Ballengers March 1993 trial was just inundated with people from that church who supported him, recalls the prosecutor, Clarence Murray, now a Superior Court judge in Lake County, Indiana. There will be nothing swept under any rug. Our primary goal with the FBIS is to provide material to assist preachers in the edification and protection of the churches. But a cult, no. There should have been a cry against him from every Bible-believing Baptist pulpit in America. Then there were the practical matters that caused immediate red flags when we rolled up to Hyles-Anderson College in our overloaded U-Haul, during the oppressively hot Midwestern August, in 1983. Beatings would last endlessly, it seemed, says Mary Jo McGuire, 45, a corporate trainer in Colorado whose father was a deacon in the church. Treated her terribly. A row of white-coated high-ranking churchmen seated behind Schaap watched in silence. One of Schaaps adult children, Kenneth, has mounted a letter-writing campaign to the judge. After the divorce, Jennie moved into a brand new $150,000 condominium at Hyles generous behest. It was going to be me and my big mouth that ruined my marriage, not Davids actions. You are free to make copies of these at your own expense and share them with friends and family. They didnt dare disagree or be disloyal, for fear of being publicly ridiculed or punished or banished for doing so. We dont love anyone as much as you! Then he would call us Poopsy-Woopsy and give us pizza and money., To go off campus to buy pantyhoserequired wear for womenwe needed a special pass, Busby says, and had to have three chaperones. Regardless of whether Hyles actually committed physical adultery, he was unquestionably guilty of a grossly improper relationship with a woman who was not his wife, and was thus disqualified to be a pastor. Men were to wear jackets and ties and close-cropped hair. I, too, witnessed a lot of hypocrisy growing up in a Baptist church, but my unbelief and rebellion was my own fault and not something I could blame on others. According to a blog called Fallen in Grace, written by someone identifying himself as David Hyles: I have no intention of defending myself. The culmination of many events in our lives brought us to the decision that we have made to move. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated, but the cause of death could not be determined. The age at which such punishment should begin? Its important to stress that even the people I spoke with who felt victimized by the church did not suggest that the majority of members are anything other than sincere seekers of Christ. According to news reports, in March 1999 Stevens (by this time Hyless wife) told police that she mistakenly ran over the five-year-old, Jack David, who had rolled out the door of her car. [Hyles] took your voice, he took your beliefs, he took your likes and dislikes and opinions, and he gave you his own. Former pastor of Temecula Valley Baptist Church, Temecula, California, Convicted in 1999 of molesting a 14-year-old girl. (You know well the horrifying effects doing so can cause, don't you?) Several people who grew up at First Baptist recall that parents took the instruction to heart. Second, the fear of man brings a snare. Yet they would drop us off in rough neighborhoods for eight hours on our own to go soul winning.. I believe First Baptist Church gradually evolved into a cult that was in complete idolatry of my father and, after his death, complete idolatry of Jack Schaap, she says. If a man doesnt want to believe something, he simply will not believe it. But to the congregation of First Baptist, it was all in a days preaching. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites And his dad would get up and preach this and browbeat everybody to death to do their kids that way, but David didnt have to live that way. . He moved him to another church where he was found to have had 17 affairs with different women, and he just recreated what he had seen my dad live. We can see men, but we cant see the Lord except through faith, and the preacher who is not walking by faith in Gods Word will be a man pleaser. With God's help, I will make my life in California everything that He would have it be and, unlike you, will not fall. If you have been helped and/or blessed by our material offerings can be mailed or made online with with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or Paypal. My understanding is that with all the stuff going on theyve done something with it. Actually, I have become quite a person with these many lessons of life under my belt and must admit that you were quite a teacher. Both Terry Duff and Eddie Lapina can help you fill in the details. Jack Hyles was a personal friend. Mar 30, 2013. There was no question who would succeed him: Hyles had been grooming his son-in-law Jack Schaap ever since his own sons prospects had plummeted. Things we do not want copied and distributed are "Store" items like the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, print editions of our books, electronic editions of the books that we sell, the videos that we sell, etc. The Bible was to be interpreted literally and by Hyles alone. Also, the girl whom Schaap counseled across state lines was 16 when the abuse began. Stevens didnt show. God will hold a metaphorical knife to your throat (as Schaap would illustrate by holding a steel blade against a twig the way an assailant might press on a jugular). It operated and still operates under the guise of an independent fundamental Baptist church. Summary: Articles about Linda Hyles Murphrey - The Jim Baumer Experience Walking away from fundamentalist Christianity was a pivotal event in my life. [This was before Jack Schaap got caught in adultery with a teenager.] And now that Ive had a chance to step back and take a look at it from a distance, to think that I was sucked up in that really scares me. (The previous are excerpts from Dave Colemans Interview with Paula Hyles Polonco, first wife of Jack Hyles son Dave, November 1, 1989). The articles also alleged financial improprieties, accusing Hyles of using church money to lavish tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts on Jennie, including a car, clothes, and home remodeling. Columbus, OH 43205 ( map) Learn more about Linda Pax Lowes. David was a blatant liar. (She left the church in 2010 after her husband, a prominent member of the congregation, was caught having sexual relationships with underage girls. COLUMBUS (WCMH) The Gahanna Division of Police says a woman found dead in her residence on Brookhill Drive was most likely the victim of a murder-suicide. If the members of the congregation were heartbroken about what was happening to their church, they didnt show it on this night. He left everything to the organization, which my younger sister and her husband now lead. These items have taken years to produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we need the income from the sale of these to help fund the ministry. If it were not so, the Bible would not thrice warn in the New Testament Epistles, Be not deceived.. He soon took it upon himself to arrange marriages. Update information for Linda Hyles-Murphrey More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro Biography Awards Photo Gallery Filmography Trailers and Videos Hide all | | Edit The autopsy revealed trauma and numerous broken bones in various stages of healing. My father tried desperately to cover it up. It is also an outrage that both Hyles and Schaap were allowed by the church leadership to have such power over a local church. First, there was the expectation that the school provided . We hated her. At a grand jury inquest, David Hyles exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Among the best and brightest of the early studentsa young man who would eventually win the blessing of Jack Hyles to marry his youngest daughter, Cindywas Jack Schaap. He told us she was crazy. Hes never spoken of her in endearing terms. First Baptist Churchs longtime lawyer, David Gibbs, declined a request for comment on this story. Disillusioned, he wrote Fundamental Seduction: The Jack Hyles Case. Before the judge, if Schaap wasnt exactly defiant, he was far from submissive. But neither did he dwell on compassion. (I had also been instructed to carry a Biblethe King James Versionbut I couldnt find my mothers and so arrived empty-handed.). Later Hyles paid to have a room built for Vic over the garage, where he lived without being allowed any conjugal relationship with his wife. It was irresistible: The great Jack Hyles, the man of God, whose schools had dating rules so strict that you could earn a demerit by accidentally touching the end of a pencil held by someone of the opposite sex, was committing adultery. Local papers, from the Hammond Times to the Chicago Tribune, featured the story, as did the tabloid TV news show A Current Affair. We could never even tell our best friends what went on in our home, because we might be the cause of the destruction of his ministry. Instead, he spoke of doing more for the church, of stepping up, of trying harder. You only know about him from a distance and years later. If you dont see it, dont believe it. The fire-and-brimstone words of his mother burning in his head, Hyles then enrolled at East Texas Baptist College in Marshall, Texas, where he became a student pastor. Thats why people just fell all over each other to exalt [Hyles]., The level of devotionand controlsometimes strayed into the absurd. If we have our eyes on Christ and our own personal responsibilities before Him, we will not stumble when men fail us. There was definitely a door between their offices [Jack Hyles and Jenny Nischiks offices]. Its a continuous guilt trip, says McGuire. He lifted a stick in his left hand and a silver cloth in his right. If we have our eyes on Christ and our own personal responsibilities before Him, we will not stumble when men fail us. (Attendance peaked in the early 1990s, when more than 20,000 people came to services each Sunday, making First Baptist the largest church in the nation.) It is a culture, past and present members say, enabled by cover-ups and cultlike control. in graphic detail, recalls Tom Brennan, who attended the church for six years and is now an Independent Baptist pastor at Maplewood Bible Baptist Church in Chicago. These items have taken years to produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we need the income from the sale of these to help fund the ministry. As MinistryWatch reported in December, Jack Hyles' son, David Hyles, allegedly followed in his father's footsteps, and is now facing charges from women who claim he repeatedly raped them. Personally, my worthless opinion is that Linda did not like her home life. And his dad would get up and preach this and browbeat everybody to death to do their kids that way, but David didnt have to live that way. In passing, it is interesting to note that Hyles evidence against Vic is loose, unsubstantiated, secondhand, hearsay gossip from unnamed sources (Robert Sumner. Terry was a deacon in the late 1980's when the deacon board rejected my family's appeal to them to -- finally -- deal with Jack Hyles and his decades-long affair with my mother. And now that Ive had a chance to step back and take a look at it from a distance, to think that I was sucked up in that really scares me. Note: You may want to go get the tissue box before watch. The belief was that women needed to be in complete and total submission to their husbands and to male leadership, says a former member who requested that she not be named. The sessions lasted from 2004 through 2009. He owned our lives, and we didnt dare cross him, because we were too afraid we would lose everything. He built her family a beautiful home right around the corner from our house. How true it is. Former pastor of First Baptist Church, Culpeper, Virginia, Convicted in 2006 of cruelty to children and assault and battery, 4. He really does have that kind of influence on those people.__________________Do I have any reason to believe that the Hyles dont love each other? support@wayoflife.org. The saddest realization is that it has all been under the guise of Christianity. Yes, they havent slept together in probably 25 years, they dont share the same bedroom, they dont speak. He died a multi-millionaire. When Nischik confronted Hyles in 1985 and demanded that he leave his wife alone, she filed for divorce at Hyles insistence. The preacher quoted 1 Thessalonians 5:22, Abstain from all appearance of evil, but Hyles brazenly replied, My people need to trust me.. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. . It really is astonishing, says Jeri Massi, a researcher from Raleigh, North Carolina, who has been documenting the sexual abuse of children in Christian fundamentalism since 2001. And they still perpetuate his legacy: the strict rules, the undying loyalty, and they still try to keep all the secrets (Linda Murphreys testimony at the TEDxOjaiChange event in Ojai, California, April 5, 2012).POLICY: Way of Lifes content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable. Only then, he would growl, will you become a polished shaft: one suitable for Gods bow. Its hard to believe. I pity you for you will be experiencing the consequences of your actions for a very long time. One of the things I know about organized religion is that reality regularly falls far short of the ideal. The major points that these women who knew Jack Hyles agree on are these: that Hyles had a morally inappropriate relationship with a woman who was not his wife, that he lived a double life by deception, and that he was a cult leader who controlled his people as a lord and not as a godly shepherd. I dont care how much he demanded personal loyalty. She is the daughter of Jack Hyles (former pastor of the Independent Fundamental Baptist megachurch, First Baptist Hammond) and talks about her escape from that cult (her word, not mine). This is why the atheist doesnt believe in God and why the devoted Roman Catholic doesnt believe his church is apostate. It is easy to sit decades later and call that ministry a cult. Hated her. She claims that Dr. Hyles died after having amassed $80 million dollars worth of real-estate buildings at the church. Colsten, currently an associate pastor at First Baptist, did not hesitate. It is nearly impossible, in fact, to entirely escape his influence among fundamental Baptists. But, of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Hyles, meanwhile, exerted extreme control over every aspect of his flocks livescontrol that members say they welcomed because they believed it was divinely inspired. I believe that Brother Hyles knows that David had moral problems from the day he hit puberty, but it has never been dealt with. This, of course, was well after his son, Dave, had wreaked havoc on the youth department and had moved on to terrorize more than one church in Texas. And they prayed. Oh yes, we doooo. In 1997, the parents of a mentally disabled 12-year-old sued First Baptist over what they alleged was a months-long pattern of rape and torture of their daughter. Im sure that I was marked as an outsider, even though I had taken the advice of former members and worn a suit and tie. When the long-serving pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond stepped down, Hyles got the call. (Similar concern has yet to be expressed for his victim.) Theres a world of difference between a cult of personality and a cult. Maybe you could start your investigation there. Other items we sell to help fund our very expensive literature, video, and foreign church planting ministry. All we ask is that you give proper credit. He hated my mom. Instead of hearing from Hyles deacons, lets consider the testimonies of three women who knew Hyles far better and more intimately than the aforementioned Hyles defender knew him, better, in fact, than any pastor who is defending him today. For over fifteen years I have watched and learned much from the circus that you have performed with the lives of those I love most in the world. When he tried to read a three-page letter, Hyles cried out, You are trying to destroy fundamentalism! and the deacons chimed in by shouting the poor man down. . But yes, there is most definitely a door. The answer is definitely yes and there are a hundred people who know that. Former pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, Imperial, Missouri, 8. This is what happens,when people worship a man,instead of God.We are all human and all capable of commiting horrendous sinwhich is why we must always keep our eyes turned upon Jesus. Twisted scripture, Northwest Indiana-style. Within a couple of years, his flock had swelled to 4,000, earning Hyles a far-reaching reputation. My dad pastored a church that evolved into a 50,000-member cult. My dad lived a double life, one of a righteous family man and of a dynamic speaker in the public eye, but [another] one of sordid sexual secrets privately, secrets that only my siblings and me and my mom knew. After three semesters at a school that from the outside seemed like it was blessed by God, once I was on the inside (as a student) however, nothing was as I expected. . The cases continued (See chart below). In light of the firsthand testimonies that have been published, this pastor is simply closing his eyes to the truth, for whatever reason. When I think of him sitting in a jail cell right now, my heart can hardly handle the ache. Open Letter to First Baptist Church Hammond Indiana. I met him fresh out of high school. And the night we got married, he told everybody it was our first kiss! Hyles-Anderson College appears to be struggling, too. Hyles lied about the existence of the door, saying, There IS no door, which was technically true at the time, since it had been removed after the matter became public! (DeCoster left the egg industry in 2011 after his companys products caused a massive salmonella outbreak.) In an incredibly short amount of time I have healed much and think I would surprise even you with the strength I have gained. The bravest voices lifted against him were the voices of women, the very women who had been hurt by this mans ungodly actions, women who showed themselves stronger than a huge number of weak-kneed, ostrich-like pastors. With these thoughts expressed, I bathe myself of you and any influence you may have had on me in the past. He moved the bottom of the stick near his groin and angled it away from himself. He was very wealthy. Be the first to contribute! A string of assaults and sexual crimes committed by pastors across the country have one thing in common: The perpetrators have ties to the megachurch in Hammond, Indiana. She was sickened and literally brokenhearted, she told me, when she heard about her brother-in-laws arest. . Your statements that your investigation will reach far and wide, and that unbelievers will see at its conclusion that the church didn't try to hide wrong doing were encouraging. Hammond linda hyles murphrey down, Hyles got the call consequences of your actions for a long... In by shouting the poor man down a culture, past and present members,... Wrote fundamental Seduction: the Jack Hyles and Jenny Nischiks offices ] heard about her brother-in-laws arest each?! Not deceived, 4 not so, the Bible was to be interpreted and... If we have made to move it upon himself to arrange marriages been instructed to carry Biblethe. 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