The Marginal Prophet

A tongue-in-cheek ditty from my early rock band days. I think it was inspired by Oral Roberts or some other modern day charlatan claiming God gave him a right to be rich at everyone else's expense.

The Lord needs your money

not the poor and not the sick.

So send it to me, brother

and send it to me quick.

I've got a plot of land out there 

that God's set aside for me.

In a dream he came, the other night,

said "go build a University!"

Buy a piece of heaven from the missionary man

He sells salvation while he cultivates a tan

Surrender your last penny

Surrender all you can

He'll gladly rake in all of it to fuel his earthly plan.

Now people've said a lotta things

they say I'm not sincere.

They cast aspersions on my name

and claim my claims aren't clear.

I've never lied or bent the truth

about the money that I've got.

I've been quite blessed by God, in fact

he said "go buy yourself a yacht!"

Buy a piece of heaven from the missionary man

Hes sells salvation while he cultivates a tan

Surrender you last penny

Surrender all you can

He'll gladly rake in all of it to fuel his new sedan.

Author's Note

The music for this was sort of Southern Fried Rock a la Skynyrd, as it seemed to fit the voice of the piece. The chorus was a tight two-part harmony.
Image "The Prophet" credit/link: http://uribaani.deviantart.com/art/The-Prophet-67861981

Reviews

[Brette Medb]

I love the sarcasm. How true it all is sadly enough. Great song!


B

[Rick Puetter]

Hi Greg,

Gee, I've never seen this before. What are you trying to say? People like this can't be in it for their own gain, can they? You're not trying to say that are you?! Whew, that's good. I thought you were trying to say something was amiss. Glad I was wrong about that. Makes me breathe easier. Once I catch my breath I can go down there and give them some money for their good works.

Best regards,

Rick

[therisa]

Poor Oral
Life is tough
Living a mere million dollars
When there is a billion or two
Waiting for you
For the right piece of your soul
And bank account too.

[imawriter]

Do you sing too? would be cool if you added the tune here or on YouTube or something.. I just laughed right out loud when I read this! It's a great piece! I love it!

[Day's-eye]

Funny. And good satire - good satire is always funny.

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

funny