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Bob Larson

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Bob Larson (born 1944 in McCook, Nebraska) is a radio and television evangelist, currently based in Colorado. Larson has authored numerous books on the subjects of rock music, cults, and Satanism, written from a Christian perspective.

Larson plays guitar; he has claimed his early experiences as a musician led to his concerns about occult and destructive influences in rock music.[1] He would later incorporate his guitar playing into some of his sermons. In the 1960s the focus of Larson's preaching centered mainly on the leftist political ideology, sexually suggestive lyrics, Eastern religious mysticism, and antisocial behavior of many of the era's rock musicians. Less flamboyant than the Peters Brothers and less sensational than Jack Chick, Jeff Godwin, or Jacob Aranza, Larson is still remembered as one of the most vocal fundamentalist Christian critics of rock music.

By the 1970s, however, much of Larson's teachings concerned Satanism. Larson originally rejected Christian rock music based on its similarity in sound and image to secular rock music. Larson frequently appeared as a guest on secular and religious talk shows.

Bob Larson has an active following in the Usenet community at alt.fan.bob-larson.


"Talk Back" with Bob Larson

In 1982 Larson launched "Talk Back", a two-hour weekday call-in show geared mainly toward teenagers and frequently focused on teen-oriented topics such as role-playing games and rock music. By this time Larson had come to embrace contemporary Christian music, including styles such as heavy metal and rap, and actively promoted the music and artists on his show.

"Talk Back" was one of the most prank called shows on radio. Groups of telephone pranksters took delight in getting past Larson's call screeners. The subjects of Satanism and Satanic ritual abuse were frequent topics of discussion. By the late 1980s, in what would come to define his later ministry, Larson was often heard performing exorcisms of callers on the air. The increasingly sensational tone of the show, combined with allegations of ethical and financial misbehavior led many affiliates - including all of Salem Broadcasting's stations simultaneously - to drop the show in the early 1990s. Larson's marriage to his wife Kathryn ended in divorce in 1992. Larson eventually married his secretary with whom he has two daughters.

In the 1990s, "Talk Back" began losing much of its teen focus - though Satanism and exorcisms remained as the show's cornerstones. The show began incorporating more right wing politically-oriented topics. Despite the new focus, the number of affiliates continued to decrease until Larson ended the show amidst allegations of fraud and romantic entanglements with several female members of his staff in 2001. These revelations of irregularity were first raised in the early 1990s by Ken Smith, a CPA and law student living in Denver who obtained court documents, tax documents, and Larson's personal diary entries to support his allegations. Several former Larson insiders corroborated Smith's allegations, including Jake Ashcraft, a minister, former guest and sometimes co-host of "Talk Back", who made public a personal letter to Larson requesting him to address the improprieties.

Larson tried his hand at writing fiction: Dead Air (1991) was based on his experiences behind the microphone in dealing with the occult. His later novels Abaddon (1993) and The Senator's Agenda both linked Satanic ritual abuse to political corruption. However, a former vice president of BLM (Bob Larson Ministries), Lori Boespflug, claimed that much of Dead Air, though presented as Larson's work, is actually her own. Supporting these claims is a letter from Larson's lawyer that warns Larson of his "potential liability to Lori", anticipating that "the role Lori has played" would lead her to "demand recognition and/or profit participation" in respect to Dead Air and its sequels.[1]

Today, Larson remains active as a traveling evangelist, still focusing primarily on Satanism and exorcisms. His ministry can be found at [1] where many people who have problems with violence, self mutilation, multiple personality disorders, satanic ritual abuse, or molestation go to in order to find an alternative counseling outlet. His team is called "Doing What Jesus Did" and has branches all over the United States where people who are looking for help can find a contact person to come to their home for intense prayer and/or exorcisims.

In 2004 Larson returned to the radio airwaves after a two-year absence with a daily talk show heard on a network of radio stations and simulcast and archived on the Internet.

John Safran's Exorcism

In 2003, Australian film maker John Safran came to do a story on Bob Larson for John Safran vs God, a documentary series on world religions. The final episode was devoted entirely to this encounter. It lacked some of the humorous flair of the previous 7 episodes, starting with a brief introduction to Bob. He talked about his past, and showed John a series of photographs of him with prominent political figures, including Margaret Thatcher, George Bush Senior, John Major and Colin Powell, saying; "No one impresses me more as a human being than Colin Powell".

Soon after this, the exorcism started, with Bob ordering Safran (a Jew - though non-practicing) to speak on behalf of his ancestors and forgive Hitler, which he did. As Larson continued with the exorcism, Safran's behaviour changed rapidly. He lost his characteristic lisp, becoming violent and angry, and he began to speak in the characters of several of the spiritual figures that he had investigated in previous episodes, including the voodoo spirit Papa Gede[2] and the Hindu god Hanuman. The exorcism focused mainly on Biblical Old Testament scripture; however, Larson continued to push Safran to an acceptance of Jesus. Larson used this television appearance to promote a tour to Australia in 2004. John Safran made subsequence radio appearances on Australia's Triple J radio, where he insisted that it was not an act, although he was not convinced that it was entirely a spiritual experience. He also admitted that he may have been psychologically manipulated by Larson.

Bibliography

  • Hippies, Hindus, and Rock & Roll (Creation House, 1969)
  • Rock & the Church (Creation House, 1971)
  • The Day Music Died (Creation House, 1972) ISBN 0884190307
  • Hell on Earth (Creation House, 1974) ISBN 0884190722
  • Babylon Reborn (Creation House, 1976) ISBN 0884190064
  • Rock, Practical Help for Those Who Listen to the Words and Don't like What They Hear (Tyndale, 1980) ISBN 0842356851
  • Larson's Book of Family Issues (Tyndale, 1986) ISBN 0842324593
  • Strange Cults in America (Tyndale, 1986) ISBN 084236675X
  • Larson's Book of Rock (Tyndale, 1987) ISBN 0842356878
  • Your Kids and Rock (Tyndale, 1988) ISBN 0842386114
  • Satanism: the Seduction of America's Youth (Lightning Source, 1989) ISBN 0840730349
  • Straight Answers on the New Age (Thomas Nelson, 1989) ISBN 0840730322
  • Tough Talk About Tough Issues (Tyndale, 1989) ISBN 0842372970
  • Larson's New Book of Cults (Tyndale, 1989) ISBN 0842328602
  • Dead Air: A Novel (Thomas Nelson, 1991) ISBN 0840776381
  • Abaddon: A Novel (Thomas Nelson, 1993) ISBN 0840777965
  • The Senator's Agenda (Thomas Nelson, 1995) ISBN 0785278796
  • In The Name Of Satan: How the Forces of Evil Work and What You Can Do To Defeat Them (Thomas Nelson, 1996) ISBN 0785278818
  • UFO's and the Alien Agenda (Thomas Nelson, 1997) ISBN 0785271821
  • Extreme Evil: Kids Killing Kids (Nelson Reference, 1999) ISBN 0785268707
  • Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare (Nelson, 1999) ISBN 0785269851
  • Shock Talk: the Exorcist Files (WestBow, 2001) ISBN 0785270094

Notes

  1. ^ a b Jon Trott (1993). "Bob Larson's Ministry Under Scrutiny". Cornerstone. 21 (100): 18, 37, 41–42. ISSN 0275-2743. Retrieved 2006-06-08.

See also

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