Her name was Lydia. She was seven years old. She’s dead because her parents took Michael and Debi Pearl’s No Greater Joy Ministries teachings too far Lydia was disciplined to death. She had deep bruising and scars from beatings on her back, buttocks and legs, injuries which cause organ failure. That is no surprise to anyone who has read and followed Michael and Debi Pearl. Lydia was ‘trained’ for hours for mispronouncing a word during a home-school reading lesson.
Her 11 year old sister Zariah was in intensive care week and was released into foster last week .
The other Schatz children interviewed and have reportedly made statements to investigators about the disciplinary philosophy to which their parents adhered. Lydia and Zariah were one of three children adopted from Liberia three years ago. The Schatz have five other children.
The other children told investigators the same instrument was used on all of them, but Ramsey said it was not to the extent of the two girls and except for the Schatz’ bruised 10-year-old son, none of the other children showed signs of abuse.
The Schatz’s have been charged with murder, torture and misdemeanor cruelty.
Police in Paradise California say they found the pipe in the home and have tied it in with other evidence leading to No Greater Joy Ministries run by Michael and Debi Peal in Tennessee. One of the other children taken into care was also injured.
He violently disagrees he teaches religiously motivated child abuse, he says he teaches parents to train their children “which sometimes requires the limited and controlled application of a spanking instrument.” To Debi and Michael Pearl it’s just a biblical principle. 2 foot length of PVC pipe for children over 1 years of age. Children under one year of age get ‘trained’ with a branch, paddle or ruler.
And yes, Michael Pearl is quick to blame Lydia and Zariah and parents with predisposition to abusive habits.
Likewise Ramsey, the prosecutor in the Schatz case, is quick to point out that “No Greater Joy” does not advocate spanking to the point of serious injury. If indeed these parents were abusive, and that has not yet been proven by the courts, it is regretful that our teachings were not able to turn them from their predisposition to abusive habits.
After all his lucrative ‘ministry’ is under scrutiny again. Lydia is not the first child to die at the hands of parents who actually think the Pearls give wisdom. 4 year old Sean was killed by his mother in 2006 after she swallowed the Pearls teaching.
Michael and Debi Pearl whose book do acknowledge that discipline turns to abuse when the “child is broken in spirit, cowed and subdued …”
Debi Pearl has bragged about hitting other peoples children. Control, power, inappropriate boundaries, biblical justification. They bear moral responsibility, I doubt the law can touch No Greater Joy Ministries or shut down the profits from this pathology.
Allthings2all has taken a look at Michael and Debi Pearls theology. There isn’t much biblical about what the Pearls spout. You can’t also read about ‘training’ that the Pearls advocate at Talk2Action.
The law will deal with the Schatz’s. No law will bring Lydia back, heal her sister, or their siblings or shut the Pearls operation down.
And wives, if your husband beats you the Pearls tell you you can’t leave. You have to submit.
The teachings go against every state and provincial law and they run a million dollar operation.
The Pearls materials are popular among fundamentalist home schoolers.
The Schatz’s home schooled and rarely left their home.
Disciplining to Death from No Longer Quivering
Since Sean’s death To Train a Child has been pulled from Barnes and Noble.
Religion News Blog has information on the Pearl compound, church, earnings and employees.
I’ve written about the Michael and Debi Pearl previously.
Thank you for shining a light and spreading awareness of this horrible and tragic event.
I just want to mention also that there is a link attributed to me that actually has another author and I want her to receive credit for reporting. “Disciplining to Death” is by WanderingOne at No Longer Quivering.
Thanks again for providing this resource. May Lydia’s death not be in vain.
Hi, I changed the reference.
I want to thank you for your site, I’ve been reading it and No Longer Quivering for several months, and both are a valuable resource.
We all grieve over the death of a child at a parent’s hand, your efforts to help those trapped in such a closed system is valued.
May Lydia’s death not be in vain.
Blog on!
Perhaps the Pearls cannot be prosecuted as accessories to the murder of Lydia Schatz, but I have another approach to suggest. Years ago the Southern Poverty Law Center helped a black grandmother sue the Ku Klux Klan in CIVIL court for damages after the Klan’s teachings prompted two young men to murder her grandson. The grandmother won the suit and ended up with the keys to the national Klan’s property, essentially bankrupting the organization. Given that the Pearls claim to have sold or distributed 1.4 million copies of their odious book, perhaps bankrupting them would go a long way to shutting them down.
Actually,
I have come across numerous biblical citations that liken Michael Pearl’s teachings to that of the anti-christ because they steal up children’s souls with violent dominance before they have a choice or are aware. Remember, the anti-christ fools people into worshipping him as God. Michael Pearl tries to give people the illusion that they can control completely like God and they can be God-like and “sit as God.” I truly believe Michael Pearl is the anti-christ.
This is very simply brainwashing and torture, not child training. Michael Pearl is the Osama Bin Laden of children. Any crazy moron could think up these methods. They are not intelligent or new. Just insane. The Pearls belong in a mental institution.
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I’m submitting a Petition to several groups, about Changing the Immunity Laws for Churches, Ministries, any Hate Speech and under Any Religion, that is making profit, that is creating an environment conducive to child abuse and is advocating child abuse,
and therefore by removing immunity Accessory Charges, Felony Murder, Felony Child Abuse, can be charged and these CRIMINALS be held Liable under the full extent of the law,
we need Petitions, to get Legislation passed.
Any one who has any info [I want to get this on the boards in two to three weeks] that could be used to form this petition,
send me email, janedoethreads7 (at) hotmail (dot) com
I will be contacting my state’s legislature on this…
Sincerely,
Jane
Hi, I’ve been trying to email you regarding this post – could you please email me when you read this. Thank you
<a href=”http://www.abstroose.com”>Metaphysics</a>
Hi Science Guy:
I emailed you, it bounced. Would you like to try to email BDBO again?
Barnes and Noble no longer carries the Pearls’ child torture manual. Amazon needs to be petitioned to do the same — along with a nice big media blitz announcing their decision.
Get the Pearls where they’ll care — their income.
These creeps make money teaching people to go to the hardware store to buy piping to beat children from infancy on up.
High time they were stopped.
Write to Amazon, write to any and all booksellers, refuse to tolerate this filthy material for sale anywhere.
This stuff is as bad as anything NAMBLA ever put out, IMO.
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The church has been a place of ‘immunity’. All those that ‘live there seem to ‘for the main part’ remain under the radar systems that normally would have sprung into action on most of these issues long ago in any other ‘realm’ of society. Abuse of children in a ‘religious setting’ goes from ‘mind bending at an early age’ to actual physical sexual abuse, to physical abuse and ‘brain washing’ and bible ‘belt bashing’.
It seems that the so called normal procdures in society somehow don’t or shouldn’t apply to ‘church’ as Jesus would know doub’t be horrified along with the bank balance if it became ‘widespread or known’. The so called tolerance level that christians seem to walk in and the so called place of forgiveness they promote render them blind or passive to not only the truth but whats under their noses. These people need to be taken out of Ministry ‘as they call it!’ and rendered ‘not applicable’ for their duration. Americas ‘army of joels’ are already expressing hate and hell to muslims and two year olds are going into bars with billboards to speak to ‘drinkers’ about Jesus. Britain had a documentary recently on just such a subject)
I was speechless at the haunted looks on some of these kids faces as they were ‘punching the air’ against’ non christians, mulsims and the so called infidels of good christian values. The catholic church has been supposedly dealing with such issues but really the wider church has to face up to some ‘home truths’ and be brought to boot for their laziness and inability to tackle these ‘unseemly problems’! that few are prepared to face and do something about.
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The Pearls also admit to hitting animals with the same instrument that was used to beat the little girl that died.
“Even my chickens are laughing . . . well, actually it is more like cackling,because they just laid another organic egg for my breakfast and they know that it was that same piece of ¼ inch plastic supply line that trained the dogs.not to eat chicken”. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=378945952575
Wish Peta(regardless of personal feelings of all of their tactics) and other animal protection groups would know about this.
Here is my petition to ban the physical assault of children
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/america39s-behind–ban-the-physical-assault-of-children
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Well, it would be good of ALL of you to read their book before you begin spouting off about something that you OBVIOUSLY have not read! You are all a laughing-stock because you are saying that the Pearls condone and teach things that they actually speak out AGAINST in their book!!!! SO, it really makes all of you sound dumb…….speaking about people that you really know nothing about.
If Lydia’s parents had read some other training method, (or worse yet, gone off their own obviously misguided instinct) they still would have ended up abusing their children, because it’s about what is really in you, your character and who you are as a person!!! (and let me tell you, the Pearls actually teach that if you have problems that are causing you to discipline too harshly, and you can’t be joyful in teaching your children, then they actually recommend that you give up trying to discipline your children at all, and practice being joyful and loving to them instead!!!!!) Hmmmmm……oh yeah, doesn’t go at all with what you guys are saying, does it???? BUT THAT’S BECAUSE I’VE READ THEIR LITERATURE AND YOU ALL HAVE NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RESEARCH BEFORE YOU SPEAK OUT, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!
Heather~
I would have to say that you believe that none of these people that have posted replies have read any of their literature. Now if I were you, I would ask them first if they have read the literature. I have and I believe with each of the posts that are on here. So make sure you know that each of these replies have read the pearls literature before accusing them please. Thank you! I don’t believe I need to “train” my children into being great children or great adults. They are not animals, they are human beings.
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Well clearly none of the critics have read the book to gain anything from it, if they’d read it at all.
I use the methods in the book, To Train a Child. It works. You spank less if you train. Read the book for yourself, and abuse your children no longer by withholding training.
You should be ashamed to associate these people with murder. They promote safety and above all, love!