John Smyth, Father of P.J. Smyth, Dies of ‘Heart Attack’ Just as Criminal Prosecution Begins for Beating of Boys & Young Men
Monday, August 13, 2018 at 7:35PM John Smyth, father of P.J. Smyth, the former lead pastor of Covenant Life Church, died on Saturday. Hebrew 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this comes the judgement.”
John Smyth violently beat over 20 teenage boys and young men in England from 1978-1982. You can read the official investigative report written by Canon Mark Ruston for the Iwerne Trust that documents some of what occurred. After he was exposed, Smyth left the country and moved to Zimbabwe in 1984.
While in Zimbabwe, his criminal activity continued. He engaged in voyeurism, exhibitionism, and sexual sadism according to multiple accounts in his “Christian” holiday camp. David Coltart, the premier human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe, documented many of these allegations against him in an official report in October 1993.
Four years later, Symth was arrested and jailed in September 1997. A trial began in November before the Supreme Court in the capital of Harare for crimen injuria and culpable homicide in the death of Guide Nyachuru. The trial did not conclude due to the corrupt intervention of dictator, Robert Mugabe, who had the case dismissed.
A detailed timeline of these events was compiled in an independent Investigative Report. This report, and the Coltart Report, make clear P.J. Smyth knew about his father’s physical assaults in England and all about them in Zimbabwe. In fact, P.J. observed some of the horrific beatings in Zimbabwe and sought to prevent his father from deportation and prosecution through various means including contacts in the government.
Fast forward. On January 29, 2017, P.J. Smyth was installed as the lead pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He would never have been hired if he had been honest with the Search Committee and pastors about his role in shielding, protecting, and observing his father’s lewd, lascivious, and violent behavior. Why? Because CLC was trying to put behind them their 30-year history of covering up sexual abuse and assault under C.J. Mahaney and others. The last thing they wanted was another scandal related to sexual sadism.
C.J. Mahaney, Covenant Life Church & the Conspiracy to Cover-up the Sexual Abuse of Children
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 12:42PM
John Loftness in Focus – Former Chairman of the SGM Board & Alleged Sexual Sadist
Sunday, July 14, 2013 at 5:32PM
Four days after P.J.’s installation on February 2, 2017, Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom, broke the story about John Smyth’s beating of boys primarily in England but secondarily in Zimbabwe. Two days later, P.J. Smyth told Covenant Life Church, he had absolutely no knowledge of any allegations against his father in England or Zimbabwe. He blatantly lied.
New & Indisputable Evidence Proves P.J. Smyth Knew All About Father’s Violent Beating of Boys – He & Pastors Continue to Deceive Covenant Life Church Despite My Appeals
Friday, March 2, 2018 at 2:40PM
To this day, P.J. continues to cover up his knowledge of his father’s crimes. So do the remaining pastors at Covenant Life Church.
P.J. Smyth & Mark Mitchell Refuse to Answer Question at Members’ Meeting About Reliable Witnesses Calling P.J. a Liar for Denying Knowledge of Father’s Violent Beating of Boys
Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 5:38PM
My Letters to the Apostolic Leaders of Advance and Newfrontiers Asking Them to Remove P.J. Smyth from Leadership in Their Global Ministries
Friday, April 20, 2018 at 1:47PM
Upon becoming lead pastor, P.J. immediately began to have conflicts with the other pastors. He wanted more power. Those escalated and on April 21, 2018 he was effectively fired. The pastors decided to “part ways” with him by allowing him to plant a new church in the area. The church, “Monument Church,” will begin in November. Five pastors resigned because the remaining pastors were not honest with CLC about the serious sin issues in P.J.’s life. These pastors made their views known.
Five Covenant Life Pastors Who Resigned Talk about Sin Issues with Lead Pastor P.J. Smyth that Led to His Firing
Monday, July 9, 2018 at 11:30PM
In July 2011, Covenant Life Church had 4,300 people in attendance. It now has approximately 600. P.J. is currently recruiting members from CLC for his church plant. He just had two “Vision Nights” in people’s homes. Four more are scheduled in August but will be rescheduled with the death of his father.
P.J. recently told people he figures 300 members will go with him. One remaining member not going with him told me, “It is like watching Covenant Life Church commit suicide.” It may not survive after P.J. is done taking members with him. The new church will be 10-20 minutes away.
Last Thursday, before John Smyth died on Saturday, I was in contact with Andy Morse. Andy was one of the victims in England who was violently beaten by Smyth for years. As a result, Andy tried to commit suicide on his 21st birthday in 1982. That led to the investigation by Canon Mark Ruston.
Andy told me he had received news from the Hampshire Constabulary (i.e., police department) on Sunday, August 5, that the Crown Prosecution Service (comparable to our Department of Justice) had decided to prosecute John Symth based upon the evidence gathered from 13 victims in England since March 2017. The Crown Prosecution Service was also going to pursue his extradition from South Africa to England once formal charges were filed. The Daily Mail (United Kingdom) was ready to break the story on Sunday. Instead, they published this story on Saturday.
The Daily Mail
Leader of Christian Youth Campy where the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby once volunteered dies as he faces police investigation for ‘beating’ boys in the 1970s
Jonathan Pete
August 11, 2018
Here are three other newspaper articles of interest. QC stands for Queens Council.
BBC News
Christian Camp leader John Symth suspected of abuse dies
August 12,2108
The Telegraph News
John Smyth, the QC accused of beating boys at Christian camps, dies of 'heart attack'
Steve Byrd
August 12, 2108
The Guardian
Lawyer accused of beating boys at Christian camps dies
Harriet Sherwood
August 12, 2018
The prosecution of John Smyth was finally starting after a 16-month investigation. This was welcomed news to all the victims and their families, but on Saturday, the Lord God Almighty exercised his own justice upon John Smyth.
Based upon an examination of his actions, there is no reason to believe Smyth was a genuine Christian. Of course, he gave profuse lip service to Jesus Christ, but behind that empty profession, there was no heart service. You do not lie, deceive, coerce, threaten, and beat boys until they bruise or bleed for personal pleasure over many years if you are a genuine Christian! Moreover, he has always denied the horrific beatings. Watch Cathy Newman’s extraordinary interview.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit has radically changed your life through the miracle of regeneration. Being “born again” results a new nature and new life. John Smyth was an imposter. A pretender. A hypocrite. When Christ converts you, you are not the same. You live to do his holy and righteous will.
Matthew 7:21-23, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name? ’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers! ’
One day, we will all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ to give an account for our lives. That is bad news! Who can stand before a holy God and claim to be righteous when we are unrighteous. No one!
But there is good news! Jesus came into the word to save sinners. But to save them from what? To save or rescue them from justified wrath of God that lies ahead. Listen to Isaiah the prophet as he predicts Christ’s substitutionary death in the Old Testament. He died for us and becuase of us.
Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
That is why Jesus died on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem. It was there he was pierced, crushed and punished for our iniquity so we could be reconciled to God. In the death of Christ, you see the wisdom, justice, holiness, love, mercy and grace of the Triune God. In the beatings of John Smyth you see the work of the devil.
There is a coming judgement and after death no one cannot alter their eternal destiny. It is too late.
Hebrew 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this comes the judgement.”
That is why Paul told the Athenians in Greece,
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)
Christ died on a Friday and rose from the dead on a Sunday. Then he appeared to hundreds of eyewitnesses over a period of 40 days before ascending into heaven. What a joy! Christianity is a faith founded on fact. It is no fiction. And it has the power to forgive, reconcile, and give new life.
Isaiah also prophesied Jesus’ resurrection after his substitutionary death on the cross.
Isaiah 53:10-12 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
We can pay for our sins in hell or we can look to Christ as “an offering for sin.” How incredible that he “bore our iniquities” and “poured out his life unto death” so he could “justify many.” To be justified means to be declared righteous. That happens because Christ took our sin and gave us his righteousness as a gift. Therefore, God forgives us, counts us righteous and accepts us on the basis of what Christ has done. There is no fear of future judgement because our sins have been judged in Jesus. There is only joy and assurance! And because of this, we live lives that bring him glory and honor. Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit!