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Christian News Today |
JULY '97: The Rev. Henry J. Lyons' wife, Deborah, sets fire to a
$700,000 house in Tierra Verde and tells investigators she is convinced
AUGUST '97:
OCTOBER '97: Deborah Lyons pleads guilty to arson of the Tierra Verde
house, saying she had been "drinking and under stress at the time."
She is sentenced to five years' probation.
FEBRUARY '98: Pinellas-Pasco prosecutors charge
JULY '98: Lyons, Edwards and Brenda Harris, an NBC official, are charged
in a 61-count federal indictment on charges ranging from tax evasion to money
laundering to bank fraud.
FEBRUARY '99:
JULY 2000: A mortgage lender forecloses on the $700,000 Tierra Verde
house that led to
DECEMBER 2000:
MARCH 2001:
MAY 2003: Bernice Vernell Edwards, 46, whose relationship with
NOVEMBER 2003:
MARCH 2004: Rev. Henry Lyons will serve as interim pastor of
Key players update
Deborah Lyons
Deborah Lyons was sentenced to five years of probation in October 1997
after pleading guilty to arson. Earlier that year, she set fire to a $700,000
Tierra Verde home after she discovered her husband had purchased it with
another woman, Bernice Edwards.
She was granted an early end to her probation in 2000.
Mrs. Lyons, 55, now lives in
Bernice Edwards
Bernice Edwards pleaded guilty in federal court in 1999 to two counts of
tax evasion for failing to report more than $500,000 in income from the
National Baptist Convention
Edwards, 46, served 13 months in a federal prison in Indiana before
moving to a halfway house in Akron,
In 2002, she was sent back to prison after a judge ruled she violated
the terms of her probation. She suffered from a chronic pulmonary condition and
died in federal custody in
Brenda Harris
Brenda Harris, a meeting planner for the National Baptist Convention
USA, admitted having an affair with
Prosecutors said Harris, 52, failed to report to a bank that her down
payment for a $340,000 home in
Have you ever met a pastor who has resolved emotional problems, violent
mood swings, personality conflicts? Most of the ones I met lack integrity
(basic honesty and wholeness of character, spiritual honesty, intellectual
honesty, honesty in preaching, and in everyday dealings) and moral purity and
definitely don't have a good sense of humor. Otherwise they would not take
themselves serious to think that they are true men of God! From my experience with pastors I find that
for many of them their intellectual attributes and wisdom to be almost
nonexistent even if they are President of a Denomination such as Dr. Henry J.
Lyons who earned the following degrees:
Associate
of Arts,
Bachelor
of Science,
Bachelor
of Divinity, Morehouse
Doctor
of Divinity,
Doctor
of Sacred Theology,
Doctor
of Divinity,
Tampa, Florida - where all the action and corruption amongst
preachers is. Check out
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040327/NEWS/403270360/1004
http://www.rickross.com/groups/lyons.html
http://www.rickross.com/groups/gmi.html
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/dan.htm
http://www.rickross.com/groups/brownsville.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/strader.html
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/12/Floridian/Strength_in_numbers.shtml
http://relfrauds.www4.50megs.com/pentecostal/godfraud.html
www.christiannews.0catch.com/strader.htm
www.christiannews.0catch.com/rodney.htm
http://www.cephas-library.com/pentecostal_straders_carpenters_home.html
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/abuse.htm
In the bible Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us that we need to be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might and to put on the whole armor of God, so that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly or high places including church.
One element of our armor of God is not enough to give us the victory. We
need to have the whole armor of God, so that we may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. We need to have our waist girded with
truth, have put on the breastplate of righteousness, have shod our feet with
the preparation of the gospel of peace, to take the shield of faith with which
we will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and to take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful
to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints because
many of them will be robbed and raped by pastors and preachers for the
Philadelphia Inquirer reported on August 29, 2002:
Baptist group to gather in Phila. The
convention will be the largest in the city in 2002. More than 30,000 are
expected to attend.
The Rev. William L. Shaw of
After three years of reforms following a
huge corruption scandal, the National Baptist Convention USA Inc. will arrive
in Philadelphia on Monday for the city's biggest convention of the year.
More than 30,000 delegates are expected to
fill the Convention Center for five days as they approve new fiscal and
organizational plans for their denomination.
Once the nation's largest and most
prestigious African American religious denomination, the National Baptist
Convention USA was taken over in the 1950s by leaders who often put their own
financial interests ahead of the membership.
It’s a fact that
Christianity Today,founded by Billy Graham, did not report immediately on one
of its own pastors Ollin Collins of Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's board chairman. A man who resigned
amid sexual misconducts allegations when he was accused of having sexual
relationships with two women who sought counseling.
But it did report
immediately about the adultery of a black man and a National Baptist but not
about the adultery of a white man and Southern Baptist. An adultery that was
more hideous and gross because Collins raped unsuspecting trusting women, while
Lyons adulterous relationships were consensual. It has been said that Lyons
will go down in the history books as "Hugh Hefner of the New
Testament."
The word
that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "Stand in the gate of the
LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the
LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!'
" Thus says the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to
dwell in this place. "Do not trust
in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD,
the temple of the LORD are these.'
"For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you
thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, "if you do not
oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent
blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, "then I will cause you to dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
"Behold,
you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
"Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn
incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, "and then come and stand before Me in
this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all
these abominations'?
"Has
this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes?
Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the LORD. "But go now to My place which was in
Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of
the wickedness of My people Israel. Jeremiah 7:1-12
You
cannot steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, and walk after other gods
and then come and stand before God in His house and say, 'We are delivered to
do all these abominations'? No, those who call themselves Christians have
thoroughly amended their ways and their doings. They thoroughly execute
judgment between a man and his neighbor. They do not oppress the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow. They do not shed innocent blood. They do not walk
after other gods to their hurt. For
God’s word is unchanging:
The night
is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not
in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh,
to fulfill its lusts. Romans 13:12-143:1
This is a
faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good
work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate,
sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy
for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his
children in submission with all reverence
(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take
care of the church of God?); not a
novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as
the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside,
lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Likewise
deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not
greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But
let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found
blameless. Likewise their wives must be
reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife,
ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons
obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is
in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 3:2-13
Again the
word of God is quite clear - A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of
one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to
teach; not given to wine, not violent,
not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his
children in submission with all reverence. Moreover he must have a good
testimony among those who are outside. But what do we have in reality amongst
us?
Henry
J. Lyons, the former head of the National Baptist Convention, USA, currently
serving a prison sentence for racketeering and grand theft, has been removed
from the pastorate at his church. Members of Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church
in St. Petersburg, Fla., decided to replace him in a closed vote Friday, the
Associated Press (AP) reported.
Lyons, who had been pastor at the church for more than 25 years, is to be
replaced by Joaquin Marvin, after the 200-49 vote. An associate minister at
Greater Union Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., Marvin has his own criminal
past, the AP said.
"What's in his background in 1990 [is that] he wrote some bad checks, and
he made restitution," said Joseph Harvey, an associate minister at Bethel.
"He put everything on the table. He didn't try to hide anything." Longtime
church member Marva Dennard said: "We found a young man who was open about
his past life, but that is in his past, and as he said, there's skeletons in
his closet but there's no meat on them."
At the annual meeting of
the National Baptist Convention in 1998, the Rev. Henry Lyons of St.
Petersburg, former President of the National Baptist Convention and personal friend of President Bill
Clinton, admitted to an ``inappropriate relationship'' - an increasingly popular
euphemism for adultery - with a woman employed by the nation's largest black
church group. He said he was sorry and asked for forgiveness and they forgave
him.
Rev. Henry Lyons saw his
troubles begin in July 1997 with arson at a home he is alleged to have owned
with a woman other than his wife. After
a series of reports by the St. Petersburg Times and an investigation by state
prosecutors, Lyons was charged with racketeering and grand theft. He had
pleaded innocent but was found guilty on all charges by the jury of his peers.
Even though the National Baptist leaders, such as "Born Again" Senior
Pastor E. V. Hill did not accept Lyons guilty verdict charging that jury was
racist.
Lyons was
convicted in February 1999 of swindling more than $4 million from companies
that wanted to market life insurance, credit cards and cemetery plots to his
convention members. Prosecutors said
Lyons padded the convention's mailing list with names randomly selected from
phone books across the country. Even a grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan was on
the list.
Pinellas-Pasco
Circuit Judge Susan Schaeffer ordered Lyons to pay $2.5 million in restitution
to the companies who bought his phony mailing lists and to pay $97,000 for the
cost of the state probe into his dealings.
Lyons and
his alleged mistress, convention publicist Bernice Edwards, were accused of
spending much of the ill-gotten money on a lavish lifestyle, including fancy
cars, jewelry and a pricey waterfront home.
Edwards
was acquitted on state charges, but she pleaded guilty in federal court to tax
evasion. A few weeks after Lyons was
convicted in state court, he resigned as head of the National Baptist
Convention. He pleaded guilty to federal
charges of tax evasion, fraudulent activities and lying to officials
Now Lying
Lyons was not a novice although he definitely broke most of the rules
concerning the position of a bishop outlined in the word of God. Dr. Henry J.
Lyons was also President Emeritus of the Florida General Baptist Convention,
Inc., and President of Ecumenical Counselor Community Concern, Inc. He also
lectured at Colleges & Universities and was involved in National Prominence
in Civic & Community Affairs Black History & Human Relations.
Dr. Lyons
was born January 17, 1942. He accepted Christ in 1950 and was called to the
Ministry in 1961. He and his wife, Deborah, reside in St. Petersburg. Earlier, Dr. Lyons served as an academic dean
at Cincinnati Baptist College and in two pastorates at Baptist churches in
Georgia.
Dr. Lyons
resume was that of a very prominent educated
Evangelical with extensive ministry and educational background and many
doctorate degrees. For Dr. Lyons has
traveled and preached extensively abroad (17 Nations) under the auspices of the
Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA. In addition, his
travels have included Bible study in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and theology
study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has conducted Evangelistic
Crusades in the Bahamas and Taiwan. He has traveled and preached in Brazil, Rome,
Italy, London, England, Paris, France and Spain.
Dr. Lyons
Educational Background Includes The Following Degrees:
Associate Of
Arts, Gibbs Junior College, St. Petersburg, Florida
Bachelor Of
Science, Bethune Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida
Bachelor Of
Divinity, Morehouse School Of Religion, Atlanta, Georgia
Doctor Of
Divinity, Cincinnati Baptist College, Cincinnati, Ohio
Doctor Of Sacred
Theology, Hebrew Union University, Jerusalem, Israel
Doctor Of
Divinity, Bethune Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida
Rev.
Henry Lyons was a man called by others as Rev. Hanky-Panky who was a personal
friend of Bill Clinton. A man who sought
spiritual solace in the bathtub smoking marijuana after a hard day of playing
patty-cake with Nigerian dictators and the financial stewardship of the NBC
including secret bank accounts, forged signatures, missing files and hushed-up
lobbying work on behalf of those wacky, zany Nigerian scamps.
A man who
made a $200,000 rip-off of an Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith donation,
which found its way into his pockets instead of burned out Baptist churches
where it was originally intended. A man
whose whole hand picked board of the National Baptist Convention refused to see
the facts about Lyons and forgave him unanimously and unilaterally. So that
they could also be forgiven if caught doing the same thing in the pattern of
President Oral Roberts who forgave Jim Bakker for what was not forgivable.
Robbing and raping the sheep is not forgivable.
Lyons
had been the focus of state and federal
criminal investigations since the summer of 1997 when his wife set fire to a $700,000
waterfront house he owned on Tierra Verde with a former convention employee, a
convicted embezzler and his alleged lover.
The fire triggered revelations about secret bank accounts and large
commissions on convention business deals and deductions concerning his total
gross salary.
COUNT CHARGE VICTIM(S) DEFENDANT(S)
1 Conspiracy multiple Lyons, Edwards, Harris
2-7 Wire Fraud Union Planters Lyons
8 False Statements-Bank Union
Planters
9 False Statements-Bank Union
Planters Lyons, Harris
10 Wire Fraud Nettelle Lyons
11 Interstate Transport Security Loewen Lyons, Edwards
12 Mail Fraud Loewen
13 Extortion Conspiracy Loewen Lyons, Edwards
14-15 Extortion Loewen Lyons, Edwards
16 Mail Fraud Globe Life
17 Interstate Transport Security Globe Life Lyons,
Edwards
18 Bank Fraud World Savings Lyons, Edwards
19 False Statements-Bank World
Savings Lyons, Edwards
20 Bank Fraud Suntrust Lyons, Harris
21 False Statements-Bank Suntrust Lyons, Harris
22 False Statements-Bank Republic
23-25 Mail Fraud ADL
26 Bank Fraud Chase
27 Use False SS# Chase
28 False Statement-Bank Chase
29 False Statement-Bank United
Bank Edwards
30 Bank Fraud United
Bank Edwards
31 False Statement-Bank United
Bank Edwards
32 Use of False SS# United
Bank Edwards
33-34 False Statements HUD
35-36 False Statements HUD
37 Money Laundering Consp. --------- Lyons, Edwards, Harris
38-57 Money Laundering --------- Lyons, Edwards, Harris
58-59 Tax Evasion United
States
60-61 Tax Evasion United States Edwards
----- Section 982 Forfeiture multiple Lyons, Edwards, Harris
THE BIRTH OF THE FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH FELLOWSHIP IN 1994 CAUSED JUDGMENT TO COME ON DR. HENRY J. LYONS DUE TO HIS FIGHT WITH BISHOP MORTON.
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The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship:
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The Full Gospel Baptist Church
Fellowship (FGBCF) held its first convention in 1994 at the New
Orleans Louisiana Superdome. More than 30,000 Baptists attended. At the
time of its formation, there was concern among the leadership of the largest
denomination of black Baptists, the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., as
to the group's purpose.
Rev. Henry Lyons, former president of the 8.2 million member
National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., (NBCUSA) told delegates at their 1995
Convention, "They are our brethren. I don't want to get into their way or
the Lord's way", (1) thus distancing himself and the Convention
from any formal ruling on the subject of churches and pastor's holding dual
membership in both organizations. Lyons, citing a passage from the book of Acts
read, "And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone:
for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught: But if it
be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against
God. (2)
However, in an earlier statement Lyons was less understanding.
"My personal opinion is that my friend Bishop Morton (founder of the Full
Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship) is trying to put me out of business."(3)
At issue was whether or not newly established Full Gospel
member churches would be allowed to retain their membership in the nation's
largest African American protestant denomination. "In New Orleans, Baptist
preachers who held memberships in both groups were lovingly advised to resign
their posts with the NBCUSA before they were kicked out.".(4) Within this directive lies the framework for potential division
to take place.
The Rev. Paul S. Morton, Sr., pastor of the Greater St.
Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church, an eighteen-thousand member congregation
in New Orleans, Louisiana, started the Fellowship in 1993. Morton calls his new
association, "The movement that gives Baptists the right to choose".(5) The focus is on two contrasting additions to traditional
African American Baptist Church history. First, "a more Pentecostal
approach to worship including speaking in tongues and the laying on of
hands."(6)
Second, the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship initiated,
" a structural hierarchy that many Baptists do not support." (7) The introduction of bishops, elders and other denominational
titles into the African American Baptist Church threatened Baptist polity which
adheres to the autonomous nature of the church. Morton, however, sees his group
as giving a space for African American Baptists to express themselves without
feeling constrained by tradition. H. Beecher Hicks, District of Columbia pastor
and educator, wrote in an article for the Journal of Religious Thought ,
"This Fellowship is not designed to threaten or replace mainline
denominations, but to provide an opportunity for those who wanted to remain
Baptist and yet exercise all of the gifts of the Spirit, particularly speaking
in tongues."(8)
The Full Gospel Fellowship published two documents detailing
their purpose and beliefs. A ten-point theological declaration, "Doctrinal
Statement of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship," and the
"Full Gospel Distinctives," a list of fifteen items describing their
beliefs. These documents were distressing to some within the National Baptist
Convention USA, Inc. Hicks writes, "The Full Gospel Baptist Church
Fellowship, then represents a significant institutional change that will
ultimately and radically alter both church and community."(9)
At its outset, the Full Gospel Fellowship began attracting
several of the larger NBCUSA congregations and their pastors. Within this group
were younger clergy. "Most pastors who have embraced this movement,"
Hicks states, "are tired of 'do-nothing' boards and other layers of
political structure within the Baptist church."(10) They see this adherence to 'tradition' as a hindrance to the
work of the Kingdom. These are, "obstacles to accomplishments of the
mission of the church and deterrents to the minister's sense of purpose and
calling." (11) However, while the mission may be affected,
another concern is financial. A church holding membership in both conventions,
also must split their financial obligations thus extending the church and
pastors resources. With less money to operate, the NBCUSA faced losing the
ability to sponsor a myriad of programs and activities.
Morton, who as the National Presiding Bishop, kept his dual alignment
with the NBCUSA until 1995, when he left the denomination. This caused more
concern that a split with the NBCUSA would occur. This has not happened,
although "the creation of the group triggered an uproar. Fear and
misunderstanding fueled tension as people had to choose what type of
Baptists, they should be."(12) Despite these tensions, Morton and Lyons
maintained a cordial relationship.
The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship at the time of this
writing in 1997, stated a membership of one million congregants and 5000
churches in thirty-five states, making it a significant organization with a
great deal of potential influence. Hicks concurs. "While it is technically
not a denomination, its numbers are too large, its growth too rapid, and its
broad base of appeal too large, its growth too rapid, and its broad base of
appeal too obvious to be ignored."(13)
LYONS LIED THAT HE HAD OVER 2 MILLION MEMBERS BUT HE DIDN'T
TELL THE TRUTH THAT 1 MILLION HAD LEFT NBCUSA AND JOINED FGBCF.
Jesus promised in Matthew 5 of the Sermon on the Mountain that
Lyons would go to jail for fighting with Bishop Morton:
5:21 "You have heard that it was said to those of
old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the
judgment.'
5:22 "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a
cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother,
'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall
be in danger of hell fire.
5:23 "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you,
5:24 "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be
reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
5:25 "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with
him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to
the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
5:26 "Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till
you have paid the last penny.
