From the title you would assume this is a fairly standard worship hymn, with a loving god out to rescue those who cry to it. Not exactly. As a matter of fact, not even close.
In distress I cried unto the Lord and He did answer my prayer.
Save my soul from lying lips, and from deceitful tongues, O Lord;
O what will you get from Him, what reward O crafty tongue?
Arrows sharp shall pour on you with burning coals of juniper.
Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech for so long a time;
And, alas, that in the tents of Kedar I should dwell therein;
My soul hath long dwelt with them;
Those who hate the peace I love.
But however peaceably I speak to them, then they’re for war.
I will lift mine eyes unto the hills,
From whence does my help come?
For my help comes from the Lord
Who made the heaven and the earth.
He will never let you slip, He who keeps you never sleeps.
He who keepeth Israel will never slumber, never sleep.
Neither sun nor moon will smite you by the day nor by the night.
For the Lord will keep you from all evil, and shall save your life.
He’ll protect your going out; He’ll protect your coming in;
He will guard and keep your life
From this time forth and evermore.
This wasn’t a popular tune in my congregation, not at all. The melody is weird anyway, and a little more difficult than the easier tunes to belt out. Still, an examination of the words reveals the intent behind them.
The first verse yearns to prevent gossip, which was guaranteed (so the ministers told us) to earn us a one-way trip to the Third Resurrection, from which it was a long walk off a short plank into the Lake of Fire, and complete oblivion of one’s soul.
Nevertheless, the grapevine is the only reliable source of information for the goings-on in most of the Church of God splinters today. Just ask Dixon Cartwright. OK maybe don’t ask, that might be a sore subject with him. On to the second verse.
The second verse sets up the “us vs. them” mentality all true Worldwiders had to have. We were exhorted to “be not conformed to the world”, because we had been called to the truth, and were god’s special chosen elect. We had to be in the world, but not of the world. Which went over about as well as you might expect. It was not for nothing that the hapless Worldwider was continually accused, by friends and coworkers, of thinking they were so much better than everyone else; for the most part, we actually did.
The third verse reinforces that we were the “spiritual Israel” (British-Israelism) and engenders the notion that if we prayed for rescue and none was forthcoming, we must not be praying hard enough. Always, if the old testament judaic god did not answer our appeals, it was because we weren’t keeping the law well enough, we weren’t praying enough or fasting enough or giving enough money to the work.
Conversely, any trials we had to undergo were always to be viewed as “blessings” that would enable us to build character, in order thar we might be effective Old Testament overlords after the end of the world.
The final verse likens the Worldwider’s life, in the world but not of the world, to the physical Exodus of the Israelites in the canonical christian bible.
Tags: british-israelism, cult control, fear-mongering, xenophobia
