Editing Bob Larson (section)

==Life and career==
Larson was born in [[Westwood, Los Angeles, California]], the son of Viola ([[née]] Baum) and Earl Larson.<ref name=hcr>{{Cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Religious leaders of America: a biographical guide to founders and leaders of religious bodies, churches, and spiritual groups in North America|publisher=Gale Research|year=1999|page=321|isbn=0-8103-8878-2}}</ref><ref name=ett>{{Cite news|title=Personals|page=4|publisher=McCook Daily Gazette|date=1998-01-13|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H6cgAAAAIBAJ&pg=2969,1083213&dq=native-former-mccook-resident&hl=en|access-date=2010-09-20}}</ref> He was raised in [[McCook, Nebraska]].<ref name=hcr/>

Larson plays [[guitar]]; he has claimed his early experiences as a musician led to his concerns about [[occult]] and destructive influences in [[rock music]].<ref name="Cornerstone">{{cite journal |author=Jon Trott |year=1993 |title=Bob Larson's Ministry Under Scrutiny |journal=Cornerstone |volume=21 |issue=100 |pages=18, 37, 41–42 |issn=0275-2743 |url=http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss100/larson.htm |access-date=2006-06-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060610035955/http://cornerstonemag.com/features/iss100/larson.htm |archive-date=2006-06-10 }}</ref> He would later incorporate his guitar playing into some of his [[sermon]]s. In the 1960s, the focus of Larson's preaching centered mainly on the [[Left-wing politics|leftist political ideology]], [[Sexual innuendo|sexually suggestive lyrics]], Eastern religious [[mysticism]], and [[Anti-social behaviour|anti-social behavior]] of many of the era's rock musicians.

===Debates with Satanists===
During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Larson repeatedly debated, interviewed, and confronted [[Satanism|Satanists]], during the period known as the [[Satanic panic]]. On two occasions he hosted [[Nikolas Schreck]] (a [[gothic rock]] musician and lead singer of [[Radio Werewolf]]) and [[Zeena LaVey]] (once the spokesperson for the [[Church of Satan]] and later a priestess in the [[Temple of Set]]). During their first encounter the pair defended Satanism, while in 1997, during their second appearance, they defended [[Setianism]]. Larson debated the pair, and at times attempted to convert them without success.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bialik|first=Kristen|title=The Church of Satan Interviewed by Televangelist Bob Larson: Not the Conversation You Think It Is|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/network-awesome/church-of-satan-interviewed-by-televangelist-bob-larson_b_1543751.html|publisher=Huffington Post|access-date=26 July 2012|date=26 May 2012}}</ref> 

=== ''Talk Back'' ===
In 1982, Larson launched ''Talk Back'', a two-hour weekday call-in show geared mainly toward [[teenagers]] and frequently focused on teen-oriented topics such as [[role-playing game]]s and [[rock music]]. By this time Larson had come to embrace [[contemporary Christian music]], including styles such as [[Christian metal|heavy metal]] and [[Christian rap|rap]], and actively promoted the music and artists on his show.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

By the late 1980s, in what would come to define his later ministry, Larson was often heard performing [[exorcism]]s of callers on the air. The subjects of [[Satanism]] and [[Satanic ritual abuse]] were frequent topics of discussion. [[Death metal]] performer [[Glen Benton]] of [[Deicide (band)|Deicide]] became a regular caller, as did [[Bob Guccione Jr.]], eldest son of ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]'' founder [[Bob Guccione]] and founder of the music magazine ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''. At one point during the 1980s, Guccione Jr. paid Larson to go on tour with American [[thrash metal]] band [[Slayer]] and write about it.<ref>{{cite web|title=Record Deal with the Devil|url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/666/the-theme-that-shall-not-be-named/act-one-4|last=Kelefa, Sanneh|date=18 Jan 2019|website=[[This American Life]] podcast|access-date=29 Jan 2019|language=en}}</ref>

Deicide frontman Glen Benton said of Larson: {{quote|Bob Larson is a fucking [[carny]]. He's a [[showman]], like myself. He does what he does for ratings and to sell his fucking [[Cult|cult-shit]] videotapes and his cassettes to you, the [[Consumerism|weak-minded fuck]]. Okay? [...] Bob Larson has actually admitted this shit it to me. Bob Larson and me are actually kind of friends [...] Bob Larson does what he does to make fucking money to support his prostitute habits.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzpBxFsZAjI | title=Glen Benton answers crowd questions at Deicide show 11 February 2009 at Jaxx in Springfield, VA | website=[[YouTube]] | date=12 February 2009 }}</ref>}}

===Written works===
Larson tried his hand at writing fiction. ''Dead Air'' (1991) was largely [[Ghostwriter|ghost-written]] by Lori Boespflug and Muriel Olson, according to [[Karen Stollznow]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stollznow |first=Karen|author-link=Karen Stollznow|date=2013 |title=God Bless America |publisher=[[Pitchstone Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-939578-00-6 |page=131}}</ref> His later novels ''Abaddon'' (1993) and ''The Senator's Agenda'' (1995) both linked [[Satanic Ritual Abuse|Satanic ritual abuse]] to [[political corruption]]; the latter was largely written by Larson and his second wife. However, a former vice president of Bob Larson Ministries, Lori Boespflug, said that much of ''Dead Air'', though presented as Larson's work, is allegedly her own. Supporting these claims is a letter from Larson's lawyer that warns Larson of his "potential liability to Lori", anticipating that "the role Lori has played" would lead her to "demand recognition and/or profit participation" in respect to ''Dead Air'' and its sequels.<ref name="Cornerstone"/>