Literature
Short Extracts
From: Cast out of the Ark: the Churches' Abuse &
Rejection Of God's Animal Kingdom by James Thompson - The
Animals' Padre (p 34-35)
http://www.all-creatures.org/ap/
"Those of a High Church orientation are not the only culprits guilty
of ejecting animals from Christendoms ark. Low Church evangelicalism,
which is increasing the most, is equally guilty. Indeed, when the writer
expressed his abhorrence of animal exploitation in the presence of an
evangelical brother, the reply was "Don't get sidetracked from the only
message that counts, brother. Our soul task is to save souls for Jesus!"
Well, if 'getting folk saved' made them more compassionate and concerned
about the rest of creation I'd shout out 'Hallelujah!' every time. As it
is, my sympathies lie with the comment made by Anna Sewell, authoress of
BLACK BEAUTY:
'There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as
they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good
and kind to animals as well as humans, it is all a sham'
The author, while attending an Evangelical Conference many years ago,
touched upon animal cruelty and the churches' need to reclaim the spirit
of St. Francis. His utterance was followed by a chuckle which
reverberated. One cleric rose up to express the feeling of the rest:
"What on earth has the Holy Spirit to do with animals!" Yes, it was
obvious. They were only concerned with 'speaking in tongues'; swaying in
unison with jiggy tunes which caused a 'trickle down the spine'; and
healing manifestations claimed to be divine, but in reality, induced by
hypnotic effect. One dear old soul could only assume in the writer's
despondency a lack of spiritual life. She expressed it either in blunt
Yorkshire or Lancashire: "You need your baptism in the Spirit Bro, 'it's
better felt than telt.' "
Such glossolalia as is frequent in these so-called, 'spirit filled'
assemblies is usually no more ethical than has been expressed by dancing
dervishes. The first king of Israel was gullible to them (1 Samuel
10:11). Thankfully, with the evolvement of an ever growing moral concept
of God, the later characters of such a line express Divine inspiration
no longer by behavioural characteristic of hysteria, but by becoming a
moral mouthpiece for the defenceless of their era."
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