God's Man

My childhood pastor Ansell Baker died this weekend. He was a wonderful man, but his death brings back a lot of strange childhood memories.

Ansell had this incredible voice, and when you listened to him it seemed as though you were listening to God himself. He was also a very nice and compassionate man. As a kid he was always very kind, and his powerful voice could be equally as gentle. As a young adult being in his presence at the Kiwanis club around other men I found him to be tolerant, and pious, but not self righteous. As is often the case when a group of men get together, the humor is sometimes a bit raw to say the least, but Rev. Baker managed to stay above it without condemnation. In that respect he was a lot like MASH's Father Mulcahy.

However, I found much of his theology terrifying. All I remember of his preaching were his constant admonishing that the end was near, and his unceasing call for you to question your own salvation. I recall a study we did of Revelations, and it scared me so bad that to this day I have only read this book of the bible one other time. He often tied current events to the prophecies of the bible as evidence that those prophecies were being fulfilled and that Christ would soon return. I got to go to Egypt in 1977, and as a group of MIGs flew over the house in which I was staying, I thought God had waited until I was on hand to start Armageddon. I also recall Rev. Baker always asking at the end of the sermon if we were sure of are salvation, "Are you really sure", and I thought that if he wasn't sure then how could I be.

But most of all I think of how kind he was to my family. My Papaw thought the world of him even though he didn't go to his church, and he also was there when turmoil raised its head in our home. He was always kind, compassionate and loving, and I will always remember him most as simply a man of God.