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From: geo@genat.UUCP (George Swan)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: John 3:13 !?!
Message-ID: <2025@genat.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-May-85 22:08:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: genat.2025
Posted: Mon May 13 22:08:02 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 14-May-85 02:30:33 EDT
References: <40@uw-june>
Organization: Genamation Inc. (Toronto Ontario, Canada)
Lines: 83

Keywords: religion, political corruption, cults, kidnapping, extortion
senior citizens

	This article describes the experiences of my family with a
	very strange cult group in Florida, called the "John 3:16
	Mission".  I believe they kidnapped my grandfather, and tried
	to extort money from my family.

About ten years ago my Grandfather was kidnapped by an outfit called
the "John 3:16 mission".  Usually we associate cult groups with crazy
mixed up kids.  This particular outfit apparently preyed upon senior
citizens.

My grandfather used to spend the winter in florida with his girl-friend.
We usually didn't hear much from him, because he was didn't want to 
embarrass his daughter's with the fact that he was `living in sin'.

Anyhow, the last year he went down, we got a phone call from this guy
who told my parents that he didn't want to embarrass them, but he had
found my grandfather wandering up and down the beach without any luggage
or money.  He did them that he taken my grandfather home, and that he
didn't mind putting him up for a while, because he was such a sweet
old guy, but that he couldn't put him up forever.

Well my parents _were_ quite embarrassed.  They were also quite grateful to
this mysterious good samaritan, and sent him money to buy my grandfather
and his girl-friend some clothes, plane tickets, and a generous amount
to re-imburse him for my grandfather's living expenses.  Because they were
embarrassed they probably sent a fair percentage more than would have
been justified by a strict accounting.

My grandfather was over ninety years old at this time, and was almost
completely deaf.  So we did not have an opportunity to talk to him until
he returned to Canada.  My parents were angry and perplexed that my 
grandfather rather than being grateful to the good samaritan kept
refering to the people who put him up as "a bunch of goddam racketeers!"

Three weeks after my grandfather's return, my mother received a phone
call from the head teller at my grandfather's bank informing her that
she was going to use her discretion, and refuse payment on a very strange
cheque that had come in that day.  The cheque was payable to the "John 3:16
Mission".  The cheque was made out for $3,163.16 (in 1974 dollars).

It turned out that the good samaritan had not taken my grandfather
into his home, but had rather dumped him in the mission.  I gather
that the mysterious good samaritan had a falling out with the mission
over the money my parents had sent him, because shortly after the cheque
arrived up here, my parents received a collect phone call from this guy
that had been placed from Las Vegas Nevada.  He told my parents that he
didn't know where else to turn.  Normally he wouldn't have phoned them.
He told them he had to leave Florida precipitously because his mother
was dying, his father had cancer, his brother had been in a car accident,
and could my parents see their way clear to wiring him a small loan, just
to tide him over his domestic crisis.

Shortly after, we started receiving threatening letters from the founder
of the John 3:16 mission.  He said that he wasn't going to let the GREED
of one tired old man interfere with his MISSION.  The stationary he wrote
on was really weird.  It listed "God the Father", "God the Son", and "God
the Holy Ghost", as respectively, the President, Vice President, and 
Chairman of the Board, of the John 3:16 Mission.  The founder of the mission
was listed as the "managing director", and there was a picture of him, with
a tiny biography.  I remember one of his qualifications was that he was
an ex-hollywood stuntman.  He had a 1950's greasy kid pompadour about four
times the size of Elvis Presley's.  The other directors were the Police
Chiefs of a dozen of the small towns down in that section of Florida.

Florida is known for having a large proportion of retired people living there.
I suppose that a fair number of these people become confused and vulnerable
every year.  It seems that these Police Chiefs collaborated with the 
scoundrels who ran this mission.  I suppose they turned over any vulnerable
oldsters to this group, in return for a cut in whatever funds they were
able to convince the oldsters, or the oldster's families to cough up.

I just called the people who ran this mission scoundrels.  That may not
seem fair to you, but I would stand by it.  I have known other cult leaders
and demogogues, and they are composed of a strange mixture of sincerity
and opportunism.  

Moral:  Don't retire to Florida.  Don't trust overly sincere good samaritans.

Cordially,
Geo Swan