Where in the World is Doug Phillips (Who is a Tool)? Part 12

[Hane]

@Howl, Molly Ivins and Ann Richards are two of my all-time feminist icons 

[Cults-r-us]

5 hours ago, Hane said:

I have friends in Austin who are fighting the good fight, , but I tend to agree with you!

I think the media makes it sound like Texas is full of gun-toting, book-burning, LGBT-hating, abortion-outlawing, anti-vax wingnuts. Good to know it's not all like that, but sad to know there's pickets of it everywhere.

[smittykins]

I know this isn’t Tool-specific, but wasn’t James Leininger the one who bankrolled Vision Forum?

 

[Howl]

6 hours ago, smittykins said:

I know this isn’t Tool-specific, but wasn’t James Leininger the one who bankrolled Vision Forum?

Yes, as far as I know that's correct.  Leininger is a medical doctor who started several successful companies, started investing in real estate in San Antonio, made a pile and then started investing in numerous companies.  Wealthy guy, tons of money who contributed heavily to conservative causes and is (was?) an influential player in Texas politics, particularly the Texas school book thing and is a strong proponent of school vouchers.  

He's big into philanthropy, and is listed on his WIKI as having given 2.5 million to Vision Forum as well as millions to other causes. 

 

[Columbia]

9 minutes ago, Howl said:

He's big into philanthropy, and is listed on his WIKI as having given 2.5 million to Vision Forum as well as millions to other causes. 

Wasn’t he the one who paid for DPIAT’s big fancy house, too? I saw somewhere that the Phillips’ trashed it before they were kicked out. 

[MamaJunebug]

1 hour ago, Columbia said:

Wasn’t he the one who paid for DPIAT’s big fancy house, too? I saw somewhere that the Phillips’ trashed it before they were kicked out. 

Low-lifes, if so.  Be-all’s & the girls’ pearl necklaces  & all. 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Columbia said:

I saw somewhere that the Phillips’ trashed it before they were kicked out. 

I don't recall that, but I seem to remember they were selling off things right and left before they left.  

[hoipolloi]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Leininger is a medical doctor who started several successful companies, started investing in real estate in San Antonio, made a pile and then started investing in numerous companies.

Yes, Leininger made his money marketing medical devices.

1 hour ago, Columbia said:

Wasn’t he the one who paid for DPIAT’s big fancy house, too? I saw somewhere that the Phillips’ trashed it before they were kicked out. 

Yes, he did pay for the house & other VF expenses, as quoted in this 2014 article:

What ol' Jimbo doesn't mention is that the film starred his daughter Kelly Greyson. 

ETA: The James Leininger in the video is obviously not Doug the Tool's erstwhile sugar daddy.

Edited January 30, 2022 by hoipolloi
Fixed link

[JermajestyDuggar]

Btw I love Dr Grande. I watched this video and it sounds like James really pushed the idea of reincarnation. Doesn’t that go completely against his Christian beliefs? It just doesn’t make sense. He’s pushing reincarnation and also big into Christian causes. 

[Howl]

10 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

James really pushed the idea of reincarnation

The James Leininger story reminds me of the whole Chad Daybell "seeing through the veil" thing starting at a young age. 

[Columbia]

Tl;dr- Kevin Swanson gives an excellent example of why horrible men rise to leadership in authoritarian/complementarian churches, why scandals occur, and why they can’t/won’t be stopped. 
 

Kevin Swanson has an episode on his podcast discussing what to do with the material of church leaders who have “flaked out” (that sounds much nicer than “proven themselves to be money grubbing sexual predators.) He mentions Doug Phillips several times, and also shows that he has learned absolutely nothing from the last four or so years of scandals. 

1. Kevin says it’s a difficult time for Christians because “you don’t know who’s next” regarding ongoing scandals. I can think of a handful of shady church leaders/personalities (Baucham, Wilson, McArthur, Franklin Graham, Dave Ramsey, the whole damn SBC) off the top of my head in three minutes. How many people said Ravi was bad news for years? Plenty of people have spoken about and are speaking about shady leaders. But Kevin either doesn’t want to hear it, or, more likely, doesn’t want to listen to people who are outside his immediate circle. Especially because it’s usually women doing the legwork. 

2. He talks about scandals like they’re out there hunting down good pastors, instead of “good pastors” actually being narcissists who built empires around themselves. Says a pastor contacted him after a well known scandal saying “you’re next.” (9:05) I wonder if that other pastor actually has some dirt on Kevin that we’ll hear about one day.

3. Later in the episode (17:30) Kevin talks about how Christians who have left the faith should have their books classified in the “cult” section, because there was always something glaringly wrong with their teaching (the example is Joshua Harris.) I would classify DPIAT as someone who has apostatized, based on his horrible behavior and lack of repentance, but somehow I think his stuff won’t wind up on that shelf in Kevin’s library, because Kevin was far more tightly wound up in VF than he ever was with Joshua Harris  

Ultimately Kevin calls his listeners to be cautious with what they consume, because we live in an age of apostasy, and there’s not a lot of good material being produced. This is just my wild guess, but I bet that if you looked hard enough you’d find some recording ten years ago of Kevin praising VF materials and DPIAT to the heavens  

Starts around 6:50 - 18:35

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pastors-who-flake-out/id1135946877?i=1000550269252

[hoipolloi]

47 minutes ago, Columbia said:

This is just my wild guess, but I bet that if you looked hard enough you’d find some recording ten years ago of Kevin praising VF materials and DPIAT to the heavens  

Look no further:

[Columbia]

45 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Look no further:

Excellent find. That line about DPIAT someday ending up in World Magazine was far more prescient than Swanson probably would have liked. 
 

https://wng.org/sift/doug-phillips-excommunicated-by-church-he-founded-1617409203

[hoipolloi]

It hardly took any time at all to find something. Kevin and Dougie were joined at the hip for years. 

Of course, it did take a little more than 5 years for Phillips and VF to make it into World Magazine and Christianity Today  -- 8 years (2005 to 2014) -- but whoʻs counting?!

[starfish]

I feel that, no matter where Doug Phillips who is a tool is, that he is watching that show "Euphoria" on HBO max.

 

[Antipatriarch]

On 2/7/2022 at 2:44 PM, Columbia said:

Kevin says it’s a difficult time for Christians because “you don’t know who’s next” regarding ongoing scandals.

Here is the world's tiniest violin, playing My Heart Bleeds Peanut Butter and Jelly For You.

[CyborgKin]

On 2/8/2022 at 2:30 PM, starfish said:

I feel that, no matter where Doug Phillips who is a tool is, that he is watching that show "Euphoria" on HBO max.

 

I really need to get around to starting season 2 soon. (I only recently binged season 1)

 

Kevin Swanson is one of the few figures discussed here that I've seen in person, when he and Scott Brown and a few others made a trip over to Australia.

[Nancy-Druesel]

I can't remember if this has been posted about before, but is it possible that the instagam account "scenesfromabeautifulworld" is another one of Doug's semi-anonymous accounts? It's private but has commented on some of the Phillips kids insta photos, and the bio sounds like a Dougism: "Story teller (sic) Capturing Moments in time on a journey through 5 continents and 32 countries."

[hoipolloi]

16 hours ago, Nancy-Druesel said:

is it possible that the instagam account "scenesfromabeautifulworld" is another one of Doug's semi-anonymous accounts?

Quite possible. "Scenes from a Beautiful World" is the name of the VF/Dougie Vimeo channel. You can still see some of his greatest hits there, including manly men in the Amazon led by Manly Doug and -- who could forget this one? -- Moar Cellos! 

There are also some of his more recent videos, including G-rated versions of his post-VF dancing girls phase.

 

[Jasmar]

Oh my gosh, I’ve never actually seen that clip before, or heard him speak. He sounds EXACTLY like my fundigelical ex. The rhythm of his speech, the dramatic pauses, the body language, the expressions on his face, the way he modulates his speech, even the ridiculousness of the talk. It’s freaking eerie.

[Nancy-Druesel]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:41 PM, hoipolloi said:

Quite possible. "Scenes from a Beautiful World" is the name of the VF/Dougie Vimeo channel. You can still see some of his greatest hits there, including manly men in the Amazon led by Manly Doug and -- who could forget this one? -- Moar Cellos! 

There are also some of his more recent videos, including G-rated versions of his post-VF dancing girls phase.

 

Thanks, I knew that name sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before! It must have been from hearing about his Vimeo account

[Columbia]

Local man shocked by monster he helped create. Film at 11. 
 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10151533085654964&id=56307449963&m_entstream_source=timeline&anchor_composer=false

[Hane]

@Columbia, I can’t view this—can you fill me in on what it says?

[Columbia]

Tl;dr version: we promoted nothing but knee-jerk reactions, deep seated fear of any authority figures other than ourselves, and half-assed analyses of “Christian” history, culture, and science without asking any hard questions. Why has our teaching produced what it was designed to produce?

 

Also, I should have specified, this is from VF’s FB page. 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Columbia
Well, those posted upside down. Read from bottom to top.

[Jasmar]

Wow, I’m kind of shocked. Does anyone listen to the VF page anymore? I hope so.