I don't think I've ever told this story to anyone - but I may have, since it took place nearly 15 years ago.
When I was about 15 years old, I used to attend church with my mother, my grandmother, and some of my grandmother's sisters (my aunts). In a "special" service one day, a guy who is known as Prophet Todd Hall was preaching. He was giving out the normal Christian prophecies - financial blessings this year, gifts from heaven, spiritual warfare, yada yada yada. But then he gave out a not-so-normal Christian prophecy that destroyed my love of human nature for almost a decade.
He gave a prophecy that went on the lines of "The Lord told me that in the year 2000, all of the homosexuals in the world are going to be burned alive in fire. 'God' is going to burn them up." The entire congregation cheered, and celebrated, and shouted "Praise the Lord!" and "Hallelujah!", others 'spoke in tongues' and some 'went in the spirit' (typical of Pentecostal churches).
I was frightened, completely afraid. I didn't want to be burned alive - certainly not by 'the Lord'. I became very religious and hated the fact that I had been attracted to men (and certainly denied it when people called me "gay" and "faggot"). I tried to like women, and I prayed almost every day to at least enjoy seeing a pair of tits - but none of it ever worked.
As we all know, the year 2000 came and gone, and no faggot was burned alive (not by 'the Lord' anyway). This, of course, shouldn't be surprising since no one has seen 'the Lord' do anything notably 'divine' - so why expect him to now get up off the tree-stump from where you carved him and snap his fingers to perform his "burn the fags" magic act. Todd Hall expected this anyway - and so did the church, and so did I.
As a result, I became this hypocritical, provocative, and arrogant "unfag" that was very religious and emotionally distraught. Then 1999 came, when that 'star' appeared over my head (I talked about this in my blog entry titled "I Struggled Accepting Reality"), and then, of course, the year 2000 came, and 'the Lord' did nothing - as we have all seen.
Now, for interest's sake, let's say that 'the Lord' did get up off the tree-stump, and did set all the homos on fire. People on this planet do not use common sense when it comes to 'the Lord' - but now that 'the Lord' did something they could see, it's safe to assume they would perform an evaluation of him. To burn people alive, because they are not as you want them to be - and for no other reason - is very oppressive and cruel. 'The Lord' would obviously be quite the tyrant - and all those bible verses where the "prophets" talked about ending oppression on the planet would be meaningless. Actions speak louder than words, right? If 'the Lord' said, "Oppression is wrong", but he himself oppressed - would you care more about what he says or what he does? You would certainly believe what he does, since you would fear his oppressive acts and not believe his peaceful lies.
Even more, what about all the 5 year old fags - I suppose they would be among the piles of fag ashes. And 'the Lord' being the all-knowing one, would know that little embryo Johnny would end up a fag - so it would only make since he be burned up as soon as his mother pushed him out of her womb (especially since praying for 'the Lord' to make you stiff when you check out a pair of tits is a waste of time).
But such is this place. Where people spend hours evaluating the word of 'the Lord', but not one second his acts. Who can recall the accounts of 'the Lord' without first reading from the bible? You certainly don't see him moving or doing anything - typical of all idols in this place (visible and invisible). Besides, he did miss the mark on that "burning fags" thing - at least that would have been something, right?
Oh, and Todd Hall is still giving out his prophecies - but he has probably failed enough times. So I'm sure that he's been sticking to his normal Christian prophecies of spiritual and financial blessings and gifts from heaven - and leaving any real and worthwhile prophecies to any true prophets of the God that actually lives and moves, whose acts can be watched and evaluated.
