I prefer the version of this hymn over at the Graveyard Church of God, “Not Many Live Men Now Are Called”.
Not many wise men now are called,
Not many mighty brethren;
Not many mighty, chosen ones,
For you see your calling;
Sons of God, you are called,
Not because of greatness;
Even the wisdom of mankind
Is to God but foolish.
God chose the foolish of the world;
He chose the weak and base things;
He chose the things which are despised,
That no flesh should glory.
Sons of God, you are called,
Not because of greatness;
You who are called and now in Christ,
Shall confound the mighty.
Even the foolishness of God,
Wiser by far than man is;
Even the weakness of our God,
Stronger far than man is;
Sons of God, you are called,
Not because of greatness;
Let them who glory, boast in Christ,
Not in their own greatness.
This hymn was cult control at its most blatant. Yes, we really did believe what we were singing, as we sang how base, weak, and foolish we were — all further incentives, to stay in the church, no matter what ills befell us as a result of our membership in the cult.
The carrot at the end of the big stick the hymn beats you over the head with, is that even though we were weak, base, and foolish, because we knew “the truth” and we lived by “the law”, we would be spared an ignominious fate, after the end of the world. Hell, as far as we were concerned, we were going to be spared the end of the world, holed up in Petra for three and a half years!
Tags: cult control, manipulation
