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Thread: John G Lake a thorough fraud ?

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    John G Lake a thorough fraud ?

    What do you think of this ? The wikipedia article portrays him as a thorough fraud and it's not about the miracles.

    John G. Lake - Wikipedia

    Lake was born in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada and moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan with his family in 1886.[4] He was born into a large family of 16 siblings (eight of whom died young).[5] He graduated from high school in St Mary's shortly before the move to Michigan, and claimed to have been ordained into the Methodist ministry at the age of twenty-one.[4] The seminary he claimed to have attended, though, never existed,[6]:53 and census records show he had less than ten years' education.[7] Lake, then, had no formal theological training.

    Lake moved to a suburb of Chicago, Harvey, in 1890, where he worked as a roofer and construction worker before returning to his hometown in 1896. According to Lake, he became an industrious businessman and started two newspapers, the Harvey Citizen in Harvey, Illinois and the Soo Times in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,[4] before beginning a successful career in real estate, and later, becoming a millionaire in life insurance dealings. Historian Barry Morton found no evidence that Lake ever owned the two newspapers, citing sources which indicate the Harvey Citizen was founded by the Harvey township,[8] and the Soo Times was started by George A. Ferris and owned by Ferris & Scott Publishers.[1]:103[9]:394[10] Morton further alleges that Lake exaggerated his business career, and that "clear evidence" shows Lake instead worked as a small-scale contractor, roofer and "house-flipper".[1]:103 In the 1900 Census, Lake's occupation is listed as "carpenter".[7] In February 1893, Lake married Jennie Stevens of Newberry, Michigan, and the two had six children and adopted another before her death in 1908. During the 1890s Lake and many members of his family began appearing regularly in Dowie's services, where they were invariably healed and allegedly brought back from death's door. In 1898 Lake opened a small chapter of Dowie's Christian Catholic Church in Sault Ste Marie and held meetings in the attic of his parents' home. In 1901 he relocated his family to Zion, Illinois, where he worked in the theocratic town's construction department.

    After massive retrenchments affected ever-bankrupt Zion City,[11] Lake found new employment around 1905. He later claimed that he maintained relationships with many of the leading figures of his day including railroad tycoon James Jerome Hill, Cecil Rhodes, Mahatma Gandhi, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others.[12][13] When he began his preaching career he claimed to have walked away from a $50,000 year salary (around $1.25 million in 2007 US dollars[14]), as well as his seat on the Chicago Board of Trade. Lake's biographer, Burpeau, reported no evidence outside of Lake's own assertions that Lake was connected to these wealthy financiers and industrialists.[6] According to Morton, contemporary records show Lake never left Zion City at the time Lake was said to be making his name in Chicago; he instead worked in nearby Waukegan as an "ordinary, small-town insurance salesman". Lake does not appear in contemporary newspapers until 1907 where he gave an account of his experience of speaking in tongues.[1]:105

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    Here's a more detailed version of the same stuff : Yes, John G Lake was a con man: a response to Marius Nel

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    I tried to find a mention of John G Lake in documents by the Chicago Board of Trade from 1903-1907 or thereabout and a librarian gave me the following link :

    Description: Chicago Board of Trade records.

    But I couldn't figure out how to actually perform a search on the document. Can someone help me with that ?

    See this part :

    "General Notes: Due to the size of this collection, separate finding aids have been created by series or sub-series. These finding aids can be viewed from the collection introduction page, which is accessible from this record."

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    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    I liked him

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    I liked him
    I have no idea what you mean by that ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    I have no idea what you mean by that ?

    I liked what he taught and the miracles he said happened

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    I liked what he taught and the miracles he said happened
    The miracles aren't in question, it's about records of his doings before 1907. This can be difficult since it's that long ago but unless the critics are lying they have done thorough searches in available material without being able to verify a number of Lake's claims. But the Chicago Board of Trade records are in a post above so it would be helpful if someone were able to find Lake somewhere in there since he claimed to represent them.

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    The writer Barry Morton - Department of History, University of South Africa

    I wonder what his views are regarding politics and religion

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    The writer Barry Morton - Department of History, University of South Africa

    I wonder what his views are regarding politics and religion
    I bet he is a super anti but usually the critics are into denying miracles and not the minister's self proclaimed biographical details.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    I liked him
    I have one of his books.

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