dtuttle@uw-june (David C. Tuttle) (05/09/85)
I've been reading this discussion of "John 3:13" showing up at sporting events, and it leaves me a little confused. I've seen similar signs, but they have said "John 3:16", which is where I thought the phrase "For God so loved the world..." actually starts. I've also seen it on random billboards in Texas (Bible Belt territory). As for knowing where to sit, that's real easy to figure out. The most common place I've seen the signs is at (mostly Monday Night) football games, especially at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and Texas Stadium in Dallas. The group sits in the end zone, right behind the uprights, and when the inevitable touchdown is scored at their end of the field, the extra point guarantees that the camera will be pointed their way, so up goes the sign! It must be awfully annoying to the people sitting behind them... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "98% of all statistics are total lies." --David C. Tuttle Computer Sci. Dept. University of Washington
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (05/11/85)
In article <40@uw-june> dtuttle@uw-june (David C. Tuttle) writes: > It must be awfully annoying to the people sitting >behind them... I saw one of these folks thrown out of a baseball park for refusing to heed the complaints of those seated behind him. He was in the first row behind home plate. After numerous complaints a guard was summoned who confiscated his sign and then confiscated _him_ when he chose to get violent about it. -- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp TTI 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
geo@genat.UUCP (George Swan) (05/14/85)
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