Blog on the Lillypad
Friday, February 27, 2004
 | Hero of the Faith or Tyrannical Villain?
Just before closing down for two weeks, Secret Radio re-visited the death of notorious preacher Lester Roloff. In the story, the strikingly similar Julius Fallows pilots his private plane directly into a thunderstorm and crashes to earth, killing himself and all those aboard. You cannot help but notice the similarities between the fictional Fallows and the real life Roloff. In Secret Radio, Fallows is presented as a kook for the most part, sincere in many ways but definitely operating at maximum, frenetic overdrive while living in a world that no longer (and maybe never did) exist. |
A visit to the web to do research on Roloff results in two extremes presented to readers: the sites in favor of him describe him in glowing terms and portray him as a hero of faith who stood up to secularism, provided care for abandoned or self-destructive children and teens, made adoption available for babies of unwed mothers, and stood like a lighthouse of truth in a dark sky of sin. Roloff's time in prison makes him a martyr to these people, a man who refused to let the state bring secularism into his homes.
The sites that oppose him give accounts of constant abuse in the homes, prison camp conditions (and they are horrifying and completely inappropriate for children), the constant blaring of recorded sermons of Roloff hammering at the inhabitants, and punishments that included beating, whippings, being chained, and being locked in solitary confinement with no means of showering. Several (if not all) of Roloff's homes at one time or another have been closed down over issues of hygiene and abuse. Roloff's imprisonment to these people is evidence of his megalomanic drive to exert complete control.
Certainly, after reading what accounts I could of the treatment of the people who lived in these homes, I think that Roloff was culpable for the extremes that occurred. If you run a Christian home for children and have to beat them, chain them up, or lock them in solitary, then you should recognize that God has not given you the power to reach such children. There's nothing Christian about prison camp conditions. What struck me most strongly about the homes was the lack of education for the children. Former inhabitants/inmates rarely write about this, but it's obvious. Nobody ever talked to these young people about the things they might do if they learned. Nobody assessed them for abilities or skills (or disabilities). There was no real parenting of any of them. In that sense also I think the Roloff homes were all failures. But then, I think Roloff himself was an incredibly ignorant man. I think Independent Baptist Fundamentalism is a religion that fosters ignorance. I've written before of the irony that the role of IFB colleges is to dumb down young people and limit their education as severely as possible. You don't become educated by going to Hyles Anderson or Oklahoma Baptist college. You become more ignorant.
IFB colleges distort or destroy historical perspective so that the student loses all sense of perspective on current events. They fail at Greek and Hebrew and substitute a mad, imbecilic theory that the KJV is just as (or more) authoritative as the Greek/Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible. Systematic study of the Bible is destroyed as the preacher is elevated to such a high level that students believe what he tells them about the Bible rather than learning to engage in dispassionate, objective study of the Bible. Science becomes a devil of secularism instead of a means to find the great patterns and systemization of the universe (all of which points to God our Creator).
But back to Roloff: It looks to me like he put blinders on young people. And he fettered them. Roloff lived in his mind and he saw life through his mind. He did fly a plane in unsafe conditions, and he went down, (November 2, 1982) killing himself and a singing group of young women called the Honeybees. Whatever you think of his life, his death was caused because he was incredibly, culpably reckless as a pilot.
If you want to view the series of episodes regarding the plance crash of Julius Fallows, here is a list of posts:
First Post (posted Feb 23--last few paragraphs of the post)
Second Post (posted Feb 24)
Third Post (posted Feb 25)
Fourth Post (posted Feb 26)
Fifth Post (posted Feb 27)
