MY FIRST LETTER TO LLOYD GOODWIN
By: Wanda Mason
Matthew 10:28 - And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
(I wrote this letter in response to a threat
that Lloyd Goodwin made over the pulpit saying that I was going to die in a
horrible fiery crash and be burned and charred beyond recognition. He was upset
because I had told another Minister in Texas the truth about a letter written
by me in 1975 to my sister Sharon that he had told me to write. I only make
corrections in spelling and grammar. Words that are in brown
are what I have added.) The following links are my story and my sister,
Sharon's story if you need more information.
See: Wanda's Journal
See: Sharon's Story
Letter one:
5-18-91
Dear Bro. Goodwin:
I just wanted to say to you
that you don稚 have to worry so much about what I知 doing. To
assure you that my purpose is not to tear down your ministry or cause you to
suffer.
I do believe that God is
sovereign and there are many other things that you teach that is absolute truth! I知 very thankful for the effect that
your ministry has had in my life. My life has been enriched and I知 glad.
I知 also truly sorry that
what I said to Sis Wanda Patton was taken to be much more than what it
really was. Sister June was pretty hysterical and misunderstood. I知 sorry, but
she gets things twisted sometimes.
I do have a conscience and I
felt very guilty about that letter that I wrote to Sharon sixteen years ago.
You told me to write it, you told me what to write and you asked if you could
keep a copy for your file. I said yes. It wasn稚 until two years later
that I found out you had sent those letters out around the country. I only know
of two, myself. One was to Brother Don Patton. He showed it to my Mom and Dad
and even talked to Sharon about it and the other was to the pastor of the church
in Joplin, because he confronted Sharon about it. She wasn't even going to tell
anyone about what happened but you kind of forced her hand.
(In his mind, he thought that if he sent the
letter that I (Sharon's sister) had written to these ministers, it would be
more believable to them. After all, her sister was saying it. He USED me
in his scheme, which he had thought out very well. However, he really did more
harm to himself than good because then she had to tell the truth since
these people were confronting her about it.)
Oh what a tangled web we weave,
when first we practice to deceive.
I feel that God has set me
free from the law of sin and death and that "Therefore there is no more
condemnation to those who are in Christ." Paul also said that "In
Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor
female." We are equal in Christ. I appreciate my husband's
leadership role in our home and I look to him for guidance and we complement
each other. But Christ is the head of every man (mankind) and I have a direct
connection with my Lord.
It doesn't matter whether we
agree on everything or not. You may never see me again, unless by chance. I'm
not out to destroy your ministry. God is the judge of all things and He is the
one who blesses and curses. I've kept all these things in my heart for sixteen
years and have stood up for and defended your ministry to everyone. I have no
maliciousness. I pray God will have His way in your life.
(I felt that the Lord had given me the
scripture below to encourage me. I felt that He had told me through this that
He would go before me and I could follow in His wake or breach. I felt
that I had been tricked and lied to by Lloyd Goodwin and I had made a
league with him and believed his lies. I didn't know what it all meant then but
it gave me comfort. I knew that God was on my side and would stand with me.)
I was reading the 28th
chapter of Isaiah the 15-21 verses. I believe this is true and this applies to
someone. Who knows whether it's you or me? Only God knows.
21: For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount *Perazim (Baal Perazim), He shall
be wroth as in the Valley of **Gibeon that He may do
His work, His strange work and bring to pass His act, His strange act.
I referred back to II Samuel
5:20 and tried to understand how he rose up and why he was wroth.
*Perazim
- (Baal Perazim) (lord of breaches)
David said "The Lord
has broken forth upon my enemies before me as the breach of waters."
**Gibeon - Hill City several miles from Jerusalem.
The inhabitants of Gibeon tricked Joshua into believing that they came from a
long way off so they wouldn't kill them. So Joshua made a league with them.
They were cursed and made bondsmen and were afraid for their lives but because
of the league that Joshua made, they were spared and let live.
Now, the way that this came
across to me is that it either refers to you or me. God is the judge. I don't
have to do or say anything that is not truth and neither do you. Whatever
man sows, he will reap. God's laws cannot be broken, only fulfilled or
accomplished.
All I told Wanda Patton was
that the letter they received was sent without my knowledge, that you told me
what to write and that I didn't believe it was right and I was sorry. I said
that I had "heard" a lot of things, that I
did not believe that Sharon was the only one and I believed that some things
might still be going on but I didn't know. I have heard things but I don't
really know except what people have told me themselves and there have been many
more than two or three witnesses.
You know all that doesn't
even matter to me. It's really none of my business. I knew all that *garbage when I came back here. What
mattered to me is that I had done something wrong and I needed to repent
because I knew that **Brother and Sister
Patton had based some of their decision to join the body, on what I had done. I
wouldn't doubt that they come to the meeting. It may even make them stronger.
You have always said, Persecution is the fertilizer
for God's people.
(*In saying that I knew all
that garbage when I came back, you have to understand that I knew nothing about
the underage sexual victims at this time. I learned a whole lot after I wrote this letter.
If I had known everything, I would never have come back.)
(**Don and Wanda Patton had spoken to me when they were in
Des Moines and asked me how things were going and I told them everything
was just great and I had never been better. That is why I felt the need to
repent to them for holding back the truth.)
I would never have said a
word to Sister June. She called me and asked me what my problem was and I said,
"I don't have a problem." Then she wanted to know why I left church
and I said, "Because God had set me free from Man's bondage." Then
she pressed me for more. I said "Sister June, I really don't think
you would understand if I told you and she insisted to know. So I
told her about calling Sister Patton about the letter. She didn't seem to understand
what I was talking about and when I told her (and she was saying, "I want
to know, I want to know") she started yelling that "you're a damn
liar" and I know for a fact that you've been to bed with over fifty
men! Now, Brother Goodwin, how does she know that? I didn't argue
with her because I don't have to come down on that level. I know it's
not true and so does my Heavenly Father. Truth needs no defense.
Then she said that she was going to call Wanda Patton and tell her that I was a
damn liar and had been to be with over fifty men! I just said, "Sister
June, you can believe whatever you want and if that's what you feel you have to
do, go ahead."
I've known the Pattons since I was a young girl and they know that it's not true.
Brother Goodwin, I remember
one time when I was talking to you on the phone in Oklahoma and you made the
comment to me about me being a high-class call girl. I was shocked! Then
when I sent you a check for $500.00 from the sale of the house on 69th
street, you, over the pulpit, (several witnesses) made a reference to it as
being dirty money and insinuated that I was a prostitute. I've had to
live with that and it was never repented for or made right.
What really pulled my
trigger, Brother Goodwin is what you said, Wednesday night,
April 17,
1991: Quote: L. Goodwin as close as possible:
Gen. 3:15
"The devil has made idiots out of women. They are fickle and the
devil continually makes fools out of them. They are silly and stupid and many
go haywire. There is no enmity between the devil and the man, just the woman!
She's emotional and not capable of thinking for herself! She is used by the
devil to do much, much, much more damage than a man could ever do! There's no
man on earth that could sink as low as a woman when she sinks!
When I was reaching out to
God for strength and a desire for TRUTH, for the power both to will and to
do of his own good pleasure, I came to church that night for truth and the
truth was that you were a liar! Because feasibly and scripturally what
you said was a lie and those precious women of God in that church need to be
repented to. You were saying that to Christ.
"Whatever you do to one
of my little ones, you do unto me." Quote: Jesus Christ! You need to
repent to them. I don't care what you say about me. I know whom
"I am" and you can't touch that part of me. I am a son of God.
(By
this I meant, we are all sons and daughters of God
that have been born into the family of God.) I
have eternal life and I know the truth about the Bible. I have a very high IQ
and have studied much. "I can think for myself!"
I have also heard from
several witnesses that some very strong threats were made on my life.
That it was either you or me and that I would die in a horrible, fiery
crash of some kind and would be burned and charred beyond recognition.
I just want you to
understand, Brother Goodwin, that a lot of people
heard you say it, you called me by name and you made some very horrible
threats. I know you say that God was the one that said it but that won't hold
up in a court of law if something happens to me.
I also want you to know that I have gone to all the proper authorities in this city. My statement and others who were there and heard it with their own ears, has been transcribed and notarized and put on tape. I have also enlisted the services of a very efficient private detective and he is an authority on cults and is very interested. See: Notarized Transcript
I'm not afraid of you. My God
is not the God of this world that you preach. If I die in any kind of an
accident, my spirit will live on eternally.
Not only that, if I die, you
will be the number one suspect and anyone that works for you and that will be
the first place they come to investigate.
Also, you can throw away the
wills that you have. They have been revoked, rewritten and notarized and the
church is not in the new wills anywhere. If I die, Robert can give the church
whatever he wants to. My attorney has copies. Robert had nothing to do with this.
I've encouraged him to keep going if that's what he wants to do. I haven't
discouraged him. He's a grown man and can make his own decisions!
(We were encouraged to leave money, if not
everything, to the church in our wills. He told us that we should not leave
anything to our ungodly kids and if they were not members in good
standing with his church, it meant they were ungodly. At this point my husband
didn't even understand what I was doing and I wasn't even sure if he was going to
stay in the church or not. )
As long as you leave me
alone, I'll leave you alone!
(I honestly would not have written him another
letter but he just would not leave me alone. He would get up and tell people if
they got any thing in the mail from me to tear it up
and put it in the trash or bring it to him. He told the people that he didn't
even read them but tore them up and put them in the trash. Then he would
proceed to preach his entire sermon on the contents of the letter he got from
me. Of course, most of what he said was lies. The reason I know this is because
there were people who called me and told me everything he said.)
I have not called anyone and
spewed out any garbage. I told (-----) what I told (-----) because she wanted
to know why I wasn't going back to church and then only because she insisted on
knowing the truth. She was already discouraged and didn't care whether she
lived or died because of the oppression she was getting from her husband. She
is very thankful to be free from him and hopes he will file for divorce as soon
as possible.
I'm very thankful for the
peace and joy that I have in Christ Jesus. If I'm elect, this is just part of
the process. If I'm not, I'm out of your hair. So just be happy in the Lord and
let Him fight your battles. "Vengeance is mine sayeth
the Lord, I will repay."
"My yoke is easy, my
burden is light." Praise His Holy Name.
(We were taught that if God brought us to
Lloyd Goodwin's church, then that meant that we were the Elect of God.
We were the cream of the crop and we would be in the First Phase of the
First Resurrection. Also that if you were the Elect your life had been planned
by God from beginning to end and there was nothing that you could do to change
it. You were either Elect or you weren't. That is why I referred to this
here. The other Gospel Assembly Churches were called THE OLD BODY. )
Sincerely in Christ,
Wanda Mason
