In The Newaeon Newsletter, Volume VI, Number 4, I mentioned that Bob Larson invited me to be on his radio program "TALK-BACK with Bob Larson" and that I politely declined the invitation. I did, however, send a self-addressed stamped post card to him asking to be informed as to when his program installment dealing with Aleister Crowley would be aired, but to date I have not been informed. It would not surprise me to learn that it has already aired and he was not gentleman enough to jot down the information on the card and drop it in the mail.
In TNN VI.5 I mentioned that someone had informed me that Larson wrote a book on satanism and mentioned The Newaeon Newsletter in it. I found the book impossible to locate and finally a new subscriber sent me a copy of it - Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth. Interestingly I found that the publisher does not give a full address in the book, and oddly the suggested retail price of the book does not appear anywhere on its cover. Anyway, the book, written by a man who believes himself to be holier than most Christians, who has said on his annoying talk show, in his usually obnoxious way, that even a good Christian will go straight to hell if he or she listens to rock 'n' roll music - not heavy metal, mind you - rock 'n' roll; this book written by a fanatic pseudo-christian, an insult to true Christians everywhere, was once laughed at on a talk show - and it was the audience no doubt primarily made up of Christians who found him so absurd that they could not help but laugh at him; this book written by Bob Larson probably does not even deserve the attention I have just given it. However, for the record, as it were, I would like to comment upon Chapter 11 which is entitled "Aleister Crowley's Creed". Call it duty.
Larson, in his book, uses some of his conversations with individuals which he had by way of his radio talk show, to make his point. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people inclined to listen to his talk show and call him either to agree or disagree with his typical idiocy, seem to be morons. An intelligent person would not make a habit of listening to Larson's program, nor would that person waste his or her time in a useless debate with this moron - Bob Larson, that is. In fact, I never bothered to listen to his program until I received his invitation to be a guest on it, and then listening to it to make up my mind was a job almost as distasteful as reading the 512 pages of Maury Terry's book so that I could review and comment upon it intelligently. The Chinese water torture would have been more pleasant than sitting there listening to Bob Larson go on inanely, self-righteously, pompously, and insulting good, sincere, rational or relatively rational, Christians along the way.
Well, needless to say, the individuals he portrays in his book as students of Crowley appear to be the usual type of whacko who, through ignorance and such, misrepresents Crowley and his teachings. And of course we do not know how accurately Larson has quoted these people. He misquoted me - and had printed material right in front of his face while doing it.
On page 157 Larson wrote
In America today, secret thelemic occult orders are currently enjoying a resurgence. One group published The Newaeon Newsletter, whose stated purpose is to "further the Great Work of the Beast 666, Our Father, Aleister Crowley, and to assist in the greater establishment of Thelema, whose Word is ABRACADABRA [sic], and whose Law is Love."
Christians are warned by Thelemites, "Jesus shall never return for it was never meant to be. But the Christ, the Logos of the Aeon, the New World Teacher hath come already and his name was Aleister Crowley, the Beast 666!"
As I have amply explained elsewhere, there is nothing "evil" about "the Beast 666" - a magical and religious concept that is greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Also it has been noted by Larson himself that the Law of Thelema is Love. Hardly an evil thing and certainly an ideal which disgusts satanists. Larson is also rather behind the times because he is quoting from TNN Vol. I, No. 1 of December 1977 E.V.. It should also be noted that the Word is Abrahadabra and not Abracadabra. If he knew anything about the subject he would know how important the difference is. He misquoted. Furthermore, he misquoted, and of course only quoted in part, the rest, which originally read
Christians awake! Know ye that the man, Jesus son of Joseph shall never return for it was never meant to be. But the Christ, the Logos of the Aeon, the New World Teacher hath come already and his name was Aleister Crowley, the Beast 666!
Buddhist take heed! Thy waiting for Maitreya, the next Buddha, is in vain for he has come and gone! MIThRHIA = 666! MAIThRHI =666! MAIThRIH = 666! Thrice is it now proven by the holiest & most sacred science!
I thought that was cute. As for whether or not it is true, I am satisfied to allow Time and History to be the judge.
I could waste many pages of space pointing out the errors to be found in this one chapter alone, but it would be a waste as Bob Larson's book is such a piece of rubbish that will probably be read by relatively few, and fewer still above the intellectual level of moron. I would, however, like to comment upon one thing in particular. On page 158 Larson wrote "Crowley was a homosexual, a sadist, and a murderer." On page 152 he stated that "Crowley was accused of being ... a child molester ..." Crowley was accused of many things by the tabloids of his day and the sensationalistic hack writers since, but as a multitude of celebrities and others know today, such accusations are seldom true. This one is in fact not only false but quite rude. Homosexual? He had a greater number of heterosexual relationships than he did homosexual relationships, and most of the latter can easily be seen to be more experimental than anything else, mostly for the sake of magical techniques and results. Bisexual, maybe, but then I am of the opinion that everyone is essentially bisexual and that homo- and heterosexuality are but extremes of the bisexual arc. Sadist? No more or less than many geniuses. Too relative to even bother commenting upon. Murderer? Okay, Mr. Larson, let us see the legal documentation proving that! If you cannot produce such documentation, that would hold up in a court of law, you are a bloody liar and slanderer. And if you do find a way to produce such documentation, since Crowley never murdered anyone [nor did he ever molest children] you will also prove yourself to be a forger. Interesting. I am alive. I can defend myself. If Larson called me a murderer and child molester I could take him to court and sue him right out of business in an open and shut case. However, Crowley has been dead since 1947 E.V.. He is no longer here to defend himself and so cowards and liars like Bob Larson are legally allowed to libellously slander him, despite how it misinforms the general public, and may hurt a number of innocent people including surviving relatives. Such is the justice of America's laws.
Sometimes the laws of man do not serve Lady Justice. Maybe some laws need changed ...? Larson might make an interesting precedent-setting test case to take all the way to the Supreme Court. Hmm. That could be fun! But Bob Larson is such an ass.