Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church

[boston bean]

A string of assaults and sexual crimes committed by pastors across the country have one thing in common: The perpetrators have ties to the megachurch in Hammond, Indiana.

HOW THE "GOSPEL" SPREAD: Here are just eight of the men affiliated with First Baptist Church or educated at Hyles-Anderson—most of them pastors—who scattered around the nation committing crimes.

1. Tedd Butler, 47
Former pastor of Gospel Light Baptist Church, Walker, Michigan
Convicted in 2006 of molesting a five-year-old boy


2. Christopher Settlemoir, 29
Former pastor of Antioch Baptist Academy, Warren, Michigan
Convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting a minor

3. Charles V. Shifflett, 61
Former pastor of First Baptist Church, Culpeper, Virginia
Convicted in 2006 of cruelty to children and assault and battery

4. Joseph D. Combs, 63
Former pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Bristol, Tennessee
Convicted in 2000 of kidnapping and abusing a minor


5. Chester Mulligan, 47
Former pastor of Central Baptist Church, East Chicago, Indiana; current pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Miami, Florida
Convicted in 2009 of felony stalking of a 14-year-old

6. William A. “Andy” Beith, 40
Former principal at Liberty Baptist Academy, Lake Station, Indiana
Convicted in 2002 of crossing state lines with the intent to have sex with an 11-year-old girl

7. Craig Sisson, 52
Former pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, Imperial, Missouri
Convicted in 2005 of child molestation


8. Kerry Martin, 56
Former pastor of Temecula Valley Baptist Church, Temecula, California
Convicted in 1999 of molesting a 14-year-old girl

The sermon was called “The Polished Shaft,” and in the many times that Jack Schaap, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, had delivered it, it was the kind of showstopper that made him a rock star to his flock. (Or would have, had Schaap not habitually railed against the evils of rock music.)

As with most of his sermons at the northwest Indiana megachurch—the 14th largest in the country and the biggest Independent Baptist house of worship in the nation—the message struck as bluntly as a pounded nail: Submit to God’s plan for your life or be snapped like a twig and flung away (as Schaap would demonstrate by cracking a stick over his head, tossing it aside, and barking, “Next!”).

When you do submit, be prepared to endure excruciating pain. God will hold a metaphorical knife to your throat (as Schaap would illustrate by holding a steel blade against a twig the way an assailant might press on a jugular). Only then, he would growl, will you become a “polished shaft”: one suitable for God’s bow.

At this point, the sermon’s climax, Schaap would heave up a high-powered crossbow and fire an arrow into a red X painted on a fake rock a few feet from his pulpit.

The effect was powerful, and it inevitably produced the desired result: swarms of male teenagers trance-walking their way to Schaap (pronounced “Skop”), ready to commit their lives to becoming pastors. And, equally important, to attend the church-owned Hyles-Anderson College a couple of miles away, one of First Baptist’s biggest coffer fillers.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-2013/Let-Us-Prey-Big-Trouble-at-First-Baptist-Church/index.php?cparticle=1&siarticle=0#artanc

Here is an example of a sermon by the now defrocked leader, who crossed state lines to have sex with an underage girl....

&feature=player_embedded

This is a 7 page in depth article regarding the First Baptist Church. The author does a really good job bringing one through the history of this church... There are countless victims of these predators.... beatings, sexual assault, rape, child rape, molestation, child abuse etc.... some real sick shit..... I'm glad to see it falling apart.

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[JaneyVee]

2. Disturbing. Extremely, extremely disturbing.

[boston bean]

3. Disturbing to say the least... after reading 7 pages of it

I wonder how parents can submit their children to this abuse. They want to submit themselves to it ok..

Not your kids!

[bullwinkle428]

4. "The Polished Shaft"????

K&R.

[LisaLynne]

6. Thought the same thing ... see my post below...

I mean, seriously? SRSLY??

[HankyDub]

13. "The Polished Knob" would have been better.

I love how he's rubbing on it and moaning with all those imbeciles sitting lamely in their lil pews.

[LisaLynne]

5. The Polished Shaft?

Yeah, nothing Freudian there.

I don't want to spend a lot of time figuring these guys out, but the whole idea that God will break you and toss you away if you don't do exactly what he says ... and to put it in such violent imagry ... I mean, are they just messed up in their thinking or is this a calculated move to get compliant victims?

[HankyDub]

14. I guess his "I rape kids" t-shirt was in the laundry that day.

[Springslips]

25. The entire clip is one symbolic play on jacking off.

Complete with yelps at the time of organism and the sensitivity of the postscript. It is creepy.

[lapislzi]

7. Schaap: Dutch word for "sheep"

A propos of nothing, just an odd footnote.

[Brickbat]

8. That video. And no one said a word.

[HiPointDem]

9. is it me with my dirty mind or is that just about the creepiest bit of freudian video ever?

[Brickbat]

11. I don't think you have to have a "dirty" mind to see what's going on there.

It's pretty much normal human biology.

[HiPointDem]

12. well, you know, he could just be polishing a shaft. sometimes a shaft is just a shaft.

[Springslips]

26. True

But you need not polish a shaft by angling it from your groin area up.

[HiPointDem]

28. or scream and groan. got me there.

[kag]

33. And sometimes...

...a creepy, disgusting child-molester performing a creepy, disgusting "sermon" wherein he caresses a long, stiff phallic symbol, one end of which is pressed into his groin, while he moans in rapturous, orgasmic delight while hundreds of worshiping admirers watch in silence is...

well, you know.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

34. and then, wonder of wonders--the result of his priestly pole dance is...

A line of mesmerized teen-age BOYS who "got" the direct line message to their gonads.

Sex, violence, weapons, fear.....

So sick ... I am so sick of MALE VIOLENCE AND THIS FUCKING MACHO SOCIETY THAT WORSHIPS IT.

[boston bean]

10. I know... did you see the others there just looking.

Barely made a movement...

[lumpy]

15. Insane filth.

n

[Atypical Liberal]

16. I couldn't believe what I was watching. That man was literally masturbating an arrow! n/t

[RVN VET]

23. And the faithful watched in rapturous attention

This was a scene from a porno movie, for chrissakes. It's sad and scarey how freaking stupid, blind, ignorant, and cowardly people can be. This vile man's congregation are all, all of them, easy marks, masochists, and lost souls.

How can a believer watch this filth -- yes, filth -- and not see the devil on the altar?

(NO, I'm not a believer. But I swear this dude's the devil -- and he ain't wearin' no disguise, neither!)

[HiPointDem]

29. +1

[Myrina]

17. I am decidedly unreligious, but ...

... how does 'mainstream religion' (of all stripes) NOT take a hit from something like this, that seems more like an undercover NAMBLA/perv ring hiding behind church status?

I would think real, honest religious folk (there's got to be some out there) would be fuming about scum like this calling themselves 'a church'?

[OldRedneck]

18. This may be deeper than anyone imagines

I lived in Bristol, TN, 1996 - 2004. During this time, a local pastor, Rev. Joseph D. Combs (#4 on the list in this article) and his wife were convicted of serious abuse and molestation of a young woman whom they had adopted from an orphanage in Indiana.

Here is a link to the whole sordid story about "Preacher Combs:"
http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/combs/index.htm

As I recall, the Combs's had "adopted" the girl whom they abused from a orphanage in Indiana.

I wonder if that orphanage has ties to this church? Wonder if other young women from the same orphanage were "adopted" by other "preachers" across the nation?

[ReRe]

19. Wow! That is one sick dude!

Sick, sick sick disgusting human being.. I walked out of Mass one time when the Priest said "suffering is good." We were on vacation and just visitors that day, so I didn't have the opportunity to give him a piece of my mind. But this guy? I do believe I would have gone up there and slapped that man in the face. This right here is a perfect example evangelical fundamentalism, folks. HOWEVER, I will say that not all Baptist churches are like this.
Lordy, Lordy, I never.........

[Initech]

20. Oh. Won't. Somebody. Please. Think. Of. The. Children.

Sick fucks.

[Pisces]

21. How is it that no one gets up to leave??? This guy is a psycho.

[boston bean]

24. Did you see the bow on the pulpit?

This is just fucking nuts.

I'm not all that religious, gave up going to church during the pedophile/catholic church BS. Our priest, who railed against it in sermons had to leave the church... for what... having sex with an underage girl...

[RoccoR5955]

22. Is this legal?

This should be legal under pornography statutes. AFAIK, these statutes put pornography in the eyes of the beholder. This, at least to me, is a form of pornography. No, it doesn't show naked bodies having sex, but it implies such things, in a church, and is repugnant to the aim of a church!

[SpartanDem]

27. The fundies are a scourge on this country

[lageorgia]

30. oh my

His "sermon" was nothing more than public obscenity. I couldn't even watch the whole thing I was laughing so hard. It belongs more in a R rated comedy routine than in a church....

[JDPriestly]

31. I just don't believe this story. Surely someone in the congregation would have had enough

education to stop this man. Weren't there any social workers? Or doctors? Or lawyers? Or teachers? Anyone in those professions should be trained to look for potential child abuse. This is not believable.

[jerseyjack]

32. Shit. I'll Give You One Better.

All thr Roman Catholic priests convicted of buggery with children had connection to the Vatican in Rome.

[LeftyMom]

35. The late Dr. Hyles, who the church's college is named after,

took his church secretary as a mistress and forced her husband to live in her basement so nobody would know. Years after that was discovered Dr. Hyles' son lost his pulpit when it was discovered that he was sleeping with nearly half of the married women in the congregation. First Baptist of Hammond/Hyles-Anderson has always been weird.

On a related note, Hyles-Anderson offers a four year degree for the ladies in Marriage and Motherhood. You can get a one credit course in crockpot cooking and two credits in home decorating. I am not making this up.

[LeftInTX]

36. In the name of Jay-sus

There is so much dysfunction associated with some of these churches. They break away from mainstream denominations. They then become isolated from society.

That's how they get involved with all sorts bizarre things. Almost like a cult like the article stated. They also become fronts for illegal activity.

I think illegal activity associated with some of these "old time religion" "televangelists" is pretty rampant.

The article and video are a find.