147 thoughts on “GOH: Faithful Men”

      1. Thank you, this is actually my first 1st! After following SFL for several years now I can join the Butt Cushion Club!

  3. The first thing that comes to mind for some reason is “Robin Hood:Men in Tights.” ” We’re pastors, manly pastors, we’re pastors in tights. We roam around in churches looking for fights.”

  5. I wish I could watch the video, but if it has 50 MOGs singing a song written by a pirate; maybe I’m lucky I can’t watch it.

    3. 35 = 50, according to the King James BIBLE.

      Although the Bible says, “you shall not round,” (Lev. 19:27 KJB) we know, dear Christian, that ten is a sacred number, a holy number, the number of God’s perfection of HIS redeeming work in Christ Jesus that has NOT been taken out of the King James Bible. Thus, we should always round our numbers to ten. (“Let all things be done decently and in order.” I Cor. 14:40 KJB.) Thus, we must round 35 to 40.

      Now, dear Christian, you may be thinking that this doesn’t get us to 50. But we should always persevere in our faith and not fall short of God’s grace. (“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:4 KJB; “And let us be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal. 6:9 KJB.)

      It is important to remember that the Scriptures clearly teach us the command of our LORD Jesus Christ to tithe. (“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse.” Mal. 3:10 KJB.) And we know that the church, dear Christian, should not limit the man of God’s access to his tithes. (“You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” I Tim. 5:18. KJB.) Indeed, he is counted worthy of double honor. (“Let the elders that rule [the Pastor] be counted worthy of double honor.” I Tim. 5:17 KJB.) And he is worthy of a double portion. (“Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” 2 Kings 2:9 KJB.) Thus, we see that the man of God is entitled to 20%!! 40 plus 20% is 48.

      Finally, we know that God’s word teaches that we must not neglect to count everyone. (“The Lord is not slack . . . as some men count.” 2 Peter 3:9 KJB.) It’s important to make sure that everyone gets counted! (“But the very hairs of your head are ALL numbered.” Mat. 10:30 KJB. You don’t ever need to correct the King James Bible with the Greek because the word ALL means ALL!!) Thus, we should not stop at 48, but add a few more, to make sure that we don’t violate God’s principal of counting everyone. 48 + 2 = 50!!

      The number fifty is the number of celebration!! Praise the Lord that when we count like He would have us do, we arrive at the right number: 50 men of God celebrating themselves and singing themselves and what they assume you shall assume, for every dollar belonging to you as good belongs to them!

      Tithe
      double portion

        1. Comparing him with Paul Chappell may be quite an insult to him, given his family situation. 🙂

        1. shoes taught us the importance of numerological flippigation when analyzing the scriptures. I think perhaps there is some flippigation involved in the transition from 48-50, just not all the work was shown.

        2. There was either one woman pregnant with twins, or there were two women pregnant with one baby each. That’s how you get from 48 to 50. You gotta make sure you get everyone!

        3. Semp: A group of IFB pastors is very unlikely to include anyone who’s pregnant. If it does, that’s one for the medical books.

  8. Shouldn’t be 50+ “doctors,” because I’m sure they’ve all earned their PhD through the college they started in the church basement :^)

    3. EARNED? No IFB pastor stoops to earning a degree. There’s so much more honor in an honorary basement-bible-college degree. It’s right there in the name, “honorary.”

      1. Why did I spend so much money for grad school at a secular university when Doctorates are so easily gotten? Oh wait, I forgot- they don’t give them to girls.

    2. Since there are a lot of them, would it be a passel of pasty pastors?
      Or maybe a pride of pasty pastors.

  10. Ok, I can’t really understand what they’re saying. Does anyone have lyrics? I can’t figure out the problem, but I also can’t hear half the lyrics and I’m not finding them via google.

      4. Ok thanks.

        At least for me, in the context of the church I am in now, I wouldn’t have a problem with a song like this. But then again, in my church a song like this would be taken to be about all the saints of the church – the “faithful ones” who have gone to heaven before us, whether or not we even know their names.

    2. [Copied and pasted from that Facebook page:]

      Faithful Men by Ron Hamilton

      I am looking to Jesus, giving all in the race,
      Pressing upward to gain the heavenly prize.
      Faithful Men are my witness, who have struggled and died;
      And they watch from the grandstand in the skies.

      Jacob joined with the faithful; Joseph followed behind;
      Moses ran with the mighty men of old.
      There were David and Daniel; then came Peter and Paul.
      Now the chant as they run on streets of gold.

      Faithful men have gone before us,
      Faithful men who fight and stand;
      I want to follow in their footsteps,
      Guided by those faithful men.

      2 Timothy 2:2
      Hebrews 12:1-2
      Like · Comment
      David Asaf, Raych Bourque and Tina Woods Humphrey like this.

      Raych Bourque
      The arrangement I have says for the chorus

      Faithful men have gone before us,
      Faithful men who fight and stand;
      I want to follow in their footsteps,
      Make me, Lord, a faithful man.

      I should have guessed that this is a Patch the Pirate masterpiece.

      1. Do you have any idea how hard you would fall if you ran on streets of Gold? That stuff is super slick.

  11. Faithful Men by Ron Hamilton

    I am looking to Jesus, giving all in the race,
    Pressing upward to gain the heavenly prize.
    Faithful Men are my witness, who have struggled and died;
    And they watch from the grandstand in the skies.

    Jacob joined with the faithful; Joseph followed behind;
    Moses ran with the mighty men of old.
    There were David and Daniel; then came Peter and Paul.
    Now the chant as they run on streets of gold.

    Faithful men have gone before us,
    Faithful men who fight and stand;
    I want to follow in their footsteps,
    Guided by those faithful men.

      1. Would that be the vanity hymnal compiled by Frank Garlock because all other hymnal publishers were too worldly to appreciate the majesty of the Garlock-Hamilton “hymns”?

        (This is also the hymnal which corrects the important doctrinal error in “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee.” Instead of “all who live in Love are thine” it says “all who believe in Christ are thine” or something like that.)

        1. The very same. And the epithet “vanity hymnal” is most apt: I think the Garlock, Hamilton, and Lynch outnumber those of Watts, Wesley, and Newton by a ratio of more than 4 to 1. But we are “conservative.”

          I can’t recall if there is an amendation to the text of “Joyful, Joyful,” though.

        3. Beautiful. And that syncopation at the beginning of the next to last line of each verse is also missing from our hymnal. Not majestic enough, I guess.

        4. Yeah, in the Majesty hymnal the authors (not composers) of Amazing Grace are John Newton & Frank Garlock because 1 word is changed.

      2. I think the Garlock version of the Hymn to Joy is called Hymn to Pastor, and it goes something like this (copyright 1611):

        Cringing, cringing, we implore thee,
        Man of glory, not of love.
        Wallets ope like flowers before thee,
        Silver like the sun above.
        Melt the clouds of naughty badness,
        Drive all those who doubt away.
        Maker of immortal dress codes,
        Drive us on the Jack Hyles Way.

        For thy works, in fear, we praise thee,
        Most humbly we crave thy abuse,
        Stars and angels symbolize thee,
        Not the rainbow’s perverse hues.
        Militia in the far-off mountains,
        Modest bathers by the sea,
        Light show in the foyer fountain,
        Put us all in awe of thee.

        Thou art stern and unforgiving,
        Save when thy friends stand embarrassed,
        Though they were caught quite red-handed,
        We release them at thy behest!
        Thou our Father, not our brother,
        Power to judge is only thine;
        Teach us all to watch each other,
        For your intel files divine.

        We now join the mighty chorus,
        Which the teenaged girls began,
        Love divine holds nothing for us,
        Next to praise from God’s own man.
        Still soul-winning, march we onward,
        Hoping to stir up more strife,
        Our ambition spurs us forward
        In the horse race that is life.

        If anybody wants to record this with instruments and voices, that person will be my best friend forever.

    2. “Men, men men men, Men, men men men,
      “Give me some men, Who are stout-hearted men…”
      Anybody else reminded of this equally male-dominated favorite? 😉

      1. Oh my gosh–Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Wasn’t that the same movie that featured the Indian Love Call?

      4. Oooh… when I was in high school we lived for a year in Hawaii, and there I encountered people with even scarier lives that IFBers- Mormons. (We were on the north shore of Oahu, where BYU Hawaii Campus in, and also the Hawaii Temple.) All of the boys were deep into Scouts, and when one of my friends got his Eagle, I went to the ceremony. It was held in a local Stake House. Was basically a church service with pinning. There was a special singer, fellow in late middle age, incredibly pompous manner. He sang a version of ‘Stout-Hearted Men’ that had been altered to be ‘Scout-Hearted Men’, with a Scout theme. Sang with his chin tucked in. I was about to gag. But something was particularly resonant with the song, because about halfway through, the huge bouquet of flowers that was perched on the edge above the piano keyboard, jumped off of the ledge and into the middle of the piano (grand, lid up) splashing water and flowers over the pianist, singer, and front row. It was terrific. 🙂 The signer couldn’t recover from that, so they went on the the next part of the program.

        Been more than 30 years and I still cherish the look on that guy’s face…

    3. I’m not fond of this song; it’s so simplistic. I’d much rather sing “Find Us Faithful” sung by Steve Green.

      1. Like that song.

        When I saw this post, I actually thought they were trying to sing the Twila Paris song that has the same title.

  12. And all God’s people said? Amen!

    Ugh…. as music director I so despised that song, we had to sing it EVERY father’s day. I changed it one year and got called out publicly during the Sunday morning service and made me get up there with some men and sing it.

    1. I’ve never liked “his and her” hymns in any of the denominations that feature them. “In Christ there is no longer male or female” comes to mind.

      1. Yeah, for us it was “Faith of our Fathers” every Father’s Day. “Faith of our Mothers” every Mother’s Day. Without fail. And while both got old quickly, the latter always seemed like a hastily written response to the former, like “I guess we shouldn’t forget the lady folks. Be nice to recognize them, too.”

        1. Heh. Bet they didn’t know that “Faith of Our Fathers” was written by FATHER Frederick William Faber, and it was about the Recusant Catholics who kept the Catholic faith during the Elizabethan persecution. 😉

          BTW–our hymnal adds a verse for “our mothers, too.” It’s feminist and PC and rather silly, if you ask me, which you haven’t. 😉

        2. BTW–our hymnal adds a verse for “our mothers, too.” It’s feminist and PC and rather silly, if you ask me, which you haven’t.

          No, but I’d love to hear it!

          And I’m sure the fundies I grew up with didn’t know about the origins of Faith of our Fathers. I didn’t either. Good things to know!

    2. As a music director, can you imagine attempting to direct “50+” independent souls like this?

      No criticism would be allowed, good luck trying to coordinate and herd these cats.

  13. I love it when churches use this kind of special. It’s special because of who is singing it and has nothing to do with quality or the proper use of music in a service (sarcasm intended). Music has become nothing more than an add-on to the “preaching” that the mog endures until he gets his time in the spotlight. Down here in the south this kind of special would get the response “Well bless your heart”. 🙂

    1. ^ dat! exactly!

      In other somewhat related news, I was lucky enough to be in Mecc…I mean Greenville a couple weeks ago for Sunday dinner when who should be sitting a couple tables away from us but Frank & Flora Jean Garlock, indubitably one of the Faithful Men™ in The Pirate’s mind as he wrote his simple chanty. Oh, the slings and arrows of egregio…I mean outrageous fame! Poor couple couldn’t get more than 5 bites in a row of General Tso’s best before another fawning fan would happen by for a gush session. Bless their little hearts.

      2. Love to sneak up behind him and yell “BORN TO DIE”, and make him jump out of his seat.

        I attend church a couple times a year and hear that stupid song EVERY time. I would love a chance to transfer my rage in a productive way.

  14. I know this is a bit off-topic but here goes anyway. I have noticed that a number of fundy churches have the cutouts of the world hanging on the wall. Why do they always leave out Japan?

    1. Because the company that makes the gold worlds doesn’t have a Japan die-cut.

      Even better are the upper echelon churches that have a gigantic tacky gold globe revolving in their lobby. (SW Baptist Church in OKC is one.) It’s quite mind-blowing to enter a church that basically worships its own rejection of the “world” and to be confronted with a huge idol of, what else, the world!

    3. They also seem to have left out all the other islands {e.g., Cuba, the other Caribbbean islands, the British Isles, Madagascar, New Guinea, all of Indonesia, etc.} and Australia.

      I remember what is printed on some placemat-type maps: “Not for navigational use.”

  15. Shamest on thouest Darrell and Stuffed Undies Site!!

    Hast thou not read “Touch not the Lord’s anninted”?

    1. …unless they ask you to…

      Oooo, let’s play Doctor… *but don’t tell anyone, shhhh it’ll be our special spiritual bond ok?

      Love,
      Dr Bob
      Dr Jack
      etc
      etc
      etc……

      *gives a whole new meaning to 50 shades of Gray doesn’t it?

  16. This church is an excellent example of the fundy church architecture element known as the Really Weird Drop Ceiling. Seriously, it’s only in fundy churches that you come to appreciate the full range of geometric shapes that can be achieved by two creative deacons and some drop ceiling materials.

  17. Mormons also have their own men’s hymns, proving that this is a pagan (Masonic!!) tradition of Babylon that has NO PLACE in God’s church!!

    1. See the mighty priesthood gathered;
    Firm in serried ranks they stand–
    Son and father jointly serving,
    Gathered in from ev’ry land.
    Proud their voices blend together,
    Raising hymns to Father’s praise,
    Sending forth the gospel message
    As restored in latter days.

    2. As to Seth his father, Adam,
    Pow’rful precepts did impart,
    Humbly each receives the message
    Spoken from a prophet’s heart.
    Line on line, truth is revealed,
    Till all darkness flees away
    In the face of perfect knowledge,
    Where celestial laws hold sway.

    2. I count it as a mercy when these “faithful men” don’t share with us their thoughts about women.

  20. I am looking to Bob Jones, giving all to the school,
    Striving for the unaccredited degree.
    My RAs are my witness, who have given me demerits;
    And they watch from the cameras in the skies…

    Faithful MOgs have given standards,
    Faithful MOgs were persecuted;
    I want to follow in their footsteps,
    Guided by those faithful MOgs.

    All I can say otherwise is at least those footsteps would be easy to see considering how deep they would be… 👿

    1. At least BJU has re-opened the Grace survey. Well . . . sort of. Grace says they are proceeding “under the terms of the original agreement.” This choice of verbiage suggests that there was truth in the allegations of BJU firing Grace because they were going BEYOND what BJU understood to be the parameters of the agreement. (Not overly optimistic that all will be revealed.)

      1. Not at all, DS. Using such contractual terms is by no means an admission of any other arrangement – if it was, contract lawyers would have struck it from the dictionary many moons ago. What it is rather is a clever wording that allows Bob Jones to save face while allowing GRACE to admit no fault.

        2. That’s what I meant. I felt that Grace’s comment could be construed to mean that they were returning to the limits of the agreement itself rather than exercising license to go beyond.

      2. I expect a statement from BJU something like this, once they receive the GRACE report:

        “We fully intended to release the GRACE report, with the names redacted. However, after much prayerful consideration we have decided that we must must withhold the report in its entirety to protect the identities of those who spoke with GRACE. To do less would be to do disservice to them, and to God, whom we serve.”

  21. This song gave me flashbacks to high school. We sang this song as part of a fine arts competition (*insert state letter* aacs) and we may have even went to nationals at Bob Jones singing this ditty.

  23. I remember singing that song in camp competition at Cedar River back in the mid 90s. As a kid deep in fundy land I loved it but then again I loved a song about the bible bookstore as well that I cringe at every time I hear it.

    @deacons son – that globe always made me cringe when I would walk in the foyer of SWBC. Thankfully I realized that HBBC wasn’t for me and I was able to move on.

      1. You’ve never heard that song?? It’s the one about I went to the Bible bookstore and there were all these versions and they confused me so I went to my preacher and he said all I need was KJV. (Or whatever.)

        2. When I was a kid, a missionary & his son sang a chorus like 10 times in different settings at a missions conference:

          What’s wrong with the old black book
          My daddy used to read from?
          Is it so outdated by modern translations?
          Revised Standard and Good News
          Ev’rywhere you look.
          Why won’t somebody tell me
          What’s wrong with the old black book?

          It’s been at least 20 years since that conference, and I’ve never heard it again since then, but I can still remember it word-for-word with the tune. Kinda makes me sad because that’s a few brain cells not devoted to remembering something worthwhile 🙁

  25. Darrell, I don’t have it on my phone but there is a song about a Bible Bookstore and how anything other than KJV is wicked…. Literally called The Bible Bookstore – probably a video or two on YouTube, the John Marshall Family popularized it in fundy circles

  27. These men of god
    All singing ‘round
    All ready for their work
    Preaching, singing, shouting
    Please god don’t let them twerk

  28. With as godless, oversexed, and corrupt as Fundamentalism is proving to be, let’s just be glad that half a dozen of them didn’t do a can-can across the floor wearing tutus and bras.

  29. Just one more, please forgive me, SFL:

    And still they sing
    Their anthem loud
    Responding to the call
    Don’t let them be like Miley
    On that old wrecking ball

  32. Eh, I’m one of the few that enjoy Ron Hamilton’s stuff, some of it at least. I did enjoy “Faithful Men” but I can always reconsider. I always got this image of a marathon on a golden track and while Peter, Paul, and John were chatting it up at a nice jog Moses (with the big beard flowing in the wind behind him) was leading the pack.

    2. The more I think about this song, the more annoying I find it. (I never sang it before.)

      First, that the metaphors are mixed. Is there a Great Heavenly Grandstand with Faithful Men in it looking down on earth at those of us still “running the race” to use a Biblical term or is there a Great Heavenly Track on which Joseph, Peter, Paul, and Moses are STILL RUNNING? If they’re still running, who is in the grandstands? The image of RUNNING on streets of gold is really, really weird to me.

      Second, there is a constant mix of past and present tense. The Faithful Men “have struggled and died” and Moses “ran,” yet now they “run on streets of gold.” Also, the song says, “”Faithful men have gone before us, Faithful men who fight and stand,” but if they’re in heaven now, why are they still fighting and standing? Shouldn’t it say who “fought and stood”? Of course then the rhyme wouldn’t work.

      And who is chanting? Isn’t it the people in the grandstands? It’s usually pretty hard to run and chant at the same time, but the sentence structure seems to indicate that it is the runners chanting.

      Final Question: When these Men of God get to heaven, do they hope to be sitting in the grandstand or running on the streets of gold?

      2. Oh, PW. You know you shouldn’t be asking questions. That might get someone to thinking and we just can’t have that.

  33. @ Fishsticks

    The chanting while running on streets of gold can also make you think of a formation run. Elijah, Elisha, Peter, and John are in the front, and the rest of the faithful men (in perfect cover and alignment) are following. Moses, his long beard flowing in the breeze, is to their left calling cadence:

    Moses: Sweet chariot rolling down the strip
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: Angel driver’s gonna take a little trip
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: Bound for earth through that pearl gate
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: Elijah’s waiting, so don’t be late!
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: Elijah’s body won’t be found
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: His mantle will fall to the ground
    Faithful Men: ” ”

    Moses: Are we faithful men?
    Faithful Men: We are!

    Moses: Gathered from afar
    Faithful Men: Afar!

    Moses: Sound off!
    Faithful Men: One, Two!

    Moses: Sound off!
    Faithful Men: Three, Four!

    Moses: Bring ’em on up now!
    Faithful Men: One Two Three Four, One Two… Three Four!

      1. This is what most of American evangelicalism thinks of heaven. Most American Christians speak more of heaven in terms of God praising them for job well done, than they do of praising Christ fora job well done. Of course, there is always the IFB “how many crowns will you be able to lay at Jesus’ feet” shame and guilt trip, but that’s still about their own “works” (read: “local NT Baptist church involvement”).

        2. Bald Jones, that song gives me a vivid picture of a bunch of Baptist preachers all wearing diamond (or rhinestone) tiaras.

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