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1086 lines
66 KiB
Plaintext
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T h e G R E E N Y w o r l d D o m i n a t i o n T a s k F o r c e
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Presents:
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"Bob Larson Parts 7 & 8"
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GwD, Incorporated is dedicated to the exposing of false prophets. We have found
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one such "prophet" in Bob Larson of Bob Larson: Live and formerly of Talk-Back
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with Bob Larson. A supposed Christian radio evangelist, Bob Larson is actually
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only motivated by financial gain. These 14 articles by Kenneth L. Smith prove
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this. From this point on, GwD is anti-Bob Larson.
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PART 7
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Twenty Questions: Ken Smith Talks Back
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Over the last few months, I've told you quite a bit about the inner workings
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of Bob Larson Ministries. And as more and more readers have inquired as to what
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we do, why we do it, and how we go about it (and, more to the point, associates
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have asked that I do it), time has come to answer the more commonly-asked
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questions publicly.
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How did you get involved in the Bob Larson mess?
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Quite by accident ... or divine intervention, as my colleagues have at times
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insisted. It began innocuously enough: I had recently moved back to Colorado to
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attend law school -- and in a letter to Christian attorney and talk-show host
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John Stewart, I casually mentioned that I missed his show. John and I had
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corresponded for three or four years on a variety of topics ranging from
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apologetics to national politics, and had become friendly adversaries, so it
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wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
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In the course of the discussion, I observed that Denver's Christian
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programming was an intellectual wasteland, featuring the ever-erudite (sarcasm
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oozing from my laser printer) Bob Larson. In his response, John compared Larson
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to Bakker and his ilk, backing it up with pertinent excerpts from Larson's 1991
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divorce file.
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My curiosity piqued, I went over to the Jefferson County courthouse in the
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hope of learning more. But the divorce files were sealed, and that suggested
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that there probably was more to the story than met the eye. And where there's
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smoke, there's usually fire....
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How did you satisfy yourself that the documents were authentic?
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By the book. Domestic public documents under seal are regarded as self-
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authenticating [Fed.R.Evid. 902(1)]; a copy may be substituted for an original,
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if the latter is unobtainable [Fed.R.Evid. 1004(2)]. As far as I was concerned,
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the documents John sent me were as good as a signed affidavit. The fact that
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the documents came from John gave me additional comfort, inasmuch as he is a
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practicing attorney, and the California Supreme Court takes an understandably
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dim view toward attorneys falsifying court documents. And it didn't help Bob's
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case that he cut me off the air when I asked about them ... and sic'd his
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attorney on me the very next morning.
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What happened after he cut you off the air?
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Not a lot, to be perfectly honest. I wrote Larson, indicating that I intended
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to use the documents in question in a book. I got a nasty little letter from
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his attorney in return, threatening me with litigation if I reprinted material
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from the documents at issue. And that was pretty much the end of it ... until
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Lori called.
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In June, 1992, on a Saturday night at about 11:00 PM, I got a call from an
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anonymous woman. "Is this Ken Smith?" she inquired. I answered yes -- and
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after what seemed to be an interminably long pause, she let the cat out of the
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bag: "You're not going to believe this: I wrote Dead Air." (As all who are
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familiar with the Larson story now know, that woman was Lori Boespflug, a BLM
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vice-president and corporate officer.)
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I didn't know what to say. Frankly, outside of what I was able to glean from
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the court documents in connection with Larson's divorce, I didn't know squat.
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But I bluffed my way along the best I could.
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Why did you get involved?
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Before Lori contacted me, my only aim was to document an allegation I made in
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my first book, The Curse of Thomas: how the media ministers made their
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million$$$. Any Bakker proteg<65> would have done, but court documents have the
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kind of persuasiveness that an abstract philosophical discussion tends to lack.
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Bob's just happened to be available.
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I was shocked by Lori's story; I promised to do what little I could to see
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that it was told. I checked out her claims to the extent that I could, and
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contacted some of my old pen-pals in the apologetic community for advice. They
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put me in touch with Fred Wheeler, who in turn referred me to Joe Maxwell of
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Christianity Today.
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Assuming that CT would be able to handle it from there, I gave Maxwell what we
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had. But when it became obvious that they weren't going to move on the story, I
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even offered to write it. And when it became clear that leaders in the
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Christian community wanted one of their own to tell this tale, I gave it to Jay
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Grelen, and attempted to bow out. Gracefully. Yet, in hiring a private
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investigator to uncover black mail fodder, Bob Larson made it self-evident that
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he wasn't going to let me.
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As might have been expected, I stayed on the story in an attempt to counter
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Larson's malicious efforts to brand me as a criminal. Now, I have come to
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realize that the Bob Larson story is worth a book, and I am the most qualified
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man in the world to write it. But I don't know how the story will end....
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My Christian colleagues have gotten involved out of purely altruistic motives,
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insofar as they recognize the fact that covetous charlatans like Bob Larson
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visit untold embarrassment upon the Church. As Fred Wheeler explained it to me,
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a Christian is like 'the watchman on the wall' in Ezekiel 33. If he rouses his
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brethren, he is blameless, but, if he sits and does nothing while the enemy
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passes, the blood of the entire community is on his hands. He would then, in
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his opinion, be as guilty as Bob Larson.
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Our informants are Christians who believe that what Larson is doing is
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terribly wrong. They know what a mean, vindictive, and little man Bob has
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become, and they don't like the thought of having their lives and reputations
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ground into dust. They also know that Larson has not been able to intimidate
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us. So, we have become their voice.
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How do you get your information?
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Since it is a foregone conclusion that Bob Larson will read this, I am not at
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liberty to reveal any of our trade secrets. Suffice it to say that we have a
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multitude of sources -- Larson friends, employees, business associates, and the
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like -- who continually feed us information. When we need to know something,
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we find out about it; frankly, I have neither the time nor the inclination to
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put Bob under surveillance.
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One reason we have been so successful in building our 'intelligence network'
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is that our informants know that we go to extreme lengths to protect them. We'd
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sit on our information rather than expose them to Bob's vindictive reprisals.
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As such, word gets around that we can be trusted. On balance, that policy has
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been wise, but it does make our task a lot more complicated.
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We don't solicit informants simply because we don't want them to be construed
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as our agents. Likewise, if there is even a question as to whether a given
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activity would violate the law, we invariably refrain from engaging in it. For
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example, an associate has obtained a fairly substantial donor list; we decided
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against a direct mailing to Larson supporters because wholesale use of the list
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might be interpreted as a violation of trade secret laws.
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We have stayed on the straight-and-narrow as a matter of choice; in addition,
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we'd like to believe it enhances our credibility. Besides, Bob is so inept that
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we haven't had to think about cheating.
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How do you ensure the information you have is accurate?
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We have two general rules of thumb: (1) if we could get it admitted into
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evidence in a court of law, it is 'fair game' for reporting purposes, and, (2)
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when in doubt, we leave it out. We do our level best to err on the side of
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caution; major mistakes could seriously undermine our credibility.
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A representative example of our approach toward reporting Larson's often
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questionable activities is the case of his purportedly intimate relationship
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with former Compassion Connection director Margo Hamilton. In previous
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articles, I have studiously avoided any mention of this, despite the fact that I
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had for some time been aware that it was quite likely that the two had indulged
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in extramarital relations. However, once it was reported by Jay Grelen in World
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magazine that Ms. Hamilton's new husband had signed a confidentiality agreement
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-- where about the only confidential information he could realistically have had
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access to was that Bob was one of Margo's former lovers -- the evidence was
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sufficiently compelling to justify reporting such a charge.
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As a practical matter, direct evidence of Larson's dalliances would not be
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forthcoming. Even if Margo did come forward and confirm allegations regarding
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sexual improprieties, Larson could always resort to Bill Clinton's copyrighted
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"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" defense.
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There has never been a shortage of sordid rumors regarding the evil exploits
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of Bobby E. Larson. Clearly, by far the most scandalous one came from Horizon
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Broadcasting Co. owner Garyl Gibson -- who reported to a colleague that Larson
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was involved in pedophilia, and had a fetish for pornography. Gibson -- at one
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time a client of former Larson attorney William T. Abbott -- has been a reliable
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source1 of information in the past, so we can't dismiss his report out of hand.
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Still, it should also go without saying that we're not about to make allegations
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of such gravity without having the equivalent of the proverbial smoking gun.
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When you start accusing people of criminal acts, you'd better be sure of your
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facts.
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What is Bob Larson's response to your articles?
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As has been confirmed by a number of Internet readers, the official response
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from BLM is that I have somehow doctored court documents, in order to make it
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appear as if Bob is raping and looting his ministry. Of course, as is the case
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with the decided majority of Larson's lies, this one is capable of quick and
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easy refutation.
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As I've said publicly, I didn't get my copy of the divorce transcripts from
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the Jefferson County District Court. In fact, I couldn't have ... the files had
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been sealed. Besides, Larson personally authenticated the documents by
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alleging that John Stewart had "trafficked in my divorce proceedings
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transcripts."2 It goes without saying that if Stewart had provided me with
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bogus information, Larson would have called him on it. Moreover, Ministry
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general counsel Chris Johnson authenticated Bob's income figures before I even
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became a meaningful player in this affair.3
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Knowing as I did when I obtained them that the documents at issue were in the
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hands of at least three other parties (Westword, Christianity Today, and the
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individual who provided them to me), to do as Larson alleges would be the height
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of folly. And Bob doesn't take me for a fool. He knows better.
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The unofficial response is a little more difficult to confirm, but I'm willing
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to bet that, if you mentioned my name in an unguarded moment, Bob will unleash
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a stream of invective capable of making Howard Stern blush. Suffice it to say
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that I'm not on his Xmas card list....
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As avid Talk-Back listeners have undoubtedly noticed, Larson's public response
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is to reach for his "panic button." This is unquestionably deliberate: Larson
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doesn't want people asking obvious questions, like "If these charges are totally
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fabricated, then why did you with draw your Ministry's application to the ECFA
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(Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability)?" It is a matter of record
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that Larson did apply; they raised questions (based primarily upon our
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material), and he withdrew the application. Clearly his is an admission by
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conduct: it's not like Bob suddenly changed his mind as to the benefits of NRB
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membership -- which he has enjoyed for some 20 years.
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When Bob Larson loses his temper, he sounds scary. Do you ever worry that he
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might retaliate against you?
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In fact, I do. As such, we have taken steps which should discourage Bob from
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taking matters into his own hands. For instance, copies of sensitive
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information are distributed to every associate, and the bulk of our originals
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are kept in others' hands. Hence, even if per chance Bobby decided to play with
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fire, we wouldn't miss a beat.
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There is something to be said for clean living. My list of enemies is
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exceedingly short, and if anything untoward was to happen to me or my family,
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the appropriate law enforcement agencies would be all over Larson like a cheap
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suit.
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What can you tell us about you and your associates?
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My Christian associates have impeccable credentials. For instance, John
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Stewart, as well as being an attorney, talk-show host and Christian Research
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Institute alum, played a pivotal role in exposing Jim Bakker. Self-effacing to
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a fault, Fred Wheeler has asked that I not recount his accomplishments -- but I
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can tell you that he was one of the original staff members of the Dallas branch
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of Watchman Fellowship.
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As for myself, I am a law student at the University of Denver, and a former
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Big-6 C.P.A. with a master's degree in taxation. Unlike the Christian
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colleagues I can publicly acknowledge, I'm new to this kind of endeavor --
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although my experience in litigation support work has, in a sense, trained me
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for it.
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How is your organization structured?
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Our operation is strictly ad hoc: no one takes orders, no one gives them. We
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share information and ideas, and on occasion coordinate our efforts. We agree
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that anything we do has to be strictly legal. But outside of those parameters,
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everyone is free to do what they wish.
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We don't solicit donations. In fact, we won't even take them. The money for
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expenses comes out of our own pockets. [In the interest of full disclosure, it
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is a fact that, on occasion, people have given me token amounts to offset
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copying and mailing costs ($50 in total), but the related mailings cost me
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several times that.]
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We will openly share the fruits of our research with anyone -- from the Sons
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and Daughters of America to the LDS Church, from American Atheists to the
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Christian Research Institute, and from Cornerstone to the Washington Post.
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However, we will not disseminate sensitive personal information (e.g., an
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unlisted telephone number) that does not have any bearing on Bob Larson's
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fitness to function as a minister.
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On his January 29, 1993 show, Larson implicated you in arson threats, threats
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against his family, and computer theft. How do you respond?
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Bob has thrown as much mud at as many people as he could manage, in hopes that
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a bit of it might stick. It may be that he truly believes that everyone is just
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as sleazy and unprincipled as he is, but I honestly doubt that he has reached
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that level of paranoia quite yet. A look at the police report prepared in
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connection with the alleged arson threat is instructive. The reporting officer
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classified it as misdemeanor harassment -- and the 'threat' itself has the
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flavor of a high-school prank:
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"Inside the gray or white envelope was a photograph featuring
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two masked subjects. The words, 'This Bud's for you Sh**head!
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Happy Halloween! P.S. Love your house $441,000', appear on the
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photograph. Also featured in the photograph is Bob Larson's
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home. One subject appears to be holding a flaming bottle of
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beer...."4
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Larson implicated fully half of his former executive staff in this juvenile
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plot ... and, of course, he fingered me as the alleged ring-leader. He referred
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to John Stewart in the police report, and added the Passentinos -- for good
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measure -- in the January 29th show.
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Two observations are worth making here. First, if this is what Bob construes
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as a serious arson threat, you have to wonder about some of the death threats
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he allegedly receives. Second, it is peculiar that he would finger former
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employees -- who, collectively, know enough to destroy his ministry -- while
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ignoring the various satanic covens and skinhead groups that he claims pose a
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credible threat to his life and limb. Lori Boespflug observed that behind the
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scenes, Larson laughed off what were reported on the air as serious threats, for
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what should be obvious reasons.
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Larson has also charged that you are trying to destroy his ministry. How do you
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respond?
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We will not deny that the Ministry is his ministry -- its' ultimate purpose is
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to minister to the extravagant financial needs of Bob Larson. The kids are just
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an alibi.
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It is a matter of record that we have given Larson a full and fair opportunity
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-- behind the scenes -- to make amends for the transgressions we allege have
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been committed. We followed Matthew 18:15-17 to the extent possible: We
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couldn't take it to his denominational leadership because he wouldn't reveal the
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outfit which ordained him, and we couldn't take it to his pastor because he
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doesn't, to the best of our knowledge, even attend church. We did, however,
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take it to board members, EFICOM, and key radio station owners. I spoke with
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him personally (in an accidental meeting). Others have tried, to no avail.
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When those behind-the-scenes efforts failed, we acted as the Scriptures
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command: We took our case to the people ("Those [elders] who sin are to be
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rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning" -- 1 Tim. 5:20). And
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while that action is likely to have the effect of destroying Bob Larson
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Ministries, that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it.
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Although our efforts over past months have been an unqualified success, the
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outcome of this campaign is not what we have hoped for. If we had had our
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druthers, Bob Larson would have recanted his malicious statements, repented of
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his sins, and reimbursed those he has injured in his rampages. If he had done
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so at the appropriate time, he would have received our unequivocal support --
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and he could have gone about the 'business' of ministry for which Talk-Back is
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uniquely qualified. If his ministry does in fact go under, and he ends up
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wearing prison grey, he has only himself to blame. But knowing Bob, he will
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somehow find a way to lay it on someone else.
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Larson has further described you as an "avowed atheist." Are you?
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In a word, no. The American Heritage Dictionary defines an atheist as "one
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who denies the existence of God," and an avowal as "an admission or
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acknowledgement." And I have never made such an admission -- in fact, I don't
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even reach the question. As I see it, the question of God's existence becomes
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relevant if and only if He actively intervenes in our lives. If you decide that
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there is no credible evidence of divine intervention, the question itself
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becomes nothing more than a matter for intellectual curiosity. On the other
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hand, if you find that divine intervention is an undeniable fact, God's
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existence is by implication proven. Under this analysis, you never get to
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atheism -- by definition.
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The simple and unfortunate fact is that, while many Christians are able to
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tolerate Mormons, Muslims, and Moonies, they harbor an almost visceral hatred
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toward atheists. They become a palette for Christian doubts and fears. A cold
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reminder of their insecurities. Larson has played this prejudice like a violin
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-- he knew that if he could paint me as an atheist, his audience would tune me
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out almost instantly.
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My present philosophical position can best be described as a variant of Deism.
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While I have no difficulty with the notion of an omnipotent and omniscient God,
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the concept that God is afflicted with the sin of jealousy is totally
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incomprehensible to me. After all, if you know that you're all-powerful, you
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wouldn't have much of a need to be jealous of anything.
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Bob Larson has further accused you of wanting to destroy him because he somehow
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represented Christianity in your eyes. Comments?
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After crossing swords with men of the caliber of John Stewart, Gary Habermas,
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and CRI's research staff, literary jousts with Larson would have been little
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more than comic relief. His theology is unsophisticated, almost crude; his
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command of the language, no better. If Bob Larson is what Christianity 'is all
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about', then most of my Christian friends will turn in their resignations.
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Immediately.
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I did have the occasion to listen to Talk-Back when I lived in the L.A. basin,
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where I quickly came to the conclusion that Larson was a less-than-worthy
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opponent. A garden-variety street preacher ... with an attitude. There's no
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sense in going into a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
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You don't like Bob Larson very much, don't you?
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As a practical matter, it isn't easy to like a man who consciously,
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deliberately, and intentionally tries to injure you and your family. A man who
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rapes and sodomizes your reputation on continent-wide radio broadcasts. A
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minister who hires private investigators in an effort to discover intimate
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information suitable for blackmail. Suffice it to say that he isn't on my Xmas
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card list....
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On the other hand, it is hard to dislike a man who may, in fact, be suffering
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from mental illness. The running joke around the office is that Bob is 'MPD'
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(afflicted with multiple personality disorder), and others have obliquely
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confirmed that. For example, long-time Larson friend Ed Decker related a tale
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where one minute, Bob and former wife Kathy were acting like lovebirds and the
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||
next, he was reading her the riot act. Similar instances of erratic and
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capricious behavior have been reported by Larson's staffers; Lori Boespflug
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||
recounted a litany of bizarre idiosyncrasies. It's strictly one layman's
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opinion, but I don't think Bob has both of his oars in the water....
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And from what I understand, Jim Bakker was the same way.
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What, if anything, has surprised you?
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First and foremost, we have been dismayed as to the extent to which Christian
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media moguls have disregarded their Scriptures in order to preserve their own
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pocketbooks. "The truth shall set you free," but don't expect to read about it
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in Christianity Today. Verily, verily, I say unto you, "There is honor among
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thieves."
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||
It is truly astounding as to how many times Larson would have been stopped in
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his tracks -- had only one Christian leader taken a stand. Yet, in every
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instance, that individual put his pocketbook before the truth. That is why I
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say that the Larson story is bigger than PTL: I can indict everyone from the
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largest publisher of religious materials in the world to Christendom's flagship
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publication, and from individual Christian radio station owners to some of
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America's most prominent ministries. There is enough blame -- and plenty of
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shame -- to go around.
|
||
Just last week, I was informed by a Christian talk-show host that I could not
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be invited onto his program as a scheduled guest. It seems that the station
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also carries Larson, and the general manager "didn't want to offend him." Let's
|
||
put this into perspective: Can you imagine what Rush Limbaugh would say if that
|
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station was the NBC network, and the person they didn't want to offend was Bill
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Clinton?
|
||
We were also taken aback by the sheer vindictiveness with which Bob Larson has
|
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countered our efforts. One of my associates exposed Troy Snowdon -- who was
|
||
eventually convicted under the Mann Act (for those who have led sheltered lives,
|
||
that has to do with transporting women across state lines for the purposes of
|
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prostitution) -- and even that sorry excuse for a 'man of the cloth' never
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||
attempted to stoop as low as Larson has. I expected to be vilified as one of
|
||
Satan's henchmen, but his bizarre allegations of criminal behavior went beyond
|
||
the pale of common sense. Bob Larson must harbor a contempt for the Christian
|
||
intellect that even Maddy O'Hair couldn't muster in her glory days.
|
||
In general, we have been astonished by the staggering ineptitude of Larson's
|
||
defensive campaign. Bob has had literally a score of opportunities to leave us
|
||
in the dust, and not only has he blown them, his antics have only served to make
|
||
matters worse. For example, in sophisticated circles, Larson's abrupt
|
||
withdrawal of his ECFA application was seen as a tacit admission of guilt; at
|
||
that point, smelling scandal in the air, Thomas Nelson bailed on him. And I
|
||
find it difficult to imagine that he couldn't have cut a deal with Brandt
|
||
Gustavson....
|
||
Bob's Achilles heel has always been his obsession with winning. It is not
|
||
enough, in his mind, that he should succeed; his opponent must fail utterly. If
|
||
he had possessed a more mature mindset, we wouldn't have happened across his
|
||
trail, much less be nipping at his heels.
|
||
If Bob hadn't divorced his wife of 23 years, he would still be on the Salem
|
||
stations. If he hadn't shamelessly exploited a young woman who came to his
|
||
ministry for help, we wouldn't have obtained his divorce transcripts. If he
|
||
hadn't tried to exact every last penny from the marital estate in his divorce,
|
||
the damaging admissions he made in the divorce proceedings never would have made
|
||
it into print. And if he had reached fair and equitable settlements with Muriel
|
||
Olson and Lori Boespflug at appropriate times, he would have been on his way to
|
||
his real goal: making $50 million. From day one, Bob Larson has been his own
|
||
worst enemy.
|
||
|
||
Bob is still on the air. What have you accomplished?
|
||
As a leader of one of America's premier 'cult-watch' ministries put it, "the
|
||
wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn." If we had any illusions that
|
||
this was going to be some kind of six-day war, the only people we would have
|
||
been fooling would have been ourselves.
|
||
When you reflect upon what has happened in the last year or so, the damage we
|
||
have inflicted has been substantial. One year ago, Bob was one of publishing
|
||
giant Thomas Nelson's premier authors; today, even tiny Huntington House has
|
||
become skittish. Bob's career as an author has been all but destroyed, and his
|
||
once-sterling professional reputation has been tarnished beyond repair. Bob can
|
||
no longer claim the moral high ground, insofar as everyone from the LDS Church
|
||
to the gay rights movement has been briefed on his weaknesses. After all, if he
|
||
can't live up to moral and ethical standards enunciated in Scripture, how can he
|
||
justify berating others for their transgressions?`
|
||
At this point, it's all downhill. Despite a serious lack of media power, we
|
||
have gotten the word out. Prominent Christian leaders are starting to publicly
|
||
express outrage, and the number of ports Bob can run to during this storm is
|
||
dwindling rapidly. During recent months, Bob has started to look more and more
|
||
like a general whose armies are being routed. He's gone deep into his playbook,
|
||
and nothing seems to work. He's becoming shorter and more abrasive with
|
||
critical callers; his dwindling donor base can only dig so deep. And the
|
||
biggest waves are yet to come.
|
||
|
||
Where do you go from here?
|
||
Personally, I fully intend to ride off into the sunset. There are a few loose
|
||
ends to be tied up, but I'm basically winding down my end of the operation.
|
||
We've done the hard work, and it appears as if the Christian media finally is
|
||
getting ready to mop the story up.
|
||
There is little doubt in my mind that Fred will ride again; that is his
|
||
calling, and his burden. And there is a lot left to do. But the Evangelical
|
||
community has spoken clearly: They don't want me involved in their lives, in
|
||
their churches, in their dirty laundry. And perhaps, that is as it should be.
|
||
|
||
Are there any more articles planned?
|
||
That depends upon whether I have time to write them, and whether my audience
|
||
has any interest in reading them. It's not like I'm running out of material....
|
||
|
||
If you had it to do all over again -- would you?
|
||
I have to preface this answer by stating that I didn't exactly come looking
|
||
for this job; the pay is lousy, and the benefits, even worse. And if Bob hadn't
|
||
insisted upon making me his scapegoat, I would have melted into the background
|
||
16 months ago. But that simply was not to be.
|
||
I feel like the fellow who stops at the scene of an accident, pulls a man out
|
||
of his burning car ... and ends up getting sued. If I knew what I know now, I
|
||
think that I would have tried harder to figure out some way not to get involved.
|
||
The personal cost has been staggering; the personal satisfaction, minimal.
|
||
At times, I can understand how Abraham must have felt while walking the
|
||
streets of Sodom and Gomorrah. Just ten righteous men.... It is all the more
|
||
ironic that some of the people who refused to talk to me and otherwise treated
|
||
me as a third-class citizen can have the audacity to proclaim to me how Jesus
|
||
has changed their lives. But just when I am ready to write off evangelical
|
||
Christianity as a giant tax-exempt Amway distributorship, someone surprises me.
|
||
|
||
Christianity is in crisis ... but it is not beyond hope.
|
||
_____________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
ENDNOTES
|
||
|
||
1 For example, Gibson revealed Lori Boespflug's 'involvement' in Dead
|
||
Air to Fred Wheeler long before she talked to me. How Gibson got his
|
||
information is not exactly clear, but the information he has provided
|
||
has -- in the instances where we have been able to confirm it -- been
|
||
entirely accurate.
|
||
While we have furnished this lead to Christian journalists, we've
|
||
not investigated these allegations, and accordingly expressed no
|
||
opinion as to their validity.
|
||
|
||
2 Bob Larson, Letter (to John Stewart), 10 Feb. 1993, p. 1.
|
||
|
||
3 Michael Roberts, "The Evil that Men Do," Westword, May 27-Jun. 2,
|
||
1992, p. 12.
|
||
|
||
4 Offense report (misdemeanor harassment), Lakewood (CO) Police Dept.
|
||
(Officer Ponczek, reporting), Case Report #92-105772, 3 Nov. 1992, p.
|
||
2. (The entire report was in capital letters; I added punctuation and
|
||
capitalization as appropriate.)
|
||
|
||
|
||
PART 8
|
||
|
||
From: 21922SM@msu.edu (Scott.Mikusko)
|
||
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
|
||
Subject: Bob Larson: The $64,000 Question
|
||
Date: 13 Feb 1994 15:05:50 -0600
|
||
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
|
||
|
||
Bob Larson: The $64,000 Question
|
||
|
||
In early 1993, Bob Larson Ministries suffered financial turbulence as a result
|
||
of the negative publicity generated by articles in World and Cornerstone
|
||
magazines. But in 1994, BLM has gone into a 'Tilton tailspin'. Revenues have
|
||
fallen steadily since September, and there is no end in sight. Like Tilton
|
||
(and, convicted felon Troy Snowdon) before him, Larson has been doing all he can
|
||
to project an image that everything is under control. However, reports from
|
||
inside the walls of his third-floor fortress strongly suggest otherwise.
|
||
|
||
In recent months, Larson has been forced to cut back on everything -- except,
|
||
in all likelihood, his bloated compensation package. Five BLM employees left at
|
||
or around the end of the year, but only one has been replaced, and a hiring
|
||
freeze is said to be in effect. While staffers have been run ragged to make up
|
||
for those losses, plans were announced in January to cut as much as an
|
||
additional 25% of the Ministry's staff.
|
||
With the Grim Reaper peering over one shoulder -- and Larson, looking over the
|
||
other -- staff morale reportedly is nonexistent. Paranoia has become the order
|
||
of the day, as Bob frantically searches for the leaks in his badly-listing ship.
|
||
The information flow has become so constricted that employees are having
|
||
difficulty doing their jobs. The Ministry has lost its sense of mission ... and
|
||
a sense of direction.
|
||
Reports are that the staff has been stretched so thin that, for his recent
|
||
trip to the National Religious Broadcasters' (NRB) convention in Washington
|
||
D.C., Larson coaxed former sidekick Bonnie Bell out of retirement. Not that Bob
|
||
had to twist her arm very hard; she has had only one radio gig since leaving the
|
||
Ministry -- and was fired after four days.1
|
||
|
||
And there's one question on everyone's mind: How bad is it?
|
||
|
||
Moonwalker:
|
||
Last week was a good one for Bob Larson employees -- their fearless leader was
|
||
out of the office for most of it. But when he got back on Wednesday, he almost
|
||
managed to make up for his absence. Our sources tell us that, after what
|
||
appeared to have been a less-than-successful NRB convention, Bob came back to
|
||
the office loaded for bear.
|
||
The Larson scandal has long been common knowledge within the Christian
|
||
broadcasting fraternity, but determining how it has affected his standing has
|
||
been somewhat problematic. However, Bob's acidic introduction of Satanic artist
|
||
and journalist Tim Butler gives us an indication that all definitely is not
|
||
well:
|
||
|
||
"[T]he reason I came to be aware of Mr. Butler is that he is
|
||
also a journalist doing an article about me for the official
|
||
publication of the Church of Satan, and requested an interview.
|
||
These days, I don't talk to anybody from the press, especially
|
||
if they say, 'Christian' press <pause, strained laughter>, but
|
||
I will talk to Satanists....2"
|
||
|
||
Bob Larson -- that consummate press hound -- has suddenly performed a Michael
|
||
Jackson. He's canceled his Dangerous ... uh, I mean, "Save Our Kids from
|
||
Satanism" tour, a consistent money-maker for years. He will answer the call of
|
||
the Church of Satan's house-organ, the Black Flame, but whenever a Christian
|
||
reporter comes knocking, he evidently tells him to "just beat it!" And while Bob
|
||
did his level best to make that remark in jest, his voice betrayed resignation.
|
||
He has, by and large, lost the battle to cabin in the news of his misdeeds --
|
||
and it sounds as if the NRB convention hammered that point home.
|
||
Bob has finally made the "A" list: those preachers who have distinguished
|
||
themselves by their avaricious antics. For instance, in Personal Freedom
|
||
Outreach's Quarterly Journal, cult-busters Kurt Goedelman and Richard Fisher put
|
||
Bob in an interesting kettle of fish:
|
||
|
||
"Spencer's book comes to the defense of men such as Benny
|
||
Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Bob Larson, Robert Tilton and Mike
|
||
Warnke while impugning the research of ministries such as Per-
|
||
sonal Freedom Outreach, Christian Research Institute and Cor-
|
||
nerstone magazine."3
|
||
"It is difficult to fathom why [Jim Spencer, in Heresy Hunt-
|
||
ers] spends time trying to exonerate men such as Kenneth Cope-
|
||
land, Robert Tilton, Mike Warnke and Bob Larson."4
|
||
|
||
As it was with Jim Bakker, it seems as if everyone is getting into the act.
|
||
The erstwhile Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter (now Snake Oil: Your Guide to
|
||
Kooky Kontemporary Kristian Kulture), came out with a delicious interview with
|
||
Satanist Boyd Rice, entitled "My Dinner with Bob Larson." Therein, Rice relates
|
||
one of Larson's numerous brushes with death:
|
||
|
||
"BOYD: Ironically, his life was saved that night. Because he
|
||
came over with, um, what's the guy's name? The son of the guy
|
||
who publishes Penthouse.
|
||
SO: Guccionne? [sic]
|
||
BOYD: Yeah, Bob Guccionne, Jr. came over to dinner as well.
|
||
I've got these shelves of all this weird stuff in my kitchen,
|
||
and there's a gun on one of them. And just before they came
|
||
over I took the bullets out of the gun, just in case. And as
|
||
they were leaving, Bob Guccionne, Jr. picked up the gun, poin-
|
||
ted it into Larson's stomach, and pulled the trigger. If I had
|
||
not taken those bullets out an hour before, Bob Larson would
|
||
have been dead in my kitchen."5
|
||
|
||
I wasn't invited to the party, but my sources were at least able to confirm
|
||
that Larson did invite himself over for dinner, and Bob Guccione, Jr. was
|
||
staying at his house at the time.
|
||
Snake Oil's "Brother Randall" has a world-class sense of humor, and he does
|
||
his homework. For example, he ran a picture of the cover of one of Larson's
|
||
albums, "Peace Within My Soul." Seeing a younger Bob -- with hair! -- is a real
|
||
shock; he looks a lot like Opie with side burns. Nature abhors a vacuum, and
|
||
Bob Tilton is off the air....
|
||
The Larson files ought to keep pundits in one-liners for the better part of
|
||
1994. Still, there is a poignant slant to this sordid story. From all I have
|
||
been able to gather, Bob Larson is a tortured soul -- a man whose achievements
|
||
are overshadowed by a pervasive inadequacy. And nowhere is that more evident
|
||
than in this love letter, which Lori Boespflug claims Bob gave to her in early
|
||
1991:
|
||
|
||
"A PERSONAL, ORIGINAL MESSAGE FROM SOMEONE WHO, IN SPITE OF HIS
|
||
EXTENSIVE PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AT TIMES FEELS AS THOUGH HE
|
||
CAN'T QUITE MEASURE UP THE ACHIEVEMENTS HE WANTS MOST IN LIFE,
|
||
AND AT TIMES FEELS THE ONE PERSON WHO MATTERS MOST SEEMS MORE
|
||
PRONE TO ACCENTUATE THE NEGATIVE THEN NURTURE THE POSITIVE:
|
||
|
||
|
||
REFLECTIONS ON A TEMPESTUOUS RELATIONSHIP
|
||
|
||
The deepest roots grow against resistance,
|
||
The strongest bonds are forged from conflict,
|
||
The greatest friendships are produced by honesty,
|
||
The most secure feelings stem from forthrightness,
|
||
And the deepest love abides in hearts tested by adversity.
|
||
|
||
WHEN IT'S ALL SAID AND DONE, THIS IS HOW I REALLY FEEL.
|
||
|
||
THANK YOU FOR BEING THE BEST FRIEND I'VE EVER HAD!
|
||
|
||
THE ABOVE POEM COMPOSED IN GRATITUDE TO MY BEST FRIEND, 2/27/91"6
|
||
|
||
The poem was unsigned, but the evidence that Larson was infatuated with
|
||
Boespflug -- a rather attractive lady, by the way -- is substantial. He
|
||
showered her with gifts, obtained the loan on her Grand Am, and other staffers
|
||
reported7 that he had been courting her. Assuming that it is authentic, it
|
||
offers us a furtive look into Larson's 'dark night of the soul'. It is only one
|
||
piece in a composite of a man who is obsessed with his failures ... and
|
||
constantly needs to be reminded that he IS somebody.
|
||
It is said that whom gods would destroy, they first make mad....
|
||
|
||
The 'New Math'....
|
||
Long-time Larson listeners have told me that, if things aren't bad, they
|
||
invariably are worse. As such, it is easy to tune out the cries of impending
|
||
doom. But this time, he may be telling the truth.
|
||
Larson often reveals more in what he doesn't say as in what he does -- his
|
||
claim that he has had to cancel sixteen stations has a glimmer of truth to it.
|
||
Still, what Bob calls a cancellation letter is typically a ploy for
|
||
renegotiating his contracts. It is little more than a polite threat: If you
|
||
don't reduce your price, we'll take our business elsewhere. For the most part,
|
||
the stations make concessions, or in some instances, accept capped
|
||
revenue-sharing arrangements. It is rare for Bob to abandon a market, and then,
|
||
he does so only as a last resort. But station managers don't know that ... and
|
||
neither do most of his listeners.
|
||
The situation in Salt Lake City is an excellent example. It serves
|
||
as a sort of loss leader: Even though Utahans don't support it, Larson
|
||
more than makes it up in other markets, where people see it as a mis-
|
||
sionary outreach. He has played that perception to the hilt, period-
|
||
ically mounting campaigns to "Save Salt Lake." He wants to keep that
|
||
market, but it appears that the local U.S. Bankruptcy Court has a few
|
||
ideas of their own.
|
||
An informant advises me that the Court is trying to arrange a sale
|
||
of the station to another religious broadcaster. When the sale goes
|
||
through, all of the existing contracts will be null and void, and Bob
|
||
will almost certainly lose that affiliate. And while it is difficult
|
||
to predict the future, odds are that the loss will be attributed to a
|
||
lack of listener support.
|
||
Under normal circumstances, the threat of losing an affiliate could be taken
|
||
lightly. However, as donations plummet, and he is forced to dip into reserves,
|
||
Larson is in less of a position to haggle. And on the other side of the table,
|
||
the station managers read World and Cornerstone, too -- they are less liable to
|
||
bet on Talk-Back's comeback. As such, more stations will be inclined to reject
|
||
Larson's overtures.
|
||
In terms of profit margin -- aside from Dallas-Ft. Worth, which is a special
|
||
case -- Bob Larson Ministries' most profitable markets are 'second-tier' cities
|
||
like Columbus, Denver, and Seattle. The cost of air time is far more reasonable
|
||
than that in a New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, and the out-of-pocket cost per
|
||
listener reached is lower. Smaller cities (e.g., Anchorage, Wichita, and
|
||
Salinas) are almost as lucrative, but they don't offer the same profit
|
||
potential.
|
||
Problem is, Larson's premier markets are large enough to support a commercial
|
||
Christian music station. His Denver affiliate, KLTT, went to an all-music
|
||
format in November; Detroit's WLQV is rumored to follow suit in March.8 Bob
|
||
pays well -- and on time -- and at one time, that made Talk-Back a fairly hot
|
||
commodity. Today, given Bob's other well-known liabilities, his 'star' has lost
|
||
much of its luster. And as Christian radio station owners adjust to the
|
||
realities of the marketplace, he sees the handwriting on the wall.
|
||
This was the impetus behind Bob's call to 'revive Christian radio': Successful
|
||
and well-respected ministries like Focus on the Family and the Christian
|
||
Research Institute will survive this industry shakeout, but Larson's antics have
|
||
earned him a place on the endangered species list. With a rapidly-declining
|
||
donor base, he can't compete with his brethren, and with Ministry morale being
|
||
nothing short of disastrous, just keeping the BLM ship afloat is a formidable
|
||
task.
|
||
Bob will leave the air when Bob is good and ready, and not a moment sooner.
|
||
Even by conservative estimates, Bob still has a $2.5 million war chest. Even if
|
||
most of his donations dried up tomorrow, he could last the year without serious
|
||
difficulty; eliminating less-profitable stations and renegotiating existing
|
||
contracts stretches his reserves even further. He could even (God forbid!) take
|
||
a pay cut -- cashing in his split-dollar life insurance policy would enable him
|
||
to pay his airtime bill in Denver for more than a year. Money is not an object.
|
||
If he leaves the mike, it will likely be as a result of the accumulated
|
||
pressure. Potentially, Bob has as much to fear from the IRS as the Christian
|
||
press, and if anyone on his senior staff goes to either one, it would be the
|
||
beginning of the end. Senior Vice-President Angelo Diasparra may be the biggest
|
||
risk -- he's a tough (and from what I'm told, when he's not playing the heavy,
|
||
rather likeable) old bird, and Bob won't be able to intimidate him. And like
|
||
Garyl Gibson did with respect to Troy Snowdon, he might decide that it is better
|
||
to get out while the getting is good. Even Laura, his young bride, is a
|
||
possible security risk.
|
||
A variety of Larson confidants have reported that Bob has a vicious temper,
|
||
and is prone to be verbally abusive. Lori Boespflug told me that he could get
|
||
so out of control that she was "afraid to leave him alone" with any of her three
|
||
girls. Furthermore, my BLM sources have also reported that the initial year of
|
||
Bob and Laura's marriage was a particularly rocky one. Laura's parents are
|
||
divorced, and let us not forget that both of them are working on their second
|
||
spouse. And Bob can't help but bring his stresses home with him. If there was
|
||
ever a prescription for marital trouble, that is about as close as it gets.
|
||
Simply coming to work in the morning must be a formidable challenge for Bob.
|
||
From the boardroom to the mail room, he reportedly suspects everyone of being a
|
||
possible mole. Every caller is a potential land mine. The next P.R. blow could
|
||
come from anywhere from 60 Minutes to Christianity Today, and when he expects
|
||
his opponents to strike, they just sit back and laugh. For a 'control freak'
|
||
like him, that has to be intolerable.
|
||
But let us not cry for Bob. When it comes to getting money out of "his"
|
||
Ministry, Larson rivals L. Ron Hubbard for sheer ingenuity, and you can rest
|
||
assured that he'll do everything in his power to ensure that his escape from
|
||
public life is a profitable one. For instance, while the Ministry has cut back
|
||
on frills like Compassion Connection and the Hope Line, it continues to lavish
|
||
compensation on Bob. BLM's alleged financial difficulties didn't stop it from
|
||
buying a $200,000 split-dollar life insurance policy for his benefit:
|
||
As part of the president's employment agreement, the Ministry
|
||
purchased a split dollar life insurance policy for the presi-
|
||
dent's benefit. The Ministry pays the annual premium, of which
|
||
$1,470 constitutes compensation to the president in accordance
|
||
with Internal Revenue Service regulations. In the event of
|
||
termination of the plan, the Ministry would receive the lesser
|
||
of the policy cash surrender value, or the accumulated non-
|
||
compensation premium payments (split) and the president would
|
||
receive the excess of accumulated retirement benefits over the
|
||
policy cash surrender value, if any. In the event of premature
|
||
death of the president, the Ministry would receive an amount
|
||
equal to the accumulated premium payments and the president's
|
||
named beneficiary would receive the balance of the death bene-
|
||
fit proceeds. For the year ended December 31, 1992, the Minis
|
||
try paid $52,719 in total premiums. As of December 31, 1992,
|
||
included in other assets on the balance sheet is the cash sur-
|
||
render value of the policy which is $27,564.9
|
||
|
||
The key to understanding a split-dollar life insurance policy is in who
|
||
benefits. The Ministry puts up the cash -- and takes the risk -- but gets only
|
||
a guaranteed rate of return. However, if the insurance company's investments
|
||
are profitable, and the value of said policy at termination exceeds its' cash
|
||
surrender value (as it generally does), the surplus goes to the executive.
|
||
Let's put this into perspective. The Ministry used over $52,000 of
|
||
sacrificially-given funds in 1992 to give Bob Larson a $200,000 split dollar
|
||
life insurance policy. BLM could have bought $200,000 in term life insurance
|
||
for less than $1,500, and used the remainder to 'save' stations. But, what the
|
||
heck, it is Bob Larson's ministry....
|
||
|
||
And The 'New Bob'....
|
||
Before Tuesday, Bob Larson seemed as if he was on a fairly uneventful ride
|
||
toward oblivion. He skillfully steered his shows away from anything that might
|
||
permit a discussion of his financial and personal woes, hoping perhaps to 'ride
|
||
out the storm'. And this was not unexpected: Bob can be quite a cool customer
|
||
when he wants to be, and not drawing attention to himself was certainly a viable
|
||
strategy. Things were quiet ... almost too quiet.
|
||
|
||
And then, it happened.
|
||
|
||
The surreal (and, from a tactical perspective, long-overdue) sequel to his
|
||
classic "Bob on the Block," Tuesday's show "Bob Bares All" was another
|
||
remarkable tour de force from The Mighty Larson Art Players. No one seriously
|
||
expected that Bob would give straight answers to his listeners' legitimate
|
||
questions, but then again, no one expected that he would become completely
|
||
unglued. He didn't just jump off the deep end ... he tried a triple somersault
|
||
with a half-twist. Whenever Bob does anything, he does it in style.
|
||
It didn't take long for the Internet articles to come up in conversation. The
|
||
second caller, a fellow from Vancouver, popped the question -- and Bob
|
||
sidestepped it like a Bill Clinton wannabe:
|
||
|
||
CHRIS: "I just wanted to talk with you about this, there's a
|
||
large file of information on -- about you, or..." <BL inter
|
||
rupts>.
|
||
BL: "A large file? Oh, there's all kinds of files of informa-
|
||
tion on me. Goodness knows, you can get it on computer bulle-
|
||
tin boards, you can write people <Chris tried to interrupt, but
|
||
BL drowned him out> -- write people who publish their addresses
|
||
and they will send you more information about me than I know
|
||
about myself. It's all there -- it's there for the taking, it's
|
||
there for the asking, and no, you can't give the address over
|
||
the air. I do have some scruples."
|
||
CHRIS: "I don't want to. I just wanted to ask you a question
|
||
about it, actually."
|
||
BL: "I don't know ... what do you want to ask me about it?"
|
||
CHRIS: Well, it's pretty -- pretty damaging. I'm just wonder-
|
||
ing about this Evangelical Council for Financial Responsibility
|
||
[sic]. Is it true you guys withdrew from that?"
|
||
BL: "Yeah. I suggest that you write them and you ask them who
|
||
serves on their standards committee, how they are chosen, what
|
||
they are paid, and ask for a biographical profile of the people
|
||
who judge the other people and see how fast you get that infor-
|
||
mation. And from vividly vivacious Vancouver, goodbye."10
|
||
|
||
The NRB's Pat Mahoney told me in a telephone interview that it was her
|
||
understanding that the allegedly private information Bob was complaining about
|
||
would be given out to anyone who asked.11 After all, NRB potentates' salaries
|
||
are matters of public record, and a man with legitimate credentials has no
|
||
reason to hide them.12
|
||
NRB president E. Brandt Gustavson declined to comment with respect to the
|
||
Larson scandal -- but an unofficial source inside the NRB suggested that there
|
||
is a reason for his silence. It was reported that, when Larson withdrew BLM's
|
||
ECFA application, he warned Gustavson that if he ever breathed anything to the
|
||
press about why BLM withdrew its application, he would sue. Assuming the
|
||
veracity of that report, and given Larson's well-earned reputation for using
|
||
lawsuits as offensive weapons, such a threat could not have been taken lightly.
|
||
No one was safe from Bob's wrath on Tuesday -- even self-confessed Bob-backers
|
||
were waylaid by his staccato blasts. Consider this call, from Jim in Anchorage:
|
||
|
||
JIM: "I've always wanted to know, I know that people talk to
|
||
you about money and what-not--"
|
||
BL: "Yeah, why do they always want to do that, Jim? Why do
|
||
they always pick on me? Why doesn't -- I want to know -- why
|
||
doesn't anybody ever call up Charles Standley or Chuck Colson
|
||
or Jim Dobson and say to them, 'Please could you publish your
|
||
financial IRS return and let us know all of your sources of
|
||
income, how you got it, and where it came from? Why doesn't
|
||
anybody ever ask them?'"13
|
||
|
||
I wasn't the first person to report on Bob Larson's financial condition, but I
|
||
should be qualified to respond. To be blunt, Larson is a relative nobody --
|
||
almost a cult figure. No one in the Evangelical community would permit me to
|
||
write this story, and few in the secular world have even a vague notion as to
|
||
who he is. That's why I offered the story to Jay Grelen in the first place, and
|
||
satisfied myself with working the fruits of the investigation into two of my
|
||
books. If, as Larson has publicly insinuated, I was out to destroy
|
||
Christianity, or at least, a prominent Christian leader, I would have gone after
|
||
someone significant, like Jim Dobson.
|
||
It is not -- nor, will it ever be -- my role to be the watchdog for the
|
||
Evangelical community. As such, I haven't really made it a practice to rummage
|
||
through every evangelist's bank account. Based on my dealings with them, I am
|
||
fairly satisfied that Focus on the Family is a class act. And, on the other
|
||
side of the fence, it's tough to pick on Howard Stern -- he is perfectly honest
|
||
about what he is doing, and he hasn't parked his snout at the federal trough.
|
||
But, since Bob has thrown down his gauntlet, I decided to make a quick inquiry
|
||
into Watergate alum Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship ministry.
|
||
Prison Fellowship is run the way you would expect a ministry to be run -- they
|
||
almost seem to invite scrutiny. Colson doesn't have any outside sources of
|
||
income: all his honoraria and royalties are given to his ministry. Indeed, he
|
||
was recently awarded the Templeton Prize ($1,000,000) and he had the check made
|
||
out to Prison Fellowship.14 And, just in case anyone is sufficiently curious to
|
||
inquire further, Prison Fellowship's taxpayer ID is 62-0988294, their mailing
|
||
address is P.O. Box 17500, Washington DC, 20041, and the applicable IRS form is
|
||
4506-A.
|
||
|
||
Or That Same Old Song and Dance?
|
||
In the Bob Larson Theater of the Absurd, the outer limits of credulity are
|
||
tested daily. Like Mike Warnke, Larson is a master at using gross exaggeration
|
||
to drive home his points. It's not intellectually honest, but as former
|
||
Christian talk-show host John Stewart put it to me, talk radio isn't exactly
|
||
brain surgery. Ergo, it works.
|
||
On the February 8 show, in a desperate ploy to win back the 'hearts and minds'
|
||
of the legions of listeners persuaded by his critics, Larson tried his hand at
|
||
not-too-subtle satire:
|
||
|
||
"It's absolutely amazing to me that people -- the things that
|
||
people think about me -- I mean, I don't believe it. A while
|
||
back, we got a phone call, and somebody said, 'You know, I'd
|
||
like to know about Bob's Arabian horse farm <sound effect: team
|
||
of horses whinnying>. I mean, is it really true that Bob has
|
||
an Arabian horse farm?' No, it's not really true.
|
||
And then, we get these people who say, 'I know what Bob's
|
||
doing with his money -- he's driving a Mercedes.' Absolutely.
|
||
Or maybe, a Lamborghini <sound effect: race car>.
|
||
I mean, it's-- you would not believe some of the things that
|
||
people come up with. So, I mean-- I mean, what are they going
|
||
to accuse me of next? Are they going to accuse me of having my
|
||
own private baseball franchise? ...
|
||
Oh, and then, there was the one about my LearJet <sound
|
||
effect: jet taking off>. I mean, I don't know where people get
|
||
this stuff."15
|
||
|
||
And during the second hour, Bob continued to hammer on that theme:
|
||
|
||
"I'll tell you what gets to me: This is the stupid garbage --
|
||
yes, it's stupid garbage -- stupid garbage people believe. I
|
||
get this stuff printed about me, written about me, said about
|
||
me ... and I read this stuff. I mean, I wasn't joking about
|
||
the Arabian horse farm. We actually got a phone call, and
|
||
somebody said I, uh, ... that was before they said I owned five
|
||
houses-- <stammering>. I wish I did own an Arabian horse farm.
|
||
I'd love to own an Arabian horse farm. I don't own an Arabian
|
||
horse farm -- or five houses."16
|
||
|
||
As with other common examples of 'Larson logic', it doesn't bear up well under
|
||
close examination. Distilled to essentials, Bob is arguing that, because
|
||
uninformed individuals are allegedly spreading outlandish rumors, the
|
||
carefully-tempered and well-documented reports in the Christian press should
|
||
likewise be disregarded. To the best of my knowledge, no one in the media has
|
||
accused Bob of owning a LearJet, a stable of Arabian horses, a top-of-the-line
|
||
Mercedes, or broadcasting from the side of his indoor swimming pool. However,
|
||
there is one of these arguably absurd allegations which may have some basis in
|
||
fact: the claim that Bob owns five houses.
|
||
I haven't reported on this aspect of the Larson story on grounds of relevance,
|
||
but since Bob has made such a federal case of it, the subject has become
|
||
germane.
|
||
Jay Grelen and Doug LeBlanc started this ball rolling in the first World
|
||
article, "This Is Me, This Is Real," by writing that "Larson's papers in the
|
||
divorce case also report that: ... When they divorced, the Larsons owned five
|
||
pieces of real estate, including two in the Rocky Mountains, worth $539,200."17
|
||
And since Bob signed the papers in question under penalty of perjury, their
|
||
report was presumptively accurate.
|
||
Grelen and LeBlanc didn't present Larson's financial information as adroitly
|
||
as they could have; it's easy to see how five pieces of real estate can be
|
||
translated into five houses. Still, one of the parcels was a vacant lot --
|
||
albeit, a valuable one -- scheduled to be sold as a result of the divorce. A
|
||
second one was nothing more than a cabin, and a third was ex-wife Kathy's
|
||
townhouse. The family home was sold. The only significant piece of real estate
|
||
he got from the divorce was the ski condo. With everything that Grelen and
|
||
LeBlanc had an opportunity to have reported on, the division of the marital
|
||
estate was a questionable choice.
|
||
Yet, once his divorce was final, and the success of Dead Air buoyed his
|
||
confidence, Bob got back into the Colorado real estate market in a big way. And
|
||
to the best of our knowledge, he now owns the following properties:
|
||
|
||
Bob Larson's Parade of Homes18
|
||
|
||
Property Purchase Date
|
||
Description Price Evidenced by Ck'd
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
28XXX Meadowlark Dr., $440,000 Deed (reception # 2/93
|
||
Golden, CO 91112013)
|
||
13XXXW. Ohio Ave., 79,900 Deed (reception # 2/93
|
||
Lakewood, CO 92089695)
|
||
Hearthstone Mountainhomes 199,000 Deed (reception # 2/93
|
||
at Aspenridge Condos, illegible on
|
||
Unit 2, Building 1, copy; bought
|
||
Summit County, CO 9 Dec. 1987)
|
||
Winterland condo(s?) 32,50019 Bob's affidavit N/A
|
||
|
||
|
||
We also have an unconfirmed report that Bob owns a townhouse in the
|
||
greater Phoenix area. If that report is true, and he hasn't sold any
|
||
of the aforementioned properties, then he owns five houses. Granted,
|
||
it might look bad, but there is no evidence to suggest that he leaves
|
||
his second, third and even fourth homes vacant when he is not around.
|
||
For instance, there are all sorts of reasons for him to own the house
|
||
his parents live in, and resort-area condos are easily rented. Thus,
|
||
in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter one whit whether Bob
|
||
owns three, four or even more houses; what ought to matter is whether
|
||
he improperly used sacrificially-given funds to pay for them.
|
||
|
||
_______________________________
|
||
|
||
[What I find more remarkable is that a man who insists that he constantly
|
||
receives serious death threats, and is forced to travel under assumed names,
|
||
should take so precious little care to protect himself from the rogues' gallery
|
||
of assorted crazies who purportedly threaten him. All Bob would have had to
|
||
have done is set up some out-of-state partnership to buy the property, hold his
|
||
partnership interest in an innocuously-named trust, and tell those few staffers
|
||
who need to know his whereabouts that he is only renting his house. The casual
|
||
yahoo from Columbus shouldn't have any hope of finding him, and all but the most
|
||
persistent and well-financed reporter would have difficulty following the trail.
|
||
But Bob has done everything short of taking out an ad in the Black Flame --
|
||
anyone who wanted to find him could do so in five minutes, tops. Either he
|
||
doesn't take the alleged death threats seriously, or he is incredibly stupid.]
|
||
|
||
_______________________________
|
||
|
||
It is written that 'the wages of sin are death' -- and it is beginning to look
|
||
as if Bob Larson Ministries is gradually slipping into a coma. A good show --
|
||
one that would have drawn $12-15,000 in pledges only three years ago --
|
||
reportedly pulls in around $3-5,000. And, like the proverbial three-year-old
|
||
that blames the family cat for knocking over the cookie jar, Bob is looking
|
||
desperately for a scapegoat. Bob is rather creative in that respect -- he may
|
||
be the only radio minister in history to blame a drop in Canadian donations on
|
||
the election of a U.S. president -- but the fact remains that if the cookie jar
|
||
is broken, all the excuses in the world won't fix it.
|
||
Was Bob's bizarre outburst of February 8 merely another in a seemingly endless
|
||
repertoire of mindless theatrics, or was it a harbinger of troubles to come? I
|
||
don't suppose that we'll ever know. But what Bob said to his listeners, his
|
||
critics will openly second: He doesn't need luck; he needs prayer -- and
|
||
repentance.
|
||
_____________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
ENDNOTES
|
||
|
||
1Ministry sources informed us of Bonnie's unfortunate situation; Fred
|
||
Wheeler confirmed with the radio station in question that she was no
|
||
longer employed there.
|
||
2 Bob Larson, "Talk-Back With Bob Larson," Radio broadcast, 2 Feb.
|
||
1994 (tape on file).
|
||
3M. Kurt Goedelman and G. Richard Fisher, "Charged with Character
|
||
Assassination: PFO Responds to Heresy Hunters by James R. Spencer,"
|
||
Personal Freedom Outreach Quarterly Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, Jan.-
|
||
Mar. 1994, p. 5. (The Quarterly Journal can be downloaded from the
|
||
JPUSA bbs [(312) 878-6030], or you can obtain a copy by writing PFO,
|
||
P.O. Box 26062, St. Louis, MO 63136.)
|
||
4Ibid., p. 12.
|
||
5"My Dinner with Bob Larson" [interview with Boyd Rice], Snake Oil,
|
||
Issue #2 (no date), p. 5. ("Brother Randall" has been actively doing
|
||
research on Larson, and, as is my standard practice, I'm loading him
|
||
for bear.
|
||
It's tough to pin these guys down theologically, but they appear to
|
||
limit their criticisms to the Word-Faith crowd: Jim Bakker, Dr. Gene
|
||
Scott, Paul Crouch, and David Koresh are representative 'targets' of
|
||
their inoffensive barbs. You can obtain a copy by writing Snake Oil,
|
||
6102 E. Mockingbird #374, Dallas, TX 75214. The cover price is $2,
|
||
and the good Brother insists upon cash. For those interested in the
|
||
other Bob, he has compiled a piece titled "The Beast of Robert Til
|
||
ton" [check for $6.66 payable to D. Rose; same address].)
|
||
6Unsigned, "Reflections on a Tempestuous Relationship," 27 Feb. 1991,
|
||
p. 1.
|
||
7E.g., Anonymous, Letter (to Edward Atsinger, President of Salem Com-
|
||
munications), 1991. (The authenticity of the letter was confirmed by
|
||
former Salem employee, attorney, and Christian talk-show host John
|
||
Stewart.)
|
||
8Courtesy of our Detroit correspondent, who doubtless will be going
|
||
off-line with LQV; his presence will be missed.
|
||
9Bob Larson Ministries, 1992 Consolidated Financial Statements
|
||
(obtained from Bob Larson Ministries, 25 August 1992, balance sheet
|
||
reprinted in summary form in K. Smith, "The Cowering Inferno," also
|
||
on file with Internet), p. 10.
|
||
10Bob Larson, "Talk-Back With Bob Larson," Radio broadcast, 8 Feb.
|
||
1994 (tape on file).
|
||
11Patricia Mahoney, Telephone interview, 9 Feb. 1994.
|
||
12Cf., Mt. 5:14-16.
|
||
13Bob Larson, "Talk-Back With Bob Larson," Radio broadcast, 8 Feb.
|
||
1993 (tape on file).
|
||
14Lee Vaughn (Prison Fellowship Development Dept.), Telephone inter
|
||
view, 9 Feb. 1994. (As I recall, I'd first heard the part about the
|
||
Templeton Prize on an interview he did on William F. Buckley's Fir-
|
||
ing Line.)
|
||
15Bob Larson, "Talk-Back With Bob Larson," Radio broadcast, 8 Feb.
|
||
1993 (tape on file).
|
||
16Ibid., ibid.
|
||
17Jay Grelen and Doug LeBlanc, "This Is Me, This Is Real," World,
|
||
Vol. 7, No. 32, 23 Jan. 1993, pp. 7-8.
|
||
18Copies of deeds on file. Since the property description for the first two
|
||
parcels double as street and mailing addresses, I have deleted the last
|
||
three digits in the description. This strikes what I submit is a reasonable
|
||
balance in shielding the Larsons from unwanted communication but providing
|
||
enough information so those who wanted to check my work may do so.
|
||
19"Affidavit with Respect to the Financial Affairs of Bobby E. Lar
|
||
son," Larson v. Larson, No. 91 DR 226 (Jefferson County (Colo.) Dist.
|
||
Ct., filed 18 July 1991, at 7. (The divorce file itself was sealed by
|
||
order of the Court on 13 Feb. 1992.)
|
||
_____________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
|
||
Subject: Bob Larson - who's stupid?
|
||
Date: 14 Feb 1994 09:32:45 -0600
|
||
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
|
||
|
||
After thinking about one of last week's "Talk-Back" shows, it struck me odd that
|
||
Bob's response to a questioning caller was rather ironic.
|
||
|
||
Bob lambasted a caller who inquired about Larson's royalties from his purported
|
||
books. The caller asked if Bob gave his book profits to his Ministry, and Bob
|
||
said he wasn't stupid enough to do that.
|
||
|
||
Well, I guess Bob would consider Billy Graham, Josh McDowell, and other
|
||
Christian minister/writers as being stupid in donating their royalties to their
|
||
respective ministries.
|
||
|
||
After all, Bob needs all the income he can get, because I suppose the six figure
|
||
salary/compensation package just doesn't quite make him feel secure...
|
||
|
||
What shall be Bob's Valentine's Day gift to himself this year? Last year around
|
||
this time, Bob wrote himself a $50,000 bonus check out of the Ministry funds.
|
||
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but for Bob, just give him the cash...
|
||
|
||
Just in case John Hicks might be reading this post, send me some e-mail! I tried
|
||
to send you copies of the articles and such, but your address didn't work! I
|
||
think it was a uunet address, and my account doesn't like them for some reason.
|
||
|
||
I got a copy of "Snake Oil: A Kontemporary Guide to Kooky Kristian Kulture" last
|
||
week. What a scream! They had a great article on Larson. Does anyone know how to
|
||
get a subscription, or where it's based from? Ken loved it as well (read the
|
||
current article, The $64,000 Question).
|
||
|
||
More Bob-News as it rolls in.
|
||
_____________________________________________________________________________
|
||
Scott T. Mikusko I have made but one prayer to God,
|
||
Michigan State University a short one:
|
||
21922sm@msu.edu "Oh Lord, make my enemies look
|
||
smikusko@nyx.cs.du.edu ridiculous,"
|
||
|
||
And God granted it. --- Voltaire
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
________________________________________________________________
|
||
Copyright 1994 Kenneth L. Smith. All rights reserved; reproduction
|
||
permitted for non-commercial uses only. Please direct your questions
|
||
to the author at P.O. Box 280305, Lakewood, CO 80228.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------<GwD Command Centers>------------------------------
|
||
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|
||
GridPoint Durant (405)920-1347 | The Sprawl (806)797-0820
|
||
Federation Slayers' (806)885-2954 | Tacoland (215)750-0392
|
||
The Snake's Den (806)793-3779 | The Lagoon (203)638-3712
|
||
The Siege Perilous (806)762-0948 | Altered Reality (203)925-8349
|
||
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|
||
Pirate's Cove (806)795-4926 | Static Line (806)747-0802
|
||
PCI (806)794-1438 |
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
ftp =-= etext.archive.umich.edu /pub/Zines/Greeny
|
||
ftp.fc.net /pub/deadkat/misc/GWD
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
/---------------\
|
||
Published by GwD, Inc. in September 1995 :FIGHT THE POWER:
|
||
GREENY world Domination Task Force copyright (c) 1993 by Lobo : GwD :
|
||
\---------------/
|
||
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|