Okay, so he was a nut and an egomaniac and his teaching was completely whacko. That didn’t stop God from using him as the contact point that converted me to Christ back when I was a in the grip of a juvenile anti-Christianism.
REST IN PEACE, DOC.
(Cowboy hat tip to the reader who sent this in.)
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
I guess you can characterize him as honest. He didn’t pretend to be dirt-poor; heck, he showed his horses on the screen all the time.
I don’t really have any comments on his theology, because I rarely heard him actually preaching.
He was on a station in CT for years. His teaching was a strange mix of premillenial dispensationalism and British Israelism, with some pyramidology thrown in to the mix. I gather his roots were in the pentecostal/charismatic movement.
I would say that his major contribution to “pastoral leadership” was his ability to extract funds from the faithful.
I wasn’t a “believer” but I was absolutely fascinated by his technique. I listened to him on short wave. The music was awful and the voices were worse. But he got them to show up. They had to call for reservations. No admission to Doc’s church without a ticket. And if they didn’t show up there would be a tongue lashing that you wouldn’t believe.
To start with everybody tithed. Then there was some kind of “First Fruits” tithe. Then there were the special “secret” projects. I never wrote it down, but I had the impression that the faithful generally coughed up 30% or more of their income, gross, to Doc’s “church.”
And if an employee “failed” Doc, you could be pretty sure that the entire world would hear about it the next weekend.
I understand that he had a pretty impressive Bible collection. It will be interesting to see where that ends up.
It will also be interesting to see if anybody can take over and replace him.
Yeah, Doc wasn’t a model Christian, but when I first encountered him he was more Christian than I was, and did a passable job of poking holes in many of the common modernist blunders (which I needed badly to hear). He also introduced me to C.S. Lewis.
I thank the Lord that I outgrew him, but I do hope that he is now having a good laugh at himself up in heaven.
Unlike other televangelists, Scott’s sermons did not condemn homosexuality, abortion or other hot-topic sexual issues. He argued such issues were a personal choice.
The real reason is because taking a stand on morality would result in alienating some of his cash cows. Scott was a teacher, never a pastor. He did not do weddings, funerals, baptisms, consulation etc. Imagine being a member of his church and having to go to some strange church for pastoral needs. But he would gladly tell you his opinion about the Bible in exchange for a bunch of your money.
He seemed kind of crazy…BUT I loved listening to his sermons..he taught me more than anyone else! No one goes into the ‘meat’ of the Bible as he did, in my opinion. To me, he was amazingly smart and ???
He seemed kind of crazy…BUT I loved listening to his sermons..he taught me more than anyone else! No one goes into the ‘meat’ of the Bible as he did, in my opinion. To me, he was amazingly smart and ???
I once worked for Gene Scott. He was a very unpleasant man…no, he was downright evil! I feel sorry for anyone weak enough to have sent him money. He lived like a king in his mansion in Pasadena, Ca. And how do you think he paid for his lifestyle? All the money people sent, that’s how. The world is definitely a better place now that he is gone.
“OH MY GOD” I missed that Gene died last month. I enjoyed watching him on occasion. He’d just sit there with a hat, cigar, and sunglasses silently staring at the camera for several minutes with the camera focused smack on his face. No one I can remember could do that but him. He had a hypnotic suspense to his aura although I never understood what he was talking about except when he asked for big money (which was most of the time). RIP.
I dont comment on the dead. They are in God’s hands. I just feeel disgusted by televangelists in general. Oral Roberts, Swaggert, Scott, Myers,
Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn (sp?) etc etc etc are all multi millionaires…(Pat Robertson was on the cover of Fortune magazime after he just sold an oil refinery and has a net worth about $ 200 million )
If people are gullible and stupid enough to donate to these individuals, that’s fine with me….but what makes me sick is that most of the people who donate are elderly women whose husbands have passed on and they are living on a $ 800 a month social security check and have to pay also for diabetes and heart medicine and they get hooked on these scam artists who live in multi million dollar estates with a stable of thorougbred horses and limos.
They are lonely and the TV is their only companion.
Enough to make me vomit every time I see one of these dirtbags on TV. Just when I think there is no bottom to human behavior, I turn on the TV and the bottom somehow gets lower.
WOOT! Glad he’s dead, freakin psycho.
THE GREATEST BIBLE TEACHER, THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER ONE LIKE HIM. HE WILL BE MISSED. MELISSA THE BEST FOR TAKING OVER FOR HIM.
I am a Jewish man who believes in Jesus as Messiah and my Lord since 1974.
Gene Scott was a unique individual, untameable by coventional standards. Most of his teaching was absolutely brilliant. Some things out-on-the-edge, but I still listen to his tesching via the web. He’s on, for the most part – 24 hours per day.
I leave him teaching on my computer even while doing other things. He is deeper than most TV preachers. Hi a thinker and challenges our conventional way of thinking about the father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I have a Jewish cousin who is an artisit in NYC who watched Gene on TV in NYC and he became a believer too. He didn’t watch Pat Robertson, Jerry falwell, or nay other TV Preacher. He saw Gene sitting with a hat on his head, a beard and long hair, puffing on a cigar and heard him teach the Gospel.
God will continue using Gene worldwide if they continue to play his recorded messages and teaching.
God bless him and may his work carry on through the internet
I have a C-Band Satellite and I would occasionally watch Gene Scott. Yesterday I tuned in for the first time in several months and I learned that he died when I saw his wife Melissa on stage.
To me Gene Scott was a very knowledgeable man and nothing more. In the Bible we are told that our best witness to others about Christ is how we live our own life. In other words let others see Jesus through you. I know Jesus would not have gotten in front of people smoking, reading paranormal related material, flaunt his own wealth, used God’s name inappropriately and use profanity. Where ever Christ taught he welcomed all to hear and did not require them to have tickets (a ticket is special permission) to hear His word.
Regardless of all that I’ve said, I believe Gene Scott did help show Christ to others and some were saved by the Grace of God. That said I’m afraid Gene Scott may have turned a lot more away from Christ by his actions.
I still miss Dr. Scott’s teaching. I am so happy to hear all of you appreciated his teaching and preaching. May God bless all of you with carrying on the word of Truth in Jesus Christ.
I lived with Dr.Scott and loved him before I knew he was a preacher/teacher on T.V. Anyone out there who remembers us together on Lawton St. in San Francisco or Armstrong Woods? I would like to hear from you.
Blessings and comfort to you,
There were very few people at his buriel at Sunset Mausoleum in El Cerrito,Ca.
I still miss Dr. Scott’s teaching. I am so happy to hear all of you appreciated his teaching and preaching. May God bless all of you with carrying on the word of Truth in Jesus Christ.
I lived with Dr.Scott and loved him before I knew he was a preacher/teacher on T.V. Anyone out there who remembers us together on Lawton St. in San Francisco or Armstrong Woods? I would like to hear from you.
Blessings and comfort to you,
There were very few people at his buriel at Sunset Mausoleum in El Cerrito,Ca.
I still miss Dr. Scott’s teaching. I am so happy to hear all of you appreciated his teaching and preaching. May God bless all of you with carrying on the word of Truth in Jesus Christ.
I lived with Dr.Scott and loved him before I knew he was a preacher/teacher on T.V. Anyone out there who remembers us together on Lawton St. in San Francisco or Armstrong Woods? I would like to hear from you.
Blessings and comfort to you,
There were very few people at his buriel at Sunset Mausoleum in El Cerrito,Ca.
Out of the depths I call to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my cry! May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered.
I wait with longing for the LORD, my soul waits for his word.
My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak. More than sentinels for daybreak,
let Israel look for the LORD, For with the LORD is kindness, with him is full redemption,
And God will redeem Israel from all their sins.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are still brainwashed by the garbage Gene Scott spewed on the radio, TV, the web, and on the pulpit.
I know, firsthand, that he was a crook, a liar, and a cheat. You all praise his “teaching” as if he somehow enlightened you and turned you on to God. He agreed to pay me for musical services to his organization in 1985, and when I spoke up about his nonchalent, apathetic attitude regarding my not having been paid for six weeks of work, he tried to have me murdered.
He embezzeled MILLIONS of dollars from the Faith Center Church congregation, (remember? his salary was “$1/yr. plus expenses”), and he even swindled the land where he is buried! He tried to claim the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles through a bogus lawsuit by Lehua Mae Garcia, the mother-in-law of one of my assailants, Larry James Dudley. She claimed she didn’t know Scott in court documents, but I gave a video tape to the COD people to show her answering phones on Scott’s live studio broadcasts. Scott pissed away $6.5 million on a crap shoot that he could pass her off as an original member of COD who was contesting the sale to Scott, thus nullifying his $23 million commitment to purchase the church. It backfired, and he lost the money.
Did you ever wonder who was behind the torching of the Los Angeles Public Library records wing? Scott showed live pictures of firemen in distress from the rooftop of the church, and tried to use the library as an urgency to collect more money from his followers so he could “move in so this kinda thing won’t happen to us!” Remember his library telethon? He had a camerman, named Ron, whose likeness fit the composite drawing of the arsonist.
The real estate he purchased…2 Oaknoll, S. Pasadena (Secret #1)…580 Madeleine Dr., Pasadena…Silver Oaks Ranch, Bradbury…his parents’ home at Lake Elsinore…Dolores Press in San Fransisco..The Sunset Masoleum, El Cerrito, CA, and the little-known High Point Farm, near Campbellsville, KY were all examples of his financial scams, to name a few.
When he raised money on live TV and radio to purchase “Jimmy Carter’s DC-3,” he told the audience that he only had a week to raise the money, or he would lose the opportunity to purchase it. What he failed to tell his audience was that he had purchased the plane in Oklahoma, three months prior to the fundraising campaign!
Scott would announce to his audience that “there’s a service at the Wescott Christian Center in Oroville, CA every Sunday, where they receive his broadcast via satellite. I went up there one weekend and found the lawn to be in excess of three-feet-high, with the doors chained and padlocked. The neighbors said there hadn’t been a church service there in over 8 years. I went to the Oroville home of “Pastor Chinn,” who Scott claimed was preaching at the Sunday services, and he laughed when I told him what Scott had announced. Dr. Chinn told me, “The only thing I do for Dr. Scott is go to Sao Paolo, Brazil to pick up the money at our orphanage!”
Until now, none of you are aware that Scott tried to get a broadcast license on Catalina Island in 1987, through his then-wife, Christine Shaw. She claimed she “only worked for Scott, and that she didn’t drive a car.” She forgot about the burgundy Porsche 947 she drove off of Merlin Olsen’s lot in Sherman Oaks, CA. The FCC found out that she had perjured herself and that she was also married to Scott, so, guess what: Scott didn’t get his new station!
I remind all of you bible-thumpers that none of this crap has anything to do with Jesus, unless you want to speak of false doctrine. Jesus was a frontman for Gene Scott. That’s all. Scott was a fraud, and nothing will ever change that fact. He used your weaknesses and your kind, forgiving hearts and your bank accounts to amass a personal fortune. Whenever the government would step in to investigate, he hid behind the Bible, his women, and his bodyguards.
Check out the Glendale, Ca Police Department records regarding all of the beatings and shootings that took place at the Glendale Ave. church and the TV studios on Broadway. Of course, if you’re reading this and you still follow Scott, God help you. You need a spiritual lobotomy!
Now that he’s gone, this is your big chance to escape! I don’t yet know that much about his widow, Melissa (aka Barbi Bridges), but as far as I can tell, she’s picking up where he left off. The mountebank has left—enter the hooker. A call to his 800 lines reveals that the same moronic paranoia subsists…”I only take messages for Dr. Scott.” My Amazon parrot has a larger vocabulary!
Hey, I was a “Kings House” member of Scott’s church for a while, and (though I have no idea if these claims are true) it wouldn’t surprise me.
What can I tell you? I was a college kid.
His message (in spite of his personal life) was more Christian than I was at the time, so it helped lead me back to the Catholic church, eventually, which would have profoundly irritated Scott.
The potency of the Gospel is such that God can use it to change lives, even in the hands of a charlatan and a scoundrel.
I pity anyone who may have suffered under Scott. It is not hard to imagine.
Some of the best comedy in the early 80’s was Gene Scott’s wind up toy monkey band.He also swore that the FCC was out to get him.Ah yes the Festival of Faith.Scott sitting in the big chair on the bear skin or whatever the hell that was.I fondly remember his rant when the FCC pulled the plug on his transmission mid sentance..poof all gone.I also loved his rant when he wouldn’t teach until 100 people pledged $100.00 or more….god is green!!! He kept refusing to teach and playing the masters video of them singing “I want to know”…play it again!! In my opinion he was probally the best pitch man to ever grace the airwaves….I imagine he lived well on his expense account. At least Reverend Ike was honest and told you that he wanted your money.Ike never made it seem like the money was going to holy causes…just caddies and big rings. Even though he is gone from this earth I still can see Dr. Scott’s space alien scribbling at 2am on local TV. Still raking in the coin from the grave…now thats a good deal.
Come and listen to a story about a man named Eugene
Nasty old preacher always acting mean
Then one day while puffin a cigar
He thought to himself,hey Im a preaching superstar
Self appointed that is, Selfrighteous,Egomaniacil
Well the next thing ya know old Genes a millionaire
Robbing his congregation just seemed downright more
than fair
Said Californy is the place I oughta be
So he married a porn acctress and moved to Beverly
Hills that is
Swimmin pools,movie stars
Well now its time to say goodbye to Gene and all his
kin
And they would like to thank you folks for all the
money you’ve sent in.
Your all invited back again to this locality
To have a heapin help of his nasty’ole personality
Charlitin that is,Watch a while,Send your money in
Ya all get on the phone now ya hear
The funniest guy is ” pastor” Robert Tilton.
His college roommate let the cat out of the bag years ago.
Tell us more about the behind the scenes violence.
Another thing. When did he finally reveal to his congregation that Christine Shaw had been married to him? I was very surprised to learn this on the internet within the last 2 years. Back in the 80s he passed himself off as a confirmed bachelor. Christine Shaw was supposedly (back then) just some person he always had with him so that he could always have an alibi in case someone made false accusations against him.
No answer? Are all of you just as surprised to find out he kept that a big secret?
Gene Scott was one of the only TV preachers I ever watched , I do watch Fr Benedict Groeschel at times..sad to see Gene Scott is gone..Glad his teachings are so vastly recorded and available
Everything that Mary 10/26/2005 says is true. I was a witnes to it all……
Sorry posted by Don on 11/16/2005. All of it is true and I remember Don.