The Jonesian Response: The Dr. Walter Fremont Response to a Graduate’s Concerns regarding Bob Jones University and the Joneses
Of all the professors I had at Bob Jones University, Dr. Walter Fremont was my favorite. He was also the most influential teacher in my life. I can still hear him replying to “How are you doing?” by saying “TERRIFIC!” His humor always had a bit of mischief thrown into the mix!
We remained friends after I graduated. When he contracted ALS, he came down to Charleston, South Carolina for treatment at MUSC. My wife, children, and I would visit him at my parents’ home. He loved children and it was a pleasure to watch him interact with my young children. He would use his cane to hook the children, like little lambs, and tease them! He truly had a wonderful way with children and, after the initial shock and shyness wore off, they loved him!
In 1991, I was forced to take a good look at the operation of Bob Jones University and at the character of Dr. Bob Jones III and the appropriateness and nature of his leadership role in the fundamentalist Baptist religious sect. I decided I needed to get out of the sect and discussed this with Dr. Fremont. Dr. Fremont told me of his exit from Child Evangelism years earlier because of compromise. I detailed my concerns about BJU and the Joneses to Dr. Fremont. He asked me “where will you go?” I told him that I was not sure but that I knew I could not stay within fundamentalism because of the corruption I had witnesses in the leadership of the movement. He questioned me more and I sent him some materials about the Joneses and Bob Jones University.
Evidently – and I was not aware of it at the time - Dr. Fremont was angered by the material I had sent and the observations and conclusions I had made about BJU and the Joneses. He wrote me a letter and sent it to my (then) 75-year old mother. I have no idea why he would do such a thing unless he was simply angry and thought that would somehow hurt me. He also redacted the names of those to whom he had copied his letter. While I asked him for those names so that I could copy them my response, he never responded. I assume that copies were sent to Bob III and the BJU archives file titled “Mark Fitzhenry”.
Some 6 months ago, I cleaned out my files and must have thrown away his correspondence to me. I do wish I had retained the letters he had written to me. I considered writing Gilbert Fremont or Trudy Fremont to obtain copies. Dr. Fremont passed away this past January, and I thought it would be “bad form” to make such a request. I would invite any readers who have doubts as to my integrity in this matter to write Gil and/or Trudy Fremont for copies of Dr. Fremont’s correspondence to me and mine to him and I will post the letters unedited. Both, I believe, are at BJU, Greenville, SC 29614 unless Gil left his job at BJU. While Dr. Fremont had no qualms about sending his letter accusing me of spreading “time-worn lies about Bob Jones University,” etc., etc.,) to my aged mother (without confronting me first, Matthew 18:15) I simply will not respond in like-manner.
Again, I apologize for not having retained Dr. Fremont’s letters. (I suspect Jonathan Pait could get a copy from the Bob Jones University archives.) However, from my response, one can piece together the gist of his handling of my concerns regarding BJU’s and the Joneses’ influence on Fundamentalism. That which is in [brackets] has been added for clarity. I would note that Dr. Fremont did not address one concern I had or refute any of the “time-worn lies about Bob Jones University” he accused me of “parroting”. He simply ignored the facts and attacked me. This is the classic, two-pronged Jonesian Response to Correction.
January 11, 1999
Re.: Biblical accountability, personal loyalty, and dual standards
Dear Friend [Dr. Walter Fremont]:
"Leadership by example must come from the top; it must be consistently of the highest standards; and it must be visible for all to see...'Do as I say and not as I do' just won't hack it!...Those who hold leadership positions, to be credible, must meet the same standard…We must continue to remove those who fall short and seek those who meet and exceed the requirements. Dual standards and less accountability at the top will undermine the trust and confidence so essential to good order and discipline...A general malaise hangs over a unit whose leaders are week...Soldiers (and Christians, too) want - indeed deserve - leaders who are held accountable to the same standards that they are held. The credibility of the system is at stake when that is not the case." (Admiral Leon Edney, before the House Judiciary, speaking on eternal principles of leadership.)
I received a copy of your letter to me from my mother, to whom it was addressed. She has little interest in the Joneses’ and BJU. The names of the others to whom it was copied were covered. To whom should I copy my response?
You asked me a question years ago [about leaving fundamentalism because of what I had seen at Bob Jones University and in it’s graduates and in the independent fundamental Baptist movement] and I answered your question. You have called me to account for, among other things, lying. I intend to answer in the kindest, most forthright manner possible. (“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Eph. 5:21). Your letter was personally heart-rending. I have often said to my friends and to my wife that, next to my own father, you have had more influence on me and on my family than any other man. We disagree markedly on methodology and issues. Yet, I still owe you a great debt for your influence.
I’m not the first grad to expose error at BJU and to be labeled as “attacking,” “bitter,” “egotistical,” “proud,” and as a liar. How very ironic. Bob Jones III called BJU a “training camp for Christian soldiers…We tell our students the war with the devil, with the flesh, with sin is out there.” He also opined that, “When men are straight preachers, they will name sin and also name sinners. If they do not name sin and sinners, they are not faithful proclaimers of God’s Word…Paul said to Timothy, ‘Them that sin rebuke before all, that others may fear.’”… “Preachers must never be intimidated.” Dr. Panosian taught that, “Wherever truth exposes error, error will oppose truth, and truth will be drawn into conflict. The believer must stand and advance…” Yet, I am called to account for daring to, as Dr. Dollar taught, “expose error.” People are noticing that when a Jones is on the receiving end, biblical principles are ignored and ad hominem attacks follow. BJU is becoming known for practicing that which it imagines and condemns in others. I’ve known you for 20 years. You are a better man than this.
Bob Jones University’s policy on ad hominem techniques was set forth by your colleague, Dr. Stewart Custer. (“When any faculty member speaks, he speaks for the university.” Bob III) Custer, in a joint statement with Bob III, said, “When there is a dispute between men, and one side has to stand up…and call names, you know they have a weak position. If it is a case of presenting truth, the truth is convincing in itself. You do not have to use…name-calling…to commend the truth…there are some men who major in these techniques…We do want to call your attention to the truth of the matter, to the facts, the evidence that is plainly before anyone who will look at it.” I have repeatedly given Bob Jones III the opportunity to defend BJU’s reputation for self-contradiction and inconsistency with logical, credible, biblical explanations. You are too fine, too intelligent a man to use unfounded assumptions and ad hominem labeling in defense of the indefensable [sic]. In Doug MacLachlan’s book, Reclaiming Authentic Fundamentalism, he calls for all fundamentalists “to be transparent and honest about our problems rather than masking, disguising, camouflaging,, or even denying that we have them.” (Preface, p. viii)
Dr. Salter wisely warns against “the substitution of ever-shifting human constructs for absolute, eternal verities [which result in entanglement] in a net of self-contradiction and resultant absurdity.” Dr. Salter maintains that because Christians evaluate things with an unchanging standard of value, they are better able to “examine issues rationally, judge their merits critically, and weigh alternatives in order to reach intelligent decisions.”
I lead no school competing for BJU’s students. I am not a part of a rival religious denomination, sect, or organization. If those at BJU disagree, they should focus attention on the observations, the application of biblical principles, and on my conclusions. If I am silenced or personally discredited, BJU will still have these problems. For more on labeling and its uses in defending religious systems, you might read Toxic Faith by Stephen Arterburn. He says, “Because it is difficult to rally against rational-thinking people who have distinctly different views, labels must be used to polarize the opponents and energize the followers to fight against those opponents.”
Thirty-seven years of faithful, loyal service to a family-run business is remarkable. However, your letter did not mention that the Joneses hire faculty under the premise that “hiring faculty who might not be personally loyal to them could be dangerous…” BJU faculty are not tenured. They can be fired at any time. In Mark Dalhouse’s book, An Island in the Lake of Fire, it is revealed that BJU is “an institution where fundamentalist theology and personal loyalty to [the Joneses] were and are the prerequisites to success for all who work and study there.”…”Husbands and wives of employees were expected to manifest the same degree of loyalty to the university.”…”Staff members who demonstrated a ‘cooperative spirit’ would be entitled to bonuses.”…”[A]ll faculty and staff were instructed not to criticize the administrative policy of [BJU] except to the president or the proper executive.” How can you claim that you are qualified “to recognize the parroting of time worn lies about BJU…”? If anyone is judged not to be loyal, “the relationship with the institution ends immediately.” You knew of Bob Jones III’s falsehoods about Northside Baptist and the man you claim as a friend. Yet, in your angry, one-sided rush to defend BJU by discrediting me, you intentionally refused “to recognize” any of Bob Jones III’s falsehoods or BJU’s contradictions.
BJU has neatly circumvented the New Testament’s body of corrective doctrines with respect to itself and to the Joneses. Christ warned in Mt. 6:24. “No man can serve two masters…” Most people, including fundamentalists, have a hard time choosing between their jobs (aka, ministries) and their faith. Paul commanded in Phil. 4:9, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do…” He taught in Romans 13:8, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another has fulfilled the law.” Paul would never make it at BJU, especially if Peter, Diotrophes, or Alexander were president. Unfettered loyalty to Christ and obedience to Paul’s teachings prevent Spirit-led Christians from pledging unqualified loyalty to persons or to institutions as conditions of employment. Of divided loyalties, James taught in James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Attached is an essay on dual loyalties, “What do You Mean, Am I 100% for Jack Hyles?” It makes a convincing case that unconditional loyalty to a person or to an institution should never be pledged by a Christian in exchange for employment, church membership, or Christian fellowship.
Mark Dalhouse’s book discusses BJU’s defining ideology of “separatism.” He cites BJU’s one-time regard of racial “segregation as a biblical mandate.” He notes BJU’s “eclectic mix of har-and-fast convictions and ambiguous actions.” The book revealed BJU’s technique of dismissing criticism by “attributing the criticism to ‘egotistical feeling.’” It discussed a dean who resigned because “…at BJU one must ‘actively or tacitly agree with all decisions and actions, or leave.’” It cites the trend to equate the term fundamentalism with “bitterness and pettiness of spirit.”
Dalhouse explored Bob Jones III’s “journey into ultra separatism;” the fact that “the Bob Joneses have a very often been selectively separatist;” and he made the observation that at BJU, “paradox and irony characterize their cultural and educational separation as well.” It discussed BJU's success at enlisting graduates, churches, etc. “to establish a national network of fundamentalists who in turn support Greenville with both students and money: and that “this exposure in over a thousand pulpits every Sunday is a powerful advertistement for BJU.” It reported Bob Wood’s admission that BJU had to retain a “public relations agency” in an attempt “to soften its image.”
Your letter swept aside the facts and conclusions as “time worn lies about BJU…” It then shifted the focus entirely on me. No facts were refuted and not one of the “time worn lies” was named. The letter said “Dr. Bob” gave you “good advice about certain types of people. He said in effect, never discuss issues with a bitter egotistical person…” The letter dodged every issue by employing the same robotic phrases, diversionary tactics, and ad hominem techniques the Joneses and their apologists have used for years. The case against me (and that is what it became) was further weakened because it lacked the basic rectitude to apply the same standards to both sides.
“Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord…the heart.” God is the only One able to judge a hear, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins…” (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10) Yet, you have assumed the role of an earthly judge of men’s hearts and motivations. You pretend to be the “discerner of the thoughts and intents of” my heart without even asking. You appear to have taken hold of the pointed end of a two-edged sword. You have assumed a moral obligation to continue down that path. In 37 years did you ever judge the heart attitudes of the motivations of any of the Joneses?
Which “Dr. Bob” gave you this advice? Dr. Bob Sr. is known for his boast in a chapel service: “So you want to know where a man stands with God? You have only to ask him one question: what do you think of this university?” That statement is not only egotistical, it is much more. And it appears that what a man thinks about a deified Bob Jones University – not Christ and His Word – is still being used at Bob Jones University to judge where a man stands with God.
We could discuss what one of Dr. Bob’s unsaved neighbors observed about Dr. Bob’s treatment of an old, sickly former music minister with whom he disagreed. Were you aware of the series of chapel messages on Judas in which Dr. Bob Jones Sr. equated a former dean’s criticisms (betrayal) of BJU with Judas’ betrayal of Jesus Christ! Dr. Bob Jones Sr. planted this subtle root of bitterness in the hearts and minds of the BJU family with words to the effect: “Judas was a much finer fellow, for he did have the grace to hand himself and he did not write letters back to his school.”
Do you deny that Dr. Bob’s philosophy [on assessing a man’s standing with God by what he thinks about this university], as it has been passed down from father, to son, to faculty, to students, has the potential to engender roots of bitterness? Are you willing to withdraw friendship and Christian fellowship because someone believes that BJU violates biblical principles with impunity? Are you willing to separate from me because I believe that even a ones must submit to biblical accountability? Are you willing to use “personal loyalty to a man as the basis of social…and religious justification?" Are you willing to promote a heritage built on personal loyalty if that heritage undermines a gospel heritage built solely on a loyalty to Christ and His Word?
Did you ever counsel Bob Jones Jr. about “letting all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you?" Did you counsel him on the many students he was influencing or the danger of a “root of bitterness?” Did you rebuke Bob Jones Jr. after his 1980 four-lettered attack on [First Lady] Betty Ford [in calling her “a slut”]? Did anyone on the faculty ever reprove Bob Jones Jr. regarding bitterness or egotistical behavior as letters like this were being made public knowledge: “You are either a simpleton or a liar. I would like to believe you just do not have any sense. What makes you think you have a corner on the truth?” Biblical rectitude demands righteous judgment and “eternal verities.” [Your] boogey-man-defense coupled with ever-shifting constructs indicates [you have] a weak position [to defend].
Dr. Bob Jones III has a reputation for fancying himself above earthly accountability: “I am not required to state specifics to you or anyone else..from now on, you may go your direction and we will go ours.” Bob Jones III’s solution to brotherly accountability is to separate from those who suggest that he submit to it! Attorney Orin Briggs [former BJU counsel] and many others have revealed things indicating Bob’s “egotistical” attitude. A former BJU dean alleged that during his visits to Dr. Bob Jones III’s office, he found Bob Jones III to be a “screamer” and a “thrower”. He said that Bob feared that people were trying to steal the university from him and the Bob Jones III viewed suggestions for improvement as threats to his control of Bob Jones University. Regarding [your] sudden concern with latent, simmering bitterness, Dalhouse reports that Bob Jones III said, “I always had to share my father with someone else.” Dalhouse revealed, “Most of the people demanding his father’s time were preachers, and Bob Jones III remembers becoming resentful (ie;, bitter hurt) of them.”
Regarding your highly inappropriate psychoanalytical construct about [my father’s] “authoritarian Army style discipline and control…” [child psychology professor Fremont is referring to my father who was a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force and attributed my evaluation of BJU as evidence of a rebellious attitude towards the unassailable leadership of the Joneses and BJU] rebellion, and such, it seems that Bob Jones IV “rebelled” against Bob Jones III as a student at Bob Jones University. Wasn’t Bob Jones IV expelled for his alleged [under age] beer drinking while a student at Bob Jones University? The assessment recounted to me regarding his father’s chapel talk on the situation was that Bob Jones IV’s father “has no love.” Did you counsel Bob Jones III that his son, Bob Jones IV, would “probably” develop problems with “bitterness reaching the boiling point” if Bob Jones IV hit some bumps along the way? Do you intend to psychoanalyze [Bob Jones IV and] the members of the Jones family, or just me and mine?
Did you rebuke Bob Jones III for ‘preaching’ [at The Wilds] that “Chuck Swindoll couldn’t preach his way out of a wet paper bag”? Did you rebuke any Jones for causing you discomfort because of bitter attitudes and actions, for pride, egoism, evil speaking, sending materials, or planting a root of bitterness in separatist fundamentalism?
You mentioned “forgiveness.” [Apparently, his approach was to say that I had withheld forgiveness from the Joneses and that the problem was not with the Joneses but with my “unforgiveness”] Jesus teaches in Luke 17:3 that brotherly forgiveness follows repentance: “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” Genuine brotherly forgiveness never precedes repentance in an effort to accommodate a sin or sinner. Consult Jay Adams’ Handbook on Church Discipline and Don Baker’s Beyond Forgiveness.
There are huge differences between confronting an unrepentant [recalcitrant] brother’s sin and [the] seeking of personal vengeance. Note Paul’s public confrontation of an errant Peter in Galatians 2: 11-14. Note Paul’s lack of forgiveness of Alexander in I Timothy 1:20 and II Timothy 4:14, (“[Alexander] did me much evil…of whom be thou ware also…”) Note Christ’s Revelation 2:6 praise of the zeal of the Ephesians against brotherly sins: “thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” You might refer to Beyond Seduction by Dave Hunt, chapter 2. Hunt writes: “If there is to be a return to biblical Christianity, then no one in the church [universal] can claim immunity from correction. There is, unfortunately, a form of Christian guruism that has placed certain leaders on a pedestal of infallibility. To question anything they say or do is considered [sin].” Note my January 22, 1998 Open Letter: “…if a man chooses to ignore and disregard the underlying issues, contending for the faith and executing personal vengeance may appear indistinguishable.” After 37 years at Bob Jones University, I doubt that you really think that rebuke is merely an exercise in civility. (Note Titus 1) If the Joneses and Bob Jones University emulate the Cretians and Diotrophes, you are going to hear a sharp rebuke from time to time.
You mentioned [in your letter to me] Northside Baptist. Your [son, Gilbert Fremont] worked there for a year. Ask him to reconcile Bob Jones III’s Fundamental Baptist Fellowship and fund raising affiliations with Rev. John Stevens with Dr. Bob Jones III’s talk on separation. Such public exposure of error serves to highlight inconsistencies, shame the disorderly, and warn the brethren of unresolved problems. Bob Jones University has circulated such material for 70+ years. Have you ever expressed concern the the Joneses were bitter or obsessed because of the Billy Graham or John R. Rice they SELL for profit? Read Wally Metts’ book Faith Brokers, Chapter 7.
You mentioned hypocrisy. Yet you disregarded the [my] assertion that the Bob Jones University crowd lives by one standard and judges everyone else by another standard. You ignored Bob Jones University’s continued compromise with U. S. Senator Strom Thurmond [a 32nd degree Mason and a member of the Bob Jones University Board] and Masonry, that which Dr. Bob Jones III [condemned as] “a Luciferean religion.” You studiously ignored the chapel message in which Dr. Bob Jones III condemned people who say things about others without checking them out. In the next breath, Bob the Brave – who won’t say how he avoided being drafted – falsely labeled and accused a decorated combat veteran [a friend of yours] as “a betrayer’ who had “hired” [the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division to privately] investigate one of Dr. Bob Jones III’s ordained rainmakers! [It is illegal to, as Dr. Bob Jones III alleged in his chapel message, for a private citizen to “hire” a government law enforcement agency to conduct a private investigation.] You ignored allegations of BJU’s [and the Joneses’] evil speaking and of [their] betrayal of graduates who practice what Bob Jones University teaches. You didn’t explain Bob Jones University’s firing of the two men who attended [Southside Baptist Church] which granted membership to a racially mixed couple. Etc., etc., etc.
[Dr. Fremont], Bob Jones University’s reputation cannot be repaired by using dual standards and ever-shifting constructs. If Bob Jones University is to regain credibility, those at Bob Jones University must live by the same standards by which they judge everyone else. Nobody believes that Dr. Bob Jones III would give account for his conduct to anyone, regardless of [an accuser’s] humility, heart attitude, or standing with God.
During the past 70 years, [can you cite an instance] when Bob Jones University’s gatekeepers have ever judged a brother humble enough and pure enough of heart and high enough in where he “stands with God” to discuss issues with Bob Jones University or the Joneses involving their conduct, reputation, policies, and the glaring contradictions between their talk and their walk?
Bob Jones University meets criticism with a defensive closed loop: No pure-hearted person in good standing with God would criticize a deified Bob Jones University. Bob Jones University refuses to discuss issues with those judged lacking a pure heart and the proper standing with God. Only Bob Jones University is qualified to judge who is pure-hearted and where a man stands with God by evaluating what he thinks of a deified Bob Jones University. Clearly, Bob Jones University operates under a self-serving “defensive mentality.”
The friend of yours that Dr. Bob Jones III slandered is my father. Perhaps that will mitigate Dr. Bob Jones III’s false witness and discredit me [in your mind]. Facts and biblical standards don’t seem to purchase when a Jones is on the receiving end. Bob Jones University will put any interpretation on words and deeds to excuse a Jones. As to my motivation: I attended Bob Jones University as a result of its PR and Fifth Avenue advertising. I graduated in 1980. In 1991, I was judged a “loyal graduate” [in a letter I received] by Dr. Bob Jones III. Wendy and I knew out 4 home schooled children would attend Bob Jones University. The Northside Baptist/Bob Jones University situation happened.
In my contacts with my co-member, Dr. Bob Jones III, questions arose about his graduates, then Bob Jones University, then him, and then Bob Jones University’s nationwide “denomination.” I purposed to understand the Joneses, Bob Jones University, their affiliates, and their distinctive duplicity, philosophies, teachings, and practices. They became the objects of personal inquiry in order to sort their talk from their walk. I wanted to explore the contradictions I had witnessed. As a Bob Jones University grad, I found that I had graduated from a school that practices that which it condemns in others. In my inquiry (Deuteronomy 13), I corresponded with many people. I have been stonewalled, lied to, deceived, defrauded, unjustly judged, etc. It is no wonder Christians silently endure Bob Jones University and fear it. Confronting Bob Jones University with error is a waste of time and [invites] reprisals.
It is my hope that the Lord will raise up schools to fill the void left by Bob Jones University. We need schools which teach by example that loyalty and devotion are directed toward Jesus Christ and His Word and not to its leaders.
My view of [fundamentalism] is constantly evolving as I learn more. It appears that separation is Bob Jones University’s defining ideology because it accommodates the Joneses’ style. (Romans 16: 17, 18) Yet, I am free from fundamentalism’s religious grasp. I would encourage you to read The Wizard of God by Victor Nischik. It will help you to understand the pilgrimage I have just completed. Beware, [Dr. Fremont], of dual standards, personal and institutional loyalty, those who will not submit to God-ordained structures of accountability, and those who protect their own failings with “separation.”
I love you, Brother. You are a very special person. I am willing to meet with anyone who can demonstrate point-by-point any of the “time worn lies” for which you vaguely accuse me. Incidentally, Dr. Bob Jones III and Ken Hay have refused such an offer. We disagree on biblical accountability, personal loyalty, and dual standards. It hurts to lose a dear, long-time friend. May nothing I have said be construed as mean-spirited or unkind toward anyone, especially to you. You were the most influential teacher in my life. For that I am unalterably grateful.
Sadly,
Mark Fitzhenry
