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The Legacy of Jack Hyles

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This entry is part 1 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

Members of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana and people closely associated with Hyles-Anderson College and Jack Schaap are astonished at the firing of Jack Schaap for sexual misconduct with a minor. (see previous posts here and here) Evidently these people have a short memory or live in denial because First Baptist Church has a long history of pastors getting themselves in trouble with the fairer sex.

Jack Schaap’s father-in-law, Jack Hyles, had an illicit sexual relationship with his secretary. The evidence against Hyles was overwhelming, yet the church rejected the evidence and Jack Hyles continued to pastor the church. (see Conservative Babylon’s section on Jack Hyles)

David Hyles, the son of Jack Hyles and youth pastor of the church, had numerous sexual relationships with women in the church. The church quietly sent him away to pastor another church, not telling the new church about his sexual proclivities, and he continued to have numerous sexual relationships with women in the new church. (see Conservative Babylon’s section on David Hyles)

Some people are praising the church for publicly exposing Jack Schaap’s “sin.” This is the same church that ignored Jack Hyles’ “sin”, covered over David Hyles’ “sin”, and whitewashed numerous other scandals in the Church and College, so forgive me if I don’t think they are acting “better” than the Catholic Church. (as one commenter said)

The people of First Baptist Church were taught that if they didn’t see something it didn’t happen. They were taught that unless an allegation could be confirmed by two or more people (Matthew 18) they were not to believe it. This kind of thinking resulted in a culture where “sin” was ignored or swept under the proverbial rug. (a rug that is so high now that you have to walk up a five foot hill to get into the church)

In general, the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Church movement abhors scandal and they do everything they can to cover it up. More important than the sin or the victims is the church’s testimony. The church’s testimony must be protected at all costs, even if we ignore a pedophile in our midst, like Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida did. (see Conservative Babylon’s section on Bob Gray)

For First Baptist Church of Hammond to out Jack Schaap they had to have been backed into a corner without the option of covering it up or quietly making the “problem” go away. (calling in attorney David Gibbs to “manage” the crisis speaks volumes about depth of the scandal)

The root of the Jack Schaap scandal is found in the ministry, teaching, and doctrine of his predecessor, Jack Hyles. The remainder of this post will focus on Jack Hyles. It is impossible to understand the Jack Schaap story without first looking at Jack Hyles’ forty-two year ministry at First Baptist Church of Hammond. (a church that was an American Baptist Church until Hyles pulled it out of the Convention a few years after he arrived there in 1959)

In its heyday, First Baptist Church of Hammond was the largest church in the United States. (and, at times, claimed to be the largest church in the world) The Church was built around two things: the bus ministry and Jack Hyles.

The Church saw attendances exceeding 25,000 people. At the center of this huge church was its Pastor, Jack Hyles.

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s Jack Hyles was, what many of us described, the pope of the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church movement. He authored numerous books with titles like Let’s Go Soulwinning, Let’s Build an Evangelistic Church, Enemies of Soulwinning, The Hyles Church Manual,How to Rear Infants, How to Rear Children, How to Rear Teenagers, Satan’s Bid for Your Child, Marriage is a Commitment, Woman the Completer, and Blue Denim and Lace.

There was a hard-fast rule in the IFB movement. The bigger the church attendance the more authority you were granted and the more weight your words had. I heard countless big- name IFB pastors say, “until you have as many eggs in your basket as I do you have no right to criticize me.” Pastors with small churches were looked down on and were expected to shut up and learn from the top dogs of the movement.

From 1976 to 1989, I heard Jack Hyles preach numerous times. I traveled to a number of Sword of the Lord Conferences, often taking people from the churches I pastored with me.

Hyles was a dynamic preacher, a real motivator. He used very little of the Bible in his preaching. His sermons were always topical or textual and were littered with personal stories and illustrations.

Hyles was a narcissist. Most of his stories and illustrations were about his own personal life and exploits. His stories about he and his mother are legendary.

Over time, as I became more and more dissatisfied with the IFB movement, I paid closer attention to the substance of Hyles’ sermons. In particular, I focused on the stories that Hyles told. I came to the conclusion that Hyles was a narcissistic liar.

Hyles would often talk about how important and busy he was. In several sermons he talked about how many people he counseled every week. I sat down and did the math and I concluded it was physically impossible for Hyles to have counseled as many people each week as he claimed.

Hyles was a ruthless man. I watched him, during Q and A times at a conference, dress down and belittle pastors for asking the “wrong” question. He refused to allow anyone to challenge his authority as the king of the IFB hill.

To understand the scandals at First Baptist Church in Hammond, we must understand the gospel that has been preached at First Baptist for over 50 years. It is the same gospel that is/was preached by men like Bob Gray of Texas, Bob Gray of Jacksonville, Curtis Hutson, Dennis Corle, and thousands of other IFB pastors.

Jack Hyles preached a bastardized version of the Christian gospel. The Hyles gospel has been labeled as decisional regeneration or one, two, three, repeat after me. I used to label the gospel of the IFB church movement as:

  • win them
  • wet them
  • work them
  • waste them

The only thing that mattered was winning souls. Dennis Corle told me one time that I should spend more time soulwinning and less time studying in preparation to preach on Sunday.

The key to church growth was to keep more people coming in the front door than were going out the back door. IFB churches are notorious for turning over their church memberships, especially when a pastor leaves and a new one comes in. (more on this later)

The Hyles gospel focused on praying the sinners prayer. Pray this prayer and you are saved. Good works? They were desired and even expected, but if a saved person never exhibited any change in their lives they were still considered saved.

If a pastor dared suggest that new life in Christ meant a change of conduct they were accused of preaching “works salvation.” (the Lordship Salvation controversy) According to the Hyles gospel, it was all about praying the prayer and once a person prayed the prayer they could NEVER,EVER be lost again. This is why some people insist that I am still saved even if I don’t want to be. Once God has you he never lets go of you. (check out RB Thieme’s teaching of this perverted gospel)

The Hyles gospel filled churches with people who had made a mental assent to a set of propositional facts. Every year churches like First Baptist Church in Hammond and Longview Baptist Temple report thousands of people being saved. Most of these new converts stop attending after a short while but this is of no consequence. They prayed the “prayer”…on to the next sinner in need of saving.

The IFB church movement is centered on men. Most IFB churches are pastored by one man who has complete, total control of the church. Most IFB churches are congregational in name only, with the pastor being the autocratic king of the church.

Jack Hyles, Jack Schaap, and countless other big-name IFB traveling preachers routinely promote the notion of pastoral authority. The pastor, under the authority of Jesus and powered by the Holy Spirit, is the final authority in the church. He is the hub around which everything turns.

IFB churches are not known for their name but for who their pastor is. IFB church members routinely say, when asked about what church they attend, I go to Pastor So-and So’s church.

Two years ago, in a post titled, The Cult of Personality, I wrote:

Churches aren’t known for what they believe or even the works they do. They are known for who their pastor is.

When asked where they go to Church a Christian will often say “I go to  Pastor Smith’s Church.”

The focus of everything is on the pastor. He is the mover and shaker. He is what powers the machine. Without him it all fails.

Christian TV, radio and publishing is all about the personalities within the Church. Name recognition is the name of the game.

Does anyone really believe Rod Parsley is a good writer? Yet, his books sell. Why? Name recognition.

Everything is focused on and culminates with the sermon and the preacher.

I had people drive 40 minutes to the Church I pastored in SE Ohio. They loved my preaching. They thought I was the greatest preacher since the last guy they thought was wonderful. Really? As much as I think that I am a pretty good public speaker, they had to drive past 40 Churches to get to the Church I pastored. Not one of those  Churches had a preacher that could preach competently? (well maybe not, after hearing more than a few preachers)

What happens when the pastor leaves the Church? What happens when the personalities change, when a new preacher takes over? Strife. Division. People leave the Church. Why? Because Church became about the preacher rather than about Jesus and serving others.

Why is it the pastor’s name is on everything? The sign out front. The bulletin . Every piece of literature the Church produces.

If it is really is all about Jesus then why does it matter if anyone knows the pastor’s name?

Ah, but it does matter. Most Christians are good capitalists. (serving a socialist Jesus) They are consumers first and Christians second.  They know people are “attracted” (the attractional method) to the Church by the pastor, the programs, the building, etc.

They know the pastor becomes the face of their Church. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is, and quite frankly, it is the Church itself that must bear the blame for this.

They revel in the cult of personality. They love having a name brand preacher. They watch Christians TV and listen to Christian radio because  Pastor/Rev/Dr/Evangelist/Bishop/Apostle so-and so is on. Take away the names and it becomes as interesting as eating a no-name hamburger at a no-name restaurant surrounded by no-name people.

Is it any wonder IFB pastors and churches have the scandals they do? Members are taught to obey their pastor without question. He is the man of God. If he is doing something wrong God will chastise him.

This kind of thinking allows IFB pastors to commit adultery, molest children, and steal from the church without anyone ever knowing about it. I could spend the next two days writing about IFB pastors who have abused their place of authority and committed heinous acts against the people they pastored.

IFB churches think they are above the world and other churches because of what they believe. They are Bible believers, and their pastors preach hard against sin. Because of this, they have a hard time believing that their pastor or any other noted preacher could ever commit sins like Jack Hyles, Jack Schaap, David Hyles, and Bob Gray did.

Bob Gray, pastor emeritus of Longview Baptist Temple had this to say on this blog about the Schaap scandal:

May I present the practical side?  There exists more molestation cases proportionately reported in the 42,000 churches of the Southern Baptist Convention than in the 22,000 independent Baptist churches.  Consider the largest denomination in our nation, the Catholic Church, and then think on their sexual transgressions for a while.  This is not to take lightly one person who is violated by a leader in a church.

Look carefully at the argument Gray is making here. The Southern Baptists and the Catholics are worse than us! Praise Jesus! Such thinking should sicken all of us.

Here is what I know about the IFB movement. They will wail and moan for awhile but, in a few weeks or months, the scandal will pass, and they will go back to “winning souls” and “Preaching hard against sin.” It is only a matter of time before
a-n-o-t-h-e-r scandal rocks the IFB movement

Until the IFB movement repudiates its corruption of the Christian gospel and changes how their churches are governed there is no hope of meaningful change. Will they change? Not likely.

Change is not likely to come because of their literalism and belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. Armed with certainty, knowing they are right, they will continue to preach a corrupted gospel and allow narcissistic pastors to rule over them. It IS in the Bible…

(Please read my post Independent Fundamentalist Baptists and the Secrets They Keep)

Fresh Oil, a Sermon by Jack Hyles, A Study in Narcissism

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This entry is part 2 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

The following videos are  parts of Jack Hyles’ most famous sermon, Fresh Oil. I heard this sermon numerous times when I was a Independent Fundamentalist Baptist pastor.

I want readers to be able to put Jack Hyles in context. Listen closely to this sermon. Notice his narcissism. Notice how he is building the case for himself to be considered one of the great preachers of all time.

video link

 

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Noted Independent Baptist Pastor, Jack Schaap Fired Today

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This entry is part 3 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

Another, hellfire and brimstone, devil hating, sin denouncing Independent Fundamentalist Baptist pastor has “fallen into sin.”

Carole Carlson, of the Chicago Sun Times reports:

The pastor of a fundamentalist mega church in Northwest Indiana has been dismissed because of a “sin” that’s being investigated by Lake County (Ind.) sheriff’s police.

Jack Schaap, 54, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond since 2001, was fired by a deacon board, said Eddie Wilson, director of public relations for the church.

Wilson said Tuesday church officials didn’t believe anything criminal occurred, but information was turned over to the sheriff’s department “for the sake of transparency and honesty.”

Wilson said members of the board will address the congregation Wednesday night.

“The church will move on in the process of calling a new pastor,” he said.

Wilson said Schaap was in seclusion with his wife, Cindy, daughter of Jack Hyles, the pastor who built the First Baptist Church and co-founded Hyles-Anderson College in Schererville.

“They’re trying to reconcile their marriage,” Wilson said. “The church will move on and begin the process of calling a new pastor.”

While declining to offer details on the dismissal, Wilson said church bylaws state adultery is grounds for dismissal.

Sheriff John Buncich confirmed the church contacted him and Schaap’s actions were under investigation by detectives.

“I can’t confirm the name of the individual who’s subject of the investigation,” said Buncich, adding more information would be forthcoming Wednesday.

A press release from the church stated: “Our church grieves over the need to take this action and the impact it will have on our people. We ask that everyone pray for the families involved and pray that the situation will be handled in a Christ-honoring manner.”

One of the early mega churches, First Baptist Church, 507 State St., has more than 15,000 members, Wilson said.

It’s famous for its church outreach that in the 1970s used more than 200 buses to round up parishioners and bring them to church from across the region.

According to the church website, Schaap graduated from Hyles-Anderson bible college in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in pastoral theology.

He and Cindy Hyles married in 1979 and Schaap began teaching at Hyles-Anderson. The couple have two children. He became vice president of the college in 1996 and became pastor at First Baptist after Jack Hyles’ death in 2001.

The church continued to grow under Schaap, and in 2005 it moved into a new 7,500-seat auditorium.

While the specific sin is not mentioned, Eddie Wilson gives it away when he says “They’re trying to reconcile their marriage.” It is extremely likely that Schaap’s sin, like that of his deceased father-in-law Jack Hyles, is sexual in nature.

My feelings are always mixed when these kind of stories are made public. I grieve for those who are hurt but I rejoice that the sanctimonious curtain Independent Fundamentalist Baptist pastors hide behind is ripped open so all can see that, for all their holier-than-thou preaching and attitudes, they are just like they rest of us.

There is one inaccuracy in the story. The writer says that the Church continued to grow under Schaap. Actually, Church attendance is less under Schaap than it was during the heyday of Jack Hyles.

Stay tuned.

The IFB River Called Denial

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This entry is part 4 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

A little over a week ago, Jack Schaap, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond Indiana, was fired over a sexual relationship he had with a sixteen/seventeen year old girl in the church. I wrote about this here and here.

Twenty-three plus years ago, Jack Schaap’s father-in-law, Jack Hyles, was accused of having an affair with a woman in the church. I wrote about this here. The evidence for his affair was overwhelming but the church rejected the evidence and Hyles remained the church’s pastor until his death.

First Baptist Church in Hammond is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Church. (if you don’t know what an IFB church is read here) The church was an American Baptist church until Jack Hyles pulled it out the convention.

Sexual and financial scandals are quite common among IFB churches. Pastors have sexual affairs, molest children, surf porn sites, cavort with prostitutes, lie, cheat, and steal. They are, in every way, just like the rest of the human race.

Deacons, Sunday School teachers, church bus workers, Christian School workers, and every-day church members are also just like the rest of the human race. No matter how much they might protest, they know if the curtain was pulled back, it would expose for all to see that IFB church pastors, leaders, and members are no different than atheists, Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons,Methodists, or Southern Baptists.

They are human beings, capable of doing good or bad things. They are capable of being good, decent, kind, loving people and they are also capable of being evil, unkind, indecent, and unloving people.

Like all of us, they have the power to choose what kind of person they want to be. No matter what their theology tells them about the depraved, sinful condition of the natural, unregenerate, unsaved human being, they KNOW they have the power to be whatever kind of person they want to be.

They KNOW that there are countless atheists, deists, non-IFB Christians, Catholics, etc who are good, decent, kind, loving people, without believing the King James Version of the Bible is the Word of God or believing in the IFB God at all.

The IFB religion (and it IS a sectarian religion no matter how much they protest that it is not) believes the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. IFB churches and pastors are Bible literalists. Most of them are young earth creationists and believe in the pretribulational, premillennial second coming of Jesus Christ. (which they believe could happen at any moment)

They believe the miracles in the Bible actually happened and that everything in the Bible is meant to be taken literally unless it is very clear that it is not meant to be taken literally. (they have very specific, albeit contradictory, hermeneutics for determining this)

As Bible literalists, they believe that Christians are to live sanctified (set apart for God’s service), godly, holy lives. To ensure this they have long lists of things they consider sins, sins that no Jesus loving, sin-hating, devil chasing, IFB Christian would ever commit.

Every IFB church and pastor has their own l-o-n-g list of things they consider a sin. Besides the “big” sins like adultery, fornication, and homosexuality, IFB churches have rules (standards) about things that many non-IFB Christians might not consider a sin. Things like:

  • Watching TV
  • Listening to secular music or Contemporary Christian music
  • Going to the movies
  • Gambling, playing cards
  • Men and women swimming together
  • Drinking alcohol
  • Smoking
  • Cursing or using bywords
  • Women wearing pants or shorts
  • Women wearing anything that reveals their “shape”
  • Long hair on men, short hair on women

Over the years, I heard IFB pastors, including myself, say the following things were a sin:

  • Wearing wire rim glasses
  • Having a beard
  • Having a mustache
  • Wearing any clothing with “worldly” advertising
  • Going to stock races
  • Sending your children to a public school
  • Using any Bible but a King James Bible
  • Not having a Sunday Evening or Midweek service
  • Not having an altar call
  • Using prerecorded (canned) music
  • Marrying a non-IFB Christian
  • Going to a non-IFB college
  • Having non-IFB friends
  • Working on Sunday
  • Letting your children play sports on prayer meeting night or Sunday
  • Not giving at least 10% of your money to the church (plus special offerings)
  • Eating in restaurants that serve alcohol
  • Allowing women to pray or teach anyone other than women or children

I am sure, by now, you are trying to figure where the heaven I am going with this post. Let me tie it all together.

The IFB church movement prides itself on being “better” than other Christian sects and the “world” in general. Their literalist belief system, along with their lists of sinful behaviors are the standard every IFB church member is expected to live by.

For all their talk about salvation by faith and grace, their religion is all about works. (as is every religion, to some degree or the other) They will tell you that a person does not have to do any works in order to be saved but…ask them if a person who refuses to live by the above standards is a Christian and they are likely to say, I doubt it.

In the IFB world, “true” Christianity is determined by how well a person adheres to the church’s/pastor’s interpretation of the Bible and whatever list of “standards” they have.

Some allowance is given for difference of opinion, but not much. Church members who don’t conform are labeled as: worldly, carnal, weak, fleshly, or backslidden.

The moral and and ethical standard is high, way too high. Remember what I said earlier about IFB pastors, leaders, and church members being just like the rest of us? Well, this poses a real problem for them. They take the high moral ground, believing they are superior to everyone else, including other Christians.  They consider themselves pillars of moral virtue.

But…they are not, and when pastors, leaders, and church members get in trouble, like in the case of Jack Schaap and Jack Hyles, they have a real dilemma on their hands.

Their moral and ethical failures expose the bankruptcy of their  claim of superiority. They show that the fundamentalist emperor has no clothes.

The right thing to do would be to admit their failures, confess their “sins,” and come on down from Mount “I am Holier than Thou.” Of course doing this would mean that they are just like the rest of us…

And that ain’t gonna happen.

The latest IFB scandal, courtesy of Jack Schaap and First Baptist Church in Hammond, provides for us an excellent example of  HOW IFB churches handle having their “humanness” exposed.

First, they deny.  When the Schaap scandal first became public, IFB commenters on blogs and news sites were quick to deny that Schaap had done anything wrong. The accusations were lies and they were certain that Schaap was completely innocent. (IFB pastors are often worshiped like a god)

Second, they marginalize. When they could no longer deny the reality of the Schaap scandal, they turned to letting everyone know that Schaap was a “sinner” just like everyone else and, while his “fall” was regrettable, people should not judge the IFB church movement or First Baptist Church negatively. One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bushel. (actually it can)

Third, attack the critics. Instead of owning the scandal, many IFB defenders decided to attack those who reported the scandal or wrote negative things about Schaap, Jack Hyles, First Baptist Church in Hammond, and the IFB.  You can read about one such attack here.

Across the blogosphere, in discussion forums, in blog comments, and emails, the defenders of the IFB have attempted to ameliorate  the scandal by attacking people like me. They can’t dismiss my impeccable IFB credentials so they attack me personally or they dismiss me out of hand because I am an atheist. Why should anyone listen to what I have say, they write. I am a God-hater. I am bitter, angry, have an axe to grind.

They try and discredit the messenger so they won’t have to deal with his/her message. The goal is direct attention away from the facts.

Fourth, if all else fails, attack the victim. Let’s not forget that there is a victim in the Jack Schaap scandal. Schaap’s “sin” was not a victimless one. He had sexual relations with a minor in the church. Some media sites are reporting that the girl was being counseled by Schaap. (in Ohio, such a relationship is illegal)

Jack Schaap is a 54 year old man. He is my age. The victim is almost young enough to be his granddaughter. As a grown, mature man, he should be in control of his sexual desire. Surely he KNEW it was morally and ethically wrong (regardless of whether or not it was illegal) to have sex with this girl.

Schaap had the power to control the relationship he had with this girl. He was the grownup, he was the “man of God,” he was a married man with children, he was the one with everything to lose…

If he had overt sexual desire, a need to get laid, he could have sought out the help of a professional, a prostitute. I am sure there are plenty of adult establishments in the Chicago area that Schaap could have went to in order to get his sexual need met. (and more than a few IFB pastors have availed themselves to the services of a prostitute)

But, Schaap did none of these things and now everyone knows…

In the sleaziest of attempts to justify Jack Schaap’s behavior, they attack the girl. One commenter on this blog suggested the girl was a slut, that she seduced Schaap. She wrote:

So…what about the teenage girl? How hot was she? How hard did she pursue him? We all know young girls flaunt everything these days to get what they want. a rise from any man they can. especially one in the limelight (our a uniform!) They don’t care if he’s married our not, or if he’s her best friends dad. it’s really sad.young girls are a whoring in our churches.

I responded:

Bullshit.

It doesn’t matter how hot she was or whether or not she flaunted herself before him.

He is a grown, mature man, a few years younger than me. By now, he should have learned how to deal with temptation and keep his penis in his pants.

It is reported that he was counseling this girl. If this is true, then he abused his power and authority and, here in Ohio, could be held criminally liable.

Whatever the girl’s faults, she is not the problem in this story.

She responded:

You men and women be careful. She is closer than we think. the world is full of young sluts stealing our husbands and sons! Praying for Cindy!

And, I responded:

You mean stealing pathetic, poor Christian men who have been taught they are helpless creatures unable to withstand sexual temptation? How about teaching them to be accountable for their own sexual behavior? They have a choice, do they not? Or are they so weak that the slightest temptation turns them into sexed crazed maniacs who are unable to control their lust?

The only right answer to the Jack Schaap scandal, the Jack Hyles scandal, or any other church scandal, is IMMEDIATE, COMPLETE disclosure. Instead of trying to cover the matter up or trying to make it disappear, churches should show they take these kinds of things seriously and expose the offending parties.

What First Baptist Church in Hammond needs is a Penn State moment. They need to come to terms with fifty years of cover-ups and denials. The deacons and church membership need to own their own culpability in this matter. (they first tried to deal with this by saying Schaap was on medical leave) They are they ones who did nothing about Jack Hyles and his serial-adulterer son David. They are the ones who allowed an abusive, controlling, cultic environment to develop in the church. (and those who stood against this were run off or left)

This will not be the last scandal in the IFB church movement. Their theology and ecclesiology makes it certain that scandals will continue to happen.

IFB church pastors, leaders, and members are human beings. That they will, despite their theology and practice, do things that are considered bad is a given. The only issue left to decide is HOW to respond to these bad acts. What First Baptist Church in Hammond and many churches and pastors in the IFB have done over the past fifty years in response to scandal is not the answer.

The Joe Paterno statues have been pulled down as a public act of contrition and it remains to be seen if the Jack Hyles statute will face the same fate. (there is a direct connection between the current scandal and the Jack Hyles scandal twenty three years ago) One can only hope that public scrutiny will force the IFB church movement to own their “sins” and that dramatic change will be made  to lessen the frequency of  predatory acts against children and teenagers. (if this was an affair between Schaap and an adult woman this story would be a non-issue, IMO)

The Evangelical Closet

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This entry is part 5 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

Most homes and apartments have closets. We use closets to store things, keep things out of sight, and to maintain order.  Metaphorically, a closet is a state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

A few years back my family and I lived in Yuma, Arizona. We lived in a beautiful home, the largest home we have ever lived in. The master bedroom had a ginormous closet, bigger than several offices I had over the years. This closet was perfect for a person like me. I have an Obsessive Compulsive Personality and I love order. I love everything having its own place.

So it is with Evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals have a ginormous closet they use to store the people and behaviors they don’t want other Evangelicals and the outside world to see. This closet is a metaphorical closet, a state or condition of secrecy, privacy, or obscurity.

Evangelicals believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God. They believe the Bible is  God’s guidebook for life, the roadmap for life, the divine standard for living. The Bible itself says:

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2 Peter 1:3

According to 2 Peter 1:3, God has given the Evangelical Christian EVERYTHING they need pertaining to life and godliness. Filled with the Holy Spirit and armed with an infallible, supernatural Bible, the Evangelical has everything he need to live a Godly, holy, righteous life.

According to the Bible, Evangelicals should be the cream of the moral and ethical crop. They should be pillars of virtue in their communities. Surely a person filled with God Spirit and having  God’s written blueprint for life should be head and shoulders above the rest of us mere fallible cretins.

Should be, yes,  but are they? No. Every week there is another Evangelical pastor, evangelist, professor, principal, teacher, or para-church leader in the news because of a moral failing or some sort of criminal behavior. Every week we hear of another Holy Spirit filled  Evangelical church member committing a crime, getting divorced, entering rehab, having an affair, having a baby out of wedlock, getting busted for drug possession or getting a DUI.

Study after study tells us that Evangelicals are no more or less moral and ethical than their non-Evangelical counterparts. The Evangelical’s life is indistinguishable from the life of non-Evangelicals. In every way the Evangelical is just like everyone else. Take away from the picture the trappings of the Evangelical ghetto and all that is left is a life that looks pretty much just like everyone else’s life.

Foundational to Evangelical life is the notion that some actions are sin. The Bible defines sin as transgression of the law, law meaning the law of God. When an Evangelical does something that is on the official Evangelical sin list (and the list varies from Evangelical to Evangelical, pastor to pastor, church to church) they are believe they are sinning against a thrice holy God. Every sin is an affront to God. Every sin is a repudiation of what Jesus did on the cross for the Evangelical.

Evangelicals hear their pastor and para-church leaders routinely delineate exactly what actions (and thoughts) are sins. Evangelicals are expected to NOT sin. They are expected to show in their lives that they are a child of King Jesus.

While Evangelicals will likely deny it, a lot of emphasis is placed on looking like and outwardly acting like an Evangelical Christian. At an early age Evangelicals learn to play the game. They learn the lingo and they learn what outward actions will make others think they are an Evangelical in good standing. Perception is what matters.

Evangelicals are taught that God wants them to be winners, to be victorious.  The Bible says, speaking of the Christian, if God be for us who can be against us? Paul encouraged Christians to run the race that was set before them. They were to always keep their eye of the goal of crossing the finish line as the winner of the race.

Evangelical church services can best be described as a pep rally or a motivational seminar. How-to sermons are common and the goal is to help church members live up to the Bible standard of conduct. Look around the average Evangelical church…a monoculture, people looking, thinking, and living the same way. Evangelicalism is the king of the religious manufacturing world, producing from one die Evangelical Christian after Evangelical Christian.

They all look and act the same way. To the outsider, the Evangelical way of life seems to be worthy of emulation. Their demeanor and way of life, complete with perfect marriages and families, cause many an outsider to desire what the Evangelical has.

The Evangelical façade gives the appearance that all is well in Evangelicalism, but if we look in the Evangelical closet we quickly find out that looks can be deceiving.

As I mentioned above, Evangelicals are not any different than their counterparts in the “world.” For the most part they live just like everyone else does. They have similar attitudes, desires, wants, and needs and therein lies the problem for Evangelicals. Many of their attitudes, desires, wants, and needs are considered “sin.” If they indulge these attitudes, desires, wants, and needs they are breaking God’s law and breaking God’s law results in them being out of fellowship with God and out of fellowship with their fellow Evangelicals.

Not only are they out of fellowship with God, according to the Bible, they will likely be chastised by God for being disobedient. Evangelicals fear God punishing them for giving in to “sinful” attitudes, desires, wants, and needs. Sunday after Sunday they are implored by their pastor to live right, get right with God, repent, be on fire for Jesus, and to so order their lives that Jesus would be proud to call them his own. They are told Jesus is coming soon and that they should want to be found faithfully serving Jesus when he comes again. After all, no Evangelical wants to be caught at an adult bookstore or at a bar when Jesus comes again.

Every Sunday Evangelicals leave their place of worship with a heart set on living a life that is pleasing to God. And then…an hour, a day, or a week later their “sinful” attitudes, desires, wants, and needs draw them back into the “world.” The Evangelical is caught in a constant struggle  between his humanness, who he really is, and this struggle leads to fear and guilt.

The Evangelical knows his life must be a certain way to be pleasing to God, and more importantly, for him to be accepted by his pastor and fellow Evangelicals. Since he can not successfully keep from giving in to his “sinful” attitudes, desires, wants, and needs, he learns to give the outward appearance of having it all together.

He takes all his “sinful” attitudes, desires, wants, and needs and shoves them to the back of the Evangelical closet. Once in the closet, no one will ever know what really goes on in his life. As long as he outwardly looks and acts like an Evangelical all will be well.

If there is one thing I know about the Evangelical closet, it is this…what is put in the closet rarely stays in the closet. Human nature, human wants, desires, and needs will most always win over commands and demands from a religious text like the Bible. When a struggle between God and human nature breaks out, human nature usually wins the battle.

Evangelicals are taught that basic human emotions and desires like angry, envy, jealousy, and lust are “sins.”  Eating too much,cursing, indulging in a smoke or a beer, having sex with the wrong person, watching the wrong programs on TV, voting for the wrong person, supporting the wrong causes, having the wrong kind of friends, wearing the wrong kind of clothes, not reading the Bible or praying every day, or reading the wrong kind of books, among countless other things, are “sins” according to the Evangelical interpretation of the Bible.

When in the company of fellow Evangelicals, the Evangelical thinks, acts, looks, and talks in the approved manner. Once away from the company of his fellow Evangelicals he often reverts to his base nature  and as much as he tries to keep his base needs, wants and desires in the closet, out they come.

Sometimes his “sinful” attitudes, desires, wants, and needs spill out for all to see, and once this happens everyone knows that the Evangelical is just like everyone else. He has the propensity to be a good or bad person just like everyone else. He is, outside of what he does with his time on Sunday, no different than the atheist, humanist,new-ager, or those he thinks worship false Gods.

The difference, of course, is that the Evangelical has presented himself to the world as a righteous, holy, moral, and ethical human being. He led others to believe that he is above the fray, different and better than the “sinners” in the world. His outward demonstration of Evangelical faith gives the appearance that he is a devoted follower of Jesus, a man committed to living a life of devotion, a life of godliness.

And then the truth comes out. Jack Schaap, David Hyles, Jack Hyles, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, Bob Gray, Jim Bakker, and countless Evangelical men and women you have never heard of, are exposed as fornicators, adulterers, child molesters,  or thieves. Out of the closet comes Evangelical men and women who secretly have homosexual relationships. Out of the closet comes Evangelicals with computers filled with pornographic images. Every behavior found among the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world is found among Evangelicals.

Evangelicals are shocked to find out that the people they trusted to lead them, to teach them the Bible, are hypocrites, living one way while telling them to live another way. Often they are shocked to find out the people they went to church with every Sunday are perverts, alcoholics, drug addicts, and tax cheats. 

They are shocked to find out that Bro. So and So abused his wife and that Sister So and So is having an affair with one of the deacons.  They are shocked to find out that the adult Sunday school  swears like a sailor, subscribes to Playboy, and watches pay-per-view porn. They are astounded to find out that the pastor’s daughter got pregnant at age fourteen and had an abortion.

Those of us outside of Evangelicalism often have a perverse sense of delight when Evangelicals are exposed as being just like the rest of us. When a Jack Schaap, James Henderson, or a Ted Haggard is exposed for all the world to see we cheer and say, serves them right.

Those of us who were once Evangelicals often forget what we once were. We forget how we used to live our lives. We forget that we had our own secret “sins” that we stored ever-so-carefully in the Evangelical closet.

If we remember where we came from, perhaps we can then have a bit of sympathy and understanding for Evangelicals who find their humanness exposed for all to see. By being exposed they are now forced to come to terms with their humanness. They are forced to admit that, no they are not any different than the people they called heathens, sinners, degenerates, reprobates, or godless. It is hard for Evangelicals to admit, I am  human, to admit that, for all their sanctimony and Bible-thumping they are no different than atheists like me.

The first step in the twelve step embracing your humanness program is to admit you are not better better than anyone else. This first step is hard for Evangelicals because they have spent their entire lives thinking they were special, that they were unique, chosen by God.

I am not suggesting that all bad behaviors by Evangelicals are just the Evangelicals being human and should be excused. We all know that certain behaviors are wrong regardless of who is doing it. Harmful acts against children are always wrong. Physically or sexually assaulting others is always wrong. We understand that there is a small set of human behaviors  that must not be tolerated and should be punished.(like my counselor told me, we can all agree that killing, roasting, and eating a baby is wrong)

Many of the Evangelical “sins” are not what non-Evangelicals would consider wrong. It is the Evangelical moral and ethical code that says certain behaviors are wrong and often Evangelicals find themselves doing things that are contrary to the official Evangelical code of living. Their behavior is only wrong when viewed in the context of their Evangelical beliefs.

A central tenet of the Evangelical religion is self-denial. (I have written about this here) Evangelicals are taught and expected to deny who and what they really are. If the Bible says something is a “sin” then the Evangelical MUST refrain from doing it regardless of what his desire, want, or need is.

An Evangelical man knows he is a homosexual or bisexual. No matter how much he tries to deny his desires, no matter how often he tries to pray away the gay, he still has homosexual or bisexual desires. He may even marry a godly Christian woman, but buried deep in his Evangelical closet is the fact that he is a homosexual, that he desires to love men and have sex with men. All the self-denial in the world won’t change who he really is and what he really desires.

Evangelical Christianity considers every normal sexual desire a sin except heterosexual, monogamous, married sex. Homosexuality, bisexuality, sex before marriage, non-monogamous sex, and masturbation are all routinely labeled as “sins” against God. Looking at pornographic magazines, watching pay-per-pew porn movies, or perusing videos at youporn.com are all considered “sinful” acts that no godly Evangelical would ever commit. (Evangelicals commit these “sins” as often as non Evangelicals do)

The Evangelical is taught to fight against his humanness. He must deny the lusts of the flesh. He must die to self.  He must crucify the flesh. But he can’t. No matter how much he tries, his humanness still forces its way to the forefront and he ends up doing things that his church, pastor, and fellow Evangelicals consider “sinful.”

It should come as no surprise that living like this often results in mental breakdown. Ex-Evangelicals like me often spend countless hours in therapy trying to reconnect with who and what we really are. Riddled with fear and guilt, our lives are in need of complete demolition and reconstruction. Everything must be stripped away before the true, authentic person can be found again. Who we really are was swallowed up by our devotion to God, the church, and the Bible and only by casting those things aside can we find once again who and what we really are. 

It often takes years and years to get back what was taken from us. As we regain our humanness, we are often confronted with angry thoughts and feelings. We feel betrayed and we wonder how could we have been sucked into the Evangelical way of life. We wonder…at what point did we surrender our humanness? For people like me, we surrendered our humanness as children. We lived with fear and guilt for decades, and even now we battle with an Evangelical hangover. We wonder if we will ever truly be free from our past, free from those things that robbed us of who we really are.

I am an avid fan of the Showtime hit, Dexter. The main character of Dexter is forensic blood splatter expert by day, serial killer by night, Dexter Morgan. Dexter’s sister Debra is a detective and she recently found out that Dexter is a serial killer. She has decided that she is going to keep Dexter from killing. In the latest episode of Dexter, Debra’s attempts to keep Dexter from killing cause a rift between her and Dexter. Why? Debra is driving Dexter crazy by trying to keep him from being who he really is. She wants him to stop killing and he want to follow what he calls his “dark passenger” and kill people he believes deserve to be killed. (Dexter follows a code given to him by his father Harry, a code that Dexter uses to determine who should be killed)

Debra finally realizes that Dexter must be free to be who he is. Little does she know that he never did stop killing. Dexter is a serial killer, and killing is what serial killers do.

Evangelicals are humans, and like Dexter, their humanness calls to them and demands attention. No matter how long or how often they force their humanness into the Evangelical closet, it continues to call out to them. They can no more deny who they are than Dexter Morgan can deny that he is a serial killer.

The only hope for the Evangelical is to leave Evangelicalism. Its beliefs and practices are not healthy. Any belief system that requires a person to deny their humanness and calls normative human behavior “sin” is not healthy and should be rejected.

I am not suggesting that atheism,agnosticism or humanism is the answer.  For some of us it is, but for many people, atheism,agnosticism or humanism will not give them what they need emotionally or spiritually. (and atheists are naïve to think otherwise)  All of us need need beliefs, connections, and interactions that celebrate and respect our humanness while giving meaning, purpose, and significance to our lives.

There are countless religious groups and beliefs a person can find meaningful without losing who they really are. The Evangelical must be willing to break free from the certainty that Evangelicalism purports to give, and embark on a journey of self-discovery.

This journey is called the human life, a life of embracing who and what we are. A life of depth and meaning that allows us to find a life that matters. This is a journey we must walk alone. There is no right or wrong  path as long as we walk with openness, honesty, and integrity.

Above all…we must embrace who and what we are.

IFB Pastor Bob Gray Shows His True Colors

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This entry is part 6 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor, Bob Gray (not the pedophile pastor Bob Gray from Jacksonville, Florida) pastored the Longview Baptist Temple in Longview Texas for over thirty years. Gray turned the church franchise over to his son and became a traveling preacher. He blogs at Solving Church Problems.

Bob Gray is a prototypical, Sword of the Lord, Jack Hyles loving IFB preacher. He preaches an antinomian, one-two-three repeat after me, pray the sinners prayer,  easy-believism gospel and he is what is called a hyper-soulwinner. Gray is of the opinion that winning souls to Jesus is the only thing that really matters. Gray, a consummate bean counter, can tell you right down to the individual how many people he has won to Christ and how many people were won to Christ under his ministry.

Over the years, Gray and the Longview Baptist Temple won more souls to Christ than actually live in Longview Texas. While the Longview Baptist Temple grew to be quite large, the number of souls saved far outnumbered the number of people baptized and added to the church membership. Gray, like many of his ilk, is only concerned with people  “getting people saved.” If they never get baptized or become a part of the church? Regrettable, but hey…there are more souls to save. (he was taught this philosophy by his idol Jack Hyles)

Gray is a big supporter of Jack Hyles. He is insistent, to this day, that Jack Hyles was a tower of virtue and that he never did the things he was accused of. (I believe Gray attended Hyles Anderson College) Recently, Gray has taken to his blog to defend the IFB over charges of widespread abuse and sexual misconduct. While he admits Jack Schaap, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond Indiana, should not have had sex with a 16/17 year old girl in his church, he is quick to suggest that Schaap’s behavior is not typical of what goes on in IFB churches.

Enter one Jeri Massi. Jeri Massi is a former IFB church member who blogs at Blog on the Way, Information and Resources to assist victims of church abuse in Christian Fundamentalism.

Jeri is an acquaintance of mine. While we disagree with one another on religion, she being a Christian and me being an atheist, we both agree that sexual and emotional abuse is quite widespread in IFB churches. We both agree that these abuses should be exposed to the light of day.

Recently, Jeri did a post on corporate repentance. Her post evidently got under Gray’s skin and he has taken to his blog to attack Jeri Massi. His response to her is funny (and childish)  and it reveals what kind of man he really is. It also reveals the lengths some IFB preachers will go to protect the IFB kingdom.

In a blog post titled,WRITING WRONGS-It is Time to Call The Forums and Blogs for What They Are, Gray wrote:

…Enter “Christian” forums and Blogs that attempt to copy the style of expose journalism.  They make it their business to expose things that are really none of any ones business.  I expect the lost world to gossip and slander, but I expect better of Christians.  

Do not misunderstand me.  I believe the internet is a wonderful place to fight error and to teach truth.  However, when it comes to matters of a local church, many times they become a place to learn the latest “scoop.”  

How is it that heathens like Tricia Lacriox or Jeri Massi can be “trusted” vehicles of information that they and their fellow demonettes desire ONLY for the purpose of destruction?  Why would we go to them for our information?  Worse yet why would we believe their information?

The answer to that question is troubling.  I hear people say it is because that is the only place they find out what is going on. WAIT!   Why do you need to find out what is going on and why would you trust avowed enemies to the cause of Christ to be your informers?  That is nonsense!  It is also evil!  Let me help you with something. You do not need to know!

Allow me to give you an example.  Where do these information streetwalkers receive their information?  A church is dealing with a situation that is horrible.  Someone on the inside has information and they give it to the proper authorities in their church and for their ears only.  These authorities deal with the problem.

However, there are evil individuals with info who are moles and who will be judged of God for their wickedness.  They garner information  not for the purpose of helping, but for sharing with those in bloggers sphere who disdain soul winning independent Baptist churches.

Do they report the number of souls saved the previous week, the number of converts baptized, the Sunday school attendance, the lives salvaged, or any good being done?  NO! They are like vultures who do not see the beauty, but rather only the carcases of the dead. 

These are haters of soul winning churches.  Their STATED goal is to destroy those soul winning churches. They want these churches to go away so they find the things they can use to condemn and twist in order to accomplish their goal.  THEN, WE READ IT!?!?

These forums and blogs create arguments, bickering, slander, strife, and discord among the brethren.  These demonettes rejoice because they have accomplished their goal of casting a curse on that which they despise.  Anyone who questions them is then attacked for “covering sin” or “enabling sinners.”  These demonettes are morons! They have no idea what they are writing about…

In a blog post titled, Jeri Massi—Liar Liar Pants on Fire!, Gray wrote:

…I am appalled at the sins of those who besmirch the office of ministry as well as any one, man or woman, who do such despicable acts, but I refuse to indict a whole community because of a few. 

I think we are all accountable in some respects because we do not walk closely enough with God to be able to spot such people.  However, I know of no one who on purpose allows such things to occur. I only know of gossips who paint a picture without really knowing the truth.

Then people like you Jeri carry their water to incriminate good churches who are doing their best to deal with such wicked people.  Get the facts Jeri.  

Again, you did not call me.  You did not seek the other side of the story and you made a BIG mistake by not doing so.  Which makes me wonder about others who have been smeared by your lap top gossip. 

If they are guilty lock them up! I have no problem letting people know who the predators are. But, do not indict everyone.  Check out the Scriptures on being a false accuser Jeri!

Why do we go soul winning?  Because of the fact that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  

Let me see if I understand you correctly…we should not go soul winning because of wicked men who do wicked things? Maybe that is why God does not call women to be pastors.  Logic like yours deserves to be studied? Ha!

Jeri Massi, you are in this for you. I have been in the ministry for 40 years and have given my life to help the hurting while your claim to fame is living off of victims.  

If you were an honest person you would have contacted me before running to your blog to condemn something you knew nothing of except through the eyes of those haters who lie and supply you with slop. 

Why don’t you put out your cigar, shut your Hollywood movies off, put away your favorite beer, find a good Christian man to marry, have some babies, and get a real life!

“Run if you want to, hide if you will, but I came here to stay!”

In a blog post titled, I Owe Jeri Massi an Apology, Gray wrote:

Please forgive me Jeri!  I was under a wrong impression and it really grieves me that I did not see the truth.  I did not really know you and I was under a false judgment.  

I did know your brother Vince for we graduated together at Hyles-Anderson College.   I really liked your brother. I know you and him have had some misunderstandings, but let that be as it may.

I just want to make this thing right with you before it really got out of hand.  You see this is a real problem among those of us who are independent Baptist people.  IF we are not careful we assume facts not in evidence. 

Of  course, we are not a denomination and have no headquarters and our only rule of faith and practice is the King James Bible.  This is what brings us together. 

Thus, we are in loose association with each other organizational wise.  We come together based on a Bible principle of “mutual faith.”  As a result we are drawn together not by a political or corporate entity but by “mutual faith.” We have no elections and we have no president for we only have our mutual beliefs.  Each church is independent of the others.

It is absolutely wrong of me to have entered into this with you at the level I did. Please forgive me! May we go back to the beginning and start over in our conversation. Maybe we can come to a consensus and help many of your friends in the internet forum world at the same time?

Many of these others, with whom you associate, I am just now starting to get my mind wrapped around who they are.  I do sense that there is a longing and a searching among you and your friends for truth.  I do not dispute that at all.  I do however think we have all started off on the wrong foot.  Hopefully we can rectify this. 

May I begin with Scriptures please?

Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death…”

Revelation 20:14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 6:23b, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Now Jeri would you like to trust Jesus Christ to pay for all of your past sins, present sins, and future sins?  If so would you bow in your heart and ask Christ to save you.  

I can provide a prayer to help you if you would like, but remember a prayer is just words and a prayer cannot save you.  A prayer is communication between you and Christ.  Jeri, many people are saved before they ever utter a word or walk an aisle in church.  So, if you in child like faith will open your soul and let Jesus know you want to trust Him He will save your soul.

Jesus is a perfect gentleman for He will not force His way into your soul. Jeri, it is not the shed blood, but the shed and applied blood that cleanses a man’s soul.

Jeri I again must apologize I did not realize until I saw your love for Buddha of your basic beliefs.  I apologize for mocking your cigars, your love for beer, your love for the filth of Hollywood, and so on.  No one can be saved by quitting cigars, movies, or liquor.  It is faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that saves a person from  going to Hell.

It did not dawn on me of your spiritual condition. Again, I am so sorry!

Matthew 15:14, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”

Jeri, you are blind and have a spiritual vail over your eyes and truly cannot see.  Again, I am sorry I did not see this in the beginning. It appears I assumed something that was just not true about you. JUST A THOUGHT!

Gray concludes, based on what she has written, that Jeri Massi is not a Christian. But wait, Dr Bob, Jeri prayed the sinners prayer. Doesn’t that make her a Christian no matter how she lives or what she says?  According to Gray’s soteriology, even a Christian turned atheist like me is still a Christian. Once saved, always saved…what a deal.

I have no idea about the veracity of the issues Jeri Massi has blogged about. I do know her past work that I have read has been accurate and I have no reason to believe she is not being accurate now. The real issue in not what Jeri wrote. Gray is upset that he has no control over what she writes. Gray, the misogynistic man that he is, is furious he can’t force Jeri to submit to his authority or any other authority for that matter.

Gray wrote one line that pretty well reveals where he is coming from. He says to Jeri:

Why don’t you put out your cigar, shut your Hollywood movies off, put away your favorite beer, find a good Christian man to marry, have some babies, and get a real life!

The internet has empowered writers to bring to light the dark secrets of the IFB church movement. Prior to the internet, the IFB gatekeepers could control the flow of information. Not any more. Now there are countless writers airing the dirty laundry of the IFB church movement. Men like Gray are watching their kingdom slip away and there is nothing they can do about it except throw a childish temper tantrum like he did in the blog posts mentioned above.

Dr. Bob, if you are reading this,  I have a message from God for you and the IFB church movement:

Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin

Or in English…God has numbered your kingdom and finished it, You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting, Your kingdom has been divided and given to churches and pastors who love people and don’t abuse them. (Daniel 5 with a slight Bruce Gerencser twist)

You can read Jeri Massi’s responses here, here, here, and here.

Adulterous Pastor Jack Schaap Charged Today

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This entry is part 7 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A former northwest Indiana pastor was charged in federal court today with taking a minor across state lines in and has signed a plea agreement, prosecutors announced.

Jack A. Schaap, of Crete, and Dyer, Ind., was charged in a criminal information in U.S. District Court in Hammond, Ind., according a news release from the district’s U.S. attorney’s office.

The FBI had confirmed last month that it was investigating whether Schaap, the former pastor of an Indiana megachurch, broke any laws during a relationship with a girl who was 17 last month that led to his ouster from First Baptist Church in Hammond.

Schaap, 54, admitted to adultery and “improper behavior” with the teenager, leading a board of deacons to fire him last month, a church spokesman said at the time.

Schaap had a relationship between June 1 and July 30 with a girl who had not yet turned 18, and took her from Indiana to Illinois and to Michigan, according to the criminal information. Schaap took the girl “with the intent that she engage in sexual activity for which (Schaap could) be charged with a criminal offense,” according to the information.

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of several items Schaap is alleged to have used in committing the crime, including an iPad, an iPhone, a digital camera, a voice recorder and two computer flash drives, according to the information.

In his plea agreement, which also was filed in federal court today, Schaap admits that he had sex with the girl, the girl was under his care or supervision, and he used a computer to persuade the girl to have sex with him illegally.

Schaap was scheduled to have his initial court appearance Wednesday at 3 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry in Hammond. As part of the plea deal, he waived his right to have the charges against him considered by a grand jury for indictment.

An FBI spokesman said last month that the agency was investigating whether Schaap was involved in “an improper sexual relationship with an underage.”

Serial Adulterer David Hyles Has Been Restored

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This entry is part 8 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

David Hyles, son of adulterer Jack Hyles, once an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor and a serial adulterer, has come out of the hole he crawled into (link no longer active) over twenty years ago, and he telling all who will listen that he has been restored.

Restoration in the IFB movement is like a slum lord who remodels a house. The slum lord is only concerned about the rent money so he rehabs the house just enough to make it look acceptable and then he puts the FOR RENT sign in the window. Behind the paint and underneath the stained carpet is the same cockroach infested house that existed before the slum lord rehabbed the house. So it is with restoration in the IFB church movement and in much of Evangelicalism.

David Hyles has found two preachers to help him rehab his life,Mike Johnston and David Baker. Johnston runs a ministry called Promise Ministries International Center for Biblical Studies (PMI) in Battle Creek, Michigan. PMI is distance bible and pastoral training ministry that focuses its efforts on people in prison.

The following  graphic from the PMI website will succinctly describe for readers the focus of PMI.

David Baker, a graduate of Hyles Anderson College,  is the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Columbia, Tennessee.

What kind of church is Lighthouse Baptist Church? Again, one brief quotation from their doctrinal statement will tell readers all they need to know about the Church:

“We believe  that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (2 Tim. 3:16)  and that “every word of God is pure” (Prov. 30:5). We believe that the 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament) of our English scriptures, which is  the King James Bible (1611), were given under the direct supervision and supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit and therefore constitute the perfect, preserved and inspired words of God without any admixture of error (Ps. 12:6,7; Ps. 19:7). We do not subscribe to the heresy that only the “original manuscripts”  are inspired and preserved. This Holy Bible is our sole authority for truth for all Christian belief and practice.”

David Hyles has found two pastors who hold to his dead father’s philosophies and beliefs to help him restore his life. Asking IFB pastors, especially those who hold to perverted, truncated cheap view of grace, to help you restore your life is like asking the town drunk to help you stop drinking.

I am all for people trying to turn their lives around. (though I tend to think change is hard) I am all for people trying to change their ways. However, I think to do so a person must own their past behavior, be honest about their actions, and not expect people to just forgive and forget.

David Hyles, by all accounts, was a serial adulterer. He had sex with numerous women in multiple churches. His sexual conquests are well documented. His father covered up his perverse behavior and helped him get a fresh start at a new church. In the new church David Hyles repeated the same conduct that got him into trouble in the first place.

In 2007, the following appeared on The Conservative Babylon website:

Claims to fame: Son of Jack Hyles; former Youth Minister, First Baptist Church of Hammond; ex-pastor, Miller Road Baptist Church (Garland, Texas); accused serial adulterer; divorcé; cohabitator; alleged child abuser; suspected child killer

Moral apex: As the story goes (we don’t know; we weren’t there), somebody at Hyles’s church discovered porn magazines containing ads for group sex which, they reportedly claimed, featured photos of Hyles having sex with church member Brenda Stevens (by some accounts, the daughter of a deacon). A story soon surfaced that Hyles had had extramarital sex with some 19 female members of the church.

Every one of these women was apparently stupid enough to think she was Brother Dave’s “one-and-only,” according to a voice on a taped phone conversation attributed to Dave’s wife Paula. And, as you can guess, it appears more than a few marriages where destroyed when the truth came out.

What happened next: It appears to outsiders that Miller Road Baptist threw him out, and his wife divorced him and took off with their two kids, and he started living with Stevens (out of — gasp! — wedlock) in Illinois.

Where it gets really tragic: Stevens had a small son, Brent. Dave Hyles was suspected of abusing the boy — who had suffered some eight or nine broken bones in his short life, which had never been treated. Brent was taken out of Hyles and Steven’s Illinois home and given to his biological father in Texas. Within a few months, for reasons beyond comprehension, Brent was returned to Stevens.

And then, in late 1985, 15-month-old Brent was found dead in his crib. Hyles, who had been alone with the child, claimed he found him not breathing, and called police. It has been suggested in a few online articles that Dave’s father Jack arrived before the cops did.

A coroner’s inquest into Brent’s death (at which Hyles took exercised his Fifth Amendment rights — and which the baby’s mother doesn’t appear to have attended) was apparently thwarted because the little boy had been embalmed and buried (reportedly the very next day after his death), before a proper autopsy could be performed. (An empty bottle of Actifed — for which a prescription had been filled only the day before Brent’s death — was found at the scene.)

Without any physical evidence of wrongdoing, Hyles was not indicted. The case remains open.

If those who follow the Hyles story are correct (waving at the Fighting Fundamentalists!), n the mid-1990s Hyles went to work teaching Sunday school at a Pinellas Park Baptist Church in Florida — which reportedly expelled him on charges of adultery. It’s also been reported that he was thrown out of the next church he attended (Berean Baptist Church in Orange Park, Florida), for “sexual misconduct” with three different women.

(One of those women is assumed to be church secretary Joyce Phaneuf, who appears to have been arrested for prostitution in 2003. Assuming this is the same Joyce Phaneuf, her mug shot and arrest report — which notes the tattoo on her right-upper thigh, reading “David’s Girl” — are available at everybody’s favorite finger-wagging site, The Smoking Gun.)

Just when you think it can’t get any more tragic: Hyles, it’s said, finally married Stevens and they had their own child together, a boy named Jack David. In March, 1999, when the child was five years old, Stevens was reported to have run over him with her car, killing him. According to news reports, she claimed he must have fallen out of the vehicle, and she didn’t know it….

What does David Hyles say to reports like the one on The Conservative Babylon? He ignores it and refuses to directly confirm or reject the behaviors he is accused of. Instead, in a blog page titled, David Hyles: My Story, (page no longer available) Hyles writes:

Others may be reading this book merely out of curiosity. You heard of me and read many of the horrible stories about me. Now you want to know what I am going to say in defense or in explanation. I trust you will not be too disappointed, but this is not a tell all book. I have no intention of defending myself nor do I plan on trying to separate the truth from the legion of lies. I do not believe it would bring honor to God for me to try and explain what is and is not true. Explanation often leads to excuse or blame and I desperately fear that. You do not need to read about my sins. You just need to know that whatever I did do when I was away from the Father, God in His rich mercy and grace has restored me to HIMSELF. This is a book about grace. I trust that God’s grace and not my sins will be glorified.

In other words, whatever Hyles did or didn’t do he ain’t tellin’. God has forgiven him, it’s under the blood, time to move on. Time to move on meaning, I have written a book I want you to buy.

Hyles has some sharp words for his critics:

First you are hurting the lost. Several years ago I worked with a young man who knew I was a Christian. This young man was searching. He had dabbled into several religions in his search. He respected me and began to question me about Christ. God was working in his life and I felt he was very close to accepting Christ as his Savior. Someone, in an attempt to hurt my business began circulating an email through my workplace and he received it, anonymously, of course. He never again listened to me and eventually our paths parted. I pray every day for God to save him. It was not MY sins that turned him away. No, actually it was the evil spirit of those my accusers who claimed to be Christians. He wanted no part of that.

Secondly, you are hurting the fallen. Countless Christians have seen what you have done to me and to others who have fallen and decided to just disappear rather than being restored. I believe that there have been suicides and other tragedies that could have been prevented if a fallen brother or sister had felt there was hope. You diatribes on your filthy forums serve Satan’s purpose well.

Thirdly you are hurting those who I have hurt. Please hear me on this. Every fallen pastor or Christian leaves hurting people in their sinful wake. I did. I know that. It breaks my heart. David did too and his heart was broken. There is little we can do to repair the damage. Their deliverance must come from God and it will not come from revenge or retribution. It will come only from forgiveness. Please allow God to be God and to deal with his children as He will. Stay out of it and encourage those who have been hurt to find their peace from God not from your vigilante system of internet justice.

Allow me to elaborate on this just a bit more. People who are hurt by a sinner are destroyed by bitterness. No one’s sin can destroy your life. Our loving Father would not allow that. He stands ready as a loving Father to pick you up and mend your broken heart. Sinners (and that includes us all) do bad things that affect other’s lives. For all have sinned… However, if we get them to take their eyes off of the offender and place it on the Savior they can be healed. Closure does not come from our flawed idea of justice. It comes from letting God heal us even as He deals with the one who offended or hurt us.

Fourthly you are hurting you! The manure you are hurling fails to hit me but your hands sure do smell of the filth you have no business picking up. I am sorry for the pain that makes you feel that somehow you will gain some kind of satisfaction from trying to hurt me. I wish this book could give you the peace you are lacking but I sincerely doubt it will.

Finally and most importantly, you are hurting the Father. I have news for you that is not going to please you, but here goes. GOD LOVES ME and I AM SAVED AND FORGIVEN! I fell but, you see, when a Christian falls we do not fall away from grace, we fall into it, hence the name of this book. I am in His grace and one day I will stand before Him clothed in the righteousness of His Son and not the sin of my own.  Why would you dare try and hurt the heart of God? Is it because there is unconfessed sin in your life? Are you so far from Him that you have lost the sweetness of His mercy and grace in your own life? That is sad.

David Hyles, like countless abusers before him who refuse to own their past behavior, points the finger at those who attempt to hold him accountable for what he did. Hyles thinks he has a get out of jail free card. He thinks the blood of Jesus has cleansed him from all of his past actions and if God has forgiven him so should everyone else.

David Hyles perpetrated acts against real flesh and blood people and if he is serious about turning his life around he MUST deal with the men, women, and children he personally hurt. Putting his past actions under the blood, cast into the sea of God’s forgetfulness, might play well in IFB churches, but here in the real world where real hurt most be atoned for, David Hyles is expected to own his past behavior, make a complete confession, and, as much as is humanly possible, make restitution to those he hurt.

David Hyles is writing a book. Donating all the proceeds of this book to non IFB social groups that help abused women would be a sign that Hyles is serious about getting his life in order. Anyone want to start a betting pool on the likelihood that that will happen? Put me down for 10.00 on “there is no chance in hell or heaven that will happen.”

It is clear from David Hyles’ blog, Fallen In Grace, (link no longer active) that he is still a believer in IFB doctrines. No matter what “sins” he committed, no matter how perverse his life was, because of the IFB doctrine of “once saved, always saved,” Hyles was always a Christian. No matter how many people he hurt and abused he we was always God’s child. (and, according to this pernicious doctrine, I am still a Christian. Once you become a Christian you can never leave, just like Hotel California) This turns the Christian gospel of grace on its head and no matter what a person might have done, if they, at one time or the other, mouthed the right prayer, they are a Christian.

This is why David Hyles can reinvent himself and start fresh. Like countless preachers before him, his God has hosed off the shit from his life, and he is a clean, fresh-smelling Christian.However, I suspect the people who David Hyles hurt and abused still can smell the shit. Their lives were forever marred by the perverse actions of David Hyles.

I have no doubt David Hyles will convince a lot of people that he is truly a new man and that God has a wonderful, new, exciting ministry for him. Christians love a comeback story and Hyles is counting on their gullibility to make a new life for himself.

For those of us who lived through the David Hyles scandals and the Jack Hyles scandal, we are not easily fooled. When David Hyles demonstrates true acts of repentance and penitence then people like me might, in time, be willing to give him a twelfth chance. Based on what Hyles has written so far, he sees no need for repentance and penitence. He sees no need to make things right with those he victimized. God has forgiven him and THAT is all that matters.  Because of this, I am inclined to think that David Hyles is just another disgraced IFB preacher trying to make a comeback because he needs some money.

Jack Schaap Update

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This entry is part 9 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap

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Why did Jack Schaap have sex with a minor that he was counseling?

The Post-Tribune reports:

The former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond says in a new court filing that health and financial problems preceded a sexual relationship he had with a then-16-year-old girl last summer.

Jack Schaap, who pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Hammond in September to transporting a minor across state lines for sexual relations, says in his sentencing memorandum that the stress from his health and his church’s depleting finances led to him suffering from depression shortly before he started the month-long relationship with the girl, who turned 17 a week after it started. Donations to his mega-church, one of the largest in the country, were down, which meant the church had to lay off employees and Schaap was working up to 100 hours a week.

Part of that increased work included counseling students, one of whom was his victim, at First Baptist’s schools.

Schaap, with support from federal attorneys as part of his plea bargain, is seeking a below-guideline sentence of 10 years, which is the mandatory minimum he can serve under the charge.

He acknowledges in his filing he violated a position of trust with the girl but also notes his long service to the community.

“While serving as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Dr. Schaap committed his entire life to the service of his local community as well as to the world at large,” the filing says.

It mentions his work providing financial aid at his church’s schools to students who couldn’t afford tuition, starting a substance abuse treatment program in Hammond and raising $100 million to support those programs.

Along with the memorandum, Schaap also filed 140 letters of support from family and church members. Most said that Schaap’s crime was not indicative of who he really is.

“We were known for our happy marriage, and it was not a hypocrisy; it was real,” Cindy Schaap, Jack Schaap’s wife, said in a letter.

Other people wrote of the help they received from Schaap, whether through him helping them find a job or getting them into a drug rehabilitation program.

“His preaching has helped me to understand a lot about my behavior and has been a great tool in the healing of my marriage and relationship with my children,” Paul Collins wrote in another letter.

Bob Marshall wrote about Schaap’s work with the Hammond Initiative to train mentors and tutors for children in Hammond schools and also help pregnant students graduate from high school.

Schaap is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 15.

In today’s news, Jack Schaap’s victim has asked for a sentencing delay so she can prepare her statement. The Post-Tribune reports:

Federal attorneys are asking that the Jan. 15 sentencing hearing for former First Baptist Church of Hammond pastor Jack Schaap be delayed so his victim has more time to prepare a statement and restitution request.

Jack Schaap Sentencing Memorandum

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This entry is part 10 of 16 in the seriesJack Hyles and Jack Schaap
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Jack Schaap

If you have been following the Jack Schaap case, you know his sentencing has been delayed until March 12, 2013.  On January 3, 2013, lawyers for Jack Schaap filed a Sentencing Memorandum with the US District Court. You can read the entire document here. (it is a PDF file)

In the memorandum Schaap admits to the following:

Unfortunately, for a four-week period during the summer of 2012, he acted in a
manner contrary to the entire balance of his life by engaging in sexual activity with a
young woman with whom he had only recently come to counsel. The government
asserts the sexual activity to include the following: On June 20 and June 27, 2012, Dr.
Schaap caused the young woman to be transported from Indiana to Illinois where they engaged in sexual activity prohibited by Illinois law. And, during the week of July 10, 2012, he caused the same young woman to be transported from Indiana to Michigan where they engaged in sexual activity prohibited by Michigan law. Subsequently, during the week of July 15, 2012, while remaining in Indiana, he and the young woman engaged in sexual activity prohibited by Indiana law. Dr. Schaap does not dispute that the sexual activity began on June 20, 2012 (approximately one week before the young woman’s 17 birthday) and ended during the week of July 16, 2012 (approximately four weeks later)

Most of the eighteen page document is a recitation of all the good Schaap has done in the past. It is a plea for leniency. Schaap could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

I have mixed feelings about how long he should go to prison. What are your thoughts on the matter?

If you have not read my previous posts on this subject please read the Jack Hyles and Jack Schaap series.