R. L. Hymers Jr.

Robert L. Hymers, Jr., is a conservative Baptist pastor noted for his evangelistic sermons and for his emphasis on Fundamentalist conversion. He is the founding pastor of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles. In the 1980s he drew media attention for his demonstrations against abortion, during which he led prayers asking for the death of Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, and for demonstrations against the movie, "The Last Temptation of Christ." He is the author of several books on conversion, apologetics and theological subjects.

Biography

Hymers was born in 1941 in Glendale, California. He became a Baptist when he was taken to a church by neighbors at the age of thirteen. He decided to become a minister in 1958, and was licensed to preach in 1960 at the First Southern Baptist Church of Huntington Park, California. Planning to go to the mission field, he joined the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles in January 1961, where he received his early theological training from its pastor, Dr. Timothy Lin, who came to the Chinese church from Bob Jones University. On July 3, 1972, he was ordained as a minister by this church.

Hymers graduated from Los Angeles City College in 1968, and from California State University of Los Angeles in 1970. He then attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist school north of San Francisco, and graduated in 1973 with a Master of Divinity degree (M.Div.). While attending this school, Hymers confronted some of the professors over their rejection of the full authority of the Scriptures. Hymers strongly believed in the complete reliability and inerrancy of the Scriptures. In 1974, he graduated with a Doctor of Religion degree (D.Rel.) from the California Graduate School of Theology. He also attended the San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California (United Presbyterian), where he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree (D.Min.) in 1981. He received a Doctor of Theology degree (Th.D.) at Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary in 1989. Louisiana Baptist University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Literature degree (Litt.D.) in 2003.

Hymers is the author of a number of books and the sermon manuscripts that appear on his website. He works alongside Dr. Christopher Cagan, who edits and types the transcripts of his books and sermons and supervises the translation of his sermons into nine languages for Hymers' site. Hymers has been a member of the Baptist Bible Fellowship since 1985. He celebrated the 50th anniversary of his call to the ministry in 2008.

Hymers and his wife are the parents of two sons who are both graduates of the California State University at Northridge. Both of them attend their father's church.

Churches

Hymers served in a number of capacities at First Chinese Baptist Church while attending college at night and working full-time for the Division of Corporations of the State of California. Shortly before graduating from seminary, he founded the interdenominational Church of the Open Door in Mill Valley, California in August, 1972 with two of his classmates from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He later founded an interdenominational church, Maranatha Chapel. In the 1970s this church was renamed The Open Door Community Churches of Los Angeles, with the goal to have a network of 1,000 homes run and occupied by Christians. During this time he emphasized door-to-door and campus evangelism. The church was eventually renamed The Fundamentalist Army, but it disbanded in 1985 amid allegations of infighting and confrontation. Former members of the now-defunct Fundamentalist Army have alleged that Hymers used ethnic slurs and struck them or humiliated them before crowds.

Shortly thereafter, a group of people from that church joined with Hymers to form the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles, officially named for the church John R. Rice had founded in Dallas, Texas in the 1930s. The name of the church is often shortened to the Baptist Tabernacle. Dr. James O. Combs, editor of the Baptist Bible Tribune, wrote the constitution for the new church and spoke at the inauguration service. In 1986, Dr. Ronald Enroth wrote an article for Eternity Magazine that suggested Hymers closely restricted the lives of his congregants, including mandating that all church elders and ministers carry vitamin C on their persons at all times. Enroth, who maintains that other members of evangelical Christian clergy refer to Hymers as "unconventional," and "uncompromising," also pointed to a bulletin insert from Hymers' church: "The reader is told that Christmas and New Year's Eve are Christian holidays, not pagan feast days. 'We expect you to be in church worshiping God. not with lost relatives, worshiping mammon. Those over 18 years of age who miss any of these holy days, will be barred from the Movement.'"

Theological views

Hymers is a Reformed, evangelistic Baptist pastor and a proponent of evangelistic preaching. Like C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), he believes that every sermon should point sinners to Christ the Savior. He considers himself to be an “old school” evangelistic preacher in the Puritan tradition. His beliefs about conversion were modified by reading Richard Baxter (1615-1691).

Hymers is against “King James Onlyism,” which he prefers to call “Ruckmanism,” after a proponent of this movement, Dr. Peter S. Ruckman. Ruckman claims that the King James Version Bible is given by inspiration of God and is perfect, and even corrects the Greek text from which it was translated. Hymers disagrees and has written that, though the King James is not perfect or given by inspiration in English, it is the only reliable Bible because it is the only one taken solely from the best texts, the Textus Receptus Greek text of the New Testament, and the Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

Hymers has written extensively against what he calls “Decisionism” which he believes started after the time of Charles G. Finney, a nineteenth-century evangelist who disavowed the central teachings of the Reformation and made salvation hinge upon the will of the sinner, rather than the grace of God in Christ.

Demonstrations

Hymers became known for a series of provocative anti-abortion demonstrations in the early 1980s. He recounts in his 2000 book, Battle for the Bible in the 21st Century, that he became deeply concerned about the millions of abortions in America during a discussion with Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, a leading theologian, on January 20, 1981 in Dr. Schaeffer's living room, as they watched Ronald Reagan's inauguration. According to Hymers, Schaeffer blamed abortion on the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Five years later, in June 1, 1986, Hymers called on his parishioners to pray for God to remove Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan from his seat on the court by death. On the same day, his church, the Baptist Tabernacle, chartered a plane that trailed a banner reading "Pray for Death: Baby killer Brennan." This resulted in the Los Angeles Times referring to him as a "Death-Prayer Pastor." Hymers later stated that he regretted this prayer and demonstration. He maintains, however, a strong commitment to the pro-life movement, and continues to write against abortion, which he has compared to Hitler's Holocaust.

Hymers read the The Last Temptation of Christ, the book upon which the controversial movie was based, and felt that the film would be an attack on orthodox Christian belief concerning Christ. Hymers led two demonstrations against the movie: The first included about 200 of his followers, and occurred at Universal Studios; it featured a small plane overhead that carried a banner proclaiming, "Wasserman Fans Jew-Hatred W/Temptation." The second protest occurred in front of the home of Lew Wasserman, the head of Universal, and featured a passion play in which a blood-soaked Jesus knelt down under the weight of a large cross; another actor played “Wasserman,” and stepped on him repeatedly, holding the Christ-figure down with his foot. Meanwhile, another plane appeared overhead, trailing the same banner about Wasserman, while the crowd chanted about the film being “bankrolled by Jewish money.” Hymers told the Los Angeles Herald Examiner that the "chant" was spontaneous, started by someone else and unplanned.

These demonstrations caused an outcry from the Jewish community; several evangelicals and other members of the Christian clergy called Hymers an "anti-Semite." Jonathan Rauch later referred to Hymers as a "religious zealot" for saying "I think the movie is filthy! I think it is ugly! I think it is going to bring God's fiery judgment upon America." Irv Rubin, who was at the time the national chairman of the Jewish Defense League, maintained that he “sympathized” with the concerns of evangelicals, "but Hymers wants to make a Jew-hating thing out of it." One of Hymers' ministers at Open Door Community Churches, a former member of Hymers' Board of Elders while a seminary student--who left ODCC in 1981--recalls Hymers using the word kike "many times." The entire episode led to a permanent break between Hymers and Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus--who had actually performed Hymers' wedding ceremony.

Following these events, Hymers apologized to the Jewish community. Unfortunately, one of his attempts to build bridges ended with Irv Rubin stalking out of Hymers' church, and Rubin and Hymers each referring to the other as “crazy."

Before and since this incident, Hymers has repeatedly said that he takes the side of "the Jews" and the state of Israel. He claims he is not anti-Semitic. He maintains that he takes the Scofield Study Bible’s view that the “Abrahamic Covenant” grants favor to the Jews and, thus, to the state of Israel. Hymers also claims that he has never used anti-Jewish slurs in his life. He has given his pro-Jewish and pro-Israel view in his books, Holocaust II (1978)). and The Passion of Christ (2004). , and articles such as "Why President Nixon Was Wrong About Israel" (2002) and "Buchanan's Bad Book: A Review of 'Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War' by Patrick J. Buchanan" (2008).

In 1992, the Jerusalem Post reported that Hymers had apologized for the mistakes he made during the demonstration against "The Last Temptation of Christ." Hymers said, "I made a terrible mistake. What I did was wrong and I apologize for it." Hymers had become a member of "The Committee of Concerned Christians," a group that sought to bring better relations between Christians and Jews. The leader of the organization, Ben Friedman, said, "Hymers has become my right hand man." That same year Hymers, along with 200 Christian clergy, pledged to give at least one sermon a year in support of Israel and the Jews, and against the Holocaust. Hymers said, "We have a moral obligation to make sure it never happens again." Former members of Hymers' churches have alleged, however, that Hymers used the word "kike" and other ethnic slurs against them.

Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr. Answers His Critics

AN ANSWER TO THOSE WHO BRING ACCUSATIONS AGAINST DR. R. L. HYMERS, JR. AND THE BAPTIST TABERNACLE

The following article is written in the third person because it is not exclusively the work of Dr. Hymers. It was produced with the guidance of a group of Christian men who labored with Dr. Hymers by editing it, adding to it, and revising it.

Accusations have been leveled against Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr. by some former members of his church. These accusations come from people who left his church many years ago in “church splits.” Church splits often occur in Baptist and other evangelical churches, particularly those that practice congregational church government.

The phenomenon is so common among Baptists that Dr. Roy L. Branson wrote a book about it called Church Split (Landmark Publications, 1990). This book was endorsed by such well-known pastors as Dr. Lee Roberson and Dr. W. A. Criswell. Dr. Hymers does not agree with Dr. Branson’s view of divorce, the KJV issue, and some other things, but he does feel that this particular book gives a fair evaluation of “church splits.” Dr. Hymers has never met nor been interviewed by Dr. Branson. The book was written about other church splits and does not mention or refer to the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle or Dr. Hymers. Branson’s book describes Baptist church splits in general and makes no reference whatever to the Baptist Tabernacle. Here are a few quotations from it which help to explain how church splits occur:

1. Dr. Branson said, “Nearly 90 percent of pastors are fired or leave a church under pressure during [church splits]. Over half suffer one or more church splits. All are faced with severe church conflict many times [during their ministries]. The toll in damage and destroyed ministries, traumatized pastors’ families, and to the overall cause of Christ is enormous” (ibid., p. 15).

2. Dr. Branson gave the answer to “How? and Why?” these church splits occur: “One pastor who went through a church split said, ‘My enemies called me a dictator. They said I was too evangelistic and preached too hard on certain standards. Also, they accused me of pushing them too hard in certain areas [such as soul winning]. Some said I…had become too arrogant’” (ibid., p. 5).

3. Dr. Branson was asked if the split could have been avoided. He answered, “Oh, no! ‘There were some folks who would never be happy until they had everything their way. Nobody could please them… There was one man…in particular who [was] the ringleader and [orchestrator] of the [split]…He was very open to anyone who complained about the preacher. When the split came he was their spokesman’” (ibid., pp. 6, 7).

4. Dr. Branson said, “The pastor is accused of being shallow and not ‘feeding the sheep.’ One of the greatest [errors] promoted [by those who cause church splits] is that evangelistic preaching means neglect of sound teaching. A greater untruth could not be imagined if eternity were spent trying to invent one. It is contradictory to the admonition to all preachers, II Timothy 4:5, ‘Do the work of an evangelist’” (ibid., p. 171).

Dr. Hymers has remained the pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle throughout these church splits, and the church is recovering in spite of many attacks against him by the church split critics. Dr. Hymers feels that the above points gleaned from Church Split shed light on many of the difficulties facing pastors today.

Dr. Hymers preaches the Gospel, as the sermons on his website clearly show. His sermons are given word for word on the website each week in eleven languages, and are read by thousands throughout the world.

Some of the church split critics have published slanderous and malicious charges against Dr. Hymers, but none of these accusations have been documented from the sermons on his website at www.realconversion.com. For instance, they have accused Dr. Hymers of anti-Semitism. They call him the “Fuehrer” and compare him to Hitler. These defamatory accusations are blatant falsehoods. Again and again, across the years Dr. Hymers has showed good will toward the Jewish people in general and the State of Israel in particular. His support of the Jews is the same as that of thousands of Bible-believing Baptist preachers in America and around the world.

Dr. Robert L. Sumner has been in the ministry for over 65 years. He worked with Dr. John R. Rice for many years at The Sword of the Lord. He has been the editor of The Biblical Evangelist for more than 40 years. Dr. Sumner is a highly respected Baptist minister, known by conservative Baptist pastors nationwide. He lives with his wife in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is also the author of several books on the cults. Many consider him to be an “expert” on this subject, though he doesn’t like using the term. Dr. Sumner knows the Baptist Tabernacle well. We end this article with a statement by Dr. Sumner made in the November/December 2008 issue of his widely read magazine, The Biblical Evangelist. In an article titled “False Charges,” Dr. Sumner said,

Since I have written books and/or articles about many of the major cults of our day (Worldwide Church of God, Mormonism, The Way International, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.), some would call me a cult expert. While I don’t claim that, I do very definitely know my way around the cults.

God allowed me to be present – in the process of spending four days evaluating the ministry of Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr., and the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle – at the very time the Los Angeles Times article was printed with its attack…on them. I returned later that year and interviewed several of the former members and heard their allegations, with only one member of the church present (as a witness to later affirm or deny my accuracy in quoting them). I also interviewed at random many current members – anyone who wanted to talk to me. I concluded at that time that all the charges, including abuse and anti-Semitism, were untrue.

Because of the nature of humans, divisions in churches often happen that end in split-offs from the body and it appeared to me that all the allegations being made in this case were of that nature.

I have been available for many years on the Board of Reference of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle and willing to respond to charges of cultic behavior on the part of Dr. Hymers or leaders at the Tabernacle. While my name and phone number has been accessible for all these years, the critics have never contacted me. Certainly none has ever offered me any proof of their charges. (Dr. Robert L. Sumner, “False Charges,” The Biblical Evangelist, November/December 2008, p. 15).

Board of Reference for the Baptist Tabernacle

Dr. John S. Waldrip, Pastor of Calvary Road Baptist Church, 319 W. Olive Ave. Monrovia, CA 91016 (626)357-2711.

Dr. James O. Combs, Former Editor of The Baptist Bible Tribune, 5725 S. Farm Rd. 137 Springfield, MO 65810 (417)889-2035.

Dr. Robert L. Sumner, Editor of The Biblical Evangelist, 134 Salisbury Circle, Lynchburg, VA 24502 (434) 237-0132.

Dr. Arthur B. Houk, Pastor of Faith Baptist Church, 673 Arden Hill Road, Colville, WA 99114 (509)684-3983. Attorney for the Baptist Tabernacle

Mr. Charles O. Morgan, Jr. 1255 Post St., Suite 333 San Francisco, CA 94109 (415)292-8030.

Publications

Year	Title	Notes	Publisher
1976	UFOs and Bible Prophecy	Reprinted in 1977 as Encounters of the Fourth Kind	Bible Voice
1977	The Deliverance Book	with Kent Philpott	Bible Voice
1978	Holocaust II		Bible Voice
1990	Inside the Southern Baptist Convention		Self-published
1998	Ruckmanism Exposed		Self-published
1999	Preaching to a Dying Nation	with C. L. Cagan	Self-published
2000	Battle for the Bible in the 21st Century		Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2000	The Great Falling Away plus Old-Time Pastoral Counselling		Self-published
2001	Today's Apostasy: How Decisionism is Destroying Our Churches	second edition, 2001; with C. L. Cagan	Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2001	The Church That Will Be Left Behind		Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2002	A Puritan Speaks to Our Dying Nation	adaptation to modern English of A Treatise on Conversion by Richard Baxter	Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2002	Demons in the Smoke of the World Trade Center	with John S. Waldrip	Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2003	The Anxious Inquirer After Salvation Directed and Encouraged	adaptation to modern English of a book of the same title by John Angell James	Self-published
2004	The Passion of Christ		Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.
2006	From Darwin to Design	with C. L. Cagan	Whitaker House

External links

• Official Website (Warning: sound-enabled.)