8 year old Marjoe Gortner, amazing video.

[madfloridian]

Run time: 06:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSdI8ag1k0A   Posted on YouTube: January 20, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 08, 2008 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU: 921

 
I found this blog about him when I was looking for more information about Todd Bentley...the Canadian evangelist who is making local preachers very nervous with the over 30,000 people he is drawing in a week.

The blog is mostly about Marjoe Gortner, who is telling all about the
methods he used as a child evangelist.

He tells about the time he was campaigning for Jerry Brown.

“I was campaigning for Jerry Brown when he was running for governor,” he said. “I gave speeches when he couldn’t show up. This was a whole different kind of speech for me, because I didn’t know the people and the whole thing was political. One time I was supposed to go to a rally for a thousand AFL-CIO workers in San Francisco, and I thought, Oh, no, how am I going to talk to these guys? I needed a hook to get the audience, because I knew a person’s mind is usually made up within the first minute or so. If they like you and you say the right things at first, then you can take them on to other things they might not ordinarily agree with. But all I had to go on was that, and structures of speech I knew from preaching.”

He paused again, allowing us a moment to consider his predicament.

“When I got there they were a little hostile,” he continued, “and I was very nervous about it. There was a podium with two flags on it, an American flag and a California state flag. I walked up – it was very quiet – and as I was walking up there it came to me, I don’t know from where. I grabbed the American flag and I crinkled it in my hand. I looked at it and sort of gave it a little toss back against the wall and said, ‘I remember when Betsy Ross made that flag. Today it’s made in Japan.’ Well, a roar went up as that struck a chord in those workers, and I was God from that moment on.”

He really did become disillusioned.

What got to Marjoe, he explained, and eventually drove him out of the business were many of the same disturbing aspects of the Evangelical movement we had noticed in our own travels and interviews.

“When I was traveling,” he said, looking back on the old days, “I’d see someone who wanted to get saved in one of my meetings, and he was so open and bubbly in his desire to get the Holy Ghost. It was wonderful and very fresh, but four years later I’d return and that person might be a hard-nosed intolerant Christian because he had Christ. That’s when the danger comes in. People want an experience. They want to feel good, and their lives can be helped by it. But then as you start moving into the operation of the thing, you get into controlling people and power and money.”

He talks about Reverend Moon.

...."he has followed the curious rise of America’s religious cults, among them Reverend Moon’s Unification Church.

“Moon is doing the same thing I do,” said Marjoe, “only he’s taken it one step further. He’s suggesting to people that he is the Messiah. In my religion, the old-time religion, it’s total blasphemy to suggest that. Moon has gone too far, but that’s a heavy number on people, because everyone wants to meet a Messiah.”

[MilesColtrane]

1. I remember him best from such movies as,

"Earthquake", "Bobby Joe and the Outlaw", "Mayday at 40,000 Feet!", "Viva Knievel", and "Acapulco Gold".

After seeing this video it's apparent that he had his acting chops early on.

[madfloridian]

2. Very early.

At least he survived intact. His mother would put a pillow over his face, pour water in his face...scary stuff.

[On the Road]

3. Thank You for That

I knew about Marjoe, but had never seen a clip of him as a boy. Would have liked to hear more from him as an adult -- in spite of his disillusionment, he seems to have stayed sane and prospered.

[murielm99]

4. The documentary film about Marjoe won an Oscar.

It is interesting to watch, even today. I saw it again a couple of years ago when I rented it through Netflix.

Marjoe worked as a "B" actor until he was fifty. Then he gave that up. Now he works as a fundraiser for hire. It makes sense to me.

[madfloridian]

5. What was the name of the documentary?

There was a film just called "Marjoe". Was that it?

I think it was a long time ago. Might rent it.

[murielm99]

6. That's the one.

It was pre-televangelist, or when the televangelists were just beginning to make it big. Marjoe was a traveling revival preacher. He had tried to get off the circuit, but the big money was too much of a lure. He worked about half the year as a preacher, and lived in California for the other six months.

The documentary was made in the seventies. It is quite a nostalgia trip. One of the things I had forgotten about was the slang. Also, most people smoked cigarettes back then. I think you will enjoy this for more than the history lesson.

Right after I rented this, I rented Jesus Camp. Unfortunately, I did not prepare my poor husband well enough for that movie. He was taken by surprise. Our kids are grown, but we like children. He was hit so hard by Jesus Camp that he watched it in two sittings. It still stayed with him for a long time.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. I saw "Marjoe" the documentary in 1972.

My college religion professor suggested we go see it.
It got the Best Documentary Oscar for 1972.

Eye-opening as to crowd manipulation techniques, before TV preachers got so dominant.