The Jack Hyles Home Pagestrongly condemns the current pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana for his ongoing attacks against the inspiration and preservation
of the King James Bible. Pastor Jack Schaap has engaged in lies and
deception in his attempt to repudiate the clear King James Bible
teachings of his predecessor, Dr. Jack Hyles. We no longer recommend
Hyles-Anderson College to Bible-believing Christians.
Romans 16:17-18
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple".
"The biggest split that has ever come
will come in the next ten years, if not sooner, over the King James Bible -
and it couldn't come soon enough for me. I'm tired of colleges and
universities advertising that they 'use' the King James Bible - tell the
whole story! Tell everyone that you do not believe that it is inspired word
for word." -Dr. Jack Hyles, Revelation to
Illumination (1998 Wednesday night Bible study)
"Don't come to me with your stinkin'
'only the original is inspired'! You're not intellectual... you're
retarded!" -Dr. Jack Hyles, Keep your Stinkin' Feet Out of My Drinking Water (1998 Wednesday night Bible study)
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How Did This Happen? Written by a long-time First Baptist Church member, deacon
and member of the Board of Trustees at Hyles-Anderson College
When Jack Schaap candidated to become
Pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond in 2001, he assured us (the
members of FBC) of his belief that the King James Bible was the inspired and preserved Word of God. We took him at his word - and we trusted him.
Shockingly, a few years later, Jack Schaap held up his Bible in the pulpit and announced to us that "This King James Bible is not inspired!".
Many members were stunned at this - some planned to leave the church,
others decided to give him time to explain or elaborate on this
seemingly new position - surely he didn't mean what he said - or did he?
He went on to explain saying that the King James Bible was not
"inspired", but rather "preserved". His explanation didn't make much
sense, and it went against everything we were taught by our former
Pastor, Dr. Jack Hyles. It was completely against everything we believe
the Scriptures teach concerning the inerrancy, inspiration and
preservation of the Word of God.
Even so, many members remained and decided to give Jack Schaap "the benefit of the doubt" - give him more time to explain. That, it is apparent now, was a hugemistake - all it accomplished was to give Mr. Schaap more time to
solidify his increasingly neo-evangelical base of supporters within the
church while he pressured staff members and church leaders to resign if they could not "stand behind their pastor".
Several months later, as demonstrated
in his sermon "What Did God Preserve?", our new "pastor" slid further into anti-King James Bible
neo-evangelicalism by telling us that "God did not preserve the English King James Bible" but rather, "He preserved the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts".
In his 2009 "King James Bible Summit" at the college, he used deception, misrepresentations, and outright lies to portray "his new position" as being "the same old position Brother Hyles took". He misquoted Brother Hyles and lied about Brother Hyles' beliefs in a sad attempt to make us think that nothing had changed. Jack Schaap was revising the facts of history,
and younger members who were there swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
It was then that many of us older members knew where this would end up.
Today, ten years after Mr. Schaap became our pastor, a
steadily-growing neo-evangelical base of supporters within the church
now outnumber those who believe in the inspiration and preservation of
the King James Bible. Many of the fundamental, strong King James
Bible
members have quietly left, while grey-haired saints who loved
Brother Hyles remain in the pews in quiet despair and disappointment,
clinging onto a faint hope that their current pastor will go back to "the old
ways". But Mr. Schaap diggs himself deeper into the hole with
each passing year, proving to us that he has no intention of going back
to the ways of his predecessor.
Sadly, we are now convinced that as long as Jack Schaap and his
anti-King James Bible staff members remain at First Baptist Church and
Hyles-Anderson College, these institutions will continue their slide
into a compromising, "cooperate-with-anyone", neo-evangelicalism that believes in "church growth at any price".
It is unfortunate that at First Baptist Church and Hyles-Anderson College, the inspiration of Scripture has been sacrificed on the altar of "church growth". Yes, they will continue to use the King James Bible - for now - until it becomes a stumbling block in their plans for future church growth. This much is clear to us: Using the King James Bible is not the same as believing the King James Bible.
Therefore we have chosen, as Brother Hyles taught us, to "remain loyal to principles, not to institutions". But more important is that we have chosen to remain faithful and loyal to our God and His Word. Fare-well to our once-great FBC and HAC... we had hoped that this day would not have come in our lifetime.