First Baptist Church: Tear Down this Statue!

The Five Most Revolting Details from the Evidence in the Jack Schaap Case

Everything he did, everything we did was “for the sake of the ministry.” The lies we had to keep were “for the sake of the ministry.”
Excerpt:

He taught you to adore him above all else. He insisted that you trust him, no matter what rumors you heard. He frightened you to the point that you dare not be disloyal to him. He required obedience without question. You were sincerely trying to follow God, but in your effort to do so, a man diverted your attention and convinced you to follow him. I do not blame you. You weren’t trying to steal my dad away from me. You thought you were listening to instruction from God’s Word, from God’s man. And God’s man was instructing you to obey him as a representative of...a substituion for Deity, taking you on a journey away from God into idolatry.

Comment: There's hope for First Baptist Church of Hammond. Consider:

In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him (1 Kings 15:1-3)

So Abijah (AKA Abijam) rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years. Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. (2 Chronicles 14:1-3)

Comment: It starts with genuine repentance and "flee[ing] from idolatry." (1 Corinthians 10:14). Job # 1: Tear down the statue of the adulterer! Jack # 1 is dead (that's his statue above). Jack # 2 was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison today!

The Madness of the 2 Jacks

Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church

Excerpt:

Hyles demonstrated his power in the middle of a sermon one Sunday. “Notice the bones and the skull there,” he said as he raised a cup into which he told the congregation he was going to pour poison. “Now if I walked up to you tonight and I said to you, ‘I’ve got something I want you to drink . . .’ In fact”—he turned to Johnny Colsten, one of the men on the stage with him—“I’d like for you, if you don’t mind, to drink this.” Colsten, currently an associate pastor at First Baptist, did not hesitate. If Hyles wanted him to drink, he would. Hyles beamed.

Comment: Warning!! If your church is like this ... RUN! By the way I am a Baptist and a Calvinist. My own church is a super place - I am not broad brushing all Baptists!

Nincompoops in the pulpit

HT: Stuff Fundys Like Comment: For a complete transcript The real idiots are the nincompoops who tolerate this. I've arrowed them. They're looking on like the head idiot is sane!

Jack Schaap and the "What Else?" at the Forest Preserve District of Cook County

FBI says it's looking into Indiana pastor's relationship with teen

 Excerpt:

The FBI confirmed Friday that it is investigating whether the former pastor of an Indiana megachurch broke any laws during a relationship with a now-17-year-old girl that led to his ouster from First Baptist Church in Hammond. ...

"There is an allegation we're trying to prove or disprove that the pastor crossed state lines and engaged in an improper sexual relationship with an underage female," said Robert Ramsey, spokesman for the FBI's office in Merrillville, Ind.

Ramsey said that, under federal law, being underage is defined as someone under 18. The age of consent differs from one state to another.

The teen recently turned 17, around the time that she and the pastor allegedly met at different locations, including over the state border at a Cook County forest preserve, Wilson said.

Comment: Ok I'm angry. I'm angry because I am a Baptist and the First Baptist Church of Hammond Indiana continues to be an embarrassment. As an aside another Baptist church that is an embarrassment is Westboro Baptist.

How is First Baptist Church of Hammond an embarrassment? Answered: Isolated Incidents (Completely Unrelated To All The Others Just Like It) I posted this elsewhere first but repeating on my own blog:

Reforms needed at First Baptist Church in Hammond

• Tear down that ridiculous statue! Penn State saw that to change their Culture that the Paterno statue had to go. Take down all Hyles' portraits too!
• Turn Hyles' house (moved there from Tx) from a museum into a utility shed!
• Drop the name "Hyles" from the Bible college
• Purge the organization of all Hyles' descendants (Schaap's kids who serve on staff. Give them their notice (be fair about it) and give 'em 1 year to move on.) Assure that the Hyles' Schaap dynasty ends.
• Purge bookstore of all Hyles' and Schaap's books. They're worthless anyway! Teach the errors of Hyles'. Use the Biblical evangelist material as a starting point. Voyle A. Glover's Fundamental Seduction: The Jack Hyles Case should be required reading for students. Get it for your bookstore.
• Frankly probably most of the pastoral staff needs to go when the new guy comes. It's a joke that your have an annual pastor's school. Look at your last two pastors! What do you have to give to another? Cancel it for a decade until you clean up your act.
• Call your new Pastor from outside the Hyles-Anderson orbit.
• Seek accreditation for H/A. Start with TRACS ... you probably won't make it without serious reforms. Then move up to regional accreditation (it may take you 2 decades to get there!)