In the seventh chapter of Romans, St. Paul says, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” The apostle means to say that he was on the bottom and sin was on top; or in other words, the enemy had him down, and the thing that he said had him down was carnality. However, many of the big preachers tell us that, when man fell, he fell up instead of down, and that for six thousand years man has been pressing toward the “golden age.” They have denied inbred sin and carnality, and declared publicly that these things were all believed only by the ignorant and weak-minded.
But we see a big difference between the teachings of the preachers and the presidents of the national banks of America. For the bank presidents are spending millions of dollars in building vaults to keep their wealth in. They believe that man is depraved, and to make it right plain, they deal with every man as though he were a rascal. And no banker will trust his money in the hands of a man unless he has good security. If a stranger was to go to a banker, and tell the banker that he was born as an angel and knew nothing of depravity and carnality, and that he wanted to borrow a few thousand dollars on his own face, the president of the bank would notify the health officers that there was an insane man in the bank, to come over and take him out. But, when we think of it, everything we see as we travel the streets proves that man fell down instead of up. For we see great signs that say, “Don’t spit on the sidewalk,” “Don’t pull the flowers,” “Don’t feed the animals,” “Don’t bother the monkeys,” “Keep off the grass,” “Not responsible for hats and overcoats,” “Keep out of the president’s room,” “Trespassers will be prosecuted.” All of this shows that man has lost confidence in man.
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of ‘Uncle Bud’ Robinson (Kindle Locations 2692-2704). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.
“Uncle Buddy” Robinson was a popular evangelist in the early Church of the Nazarene. He claimed to have preached 32,176 sermons and won 200,000 converts. His preaching style was known for it’s simplicity, yet is full of profound truths.
