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Note 265.0 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 13 replies
SMEGIT::CRETEAU 11 lines 11-MAY-1992 10:52
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Dear Family: Is anyone familiar with the Bob Larson Ministry? I
believe it is also called the Compassion Connection? It is on 1320,
the Christian Radio Station from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
He and his Ministry seem to help so many troubled teenagers and people
who have been involved with satanism....Anyone have any imput on this
Ministry?
Thanks beforehand, for any replies...
God Bless, Nancy+
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Note 265.1 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 1 of 13
WR2FOR::HOPKINS_DA "Sw, worshipping the Son of God" 22 lines 11-MAY-1992 14:43
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Hey Nancy,
Bob Larson is one tough, firey, front lines kinda guy. He would
probably get on most Christians nerves, only because his ministry is
not to Christians. It is specifically to the lost. He deals with them
on their level, in their issues, and lets them get as deep into a
subject, any subject, that they want.
From what I have seen, the ministry has been very powerful. It gives
non-Christians a way of finding out the straight scoop about
Christianity the way they really want to hear it: real,
straightforward, and something that can really "compete" with the
things they are into.
It seems also to be addressed to young people, maybe because they are
the kind that would get into a conversation like that (from being a
youth minister for 12 years).
Luvs
Sw
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Note 265.2 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 2 of 13
EVMS::YACKEL "been in a jacuzi with your moderator " 10 lines 12-MAY-1992 10:52
-< I listen to Bob almost everyday >-
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What SW said.
You may need to listen to Bob for quite some time to understand that
he really does have a God given Love for this type of ministry. He can
at first seem to turn someone off, but he is ministering to young
people that you probably wont see in church. I personnally think that
he is right on target and is being used of God. He is a do-er of the
Word.
Dan
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Note 265.3 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 3 of 13
SMEGIT::CRETEAU 10 lines 12-MAY-1992 11:08
-< Bob's Adress? >-
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SW and Dan: Thanks for your response....Have been listening and praying
for Bob and the ministry for a while now....It is very hard, at times
to even listen to his program...so much pain...I agree...Bob is really
on target and realing helping these young people..He is Real!!
Do either of you have an address to write to him? I would appreciate
that info...
Peace, Nancy +
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Note 265.4 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 4 of 13
EVMS::YACKEL "been in a jacuzi with your moderator l" 5 lines 12-MAY-1992 13:14
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I dont have the address but I bet if you call 1-800-223-club (the
communicator line) they will give you the address.
Dan
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Note 265.5 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 5 of 13
VMSMKT::PULKSTENIS "no such thing as coincidence" 20 lines 12-MAY-1992 21:26
-< Bob's address >-
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Nancy,
I agree with Sw and Dan on this one. I had to listen to Bob for
about 3-4 months before I began to understand what he's all about.
There were times when he seemed a bit much, and hard to take. But
I determined to try to hear him out and give him time - all the
while asking the Lord to help me understand where this guy's
coming from.
We have been supporters of Bob's ministry now for almost a year.
Since they like to keep the 800-line open for callers who need
help, I'd suggest yu call Denver information for a regular
phone number for Bob Larson Ministries (The Communicator Club),
or write to him at P. O. Box 36A, Denver, Colo. 80236-9982.
Blessings upon you, Nancy.
Irena
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Note 265.6 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 6 of 13
VISA::PIKE "Love God hate evil" 14 lines 13-MAY-1992 09:08
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He is also the author of several books:
"Larson's New Book of Cults" (great ammunition)
"Larson's Book of Rock"
"Straight Answers on the New Age"
"Tough Talk About Tough Issues"
enjoy the battle,
Charly
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Note 265.8 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 8 of 13
SMEGIT::CRETEAU 5 lines 14-MAY-1992 10:51
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Thanks again for all of your thoughts....I really appreciate your
help..
Peace, Nancy+
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Note 265.10 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 10 of 13
WR2FOR::HOPKINS_DA "Sw, worshipping the Son of God" 18 lines 15-JUL-1992 09:58
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Ray,
(commercial) having been out on the streets in mid to upper mid class
murca, and seeing the Satan worshipping teenagers, the drug addicts,
the boozers, the suicide squad, yeah there are a lot hurting teens out
there. I can believe all of the calls, because I have heard the stuff
first hand. Teens in and out of the church that simply have nothing to
live for. I received one call from someone holding a knife to herself,
searching for a reason not to use it. I've talked to kids who say that
Satan was their only way out, and that he cared for them more than
their parents.
It's real. Thank God someone is reaching out to them, on their terms.
(back to the program)
Sw
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Note 265.11 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 11 of 13
FRETZ::HEISER "it's the *ECONOMY*, STUPID!" 252 lines 9-FEB-1993 17:39
-< fyi >-
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Article 14390 of rec.music.christian:
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Path: nntpd2.cxo.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!news.crl.dec.com!deccrl!caen!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!cclaydon@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
From: C Robert Claydon
Subject: Bob Larson: This is real, this is me.
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1993 04:07:10 GMT
Well, a bit past when I promised, but here it is: the Bob Larson article from
World magazine, transcribed...
==========================================================
"'This is me, this is real': Ex-employees dispute broadcaster Bob Larson's
public image." by Jay Grelen and Doug LeBlanc.
Transcribed without permission from World Magazine, January 23, 1993, v. 7,
n.23, without permission. All typos and misspellings are likely not the work
of the original authors... :-)
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Satanists and the demon-possessed show up frequently in Bob Larson's ministry,
and they love to dial 1-800-821-TALK for apocalyptic showdowns with the
energetic radio talkshow host. For two hours every day, via satellite from
Denver, about 175 radio stations across the country carry Larson's slugfest
with the supernatural, _Talk-Back with Bob Larson_.
"What do you want? Mr Milquetoast?" he says in a promotional tape. "Hey,
flip the dial. This is me, this is real, this is Talk-Back."
He blasts "white, middle-class, plush-pewed Christians"--many of whom pay his
salary--if they don't share his courage or convictions in going eye-to-eye with
evil.
Larson clearly understands the theology and moral teachings of Christianity.
He can explain salvation through grace concisely, and he is an articulate
advocate of evangelical views on such issues as abortion and sexual morality.
But 13 past Larson associates interviewed for this story--nine speaking
openly, four confidentially--challenge Larson's public image.
Larson has refused to speak with the two writers of this story. Ten of his
employees, both past and present, also declined to be interviewed, some citing
a fear of retribution, others citing loyalty.
Current and former employees and other associates of Bob Larson Ministries
portray a self-absorbed man who verbally and emotionally abuses employees and
exaggerates the number of people he helps.
They tell of Larson watching a computer screen for a running tally of
donations even as he counsels the distressed.
They tell of Larson exploiting the purported victims of satanic ritual abuse,
whose often-horrific stories he rarely, if ever, verifies.
They tell of Larson demanding signed confidentiality agreements from
employees, particularly those who write his books.
Larson has refused to provide for this story evidence to support his theory
of a nation-wide cult that breeds babies for human sacrifices and rapes teenage
girls in the name of Satan. Some who question him, he says, are sowing discord
in the body of Christ and are intent on destroying his ministry.
Ramona Koschawar of Culbertson, NE, remembers that as a high school senior,
Larson announced his plans "to become a doctor and make lots of money."
Larson never became a doctor--he dropped out of the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln in 1964, about two years after graduation from high school--but he has
made lots of money.
On Talk-Back, Larson frequently bemoans the ministry's financial condition.
But in the years 1989-91, the ministry paid Larson salaries totally $607,806,
according to IRS records. In 1991, the ministry provided an expense account of
$76,300, which is more than Billy Graham's salary. Larson's expense account
was $35,750 in 1990, according to the records, which by law are open to public
inspection.
Other records show that those totals do not include royalties from his 21
books and consulting fees paid to Larson by the Canadian arm of Bob Larson
Ministries.
Bob Larson Ministries belongs to National Religious Broadcasters and is
certified by EFI-COM, the organization's Ethics and Financial Integrity
Commission. But as a not-for-profit member of NRB, BLM has no choice in the
matter. NRB bylaws require all non-profit members to be certified by EFICOM.
An EFICOM spokesman said only that Bob Larson Ministries is a member in good
standing, and would not comment on whether EFICOM has received any complaints
about Larson.
Bob and Kathryn J. Larson exchanged wedding vows in Hamilton, Ontario, on Jan.
24, 1968. Eighteen years later, in the same year Larson condemned divorce in
his _Book of Family Issues_, the Larsons began receiving counseling for their
troubled marriage. Four years later, Larson asked his wife of 22 years to move
out of their home and initiated their divorce.
Records from the Larson's divorce case are now sealed in the Jefferson County
(Colo.) Courthouse. They were obtained legally prior to the seal order by a
Colorado resident who provided them for this story. They offer a glimpse of
Larson's lifestyle that the ministry's tax records don't reflect.
While the 1990 tax records show the ministry paid Larson $131,879 and allowed
him an expense account of $35,750, Larson certified to the court under oath
that his income in 1990 was $403,310.
Larson's papers in the divorce case also report that:
--The ministry provides an automobile, on which he pays personal income tax.
--The ministry pays a $1,876 monthly mortgage note and $350 per month for
utilities from a housing allowance.
--Larson spends $1000 of his own money per month for concerts, theater,
sporting events, ski travel, and other recreation.
--Larson donates $1339 per month to charities--roughly four per cent of his
reported income of $403,310.
When they divorced, the Larsons owned five pieces of real estate, including
two in the Rocky Mountains, worth $539,200.
Between them, the Larsons owned more than $4000 worth of porcelain, $13,000
worth of ivory, $8000 in crystal and china, nearly $8000 worth of carvings,
$6575 in jewelry, $3000 in paintings, more than $4000 in rugs and $8000 worth
of taxidermy.
The value of their marital assets at the time of the divorce was $1.4
million.
Larson pays his ex-wife $3700 per month in alimony. Kathryn Larson contested
that settlement, contending that her monthly expenses are $6200. Larson fought
her appeal successfully.
Larson recently announced his engagement to an employee of BLM.
Although Larson urges the hurting to call his radio program for comfort,
screeners are instructed to make sure the callers want to talk about the day's
subject. Former employee Tammy Brown, who answered the ministry's
crisis-referral line and screened calls for Talk-Back, says she has hung up on
weeping callers whose problem wasn't on the day's ajenda.
"A desperate listener can find hope and help by dialing 1-800-821-TALK,"
Larson wrote in _Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth_. But the
toll-free number is answered only two hours each day during Talk-Back, and even
then a desperate caller must get past screeners.
The ministry offers two other lines. The Communicator Club line, a toll-free
line reserved for donors, is open ten hours per day, five days per week. The
Compassion Connection's Hope Line, the line for helping the hurting, is open
only four hours per day, five days a week, and it's a toll call.
Compassion Connection refers callers to other agencies, although many former
employees say Larson listeners believe it offers counseling and crisis
intervention. Some listeners who can't afford the long-distance cost call the
toll-free donor line.
"We weren't allowed to talk to them, because it was an 800 line. We would be
reprimanded if we were caught counseling. it cost the ministry money," said
Charlene Erickson, who worked in BLM's donor services until last August, when
she said she resigned.
"We had to give them the toll number to Compassion Connection. they weren't
allowed to call that collect, either. They weren't allowed to get any free
help from the ministry. They always had to pay for the phone call."
On more than one occasion, supervisors who thought an operator was spending
too much time on the phone instructed the operator to hang up even on
distressed callers, say Erickson and other former operators.
"I hated that part of the job, hanging up on someone who was suicidal,"
Erickson said.
At least once, and operator transferred a call to the referral line without
getting caught. "I went over the boundaries and gave it to a person in the
Compassion Connection," says the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear
of retribution.
She once refused a direct order to hang up on a caller, which she believes
contributed to her dismissal a few weeks later.
Many operators who worked on the Hope Line were not trained in Christian
counseling. Brown says "However, we had people calling with a gun to their
head, and there's no way we could just give them another phone number," she
said.
Brown was frustrated because she could only refer troubled callers to a
different agency. "Bob, over the air, would say 'You call the Hope Line and
you will feel love like you've never felt before and you will feel compassion
like you've never felt before.' And yet [the supervisors] told us 'Five
minutes, max.'
"Compassion Connection, over the air, is made to sound like a wonderful,
life-changing experience," Brown said. "In actuality, it's not. It's really
cold and callous."
Raising money, in the words of a current BLM employee, is an art form.
Larson's ministry survives on contributions, and former employees say the most
sensation shows generate the most donations.
As recently as last fall, Larson's daily quota was $6500, says Erickson.
While he's on the air, Larson keeps track of the contributions on a
computer screen. When interest or donations have lagged, Larson has instructed
operators to contact income-generating victims from previous shows, four former
employees say. More than once, Larson told his audience that God prompted the
person to call.
Larson expects screeners to prime callers for a dramatic encounter. "Bob
would put them on hold and we would have to manipulate them, push them over the
edge, so they could go back on the air with Talk-Back and be saved by Bob
Larson," Brown said. "We had to push them until they said 'OK, I need God.'
We're not to do that, the Holy Spirit is. I felt like I was being used to make
Bob more money."
Another source of income is a "re-air," as BLM-staffers call it. Re-airs,
broadcast while Larson is away from the ministry, are designed to sound live,
say people who have helped produce them.
The producers review old shows and combine the best callers on one subject
into one program. Larson records fresh "drop-in" breaks that suggest he is in
the studio.
"We make it sound as live as possible," said one employee who asked to remain
anonymous. "When he does the drop-ins, we give him a tape and a listing of
what the callers were before and after so he can blend his voice right in.
It's become an art form. We're not trying to lie to the public, although the
opening says 'Live. Talk-Back.' I think they should cut the live part."
An employee says Larson used to inform audiences they were hearing a
rebroadcast, but that hurt donations. Bow BLM provides a disclaimer at the end
of both hours that the program has been prerecorded. "We kind of whisper it,
though," the employee said. "We don't shout it throughout the program, because
our donations go way down if people find out they're listening to a tape."
"Financially it's a pretty stupid thing" to identify a re-air prominently,
the employee said.
The disclaimers do not mention that the programs are compilations of several
programs. "You can manipulate it any way you want," said another former BLM
employee who asked to remain anonymous. "If you want 25 jerks, you can put in
25 jerks. Basically, what you're doing is lying to people."
"The re-air evolved into generating more income that the live show," the
source said. "it's a tough thing to do, because here we are trying to uphold
our integrity, and were being told it's OK because we have this little
disclaimer. We've been in radio long enough to know that half the stations
cover up the disclaimer, anyway. They don't even air it."
On days when Larson only wanted callers who praised him and someone else
called, says former screener Randy Johnson, he wouldn't allow them on the show.
"Then they'd argue with me and I'd hang up on them."
Johnson didn't like doing that, he says. "there might be someone who called
who sincerely needed help, but because a person's voice wasn't strong enough,
because they didn't have enough emotional edge, they couldn't be on the show."
Although Larson does help some people, Brown says, most are not helped. "The
majority are given tactics, are manipulated, are made to believe that there's a
demon behind every bush. If their car doesn't start, it's a demon. If they've
got a cold, it's a demon. If their lights are flickering, oh my gosh, it's a
demon."
Larson once used a softer touch on the demonic. "I do not go looking for
demons and never publicly announce exorcism sessions," he wrote 19 years ago in
_Hell On Earth_.
In August 1991 Larson advertised an upcoming exorcism for broadcast on
Talk-Back. "Who is interfering? Come to attention!" Larson commanded one
guttural voice coming from a young man named Adrian. "I loose the torment so
you may speak. Speak!"
The character who speaks says 342 demons inhabit Adrian, including one
"keeper of the wardrobe for the High Council of Lucifer" who "enjoys
sacrificing children."
[in interest of space, I left out several pages here on his book "Dead
Air"... basically, there are accusations someone else wrote it, it was largely
fabricated, etc, etc. I thought the following would be of more interest,
anyway, to this bboard, and relates to a side article...]
Larson's accounts of several episodes of his life show a pattern of
exaggeration. He did, for instance, play in a high school rock band while in
high school. But in his books, he depicts the band's activities in lurid
terms.
In _The Day the Music Died_, Larson described one of the band's debauched
concert sites: "On Sunday morning it was a church, but on Saturday night the
pews were removed, our musical equipment was placed on the platform, and beer
was dispensed in the basement as teenagers danced in the sanctuary."
During intermission, Larson wrote, teenagers went to their cars in the
parking lot "for the release of sex tensions stimulated by the dancing."
Keyboard player Sharla Turman Logan says the band did play in a church, but
laughs at Larson's recollection, and remembers those dances differently. The
church gig was a family gathering in a small community. "Little kids all the
way up to old people, they would be dancing. It was quite a good time."
Larson also has written that his band played to capacity audiences in
Atlantic City. That's true, Logan says, but there's more to the story. The
father of the band's drummer was an officer in the Lion's Club, Logan says, and
he booked them a date for the group's national convention in Atlantic City.
Larson also has overstated his medical accomplishments. His book _Rock and
Roll: the Devil's Diversion says he "gave up the medical profession to enter
the ministry."
His college career actually ended in September 1964. Vickie Kontos, records
librarian at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says Larson transferred
there from McCook junior college in September 1963, and left the University in
September 1964 without graduating. He never enrolled in the university's
medical school at Omaha, according to the registrar's office there.
[some more deleted...]
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Note 265.12 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 12 of 13
FRETZ::HEISER "it's the *ECONOMY*, STUPID!" 67 lines 9-FEB-1993 17:42
-< fyi >-
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Article 14391 of rec.music.christian:
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Path: nntpd2.cxo.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!news.crl.dec.com!deccrl!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!cclaydon@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
From: C Robert Claydon
Subject: Bob Larson: the Wonder Years
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1993 04:11:45 GMT
"The Wonder Years: Early on, Larson 'had in mind what he wanted to do.'"
sidebar to previous article, World Magazine, Jan. 23, 1993, p. 7.
Transcribed without permission.
=============================================================
Bob Larson stood out from the crowd even during Kindergartedn in Culbertson,
NE.
"He was that boy with the bright red hair," said Ramona Kotschwar, now a
secretary at the United Methodist Church in Culbertson. "He was on of the
louder ones, one of the more energetic."
Larson grew up on a farm outside Culbertson and walked the hardwood floors of
Culbertson Public School from grade school until he graduated from high school
in 1962. He attended college two years, and in 1972 founded Bob Larson
ministries.
In high school, Larson played football and basketball and ran track, was a
disc jockey on a radio station in nearby McCook, and stared his own rock and
roll trio, The Rebels.
In Laron's senior year, he was voted best athlete, best all-around student,
and homecoming king. "He was someone who had in mind what he wanted to do, and
went after it," said schoolmate Janice Marquart Elliott.
One thing Larson went after early was his music career.
Larson and two friends from McCook formed one of the first rock bands in
southwest Nebraska. They played in churches and pizza parlors, at fairs and
rodeos in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.
"Girls just swooned," says Sharla Turnman Logan, who played organ for the
Rebels. Larson also recruited Mike Klingner, a drummer who later was shot down
in Vietnam.
Larson was the lead singer. "He was very intense, almost reverent as far as
his intent," Logan said. "He could get mad. He had a good ego, almost to the
point of being conceited, but he never showed it to us. It was more of a
facade. There was a kind of arrogance, but [it was] more of an act."
The Rebels went their separate ways in late 1962, although they still had
contracts to perform. Bob Larson returned from freshman studies with
surprising news for his bandmates: He had become a Christian, and intended to
quit the band.
"I remember him saying 'I can't do it anymore because my God won't let me.'
He was just like a born-again Christian," Logan says. "He was so totally taken
with it. It was like he was struck by lightning."
Logan's father, who chaperoned the band, persuaded Larson to fulfill the
band's contracts.
Larson became "much more mellow," Logan said. "We wasn't quite as flashy, he
never really got upset with us. He wasn't nearly as conceited or egotistical.
He was much more a normal person, a much gentler person."
Logan recalls when she and Klingner encountered Larson as an anti-rock
preacher less than a year after the Rebels disbanded. Kingner called her in
tears. "We all got to be like brothers and sisters, we had been together so
long. Bob makes us sound like we're horrible people. We were trying to
remember in our own minds. Mike said 'You go and hear him and see what you
think.'"
So the next month, Logan went to hear him at a rally at the University of
Northern Colorado in Greely. "And I left in tears. I was humiliated. How was
he remembering all of this so differently than what I remember? I wasn't a
wild kid, and Mike wasn't either. And my dad wouldn't allow it. He was always
with us. The things he's remembering, my dad would have seen, and I never
would have gone back. I was totally flabbergasted when I heard him speak."
Logan almost confronted the ex-Rebel the next day on campus. "I was going to
talk to him and find out why he said all those things," she said. "It was in a
park. I remember standing behind a tree and not letting him see me. I never
got the nerve to talk to him."
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Note 265.13 BOB LARSON MINISTRY/RADIO 13 of 13
AOSG::YACKEL 6 lines 10-FEB-1993 14:35
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Bob did a full broadcast dedicated to this issue where callers asked
him all kinds of questions and he did answer them, it was aired a week
ago last friday I think. You can right to him and get a cassette copy
of the broadcast.
Yak