Especially nowadays, with the rise in televangelists and mega-churches, it seems that preachers are increasingly getting paid for inducing fear in others. Sure, it's always been that way. Let's look at the condensed version of the age-old sermon:
"If you accept Jesus as your lord and savior, you will be saved and sent to the kingdom of heaven to join him after this life. If you don't accept him as such, however, you will be sent to the fiery pits of hell for all eternity! If this scares you and you want to continue to get scared, please donate some money to this church. Thanks."
With all of the technological expansions through the years, however, such fear-inducing sermons have appeared to become more widespread and more over-the-top than ever before. Whenever something bad gets reported, such as a damaging storm, violence, an outbreak of an illness, etc., at least one preacher will say, "This could be a sign from God that the end of times is near!" Yes, they've been pushing this end-of-the-world idea for quite some time, but now just have more avenues on which to spread the message. How I wish I could have had a psychic vision of these fear-inducing sermons before they started and given the following sermon (yes, I'd use a time-machine to record the sermon and place it on YouTube):
"There's something I have to tell all of you right now. In the not-too-distant future, people are going to start talking, and I'm not talking chit-chat type of talking; I'm talking crazy-talk talking. They're going to use this talk to strike fear into your minds and hearts, try to get you to empty your wallets as a result, and limit you on your potential. These people are going to tell you an invisible man created this world in just 6 days and that he is in control of all of our destinies. They're going to tell us about a virgin woman who gave birth to a baby that was perfect. These people will say that this perfect baby sacrificed himself for all of our sins and then rose again 3 days later. They'll say that in order to meet this perfect being, you'll have to worship him, and if you do this, you'll be rewarded after this life by being sent to an indescribable paradise, not unlike Hawaii. If you don't worship him, however, they'll say you're going to burn for all of eternity, just like some already do in the Middle East. I know you all probably think I'm crazy right now, but after the talk starts, you'll understand. These people are also going to say men are superior to women, even though, without women, men couldn't have been born. They'll say you also have to believe everything they believe in order to have a great afterlife, even though these beliefs alter through the times. Every time something bad happens in the world, they'll say it could be the end of days and this invisible being could end the world at any moment. Yes, they'll say this quite frequently, so much so that you start marking each Monday down as a possible end-of-the-world day. These people will also find groups to blame for the possible Armageddon - mostly men that like other men and women that like other women, because, well, I'm not sure why to be perfectly honest. Maybe they're jealous of Elton John's voice or something. Ah, yes, that's a few years from now. Trust me - he's something special. I'll bring "Rocket Man" back for you to listen to sometime. Back to the topic at hand, these crazy-talkers will try to frighten you into going against what you feel is right in your heart because you think this bogeyman may come to get you. They'll try to frighten you into not trying new things and expanding your horizons, because according to them, this invisible man could strike you down at any moment. They'll try to frighten you to a point where you're fearful of loving, accepting, and just being yourself. So, when you start hearing these crazy-talks, don't listen to them! Be strong! Take pride in who you are! Dare to dream! Reach for the stars! ...and don't let this invisible monster in your closet prevent you from making the most of yourself and this life! Oh, and if you're in a relationship with a virgin guy, ladies, and you get pregnant, let's not pull out the I'm-still-a-virgin card, okay?"
Amen.
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