Blog on the Lillypad
Friday, October 15, 2004
Catching Up
Well, I have been quite busy over the last two days, fixing the code on my blogs to get them into acceptable form for RSS Feeds. (If you don't know what an RSS feed is, think of it like the AP newswire, but on the internet. If you get your blog to become a feed, you supply your blog entries to subscribers all over the net. And yes, thee are thousands of feed subscribers.)
SECRET RADIO went into feed format very nicely, then I messed with it and broke it for the feed. I have to re-submit it. BLOG ON THE LILLYPAD has been so jury rigged that I have to do the RSS Feed manually through BlogStreet, but it takes only a minute after the entry is written.
Dave Wayne, the pastor who runs the Jolly Blogger site and sponsors the League of Reformed Bloggers, has referenced SECRET RADIO in three successive entries on his blog. So turnabout is fair play. Dave has sent many readers my way, which I appreciate. He writes clearly and articulate essays and is a well educated man. PCA, of course!
With the influx of new readers, the mailbox has been full, so I must now catch up.
A woman reader from way, way up north writes, "I had to write to tell you I am still recovering from reading most of the Secret Radio posts. How can I possibly adequately thank you for putting down in writing what has dogged me these 38 years of being a Christian...Thank you, thank you for what you've written. It sheds light and hope in the hearts of many who have limped away from fundamentalism confused and hurting but still wanting to do what is right."
That's always wonderful to hear, and that particular e-mail quite literally brought me to my knees in prayer. It's easy, in the furor so often raised over my posts, to neglect the crucial truth of how precious the lives of the victims and survivors of IFBx are. Christ has died for them, and their price is His price, the price that paid for my soul as well.
Another, more straightforward assent comes from down here in the Carolinas: "I wanted to thank you for the amount of time you spend writing the things you do. I also wanted to thank you for the way you write as well. I know that you get many "verbal hits" both positive and negative but....They [the IFBx preachers who harangue me] cannot control you, they will never be able to control you, and they hate that. I think at times they simply want to intimidate you or just embarass you. Stick to your guns or in this case your keyboard....I have personally seen so many things done "behind the curtains of fundamentalism" and that is why I value your work, applaud your stance, and I enjoy your writing immensely. Thank you for your time and your consistency on these topics."
My thanks to all readers who take the time to express appreciation. I try to answer all e-mails wthin 24 hours.
Well, I have been quite busy over the last two days, fixing the code on my blogs to get them into acceptable form for RSS Feeds. (If you don't know what an RSS feed is, think of it like the AP newswire, but on the internet. If you get your blog to become a feed, you supply your blog entries to subscribers all over the net. And yes, thee are thousands of feed subscribers.)
SECRET RADIO went into feed format very nicely, then I messed with it and broke it for the feed. I have to re-submit it. BLOG ON THE LILLYPAD has been so jury rigged that I have to do the RSS Feed manually through BlogStreet, but it takes only a minute after the entry is written.
Dave Wayne, the pastor who runs the Jolly Blogger site and sponsors the League of Reformed Bloggers, has referenced SECRET RADIO in three successive entries on his blog. So turnabout is fair play. Dave has sent many readers my way, which I appreciate. He writes clearly and articulate essays and is a well educated man. PCA, of course!
With the influx of new readers, the mailbox has been full, so I must now catch up.
A woman reader from way, way up north writes, "I had to write to tell you I am still recovering from reading most of the Secret Radio posts. How can I possibly adequately thank you for putting down in writing what has dogged me these 38 years of being a Christian...Thank you, thank you for what you've written. It sheds light and hope in the hearts of many who have limped away from fundamentalism confused and hurting but still wanting to do what is right."
That's always wonderful to hear, and that particular e-mail quite literally brought me to my knees in prayer. It's easy, in the furor so often raised over my posts, to neglect the crucial truth of how precious the lives of the victims and survivors of IFBx are. Christ has died for them, and their price is His price, the price that paid for my soul as well.
Another, more straightforward assent comes from down here in the Carolinas: "I wanted to thank you for the amount of time you spend writing the things you do. I also wanted to thank you for the way you write as well. I know that you get many "verbal hits" both positive and negative but....They [the IFBx preachers who harangue me] cannot control you, they will never be able to control you, and they hate that. I think at times they simply want to intimidate you or just embarass you. Stick to your guns or in this case your keyboard....I have personally seen so many things done "behind the curtains of fundamentalism" and that is why I value your work, applaud your stance, and I enjoy your writing immensely. Thank you for your time and your consistency on these topics."
My thanks to all readers who take the time to express appreciation. I try to answer all e-mails wthin 24 hours.
DROP EVERYTHING! It's Time for BBC's Ladies of Letters!
BBC7 is a radio station available over the internet, and this week it is airing the hilarious, Ladies of Letters starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales. Many American listeners will recognize Patricia Routledge as the voice of **Hyacinth Bucket** (pronounced BOOO-KAY, and don't you forget it) from KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. Both ladies are in fine form as granny-in-laws to each other, writing polite and ghastly letters to each other as each tries to trump the other. Their own small vanities and fears come through in their letters as well, so the reader sees two vulnerable, doting grannies (with claws of steel) who are lovable as well as irascible.
You can use BBC7's Listen Again schedule (if you hurry) to catch the broadcasts from the last seven days. Ladies of Letters airs Monday through Friday, in 15 minute segments each day. I use the handy OP2D internet recorder(PC only) to record it.
BBC7 is a radio station available over the internet, and this week it is airing the hilarious, Ladies of Letters starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales. Many American listeners will recognize Patricia Routledge as the voice of **Hyacinth Bucket** (pronounced BOOO-KAY, and don't you forget it) from KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. Both ladies are in fine form as granny-in-laws to each other, writing polite and ghastly letters to each other as each tries to trump the other. Their own small vanities and fears come through in their letters as well, so the reader sees two vulnerable, doting grannies (with claws of steel) who are lovable as well as irascible.
You can use BBC7's Listen Again schedule (if you hurry) to catch the broadcasts from the last seven days. Ladies of Letters airs Monday through Friday, in 15 minute segments each day. I use the handy OP2D internet recorder(PC only) to record it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Who Let the Preachers out?
A man old enough to be my father wrote yesterday and called the preachers on the Hyles-Anderson forum of the FFF a "mob of pigs". This man is usually pretty softspoken, but the latest outbreak of railing and reviling against me (prompted by my insistence that a trio of pastors give evidence of having repented before they be accepted as fit for church office. They are guilty of gross negligence and direct disobedience to Scripture in bringing a known sexual fornicator, adulterer, and child abuser onto paid church staff. Now that he has been found out yet again, they seem to have no where to look.) My correspondent writes, "They hate you because you are a free spirit, and they cannot control you."
Another man, almost (but not quite) young enough to be my son, writes, "I appreciate what you're doing in there, and I support you; somebody has to actually talk about what these IFB people are doing. I've been a victim of IFB abuse my whole life."
For new readers, "IFB" stands for "Independent Fundamental Baptist." There are good IFB churches, but there are plenty of bad ones, and there is very little accountability in the group as a whole. Corrupt IFB churches are known to insiders as "IFBx".
Several people wrote today, thanks to wider publication of my blogs on a Christian aggregator. I want to get the word out on these abuses and the problem of lack of accoubtability in the "independent" form of church governmwent.. It is not biblical, and it presents a danger that some people---especially young people---pay for in shattered lives and lifelong suffering. Brent Stevens, in fact, is dead.
A man old enough to be my father wrote yesterday and called the preachers on the Hyles-Anderson forum of the FFF a "mob of pigs". This man is usually pretty softspoken, but the latest outbreak of railing and reviling against me (prompted by my insistence that a trio of pastors give evidence of having repented before they be accepted as fit for church office. They are guilty of gross negligence and direct disobedience to Scripture in bringing a known sexual fornicator, adulterer, and child abuser onto paid church staff. Now that he has been found out yet again, they seem to have no where to look.) My correspondent writes, "They hate you because you are a free spirit, and they cannot control you."
Another man, almost (but not quite) young enough to be my son, writes, "I appreciate what you're doing in there, and I support you; somebody has to actually talk about what these IFB people are doing. I've been a victim of IFB abuse my whole life."
For new readers, "IFB" stands for "Independent Fundamental Baptist." There are good IFB churches, but there are plenty of bad ones, and there is very little accountability in the group as a whole. Corrupt IFB churches are known to insiders as "IFBx".
Several people wrote today, thanks to wider publication of my blogs on a Christian aggregator. I want to get the word out on these abuses and the problem of lack of accoubtability in the "independent" form of church governmwent.. It is not biblical, and it presents a danger that some people---especially young people---pay for in shattered lives and lifelong suffering. Brent Stevens, in fact, is dead.
 | A Quick Guide to Fundamentalism for New Comers Over on Benediction Blogs on, a comment has been made that outsiders to Fundamentalism have difficulty understanding how it all meshes together. Here are some basics. |
Fundamentalism at its best
Christian Fundamentalism at one time was interdenominational. At its best, it was a religious movement that stipulated that the Bible is the sole authority of the Christian faith, so even though people might disagree on some points of interpretation, every issue must be taken to the Scripture. Therefore, diligent study of the Bible and ongoing research to comprehend the ancient languages and their context was the purpose of all theology and Christian practice.
At its worst
At its worst, Christian Fundamentalism has always been a refuge for those who gather up odds and ends of overlooked verses and minor texts and spring ridiculous notions on unsuspecting people. But because of the overall emphasis on thorough study, the kooks were kept in check in the first few decades of the movement, if not eliminated.
Over time, as the authority of Scripture has been more pervasively challenged and as mainstream denominations have tried to encompass more conservative members rather than lose them, Christian Fundamentalism has become almost entirely Pentecostal or Independent Baptist. And these two groups of Fundamentalists are miles, even light years, apart. I don't know much about Pentecostal/Assembly of God fundamentalists. I write about Independent Fundamental Baptists
Another reason for the polarization in Fundamentalism is that the Fundamental Baptists themselves have insisted upon a severe and rigid doctrine of separation from anybody who has fellowship with those who are viewed as "compromisers". Thus the Baptist Fundamentalists pushed out those of similar sentiment because they would not leave their denominations. Methodists and Presbyterians were harried by arguments of separation and so they left Fundamentalism (for the most part; a few rare people remain). The Pentecostals stuck around in the movement a little longer, but the extremes of certain subsets of Pentecostalism (the Oral Roberts visions, etc) got to be too kooky, so all Pentecostals were eventually pushed out into their own distinct subset.
| Eventually, the emphasis on separation led to an emphasis on independence among the Baptist Fundamentalists. Independent Baptists view the autonomy of the local church as the Scriptural method of church government (in spite of the fact that Paul acknowledges himself as being an authority over many churches). And this has led to a dangerous isolationism as well as an incredible authoritarianism that makes the Independent Baptist pastor a pope in his own church. There are some Fundamental Baptist churches that are ruled by a plurality of elders, but such churches are rare. |  |
About 25 years ago, just as the "Baptist-Bride" nonsense was dying down (the belief that the Bride of Christ is made up of Baptists), a notion that the King James version of the Bible is a perfect, inspired translation moved in to fill the stupidity vacuum. The idea caught on slowly at first, for a generation of educated men had to be pushed out by a new generation of dunderheads.
| At the same time, the Jack Hyles style of church practice was catching on. Jack Hyles headed up a movement that teaches that making a church grow in numbers is the primary work and duty of the Christian. He also taught a strict and rigid legalism colored by gross misogyny. The combination of strict legalism, church growth, and the minimizing of Scripture as a convenient tool designed for English speaking people (no longer requiring diligent and regular study) has created the IFB-KJVO movement. It stands for "Independent Fundamental Baptist - King James Version Only". |  |
The IFB-KJVO movement hosts a plethora of corruption that remains un-addressed by its leadership. And when I say corruption, I mean the real thing: sodomizing of little boys, molestation of little girls, child abuse, wife abuse, rampant adultery, pornography, and violence. Not every church is guilty of these things, but the occurrence is far higher than even I had supposed until I started to research it. Reception to my writing about these abuses has been attacks upon my character, baseless accusations, and a silly defensiveness that points out the sins of other denominations (which, as you recall, were pushed away by Fundamentalists years ago). When I present Scripture to the IFB-KJVO preachers to rebut their foolishness, they resort to namecalling and mockery. So far they have failed to produce any Scripture to justify the rampant IFB-KJVO disobedience to the Scriptural demand for purity in the pulpit and purity in church leadership. Read this blog to get the details. Check the list of links to the right.
 | Currently, the watering hole for IFB and former IFB (and recovering from IFB) people is the Fighting Fundamentalist Forums web site, or FFF for short. Over there, people of all shades of Fundamentalism argue, and you can get a good snapshot of the gross ignorance of Scripture in those who most loudly declare the Bible to be the rule for faith and practice. I recommend that you check out the Hyles-Anderson forum to view the IFB-KJVO people in the greatest numbers. If you want to see more detail about the most vociferous posters, you can check out my Cast of Characters |
The Bob Jones University Brand of Fundamentalism
OK, now we have to step outside the arrangement of Fundamentalism to explain how Bob Jones University fits in. BJU is one of the oldest edifices of Fundamentalism in the nation. The founder of the school was in almost on the ground floor of American Christian Fundamentalism. So Bob Jones University was founded before Fundamentalism solidified into two main prongs of Pentecostal or IFB. Historically and in its charter, BJU is interdenominational. Now, the school was at least 90% IFB when I was there in the late 70's and early 80's. The Joneses were Independent Baptist. But we did have other denominations. I entered the school as IFB but exited as a Presbyterian.
BJU had its problems. The inter-racial dating rule was in effect during my time there, and it was a source of grief to a lot of us who knew full well that there was no command against inter-racial dating in Scripture. My pastor back home and my Assistant Pastor were BJU grads who told us kids that we'd get the best Bible teaching in the world at BJU, so it was a great place to go, and when we got home we could forget the rule. (And my home church admitted inter-racially married couples.) Among the majority of the students during my time, the rule was an unspoken embarrassment. After I graduated, when I saw how persons of color automatically took me as a racist because I'd gone to BJU, I felt the embarrassment more acutely and very appropriately. It reflected badly on my Saviour.
But even with that blemish on its faithfulness to the authority of the Scripture, BJU was a place where the administration had good character, and the faculty had good educational standards. The gross ignorance that I see in IFB preachers who come from Hyles-Anderson and other church-sponsored colleges did not occur at BJU. We did get a solid education. While Jack Hyles was making fun of people who "searched the deeeeeeeep, deeeeeeep secrets of Scripture," men like Dr. Terry Rude and Ward Anderson were making us study the deep deep secrets of Scripture if we wanted to pass our courses.
We did not have the gross sexual scandals at BJU that several IFB schools suffered. That is not to say that we didn't have instances of sexual sin. We did. And the offenders were expelled. If they were faculty, they were fired on the spot. It was rare, but it did happen. In fact, one administration member rented an R rated Swarzenegger movie, thought better of it, and returned it without watching it. He was fired for renting it, as renting R rated movies was expressly against the rules. Another faculty member with whom he had discussed the situation was also fired for simply telling him to return the tape and not coming forward (or telling him not to come forward) about it. These were both senior staff members. And readers may blanche at the incredible strictness, but there was certainly no favoritism. If a first year teacher would get fired for a certain infraction, so would somebody on the executive staff.
There was a code of honor at BJU. And there were also rules of treating people with dignity and not berating them. Faculty were not to humiliate students. That also happened at times, but it was dealt with.
It's hard to fit BJU into the slots available. It has been a place that would go its own way in Fundamentalism (often under the mistaken impression that it was setting the rules for Fundamentalism). But in true Independent fashion, it has done little to confront or correct what other Fundamentalist churches do. Bob Jones University and the churches that are friendly to it (which tend to be Independent Baptist but not KJVO) are their own sub-group. But no, the abusiveness that I document is not a part of the BJU culture. I believe that they have failed to confront it and cry out against it sufficiently, but they have not participated in it.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Encouraging Words From Michigan
A brother way, way up north who has been experiencing the grace of God in trial writes these sweet words, "Hang in there my sister. Like you, I trust the day will come when Fundamentalism is a thing of the past and churches can be free to pursue conformity to Christ and growth in holiness." I think my brother means the IFBx variety of Fundamentalism. It may be the only kind he has ever experienced. I thank him for his kind words. He and his wife sometimes travel down this way, and we are all hoping to be able to meet one day for fellowsip face to face.
A brother way, way up north who has been experiencing the grace of God in trial writes these sweet words, "Hang in there my sister. Like you, I trust the day will come when Fundamentalism is a thing of the past and churches can be free to pursue conformity to Christ and growth in holiness." I think my brother means the IFBx variety of Fundamentalism. It may be the only kind he has ever experienced. I thank him for his kind words. He and his wife sometimes travel down this way, and we are all hoping to be able to meet one day for fellowsip face to face.
 | Right Angle Handstand About 15 minutes before yoga class, I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold. Sometimes, hard exercise, sweating, a lot of warming fluids (like ginger tea) can beat a cold, so I attended class. I did feel pretty bad for the first half of class. After the halfway point, I felt less weak but still not strong or even all that able. But years of martial arts have taught me that if you're there, you just work through difficult sessions. Not every training session is euphoric. |
And it was a pleasure to once again do the right angl handstand, with Vicki, the teacher, propping me at the shoulder. I came home, got a hot shower, ate hot soup, and am ready to climb into bed.
 | Oh that Independent Fundamental Baptist-X Display of Deceit, Ignorance, and Deception!
Over on the Hyles-Anderson College forum on the FFF, I must have struck a nerve, as the IFBx preachers and some of their slavish followers are once again hurling insults at me. I think it's the usual themes of "ugly" and "lesbian," two favorites of Fundamentalists when a woman thrashes them once or twice around the back lot for their ignorance of Scripture and disobedience to the Word of God. |
A reader from Kansas writes, quite movingly, "Why do you keep up the fight with the idiots on the HAC forum? Nearly every time I attempt to read any of the threads in there, it just ticks me off. You've shown yourself to be quite superior to most of them intellectually. You appear to have a better grasp of the Bible than most in there do, as well. The thing is, they will never realize tha because....well....most of them are complete idiots!"
Actually friend, they are complete deceivers, some to the point that they are entirely self deceived as well.
Yes, they are astoundingly and shamefully ignorant of Scripture, and yes, they do preach the most ridiculous ideas that always turn out to contribute enormous status to the preacher (as they are preachers), and yes it does get embarrassing to watch them at times.
But you have to understand, if they abuse me, they are abusing others. And not every other person has the lovely gift of contempt for their words that I have. I can't say I'm keen on being called names day after day. Then again, it bothers me a lot less than it would somebody who really took these ignorant devils seriously. I have a certain immunity that ought ought to be put to good use.
For one thing, we need a prolonged and consistent demonstration on a public venue of how ignorant of Scripture and chained down in sin these men are. There is a sense, indeed, in which I urge God by prayer to keep them blinded so that they will continue to make a full demonstration of their ungodly and unconverted hearts. In this way, the innocent and vulnerable are warned away.
But in the second place, men are brought to their own destruction by their own lusts and desires. That doesn't acquit us of our responsibilities to hold men in office accountable, but even when they wrest power for themselves, they are not innately powerful. I don't know the exact mechanism that God will choose, but just as Marty Braemer, when I was wondering what to do about the troll Over It, foolishly bragged in the forum that he had created Over It, so these men, given enough time and space, will destroy themselves.
I certainly intend to help things along by publishing the Encyclopedia of Abusive Church Practices, complete with multiple quotes and examples, but ultimately, the trigger lies with them. I will not bring them to destruction. My correspondent is absolutely correct in this regard, as I have very little power. Rather, when God is pleased to render judgement, He will stop holding back, and they will bring about their own public humiliation. But all things in GOd's time. And meanwhile, the demonstration is crucial. Time has to be allowed for the innocent and the simple to get thoroughly nauseated with IFBx and get out of it.
I doubt that after ranting and raging fo hours on the internet, that Guy Beaumont, Wally Jones, Marty Braemer, Jonathan Farris, or Chris Farris just switch off their guilt and rage. If they have to keep proving themselves and avenging themselves on a woman they don't know, who can do them no real harm, think of what they must do to those they expect to serve and obey their causes. A demonstration can be a good and a powerful thing when it is called to remembrance at the appropriate time. And every event---always--builds to the appropriate time.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
 | Mr Bean at Church
Prior to this weekend, I'd only seen one complete Mr. Bean segment (the laundromat), which I found very funny. But purely physical humor gets repetitive to me. I think Mr. Bean is a hilarious creation that requires a lot of skill and originality, but I can take it only in small doses. However, this week, over coffee, two of the ladies from my church commented on the hilarious sketch from the first episode called, "The Church." |
One of them lent me the entire Mr. Bean collection. Today I watched "The Church" and "Horror Movie." Both are funny. Mr. Bean trying to keep up with the singing of the hymns was my favorite part. It brings back memories! (But I never tried to get a mint into my mouth while singing "Hallelujah!")
