Christian Books Which Fudged the Truth

More memories from those days when I was becoming Reformed and working in the Christian Bookstore industry

Previous posts in the series:

Christians are often taken in by those who are less than truthful. It is not a character flaw to expect others to tell the truth, or to assume that their testimonies to the grace of God in Christ are factual. So, it comes as a shock and a disappointment when dramatic conversions and the books which recount them are discovered to be more fictional than factual. Sadly there have been a number of these, but a couple stand out in my memory.

Crying Wind purported to be the account of a young native American girl (whose real name was Linda Davison Stafford) who claimed a dramatic conversion experience as recounted in her compelling and heart-warming autobiography. Crying Wind—both the book’s title and the author’s pseudonym at the time—was published by Moody Press in 1977. She became a popular church and conference speaker, dressed as a native American as she recounted her dramatic conversion. It was followed by a sequel, My Searching Heart in 1980, published by Harvest House.

We sold cases of them and Crying Wind may have been our best-seller for a time shortly after its release.

But significant factual discrepancies arose regarding her story—enough so that Moody Press changed the original cover in 1978 to the one pictured above. Crying Wind was now a “biographical novel,” which I take to mean, “here’s a book about the stuff I made up about myself.” Crying Wind had been writing love stories and romance novels under another pseudonym, Gwendlelynn Lovequist, so she was well-versed in the genre of “fictional biography.” Moody Press eventually took the PR and sales hit and pulled the volume from print. A good and noble thing for them to do.

But given the fact that Harvest House published a sequel which they also identified as a “biographical novel,” (after Moody dumped Crying Wind), it was obvious that many readers really didn’t care if Crying Wind was telling the whole truth (or not), because the story was inspirational. And so, people kept buying her books. Amazing.

Some in the Christian bookstore industry referred to Crying Wind as “breaking wind.” I won’t name any names.

Mike Warnke is the author of the popular 1972 book Satan Seller, co-written with David Balsiger and Les Jones. Warnke later went on to record several Christian comedy albums on the Word label: “Alive” (1975); “A Jester in the King’s Court” (1978); and “Hey Doc” (1979). Warnke was a humorous and compelling story-teller, and in the early days of his “ministry,” he would often speak at Melodyland Christian Center (a converted theater in the round) across Harbor Avenue from Disneyland. His comedy albums were frequently played on Christian radio and for a year or so, he was a fixture in Orange County among the Jesus people. We sold his book and carried his records.

Warnke claimed that he was orphaned and introduced to the occult as a child. He claims to have grown up as a worshiper of Satan and was involved in all manner of evil—including heroin use and alcoholism, satanic orgies, drug sales, and kidnapping, eventually becoming a “satanic high priest,” who could summon demons on command. After an overdose, Warnke claimed he left satanism, went to fight in Vietnam, and became a war hero as a medic (with multiple wounds and earning a purple heart). Leaving the military in 1970, he had a dramatic Christian conversion, and soon became an evangelist, telling his tall tale to increasingly larger audiences.

But people who knew Warnke growing up began comparing notes—they knew a man with a whole different history. So it wasn’t long before stories began to circulate that he was something of a fraud. The warning signs were there. He affiliated with different ministries in seriatim (and which were increasingly fringe Pentecostal), he frequently moved to new locales around the country, and began claiming advanced degrees when his timeline and skill set made that very unlikely.

He appeared on ABC News’ 20/20 in 1985 claiming to be an expert on satanism, explaining satanic ceremonies and rituals. That led to increased scrutiny of his conflicting claims regarding his military service, his wives, divorces, and affairs, and his ministry’s financial status. In 1991, Cornerstone Magazine began a thorough investigation of Warnke’s claims. Interviews with many friends and acquaintances were conducted and photos taken of him while he claimed to be a satanist proved that he obviously wasn’t. There were indeed multiple marriages, divorces, and affairs, his military records were grossly exaggerated, he had no graduate degrees, and he was fully exposed as a charlatan. Yet, after Cornerstone published their investigation, Warnke still claimed to be a former satanic priest, although admitting to a number of “exaggerations.”

Now regarded by his publisher as a fraud, his comedy albums were dropped, and he quickly entered obscurity. Yet, he continued to conduct his shtick at small churches which probably knew better, but didn’t apparently care because he was entertaining and could draw a crowd.

Caveat emptor!