The investigation on how the internet transcript of the Jones prophecy came through with such an important (and yet controversial) part missing, remains inconclusive.

Here was introductory part of my letter to Robert Holmes, who had sent his rendition to another list:
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Dear Robert,

I'm investigating the possibility of internet releases of prophecy. This is because I am working on an article for the internet regarding prophecy over the internet, as it relates to discernment issues. The internet is a relatively new form of communication and medium, of which my husband and I as well as many others use for ministry.  We are a prophetic ministry, and so do receive questions about discernment issues.

We were quite alarmed to discover a significant portion of the following prophecy was not included in its public release over the internet, even in summary form. The prophecy had been described from a tape. We were alerted to this 'missing 10 minutes' by a friend, who sent us the original tape.

The prophecy had been put forward by you to the Strom's list. However, it was not a prophecy that was by yourself, and it does state it was 'shortened' for length. I am trying to find out is if the missing portion was edited out by yourself, or by Morningstar's transcribed version of the Prophetic Tape of the Month. This is not to be accusatory at all--I am just investigating the facts of how it came to the internet in the condition it came, with a portion edited out.

I know that the practice of a person rewriting another person's prophecy, as is known to often be the case with Morningstar and Bob Jones and is done publicly on his website, could lead to difficulties. No one knows if Bob Jones has final say in what is being released, or who is responsible for the completeness of those releases.  It is not stated publicly anywhere to my knowledge. Yet, the prophecies are placed for public view on website. Of course, e-mail is another aspect of internet communication and it would be a good thing for me to trace if possible how the edited prophecy ended up where it did via e-mail.
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Robert Holmes answered that he was sent the Josiah Friberg version by a friend who obtained it from another prophetic list on the internet. He seemed to think that one only need go to Jone's or Joyner's site for a full copy. This was not what we observed though, even just a few months after the internet versions were released.

We understand that transcribing the entire thing would be incumbersome, as the tape was about 45 minutes long at least. Most of Jones prophecies tend to be extremely long.  Therefore a synopsis version over the internet would be appropriate. People would complain at the length of the e-mail post, for one thing. One option would be to give the URL of the 'original' long article or writing, and also give a synopsis so people know what it is about. This is what we often ask people to do on our e-mail list, if they can.

The shortened version by Josiah Friberg was very accurate as far as the portions of the tape it addressed. However, an entire section was missing, even in synopsis form. This was illogical because less critical sections were detailed. I edit and write in synopsis form quite frequently, so I am familiar with the considerations involved. Being as the missing section was the 'apex' of much of the prophecy, there are only two reasons the section was not to mentioned at all, as far as I can evaluate:

1) to cover-up for Morningstar/Jones on something that the 'Latter Rain' heresy hunters would have had a field day with. It's well known that Jones and the 'KC' prophets before have had trouble with an outcry against heretical doctrines within their prophecies. 'God-man' is not mentioned in the usual Latter-Rain associated heresies, but it is not at all in Scripture--Some of the Latter Rain associated heresies were. (They built large doctrine out of one or two minor scriptures)

2) Someone thought that a prophecy for Morningstar is not something that would interest those outside of Morningstar. This does not make complete sense, however, since Jones told of arms going to Canada and other places, etc. etc.

So, what happened to the missing section will remain a mystery. We ourselves could have released the missing 10 minutes or so to our internet audience immediately upon discovering it. We did not, however. This was not to protect Morningstar, but rather to give us time to more thoroughly investigate the many aspects of the tape. In the end, our 'report' is much more comprehensive than just releasing a transcript of the missing section.

Holmes noted to me that Morningstar has no copyright on the material. They simply have obtained rights from Bob to reproduce and sell the tapes. I have noted that Joyner often speaks for Jones on many occasions, and 'interprets' prophecies for him too. He has sometimes released something as kind of a joint effort between himself and Jones. I've even heard him tell prophecies at conferences with a very nonspecific 'we' pronoun, with great confidence in the prophecy, only to later find that the prophecy came solely from Jones (the Woman's Aglow for one, and the 'knights' focus for another)  Jones also has someone regularly 'rewrite' his prophecies for him and this is published on his website. Whether this is intended or not, all of these activities 'shield' Jones from the immediate audience and is quite confusing.

Authenticity is critical. The central issue really comes down to both ownership/responsibility and copyright issues. Ownership of the message really resides with Bob, and ethically, it is best for an author or preacher or anyone to have their message authenticly or accurately relayed.  Until then, if anyone really wants to know what Bob Jones said, they might have to get taped messages and hear the message for themselves.
 
 

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