Give Me That Old Time Religion

My friends, please pardon the caps (“shouting”) in the following but I felt it was a necessary part of the story . . . . when a preacher preaches and shouts, those shouted words should be in caps!

The old-time preachers really went after sinners in their sermons.  They shouted and jumped about and worked themselves up into an awful frenzy trying to save souls! 

They preached about damnation and the fate of fire-and-brimstone for those who sinned by breaking one or another of the Ten Commandments!  That was then; this is now.

Today, a lot of people today take a quite different approach.  They personalize their conception of the Lord, merging moral and spiritual values together.  In this manner, they create a new harmony in how they live their lives, how they treat others, and how they want to be treated. 

But the old-time preachers were fist-bangers; they banged their fists down hard and shouted for sinners to come forth and repent!  They shouted out about sin and they might single out a member of their congregation for particular attention . . . they might shout:

“ADULTERER!   FORNICATOR!!   PREVARICATOR!!!    BLASPHEMER!!!”

“YOU ARE LYING AND SINNING BUT OUR GREAT GOD WILL FIND YOU OUT!!”

The old-time preachers took the Commandments very seriously and they surely expected their congregants to do the same.  It was the “Lord’s Word” they was a-preaching! 

“THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY”

“THOU SHALT NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S WIFE”

These commandments kind of speak for themselves, don’t they? 

As for “fornication”, that’s an older way to refer to people who sleep around too much, especially two persons, not married to each other, having sexual intercourse.

“Prevaricator” may sound like “fornicator” but it’s just a fancy way to say “LIAR”, a person who speaks falsely:

“THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR”.  (Quit your lying ways!) 

“BLASPHEMY” means showing contempt for God.  Certainly if a prevaricating fornicating adulterer goes around adulterating, fornicating, and prevaricating that pretty much establishes proof that person is showing contempt for the Commandments and the Author behind them: hence “BLASPHEMER!”

Well, young people today might laugh to hear talk of such sermons but these Old Time Preachers took it all mighty seriously and the E-VAN-GEL-I-CALS claim they still do. 

Their play book is pretty simple:

If sinners break one or another of these commandments some very bad things will happen; namely, they can’t be saved.  Instead, they will suffer eternal damnation in the fiery pits of hell! 

What’s even more amazing is the fact that one of these preachers could be invited to the White House to preach,, maybe even in the Rose Garden.  If that happens, the preacher could look the president right in the eye and shout out:

“ADULTERER!   FORNICATOR!!   PREVARICATOR!!!    BLASPHEMER!!!”

“YOU ARE CHEATING, LYING, AND SINNING BUT THE GREAT GOD WILL FIND YOU OUT!!”

It doesn’t bother me so much this scenario isn’t ever likely to  happen but it surely does make me wonder about all them smug uppity-lip holier-than-thou E-VAN-GEL-I-CALS.   

After the election of Donald Trump, they seem to have chosen a mighty strange time to keep real quiet (considering how much noise they’ve been making right along). 

This is their religion, isn’t it?  These are their commandments, aren’t they? 

You gotta wonder if they aren’t breaking a few rules themselves by keeping silent.  Surely such willful blindness must be a form of prevarication all by itself!

The Bible teaches that we are all brothers and sisters.  Common sense tells us that we are responsible for one another. 

Whether we are religious or secular-minded, we must speak up when we see a whole lot of sinning and a whole lot of prevaricating going on, even if it’s the president . . . especially if it’s the president.    

Think of it!  Each and every one of these four denunciatory nouns can be leveled against the president of the United States and yet these Holy-Holies are keeping their mouths tightly shut.   

In olden times, they would have been the first to jump to their feet and join the preacher as he warmed to his task, as he got to preaching and signifying--only too glad to help him condemn some poor sinner’s wayward path in life! 

Now, not even a peep loud enough for anyone to hear.  Listen to that silence.   

No man, great or small, is free from having his character weighed on the scales of truth. 

I reckon it’s time for the Holy-Holies to start examining their own house to put it in order. 

There’s something wrong when a Holy-Holy can sit still and keep quiet while a preacher can look the president straight in the eye and shout out, loud and clear, for all to hear:

“ADULTERER!   FORNICATOR!!   PREVARICATOR!!   BLASPHEMER!!!”

GLOSSARY:

Adulterer: one who cheats on his/her spouse during marriage. 

Prevaricator: one who prevaricates, someone who habitually tells lies.

Fornicator: an unmarried person who engages in sexual intercourse, especially when considered to be of an illicit or illegal nature.

Blasphemer: one who is disrespectful toward god, who uses god’s name in vain, who breaks sacred commandments.