If you think that title is a little far out, just be glad I didn’t settle on “Will I Meet John Wayne in Heaven?”
Snopes.com is an incredible resource for fact checking urban legends and internet scams. Remember the whole Veggie Monster debacle? There are still plenty of people that think Cookie Monster has been removed from Sesame Street and replaced with a health conscious, veggie munching counterpart designed to combat childhood obesity. There was an email writing campaign to get him back on the show. Thing is, he never went anywhere. He admits that “Cookies are a sometimes food” but there is not now nor has there ever been a Veggie Monster. Sesame Street has denied rumors and even issued press releases, but the rumor is larger than life. People repeat it without any confirmation whatsoever, making it the perfect example of what happens when we copy and paste total fabrications. If people would spend 60 seconds on Snopes, such stories would die a quick death.
About 10 years ago a story began circulating online that John Wayne made a dramatic conversion during the final weeks of his life. You can read the full story here, so I’ll summarize. That story goes that the Duke sent get well wishes to Robert Schuller’s daughter who was in the hospital following a motorcycle accident. The myth revolves around her sending a reply, stating that she would be fine because Jesus would help her, and asking John Wayne if he knew Jesus. Long story short, Wayne broke down and cried, and claimed that at that very moment he gave his heart to Jesus. He died only 3 weeks later, implying that one little girl sharing the Gospel at a key moment kept John Wayne from going straight to hell.
Well, that’s the FWD:FWD:fwd e-mail internet version. Schuller did have a daughter who was hospitalized in 1978 following a motorcycle accident. John Wayne did send her a letter, though there is no evidence she sent a reply. Wayne was raised Presbyterian, and converted to Catholicism later in life. The story at Snopes is much more detailed, but bear with me as I come to a point.
I like the way Snopes handles this dramatic story of sharing the Gospel. In an attempt to stress the importance of sharing the good news, some clever person warped the truth and fabricated what amounts to a lie. In his zeal to encourage us all to spread the Word, someone overlook the command to not bear false witness. Snopes just about sermonizes by declaring “better Christians” will see how ludicrous it is to use the favorite tactic of Satan (father of lies) to shepherd people toward salvation.
Kudos to Snopes on this one, not just for clearing up the misinformation but for knowing what good Christians spreading the Gospel is supposed to look like.
The Master's Table 
God doesn’t need help – certainly not make-believe or exaggeration! Our God is a great God, a sovereign God who WILL bring about His own purpose. He chooses to use us, His people, but it is still His work.
At least Snopes differentiates between real Christians and those who use the term loosely.
Nowhere and I repeat nowhere, in this so called article, did I see anything that proved the story about John Wayne’s conversion was untrue. In fact I am more inclined to call Phil Vischer’s story a bigger fabrication, than the story about John Wayne’s converson..
You are replying a to post that I wrote 8 years ago, but I looked at my post and the original article again to see if I can catch up.
Did you read the article linked or just my post? I offered a brief summary but the “proof” you mentioned not finding may be here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/waynes-whirled/
And it’s not proof so much as a logical case press but it demands that we consider the facts of any matter and not believe everything we read on the internet, in social media or in the old fashion chain email. The facts and timeline of the events back in 1978-79 make the original story seem unlikely. Again, this post was written 8 years ago back when I was hearing about Snopes for the first time. I was trying to get the word out that myths, urban legends and viral internet stories could be fact-checked. That was a relatively new thing back then.
Hoyte, I would recommend you read the Snope article again. Even Stopes recognized the mixture of truth and false statements that were made in the story. Stories regarding our legendary heroes, sometimes are changed over time. The longer the time, the more the exaggerations, overstatements, magnifications, embellishments are added here and there. You sir, are welcome to believe what you want. You probably believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of a God, correct? My question to you would be…. Why, do you believe that? It is said that the Bible God is not a God of confusion. I would submit, that the Bible is a very confusing book. My evidence. The differences between Bible interpretations and the thousands of different denominations. Each believing that their interpretation is the correct one. Important differences in interpretations, salvation being one. Millions believe, Faith alone with out works. Millions believe faith without works is dead. They both cannot be right. In my opinion, they’re both wrong.
This is the formally “little girl” of whom you write. Without fine tuning all the details of what occurred between myself and Mr. Wayne, your assertion of this being a “lie” and “bearing false witness” is actually inaccurate though I am certain innocently so. In truth, I did write Mr. Wayne a letter as the “legend” suggests and that same day a very close friend of Mr. Wayne’s came to visit me and took the letter in promise of delivering that letter since he had dinner plans with Mr. Wayne that same evening. Just wanted you to know so you could more accurately report on the event. Bless you as you continue your pursuit of faith and our beautiful Lord.
I will accept in good faith that you are in fact Carol Schuller Miner. John Wayne set a letter wishing you well in your recovery and now by your own account a mutual friend carried your reply back to him. Have you ever testified that he broke down and cried after reading your letter and then got saved just three weeks before his death? If any of these events are exaggerated, then that’s what I’m talking about. That’s how reality gets distorted and real men and women become legendary.
Many years have passed. Plenty of people younger than me (I’m 50 now) wouldn’t know John Wayne nor Robert Schuller so this story probably doesn’t get the foot traffic it once did. But in a day of viral YouTube and TikTok videos, now enhanced with A.I., we must be careful to share a true and faithful witness especially if we are trying to show people Christ. Would you agree?
I absolutely am Carol Schuller Milner and I absolutely agree with the need for truthful accounts and am aware of the crazy difficulty of doing that these days with the prolific banter online. There is so much out there (even about my family) that even AI (based on others’ reports) will tout as historical accuracy but is flat out wrong. I don’t even know how I came across your blog and don’t know why I took the time to respond (I rarely do). I cannot say what happened once I gave the letter from my bed in my hospital room. I can say the report about the letter being written is 100% true and that it was given to a man with the initials KR because he walked in to visit me with another man (who was also close to my family and in the ministry) shortly after I’d penned the letter. I recall that clearly because I felt it was a God ordained moment. Why did I write such an unabashed letter? First, Mr Wayne had been calling me (not writing me). He also sent me his actor’s head shot inscribed by him with “Carol be happy you are loved!” (My father named his next book after that inscription). So I had a budding “friendship” (if one can call it that) with Mr. Wayne. As for the being “unabashed”? I had just had a profound God encounter when I lay in the ditch awaiting emergency care after the motorcycle accident (had to receive 17 pints of blood over the next hours, lost blood pressure and pulse and my folks were in Korea so I felt very alone and then God viscerally showed up) and I could not stop telling people the beautiful reality of God’s amazing rescue. I was, literally overnight, a witness that just wanted the world to know. I can also say that the report of the letter being given at the dinner to the Duke that same night is very familiar not from recent accounts circulating but like I heard that back at the time and I would say it is more likely than not to have happened. JW was part of a private club in Newport Beach and KR who gave him the letter was also a member of that club and a close friend of his. I have a second portrait of JW taken at a fireside by KR when they were at the beach. So this was a small circle of friends that socialized together. So the account has credibility in that sense. I also have knowledge of a significant God encounter moment JW had when my father was at his bedside near death. What is absolutely inaccurate about the circulating “legend” is that he died 3 weeks after receiving my letter. I don’t know how that bit snuck in. In truth, I don’t even know how the main truthful account leaked out since I don’t believe myself or my father ever spoke publicly about it. I gave the letter sometime in the summer of 1978 and we all know JW didn’t die for months later. In the end, it doesn’t matter how or when God awakened his heart but that he did. It does matter that we all step out when prompted to share the beauty of our Christ with the world by deed, by proclamation, by letter with whomever, however, wherever the Spirit prompts us. When is that exact moment that a person bows and declares “I’m Yours”? Often the Spirit hovers over us in seasons not just brief moments. When the Spirit is wooing it is a wonder and we as believers have that amazing privilege of being like Jesus and partnering with Him to bring Heaven to Earth. I hope that this is the main takeaway of this story despite the mysteries that are imbedded within it and within every miracle that awakes us to the wonder of our Lord. To all I would say, do not take such a privilege lightly. Keep doing what YOU see the Father doing. Blessings HUGE!