|
Although my formative years were spent as an "Army Brat," I now realize that my life was very sheltered, at least as compared to that of children of missionaries. Most memories of my father's time in the Army were during the years he was assigned to the Staff Judge Advocate's office, where stories ranged from an MP who fired a warning shot at, and hit, the head of some Private who had trespassed onto the WACs' quarters to such concepts as "alienation of affection." (Wow, have times changed!) One thing I had never heard of was "sexual abuse of children."
In fact, it wasn't until after I was married and on my way to "Boot Camp" in Fredonia, Wisconsin that this term first entered my lexicon. Mary and I stopped in Kansas to visit the pastor who had married us, a former sailor who married an MK from Brazil. After leaving the Navy, where he had been a journalist, he worked in the Call of the Tribes department of NTM and taught at the Jackson, Michigan campus of the New Tribes Bible Institute. He had since resigned from NTM and taken a pastorate there in Kansas. We'll just call this man "Tom." It's a good name, and in any case, it was his name.
As we sat and visited in his living room, he told me that he had just had to deal with a particularly distasteful situation: A lady in his congregation had come to him with news that her husband had been sexually molesting their children. Could he help?
My wife was pregnant with our first child at that time, and it made my head spin to think that anyone could view his own offspring as objects of sexual gratification. What, I asked him, did he tell her?
Tom said, "I said, 'Yes, I can help you. The first thing you have to do is pick up this phone and call the sheriff.'" Tom picked up his phone and held it out to illustrate how he did it. Tom was a good teacher.
That was my introduction to sexual abuse of children, back in 1975. That was how I found out how to deal with it, or at least to begin to deal with it. I learned it from Tom: Sailor, journalist, teacher, pastor, friend, good citizen. Former New Triber, too.
Tom and I first met when I was in high school in Oviedo, Florida and he and his family were students at the Oviedo Boot Camp. Jim (not his real name) and his wife were their neighbors, and since Jim was also an MK from Brazil, I got to know both families quite well.
Jim was still in NTM when we stopped in Kansas, or had been until the last few days. He had tried to resign, but when NTM had found out that his wife had left him, they "had to dismiss him." Can't let something like that slip through the cracks; NTM had a reputation to maintain.
In any case, the divorce was a matter of grief to all concerned. Tom's father-in-law, Floyd, was home from Brazil and visiting Tom at the same time Mary and I had stopped by. Conversation turned to Jim's troubles, and an uneasy silence fell. Uneasy with uneasy silence, I spoke up: "What can I say?" I said.
Floyd said, in what I believe was one of the most humble things I have ever heard pass another man's lips, "You could say, 'It could happen to any of us.'" No one can ad lib a line like that; it has to come from the heart. Someone else could have rehearsed it for a month and not been able to deliver it with the conviction and sorrow that he did. In those few words, he shared the wisdom gained from years of experience with a young man and his wife who aspired to be missionaries. I am indebted to him to this day.
We were only in Kansas a few days, but I learned a couple lessons that have stuck with me all my life. I learned what to do when children are sexually abused. I learned how to grieve over sin while taking heed, lest I fall. I learned a lot about friendship, too.
In hindsight, I can see that it was not by special revelation that Tom did what he did; it was mandated by Scripture. It was part of Floyd's life to say what he did, but he learned it by paying attention to God's Word. This is not to diminish the praise due to them, but to point out the source of it – they knew the Bible and had learned to act according to its precepts. This, during the Dark Ages of the Old New Tribes Mission.
NTM took divorce so seriously back then that they had to make sure Jim didn't resign; he had to be dismissed, lest his humiliation be incomplete. How did they view sexual abuse of children then?
They want us to believe that "no one really knew what to do about sexual abuse of children" back in those simple days. As recently as December 19,1994 NTM's house counsel said that there was "no feeling that Frank Parker will be dismissed from the Mission." After all, he didn't get divorced or anything like that.
To this day, there must not be any feeling that Les Emory will be reported to the authorities, or that the evidence NTM has against him will be given to the victims so that they can do what NTM should have done over a decade ago. NTM says that "he served in the Philippines for ten years." And, he did so without getting divorced, too.
Having a hard time buying what you're selling. . . .
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
