Blog on the Lillypad
Saturday, October 02, 2004
 | Lunch With the Doctors
No, not that Doctor! I attend yoga class with a man named Richard and his wife Sandy. Sandy has her doctorate in Mathematics (actually, it may be a more specific discipline than that), and Richard has his in Chemistry. He works for the US military in research and development. Of course he barely got the words out of his mouth when I told him that I write Doctor Who stories on the web, and would he mind if I asked him a few questions? |
He said no, he did not mind, and he discussed with me the type of research he does (alternative fuels and power sources, specifically for individuals on the move). He even went one better and invited me to join him nd a group of his colleagues for lunch at a nearby restaurant.
You know, you can only ever be yourself, even when you're sitting down with the greats. I met Richard and his colleagues, Sherri and Mimi and Bob for lunch this past Friday. Each has his or her own specialized field of research. They are all brilliant. What amazed me most was how kind they are, and how comfortable with talking to a non-scientist about science. They fell right into my enthusiasm for writing Doctor Who and made several suggestions.
The usual problems were in place, of course. What is quite clear to them is not so clear to me. As Mimi talked about prions as a type of life that propagates quite differently than the way we do, I had to ask her and the others to go over it a few times. I have only ever thought of prions as proteins gone bad. Yet, as Mimi and Sherry both pointed out, they propagate and sustain themselves. Sherry branched from that to explaining how some infectious agents can actually communicate and, when there is a large enough "head count" of their number in a host's system, they launch their invasion.
Bob, a geneticist, suggested a line of thought about silicon-based life. Life that looks like a rock. And Richard commented that some researchers have developed proteins that act on silicon to change it to a more crystaline structure (quartz), this degrading its integrity. Let them loose on a civilization and watch the structures start to collapse.
I hope to meet with them again in a few weeks. Like I said, what struck me most is that these are people of great accomplishment, and they are extremely kind. I rememebr meeting people like that in martial arts. They could whup up on men half their age, fight two or three young men at once, and then after class take meticulous care to make sure every body down to the newest students was personally included in the invitation to go out to eat afterward.
Friday, October 01, 2004
 | Four New Books at BASSENCO's Bookstore
The bookstore for Fundamentalists, recovering Fundamentalists and former Fundamentalists has four new offerings this month. Click here to take a look. |
 | Ann Miller charged with first degree murder in Eric Miller's death
Eric Miller died in 2000 of arsenic poisoning. His wife, a researcher at Glaxo, and a man named Derril Willard (her colleague), were having an affair. Police eventually concluded that one poisoning event occurred at a bowling alley where the unsuspecting Eric went bowling with several of Ann's colleagues, including Willard. Miller suffered another, fatal episode after eating a meal prepared by his wife at their home. |
The investigation into his death took a shocking turn when Derril Willard killed himself after the police began to investigate him. He left behind a note, and there had been conversation with his lawyer, which his lawyer refused to divulge, citing his late client's privilege to keep such conversation private. Much later, a judge ruled that the lawyer had to disclose the conversations to police.
I was working at Glaxo at the time that Eric Miller died, though I never met Ann Miller or Derril Willard. Many researchers at Glaxo have access to a compound high in arsenic, as it is used commonly in the research labs. Both Ann Miller and Derril Willard had it close at hand.
Ann Miller left Glaxo soon afterward and moved to Wilmington, NC. Now, four years later, she has been indicted on first degree murder charges. This case has been extremely slow to develop, stalled by one amazing development after another. Eric Miller was a bright, handsome, dedicated young man doing AIDS research, and the notion that anybody could have poisoned him is stunning. Innocent as a lamb, he was a marriage counselor with his wife for their church, working with other couples to help them. The fact that she was having an affair while taking such a role demonstrates a certain gifted cynicism in Ann Miller.
| Kudos to our local news team. When ever they run an update on the case, they feature a thumbnail picture of Eric Miller, a reminder to readers that an innocent man was killed (no matter who killed him). The practice of keeping the victim's face before the public is a good one. Investigation and justice have moved very slowly for the late Eric Miller. Let's hope that the case is soon sifted out, and the guilty person(s) identified once and for all. |  |
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
 | Rubles, bills, shekels and such
What a day. I want to keep my new readers informed with their intro to Fundamentalism. The influx of readers from connexion.com and benediction has surprised and pleased me. And thanks for the e-mail. I want to explain more about that phenomenon known as American Christian Fundamentalism, but it's almost time for bed. You can always trot over to the FFF. I think the Farris boys are still giving their demonstration of Fundamentalist pastoral dignity. |
But today, apart from more changes requested by our client (which requires new documentation and new validation testing, as our software must meet stringent FDA requirements for electronic data storage and retrieval), I also had to transfer an old 401 K.
Much to my surprise, my current company doesn't do rollovers from old 401 K's! For a moment I nearly panicked. Then my team lead, Rick, told me about Vanguard. So after I got home I looked them up on the web, did a lot of research, and called them. I set up an account with them and then called the company that is still holding my old 401K.
Well, as it turns out, *they* said I could keep the money with them in a new IRA. That offer had not been clear in their letter, but I suppose there's a law that they cannot try to claim a preference in service. First they have to tell me all the options of what I can do with the old 401 K.
Anyway, I talked with them for a while. They run the Oppenheimer Funds, and they are very professional. But Vanguard is just less expensive in terms of custodian costs.
The lady at Vanguard tried to find a way I could invest in Pharmaceuticals, which is where I think the best returns lie, but the asset allocations ("funds" I think they are called) that invest in Pharma require more of a baseline investment than what I have. So after a fairly long search with her I settled on a couple of more traditional fund choices that I have to narrow further. For the moment, the money will go into a money market account with Vanguard until I make up my mind.
The entire search for what to do with my old 401 K took a few hours. I finally got my dinner, decided against preparing lunch for tomorrow, and am going to bed. Stay tuned for more adventures.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
 | Visit the website of Pastor Hugh Jass!
Things can get pretty grim here on my blog as I describe abuses against people and gross ignorance of Scripture by men who claim to be fit for eldership. But there is a light side to Fundamentalism. The web page of Dr. Hugh Jass will give you a quick visual intro to the simple, homespun world of the IFB, as well as keep you amused. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?Click here. |
 | 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.
Monday, September 27, 2004
 | On the Death of a Martial Artist
The rain is falling hard today. Early this morning a younger black belt veteran from Hong's taekwon do school told me that one of the school's early founders has died. In the 1980's, when I was young, this man was approaching 50, a man who had studied judo in Japan during military service there, gotten a black belt at the Kodokan, and then met Billy Hong in the late 1960's in Greenville SC. Billy Hong's amazing spirit and devastating kicks won him over, and he dedicated his tiny, hand-built training hall on Paris Mountain to tae kwon do. In those days, when Mr. Hong was still alive, Mr. Hong ran his students barefoot over Paris Mountain. Life for anybody in a Billy Hong school was measured in sweat and the smell of raw pine boards slowly drying and seasoning. |
I was a relative late comer. I started my training in the school on Laurens Road. But I remember the men who had been the first students. I remember doing pushups from a handstand while somebody held me by the ankles. I remember jumpovers---30 - 40 at a time, sideways, over a kneeling person. Life at Hong's was always sweat, suffering, hazy vision, bruised feet, bruised shins, but powerful, powerful youth. It was life. Your body would go down to nothing---sheer exhaustion, and then you felt your life force still bursting through you.
The man who hand built the first school was not a Christian man, not at all. Budo was his way. But I respected him. As it turns out, he recently developed cancer, and rather than face a lingering end and the loss of his dignity, he put a shotgun against his chest and pulled the trigger.
I don't know what to think. That's the way of Budo, to prefer to drop from the branch in full bloom like the cherry blossom, without regret, without tears, without clinging to another day.
And yet, true honesty would dictate that to know our estate, to truly comprehend what man is, what even the mightiest warrior is, we would have to undergo the loss of our strength and glory. Because it's true that no human being stays in full flower. He was wrong to take his life. It was a gesture of despair, no matter how bravely he did it, a refusal to see and know the truths that only mortal suffering and slow death give us. There is a truth in the way death comes, reminding each of us of our estate. To say, "No I am strong," when the weakness is growing, and then to pull a trigger to insist upon a thing that is not, is not the way of gazing unflinchingly at one's fate.
Yet there is in me a respect for him, my lost and fallen friend. He was brave when I knew him, and he had a generosity in him when he was strong. Our lives were not marked by sweat and the smell of pine and bruised feet. But when we thought that was what life was, he tried to stay true to it, and I admired him.
My memoirs of training in martial arts for most of my life are posted here.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
 | Thanks for the great review, ey?
Many thanks to Bene Diction Blogs on for the great review. However, to my surprise, Bene finds my series of websites to be rather like a jigsaw puzzle. Hmmmm. You know, when it started out, it was all very simple. SO to help you newbies navigate my site, here is quick overview of my web history: |
In very late 1995, when the web itself was new and growing, I left AOL and joined Pipeline.com.
I had commercially published some kids adventures with a small press, but I really enjoyed Doctor Who, the old Brit Sci-fi show. So I used my web space to post Doctor Who stories I had written. That's how Always the Third Doctor got started. For years, my entire website was just Doctor Who stories.
Black belt training and memoirs
Then in 1997 I was preparing for my third degree black belt test and keeping a journal of my training and my class experiences. This writing project turned into a larger project to write my memoirs as a woman who had been in martial arts for two decades. In late 1998, I was motivated by my studies in martial arts to write to Lynn Redgrave, the actress, and offer her advice on strategy as her seemingly deranged husband (now former husband) had humiliated her several times in public. She agreed, and I wrote a series of essays for her based on Miyamoto Musashi's BOOK OF FIVE RINGS. As she benefited from these essays and never purchased them, I edited them for a general audience. I put them on line as Jeri's Martial Arts Pages and eventually added more martial arts related items, including texts of two martial arts classics.
I had also added my novel, VALKYRIES, which was huge. And I posted several essays on the Christian and the study of literature. So I referenced these on a page called The Christian Fiction Gateway. Ultimately Moody Press purchased VALKYRIES, so I had to take it down from my site, but the essays are there, as well as one or two other items.
All of these non-Doctor Who additions prompted me to make my home page more generic. ALWAYS THE THIRD DOCTOR became part of a larger site. My home web site is simply called Welcome to Jeri's Pages, and it provides links to all the other sub-sites: Doctor Who, martial arts, Christian fiction, and most recently, The Emergency Preparedness FAQS which I compiled just after 9/11.
Meanwhile, as I started doing research on abuse in Independent Fundamental Baptist religious circles and learned more and more about the KJVO movement (the King James Version is the inspired Word of God and not just a translation), I started writing about these abuses on a forum called the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum. I chose the screen name "BASSENCO". The name "BASSENCO" is a phonetic re-spelling of "BASS AND CO." As I am a confirmed fan of Bass Ale, I thought it a good choice, and not one likely to be traced back to me. I also started this blog (BLOG ON THE LILLYPAD) to discuss all things Christian in my life but especially the unaddressed and uncorrected abuses in IFB Fundamentalism.
In August of 2003, inspired by James Spurgeon's hilarious TALES FROM THE TEMPLE, I started the SECRET RADIO blog. I wanted to tell the story of corruption from the girls' side of the story. I used a pen name, Grace Jovian, to shield myself from the personal attacks that would surely follow if I used my own name. I wanted SECRET RADIO to be read before I let the IFB preachers get their knives out and attack me (and believe me, they have attacked me!).
As you know, a blog is read with the latest post first, and the reader moves backwards from today's post to yesterday's, to the day before's etc. So I also posted the SECRET RADIO ARCHIVE (updated weekly), which posts the story in normal narrative order, from the start of the story first to the most recent episodes last.
Finally, as readers asked for a bound edition of SECRET RADIO, and as I saw that the most crucial need for recovering Fundamentalists is to read solid books that teach Jesus Christ instead of IFB's nutty version of truth, I have started BASSENCO's Bookstore. This online bookstore sells books I have written or produced by and about Fundamentalism, and it also carried a selection of Amazon.com books that are especially helpful to people harmed by IFB excesses.
OK, so that's a rapid tour through my web links. Here they are in summary:My Home page, Welcome to Jeri's Pages
Always the Third Doctor
The Martial Arts Index
The Christian Fiction Gateway
Blog on the Lillypad
Secret Radio blog
Secret Radio Archive
BASSENCO's Bookstore
