Brother Carl was a
legend at the
University of North Texas when I was a
student there. Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., he would show up at the "
free speech" area of
campus and
preach.
I never got to see him
in person (I had an 11 a.m. class on Wednesdays every
semester), but I'd always see the
crowd forming before he got there.
No one showed up because they
believed -- they showed up for the
rant.
Brother Carl believed
everyone was going to
hell. If you were a
woman who wore
makeup, you were going to hell. If you were a
man with
long hair, you were going to hell. If you were a woman who wore
pants, you were going to hell. If you listened to
rock and roll, you were going to hell. If you listened to
country, you were going to hell. If you
laughed while Brother Carl was
preaching (and there were a lot of people laughing), you were going to[hell. In fact, the few people who said they
agreed with Brother Carl were usually told that they were going to hell, too.
More than likely, Brother Carl believed that he was one of the four people who would make it to the
Pearly Gates, and the
Quartet of the Saved could laugh at all us
hellbound losers through all
eternity. And it's just as likely he was doing this because his
ego needed it. If all these damned
sinners were
jeering at him, then he must surely be the most
oppressed and thus the most
worthy of
God's True Servants.
One day, Brother Carl just
quit showing up. No one ever found out why he quit
visiting the campus to
damn us to hell.