Tent Revival!

That old time religion . . . Before TV and internet and FM radio, religious revivals provided a mix of old school entertainment and engagement. Even now with an overflow of technology, they still do. I've glimpsed black and white versions (in these cases, African American and European American), both highly charged. As an aside, a dynamic mix of black and white revivalism comes together nicely in someone like Elvis, gyrations, gospel and all.


One dude I once saw and heard, the "Apsotle" D., looked like a cross between Paul Harvey (before death) and Conway Twitty (before BIG HAIR and death). The Apostle D. was fiery and wild. He fomented spiritual insurrection against the powers that be. Besides the Catholic Church, he preached against Protestant Churches -- any organized group with a hierarchy or secular power base. "We have a direct line to Jesus, and we don't need no intercessions!" The end of the world was/is coming, naturally and speedily, but there was/is a twist. "This will not be the age of Pentecost," he proclaimed. "This will be the age of Tabernacle!"


God is LOVE, but unbelievers will be purged with FIRE, he suggested helpfully. He didn't ask for any money, and I don't know who paid for the vast tent setup that could hold a few hundred people and actually held about forty at the time I checked it out (admittedly late, after nine o'clock post meridiem).

Oh yeah, and let's not forget all the people wiggling and shaking and speaking in tongues, or babbling in weird pidgin languages. A little unnerving, but well worth checking out. And remarkably similar to proto-protesant movements like the Bogomil and the Cathari in Europe back in the day, driven underground as heresies by the powers that were. In the USA today, such folk are allowed to jig around, treated more like crackpots than threats. At least until the Second Coming . . .

Also worth checking out: Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry (1927); Main Street (1920); Babbitt (1922); Arrowsmith (1925); and It Can't Happen Here (1935). And Richard Brooks' movie version of part of Elmer Gantry (1960), starring Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, and Shirley Jones.


TONY ALAMO UPDATE: "Alamo guilty on all counts / By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 07/24/2009." It may not have been Pearl Harbor, but Alamo did meet his Waterloo.

For background, see "Meet Tony Alamo" at: http://eriklerouge.blogspot.com/2009/03/meet-tony-alamo.html

Some lively comments from both sides included.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.