Current Events

Jack Schaap Sentenced to 12 Years

198 Comments

schaap

chicagotribune.com: “Jack Schaap, the former pastor of a 15,000-member northwest Indiana megachurch, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for engaging in sex with a troubled underage girl who sought him out for counseling.”

Post Tribune: “Prosecutors had asked for 10 years, but Judge Rudy Lozano noted federal sentencing guidelines called for at least 168 months, and he didn’t want to go that much below the guidelines. Lozano noted that Schaap plead guilty, but considering the government’s case against him, he almost had to. He mentioned that Schaap fired an employee who went to his wife with information about his affair with a teen girl. Schaap also asked a tech employee of the church if the photos and texts could be erased. The employee told him they could not, then went to church deacons and the FBI with the images and texts.”

198 thoughts on “Jack Schaap Sentenced to 12 Years”

    1. When someone is mighty in his own mind… when he falls, does it make a sound like a whoopie cushion?

  4. Hmm, I guess we now know who it was who informed the authorities.

    The judge gave a harsher sentence than both defense and prosecution had asked for. So, if you were wondering what impression those 141 letters from members of FBCH made on the judge, now you know.

    1. But it was in line with the sentencing recommendations. Most other men who are convicted / plea to the same crime get the same sentence. He got no special treatment either way.

    2. Yeah, count me VERY impressed that a tech employee @ HAC/FBCH had the gumption to report. I don’t know how many would in that atmosphere, I’d hope most/all, but I really have no idea how many would.

  5. That’s a deeper explanation on how he was caught than a deacon seeing the pictures after Schaap left his phone on the pulpit.

    Good on them for doing the right thing.

    1. Sorry, but a little late for doing the right thing. Yeah, they turned him in when they could no longer cover for him. The deacon board should have removed this clown years ago. He had been abusing his power since day one.

      1. Amendment: Some did do the right thing and I know that would have been difficult given the pressure to “not tarnish the church”. It just makes my eyes bleed when I think of that foolish, corrupt deacon board sitting on their hands as Schaap preached heresy and abused his power for years. Not to mention the mindless sheeple in the pews.

        1. I agree with what you wrote, but recall that these people had a steady diet of non-Biblical preaching from Jack Hyles; they were taught by practice that “preaching” was listening to the pastor say what he thought (instead of having the preacher expound the Scriptures).

      2. HHHHAAAAYYYY-MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One time at the pulpit with the bizarre shaft rampage should have given him the boot.

  6. The employee who was fired for blowing the whistle now has a slam-dunk case against the church for unlawful termination.

        1. You wouldn’t have to want to go back to win in such a lawsuit. But I’ll bet he gets a conversation about how disputes among brethren are not to be settled by secular judges.

        2. He probably has a claim for missed wages, plus punitive damages, even if he doesn’t want his old job back.

    3. I’d be careful with that lawsuit. He’s likely to end up owing FBC for doing him a favor.

  7. Glad for those who told, preserving their integrity.

    Grateful the judge could not care less about the ravings and pathetic requests of cult members.

    Now we know the deacons knew what he had done when they initially offered him a medical sabbatical and lied to the church. Shame on them.

    1. Double, and triple shame on the deacons (they obviously learned well from Jack Hyles).

  8. I read the sentencing memo that the Tribune added to their article.

    I am so saddened by this. Schaap is demented, and moreso than I think anyone could have ever imagined. The sad part is there are people in that church, and probably around the country, that think he’s just “stumbled”. While God can/will forgive Schaap, his actions were much more than “stumbling” – they were well thought-out and calculated.

    I just wish I could tell the victim that Schaap isn’t and never was her path to God. I hope through this, others in that God-forsaken place will find the real Jesus.

    2. Sorry Megan, but I was in that place, and when you are there you are in another world. It truely is a cult and you do exactly as you are told. It took leaving, having my husband do the same thing to me, a nervous breakdown, and two months in a hospital before I could break free. I remember Jack Hyles asking the men in the church who would give their life for him to stand up, and looking around to see almost every man standing. kinda scary don’t ya think. Doesn’t look too good for Cindy 😥

      1. I was there too, with my precious 4 year old daughter until she reached the age of 12. You HAD to have been there to know how brain washed these people are. When you are brain washed – you do not know it until you get AWAY. It took me over 10 years after leaving this church (under Hyles) to even begin to get out from under most of his false, loveless teachings – my daughter has never been able to believe in a church environment again. Though she knows God is real, she, who is now 43 wants no part of organized religion. What is SO sad is Jack Schaap knew going in that his father in law was NOT who these people thought he was – we used to say, “you can almost see the nail scars in his hands” coz we thought he was so close to Christ because he TOLD us he was and we believed him. People, if you are in a church like this get OUT and go where they actually preach the word – not their philosophy. Where they teach prayer, bible reading first then family. Hyles always had you put your family aside for church related functions like soul winning and bus ministry. Follow GOD, not man. Love God, family and things like soul winning will fall into place because people will watch your lives and want to know God too…come to God and have fruit that remains. If Jack Schaap had concentrated on God and family and not perpetuating an empire – his fall would not have happened. If he had chosen to be God’s man and not Hyles’ man – there would not have been a fall – he too was brainwashed. Folks this truly was a cult! Wake up FBC!

  9. Quite the coverup when the news was originally revealed. Oh what a tangled web we weave…..

  10. As far as the girl/family dropping the restitution case, the church ought to pay her restitution.

    1. I bet they will try to get this restitution via a civil lawsuit – and probably name the church as well.

      1. A civil suit is definitely still open to them, with the advantage that they might be able to tap into deeper pockets. I believe that restitution as part of Schaap’s sentence would have to be paid by Schaap himself. In a lawsuit, they could hold not only Schaap, but the church AND everybody in any management role in the church, probably including the whole Board of Deacons, jointly and severally liable.

    2. According to the sentencing memorandum, Jack Schaap tried unsuccessfully to delete incriminating photos:
      ‘The photos had to be “recovered” because a forensic examination of Defendant’s computer equipment revealed that prior to law enforcement’s seizure, he downloaded an imagedeleting iPhone “app” and deleted the pictures. PSR, para. 37. Thanks to forensic software, law enforcement was able to recover the deleted image directly from the application software.’
      (Foonote, page 3)

      1. It gives me no small pleasure that pervs don’t know how to wipe their hard drive free space correctly!

      1. Here’s what gets me. If the church is so concerned about the victim, why ban her and her family from the church as her father stated in the memorandum?

        (This is rhetorical. I know the answer and it angers me every time I think of it.)

        2. Well, the shameless little hussy might seduce someone else, and clearly, her parents failed to teach her not to use her feminine wiles to entrap holy men of God, which means they’re bad parents. Sheesh, this is Fundie Logic 101!

        4. Last paragraph, but mid-way, he writes, “Our entire family has been banned from the FBC, the church we have attended our whole life.”

        5. And, “Our extended family has stopped going to FBC because of the false and hurtful things they have heard about [my daughter] from other church members.”

          (same page and paragraph)

          Yeah, loving church they are. 🙄

        7. I thought the word was she was a bus kid, not a long time member. What started that rumor then? Are they black and that was presumed for racial reasons?

        8. No, they (the girl and her family) were longtime members. The girl was actually friends with my wife’s nephew; my wife’s sister’s family have been longtime church members, with said sister having a degree from HA. Undoubtedly, facts are being dropped down the memory hole at a significant fraction of lightspeed, as the proper story MUST be that she was an outsider who sent by SATAN to destroy a MAN OF GOD, and not a lifelong member of the church — for that would mean the church failed to notice the viper in their midst, and it makes the relationship even ++creepier, as her abuser knew her as a young child, for years and years. (While the law makes no such distinction, general social mores would hold that a 50 year old hitting on, say, a 25 year old he just met in a bar is merely a typical middle-aged lecher, while a 50 year old hitting on the 25 year old daughter of his college roommate, whom he saw regularly as she grew up, is very, very, creepy. Doubleplus creepy when the 50 year old has been in a postion of authority, with paternal overtones, for the girl’s life. And not just creepy, but criminal, when he can’t even wait until she hits 18. Think about it: If Schaap could have kept it in his pants for a few more months, he wouldn’t be in prison now. He’d still be embroiled in scandal, but he would be a free man with some chance of rebuilding his life and reputation. (Not that I think he deserves such a chance, but it just goes to show how stupid he was. He preached that teenagers swimming in hormones that short-circuit every part of their mind should have the self-control to wait until marriage, but he, an older man who has far fewer chemicals coursing through his system and, in theory, far more wisdom and self-discipline, couldn’t manage to wait even a few months.))

        9. Yeah, I read the document.

          I was just trying to understand the source of the rumor (that it wasn’t a long time member, and was a “bus kid”. Didn’t I hear that here?

          I assumed it would be to have power over the victim to lower her status. Sad the family was pushed out and treated like garbage. It’s just good there is a confession and conviction or these people would never believe any of it. At least they acknowledge Skap did much of this, even though they don’t have all the details (according to their letters to the judge)

        10. The whole family grew up in First Baptist Church of Hammond. (All of this is detailed in the sentencing documents.) The parents were in FBCH’s “schools” as kids, and that’s where they first met. When they married, they moved from Chicago to Hammond so they could be close to the church. The girl was in the church and its schools and other programs from birth, and Schaap knew the parents since long before their daughter was born. The girl’s aunts and uncles and (I presume) cousins were also FBCH members. And as soon as Schaap’s crimes were publicly known, yes, the church booted out the victim and her parents and siblings.

          Any story that she was a newcomer or a “bus kid” couldn’t be more wrong.

        11. Lizard, I agree completely with your assessment of the pathological nature of the relationship.

          I’m a middle-aged man. If I weren’t married now, I can imagine dating a younger woman. But NOT a woman I’ve known since before she could walk.

          I’m at the age now where some of my longtime friends have beautiful daughters in their twenties. I love those girls as if they were my daughters or nieces, but the idea of a romantic or sexual relationship with any of them is simply repellent. It would be incestuous (in spirit, not in law).

        12. Of course there’s probably more to the story, on the other hand, if I was told I could never return to a place where I was being blamed for another person’s mistakes 👿 , shamed and humiliated on a regular basis 😡 , and generally held in contempt anyway just for being what I am 🙁 , it would be no problem at all to comply. :mrgreen:

        14. @Lizard, I don’t believe he’d be embroiled in scandal if the victim had been of legal age. I think the matter would have been entirely papered over. the only risk he would be undertaking at that point was the same risk Hyles took – that either of the women he was having, wife or mistress, would upset the apple cart in an attempt to get more of his repulsive self to themselves.
          As far as banning the family from the church – it is all too typical. Part of it is the inability we have to truly reconcile with each other, in most because rather than being One in Christ, we’d rather wear our masks and pretend that all is well. The church can’t stand (in part) the embarassment of having been so wrong about that wolf. I agree that this is a severe mercy, probably leading to better things for the whole family. It remains to be seen what will really happen to the church, but I’m not optimistic.

  12. I remember when this first came out, I was still on-staff in fundyland. We were told in staff meeting to cover it up and not to talk about it and if anyone did ask about it tell them they were making accusations against the man of God.

    This was just another nail in my fundy coffin and one of the reasons “I Came Out”.

      1. How quickly you have forgotten that most (if not all) IFB preachers are immune to that passage, primarily due to the pastoral pedestal theology that is hammered from their pulpits!

    2. Welcome to the other side ICO! Be good to yourself, give yourself time, and therapy is amazing. Big hugs!

    4. “the’ man of God? More veidence that this is cultic hero-worship. How is he any different from any other committed man in the congregation?

  13. The fact that so many people will show up at that church on Sunday just disgusts me. The church should be torn down and made into a parking lot.

    The ministers and staff at FBCHammond are no better than piano players in a whorehouse.

    1. The members of FBH should demand the resignation of the entire deacon board and anyone else in a position of power. They obviously have proven to be derelict in their duties.

    3. Will schaap’s wife come to her senses and file for D.I.V.O.R.C.E. or is she too brainwashed?

      1. In her letter to the judge (which is part of the trial record and is online somewhere), Cindy Schaap decribed Schaap’s affair with the minor in question as a minor “indiscretion,” and the only blot on the otherwise sterling career of her husband, whom she lauded as a great husband and father.

        So either she’s totally blind, or she’s a shameless liar. Possibly both.

        1. When she wrote to the judge, I wonder if she was privy to information the prosecution filed last week — the b/d card and all the writing schaap sent to the victim.

        2. I just read the whole text of what Schaap wrote to the girl (I couldn’t quite stomach it before). Much of it is the sort of thing any abuser would write to someone he is bent on exploiting, but it is striking the way Scaap keeps comparing himself to Jesus Christ, and at one point even calls himself the girl’s “rescuer” and “Savior.”

          Anybody remember when I said Schaap is a sociopath?

        3. Big Gary & All. It made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. Literally. Has schaap been given over to a reprobate mind? i.e., sociopath.

          I remain unconvinced about his salvation. If ever “wolf in sheep’s clothing” fits it’s now. Although he was “wolf like” from the pulpit).

      1. I was wondering that, too.
        The musicians who invented ragtime, jazz, and the blues are A-OK in my book.

        1. The young Johannes Brahms also grew up playing piano in said whorehouses. 😎 Why do such dens of iniquity bred the best tunes?

        2. PR: Steady paying work for musicians has never been all that easy to come by. Most of them take what gigs they can get.

        3. True. Just musing that somehow it does give way to some of the finest music and musicians. There’s a reason the Devil does get all the good tunes. 😎

        4. @PR, the stories of Brahms playing in bordellos as a young teenager are incorrect. It’s clear that he did play for money to supplement the family income, but that playing was limited to private parties and dancehalls.
          @BG; it’s true that musicians take the work they can get, but most have a sense of professional self-preservation.

      2. I suppose that the point was that they were perverting their talents in the service of evil. I like the mental image, I agree that it’s a little inappropriate for the situation.

    5. No. Not a parking lot.

      A park, with trees and some aquatic habitat for local wildlife. Something beneficial.

  14. I am so thankful that Senior Judge Rudy Lozano upheld justice with measures most appropriate and just! I, myself, wrote at least 6 letters to Judge Rudy Lozano explaining how this cult was detrimental in my life and to my family! I pleaded that this poor excuse of a man and preacher betrayed and abused this child, by the power he wielded and blasphemed God!

    I’m so thankful that Senior Judge Rudy Lozano fulfilled his position of power for the good of man and didn’t fail us!

    I hope all preachers take a good long look and if need be, re-adjust their sense of power!

    Now let’s hope for a better tomorrow!

    I am so thankful!!!!

    ~~~Heart 🙂

    1. I’m glad you wrote in. I too am thankful that the judge upheld the law and didn’t give in to the manufactured “celebrity” of Schaap.

  15. I am now officially in mourning

    gotta go get some pork ribs and put um on the grill.

    Kosher of course

    1. Mmmm, if you lived near me, I’d bring over some mournful wheat beer to wash those down.

  16. What we see here is a prime example of the “Law of the Harvest.”

    …and The House of Hyles is reaping a bumper crop!

    (However, I doubt that the harvest is over yet at FBCH)

    2. Oh yeah, if I had wager-placing tendencies (which I don’t, because I’m a good Christian, unlike the rest of you heathens,) I’d put it all on much more to come.

      I just sat with a young man who is suffering from IFB present stress disorder. He mentioned to his “mentor” that he wants to attend a Spanish speaking church… and they were placing Schaap-like manipulation on him in heaps. “Oh… son… you’re in a dark place, let me text all the leadership to ask you about this dark place you’re in so that you will be afraid to even consider leaving…”
      Run… RUN… I said RUN!!! Get away!!!

  17. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Mrs. Schaap, but I do. She will be told that the only godly thing for her to do is to stay married to her husband and forgive him and pray for his “restoration”. To divorce him would be a sin, see, because he said he was sorry.

    She will not be allowed to be angry, because that would mean she is a bitter woman. She will have to stuff down her normal feelings and will be encouraged to write a book about how she was mostly responsible for her husband straying because she wasn’t giving enough in the bedroom. This book will encourage fundy women everywhere to get busy in this department so their husbands don’t stray.

    Then she’ll be invited to womens conferences to speak about how God took away all her feelings and now, out of nowhere, she totally trusts her husband again and she can’t wait for him to get out of prison. And she will be praised as a Stepf–, I mean, godly wife.

    And God is going to work a miracle in their marriage because of this, you watch and see. Because God decides how your marriage turns out, not the two humans in the marriage.

    Poor Mrs. Schaap.

    1. When I think about Cindy Schaap, I feel very sorry for her childhood and even early adulthood in that heretical cult. But she’s a grown woman now. At some point, you’ve got to take responsibility for your own actions.

      1. Growing up steeped in that environment poisons the brain. Yes, as an adult she is entirely responsible for her own choices. But in fundyland, women are placed in a specific role, and we are told that to step out of that role is on the same level as, oh, I don’t know, the unforgivable sin.

        I hope she wakes the hell up.

    2. I would feel bad for anyone whos husband cheated on them with a minor. I really hope she dumps the perv and moves on with her life, but I kinda doubt it :/

    3. Michelle, if I was a betting woman, I would bet that your prediction comes true. I can already hear the spinners spinning…

    4. “Her” words are probably being written up even as we speak. Heck, if she’s smart she is lining up a ghost-writer already, a Gawdly one of course. 🙄

  19. Has FBC Hammond come forth with a public apology about how his victim and her family were treated?

  20. Praise the Lord! What really sickens me is the fact that he had “excuses” for why he did what he did. If I ever became angry, etc… in my former IFB church it meant that I automatically had a heart problem. When the MOG fall’s there’s a “reason” why he fell or sinned. And the fact that so many members will still stand by this child molester and continue to believe that satan brought down a good MOG. What happened is God removed that sicko from the pulpit.

    1. It’s really weird that one of the excuses he offered to the judge was that he had prostatitis when he did all this.

      The symptoms of prostatitis are difficulty urinating, pain while urinating, and sometimes lasting pain in the groin or lower abdomen. Nobody I’ve ever known who had it felt like running out and humping the nearest 16-year-old girl. 😯

  21. May God have mercy on his soul, I can’t forgive that douche, and I certainly hope the justice system doesn’t either (as far as good behavior, etc which is minimal federally).

  23. Let’s be clear. Jack Schaap did not “stumble” or “fall into sin”. This man told an under-aged girl that it was the will of Christ for him to (statuatorily) rape her and commit adultery against his wife. I have no trouble saying that true believers do not blaspheme in this way. I am filled with sorrow for Schaap and those caught up in the FBCH cult, but we need to be unequivocal in stating that this is damnable behavior.

  24. I wasn’t aware until now that Cindy had written a book on marriage. I was astounded to read (in the sample on Amazon) what her husband said in the foreword about snuggly 16-year-old-girls. And I was astounded again at the end when he recommended people study and emulate the life of the author (his wife). All I can think of to say about that is…wow.
    http://www.amazon.com/Wifes-Purpose-Cindy-Schaap/dp/0976424711/ref=la_B002I4ILZ2_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363823873&sr=1-2

    1. Sick, sick, sick!

      After the excessive discussion of “snuggling,” Schaap says that he asked Hyles’ permission to marry Cindy, and course, I was thrilled with his permission, and Hyes “… continued by saying that if we would wait one year longer and give him time to groom and polish her, that he could insure that Cindy would not be just a good wife—rather, she would be a great wife. Well, how could I turn down a great wife over a good wife?”

      Her father wanted an extra year to GROOM AND POLISH HER???? 😯
      What the fudgecake???

        1. Groom and polish–sounds like words to describe a pedophile. (Shudder). I don’t know all the details of Cindy and Linda’s life, but it must have been a nightmare living in that house. Makes me grateful that I was on the “fringes.” As a second-class fundie (with an alcoholic father), I wasn’t under a microscope as a child. I wasn’t exactly allowed into the circle either, which hurt at the time. But now I see it as a blessing in disguise.

      2. I read that book repeatedly in my junior high and senior high years. The parts I always remembered are the creepy forward and the place where she says you should always pretend that any problems are your fault because your husband’s ego needs to be protected at all costs. Your husband will love you for this.

        1. What utter hog-slop. I don’t need my wife to protect my ego. I need her to confront it in a way that points me back to God, not self. Ego feeding turns out narcissists. As in the example in this blog stream.

          And where in Scripture are we to take responsibility for another persons sins? Wouldn’t that be dishonest? As well as impossible before an all-knowing God?

          I sat under the “ministry” of one of Hyles’ spiritual offspring. The infamous Smith brother of Forest Park, GA. I am so glad my kids never had to endure any of the lunacy that passes as Fundamentalism there days.

        3. One woman who is honest with me is worth a hundred who would try to “protect my ego.”

    2. There’s so much about that book that’s creepy, from where it’s stated that Jack Hyles “groomed” her before marriage to Schaap saying she has nothing to make her stand out from any other woman (I can’t even imagine my husband saying that! He chose me for a reason — and I him). And the snuggly passage — ick so many times over, but that was him AND Hyles both.

      Not surprisingly, Schaap mentions that Cindy learned everything she knew about being a wife from her mother — the original Stand By Her Man.

  25. Thank you, Lord. I know that in the end, You will have justice on those who have done evil in Your eyes, but sometimes it’s nice when human authorities do too.

    I feel such an immense feeling of relief right now. I know Schaap being put in jail doesn’t erase the evil he’s done, the victims he’s abused, the filthy things he’s said while claiming to be speaking for God. But at least it will keep him from hurting others–and I pray it will help his victims heal. Because let’s not pretend the poor girl was his only victim! The damage this man has done in so many lives…

    Sometimes I feel I would be better off if I’d never come to SFL in the first place and learned about people like Schaap (who I knew nothing of before this). Yet when justice is done, it is truly satisfying to witness.

  26. Came across this on a Fundy bulletin board. Isn’t just typical IFB crap.

    He sinned against God and only God. He was a pastor, but the church removed him which was appropriate in this case. I do not know Jack Schaap’s heart, if he has truly repented, why keep throwing this sin in his face? Why keep talking about “this” sin?

    1. I love fundie logic. “You can’t be seen going into a movie theater, even if you’re seeing a G-rated film, because people seeing you at the theater may be led into temptation by your example… but abusing your authority to rape a 16 year old girl? Why, that’s just between you and God, not anyone else! We believe in condemning, in the loudest possible voice, trivial public behavior that harms no one, but condemn very quietly, and only in private, if at all, acts which do great and unquestioned harm to others.”

      Tell you what, “Strange”. When Fundies start treating, say, gossip as a sin as grievous as homosexuality (devoting the same number of hours to preaching against it, and treating a known gossip in their congregation the way they would a known homosexual), or say that having your football team logo on your car is idolatry and no car in the Church parking lot should have one, then you might have ground to stand on with “all sin is equal” and “sin is between man and god”. Until then, not buying it.

      1. You’re right. I’ll never understand how they can have so much vituperation towards trivial things and so much tolerance for true evil.

    2. “Came across this on a Fundy bulletin board. Isn’t just typical IFB crap.”

      You’re right…Its normal IFB crap.

      sorry you stepped in it.

    3. So if his sin was only against God, the girl and his wife were what? Collateral damage?

    4. Yet another case of Fundies focusing on the incidentals (the sex) and ignoring the essence of the offense (the abuses of power and the dragging of the names of God and Jesus through the muck).

      Let’s get this straight right now:
      OK, Hyles sinned against God. But not ONLY God. He committed offenses against his church, his family, his community, the teenaged girl he exploited, and against the public’s right to expect that people who are supposed to be helping their daughters and sisters will not molest them.

      He has also bolstered the suspicions of everyone who already was inclined to believe that Christianity is nothing but a hoax run by self-aggrandizing hypocrites.

    5. If those deacons are such “appropriate” darlings, why don’t you just reiterate their initial announcement of “medical leave” or a “sabbatical” and drop the part about “sinned against God alone”? The love-able fibbers only came clean after the media set sights on the church (aka. they will only tell the truth if they are shamed into it…in front of everybody!)

    6. Peter denied the Lord three times. It was written down and billions of people have heard the story by this point in time.

      David’s sin with Bathsheba… same story.

      Who is throwing it in his face? Shaap’s in jail and has no access to Facebook or SFL. He’s not our drinking buddy who we keep reminding of the time he went home with a 60 year old woman.

  27. I recently watched some videos posted on Schaap and listening to soundbytes of his valor “sermons” makes me not feel sorry for him.

    Also back in the days of Hyles, one of Hyles right hand guys Jim Vineyard was also under scrutiny in the public for assault and being the leader of the “Roadway Gang” but he got out of it and moved to Oklahoma City to take over Windsor Hills. I’m surprised Schaap couldn’t talk himself out of trouble since his world famous father-in-law was able to.

    1. Schaap had photographic evidence, and didn’t know that the feds can recover deleted files. Hyles lived before the digital era.

    2. Also, NOBODY in Australia who isn’t a fundamentalist has ever heard of Jack Hyles. And in my four years within fundamentalism, I’d never heard of him either. He wasn’t world famous. He just thought he was.

      1. Shoot, there aren’t that many in AMERICA who weren’t fundamentalists who knew who Jack Hyles was. Big fish in a very small pond.

        1. Ditto on the US-raised, Fundy-U, Fundy-bred, etc. Never heard of Hyles until SFL about 2 years ago. And the only time I’ve actually ever heard the name Hyles mentioned in conversation (since as far as I know I’m distant from any SFLers IRL) was briefly when my sister said she got some recruitment advertisements from Hyles-Anderson College about a year ago.

        2. Waldo & Wandering Traveler

          Count your blessings! Unless you Google these men and read about their beliefs, scandals, theological errors and the impact they have had in a section of IFBdom, you will be at a loss as to what most SFL readers are writting about.

          Frankly, I’d advise you not to waste your time. 🙂

  28. Just read the prosecution’s 23-page deposition against this man.

    Perhaps the greatest shame is from Jack’s own mouth when he wrote to the victim that he gave his heart to Jesus when he was 5 and his life to Him when he was 17! Question: where in Scripture is salvation regarded as giving one’s heart to Jesus?

    The abuse of the Word of God started in this man’s life well before he ever stood behind a pulpit!

    1. OH come on, you can’t accuse him of abusing the word of God at 5 years old. If anything, it was someone else doing the abusing and he was the deceived. And then, growing up thinking that a prayer or walking the aisle, or doing anything (ie, giving your heart to Jesus) constitutes salvation is not his fault. As an adult, yes, he should know better, think for himself, but as a child, it’s just sad.

      Salvation is not giving God anything. It is believing the good news that God has done it all for us. It causes us to rest, to know acceptance, and not to burden ourselves with the life long task of trying to “please God”.

      1. Schaap wasn’t five or seventeen years old when he wrote that letter; he was fifty-four.

        1. I know, but it shows that from a young age, he had a complete misunderstanding of the gospel, leading to his abuse of it in later years. And I was saying that you cannot accuse a 5 year old of abusing the gospel.

      2. Was not accusing Schaap of abusing the Word as a 5 year old, simply pointing to the abuse of Scripture so predominant in the IFB system.

      3. Btw, that abuse of Scripture is readily apparent in the statements coming from those in support either of Schaap (Cindy and the 141 plus letters) or of FBCH (see comments made by the spokesman for said church).

    1. What a sad letter. It shows the true nature of this Hellish bondage everyone at FBCH has been in.

    2. Thx Lord Don for that site. What more needs to be said, and by how many more, until FBCH members realize what the rest of non-IFBdom understands? How many more scandals and sexual predators must come from that cult/church until they see the teachings of Hyles/Schaap for what they are, FALSE!

      You’re correct, it will only be by the grace of God and “not man” if they turn from error and the false gospel they’ve come to embrace. What you sow, you shall reap. Time will tell if God’s grace will turn what was meant for evil for good, or if He allows “The Law Of The Harvest” to continue until nothing but hay, wood and stubble is left to be consummed in FBCH.

    2. Eventually Jack’s narritive will become part of IFB lore and he will be known as one of the greatest martyrs since… since… well, he will be in a class all his own.

    3. I’m reminded of the two brothers in Austin who were imprisoned for beating a Sunday School kid half to death. They and their families are holding them up as Christian martyrs, they’ve each written a self-righteous book, and one of them has started a blog called “Remember My Bonds.”

      (Story here:)
      http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2011/04/joshua-and-caleb-thompson/

      Dude, if you’re a Christian, and you get punished for something you did, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re being punished for being a Christian. Capeesh?

  31. Lord Don’s Prophecy moment:

    I see Jack’s example having great influence in the IFB movement. In the near future I believe you will hear more sermons on how moral failure is brought on by female immodesty. I further predict that the number of “Eve: the cause of Man’s fall” will be a hot topic in IFB circles.

    1. I’ve always found it interesting that women are always called the weaker vessels. But when it comes to temptations, we’re vixens in leather and lace capable of sapping every ounce of strength and intelligence from men — succubus indeed.

      1. Even little children can apparently have this power which they can wield over adult men.

        It’s ridiculous for them to blame someone they call “weaker”. It’s the tactics of a bully and a coward.

      2. Dear Persnickety Polecat:

        I’m holding out for whips and ice cubes.

        Christian Socialist

        1. Dear Christian Socialist,

          Why whips and ice cubes?

          This is fifty vanilla shades of weird, I tell ya.

          Laters,
          Semp

        3. You have to include the duck, too. It’s just not the same without the duck. 😈

  32. The older I get the less I know/understand.

    I am not a formally educated man like alot of people on this blog… but I do know this.

    A man does not go to a woman for advice,
    He goes to her for approval.

    And vice versa.

    Now if I understand this with my mind and education, where was Jack’s mind before, during this horrible escapade?

    That I don’t understand.

    Do I excuse his behavior?…..no

    Do I feel he should pay for his transgressions?
    yes.

    The tounge lashing that he recieves here will pale in comparisum to the upcomming event…

    I seem to remember something about a “Millstone”
    ….Yes, I am sure I remember that.

    At the end of the day, alot of people have been hurt over this. I just hope they can all find their way.

    As most here, it took me a long time to “un-wind all those tapes” and start over, with a God that I could understand and live with.

    My deepest sympathy goes out to the Victum(s)
    The little girl and the Church.

    1. … or FBCH.

      But I will not attempt to limit God’s mercy in either case. If FCBH overcomes their past and their programming it will be by the grace of God and not the man in the pulpit… or the leadership they install. (though more of the same will only reinforce the error and the false gospel that they have been following for so long)

      Only God knows the heart of JS… but his actions show a man who worships himself above all else.

      1. I’d love to be wrong about JS, but sociopaths seldom or never change. They just refine their scams and look for new pigeons.

  34. Anyone else notice how busy the N. Indiana (Hammond) federal prosecutor is with Federal sex offenses? 😯 😥

    1. I did notice that the two prosecutors said that of all the perps they have prosecuted, Jack Schaap’s excuses for his behavior were some of the least compelling they have heard.

  35. During his sentencing, Schaap referred to a news story about rescuers saving people who had fallen through ice and said, at first, his intentions had been honorable.

    “I thought I wanted to be this family’s savior,” Schaap said. “Sometimes people try to be heroes … in trying to be a hero, I became a fool.”

    He apologized to his wife, children and parents and urged the congregation of Hammond Baptist to show compassion for the victim and her family.

    “If you love me, please don’t blame this family for my wrongdoings. Blame me,” Schaap said.

    You’re my hero Jack. 🙄

    1. (snippy voice on) Geeee, that’s real magnanimous of you, Jack! You really are a gen-nyu-wine Man-O-Gid, for sure! 🙄 Letting that poor girl’s family off the hook like that, how noble of you!(snippy voice off)

    2. I assume he referred to the story about two people who drowned trying to save a child who had fallen through the ice.

      And getting caught seducing a teenager you’re “counseling” is like that HOW, Jack? 😯

  36. I don’t understand the emphasis in many of the reports that he took here “across state lines”. What is all this about?

    2. I suspect its one of the reasons that he plead so quickly to the Federal charges…..Federal time is mostly white collar criminals..bank fraud ect. also club fed has congical visits, weekend passes whereas state time is where you’re locked up with “Bubba.” Rapist, child mollestors, drug addicts ect…Hardened Criminals

        1. Thats provided he is locked up there….had you rather be locked up with Charles Manson or Duke Cunningham…Fed time across the board is much safer and less restrictive than State time…however no good time in Club Fed.
          For all we know he could wind up in “Super Max” Colorado…I have a friend who works there…I’ll tell him to keep the light on.

    3. Squiz, the reason it matters that he took the minor across state lines is that doing so is a federal offense (a violation of the Mann Act). That’s how federal prosecutors and the federal court got involved. Schaap also appears to have violated state statutes in at lest one, and probably all, of the states he was in with the girl. The various state prosecutors agreed not to file state charges on the condition that Schaap plead guilty to the federal charge– this has to have been one of the reasons he was so eager to plead guilty. He’s probably going to take a lot less of a hit for one conviction in federal court than he would for a whole laundry list of offenses in three different states.

  37. Completely disgusted by Schaap’s attempted excuses. That he was just trying to “rescue” his victim, and while he was trying to save her he “stumbled” into sin. Clearly he was hoping that everyone magically forgot about his sermons and writings that have been showcasing his obsession with sex for years.

    And in what universe does stress, prostate problems, and low lithium levels have the symptom of raping under-aged girls? That sounds more like a defense from a crappy court room drama show.

  38. I’m sure he will say this is just part of Gods plan for his life. He was sent to prison to win thousands of souls. 🙄

  39. Ah, nothing I love better than hypocritical shitheads like Schaap and Hovind getting what they so richly deserve.

  40. He didn’t “set out” to save this girl. His actions show that he set out to abuse his power with this girl. Everyone who has spent 5 seconds in Fundystan knows the “don’t put yourself alone with a person of the opposite sex” rule. The fact that this was how he started out the relationship shows his true intent. He never meant anything but to use this girl up for his own benefit. He came after her because of his arrogance and his entitlement. He broke very clear, well-known, IFB rules because he knew that he could get away with it. I believe this is definitely not his first time to manipulate a girl like this. You don’t start out this brazen. He has been doing this for years with many victims.

      1. Barely able to stomach reading the U.S. District Court’s Gov. Sentencing Memorandum, I came to the same and more frightening conclusion. Jack Schaap was acting out his perverted, God having sex with the saints theology, by the many quotes he wrote to his victim in the two letters documented in the Momorandum.

        In the first letter, he says their “fantasy talk” of her wanting to be his wife is “…exactly what Christ desires for us. He wants us to marry us+become eternal lovers!” Schaap claims that he, himself, had espoused his victim to Christ as a “chaste virgin”.

        In the 2nd letter he addresses her as “Baby”, wanting her to “feel+know” how much Jesus loves her, as they enjoyed the “magic” during the 3 days together. He was apparently teaching her his perverted gospel/theology when he writes how he missed “my Bible reading partner”. And, concludes with the message to her that God provided His love through their intimacy by trusting her to “minister to His servant(Schaap)”.

        This man is the same as all the cult leaders of the past. The list is long. Just like the Jim Jones’ of the world who incorporate sex with minors, and church members as part of their perverted theology, Schaap is no different. Don’t think for one minute Jack Schaap thinks any differently now, from when he started preaching HIS damnable heresy. What has been revealed is a “bad tree, baring bad-rotten fruit”.

        1. That is “bearing bad-rotten fruit”…also, what about that foolish-Koolaid addicted 63yr old woman and her daughter, who acted as chaperons? How many FBCH members are just like these two? How deep does the corrupted root go, and how many more rotten fruit will that church produce???

        2. Been There…

          “Don’t think for one minute Jack Schaap thinks any differently now, from when he started preaching HIS damnable heresy. ”

          I totally agree with you! While he provides an apology to “save face” (futile though, it be) I believe his remorse is only in the fact that he got caught. His efforts to delete pictures proved that he had hopes to evade being found out and his sorry excuses were pitiful as they showed his desires to be shown leniency on his sentencing.

          All that to say is, his efforts to give to his followers and the world of people that he preached to, that admittance of complete wrong-doing and a humble repentance of his sins, fell so short of what he weekly required of his followers who were merely guilty of the minor infractions such as a lack of bible reading, tithing or the like.

          Yes, he still appears to be the same conniving person. Lets hope he receives his awakening during these 12 years of incarceration!

          ~~~Heart ❗

        3. Heart

          Definitely there is a huge difference between remorse and repentance! Even Schaap’s apologies to his family, church family and victim/victim’s family “fell short” indeed! The lame excuses were inexcusable! As Persnickety Polecat asked when referring to Schaap quoting King David that his sin was against God alone, “..what does that make the girl and his wife, collateral damage?”….reminded me of his father-in-law’s teaching about God’s annointed, and how he practically equated preachers being on the same level as King David! Jack Hyles’ erroneous views and beliefs have heavily influenced Schaap and so many other IFBx preachers to an “elevated, entitled view” of themselves. At least, he had the humility to call himself “a fool”!

          Forgive if I sound too harsh and lacking compassion. In the many years I was in IFBdom I had seen more preachers, church staff, and deacons than I care to count (most that came out of Hyles-Anderson College), commit the sins FBCH is infamous for and show only remorse. Some of those preachers who didn’t end up in jail for their sins, but lost family, respectablity and honor, still sought to return to the pulpit without true repentance.

          I’m in agreement with you that we can hope, pray and keep enlightening others to recognize this tyranical cycle, and no longer tolerate such behavior and false teachings from their church leaders, no matter the denomination.

        4. When you talked about Jack saving face, I have to say that almost 8 months after the fact, he now has an audience and a few newspapers and says “If you love me, have compassion on this family and victim. Don’t blame them, blame me.” Why did he not say that in the beginning before they were asked to leave the church and school…treated like lepers. The up side, leaving the church and school is probably the best thing that could have happened to them – getting out of that mess – will help them heal and break the bondage of the brain washing koolade drinking environment.

  41. I am going to visit a Michigan prison on Thursday, so this thought has come to mind:

    If Schaap is a Christian–and I won’t doubt it–then one of the best disciplines for his spiritual life will be to learn humility. In his situation, that will come from men who won’t be impressed with his shenanigans. All prisons have a chapel, and nothing can be better for him than to learn to worship God with other prison inmates, under the leadership of a minister from another denomination.

    2. You make a very good point. I think Schaap has had a sense of entitlement and superiority for a long time; to sit humbly among other prisoners and be silent before God would be good for him, I would think, but didn’t the judge say something about him continuing his work which I assumed was preaching? He doesn’t need to be preaching.

      1. Perfect example of him seeing himself in an elevated, entitled view is the whole beginning sermon of The Polished Shaft/Rod. He speaks on and on of how amazing he was to have been so well-equipped to learn and progress and work. Gosh, we have all labored in our youth oh but he viewed himself as someone extra special!

        At one point he talks of how his bedroom became illuminated with a light insomuch that the next day his mother asked him what took place in his room last night… Hogwash!

        He has been nothing less than and egotistical, narcissistic man, using God to elevate himself to gain powers that were not his nor should be any man’s who serves God! That a maneuver left for greedy businessmen who are of a carnal nature and thusly, that speaks loads of jack schaap’s drive: carnal!

        I hope he is not permitted to start any ministry in prison. I hope he finds solitary moments in which he will truly be alone under God’s truths and see the complete errors of his ways, not only in the rape of a child but in his ridiculous ministry, better labelled CULT!

        If any of you have not read Linda Murphey’s letter reguarding these most recent events, please take the time to do so! The link has been provided in this topic previously. If someone would repost that would be superb!

        I hope this marks the end of a horrible tyranny cloaked in the Independent Fundamental Baptist lifestyle! We can hope, pray and keep enlightening others as we share our own experiences of bondage, pain, burdens of emotional, physical and spiritual abuse!

        ~~~Heart 😥

    3. I hope it’s a KJV only prison and they let him do some “cell to cell” soul winning.

    4. Men in prison may be permitted to preach; however, I doubt that Schaap would have his normal following where he is going. If he wants to fellowship with other Christians, he’ll have to join with those who are already there. And what will his message be? Whatever he preaches, if he is permitted to preach, will be done supervised by the prison official, likely the chaplain, who probably won’t be IFB (unless he’s in Texas).

    5. It’s not unusual for prisoners to lead Bible study groups and even preach while in prison.

      So one of my fears is that Schaap could be allowed to start building up another empire right there in the pen.

    6. Federal laws require prisons to accommodate inmates’ religions as much as possible while maintaining order. But because of the society of a prison, Schaap won’t begin his time with a following among the inmates. He’d have to earn one, and that wouldn’t happen with his usual methods.

  42. He fell – and he fell from a great height. He knew the truth about his father in law and knew the kind of man he was when no one but family was looking, yet he perpetuated the lie and he fell. I was there the first night Jack attended FBC as a new college student. So full of promise. I am not happy that this happened to him, I wish for him to come to full repentance and a right relationship with God, then his family. Thankful this all came to light so the church can heal if they will allow themselves to let go of the idol worship they have been possessed by since Jack Hyles took the pulpit. I hope they now know – God first always. There are GOOD people in that church. However, many need to be set free from this always “trust the preacher” attitude and deep seeded belief. What Jack Schaap did was wrong and he was sentenced justly – I cannot hold a 16/17 year old responsible for what this at the time 54 year old man did to her. I wish her wholeness and for her to forgive herself and to be used to help others who have been trapped by “trust the preacher” philosophy. Read Linda Hyles-Murphrey’s letter to the FBC church it is on line. It will help all understand!

Comments are closed.