How do Harvest House Publishers and its authors respond to The Local Church’s accusation that Harvest House Publishers was the first to file a lawsuit?
Harvest House and its authors did not receive a written explanation of The Local Church’s allegations against the Encyclopedia until November 20, 2001. Nine days later, Harvest House promised to respond to those allegations, and said it would need time to do so. While Harvest House and authors Ankerberg and Weldon were evaluating the complaints, the attorneys representing The Local Church and Living Stream Ministry sent a letter to Harvest House’s attorneys, saying, “Conditioned upon Harvest House’s and the Author’s execution and return (receipt by us) of the tolling agreement enclosed herein by Tuesday, December 18, 2001, Mr. Hawkins [the president of Harvest House Publishers] will be afforded up to and including Wednesday, January 15, 2002 in which to respond to our clients. If he fails to provide an adequate response within that time, The Local Church will have exhausted its efforts to settle this matter without recourse to the courts and will proceed accordingly.” What was this “to
