INTRODUCTION

Betrayed! is my father's account of my family and how we all converted from Judaism to Christianity.  Anyone reading the book would assume that we are a very close family whose faith in Christ is our common bond. My father certainly paints this picture in his book and in public in his verbal testimony but unfortunately, the family you read about in Betrayed! is a family that does not exist. I have demanded of him that he stop using me in his testimony. He refuses to honor what I have asked first, and then demanded of him, and has refused all contact with me for six years - even to the point of returning unopened mail marked REFUSED!

In the Introduction of Betrayed!, Leonard LeSourd says, "The climax comes when Stan, wife Ethel, and daughters Judy and Ann have a family confrontation over their faith and what it means to them." That  confrontation continues to this day and while we were at one time a close family, all of that changed and finally the confrontation exploded out of control on November 18, 2000. That was the day the financial records of Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc. were uncovered by my husband to be followed by an audit conducted by the treasurer and board member.  Earlier that day, my father married Elaine and left for his honeymoon. I had been recently hired as the ministry secretary and was responsible for receiving donations and entering deposits into a financial ledger. That evening my husband went into the ministry offices where the computer containing the financial ledger of Stan Telchin Ministries had been left on (I was working that evening). That ledger detailed the receipt of donor gifts and the expenditure of donor money by my father. What was uncovered was deeply troubling and while every effort was made by my husband and the treasurer to resolve the matter in a Christian spirit,  those efforts failed, as my father abandoned Biblical principle and turned to self preservation. He would fire me without warning as the ministry secretary and then days later attempt to evict us. Once he did that, he would have his lawyers send us a bizarre legal agreement to sign which said that if he would remained silent and did not disclose what we knew he would not evict us. We refused and voluntarily left town. That was six years ago and we have not heard from him since. When I have written him, he returns my mail unopened and marked 'refused'.

My father's response was to tear the family to shreds in a desperate attempt to keep what was uncovered from being made known. He failed in that effort as eventually after many months, criminal complaints regarding my father's handling of donations to his ministry were filed in Manatee County with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. Due to multi-jurisdictional issues uncovered in the investigation, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office turned the matter over to the FBI.  Ultimately, the IRS got involved and called my father to an audit in November, 2002.  In December, 2002, Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc. was dissolved.  My father has told people that my husband went to the FBI.  This is not true in the least.  Local law enforcement asked the FBI to assist in the investigation.

A WITNESS IN QUESTION

There are many who know the Telchin family privately -- away from Betrayed! and all the public hype and attention generated by Betrayed!  Those who know our family and the dynamics that undergird our family structure agree we are not the family as described in Betrayed! I sure wish we were, and maybe a day will come when we will be. That's my hope. My father does not appear to understand just how many people know the truth about our family.  There are hundreds who know and many, many people question my father's witness.  Under the circumstances, it is my opinion my father has no business whatsoever in public ministry representing Jesus Christ. He certainly has no business representing our family as a spiritual leader. The Bible sets forth a clear and high standard for those in public spiritual leadership.  I am of the opinion my father falls far short of that standard as what he preaches is not what he practices. In recent years, the scandal involving my father has reached the public far and wide and so many now seriously question his integrity and the validity of his personal witness (click here). Just a few weeks ago he spoke in a church and was caught lying and a major Jewish newspaper printed a lengthy article on his claims.

I am very uncomfortable with the representations my father makes regarding our family both as found in Betrayed! and in his public testimony (click here). I am so bothered that I have written my father twice (most recently on February 8, 2004) asking him to stop using my name in his public testimony.  I have painstakingly explained to him why it is inappropriate for him to use my name and our family to perpetuate a ministry I believe is simply a fraudulent illusion.  He has refused to honor my request and has only responded by having three different lawyers in two different states send me no less than six different letters threatening to sue me and my family.  My opinion is; my father's public profile has always been more important to him than his own family. 

Simply put, while Betrayed! is a good story and many people have read it, it is not exactly truthful.  It is a story that has come at the great and personal expense of my family.  The reality is we are one of the most broken and divided families I know of.  Ozzy Osbourne and his family are closer then we are - and as far as I know, they don't know the Lord!!  Readers of Betrayed! are stunned to learn that my father has had nothing to do with me for six years.  This is not because I don't want anything to do with him but rather, it is because he returns my mail unopened and marked 'refused' and he refuses to responded to an e-mail or phone call. In the last six years, the only time I have heard from my father is through his many different lawyers who have issued repeated letters threatening to sue my family.

THE HOSTILITY OF STAN TELCHIN TOWARDS HIS OWN FAMILY

Readers of Betrayed! are stunned to learn of the hostile legal action my father took against me, my husband and my young son in January 2001 after the financial records of Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc. were discovered.  My father, without warning, fired me as ministry secretary and then took action to evict me and my family from our house. He would then turn against my husband and publicly label him as "psychologically unstable" and "extremely dangerous" and even go so far as to say my husband had been involved in a "Satanic cult" -- all in an attempt to cover what had been uncovered in my father's ministry. He would say those things and tell people my husband's parents had even said them about their own son. My husband's parents had to write a letter to my father denouncing what he had attributed to them.  My husband is a good, kind and gentle man and we have an honest and fulfilling marriage.  He is also a wonderful father to my young son and home schools him.  I could not have married a better man. My husband is also a man with a vibrant witness for Christ.  He has been flagrantly blamed for more things than I can possibly write here.

A CHURCH RESPONDS

If you were to ask my father about me today he would tell you, as he has told others, that I am a prodigal daughter situation and he is just waiting for me to call and make things right.  He even told Jews for Jesus this and Moishe Rosen, his former board member, wrote a pastor on August 13, 2002 in Florida and said of Stan, "You are dealing with a heart broken old man whose daughter and son-in-law are estranged for reasons that neither you nor I or Stan can explain."  It turned out this church filed a complaint with law enforcement against my father (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Report No. 02079125, Date of Report: 8/16/02, Location Taken: 9620 Davis Road, Tampa, FL) after he spoke there and the pastor was complaining to Jews for Jesus about my father's conduct while in that church. A few weeks after my father appeared in that church, the church printed the following in their August 18, 2002 Sunday morning bulletin,

"You Can Help... If you received a fundraising appeal letter from Stan Telchin, and still have the letter, we would appreciate it if you would bring it to our church office. These letters are considered evidence in the criminal investigation of Stan Telchin and Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc."

I can understand why Moishe would respond to the pastor of the church as he did given the terrible things my father has told so many people about my husband. Stan also told his board in a board meeting on January 25, 2001 that my husband had committed felonies and other crimes against Stan Telchin Ministries and Stan Telchin. My husband never committed any such crimes. On August 3, 2001, Moishe Rosen sent my father an e-mail and  referring to my husband, Moishe said, "The only thing you have to fear from this guy is the way he treats your daughter and Nico (my son)." 

On page 51 of Betrayed! my father says of the rabbi of a conservative synagogue, "While the rabbi was probably a fine a man away from the pulpit, he had a tongue like a cat-o'-nine-tails when he addressed the congregation. He was whipping everybody."  My father should really consider his own tongue and the terrible lies he has told so many people about me, my husband and our family. My father has a viscous tongue that has served only to destroy countless relationships. The reader of Betrayed! would read on pages 123 and 124 the following, "Our family has never been more fulfilled... I continue to try to improve my relationships with the members of my family who are still living."  That is such an outright lie. My father also writes on page 11, "I listened to Judy describe in detail all that she loved about our family life: how we as parents didn't preach one thing and do another, how real we were with each other, how she loved growing up in a home of love and peace." Our home in recent decades was never a home of peace as it was a home marked with anger and yelling. It got so bad that my mother finally demanded in the last year of her life that my father go get professional counseling.  He did -- and he used donations to his ministry to pay for it. As far as preaching one thing and doing another, my father is notorious for doing that.  He travels the world telling people about the love of Jesus and meanwhile at home he would scream at his family and get lawyers after his own family and threaten them with lawsuits if they revealed anything! Just recently my father released a new book titled Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity: A Loving Call To Unity. My father is not qualified to issue a public loving call to unity when his own family is so terribly torn asunder.

Back to Moishe Rosen and his comments to that pastor... Moishe Rosen has never met my husband or spoken to him.  The reason why my family is estranged is because my father shattered our family in an attempt to cover what had been found in his ministry on November 18, 2000 (see 'For Donors To Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc.'). It turned out my father was using donor money for things like remodeling his house, payment of his personal cable television, personal travel, payment to Roto Rooter to unclog his home toilets, etc. When confronted by my husband and the treasurer of Stan Telchin Ministries, my father turned against me and my family and ultimately, criminal complaints were filed against my father with the Manatee County Sheriff's office.  They investigated and turned the criminal investigation over to the FBI. The FBI then called my husband and the former treasurer as witnesses. Eventually, the IRS investigated and called Stan to an audit in November 2002.  In December 2002, Stan Telchin Ministries wase shut down (click here).  My father now serves as a staff missionary with Jews for Jesus.

THE ACTOR

My father's only formal training is in acting. In his younger years he trained as a Shakespearean actor and he is still an actor playing the part of an elderly, spirit-filled, godly man whose life mission is to "provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy."  He is very good at what he does and he is very convincing and he certainly knows how to work a crowd.  He himself recognizes this and states on pages 31 and 95 of Betrayed! "I had a real ability for public relations. In the process I have learned how to work a convention. You begin with a goal: get the most out of every meeting and every conversation.  I would meet with anyone whom I thought could help me, always probing for more information." (Click here for biographical information about Stan.)

PUBLIC CLAIMS IN QUESTION

My father speaks frequently as a staff missionary with Jews for Jesus and very frequently says in his public verbal testimony things that just don't add up (see 'Stan Telchin's Bio' ). Among other things, he tells his audiences he is "extremely intelligent" and has a Ph.D.  (click here) He has no Ph.D. and has never been in a Ph.D. program that I know of.  He tells his audiences he was ordained at Christ Church in Washington, DC.  I contacted Christ Church and they have not been able to find any record of such an ordination and in all the years I worked with and was close to my father, I have never seen any ordination credentials.  When asked to produce his credentials and settle the issue regarding his Ph.D. and his ordination, he consistently refuses.  When David Brickner of Jews for Jesus was asked about Stan's Ph.D., Mr. Brickner wrote back and said "Stan does not have a Ph.D. and does not claim to have a Ph.D."  Yet, my father frequently tells his audiences about his Ph.D.  and how he has part of my Ph.D. I have many recordings of him saying it and he even wrote it in his testimony as found here.

He told his audience at Living Word Church on January 25, 2004 that "More than ten million - ten million - ten million people have read it" referring to his book Betrayed! A couple weeks later at Venice Bible Church he told that audience that "More than 12 million people have read it."  Yet, when I contacted Chosen Books, the publisher of Betrayed!, and asked specifically how many copies of Betrayed! had been distributed worldwide since its initial release, they wrote back and said, "We don't actually know the real figure, but it is closer to 1.2 million than 12 million."  To make sure I followed up with a phone call to the sales department and without identifying my father as the claimant, I said that a claim has been made that "more than 12 million people had read Betrayed! " Chosen Books responded, "That's crazy!  Mr. Telchin would not appreciate that misrepresentation. Please correct the person."

A few weeks ago he spoke at a church and made the outrageous claim during his testimony that he had been given the "Man of the Year" award by the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Washington, DC. The problem with what he said was he was never given that award and further the Hebrew Home has never had such an award to give. This was all later exposed as a lie in a Jewish newspaper (click here).

My father has also outright lied in public about the circumstances regarding his conversion. That is my opinion as on February 15, 2004, Jews for Jesus scheduled my father to speak at Venice Bible Church. I listened to the audio recording of his testimony and was shocked to hear a version I had never heard before.  My father wrote on page 33 and 34 of Betrayed!,

"Sunday night Ethel and I put Judy on the 7:30 plane to Boston. When we got home, I began to gather the material I thought I would need.  I was surprised at how much was available. First I dug out my cope of the Soncino edition of the Torah. I had a pocket-sized New Testament... as well as the King James and American Standard Versions. I set these up near my chair in the den... I was too tired to begin that Sunday night but was determined to begin the very next night. On Monday I rushed home from work.. and left the kitchen for the den."

At Venice Bible Church, my father told a completely different story that I had never heard before. He told his audience that night,

"Monday night after work... I sit down in the den and somehow there are all these Bibles in the room. They weren't there Sunday morning. They weren't there Sunday night - but Monday night they're there. Where did they come from? We had a housekeeper. Her name was Heyde. She was a Baptist lady."

I was angry when I heard this account as I have remained extremely close to Heyde and knew she never put those Bibles in the room like that.  She wouldn't do that. I called Heyde and read my father's account at Venice Bible Church word for word to her. She angrily denied what Stan attributed to her and called Stan's version a "fantasy."

CONCLUSION

Betrayed! as it relates to my family and the story of our family as my father tells it has absolutely nothing to do with the person of Jesus Christ. If it did, my family would be bound together in the love of God and my family would have a peace that passeth all understanding.  We are neither bound by the love of God nor does the Telchin family have a peace that comes from knowing Him.

My father needs to stop representing our family as a Christian family, as there is no place in the life of Christ and the Body of His Church for representing something that is not entirely accurate.  My father has failed in his stated effort "to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy." He has succeeded in dividing his own family and the actual state of the Telchin family makes a mockery of the claims of Jesus Christ.

On page 117 and page 118 of Betrayed!, my father writes,

"As a Jew, I am even more sensitive to the teachings of Jesus. As His disciple today, I know that He is more concerned about the attitudes of our hearts than of the actions we perform.  In my relations with other believers, Jews or Gentiles, I am to follow after the peace that passes understanding as I seek the wisdom which comes from above.  I am to avoid wrath and anger and striving on my own as the love nature of  God becomes manifest in me. In my relations with members of my family and friends I am to remain consistent, never turning my back on my heritage, on my ancestry, on Israel or upon them.  The history of the last 2,000 years has focused our attention upon man's inhumanity to man. In the process the issue has become self-preservation."

My father has not practiced what he preaches with me. He has turned his back on his own family and has turned to self-preservation. He has betrayed his own family and the very message of God. While he travels widely and proclaims the unconditional love of Jesus to Jew and Gentile alike, that unconditional love is something he does not understand and has never practiced in his own family.

Many over the years have asked me where Jews for Jesus fits into all of this.  I cannot answer for Jews for Jesus except to say they have never once spoken to me about all that has transpired in my family.  Not only have they not spoken to me, they have not once spoken to the former treasurer and board member of Stan Telchin Ministries, Inc. who performed the audit and served as a witness in the criminal investigations regarding my father as conducted by the FBI, the IRS and the Manatee County Sheriff's Office -- despite the fact that the treasurer served on the board of directors of my father's ministry with Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus.  In not looking into the matter, Jews for Jesus has only a part of the story and therefore they are not fully aware of all that has transpired. They have never returned my calls to them.

I have repeatedly asked my father to stop using me in his public testimony.  He has refused.  I want his audiences to understand that I do not agree with his personal testimony and his account of our family.  What my father has represented from the pulpit of so many churches has been found to be riddled with so many inconsistencies (click here), I simply cannot affirm what he represents as being truthful.

SOURCES

Throughout my commentary, I have referenced various letters and documents which serve as the sources for what I have written.  These sources are available on request.  To request any documents, please go to the 'Contact Page' as found on the menu and send me an e-mail.  I will be prepared to answer any questions you might have, clarify any questions and mail at no charge the relevant supporting documents. You can also request a free audio CD which contains various audio excerpts from my father's testimony as he has given it in various churches and listen first hand to some of the various claims he has made in public that have been called into question.