It was important.
It was spooky and sacred. You admired it (especially those gold edges and embossed cover), but you rarely read or understood it.
You were given a tiny pleather-bound one, after being baptized, or enjoying your first communion. Fortunately, you were young, and boasted excellent eyesight, because the type size was microscopic.
You knew how to recite Psalm 23 and Matthew 6:9-13 by heart, but that was it. There were responsive readings in the back of church hymnals, but reading them each week was performative. (They did help with your vocabulary, though.)
You went to Sunday school and learned exciting stories that made you question a lot. You were afraid of a far-away God, and even more afraid of his red suit-wearing, pitch-fork toting nemesis.
You determined to be "good", because everything from wearing a black slip under white clothing, to talking loud in the church parking lot, to playing Monopoly on Sunday, was a sin that could land you in Hell.
Those who preached and taught were highly respected. Surely, they communicated with God more than you did. Your soul was in their hands. You trusted what they said. You didn't question what they did. You didn't have to read the Bible because they did it for you. Most times, though, it didn't resonate.
There were lots of religious rules, habits, and traditions to remember (that you later learned were nowhere in the Bible). The Bible was a Sunday book. At some point, however, there was a noticeable shift. I felt it deepest in our home when “Ever Increasing Faith” began airing on WTTG. The afroed preacher/teacher with the distinctive voice made the Bible come alive. “Is there evidence? What does your life say?” the dramatic theme song asked. Dr.Frederick K.C. Price inadvertently became your local church’s weekly convocation warm-up act. He had something valuable to say. He took the difficulty and mystery away. He made the Bible practical and applicable. His urgent teaching was like the appetizer that was so good, you were too full for the entree. You listened to him while you were getting ready to go to church. His faith, unlike others, proved not to be foolishness.
More charismatic teacher/preachers emerged. They denounced the perceived mystery of the Bible. There was a marrying of the Old and New Testaments that no one had presented so succinctly before. The Bible went from confusing, deep, and exclusively for scholars, to relevant, interesting, and practical. The Bible's image of priceless artifact, and coffee table focal point, was no more. It was yours. You could carry it anywhere. Like a textbook, you could write in the margins, highlight passages, and turn down corners until pages became dogeared. You began taking copious notes. Like a wonderful novel, you suddenly wanted to read it. The Bible came alive, and became a book you were anxious to dive into. For that, you give props to the people you saw on TV who seemed to be so knowledgeable and smart. They taught, and encouraged you to see the Bible in a new, beneficial way. They encouraged you to transform from habitual church goer, to Bible enthusiast and actual friend of God Some stuck to the script. Others saw evangelism as a grift.
The last 4 years have been revealing. Seeing any of the once, widely respected teacher/preachers so comfortably engaged in partisan, racist, political madness has been troubling. Watching as they are becoming regular comic fodder for social media, and unwitting stars in YouTube Hip Hop remixes, is sad. (You have to confess bobbing your head to some of them, though. The beats are fantastic.) Seeing them deceiving and endangering gullible followers and making a mockery of God, Christianity, the church, and the Bible, is disheartening. The irony is rich. though. Because of some of them, you were encouraged to read for yourself, and you're not the least bit shocked by religious charlatans or their antics. You studied and learned all about past and future false teachers and prophets, and how they operate. You just hate that the current, high profile embarrassments seem to have become the very wolves they warned and preached against. You hate that the most cringe-worthy displays are courtesy of some of those who had such sincere, intelligent, helpful, sane beginnings.
2020 removed the blinders. It has shown people who, and what they've been following and supporting--and all of it has not been in their best interest, or the least bit Christian.
You can't help but wonder what happened to some of the teacher/preachers. Who is this god they're serving, and how corrupt are their environments that it is reflected in their very countenances? They look sinister and sound insane. They lie and gaslight with ease. When did they lose their way? When did they begin to think God would endorse their lack of empathy, their bigotry, fearmongering, greed, gimmicks, and self-righteousness? Exactly what bible are they reading now? It’s certainly not the one they once encouraged America to embrace. Where’s the teaching? Has that gone by the wayside? Has it died as great teachers pass away? Now, they’re just weird.
I fear for them.
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