---

Harvest House Publishers, OR, USA
Jan 20, 2007 Press Release
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 18529 • Posted: Thursday June 21, 2007  

---

Eugene, Oregon — June 20, 2007 — On June 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court brought an end to The Local Church’s six-year, $136 million legal battle against Harvest House Publishers and authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon.

The Local Church was appealing a January 2006 Texas appellate court ruling in favor of Harvest House. After the appellate decision, The Local Church requested a rehearing, which was denied. The Texas Supreme Court also rejected the case twice.

The Local Church complained that the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions defamed them by accusing them (and all the other groups in the book) of crimes such as murder, rape, and drug smuggling.

The Texas appellate court ruled that “nothing in the book singles out The [Local] Church as having committed [those actions].” The U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of The Local Church’s petition means the Texas appellate ruling is upheld.

Harvest House and its authors have issued a corporate statement that comments on several key underlying issues of this case.

Shelby Sharpe, lead attorney for Harvest House and its authors, stated, “The Texas appellate court correctly applied well-established law to the facts of this case in reaching its decision. The position taken by The Local Church would have created a totally subjective standard for interpreting written or spoken language a standard that would have threatened all media communications.”

“We wrote our book to ‘speak the truth in love’ from a Christian perspective,” said authors Ankerberg and Weldon. “No matter what has transpired the past six years, we continue to pray for and care about the members of The Local Church. We encourage them to be spiritually discerning by comparing their leaders’ teachings to those of the Bible.”

“We are grateful beyond words,” said Harvest House president Bob Hawkins, Jr., “to those many individuals, organizations, and associations who understood this case and its significance, and who stood with us by offering their legal support, encouragement, and especially their prayers through this very long and arduous battle. Beyond all this, we are especially thankful to God for His faithfulness.”

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: Local Church Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: Local Church Read Another Article Previous entry: Former Mungiki sect leader jailed Next entry: New group for those who renounce Islam RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books Local Church Most Popular Today NewsChannel 10 allowed inside self proclaimed messiah’s compound Wanda Barzee pleads guilty to charge in Elizabeth Smart case Judge cancels hearing in case against Warren Jeffs Atheists ‘just as ethical as churchgoers’ research shows

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.