"Dear Tim:

It is a grief to me to read your recent newsletter, The Angelus, dated July/August 1998. You frequently quoted my grandfather but I wondered why you didn’t include one of his favorite observations -- "When gratitude dies on the altar of a man’s heart, that man is well nigh hopeless." There is something bitter in a soul that does not have the gratitude enough to be thankful for the people who have sacrificed their lives in his behalf nor the integrity to personally approach those men and women in humility when he thinks they may be in error.

Your letter, which boasts of piety and humility, reeks of acrid bitterness and arrogance. In your personal quest to condemn individuals and an institution, you have clearly disobeyed scriptural commands of personal confrontation within the body of Christ. I know of one Southern Baptist pastor in Greenville who received your newsletter and was embarrassed for you and for the University. This man has nothing to do with Bob Jones University, yet in your shotgun approach to disseminate misunderstanding, you made yourself an offense to Him and to your alma mater.

In light of what you have done so publicly, you are no longer welcome on the campus. You will be treated as a trespasser if you come. We are ashamed of you as a Bob Jones University graduate. More than that, I am fearful that the bitterness within your own soul is being used by Satan to defile others; your own blindness is making you insensitive to the damage you have done in the name of piety. There are scores of people who sat in the classroom alongside you including my son Stephen, who can attest to the malicious error of your statements. Unfortunately, many have nothing to rely upon other than the statements you made in order to fulfill a personal agenda. It is to them that the damage has been done and for whom I grieve the most.

Very truly yours,

Bob Jones III President"

"Dear Dr. Bob,

Before I compiled the list of quotes from BJU for the latest issue of The Angelus, I knew that one of two things would happen: either the Lord would open your eyes to see the seriousness of the quotes and their possible implications (in such case, revival could result), or you would get very angry at me for being disloyal to the school and punish me accordingly (in such case the school would continue to deteriorate and be judged accordingly).

Was it worth the risk? not for many. Most people, when they hear such quotes from men in high places whom they laud, will be quick to "give the benefit of the doubt" for such things – as can be seen the way the Democrats take up for their leader, President Bill Clinton, dismissing his actions and past deeds as "taken out of context" or insignificant. But the problem is not with Kenneth Starr, or with those who seek justice – which brings necessary division; the problem is with Bill Clinton whose past words and deeds are historical facts and must be dealt with.

There are many as well in the Roman Catholic church who are not free to interpret the Scripture according to their own conscience, but must go through the priests to get the proper interpretation. Such people subject the Holy Word of God to organizations and traditions of men. Such people look to men more than they do to God’s Word.

Dr. Bob, your strongest appeal to me was for disloyalty to an organization of men - BJU. Why not disloyalty to the Scriptures? I have decided to follow Jesus -- no turning back, no turning back. I never decided to follow BJU, The Pilgrim’s Bible Church, a mission board, a denominational headquarters, not even my own country above the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. Is not our unity in doctrine? We don’t follow men blindly or accept everything they say blindly, but only as it is in accord with God’s Holy Word -- and then if we are agreed, then we have fellowship -- a unity in doctrine. If the doctrine of one party changes, then they are the ones who are disloyal, and not the other party for exposing them. I’m sure you would agree with this.

I knew that the quote from your grandfather would be brought to my attention: "When gratitude dies on the altar..." I agree with the quote. Does that mean that if the institution ever strays, no one can try to halt the decline without being ungrateful? The statement works from my side too: If what I have spoken is truth and is significant and serious then should not my school be grateful for my giving my five and a half years as a sacrifice to get all of your attention?

I went to BJU because it was the best school I knew of, and that is still the case. I had some of the best years of my life at BJU. I have many friends from BJU -- students, and at one time, teachers. I have spent many hours in thrilling classes where the truth was being told so well. I have shed many tears during services, chapels, conferences and classes.

I was involved in a Shakespearean play on stage with your father. I went on the Mexico Mission team one summer. I held offices in my society, including chaplain. I held offices in Mission Prayer Band, including Vice-president. I was even asked to pray one day in chapel, which prayer, your dad was complimentary of. I played the trumpet in the trumpet choir, went to visiting churches - once with your dad. I gave testimonies in visiting churches, representing BJU. I’ve been in the special music for Vespers, Bible Conferences, and special services. I’ve helped out at Farm Fest. I’ve worked with the Anderson, and Laurens counties jail extension ministries (where I could end up now if I visited my alma mater). But all these things which, were gain to many I have counted but loss that I might get your attention with those significant quotes which were not taken out of context.

I don’t remember your son, Stephen, in any of my classes. He was a few grades ahead of me. One year, he was my dorm Sup. He may have been in my Friday, combined preacher-boy classes. If so, he should have remembered during one class your dad quoting from The Angelus about an account of a serious, life-changing revival. The fact that many people don’t pay attention, and less take notes and can’t remember the quotes, does not detract from the fact that the statements were made.

Many times when I would hear a significant quote and write down what a teacher said, I would look around to see how many more were writing -- very, very few.

Why should you turn on me, when I published your own words? I did so to keep BJU from declining and deteriorating – which thing is normal for all man-made organizations. I went public with public statements, which is not un-Biblical. That was only after I went to my teachers, spending much time in class and out of class, trying to understand if they really meant what they said. Dr. Bob, I have learned from experience that the only way to get you all’s attention is to go public and use sarcasm to reinforce the implications. Both Micaiah and Elijah used sarcasm to prove their points to people who had stopped their ears to reason. When your enrollment is jeopardized, you will be more inclined to listen: which is the very reason you folks still officially use the KJV. Where is conviction in all of that?

The school is to be answerable to the church, not the church to the school. The local churches that support BJU should hold you in check for such statements -- unless they have an inordinate affection for the favor of BJU, in such case it would be at the expense of the truth of God.

I am sorry that the Southern Baptist, Neo-Evangelical pastor sided with the school against me. What do you two have in common? Are not preachers of righteousness always an embarrassment to compromisers? Is it not embarrassing to be a fool for Christ’s sake? I’d rather please Christ.

I find it amazing that you lumped all of my statements together as "dishonesty, misrepresentation, and statements taken out of context." Many of those can still be found in tapes, typed notes from teachers and recalled by students. Most of those quotes came from Grad. school (which was recent), and most of these came from my last semester, Spring 1998. Are you not taking it out on me, for making a good observation that these quotes do show a decline in the school? Am I your enemy for telling you the truth?

Just suppose for a moment that I am right: Would that not make me the best friend of BJU for taking it to the local churches after BJU refused to recall or change such statements? Would that not make me a hero for sacrificing my reputation to save BJU’s character? Won’t the Lord bless me for that? Won’t that prove that the only "personal agenda" that I had was to keep seeds of liberalism from sprouting at BJU? And, if the school doesn’t own up to its faults, won’t the Lord judge BJU for that?

"May God Smile on You" -- J.S. Bach,

"Tim,

Beloved brother in the Lord.... I nearly wept when I read Dr. Bob’s letter to you. It made me thankful that I did not take a degree from them, though I am very grateful for the education I received there. In the past few days I have become overwhelmed by the sense that another spiritual hurricane is brewing in our future. I want to cry because those who have been our brothers and fellows soldiers in contending for the faith have now become our enemies. I am not ashamed to be lumped together with Spurgeon, Knox, Luther, Whitefield, Calvin, and the like. By God’s grace I will stand by you in this ordeal. I count your friendship as one of the greatest blessings the Lord has given me..." -- somewhere down in Florida

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"Dear Timothy Jr.,

.... I am disheartened by the way the university has responded. I am sure that what you have done is right. I am not bitter against Bob Jones, but they have assaulted the integrity and character of my friend -- and that grieves me. What’s more, the university has refused to address the real issue or to attempt to clear itself.

If you are right you have no reason to change. You are armed with the truth, and your sword has struck its target. Redraw only to strike deeper into the bulls-eye. I pray that your readers will act upon your kind rebuke as wise men, and not as the scornful fool." -- somewhere in South Carolina.

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"Dear Brother Fellows,

A friend recently sent me a copy of "The Angelus".... I appreciate the work you have done in exposing the duplicity of Bob Jones University. For a long time the foolishness of professors there has gone without challenge.... I have written and spoken on this subject for over 20 years and one thing is observable. The Christian who does not owe his allegiance to BJU can be led to see the issue and take his stand on the KJV and Received Text. Those who are somehow subject to the BJU diocese are very hard to persuade to take a stand, even when given facts on the subject. They have more allegiance to the University than to the Lord who gave the Word and has preserved it....

The People at Pensacola Christian College have shined the light on BJU and Calvary Seminary. The BJU reply has been that "we have always used the KJV here." However, they fail to mention that the Greek Class has always been Westcott and Hort. The hypocrisy and the intent to mislead is astounding. They cover it over by decrying the "division and strife" over the version issue.... I have enclosed a copy of my book on the issue... I have placed your article on my large file on Bible Versions. I realize that what you have written will cost you among your peers. Many men who ought to be vocal are silent, due to advantage. They love the praise of men more than the praise of God." --someone in Illinois.

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"Dear Tim;

.... We received your recent copy of the ANGELUS. In it you attacked the lives and ministries of those who sacrificially served and shaped the lives of your family and you. We sorrow for you. "To bite the hand that fed you" seems particularly sad. It is hard to understand why you chose to go to graduate school when your goal seemed to be, not to learn, but to criticize. We no longer wish to receive the ANGELUS and if we do it will be thrown away unread..." -- an un-quoted BJU faculty member

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"Tim,

... I have considered you a friend during the years we have associated at your alma mater, never knowing all the while you were looking for those statements to be twisted and misinterpreted to harm this ministry and your former teachers. You have bitten the very hand that was graciously and kindly feeding you. Despite your receiving your Master’s degree recently, you certainly have a long way to go to deserve it. You should return both of your diplomas and never mention where you went to school. Further, your latest paper is a reflection on your own lack of ethics in grievously violating a clear command of the Scripture, Matthew 18:15-17. You have every right of questioning and being concerned about your teacher’s statements; however, by not going directly to those involved at the time and later going to a public forum to take them out of context is unscriptural, unethical, and despicable.

.... Please remove my name from your lists and do not send me additional misinformation or justification of what you have done.

I do not wish to be hurt any further." -- another un-quoted BJU

faculty member, and one of my favorite teachers.

--{about now y’all see why most students do nothing}

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"Timothy,

.... I will not respond at length. I have already given you a lengthy written response to the series of questions you raised in an earlier issue [My Two Cents on Modern Bible Versions], and I see nothing in your present article needing more clarification than I have already given in teaching New Testament Introduction and in writing to you as I have." -- Dr. Randy Leedy (Thursday, August 13, 1998) contradicting the other faculty members as well as Dr. Bob whose main accusations against me were that I had not gone to my teachers personally!

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"Dear Brother

.... Your latest letter re: Bob Jones U. brought back memories from the 50’s when my old friend AL MARTIN went to the school in his late teens. He won the Preacher Boy AWARD, etc. but his failure to conform to the "SYSTEM" got him in trouble.... Some years later BOB JONES pronounced him a HERETIC for his "Calvinistic" VIEWS and even physically barred him from the Campus.... Then BOB JONES placed a black list of condemned Books from BANNER OF TRUTH -- ULTIMATELY All BANNER BOOKS Were OFF LIMITS. A Group of guys were all ejected years later for their CALVINISM WHICH they looked into after hearing IAN PAISLEY from N.

Ire. ONE SUFFERS great WRATH and a lack of grace when confessing the DOCTRINES OF GRACE. Press on for the CAUSE OF GOD and His TRUTH." -- N. Ireland

"Remember the verse that says ‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend...?’ Timothy did what he did because he cares about Bob Jones, and they are so proud, they don’t even know who their friends are!!"-- Somebody, somewhere in Georgia

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"Dear Tim:

Your paper was excellent. We go to a BJU church. How would you feel about our giving a copy of this to our Pastor...? Quite a few of our young people go to BJU. Our granddaughters go to PCC, which isn’t perfect, either. However, BJU and its Bible stand or not a stand - is really serious... how do you feel about my giving a copy to a church family who is upset with BJU’s lack of stand for the KJV?" -- a Christian Lady, somewhere up north

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"Dear Brother Tim Jr.,

Your long article re. the BJU classrooms and teaching is quite a telling article, I feel. Shows that no matter how "Fundamental" a school is at the outset, and how clear the vision of the founder, as the institution grows to the point beyond which he can fully supervise all levels of instruction, error is apt to creep in. Men of "academia" (knowing nothing of the "real world" outside the classroom) begin to wallow in the worship of their own conceited self-importance -- forming the opinions and lives of subsequent leaders, who add their own conceited self-opinions to what is taught. No wonder great schools like Fuller Seminary can succumb to modernism within a generation!!...your article was an eye-opener. Not edifying nor encouraging, but revealing "how the mighty are fallen." And, as you stated, when the IV Bob Jones gets through at Notre Dame what a sad situation BJU will be in! I appreciate much of what they’ve stood for in the past -- at least they have maintained a high moral climate, which cannot be said for the denominational schools -- but the future looks solemn indeed." - NC preacher

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"Timothy --

a "good" issue, if shocking. Had no idea Custer justified some abortion...." - a former BJU student, South Carolina

---------------------------------

"Dear Tim [Sr.],

I must say I was a little shocked by the latest issue of "The Angelus". In all honesty, and I say this in Christian love, I do not feel it was an appropriate article to write about Bob Jones University. With all due respect, if Tim Jr. felt this way, why in the world did he continue to go to the school, and even after graduating, continue on to get a Masters Degree. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to turn on the school that provided him with a Christian education right after he gets out of the school. In Christian love, and I hope you and he take it that way, it just doesn’t seem to me to be in good taste.

I am sure that if somebody followed any of us around that might speak regularly to groups of people, that quotes could be taken from any of us we might want to change later (because so much speaking is done impromptu), and also I can’t help but feel that some quotes might have been taken out of context. We are all human and are not perfect, but Tim, you and I knew a lot of these people that are quoted, and the Godly people they are and influence they have been to many, and I don’t think they really deserve that treatment. Of course, others I don’t know." -- a BJU graduate from the sixties, an old roommate of my dad

"Timothy,

...I spent 10 great years at BJU receiving a B.A. and an M.Div. I left the University in August of 1990 after having worked 2 years with BJ Press. I now am the assistant pastor... and a Chaplain with the ... Police Dept. My brother...was there 1992-1996 in a pre-law program. We Love BJU and it seems more and more good fundamental men are being torn apart because of ridiculous issues that I know are not pleasing to the Lord. With all the mess going on in so called "Christian" circles today why is it necessary to further divide good brethren? If BJU was hosting a Promise Keepers rally then maybe a broad cause for concern, but why create additional boundaries for fellowship that just cause scism among fundamental men? With additional criticism from PCC and their "Leaven...." videotape, do you want to distance yourself from BJU? If you do, that’s fine, but why waste time and energy, not to mention money on such non-essential diatribes against good men and women of God. Many of the men and women you site have become very good friends and a blessing in my ministry. My best friend in the world just received his P.H.D. in Church history in May... He was just with us last Sunday lecturing our members on the History of the KJV. It was an excellent, balanced approach. I don’t understand how both you and he could come away from BJU with such vast differences in perspective.

Please don’t be a cause of scism between good men of God, if you cannot agree with BJU, then why must you publicize your approach in an effort to destroy a wonderful institution that God has used in my life and many thousands of others around the world. Maybe just go about your responsibilities as you see fit and allow us all to stand before God for ourselves." -- a BJU product (italics added by the editor for emphasis)

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"Thanks for the latest edition of The Angelus. I thank the Lord for your boldness in speaking the truth.... I would appreciate it if you would send The Angelus to a dear Christian brother of mine..." -- a KJV defender and tract-writer

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"I find it very interesting that when Brother Maynard published his great work on I John 5:7, he mentioned Bob Jones University. Brother Maynard predicted the departure of Bob Jones due to their attitude toward I John 5:7." -- from the Historic Baptist computer symposium (which has members all over the country, as well as other countries)

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"Brethren, Have you seen a copy of Brother Timothy Fellows July/August Angelus? If you haven’t I hope Brother Fellows post it on the Symposium. It is excellent. Brother Fellows are you listening? These brethren deserve the observations you made in this Angelus issue."-- Historic Baptist computer symposium

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"Dear Mr. Fellows,

Thank you for your prompt response. Your answer was very helpful to me. May God richly bless your efforts and family." -- a reply from a reader who wanted the last paragraph of the July/August issue on BJU explained in greater detail.

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"Timothy,

A few [of the quotes] are quite accurate, but most are either misleading without their context or else very inaccurately rendered. And even if they were precisely right, these little snippets are far too sketchy to convey anything like an accurate picture of extended teaching on complex issues...." -- Dr. Leedy (whose quotes take up the entire front and most of the back of the first page of the last issue of The Angelus)

To which I replied, "Your reply to my article was both good news and bad news. The good news was that from your refusal to acknowledge many of these quotes which I wrote down directly as you were speaking, you must mean that you will no longer teach many of those quotes - that’s good news. – and that alone made the article worthwhile..."

To which he replied, "My teaching in NTI [New Testament Introduction] will not be appreciably different as a result of what you have written. I’m sorry to disappoint you about the only good news you could find."

-------------------------------

"Bro. Tim,

I just read a copy of your July/August Angelus. I graduated from BJU back in 197?. In my sophomore Greek class the teacher Sparky Pritchard stress over and over that the KJV was only 95% accurate whereas the NASB was 99% accurate. He taught us about John 8 and 1 John 5:7, how they were not in the original manuscripts. I once asked him how any one knew if the original manuscripts were lost. He only answered that we do not have the originals but the most ancient manuscripts that we have don’t have those passages and others. I even naively wrote "not in original mss" in the margins of those passages. I have since deleted those notations.

Sparky said that when he pastored his own church, he would preach from the NASB. I asked him why--what was wrong with the KJV.... I was marked for the rest of the semester as a trouble-maker. He called me a Ruckmanite, though I had never even heard of Ruckman at that time.

I now have a high school senior girl. We are very much struggling with the choice of college. At one time BJ was our only choice. But it seems that they have become more and more liberal over the years. Dr. Bob Sr. would roll over two or three times if he knew what was going on now.

What choice do we have. Secular colleges are out. There are few if any Christian colleges that remain true to God’s Word.... I liked the newsletter. Please add me to your mailing list.

.... If you want to quote my letter, you have my permission. Please do not use my name or the town or county that I live in, since there is a slim chance that we may still consider BJ. And I really don’t want to get one of those letters from Dr. Bob." --??

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"Bro. Tim,

...please do not feel so badly about being excommunicated.. It really isn’t so bad...keep'em flying..." -- BJU graduate from the fifties, and a pastor

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"Just got your July/August issue of The Angelus. I think it was great! ...A friend of mine ... said that he went to a "Jack Hyles chat room" the other day and one of the prerequisite to joining was they those participating could not say anything bad against Jack Hyles! ... Anyway, love your logic" -- VA preacher

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"GESTAPO tactics, huh? Well, brother, if you told the truth -- and I’m sure you did -- it’s no wonder they don’t want you hangin’ around and influencing some of the students." -- NC preacher

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"Dear Brother Fellows, I have greatly enjoyed read your paper, the Angelus. I find it insightful and educational. It is an encouragement to know that there are thinking Christians out there. I have been raised as an independent fundamental Baptist, and just recently I have come to see the true doctrine of grace ("Calvinism"). It is such an encouragement to see others who hold to this precious truth. Starting this month I will be attending Pensacola Christian College. (Does that make you, BJ grad, and I enemies?) I would absolutely love to continue to receive your paper." -- a college student

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Dear Timothy Fellows:

We received the Angelus last week, and to say the least, we are in shock. Later in the week we received a missionary letter from a Bob Jones University graduate, who is headmaster for a Christian school overseas. He stated: "We have had a major problem with a disloyal teacher who caused and is still causing much damage to the work of the Lord." Their betrayal is a parallel to your written attack as you try to damage and tear down a God-ordained school of higher learning. If, as you say, you are more enlightened than all your teachers are, why did you not distance yourself from BJU long ago, instead of sticking around for five years? That smacks of some underlying, personal vendetta you were planning.

It has taken four generations of godly men and women to give us Bob Jones University, an institution loved and respected throughout the world. Why would you, a Johnny-come-lately, engage in trying to sow doubt among the brethren, pit one Christian against another and parade your self-serving attitudes in print? Shame on you! Your flippant rebuttal to some subjects and situations, which you detailed, were so obviously out of context that no thinking person will give them serious credence.

Near the top of the first page you have boldly displayed that you earned a BA and MA. Where did you receive these degrees? At Bob Jones University, perhaps? Or does BA stand for Benedict Arnold College of Underhandedness? Perhaps it stands for Bad Attitude. If BJU is your alma mater we ask again, why did it take you five years to realize they didn’t fit into your mold of Christian education? You had ample time to disassociate yourself from the school. Dr Bob, Sr. said, "If you’re going to mess up, do it now. Don’t wait until we’ve wasted our time and effort on you, and then stab us in the back."

We don’t know how or why, but money plays a role in this scenario. The love of money is still the root of all evil. It saddens us to say this, but it was an evil thing you did. You shouldn’t be allowed to set foot on BJU campus again. You have hurt and slandered too many stalwart Christians. They have enough to do fighting this ungodly, hell-bound world without fighting a disgruntled few from among their former ranks. It broke our hearts to read such a scathing attack and judgment on these godly people. What is your point?

Since your mother was a young girl we have been friends with her, your grandparents, your Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Forrest, and we intend to remain their friends. They will always have a special place in our hearts. That fact makes it doubly hard for us to write this letter. It is not enjoyable, but it is necessary. You have a whole lot of explaining and apologizing to do, Timothy.

Save that copy of the Angelus in a safe place for twenty years. Then take it out and read it; see if you don’t regret your brash statements and critical judgments." -- an evangelist BJU would be proud of, maybe for another twenty years.

excerpts from one of my letters to one of my teachers --

"By publishing those quotes (which I wrote down verbatim as they were being said, or else I specified after the quote -- ‘slightly paraphrased’) I did not mean to imply that the teachers, professors, etc. were heretics, apostates and liberals; I published them because BJU is the most Fundamental school on the planet -- to my knowledge. When good men make statements of error, the statements are more dangerous."

"I published those statements for the school to address those things and take them back, change them and/or clarify them – to purify the school. I published those statements to reveal reasons and weaknesses in some of the arguments (i.e. textual criticism). How could a man of God -- a believer -- ever accidentally say, ‘We’re fairly sure of our New Testament’? What kind of context could make that statement better? His context was in regards to all the existing available manuscripts. He never took that statement back, nor did any student question him about it, because the statement goes well with the schools position – ‘God has preserved his Word to an astonishing degree!’ (Dr. Stewart Custer)" -- Timothy Fellows, Jr.

Every year, the university makes its graduates promise that, if the university ever strays, they will do all they can to return it to where it should be. I made that promise.

While at BJU, I heard faculty members talk on errors in my English Authorized Version of the Bible far more than I ever heard them acknowledge or correct errors of their own. Perhaps they are more inerrant than the KJV?

Why should they put me on a black list and ban me from their campus when they give their students full access to Liberal and Neo-Evangelical books in their library and some classes? Am I a greater threat to BJU students -- my former classmates – than out-and-out Liberals are, who deny the deity of Jesus Christ and the substitutionary atonement? Why not ban the bad books? It speaks volumes that I am considered a greater threat to BJU students than Notre Dame is to Bob Jones IV. Can their faculty who attend state schools withstand secular philosophy, while their own students can’t resist me?

Cassette tapes are available for readers wanting to know more about the quotes from the last Angelus, their implications, and the doctrines affected. Further details are always available to readers who wish to be reasonable. To date, the university has made no attempt to reason with me about the quotes I heard.