Christian radio talk show host thrives on controversy over the rise in Satanism in America.
“Talk-Back with Bob Larson,” a Christian radio talk show broadcast live from Denver, has made a ministry out of being outrageous.
Dismissed as a “shock jock” and a Geraldo Rivera of religious radio serving up “Christian pornography,” Bob Larson, a 48-year-old ex-rock’n’roller, has thrived in an atmosphere of controversy over his abrupt radio persona and his persistent interest in Satanism, religious cults, sexual abuse, the occult, and teenage rage.
Many of his critics appear willing to overlook Larson’s unique, on-air expression of tough love, yet are not as understanding when Larson insists that Satanism is a growing and organized conspiracy that includes human sacrifice, cannibalism, bestiality, and sexual abuse of young children.
In addition, others are questioning whether Larson in his private and public life lives up to the standards he promotes on the air and in the 22 books he has authored.
Satanic conspiracy?
In the last two years, Larson has come under increased scrutiny in the news media. In late January, World, a weekly newsmagazine written from a Christian perspective, published an expose of Larson, suggesting that the talk-show host exploits victims of Satanism, abuses his own employees, and is consumed with raising money to remain on the more than 180 radio stations across North America that air his show.
A few days after the article appeared, Larson spent an entire, two-hour broadcast rebutting his critics and answering questions from callers. Larson said on the air, “A group of people involving Christians and non-Christians has banded together across this country with a stated purpose of destroying me and this ministry.”
In addition, Larson agreed to a lengthy interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY to answer the questions about himself and the $5 million-a-year radio ministry he founded with his former wife in the early 1980s.
Larson says his critics report he is “some type of gullible sensationalist who believes everything [he is] told on every story as if it were the absolute truth. From a biblical standpoint, there unquestionably is a conspiracy.
“Ephesians 6 tells us all about that and explains it in detail. Do I think there are conspiratorial groups? Absolutely.”
Larson has perhaps drawn the most criticism for his first novel, Dead Air, a best-selling account of a girl kidnapped by a satanic cult and later rescued by a talk-show host. The sequel, Abaddon, in which the girl suffers from multiple-personality disorder (MPD), is due for release from Thomas Nelson in midyear.
Bob Passantino of Answers in Action, Costa Mesa, California, has been critical of Larson for promoting belief in satanic conspiracies and has questioned the findings of an important Larson supporter, James G. Friesen, author of Unlocking the Mystery of MPD.
Passantino says, “We don’t believe there’s a conspiracy of satanic cults around the United States killing kids. That’s not to say there are not loner Satanists that do heinous things. But there’s not this conspiracy where police, judges, lawyers, people in evangelical churches are putting robes on at night and doing these bad crimes.” He asserts that victims may be having “false memories” or are subject to “directive therapy,” in which counselors may unknowingly persuade or suggest ideas or beliefs to clients. “There’s not a shred of evidence to support his claims in [Dead Air].”
However, Friesen, a California psychologist, vehemently disagrees. “Dead Air [is] an understated case. It’s much worse than he’s stated.” He says the false memory theory is itself bogus.
“Disassociated memories have been identified and looked at as real memories since the last century, and there’s nothing false about it.”
Employee relations
Larson’s growing reputation for being a relentlessly demanding perfectionist who works countless hours has renewed questions on how he interacts with his employees.
One top employee at Bob Larson Ministries (BLM), Mary Kilgannon, says Larson has treated her fairly. Yet Kilgannon, director of research, notes, “Bob is very demanding. There’s no question about it. It’s not the kind of job where you have a lot of free time.” Ex-employee Lori Boespflug paints a dramatically different picture of life on the inside for BLM’s management.
Boespflug started as Larson’s secretary in 1990 and within two years was a vice-president making $47,000 annually. She says, “Bob used to brag that he gave us very economically rewarding salaries because he knew we couldn’t give them up. He paid for what he got. You were available 24 hours a day.”
Larson, commenting on his reputation as a boss, says, “Too often, Christian work is carried on in a nonprofessional, slipshod fashion. Employees are responsible to God, the donors, and to me. I want their best. I want it right.”
In 1992, Boespflug was fired by Larson after he confronted her in public for living with her fiance. Larson says of the incident: “I said [to her], how dare you risk the reputation of me and this ministry? It’s inappropriate behavior, and you know it’s inappropriate.”
Boespflug also alleges she was the principal writer of Dead Air, a claim Larson has dismissed as “a blatant lie,” although in the book he thanks her and others for their help.
Financial dealings
Kenneth L. Smith, a Denver-area resident, has made it his avocation to distribute material critical of Larson, focusing on BLM’s financial life.
In a flier, The Two Faces of Bob, Smith notes that BLM carries hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash surpluses, while “painting the misleading impression that the ministry is on the knife-edge of financial disaster.”
The BLM 1991 financial statement shows total assets of $3 million and total liabilities of $894,139. Larson’s stewardship report notes that 95 percent of 1991 revenue came from contributions of $5.1 million.
BLM has defended its aggressive fundraising, reporting that “more than 50 percent of the audience is non-Christian, thus only a small portion of listeners underwrite airtime costs.”
In addition, Smith questions Larson’s motives, saying, “The real mission of [BLM] is to minister to the extravagant financial needs of Bob Larson.” As evidence, Smith points to a financial disclosure in connection with Larson’s divorce, which shows Larson’s income in 1990 was $403,310, including salary, royalties, investments, and a one-time, board-initiated bonus of $150,000, “given in recognition of ten years of uncompensated service.”
BLM board member Jerry Prevo, a pastor in Anchorage, Alaska, has known Larson since the mid-1970s and says, “If [his compensation] is on the high side, it’s because he’s reaping where he has sown for so many years. It is just recently that Bob has been able to receive a compensation. For many years, he was undercompensated.”
During a February press conference at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, Larson defended himself, saying, “I have never filed suit against any [religious broadcaster].”
Seconds later, Bob LePine, cohost of the radio broadcast “Family Life Today,” interrupted, saying he had been sued by Bob Larson Ministries. Larson responded, “Are you sure?” LePine said, “Yes.” Larson then replied, “Well then, I apologize, because I was unaware of that.”
In 1989, LePine was station manager at KSLR in San Antonio, Texas, and provided two hours of free time to air “Talk-Back.” LePine said he became uncomfortable with fundraising methods on the show and decided to drop it. Yet a BLM lawyer filed a libel suit against KSLR for sending out 20 letters of explanation in response to listeners’ questions, which included an article about Larson in the March 1989 issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. There was a confidential settlement before trial.
Later at the Larson press conference, according to UPI Radio, Joel Belz, publisher of World, defended the facts in their article. He said, “Today, Mr. Larson stated absolutely that he has never sued anybody. He was immediately challenged by someone who had been sued by him, and he immediately had to back down. That’s the way Mr. Larson deals with facts.”
By Timothy C. Morgan in Denver.
