Blog on the Lillypad
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
 | An Intro to Scandals, Corruption, and Ignorance of the Bible in Fundamentalism and how these problems are not dealt with Biblically
Welcome newcomers. A couple of blogs have linked to this blog as an intro to Christian Fundamentalism. As it turns out, two Fundamentalist preachers have just provided a good demo of the mindset that I so object to in Fundamentalism, so I will let them speak for themselves and you can reach your own conclusions. |
First, some background information:
Jack Hyles was pastor of First Baptist of Hammond until his death a few years ago. His son was Dave Hyles. When he was not quite 20, Dave Hyles was given a prominent position in Youth Ministry at First Baptist Church of Hammond (FBCH) and eventually took over that ministry. Bear in mind he had no Bible college degree and assumed great power and authority at the age of 20.
Dave's rise to power occurred in 1973-1974 According to many people who left the movement, Dave was already engaging in sex, including sex with minors. He also regularly rebuked and insulted the people who tried to please him. I never went to a Youth Conference (week long meetings held in the summers), but I've heard tapes from them, and I've heard Dave telling kids that 15 minutes of prayer each day is nothing, the result of a carnal, fleshly heart. His sermons, which he preferred to call "Challenges" were nothing but harangue with humor thrown in now and then. Dave also married Paula P-------. Meanwhile, his sexual exploits continued, until pressure on Jack Hyles prompted him to recommend Dave for the pastorate down at Miller Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas.
Dave left for Garland Texas with his wife, Paula, and their family. Paula was already suspecting him of infidelity, but she was a naive young woman who had been raised in the IFB movement. She had no idea how bad it was or what he was getting into. I don't know the year that Dave assumed the pastorate at Miller Road: sometime between 1979 and 1983.
A church member discovered a briefcase in dumpster behind the church at Miler Road Baptist church. It contained numerous photographs and pornography magazines. In the porn magazines were advertisements for group sex that featured Dave Hyles and Brenda Stevens, a member of the church. Some members tried to hush up the matter, but it was finally brought before the church. Around a dozen women came forward as having had affairs with Dave. Each one had been told that she was his one and only. Paula left Dave, more or less for good, taking the children with her. Dave and Brenda (whose first marriage also broke up), left for Illinois with her two children. This occurred in 1984/85.
 | Brent Stevens, Brenda's youngest child from her first marriage, was discovered to have eight or nine bones in his body that had been broken at different times and never treated. He was removed from the family for child abuse and given medical treatment. Paul Ciolino was a detective who handled the case. Brent was briefly put into his father's custody in Texas, but was returned to Brenda and Dave later (against Ciolino's advice and in spite of his express warning that Brent's life was in danger). In November 1985, Brent was found dead in his crib at the age of 17 months. A bottle of actifed for which a prescription has been filled only the previous day, was found empty in the house. Ciolino was livid when Dave and Brenda had the body immediately embalmed, thus ending any chance of successful forensic work to determine cause of death. At the inquest for Brent, Brenda did not appear at all. Dave appeared and claimed the fifth amendment. Paul Ciolino refused to close the case and identified Dave Hyles as the prime suspect. |
In the late 1980's and early 1990's a new series of scandals was brought to public attention as five different churches with ties to Hyles-Anderson and First Baptist Church had graduates or former members of those places charged with child molesting and/or sodomy. Included in the number was a deacon from First Baptist of Hammond itself, AV Ballenger, who was found guilty. Hyles bought Ballenger a new suit and had the congregation give him a standing ovation. Jack Schaap, now the current pastor at FBCH, publicly explained that the little girl hugged men too much. A Detroit television station investigated and created the 5-night series called PREYING FROM THE PULPIT, which--as far as I know---aired in June, 1993.
To combat these allegations against him and to minimize the scandal created by his son Dave, Jack Hyles initiated the "hundred percenter" campaign, in which he asserted that the Bible teaches that men, especially pastors, must be 100 percent loyal. He demanded commitments of 100 percent loyalty to him and at the Pastors School Conference that year, he handed out "Hundred Percenter" buttons. One man who defiantly wore a hundred percenter button and proclaimed his total allegiance to Jack Hyles was Everett Farris, senior pastor of Pinellas Park Baptist Temple in Florida.
After several years working outside of church ministry, Dave Hyles claimed to have repented of his sins. He was accepted as a member on paid church staff at Pinellas Park Baptist Temple in Pinellas Park Florida in 1994. Though technically Dace was not called a pastor, he had the task of counseling others, and especially counseling women.
In the year 2000, I was amazed to learn that Dave Hyles was on a church staff and was speaking at church conferences. The more I investigated, the more I hit the towering wall of ignorance that has taken over so many IFB churches. The Bible specifically bans a man like Dave Hyles from ever being allowed to hold church authority, no matter what you call it. This gross corruption and appalling ignorance, I realized, was not going to go away.
I then discovered the Fighting Fundamentalist Forums, which is an online community of Christian Fundamentalists. This web board is the central and largest web forum for Fundies. I used it to gather information and post my objections to what I was discovering. On the FFF, I post with the screen name of BASSENCO.
In about April or May of 2001, after trying to get an investigative reporter in Florida to look into the situation, I realized that Dave Hyles represented a danger to his community. Part of this was realization was ignited by the report I read that Dave and Brenda's son Jack David had been killed because, according to Brenda, he had been in the back seat of the car, and he must have fallen out the door, and she backed over him and killed him. I simply did not believe this story, and I do not believe it now.
I assembled a packet of documentation about Dave Hyles and mailed it to the Pinellas Park Police Department, and I called them. A few weeks later, I was told that Dave had inexplicably left Pinellas Park Baptist Temple. I learned that he had gone to Berean Baptist Church, pastored by Tom Neal, and had been accepted into membership. I assembled another packet of information and phoned the Orange Country Sheriff's department and mailed them the packet. The sheriff I spoke to was very keen to get Dave out of there, ad we spoke several times. I kept this matter quiet from the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum because I was afraid of reprisals. Dave was then kicked out of Berean Baptist Church for adultery. Allegations have arisen against him about gross sexual misconduct at Pinellas Park Baptist Temple and at Berean Baptist Church. Yet in spite fo the fact that Everett Farris and his soms (who are on church staff) knew of Dave's sin, he was allowed to enter membership in another church, without church discipline being applied, another act of gross disobedience to Scripture.
At first, I had found Dave Hyles to be an annoying little oyk that ought to be punched out, and I had even prayed about punching him. But then I'd read that Dave Hyles had put a gun to his first wife's head, and I was also aware of the IFB propensity to like guns and object very little to violence against women. A great many IFB men: pastors, elders, and deacons, will speak with incredible vileness towards women, and their overall assessment of violence against women seems to blame it on the women for dressing immodestly or behaving in a brazen fashion.
I realized that nobody would protect a woman from Dave Hyles or his slavish followers. So I bought a gun, and I lived in fear that somehow Dave would find out what I had done, or some of his worshipers would find out. I stayed quiet about having gone to the police for about two years. When I did announce what I had done, most of the anger came from the Pinellas Park people, who apparently believe that their pastor had some sort of right to decide if I should go to the police or not regarding Dave. They think I should have gone to Everett Farris first.
That's a summary. Just a few days ago, Chris Farris, son of Everett Farris and a staff member of the church (which has changed its name after the Dave Hyles scandal) posted a diatribe against another IFB pastor for leading a cult. The irony was too much for me. This kid's father wore a Hundred Percenter button, took in a known sexual predator on a paid church staff position, allowed him to counsel women, and then when he was caught in sin yet again, packed him off to another church without a word fo public reproof. I commented on the irony.
I invite you to read my comment on the FFF and the comments that follow from Jonathon Farris ("The Good Doctor) and Chris Farris (Patebald). You can see for yourself the tone, the level of knowledge of the Bible, and the incredible anger these men hold against anybody who rebukes them for their gross wrongs. Happy reading! Roll up your trouser legs and Click Here, then follow the thread. This is your intro to the IFBx side of Fundamentalism, where nobody repents because leaders never sin!
PS: Christian Farris (Patebald), a pastor, gives a briefer and more colorful demonstration of an Independent Baptist Fundamentalist pastor's commitment to Christ Here as he descends into typical fundy rant against a woman by calling me ugly at great length. Calling me gay will come next, followed up by calling me a witch. That's the usual order.
Update at 7:00 PM: Ooops! Christian Farris deleted his "ugly" tirade against me. Small wonder. Two men on the forum reproached him, and he soon found that I had plastered it across the blog for all the world to see. These guys don't respect women, but they do fear the opinions of decent and just people, if there are enough of them. You'll have to read through this blog to see the instances of their abusive language that turns to cringing fear when they realize they have hanged themselves in public.
Not all IFB preachers are like this, of course. There are IFB churches that rule by eldership (not many, though). And there are men in sole elderships who have a sincere commitment to the imitation of Christ, even if I think their grasp of church government is flawed. Within Fundamentalism, the hyper-authoritarian, hyper-legalist branch of the IFB is often called "IFBx". This term was coined, as far as I recall, by a man named Mark Jones who left IFB to become a Pentecostal preacher.
Meanwhile, as I had to do bug fixes with my team today and push through a new revision of one of our software packages for a client, I had little time to spend on the forum. Last I saw, Chris was asking if I was ignoring him. I told him to e-mail me. But I scare these brave fellows who try to shout down and abuse women. I haven't yet heard from the Rev Chris Farris, and I doubt I will. The sober execution of their duty is not a part of their culture.
