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I am not an employee.
I am not a deacon.
I hold no official position.
I cannot speak on behalf of the church.
I have been a resident of Lake County for 48 years
I have been a member of First Baptist Church of Hammond for a total of 44 years.
I must apologize to the Northwest Indiana Community for the wickedness that was done by of our former pastor. I sincerely apologize and ask your forgiveness. I apologize for the scorn that it brings on the good people of our community. I apologize for the scorn it brings on our state and any of our leaders. I apologize for any scorn it brings on the city of Hammond. I apologize to the other believers and churches throughout the region and the difficulty and confusion that has been wrought on the message of the gospel of Christ through the hypocrisy that has been lived out in front of the public. And most importantly I apologize to this girl and the family of this girl. I have children. I know what I would have done had this happened to my daughter. I don't advise for your sake to do what I would have done but I know the anger I would have and I do not think I could have controlled myself in the admirable manner in which you have done.
There is not any excuse for sin, ever. I will not make an excuse for it and our church has made a formal statement making it clear that we reject Jack Schaap's excuse for it. There is never any excuse for the heinous wickedness and blasphemies done by our former pastor as reported by the prosecutor. It is the very opposite of everything we say we believe, teach and train our members and our young to be. Sins are not to be put on a scale against our supposed righteousness in which we are weighed to see if we can avoid the consequences of the wrong we did. How many homeless does one need to feed in order balance it out if we decide to kill one person we dislike? The Sentencing Memorandum written by Paul Stracci is the exact opposite of everything I have ever believed and been taught. The only good we do is credited to Jesus Christ and is His righteousness alone. Our sins are only forgiven because they were paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. And our civil crimes must bear the punishment that the public justice demands.
While there will always be individuals who may fail, the heartbeat of the everyday members of the church is to try to live as Christ would have us live. We live among you. We work with you. We pay our taxes and bills like you and while we believe to be fair and honest in all our dealings. We believe and teach marital fidelity and sexual purity but there will always be those who may not live up to what they say they believe. When we fail to live up to what we say we believe again I apologize. If we ever made you feel like we thought that somehow we were better or more righteous than anyone else, I apologize.
I appreciate the work of Judge Rudy Lozano and admire the work and honest and diligent response of the prosecutors United States Attorney David Capp and Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster and their team. What fine and good public servants these people are. I believe these people should be praised as public servants meting out judgment for the good of our community and I praise their diligence and help to keep our community safe. Justice is a Godly act.
I apologize for the letters written on behalf of the defense that I can only believe were made out of a sense of past friendship but not having yet appreciated the full wickedness that was purported and the detail of deviancy that seemed out of character of what we heard from the lips of Jack Schaap. After further review of the details it makes it abundantly clear the full extent of the wickedness and the construction of a scheme to defraud a girl who was to be protected by those of us who portray ourselves with pure motivations and a desire to provide Godly guidance.
I cannot begin to express the gut wrenching sickness I felt as I read the prosecution report. It is not who I believe we are, what we teach and what we seek to be. Not because there is anything good within us but because we believe that we are to be people who follow Jesus Christ, claim His name, tell the good news of His saving grace through His shed blood and try to do good work on His behalf.
I love the people of First Baptist Church of Hammond. I have been taught how to live a Godly life by many good Teachers and Sunday School Teachers from the time I was very young. I have been taught by many good pastors who have lived Godly lives. I have been taught to be a good citizen, pay my bills on time, pray for our leaders and public servants and do good works in the community,. Never were we taught to use God as a ticket to commit sin. I have admired those who have reached out to the community and worked to help those in need. I hurt deeply for our people and I hurt deeply for Christ. I also hurt deeply for anyone who would use this as a reason to shun the God we believe in. This is not a representation of Who God is nor Who Jesus Christ is and I would beg you to not allow this to cause you to reject Jesus Christ and what He did for all of us that we might be saved from our sin.
I humbly apologize and beg your forgiveness.
Just a member.
Should read "That the casinos or theft or waking up each morning trying to figure out how to get one over on someone else or the government is a legitimate way to earn money instead of a Job."
How come those cost cutting exercises had to wait until 2008. Millions upon Millions wasted and now that the free ride is over they are crying poor. Tight budgets should be the norm during good times as well as bad and the surpluses should be banked during the good years instead of spent. This is Accounting 101 but it is completely lost on the public sector.
2. The device was was never meant to fly reliably above 6-8 feet off the ground according to all accounts on reviews of the product.
3. The person describing the unit does not have a clue what the capability of the unit actually is. He stated it has a high definition camera on the front and one on the back. These are not anywhere close to High Definition. They are 640x480 standard definition camera with an extremely low bit rate. They are substandard standard definition at best.
4. For the time to tout a story and call it a use of high technology for local real estate market looks like a report from Podunk Kentucky Weekly Standard,
Gee Whiz ma looky at the flyin machine.