to me, he was
a 'Sinister Minister'
at least I use to refer to him as that
when I was a child
he preached constant hell and damn fire
in the pulpit of our church
and I use to believe that only Jesus himself
could save me from such a scary man
God, I know now is the God of love
anger, scare tactics and fire are not his tools
he wants us to love him back
not inspire his mouthpieces to scare his flock
into belief
I steer wide and clear of such Hell and Brimstone
preachers
for they take the wrong road approach
they speak not from love but from fear
and hold tight to the rigidity of their
self imposed rules
similar to any good obedience trainer
he will show you the worst thing you can do
is punish or scare an untrained dog to get it
to obey
you train it with love, praise and treats
it then will do what you ask cause it wants
to please you so you will love it too
God rules with hope, guidance, peace and love
not fists of lowly human rage
I pray for those preachers so narrow minded in their
preaching that they can't seem to learn that
simple edict that simply states
go out among the world and love one another
and yes, I even prayed for that Sinister Minister
who use to scare me so badly in church when
I was a small girl.............
(July 8, 2014 1025am)
Author's Notes/Comments:
I wrote this pretty quickly. A memory came to me of a minister in our church that my brother and I use to go to out on old Lost Pavement Road. I've completely forgotten that minister's name and the name of the actual church but I could drive you out to the frotn door step of it still today if I had to. I was like six or maybe seven years old when we went to that church. The church and the church classes for the kids were nice but that preacher/ Minister who headed it was very scary to me as a kid. I dreaded sitting through his sermons. We even called him a Sinister Minister after going home and asking mommy what the word Sinister menat and she said evil like. That really fit him for us. I truly did believe that the only one who could save me besides God from this man was Jesus. So while he preached I'd mentally cower behind Jesus' robes and imagining that made me feel safe, that Jesus was there between me and him, to protect me. I was taught we should go to church, by good church going people so my brother and I would go but I was glad when we switched churches and went to the First Church of the Nazarine as those people including most especially the Minister were much, much nicer and more God like to us in their beliefs and lessons. I had a small trigger of a memory and this poem came to me in a huge rush. I do hope you enjoy its rendering and don't think I come across as overly preachy myself. I just wanted to share something that was so powerful in my young life once upon a time.
