User:Scooge/Robert L. Hymers
LA Times, 8/12/1988: Hymers fight - He sees sin all around him, David Ferrell
TEXT: Hymers' Fight-He Sees Sin All Around Him [Home Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif. Author: DAVID FERRELL Date: Aug 12, 1988 Start Page: 3 Section: 1; Metro Desk Text Word Count: 2169
Document Text
The Rev. Robert L. Hymers was unhappy. He had just stepped down from the pulpit, having delivered yet another impassioned outcry against the Universal Pictures film "The Last Temptation of Christ."
Now, facing a crowd of reporters in his Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle in downtown Los Angeles, Hymers took on the whole of society. The world, as he saw it, was coming apart at the seams: AIDS, drug abuse, adultery, youth violence, the destruction of the ozone layer.
"I could go on," Hymers declared, gesturing with a forefinger, looking defiantly among the eyes of his listeners. "What about the earthquake that's coming? The killer bees? People laugh about the killer bees. They're 100 miles away now!"
He spoke and he paced in circles, a bald, portly man involved in abattle against a film, being released today, that conservative Christian leaders have labeled blasphemous.
Hymers has brought to the campaign a zealous, unrelenting style that has carried him into countless TV newscasts and talk shows and into Time and People magazines. He rants, he waves flags, he stages mock crucifixions of Jesus on the sidewalk. He says what he thinks-come hell or high water.
He stalked off one television talk show and lashed out at his critics on others. He talks of Christian love, of decency. But as he looks, he perceives sin all around him.
"Yes, sir, I'm mad," he said. "I don't like the way things are."
Hymers has become an enigma of the protest movement, a player in the spotlight acting out his own unpredictable drama. The 47-year-old pastor, whose 250-member church meets each Sunday on South Hope Street, has a reputation for combativeness that dates back years, to earlier crusades and even to bitter defectors of his own organization.
Hymers from the beginning parted ways with other protesters of the "Last Temptation of Christ," which Christians attacked for its non-Biblical depiction of Jesus. The objections have centered on a sequence in which Christ imagines making love to Mary Magdalene. Clergymen also have expressed opposition to the film's "wimpy" or "deranged" characterization of Christ.
But unlike other Christian leaders, who directed their complaints to Universal, Hymers made a target of one man, Lew Wasserman, a Jew who is chairman of Universal's parent company, MCA Inc.
In doing so, Hymers took a central issue of the protest-freedom of speech versus moral decency-and turned it into a campaign that many have seen as misdirected and anti-Semitic.
Hymers charged that Wasserman's decision to finance the film amounted to a Jewish-paid attack on Christianity. He organized a march last month outside Wasserman's home where protesters chanted about "Jewish money" while toting signs: "Wasserman fans anti-Semitism" and "Wasserman endangers Israel."
The action-and several of Hymers' subsequent protests aimed at Wasserman-have put Hymers under attack by Jewish and Christian leaders alike.
"He has been waving the anti-Semitic flag in such a way as to (demonstrate) that he is anti-Semitic," said Rabbi Stephen M. Robbins of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills. "I find such an approach to be tragic."
A number of mainstream religious leaders have tried to distance themselves from Hymers, accusing him of hurting the protest movement.
Father Gregory Coiro, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, denounced Hymers by saying, "The fact that Lew Wasserman is Jewish has nothing to do with this film."
A longtime friend of Hymers, executive director Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus, said he was saddened by a telecast of one protest. Rosen, who performed Hymers' wedding, said he had never considered Hymers to be bigoted or anti-Semitic until he saw a television news clip.
"(But) I saw his mouth move, I heard the words and I'm heartsick," Rosen said.
But Hymers has persisted.
"I think this movie is filthy! I think it is ugly! And I think it is going to bring God's fiery judgment upon America," Hymers declared in an interview. He said he has not seen the film but has read the novel, by Nikos Kazantzakis, and the screenplay-which, he said, made him cry.
"This film presents Jesus as a paranoid schizophrenic. There's been no movie of Mohammed or Buddha or a leading Jewish rabbi or any (other) founder of a religion being portrayed as having mental problems. . . .
"And the thing is, this (film) is financed by Jewish people. Everybody knows it. It's terrible."
At the same time, Hymers admitted that early comments about "Jewish money" were a mistake.
"If it seemed anti-Semitic, I'm sorry," Hymers said. "I love the Jewish people. . . . I don't want to have anything to do with anti-Semitism."
Critics paint Hymers as a stubborn, malicious attacker who lives to wage his righteous crusades. But his supporters include a number of conservative Baptists, including evangelist Bob Jones Jr.
"He's willing to stand up and be counted," Jones said, "and I appreciate that in a fellow."
Church member John Barnes, 23, said Hymers' ministry saved him from gang warfare in South-Central Los Angeles. "I love it . . . pulpit-pounding preaching," Barnes said. "It's spirit filled."
"He's a rouser . . . he's very dogmatic," said Harold Lindsell, a longtime and former editor of Christianity Today magazine and a friend of Hymers for years. "I think he's probably to the right of Jerry Falwell. He's always right there shooting a bullet if he possibly can."
In recent years, those bullets have flown with machine-gun regularity. One target was San Francisco's Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, a school that Hymers attended and publicly blasted in 1981 with allegations of liberal teaching. Proudly, he recalled chasing one professor out of a classroom and down a hallway.
Two years ago, Hymers gained greater notoriety by leading a prayer demonstration for the death of U.S. Supreme Court justices who favored abortion. Newsweek called it "Rambo Christianity." Hymers called it an outcry for murdered unborn children.
Once again, last year, Hymers launched a crusade. His target this time, Christian-run Biola University in La Mirada, is being accused of tolerating liberal teaching of the Scriptures and dancing on campus.
The campaign, denounced by school officials, has continued with mailers to students asking for reports of co-ed pregnancies, liberal teaching and other transgressions.
"I'm so sad for our country and what's happening around us," Hymers said.
Los Angeles Resident
[edit]A lifelong resident of the Los Angeles area, Hymers has been a Baptist since he first found religion as a teen-ager, when a neighbor began taking him along to church. That neighbor, Henry M. McGowan, remembers Hymers as a "pretty wild" youth who had been raised in an environment of "bickering, drinking, swearing-just a home life that no child should be subjected to."
McGowan and his wife, Joyce, who lived in Huntington Park, were devout Christians. They all but adopted Hymers. "He was very susceptible to a decent home, to decent people who did not swear, people who went to church," McGowan said. "The Lord just took charge of his life."
Today Hymers displays the trappings of a conventional Christian upbringing. His wife, Ileana, is a member of the church. His modest home in Glendale is decorated with his Scriptural plaques, wedding pictures and photographs of twin 4-year-old boys. An ink drawing of President Reagan hangs above the piano.
Away from the public stage, Hymers can be scholarly and gracious. He smiles and talks of better days, the old days, when kids weren't into gangs and drugs. He likes old movies, John Wayne. He loved Pepsi the way it tasted before 1956.
"I'd give $50 for a glass right now!" he said.
At one time, in the early 1980s, Hymers dreamed of establishing in Los Angeles a network of 1,000 homes run and occupied by Christians. The fledgling organization, which grew to 32 homes, was known as Open Door Community Churches of Los Angeles (not to be confused with the Church of the Open Door).
But amid bitter infighting, the organization ultimately crumbled. Defectors say Hymers' aggressive style displayed itself in hostile fits of anger. Former followers say Hymers regularly lashed out by striking them or humiliating them before crowds.
Tells of Slapping
[edit]Rafael J. Gomez, 33, who said he dropped out of UCLA after joining Hymers' organization in 1978, recalled an occasion when he and one of Hymers' pastors, Jeff Koenig, arrived for a meeting at an apartment that Hymers then rented in Westwood. Koenig was talking loudly outside and Hymers flung open the door to greet them, Gomez said.
"He swung the screen door out and just slapped Koenig across the face and called him a stupid Jew and a kike and practically dragged him in by the collar," Gomez said. In the 3 1/2 years in Hymers' church, he said, "I saw him hit people or push people more than 50 times. It's just hard to catalogue them all."
Hymers called the charges lies, saying he is nonviolent and never used anti-Jewish slurs in his life. "Let them document it," he said. "I say, `Why did they stay? Why didn't they prosecute me?' "
Koenig, 32, who was a top lieutenant for Hymers before quitting the organization in 1981, said he did not recall the particular incident cited by Gomez. However, Koenig said, Hymers "used that expression `kike' many times. I remember being pushed, shoved and hit several times."
Koenig said followers tended to forgive Hymers because they believed that his Christian message overshadowed the incidents. "We'd say, `Well, Hymers isn't perfect, but who is? He's a great man and it's for a great cause.' "
At one point, Hymers' following rose to reach crowds of 1,000 or more at some Sunday lectures when the group was meeting in Hollywood, West Los Angeles and downtown. He used sensational posters to draw visitors to a school auditorium in Hollywood. One said, "Sex deviants-live! Jewish community outraged!" Another featured an eye-catching photo of Marilyn Monroe. "Sex after death?" it asked.
Institutes Changes
[edit]The posters were an attempt at emulating the lurid fundamentalist flyers of years ago, Hymers said.
But Hymers changed the church name, changed his approach and moved downtown after much of the congregation left. Trouble in the church subsided, according to some members, but still there were moments of rage and conflict.
Shana Couch, 25, who left the church near the end of last year, complained that her salvation was questioned when she asked to give up her role as a church singer after her husband entered the hospital with a heart problem. "They said there was something wrong with me," she said. "They put me into counseling."
Earlier this year, a Glendale resident named Robyn Singer filed a court complaint against Hymers arising from an incident in 1987 in which Hymers was trying to pull his car out of a convenience store parking lot. Hymers' car was blocked by Singer's, leading to an argument between the two.
`Slapped Me Across the Face'
[edit]"Hymers intentionally slapped me across the face and said I would burn in hell and damned me to hell," Singer said in her complaint. "He said he was a minister and had the power to cause me spiritual hell. He also said God sanctioned his behavior and he could lie and deny his acts because he would be shielded by God of any liability."
Hymers, recalling the incident, said he spoke angrily to Singer. "Wouldn't you?" he asked. "Anything wrong with that?"
But he called the report "as wild and insane as it could be. Of course none of that happened. I wasn't even near her. It sounds like something out of an old Boris Karloff movie or something. . . . It's just something I think would be out of character. I can't imagine myself saying that."
Hymers, in a more reflective moment, allowed that he could imagine simply "telling someone to go to hell . . . because I'm a kind of gutsy and earthy person. I might say, `Listen, you, why don't you go to hell.' I might say that because in my background there was a lot of cussing. I wasn't raised in primroses and with flowers in the house. I was raised in a rough background."
On Thursday, as 25,000 demonstrators gathered at Universal Pictures to protest "The Last Temptation of Christ," Hymers continued to travel his own path, meeting with an Italian television crew. He predicted that the film would bomb.
He spoke wearily of the turmoil he had stirred, like a cross he had to bear.
"Do you know how god-awful hard it is to be a pastor in this city?" he asked. "Try it. I think somebody should do it. I wish it weren't me most of the time."
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Death-Prayer Pastor Hails Burger Move [Home Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif. Date: Jun 18, 1986 Start Page: 19 Section: 1; National Desk Text Word Count: 116
Document Text
The resignation of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was hailed Tuesday as an "answer to our prayers" by a fundamentalist pastor who earlier had asked his congregation to pray that five Supreme Court justices either repent, retire or die.
"God answered our prayers," said the Rev. Robert L. Hymers, pastor of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle church in Los Angeles. "It's astonishing . . . it's not only an answer to our prayers, but a victory for the Jews, Catholics and Protestants who have fought so hard against abortion."
Hymers on Sunday called for the deaths of Burger and four other justices who last week upheld a Long Island, N.Y., couple's right to withhold medical treatment from their handicapped daughter.
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Abortion Clinic Backers Block Protesters' Entry [Valley Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif. Author: DEAN MURPHY Date: Mar 2, 1985 Start Page: 6 Section: Metro; 2; Zones Desk Text Word Count: 795
Abstract (Document Summary)
The counterdemonstrators blocked the entrance to the Family Planning Medical Group clinic on Victory Boulevard as the Rev. Robert L. Hymers and the Rev. Rodney S. Brooks attempted to enter. "If you want to help people, why not set up a home for unwed mothers," one of the blockaders shouted at the two men.
As [Diana Moser], a nurse, and the other demonstrators supporting the right of women to use the clinic continued their chant, Hymers and Brooks countered with rounds of, "The baby's right, the baby's right." Meanwhile, about 25 other anti-abortion picketers marched up and down the sidewalk in front of the clinic.
After a standoff that lasted about 10 minutes, Hymers and Brooks moved into the parking lot and pledged to continue their abortion protest. "Since Dr. Allred has paid these people not to let me in," Hymers said, referring to Dr. Edward C. Allred, owner of the clinic and similar clinics throughout Southern California, "I will go to his home next week. We will hold a funeral service outside his home next Thursday."
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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LA Herald Examiner: 3/24/1989, Judge not and ye shall not be hit with a law suit, Gordon Dillow
UPI 2/25/1985: Dornan to campaign against clinic
LA Times 2/25/1985: Fundamentalist group to picket abortion clinic, Dean Murphy
Daily news Valley Edition: 2/19/1985, - Valley abortion clinic targetted, Ira Rifkin - (same issue?) 1st they face big issue then pickets, Dennis MacArthy
San Antonio Light 4/11/1983, Letter to the Editor "A Warning on a Cult", E. Yoav Yarvi
- * * * * Transcript from Channel 13 News segment--this is only two nights--re-paste version that has all three nights * * * * * * * * * *
cut and paste error left the wrong day title in this post. This one was Tuesday.
> Los Angeles, Channel 13 News, Tuesday, 16 August 1988, 10:00pm > > More of our expose on the Reverend R. L. Hymers. Is the man who led the > Last Temptation protest really a cult leader? > > ("Linda"): "I believe I was manipulated from the beginning. And > Hymers even said one time that 'I'm the father you never had.'" > > These stories and much more coming up on news 13 tonight > > *** > > Coming up on News 13 tonight: is the man who led the Last Temptation > protest also in fact a cult leader? A look at the Reverend R. L. Hymers is > coming up next. > > *** > > In the broadcast last night, we began a series on the Reverend R. L. > Hymers, the flamboyant minister who launched a personal campaign against > that very controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ. Former members of > Hymers' church claim he physically and emotionally abused them -- a charge > that Reverend Hymers denies. Tonight, News Thirteen's Pat Anson looks into > allegations that Hymers is actually running a religious cult. > > Anson: "Tim, most of us when we think of the word cult, think of > animal sacrifice or satanic worship, some bizarre form of religion. But > cults can take many shapes and forms. All you need is a group of people who are > devoted to a cause, a god, or even a man. The question tonight is > whether R. L. Hymers could be such a man." > > "Ten years ago it was known as the Open Door Communinity Church. Then > it became The Fundamentalist Army. Today it's called The Fundamentalist > Baptist Tabernacle. Three different churches with three different > names. All headed by the Reverend R. L. Hymers. But former members say the > churches were all the same." > > ("Frank"): "It is an autocratically run ... cult, that tolerates no > dissent, that is physically, emotionally, and financially abusive of the > people therein. That fundamental character has never changed." > > ("Mary"): "It's definitiely a cult." > > Anson: "'Mary,' like other former members, says Hymers likes to > recruit new followers who are young or emotionally vulnerable. She joined his > church after a divorce." > > ("Mary"): "And they made me believe that there was something wrong > with my life. That I didn't know how to raise my children spiritually, that I > wasn't close to God, I was lost. And I was going to take my children > down that path. And you know your're so lost, your're vulnerable" > > ("Linda"): "I believe I was manipulated from the beginning ... > because I came in at a very young age and the first thing your're taught once > youre in there is to disregard unbelieving parents. And, in essence, the > Church becomes your family. And Hymers even said one time that 'I'm the > father you never had.'" > > ("Anna"): "Well, I remember one of the girls that came into the > church and she was pregnant, and Dr. Hymers made her have .. made her give up > her baby for adoption, 'cause he said she wasn't able to take care of her > baby." > > Anson: "Hymers' attempts to control his congregation even reached a > point where he demanded they sign a covenant with God; a practice he no > longer uses. Some of the more unusual things he asked people to swear to > were 'not to eat junk food,' to 'watch as little T.V. as possible,' and 'to > take vitamins every day.' But the main emphasis was on controlling > contact with people outside the church. Marriage or dating non-Church members was > strictly forbidden. And sexual activity restricted." > > ("Frank"): "Anyone who committed an infraction of a more serious > nature --such as, for instance, having sex outside of marriage, being > unmarried, would be brought into his office and would be grilled for all of the > gruesome details. I'm talking about the really private details of what went > on." > > Hymers: "Every pastor has somebody that's upset with him. Every > pastor in this city does." > > Anson: "Hymers admits he discourages marriages outside the Church > but says the cult allegations are sour grapes." > > Hymers: "You have this little, small group of people that call us a > cult.No credible person has ever done that. Not a single credible person > has ever done that." > > Priscilla Coats: "I guess I would have to say it sounds to me like a > destructive cult." > > Anson: "Priscilla Coats heads the local chapter of the Cult Awareness > Network." > > Coats: "A Destructive cult is a group which has an authoritarian > leader who exerts total control over his followers. A group which recruits > deceptively and gains its members through coercive techniques such as mind- > control and manipulation." > > ("Frank"): "Once a person gets that sort of cultic control -- gets > the taste of it -- it's almost impossible for them to give it up. It's almost a > drug." > > Hymers: "I thank God from the bottom of my heart for this church. I > thank God for you. That you have the courage and the conviction to back the > pastor when he stands up for Jesus and preaches against sin. God ... > bless ... you! ... forever." > > Anson: "Ten years ago Hymers had well over a thousand people in his > congregation. But there have been many defections since then. And > now the church has about 400 members." > "Tomorrow, we'll look at how Hymers has been able to use the media to > stir up a massive amount of publicity and gain new converts." > > (Other Newscaster): "Those defectors are pretty powerfull there in > the way they speak about their experiences. If the church is that bad, then > why are there any members in it right now?" > > Anson: "Well, the former members say it's for the classic reasons > that most people stay in cults -- because they have very little social contact > with people outside the group. Their friends are in the group, in many > cases their family is as well, and so they can't just quit and walk away. > It's a very traumatic experience, sometimes more traumatic than staying in > the cult." > > (Other Newcaster): "Phones have been ringing upstairs from people > who have had a lot of contact with him. Good and bad, right? > > Anson: "Right, you know I expected a lot of angry phone calls from > the story yesterday -- angry phone calls from his current members. And there > have been a couple of those, but the overwhelming response has been from > other former members. Other members than you've seen in these two stories, > and they confirm everything that the others talk about. > > (Other Newscaster): "You're on to something here Pat, thanks. > > ### > >
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Los Angeles, Channel 13 News, Wednesday, 17 August 1988, 10:00pm
Tonight we will take a look at ourselves. The question: Did we and other local media get suckered by a tantrum throwing pastor during the Last Temptation protest?
(Hymers:) "These news people say: 'I don't like R. L. Hymers. Well, the feeling is mutual."
These stories and much more coming up on news 13 tonight
For the past few nights we've been telling you about Reverend R.L. Hymers. He's the flamboyant Baptist minister who's been accused of running a religious cult, here in Los Angeles. Well, News Thirteen's Pat Anson takes a look at Hymers and how he uses the media to get his message to the public. Pat?
Anson: "Wendy, the stern voice and combative style of Reverend Hymers has become familiar to many of us over the past few weeks. Hymers received a tremendous amount of publicity for his opposition to the movie The Last Temptation of Christ. There are people who hate the man and there are those who love him. But they all agree, he's incredibly shrewd at using the media."
Hymers: "We've had some people from, I think, Channel 5, Channel 7 ... Who else was out there Doc? Channel 11 ... What newspaper was there?"
Anson: "He studied journalism in school and as a young man had a brief career as an actor. But, now, he stands at the pulpit of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle."
Hymers: "These news people say, 'I don't like R.L. Hymers. Well, the feeling is mutual!'"
Anson: "Hymers may claim he hates the media, but he's learned to use it as shrewdly as any Hollywood publicist."
Hymers: "Boycott Universal forever!"
(Hymers' Demonstrators:) "Boycott Universal forever!"
Anson: "Instead of calling a press conference to get coverage, Hymers stages a carefully timed event so that reporters can meet their deadlines and have a story to write about."
Hymers: "On television you have to have something visual happening. You have to have a man doing something. So if I want to say 'This film is bad,' I can stand and read it from a piece of paper -- [in monotone] 'This film is bad.' You wouldn't put that on T.V.; But if I stand up and wave an American flag and say 'This film is filthy' and a bunch of people applaud, you'll put it on -- it's interesting.
Patrick Goldstein: "Well, I think the Reverend is a very learned man, certainly in the ways of the media."
Anson: "Patrick Goldstein is an entertainment reporter for the Los Angeles Times."
Goldstein: "The media has become a junkie for sensory stimuli. You have to come up with something new to get the story on the top of the news."
Anson: "Who is exploiting who?"
Goldstein: "I think that's the great thing about media politics -- everybody gets to exloit everybody."
(Newscaster:) "A preacher storms off Larry Atabury's Top Story set Wednesday night."
Anson: "When Hymers stormed off the set of KCOP last month, the station used it as a news promotion. Other stations took note and invited Hymers to appear on their set, where the same thing happened all over again."
Hymers: "What church do you go to and when was the last time you went?"
(Host:) "I'm going to ask a question ..."
Hymers: "What church do you go to and when was the last time you went?" [stalks off]
Hymers (to Anson): "I thought it looked so good on Top Story, that I decided ahead of time that I'd do it again on the Late Show. That was planned."
Anson: "Why?"
Hymers: "Why not? It's a good way to exit."
Anson: "That's true."
Hymers: "Everybody remembers it. You remember it You'll remember it for the rest of your life: me walking out of that program. I made my point. You'll never forget it."
Anson: "Hymers has used similar sensational techniques to attract new members to his congregation. Years ago he passed out flyers inviting people to exorcisms, to learn about sex after death, or to find out if John Wayne went to hell. He even used to show free movies, like Dirty Harry and Flash Gordon. Today, he shows his congregation videos of his most recent appearances on T.V.. And inside the church bulletin, they'll find newspaper clippings."
Hymers: "And on the back of that, I put the headline of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner."
Anson: "I think it was the Herald Examiner's editorial in which they made that reference, 'media-wise pastor.'"
Hymers: "'Media savvy,' I think they called it, yes."
Anson: "And you took it as a compliment?"
Anson: "Sure, well, because it takes a little time and effort and thought to become media savvy."
Anson: "The former members of Hymers church who way he's running a religious cult have just recently formed an organization of their own called the Association of Concerned Former Members. They can be reached at (213) 452-2854. So far, they have 85 people in the association, and they are trying to contact other former members, or even the ones still in Hymers' congregation who wish to leave, but are afraid to."
(Other newscaster:) "Pat, does any of this border on the de-programming that we used to hear about with cults?"
Anson: "It's really informal, if any type of de-programming is going on now, it's just informal amongst these former members. There's been no organization like this one until the past couple of days."
(Other newscaster:) "He hasn't been on the circuit last few days, but it's hard to imagine him going back quietly to his parish, or his congregation."
Anson: "That's true. "I asked him what his future would be, a couple of days ago and he told me he wanted to get back to preaching and running his church. But a man who's so obviously 'media savvy' -- as he put it -- you have to think he's going to find some cause or some issue to get his face on T.V. again."
(Other newscaster:) "He has T.V. ministry written all over him, too."
Anson: "Sure."
(Other newscaster:) "I think we'll see him again."
Anson: "Good chance."
- * * * * transcript from appearance on Wally George Show? (The Hot Seat with Wally George)
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from a 1986 article in Eternity Magazine--
"Churches on the Fringe"
by Dr. Ronald Enroth
Dr. Ronald Enroth is a graduate of Houghton College with a M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Kentucky and post-doctoral study at Harvard University. He has authored or co-authored nine books, including CHURCHES THAT ABUSE (Zondervan, 1992), one of the top ten books of 1992 in Christianity Today's Readers' Poll. His latest book entitled, RECOVERING FROM CHURCHES THAT ABUSE, was published in 1994 by Zondervan. He has also conducted seminars and lectured on cults and new religious movements throughout North America and has appeared on many Radio and TV programs (Oprah Winfrey and NBC Nightly News, etc.) in connection with his research. His work has been mentioned in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, U.S. News and World Report, Christianity Today, Time magazine and many other periodicals. He's a professor of sociology at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California
This article appeared in the October 1986 issue of ETERNITY Magazine--
They are not standard-brand, middle-of-the-road evangelical churches. Some have unusual names-like The Fundamentalist Army and the Church of Bible Understanding. Others sound more familiar-like University Bible Fellowship and Faith Assembly. There are hundreds of them across North America. Some are colorful, many shun publicity, nearly all are controversial. A few are very large, most are small and unknown. They typically have been in existence for less than 20 years. In terms of doctrine and orthodoxy, these churches profess (with few exceptions) to be within the Christian mainstream. Yet, they are seen as churches on the fringe.
What explains their estrangement from establishment evangelicalism? Why do they stand just outside the circle? What follows is a brief look at two fringe churches and then at some of the traits which seem to link such churches together despite their rather incredible diversity.
Faith Healing and Mortality Rates
[edit]In a windowless warehouse church in a cornfield near Wilmot, Indiana, faithful followers of the late Hobart E. Freeman continue to pursue a unique theological system of positive confession and faith. There are no identifying signs to indicate that this is Faith Assembly (not affiliated with the Assemblies of God). Worship services are lengthy, regularly lasting three or more hours. No printed bulletins are provided: no offering is taken. The service begins with an hour of singing and "testimony time." Worship is enthusiastic, informal and definitely charismatic. Preaching routinely lasts an hour or two. When founding pastor Freeman would speak, over 2,000 people would sit on the metal folding chairs, taking notes and nodding in agreement to his exclamation, "God deliver us from denominational bondage." Formerly a professor at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana, Freeman, 64, died in late 1984 of severe cardiovascular disease and bronchopneumonia. In accordance with Faith Assembly practice, mourners did not attend Freeman's burial. John Davis, a professor of theology at Grace and one-time student of Freeman's, described the deceased leader as "the genius behind Faith Assembly for 20 years." In a January 18, 1985 Christianity Today news article he was quoted as saying that "there is a sense that Freeman will never be replaced. Yet ... his people will continue, because the doctrines are so entrenched."
The controversy surrounding Hobart Freeman stems from his "faith message"—his teaching that reliance on medical assistance, hospitals, and doctors shows a simple lack of faith. In his booklet, "Faith for Healing," Freeman states: "Sickness and disease have been repeatedly defeated by maintaining a positive confession of faith in the face of all apparent evidence to the contrary... When genuine faith is present, it alone will be sufficient, for it will take the place of medicines and other aids." Freeman taught that "Christians bring shame to the Body by going to doctors and submitting to the surgeon's hand."
In a taped sermon entitled "Son of Man or Medicine Man," he refers to the emblem of the medical profession—the caeduceus— as "the serpent on a pole ... the symbol of the god who is behind medical science. And that god, of course, is a demon." Using prescribed drugs, he believes, opens the door to control by demonic powers. "There's no such thing as taking a [prescribed] drug once and a demon spirit not gaining some hold on you." Avoidance of hospitals is reinforced by the group's advocacy of natural childbirth at home. No midwives are permitted and prenatal care is forbidden. A study of deaths among Faith Assembly members between 1975 and 1982 revealed that the maternal death rate was nearly 100 times that of the rest of the state of Indiana, while the perinatal death rate was almost three times as much.
The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Indiana reported that at least 82 people in 11 states have died after they or their parents became involved with Faith Assembly. According to this press account, the church has averaged almost one preventable death a month since 1978. Forty-two infants have died: seven mothers have also died of complications associated with unattended home births. An ex-member who had been part of the group for many years told this writer that there were times when infants who died were buried in the backyard so that news of the death would not get back to the leadership. "I remember one couple who stayed up all night with their dead infant, praying and commanding the spirit of death to leave their baby."
An Army Armed with Vitamin C
[edit]For the past several years, a new soul-saving army has invaded Los Angeles. It's the Fundamentalist Army, founded by R.L. Hymers, Jr. Based on the model of John Wesley's work in [8th-century England, The Fundamentalist Army aims at ministry to those residents of the inner city not reached by the established church- especially immigrant Hispanics, young blacks, and "young Jewish people who have lost their roots." Dr. Hymers (the titles " M.Div., D.Min., D.Rei." appear on his letterhead) refers to his organization as a "movement" or parachurch group similar to Campus Crusade. The Sunday bulletin states: "As an army, we support and pray for the revival of the church throughout the world, and we oppose the weakening effects of Pentecostalism, the Charismatic Movement, Neo-orthodoxy, Neo-evangelicalism and Antinomianism." In the early years it was known as the Open Door Community Church (not to be confused with the Church of the Open Door, another church formerly located in downtown Los Angeles).
Unconventional and uncompromising are two adjectives that have been used to describe the ministry of Hymers and his fellow fundamentalists. His dramatic (some say sensational) sermon titles are known throughout Southern California and contribute to his image of being on the ecclesiastical fringe. "Nothing like this in Los Angeles" the circulars proclaim. "You will hear Dr. R. L. Hymers speak on 'Why They Hate Me.' Demons will be cast out. Healings will be performed. People will be dramatically Spirit-filled before your very eyes-all in the name and power of Christ (we are not Pentecostals)." The handbill continues with a warning not found in many mainstream evangelical churches: "Because of the electrifying and provocative nature of this program, no children under the age of 12 will be admitted."
Although Hymers is identified as "Founder and President" of The Fundamentalist Army, he is assisted in the ministry by numerous pastors and "stewards" in a system of house churches scattered throughout metropolitan Los Angeles. Sometimes the duties and requirements of the assistants are unusual indeed.
For example, a bulletin insert dated December 12, 1982 calls on all stewards and helpers to have five vitamin C tablets wrapped in tin foil in their pockets."You are required to show Rev. Olivas, if he should ask, your 5 vitamin C tablets wrapped in tin foil. When you first feel a tickle in your throat, take a vitamin C pill every hour until the tickle is gone." Those in leadership explain that discipline is necessary when working with young Christians from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. The same bulletin insert provides insight into the movement's rules for the holidays. The reader is told that Christmas and New Year's Eve are Christian holidays, not pagan feast days. "We expect you to be in church worshiping God. not with lost relatives, worshiping mammon. Those over 18 years of age who miss any of these holy days, will be barred from the Movement."
What Fringe Churches Have In Common
[edit]These are only two cases of churches on the fringe. There are many other similar, yet unique, examples that could be cited: the Northeast Kingdom Community Church In Island Pond, Vermont; Maranatha Christian Churches, founded by Bob Weiner: University Bible Fellowship (UBF); the First Community Church of America, founded by the Reverend Robert Taylor, and dozens more. What do these disparate groups have in common?
Control-Oriented Leadership
[edit]Fringe churches tend to have what can only be described as authoritarian leadership. The spiritual powerholders exercise immense influence even in the everyday lives of members. For example, a "notice from the pastor" appearing in a publication of Community Chapel and Bible Training Center in Seattle (see box, page 19) clearly suggests control, although the church leadership undoubtedly would spiritualize and justify the directive. "At no time may anyone in this church-including elders, counselors, and others in authority- advise someone to leave the church or move to a new city in order to placate the desires of the spouse, without first obtaining my specific permission to give such advice." At one stage in the development of The Fundamentalist Army. members were required to sign a covenant which stipulated that they were not to watch a certain charismatic channel on TV, and could only date and marry persons within the group. They could only leave the group with the permission of the leadership. They initialed a statement which read, "I promise God to try to take vitamin supplements every day." Although Dr. Hymers claims that the covenant was never enforced and members are no longer required to sign it, the document is a classic example of the potential for the abuse of power in a group lacking conventional checks and balances.
Isolationist Attitudes
[edit]Members of fringe-type churches are insulated from "outside" sources of information. What a pastor of one such church calls a "policy of safety," involving the screening of suspect literature for "subtle error," other observers may interpret as a riot-so-subtle attempt to limit access to legitimate supplementary teaching which may, for various reasons, be viewed as competitive and even threatening. Hobart Freeman illustrated both the element of control and the attitude of isolationism when he told his followers: "if you're going to be related to Faith Assembly, you have to do what Faith Assembly says. Don't jeopardize your participation in this unique end-times message of faith by getting involved in things that are not in harmony with the ministry and message of this church." Fringe churches distance themselves from other Christians by regulating dating, marriages, and other forms of social interaction. In Maranatha Christian Churches, marriages are believed to be supernaturally arranged by God and conventional dating is not permitted. Members of UBF are urged to repent of any desire to develop a relationship with members of the opposite sex. Those who date are called "wolfy men" and "foxy women." The UBF also discourages unnecessary visiting with family or friends. As a former member put it, "if one enjoys the company of his friends or the love of his family, it is viewed as a lack of commitment to God's work. Many times I was encouraged to sacrifice my vacation time at home in order to participate in the group's activities."
Spiritual Elitism
[edit]Churches on the fringe tend to exhibit ecclesiastical exclusivity and a sense of spiritual superiority. They often refer to themselves as a "special move of God" or see themselves engaged uniquely in God's "end-time ministry." An ex-member of UBF reports that Christians who are not members of that group are not deemed desirable roommates and are thought to be "bad influences." Other Christian churches are viewed as compromising and weak." Former members of Maranatha Christian Churches (also known as Maranatha Campus Ministries) have reported that their church was perceived by members as having a "greater annointing" than other evangelical groups. "We were the most dynamic, exciting young people for God they had ever seen-God's Green Berets!" The fostering of such attitudes of spiritual elitism results in reduced exposure to "outside" speakers and Christian literature. It involves the production of what amounts to spiritual photocopies via "approved" literature and cassette tapes, usually featuring those in pastoral leadership. A kind of garrison mentality prevents enrichment from the larger Christian community and reinterprets honest criticism as hostile persecution.
Lifestyle Rigidity
[edit]While mainstream evangelical churches have always encouraged a life of holiness before the Lord and urged moderation in dress and other matters of lifestyle, fringe churches demonstrate an excessive focus on such concerns. Conformity to announced standards is achieved, more so than in mainline churches, through peer pressure and pastoral directives. Wearing striped running shoes is considered homosexual fashion in Hobart Freeman's Faith Assembly. Members of The Fundamentalist Army are expected to eat "good, living food" instead of "dead, junk food." One pastor of a fringe church told his congregation: "Please, do not start a fad of short, kinky hair in this church! I also discourage the now popular 'natural,' which-though not always short-is kinky and/or quite frizzy. I expect blacks to normally wear their hair extremely curly, since that is the way the Creator made them, but the rest of us are not Negroes, and we should not be liberal fashion followers." With regard to the women in his flock, he added: "Please respect the right of your shepherd to guide you into more appropriate, conservative, and feminine dress."
Discouragement of Dissent
[edit]Because fringe churches foster isolationist thinking and encourage conformity to the prescribed way of church life. there is little ecclesiastical boat-rocking. Passive acceptance is the norm. However, when individuals do begin to question the status quo (read: the leadership), they inevitably encounter resistance. Dissidents are exposed to various forms of spiritual and psychological intimidation. Members of fringe churches soon discover that expressing dissent is futile if not dangerous to their spiritual and emotional well-being. Their sincere concerns and questions are cited as evidence of a "critical spirit" or a "spirit of disobedience." What is seen (and usually tolerated) as independent thinking in mainstream evangelical churches, is redefined as rebellion in fringe churches. As one fringe church pastor stated, "We simply cannot continue to spend hundreds of counselor-hours with those people who, because of their proud and independent spirits, decide to place no confidence in their pastor's decision.... Some who are too independent to work with and under this church government will find themselves on their own, outside the church."
Painful Exit
[edit]When tightly controlled systems are challenged and discontinuities pointed out, sanctions often follow. The principle applies to churches as well as it does to other social organizations. In mainstream evangelicalism and fundamentalism, church splits attest to the reality of differences of opinion which escalate to em- barrassing battles and result in the exodus of the disenchanted. In churches on the evangelical fringe, the exit process usually involves smaller numbers of people. Typical exit episodes revolve around a single individual or married couple. The experience is harsh, almost traumatic. Whether justified or not, the process is nearly always spiritualized by the executors as necessary "church discipline," a term which can indeed cover a multitude of "sins." Whatever label is attached to the action-excommunication, disfellowshiping, barring-the person often feels victimized, confused, and bitter. Says one former member: "We who left were labeled 'rebels against God' and cut off from fellowship with those who stayed-those we had worshiped with, worked alongside, and prayed with as a close-knit family for years. It was like a divorce." Within that large segment of the body of Christ known as evangelicalism/fundamentalism, the diversity of religious expression is perhaps greater today than it ever has been. The definitions of what constitutes, sociologically, the "mainstream" are like jellies to be nailed to the wall-difficult to pin down.
Similarly, to attempt to identify the "fringe" is to invite disagreement. Wherever the lines are drawn, it is clear that tensions and differences exist between those on the margin and those closer to the center. Some churches on the fringe disdain establishment evangelicalism and loudly assert their independence. They are outside the circle and proud of it. Others desire more acceptance from the mainstream and wish to shed the image of marginality. Individual Christians are attracted to the margin or the mainstream for different reasons. Often placement in one or the other is merely a matter of life circumstance. There can be no doubt that Christian believers located on the fringe have found spiritual fulfillment there. But for many who have elected to leave, the transition has been difficult. Mainstream evangelical churches must reach out to them and help heal the hurt and confusion they sometimes feel.
Beyond the Fringe
[edit]A sad story from Seattle. When does a biblically sound church move beyond the fringe? Although that question is difficult to answer, nearly all evangelicals would agree that the danger signals begin to flash when false teaching and unbiblical emphases are present. Something dangerous appears to be happening in a church in Seattle, Washington. which many observers feel has crossed the boundary.
The founding pastor of Community Chapel, Donald Lee Barnett, 56, has led the church from a small basement Bible study group 20 years ago to a membership today of 2.500, not including a network of a dozen satellite churches. (In addition, nearly 1,500 students are enrolled in the organization's elementary. secondary, and Bible schools.) Almost from the beginning, the leadership of Community Chapel developed rules for all aspects of church life and personal life, from saving seats for church services (including a rule of thumb of two feet per person) to engagements and marriages. The pastor's wife oversees church policy relating to the latter: "The engagement begins when the pastor's wife has been notified and the engagement officially approved." Pastor Barnett preaches against men wearing collarless T-shirts, jeans, beards. "long fancy sideburns" and "frizzy hair." because he feels such appearance connotes radicalism and rebelliousness. "God does not want us to identify with rebellion by donning the uniforms of the rebels!" he has stated.
The pastor also regularly admonishes the women in his congregation on the specifics of feminine dress. A bulletin insert illustrates the degree of control he exercises: "The pastor does not feel that people who were brought up in a very liberal, unisex, brainwashed era should decide what's right or wrong on this issue: they are not in a place to have a balanced view." There are also warnings against mothers who take young boys to unisex salons for haircuts. "While there, they will see the 'big boys' getting their fancy, poofy. effeminate hairstyling. Those places are not without homosexual demons just waiting to influence the gullible." Members of Community Chapel do not view such admonitions as examples of control. The faithful would never think of questioning. They follow Barrett's teaching: "Christians with the right attitudes do not criticize: they support their church government happily, thankful that someone cares enough to make a decision."
Barnett shares his pulpit with few people outside a small circle of trusted associates. He warns against the indiscriminate use of Christian tapes, books. and magazines. Instead, he recommends that people listen to his own taped sermons which span a dozen years or more. "I think you should let your pastor decide if a new doctrine is one he wants spread around the church." Former members, Including several ex-elders, believe the church started to slide toward the edge a few years ago when Pastor Barnett began to promote unusual spiritual experiences and to receive extrabiblical revelation. In 1983 he claimed to have a special "heavenly vision." He says that God allowed him to experience things during his vision that no other human has ever experienced. "The Lord promised to give me truth that he has not given to man before. God let me know that no man had entered that highest realm that I saw. I was connected with God. I was one with Jesus Christ," he said. In 1984 "dancing before the Lord" was Introduced by Pastor Barnett as part of every worship service. This solo "spiritual" dancing evolved into dancing with members of the opposite sex. Members were encouraged to "see Jesus" In each other's eyes as they danced.
Then, in 1985, Don Barnett introduced his controversial revelation teaching" concerning " 'spiritual connections." Essentially, believers are told to seek a higher form of spiritual love with each other by engaging in "purely spiritual" relationships ("connections") with members of the opposite sex. (usually not their spouses) whom they are told to "release" spiritually. According to Barnett, this is God's newest means to bring unity to the Body of Christ. "Spiritual connections" frequently spend many hours with each other during the week, sometimes engaging in protracted sessions of "intimate dancing" in the sanctuary and in specially designated rooms In Community Chapel's sprawling, multi-million dollar complex. Although Barnett warns about the abuse of spiritual unions and preaches against fornication and adultery, the more than 200 members who have left the church since January 1986 testify that the situation has "gotten out of control." They claim that divorce, jealousy. family break- ups, unfaithfulness, and confused children are the fruit of the unbiblical teaching. Suicides and at least one murder have brought the church unwanted media publicity Seattle-area counselors and pastors are seeing increased signs of personal and spiritual distress. Church leaders claim they are being misunderstood and maligned. "While, outside observers see the church moving far beyond the fringe, Chapel leaders' steadfastly maintain that they are experiencing a new "move of God." —-Ronald Enroth
FOR FURTHER READING
[edit]Unholy Devotion by Harold Bussell (Zondervan, 1983) $4.95. Explains the dynamics of leadership/followership and the overemphasis on subjective experience in "fringe churches." Helpful to outsiders and those who have recently left. Shepherds and Sheep by Jerram Barrs (InterVarsity. 1983) $3.95 Excellent treatment of the biblical concept of authority In the church as an antidote to the abuse of authority. Scripture Twisting by James W. Sire (lnterVarsity. 1980) $4.95. Twenty ways to mislead your followers by misusing the Bible. The Problem of Wineskins (InterVarsity. 1975) $4.95. The Community of the King (InterVarsity, 1977) $6.95 Liberating the Church (InterVarsity. 1982) $6.95 The last three are all by Howard A. Snyder; this trilogy explores the nature and role Of the church as God's Kingdom In society. Fills the vacuum of ideas about the church that often leads to the abuses of the "fringe."
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http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/01/books/christian-soldiers.html
CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS By Kaye Northcott: Kaye Northcott, a former editor in chief of The Texas Observer, is vice president of the Texas Institute of Letters. Published: Sunday, February 1, 1987
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST HOLY WAR By Joe Edward Barnhart. 273 pp. Austin: Texas Monthly Press. $16.95.
THE Southern Baptists, 14 million strong, are not a happy family. An increasingly bitter schism between the fundamentalists and the more moderate members of the faith may necessitate divorce within the next decade. Joe Edward Barnhart, a moderate Southern Baptist and a professor of philosophy and religion at North Texas State University, explains the doctrinal divisions in The Southern Baptist Holy War, a well-written book that will not endear him to the fundamentalists.
At the heart of the matter is their commitment to inerrancy, a belief that the Bible is literally true and contains no false statements that are not corrected within the Bible itself. Many inerrants reject the possibility that biblical authors might have embellished or reworked material.
Since 1979, the inerrants have controlled the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, which finances and controls its umbrella projects, including the six Southern Baptist seminaries. Mr. Barnhart believes the seminaries are in danger because the inerrants fear independent scholarship. Some seminary students are exhilarated by the complexity of the Bible. Others lose their faith when they confront such problems as trying to determine what the Bible says. Most of the New Testament was written in Greek and one Greek word may have many meanings. Mr. Barnhart, who received a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University, writes, Anyone who claims simply to 'read the text itself,' as if reading bathroom scales, is resting on the naive presumption that the human mind can be turned into a blank sheet (the tabula rasa) across which truth simply writes itself so long as the mind remains innocent.
An inerrant who concedes biblical ambiguity steps onto the slippery slope that leads to the loss of faith. Already there exists, among the scholars who question the inerrancy and absolute reliability of the Gospels, Mr. Barnhart explains, a bewildering diversity of conjectures of what the real Jesus was like, what he taught and did, if indeed he existed in the first place. . . . It is understandable, therefore, that many believers fear that without flawless Scriptures to support it, Christianity may eventually be regarded as just another ancient mystery religion doomed to fade into the night. Thus, independent scholarship is profoundly threatening to the inerrants.
Beyond the first chapter, in which Mr. Barnhart demonstrates an unfortunate attachment to alliteration (terrible ecclesiastical tornado, theological thunderstorm), the writing sharpens, occasionally to a stiletto point. The author punctures Christian hedonism as taught by the motivational lecturer Zig Ziglar of Dallas and his minister, the Rev. W. A. Criswell of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, one of the largest and wealthiest churches in the nation. He says the danger threatening their movement is that it will turn into a Baptist Yuppie Club of narcissistic self-indulgers, people who imagine that they have earned all their good fortune and that those at the bottom of the heap deserve to be there either because God did not see fit to endow them with comparable talents or because they have not tried to help themselves. He accuses the inerrants of racism and sexism: For many years, a number of preachers like Jerry Falwell and W. A. Criswell raised no prophetic voice against the known brutalities of racism or the unjust treatment of women. Now suddenly they have turned into bleeding hearts over almost microscopic zygotes. . . . Many women believe that the crocodile tears for the fetus serve mostly to distract from the guilt that these preachers bear because of their past racial bigotry and their present male chauvinism.
While the author prescribes tolerance for the feuding Southern Baptists, he obviously is uncomfortable under the same roof as the inerrants. Many Baptists predict that divergent world views will force a separation between fundamentalists and moderates before the end of the century. But Mr. Barnhart thinks the Southern Baptists may be too rich and too powerful for divorce. With more than 37,000 churches, they form the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. In 1983-1984, the Southern Baptist Convention contributed $231 million to support six seminaries and 67 colleges, student ministers on more than 1,000 campuses, radio and televison programs, and 3,700 missionaries in the United States and 3,600 abroad. This is above and beyond the $2.5 billion disbursed yearly by individual churches. MR. BARNHART sees the gap widening as the two sides talk across each other, but he is not yet reconciled to separation. He proposes that for two years the Southern Baptists issue a convention-wide biweekly publication devoted to questions of doctrine, to determine exactly what each side thinks and whether their views can be reconciled. If the Inerrancy Party leaders refuse this direct challenge, they will lend credence to the charge that their real concern all along has been not theology but power, he asserts.
But how can the moderates possibly coexist with the virulent form of intolerance exhibited by the likes of the evangelist R. L. Hymers? He is founder of the Fundamentalist Army and a graduate of the Southern Baptists' Golden Gate Seminary. Mr. Barnhart quotes from a sermon delivered by Mr. Hymers in Los Angeles in 1985: The liberal theological professor, the prostitute, the drug addict, and the murderer - all agree on one thing. . . . All agree that the Bible is not the word of God. Have you ever noticed that? Did you ever wonder why? They're all sinners. I love to say that. I know it's true. I've been around, baby. I've been on Hollywood Boulevard. And I've been at Golden Gate Seminary - a marked similarity.
Mr. Barnhart believes his church needs a political or social mechanism that respects the right of church members to be challenged by biblical scholarship. But the resulting clash between belief and knowledge may be intolerable to the majority of inerrants.
photo of Rev. W. A. Criswell
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More about the Last Temptation protests (Hollywood Under Seige)--
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