that comes from being used by God when this is coupled with patience and rest in the Lord. This seems like a paradox, that he would start getting the prima donna attitude by being used, and could get free of it by being used. 

     As the law of inertia teaches us, you cannot steer something that is not moving. Likewise, Todd doing some ministry will allow us to see and deal with some of these things that could cause him to stumble again. I felt that him doing some ministry again would bring some things to the surface so they could be dealt with in a more controlled place. However, my real reason for releasing him into some limited ministry was a clear leading from the Lord. 

     Todd still has some open doors that could trip him up in the future. At times, he has to fight the discouragement that would naturally come with the failure of his marriage, the way the Lakeland Outpouring ended, and the loss of just about everything he had built over the last decade of very hard work. If he allows these feelings of failure to become a drive in his life, he will likely burn out again, and the next time could be the last. I want to be with him while he works through some of these.

     When I was a flight instructor, I could fairly accurately tell which mistakes a student would make. I would not let those students solo until they had made those mistakes with me in the cockpit so they would not kill themselves. However, no matter how much I tried to explain their tendencies that I considered dangerous to them, until they actually made the mistakes while flying, they did not get it. It was time for Todd to start flying again, but I am going to be very close to him for a while, for his sake, and for anyone else who might later get in the plane with him. 

A Visitation

     I was not asking for confirmation of this step with Todd because I was confident in the leading I had, but confirmation did come in a very powerful way. Bob Jones had been saying for some time that he knew he was about to have a “face-to-face” encounter with the Lord, and he did. In this encounter, Bob was told to come to our Sunday morning service and lay hands on Todd for his release, and then to break off of Todd and MorningStar the negative spoken words against us from other Christians. The effect of this prayer was so powerful that it was like having the sky go from dark and overcast to clear blue instantly. 

     In 1988 and 1989, Bob Jones operated in a level of the prophetic that I have not seen in him since. This was true in some ways of the prophetic ministry in general. Then a great persecution was raised up against the prophetic ministry in the church, and some prophetic people did not respond to it well, including Bob. Much of the high-level prophetic ministry was also hindered by the doubt sown in the church about the prophetic. Even Jesus was hindered in His ministry by doubt, and prophetic people were faced with so much doubt after this persecution that many quit traveling to try to help the church. 

     MorningStar became a haven for many wounded prophetic people, and we grew stronger in the prophetic, but even here it has taken a lot of plowing, hard work, and dry times. We only saw occasional flashes of the high levels we had seen in 1988 and 1989. Since Bob had this visitation, it seems as if he has been catapulted back to a very high level. When he prayed to break off the negative words that had been spoken against us, it seemed as if our whole prophetic ministry here had the shackles taken off, and we are again beginning to see remarkable things that have us in awe daily. It seemed to be the same with Todd—he was instantly in a new place. 

     At the first meeting when Todd preached, I felt he had one of the greatest messages on hunger for God that I have ever heard. It was not just about the words or concepts that he was teaching, but there was a tangible impartation of hunger for God like many had not experienced in a very long time. You cannot have that kind of impartation if it is not working in your own life. This was the greatest witness that the restoration process I have been leading Todd through has been working. I do believe that above any knowledge or personal discipline we have, it is our love for God that keeps us hungry for Him more than anything else. 

     Loving God is our main job description as human beings, and it is the main way it will be determined if we have been successful in this life. This is going to be the main thing that keeps Todd, or any of us, on track in this life. 

Immediate Revival?

     In that meeting, and virtually every meeting since, the presence of the Lord has been stronger than we’ve experienced in a long time. It seems to be increasing as the hunger in us is increasing. This is what we signed up for in the beginning—the manifest presence of the Lord. We are having great miracles and prophecy, but this is better than all of that. We may be in the first stages of an authentic revival. We’re not calling it that yet, but it seems like it is the beginning of something remarkable, and the beginning of it all was Bob’s visitation and prayer for us.

     In our first MSU class after the students returned from the Christmas holiday, I asked Jason Hooper to say a short prayer over them for spiritual hunger. The power and presence of the Lord fell so strongly that their two-hour class lasted for twelve hours. The students skipped their meals and everything else just to stay in the presence of the Lord. Soon others were gathering. Then Bob and Bonnie Jones came. Todd said he had felt surges of power going through him all day, and when he heard that something was happening at Heritage, he jumped in his truck and came over. By early evening, the place was virtually full. Better than anything was the powerful, tangible presence of the Lord.

     Students and people who had been a part of some of the great revivals and moves of God in recent times said that they had never been impacted as much as they were that day, and it has been getting better. If it had stopped with that one day, I think many of the students would have thought that it alone would have been worth coming to the school for. 

     We did not know if it would last, but we decided to gather the next night to see if the Lord would move like that again. He did. We have continued these meetings for almost a month now. I have felt that virtually every one was a dramatic encounter with the Lord. At this time, Todd has been there for less than half of them and has only ministered in a handful. There have been noteworthy miracles, waves of the joy of the Lord, and an uncommon prophetic anointing, regardless of who was leading the ministry. We also seem to have gone to a new level of anointing in worship, and all of our worship tends to be pretty high level. 

     We are obviously in the first stages of something major. It is not built around Todd’s ministry or anyone else’s. I’m thankful we had released him to minister in our local church because he has been a large part of what’s happening, and he will no doubt be a big part of what unfolds. He may be in the forefront for a period of time, and then others will. Todd is just one of about a half dozen who are being used on the forefront of this, and we expect that number to grow. Several have an anointing similar to Todd’s, but others are different, but no less God. I am “the designated driver,” and I am the primary one with the authority and responsibility to steer it. If I do my part right, I will free the others from having to do this, and I expect all of them to go to a new level. To do this, I need to know where the Lord is leading us, and I do have a general map that I have been shown, beginning thirty-five years ago.

     When we planted a church here, we began with the team ministry concept because we were shown that this was not only biblical, but would be necessary for the revival that was coming to this area. After living here for a short time, I started to meet older people who told me about the prophesies from as far back as the late 1930s and early 1940s of this coming revival. None of these had lost hope, but were sure it would come one day. This could be it. 

     If it is the beginning of what I was shown, it will grow into something more remarkable in some ways than anything we have experienced in our lifetime. If this is the beginning, we will soon be in the greatest of all of the Great Awakenings, and a tithe of all Americans will soon be born again and filled with the Spirit. That is thirty to forty million people who will be added to all who are already born again. These will also be added to a real New Testament church life because the church is going to be transformed into this. 

     If what is happening here is what I was shown, then no man or group of people will be the face of it. MorningStar will not be the face of it either. This one will be about Jesus, not us. 

     If this is what I was shown, we will have the greatest anointing for worship, preaching, the prophetic, miracles and healing, and everything else, but no one will leave here talking about us—they will leave talking about Jesus and the encounter they had with Him. The King will be manifest in the midst of His people and the gospel of the kingdom will go out.

     Once we have experienced the manifest presence of the Lord, we are ruined for anything else. What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? If God is in His temple, then it does not matter how glorious or spectacular the temple is—it will not be the temple that gets your attention. If people come here and then leave talking about any of us, or even the great experiences that they have here, it will have fallen short of what it is supposed to be. If this becomes a Todd show, or a MorningStar show, we will have fumbled in what we were being entrusted with. 

     One of the main promises we were given thirty-five years ago was for Isaiah 60:1-5 to be manifested here—the visible glory of the Lord appearing on His people. We are earthen vessels. When this comes the way it is supposed to, as this text declares, it will not be the vessels getting the attention, but rather the glory of the Lord. However, that glory is going to be on His people. We must resolve that we, the temple, exist for God, not the other way around. If we are the ones who start getting all of the attention, then we have somehow lost the real glory.

     Some of us experienced this once before in a meeting in the mid- 1970s in Eastern North Carolina. Since then, I have visited many of the great revivals and moves of God and have been able to be a part of some of them, which I am very thankful for. I’ve seen the pillar of cloud appear right in front of me, and I have been in meetings where the weighty presence of the Lord pinned everyone to the floor, but nothing I have seen since has measured up to a fraction of what we experienced in that one meeting when the visible glory of the Lord came. 

     When His glory comes like that you can be changed more in one meeting than in years of teaching or counseling. Of course, we need the teaching, counseling, and spiritual disciplines, but we need His presence and His glory much more. We were given a taste and then a prophecy—that to see this come to the church was our destiny and calling. This has been a motivation in everything I’ve done since. 

     When I took on the ministry of helping Todd through his restoration, I honestly did not connect him with this move that we knew would one day come to the Charlotte area. However, when I thought of what I was shown years ago about Todd’s calling, and what we were shown would one day break out here, I now see how they could fit. When I first took on the restoration of Todd, I thought he might move here for a period of time and then would probably go back to Abbotsford. When Todd was severed in a way that was obvious he would not be a part of what was then known as Fresh Fire—Canada, I did hope that he would find a permanent home here. He and Jessa are greatly loved here and appreciated. However, that is totally up to them when this process is over. 

     Ultimately, I think Todd will go out to do large crusades in the nations again, but it will help him a lot by serving as a part of a team in which he is not the leader. When he goes out, I think he will know the value of a team so that the pressure does not rest on just one person. 

     A huge factor in the breakup of Todd’s marriage was his marriage to ministry and the pace that he tried to keep up, which led to two major burnout episodes. If God would rest after six days, who are we to think we don’t need this? It’s quite a presumption to think we can do something God did not even try to do. Presumption is pride.

Restoration and the Favor of God

     Many years ago, I had a dream in which one of my children had fallen into a sewage ditch and could not get up. Covered in filth, no one would help my child. People only scorned or jeered at my child, which was one of the most grievous things I have ever experienced in a dream. Then someone came and helped my child out of the ditch, and cleaned and helped them to go on their way again. In that dream, I would have given everything I owned to that person who had helped my child. I was thinking what I could do for them when I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Jim Bakker is My child. Will you help him?”

     When I asked Jim Bakker to speak at a conference right after he was released from prison, I did take some heat for it, and some on my staff even thought I was risking everything. I may have been, but I also had no doubt that I would gain the Lord’s favor, which is far more valuable than having man’s favor. I know the reason that we were able to acquire the former Heritage Grand Hotel and Conference Center and other parts of the former PTL property, at a tiny fraction of its value, was because of the favor of God we received for helping Jim. 

     I actually did not do very much to help Jim Bakker, and others may have done much more, such as Tommy Barnett. I also think we have received such a huge benefit from our friendship with Jim that it would have been well worth it without getting the property. We did get the most remarkable home for our ministry that I could ever imagine, and we have even more of the favor of God in other remarkable ways. 

     No doubt it has been a huge risk to help Todd. Of course, I lost some friends, and we lost some people and partners. I have no guarantee of how this is going to turn out, and I have had restoration failures before, too. However, I try not to weigh the possible costs or benefits in such matters, but rather just try to be obedient. If I get rewards here, fine; but I’m just as good to get them in heaven. 

     No doubt some people will never accept Todd’s restoration to ministry, and we did gain a few more enemies, some of whom were friends before, but I know that the favor of God is worth more than any cost we can pay in this life. Even with the controversy, we gained far more friends than we lost, and we have even had a net gain in partners for our ministry. I also think the greatest favor of all could be one of the greatest revivals in history, resulting in thirty to forty million new brothers and sisters in Christ just in America. If we are trusted with this, which is yet to be determined, it might be linked to this risk we took in helping Todd. 

     In Mark 10:29-30, the Lord gives us a wonderful promise: “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions.” In my ministry to date, I think every time I have taken a major risk to help someone, or to speak or write something that I was given but knew it would be controversial, the benefits gained always outweighed what I had risked by at least one hundred times. It is always right to do what you think is right regardless of the risk or potential reward, but the Lord is faithful to reward those who do so. Along with it, “persecutions” may be expected. 

     The Lord did nothing but what was right. I’m sure I’m not doing everything perfectly. I have made some mistakes and will probably make more. Not all of our critics are wrong, and many have a sincere desire to protect the truth and to protect God’s people. Much of what is said and written about me and Todd is false, but some we do need to consider. What I think is false I will answer for the sake of others who are being caused to stumble by it. I do not have time to deal with some that seem less important right now, but as I have time, I may try.

     Regardless of how right we are, if we are about to see a major revival break out, the persecution will also break out on a correspondingly high level. This too “comes with the territory” as the Lord Himself taught. With the increase of power and impact in Jesus’ ministry, the persecution went up accordingly. With the undeniable resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord’s enemies determined that it was time to kill Him. I have no doubt that the persecution will ratchet up dramatically with the increase of the favor of God. This is biblical. So what kind of favor is that? Ask the Jewish people who have been His “chosen people.” It may not seem like favor to those who care about earthly things and the favor of men, but to be considered worthy to suffer shame for His name’s sake is one of the greatest honors we can have in this life and will be an eternal honor in heaven. It’s not fun, but I’m not here to have fun—I’m here to do the will of God. I fully trust Him for any reward He thinks that I deserve or any honor such as persecution that He thinks I need. 

     Again, this is not to imply that I am doing everything right, but I am trying my best to keep it simple and seek to be obedient. The same crowd that was crying, “Hosanna,” when Jesus entered Jerusalem was crying, “crucify Him,” just five days later. Therefore, I think it is foolish to put our trust in people’s opinions whether good or bad, but I seek to please the Lord. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10,“If I were still seeking to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Because of this, seeking the approval of men can be the main thing that diverts us from the true course of serving God. Nothing irks men, especially religious men, more than this, and they will persecute you for it. I do have many who I consider peers, and I know are friends who will tell me the truth when I need to hear it. I am accused of not having this, but I actually have far more than anyone else I know.

     The demon-possessed were easy for the Lord to deal with. The sinners were attracted to Him, but it was the religious community that persecuted Him. I knew that the result of going into this process with Todd would be to expose and help many get free of an evil, self-righteous religious spirit, which has dominated the church throughout most of her history. To get free of some things, they have to be exposed. So I knew all along that this was about much more than Todd or me. For the sake of those who are bound or influenced by this religious spirit, I will be straightforward in confronting it whenever and in whomever it rises. I would expect no less from those who are my own true friends who see it rising in me, and I certainly do not claim to be perfect in this either. 

     We cannot go into the future carrying some of the things we’ve been carrying in the church. I am going to be addressing these issues boldly and candidly in future Bulletins about Todd’s restoration for his sake, your sake, and even the sakes of our opposition, some of whom will be helped. To try to write them all at once would require a book, not a bulletin, so I am preparing a series of these Bulletins to address them. I hope to address most of the questions people have about this process and to help clarify the doctrines of marriage and divorce which the whole church is in desperate need of. 

     When I say I will try to address almost all of the questions, there are many questions that I still have. I have sought answers, and I am still seeking them, but I have to admit at this point that I don’t have all of the answers. One thing almost everyone agrees on, and we should, is that the sanctity of marriage must be protected and strengthened in the church, certainly not weakened. I have no doubt that the result of this process can do that. 

     I also have no doubt that many will be surprised at our conclusions, but I think most will actually end up agreeing with them. We already have a good list of people who began, in some cases, vehemently disagreeing with us who now agree with us. As this process is laid out, I think this list will grow. It will also no doubt cause more opposition from others. Even so, it would be a terrible presumption for us to think we are right about everything, but at least we want to be open about what we are doing and why. I am quite sure anyone who follows this process with us will benefit from it.

     Thank you for caring enough to read this Bulletin regardless of your position on what we are doing. I think you will find the future Bulletins to be even more interesting. We will cover many subjects related to divorce, remarriage, the restoration process, judgment in the church, and other important topics.