Schaap / Geronimo...Mentor, Menteee, Molester

[Just John]

Two men who appear so very different but who seem to share so many things:


Jack Schapp - No stranger here. Pastor, IFBx, No CCM, no pants on women, strongly KJV, lily-white upbringing.

Geronimo Aguilar - Pastor, rapper, divorced as a pastor then remarried, pastor to biker's, hip hop instead of hymns in his church, ex druggie. 

You get the idea. These two would not appear to have much in common with one another at all except for those that know Aguilar has gone to Pastor School. But I read something this week you will see later that just inextricably linked them again in my mind beyond that little tidbit. But first let's consider their heritage so to speak.

Larger Than Life Ministry-Father Figures, Bullies and Narcissists To Follow in the Ministry:

Hyles precedes Schaap.

Phil Aguilar, father, precedes Geronimo. (The father has more problems than all of these guys put together but that's for another topic).

Geronimo Aguilar spent the next seven years in Anaheim, Calif., working in his father's ministry, Set Free Christian Fellowship. He soon quit drugs (been clean ever since, he says), and in the years ahead, worked in his father's ministry. ....

....According to press reports, that same year, Phil Aguilar temporarily left his church (Set Free) amid allegations that he was having an affair with a congregant. (He returned the next year after "a regained fire".

...Around that time, Aguilar passed the torch to his son Geronimo, who was ordained through his ministry in 1990. Since then, Geronimo Aguilar has been fashioned in his father's image, as a preacher who reaches what Phil Aguilar, in an e-mail, calls the "1 percenters (black sheep) of society."

....His mission, his calling, his very entry into Pentecostal circles is largely due to his father's influence. (In a recent e-mail interview, the elder Aguilar wrote: "Soon i hope Geronimo renames his Place Set Free outreach center!!!!!!!!!!!")

...."Geronimo has learned a lot from the time he spent with me, although he is still a novice when it comes to really spending time with the broken people," writes Phil Aguilar by e-mail. "I believe that Geronimo has helped lead a good work there with the assistance of one of my top soldiers for Jesus that i raised up named Ranch Richard."

And from the same article Geronimo minimizes the claims about his father and plays the martyr card:

Given the heritage he has been bequeathed, can Aguilar avoid the controversy that has beset his father's ministry? Aguilar says he doesn't concern himself with the question. "Most of the stuff they wrote was a long time ago," he says. "Some of it's 10 years old, so I really don't think about it. My dad is a great man and anyone who knows him knows the real truth.

"If people really follow the Bible, there'll be controversy with it. Jesus had it. They called Jesus the devil."

Siege Mentality Examples

Hyles employed his "100% Hyles" siege mentality against some IFB leaders and churches due to the charges of impropriety against him. Phil Aguilar, using Paul Crouch and TBN employed a similar defense/offense suing several churches in a community (including well-respected Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa) that tried to block his church from having "addiction treatment homes" in their community because of alleged charges of sexual abuse. (Later settled out of court.):

(TBN) founder Paul Crouch had some strange advice for the leader of a cult-like group he had as a guest on his show in October 1994. "Sue the bastards!" Crouch instructed on his prime time Praise the Lord show.

Crouch was giving his blessing to what pastor Phil Aguilar eventually did. Aguilar, leader of the notorious and scandalized Set Free Christian Fellowship, filed a frivolous lawsuit against Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Calvary Chapel of Lake Elsinore and others for libel and defamation on February 8, 1995 in the Superior Court of Orange County, California . The attorney filing the suit? The nephew of Jan Crouch, Paul Crouch's wife.

According to the Praise the Lord show (which marked the first time Crouch had Aguilar on the telecast after a long absence), Crouch and Aguilar were upset over community opposition to Aguilar's recent bid to establish a headquarters in the Lake Elsinore section of California. They were reading from flyers passed out to the community, one of which said in part:

We, the undersigned ministers of the community, feel it is our responsibility to express our concern to the public regarding what we believe to be a potentially dangerous threat to all of those in the area, and especially the youth....we believe it is necessary to make the public aware of some of the accusations...against Phil Aguilar and "Set Free." These allegations include sexual misconduct and adultery within the leadership, financial improprieties, and a form of control over the members that is very abusive, physically as well as emotionally and spiritually.

But Paul Crouch said that anyone putting out such materials were obviously not Christian, so therefore Aguilar had the right to sue them all. Those signing the flyer, and/or follow up ones, Crouch declared them all unchristian (although he never contacted any of them). These people were the previously mentioned churches, along with the pastors of the following churches in the Lake Elsinore area: the First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Lakeland Christian Fellowship, Lake Elsinore Church of the Nazarene, Elsinore Christian Center, New Song Community Church, Shepherd of Life Lutheran Church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Grace Church, Calvary Chapel of Canyon Lake, Calvary Chapel of Murietta, Calvary Chapel of Temecula, and Free Indeed Christian Fellowship in Perris, Calif.

"I have been disturbed by a bunch of , oh, I'm just gonna say it," Crouch said, reviewing the flyers passed out to the community, "a bunch of crap." Later he barked, "Go ahead and tape it. Put it on your slime-ball radio broadcast. You'll have to pray it through Pastor Phil, but this old German, I'd say sue the bastards!"

Mentor and Mentee

Again, not much alike on the face of it. But some of you have no doubt seen the video of Schaap introducing Geronimo at Pastors School a few years ago. The only one I can find now is one that has been edited to insert things about ministry philosophy of Aguilar to be critical of Schaap in doing so. That's unfortunate but his words stand on their own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjVZGUWRJgA

Per Schapp, Geronimo "follows Hyles to a tee" and Schaap has mentored Geronimo for a couple of days for the last several years. Geronimo has called Schaap "my pastor".

(My boss has been to the ROC, Geronimo's church and is very complimentary of it. Says there is a "Hyles Ave" inside the church facilities.)


Fellow Molesters

Again, we all know about Schaap and the underage sex conviction. Aguilar was quick to stand up for Jack and pray for his "restoration" during the same week the news came out.

4:30 mark
Pastor Geronimo Aguilar Speaks Out on Chick-Fil-A, Fallen Megachurch Pastor Jack Schaap, and more

I don't know what he meant exactly what he meant by restoration but I do know he called him a "great man" in the present tense. (Of course that is better than one of the comments on the youtube video..."that pastor he's talking about is my pastor...greatest man I know...Thank you for loving him...He's the chancellor of my college as well. It's awesome to see other Christians..really being Christians. Thank you")

But Geronimo Aguilar has had his own problems. There are many that are alleged that I have no knowledge of so I will not post about them. However, there is one that I do know the principle players involved and was written about in Churches That Abuse by Enroth. (pp23-30 Link below). Two friends of mine from Liberty ended up being youth pastors at Geronimo's dad's church in CA in the early days. It wasn't long before they started noticing things weren't right. Phil Aguilar tried to ruin them, their marriage and break them away from her parents, one who was a professor of mine at Liberty. They left but my friend's little sister Stacee was involved with Geronimo and they got married. Phil would not allow her parent's, two of the nicest people I have ever met, to see Stacee. They had to file a lawsuit to try and see their daughter. In a few years Geronimo, then 21, would fall for one of the dancer's in the church "possee" who was 14! He banished wife Stacee to one of the churches "ranches" and following a divorce shortly thereafter today Geronimo is married to that same 14 year old girl he molested.


So Why Bring It Up Now?

Newspapers reported this past week that police are investigating past accusations of aggravated sexual assault by Geronimo including a child under 14:

Carlson said the charges stem from the late 1990s when two girls accused Aguilar of sexual improprieties. He said Texas authorities cleared Aguilar at the time.

“The girls themselves gave statements that there was no basis in fact that there was no wrongdoing on Pastor G’s part,” he said.

Carlson said he is not sure why the girls may have changed their story or why the investigation was reopened.

Sgt. Richard LaRochelle of the Anaheim police in Orange County, Calif., said he came across Aguilar and the accusations in 2007 when investigating another case.

LaRochelle said he opened an investigation at the time but discovered the alleged abuse occurred in Texas. He then forwarded the investigation to authorities in Fort Worth.

Nash confirmed that his office received the case in 2008 and that recent developments have helped spur it forward. He would not elaborate on the recent developments.

“The information that’s available to us now is a lot better than back then,” he said.

He has been recently the subject of an investigation in Richmond but there was not enough evidence to bring any charges. Curiously his lawyer said it as a "disgruntled church member" but admitted they "didn't know who it was".

So when I found out about this this week I immediately thought back to the video that had been posted from Pastors School. I thought of the truth that has come out about Schaap, all that has been written about in Hammond for so many years and what I knew about the Aguilars. There are many of the same personality traits it seems to me...but of course as they say, your mileage may vary.

Source links:

http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/geronimo-aguilars-story-sounds-like-something-ripped-from-a-christian-bestseller-is-he-the-next-great-hope-for-richmonds-inner-city/Content?oid=1376375

http://www.rickross.com/reference/setfree/setfree2.html

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-05-26/local/me-3727_1_set-free

http://www.ccel.us/churches.ch1.html

 

[Fresh Air]

...and here I thought this was all b/c JS preached legalistic standards. Huh - now I'm really puzzled.

 

[bruinboy]

No Tom, it is because JS is a prideful, narcissistic sex pervert, just like Aguilar.  JS just happens to be doubly ignorant,  that in addition to being a scumbag, he is a legalist.  That will probably change in the next 12 years.  (legalist, not scumbag)  

 

[Torrent v.3]

No Tom, it is because JS is a prideful, narcissistic sex pervert, just like Aguilar.  JS just happens to be doubly ignorant,  that in addition to being a scumbag, he is a legalist.  That will probably change in the next 12 years.  (legalist, not scumbag)

You think hack Schaap will allow for some gray areas in the Christian life?