Possible Da Vinci Painting Found in Scotland | NewsFeed | TIME.com

$150 million.
We have our own collection of art at home.

Possible Da Vinci Painting Found in Scotland | NewsFeed | TIME.com:

'via Blog this'

WELS Following the Fundies in Their Undies

Popcorn and soda at the worship service.
Snack munching during the prayers.
Entertainment.
And abuse of members.

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "List of Hyles Related Clergy Sex Abuse Cases « Blo...":

The WELS always seems to be a day late and a dollar short. This is especially true when it comes to the latest trends. Interestingly enough, the IFB appears to have been a trendsetter in some areas even when the Church Growth Movement was in its prenatal stage. From this article, here are some strange similarities between the IFB and the WELS:

"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."

"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."

".....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 bigger the church attendance the more authority you were granted and the more weight your words had."
win them
wet them
work them
waste them
"They know people are “attracted” (the attractional method) to the Church by the pastor, the programs, the building, etc"

***

GJ - I saw doctrinal parallels right away, since JP Meyer called for making a decision for UOJ. The UOJ people are very shallow and have no concept of the Means of Grace.

Fundies often use adult baptism as a type of communion, repeating often for a definite cleansing. Multiple baptisms of adults among the Southern Babtists are a scandal they do not want to address.

The more legalistic the group, the more opaque the cover-ups. Calling in the bigshot lawyer reminded me of Joel Hochmuth getting a top lawyer right away, the facts about his previous crimes being obscured by a cloud of non responses. Who counseled him and his wife? - for example.

It also reminded me of VP Huebner's dad defending the murderer Al Just - people still insisting that good ol' Al was innocent, in spite of his conviction, his marriage to his children's baby-sitter, and her subsequent terrified escape from him.

Or DP Ed Werner, sitting the state prison, arranging for the adoption of illegitimate babies from his congregation. Everyone in his district knew about him for 20 years, but WELS had a cover story right away - another big, fat, lie. Keith Free, now at The Love Shack said about the story, "That is they told me. I hope it's true." No, it was not an arrest because DP Werner slapped two girls for being saucy. It was 20 years of sex abuse in his own congregation.

The CLC  (sic) - more of the same.

LCMS - where to start?

How to become a Church Growth consultant in WELS,
get recommended by WELS for a church,
and work with the Little Sect on the Prairie as a legitimate pastor.
Find the CG/UOJ experts - three hints.

Israeli scholar completes mission to 'fix' Bible - Yahoo! News

Israeli scholar completes mission to 'fix' Bible - Yahoo! News:


RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — For the past 30 years, Israeli Judaic scholar Menachem Cohen has been on a mission of biblical proportions: Correcting all known textual errors in Jewish scripture to produce a truly definitive edition of the Old Testament.

His edits, focusing primarily on grammatical blemishes and an intricate set of biblical symbols, mark the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in nearly 500 years.

Poring over thousands of medieval manuscripts, the 84-year-old Cohen identified 1,500 inaccuracies in the Hebrew language texts that have been corrected in his completed 21-volume set. The final chapter is set to be published next year.

The massive project highlights how Judaism venerates each tiny biblical calligraphic notation as a way of ensuring that communities around the world use precisely the same version of the holy book.

According to Jewish law, a Torah scroll is considered void if even a single letter is incorrect or misplaced. Cohen does not call for changes in the writing of the sacred Torah scrolls used in Jewish rites, which would likely set off a firestorm of objection and criticism. Instead, he is aiming for accuracy in versions used for study by the Hebrew-reading masses.

For the people of the book, Cohen said, there was no higher calling.

"The people of Israel took upon themselves, at least in theory, one version of the Bible, down to its last letter," Cohen said, in his office at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.

The last man to undertake the challenge was Jacob Ben-Hayim, who published the Mikraot Gedolot, or Great Scriptures, in Venice in 1525. His version, which unified the religion's varying texts and commentaries under a single umbrella, has remained the standard for generations, appearing to this day on bookshelves of observant Jews the world over.

Since Ben-Hayim had to rely on inferior manuscripts and commentaries, numerous inaccuracies crept in and were magnified in subsequent editions.

The errors have no bearing on the Bible's stories and alter nothing in its meaning. Instead, for example, in some places the markers used to denote vowels in Hebrew are incorrect; or a letter in a word may be wrong, often the result of a centuries old transcription error. Some of the fixes are in the notations used for cantillation, the text's ritual chants.

Most of the errors Cohen found were in the final two thirds of the Hebrew Bible and not in the sacred Torah scrolls, since they do not include vowel markings or cantillation notations.

Cohen said unity and accuracy were of particular importance to distinguish the sacred Jewish text from that used by those sects that broke away from Judaism, namely Christians and Samaritans.

To achieve his goal, Cohen relied primarily on the Aleppo Codex, the 1,000-year-old parchment text considered to be the most accurate copy of the Bible. For centuries it was guarded in a grotto in the great synagogue of Aleppo, Syria, out of reach of most scholars like Ben-Hayim. In 1947, a Syrian mob burned the synagogue, and the Codex briefly disappeared before most of it was smuggled into Israel a decade later.
Now digitized, the Codex, also known as the Crown, provided Cohen with a template from which to work. But because about a third of the Codex — nearly 200 pages — remains missing, Cohen had to recreate the five books of Moses based on trends he observed in the Codex as well as from other sources, such as the 11th-century Leningrad Codex, considered the second-most authoritative version of the Jewish Bible.

Cohen also included the most comprehensive commentaries available, most notably that of 11th-century Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi.

The result is the completion of Ben-Hayim's work.

"It was amazing to me that for 500 years, people didn't sense the errors," said Cohen, who wears a knitted skullcap and a gray goatee. "They just assumed that everything was fine, but in practice everything was not fine."

He's not the only scholar to devote decades to the task. In 1976, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer published a version of the Torah based mainly on the Aleppo Codex. The Hebrew University Bible Project in Jerusalem has also been working on a scientific edition of the Hebrew Bible, but theirs is directed toward scholars, while Cohen's output is aimed at wider consumption.

Rafael Zer, the project's editorial coordinator, called Cohen's work "quasi-scientific" because it presents a final product and does not provide the reader a way of seeing how it was reached. He credits Cohen for bringing an exact biblical text to the general public but said it "comes at the expense of absolute accuracy and an absolute scientific edition."

With the assistance of his son Shmuel, a computer programmer, Cohen launched a digital version he hopes will become a benchmark of the Israeli education system. He said his ultimate goal was to "correct the past and prepare for the future."

As a former teacher, Cohen said he took particular pride in a sophisticated search engine that allows even novices to explore his work with ease. He called computers a "third revolution" to affect Jewish scripture, following the shift from scrolls to bound books and the advent of the printing press.

"I want the Bible to be user-friendly," said Cohen, a grandfather of eight. "Today, we can create sources of information and searches that allow you to get an answer to everything you are wondering."
____
Follow Aron Heller at http://www.twitter.com/aronhellerap


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Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why Does WELS Bow Down To This Numbskull?

This is the original Bethlehem Lutheran Church, WELS, 312 W Elm St Urbana, IL 61801,
which Glende sold to St. Nicholas in 2001.
Locals say the church was debt free.

This is the interior of St. Nicholas,
perhaps named because it was virtually a gift from WELS,
with a choice location on the campus of a major university.

The staff bios at St. Peter in Freedom are intriguing. Everything is a mixture of fact, fiction, and withheld information. For example, Ski is on the staff, but he is not pictured - to preserve the fiction that The CORE is a congregation, not a sheep-stealing evening service, with attendance stalled at the original level.

Three of them went to Michigan Lutheran Seminary, but Phil thinks it was Michigan Lutheran Seminar. No one notices the spelling?

Fact and Fiction
Glende: 1998-2006 - pastor of Star of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Urbana & Savoy, IL.
He is honest about two locations, but there is a lot more to the story.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, WELS, 312 W. Elm Street, Urbana, was a large congregation on the campus of the University of Illinois. The spacious building was paid for.

Glende received a call to the congregation in 1998.

The Eastern Orthodox bought the property in 2001. A priest on the staff confirmed that they bought their property from WELS and immediately began using it. The Eastern Orthodox have two churches and a student center on the sprawling campus, a total of three properties. They are not a large denomination but they clearly want to serve the student population.

Glende sold the church, which was paid for, and also changed the name from Bethlehem Lutheran Church to Star of Bethlehem [Lutheran omitted].

Glende learned this hatred of the name Lutheran at St. Paul not-WELS in German Village (Columbus, Ohio), where he grew up. That was another smoke-and-mirrors congregation.

Star of Bethlehem got rid of their choice location so they could rent something until the dream cathedral was built. Nothing worked out and a plain jane was built on the end of a corn field, outside of town. They exchanged a great building in a perfect location for a lesser building in a horrible location, with a pile of debt added.

Glende left to be the assistant at Freedom, Wisconsin, where the senior pastor was chairman of Church and Change. C and C is now in stealth mode, but still runs the Wisconsin Sect.

This twice-failed bar in downtown Appleton,
near a real WELS congregation,
was bought with a grant from WELS,
to be remodeled with a loan from WELS.

Your offering dollars turned this...

into this.

Meanwhile, the story of St. Nicholas is just the opposite:

Going into the former WELS church building.

---

by Fr. James Ellison

St. Nicholas Church in Urbana, Illinois began in 1995 with the chrismation of two families who wanted to be Orthodox Christians, share the faith with others, worship in English, and not have to uproot their families to do it. We began meeting in a living room with priests visiting us, initially for catechism and later for Sunday evening liturgies. We moved first to a rented chapel on the University of Illinois campus, and three years later to our present location, a remodeled existing church building.

An astute observer of church growth once noted that planting a church is a lot like life as a pioneer in the American West. First the explorers come, the individuals who are venturing out into areas where no one has been before. Then the pioneers who move into unsettled territory and have to establish the initial structures that support those who will hopefully follow. And then the settlers come, the ones who turn a wide place in the road into a place to live and work for generations to come. Our experience was not unlike this. Two families who wanted to be Orthodox because they believed it to be the fullness of the faith but really didn’t know what they were getting into came first. Then a few others joined them who could see the outline of liturgical life because of the priests that traveled through and who could tolerate the conditions of inconsistent pastoral care, no choir music, no one to teach church school, or bake the bread except them. They did the work of setting up and tearing down while we met in temporary space. They dealt with dance music blaring in the next room while we sat in the dark, hoping the secular party would end, so we could start the Paschal Nocturnes. And now those who are more like settlers, with the gift of a place to meet, teach, and worship are being added to our number. There are those who are drawn by the ancient worship and centuries-old doctrine, who are working to establish a more complete witness to the kingdom of God. There are those who come from traditionally Orthodox lands, yet because of conditions there have had little opportunity to know why they believe and worship the way they do. God-willing these will become our teachers and singers and servants as God entrusts with even more good work which He has prepared for us.

St. Nicholas these days is made up of a real mixture of people. We have a hard working core of committed local people from a variety of backgrounds, both Orthodox and former Protestant and Roman Catholic. We have a wider circle of regular members who are learning to devote their lives to the Orthodox faith and life of our community. And we have a yet wider circle of Orthodox people to which we minister who for a variety of reasons, time, distance, or lack of zeal, we see irregularly. We have had people from across the world regularly worshipping with us: people from Azerbaijan, Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Canada, China, and Congo, Cyprus, Egypt, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Eritrea, Korea, Lebanon, Japan, Palestine, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, and Ukraine. In addition we have an active contingent of undergrad and graduate students from the local University. Indeed, one of the most fruitful areas of ministry for us is our ministry to students, faculty, and staff. The upside of this is the new people we meet every fall and many wonderful relationships we have built over the years, and the downside is seeing some folks move away from us every spring, hopefully stronger in their faith as a result of their time with us. One of the ministries our parish chooses to offer is a coffee hour that almost always turns out to be lunch. This allows the students to stay around after church and build relationships with the rest of the parish.

One highlight each year is our opportunity to host a history of worship class from a nearby Evangelical seminary. We welcome them during Orthros, feed them lunch after the dismissal of the liturgy and then afterwards return to the nave of the church for Q & A that usually extends until late in the afternoon.

Another highlight of this past year: in 2008, for the first time in our history, our pastor was able to leave full time secular employment and spend more than 60% of his work week serving us. Part of the resources for this have come from those the parish has sent away to live and serve elsewhere after their time at the University. Thus, as we were able to supply their need, so now they in turn help with ours.

Since our beginning, we have attempted to send a tithe to the Archdiocese and give away another 10% of our parish income to missionary and benevolent needs outside our parish. Our experience is that in some mystery of God’s grace, perhaps through the prayers of our patron St. Nicholas, it always gets multiplied. In 2008, we were able to send a mission team to the orphanage in Guatemala, help out with the Archdiocese Food for Hungry People, and extend some financial support and time to some local and extra local needs. We helped a homeless woman and her children get into their own house and fill it with furniture, linens, and kitchen supplies; we sent hundreds of pounds of clothing to a monastery in Russia for distribution to the poor; we hosted a garage sale to raise money for the Hogar Raphael Ayau Orphanage in Guatemala and introduce people we would not meet otherwise to our church. In all, over $20,000 in benevolent and missionary aid left our parish, but the real benefit is the fruit this bore in the life of our community. We are growing slowly and steadily as it says of the child Christ, “in favor with God and man.” Thanks be to God who does all things well. Please pray for us that we might find the way to repentance and greater joy in the coming years.

---

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why...":

Ichabod -

I trust that you consulted with Lutheran synodical officials before you published this article. Did you obtain 150% clearance? And, if so, did you receive "factual information," - [aka - the official synodical story] ?

***

GJ - They are free to send any and all corrections.

---

From the priest serving at the former Bethlehem Lutheran Church, now Eastern Orthodox. (I told him that Lutherans were called Western Orthodox at Notre Dame.)

There have been many Lutherans who have become Orthodox in recent years, eschewing the doctrinal and liturgical drift going on in their various groups. Most entering the Byzantine Rite though a few have began Western Rite Missions. 

I had never heard Lutherans called "Western Orthodox" I suppose a Roman Catholic who doesn't know history or theology, who considers Orthodoxy schismatic, rather than themselves could see it that way. 

I know Prof Jaroslav Pelikan referred to his own journey into the Orthodox Church from his Lutheran formation as not a conversion but a return. A peeling away of layers of additions and acretions that had obscured what he always believed. I had the occasion to become acquainted first when he visited this community while his daughter was on the faculty here and later when 2 of my daughters were attending SVS where he and his wife often attended chapel.

We used to see Pelikan each Sunday at church,  which was near Yale Divinity.
Lutherans should consider the fact that Pelikan, the editor of Luther's Works,
joined Eastern Orthodoxy.

---

The neighbors watched Star of Bethlehem being built.

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why...":

The WELS would have been much better off if Glende had semi-poped rather than he and the WELS Parish Services selling its best property in Urbana Illinois to the Orthodox and then placing their pulpit in a cornfield in Savoy. What a great use of church extension funds, and probably Builders for Christ!

One wonders how many other churches have given up their adequate facilities and taken on debt to move into corn fields on the edge of town.

What's really ironic is by the time Savoy envelopes the new WELS church with housing developments decades from now (if ever), there will be another Glende in the future arguing that their facilities are old and they have to build new on the edge of town in a corn field to stay "vital."

It's a never-ending process, I gather, that mirrors C.S. Lewis's description of unbelievers in this life. Cities kept on growing suburbs, Lewis wrote, and became larger and larger because unbelievers can't stand to be by each other. The WELS then is doing some hard-case evangelism (and thus will remain a tiny sect) because they are principally going after people who can't stand to be around other people out in the burbs. Conversely, in world missions they go to the cities! What gives?!

***

GJ - It's worse than that, sports fans. The congregation went from a large, paid-for building to rental space. As everyone knows, it takes time to buy a lot and build a new unit. Glende imposed that on the congregation so he could get what he wanted. Once the new unit was building, loaded with debt, but planning a coffee bar for final version, Glende split for a church with a paid-for building: St. Peter in Freedom.

Win Arn says, "We must win the winnable
while they are winnable,"
so avoid those pointy-headed intellektuals who ask questions about UOJ...
or where all the money went.

---

solafide (http://solafide.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why...":

The sad part is that one man with a silver tongue and the unconditional backing of the synod can destroy a congregation.

Bethlehem/Star of Bethlehem had prime property next door to one of the largest Big 10 schools, in the second largest metro area in the state (if you count the suburbs as part of the Chicago metro area).

I guess they should've just bought a bar a few blocks away instead... probably would have saved them a lot of time, money, and heartache.

---

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why...":

bruce - church:

You mention in your comment about WELS "Parish Services." That sounds to me like part and parcel of WELS bureacracy. That reminds me of a converstation I had with a fellow WELS member highly dedicated to WELS. He is under the impression that individual WELS congregations are autonomous. I did not say anything at that point in our conversation, as I did not care (at the moment) to challenge his mistaken cemented understanding.

Now, granted, I don't keep up with the latest WELS bureacratic programs and endeavors; but, I am already convinced that the small synod, called WELS, can be likened in some [negative] aspects to our US federal government. If a local congregation would like to loosen its dependency upon the synod by growing out of that dependency over a 5 year period, I would not be surprised that the synod would buck that "autonomous" resolve at every turn.

Nathan M. Bickel

www.thechristianmessage.org

www.moralmatters.org

***

GJ - The administrators get the top salaries, so Wayne Mueller got a raise when he was forced from the seminary faculty and given a newly created position as Administrator of Perish Services. Then Wayne got $200,000 for being First VP. That was his reward for the constant promotion of Church Growth. Gerlach and Mueller were both pushed off the Mequon faculty, for false doctrine, but they still had stellar careers for promoting Church Growth.

In true GA style, Mueller denied any CG in WELS, but said it was confessional if it was there.

Wayne's lie prompted me to add Church Growth to the legendary Megatron database of quotations. Now I would need a server farm to store all the CG quotes from WELS sources alone - not to mention LCMS, WELS, and the CLC (sic).

Adam Mueller, son of Wayne, was big at the late, great Church and Church websty. Like daddy, he is big on UOJ and Church Growth.

By the way, Wayne Mueller was pure Stephan Huber at the WELS youth conference in Columbus. He was mission work was easy, because "All you need to do is walk up to someone and say - Your sins are already forgiven."

Bruce Becker was next at Perish Services, if I have the hierarchy right. Becker gave Paul Calvin Kelm a job. When his own job was in danger, Mark Jeske gave him a job. The last I saw, WLC was offering Becker a job. WLC gave Kelm as job as World's Oldest College Chaplain, then upgraded Kelm to Leadership.

All these things happened under the watchful eye of Mark Schroeder, who is only quick to discipline those who dare to post on Ichabod.

---

bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Tim Glende's Destructive Ministry in Illinois. Why...":

Rev Bickel Emeritus,

I do know that if a congregation is getting too independent, that the next list of pastors they get to fill a vacancy will be only solid synod men, e.g., men whose families have been in the WELS several generations, and men who are solid UOJers, the signature doctrine of the WELS even more than in the LCMS.

I think that the synodocrats and their henchmen pastors use debt to tie the church back to the synod. The money comes either the church extension fund, or Thrivent. Parish services gets involved if the congregation is a mission. Thrivent loans money for building expansion, btw, though that's not well known.

The "synod man" (a la "company man") pastors will then push for building projects even while they don't do evangelism that would enable the congregation to pay off the loan. They'll say the parsonage needs to be expanded, or that the church basement isn't good enough, and a ground level fellowship hall would be better.

***

GJ - But this is a closed circle too. The people who raise the pledges are Church and Change pick-pockets. They are LCMS/WELS guys who get referrals from Church and Change to get pledges for the ridiculous capital campaigns that will fix their congregations. These ideas, stoked by Church and Change, require big debts and big pledges, so the Changers charge big fees to fan the flames.

Holy Mother WELS and Thrivent tie the congregation down with advice, and loans, and endless gratitude. The congregation is a built-in marketing unit for Thrivent. On and on it goes.

Dennis Miller on President Obama

List of Hyles Related Clergy Sex Abuse Cases « Blog on the Way

List of Hyles Related Clergy Sex Abuse Cases « Blog on the Way:

List of Hyles Related Clergy Sex Abuse Cases

I have been documenting clergy abuse of children cases in Christian Fundamentalism since 2001. And, obviously, the sins and crimes of First Baptist of Hammond and Hyles-Anderson graduates make up a huge percentage of that list. That list, by the way, runs down the right side of my blog front page. Just go here:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/.

I include any pastor or church officer from a Fundamentalist church. Most of these are IFB, but the list also includes the Free Presbyterian Church and some Bible churches, all of whom designate themselves as Christian Fundamentalist.

Just a year ago, I was harassed and vilified in public for continuing to document and post accounts of Hyles-Anderson graduates who were molesting kids. ,I was accused of being a traitor to the victims of clergy sex abuse: a rat, a snake, and a mole, and a secret agent for Bob Jones University. A lot of pressure was put on me to stop doing my comprehensive documentation and to focus on only one case, or one type of case, those cases that come from BJU grads. Some people just wanted me to go away altogether. Of course, as a person with a conscience, I did not knuckle under to bullies. I’m a grown up, and I left schoolyard politics back on the schoolyard.

Now, suddenly, it is very much in fashion to document what has been going on at FBCH/HAC for decades. Great! But all I can say is, what took you so long to appreciate that victims have value and dignity, even when they don’t get you on national television? Unless, of course, the victims of Jack Schaap are just another way to get on national television….

If you need an index of only FBCH/HAC-related cases, here it is. This is similar to what I provided for Darrell Dow of Stuff Fundies Like, except this list also includes proteges of Jack Hyles, and not just former HAC students. Please note that, unless otherwise stated, all of these people are pastors:

Andy Beith, Hyles-Anderson graduate, sentenced for sex with an 11 year old girl, previous arrest for contributing to the delinquency of a minor:

http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=208

AV Ballenger, Former FBCH Deacon, convicted for molesting a child. Jack Hyles had the church give him a standing ovation and kept him in the bus ministry: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=219

Charles Shifflett, Hyles protege and fanatical Hyles devotee, convicted for sexual indecency with children:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=127

Chester Mulligan, Hyles protege and fanatical Hyles devotee, accepted plea deal for felony stalking an underage girl, though the facts warranted more serious charges:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=211

Chris Settlemoir, Hyles-Anderson graduate, convicted for Criminal Sexual Conduct wth underage males, http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=51

Craig Sisson, Hyles-Anderson graduate, convicted of first degree child molestation: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=126

Dave Hyles, Hyles-Anderson student, former FBCH staff member, former heir to the Hyles throne, never been convicted, but attached to numerous scandals, pleaded the fifth amendment when questioned about the death of Brent Stevens:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=168

David Joseph Jorgensen, Hyles-Anderson graduate: has successfully gotten his criminal record expunged in Chico CA, but still part of a civil lawsuit for “committing lewd acts” on a female when she was 14. Now on staff at First Baptist of Hammond:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=349

Earl Reeves , Hyles protege and fanatical Hyles devotee, took a guilty plea for molesting four adolescent girls from his church, Lighthouse Baptist Church in San Diego California:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=375

Evangeline Combs, former Hyles-Anderson staff member, now serving sentence for multiple counts of child abuse against the woman formerly known as Esther Combs:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=216

Greg Neal, Hyles-Anderson graduate, escaped charges of sexual misconduct by hiding evidence of his crime until the statute of limitations had run out:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=118

Jeffrey Jarrell, Hyles-Anderson graduate, took a guilty plea for molesting 11 girls from his church:
http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=220

Jeremiah Owen, former Hyles-Anderson student, convicted on various counts of burglary and sexual assault:
http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=129

Joe Combs, former faculty member at Hyles-Anderson College, now serving sentence for multiple counts of violent and sexual child abuse against the woman formerly known as Esther Combs:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=216

Kerry Martin, HAC/OBC former student, serving 205 Years for rape of a girl in his church: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=209

Matt Jarrell, former Hyles-Anderson student, arrested on suspicion of rape and sodomy. Committed suicide in his jail cell as the investigation closed in on him: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=89

Russell K Overla, Hyles-Anderson graduate, convicted for child molesting: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=210

Ted Butler, Hyles-Anderson graduate, sentenced for Criminal Sexual Misconduct (two separate counties):http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=124

William Beith, Hyles-Anderson graduate, charged with solicitation for sex and for exposing himself in public:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=208

Want More Research?
Here are some recordings to help you gt an overview of the culture and realities of just how corrupt First Baptist Church of Hammond and Hyles-Anderson College are:

Interview with Paula Hyles Polonco, first wife of Dave Hyles. Paula narrates her introduction to the inner circle of the royal house of Hyles: http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?p=179

Preying from the Pulpit: a documentary produced in May 1993 by WJBK of Detroit, Michigan on the culture surrounding Jack Hyles and the number of sex abuse cases related to his ministry:http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?p=183

The Lambs of Culpeper, Episodes One and Two: Although this documentary is about Hyles protege Chuck Shifflett, the first two episodes include a lot of coverage of Jack Hyles, and some of the horrible things he said and did from his pulpit:http://www.jeriwho.net/tloc.html

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• Under Criminal Investigation

  Open Bible Baptist Church/Victory Christian School, Williamstown, NJ

• The Christian Fundamentalist Roll Call of Shame: Child Abusers in Christian Fundamentalism

  Alina Caminiti
  Andrea L. Wick
  Andy Beith
  AV Ballenger
  Bill Cabe
  Bob Gray (JAX)
  Caleb Thompson
  Carl C Lloyd III
  Carlton Hammonds
  Cedric McCormick
  Charles Savage
  Charles Shifflett
  Charles "Chipper" Snow, also [1]
  Chester Mulligan
  Chris Settlemoir
  Christopher Vargo
  Craig Sisson
  Daniel Brock
  Daniel Leaf
  Dave Hyles
  David Joseph Jorgensen
  Dirk Jackson
  Don Ketcham, See also [2]
  Duain A. Whittemore
  Earl Reeves
  Edward E Greene
  Ernest Willis
  Evangeline Combs
  Frank W Srima
  Greg Neal
  Gregory Jones
  Jack Schaap
  James Ben Harris
  James J. McCoy
  James Jay Robinson
  James Kubicek
  Jason Smoker
  Jason Stalnaker
  Jeff Kruger
  Jeffrey Jarrell
  Jeremiah Owens
  Jesse Daniel Ruhl
  Jim Vineyard
  Joe Combs
  Joel Clement
  John Edward Wilson
  John Puga
  Joseph R Strang
  John Brothers Junior
  John Caminiti
  Jonathon Powell
  Joshua Thompson
  Kerry Martin
  Kenneth Johnson
  LD Rapier
  Mark Evans Brown
  Maria J. Stephenson
  Mark Foeller
  Matthew Caminiti
  Mike Strouf
  Nick Minerva
  Olen King
  Patti Williams
  Perry Sims
  Philip Caminiti
  Phillip Madison
  Robert "Bobby" Price
  Roger Voegtlin
  Ron Williams
  Russell Hirner
  Russell K Overla
  Stanley Daniel
  Tedd Butler
  Terah Allyn Rawlings
  Timothy Lee Leonard
  Timothy D. Stephenson
  Timothy J. Wick
  Todd Turner Brock
  Tom Daniels
  Tony Denton
  William Beith
  
  
  

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http://brucegerencser.net/2012/08/01/the-legacy-of-jack-hyles/

The Legacy of Jack Hyles

Posted on August 1, 2012

Members of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indianaand people closely associated withHyles-Anderson College and Jack Schaap are astonished at the firing of Jack Schaap for sexual misconduct with a minor. (see previous posts hereand 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 blogabout 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)