Exorcism with Bob Larson

Factual Questions
1

In the last episode of a documentary on telly tonight called “John Safran Vs God”, John Safran met up with a Christian preacher called Bob Larson for an good ol’ fashioned exorcism.

During the series, the reporter Safran explores a large number of faiths including Buddhism, Mormonism, Voodoo, KKKism, Scientology and Islam.

So in this episode Larson, who was astounded at the number of ‘devils’ that could have set up residence in Safran, performs an exorcism of all these devils, first in private and then in front of a congregation.

Safran goes along with the show, trying to take it all reasonably seriously and ends up in a trance screaming and cursing during the exorcism.

So, whats exactly is going on in this sort of situation? Is it like hypnosis? Suggestibility?

Larson was very aggressive during the show and putting Safran under a huge amount of emotional stress.

So what’s going on here?

2

I can’t say for sure, but my two guesses would be:

  1. Safran went along with Larson as a joke (either with or without Larson’s connivance)

or

  1. Safran has a particularly susceptible personality and bought into Larson’s stage show (at least while he was part of it).

Larson is a moderately well-known kook, in the U.S. He was one of the first to begin finding back-masked Satanic lyrics in rock songs (that no one else has ever discovered). He has been discovered exorcising the same demons from the same people on a couple of occasions during his traveling shows. He had a radio program in which he would put demons and their victims on hold in the midst of an exorcism to break to a commercial. (The shows were live, so he was not simply cutting into pre-recorded events to insert a commercial; he actually put his caller on hold, begged for funds, then went back to the exorcism.) In the later years of his radio program, it turned out that (surprise!) he had a bunch of unaccounted contributions along with some very expensive automobiles and a rather large and expensive home. He also started messing around with the wife of one of his employees, then publicly castigated the employee for being in the control of the devil.

If Larson has any power over demons (other than the ability to attract and attach them to his own person), I can walk on unfrozen water. (I was swimming just two weeks ago and went right to the bottom when I stepped into the pool.)

This leaves Safran on stage with a known fake, joining in the fake’s show. Whatever happened on that stage had nothing to do with exorcising demons from Safran.

3

Wow, I haven’t heard about Bob Larson in a looooooong time.

I remember him showing up at Fishnet to show us all how evil and depraved the bands Deicide and Morbid Angel are.

I also remember listening to his radio show when I was about 12 or 13. He did an exorcism of a demon called Zamien (IIRC) from a young boy. He didn’t do the exorcism live, but supposedly spent several days working on the boy while they played Best Of clips of his show. Then he spent a week replaying his favorite parts of it (with commercials, of course).

I wouldn’t take anything this guy says or does too seriously.

4

Putting this in perspective – how can you call yourself a Christian, if you don’t believe in both demonic possession and the power of exorcism? Jesus was an exorcist. So were his disciples. They met a whole lot of “possessed” people and did a whole lot of exorcisms in the Gospels and Acts. Kind of hard to dissociate that from Christianity, isn’t it? :wink:

5

I believe in demonic possession and the power of exorcism. I just don’t believe everyone who says they can do it.

6

I may be wrong, but it did not seem as if Safran was acting - if he was, he did a bloody good job.

But Safran does take the piss at any opportunity, even though in this series he has been letting the subjects of the documentary provide most of the humour without much assistance by Safran.

Of course exorcism it is ‘fake’ in the sense that there are really no demons that possess people. (I suppose it depends on your definition of a demon - a memeplex may fit the bill).

I reckon Safran was particularly susceptible (Tomndebb point 2) and Larson did a good job of putting him in a trance. Larson certainly exploited Safrans state for all it was worth.

Is this the same sort of process as hypnotism? (assuming Safran was not acting)

7

Amen, Bruddah.

I’ve heard Larson’s on-air exorcisms, and I could probably put on a more convincing act with a well-trained parrot.

Larson does the standard disclaimer that not everybody with mental problems is possessed, some may have medical issues, but it is pretty clear that in actual practice, just about everybody he encounters with any kind of mental or emotional difficulties is possessed. He makes snap diagnoses after very brief interviews. Anybody who was physically or mentally abused in childhood is considered possessed- somehow the abusing parent or relative opened up the person’s psyche for the demon to come in. Great grandma read tea leaves? Hey, generational curse, you’re possessed. If you have any non-white DNA in your background, well, your ancestors were demon-worshipping pagans, so you obviously have inherited a demon. I once actually heard a sound clip of Bob, in the course of an exorcism, demanding that a Native American guy denounce his Indian blood. I wish I could remember where I found the link to that little gem… Then there was the video I saw of Bob exorcising the White Racist Aryan Demon Thor from a black woman. Of course, if anybody in your ancestry up to something like ten generations back was into the occult and/or practiced a non-Christian religion, odds are that you have inherited a demon through the aforementioned generational curse. Often, it is the “demon” who reveals that Great-great Grandma Lulabelle, who the exorcisee never actually met because she lived and died in the Old Country, was practicing folk magic or somesuch, and that was how the demon entered the family line.

Yes, I do believe that there are such things as demons. But I also believe that actual possession is rare, and can only occur by invitation (messin’ wit’ Ouija boards on a repeated and continual basis, or engaging in certain kinds of ritual magicks that involve invoking demons or other sorts of spirts, “channeling”, or outright selling your soul-think W.- things of that nature)

Bob Larson is dangerous for two reasons. First, for those who subscribe to his mindset, they might not get the kind of professional care they need for their mental/psychological/psychiatric disorders, and may even be further damaged by the “exorcisms” they receive at the hands of Bob and his ilk. Second, he is so obviously a fake to the rest of us, that it may lead a lot of people who are agnostic when it comes to the belief in such supernatural entities to decide that any belief in demons/spirits is a bunch of claptrap, thus that rare soul who actually is possessed will not receive the spiritual help he or she may need.

8

:confused: “Memeplex”?

9

I saw that show last night, too. That was just bizarre and made me very uncomfortable. Really cringey. Maybe I’m possessed, too! Wheeeee!

My husband heard Safran on the radio on Sunday afternoon talking about the whole experience. He was saying that it was real (his reaction, I mean) and that he and the crew were completely freaked out by the whole thing.

So, my conclusion is that he’s very susceptible. I think he was hypnotized in the standard way (like you see in stage shows) and acted based on his preconceived notions of what a person being exorcised would act like. I’m sure that he had seen footage of previous exorcisms as research for the show, so it’s not like he wouldn’t have some idea of the protocol.

I was hoping he would comment on it, like he normally does at the end of the show, and was disappointed that nothing was said.

What I liked best was Larson saying that he’s going to come to Australia and preach the word with Safran. I thought, “Ha ha! See what you’ve unleashed now? Voodoo, Odin, blood sacrifices…whatever. Just don’t bring that freak back with you!”

10

I fully agree C3 - especially the bit about not bring that freak back to Australia.

A coworker just gave me a link to this radio interview -the show “The Spirit of Things” on Radio National with Rachael Kohn. Clarifies thing a little.