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Robert Schuller Dies at 88

obeygiant

obeygiant

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 14, 2002
4,258
4,246
totally cool
The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, the Southern California televangelist and author who beamed his upbeat messages on faith and redemption to millions from his landmark Crystal Cathedral only to see his empire crumble in his waning years, has died. He was 88.

Schuller died early Thursday at a care facility in Artesia, daughter Carol Schuller Milner said. In 2013, Schuller was diagnosed with a tumor in his esophagus that had spread to his lymph nodes and began treatment.

Once a charismatic and well-known presence on the televangelist circuit, Schuller faded from view in recent years after watching his church collapse amid a disastrous leadership transition and sharp declines in viewership and donations that ultimately forced the ministry to file for bankruptcy.

The soaring, glass-paned Crystal Cathedral -- the touchstone of Schuller's storied ministry -- was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in 2011, and Schuller lost a legal battle the following year to collect more than $5 million from his former ministry for claims of copyright infringement and breach of contract.

Schuller, who preached in a flowing purple robe and outsized aviator glasses, suffered a mild heart attack in 1997 but was quickly back on the pulpit, saying "the positive person" is not afraid of life's surprises. In July 2013, he was hospitalized for days after a late-night fall at his home in Orange.

Schuller's evangelical Protestant ministry, part of the Reformed Church in America, was a product of modern technology. He and his late wife, Arvella, an organist, started a ministry in 1955 with $500 when he began preaching from the roof of a concession stand at a drive-in movie theater southeast of Los Angeles.

The church's motto -- "Come as you are in the family car" -- tapped into the burgeoning Southern California auto culture and the suburban boom of post-World War II America.
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My parents would make me watch "The Hour of Power" on Sunday morning for years! Fare well!
 
obeygiant said:
Yeah I can relate. Looks like you're a MLP fan living in Japan as well. I've been to Japan many times but just in Tokyo and near Mt. Fuji, are you in the country side?
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I mostly watch MLP by force, my daughter loves it. (I won't lie it's a cute show, and my daughter loves AppleJack). I am currently in the USA, but I have lived in Japan and visited multiple times over the past 15 years, my wife is from Fukuoka Japan.

Tokyo is nice but I am not a fan of living in such a large city.

Mt Fuji is nice, I have done hot springs, Fuji Safari Park and Fuji Q highland while there.
 
TheAppleFairy said:
I mostly watch MLP by force, my daughter loves it. (I won't lie it's a cute show, and my daughter loves AppleJack). I am currently in the USA, but I have lived in Japan and visited multiple times over the past 15 years, my wife is from Fukuoka Japan.

Tokyo is nice but I am not a fan of living in such a large city.

Mt Fuji is nice, I have done hot springs, Fuji Safari Park and Fuji Q highland while there.
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How about that forest where all the people go to end it all? I've heard the authorities leave it be, and skeletons are laying all about and even hanging from trees. That true?
 
aaronvan said:
How about that forest where all the people go to end it all? I've heard the authorities leave it be, and skeletons are laying all about and even hanging from trees. That true?
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I think suicide has a different stigma in Japan than it does here in the US. AKAIK its somewhat honorable.
 
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