Bob Larson (born May 28, 1944) is an American radio and television evangelist, and a pastor of Spiritual Freedom Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Larson has authored numerous books critical of rock music and

Satanism Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few hi ...

Life and career

Larson was born in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, the son of Viola (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Baum) and Earl Larson. He was raised in

McCook, Nebraska McCook is a city in and the county seat of Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,446 at the 2020 census. History McCook was platted in 1882 when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended to that point. I ...

. Larson plays guitar; he has claimed his early experiences as a musician led to his concerns about

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

and destructive influences in rock music. 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

anti-social behavior Antisocial behavior is a behavior that is defined as the violation of the rights of others by committing crime, such as stealing and physical attack in addition to other behaviors such as lying and manipulation. It is considered to be disrupti ...

of many of the era's rock musicians.

Debates with Satanists

During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Larson repeatedly debated, interviewed, and confronted Satanists, during the period known as the Satanic panic. On two occasions he hosted Nikolas Schreck (a

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

musician and lead singer of

Radio Werewolf Radio Werewolf was a musical collective active in Los Angeles, California, and Europe from 1984 to 1993. History Radio Werewolf was founded in Los Angeles in 1984, by Nikolas Schreck (vocals), Evil Wilhelm (percussion), James "Filth" Collord (bas ...

) and Zeena LaVey (once the spokesperson for the Church of Satan and later a priestess in the Temple of Set). During their first encounter the pair defended Satanism, while in 1997, during their second appearance, they defended Setianism. Larson debated the pair, and at times attempted to convert them without success. Larson also debated, interviewed and challenged " Nazi

Satanist Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few h ...

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

on his ''Talk-Back'' radio show.

''Talk Back''

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 game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s and rock music. By this time Larson had come to embrace

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

, including styles such as heavy metal and rap, and actively promoted the music and artists on his show. 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 subjects of

and Satanic ritual abuse were frequent topics of discussion.

Death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

performer Glen Benton of Deicide became a regular caller, as did

Bob Guccione Jr. Robert Charles Guccione Jr. (born September 19, 1955) is an American publisher and the eldest son of late ''Penthouse'' founder Bob Guccione. He founded the music magazine ''Spin''. Publishing career In 1978, after two attempts at going into the ...

, eldest son of ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' founder

Bob Guccione Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( ; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine ''Penthouse'' in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's ''Playboy'', ...

and founder of the music magazine ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''. At one point during the 1980s, Guccione Jr. paid Larson to go on tour with American thrash metal band

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

and write about it. Larson tried his hand at writing fiction. ''Dead Air'' (1991) was largely

ghost-written A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

by Lori Boespflug and Muriel Olson, according to Karen Stollznow. His later novels ''Abaddon'' (1993) and ''The Senator's Agenda'' (1995) both linked Satanic ritual abuse to

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

; the latter was largely written by Larson and his second wife. However, a former vice president of Bob Larson Ministries, Lori Boespflug, said that much of ''Dead Air'', though presented as Larson's work, is allegedly 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. 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. Larson's ministry professes to offer an alternative counseling outlet to people who have problems with violence, self-mutilation, multiple personality disorders, Satanic ritual abuse, or

molestation Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...

Exorcism

In 2013 '' Vice'' magazine taped a video of Larson's visit in several small towns in Ukraine where he performed exorcisms together with three young women – his 18-year-old daughter Brynne Larson and her friends Tess and Savannah Sherkenback (18 and 21 respectively, collectively known as "The Teenage Exorcists"). The Teenage Exorcists consequently published a reply to Vice Media's video stating that they "question the journalistic integrity of this Vice Media story and are disappointed by how we were falsely portrayed." , Larson offered to perform exorcisms over Skype (for a donation of $295). His Skype exorcisms were featured in a segment on the

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

program '' The Daily Show'' in 2014, in which he told correspondent Jessica Williams, "Skype is a great technology to stare down the Devil, to go after him and to kick him back to

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

." Later in the same segment, however, he indicated that " tweeting an exorcism would be ridiculous."

Bibliography

*''Rock & Roll: The Devil's Diversion'' ( Creation House, 1967) *''Hippies, Hindus, and Rock & Roll'' (Creation House, 1969) *''Rock & the Church'' (Creation House, 1971) *''The Day Music Died'' (Creation House, 1972) *''Hell on Earth'' (Creation House, 1974) *''Babylon Reborn'' (Creation House, 1976) *''Rock, Practical Help for Those Who Listen to the Words and Don't like What They Hear'' (

Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his executi ...

, 1980) *''Larson's Book of Cults'' (Tyndale, 1982) *''Larson's Book of Family Issues'' (Tyndale, 1986) *''Strange Cults in America'' (Tyndale, 1986) *''Larson's Book of Rock'' (Tyndale, 1987) *''Your Kids and Rock'' (Tyndale, 1988) *''Satanism: the Seduction of America's Youth'' (

Lightning Source Lightning Source is a printer and distributor of print-on-demand books. The company is a business unit of Ingram Content Group. Originally incorporated in 1996 as Lightning Print Inc., the company is headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee. Its UK ...

, 1989) *''Straight Answers on the New Age'' ( Thomas Nelson, 1989) *''Tough Talk About Tough Issues'' (Tyndale, 1989) *''Larson's New Book of Cults'' (Tyndale, 1989) *''Dead Air: A Novel'' (Thomas Nelson, 1991) *''Abaddon: A Novel'' (Thomas Nelson, 1993) *''The Senator's Agenda'' (Thomas Nelson, 1995) *''In The Name of Satan: How the Forces of Evil Work and What You Can Do to Defeat Them'' (Thomas Nelson, 1996) *''UFO's and the Alien Agenda'' (Thomas Nelson, 1997) *''Extreme Evil: Kids Killing Kids'' (Nelson Reference, 1999) *''Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare'' (Nelson, 1999) *''Shock Talk: The Exorcist Files'' ( WestBow, 2001)

References

External links

Bob Larson's official website
*
The Devil is in the Details: An Examination of the Teachings of Bob Larson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Bob 1944 births American television evangelists American television talk show hosts American male writers People of the Christian countercult movement American exorcists Living people Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Spiritual warfare People from McCook, Nebraska Writers from Los Angeles Religious leaders from Phoenix, Arizona