jocelyn zichterman

"She's [Jeri Massi] a snake. Trying to get information from victims.
And trying to keep the attention on Hyles Anderson and off Bob Jones (at all cost!)
If Bob Jones gets exposed...the whole thing is exposed and they know that.
So they try all these diversion tactics. That's been one of them."

-- Jocelyn Zichterman, May 14, 2011,
explaining why it's evil to document the rape of children committed by Hyles-Anderson pastors,
and giving her reason for "knowing" that I secretly work for Bob Jones University.



Answering the Allegations Against Me



On April 14, 2011, I was alerted on both the Fundamentalist Forums and the Sword Foruns that Jocelyn Zichterman had spoken harshly about me and leveled some unfounded accusations against me. I saw Jocelyn's page, and I saw that she was leveling some pretty weird, downright unbelievable accusations against me. So I posted the following on the FFF: "Wow, I just saw this on Jocelyn's page. What can I say? I'm not going to attack a lamb. I hope that in time Jocelyn is better able to put reality into perspective. I do, in fact disagree with her approach in many ways. But she's not really hindering what I do. I'm not happy that the people who are her loudest supporters dislike me, but like I said, it doesn't really hinder the effort to document abuse cases. " And, when somebody kept pressing the issue, I added this: "All the lambs have already been purchased by Christ, and that includes Jocelyn." I posted words to the same effect on the Sword Forums [1].

Before I go further, let me answer some of these unbelievable allegations:

1. I am not an agent of Bob Jones University. Just go read my blog and listen to my podcast. I, in fact, out more BJU-graduate abuse cases than Jocelyn does, and I persist in them far more than Jocelyn does. Where was Jocelyn when Zach Scadden took his own life after suffering at the hands of Daniel Brock and Les Heinze and that devil of a church? Or when, at that same church, Jason Smoker dumped trash on a mentally handicapped young man and never faced church discipline? Or when Brad Smith was allowed to abruptly resign after allegations of financial impropriety? Or when Mark Minnick, in print, callously spoke of evaluating a teenage girl's value only in terms of how people would perceive him as a minister? Or when Bob Jones III recommended the book written by that brutal and unrepentant child abuser, Caleb Thompson? I have also painstakingly documented the Gnosticism present in the BJU philosophy of sanctification, their unbiblical emphasis on "leadership" over the Biblical virtues, their fallacious view of "total consecration," and some of their financial sleight of hand. I also directly confronted John Matzko about the lies he told about Tina Anderson [1], [2] and then also, twice [1],[2], rebutted his assertion that her rape would have made her a concubine in the Old Testament.

2. I never blocked Tina Anderson on Facebook. If you are a Facebook friend of mine, think back. Which of us friended whom? I bet you friended me on Facebook. Because I usually don't friend people on Facebook, for the simple reason that I am always writing about church abuse issues, and I think some people won't want that much exposure. Tina could friend me any time she likes. She can still do so.

3. I do not ask for money for what I do. Jocelyn does, by the way. She was barely out of the gate before she started the Tina Anderson Foundation. And she's welcome to do that, but I don't do that. I run my blog, do my research, travel to get interviews for the podcast/documentaries, have held two conferences for Lambs, and am producing an audio Bible, read by women, all at my own expense.

4. I do not want a following; and the driving need to join a following is unhealthy for an adult. And if you thought I did want a following, please think again. My site is designed for Lambs to come and read information for themselves, or listen on the podcast. Or they can download a book from the ongoing Audio Bible project. Nobody has to log in to use my site. Nobody has to address me. Nobody has to be "on my team". And I expect readers, as adults, to evaluate my perspective, or evaluate the Scripture, and reach their own decisions. I host no group anywhere. I don't host any forums. And you can ask Voyle Glover or Bob Lemon from the FFF: even from the time that Moody Press published VALKYRIES, I did not feel comfortable autographing books, and I never held an autograph session at a bookstore. (If somebody brings a book to me and asks me to sign it, I will, but I usually let them know it's better just to read the book.) I do welcome friends, but I am always clear about my belief in each person reaching his or her own decisions on matters. A few times in the past, people have spoken about following me, and I dissuade them from such a mindset. It is not healthy. It does not lead to a mature recovery from abuse.

Allegation from Jocelyn on May 14

I didn't know about these comments from Jocelyn until they were sent to me on May 19, after I reported Jocelyn to Facebook for harassment. But the screen shots in this section were from a public conversation posted by Jocelyn on her Facebook page on May 14. What Jocelyn says is not true. It is not all even entirely coherent. But here are screen shots of the highlights of Jocelyn's allegations:

You will see from the next screen shot that, when questioned for specifics, Jocelyn cannot answer. She rambles on, not being entirely sensible. To the best of my memory, I can say that in the last couple years I've spoken with reporters in the Daniel Brock case (Brian Maas) and two reporters in the Chris Settlemoir case. It was very cordial. Jocelyn never spoke to any of those reporters. And I've never spoken with a reporter in the Tina Anderson case. I did slam a lot of the Trinity church members in the Concord Monitor comments page, and the person in charge of that page was annoyed with me. But I wasn't addressing my comments to that person. I was rebutting the people from Trinity who were blaming Tina and/or defending Chuck Phelps.

But her [Jeri Massi] rhetoric is nonsese. All those bible verses she uses...and the way
she tells the stories...yikes. It's so...so...IFB!!

Jocelyn Zichterman, May 14, 2011,
explaining how using too many Bible verses to show the wrongness
of church abuse is evil and a sign of wanting to hurt victims and save Bob Jones

Again, when these accusations were first posted, I didn't know about them. Let me make clear that I document all Fundamentalist church abuse. But for clarity's sake, let me review the logic of Jocelyn's accustaion against me:

One should not document abuse cases from Hyles-Anderson grads

Because we must free up the "audience" arena for the BJU cases,

because the only way to stop church abuse in the entire IFB is to nail exactly and only BJU,

Every point of that argument is deeply flawed. In fact, the whole argument is ridiculous and, really, not even rationally coherent. It makes no sense whatsoever. Here is my rebuttal:

Every victim deserves vindication.

Every perpetrator is a threat to the innocent.

The attention of people is not finite. Or, if it is, far more cases than we could even uncover would have to be opened.

Fundamentalism is stratified, and if BJU fails, the BJU stratum will be crippled, but not all of Fundamentalism.

I document all Fundamentalist cases (so that includes two cases I've documented regarding the Free Presbyterian Church, and they are very much a part of the BJU universe. Jocelyn Zichterman does not touch them.) I don't give a preference to where the abuser graduated from. I've never heard of such a thing. I've never even entertained that as a possible filter for documenting or not documenting cases, but I assume from what she has said that Jocelyn will then, NOT assist victims of a Hyles-Anderson pastor. Her words about the priority of BJU-related cases indicate that such cases are not worth her efforts on behalf of the victims.

I've been documenting the sexual and violent abuse of children by Christian Fundamentalist clergy since September of 2001. When Christa Brown of Stop Baptist Predators came onto the scene several years ago, Christa handled Southern Baptist cases while I documented IFB and other Fundamentalist cases. We never fought about that. We never felt threatened about that. We never blamed each other for the churches the other was not covering. And we did some crossover. Never a ruffled feather. In fact, I had Christa come and speak at my second Conference of the Lambs and paid her airfare, meals, and lodging. (She would nto accept a speaker's fee.) Again, it's never even occurred to me that issues like this would ever even come up and cause one person to so vehemently accuse another.

Danni Moss came next, and Danni's field was more spousal abuse in churches in the religious right, though she included child abuse. Danni and I probably had some doctrinal points of disagreement. But we never even addressed them. Like with Christa, we respected each other's differences and let each other get to work. And we had some crossover and some cases that were each distinctive to one or the other of us. Danni passed away about ten months ago from cancer, and I wrote a eulogy of her that was gratefully received by her family and posted on her website.

Ken Pulliam, for crying out loud, was an atheist. And a BJU grad (perhaps just from the grad program. He'd been through several of the BJU-satellite schools and had taught at a couple as well. But I know he got one degree from BJU.) He and I got along very well. I welcomed an atheist schooled in Fundy lore to come and shake up these dinosaurs. Ken was congenial, compassionate, professional, and knowledgeable. His main approach was challenging poor doctrine (or poorly expressed doctrine, really), but he made room on his blog for abuse cases. We shared information and even discussed our differences, quite amiably. Ken, I am sorry to say, died last year of a sudden heart attack.My eulogy to him was picked up by his other readers, and his wife wrote to me to thank me for honoring him. Among none of us, were our differences so important that they clouded our work or interfered with the genuine respect and gratutude we all had for each other for linking arms in this endeavour. The important thing was to document the cases and the abuses.

The Events of May 17 - May 18

Over the course of two days, I received three emails asking me about Jocelyn's accusations against me. This was the allegation about what Jocelyn wrote:
"Jeri is as PHONY as they come. She simply tries to buddy up to victims to get information and then WHAM--she attacks them. Sorry. But if you haven't followed her for the last few years (as we all have) you'd surely be confused about it. She... is good. Wears a beautiful mask to disguise her true intentions. If you weren't around the last few years though...like I said...you'll have to decide for yourself. Just dont' get hurt in the meantime. She is VENOMOUS when she attacks and victims lay on the floor trying to heal their wounds from the re-victimization. In my mind--she is MORE dangerous than anyone else I can think of to abuse victims."
I responded to each, protesting my innocence. All three people appear to be satisfied with my answers. And one of them summed it up very well: "I certainly do not understand what Jocelyn is talking about."

Even without having seen the stuff from May 14, I realized of course, that this situation was escalating. Because Jocelyn is escalating it. But again, after due consideration, I postponed even addressing it, for the simple reason that my job is to document clergy abuse in Fundamentalism. Jocelyn's statements are just ridiculous. Just read my blog and listen to my podcast. They are abundant evidence of what I do and what I believe.

The Events of the Night of May 18

As I am between job contracts right now, I've been re-tooling the entire podcast for 2012. I was working on this yesterday, with Facebook open but minimized, when I got an alert that I had been tagged in a note by Melanie J Blair. I didn't recognize the name, but I opened the note (posted in the Forsaken - The Girls of Hephzibah House group on Facebook), and saw the following:

I replied. Shelly Meredith Adams replied, and Amy Bruce Hobby replied. Then Amy deleted the libelous post.

I was wondering what had prompted this guerilla attack on another group of survivors of church abuse. So I took another look at Jocelyn's page to see what she had been posting about me, and I saw that she is now encouraging her following to target me on Facebook:

I also saw the sycophantic nonsense she posted, as well as the open-mouthed acceptance of it by several of Jocelyn's followers. Not one of these people ever asked me anything or checked with me. And there is one of them declaring outright that she hates me. And nobody corrects her for this. Come on: You are really going to hate a person because you think they blocked another person on Facebook? This was really getting creepy. It's like the cheerleaders clique with fangs. But I still decided it was better not to form the opposing front in a war. It was possible, I thought, that Melanie J Blair is just an over-enthusiastic follower of Jocelyn.

Meanwhile, Amy Bruce Hobby and I were chatting via Facebook emails about more general stuff. I had not been in contact with Amy since the death of Patty Williams, and so we were sending short messages back and forth about school, and English class, and taking technical math as a prerequisite to college math. And then it happened again: The exact words that Melanie J. Blair had used were posted into the Forsaken group by Kevin Robert Kans. Except he had the foresight to top the allegations with a request for verification.

Amy Bruce Hobby, I, and Gordy Hammerle all protested what he was doing. And I quickly posted the URL of the Facebook abuse report form. I quickly supplied the URL information necessary for people to report the libelous post. And then Amy took down the thread.

And then Amy disappeared, but I was pretty sure she was confronting Jocelyn. And in this I was proved correct. For Jocelyn was keeping up with this circus that she had launched from her Facebook page, and she was ready with a deception to cover herself:

She also added that Amy had blocked Tina Anderson, but Amy has not blocked Tina Anderson. Jocelyn is throwing around Tina's name like a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. And I am sorry to see that people believe her without any reservation whatsoever. But neither Amy nor I have ever blocked Tina Anderson. And then I saw that Jocelyn was blaming me for the two invasions of the Forsaken group, but I have no idea who Melanie J Blair and Kevin Robert Mans are:

By then I had heard from Facebook about the first report, and so I sent them a lot of attachments about what was going on. I spoke with Amy this morning, and there is more to say about this, but I am waiting for her screenshots to post them.

Let Me Just Make These Points:

I never attacked Bill Zeller. I posted his suicide note as he requested. But because people were assuming his FATHER had molested him, I cautioned them, that we were getting only Bill Zeller's side of the story. I'm not going to prompt a lynch mob against a man I may dislike (Zeller's dad) but against whom there is no evidence of being a child molester. Jocelyn has never produced any evidence that I attacked Bill Zeller. In fact, you can go read my post about Bill Zeller right here [1]. Decide for yourself. And if you don't like my disclaimer, you can even say so to me, and I won't think you're some type of enemy or "traitor" or anything ridiculous like that. Because two adults can disagree with each other without hating each other. Healthy people do it all the time.

I also do insist that I have documentary proof before I post an abuse account. When people want me to post stuff but don't give me anything that can verify the story, LIKE THE NAME OF THE ABUSER or THE NAME OF THE ABUSED (if it's an adult), then I will ask for that information and let the person know the allegation is useless without sufficient information.

Go look at my web site. You can count, if you want, the incidents of HAC grads vs. BJU grads. Knock yourself out. My goal, definitely is to present ALL of the abuse cases I find, and not just the ones that get me and my personal ministry into the limelight. Zach Scadden killed himself just as much as Bill Zeller killed himself, and Zach was victimized by a BJU grad (two of them, in fact), but I don't see Jocelyn or Simone Jones or Brandi Brown Kuiper or Cathy Harris blogging anything about Zach Scadden and Daniel Brock. I followed up with the Denver reporter, Brian Maass, several times, sent him a copy of SCHIZOPHRENIC CHRISTIANITY, and did everything I could, when it was clear that he would be the last person to speak for Zach, to equip him to do so. Zach went to the police and testified but never got on CBS Morning News, never got on 20/20, never got a conviction against the man who sexually assaulted him, and I don't see people shedding tears for him. I did. His case was lost when he started it. And I did (and do) keep his case published. And I will republish it every single year, as God keeps me able, or more frequently, to keep the case alive and to hinder Daniel Brock and Les Heinze.

You can read my blog, and listen to my podcast, and you can also read Jocelyn's information, and you can take what you determine is good and just shake out the rest. It doesn't threaten me for people to draw information from a variety of sources. Build your conscience and make the choices that you can face God with.

I am not sacrificing my integrity to get on TV, or get money, or to amass a slavish following who go out and do my bidding. I want the Lambs to develop conscience and personal integrity. I don't need to develop an in-crowd, a group of followers, and nurse them along with high emotion and drive them into people I regard as my competitors. I respect the Lambs as young adults, and I want them to be cultivated as adults and to seize the courage to be young adults. And they can do that and most of them do grab the next handhold to keep climbing. So Jocelyn and all your followers, go wallow in your hatred and your venom. And find somebody who is afraid of you. I'm not. I hope that someday you get strong enough to stand on your own two feet, without needing somebody to tell you what to think, and who to hate, and what to say.

Update: December 2011/January 2012

Jocelyn has once again gone on a spree of accusations against me, again with no specific charges. I wasn't sure about posting any rebuttal because Jocelyn Zichterman does not have the power to do harm as she once did. She has spent the last eight months banning, harassing, accusing, ignoring, and verbally abusing people who came to her as part of her following. Simone Jones and several others have contacted me and made peace. The New Bethany survivors, most of them, now steer clear of Jocelyn. Several of the Hephzibah House survivors avoid her, but the HH women usually try not to be unkind. Cathy Harris, former inner ring survivor champion, has departed. Even Melanie J Blair is quieter now. I'm guessing the cruise has capsized.

Jocelyn has hunkered down, removed her shrunken friends list from view on Facebook, and is now ably assisted by her own sock puppet, Jean Thompson, who is a very poorly disguised version of Jocelyn herself, complete with the same errors of reasoning and misaken facts, the same word choices, the same city of origin (though Jean/Jocelyn claims to be from Atlanta) according to my IP tracker, the same birth date according to Simone Jones, and at least one post that switched midstream from being the voice of Jean to the voice of Jocelyn.

To satisfy anybody who wonders at my silence, I will post a short rebuttal to Jocelyn's nonsense. She has changed her accusations against me since last time. Now she alleges I leaked information about her legal cases, cases that she won and then refused to follow up. I'm not sure who I leaked them to, or why I would even do that, but she says I did. My guess is that Jocelyn is going to throw every possible story against the wall to see what sticks.

I don't want or need Jocelyn Zichterman's approval to do what I was doing back when she was still a dutiful mom of a housefull of kids at Northland. I'm not competing with her for funding, since I don't seek donations. I don't want a following and do not run any Facebook group. I think the weight of importance that she places on media as a means to STOP abuse is mistaken, but I do think media exposure is good overall for the sake of removing hiding places from these churches, pastors, and their followers. So I'm not wasting my time quibbling with her approach. It's certainly not my approach. My approach is based on the individual and the power of an educated conscience. Now, Jocelyn's predictions of when BJU will close down or when she and her allies will win this war concern me because it's a mistake to predict either victory or defeat. You'll know when the enemy is dead. Don't start counting down now. That's just a distraction from the fight at hand.

I have no intention of acting as a psychologist because I am not a psychologist. If people contact me for counseling help, I recommend resources to them that have a proven track record. I have no intention of acting as a lawyer because I am not a lawyer. When people ask me for legal advice, I urge them to consult a lawyer. (I often urge it whether they ask me or not, but I leave the final choice up to them.)

I have no intention of acting as a media producer because I am not a media producer. And I don't think media exposure is a cure-all for abuses in Christian Fundamentalism or even the best choice in every case. But all of that is up to the person who is considering his or her own case. I document sexual abuse cases against children (and teenagers are children) in Christian Fundamentalist churches, and I analyze bad theology. The last thing I want is to be a guru or messiah. I am not competent to counsel rape or incest victims. I am not competent to give legal advice. What I can do is take information and translate it into easily readable form. That's what I do. In the end, I am a senior level technical writer using my skills to document child molesting Christian Fundamentalist clergy and the theology and culture that keeps propping them up. And I will warn people who have been victimized of the dangers of being victimized again.

If Jean/Jocelyn thinks she's more successful than I am, fine. If she thinks my scope is too narrow, fine. If she thinks my scope is too broad, fine. If she has to talk to every finger on her hands and every toe on both her feet to feel like somebody is listening to her, that's also fine. I'll post more rebuttals if I think I need to.

August 12, 2012

This is not Jocelyn related, but I will use it to put another malicious rumor to rest. The following screenshot comes from the Jocelyn Zichterman - Exposed group on Facebook, on August 12, 2012. In this conversation, Camille Lewis says that I do not document BJU-related abuse cases. See for yourself:

Actually, I have documented the following BJU-related cases:

Bill Cabe - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=68

Charles "Chipper" Snow - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=121

Christopher Vargo - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=355

Chuck Phelps - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=94

Daniel Brock - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=224

Edward Greene - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=244

Frank Stima - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=242

Jason Smoker - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=272

Jeff Kruger (Free Presbyterian) - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?cat=371

Les Heinze - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?p=1584

I also publicly rebutted and rebuked BJU Faculty member John Matzko for his lies about Tina Anderson and his deceitful use of Scripture in accusing her: [1][2],[3], [4], [5]

I documented Dr Bob III's endorsement of child abusers Caleb and Joshua Thompson - http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?p=6196

In fact, here is a further list of all the BJU related stuff I've documented. I have addressed the following heresies taught at BJU:

- The heresy of Sanctification by works [1], [2]

- An unscriptural emphasis on leadership, as a virtue equal to those virtues specified in the Bible [3]

- The fallacious reliance on "dedicating your life to the Lord" as a one-time event[4]

- The gnostic basis of getting "a word from the Lord"[5], [6]

- The secrecy with which the BJU administration covers sexual assaults against women students [7], [8]

- The cooperative conspiracy of silence between Bob Jones University and Hephzibah House, even though BJU has been presented with ample evidene of abuses at Hephzibah House [7], [9]

- The gnostic premise that elements like rock music, hair length, clothing can affect your acceptance with God []

- The gnostic reliance on a hothouse enviroment as a cure for sin []

- The outdated and atheistic reliance of the BJU philosophy of education on Behaviorism []

Just go to my blog and enter "BJU" in the search box, and start reading.

August 18, 2012

So, now I go searching Facebook for the Do Right Hyles Anderson Group, to get the latest news on the Jack Schaap case, and I found this. It's a second Do Right Hyles-Anderson group. I have no idea which Facebook suvivor group junkie started it. But instead of being about Hyles Anderson or the Jack Schaap case, a lot of the opening stuff was about me.

I have no idea why. Yes, I was banned from the first group when Jocelyn Zichterman was in control. I didn't raise a fuss or publicize this. I just kept posting background info on HAC and FBCH abuse cases where I could and where I was asked.

And then when many people were being banned from the DRHAC group, Amy Whitford invited me to join the Do Right First Baptist Church of Hammond group, which I did (and posted background info for newbies). And now the word is that I started the group or am an Admin of the group. Well no, that's not true**.

But with all the complaining about the DRFBCH group, which was created as a replacement or as a refuge from the original DRHAC group, Camille fails to see the contradiction here. In her duplicate DRHAC group, they're not really talking about Hyles or Schaap. I mean, a few people are. But Camille is talking about me. And other FBSGJ (Faebook Survivor Group Junkies) are talking about Jocelyn Zichterman. What happened to talking about that child molester Jack Schaap and that child molesting protective culture of HAC and FBCH? Whilel some people in the group were staying on point, the main point certainly seems to have gone by the wayside for some of these people. It seems far more outrageous to them that Jocelyn pissed them off or that I've published a book.

And this is what I read in the opening of that weird, duplicate, envious group for FBSGJs:

It's petty, and it's ridiculous, and it's mean-spirited. These survivor groups, except for a remarkable few, are just virtual versions of schoolyard cliques formed by people who can't get past an adolescent need to be popular. I'm not looking for a following. I don't ask for money. And as a five point Calvinist (sort of), fourth degree black belt, amateur Renaissance astrologer (who tests her skills by betting on sports), I sure don't expect anybody to agree with me on everything I say. I do want readers to think and consider what I say. I want survivors of Fundamentalism to break free of both the culture and mindset of Fundamentalism, to go from being followers to thinkers: free individuals. But even that is up to the individual.

**I have started one Facebook group in my life. It was a closed group, and I invited people who have been victims of clergy sex abuse to discuss their recovery. I let them know that this was all a trial basis that would be evaluated after one month. And after exactly one month I evaluated the group and decided that the contributors did not have the time to support an open group with questions and comments, and I did not have the time to moderate it, so I closed it, with thanks, to the members. That's it. It's the only group I've ever started. I was asked once to be a moderator on the Hephzibah House group, and I declined because I am not a Hephzibah House survivor. When I was invited to join the closed HH group, I also declined for the same reason. And I urged them to keep the closed group just for HH survivors.

[] Just go to my blog and enter "BJU" in the search box, and start reading.