| Author | Message | ||
     dancer Member Username: dancer Post Number: 93 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.40.211.238 |
Whole article: http://www.rickross.com/reference/newcan/newcan15.html Even if George Robertson had never heard of the Church of Scientology, there's ample reason for him to be resentful of the original CAN. As an associate of the Reverend Carl H. Stevens Jr., founder of a now-defunct religious ministry called The Bible Speaks, the 58-year-old Robertson had been affiliated with a group that CAN had persistently decried as a dangerous cult. Stevens, a one-time bakery truck driver who claimed that his every utterance was inspired of God, had moved the headquarters of The Bible Speaks from Maine to Lenox, Massachusetts, in the late '70s. Robertson set up a ministry affiliated with Stevens in his native Florida."He was always kind of sucking around Pastor, as we used to say,"recalls an ex-Bible Speaks cleric who observed Robertson during stints in Lenox. "He was constantly around Carl. He was one of those guys who felt the need to get close to the king, to feel the sensory aroma of royalty." The Bible Speaks' troubles erupted with Betsy Dovydenas, heiress to the Dayton-Hudson department store fortune (which includes Target stores). Dovydenas joined Stevens' church in 1982 and was soon persuaded to leave her husband and two children and to turn over to The Bible Speaks $6.6 million of an estate then estimated to be worth $20 million. Flush with cash, Stevens' operation expanded to a wooded 85-acre campus on the outskirts of town, complete with state-of-the-art radio and television studios, an assembly center, and a new home for the Stevens College of the Bible. But in 1986, Dovydenas' husband and parents pried her away from the group long enough to have a cult deprogrammer convince her that she had been mesmerized. The next year she sued the church to get her money back,claiming undue influence. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and, although she eventually won, the victory was largely empty.The Bible Speaks had declared bankruptcy. Among other things, court records show that Stevens had used some of the money to buy a fancy Florida condo. The heiress ended up with a white elephant -- the former church's headquarters campus. "I got brainwashed," recalls Dovydenas, 47, of the experience. She refers to Stevens as a "bogus, sleazy preacher,"adding, "I find it incomprehensible that anyone in the hierarchy of his organization could be sincerely motivated." Yet, the controversy didn't end Stevens' career or Robertson's affiliation with him. Stevens shuttered the Lenox operation and moved to Baltimore. | ||
| minutus New member Username: minutus Post Number: 2 Registered: 9-2005 Posted From: 207.156.7.250 |
"The heiress ended up with a white elephant -- the former church's headquarters campus." That's better than "I was brainwashed and all I got was this stupid T-shirt."  | ||
| cordell Intermediate Member Username: cordell Post Number: 104 Registered: 6-2005 Posted From: 70.124.124.36 |
Minutus you should feel a song comin' on about now. Something to the tune of Nirvana's "Teen Spirit" maybe. Should be a piece of cake for you. (Message edited by cordell on July 19, 2007) | ||
| bob_brinton Senior Member Username: bob_brinton Post Number: 1308 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.109.245.143 |
Hi Cordell, Are you ever up this way? I know a place that has a great beer and ale list with decent food nearby. Be glad to buy you a lunch. Go Sox! Bob | ||
| cordell Senior Member Username: cordell Post Number: 2312 Registered: 6-2005 Posted From: 70.124.124.36 |
How far is it from where you are to Hancock, MA? | ||
| bob_brinton Senior Member Username: bob_brinton Post Number: 1313 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 71.123.72.146 |
About 30 miles or so. The place I'm talking about is the Old Forge. It's between here (Lee) and Hancock, | ||
| cordell Senior Member Username: cordell Post Number: 2314 Registered: 6-2005 Posted From: 70.124.124.36 |
What's the weather like there now? | ||
| david_munson Senior Member Username: david_munson Post Number: 4409 Registered: 9-2005 Posted From: 63.22.177.169 |
Light followed by more light continuing till dark followed by dark until daylight. George Carlin. Hey, you know. Humor addiction. (even if it's lame) LOL. 70's to low 80's here in Maine , so Mass. must be warmer by some degree. } |
