Excerpts from an Interview with Leonard Westphal
As Aired on October 5, 2007
"We Don't Write to Anybody Unless They Call Us"
Jim Gilley, president of 3ABN, taped an interview with Leonard Westphal, 3ABN Trust Services Director,
and Leonard's wife, Rita, during the week after a recent board meeting. What follows are a few excerpts
from what they had to say, below which will be links to video clips from the program that
contain these quotes.
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"In our office, we do not call anybody — and I told the board this last,
last Sunday, uh, uh, Wednesday — we don't call anybody to give us money
or to fund an annuity or a trust with us, and we don't write to anybody unless they call us.
Because we have other organizations, sister organizations, that, uh, which would probably be
offended, and so we don't do that. We are very ethical in what we do.
And we believe we have to do things right so that the Lord can bless us.
But when people call us and, uh, get in touch with us or write to us, then
of course we work with them." (Leonard Westphal)
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October 29, 2007: Unsolicited Mailing Received
The month had not ended before Save3ABN.com
received a fax from a perturbed reader who claimed that he had received the following
mailing from Leonard Westphal without his calling Leonard first:
If our reader had called first, probably the above letter would not have suggested that he could request
"a more detailed package of information." That package would have been sent instead of this introductory,
promotional letter.
The mailing appeared to have been sent from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, not West Frankfort, Illinois, or
Loma Linda, California:
According to sources within 3ABN, these unsolicited mailings are sent out twice a year. Here is a scan of the
brochure included in the recent mailing:
No Pressure; 3ABN Largely Funded In This Way
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"You wouldn't be talking to some fast-talking individual that's going to try to
talk, uh, going, get you to do something you don't want to do. You'll be talking to people like Leonard and Rita,
and the other staff that they have, who are working for your benefit and for the benefit of this ministry.
Because this ministry largely is funded in this way in recent years." (Jim Gilley)
"We do not put pressure on people." (Leonard Westphal)
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"It's Their Property" "It Doesn't Belong to Us"
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"Now umm, when you fund a property in trust it doesn't mean you are giving it to 3ABN,
because the deed will read like this — First of all, they fill out the form
and send us a copy of the deed. And the deed then is drafted by the trust duh, by our attorney,
and then, then the deed also. And the deed will read like this: 'Three Angels Broadcasting
Network, Trustee for John Doe, Trust Number So and So.' Okay. That means that the property
is in trust. Now, the people pay the taxes and they pay the insurance. So it means that they,
it's their property.
"Now we had a case this uh, past week, a family came to me and says, 'You know, uh, the property's
not mine anymore, uh. The county recorder's office told me the property now belongs to 3ABN. And what is,
what are you doing to me?' and so on. So I had to explain to this family again that the property
is merely in trust. It doesn't belong to us. It belongs to them, because they pay the insurance,
they pay the taxes. And if they want to withdraw the property from the trust, they just write us a letter, and
we give the deed back to them, and then they can sell the property, whatever they want to do." (Leonard Westphal)
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"And Then They Have the Property Back"
If it was their property all along, why does Leonard say that when a trust is revoked,
they then have their property back again?
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"So that, that's what revocable means, then, is that right?" (Jim Gilley)
"That's what it means. It means it can change at any time." (Leonard Westphal)
"Revocable means you can just say, Hey, I'm sorry. Can't go through with this." (Jim Gilley)
"Right." (Leonard Westphal)
"We're going to go back to the original way things were." (Jim Gilley)
"Right. And we deed, deed back to them and then they have the property back, and they can sell it." (Leonard Westphal)
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How Easy Is It to Get Your Property Back Again?
The following is an email we received last February:
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-------- Original Message --------
| Date: |
Fri, 2 Feb 2007 20:36:57 -0500 |
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... Westphal ... wanted to press an old lady into signing her property
back over to Three Angels ... He basically wanted to sue
an old lady in court to force her to follow through on a revocable promise
that she had legally revoked. ...
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Will Jim Gilley Be Conciliatory Toward the Four Fired Whistle Blowers?
There are a lot of unresolved issues at 3ABN. With Jim Gilley at the helm, will the various issues
be resolved? As far as the Trust Services Department goes, will Jim Gilley do whatever it takes to
make things right with the four whistle blowers who purportedly got fired in the spring of 2006 after bringing various
complaints about Leonard Westphal to the attention of 3ABN administrators? Would such a course not
be an honorable way to bring an end to the EEOC investigation reportedly now taking place?
According to a close associate of Jim Gilley, there isn't any reconciliation on the horizon
coming from Jim Gilley for those four whistle blowers, others who have allegedly been wrongfully
terminated (such as Linda Shelton), the alleged sexual abuse and child molestation victims of
Tommy Shelton, and the victims of Danny Shelton and 3ABN's current, frivolous lawsuit over
Save3ABN.com:
| Jim Gilley Takes Over As President |
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| Dallas |
Sep 7 2007, 10:20 PM |
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I guess I'll put my two cents into this thread; first I presently
have one of the closest working relationships with Jim Gilley
I speak with him and work with him at least once a day if not
more. ...
...
The second thing you need to know about Jim is, that he will
not be stuck in the past, as some seem to be, his job is to take
over from here and move forward. If people have problems with
what happened before he got there let them take it up with those
people. Jim is a visionary that will look to the future not the
past. So don't look for any apologize that have nothing to do
with him, if you want an apology, better get that from the person
who did something wrong. I do know that Jim is man enough to
apologize when he has done something wrong, I know, because I
have been on both the receiving and the giving end of an apology
with Jim. Since he has nothing to do with the past at 3ABN don't
hold your breath for the apology.
...
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Forum: 3ABN
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Jim also reportedly
told the 3ABN Board that he would not be looking into the past, which must have been music to the ears of
Danny Lee Shelton.
If there is anything in Dallas' words above that sound a note of hope, it is this:
Jim Gilley just may demand that Danny pay the full price for the free land that highly placed 3ABN sources
claim 3ABN just gave Danny Shelton. Since that example of private inurement is a bit more recent
than the frivolous lawsuit that was filed by Danny and 3ABN in April 2007, it might not qualify
as something from the past that will get ignored and covered up. After all, the money and assets
that have been donated to 3ABN are for the forwarding of the gospel, not for the enriching of the
Shelton family.
Video Clips from the Leonard Westphal Interview
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