Let Us Prey

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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). We were taught to not question and to take the ‘man of God’s’ [Schaap’s] word over everything,” says Julie Silvestrone Busby, a former First Baptist member who now hosts a Christian radio show in Iowa. Money poured into the church in other ways: the tithes collected each Sunday, a book-publishing arm, and various conferences and seminars.

They set up home together, underwent a 'betrothal' ceremony at a church, but all along Ben was gaslighting his partner and secretly poisoning him. Remarkably, Ben described in intimate detail his manipulations and scheming, his perverse fantasies and desires in numerous journals and diaries, providing a unique insight into the mind of a psychopathic personality. Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals is a scathing exposé of the movement as a de facto cult that demanded subservience in every way imaginable, including sexually, with pastors—looked upon as unassailable due to their standing as the right hand of God—habitually taking advantage of their positions by molesting and raping young girls and then eliciting their silence with threats of further brutality and exile. Founded in 1887, sleepy First Baptist had a mostly well-to-do congregation, many of whom commuted to jobs in Chicago.

In 2005, Elliott starred in a Canadian television movie The Man Who Lost Himself, which was based on the true story of Terry Evanshen, a Canadian football player who was in a car accident and lost his memory due to severe head injuries.

The IFB’s appeal to a certain type of man is clear: As the heads of society and their households, they have license to behave as they please and to beat any female (wife, daughter, relative) who dares question their authority or, for that matter, says or does anything they dislike. The flock grew to include prominent business leaders such as Austin “Jack” DeCoster, the former egg mogul who by some estimates has given tens of millions to First Baptist and has two church buildings named for him. Combs, a former Bible teacher at Hyles-Anderson who had become a pastor in Tennessee, and his wife, Evangeline, were convicted on multiple charges of aggravated abuse, assault, and kidnapping of their adopted 11-year-old daughter. It was irresistible: The great Jack Hyles, the man of God, whose schools had dating rules so strict that you could earn a demerit by accidentally touching the end of a pencil held by someone of the opposite sex, was committing adultery.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated, but the cause of death could not be determined. Paul Mort Will Save Your Life shares the eight principles he has used to reshape not only his own life, but the lives of millions who have heard his message. He would just repeatedly talk about sex and repeatedly talk about women, how they were dressed and body parts . A fire-and-brimstone fanatic, Hyles is seen in multiple scenes smashing TVs, decrying critics, and blaming women for enticing men with their short skirts and skimpy bathing suits, the latter of which were expressly forbidden.