It was simple, but daunting, and that was to keep all the secrets, and there were so many. (You know well the horrifying effects doing so can cause, don't you?) He was a genius, recalls a former member of the Hammond church who has edited some of Jack Schaaps books. The wrath of Hyles and his supporters again rained down. . And all this barely half an hours drive from downtown Chicago. My older brother became another version of my father. The age at which such punishment should begin? He taught us that to please him we had to keep all the secrets. He was so interested in mine and Davids personal relationship. Another philosophy of his is that he doesnt want to hear anything, because then he doesnt have to deal with it. The following is excerpted from Linda Murphreys testimony at the TEDxOjaiChange event in Ojai, California, April 5, 2012. He really does have that kind of influence on those people. Tedd Butler, 47 Another person who is keenly aware of the lure and peril of personality is Murphrey. My older brother became another version of my father. One of the girls told me and Daves sister that she was sleeping with him, and we told his dad. You have to submit 100 percent of the time, and whenever anything goes wrong in a marriage, its because the woman didnt do enough.. Cindy cut off her own sister, Linda Murphrey, who left the cult and has spoken publicly in Ted talks about how her father was abusive, hated her mother, abused church members, and enjoyed his affairs while preaching condemnation to others from the pulpit. We were taught to not question and to take the man of Gods [Schaaps] word over everything, says Julie Silvestrone Busby, a former First Baptist member who now hosts a Christian radio show in Iowa. It operated and still operates under the guise of an independent fundamental Baptist church. After his first sermon in 1947, Elijah blushed and Heavens flag flew at half mast for three days, he lamented in a 1975 Time magazine article. Trisha LaCroix, who attended Hyles-Anderson College, says that she was disowned by her parentsFirst Baptist members bothin part for daring to wear pants. That decision and my close friendship with your ex-daughter-in-law (you remember her, don't you?) Nobody there ever drank Kool-Aid. They also corrected a previous repo These are not sharable. He left everything to the organization, which my younger sister and her husband now lead. It probably is one the most . He left everything to the organization, which my younger sister and her husband now lead. Your idol is a false one. If we have our eyes on Christ and our own personal responsibilities before Him, we will not stumble when men fail us. boymom August 11, 2012 at 11:11 am Right back at ya, babe. They are right back in the same trap.. Jack Hyles set himself up as the saviour of fundamentalism and the pastor of pastors. Denied bond, he awaits sentencing in the Porter County Jail; the minimum term is ten years. You could still see it from his office. So many hurting, scared, broken women who are so afraid, who dont know that theyre loved, who want grace, but they have only heard all the things they need to do. You are free to make copies of these at your own expense and share them with friends and family. burn your building, penned another, Kristen Conner. I about laughed in his face. I felt like I had one main responsibility as a child. The fire-and-brimstone words of his mother burning in his head, Hyles then enrolled at East Texas Baptist College in Marshall, Texas, where he became a student pastor. And I was the one who was made to look like the bad guy in both instances. And it shall be done., Critics are skeptical. According to Kaifetz, When a guy like Hyles says, This is Gods will for your life, you just say, Well, I guess it is., One area in which Hylesa father of fourexerted particular control was child rearing. Previous Post FWOTW: 1611Skirts.com Next Post The Coup de Grce. Rock music was out, of course, as was any music with a syncopated beat. The Bible was to be interpreted literally and by Hyles alone. (The previous are excerpts from Dave Colemans Interview with Paula Hyles Polonco, first wife of Jack Hyles son Dave, November 1, 1989). What he was doing was unmistakable: simulating masturbation, in front of thousands of children, in the middle of a church service. I would literally vomit before some of our meetings it got so bad., When the couple eventually left the church, Schaap turned on her, Busby says. He hated my mom. We stayed with the Busbys for a few days, and then moved into a condo project near the school, where many other students were living. Busby is far from the only person to compare First Baptist to a cult. I dont know if there is right now. My understanding is that with all the stuff going on theyve done something with it. 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. Rev. No one could have imagined he would grow into the larger-than-life figure whom critics would dub the Godfather and others would consider the Chosen One. Yes, they havent slept together in probably 25 years, they dont share the same bedroom, they dont speak. View the profiles of people named Linda Murphy on Facebook. You are a self-proclaimed giant, sensationalist, exhibitionist, and 'big-time spender' grasping for every expression of love, admiration and loyalty that you can get your filthy little hands on. No person has perfect knowledge or perfect memory about events that occurred years in the past, and it is always possible to quibble about some detail of someones story, as any court trial would demonstrate. I dont care how controlling Jack Schaap was. 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. But all that needs to happen is for the right pastor to come alongi.e., a man with a strong, charismatic personality who is a leaderand boom! He did what he wanted to do. He had a mistress for many years, the wife of a Sunday School teacher. Today her name is Linda Murphrey and it appears from this testimony that she has rejected biblical Christianity because of the hypocrisy she witnessed growing up in the home of the man who said God had given him "the steering wheel of fundamentalism" and who boasted that his church "was the greatest church in the history of Christianity." Both Terry Duff and Eddie Lapina can help you fill in the details. You had to really look. I was called the Antichrist and worse, Glover says. . 594 thoughts on "Breaking Free: Linda Hyles Murphrey Speaks At TEDxOjaiChange" Comment navigation. If you mean what you said, you have a lot of work to do. Thanks for what youre making me.. . 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.. So he would pay for peoples surgeries and pay for people to get their teeth fixed., By the late 1980s, the church was reaching its apotheosis. Linda Hyles Murphrey - The Jim Baumer Experience. We hated her. Hyles-Anderson College appears to be struggling, too. Meanwhile, the churchs lawyer, David Gibbs, has called for other victims to come forward with their stories. But to the congregation of First Baptist, it was all in a days preaching. . Four years ago, he pleaded guilty to felony stalking of a 14-year-old girl while pastor of Central Baptist Church in East Chicago. For over fifteen years I have watched and learned much from the circus that you have performed with the lives of those I love most in the world. It was going to be me and my big mouth that ruined my marriage, not Davids actions. Early in my life I learned that there was one thing that could kill a festive mood at a dinner party. He claimed that he had long heard reports that Nischik was immoral, but the following important observation must be taken into consideration in this matter:Throughout all of this, Hyles being privy to most if not all of it by his own testimony, Vic remained a member in good standing of the First Baptist Church, song leader in Dr. Hyles own adult Sunday School class, choir member, a key worker in the bus ministry (where the pickings would be delightful among love-starved, fatherless, teenage girls), a trustee of Hyles-Anderson College, a financial adviser and assistant who helped him obtain a $1,500,000 loan for the purchase of the Hyles-Anderson campus, as well as a respected deacon in the First Baptist Church! She is the daughter of Jack Hyles (former pastor of the Independent Fundamental Baptist megachurch, First Baptist Hammond) and talks about her escape from that cult (her word, not mine). He was chased from a job running the Sunday school at a church in Pinellas Park, Florida, over allegations of more affairs. And even turned his own children against their mother. He had affairs. Their offices each had a door opening to the hallway as well as the private door connecting the two rooms. They didnt dare disagree or be disloyal, for fear of being publicly ridiculed or punished or banished for doing so. Back at First Baptist, prayers for Brother Schaap have been asked for and received. He began calling himself an Independent Baptistuntethered to any dogma or ritual he didnt cotton to, unaccountable to any ruling body or person beyond himself. So does every expert and religion blogger tracking the churchand virtually every one of the dozens of victims and former church memberswith whom I spoke. All we ask is that you give proper credit. He used his temper as a form of control.. UPDATE: TEDS video has now been restored. He never had restrictions on his life. Her office had a door opening to Hyles office, but there was a drape in front of it so that no one coming into her office could see it. Also, the girl whom Schaap counseled across state lines was 16 when the abuse began. Among the accusations was a systematic culture of cover-up: [Jack Hyles] negligently and carelessly has fostered . With God's help, I will make my life in California everything that He would have it be and, unlike you, will not fall. While most of the lower level was filled, sections of the sweeping balcony were deserted. look with favor on an unjust man. We never double dated. David was a blatant liar. Instead, the silence was golden, and it still is. Way of Life's content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable. TEDx speaker Linda Hyles Murphrey for the first time publicly reveals the secret life she was forced to live as the daughter of the former leader of an Indiana mega-church turned cult. Linda Murphrey is one of the daughters of the late Jack Hyles. 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. Hyles eventually abandoned the churchs Southern Baptist theology, saying it was too liberal. 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. For a pastor to develop a romantic relationship with a church member is gross, gross abuse of his position and of his solemn marital vows. The blows should be painful and should last . 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. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites But Schaap is not simply one of those rogue evangelists who thunders against the evils of forbidden sex while indulging in it himself. My dad lived a double life, one of a righteous family man and of a dynamic speaker in the public eye, but [another] one of sordid sexual secrets privately, secrets that only my siblings and me and my mom knew. Log in to Reply. I anxiously await the day that I can say with all honesty, "They did the right thing".Judy Nischik JohnsonTHE TESTIMONY OF JACK HYLES DAUGHTER-IN-LAWThe following are excerpts fromDave Colemans Interview with Paula Hyles PoloncoFirst wife of Jack Hyles son, DaveNovember 1, 1989Did Davids dad know that he was adulterous before we went to Texas? The flock grew to include prominent business leaders such as Austin Jack DeCoster, the former egg mogul who by some estimates has given tens of millions to First Baptist and has two church buildings named for him. He told us she was crazy. (She left the church in 2010 after her husband, a prominent member of the congregation, was caught having sexual relationships with underage girls. And his dad would get up and preach this and browbeat everybody to death to do their kids that way, but David didnt have to live that way. That boy had not one rule for his life. Older Comments. I used to joke that people would not rearrange their living room furniture without help from Brother Hyles, says Jerry Kaifetz, a former teacher at First Baptists Pastors School who left the church around 1990. 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 literally feared for my very life if I ever told what went on in our home, for fear that it would hurt his ministry. Yes, then, I agree. If Hyles wanted him to drink, he would. helped salvage what was left of my self-respect. I knew the man. His strategy: Send a fleet of buses into some of the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago and northern Indiana, pack them with the poor and underprivileged, and drive them to First Baptist to experience the Gospel according to Hyles. And they prayed. 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. But in July 2010, an hour into the Polished Shaft sermonin a church packed with thousands of teenagers there for a youth conferenceSchaap went further. In 1997, the parents of a mentally disabled 12-year-old sued First Baptist over what they alleged was a months-long pattern of rape and torture of their daughter. Linda. A link to the original report is very much appreciated as the reports are frequently updated and/or expanded. When all of this happened with our church in Garland, his dad didnt want to hear it. Chester Mulligan, 47 He died a multi-millionaire. Multiple websites tracking the First Baptist Church of Hammond have identified more than a dozen men with ties to the churchmany of whom graduated from its college, Hyles-Anderson, or its annual Pastors Schoolswho fanned out around the country, preaching at their own churches and racking up a string of arrests and civil lawsuits, including physical abuse of minors, sexual molestation, and rape. First Baptist had become a nationwide phenomenon, dubbed a superchurch by Time. The stick was displeasing God, a message hammered home virtually every Sunday. But, of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Actually, I have become quite a person with these many lessons of life under my belt and must admit that you were quite a teacher. Evaluate 3 (13395 Ratings) Top rated: 3 . . I met him fresh out of high school. Posted on September 8, 2018 by Jim. His wife, Paula, divorced him. The influx of cash enabled First Baptist to buy large parcels of real estate around Hammondand enabled Hyles to buy loyalty. FIRST, TO GIVE THE BACKGROUND, LET ME QUOTE FROM THE BOOK , IN REGARD TO HYLES RELATIONSHIP WITH JUDY NISCHIK. What I cant comprehend is telling a lie that so many people know is a lie. So [authorities] have asked us to come in and conduct a thorough investigation. I went to him twice about things I had heard about Dave. These are sharable. We could never even tell our best friends what went on in our home, because we might be the cause of the destruction of his ministry. That is a strong statement. Fourth, our attitude toward sin reveals the condition of our hearts. Update information for Linda Hyles-Murphrey More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro Biography Awards Photo Gallery Filmography Trailers and Videos Hide all | | Edit Linda Murphrey is a popular inspirational speaker and expert in human behavior as a Certified Personal and Professional Development Coach, a Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and. We were all of a sudden part of the most successful operation, the most successful movement, you have ever seen or heard about, Kaifetz says. By this letter I wish to express my thoughts on the role you have played in these events over the past fifteen-plus years. Author: jimbaumerexperience.com. It operated and still operates under the guise of an independent fundamental Baptist church. Founded in 1887, sleepy First Baptist had a mostly well-to-do congregation, many of whom commuted to jobs in Chicago. Its a continuous guilt trip, says McGuire. You had to really look. Hyles lied about the existence of the door, saying, There IS no door, which was technically true at the time, since it had been removed after the matter became public! With these thoughts expressed, I bathe myself of you and any influence you may have had on me in the past. The articles also alleged financial improprieties, accusing Hyles of using church money to lavish tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts on Jennie, including a car, clothes, and home remodeling. Why he lies about that I will never know. [As to why the people at First Baptist allowed these things to go on] the only thing I can tell you is that you are so totally brainwashed. If the members of the congregation were heartbroken about what was happening to their church, they didnt show it on this night. There are some very good people still there whom I love dearly and who truly have hearts for the Lord but were deceived, Busby says. Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church, 2020 Chicago magazine / A Chicago Tribune Media Group website, 51 Life Changing Jack Hyles Quotes - Inspirationalweb.org, All the Lights Were Flashing Red and They Still Are Y'all Qaeda Blog, Thoughts On Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theorists, Inspired by the Thomas Chantry Trial | Here's the Joy. THE TRUTH is that all the property belonged solely to the First Baptist Church of Hammond. 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. 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. He owned our lives, and we didnt dare cross him, because we were too afraid we would lose everything. David was a blatant liar. He was so interested in mine and Davids personal relationship. The approach resonated deeply with rural Texans longing for a return to old-time religion. She left the church after alleging that Schaap behaved inappropriately during marriage counseling sessions in 2004 through 2009.