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2
A Woman Files A Lawsuit Against Me
A Woman Files A Lawsuit Against Me
At the shop, we had a book concerning turquoise stones which customers could purchase if they chose to do so. It cost $15.
A young woman came into the shop one day and purchased this book.
A few weeks later, she brought the book back, wanting a refund.
I explained to her that we did not give refunds on books. We were not a library.
She insisted on a refund and refused to leave the shop at closing time.
I reached for the phone to call the police and she said, "Go ahead. Call the police."
I put the phone back.
I
don't recall exactly what happened after that but we had our hands on
each other and she, being stronger than I, pushed me all the way to the
back of the store.
Then she said: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
And she left the shop.
*****
A
few days later, I received a letter notifying me that this woman had
filed an assault charge against me and that I was to appear in court on a
certain day to answer the charge. If I failed to appear a warrant
would be issued for my arrest.
Of course I was stunned.
I hired a lawyer.
As we were preparing to go to court, I heard the following words, which I believed to be from God:
"Don't testify."
I told my lawyer he might not want to represent me for I believed God had told me not to testify at court.
Lawyer
said that was alright, he would still represent me and that we should
be okay since Flo, one of my workers who witnessed everything, would be
able to testify. Lawyer said of course it would be better if I
testified, but he still thought we would win with the testimony of Flo.
Days later, when Flo found I was not testifying, she became angry with me. She said, "Now the burden is all on me."
I responded: "But what can I do. I believe God told me 'Don't testify', so I can't testify ..."
The man I was dating at the time tried to get me to testify. He said: "Joan ... you aren't doing this woman any favors by not testifying."
I responded: "I'm not trying to do her any favors. I believe God told me not to testify so I can't testify."
*****
The trial began on a Friday afternoon.
As we appeared in court and stood before the judge, my lawyer declared that I would not be testifying.
The
judge was scribbling on some notes and when my lawyer said that, the
judge stopped and looked up, looking directly at me and said in a
shocked manner, "You aren't testifying?"
I indicated, "No".
*****
The testimony began.
My lawyer said to me: "Flo's testimony was not as strong as I had hoped it would be. But if you would testify, I know we would win this case."
Court was in recess at the time. I told lawyer, I would see.
I went into the ladies room and began praying, asking God what HE wanted me to do.
I heard: "Don't testify."
I returned to court room and just shook my head "no" to lawyer.
*****
At
the end of the Friday court time, judge required us to return on Monday
and present the bill of sale for the original purchase of the book that
was in question.
It was Good Friday ... Easter weekend.
My 3 workers, their husbands, Bob, and I returned to my shop to look for the bill of sale.
I
had conducted the sale of that book and had no idea what I might have
done with that ticket. I was very bad about paper work such as this.
I was sure we would not be able to find the ticket. I might have thrown it into the trash. I was beside myself with fear.
Bob insisted that I leave the shop and wait at my apartment and let them hunt the ticket without me!
I did this.
I said to God: "I hope YOU know what YOU'RE doing. We are going to lose this case."
God knew what HE was doing.
They
found the ticket stuffed into a piece of black pottery and we presented
it to the judge on Monday morning. The judge looked at the sales
ticket briefly and declared me to be NOT GUILTY and dismissed the
charges against me.
*****
A few days later, this young woman filed a civil lawsuit against me.
My insurance company took up the matter and a representative said to me: "Don't worry about this. We will deal with her."
I
guess they did for that was the end. I never heard another word from
her. Nor did I hear further about the case. It was over.
Looking back on this, it is so hard to believe I could have continued to stand on that word: "Don't testify."
But the first time I heard: "Don't testify", I really believed it was God speaking this to me.
I think what happened here was a spiritual gift of faith as cited in I Corinthians 12 ...
At that moment, I believe I was given a supernatural gift of faith which enabled me to hold onto that instruction: "Don't testify"
I Corinthians 12:4-10 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
*****
Looking back on this, it is so hard to believe I could have continued to stand on that word: "Don't testify."
But the first time I heard: "Don't testify", I really believed it was God speaking this to me.
I think what happened here was a spiritual gift of faith as cited in I Corinthians 12 ...
At that moment, I believe I was given a supernatural gift of faith which enabled me to hold onto that instruction: "Don't testify"
I Corinthians 12:4-10 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
*****
This situation of life seemed to set a foundation for obeying that which God said.
Going forward it just seemed impossible to me to do anything other than obey the WORD.
One day, I received a phone call from a man in Houston. He said his wife had started a business there in American Indian Arts and he wanted to come to Dallas to talk with me about running such a business.
I did everything I could do to keep him from coming to see me.
I don't know anything about business nor about running a business.
But he would not be discouraged and insisted on coming to Dallas to talk with me.
I was horrified!
This man said he was a graduate in business from Harvard Business School.
The man came to my shop shortly after this and said he wanted to know about marketing.
(I know absolutely nothing about marketing.)
I was frantically praying as this man spoke to me. I was asking God to get me out of this.
The man kept insisting that I tell him my marketing plan.
Finally I said to him:
"Well ... I'm a Christian ... so before I go out to the reservation to buy items, I pray, asking God to have the Indians make the pieces of jewelry that I need ...
When I get to the reservation, I pray, asking God to help me to see which items to purchase ...
When I start back to Dallas, I pray, asking God to send the angels out to bring in the customers to buy the items."
There was silence for a moment.
Then he said, "Well ... that's a form of marketing."
He left the shop.
This is how I ran my business and everything I purchased sold and we never had a sale until the week I announced I would be closing the shop to go into the ministry and then I discounted the items by 10% .
The first day of the sale, almost every item sold.
Within 3 days all merchandise was gone.
People even bought the office furniture and a small refrigerator I had in my back room.
That was July 31, 1979.
I closed my business to go into the ministry.
I didn't seek a church to work for. I just went home to my apartment with no future plans. I had no income. I lived off the money I had made from the sale of the merchandise.
During the next 6 months, I stayed home reading Bible.
I didn't try to get a paid job in a church.
There was an opening at a college in Dallas, Christ for the Nations, for dean of women.
I had an earned doctorate in education and might have gotten that job, but I didn't want that job.
I knew my calling of apostle/prophet and that job didn't fit what I believed God had called me to do.
I had no prospects at all during that time and no thought of any form of employment.
5 1/2 months passed.
I just waited.
The night of January 10, 1980, everything changed!
I was asleep in the night.
I was awakened by a very loud trumpet-like voice that blew 3 words into my ear:
"Hartford, Seattle, KWJS".
I jumped out of bed and wrote the letters "KWJS" on a notepad.
I was sure it must be call letters to either radio or television.
I looked it up.
It was a radio station.
I said to God: "Are YOU telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that. I'm a writer, not a speaker."
A very gentle thought (the Holy Spirit) came into my mind: "Call the radio station manager."
That morning, as soon as I thought the radio business office would be open, I called and asked to speak to the station manager.
He came on the phone immediately.
I told him I thought God might be showing me to go on radio. I asked, "How would you do that?"
He told me to send him an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and if I fit their broadcasting, he would offer me a contract.
I asked him how much it cost.
He said, "800-dollars per month for week-day broadcasts ..."
I recorded an audition tape as soon as I got off the phone. I took it to post office immediately and put it into the mail.
Within 5 days, I was broadcasting daily exhortations for the church on KWJS.
*****
After I mailed the audition tape, I asked God how HE wanted me to pay for the broadcasts.
A very gentle voice of instruction (by Holy Spirit) came into my thoughts: "Send a letter to the people you know and tell them what happened."
(I knew fewer than 50 people at the time.)
I wrote a letter telling exactly what had happened.
I did not ask them for money. I just told them what had happened.
Within 3 days, many had sent money for the broadcasts and I had enough to pay in full for the first month of broadcasts. One man hand carried his offering to my apartment door and handed it to me.
The broadcasts began on KWJS and were instantly successful. The messages concerned following God, hearing from the Spirit of God and taking thoughts captive and faith in God.
A woman named Lilly McBride, who lived in Fort Worth, had been praying asking God to put on radio, in a vacant 1/2 hour, a real faith teacher.
She was listening to the noon-time hour of broadcasts on KWJS as she always did.
When she turned on her radio that day at noon, a woman began to speak.
Lilly shouted: "OH NO! ... not a woman!"
She got up to go to the radio to turn the broadcast off but before she got there she became interested in what I was saying.
She became a "fan" from that moment!
She lived exactly across the street from Vinita Copeland. (Kenneth's mother)
They both became big supporters of me and attended local meetings and had me visit in their homes.
Vinita taught a Bible class in Fort Worth which I recall attending once.
I was very close to Vinita and liked her a lot. (I viewed Vinita as an old time Baptist war horse, who knew how to pray on her knees!)
*****
By the end of 1980, I was on radio from coast to coast ... "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... broadcasting weekdays in NYC (Hartford area), Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Eugene Oregon, Bakersfield California, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The broadcasts were very popular.
Many things were to change in the days ahead which I didn't expect.
In the middle of 1981, I was having a meeting in Seattle. On the bus, en route to the airport to return to Dallas, I heard the following.
"The foundation is laid now we're really going to move."
I was foolishly, very excited.
My meetings in radio cities were greatly expanding and the number of people into the thousands. I thought the future growth was going to be out of sight!
I failed to take account of the following truth:
Isaiah 55:8-9 (God says:)
For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways, and MY thoughts than your thoughts.
In approximately 1977, while I was still operating my business in American Indian Arts, a short, fat, jolly type man came into my store. I noticed immediately that his tie clasp was a pair of handcuffs.
He said to me: "Little lady, do you know a man named Settles?"
This
lawsuit was a foundation for faith in the scriptures in the Bible and
was greatly used by God in my life for the remainder of my life.
*****
3
Man Comes To Me To Seek My Advice in How to Run a Business
Man Comes To Me To Seek My Advice in How to Run a Business
I did everything I could do to keep him from coming to see me.
I don't know anything about business nor about running a business.
But he would not be discouraged and insisted on coming to Dallas to talk with me.
I was horrified!
This man said he was a graduate in business from Harvard Business School.
*****
The man came to my shop shortly after this and said he wanted to know about marketing.
(I know absolutely nothing about marketing.)
I was frantically praying as this man spoke to me. I was asking God to get me out of this.
The man kept insisting that I tell him my marketing plan.
Finally I said to him:
"Well ... I'm a Christian ... so before I go out to the reservation to buy items, I pray, asking God to have the Indians make the pieces of jewelry that I need ...
When I get to the reservation, I pray, asking God to help me to see which items to purchase ...
When I start back to Dallas, I pray, asking God to send the angels out to bring in the customers to buy the items."
There was silence for a moment.
Then he said, "Well ... that's a form of marketing."
He left the shop.
*****
This is how I ran my business and everything I purchased sold and we never had a sale until the week I announced I would be closing the shop to go into the ministry and then I discounted the items by 10% .
The first day of the sale, almost every item sold.
Within 3 days all merchandise was gone.
People even bought the office furniture and a small refrigerator I had in my back room.
That was July 31, 1979.
I closed my business to go into the ministry.
I didn't seek a church to work for. I just went home to my apartment with no future plans. I had no income. I lived off the money I had made from the sale of the merchandise.
During the next 6 months, I stayed home reading Bible.
I didn't try to get a paid job in a church.
There was an opening at a college in Dallas, Christ for the Nations, for dean of women.
I had an earned doctorate in education and might have gotten that job, but I didn't want that job.
I knew my calling of apostle/prophet and that job didn't fit what I believed God had called me to do.
I had no prospects at all during that time and no thought of any form of employment.
5 1/2 months passed.
I just waited.
The night of January 10, 1980, everything changed!
I was asleep in the night.
I was awakened by a very loud trumpet-like voice that blew 3 words into my ear:
"Hartford, Seattle, KWJS".
I jumped out of bed and wrote the letters "KWJS" on a notepad.
I was sure it must be call letters to either radio or television.
I looked it up.
It was a radio station.
I said to God: "Are YOU telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that. I'm a writer, not a speaker."
A very gentle thought (the Holy Spirit) came into my mind: "Call the radio station manager."
That morning, as soon as I thought the radio business office would be open, I called and asked to speak to the station manager.
He came on the phone immediately.
I told him I thought God might be showing me to go on radio. I asked, "How would you do that?"
He told me to send him an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and if I fit their broadcasting, he would offer me a contract.
I asked him how much it cost.
He said, "800-dollars per month for week-day broadcasts ..."
I recorded an audition tape as soon as I got off the phone. I took it to post office immediately and put it into the mail.
Within 5 days, I was broadcasting daily exhortations for the church on KWJS.
*****
After I mailed the audition tape, I asked God how HE wanted me to pay for the broadcasts.
A very gentle voice of instruction (by Holy Spirit) came into my thoughts: "Send a letter to the people you know and tell them what happened."
(I knew fewer than 50 people at the time.)
I wrote a letter telling exactly what had happened.
I did not ask them for money. I just told them what had happened.
Within 3 days, many had sent money for the broadcasts and I had enough to pay in full for the first month of broadcasts. One man hand carried his offering to my apartment door and handed it to me.
The broadcasts began on KWJS and were instantly successful. The messages concerned following God, hearing from the Spirit of God and taking thoughts captive and faith in God.
A woman named Lilly McBride, who lived in Fort Worth, had been praying asking God to put on radio, in a vacant 1/2 hour, a real faith teacher.
She was listening to the noon-time hour of broadcasts on KWJS as she always did.
When she turned on her radio that day at noon, a woman began to speak.
Lilly shouted: "OH NO! ... not a woman!"
She got up to go to the radio to turn the broadcast off but before she got there she became interested in what I was saying.
She became a "fan" from that moment!
She lived exactly across the street from Vinita Copeland. (Kenneth's mother)
They both became big supporters of me and attended local meetings and had me visit in their homes.
Vinita taught a Bible class in Fort Worth which I recall attending once.
I was very close to Vinita and liked her a lot. (I viewed Vinita as an old time Baptist war horse, who knew how to pray on her knees!)
*****
By the end of 1980, I was on radio from coast to coast ... "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... broadcasting weekdays in NYC (Hartford area), Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Eugene Oregon, Bakersfield California, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The broadcasts were very popular.
Many things were to change in the days ahead which I didn't expect.
In the middle of 1981, I was having a meeting in Seattle. On the bus, en route to the airport to return to Dallas, I heard the following.
"The foundation is laid now we're really going to move."
I was foolishly, very excited.
My meetings in radio cities were greatly expanding and the number of people into the thousands. I thought the future growth was going to be out of sight!
I failed to take account of the following truth:
Isaiah 55:8-9 (God says:)
For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways, and MY thoughts than your thoughts.
*****
4
Very Serious Test of Faith in the Promises of God in Bible
Very Serious Test of Faith in the Promises of God in Bible
He said to me: "Little lady, do you know a man named Settles?"
I told him I didn't know anyone of that name.
He said to me, "Well ... he knows you! He is suing you for a million dollars!" (And with that he served me with the legal papers for the law suit.)
I was stunned.
Not only did I not know this man, but I had less than $2000 at the time this happened.
At first, it was very hard to take this seriously. I remember going into my office and tossing the legal papers on a counter.
In
a few days, I realized if I failed to respond to this judgment, that
man could take away my business, all my merchandise, and the money I had
in my checking account!
At that point, I hired a lawyer.
*****
Test of faith: Is this scripture really true and valid for NT church today?
Isaiah 54:17 No
weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me,
saith the LORD.
*****
God
had taught me to get out of debt and to stay out of debt. I would go
on buying trips and buy only merchandise that I had cash to pay for.
I did not borrow money for merchandise.
I
came back to Dallas from the buying trip and sold the merchandise and
took the cash out to the reservation and purchased more merchandise with
the cash I had.
At the time one
of my best friends, a vice-president at Braniff International (airlines)
told me she had never seen any business or corporation conducted as I
was doing with my business.
She
said every corporation she had ever worked for and everything she had
ever been taught about business said to use other people's money for the
business and to make money from other people's money through business
loans.
But I felt God had shown me to get out of debt and stay out of debt.
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing
So that is what I did.
About
3 months after she told me this, Braniff filed for bankruptcy, shut
down their operation, and everyone at Braniff lost their jobs.
*****
So at the time of this lawsuit, I was out of debt and operating on a cash only basis.
The
bills for legal fees connected with the lawsuit began arriving and were
eating up all the profit from the sale of merchandise.
I made a very strong, significant decision at that time.
If that scripture in Isaiah 54 pertained to the church today, this lawsuit could not prosper against me.
I am a "servant of the Lord" now, a Christian.
So according to Isaiah 54:17, this weapon against me could not prosper.
Therefore I decided, based on that scripture, to dismiss my attorney and go to court without any human legal counsel.
I made an appointment with the pastor at my church and went to tell him what I was doing.
As I drove out to the appointment, I prayed for God to give pastor wisdom.
After I told him, he looked at me and said: "Joan ... I perceive you have the faith to do this this way."
I called my lawyer immediately.
*****
Gordon, lawyer, was shocked.
He replied: "Joan ... you can't do this! You don't know how evil these courts are."
To that I said to Gordon: "I am a Christian. And this scripture says, 'No weapon formed against me will prosper.'
If the Bible is true for us today and not just a history book, then
this weapon will not prosper. And if the Bible is only some kind of
book telling about History in the church, I want nothing more to do with
the Bible. So with this lawsuit we will test the Bible."
When I explained to Gordon how the legal bills were eating up all the profit from my business, Gordon said:
"Joan ... we're willing to work with you ... Don't worry... It will only take about $10,000 more to try this case."
"Joan ... we're willing to work with you ... Don't worry... It will only take about $10,000 more to try this case."
I was shocked and cried out: "$10,000 more ... Gordon ... STOP ... don't do another thing."
*****
A few days later Gordon came to my shop.
He said: "Joan ... we have decided to try your case without any further charge to you."
What is going on here?
One day they tell me it will take $10,000 more ... now they tell me all future legal service will be free ...
One day they tell me it will take $10,000 more ... now they tell me all future legal service will be free ...
I replied: "Gordon ... I will have to get back with you on this."
He left my shop.
I started praying:
"God ... what do YOU want me to do about this free legal service?"
Immediately I was reminded of the following scripture:
Genesis 14:21-23 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And
Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the
LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
I knew, by this scripture, that God was saying to me: "Don't take the free legal service."
*****
I
called Gordon immediately and declined the free legal service and
prepared myself to go to court without any human legal counsel.
I was terrified!
During the weeks, and months, that followed, before the trial date, God reminded me of several scriptures. I
took those verses and recorded them onto a cassette tape. When I went
to bed, I played that tape. When I awoke during the night, I would turn
the tape over and play the scriptures again. I had recorded those 13
or 14 scriptures on both sides of the cassette tape so I could hear them
many times.
I also had
written out those verses and kept them before me during the day to
reinforce my faith and hold to what I believed I was to do.
This is exactly what we see God telling Joshua to do in Joshua 1.
(I saw this later. I didn't know Joshua 1 at the time of the law suit.)
Joshua 1:7-9 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
This is exactly what we see God telling Joshua to do in Joshua 1.
(I saw this later. I didn't know Joshua 1 at the time of the law suit.)
Joshua 1:7-9 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
For
6 months or so I kept these scriptures that had been given to me by the
Holy Spirit before me day and night, during the time leading up to the
trial date.
It all exploded 6 days before the trial was scheduled in US District Court.
I
received a phone call from the lawyer of the man who was suing me. He
said since I had no lawyer he was calling to tell me his client had
dropped all charges.
I asked him
if the man dropped all charges against everyone else for he had attached
several of us together with a charge of conspiring to keep him from
doing business in Dallas.
(He
was an itinerate merchant of Indian jewelry, a peddler, who went from
city to city renting motel meeting rooms to sell merchandise at 70%
off.)
This man's lawyer said, "He cut everyone loose."
The lawyer went on to say, "We tried to get him not to sue you but he wouldn't listen. He was like a madman."
*****
It was over ... almost ...
A few weeks later, Gordon came to see me. He said, "We have discussed your case at the law firm for weeks. And we have decided that what you said would happen happened ..."
Isaiah 54:17 ... No weapon formed against me would prosper ...
and
every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their
righteousness is of ME, saith the LORD.
*****
This
was a very big test of faith in the Word of God ... and by this God
took me forth to other battles over the Word of God in the Bible.
*****