Recently the newspapers have highlighted the problems of Henry Lyons, the leader of the National Baptist Convention USA. It seems he owned an extra house and perhaps took an extra woman (other than his wife) to it. But then his wife confided that she knew about this other house all along. Now all of that sordid situation may not yet be sorted out, but there has arisen a further complication–Lyons’ marital history.
Lest the reader come to the wrong conclusion about this article, the purpose is not make light of the moral problem or to infer that infidelity is typical of Baptists. Our differences with them are doctrinal, not personal, and we have had what seems like more than our share of men who lacked moral purity.

The following facts have come to light and were published (not very prominently) in The Dallas Morning News of August 11th.

The St. Petersburg Times reported that Georgia records show Mr. Lyons married Patricia Lucile Demons in 1966, divorced in 1969 and married Camilla Smith that same year. They divorced in 1972. Mr. Lyons’ marriage to his current wife came after Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church in St. Petersburg began considering him for pastor 25 years ago, the newspaper reported. The church had found Mr. Lyons perfect except for the fact that he was single (4A).
The factual newspaper article reveals nothing further–except that Lyons lied when he married his third wife. He “indicated on his marriage license that he had never married” (4A). So what will happen now?

There are several points about this situation that are worth considering. First, one wonders how this man was hired by the Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church in the first place. Did they know of his previous marriages? Did they ask him? Did wife #3 know? Did they consult congregations with which he had previously worshipped and/or worked? How well did they know his background?

We don’t know the answers to these questions, but it brings up a point worth considering. Why do not churches investigate a man before they employ him? We know at least two cases involving our brethren in which the preacher’s wife had been unfaithful, but the next congregation was not warned. Sometimes, it has been the preacher who was unfaithful, but neither his wife nor the congregation from which he is departing issued a single word of warning to his new “work.” Apparently it is up to the “hiring” congregation to check a person’s background. Such may uncover a multitude of sins and save future heartaches.

One also cannot help wondering why the former wives never came forward and said anything. Were there no children? Was there no alimony payment? Did he just desert both women? Or was it to their financial advantage to keep silence all these years?

One cannot help wondering how the denomination views Mr. Lyons’ lying (about being single) on his marriage license. Has his conscience bothered him all these years? What about when he has preached about “bearing false witness” or just “lying” in general? If he had not repented of doing so, he is somewhat hypocritical.

One also wonders what the denomination he represents teaches about divorce and remarriage, as well as what he personally has taught through the years. Do they think that one can divorce and remarry as many times as he desires, as long as he “repents” of each “divorce,” as some of our digressive brethren opine?

Or do they feel that the 25 years of marriage to his current “wife” wipes out everything in his past–if it happened before he became a Baptist? There are some among us who think that baptism also serves as a bill of divorcement (as well as a marriage ceremony–to the current mate). Some have even been known to deny the validity of their original baptism in hopes that another baptism will change their marital status. Some have argued, “We wouldn’t want anything to get in the way of evangelism.” So if his two previous marriages happened before his “conversion,” maybe he is all right.

Obviously, Mr. Lyons has a lot of explaining to do, and his reputation has suffered much (perhaps irreparable damage). It will be interesting to see how the Baptists deal with this series of problems. They could choose to look the other way, but what kind of example would that be? In days gone by, they would have removed him swiftly, but these are different times.

Who would have imagined 25 years ago the “defenses” some of our brethren have advanced to circumvent the obvious teaching of Matthew 19:3-9? Taking a cue from some of our apostates, Mr. Lyons might argue that enough time has elapsed to heal all those old marital wounds and make his current marriage valid. More likely in his case, however, the reverse is true: the “pastor’s” past has caught up with him. As it was once put on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show: “Time wounds all heels.”

*Send comments or questions concerning this article to Gary Summers. Please refer to this article as: “DOES TIME HEAL ALL WOUNDS? (8/31/97).”