The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

Welcome

  • Should We Expect Evangelicals to Read and Know the Bible?

    Seven months after my partner and I married, we left Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, and returned to my birthplace, Bryan, Ohio. By then, Polly was six months pregnant.

    We immediately found a church to attend: Montpelier Baptist Church. Not long after we joined the church, Pastor Jay Stuckey asked me to be his unpaid assistant; to primarily work with and expand the church’s languishing bus ministry. On Easter that year, we brought eighty-eight riders to church, and soon added a second bus.

    Montpelier Baptist was a typical Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church. A growing congregation that reached five hundred in attendance on our last Sunday there, the church was, by all accounts vibrant and exciting. It was, after all, the late 1970s; a time when IFB churches were rapidly growing and were some of the largest churches in the United States.

    Montpelier Baptist had a big advertising sign on Route 15 that stated the “essence” of the church: The Blood, The Book, and The Blessed Hope. The book was, of course, the King James Bible, which was considered inspired, inerrant, and infallible. You would think in such a setting that both the pastors and the congregants really believed the Bible and practiced its teachings. You would think Pastor Stuckey’s preaching was focused on teaching the whole counsel of God, from table of contents to concordance. You know, preaching THE BOOK.

    Both Pastor Stuckey and I were products of the time. Our sermons were topical or textual. In Pastor Stuckey’s case, most of his sermons focused on two subjects: salvation and prophecy. Again, this was typical of the time in IFB and Evangelical congregations. I heard countless sermons on the rapture, the tribulation, the millennium, and even out-there subjects such as the illuminati, the Rothschilds, and the mark of the beast. Exciting times, to be sure, especially for a congregation primarily aged forty years and under. From an overflowing nursery to packed pews, people came to hear Pastor Stuckey’s sermons. It’s too bad that congregants only heard sermons on topics or texts Pastor Stuckey deemed important. I’m not faulting the man as much as explaining the times. In 1979, I had never heard an expository sermon — not one. As a result, church members, no matter how long they attended a particular church, never heard sermons on all sixty-six books of the Bible. Unfortunately, this bred ignorance, producing members who loved THE BOOK, but didn’t know much of what it taught.

    Decades later, not much has changed. If anything, Bible ignorance is worse, an epidemic. Sermons focus on salvation and felt-needs, instead of competently and exhaustively teaching the Bible. Congregants are still “encouraged” to read and study the Bible, but I suspect most pastors have given up making this a reality. Today, the only Bible teaching many Evangelicals get is a thirty-minute sermon on Sunday, and maybe thirty minutes more at a group or weeknight Bible study. These studies are typically shallow too, often using pre-published materials written by the latest, greatest Evangelical “star.”

    This is not to say that this is the case for every Evangelical church and pastor. I may disagree with what Evangelicals believe, but I do know of churches and pastors who consistently and faithfully teach the Bible. I can’t fault their devotion and commitment, even if I have big issues with their interpretations.

    In the mid-1980s, thanks to John MacArthur and the Puritan authors I was enamored with, I embraced Calvinism, abandoned preaching topical and textual sermons, and started preaching expositionally — verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. No more pulling sermon titles and texts out of a hat or preaching what God “laid upon my heart”. I let the text guide my preaching week by week. For example, over the course of a year or so I preached 120 sermons on the book of John. I turned my focus from hyper-evangelism to being the best preacher and expositor I could be. I felt I owed congregants a well-crafted sermon that taught them the Word of God and inspired them to do good works — without which faith is dead,

    Were my congregants Biblically smarter than the average Evangelical? Some were, to be sure, but many members treated me as their sole source of Bible knowledge. That’s one of the reasons I thought it important to teach church members all of the Bible. Instead of haranguing people for not reading and studying the Bible, I decided to meet them where they were. Way too many preachers are more concerned about where they want people to be than where they are. When I finally learned this, it transformed the way I looked at people who called me “Preacher.”

    Evangelicals claim to love the Bible, but for most of them, it’s a shallow, superficial love. (Why that is beyond the scope of this post.) When quizzed about their beliefs, you quickly learn their knowledge is a mile long and an inch deep. And sadly, many preachers aren’t much better. Worse, you have those who think they know the Bible, but, in fact, all they know is what they’ve heard or read in books by Evangelical authors. The goal is maintaining fidelity to certain doctrines and practices — the faith once delivered to the saints, as interpreted by the pastor. Dare to challenge their assumptions and you’ll be labeled a liberal and an apostate.

    Just because Evangelicals “say” they know the Bible doesn’t mean they do. Remember that when you engage in discussions with Evangelicals. Take the long road and be patient with them. Resist the temptation to insult them; that is, unless your goal is to be an ass. I try to treat conversations like I would chatting with a friend on a Friday night at the pub. Always live to drink another day.

  • Short Stories: White Hair

    The sun is long in the sky as Defiance and Elida square off for another Friday football game under the lights. I am there to watch my fifteen-year-old granddaughter play the trumpet in the band. Her older siblings were home from college and in attendance too.

    Polly opened the back door of our 2020 Ford Edge so she could retrieve my walker. I haven’t driven an automobile since 2020. I voluntarily gave up my keys, knowing that I was no longer competent to drive. No one needed to force me. I knew it was time. And now that I’m having serious memory problems, there’s no question that I have no business behind the wheel of a car.

    With my walker safe and secure in front of me, I walked to the ticket booth to buy three adult ducats. Total cost, $24. I have no interest in the game. Defiance has won one once this year, Elida twice. On this night, the orange and black Elida Bulldogs soundly beat the blue and white Defiance Bulldogs. I paid $24 to hear the band, shoot the breeze with my son, and hug my grandchildren.

    My grandchildren didn’t know what to make of my beardless face. You ever see a dog cock its head with an inquisitive look? That was my grandchildren. I told them not to worry, that by Christmas I will be my sexy bearded self again. They seemed to doubt the “sexy”part. I can’t imagine why . . . 😜

    Tickets purchased, Polly and I, along with Bethany, stopped by the concession stand to buy junk food; a pop and a candy bar. By buying concessions now, we avoided having to bribe one of our grandkids to make a concession run. Aged twenty, eighteen, and fifteen, I can no longer buy their concession delivery service for a $1.

    A polite young man with a nice, trimmed red beard waited on us, and patiently took care of our order, even when I had a senior moment, trying to order a Dr. Pepper when I “knew” they only sold Coke products.

    People who know me know I like to talk. There are no strangers around me. Polly and I have known each other for fifty years. I still remember the day she walked through the dormitory door. She was and still is a beautiful woman. Then she had short dark hair. Today, her hair is now gray, but the wonderful eighteen-year-old I proposed to six months later, is still the love of my life today.

    After the redheaded young man counted back my change, I told him I once had red hair and it turned white when I got old. And as only a talkative, friendly man can say, I told him, someday your hair will turn white too. I feel it is my old man duty to remind redheads that their beautiful hair will not last, and to enjoy it while they have it.

    The young man looked me square in the eye and said: “That’s okay. That means you have lived a long life.”

    Now that’s a bit of wisdom I didn’t expect. I thanked the young man for his words, and walked away with a tear in my eye.

    I felt a deep sense of my own mortality, but as I pondered this young man’s words, I felt a twinge of hope.

  • Atheism Has Fundamentalists Too

    Nineteen years ago, as a newly minted unbeliever, I shared my “testimony” on a well-known ex-Christian site. Initially, I found support from several congenial atheists who, upon seeing that I was still in the process of deconverting, gave me sound advice and answered my questions.

    Soon, however, the “True Atheists” arrived, setting their sights on the inconsistencies in my “testimony.” They were savage in their attacks — however right they may have been — and I recoiled from their brutality, retreating to the rock I had previously crawled out from under.

    I complained, “These people are no different from fundamentalist Baptist preachers.” Unbending, rigid, demanding conformity — all hallmarks of fundamentalist thinking — governed these atheist zealots every bit as much as they governed my former fundamentalist brethren. Fundamentalism is bad, regardless of where it is found, including atheism.

    Over the past two decades, atheism has continued to have periodic problems with fundamentalism. Who can forget the Atheism+ period when some atheists demanded a commitment to social justice to be considered a “true atheist.” These atheists wanted humanistic values attached to the definition of what it means to be an atheist. I took the position then and still do today, that atheism is one thing and one thing only: the lack of belief in the existence of God. From there, atheists believe all sorts of things. The proponents of Atheism+ wanted a broader confession of “faith” than a simple confession that “Jesus” is Lord. Again, I saw fundamentalism.

    Atheism+ caused a split of sorts, with proponents taking an “either you are with us or you are against us” approach. I ended up in the “against us” group, not because I disagreed with the call of Atheism+ to humanist ideals, but because of its attempt to redefine atheism. That some of the main proponents of Atheism+ acted like fire-breathing Independent Baptist preachers was troubling, but not surprising.

    I eventually concluded that fundamentalism was an incurable disease that infects every aspect of the human experience, including atheism. All of us can be fundamentalists, including rational, skeptical freethinkers.

    In recent days I’ve noticed another smoldering atheist fire fixing to erupt, stirred by a few atheists demanding “accountability” for a man known as an ally and asset of the atheist community, even though he not an atheist himself.

    Dr. Dan McClellan is a Bible scholar. Countless atheists have been educated and helped by Dan’s TikTok and YouTube videos. Even though I have a Bible college education and was a pastor for twenty-five years, I still find Dan’s videos instructive (and entertaining).

    According to several notable atheist content creators, Dan should not be supported by atheists. OMG! what did Dr. McClellan do? Are you ready? Dan’s “sin” is his membership in the Mormon church — a secret Dan has not kept from anyone willing to ask or do a bit of digging.

    Dan focuses solely on Bible scholarship. His Mormon beliefs play no part in his interpretations of the Bible. I have watched hundreds of Dan’s videos. I’ve yet to see him stray from consensus-based scholarship. And when Dan, on occasion, veers off into minority views, he lets you know. Best I can tell, Dan has done a superb job of compartmentalizing his Mormon faith. While Dan has never explained the breadth and depth of his faith, his political beliefs suggest he is a progressive. He has more than a few beliefs that set him at odds with the conservative pronouncements of Mormon leaders.

    It is the conservative bent of the Mormon church and Dan’s membership in that church that has riled up the newest atheist fundamentalists in our midst. These preachers of atheist purity cannot abideDr. McClellan being a go-to source for atheists. For God’s sake, he’s a tithing Mormon!

    I have no doubt another fracture is on the horizon, all over a Bible scholar who just so happens to be a Mormon. It is fundamentalists who demand associational purity. That will be the case here. There will be blog posts written and videos created defending or condemning McClellan, the heretic. All this will accomplish is further disunion in a time when unity is needed.

    There may come a day when Dan is no longer a Mormon. Honestly, I’m surprised Dan has not been excommunicated (I originally typed “executed) by the church. He has certainly said things that must irritate the heaven out of starched white shirt Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City. If that ever happens and Dan looks for a new place to hang his metaphorical hat, what will his experiences say to him about how individuals in the atheist community treated him?

    We atheists, if we care about the future of atheism, know it’s important to put the best face possible on atheism before the world. Fundamentalist thinking and practice only retards progress. We are not so strong as a movement that we can afford to kill off our allies just because their beliefs are different from ours. Dan is an ally, and I’m going to treat him as such, regardless of our differences.

  • The Wax Box

    A wax box is a moisture-resistant corrugated cardboard container coated with wax.

    Almost seventy years ago, I was born into a closed wax box; one bounded by biology, geography, race, education, religion, and economics.

    The box kept me safe from the outside elements; safe from what preachers called “the world.”

    Over time, constant exposure to the sun and the elements degraded the wax coating on the box.

    One day, as the storms of “the world” raged outside, the top of the box began to leak; an imperceptible drip.

    In came “the world . . . .”

    Over time, the drip became water running down the inside of the box.

    Imperceptibly, the water degraded the structure and strength of the box, making it increasingly unstable.

    Other box inhabitants: parents, grandparents, preachers, and youth leaders — assured me everything was fine. I knew it wasn’t. I could see the water running down the sagging cardboard wall.

    One day, curiosity got the best of me. Making sure no one was looking, I walked over to the wet cardboard wall covered with signs warning the wall was structurally unsafe. Ignoring the warnings, I walked up to the wall to give it a close-up inspection.

    Interesting.

    Hmm . . .

    I wonder.

    Should I?

    In a snap of the synapse, I decided . . . well, I chose . . . dammit . . . okay, the sum of my human experience led me to see if I could put my finger through the wet, decaying box.

    Quickly and easily my finger went through the box wall, letting in bright light and faint, never-experienced smells.

    Thanks to the light coming through the finger hole, I was able to see, for the first time, that the wall was so degraded, I could easily push through the wall if I but dared to do so.

    I spent days contemplating what I had within in box and what I could lose if I left. Years later, I realized I underestimated both.

    Eventually, curiosity drew me back to the wet, sagging wall.

    In front of the wall now stood the preachers and authority figures quoting Bible verses, warning that leaving the box would bring discipline, judgment, physical harm, and death. Several preachers told me that if I dared to rebel and leave the box, I could never return.

    These warnings no longer seemed true to me. They sounded more like the words of desperate men afraid that their box cult would be exposed; that I would speak out of school about my fifty years in the box.

    I pushed the powerless men aside, and through the box wall I went, exposing myself to bright light and strange, wonderful, diverse smells.

    What is this new world that lies before me? Why was I never told about the life I could have outside of the box?

    Did the preachers lie? Did my parents lie? Did my Bible college professors lie? Intentionally or not, they lied. They hid the truth from me. They were far more interested in telling me what to believe than teaching me how to think. That which they told me was the “truth” was anything but.

    Today, I am twenty years removed from the day I pushed through the wet, sagging corrugated cardboard. I never returned. I couldn’t. There was nothing to go back to. I was banned from the now-collapsed box, and labeled as an apostate, false prophet, and a hater of the one, true box.

    I really was someone who no longer needed the box. I was free . . . Box inhabitants confidently told me that real freedom was only found in the box. I smiled and said, “I’ve come too far to look back now.”

  • Bruce, the Teenage Bible Thumper

    bruce gerencser 1971
    Bruce Gerencser, Ninth Grade, 1971

    I attended Central Junior High and Findlay High School, both in Findlay, Ohio from 1970-1974, with brief excursions away from FHS in the spring of my sophomore year (Rincon High School, Tucson, Arizona) and the fall of my junior year (Riverdale High School, Mt. Blanchard, Ohio). All told, I attended Findlay city schools for three and one-half years — my longest enrollment in any school district.

    After attending Calvary Baptist Church for several months, our family decided to attend Trinity Baptist Church, then located on Trenton Ave. Trinity was a fast-growing Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastored by Gene Milioni, a graduate of the inaugural class (1953) of Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. Ron Johnson served as the church’s assistant pastor, and Bruce Turner — who came on board several months after we started attending Trinity — was its youth pastor. (Please see Dear Bruce Turner.)

    As I reflect on the years I spent at FHS and Trinity Baptist, I see two Bruce Gerencsers, with a born-again experience separating the two. Before I became a Christian, I was an ornery, temperamental teen. While I attended church every time the doors were opened, my behavior, language, and dress reflected a young man who didn’t know the IFB Jesus. It was not uncommon for me to wear a white tee-shirt, frayed Levis, and combat boots to midweek prayer meeting — definitely not IFB approved dress. I wasn’t afraid of using expletives when with my church friends. One time, while attending a youth hayride at the home of Bob and Bonnie Bolander, Bob hollered at me for horsing around. I replied, fuck off. Needless to say, that didn’t go over well. I loved having fun and playing practical jokes, irritating those who expected better behavior from church teens. One Saturday, I was helping paint the walls in the church annex. Pastor Milioni stopped by to “admire” my work, I mean criticize my painting. I stood up, threw my roller in the paint pan, and told Milioni that he could do it himself if he didn’t like my painting. From these incidences and others, my pastors and other church adults concluded that I was an angry, temperamental teenager. It was evident, to them, that I needed Jesus.

    In the spring of 1972, after fourteen years of marriage, my parents divorced. Several months later, my mother married her first cousin, a recent parolee from the Texas prison system, and my father married a nineteen-year-old girl with a baby. My parent’s divorce and remarriages upended my life. Making matters worse, Pastor Milioni performed the wedding ceremony for my father and his teenage bride. Both of my parents, along with my two siblings, stopped attending church. I, however, continued to attend church every time the doors were open. Trinity provided me a stable family of sorts. Most of my friends attended the church.

    In June of 1972, I celebrated my fifteenth birthday. In September of ’72, I had a life-changing experience. Evangelist Al Lacy held a meeting that fall at Trinity. I attended every night of the week-long revival. One night, as I sat in one of the left side pews with my friends, I came under conviction. At that moment, I knew I was a sinner, and I knew I needed to be saved. So when the time came for the invitation, I stepped out of my pew and went forward. I was met at the church altar by Ray Salisbury, one of the church’s deacons. I told Ray why I had come forward. He led me through what is commonly called in IFB churches the Romans Road, and then I prayed the sinner’s prayer, asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my heart to save me. At that very moment, I was a changed man. The next Sunday, I was baptized, and several weeks later, I stood before the church and declared that I believed God was calling me to preach. It was not long after that I preached my first sermon.

    The changes in my life BC (Before Christ) and AC (After Christ) were instantaneous and dramatic. I started reading my Bible and praying every day. I started dressing up for church, and I no longer used swear words. Every aspect of my life was transformed. I was an on-fire, born-again Christian.

    I want to illustrate this transformation with several stories. As you shall see, “Jesus” had transformed my life.

    I started carrying my Bible to school every day. I also tried to evangelize my classmates, inviting them to attend church with me. Overnight, I became an insufferable Fundamentalist. I remember writing a paper for one of my classes about Baptists being the true church. I got an A on the paper. My teacher wrote the word “interesting” at the top of my paper and underlined it. I suspect she defined “interesting” differently from the way I did. I would give the correct answers on tests in my biology class and then write the “Biblical” answers below. I do not doubt that I irritated the hell out of my teacher.

    I took seriously the interpretations of the Bible preached by my pastors. I was all in. Wanting to be morally pure, I made a list of dating rules for myself. My goal was to remain a virgin until my wedding day. My dad found my dating rules on top of the refrigerator, read them, and then laughed at me. Sure, my rules were funny (and delusional) but him laughing at me only caused me to hate him more.

    I loved listening to preaching. In the fall of 1972 or 1973, Trinity hosted the monthly meeting of the Ohio Baptist Bible Fellowship. I skipped school that day so I could hear the big-name IFB preachers preach. I was enamored by these men of God, thinking I would one day be just like them.

    I also learned at this meeting that preachers could be hypocrites. After one of the preaching sessions, I was standing outside with Pastor Turner and several other preachers. I hung on every word these pastors said. I looked up to them. One of these preachers told a joke about lust. He told us that lust was looking at a woman, turning away, and turning back to look again. And then he said, “just make sure your first look is a long one!” Everyone laughed, but as a devout, committed IFB Christian, I was troubled by his “joke.” For the first time, I learned that what preachers said from the pulpit they didn’t necessarily believe. I knew that I didn’t want to be like that pastor.

    Bruce, the teenage Bible thumper went on to become Bruce, the IFB college student, and Bruce, the pastor. I preached my first sermon at Trinity in the fall of 1972. Thirty-three years and 4,000+ sermons later, I preached my last sermon (at Hedgesville Baptist Church in Hedgesville, West Virginia).

  • The Horrors of the Evangelical Hell

    hell

    Most Evangelicals believe in a literal Heaven and Hell. The Bible says that it is “appointed unto men once to die.” All of us will die someday, Evangelicals say, and the moment we draw our last breath, we will be transported by God to Heaven or Hell. Where we end up depends on whether we were born again/saved. Those who were saved when they died go to Heaven, and those who weren’t — atheists, agnostics, pagans, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Catholics (to name a few) — go to Hell.

    Hell (actually the Lake of Fire) is a place where unbelievers will be punished and tortured for their sins for eternity. Some Evangelicals suggest that the only sin people will be punished for in Hell is the sin of unbelief; as if this is somehow better than being punished for adultery, fornication, or being LGBTQ. The life expectancy for humans is 70-80 years in most of the developed world. If Evangelicals are right about Hell, this means that a momentary decision made by unbelievers to not believe the Evangelical gospel will be punished for millions, billions, and trillions of years. Think about that for a moment. Just saying no to Jesus means you will be tortured by God of “love” forever. How you lived your life matters not. What good works you did matters not. You may have been an awesome mother, father, grandparent, or friend. It matters not. You may have devoted your life to serving the sick, poor, and marginalized. It matters not. If you didn’t believe the right things (and Evangelicalism preaches a gospel of right beliefs) you will spend eternity suffering in the flames of Hell. (And yes, I am aware that a small percentage of Evangelicals are annihilationists. But even with annihilation, unbelievers are still tortured by God for a time before they are obliterated.)

    Worse yet, the natural body can’t withstand the extreme fire and heat of Hell. Those consigned to Hell would immediately melt and be turned to ashes without God doing something to keep that from happening. The Bible teaches that Heaven and Hell are actually temporary holding places. After Jesus returns to earth and defeats Satan, every human will be resurrected from the dead, judged, and then given a new body. Christians will spend eternity in the Eternal Kingdom of God. Unbelievers will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. (I speak generally. I am well aware of the various Evangelical beliefs on these subjects.) By fitting unbelievers with bodies that can withstand the terrors of Hell, they won’t be turned to ashes. Isn’t God awesome?

    There’s no evidence for the existence of Hell (or Heaven). Ask an Evangelical to point you to where Hell is and they will point down. What? Hell is Australia? I guess Hell could be Antarctica, though its climate seems very un-hell like. All joking aside, most Evangelicals believe Hell is somewhere in the center of the earth. According to Wikipedia, the core of the earth is approximately 1,500 miles in diameter, one-fortieth of the volume of the whole earth. Today, almost eight billion people live on earth. Scientists estimate almost 110 billion people have lived and died on our planet. Evangelicals believe that the vast majority of people past and present will end up in Hell after they die. Evangelicalism is an exclusive club. Few people are actually members. Thus, we can safely say that Hell has a population in excess of 100 billion people. Imagine 100 billion people living in a space the size of the United States. Donald Trump might want to go to Hell and build high rises to accommodate all the non-Evangelicals.

    The very idea of Hell is absurd. Yet, a majority of Americans believe in its existence. According to a 2014 Pew Research study, sixty percent of American adults believe in the existence of Hell. Eighty-two percent of Evangelicals believe Hell is a real place. The literalness of Hell is deeply engrained in our thinking. Even among Evangelicals-turned-atheists, Hell often lurks in the depths of our minds. How could it be otherwise? Years of indoctrination, of being told Hell is a real place and unbelievers will spend eternity being tortured by God, will do that to you. I have received numerous emails over the years from ex-Evangelicals who are still struggling with thoughts about Hell. It is hard to shake the sermons and Sunday school lessons about Hell. When people are told a lie repeatedly, it should come as no surprise that they believe it. Undoing the psychological conditioning often takes years.

    Hell is a cudgel used by Evangelical preachers to keeps asses in the pews and money in offering plates. If threats of Hell are removed, would Evangelicals still attend church, give money, or evangelize unbelievers? Heaven is the carrot, but Hell is the stick. If there is no fear of Hell (or God), would people still devote themselves to the one true faith? Maybe, for social reasons, but if there are no worries about going to Hell, I suspect people would likely treat their chosen religion more cavalierly than they do now (more like they do in some European countries).

    Several years ago, my friend ObstacleChick had an interaction on my Facebook page with an Evangelical man named John. I doubt that’s his real name. John sent OC a private message, one that can only be described as a Hell-inspired death threat.

    Here’s a screenshot of John’s message:

    message to obstaclechick

    OC is a former Evangelical, a Southern Baptist. She attended a Christian school. OC was deeply immersed in Evangelicalism before she deconverted. I suspect what upset OC the most was this asshole calling her Missy. 🙂 OC tried to respond to John’s threat, but, of course, he blocked her so she couldn’t do so (and I blocked him on my page). I hate it when my friends face retribution from Evangelical Christians because they comment on my Facebook page or this blog.

    John believes in the existence of Hell. His words reveal that he has been deeply indoctrinated, and that he thinks it normal and acceptable to threaten unbelievers with death and Hell. Perhaps John even thinks he is doing this out of “love.” Isn’t this exactly what the Evangelical preachers do? They preach up the love of God and the awesomeness of Jesus. Yet, they also warn unbelievers that if they refuse God’s offer of salvation through the merit and work of Jesus, judgment and Hell await.

    The good news is that there is no Hell. I have seen no evidence for its existence. While thoughts of Hell may infrequently plague my mind, I know they are vestiges of five decades of psychological indoctrination. The longer I am removed from Evangelicalism, the fewer thoughts I have about Hell. Lifelong indoctrination doesn’t disappear just because you stop believing. It takes time to free one’s mind of years and decades of harmful beliefs. If you are struggling with thoughts about Hell, all I can tell you is that it gets better with time. Remember, life is a journey, not a destination. There’s no life after death, so all we have is the life before us.

    Update

    After I posted this article, I received the following email from an Evangelical man who calls himself Rev. James Makerfield:

    I hope this email reaches you well.I hope it reaches MANY in fact!
    From the “Zealots”. Or Evangelical “assholes”.  As you put it.    

    Number ONE we love you all very much. Mr Bruce you are Loved very much!
    The GREATEST HATE is to NOT bring the gospel to the lost! and we all need the gospel! Believers and unbelievers. 

    Hell is REAL place!

    It is NOT A THREAT!It’s not a fairytale!It’s not a scare tactic! 

    It is REAL!   I’d suggest googling “atheists who went to hell”.  If you want proof outside of the Bible.

    What I am going describe now is the portrait of the eternal future of EVERYONE who dies without Jesus Christ. 😭

    This includes all people who trusted in “RELIGION” (man’s attempt to make himself right with God)

    All who tries to earn salvation through good works and morality. 

    And all who fell into the trap that not even the demons fell into! ATHEISM and ANTI-THEISM/ANTI-CHRISTIANITY ( which is what a high percentage of atheists really are they’re really Anti-Christians. 

    As the Unbeliever takes his or her last breath in this life they will take their first breath in eternity pulled from their body and taken and placed in a deep hot dark pit!

    Deafening screams will be on all sides all around them!  The place will stink God awful! 🤢🤮

    Take rotten eggs, sulphur, human crap/sewage and a landfill and it won’t hold a candle to the stink of hell and burning souls! 😢

    Their body will ignite in flames! You will scream “AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”  “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

    😭😭😭😭😭😭

    You will feel pain that cannot be described in any human language!
    You will feel the reality of Revelation 20:15!“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” Revelation 20:15

    You will scream “OH GOD!!!!! YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE LOVE!!!!”
    Then you will remember John 3:16“For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16

    You will remember Romans 5:8“But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us “ Romans 5:8

    You will cry “AHHHHH!!!!! THIS CANT BE HAPPENING!!!! WHY WASN’T I WARNED!?!?!?”

    Then you will remember every person who tried to witness to you.
    You will remember every sermon you ever heard and/or preached but NEVER TRULY believed!

    You will remember finding a tract in a bathroom and throwing in the trash or on the ground.

    You will remember every person on Facebook and the internet blog,every email, every call every Avenue that Christ used to desperately get you to accept his grace and mercy. 

    Now it will be too late!

    Furthermore as the rich man pleaded in Luke 16:19-31. 

    You will have an indescribable thirst like you have never had before!  UNO ONE DROP OF WATER would be precious but you and everyone else who died in sin will NEVER get it! 😭

    You will have a desire for unsaved family and other people trapped in unbelief to come to salvation through Jesus Christ.    

    Just as the first rich man did for his 5 unsaved brothers. 

    You will pray for God to send someone to tell them the gospel!

    You will curse the day you were born!You will curse the moment you were conceived!You will wish you would’ve been squirted on the mattress!

    This pain and agony will last for all ETERNITY!

    What’s 20 years in eternity!? Less time it takes to blow a breath of air!

    If a person lives to be 110 that’s less than a 1/2 in eternity!

    900 million years will be less than 1/2 second in eternity!

    Think about the prisons on earth even in a earthly human prison there is hope that you can can get out! No one will ever get released from hell!

    And imagine being in a prison with every murderer, child rapist,vile of the vile!
    In hell you will scream right beside Satan and the Anti-Christ and the false Prophet and thousands of demons for all eternity!

    There will be no contact with anyone! Hell will be full of millions that rejected Jesus Christ and each soul will be in complete isolation!

    There will be NO REST! Not even a quiet moment!

    And yet the LOST world says that we (TRUE GENUINE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST!) “HATE” people when we warn them of this COMING REALITY! Pfft!

    Jesus Christ loves YOU and he does NOT want you or anyone else to perish in hell. 

    What if this email is your last warning?What if you don’t wake up tomorrow?
    I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you and anyone else reading to listen to the Holy Spirits call. 

    It sure sounds like John and James are the same person or identical twins. And now after years of comments from a certain degenerate Christian, I now believe Revival Fires is behind the John and James personas.

  • Ohio U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno is Writing a Bill to Fund $5,000 Voting Bribery Scheme

    Warning: MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump are thoroughly filleted, roasted, and fed to feral cats in this post. If your fascist fee-fees are easily hurt, do NOT read this post. If you are a feral cat, I apologize for grouping you together with such miscreants.

    You’ve been warned!😜 If you ignore my “sincere” warning, and read this anyway, Preparation H will be provided for hemorrhoid irritation and inflammation at the end of the post. 😜

    Last week, diehard MAGA fans and fearful legislators gathered in Dallas, Texas for two days of masturbatory worship of their King, Lord, and Savior Donald Trump. Truly, the sick display of fealty and devotion to Trump had all the markings of a fundamentalist religious cult, complete with Senator Tim Scott acting as if he were demon possessed.

    Trump, of course, was vintage huckster, delivering speeches filled with lies, deceit, half-truths, distortions, mockeries, and wild promises he can’t possibly deliver.

    Trump, thinking money can buy anything — and to-date he’s right — delivered the promises of promises: a $5,000 check to very American adult. Of course, Trump could fulfill this $1.3 trillion budget buster today, with a little help from his co-conspirators in crime, Congressional Republicans. And more than likely, a few Democrats afraid of voters turning turning on them if they don’t get their part of the largest socialist transfer of wealth in U.S. history, will support Trump’s promise too.

    Is this illegal? Trump put a condition on the promise: taxpayers must vote in Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. In other words, Trump wants to use tax money to bribe voters to vote for Republicans in November. Bribing voters is still illegal, right? Well, it was until the faux golden age of Trumpism. According to some experts, since Trump is giving “Trump Dividends” to all adults, it is technically not a bribe. Ah yes, “technically.” Who better exploits technicalities like the man who wrote “The Art of the Steal.”

    Now that oligarchs and robber barons control every branch of government, there are no norms, decency, or morality. All that matters is the 1,000 year reign of MAGA. Well, that and making lots and lots of money off the bowed backs of the American people.

    Enter Ohio U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, a man whose brown nose is never far from his master’s ass. The toddler-in-chief is screaming for a lollipop, and Moreno, wanting to get a big gold star beside his name, promised to write a bill funding Trump’s bribery scheme. If Ohioans had any doubt, Moreno has the morals of, well, Donald Trump. I was going to say alley cat, but I didn’t want to besmirch the good name of alley cats everywhere.

    News 5 Cleveland reports:

    Ohio U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno is drafting legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s new promise: $5,000 to every adult citizen if the Republicans maintain their majority in the midterms.

    Trump acknowledged in his speech at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday that this year’s elections are competitive. He offered an unprecedented incentive to vote.

    “If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success… I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said.

    This money would have stipulations, the president added, saying it could only be spent in the United States.

    Michael McGovern, president of progressive organization Innovation Ohio, said it’s another empty promise.

    “This is the same party that has cracked down on people’s ability to give out water or pizza to people waiting in line to vote, now is throwing around $5000 but ‘only if you vote for us?’” McGovern said. “I don’t know if that passes the smell test, and really reeks of desperation.”

    The president did not give details on how he would provide $5,000 to all 270 million adults, costing more than a trillion dollars.

    “Is it possible? The short answer is no, unless Congress were to appropriate the money,” retired Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Entin said.

    Moreno, Ohio’s senior senator who attended the speech on Wednesday, was the first to offer help.

    “I will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the November 3rd election … because Republicans (and America) will win!” Moreno said in a post on X.

    It’s illegal to buy votes, but the payouts wouldn’t just go to Republicans, Entin said.

    “It says, ‘I will pay every American however they voted,’” he explained.

    And even if it feels like a bribe?

    “Who is going to prosecute him?” Entin asked. “Even former presidents have very broad immunity from criminal prosecution in connection with their official actions.”

    And where is Ohio’s other feckless senator Jon Husted in all of this? According to news reports, he is thinking about it, and wants to learn “more.” More, my ass. Much like his fellow Republican, Moreno, Husted lacks any capability to act independently of the Orange Wizard.

    I have no doubt Moreno and Husted agree with Trump when he says the $5,000 payments will be issued because of our “tremendous economic success.” Trump wants people to believe that his tariffs and the record investments of business have brought about $21 trillion of economic growth. This, of course, is a bald-faced lie. Much like Trump saying he is paying for his big, beautiful $600 million ballroom, there’s no truth in the president’s promise. If Moreno’s bill passes both houses after the election, the authorized payments will increase the federal budget deficit by $1.3 trillion dollars. If passed, this bill will increase Trump’s national debt total to almost $15 trillion during his six years in office. Think about that for a moment: $15 trillion in six short years; over one-third of the total national debt.

    What happened to Republicans being the party of fiscal responsibility? You’re kidding, right? They have NEVER been the party of monetary responsibility; not since Ronald Reagan and the trickle-down economics lie told to Americans forty-five years ago.

    There are three planks— one plank each for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost they feign to worship — in the Republican platform: criminalizing abortion, giving massive tax cuts to the rich, and giving the MAGA king whatever he wants.

    So what do we do? The only thing we can do is vote. Seems simple, but half of eligible voters rarely, if ever, vote. We need these voters, along with disaffected Republicans, to vote Democratic in November. I don’t care who is on the ticket, I will vote only for Democrats this year. I don’t like my choices this year: Sherrod Brown and Marcy Kaptur, but I’d vote for a Democratic zombie extra from The Walking Dead before I’d vote for a Republican.

    Every two years the various political parties scream “the sky is falling,” but this election season the warning is warranted. If Democrats can’t win majorities in Congress, nothing will stand in the way of the Trumpist overthrow of our republic. What about the senate filibuster, Bruce? You’re kidding, right? Are you really this stupid? If Republicans win in November, they will use the reconciliation process to give Trump most of what he wants. The rest? I predict they will abolish the filibuster in one, simple majority stab in the heart of American democracy.

    Our future really comes down to your vote. Will you do what’s best for our country? I hope so.

    And for Republicans who read this post, I lied about the Preparation H, just like Trump did about $5,000 Oprah-like checks. You deserve all the ass pain you get if you vote for Republican candidates in November. Your ass deserves better — Vote Democrat!

  • Have You Ever Wanted to Cut Off Your Legs? I Have and I Still Want To

    You know it’s a bad day pain-wise when you find yourself doing a Google search on “Does removing legs make severe axonal neuropathic pain go away?”

    Google reminded me that doing so will not necessarily stop the pain. I could end up with phantom pain worse than before.

    I just want the pain to stop. Is that too much to ask?

    Duh, of course it is.

    We often think doctors are miracle workers, but when it comes to severe nerve pain, medical professionals have very few treatments in their bag of tricks: Gabapentin, pain meds, injections, ablations, hot/cold packs, and implanted nerve stimulator.

    Rarely are these treatments permanent; and that is if you can get insurance to pay for it.

    Unfortunately, as chronic nerve pain patients will tell you, this sort of pain rarely goes away, regardless of the treatment.

    Personally, I’m grateful for whatever relief I can find, but some days I wonder . . . and when I “wonder” it can lead to interesting Google searches.

    I still have both legs. All I want is for the pain to stop. Until that happens, I have no other option but to bite hard on the stick of modern medicine, hoping for a bit of relief.

  • Short Stories: Me and My Bike

    I spent most of my youth living in the country. Unlike parents of today, my mom and dad rarely took me anywhere by car except to church. If I wanted to get somewhere, I either had to walk or ride my bike.

    I never owned a new bike until I bought one as a sixteen-year-old — a ten-speed bike. Before that, I rode used bikes, often castaways that needed repairs. For whatever reason, my siblings fared better on the new bike front. I remember how envious I was when my younger brother got a brand-new Schwinn bike with a three-speed shifter, complete with a banana seat and sissy bar.

    I rode my bike everywhere: school, work, ball practice, roller skating, fishing, to the park, to the swimming pool, and any place else I wanted to go. My parents rarely asked where I was headed, and I didn’t bother to tell them. On my bike I was free; free from my mom’s manic behavior and my dad’s indifference. By the time I was fourteen, I was on my own, just me and my bike. With a bike you can go anywhere, so I did.

    I’ve often wondered if adults in the day felt sorry for that Gerencser boy who rides his bike everywhere, spring, summer, winter, and fall. I do remember being offered car rides by one of my coaches to away baseball games. I added little to the team, so I always appreciated the rides.

    As a fourteen-year-old boy, I rode bikes with my friends all over town. One night, around 1:00 am, we rode our bikes downtown. The weather was hot and sticky, a typical summer night in northwest Ohio. We came upon a bar that had its door propped open. None of us had ever been to a bar, so we were curious. Boy, did we get more than we bargained for. Standing on table in the dimly lit bar was a scantily clad dancer, gyrating away for late night patrons. After a few minutes of gorging our eyes with wondrous sights, the bar owner ran us off.

    Good times. . .

    I have lots and lots of bike stories I could tell, but I want to hear yours. How instrumental was a bicycle to your upbringing? Please share your stories in the comment section.

  • Short Stories: Midwestern Baptist College — The 1978 Yearbook Incident

    midwestern baptist college freshman 1976
    1976-1977 Midwestern Baptist College freshman class. Polly is in the first row, the first person on the left. Bruce is in the third row, the eighth person from the left.

    From 1976-79, my wife and I attended Midwestern Baptist College (IFB) in Pontiac, Michigan. Midwestern, an unaccredited Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution, was established in 1954 by the famous IFB pulpiteer Dr. Tom Malone. More than sixty years later, the college campus has been sold and commercially redeveloped, Tom Malone is dead, and the church he once pastored, Emmanuel Baptist Church, is shuttered, with weeds growing around the buildings and through the cracks in the parking lots.

    In the spring of our sophomore year, Malone gathered the student body in the chapel so he could “talk” to them. Students were told to bring the recently released 1978 yearbook with them. As the students settled into their seats, Malone stood up and came to the pulpit. It was clear that he was quite upset about something. We quickly learned that Malone was livid about three of the yearbook pictures. Mike Veach, currently the pastor of First Bible Church, a Fundamentalist church in Staten Island, New York, shot the photographs. Mike was (is) an excellent photographer. A few months after what students would later call “The Yearbook Incident,” Polly and I went to nearby Cranbrook Gardens so Mike could take pictures of us. We still have these pictures, reminders of the youngsters we once were some fifty years ago.

    What was so offensive about these photographs that a noted IFB pastor and college chancellor would deem it necessary to talk to the entire student body about them? See for yourself.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number one was taken during Founder’s Day. Always held on the Friday after Thanksgiving (students were not allowed to go home for Thanksgiving), Founder’s Day was a day set aside for showing off the college to prospective Fundamentalist high school students. Part of the day’s events included a singing talent show. This picture is of a group from a nearby IFB church.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number two is a picture of Julian Lyons, Emmanuel Baptist Church’s bus pastor. Lyons and I did not get along. He considered me a slacker because I didn’t want to work in the bus ministry after my freshman year. (All students were required to work in the bus ministry their freshman year.) I considered Lyons a racist because he stopped running the buses in Detroit. (The overwhelming majority of the kids from Detroit were poor and black.) One day, as I was exiting the school building, he and I ran into each other and had words, each telling the other what we thought about them. We never spoke again. I was surprised that I did not get expelled from school for what was surely viewed as insubordination.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number three was shot during one of the chapel services. Pay close attention to the student in the middle of the picture.

    I am sure you are scratching your head right now, trying to figure out what is wrong with these pictures. Can’t you see it? Look closely. Put on your IFB alternate reality glasses®. Still nothing?

    In the first picture, the boys (not Midwestern students) have long hair, and in the second picture, it looks like Lyons’ hair is over his collar. Midwestern had/has a strict policy against men having long hair. Male students were required to keep their hair short, with the college even going so far as to legislate that the back of men’s hair had to be tapered and not block cut. Hair on the collar, ears, or long bangs were forbidden. Men caught breaking the hair rule received demerits and were ordered to get a haircut immediately.

    And the third photograph? The student “looks” like he has bushy, long hair on the back of his head. What he really had was the student’s hair in front of him, that student being my future wife, Polly. As photographers know, perspective and angles can do strange things to photographs. Sadly, Malone was only concerned with the “appearance of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22).

    Malone was furious over these photos, so much so that he took one of the yearbooks and tore it in two right in front of the student body. What a man, right? Hercules, himself. He then ordered the yearbooks collected. They were later returned, but not before the offending photographs had been marked-out with black, permanent ink felt markers.

    So why do I have an unaltered copy of the yearbook? I refused to turn my yearbook in to prison authorities. Even then, as Fundamentalist as I was, I knew that Malone was acting like a crazed wild man over these photographs. It made no sense to me to mar the yearbook that I paid for just because three of the pictures showed men “allegedly” with long hair. If Malone was serious about giving “sins” the black permanent marker of death, why not mark out:

    • The photographs of the man who was having an affair with the wife of the dean of men
    • The photographs of the gay teacher who lived in the dorm
    • The photographs of dorm students who committed fornication

    These “sins” were well known by students, yet they were pushed into the deep recesses of the Midwestern closet. Instead, very ‘70s-looking hair became the target of Malone’s “righteous” indignation and wrath.

    I know this story sounds bat-shit crazy to some readers, but this is an excellent example of the Fundamentalism I was raised in and a part of for many years. To this day, there are IFB pastors and churches who preach against the “sin of men having long hair.” A man with long hair is considered rebellious and effeminate. If you have not read my post, Is it a Sin to Have Long Hair? please do so. I think it will help you understand the kind of thinking that goes into someone concluding that men having long hair is a mortal sin, one worthy of anger and rage from Tom Malone.