This past August. . .Pastor Rod was raising cash for holy war -- I mean, relief work -- in Sudan by offering an actual 27-inch sword, in exchange for a gift of $54 or more. Now, Pastor Rod's got a whole new sword to sell. And this one's ten inches longer, with a blade of steel and a "gold-colored metal" handle inscribed with the cross. It's the "SWORD OF THE KING," promises Pastor Rod. . . .
Don't worry about where to sheath your blade -- in a special email solicitation, Pastor Rod writes that it comes with a "beautiful... mount." And the best part of all? You get the whole package -- magic sword, mount, delusions of potency -- for only $41 dollars and ten cents, in honor of Isaiah 41:10 ("...yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."). That's almost thirteen dollars less for ten more powerful inches of Christian manhood.
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Pastor Rod (mere coincidence, that name?) thus offers his flock an opporunity to follow literally the injunction of Luke 22:36 ("[Jesus] said to them, ‘But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one."--incidentally, a creative exegesis of this verse is very popular among opponents of gun control. ) The more important appeal of this offering, though, is its congruence with an ascendant religious sensibility, a muscular Christianity eager to smite the wicked but tending to overlook the kinds of wickedness that don't rush forth carrying weapons and breathing curses. Quite a contrast to the spirit that motivated the holy warrior we remember this day, and to the weapons he used.
Tag: Religion
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