Juanita Bynum Tells Supporters 'Everything Happens for a Reason'
Speaking out a month after insisting she was wrongly arrested over money owed to an entertainment promoter, Christian evangelist Juanita Bynum has reached out to supporters online, encouraging them to stay strong through "trials and tribulation."
"Greetings sons and daughters of the most (high) God," Bynum wrote to her supporters Thursday. "It's been a while, hope all has been keeping well.
"I've been busy with the work that I have been called for for [sic] so I could not post nor comment to anything on Facebook. But this day I just want to say don't doubt or question what's happening in your life cause thru trials and tribulations we gain strength so everything (surely) everything happens for a reason be blessed. To God all Glory and honor belongs to."
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The statement, accompanied by an image of a stone imprinted with the phrase "Everything Happens for A Reason...Just Believe," was received by supporters with comments of "amen," "keep on keeping on" and "stay encouraged."
Bynum, an evangelist, recording artist, author and self-proclaimed prophetess, made headlines last month when she was arrested — wrongly, she asserts — reportedly before a speaking engagement at the Ninth Annual Spring Prophetic Conference in Irving, Texas.
The 54-year-old Pentecostal minister called her April 18 arrest an "unfortunate event," which stemmed from a lawsuit brought against her by Al Wash's ALW Entertainment. While a 2007 court order demands that Bynum pay ALW Entertainment $140,000, Wash indicated last month that the Atlanta-based evangelist still owes him $125,000 for show dates she never honored.
"Until recently, it was my understanding that a resolution had been reached involving a business dispute between Mr. Al Wash, of ALW Entertainment and myself," Bynum wrote in the April 24 statement. "I was wrongfully detained, by the Dallas Texas Sheriff's Dept. for failing to appear in court several months ago, for a civil court appearance, of which I knew nothing, involving the prior mentioned business dispute."
Bynum declared that she had "not been found guilty of any fraudulent, unethical or non-integral behavior" and included in her statement a comment attributed to Wash saying that there "was a misunderstanding of information."
In her statement, Bynum appears to insinuate that Releve' Entertainment, headed by Holly Carter, is the party responsible for the debt, and accused the company of "breach of fiduciary duty" and "unjust enrichment" for "fraudulent" representation — claims which Carter called "false" and "slanderous."
Carter told The Christian Post in an emailed statement last month that she was "deeply saddened by Ms. Bynum's baseless accusations" and that she would "continue to keep her in prayer."
Bynum, whose messages are said to reflect a prosperity, or health and wealth theology, speaks regularly at various conferences and events around the country and internationally, such as in southern Nigeria, where she has been conferred the status of a goodwill ambassador for Bayelsa State.
