November
5, 2019
By
Jim Culp
“We
are living in the last days…” is a sentence frequently spoken loudly by a
person of some clerical rank or statue in the early days of my youth. My family
attended church services at a large property called the “Cielo Vista Park
Baptist Church” out on Hawkins Boulevard. The church itself was a massive
building to the south, and then there was another large building to the north
of the property that housed a gym and numerous classrooms where children of all
ages attended “Sunday School” on Sunday mornings. This church was our home for
one to four hours every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. There
were sometimes sermons that the pastor, associate pastor, or some guest speaker
would “remind” the congregation that “He (the Christ) is returning soon… so
give all you can so that we can save more souls from eternal damnation.” I
never paid much attention to these diatribes, I was a very young boy when we
started attending church services here; and was still eleven when we loaded the
truck to move to New Mexico.
When
we moved out there, we assumed the same posture at a much smaller church…one
with a private school attached. It was on the east side of “Fighting Colt Hill”
and was called Bible Baptist Church. The church is still there; I visited it in
2018. It’s the same place, just older. The school was closed years ago. But it
was there that the Word of God would be drilled into my eager little brain, and
the ways of this God and his Son, the Christ. The church was always called “the
house of God.” However, your body was also called the “house of God,” because
in Christian theory, God resides within the human being that has accepted his
son Jesus (the Christ) as his eternal master and savior.
Well,
for little James Matthew Culp, this was all cool. I was part of the people that
God loved, and God was the reason that we had a nice home and property in the
foothills, and that we could attend a school that taught the Word of God, and
the teachings of the Christ when became a human for a while and visited Earth
from 0 to 33 A.D.
But
one day, the leader of our church brought a sermon to the crowd that changed
all of that for me. He said that people in the church were not giving enough,
and that his ministry could not continue unless they gave more. In church
terminology, this means that people are not giving the “extra” amount that they
should. Everyone in that church, except maybe a lone person or two, gave ten
percent of their earnings to the church each month, and most (in addition) gave
a significant amount to missionaries across the globe that this and many other
churches supported with direct funds. My parents each had an income. My step-father
was a (at this point) a 33 year veteran of the Santa Fe Railroad, and had the
second highest seniority in the New Mexico Division. He was paid very well, and
his “extra” every month was (in addition to his 10%) was a whopping 20%. My
mother drew social security for my brother Dave and I. She would also give 30%.
So, from my house alone; this tiny little church would receive $2,200 a month.
Now,
let’s analyze that a little bit farther. Six other prominent families attended
that little church at the time. They were all miners or some type of worker at
the Kennecott Copper Mines in Santa Rita, or the Phelps Dodge Copper Mines in
Tyrone. They all had nice incomes. None of them were rich by any means, but they
had really good incomes. I say all of that to say this…that little church
received a pretty fair amount of donations every month, and the church paid
100% of the pastor’s bills.
So,
on the day that sermon came, I was about 14 years of age. I wasn’t the smartest
kid in Silver City, but I wasn’t ignorant either. I was competent in 7th
grade math, and a really good reader. I started “putting 2 and 2 together,” as
the old folks used to say. This “man of God” was absolutely nothing but a con-artist and a
scammer. He was also the Principal and Chief Finance Officer of the school that
was attached to the church. He drew a whopping salary for that job. I also
attended that school for 6th and 7th and seventh grade, and later 11th
grade.
However,
my mother had become the treasurer for the school and the church. This was
decided by the board of Deacons, a type of Congress/President arrangement. Two
months in a row, amounts of more than $1,500 from tithes could not be accounted
for. When my mother brought this information to the Board of Deacons, they challenged
the pastor on the issue. He promptly resigned.
When
I turned 18 years old in October of 1984, I announced to my parents that I was
no longer attending church. I saw the same game being played with a new Pastor
and a new Principal. I joined the US Army in January of 1985, and the old town
became a memory.
I
told you that story to warn you that organized religion is hypocrisy and a means
of a group of people to get rich. Tithing is an Old Testament tradition… and
has nothing to do with Christianity. The essence of modern Christianity is
based upon the teachings of Jesus the Christ, and he didn’t command anyone to support
a free loader that claims he is the person that God sent to your group.
Look
for Part II, coming very soon.
-Jim
Follow
me at jimculp.blogspot.com
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