22 February 2005, AP: Gene Scott, the shaggy-haired, cigar-smoking televangelist whose eccentric religious broadcasts were beamed around the world, has died, a family spokesman said. He was 75. Scott died Monday after suffering a stroke, said the spokesman, Robert Emmers.
Poor old euGene. . .the very first paragraph of his obituary, branded a *televangelist.*
A voice-over began Scott's broadcasts:
"Dr. Scott is not a televangelist. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University. . ."
How he loved that Ph.D. from Stanford. . .it was the cornerstone of his most famous sermon, his annual Easter message on the *proof* of the resurrection of Christ. . .a faultless exercise in logic. . .if it were possible to argue people into Heaven, his Easter message would be the greatest evangelistic tool of the age. . .it's based on assuming 8 *facts*. . .1) Jesus lived, 2) He was crucified, 3) He was considered dead, 4) He was buried in a known tomb, 5) His disciples preached He was resurrected, 6) Jewish leaders opposed this preaching, 7) His disciples were persecuted, 8) His tomb was empty. . .
Of course, it is impossible to argue people into Heaven. . .Scott himself tacitly acknowledges this in his Easter message when he recounts his experience with one of his professors at Stanford. . .after listening to Scott's *proof* of the resurrection of Christ, the professor replies to Scott:
"Gene, I am convinced. These men (the disciples) believed what they were telling. Therefore, some one of these other eight facts must be wrong."
Man can always find an excuse not to believe. . .it's the easiest thing to do.
How Scott hated the lumpenfundamentalists! The Jerry Falwell crowd. He couldn't stand to be grouped with the Falwells, Swaggarts, Bakkers, etc. A man of his education, his learning. Well, Scott was essentially a self-hating bumpkin, the son of a backwoods Pentecostal preacher, born in the sticks of Idaho, raised in the Assemblies of God. . .
[It must be noted Scott toed the AoG line for many years, before finally breaking away from Oral Roberts and that crowd. . .the integrity of the Word could not be compromised. Scott went his own way. . .a way unlike any other in Amerikan Christendom. . .Scott is the Col. Kurtz of televangelism. . .he broke away, formed his own army, fought his own war.]
The startling paradox of Dr. W. euGene Scott, Ph.D., Stanford, 1957, is that for a man who so dearly wanted to be recognized for his sterling intellect, most of his public ministry was devoted to buffoonery. . .the cigars, the silly costumes, the awful music looped over and over, the dreadful video clips of his horses, the crack-pot theories. . .the weeks, the months, the years wasted on UFOs, British-Israelism, the Pyramid, Atlantis, Amityville, etc., etc.
Worse, for a man who feared the brand of *televangelist,* Scott aped the televangelists' absolute worst characteristic: the endless begging for money. In fact, he spent more time begging for money than that most shameless of all televangelists, Robert Tilton. . .but ever the great thinker, Scott rationalized his money-grubbing under the cover of a pseudo-intellectual, labyrinthine interpretation of Galatians 6:6 and tithing.
He fooled no one except himself. And that is why, despite his habitual flashing of his academic credentials, he was always considered a televangelist. . .go on TV, talk about Jesus, beg for money--you're a televangelist.
Scott had what is termed today an *anger management* problem. If the money did not flow in fast enough, he would scream into the television cameras, berating his audience for their penury and *lack of faith.* His frothing, lunatick tirades, which ended with his trademark snarling command "git on the telephone!," brought the TV preacher to the attention of one of the world's most esteemed filmmakers, Werner Herzog, who captured the schizophrenia that is euGene Scott in the documentary *God's Angry Man.*
One could imagine how the vanity of Scott was pricked when approached by the great Herzog. . .but when Scott saw the unflattering finished piece, he refused to allow the film to be released in the United States.
Scott was not Mr. Congeniality. On air, on world-wide TV and short-wave radio, he would mercilessly castigate staffers for the most trivial of offenses. If a visitor left one of Scott's services before he finished preaching his message, Scott would order his ushers to identify the miscreant, and then have them banned from future services. Worse tales, impossible to verify, are posted by alleged former Scott *insiders* on various internet news groups.
Five years ago, Scott was diagnosed with cancer. . .he began what can only be described as a bizarre faith-healing monologue directed at God. . .spiritual homeopathy, in which Scott ordered God to heal him. . .it was the desperate scripture-twisting (bordering on heresy) of a man afraid to die. . .
Scott seemed so terrified of death, one could question his faith. . .
Then, the *miracle!* The cancer was gone!
Merely into remission, it would seem. . .
A couple of Sundays ago, three men carried a cancer-riddled, chair-bound, pajama-clad Scott out on to the stage of his Los Angeles *university cathedral*. . .he waved weakly to his cult worshippers, briefly updated them on his medical condition and was then carried off. . .never to be seen in public again. A week or so later, he lapsed into a coma, then died yesterday. . .
Yet during his last sick years, he did what he did better than any of the Amerikan TV preachers, he taught the Bible. . .300 sermons just to get through the first three chapters of Romans. . endless repetition. . .the same phrase of the same verse laboriously studied in all the various languages. . .his goal: to strip away all the traditions of Churchianity which make void the word of God.
15, 20, 25 messages devoted to a single word, repentance, the King James Version translation of the Greek *metanoia.* Well, the Word has been covered with so much garbage down through the ages, it was necessary for Scott do to his careful excavations. . .
[Repentance. . .though he never expressed it so bluntly, Scott taught the truth that most of what Churchianity practices is the *repentance* of Judas. . .]
Listening to the dying euGene Scott almost monomaniacally trying to burn away all the rubbish of Churchianity, one became more and more convinced he was preaching to an audience of one: himself. . .a man at one time seduced by the wisdom of the world, but whom God would not let hold of, and who had to wrestle for a lifetime, contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. He was the man who always had to convince himself his faith wasn't foolishly misplaced. . .an Amerikan doubting Thomas. . .
His core message was: Jesus did it all, that it was faith and nothing else that got you home. . .he saw clearly the phony faith of the lumpenfundamentalists, who preach faith, but then add on their silly rules and regulations and political agendas. . .he saw clearly that for the vast majority of Amerikan Churchians "Christ is become of no effect. . .ye are fallen from grace."
But he also knew faith wasn't easy, contrary to the impression given by the easy-livin' Churchians. . .faith is a fight. . .in fact, it is the only good fight.
A month or so ago, the handwriting on the wall, Scott was having one of his *festivals*. . .a live television appearance, meant to both harangue and encourage his cult followers. . .he was in the middle of one of his weird monologues pitched at God, haggling for a healing. . .if his faith could reach the *amen level,* then God would be forced to heal him. . .then Scott broke down and wept like a baby. . .one of those times when we cannot deceive even ourselves, anymore. . .he looked into the camera and admitted the truth of Hebrews 11:39 (not all the promises are for the here-and-now). . .aware, however briefly, there was no way to *guarantee* a *faith healing,* and how he had been flirting with heresy, Scott wept. . .ashamed, he cried out to Jesus in quavering voice: "You can send me to Hell and I will not complain."
No, Gene, no Hell for you. . .despite the wasted talents, despite the buffoonery, despite the bumpkin's patriotism (I remember back in '86, after Reagan ordered the bombing of Libya, it was reported that Qaddafi's adopted daughter was killed. . .Scott refused to believe the girl even existed. . .the closest Scott came to expressing sympathy was his statement "if such a girl did exist, Qaddafi only adopted her because he wanted to molest her, so she's better off now"), you finished the course, old boy. . .you kept the faith. . .barely. . .and that's about the best any can do. You're on the other side, now, and all the promises are yours. Over here, there's a mustard seed's less faith in the world.
"Jesus paid it all, and God damn anyone who compromises!"--Gene Scott