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The Sounds of Fundamentalism: Mama’s Teaching Angels How to Sing by The Isaacs

isaacs

This is the one hundred and forty-seventh installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section.  Let’s have some fun!

Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of The Isaacs singing Mama’s Teaching Angels How to Sing. Based on my understanding of orthodox Christianity, the lyrics of this song are patently heretical and untrue. Not that such things have ever stopped Christian artists from writing cutesy lyrics or singing sappy songs.

Video Link

Lyrics

There’s a voice now missing in our little country choir
Rock of Ages will never sound the same
God heard her singing heaven was not complete
Now Mama’s teaching angels how to sing

Mama’s teaching angels how to sing
Heaven’s halls are silent when Mama sings
David lays down his harp and heaven’s bells won’t ring
When Mama’s teaching angels how to sing

The old home it’s now empty it’s lonesome since she’s gone
And it’s hard to know she won’t return again
But I’ll meet her in that morning on heaven’s golden hills
Where Mama’s teaching angels how to sing

Repeat

When Mama’s teaching angels how to sing

Pray for Bruce Gerencser and the Salvation of His Hell Bound Soul

heaven and hell
Heaven and Hell

Warning! Lots of snark ahead! You’ve been warned!

Several years ago, I posted an excerpt from the Spiritual Minefield website. My post was titled Christians Say the Darnedest Things: How to Shield Yourself From Porn and Sexual Excitement.  The author of the excerpt, Alex Ruiz, decided to respond to my posting of the excerpt by writing a post titled, Why Do Atheists Seem To Have The Urge To Always Attack God’s Word?  Here’s what he had to say:

Today I got pingback from an atheist who takes pleasure in maligning believers in Jesus Christ. Here is a quick bio of Bruce which he put public.

Copy and paste from his site

Bruce Gerencser, 59

Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for 25 years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005 and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

The question that enters my mind is why do atheists hate Jesus so much as to go out of their way to attack Him and try to desperately prove that He is false? I think that the answer is because deep down in their spirit/heart they know that the Word of God is true and judgment will come to them but they want to feel better about their sin and rejection of Christ so by trying to disprove Christianity, they are trying to convince themselves, listen closely, “they are trying” to convince themselves of their own lie which Satan has whispered into their ears so that they can’t get saved. When a person is not in any perceivable danger, they won’t call for help and Satan is successful at convincing these atheists that they are not in danger.

The evidence that God exists is so overwhelming that the only way to go against pure evidence is by reprogramming their thoughts to completely bypass logic and reason.

Bruce Gerencser is a sad case of what an apostate is and the reality is that those who are not grounded in the faith will get hit hard by the devil who’s [sic] eyes are constantly on the believers. Saying that, I believe according to 1 John 2:19 that Bruce was never saved but was close and those without the Holy Spirit cannot stand against the pounding of the wind and waves of the enemy according to Matthew 7:26-27 which says, “26 And every one who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great.”

Why have I mentioned this atheist by name? It is because I want all Christians to bring Bruce Gerencser’s name before the Lord for his salvation because the hell that’s waiting for him and all those who believe Satan’s lie is truly and unfathomably horrific.

Where oh where do I begin?

First, I don’t hate Jesus. Hating the DEAD Jesus would be a colossal waste of time. What I do hate is the Fundamentalist ideology advanced by this author and others of his ilk. (Please see Why I Hate Jesus) Do I hate individual Evangelicals for doing so? I’m tempted to do so, but I am not the type of person who hates people. I focus my hatred on beliefs, not believers. To use the Evangelical mantra: hate the sin, not the sinner, I hate the belief, not the believer.

Second, I don’t hate the Word of God — the Bible. I do, however, hate what is done using Biblical justification. The author appeals to the Bible to justify his judgments of my past and present life. Doing so allows him to escape responsibility for his behavior. I’m just quoting what G-O-D says! Don’t like it, take it up with Him! I would take it up with the Big Kahuna, but he is nowhere to be found. Last I heard, he was on vacation. Since God is AWOL, all I am left with is Evangelicals quoting verses from a book that is very much of human origin. The only reason I bother with such people is that they believe that the Bible is some sort of supernatural book given to them by a supernatural God and that its words must be explicitly obeyed. Again, look at what’s happening in Washington D.C. with the Supreme Court and Congress. In fox-in-the-hen-house fashion, the theocrats have breached the fence and now the future of our democracy is being threatened. The only way I know to combat such ignorance is to wage war against the notion that the Bible is in any way a divinely written book; that its words are in any way applicable to today. As long as Evangelicals continue to demand fealty to their God and the Bible, they can expect me and other outspoken atheists to marginalize, denigrate, and intellectually destroy the Bible. Until Evangelicals are freed from Bible Brain Rot®, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and progressive Christians must continue to lay an ax to the foundation of Fundamentalist Christianity.

Third, the clueless author shows he has little understanding of atheists — how they think and view the world. We don’t deep down believe or not believe anything. Can someone tell me where the hell is “deep down”? I’ve spent all day digging and I still can’t find it.  Atheists do not see any compelling evidence to warrant a belief in the existence of the Evangelical God. Suggesting that the Bible provides such evidence is laughable. (As well, suggesting that the natural world provides such overwhelming evidence that atheists are forced to deliberately ignore it is ludicrous.) Even Evangelicals don’t believe in the Bible God. Whenever I confront Evangelicals with the Bible God — actually a plurality of Bible Gods — they either try to distance themselves from said God or say that I am “misinterpreting” the Bible — misinterpreting, of course, meaning, having an interpretation different from theirs.

Fourth, the notion of “sin” is a religious construct. As an atheist, I don’t believe people are sinners, depraved, evil, or wicked. All of us have the power to do good or bad things. When I do something that hurts someone, I do my best to make things right. No need to pray to a fictitious God and ask for his forgiveness. The only person I need to talk to is the person I have harmed. The humanist system of forgiveness and restitution is much easier and more straightforward. No commands against porn or looking at women and admiring their beauty. No obsession over sex, fornication, or masturbation. Humans are sexual beings. Atheists and other non-Evangelicals are free to embrace their sexuality without fearing a voyeuristic God will judge them for loving the wrong person or using the wrong orifice for sex. Here’s hoping that the author of the post on Spiritual Minefield will one day embrace his sexuality and lustfully enjoy the pleasures that are at his disposal. Until then, let me remind him that what consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of his business. If Evangelicals want to practice “Biblical” sex, by all means do so. But, please let the rest of us masturbate and copulate in peace.

Fifth, I fear what the Republican Party might do far more than I do a nonexistent God. God has neither talked to me or laid a finger on me in almost sixty-five years. I have zero fear of him. I do, however, fear what people who believe God talks to them might do. I do fear that the Trumpist horde might usher in World War III. I fear what real flesh and blood people might do, not mythical Gods, be they Jesus, Allah, Jehovah, or any of the other Gods of human creation.

Sixth, atheists bypass logic and reason? Really? I have no words for this one. The author believes the earth is 6,026 years old; that God created the universe in six literal 24 hour days; that Adam and Eve are the father and mother of the human race; that God destroyed the world with a flood 4,000 years ago, killing every person save Noah and his family; that a Holy Ghost impregnated a virgin who gave birth to a baby who, as an adult, walked on water, healed the deaf, blind, and sick, walked through walls, made himself invisible, resurrected from the dead, and ascended into “heaven.” Anyone who believes this kind of nonsense is the one lacking logic and reason.

Seventh, I am quite happy to be an apostate, a worker of Satan, a deceiver of immature Christians. By all means, keep praying for me. Every unanswered prayer is a reminder that the heavens are devoid of Gods and that what really matters is how we make life on this planet better for all. Part of making life better is the driving of a stake through the heart of religious Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism — in all its forms — remains the biggest threat to human and planetary existence. The ascension of Trumpism and Qanon are poignant reminders that people of reason, science, and progress must continue to push back against those who desire to chain us to the Bible and its God. It’s the twenty-first century. It’s high time we remand God to the dustbin of human history; the depository of countless other failed mythical Gods and their “divine” texts. Until this happens, the Internet will be littered with ignorant posts about sex and every other human behavior deemed sinful by Fundamentalist Christians.

Now, get out there and do some sinning!

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

The Sounds of Fundamentalism: He’s a Personal Savior by Gaither Vocal Band

gaither vocal bandThis is the one hundred and forty-sixth installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section.  Let’s have some fun!

Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of the Gaither Vocal Band singing He’s a Personal Savior. This song is a perfect example of the narcissistic view many Evangelicals have of Jesus — a p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l, vending machine Savior.

Video Link

Lyrics

You’ve heard about a place called Heaven up in the blue
I’m glad that all my sins forgiven I’m telling you
I’d like to see you get this feeling you can receive
God’s ready now to give you this feeling if you believe
He’s a personal Savior, He’s mine I know I love Him so.
He did my soul a personal favor
That’s why I tell it out wherever I may go.
When I am blue and feeling oh so low down.
He’ll take me through old Satan can’t get me down.
And from the path I’ll never more waver.
For He’s a friend, He’s a friend, He’s a personal friend.

Don’t ever try to quench the Spirit when God’s around.
Some people seem to get so near it then turn Him down.
Judgment you’re gonna see the Savior that you’ve passed by.
Think how you’re gonna feel that morning when others cry.

He’s a personal Savior, He’s mine I know I love Him so.
He did my soul a personal favor
That’s why I tell it out wherever I may go.
When I am blue and feeling oh so low down.
He’ll take me through old Satan can’t get me down.
And from the path I’ll never more waver.
For He’s a friend, He’s a friend, He’s a personal friend.

The Sounds of Fundamentalism: God Intervened and Made Donald Trump President by Robert Jeffress

robert jeffress

This is the one hundred and forty-fifth installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section.  Let’s have some fun!

Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas Texas telling Marcus Lamb that God intervened in the 2016 Presidential Election and made Donald Trump President.

Video Link

Pastor O. Jermaine Simmons Flees Naked From Female Church Member’s Bed When Her Husband Comes Home Unexpectedly

o jermaine simmons
Perhaps Simmons should re-title his book, She Needs a Man and I’m Available

The Washington Post reports:

Pastor O. Jermaine Simmons stood before his congregation and asked for forgiveness. But he also tried to reconcile the man his parishioners had known for a decade with the adulterer being laughed at in church circles and the media.

Since he took over as pastor in 2005, more than 4,000 people had joined Jacob Chapel Baptist Church in Tallahassee. It had added 27 ministries, focusing efforts on the homeless in Florida’s capital and ministering to youth.

And Simmons had just released his first book, “I Need a Man,” a Bible-based paperback on modeling “Godly manhood.”

Then Simmons’s affair with another man’s wife went public in dramatic fashion: On Jan. 17, the 36-year-old pastor — a married father — found himself cowering naked behind a fence, hiding from a gun-toting husband who’d stumbled on the affair, police say.

“What I want from God, I have already received — that’s his forgiveness, ” Simmons told his congregation five days later.

….

According to a Tallahassee police report, officers were called to the Sienna Square Apartments by a woman who said her husband had a gun — and was looking for her lover.

The naked man behind the fence was Simmons, who was also her pastor, she told officers.

She wasn’t sure where her husband was.

But she knew he was angry — and armed.

The pastor had come over to the woman’s house to “talk over starting a business, patents and trademarks, and providing less fortunate kids with clothes and shoes,” she told officers, according to the police report.

Instead, they ended up in her daughter’s bed, having sex, police said.

That same day, the woman’s 6-year-old son had gotten sick at school. Administrators couldn’t reach the woman, so they called her husband instead.

He picked up the sick child and headed home — where he found his wife cheating with their pastor, police said.

“The man yelled ‘I’m gonna kill him’ and went to their room and got a small handgun,” according to the police report.

Simmons ran out of the apartment naked and hopped a privacy fence behind some shrubs, the report said.

But his car keys and his clothes were inside the house with the woman and her enraged husband.

O. Jermaine Simmons is the pastor of Jacob Chapel Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Sounds of Fundamentalism: Women Protesting Trump Presidency Are Evil, Filled with Demons

billye brim

This is the one hundred and forty-fourth installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section.  Let’s have some fun!

Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of adulterer and convicted felon Jim Bakker and Evangelist Billye Brim discussing the recent Women’s March in Washington D.C.

Video Link

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: How to Shield Yourself From Porn and Sexual Excitement

satans fiery darts

The enemy’s formidable weapon against men are enchanting women to entice you into adultery. According to Ephesians 6:10-18, demons are behind these women, they not being aware are being used to cause Jesus’ followers to sin against Him.

We men must keep our eyes pure because that is the entry way into our souls. This is Satan’s primary attack for entrance. How do we protect our eyes from letting darkness creep in?

  • Don’t watch anything that has women wearing almost nothing as to entice your minds.
  • Don’t read anything in WordPress that’s sexual in nature because your mind have eyes as well and will convert the sexual words into images.
  • Don’t look at porn magazines which is a landmine, throw it away immediately.

— Spiritual Minefield, How to Shield Yourself From Satan’s Arrows of Porn and Sexual Enticement, January 31, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Don’t Trust Your Intellect by Bert Farias

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Most Christians have a difficult time distinguishing their spirit from their intellect. Your conscience is the voice of your spirit. The Holy Spirit is more closely associated with your conscience than your intellect. As you pray in tongues, you are praying from the channel of your conscience through which the Holy Spirit speaks.

Our problem is that we are more accustomed to looking for God’s voice in our intellect. Our intellect is generally an unsafe guide because it is usually clouded with a mixture of the world’s thinking, where much of our decision-making is based on our best interests. Most Christians have a difficult time hearing from God, because their soul which comprises much of their intellect, is clouded with self, mingled with the world and yet has some Word in it.

— Bert Farias, Charisma News, Why Every Preacher Should Embrace Praying in Tongues, January 31, 2017

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: The Million ‘Skank’ March by Josh Bernstein

Video Link

The Josh Bernstein Show

I didn’t find any public reference to Bernstein’s religion, so it is possible he is Jewish. That said, if he is Jewish, he sure sounds like a Fundamentalist Christian.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Women Who Marched in Protest of Donald Trump Are Bimbos, Dykes, and Hussies by Tim Bayly

tim bayly

Some things are so shameful you hate to comment on them because doing so calls attention to them, and thus the shame multiplies.

A pair of bull-dykes protested our pro-life march at the county courthouse last Sunday afternoon and it was exceedingly hard even to look at them. The stomach churned, the face blushed, and eyes were averted as the crowd of fathers, mothers, children, and babes-in-arms walked by them as these women spewed blasphemies and obscenities.

This is our reaction to the bimbos, dykes, and hussies who marched in pink last week and shrieked on cue for their media pimps. We avoid the news. We turn away from the ugly. We cover our ears. To say these females are shameful doesn’t begin to…touch it. They trample the commons and no one tells them to shut their mouths and go home.

So what should the nation’s men do? Or rather, how should Christian men respond?

Thinking about it, at first I fell into my old habit of wishing Christian women would rebuke them. If there’s public dirty work to be done today, women can get away with it a lot easier than men can.

….

When women need to be told to be quiet and sit down—when women are flagrant in their trashing of God’s Creation Order of sexuality—what man wants to assert the privileges of his sex? What man wants to remind women that the “weaker” sex is commanded by God to have a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1Peter 3:1-7)?

….

The Christian men of our nation owe our wives and children the public rebuke of female immodesty, whether it’s the nakedness of the internet, the obscenity spewing bull-dykes on our courthouse square, or the shrieking shrews on our National Mall.

To my family and congregation, I try to explain it this way. Imagine standing in line at Sam’s Club and having a man who is stark naked come up and stand in line behind you and your family. Would you simply avert your eyes?

No, of course not. You would call the manager and demand the man be removed from the store so your children didn’t have to submit to his sexual assault.

So then, what if it was a pair of bull-dykes who took their place in line behind you? Would you call the manager? Would you demand they be arrested?

Surely you recognize their sexual assault is every bit as serious and shameful as a naked man, right? So why do you leave their trashing of the commons without rebuke? Why do you allow them to assault the modesty and innocence of your wife and children without the slightest protest?

The reason we allow these obscenities without rebuking them is two-fold.

First, we don’t realize public nakedness and public repudiation of one’s sexuality are equally scandalous and shameful. It is God who commands man not to wear woman’s clothing and woman not to wear man’s:

A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5)

Like nakedness, women playing the man and men playing the woman are sins against the Seventh Commandment, “thou shalt not commit adultery.” Calvin comments:

This decree [Deut. 22:5] also commends modesty in general, and in it God anticipates the danger, lest women should harden themselves into forgetfulness of modesty, or men should degenerate into effeminacy unworthy of their nature. Garments are not in themselves of so much importance; but as it is disgraceful for men to become effeminate, and also for women to affect manliness in their dress and gestures, propriety and modesty are prescribed, not only for decency’s sake, but lest one kind of liberty should at length lead to something worse. The words of the heathen poet (Juvenal) are very true: “What shame can she, who wears a helmet, show, Her sex deserting?”

Bull-dykes and flaming gays trampling the grass of the commons should be rebuked whether that commons is the National Mall, the courthouse square, or Sam’s Club.

….

— Tim Bayly, BaylyBlog, Bimbos, dykes, and hussies polluting our National Mall, January 27, 2017