OUR ANSWER TO KREIGHTON CHAN’S ATTACK
AGAINST DR. HYMERS

Dr. Kreighton L. Chan made a statement about Dr. Hymers in his Sunday night sermon, which is utterly false and defamatory (March 15, 2020 PM). We give Kreighton’s comments word-for-word, as posted on his website. Then we will refute his statements sentence by sentence. Here is what Kreighton said word-for-word, taken from his website:

Now we will refute what Dr. Chan said, point by point.

1. (1) Kreighton was right. Dr. Hymers does say, “Culture trumps all.” Yes, Dr. Hymers believes that. But he does not define “culture” as ethnic groups. He has gone out of his way, over and over, to say, “I am not talking about ethnic groups, I am talking about the culture of the inner city of Los Angeles, all people in the city.” Dr. Hymers knows Los Angeles very well, far better than Dr. Chan does. Dr. Hymers was born in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, and lived nearly all of his life in the city of Los Angeles, except for about four years in Marin County, where he went to graduate school.

   We know that most independent Baptist preachers will agree with us that Los Angeles is a wasteland in regard to fundamental Christianity. Not long ago we heard of four graduates of Liberty University who came to Los Angeles to start churches - but every one of them failed. Why did they fail? Because the culture of Los Angeles is not the same as the culture of Lynchburg, Virginia!!! That’s why!!!

   Dr. Chan quotes from I Thessalonians to correct Dr. Hymers on this. But he cannot quote from the Corinthian Epistles, because the culture of Corinth was much worse than the culture of Thessalonica. We challenge him to compare the two in writing. He will not be able to do that, of course! The culture of the Corinthian church was from the inner city of Corinth, which was much more debased than the city of Thessalonica – just as the culture of Hollywood and the inner city of Los Angeles are much different from the culture of the city of Lynchburg, Virginia! If Dr. Hymers is wrong, why isn’t there even one strong fundamental Baptist church in the inner city of Los Angeles? Not one!!! IT’S BECAUSE THE PEOPLE IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES DO NOT WANT A STRONG FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH, THAT’S WHY!

2. (2) Dr. Chan says that he is Chinese, and knows the Chinese people better than I do. That is not true! Dr. Chan is not Chinese. He’s a fifth generation American who doesn’t know one word of Chinese and doesn’t understand their culture. Actually, Dr. Chan is what Chinese people themselves call a “banana.” He’s yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Neither one of his parents were culturally Chinese. After five generations of living in America, he is culturally a white neo-Hippie. That is why he appeals to white neo-Hippies, not to ethnic Chinese. His own mother-in-law left our church after he said from the pulpit that she had to go to evangelism and tithe or she couldn’t be saved, something Dr. Hymers has never said and does not believe because it is salvation by works. By the way, if Dr. Hymers is wrong, why doesn’t Winnie Chan’s mother attend Dr. Chan’s church, even now?

   Dr. Hymers knows the Chinese people far better than Dr. Chan ever will. Dr. Hymers was saved while attending the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles. Dr. Hymers was baptized by his Chinese pastor, Dr. Timothy Lin. Dr. Hymers preached and taught in that all-Chinese church for over ten years. Anybody who knows his story realizes that he knows far more about the Chinese than Dr. Chan ever will. “Bananas” never understand ethnic Chinese. How could they?

   By the way, we already have a number of Chinese young people, most of whom Dr. Chan has never met because they came after he left our church. How many ethnic, Chinese-speaking people has Dr. Chan added since he split our church? We say he has added none because “bananas” don’t understand ethnic Chinese and don’t want to understand them.

3. (3) Dr. Chan is ignorant of missiology. Successful missionaries have always understood that cultures are different. Thessalonica was as different as night and day from Corinth. Kreighton likes to say that Dr. Hymers is a racist, against certain ethnic groups. NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH. In fact, Dr. Hymers created the most culturally diverse fundamental Baptist church in North America (to our understanding) – while he was pastor there. It was Dr. Hymers that encouraged and developed this ethnically diverse church, NOT DR. CHAN. Dr. Hymers never once saw Dr. Chan lead a black person or a Hispanic person to Christ, although he did steal some that Dr. Hymers had won to Christ.

   Dr. Hymers spent 45 years in the inner city of Los Angeles pastoring the most ethnically diverse group of fundamental Baptists that we know of. Dr. Hymers led those who were converted to Christ from every ethnic group. Dr. Hymers led Dr. Chan to Christ, according to Dr. Chan himself. Dr. Hymers led every one of those to Christ who Dr. Chan stole and took in the church split he started. Dr. Hymers’ own preaching and counseling led every one of Kreighton’s deacons to Christ, both of his sons to Christ, his wife to Christ, Lara Chan to Christ, Mr. Griffith to Christ, Mr. Nickell to Christ, Sergio Melo to Christ, and all other leaders in Dr. Chan’s church. Every one of his people who now applaud when he criticizes Dr. Hymers, were led to Christ by Dr. Hymers. NOT ONE OF THEM WAS LED TO CHRIST BY CHAN. He couldn’t even lead “Woody” Jiang to Christ!!!

   As a matter of fact, WE DON’T KNOW OF ONE PERSON IN HIS “CHURCH” THAT DR. CHAN LED TO CHRIST, NO, NOT ONE! Some of his people are truly born again Christians, like his son Philip Chan. But Dr. Hymers led Philip Chan to Christ. Dr. Chan did not lead him to Christ. Dr. Chan says Dr. Hymers is “just an evangelist.” That’s a good thing because Philip would be going to Hell if Dr. Hymers had not led him to Christ.

4. (4) Dr. Chan says that Dr. Hymers denies the power of God in conversion. IT IS DR. CHAN WHO DENIES THE POWER OF GOD IN CONVERSION, NOT DR. HYMERS! Dr. Chan left conversion to “the machinery of the church.” He never went to the inquiry room. He never came to the altar to deal with people. He knows nothing about conversion. Several of our young people have asked Dr. Hymers, “Why didn’t Dr. Chan ever show an interest in leading people to Christ?” It is not Dr. Hymers who shows no interest in conversion, but Kreighton himself does not believe in the power of God in conversion. He does not even know how to preach an evangelistic sermon that would convert anybody. He emphasizes only one half of evangelism, always focusing on the Blood atonement of Christ for sinners, BUT NEVER PREACHING ON WHY THEY NEED TO BE CONVERTED. He does not understand the great Baptist and Protestant doctrine of REPENTANCE. This is where his Roman Catholic background comes into play. Instead of preaching law before Gospel, he mistakenly preaches salvation by works, with Christ tacked on to make his sermon acceptable to evangelicals.

   Dr. Hymers has known Dr. Chan for 45 years. Dr. Chan came to our church from a Roman Catholic church. After all these years, it seems to us that he’s nothing more than a little Roman Catholic priest posing as a Baptist preacher.

5. (5) Dr. Chan says, “All of us need to ‘come out from among them [the culture of the world], and be ye separate.’” Our question is this, “Why hasn’t Dr. Chan come out of his own culture and separated from it?” Exactly like J. Richard Olivas, Dr. Chan is nothing more than an unconverted Hippie, pretending to be a Chinese pastor. He is a quintessential “banana.” He’s yellow on the outside and an antinomian Hippie on the inside. Why doesn’t he ever preach against marijuana? Why doesn’t he ever preach against pornography? It’s because he’s still part of the Hippie culture, from which he has not repented. In fact, why doesn’t he ever preach repentance? I read his sermons. He mentions the Blood of Christ but he doesn’t tell people why they need the Blood of Christ, BECAUSE HE NEVER PREACHES STRONG SERMONS ON REPENTANCE.

6. (6) Dr. Chan is a liar. In the late spring of 2016 Dr. Chan wrote the following email to Dr. Christopher L. Cagan, the lead pastor in our church. In that email, which Dr. Cagan kept on file, Dr. Chan said this:

   May 27, 2016
   
   Dear Dr. Cagan:
   
   Our church is my home and I promise you that I will never leave it.
   
   I want to do as much for as Christ as I can and there is plenty or work to do here to meet that desire.
   
   I share your vision of encouraging the young people to lead our church into the future and I will do everything I can to support them.
   
   I seek nothing else. I have no desire to preach anywhere else…I'm happy to preach on Saturdays but please don't feel that I need that to satisfy me.
   
   I would have responded earlier to your email but I just returned home.
   
   Yours in Christ,
   
   Dr. Chan

   At the very time Dr. Chan wrote that email, he was holding secret meetings with another pastor, developing a plan to “steal” half of our church, causing the greatest church split we have ever experienced. He was plotting all of that when he wrote the above email, in which he lied and said, “Our church is my home and I promise you that I will never leave it.” Now, whatever shortcomings Dr. Hymers may have, and he does have shortcomings, he is not a liar like Dr. Chan. Remember that Dr. Chan is not a teenager who may say something without thinking. He is a man of retirement age who has been a deacon for over forty years. If you can’t believe what a forty-year deacon of retirement age says, who can you believe?

7. (7) J. Richard Olivas failed miserably to lead a group that he took out of our church into a solid evangelistic church. Mr. Olivas failed because he thought he could manipulate God into blessing him, even though he himself was a “sheep stealer.” The last we heard he has less than ten people, and he will never have more than that.

   We have noticed that Dr. Kreighton L. Chan copies, point by point, what J. Richard Olivas did. Both of them come from a Hippie background, rife with marijuana, pornography, and rebellion against authority. The best Kreighton will ever be able to do is produce a church like that of Laodicea, if he can produce one THAT GOOD!

   Dr. Hymers is not ashamed to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, who said:

   “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11).

8. (8) Dr. Christopher L. Cagan is now the pastor of our church, and Dr. Hymers is the pastor emeritus. Dr. Cagan is a man who can be completely trusted because he has proven himself for 45 years to be a true man of God. This is what Dr. Cagan says about Kreighton’s attack on Dr. Hymers.

   “Kreighton’s attack against Dr. Hymers is sinful, self-seeking, and even demonic. Since he has nothing else to say against Dr. Hymers, he is forced to say Dr. Hymers is a racist, attacking various ethnic groups. I challenge Dr. Chan to document where Dr. Hymers has ever said anything like that in any of his sermons, which are all on the Internet. Furthermore, Dr. Chan is a liar. The email he wrote to me, saying he would never leave our church, was written at the same time that he was having secret meetings with another pastor named John Waldrip, planning to split our church wide open. Kreighton says Dr. Hymers is a racist, because he has no other fault to find, and he even has to twist that one because it isn’t true.
   
   We are sending these eight points to everyone in Dr. Chan’s ‘church.’ I want to encourage you to leave his ‘church’ and come back here where you got saved. If you’d like to talk to me as the pastor, I will keep what you say completely discreet. You can phone me at (213)324-4745. I strongly advise you to leave Dr. Chan’s group and come back to us, where you got saved. We will always care for you and love you.”
   
   With Love in Christ,
   
   Rev. Christopher L. Cagan,
   Ph.D., M.Div., Ph.D.,
   Pastor