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Following years of denial of knowledge of the issues and actions at stake in the 1980 scandal, and months of waffling and attempts at suppression after the issues came to the attention of the broader IBYC staff, Bill Gothard on July 5, 1980, was confronted before the IBYC board with such a critical mass of evidence that he was advised to resign. On July 6, 1980, he submitted his resignation to the IBYC board, who accepted the resignation unanimously, and he announced his resignation to the onsite Oak Brook staff. On July 8, 1980, the resignation was announced and John McLario, an attorney and executive council for Bob Jones University, replaced Gothard as interim president of IBYC. After seventeen days of staff purges and meetings with outside concerned parties, McLario stepped down under pressured circumstances as president of IBYC, and Bill Gothard resumed control of the organization.
When Bill Gothard resumed the presidency of IBYC he initially eschewed the power of a vote on the board of directors and expressed a desire to reconcile relationships damaged over the previous decade, and he began meeting with a few key players in the scandal in the name of accomplishing this goal. These meetings were soon halted by Gothard, however, and further internal inquiry into the issues and events of the scandal, as well as attempts at reconciliation with former staffers, were permanently laid aside. Bill Gothard ended 1980 by invalidating the election of a returning IBYC board member whom he feared might reopen the inquiries. Shortly thereafter Gothard confessed to IBYC Dallas Area Representative Gene Short that the cited reasons for eliminating the board member had been “untruths.”
In 1981 more than one person alarmed by events at the Institute, and by subsequent conflict between current and former Institute parties, attempted to facilitate reconciliation and healing among the adversaries. Correspondence from one such person, Samuel Ericsson, is reproduced below.
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If Dr. Levendusky gets past 17 days then maybe it will be a real resignation this time.
I don't envy him at this point. Taking over any organization that is in turmoil and having had years of declining finances is not an easy task.
Again my view is that IBLP needs to cease operations completely, so as to minimize the future spread of Gothardism heresy.
Does anyone know why "Tom Brandon" is written on the top of the page? I haven't seen Dr. Brandon's name come up during all of this. He used to be a board member, but not for a few years, I think.
wondering too ... Dr. Brandon is one of the sweetest, Godliest brothers I've ever met. Why was his name written there, anyone know?
My guess is that because Mr. Short, part of the Dallas committee was involved in this, and Dr. Brandon (indeed one of the kindest men on the planet) being in charge of the Dallas committee and seminar office ,that the man sending the correspondence either made a note to see that Dr. Brandon should be sent a copy, or possibly he was informed Dr. Brandon was head of Dallas and made a note of his name... speculation, but usually when something concerns a member of a committee or organization, they do inform the head.
I heard he "used to be on the board" and wondered at the time why anyone would step down from anything IBLP (I mean, after all, it was IBLP, right?) - now I see .... I bet he knew enough to wash his hands and fade away...
Tom's name is there because his son was involved with Christian Legal Society and at the time a friend of Bill Gothard.
Tom Brandon, Sr., was my pastor growing up in Sherman Texas in the 70s. He was an early adopter of Bill Gothard’s teachings, and he preached it often from the pulpit. I have spent many years in therapy dealing with trauma and abuse that these teachings caused me and all of my family. His son, Tom Brandon, Jr., went to Baylor law school and practiced law for many years.
As a long-time supporter of John MacArthur and one who has greatly benefited from his ministry, this collection of letters is fascinating to me. Good insight into how a true man of God believes problems in the Body of Christ should be resolved. Dr. Benjamin was one of the key influences involved in the Institute teaching against legalism and works vs. relationship and the Lordship of Christ. These two men helped me see many of Gothard's teachings for what they really are.
I agree with Mark R. above: IBLP needs to completely shut down. I hope Tim L. will see this need.
I agree with Mark R and Betty above. IBLP needs to be completely shut down. The followers must understand that they were in a cult, following a man who was a predator of young women.
My husband and I just listened to the radio broadcast, and my husband totally agrees with Lee, Mark R, and Betty, that IBLP should close up shop and go away. As for me, I don't know what should happen, but will continue to pray.
If you take away the false teaching which permeates IBLP, there is nothing left, because even what is true is infected with the false teaching on grace. So if the organization still exists, the teaching would have to undergo serious, major revision.
I am very disappointed at the silence of Bill Gothard and the board in the wake of all that has been disclosed in the last couple years. Not much has changed, it seems, from those early attempts at reconciliation. But this time, you can't really fire or seriously mess over the lives of abuse victims who have long since moved on. They wouldn't even be a part of ATI/IBLP oriented churches at this point.
The problem with the leadership of IBLP is that they are treating the institution like a business instead of a Christian ministry. They have called in a new "CEO" to replace the bad "CEO" and want to salvage the business and keep the followers happy. Didn't the Democrats do this with a certain president (I think his name was Clinton) when he was being a "bad boy"? Ecclesiastes 1:9..Nothing new under the sun.
Hopefully parents will stop sending their children to Headquarters to provide free labor for a corporation that has $83 million in assets, according to IBLP's IRS statement. Our sweet children would be much better off working for Starbucks in our local towns near our homes. I thank God for this website. It is honoring to our rights under the Constitution: Freedom of Speech.
Agree.
Yes, there is more concern for the ministry, or rather BUSINESS(!)than for the abused young people. Very wrong. Sickening. God shows His Mercy to all those who 'don't care.' More than I have. I am learning patience. May God show His Justice in His perfect time.
As someone mentioned above it will be interesting to see if Gothard does stay away this time and not just the few days he did last time. I do wonder how long Levendusky will last. Will Gothard be able to wrestle control back like he did last time?
In a lot of ways the group really is Gothard's organization. I don't know everything about this group but wasn't Gothard in control of about everything? He was the primary speaker etc?
I commented on another post wondering why the group didn't have a succession plan for Gothard. Many men don't live to Gothard's age and even if they do they can't function. As someone said maybe Gothard was delusioned to think he would live much longer.
You saw in a similar situation where Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel stayed as the group's leader till he died and despite Smith having health issues before his death. I know it isn't the nicest thing to have to think about a succession plan.
Maybe it is best that Gothard's group didn't have a plan. Maybe the group will implode. As controlling as Gothard is reported to be, it wouldn't be surprise if there was no room for grooming a successor. That is maybe Gothard wasn't willing to "share the stage" with someone else and scared away potential leaders that could have been groomed.
In my opinion, Bill would have been a lot better off if he'd started grooming a successor back in the ’90s, rather than grooming that long succession of vulnerable, innocent, sheltered young women to meet his emotional and sensual needs.
Totally agree with that, Wendy. I'm very encouraged on account of this site - because all those abuse victims can realize they are not alone by a long shot, and because many who were not picked by Bill to be a part of the inner circle of abuse, who may have felt passed over, have spoken up, so they know they are not alone either, and for those who were treated unjustly, both men and women, many can realize they were not the only ones sent packing for absolutely no good reason on their respective sides.
That may be the real reason he never planned on leaving, he wouldn't be in such close unaccounted for contact with these young girls. What would he do if he left?
This is such an important piece of correspondence. It shows the lack of regard for reconciliation; only an interest in power and hushing whistle-blowers. It's the same story, new era.
I am not sure where to post this, so am attaching it to the most recent feed.
I want to share something I found recently which has been helping me in my grace journey.
I have read many, many articles and comments on this site. I think I am safe in saying that most, if not all, of us agree that immersing ourselves in Scripture itself, as opposed to a person's "interpretation" of Scripture, is key to understanding who God is and how incredibly much He adores us. Scripture itself shows us Jesus in all his amazing grace and glory. He is the living Word, the way, the truth, and the life.
Several people in our church read through the Bible each year, not as a rule or principle to obey, but because we love Jesus and the Bible is His story. We want to know him better, to see again what he says about himself. Every year I see Jesus more and more.
This year I purchased a new Bible...the English Standard Version of The Gospel Transformation Bible. The "subtitle", if the Bible can have one ☺️ is "Christ in all of Scripture, Grace for all of Life." It was published in 2013 by Crossway and is available on the website esvbible.org or at Amazon.com. In a way, it is the grown-up version of The Jesus Story Bible.
I encourage you to go to the esvbible.org site and read the complete introduction to this version of God's Word. It isn't a set of principles, or a list of steps, or a "do this and be successful" booklet. It is simply God's word, with humble insightful commentary overflowing with grace and love, encouraging me to dig deeper into the Bible itself, always pointing me back to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.
Life, and God's Word, really is ALL about Jesus!
(Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with either Crossway or esvbible.org. Just praying this might help at least one person in their own journey.)
@mamaraye I have thought about trying to read a different version of the Bible as I am struggling with being in Gods Word. However, years of teaching that KJV is the only word which we can trust from IBLP and from other teachers and churches has me still in bondage and fear that I might get this whole grace thing wrong...That I might in my lazy heart make it less than it should be. Have you had any of these fears?
l.k., even though I'm really attached to the 1984 NIV version of the Bible, I've found that it's sometimes really helpful for me to read another version because seeing someone else's translation choices makes me think about it in a whole new way. I find myself going back and comparing the new version with the one I'm familiar with, and seeing how different ideas can emerge from the same words.
Why don't you try reading a more modern translation with your KJV handy? Then when you come across something that seems startling or unfamiliar, you can go back and compare. A lot of times I bet you will find that the meaning found in the new translation DOES fit with what the KJV says... it's just that the full meaning of the English words in the KJV didn't quite hit you because of the archaic word usage.
In cases where there does seem to be a significant difference between the KJV and another version, there are a lot of online study tools where you can look up the original Greek or Hebrew words and get dictionary definitions of what they mean.
It's important to remember that the KJV is NOT the original manuscript of Scripture, or even the first English translation of the original manuscripts. It is a translation, and represented the peak of scholarship in 1611 when it was prepared. But in some cases, scholars have made new discoveries about the way Greek and Hebrew words were used. In other cases, manuscripts with variant readings have come to light. Scholars don't always agree which variant reading is the most accurate to the original manuscript (which we don't have), but a lot of modern translations will provide variants in the footnotes.
It's also important to remember that in some cases, the KJV uses English words, expressions, and euphemisms that no longer mean what they did in 1611. For example, nowadays the verb "to let" means "to allow." But in archaic usage, it meant the exact opposite: "to hinder, prevent, or obstruct"!
Altogether, I think it really improves your understanding to delve into Scripture in a scholarly way like this - to evaluate the way different scholars have understood it and to learn as much as you can about the original languages. And I think your confidence in the modern translations will increase when you see how close they really are to the KJV in most cases.
I don't know if it would help any one else.
But I have found that listening to the scripture instead of reading it helps me to soak in the Word, letting it cleanse my mind and undoing any type of 'brain washing".
God's word has a power that can go past our human understanding. I know I wont need to do this forever, but I am trusting that it will give me a fresh start for when I do get back to reading it and searching out the actual truth.
There are a lot of online scripture readings available.
Years ago I bought a New Testament that had the NIV on the left NASB on the right and the Greek in the middle. I would sit there with my Cambridge KJV in my lap, that New Testament in front of me, Strong's KJV and NIV to my left and Vine's to my right. LOL! It was quite the serious study scene.
What I found out is all of them are pretty close. I love having all of them opened to see the different nuances of words. After I found it fun to discover those nuances I incorporated the Old Testament. I also like the rawness of the Bible Remix. I have read a lot of Eugene Peterson's books and found his Bible translation refreshing.
Whatever you choose make it enjoyable.
PS Enjoyable means guilt free!
@l.k.
Yes, I have had some of those questions...my early years were in KJV, because that is what was available. Then my dad helped proof and critique The Living Bible (which is a paraphrase, NOT a translation, a very important difference), which at the time was about as far away from the KJV style as one could get! I remember reading the book of Ruth in the Living Bible when I was about eleven years old. I completely fell in love with the story for the first time! It was so understandable.
I was fortunate to have a father who took time to explain the differences between a paraphrase and a translation or version of the Bible. Even as a child, I never considered The Living Bible a study Bible, but I loved it for its narrative flow and the new fresh wording it gave to the old old stories.
It was actually the original Living Bible which awakened my desire to really read and study God's Word for myself. In the 45 years since I first read Ruth in TLB, I have used the New American Standard Version, the New KJV, the New International Version, and the English Standard Version, the Good News Bible, the Amplified Bible, The Message, and the newer version of The Living Bible. Sometimes several at the same time! And I am sure I have missed some others in there. All have been, and still remain, wonderfully beneficial to me in growing in Christ.
Remember that God knows and understands your fears and hesitations. I read Vivian's reply to you, and could not have said it better myself. Don't be afraid to look at other well-documented, well-reputed versions of God's Word. Do the comparing for yourself. Get wise, unbiased input. Ask God to give you the wisdom you need. That is a prayer he loves to answer!
Most of all, know that God loves you, you are precious to him, and he will guide you, just the same as he guides the most learned, scholarly teacher of his word. Trust him on this.
@Vivian...thank you for that wonderful reply!
I left a kjv-only IFB church, and one of the first things I did was buy an ESV. When reading it, passages that I had missed before would jump out at me. I would then turn to the KJV and read the same passage, and see that it meant the same thing, it just was written in a less than accessible manner.
I believe that the real reasons some pastors and teachers try to keep us kjv only is because a) it is harder to understand, so they can tell us that it means whatever they want us to believe and few are able to challenge them, and b) the poetic nature of the book means that when the preacher tells us a specific phrase means a certain thing, we then ascribe that meaning to that phrase every time we hear it. Certain phrases like "touch not the Lord's anointed" have been mistaught and abused to teach wrong teaching for a very long time, but it's very hard to leave that false teaching behind if you keep reading the exact same phrasing.
Try reading a different version. There's nothing wrong with going back and reading the kjv again afterwards until you are more comfortable with it :)
Great point. Thank you.
My opinion: that sounds like it may be fears from the legalism speaking rather than the voice of your loving Heavenly Father.
On a different note, here's one idea, perhaps it will help: on sites like Biblegateway, you can have multiple versions up at once so you can easily compare/contrast them.
For example, this link is to Galatians 3 in four different versions: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians%203&version=NIV;NLT;MSG;KJV
I really like verses 2 and 3 from the NLT:
2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Love biblegateway.com!
One of the typical issues for KJV only folks is a distrust for and fear of Biblical scholarship. There are a couple reasons I recommend the ESV (first) or NASB (second)- there are some other good translations- 1) they are translations based on the most ancient manuscripts; the theory, which I agree, is that the further back we go in history the closer we get to the original manuscripts. The KJV is based on a collection of manuscripts that are much more recent relatively speaking but there are more. 2) The ESV follows the Greek sentence structure fairly closely. It makes for some rough spots, but that is the challenging (in a good way) thing about Biblical interpretation. There are some hard parts to understand. With the ESV you get to be challenged by them and work through them rather than have them to quickly smoothed out by the translator. I also recommend reading a non study Bible; not that they're always bad, but what we typically do is too quickly alleviate our inability to understand a passage by reading what the person who wrote the study notes wrote. Again, that's not wrong, but it's just good training to think, wrestle, discover without those things, and then when you've done that read some commentary from others.
Personally, the thing that made the Scriptures come alive to me after leaving the world of Gothard and Fundamentalism was reading some books that helped me see the UNITY of the Bible. Gothard killed the Bible by cutting into tiny unrelated bits that it lost all punch for me. I'd recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible for one. Also "God's Big Picture" by Vaughn Roberts, "The Ancient Love Song" by Charles Drew, "The Unfolding Mystery" by Edmund Clowney to name a few. Once I begin to see the interwoven story of the Bible centered on the person and work of Jesus my love and zeal for the Bible took off and remains. Seeing that the Bible is about God's work to redeem sinners in Christ not about what I do was life changing. See quote from the Jesus Storybook Bible poster a couple days ago.
@Shane
"Once I begin to see the interwoven story of the Bible centered on the person and work of Jesus my love and zeal for the Bible took off and remains."
This is exactly my point in my original post.
Thanks for saying it so well.
Shane
What do you mean by KJV only proponets fear "is a distrust for and fear of Biblical scholarship?" Are you saying these proponents typically don't want an analysis done of passages say like using original Greek/Hebrew helps?
One concern I have about the ESV is that a lot of the Reformed/Calvnist group seems to promote that bible. That in itself makes me wonder if the translation has been geared to support their views.
I'm saying that the developments in scholarship that have led to the "critical texts" which are the oldest manuscripts (used for ESV & NASB) are often (generalizing) seen with suspicion by Fundamentalists/KJV only proponents. Fear of scholarship.
The "textus receptus", the manuscripts from which the KJV are translated are newer and therefore not accepted as close to the originals by biblical scholars, but Fundamentalists reject the scholarship. Fear is a reason.
A lot of Reformed/Calvinist groups do promote the ESV, because one of their fundamental commitments is the the Scriptures interpreted faithfully as possible from their original Greek and Hebrew originals. It's ok to disagree with Reformed/Calvinist theology, but I'd say it's short-sighted to reject the ESV as a translation because those folks like it. BTW- a lot of non Reformed/Calvinist groups use the ESV (they're the Bible of choice in the chapels at Baylor University, for example), because they value the translation and it's relationship to the original manuscripts.
@steve240: I know many who are nowhere close to reformed/calvinist who use and trust the ESV, same for the NASB. Same for the RSV (but that's kind of 'yesterday') I wouldn't let any appearance of an association slow you down from using it.
Shane and Greg
Thanks for your responses. Interesting perspective of the why some are so insistent on KJV.
A criticism of the ESV is that many in my circles say that when it comes to women, the all-male, gender-role-believing translation team usually chose the most restrictive possible interpretation of the words, and translated it to restrict women as much as possible.
Some of my egalitarian friends will even say that some of the ESV translations on this issue is simply not even a possible explanation, knowing what we do about Greek and Hebrew.
@Retha- I understand that criticism. I'm making a bit of an educated guess as to how the translators might respond. I think their intention is to match words in English with the original Greek and Hebrew as much as possible. There are certainly interpretive decisions that go into the choosing of words for translation, but I think the intention is to force the reader of the English to actually deal with how the word for "man" sometimes is gender specific and sometimes is speaking in a gender-neutral way. To allow the reader to work through that on their own. I appreciate that translation philosophy. I know one of the criticisms of the TNIV or NRSV is that they smooth out the difficultly in places rather than allow the reader/hearer to sort through it. I'm more cautious about that translation philosophy, though I'm on no crusade against the TNIV or NRSV.
I do believe that there is much misunderstanding of gender and roles in relation to the Bible, and there are a lot of sinful unloving power plays and abuse hidden behind the veil of complimentarian lingo.
Someone recently asked our pastor, "What is the best version of the Bible?" He smiled, and responded, "The one you will read."
there are many "ist's" and "ism's" in the cristian world, "I am of Paul, Silas, or that guy who throws his sandal, etc", pre, post and mid tribs. It can be so confooosing!
As for me, I am a Peter Panist.
Peter Panism---the belief that all the crap will peter out and it will all pan out the way God wants it to, anyway!!!!
The first seminar teaching all about this amazing new life changing principle will be----------- never!
Now you see how we tried to do it right. Dr. Shultz wrote my textbook at Biola University. What a positive thing it was to have him come over to our home as a supporter. He did not drink the Kool-Aid. He carefully analyzed the whole situation. The problem was that he stood alone.
Joy Wood
I hace used many translations before 'required KJV' in ATI. They were all good. Now I am enjoying ESV also. Reading through the Bible once a year has been a good plan for me. Been doing it for many, many years, using different translations.
Sarah Young's, 'Jesus Calling' has been sooo helpful too!
[…] The result was an exposé that includes personal testimonies from 34 women alleging abuse and testimonies from people who corroborated that Gothard had singled out an underage girl for his attentions. Internal documents revealed the inner workings of Gothard’s ministry, including an 81-page transcript of a 1983 conference call in which people discussed how to address Gothard’s misbehavior, a 10-year chronology compiled by staff decades ago, and internal correspondence. […]
[…] The result was an exposé that includes personal testimonies from 34 women alleging abuse and testimonies from people who corroborated that Gothard had singled out an underage girl for his attentions. Internal documents revealed the inner workings of Gothard’s ministry, including an 81-page transcript of a 1983 conference call in which people discussed how to address Gothard’s misbehavior, a 10-year chronology compiled by staff decades ago, and internal correspondence. […]