Posted on 02/21/2005 11:31:30 PM PST by Borges
LOS ANGELES -- Gene Scott, the shaggy-haired, cigar-smoking televangelist whose eccentric religious broadcasts were beamed around the world, has died. He was 75.
Scott died Monday after suffering a stroke, family spokesman Robert Emmers said.
For three decades, Scott was pastor of Los Angeles University Cathedral, a Protestant congregation of more than 15,000 members housed in a landmark downtown building.
In the mid-1970s, Scott began hosting a nightly live television broadcast of Bible teaching. His nightly talk show and Sunday morning church services were aired on radio and television stations to about 180 countries around the world by his University Network.
In some of his speeches, he would use chalkboards covered with Greek and Hebrew and deliver complex lectures on the Biblical languages to make points about the meaning of faith.
"It's a college-level classroom in the Bible," he once said.
Scott did take stands on other controversial subjects, including the war in Iraq, which he supported.
"Iraq is a threat to the world," he said in a 2003 Web address. "So kick the hell out of 'em, George."
Scott was most recognizable by his mane of white hair and scruffy beard. He also never stuck to a conventional format for his show - he once wore glasses with eyes pasted on them and sometimes smoked on the show. On his Web site, he simply said about himself, "What you see is what you get."
Scott also was a philanthropist. He was involved with Rebuild LA, the Richard Pryor Burn Foundation and the Southwest Museum. In 2002, Scott gave $20,000 that helped save Museum in Black, which has some 5,000 items from the slave and civil rights eras, from eviction.
Born in Idaho in 1929, Scott later moved to Northern California and earned a doctorate in philosophies of education from Stanford University in 1957, according to his Web site. He was the author of more than 20 books and also was a painter.
Scott is survived by his wife, Melissa.
Services were pending.
The blonde was his then wife Tara, and if I remember, his future wife Melissa was also rollerblading with Tara.
How, ummmm, cozy...
I also read last night that he bought two DC3 airplanes years ago. One for the TV crew, equipment and the staff as well as himself, and the other one for carting around his horses. He sold one, and it sits in San Diego at the airport there.
The blonde was his then wife Tara, and if I remember, his future wife Melissa was also rollerblading with Tara.
Now that you mention it, there was another bikini clad babe rollerblading. They held hands and rollerbladed together part of the time. I kept expecting a cheesy CHiPs style synthesizer musical score to kick in during the video.
My husband would sometimes tune in to watch him on a station that hardly came in. With his scribbling on the board...writing over and over on top of other text I never understood what the guy was talking about.
I also found him amusing and entertaining, in a tinfoil hat kind of way. But didn't care for him much whenever he crossed into papal bashing.
Toward the end, I think he grew more paranoid and thought the whole world was against him. He seemed to rail against everything.
I liked him the few times I saw him. He seemed to have a high IQ. I'm sure he lead a nice comfortable life from his preaching profits.
L Ron Hubbard -If you want to get rich start a religion
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Televangelist Agrees to Cancer Surgery
Flamboyant Gene Scott, who relied on faith healing, says his disease is now 'out of control.'
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scott21sep21,1,4090810.story
By TERESA WATANABE Times Staff Writer
Gene Scott, a flamboyant televangelist who previously relied on faith healing to cure his prostate cancer, announced he would undergo surgery Monday at UCLA Medical Center, saying his disease had run "out of control."
A statement by three of his organizations said the 75-year-old preacher had discovered this month that a "golf ball-sized cancer" had spread to his bladder from his prostate, where cancer was first diagnosed four years ago. The statement said Scott would also undergo radiation treatment and chemotherapy, which could prolong his life for two years.
The spread of cancer "comes as a sobering shock to this religious leader who advocates faith healing" instead of regular medical care, said the statement by his Los Angeles University Cathedral, University Broadcast Systems and Wescott Center. Scott made the announcement of his impending surgery on his global telecast Sunday.
A spokeswoman for UCLA Medical Center could not confirm Scott's surgery, saying no patient had checked in under his name. Calls to Scott's toll-free message line were not returned.
Scott — a blunt-talking, cigar-chomping preacher who claims 15,000 Los Angeles congregants and a worldwide satellite television audience — planned to return to his regular broadcast this Sunday. Scott has never dissuaded followers from receiving medical treatment, saying only that he wanted to "give God the first shot" be-fore resorting to traditional , medical care.
I must say that except for his social liberalism, this profile makes him sound attractive.
Spurgeon, you know, was a cigar smoker. His contemporary followers are quick to point out that he didn't know the health risks, to which I say "phooey!"
Was this evangelist a Christian? I would appreciate anyone who subscribes to an orthodox version of the faith to comment.
Some of his side topics were the stuff of Art Bell, I agree (but hey, so are some of mine), but when he wasn't chasing his personal white rabbits down their holes or intentionally doing his best to earn his hate mail with his stage antics, he knew how to give the Gospel, and while kookish at times, he was very well read.
God rest his soul.
Yeah, I can recall him ranting like a raving lunatic at plotters, schemers and "disloyal" members of his own congregation. LOL!!! I really don't know all the details behind the purges, but he reminded me of a petty tyrant, in an ironic sort of way.
I watched some of his broadcasts. They were facinating. I loved they way he would go through scripture in Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew et al.
I don't know if I'd qualify as "orthodox" in your view, but just as a matter of opinion from hearing him preach on the Gospel, I'd venture to say yes. How good a Christian he might have been is a whole 'nuther debate.
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