Moody Church Hate Crimes: Part 1 of 3
Channel: Linda Ford
Date: 2012-08-12

My name is Linda Beth Ford, and I was the victim of a hate crime nearly 15 years ago by the new staff at Moody Church in Chicago. After I left Moody Church, any reasonable person would believe that the hate crime actions would have completely stopped, but the hate crime instead continued for many years. Why did the hate crime continue? The new staff resented that I worked with the well respected staff at Moody from the previous administration and they also resented that my friends were Jewish. I believe that the previous pastor was forced out of the church and did not leave on his own. My own family refused to believe me about the hate crime actions for all these years, and they left me to die in the street.

I have worked as a paramedic in Chicago, and I worked in the records department in the Radiology Department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and managed a surgeon's office where hernia surgery was a specialty. Because of my knowledge and expertise with aspects within the medical field, it was recommended that I should work in the very specialized area of medicine in the legal field.

I also worked as a medical paralegal in my own business and traveled across the country. I helped to save a number of lives during this time in serving the public health. For one person who was seriously injured in a drunk driving accident, I took the initiative and wrote a patient impact statement about the patient's condition for the attorney to present in court, and this action caused the patient to be awarded an extra $2 million dollars. The only thing that this very well respected personal injury law firm gave me for my effort was some flowers and a box of candy. The patient and the partners of this law firm benefited financially from this extra effort on my part and they really should have shared that benefit with me. Beyond this very ungrateful incident, I was well respected by my peers in both the medical and legal communities and some of these peers have helped during this time and I love them for their assistance.

In a decision of December 30, 2010, Erwin Lutzer was found liable by the Illinois Appellate Court, which awarded the plaintiff, Richard Duncan (a former pastor of The Moody Church who had resigned in 1992), the sum of $276, 306 in damages.  Here is the link to the case https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:MgjMav52u8oJ:www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2010/2ndDistrict/December/2091078.pdf+vs.+bervin+peterson&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShNg0lgHCbReyjongmgk7iVgFfuU-7FSO2ompCzOphEDIZYUTZOpOKKpQ3IIX5gmNrZe_YL4oY_JQazuBJ7889K21r9BOrYXA7FmtrLPZ5i9JC3bYhATR18OU_S8lspokEwedDx&sig=AHIEtbQ4w4z2IB_vbsy11aCiqAjv6KNj3Q. The complaint against Pastor Lutzer claimed invasion of privacy. It was filed subsequent to Pastor Lutzer having sent a number of personal documents relating to Duncan's alleged marital and personal problems to the senior clergy of the plaintiff's new church.  This clearly shows the character of these two men and the leadership at Moody Church.

I am now suffering from congestive heart failure, and now, on my own initiative, I believe that I should publicly identify Pastor Scott Ryan Kreuz as the primary perpetrator of the hate crime so he could be held accountable. Scott Kreuz is really a "wolf in sheep's clothing", who is very good at manipulating the church leadership in order to appear one way, but then he behaves another way toward people against whom he has a vendetta. This type of behavior is not how clergy, much less a pastor, should behave. Moody Church needs to be cleaned up completely of its corruption and restored to how it functioned when I worked there during the previous administration.

I tried to bring my story to the newspapers and the television news in Chicago, but they ignored my request. Since we no longer have a "free press" in America today, If there was any justice whatsoever in the world, then they should all be where I am. I am presenting my video on youtube.  It is my last wish that justice so long denied will finally be done!!!