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Reprinted from Christianity Today

The Legend of John Todd

Page 3

Rasmussen was introduced to Todd in June, 1977, by Jack Chick of Chick Publications in nearby Cucamonga, and Rasmussen was in turn introduced to Berry. Chick, a Baptist, says he first heard Todd in 1973 at a meeting of charismatic evangelist Doug Clark's "Amazing Prophecies" group. Impressed, Chick featured Todd in several Christian comic-book stories. Despite the controversy, he still believes Todd, though he admits to "not knowing what to believe" about Todd's charge that prominent charismatic ministers are agents of the Illuminati.

Support from Clergy

Berry and four other prominent Baptist ministers, along with several associates, met with Todd at Villa Baptist Church in Indianapolis. They later released a paper reaffirming their beliefs that Todd is genuinely born again, that he is sincerely trying to serve Christ, and that his accounts of experiences in the ruling circles of witchcraft "are reliable reports."

Todd, however, hit the road again with a heavy schedule of meetings, some of them arranged by Berry. At a closed meeting of nearly 3,000 pastors and lay leaders hosted by Berry in a Maryland restaurant, Todd again recounted his experiences as a witch and as a member of the Illuminati. He also retraced his conversion in 1972 in San Antonio.

But Todd apparently didn't tell everything. CHRISTIANITY TODAY has learned, for example, that Todd showed up in Phoenix early in 1968 as a 19- year-old storefront preacher with a wife named Linda and her four-year-old child Tanya. While staying with relatives, he called Pastor James Outlaw of the Jesus Name Church and asked to be rebaptized. Todd said he had been studying the teachings of William Brannam and wanted to be rebaptized in the name of Jesus only. (Brannam taught that God manifests himself in different ways but is always Jesus.)

Todd testified to Outlaw that he had been a witch while in "the navy" but was converted while attending a storefront Pentacostal church in southern California.

Outlaw says Todd disappeared and returned months later without Linda. Todd explained that God had given them a prophecy to split up and seek other mates. The pastor says he and his wife admonished Todd about the error of such thinking but nevertheless helped him get a job as a busboy in a Mexican restaurant. Then Todd disappeared again and did not return until late 1972 or early 1973. Outlaw introduced Todd this time to Pentecostal Ken Long, a local leader of the Jesus movement who operated the "Open Door" coffeehouse.

Long, who has since switched from Pentecostalism and become pastor of Bible Heritage Free Will Baptist Church in Phoenix, enlisted Todd as a coffeehouse worker. "Things began happening," declares Long. "John Todd did miracles." Long says he watched Todd heal a handicapped youth's leg.

On one such excursion, Long and Todd met Sharon Garver in San Antonio. She returned with them to Phoenix and married Todd in August, 1973. Meanwhile, Long says he began getting reports that Todd was trying to seduce teenage girls at the coffeehouse. (Two later confessed that they had sexual relations with him.) Four girls revealed that Todd wanted them to form a witches coven and that he told them that he was still in witchcraft. Long later removed Todd from the coffeehouse ministry.

More than $25,000 was pledged during the telethon and management offered to employ Todd--- who was then, reportedly, packing a .38 snub-nosed revolver. He eventually declined. Doug Clark heard of Todd and invited him to appear on his "Amazing Prophecies" show. Overnight Todd became a hit in charismatic circles in southern California, and he and Sharon moved to Santa Ana.

Soon the Todds were hosting dozens of young people at a weekly Bible study in their home. A few young people were converted, said Sharon, but there were distressing things, too. She said that Todd was blending elements of witchcraft with his Christian teaching and seducing some of the girls, several of whom confided in leaders at Melodyland Christian Center. In an ugly confrontation with Melodyland church leaders around Christmas, 1973, Todd denied the charges and stormed out.

A Matter of Records

Clark denounced Todd on TV, and the Todds headed back to San Antonio. Throughout their marriage Todd had been using drugs, says Sharon, and he was dropping in and out of witchcraft. He spoke of trying to reinlist in the army (he had served from February, 1969, to July, 1970), and he obtained his army records. (Although he is still telling audiences that the records do not exist, CHRISTIANITY TODAY has obtained a copy that shows he spent only twenty-five days overseas--- in Germany, not Viet Nam.)

Family members say that Todd was witnessing to Sharon's relatives about Christ but at the same time was trying to enlist them in witchcraft, apparently for sexual reasons. He made Sharon's teenage sister pregnant, alleged both Sharon and the sister. The latter says she finally received Christ several months ago, but had been turned off to Christianity almost completely by Todd. (Todd declined to be interviewed for this report.)

Finally, the lanky 6'4" Todd left Sharon in mid-1974 and went to Dayton where he met Sheila Spoonmore. The pair apparently lived together for about two years before getting married. During this period Todd operated The Witches Caldron [sic]. He attracted the attention of local authorities when parents of teenage girls complained he was corrupting their children's morals. One 16-year-old finally agreed to tell the police what was going on at Todd's house and store. She said that witchcraft initiation rites were carried out in the nude, and that Todd had forced her to have oral sex.

Todd pleaded guilty to contributing to the unruliness of a minor and served two months of a six-month sentence in a county institution. Chick and a lawyer succeeded in getting him released early for medical reasons. (He was said to be having seizures.) He was placed on five years' probation which he promptly broke by leaving the state. He travelled to Phoenix, where Ken Long got him a job as a cook in a steak house. "Todd swore he was out of witchcraft for good," says Long, "but after only two weeks on the job he was talking to two girls about plans to open up an occult bookstore." Todd, however, abruptly left town, and Long has not seen him since.

Todd's occult operation in Dayton held a temporary charter as the Watchers Church of Wicca under the National Church and School of Wicca, headquartered in New Bern, North Carolina. Todd appealed to Wicca head Gavin Frost and civil rights specialist Isaac Bonnawitz [sic] to help him with the police problems in Dayton. Both men investigated quietly, and Frost announced their findings in the Wicca news letter: