P. J. SMYTH, John Smyth’s son, told Channel 4 News this week that his father had been a “master manipulator”. He was a “grand narcissist, barbaric, even monstrous, and my father”, he told Cathy Newman.
The shed wherein his father had beaten him from the ages of seven to 11 had been “defining” in his life, he said. His mother, Anne, had been Smyth’s “closest victim”. Nobody aware of Smyth’s abuse had considered that his family may additionally be victims.
He recalled how, while he was affected by cancer, his parents had told him that the disease was the results of ways wherein he had “dishonoured” them, and that he would recuperate if he repented.
In 2021, it was announced that P. J. Smyth would step down as Pastor of Monument Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland, within the United States, and from leadership within the Advance Movement, a gaggle of Evangelical churches with links to Newfrontiers, after concerns were raised in regards to the accuracy of statements that he had made regarding his father (News, 11 June 2021). During the interview, he praised Ms Newman, who publicly exposed Smyth’s abuse in 2017, for having “courageously brought into the sunshine what I couldn’t and others wouldn’t” and “punched an enormous hole in my wall of denial”.
His initial response — describing his father’s abuse as “excessive physical discipline” — had been “factually inaccurate” and had caused harm to others, he acknowledged.
During the printed, he read aloud, through tears, from a letter from a Smyth victim, “Graham”, who wrote of holding out “the hand of friendship” and offered a gathering.
Quotes of the week, page 18
