preaching to the intolerant
tommyIf you’ve walked along Seventh Av. on a weekend night in Ybor City, you have seen these guys. The Biblical Research Center is busy at work every weekend, attempting to turn sinners into saints. But you don’t have to go all the way to Ybor to keep up with their activities; read about the adventures in their blog.
Who wouldn’t want to recall the time they were Preaching to the Sodomites in St. Petersburg or that day they ran into Joe Redner when Preaching to the Strippers. But the BRC doesn’t just capture the live action street preachin’. There are even helpful hints for those of you who want to take up harassing people on your own.
Before you head out to some festival, you may want to take note of the friendly Fellowship Advice on Dealing with the Police. You never know when that info will come in handy. But even for all that helpful knowledge, the field reports are easily the most entertaining.
The BRC recently took their road show to a known den of iniquity. A place so evil, no mortal man would ever want to enter*. It was this place where pure wickedness congregated, and the BRC was Preaching to the Satanists. An excerpt:
There is a place in Tampa called “The Castle”; it is a place where they openly glorify satanic behavior. They dress as vampires, devils, queers, Goths, and any other type of dress that would go against decency. It attracts locals who are curious to see why people would dress and act like this. Their curiosity leads to a devilish seduction to the dark side of sexual perversion and a slippery slope to a reprobate mind.
The “Castle” is on a dead end road (no pun intended), and is dimly lit, with red lights. They go out of their way to appear dark and evil. They have theme nights that attract the most debased of characters. A few weeks ago was “zombie night”, they wore costumes and make-up, giving the appearance of being a murder victim, they were also dressed like murderers, and people were covered in fake blood, with all different kinds of wounds.
Men and women alike arrive almost naked (some women had no tops), they were walking around on leashes, and attempting to shock people with their debased behavior.
Good grief! And here I thought religious folk left judging to the Lord. Apparently not.
To the BRC: How dare you look down on any people from your self-appointed throne. Your comments are despicable.
*unless, of course, you are looking for good drink specials. Check out the Castle for Old Wave videos on Monday nights. Wait… Old Wave videos? On second thought, maybe they are evil…
Tags: citizens, diversity, online, tampa
Loading ...
August 8th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Their blog post about the Castle is hysterical. I would love to see them run into the Peter Pan guy who goes there.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Jeez that guy goes around in that every day though. I remember years ago hearing somebody at work talk about seeing him at the airport, picking up somebody in the Peter Pan getup.
I had heard they have been around th castle lately, usually on fridays. This isn’t the first group that has latched onto the castle. I recall another group who the manager offered free entry to. They refused. I think she required them to check ther 10 foot tall aluminium crucifix at the door.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
As much as I’m for free speech, freedom of religion and all those First Amendment things, even I get annoyed with those Ybor street preachers. That’s how Billy Graham started while attending Bible college in TT (it’s in his book) but after a while I think he’d be compelled to tell them “shut the hayell up.” As for Peter Pan at The Castle, I figured that was just a Saturday night getup for him. Now I know better!
August 8th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
The Castle? That sounds like a family get-together at Bill Gates’ house!
August 8th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
I just about died laughing at that blog. Thanks for the link!
August 8th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
A Saturday night getup? Hardly.
And it’s not just for Saturdays - I ran into this guy at Pearl Art a couple years back. He was in the outfit. In the middle of the day. Yes, I was a little bit frightened - why do you ask?
August 8th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
And dude - what’s your problem with Old Wave? OMG it’s Policy of Truth! /squeal
August 8th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Don’t laugh. It’s these people who keep the Bushes in office.
August 8th, 2006 at 11:43 pm
Didn’t the Peter Pan guy used to have his own public access show? I always wondered what happened to him.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:02 am
I would think it’s apprent, merideth —
He went to never-never land
August 9th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
Bwhahaha. That was great. Now I want to go to the Castle more than ever…haven’t been in a while. Peter Pan is nothing compared to “the Senator” and his ass-less chaps/corset get-ups.
Why don’t they go pick on the clubs at the “other” end of Ybor where all the girls are fall down drunk and falling out of their skimpy, sparkly halter tops?
August 10th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
The senator is a sight to see that is for sure. Take the castle for what it is….a fun place to have a stong drink and people watch! I love it!!!
August 21st, 2006 at 6:09 pm
[...] The subject of some recent discussion here on Sticks of Fire and the subject now of a large story in the St Pete Times’ Floridian section the Castle Bar seems to occupy a somewhat unique place in Tampa culture. I can personally claim to have vomited in every single room at one point or another, I am not sure about Tom Gold’s claim of longest running DJ gig but I am pretty sure I hold some sort of disgusting record for that little nugget. [...]