[shakeybill]

Sometime ago there was a Christian comedian/evangelist named Mike Warneke. Back in the 1980's I was blessed by his humor and encouraging messages. Some years ago I started hearing rumors that he backslid or fell away from the faith or something like that...

I was never able to determine what happened to him and I haven't been able to find any info regarding him in recent years at this or several other Christian sites I frequent. I'd appreciate any non-rumor information anyone could give me. It's been quite a few years since I've heard anything of him and would appreciate any info anyone might have.

In Christ, Bill

[Jay42]

Hi - Basically, in 1992, Christian journalists Jon Trott and Mike Hertenstein researched some of Warnke's claims in his autobiography "The Satan Seller" and started showing a lot of discrepancies about Warnke's claims.

The writers produced photographs of a clean-cut Warnke during the period he claimed to have "waist length white hair and six-inch fingernails." The article also provides a detailed time line of events that gives strong evidence that the incidents related in the book could not have occurred as they were reported.

Mike's reply to all this can be found HERE. He applied the Ronald Reagan strategy of "well gee guys, my memory was just fuzzy about those things".

Only problem is, he claimed things like being the leader of 1500 satanists at one time, which the journalists were also stating to be fabricated.

His career has been in shambles (he quit doing concerts) and he divorced in 1991 after he and his then-wife Rose had just written a book about marriage together. He did remarry (also in 1991) to his fourth wife Susan.

This page has a decent summary of the issue.

In 1996 he had heart-surgery. He just wrote a book this year called "FRIENDLY FIRE" giving his side of the story (link is HERE but he is still in total denial that he lied.

Having seen Warnke live twice, I am saddened by it but it just reminds us not to place our hope in any one human. The last time I saw Warnke was in 1991 when he seemed very grouchy, insulting, and spent about 45-minutes on the money speech during the love offering.

It's just a sobering reminder of how anyone can fall.

[shakeybill]

Jay, Thanks for the info. Mike sounds like he was a gross embelisher in the sense that he DID dabble in the occult and blew that up into a 1500 person cult. He was wounded once in Vietnam and expanded that to several battle wounds.

It appears that he wants to get back into ministry and he did submit himself to the discipline of a tribunal from his organization/denomination(?)

Apparantly he and his current wife have their own website where all the tribunals findings and procedings are published.

Mike's experience seems very much like what happened to Jim Bakker (minus the jailtime). I ran into Jim Bakker in Los Angeles back in 1998 when my wife and I were on a missions trip. Jim is a completely humble man now who is happy working in the inner city. I only hope that Mike's restoration could be as complete.

Again thanks for your info and response.

In Christ, Bill

[Frodo]

Since the question's been answered, the thread will be closed, okey doke!