I just completed a move from Cleveland to Austin, which took me on a cross-section through Arkansas. While, the further south one drives, there’s an increasing amount of roadside evangelism in the form of crosses and handmade signs, the messages leaped to over-the-top in Arkansas. There were numerous large signs through the state bearing fire-and-brimstone messages; not the “Jesus Loves You”-type messages seen when I drove through other Southern states, but rather “you’re going to hell” screeds. One large billboard read:
EMPLOY THE ROD WITH FORCE
AND SPARE YOUR CHILD HELLFIRE
Basically, beat your kids.
Once I was past Texarkana, the fire-and-brimstone messages came to a halt.
They’re not unheard of in other parts of the country, for sure.
While driving along I-81 north of Harrisburg a year or two back, there was a sign proclaiming something to the effect that if you allow your kids to believe in Santa Claus, you (or they) would surely go to hell.
My favorite though was north of Richmond, along I-95. It read
THE ANTICHRIST
is among us
find out who it is
1-800-REAL-HOT
(no, I’m not making that number up, it was that or something very similar).
Typo Knig was also in the car. I don’t know what it says about us that my first though, and his as well, was “Oh, is that a new roller coaster at King’s Dominion?” (for those not from the mid-Atlantic, King’s Dominion is a major theme park just north of Richmond). I’ve always regretted that we didn’t call the number to find out who it was!
LOL–I don’t know if they are still there, but in Alabama, near the little town of Gordo (yes–Gordo–there were 3 or 4 of those signs. I wished I had thought to take a picture. We still laugh to this day. One said “Make your path straight”. Another said, “Even so, come lord jesus–the day is evil!”. I can’t remember the other ones. This was about 15 years ago.
Florida for some reason has a monopoly on graphic hellfire abortion billboards, I’ve noticed. Never been to Arkansas. (Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love old Arkansas! Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love old Arkansas!)
Nah, they have a lot of them in South Dakota. It’s not surprising to me that SD the state that keeps trying to ban abortion. Given the billboard situation there, I’m only amazed that citizens keep voting it down.