81 thoughts on “FWOTW: GospelText.org”

    3. While he is very well mustachioed, I have some questions about his using a “MyWife&I@x.com” as a professional e-mail address.

  5. Checked out the photos. Nothing to write home about, just basic Bible verses posted here and there; still, that’s the kind of thing that tends to spark more than a few tizzies in Born-Again Atheists. 🙄 (They’re still a fairly new phenomenon, but we’ve all met a few.)

    1. No, not Bible verses, Bible verse snippets.

      There is a difference. Little snippets, communicating a very simplistic message, mostly able to be overlooked.

      They have a very, very limited supply of Bible snippets they are willing to print.

      Somehow fundamentalists think that everybody knows about Jesus, but people refuse to come to Him. The truth is that everybody knows about them, but few people really want anything they have to offer.

  6. It’s paradoxical how Fundy’s insist on giving a message about a relationship with God in a non-relational way. I was raised to believe that it was unnecessary, if not even wrong (because of separation and “testimony” concerns) to build a relationship with someone, in order to speak the good news into their lives.

    1. Exactly. Because how is someone supposed to “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” when they have absolutely no idea who Jesus Christ is???

      1. And according to that Patron of Realism Jack Chick, no one, repeat, NO ONE besides Real True Xtians has EVER even heard of JAY-zuz before. 🙄

  7. Because nothing says I’m a religious nutburger better than random bible verses on top of your mailbox.

    But just think of all the mail trucks they can reach.

    1. A death threat, to be exact.
      Or what the prison chaplain says as you’re finishing up your last meal.

  9. From Lake Wobegon Days, by Garrison Keillor:

    The Grace & Truth catalog offered many items with Scripture emblazoned on them, including birthday cards (“Ye must be born again”), a Gospel mailbox with handsome nameplate and “My Word shall not pass away. Matt. 24:35” painted on the lid, a telephone-book cover (“Let no corrupt communication pass out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. Eph. 4:29”), a doormat (“Now ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Eph. 2:19”), a wastebasket (“Touch not the unclean thing. 2 Cor. 6:17”), and even an umbrella (“Giving thanks always for all things. Eph. 5:20”). There were paper napkins and placemats for in the Bible Families, Familiar Parables, Our Lord’s Miracles, and Bible Prophecy series–once, my friend Lance came to supper and found Armageddon and the Seven-Headed Beast under his plate. Grace & Truth even offered matchbooks. If a smoker asked you for a light, you could give him the book (“Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, therefore glorify God in your body, which is God’s”).

    Testimony was the aim of this merchandise. The Grace & Truth people believed that unregenerate man has hardened his heart against God and that the spirit works to exercise and open the heart but that these openings of grace may be very brief, perhaps only a few seconds, during which the wicked may repent–especially if God’s Word is before them. Thus, the need to place Scripture in plain view. A fellow motorist’s heart might be opened on the road; our license-plate verse would be right there at the right moment to show the way.

    I felt that so much Scripture floating around might tend to harden some hearts, that Scripture should be treated with reverence and not pasted to any flat surface you could find–at least, that was what I said when Brethren asked why I didn’t carry a “The Peace of God Passeth all Understanding” bookbag to school. In fact, I was afraid I would be laughed off the face of the earth.

    My dad’s car sported a compass on the dashboard with, “I am the Way” inscribed in luminescent letters across its face, clearly visible in the dark to a girl who might be sitting beside me. “Why do you have that?” she might say. “It’s not mine, it’s my dad’s,” I’d say. “I don’t know why, I guess he likes it there.” I wanted her and me to be friends and our conversation to head in the direction of personal feelings, The Importance of Being Free and Sharing Love, and not toward the thorny subject of obedience, which tended to put a damper on things. The compass wasn’t easily removed; you’d have to get behind the instrument panel to remove the nuts. I thought of covering it with masking tape, but that might only draw attention to it. So I hung my cap on it.

    Brother Louie wasn’t so timid. His car (a Fairlane four-door) was a rolling display of Scripture truth, equipped not only with verses on the license plates but also across the dashboard, both sunvisors, the back of the front seat, all four armrests, the rubber floormats, the ashtray and glove compartment, and just in case you weren’t paying attention, he had painted a verse across the bottom of the passenger side of the windshield–“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”–for your edification as you gazed as the scenery. Brother Louie kept a plastic bucket by his left leg, where he kept Gospel tracts, rolled up and wrapped in bright cellophane, which he tossed out at mailboxes as he drove along. The cellophane was to protect the Word from rain and also to attract the eye. And finally, one year, he found a company in Indiana that advertised custom-made musical horns. Louie’s horn played the first eight notes of the Doxology. It sounded like a trumpet. He blew it at pedestrians, oncoming traffic, while passing, and sometimes just for his own pleasure. On occasion, vexed by a fellow driver, he gave into wrath and leaned on the horn, only to hear “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.” It calmed him down right away. The horn cost Louie more than a hundred dollars, and when he traded in the Fairlane on a Galaxie, he took the horn along.

    1. I’d sort of like to have a doormat that says “Now ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,″ although I realize it would be pretty hard to fit all of that on one mat.

    2. Vintage Keillor. Thanks for the reminder.

      I want a horn like that. But not with a trumpet sound.

      1. Yes, there’s a counter. If you look at Darrell’s screen shot — left hand side, next to the clip art — you’ll see the counter.

  14. Smh. I’m so embarrassed that I used to knock on my friends and neighbors doors begging them to let me place these signs in their yards.

  16. I actually kinda like this one, even if it is backwards. Probably says something about The Beatles melodic gift.

  17. What good are these signs? You can’t even use them as kindling!

    One of these reps is in contact with my former MOG. I haven’t seen any signs anywhere so at least he didn’t take this bait. The possibility of that happening just …….. ugghhhh. No words for that.

  18. The rural North Carolina roadways are littered with these signs. I could get pics of dozens here locally.

    In some places they have several in a row and I always expect the last one to say “BURMA SHAVE!”

    2. Rural West Virginia

      Rural Ohio

      Rural Kentucky

      Rural (western) Maryland

      Rural Virginia

      Rural Tennessee

      … you get the picture.

      I’m surprised this is a “ministry” rather than a booming business.

      1. You forgot Kenai Alaska! The most rural of all… but for real folks, the only gospel that people got during the 90s was chick tracts & tacky billboard verses(only in the kjv). Now we have Tim Tebow!

        1. These signs are all over Pensacola, FL. Especially the closer you get to Ruckman’s church. Not that I would know or anything. 🙄 Been in his church plenty of times.

    3. Laird Donald, you beat me to it!! Yes, I have seen many of these signs hereabouts. I always wondered where they came from.

      (For those who may not know, I live just down the road a-piece from Don.)

      1. I’ve seen that “Wages of Sin Is Death” sign on Mountain View Road. Haven’t noticed it there lately, though. Maybe the house changed hands?

  19. When the fifth sign in the photo album was put into the ground, did it sing “stuck in Lodi again”?

    1. Followed by:
      Clowns to the left of me,
      Jokers to the right,
      Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
      😎

    2. Hey, I love that song!

      And how about this one:

      Oh mama, can this really be the end?
      To be stuck inside of Mobile
      with the Memphis blues again.

      1. Yeah, I know this has nothing to do with Lodi, Ohio. It’s just a great song. And Credence’s song reminds me of it.

        2. “Stuck in the Middle with You” was a hit for the group Stealer’s Wheel in 1972-73. It was written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan, members of that band.
          Several cover versions were recorded, but I’m not aware of one by Credence (Creedence Clearwater Revival?).

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuck_in_the_Middle_with_You

          “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” was, of course, written by Bob Dylan, who first recorded it in 1966.

  22. There is a convenience store near me that has one of those signs out front. They even have one inside the store by the cash register. I have to pass that store whenever I go to see my parents. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Oh, joy! 😎

  24. Love that song, Don! Tesla’s version is good too!
    And the sign said long haired freaky people
    need not apply….
    Great Wobegon piece. This is why I go to the Lutheran church with Pastor Liz.
    And I’m pretty sure there is still a “Prepare to Meet Thy God” on Manitoba 30 just a few miles south of Altona. Southern Manitoba is sort of the Bible belt of Canada….it has to be from about 1955…

    1. I used to be a long-haired freaky person.
      Now I’m a short-haired freaky person.
      Each haircut only makes me freakier.

      1. No kidding big gary! Tried to grow my hair out a little a few years ago, it didn’t go well. I have to stay with the crew cut look, I’m too old for long hair it doesn’t grow right and just looks scraggly.

  25. Did anyone notice that they have “repent and believe the Gospel Mk 10:13”

    But Mark 10:13 is “And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.”

    And even if they had the correct reference (Mk 1:15) the gospel in Mark 1;15 has nothing to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ… which is what they are implying that it does.

    Also in the main post the verses are “excerpts” not “excepts”

    1. — Also in the main post the verses are “excerpts” not “excepts”

      The verses have everything except the gospel.

      1. I’m pretty sure my college age son still uses this technique.
        Me: “Hey son, how you doing?”
        Son: “I think I’ll be okay without money…”
        Me: mumble mumble open wallet mumble mumble

        2. Kreine, maybe I’m just a push-over, so seek out weaker willed people to test it on before you go for the big one.

      2. Or…

        Now, let’s go before the Lord as we prepare to give our tithes and His offerings:

        “Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee that thou art the great provider; The sustainer of Thy needy people. We thank Thee that Thou dost provide for our every need.

        Now, Lord, I pray that Thou wouldst provide for the needs of Thy people in this hollowed place, for the man of God who gives to Thy people meat from this mighty pulpit. Lord, Thou knowest how his car isn’t as good a testimony to Thy grace as it could be, so we pray that you would provide…”

        1. I have a friend who is part of a church around the corner… one I would have NEVER attended in my fundy days. At their church they don’t preach about money. They do express, on a list, the ministries and what their needs are. They don’t pass a plate, but have a box in the back to drop money in if you choose to do so.
          When I was there I looked at their work, I prayed and felt compelled (by the Spirit) to give. And it was a joy to do so.
          That was a pretty good experience, you know, giving without some jerk judging your spiritual maturity based on the amount.

  27. We had Bro. Koenig at our church in the past. He seems a nice man with a heart for reaching others with the Gospel. We received the very sign featured above from him.

    He did charge for the signs at the close of our church service. Either the policy has changed, or he neglected to inform us donations were voluntary.

    Obviously, at this point he & I would disagree regarding the effectiveness & appropriateness of this method of evangelism.

    1. I can’t wait until someone there figures out where the traffic came from. We’ll have a new fundy telling us how bitter we are.

      Yes, I am bitter, and people like them helped the cause along.

  30. In the town where I grew up (NW Ohio), all the members of a particular fundamentalist, King James-only, Baptist church have these in their yard. I believe that it’s understood that it’s a “sign” that you attend the right church and are strong enough in your witness to not care what others think about you.

  31. I must still have some funny blood in me. I don’t have a problem with signs that have scripture on them. I actually prefer it to some of the kitschy sayings on church billboards (like “God answers knee mail”)

  32. I must still have some fundy blood in me. I don’t have a problem with signs that have scripture on them. I actually prefer it to some of the kitschy sayings on church billboards (like “God answers knee mail”)

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