[askseek]

Back in 2007, before he had revealed his true identity, Don Rutledge posted this on the Berean forum about the cover-up of the adultery of Irving, Texas elder Ben McPherson in the early 1980s

Ray Graver was the first to know. He contacted Benson Phillips who called for an urgent gathering at his home with Ray, Joe Davis of Houston, Don Looper of Austin, and Don Rutledge of Dallas. This occurred the morning after Ben was found out. All the brothers there were furious. Don Rutledge angrily declared that they had all been betrayed. All agreed that Ben should be publicly excommunicated and publicly rebuked that all may fear. All agreed that the Lord could not bless the church in Irving due to Ben's sin. Ben had confessed to Ray that this sin was not a one time thing but had been going on for some time including when he was in Arlington. Ben also admitted that he knew the Church in Arlington had lagged the other Dallas area churches in blessing due to his sin. At that time, none of these brothers would sympathize with any immorality and especially from an elder or co-worker.

While they were meeting, Witness Lee returned Benson's urgent message. After about a 30 minute conversation, Benson returned to the room where the brothers were waiting, still in a state of shock and outrage. WL urged them to consider Ben's family and the harm to them if he was publicly exposed. He urged them not to publicly excommunicate him but simply ask him to move away. That is what Ray and Benson decided to do. The other three had big reservations but deferred to the Irving brothers to take care of the matter.

But then the lying started. Many people began to call wanting to know what happened to Ben. Since WL, Benson, and Ray had decided to keep the real situation under wraps, what where these brothers to say? Looper and Rutledge would say that something must have happened in Irving and they did not know for sure—A LIE. Benson and Ray told various stories like Ben wanted to get away, etc. and not to worry since he was in fellowship. WL urged Benson and Ray to spend time with Ben and seek to recover him, but they were too disgusted to seek to contact him.

Yes the worldly wisdom from Witness Lee and the unfaithfulness of the five brothers led to more tragedy. All five have an account to give at the judgment seat.

-Hope
In Christ Jesus there is hope for us all.


This is the account of Jane Anderson on the aftermath of the cover-up

In 1990, while he was still married, Ben McPherson seduced the wife of a leader in the Church in Fort Worth, a leader with whom he had formerly served. Don Looper, under Benson Phillips' direction, had labeled this leader's wife as rebellious in 1977. Looper did this to her in Austin about the same time that Benson did the same thing to me in Houston. She suffered for years afterward, more than I did, because her husband stood with the LC leadership against her, whereas my husband stood with me. As a consequence of her long-term unhappiness, she was more susceptible to Ben's seduction years later. Benson's unbiblical actions as a Christian leader played a destructive role in both this sister's family and Ben's.

For much of the year after she had repented for her adultery, she lived with my husband and me. (We were no longer in the LC by this time.) She was trying to regain her spiritual footing, and we were encouraging her to return to her husband. She was willing to do this on the condition that he would move far away from the Local Church and start taking care of their marriage. (He never could bring himself to do this.) We told no one about her sin, because she had repented.

At one point, this sister received a letter from someone in the Church in Austin who was trying to find out if it was true that she was going to marry Ben McPherson! Upon reading this letter, she broke down and wept. She told me it was evident to her that the LC leadership would never change. To her knowledge, the only other people who knew about her sin were her husband, the other leader in Ft. Worth, and Benson. She realized one or more of these leaders had not only revealed her sin to others but also had spread an untrue rumor about her that she was going to marry Ben, and that this rumor had even reached her fellow Christians in Austin. I still have a copy of that letter. That day was the final straw for this sister. She then gave up trying to walk in repentance, moved out of our home, and, not long afterwards, did marry Ben. Two families were broken up.

some more backstory from Jane

In the late 1970s in Houston, years before the Dallas cover-up happened, my husband and I and two other sisters had a time of private fellowship with Ben McPherson, Ray Graver, and Joe Davis (the three leaders in the Church in Houston at that time). Due to the situation in the church, we raised the possibility that there might be "sin in the camp" that was affecting the blessing on the church there. Upon hearing this, Ben broke down and began to weep saying something to the effect that the church's condition was probably his fault.

Ben's weeping in Houston should have been a red flag for Ray and Joe that something was wrong with him. He obviously needed help, and his fellow leading brothers saw this. A man weeping as he did is an unusual thing. I wonder if Ray or Joe took the time to discover what was troubling Ben, as they clearly should have. Immediately after this episode, Ray called Benson to inform him, and before long Ben was moved to another city, ending his role as the main leader in Houston.

Instead of seeing Ben's weeping as a sign of a brother in need of help, I have reason to believe that Benson saw it as a shameful downfall, maybe a sign of weakness. In 1977, at the time when Benson was giving me my first label, in a meeting in front of Joe Davis, Ray Graver, and some others, he said to me without explanation, "and the shameful downfall that you caused to one of us." I had no idea what he was talking about, but I later deduced he was probably referring to Ben weeping. I suspected that Benson would have seen this as a shameful downfall because Ben was a leader, a "delegated authority".