Craig Sisson, 52 (Hyles did not respond to an interview request. It probably is one the most . I knew the man. In a scene right out of some cheap romance novel, Hyles arranged for Vic Nischik to sleep in the basement of his own house and to pay rent to Jennie. But thats what it is. He hated my mom. Linda Murphrey, one of his daughters, recently told the Post-Tribune that she was 2 years old when her family moved from Texas to Indiana. I grieve for them.. Hyles arranged for Jennie Nischik to work as a secretary in an adjoining office in the late 1960s, and she would not allow her husband to touch her by 1971. Id been told that there was assistance at Hyles-Anderson in finding a job. Including Linda Murphrey, Hyless daughter. In the early 1980s, David Hyles, then in his 20s, was the youth pastor at First Baptist. That is insane! He pastored a church in Texas and was found to be having affairs with 14 different women. This story has been revised to reflect the following: Correction on 12.11.12: The print version of this story, appearing in the January 2013 issue of Chicago, incorrectly stated that former First Baptist Church member Julie Silvestrone Busby received marriage counseling from Schaap in 2004 and 2009. Wearing a gray blazer, a red patterned tie, and dark pants, clutching a Bible in his left hand, he stopped in front of the TV cameras and planted a long kiss on his wife, Cindy, 52. last year) recognize that it is clearly a cult. Ive never been able to say the c-wordand anyone from the church who reads this will take great offensebut thats what it was like.. . In facthe turned to Johnny Colsten, one of the men on the stage with himId like for you, if you dont mind, to drink this.. He got five years in prison. Torrent v.2. Every time we talked he would ask me if we kissed, and I would say yes, and he would ask me real intimate questions about when we kissed and what happened when we kissed. Money poured into the church in other ways: the tithes collected each Sunday, a book-publishing arm, and various conferences and seminars. At the end, as usual, young men streamed up to the stage. As the bible saysBe sure your sin will find you out.This is such a sad thing to have happened. Former pastor of Antioch Baptist Academy, Warren, Michigan, Convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting a minor, 3. Nevertheless, the story of First Baptist is epic enough to rival the most sordid Old Testament tale. By the time he took charge of the 44-member Miller Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas, in 1952, he was a full-fledged, fire-breathing, stem-winding spellbinder, blessed with a booming preachers voice, a savants recall of the Bible, and a charisma that could almost magically levitate people from their seats to surrender their lives to the Savior. Yet, you have failed with the most precious gifts God could have ever given you your wife, your children, and now, your ministry. When you do submit, be prepared to endure excruciating pain. YES. I remember hearing once that it is not wise to put anything in writing that one would not want the entire world to see. This is what happens to preachers who continue to associate with men like Hyles and their defenders. [Hyles] took your voice, he took your beliefs, he took your likes and dislikes and opinions, and he gave you his own. Where there is longstanding passionate romantic steam there is probably physical adultery, but certainly there is mental adultery. ..and stay on our knees in prayer, because Satan is just waiting for the opportunity to strike. But thats what it is. Evaluate 3 (13395 Ratings) Top rated: 3 . It really is astonishing, says Jeri Massi, a researcher from Raleigh, North Carolina, who has been documenting the sexual abuse of children in Christian fundamentalism since 2001. The following is excerpted from Linda Murphreys testimony at the TEDxOjaiChange event in Ojai, California, April 5, 2012. Whispers began that he was having an affair with the daughter of a high-level administrator at Hyles-Anderson College. Brother Evans daughter was one of the ones that David had an affair with. First Baptist had become a nationwide phenomenon, dubbed a superchurch by Time. In a show of modesty that would be almost unthinkable in later years, Hyles acknowledged that he didnt immediately set bushes to burning. Last September, Schaap, 54, a married father of two, pleaded guilty to taking a 16-year-old girl he was counseling at First Baptist across state lines to have sex. These are not sharable. Brother Hyles didn't own anything at the church. He owned our lives, and we didnt dare cross him, because we were too afraid we would lose everything. Breaking Free: Linda Hyles Murphrey Speaks At TEDxOjaiChange | Stuff Fundies Like Current Events, People Breaking Free: Linda Hyles Murphrey Speaks At TEDxOjaiChange August 6, 2012 Darrell 594 Comments Persnickety Polecat August 10, 2012 at 4:48 pm Ah, I see. With these thoughts expressed, I bathe myself of you and any influence you may have had on me in the past. Hyles arranged for Jennie Nischik to work as a secretary in an adjoining office in the late 1960s, and she would not allow her husband to touch her by 1971. The items have taken years to produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we use the income from sales to help fund the ministry. Hyles kept close watch over the colleges curriculum to make sure it met his standards and was suitable for export to churches across the country. look with favor on an unjust man. He returned to the Chicago area, to Bolingbrook, moving in with a woman named Brenda Stevens. Twisted scripture, Northwest Indiana-style. Eddie Lapina was witness to all of that. The author of this book, Cindy Schaap, has now divorced her husband b/c he's in prison. I am continually amazed at the pastors who defend Jack Hyles, denying that he was a moral reprobate as well as a dictatorial cult leader. They prostrated themselves on the football-field-wide bank of stairs there. Then theres Chester Mulligan, a pastor who was ordained in Hammond by Hyles. It was a fine sermon, and the people around memen in suits and ties with neatly combed hair, women in tastefully modest dresses, children sitting quietly beside themsmiled and nodded. With your own insecurities and personal failures as your driving force, you have quite simply played havoc with an entire church, some of my dearest friends and worst of all, my family. DeAnda, a trim 30-something who is spoken of as a candidate for the top job, made no references to sex. Sincerely,(Signed Judy Johnson). Several people who grew up at First Baptist recall that parents took the instruction to heart. He charmed people in order to get them to do what he wanted them to do., As Schaap consolidated his grip on the congregation, says former church member Linda Gensaw, he became more brazengraphic sexual sermons to the point that I didnt want to take my children., Tom Brennan, the Independent Baptist pastor in Chicago and former First Baptist member, agrees. I dont know if there is right now. It is a culture, past and present members say, enabled by cover-ups and cultlike control. If we have our eyes on Christ and our own personal responsibilities before Him, we will not stumble when men fail us. He was very wealthy. When all of this happened with our church in Garland, his dad didnt want to hear it. Eddie Lapina was witness to all of that. That reknown enabled Hyles to begin crisscrossing the country as the de facto leader of a loose coalition of Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches. Join Facebook to connect with Linda Murphrey and others you may know. At Ballengers sentencing hearingdelayed three years by appeals, during which time he resumed working in the bus ministrytwo women testified that Ballenger also molested them when they were young. The rest of the open letter. In fact, the church had by then built its own grammar school, middle school, and high school. Linda Hyles Murphrey - The Jim Baumer Experience. Its important to stress that even the people I spoke with who felt victimized by the church did not suggest that the majority of members are anything other than sincere seekers of Christ. Of course at the time, I thought this was the devil trying to trip me up. I emphatically and strongly disagree with those who would assert that the church is a cult, he says. He told lies that he couldnt possibly get away with. In his 1979 book How to Rear Infants, he wrote: The parent who spanks his child keeps him from going to hell.. Despite two eyewitness accounts, Ballenger denied the charge, was released on bond, and returned to the church. I pulled onto Sibley Avenue and headed toward the church, a mammoth red-brick structure hard by the railroad tracks that takes up an entire city block and looks from some angles more like a big-box store than a house of worship. Did Davids dad know that he was adulterous before we went to Texas? Sadly, in your very heart of hearts you must be the most miserable, lonely person alive. The answer is definitely yes and there are a hundred people who know that. But yes, there is most definitely a door. They will no doubt tighten the reins some, says Glover. His wife, Paula, divorced him. And it shall be done., Critics are skeptical. I went to him twice about things I had heard about Dave. In fact, she kept it covered with a curtain. But, of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.If you and your client really want to do the right thing, you'll face the fact that First Baptist Church has had a cancer growing in it for nearly 50 years. But even a saved man can deceive himself. Way of Lifes content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable. Offering: Offerings are welcome if you care to make one. He had a mistress for many years, the wife of a Sunday School teacher. Subscribe for free today! Here are just eight of the men affiliated with First Baptist Church or educated at Hyles-Andersonmost of them pastorswho scattered around the nation committing crimes. 594 thoughts on "Breaking Free: Linda Hyles Murphrey Speaks At TEDxOjaiChange" And, says Kaifetz, he got a heros welcome. I believe First Baptist Church gradually evolved into a cult that was in complete idolatry of my father and, after his death, complete idolatry of Jack Schaap, she says. And they prayed. (Similar concern has yet to be expressed for his victim.) I mean when I was dating David, the books that Hyles has written on teenagers and dating, we never did one thing that he taught. When the long-serving pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond stepped down, Hyles got the call. 700 Children's Drive. These are sharable. (You know well the horrifying effects doing so can cause, don't you?) He used his temper as a form of control.. My understanding is that with all the stuff going on theyve done something with it. You may have convinced your following in the past twenty years that 'it did not happen if they did not see it,' but God has seen every moment of those years, and my faith will not let [me] believe that He will let you go unpunished. 25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. According to his reading, men ruled absolutely. The bravest voices lifted against him were the voices of women, the very women who had been hurt by this mans ungodly actions, women who showed themselves stronger than a huge number of weak-kneed, ostrich-like pastors. It was simple, but daunting, and that was to keep all the secrets, and there were so many. Another philosophy of his is that he doesnt want to hear anything, because then he doesnt have to deal with it. First, we see that refusal to separate from those who are immoral takes away the ability to protest their evil. When he tried to read a three-page letter, Hyles cried out, You are trying to destroy fundamentalism! and the deacons chimed in by shouting the poor man down. He promises that there will be no cover-up. UPDATE: TEDS video has now been restored. Tag Archives: Linda Hyles Murphrey Walking Away. To the hundreds of people who posted comments under a YouTube video of the event, the lack of reaction is as shocking as Schaaps sermon itself. Abused her. Hyles certainly had enemies -- back then, more so. Linda Hyles-Murphrey photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more. Jack Hyles was the cult leader and he . Jack Hyles set himself up as the saviour of fundamentalism and the pastor of pastors. Sermons on the scandal rang out from pulpits across the country. But I wondered: If my dad had been taken off his self-constructed throne long ago and people had known the full truth about who he was, perhaps Jack Schaap would never have been given the liberties, the complete lack of accountability, and the power that eventually led to his own demise. And even to our adult years, he owned us. Gibbs,I just watched the video on the First Baptist Church website where you, Terry Duff and Eddie Lapina discussed the church's current scandal. I felt like I had one main responsibility as a child. Trisha LaCroix, the former Hyles-Anderson student and one of the sites administrators, says she has heard from hundreds of people who have shared stories of abusemental, physical, and sexual. He came and went as he pleased. I dont care how much he demanded personal loyalty. Later Hyles paid to have a room built for Vic over the garage, where he lived without being allowed any conjugal relationship with his wife. You exemplify everything in this life that I do not want for myself, my marriage or my children. Then there were the practical matters that caused immediate red flags when we rolled up to Hyles-Anderson College in our overloaded U-Haul, during the oppressively hot Midwestern August, in 1983. Things that we encourage you to share include the audio sermons, video presentations, O Timothy magazine, and the hundreds of Fundamental Baptist Information Service (FBIS) articles. He left everything to the organization, which my younger sister and her husband now lead. 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