old time religion by Jim Linderman: Evangelist Bob Jones wears a Dunce Cap Megaphone on his Head old time religion

Friday

Evangelist Bob Jones wears a Dunce Cap Megaphone on his Head old time religion

Evangelist and old time religion child preacher Bob Jones poses with his megaphone appropriately placed atop his noggin like a dunce cap. Long before his secular university was a regular stop for aspiring Republican candidates hoping to claim the religious zealot crowd, Bob Jones was a door to door vegetable salesman. His father forced young Bob to memorize bible passages, and soon he was on his way "converting" the whole town. Interestingly, his first memorable sermon, at the age of twelve, was a defense of the populist party…but he strayed. WAY strayed.

Despite having a right wing college now named after him, he was a college dropout. He left school as more money was to be made on the converting trail. He was soon preaching to millions. His sermons railed against drinking, dancing and desecrating the sabbath. Think of that every time you go to the bar on Sunday and dance. That's three sins in one night, and if you end up in the rumble seat on the way home, I guess that would be four. No wonder young folk are leaving the organized church like sin-chasing lemmings.

He made a film depicting sins so lurid, it was nearly banned, but that was an old sideshow and carnival trick to bring in the crowds. Use the sins to bring them in, but have it end with salvation.

Jones supported politicians who were members of the Ku Klux Klan, but he wasn't too excited about those who professed to be Catholics. He didn't like science. He was a segregationist until he was 70 years old and used the bible to prove it. An example of his wisdom is the statement "It is not an accident that most of the Chinese live in China, it is not an accident that most Japanese live in Japan…" Brilliant observations like that are characteristic. Tool of God? No, just a tool. He didn't like Jews either.

A "clap of thunder" convinced him there should be a Christian college. Just what we needed. The doors are always open to Republicans, including the first George Bush. His visit there resulted in a firestorm of hell so profound, the school even had to change their rule against inter-racial dating.

Real Photo Postcard of Evangelist Bob Jones and Family. Azo reverse. Dated on reverse 1917.
Collection Jim Linderman

No comments:

Post a Comment

Fair Use

Though the images, which I have myself largely scanned from my personal collection of photographs and ephemera, some are subject to © by the artist, syndicate that distributed them or otherwise the individual artists. The use here is regardless covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
1. The image illustrates an educational article; its inclusion in the article adds significantly to understanding the text because it is a historical sample of the art covered in the critical commentary, and shows use of an innovative style. Therefore the image substantially improves the educational value of the article.
2. The image is used as the primary means of visual identification of the article topic, which directly concerns a visual artist, and is indicative of the style for which hethe artists are renowned.
3. Images are of lower resolution than the original. The image is not used here for profit.

4. It is not in any way replaceable with an uncopyrighted or freely copyrighted image pertinent to the work referenced in the article

The copyright for some images may be owned by either the publisher, the writer(s) and/or artist(s) which produced them originally.

Although most of the images here are original photography and objects owned by the author and in the author's personal collection, we cannot absolutely guarantee the exact copyright status of the items or offer written assurance that every or any aspect of this work is completely cleared for all usages. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Any Trademarks used in this item listing are used for strictly descriptive purposes only. No association or endorsement is implied or inferred. No character or trademark ownership is given or implied.

If you are the owner of any aspect of an item which you believe to b