Children of the Corn

I attended the First Baptist Church of Hammond Indiana (http://www.baptist-city.com/) pastored by Jack Hyles once.

I had recently graduated from Boot Camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and was going to Basic Electricity school at NTC. One Saturday morning I was headed to the galley for breakfast when I was approached by a clean cut individual who struck up a conversation with me. I grew up in an Evangelical church, knew the Four Spiritual Laws, attended sharing your faith seminars and recognized what was happening. I practically knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?" he asked.
"Yes, I have been a Christian since I was six years old", was my response.
"How do you know?" at which point I told him about my testimony. He then told me about a sailor ministry their church ran (http://www.hookpublications.com/ministry.htm) and invited me to attend.

I was young, bored, poor, lonely and far from home (like most sailors at NTC Great Lakes). I was ripe to be recruited into a cult.

On the bus ride to Hammond the same guy asked me again if I was a Christian. I guess he was concerned about my salvation. It turned out he was really REALLY concerned about my salvation since he would ask me a total of six times over the course of the weekend.

Once we got there we got some preaching and an altar call. I have seen many alter calls over the course of my life so this was not new to me. I was asked if I was a Christian (3 for those keeping score) and did I want to go forward? My response… "Yes I am and NO I don’t". After the altar call we were all told we needed to be spending time in The Word and we needed to get ourselves a "Good King James Bible". At this point I slid my NIV into my backpack out of fear I might be exposed. I didn’t know what they would do to me and I didn’t want to know.

After the meeting we were housed with a family of the church. On the way to the home, you guessed it, "are you a Christian (4)?"

That evening we had a lively debate over the King James Bible versus the less holy bibles.
At this point I need to make something clear. I like the King James Bible. Not until I was 10 or 11 years old did my family go to a church that used the NIV. I know find I am most comfortable with the NKJV for my personal use. The thing is since I don’t read Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic I must use a translation. The fact that the translators of the KJV threw out their quill every time they wrote the name of God does not make it "The Holy Bible" (this was the actual argument the guy gave me as to why the KJV was superior to all other translations). If that were the case that would mean that non-English speaking people would not have access to God’s word. There is no real King James Mandarin for example.

I went to bed confused and more than a little pissed off. Tomorrow would be a better day.

"Why are the ushers carrying assault rifles?"
"Because Brother Hyles has had death threats."
"Uh-huh."

It didn’t look like my experience was going to improve.

I have gone to church my entire life and have sat through hundreds if not thousands of "3 point" sermons. That Sunday’s sermon is the only one where I remember all three points.

1. You are saved through faith.
   
2. Faith without action (works) is dead.
   
3. Tithing is your works.
   Conclusion: Unless you tithe you are not saved.
   Then they passed the plate.
   

There was an altar call for anybody who wanted to be saved or baptized. Wait for it…
"Do you want to go forward (5)?"
"No, I’m already a Christian."
"How about to be baptized?"
"No thank you, I have been baptized."
"You know just being baptized doesn’t make you a Christian."
"YES I KNOW I BECAME A CHRISTIAN WHEN I WAS 6 YEARS OLD I WAS BAPTIZED AT 16!"

On the way home I made the mistake of questioning the theology of the sermon. I received a firm rebuke. "We don’t question Pastor Hyles". At this point I decided I should probably not say anything more and just try to survive until I got back to NTC.

Those who know me now could probably imagine me being very confrontational but remember I was only 18 and away from home for the first time. My questions were real, not argumentative. I was very confused. I had been in the church my whole life and NEVER had an experience like this.

On the bus trip back to NTC I was asked for the final time if I wanted to become a Christian (6). I also got yelled at for not paying attention to the gospel presentation going on in the front of the bus. But, I did make it home.

I like religion, I am comfortable with it. But, it is not who I am nor does it provide me a route to salvation. I am so glad that my Dad taught me to "test everything"

Don't suppress the Spirit, and don't stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don't be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good. Throw out anything tainted with evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (The Message)

I have learned much about the First Baptist Church of Hammond since then (I won't go into it here but you can do a google serch and learn more). I have learned that my experience was not that unusual. I don’t believe that they started out bad. One of Satan’s best techniques is to twist the truth just enough to make it a lie but it still appears to be the truth. I think there are many, many people at FBC who are deceived by a counterfeit truth. I think that Pastor Hyles was. And the ministry he was charged with became a cult, good people are suffering because of it.

Had it not been for the lessons of my Dad I might have been sucked into this cult. I was looking for something, someplace to belong. Thankfully God was watching out for me.