Chapter 6. 9
Bible Thumpers
Torah
Thumpers - Thumper Paul – Bible Basher – Corner Preachers
God
Botherer – Creeping Jesus – Fundie – Holy Roller – Zealots
First
Word
Repent or Burn was a two sided
sign I saw as a child in Atlanta, worn by a man holding up a Bible and shouting
scripture to those passing by on a corner of Peachtree Street. Mom said there were many ways to tell people
about God; and that was just one of them.
70 years later, “GOD LOVES YOU” is a sign I see held silently by a lady every
Saturday from 11am to 12pm on a small hill on Harbison Boulevard in
Columbia. In support of her effort, we would always blow
the horn and wave to her and she would wave back with a smile.
Being raised in a strict Baptist Church and surrounded with like-minded
childhood friends, it was normal to talk about the Bible and what was right and
wrong. We didn’t play cards, gamble, drink alcohol, smoke, or dance; and ON SUNDAY we didn’t go to
movies or go swimming or cut the. Grass. Our beliefs were very similar to the
Methodist, who taught METHODS not only of
worship, but of the
way you should live your everyday life.
When I relocated with my Job, my new
church used the paraphrased LIVING BIBLE and it changed
my life. - (This has now
been updated with the NLT New Living Translation
which is actually a translation and not just paraphrased. It is so easy to read and understand). GET IT and
some yellow highlighters.
This set me up for the rest of
my life, to always talk about Bible concepts; I was a Bible Thumper and didn’t
even know it; I believed it to be normal. I can remember co-workers in the office referring to me negatively as “Praise the Lord Paul” and because of
my zeal, someone once said; “You are a NEW Christian aren’t you”?
I took the copy repair man to lunch along with my staff and he said, “I
have never had a meal where everybody had so much fun talking about God the
whole time”. What many of us find as
normal, others find is just FAR OUT messed up Bible Thumpers.
Sanford and Son was a TV comedy
series about Fred and Lamont Sanford who were junk dealers frequently scheming
something. Fred’s wife Elizabeth was
dead and her sister Ester was always coming over thumping her Bible, quoting verses
to Fred, calling him a walleyed fish. Ester was the hit of the whole series which
pretty much painted a negative comedic picture of anyone who strove to
aggressively model their life with Bible guidelines.
There were two
men that
I met at the Flea Market that were always passing out tracts and talking about
God. Their camper truck with Turn or Burn signs all over it, frequently made trips to
Washington to protest something or the other and they slept in the bed of their
truck. Locally they were “Thumping the Bible” protesting the concerts of Sandi
Patti because she should not
charge people to come to concerts because the Gospel was free to everyone. They would often find me at my work and come in
to discuss life,
God
and the hereafter
and enjoyably I would debate scripture with them giving them my BS world
view; my Belief System.
Standing on the Corner with signs; protesting
concerts, giving out tracts and preaching at the flea market is NOT MY WAY, but IT IS A WAY to get people to
think about God even if it’s just in passing; we need it all. The Book says
we are to share the story wherever we are.
CONCLUSION; A
Bible Thumper is NOT a member of the Secret Service.
Matthew 28:19-20
- COMMAND; make disciples everywhere
19 Therefore,
go and MAKE
DISCIPLES of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit.
20 TEACH THESE NEW DISCIPLES TO OBEY ALL THE COMMANDS I have given you. I am with you always,
even to the end of the age.” (NLT)
Derogatory
terms
A Bible thumper is someone who
is perceived as AGGRESSIVELY
IMPOSING their
Christian beliefs and values upon others. The term is derived from PREACHERS thumping their
hands down on the Bible, or thumping the Bible itself, to emphasize
a point during a sermon. The term Bible Thumper has been used as a derogatory term for ages.
A Bible Basher is someone who
is perceived to go out of their way to force their faith on
others; and a Fundie
is a derogatory term for a Christian fundamentalist.
Holy Roller is especially
applied to Evangelistically Protestants and especially Pentecostals who are
very vocal
about their religious views or CRITICAL of others religious views. The name comes from their gift of the Holy Spirit of being able to speak in tongues and being prone to be “slain in the Spirit” and roll in the
floor.
God Botherer; a tag placed on
those who openly declares their faith even when unwelcomed.
Creeping Jesus was a term used
to describe someone making a public display of religiosity in a hypocritical way
simply for show.
Shaker originated as
Shaking Quakers who in their charismatic worship services, danced, shouted and spoke in their gift of tongues; although the term was deemed derogatory, it was EMBRACED and used by the Quakers themselves.
A Kike is a Yiddish
word meaning “CIRCLE” as associated
with illiterate JEWS not able to
read nor write, who entered the US at
Ellis Island and signed or marked their names with an “O”, a circle instead of an “X”
because they associated the “X” or “CROSS” with Christianity.
Birds
of a feather
I had JUST had my job offer changed; the offer now
would NOT be in management, but would be stocking
shelves with entrance level compensation. I had already quit my job for this one, so in
dismay I slumped down unseen in an out of place chair that I found between two
merchandise stack outs.
I was feeling pretty
depressed when
a Bible Thumper that I had never met, came up behind me and put
his hands on my shoulders and quietly said he hoped I would take the position,
that the store needed a lot of PRAYER and then he walked away. I was stunned, but pondering it all. I took it
as a Word from
God and accepted the position. Eventually that decision led me to 15 years of
management with awesome retirement benefits.
I never saw THUMPER again. Why was that?
What is amazing to me is that
everywhere I have worked, I’ve notice that Bible Thumpers somehow
seem to find each other in the office or on the floor or in the break room and
friendships are formed. Why is that? Why do Birds of a
feather, flock together?
Thumpers
My friend Doug worked three
jobs in order to open a plant shop. When
it all came together he gave God the glory and used one side of his sign to
advertise his plants and on the other side he had Bible verses or something to praise God about.
With a slur, laughingly the business became known as the “Praise the Lord
Plant Shop”. Today, Doug is a very successful businessman with
multiple businesses and a testimony to the community.
A Bible Thumping Pastor, would often go
to lunch with me and my staff and we would usually ask him controversial
questions. He would start off by asking
us WHICH
SIDE do
we want him to take.
It was so
much fun seeing how scripture could
be BENT depending on your religious
domination, upbringing and BS, your Belief System. Being OPEN
MINDED to
this THUMPER allowed us to
stand on his shoulders and see further than we ever otherwise could have. Iron
sharpens Iron; and he sure knocked off a bunch of my rough edges.
Acts 17:11 – Be
open minded and validate with the Scriptures
11 And the people of Berea were
more OPEN-MINDED than those in Thessalonica, and THEY LISTENED EAGERLY to Paul’s
message. They SEARCHED
THE SCRIPTURES day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the
truth.
(NLT)
Urgency
When I am deep into a Word study, I often think,
“I hope I get this published on the internet before the Lord comes back”. I feel an URGENCY to get it finished because it is the only
thing that I am leaving behind that is worth anything.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to plant the
seed, our job is to water it, and God’s job is to bring in the harvest. A Bible Thumper with
his WORD water pitcher is getting in on what God is doing.
My Friend Adelle almost lost her life in
an auto accident and understands the URGENCY of life, how fleeting it is and not
wanting anyone to perish, her conversations usually gets around to spiritual
things; she has become known as a Bible Thumper because
she GETS IT
In the sermon
on the Mountain, known as the Beatitudes,
the second one is especially meaningful to the BIBLE
THUMPER. It’s about those that mourn and weep over
perishing souls.[1]
Their mourning is acknowledging their
own sins with a broken heart before God; their mourning is just too deep to
conceal.
Growing together in the garden are Non-
Believers, Believers and Make-Believers; it is not our job to separate them; OUR JOB IS TO WATER THEM. Bible Thumping is not about judging someone;
but comes with an urgency that this might be
the last time someone has an opportunity to make THE decision of their lifetime; a decision
that will affect their destiny for eternity; it’s that URGENT.
Matthew 5:4-
Blessed are those who morn for the perishing
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted.
NIV
Thumper
Paul
The Damascus Road Experience. Saul whose name was later changed to Paul,
believed in God, but persecuted the followers of the sect known as “THE WAY”, throwing them in jail until one day he was
smacked down on the ground with a blinding light and heard a voice from heaven
asking him; Saul, why do you persecute me? He was struck blind on the Damascus Road and
was taken to the house of Ananias where he received his sight back.[2]
Paul who wrote most of the NT became a Bible Thumper after God got
his attention and he “Saw the Light” A Bible Thumper is someone who wants to share with you THE WAY of the Damascus
Road Experience so you can have the opportunity to See
the Light while you still can.
The
Take Away
Once you have eaten creamy Butter Pecan
Ice Cream heaped over hot Apple Pie with whip cream, and a cherry on
top, it’s hard not to tell others about how good it is. My most touching moment was when someone said
to me, “I
WANT WHAT YOU GOT."
The Book gives us SIGNS to follow, that
direct us to the “Tree of Life”, but as Christians we can become
short sighted if we continue to just look at the SIGNS and not focus on the beauty that the signs point
to. The Book not
only tells us about how we will live in the sweet bye and bye, but how we
should live a godly life in the nasty now and now.
Politics and Religion invokes such DEEP PASSIONS and have started
wars; that’s why we are told it is better to not discuss such things so we can
keep the peace. In Ireland the Catholics
and Protestants are a split population from two different cultural and
religious backgrounds, so they are not only separated by religion, but also divided by politics.
The Zealot Resistance was an
underground religious
and political
party; a fanatical Jewish sect that militantly opposed the Roman domination of
Palestine.[3] These
Torah Thumpers took the position that no one should be honored as
Lord or King, but God Jehovah. So they rejected the foreign rule of the Romans. To pay taxes to an Emperor was considered Idolatry
and blasphemous
to God. They had hope for a Messiah that
would overthrow the Roman Government and restore the kingdom to Israel.
The Sicarii
were devoted supporters of God and His laws and secretly engaged in
acts of intrigue, violence, force, deceptions plus ASSASSINATIONS of Roman
soldiers and anyone else that opposed “The Torah Thumping Resistance” in order to keep it
from achieving its liberating ends. They
were known as the dagger people indicative of their tactics, circulated in crowds
during festivals and killing Roman sympathizers with daggers they concealed in
their clothing.
Bible Thumpers are Zealots, except they
don’t kill people, they just have a zeal to get the Gospel message out that man
was separated from God in the Garden of Eden when sin was introduced by eating
from the Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Their good news is, THERE IS ANOTHER TREE in the Garden; they
want everyone to find THE WAY back to the TREE OF LIFE.[4] God kept the door of the Ark open for one
additional week, THEN HE SHUT IT. Make a decision to follow THE WAY while you still
can, before the door is shut.[5]
A Bible Thumper is just one beggar
trying to show another beggar where to find bread.[6]
It’s in the Book
[1] Psalms 119:136 – Mourning
because of sin and the lost -- Isaiah 6:5 – Recognizing who I am before God, I
am spiritually bankrupt -- Matthew
12:37 – UGRENCY, we
will be judged by our confession
[2] Acts
9:2-22 – Paul saw the light and became a BIBLE THUMPER
[3] Acts 1:13 - Simon was a
Zealot, an underground religious group
[4] Revelation 22:14 – The Believer is given the right to come to the TREE OF LIFE
[5] Isaiah 55:6 - Seek the LORD
while He may still be found
[6] John 6:35 – Jesus said; I am the bread of
life
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