He said - so - I said . . .

 

Rev. Harold Vaughan

. . . or - The ramblings of a middle aged man in response to the ramblings of another middle aged man.  This post is destined to be my most read (sarcasm).

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I met Harold Vaughan way back in the early 1980's.  On several occasions he was a "special speaker" at the Baptist church I was attending in Goldsboro, NC.  I believe he was part of an annual "revival" that we had.  I think I was there for at least two of these revivals that he spoke at.  I even took vacation time off work so I could attend the daily meetings, as well as the evening meetings.  This went on for 4, perhaps 5 days.  Heck, it may have lasted a week, I really don't remember.

Harold likely wouldn't remember me, which is understandable.  

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As I am prone to do, every now and then when I reminisce of the notable Christians from my past, I google them.  Rev. Vaughan is still at it, some 40 years later.  He runs Christlife Ministries in Virginia, which seems to be an organization specializing in hosting Christian conferences, called "Prayer Advances".  They have them for men, women, couples, etc.

I also found many sermons / messages by Harold on the web.  I watched one.  I don't remember the particular style of preaching that Harold had so many years ago, so I can't say that the video I watched brought back memories.  Honestly, I found it a tad - for lack of a better word - unhinged.  It's just 15 minutes long, made sometime in 2020, and the entire video gives the impression that Harold is very, very, very troubled about the state of Christianity in the US, and the state of humanity in the US in general.  I always find it odd that Christian ministers, who spend their entire lives preaching the same messages for 40, 50 years, only to be incredibly disappointed and frustrated, even to the point of despair that the churches that they preach in are no better off as a result of their years of preaching.  I would think that, if they were honest they would eventually come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, their message was not as inspired or inspiring as they thought or hoped, and perhaps it's time to just give up and try a different line of work.

I am going to look at just a few of Harold comments on this video.  I was not surprised by his comments, I was not angered or insulted either.  I just found them to be typically absurd and devoid of understanding and empathy.  In other words, they were typically Christian.

Video link for anyone desiring to watch it.

"I am absolutely amazed that there is a political party in America that is espousing socialism and communism".
This is likely a comment from a man who actually believes that socialism and communism are both evil and are basically the same thing.  And I suspect that the political party he is referring to is the Democratic Party.  Why doesn't he just go ahead and say it?  And while I understand that in his view, the Democrats do hold many views that lean socialistic, like not wanting people to go without medical care just because they can't afford to get basic or life saving treatment, I have to wonder though what party is "espousing communism"?  

"You know, liberalism is a mental disorder".

I am a liberal:  

~ I care for the physical and mental well being of humanity.  

~ I also care for the neglected and abandoned pets in my part of the world - that's why I      have seven cats, all strays that showed up over the years as abandoned kittens.

~ I want people to be able to earn a living wage.

~ I despise injustice of any kind, whether it is perpetrated by the courts, the police, the           hoodlums, or the church.

~ I am for equal rights for all citizens.

~ I desire to carry my concealed weapon to protect myself from anyone who is bent on        harming me or mine.

Harold is a Christian conservative:

~ He believes in an invisible god.  

~ He believes that this god spoke everything into existence - universe, earth, plants,              animals, and humans, some 6,000 years ago.

~ He believes that the first two humans, "Adam & Eve", were hand made by god as adults.

~ He believes that the early humans lived for many hundreds of years, some to even 800      or 900 years old.

~ He believes that his god (justifiably so) flooded the planet with miles-deep water some       4,000 years ago, wiping out all life except the 8 people who survived in a giant hand-           made boat along with millions of animals and repopulated Earth using the ever                 popular "incest method".

~ He believes Jesus was born to a woman who was a virgin.

~ He believes that this Jesus could walk on water, heal the sick, and raise the dead.

~ He believes that Jesus died for his sins, arose from the dead and went to heaven, and        will one day soon (the definition for the word "soon" is up for debate) return for all the      Christians and take them to heaven with him.

~ He believes that people like me, who can't or no longer can find any of this to be                 believable, will be punished for all eternity in the fiery pit of hell.

But according to Harold, I am the one with a mental disorder ?

"The left wing churches got politicized a long time ago, their all about same sex, their all about abortion rights, their all about socialism, their all about handgun control, their all about the transgender thing".
I really don't even care to respond to this, mainly because I don't attend church, any church, so I really don't know what "left wing churches" believe.  But it's rather pot-kettle-black for him to accuse "left wing churches" of being "politicized" while not recognizing the right wing churches for their equal contribution to the political landscape:

"Listen, adulterers will go to hell. Practicing effeminate people will go to hell. Idolaters will go to hell. Unsaved people go to hell."

So this is how evangelism works. Just name all the people that you are confident your god is going to assign to hell.  Of course, Rev. Harold has absolutely no confirmation that this hell that is spoken of in his trusty KJV bible actually exists.  I have to wonder, will not believing in hell get me sent to hell?

"I never dreamed that 50% of our populace would hate our country".

If you listened to Rev. Harold in his video, it would be easy to conclude that he is one of those who hates the USA.  He has absolutely nothing good to say about the USA.  He has nothing good to say about the churches in this country, the people in the churches, and especially nothing good to say about the people who don't agree with him.  He is like a one man country-hating machine.  Now granted, his video was made before the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, so perhaps he now realizes that the true haters of this country are the ones who were not content with the democratic process and tried to overthrow our government - those are the ones who hate our country.  But strangely, I haven't been able to find a message from the Rev. Harold Vaughan pointing at the insurrectionists as among those who will go to hell. Of course, he may actually see what happened on January 6th as a good thing.

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I suspect that this is the limit of my responding to Rev. Vaughan - I won't be watching any more of his videos.  I found his style and the content of his message to be very unappealing.  He strikes me as a man who just can't stand the thought that there are millions of people in this country who couldn't care less about his god, his standards of morality, and his pathetic beliefs in ancient myths and legends.  Sorry to say, but the Rev. Harold Vaughan is just another example of why I am so glad that I got out of Christianity when I did.

bob
r.u.reasonable@gmail.com