112 thoughts on “Stories That Are Totally True And Not At All Made Up”

  2. I feel bad that I’m skeptical of stories told by preachers. For me I’m not as skeptical about personal illustrations as I am about “urban legends” illustrations.

    1. Something that struck me as odd right off the bat… that the person supposedly said they hate “Amazing Grace and all that stuff.” Who the heck hates Amazing Grace? I’ve never heard of someone hating that song. Even most non-Christians love it. Its a classic.

  5. Man is dying of cancer within the week . . . “I’m going to see him either this afternoon or tomorrow.” Ummm, so you’re saying you don’t think it’s that urgent.

    1. Exactly. “Within a week” is not a guarantee, nor even an accurate estimate of the time one has remaining. In our own family, we missed saying goodbye to someone because we took the medical time frame too literally. 😥

      Generally, though, if someone is in the final stages of cancer and is that close to death, s/he is likely so drugged as to be unconscious.

      1. Exactly. A little over a week ago my aunt was at home interacting with her family though she knew she had cancer and the prognosis wasn’t good. She fell at home Tuesday morning and passed away Wednesday afternoon in the hospital.

      2. They’re not necessarily unconscious. Some kinds of cancer are more painful than others. I knew a woman who died of lung cancer, and right up to the end she said she felt very little pain. I was dubious, but a hospice nurse told me that’s not unusual with terminal lung cancers.

        But it’s absolutely true that someone with cancer can die quickly, and not on the projected schedule.

        1. Interesting how diseases affect everyone differently. A close family member passed from lung cancer, and he was in so much pain, he had a morphine drip at home. He was catatonic for the last two weeks of his life as a result of the drugs. I guess I was basing my statement on that.

    2. I, too, was very put off by this comment. I work as a hospice nurse – there’s no way to know how long someone has, but if they’re saying within the week, you’d better run to that house! Very few people in the last few hours to days are aware enough to be able to make a decision like that. Most are in a coma-like state.
      Felt like a cat with my fur being rubbed backwards listening to this guy…

    3. I guess he felt it was more important that he use him for a sermon illustration first 👿

    4. maybe he remembered the awful song “The Christmas Shoes” and changed some details.

  6. I just wish I could stop them mid-story and ask follow up questions. I wonder how much that would screw up their story telling! 🙄

    I can’t see the video yet but it sounds like another MOG telling a tall tale. Am I partially right? 😆

  7. At first I thought who is this soft spoken individual and what did he do with the real David Grice. Than around the 5:30 mark he got to screaming and yelling. Now that’s the David Grice we all know and love.

    1. That was the mark that I stopped the video. Holy mackerel! That dude has a real windbag on him!

    2. Yeah, he lost me at 5:30. He was Ok until then. But this is exactly what makes my spirit cringe. Now I have to go get some therapy.

  8. I haven’t got 10 and a half minutes to listen to this bloviating blowhard spout off a bunch of pompous nonsense. I will listen to it later on when I have more time. But if he actually says people prefer to listen to his long winded sermons (I am seeing the pastor of the former church here) he is really living in a dream world. I was telling my husband last week that often in that church and even back in Michigan I would get more out of the hymns and special music than I ever got out of the preaching. They would give me the message I came for that day. Might as well have gone home rather than sitting through another message! Oh how the fundy pastor would take offense at that! To him the music is only a prelude to what the people really need… his long winded preaching! No it ain’t. Those hymnwriters had a lot more of the Spirit of God in their hymn writing than a lot of fundy pastors today who think it’s all about him and his big mouth! 😈

    1. Precisely! Good church music is a sermon in itself. I used to find my songs for Sunday in my Bible reading during the week, and it was amazing how the music all had the same theme, and how often that theme supported the sermon (even though we had pulpit supply, so I never knew what would be preached).

      But the Indy Fundy churches don’t want me to lead music for them. They have their four or five hymns that they ever sing. One hymn to start (first and last verse ONLY), then the MoG bloviates for twenty or thirty minutes about stuff that should have been put in the bulletin, then we sing one more song (first and last verse, with a “fellowship” in the middle so the focus and flow of the song is completely lost), then a Ron Hamilton song for an offertory, then forty or fifty minutes of “preaching” with occasional references to the Bible.

      Bleah.

      When I look through the long and varied list of songs I used to lead in church, and then look at the short and uniform list of songs that ever get sung anymore, it makes me want to puke.

    1. it’s true, this “story” has lots of classic marks of exaggeration and embellishment, if not actual lying. He should have practiced the story a few times so it sounded more natural and not like he was making it up on the spot

      1. ahhh, but that’s the problem with the Immaculate Sermon that “God” gives them on the spot… or between their throne chair and the pulpit.

    2. Yeah, the line about Amazing Grace is the giveaway. IF the story is generally true (which is doubtful) I am 100 percent certain they did not mention one of the most beloved hymns of the last 200 years as being part of the problem. Grice added that detail to make his position look less extreme. IF the story is true, they were complaining about “Springs of Living Water” “In My Heart There Rings A Melody” and other dreck that passes for “hymns” in Fundy churches.

      1. I remember once getting a mini-sermon before we sang Amazing Grace about how only the IFB understands the song. Everybody else sings it but doesn’t understand it.
        Well there are a lot of things the IFB does that other people don’t understand. I wish I was one of those people. But then I wouldn’t have so much fun on SFL 😆

        1. Ha! The IFBs know nothing of Amazing Grace, even if they do like to sing the song. I didn’t understand grace at all until I left the movement. They may *say* that grace is unmerited favor, but then they have an unending list of things you must do to earn and keep grace.

      2. Gaah! You HAD to bring up “In My Heart There Rings a Melody”. Dreck, indeed.

        Another horrible “hymn”: “It Took a Miracle”. Short for, “It Took a Miracle for Me Not to Run Screaming Out of the Sanctuary During This Song”. 😆

    3. That’s when my lie detector went off. No one who appreciates his preaching (probably another LIE) would ever say they hated Amazing Grace.

  10. Mr. Grice, two questions if you please…

    1) If what you say is true, and there are really only a “few verses in the whole NT” about music, and “preeching is the priority,” why the heck do you spend so much time screech…er…preaching about music? Shouldn’t you be…you know…preaching…the Gospel? (Especially to that dying man that you just seemed SOOOOO compassionate towards… 🙄 )

    And 2) Why is it that when you are yelling about “GET MAD AT DE DEBIL!!!!” does it seem you are just mad at people?

    1. He never once mentioned the purpose of assembling as to worship the living God. The man is utterly pathetic. 👿

  11. It ain’t the DEVIL stealing your congregation’s happiness and joy, Brother Grice.

    And, “the foolishness of preaching”? Truer words have never been spoken.

  12. so then why do fundies make music such a big deal if its a peripheral issue? I mean they have Levitical writings about how to determine what is godly music, from a handful “in one hand” of verses in the NT? Interesting…

  13. I find it really hard to believe that someone would actually say they “hate” the music unless of course they are an IFB pastor. Most people aren’t that rude.

    1. Even the Wiccans and homosexuals I’ve met (groups Fundies love to vilify) will say something like, “I prefer…instead.” or “That’s really not to my taste.” Beyond that, I had a Wiccan acquaintance say, “I’m glad you’ve found something that fulfills you.”

      Expressing oneself politely and even showing joy for someone else? Sounds Satanic to me. [/sarcasm] 🙄

    2. People being polite, they may not have wanted to say what they really thought of his message to his face, so they blamed the church music.

  14. “god does not want you in a place that makes you feel good”

    truer words have never been spoken – the fundy god (small g) is an idol from a ancient pagan model where the sacrifice of virgins and the corruption of the priestly class ensures that people leave church feeling good and yelled at, but never helped…spiritually, physically, emotionally, if you feel good then you know one things for sure, you haint been in a fundy church with this type of foolish preachin.

    1. Yes. The fundy god is just waiting to get you. He’s waiting for you to skip a service, not tithe, not read your Bible every day, not pray everyday, read a book by a catholic and then he will pounce on you and make your car break down or something like that.

    2. He SAID that?!!

      I just mentioned last night in community group that I’d been taught for my entire childhood that if you enjoy something, it MUST be wrong (this especially applied to music or movies – never food).

      “God doesn’t want you in a place that makes you feel good” – but then we’re supposed to be joyful? Fundies always demand the impossible of people.

  15. Oy. I made it about 3 1/2 minutes before the emotional manipulation got to be too much for me. Sweating palms, alternating waves of hot and cold down my spine, sinking sensation in my gut. I used to mistake that for the Holy Spirit’s conviction. 😥 At least now I know it’s the result of some ham-fisted “preacher” intentionally manipulating my heartstrings. 😈

    As a kid, I never gave the attention to detail a second thought, but as an adult, I have to wonder how the speaker is privy to the inner thoughts of the main character. 😕 For the record, I have NEVER heard any Christian of any flavor or stripe say anything remotely akin to “You can keep that Amazing Grace…” 🙄

    Oh, Mr. Grice…where is the love Jesus calls us to enact? Where is the liberty we have in Christ? Where is the grace that we can extend to others because God has so freely poured it out upon us?

    1. So true, Kreine!

      (And thank for your warning. I keep telling myself that one of these days I’ll feel strong enough to watch these videos, but your words remind me that I need to guard my heart. I’m turning on some CCM now and remind myself of God’s love, freedom, and grace.)

    2. Don’t you realize that’s the Holy Spirit using the preacher to convict you of your bitterness and bad attitude?? 🙄

  16. This video makes me glad that I’m now a Lutheran. This man equates salvation with salesmanship. Being saved does not equate giving a slick presentation of the Royal Romans Road or the Four Spiritual Laws. People share their faith all the time through action and deed. Furthermore, I don’t believe this part about someone not liking **Amazing Grace**. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like that hymn. It’s a shame that this man cannot sell his product without bashing everyone else. If the product is worth buying, it should stand on its own merits.

    Secondly, I really question this attitude that someone should come to church to feel guilty or mad at something. Isn’t the purpose of church to come to worship Christ?

    Some of these guys are so absurd that it really isn’t worth the time to comment on the obvious.

    1. “…It’s a shame that this man cannot sell his product without bashing everyone else…”

      In my experience bashing everyone else (especially the Catholics) made up about 20 minutes of every sermon. And I would think, how is this helping me?

  17. What a load of crap! Who in the world can’t share with someone how to accept Christ? “God told him to call me”, was that his ego all puffed up.

    Also liked the “Amen” shouting completion in the background.

  18. it cracks me up that these people STILL insist on referring to anything other than the good ol’ hymns as “Rock and Roll music.” I mean, who besides Fundys has used this term since 1965???

  19. I made it to the one minute mark. And asked myself why I even bothered. This guy has no clue. There are only a “handful” of mentions in the NT regarding singing because GOD COVERED THAT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, YOU MORON. AND because God never intended for music to be a club with which to beat the sheep! AND because God didn’t want to place rules upon something that is supposed to come from the HEART. You BIG JERK.

    If you would LIVE the Gospel, you wouldn’t need to scream at your congregation.

  20. I would like to know how he figures that telling people how to be saved is as simple as telling them how you got saved. What ever happened to telling people what Christ did?!?! Such man centered garbage.

    1. hahahahahahahah i was just about to mention that. There are definitely clearer verses in the Bible on gluttony than on music….jeez….none of these pulpit pounders EVER seem to mention them however…..

    2. David Grinch is the right weight. He is just the wrong height. He should be 9 feet 11 inches tall.

  22. My little corner of fundydom must have been far removed from everyone else’s. I never heard of this guy. But apart from that … WTHeck? Some of the best services I’ve ever attended have been centered around music and singing. Has this guy never heard of David … the Psalms … or does he dismiss the OT out of hand?

  23. How can anyone say that the music is not important to the service??? The only thing I can truly say that I miss about HAC is the music! Of course, my church only allowed one to listen to hymns at all times, which leads one to feeling privileged when listening to anything else, no matter how slow or scrubbed. Spiritual music of any kind can be a huge blessing. I can remember feeling like I heard from God and was ready to go home after plenty of song services. Then Jack Schaap got up and preached, and I wished I would have left after the song service. 😈 I truly feel sorry for this man’s congregation.

    On a different note, although I am sure his story was complete baloney (as we say here – hut-sor-ee-ah), the only way I can think of that someone would hate “Amazing Grace” is if his church has a special, “scrubbed” way of singing it. If he is going to be a “preacher”, he really should learn to lie better. As I understand, that is one of the main job requirements! 😯

    1. I was thinking that (what you said) about the way his church sings it may be what made the guy (if he even exists) not like it. I never believe much in the way of stories from the pulpit anyway though. I used to. But no more.
      BTW, when were you at HAC? I was there from ’76-’80. Things haven’t changed there too much from what I understand in the past three decades. (Wow, that makes me feel quite old 😳 )

      1. Sims,
        We’re Baptists, we never change! I was there getting a master’s degree (little more freedom, not much) from 2006 – 2008. Wow! So you were on of the earlier classes? Nice to know this tomfoolery has been around for a while. By the way, I love your posts! 😆

  24. I’ve never heard of this guy before today. I initially thought he might be onto something, but then the passive guilt and manipulation started, then we slyfully moved onto the screaming and shouting. Thats when I stopped the video.

    At our old fundy church they used to have their “screamin’, fire breathin’ yo allll gooin to hell” bible conferences. I was 15 at the time and actually talked to one of the preachers and said “when you scream and yell at me, I just completely tune what you are saying off and start daydreaming of motorbikes and girls. If you have something to say, why scream? You catch many more flies with honey than vinegar”. After that conversation, for the rest of the conference, he gave really good sermons and did not yell at us. I know he caught flak from the other “fire breathers” though and at other conferences he went back to the “scream-a-thon” type preaching… 🙁

  25. He seems a bit jealous that these people aren’t attending “his” church.

    I have heard lots of this kind of preaching, but I don’t think I could take being a member of such manipulation… he thinks church is to build up our emotions.

    “Too much nonsense going on” — truer words were never spoken.

  26. Doing things at church is not serving the Lord!?!?!? I think that God considers all the Sunday School teachers as service to Him.

  27. Grrr… hot spot – mentions the Great Commission and how everyone is supposed to be pestering other people.

    The so-called Great Commission was given to the apostles, to the church leaders, not to the entire church. If he thinks this is to individuals, then allow me to baptize my converts instead of insisting that it is a church ordinance, and only he can do it. You cannot have it both ways: either the Great Commission is the mission statement for a church or it is a command to individuals; if to individuals, then individuals should be allowed to baptize.

    If to the church, then it’s a mission statement, kind of like supermarkets who sell groceries… but not every employee of the supermarket does the same job.

    Grrrr….

    1. What church do you go to where only the pastor is allowed to baptize people? Even in the Catholic Church anyone is allowed to baptize.

      1. I’ve never been in a church that did allow anyone but the pastoral staff to baptize. I don’t think that’s just a fundy thing either, is it? 😕

  28. the music is definitely not the main reason I wouldn’t go to that church…sheeesh. I don’t miss this AT ALL> he isn’t even preaching the word for most of it….. a few cherry picked verses.
    How is yelling a fruit of the Spirit? my word. He talks about nonsense going on. This is nonsense.
    I do agree with him about the fact that just because you serve in church doesn’t mean that you are on mission. The church we left was so focused on what went on in that building that they didn’t even see the homeless man sitting on the corner. If you didn’t enter their building or weren’t willing to…they wouldn’t waste their time on you. I don’t agree with the fact that once again… another crazy makes a relationship with Jesus sound like a sales pitch.

  29. I meant to say that just because you DON’T serve in certain areas in the church doesn’t mean you aren’t on mission…. I cannot process my thoughts well today for some reason…or maybe it was because I was still listening to this guy while typing my comment.

  30. and we have pretty decent music at our new church… nothing spectacular but drums are involved… and I have never seen people more willing to be open and honest with another. It is an atmosphere that cultivates repentance and walking in the light with one another so to speak… Because people are willing to admit that we all struggle with sin… and then that does produce real, lasting change. I get so tired of these people falsely accusing ‘all those feel good churches’ ugh!

  31. 1:15 into the clip was enough for me. It is all getting VERY SMALL in my rear view mirror 😆

    1. Press the petal to the metal and don’t look back. Nothing to see there, forward, ever forward!!! :mrgreen:

  32. To continue Darrell’s thought from the OP.
    I was trying to imagine someone who liked Grice’s preaching but didn’t like “Amazing Grace”… and his entire congregation came to mind. Having listened to his sermonettes from YouTube it is painfully obvious that Grice may give lip service to Grace but God’s Grace and the Gospel are foreign subjects in that pulpit.

  33. Because, of course, even the rank heretics love Grice’s preaching because its so awesome and stuff…

  34. Um…why are you yelling? You are turning red. Gonna blow a gasket.

    “Feel Good Community Church”? I guess everyone is supposed to feel bad instead. Constantly. You know, you can’t be happy if you aren’t constantly reminded how bad you are. Or something like that.

    Maybe the other church was thinning his congregation.

    I wonder if the anecdotes are even true, or just imaginary illustrations to make a point.

    ‘n stuff.

  35. Looks like this guy’s been doing a little TOO much “biting” and “tasting.” Haymen? 😯

  36. ❗ Fundy double standard alert ❗

    If someone leaves OUR church just because they don’t like our music, that’s silly, stupid, and a clear sign that they have the wrong focus.

    But when we dismiss/condemn OTHER churches just because we don’t like their music, we’re showing “discernment.”

    🙄 🙄 🙄

    So whether this story of his is actually true or not, he’s still a hypocrite.

  37. Oy!

    David Grice never disappoints, does he?

    Whoever observed that he is the hero of all his own sermons really hit the nail on the head.

    So, what makes you think he made up this story, other than the fact that it’s no more believable than all Grice’s other “soul-winning” stories (i.e., not even remotely believable) and the fact that it seems tailor-made to support the big bag of heresies and misconceptions he dumps out on his congregation every week?

  38. Anyone else notice that when he starts yelling and asking if his church isn’t good enough, he mentions it not being good enough to tithe to before anything else?

  39. I am sorry I have to remain anonymous (for now). I just found this site and honestly, oh my word!
    I have been a southern baptist all my life and for almost 2 years now have been in an IFB church. It took me awhile to catch on. Since I’ve been there, I’ve learned who Hyles is, learned that its “ok” to bad-mouth from the pulpit and many other things. The funny thing is that you all know every single thing that goes on in my church!!!!
    I so wish I could say the name of my “preacher”. I’d like some sympathy.
    I am hanging on by a thread and commitment that will soon be over.
    I am literally counting down the days.
    I am so glad I found this site. Its really helpful feeling like I’m not alone and that I am NOT evil.
    ps-my “preacher” has used this saying from the title of this blog post a lot. “I am in no way making this up or embellishing this story.”
    Umm, why do you have to say this? Isn’t it a given??

    2. Welcome, anon! And many of us know the feeling of being made to feel “evil” for daring to question or disagree with anything the pastor says. Too many IFB pastors are pros at finding “proof” for every little preference they have and then telling the congregation that those preferences come from God (never mind that IFB churches can’t even agree among themselves about their standards and practices). You’ll certainly find understanding here, even if you aren’t able to leave a name. 😛

    3. @Anonymous, welcome home and I look forward to hearing about your escape. We will be here for you to help you process and detox. 😀

    5. I don’t think that not knowing the name of your preacher would inhibit me giving you sympathy. They’re all pretty much the same.

  40. “I can tell you how to tie shoes because I tied mine”

    Wow..that must have been hard! That IS hard to believe!

    😉

    (BTW–anybody else notice the Tony Hutson imitation once he started yelling?)

    1. I honestly find it hard to tell David Grice and Tony Hutson apart.

      And not in a good way.

    2. I’m guessing at his weight he either wears slip-on shoes or leaves his shoes tied and crams that size 14 or 16 or whatever foot into it. So, yeah, I think the part of tying his shoes is a lie unless he was referencing a time when he was a very young child… which got me wondering what else he has trouble putting on/reaching/seeing.. but I won’t go there. 😳

  41. Grice says that the focus of the church worship service should be preaching because the New Testament spends more time talking about preaching than singing. Why then does Grice spend so much of his time “ragging” on the kind of music choices people make? If he really want to spend his time doing what is covered the most in the New Testament, maybe he should spend some time hanging out with the homeless, feeding the hungry, ministering to the sick and standing shoulder to shoulder with men and women and teaching them of Jesus.

    As I read the New Testament, I see very few preaching scenarios — and a lot more situations where Jesus was just meeting people where they were and ministering to them and gently demonstrating grace and mercy to them.

    As a matter of fact, the only time Jesus had any angry words or words of judgement was when He was talking to self-righteous religious men.

  42. He lost me at “preachin’ .” I don’t disagree with the primacy of preaching in church meetings, but ‘preachin’ sets my teeth on edge.
    What the bloviating one means by ‘preachin’ is likely
    a. reading a Bible verse
    b. stating his opinion
    c. Shouting his opinion with pregnant pauses for the yes-men to call back approval words
    d. insulting a ridiculously skewed version of the opposing viewpoint

    I’m pretty sure I heard all those in a minute and a half… except for the Bible part. 😕

  43. I made it to 6:59. That was all I could take. It’s too bad he can’t find scripture to support such a wonderful diatribe. I don’t miss this emotional foolishness at all. Maybe someday Grice will learn what true preaching is.

    This drivel doesn’t seem very much like worship to me. I wonder where in scripture he finds the pattern for his church. Since he is so sure music isn’t important, I wonder where in the Bible he gets ushers, an offering, announcements, invitation, and (I realize this is an assumption, but typical IFB) a lack of elders.

    1. Actually, I’m glad he did not even reference one verse.

      For churches that make Scripture into the fourth member of the Trinity, it is simply amazing how little scripture is read in each service.

      the Catholics and Episcopalians have three separate readings EVERY service. Same with the Jews. (The OT is God’s word too.)

      Instead, when the bible is used, it is more often than not a proof text, a launching pad for the MoG to go talking about whatever he wants.

  44. I got to 1:15 before I felt compelled to comment. Obviously church is about preaching the word and not about singing because the NT talks more about preaching than about singing. …Jesus’ teaching on loving and serving others, then, was probably not a big deal…

  45. I’m all for a good “Amen” but only when appropriate. Would you “amen” the thought that there were people in your church who don’t know how to lead a soul to Christ (4:35) and that your preacher managed to tie your own shoe laces? (5:03) #Amen?

  46. It’s sad that fundamentalism attracts so many people with masochistic tendencies. I can’t imagine actually WANTING to sit under this guy’s preaching week after week.

    1. I’m pretty sure that the ones who WANT to be there are the ones who *KNOW* he isn’t speaking to THEM. They are there to see their neighbor get the chewing out he or she needs. They are the ones who are as close to perfection as David Grice is. They are the ones who are saying “Amen” to the fact that someone doesn’t know how to “lead a soul” because they know they have that covered. They are the true Pharisees and David Grice feeds their souls.

  48. Evidently the longest book of the Bible is obsolete since it’s in the OT?? If God wasn’t concerned with music, why do we have the book of Psalms? Why is Revelation filled with mention of music in heaven? I guess he can just ignore huge chunks of the Bible to make his point, but if someone else does that, they are considerd heretics? Talk about hypocrisy.

  49. I love how he’s bashing contemporary music, yet there is a guitar sitting behind him. This must be one of those liberal fundy churches that allows guitars and drums. In my church only the piano was acceptable… I wonder if they are convicted about that?
    #Iwasraisedsohardcore #guitarsareheathen #ballstothewallsfundies #ticklemyears

    Also… He actually gave them permission to listen to whatever they want to in their cars… How groundbreaking.

    1. It may have been just a regular guitar without an amplifier, or acustic guitar I guess it’s called. Our former fundy pastor played the guitar and sang but that’s all it was. I guess they’re ok with that. 😕

  50. I like that when we went off on his rant about “our church isn’t good enough” that the statement “our church isn’t good enough to tithe to” is the second item he mentioned.

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