The Church of God-Zillah

[CalMeacham]

This is too wonderful to be true. But it is.

According to the Seattle Times, The Church of God in Zillah, WA has erected a T-Rex skeleton in front of their church in reaction to the inevitable bad pun. It has a cross in one hand and the other holds a blank placard which may be used in the future to announce service times. They are also considering putting red lights in its eyes connected to motion detectors so they will light up whenever a car passes, and covering the skeleton with green skin.

Zillah, WA - Church of God-Zillah

That was posted in 2001. Sixteen years later, the creation has been moved to the back of the church, and still has no green skin or LED eyes, but’s still there, brandishing a red cross and a blank placard.

It’s a pretty poor rendition, but, as the old saying goes, one is amazed that it was done at all. If this “Church of God” is like the others I’ve encountered, it’s probably pretty fundamentalist and literal, and such folks tend not to be known for their sense of humor. This is so wonderfully silly that it has to draw my admiration.
Edited to add – Yup, they’re a Pentecostal bunch. But, as this article observes, they get lots of people stopping to snap pictures. It’s a great publicity move.

Conner figures he did more than 30 interviews with media outlets after the story broke.

The visitors included two lawyers for the owners of the “Godzilla” franchise. The two sides reached an agreement that essentially let the church keep the statue so long as it didn’t try to make money off it, Conner said.

http://www.discoveryakimavalley.com/annual2012/godzillah-church.html

[G0sp3l]

I figured Godzilla would be Zoroastrian* or Shinto. If the church I attended as a child had used a similar model I might have attended more willingly.

*I know Zoroastrian’s don’t actually worship fire.

[CalMeacham]

I can’t find it online, but I stumbled across a Jack Chick-like “religious pamphlet” this weekend that told how we all needed to surrender our souls to Godzilla.

In the absence of that, I offer this:

https://me.me/i/yall-motherfuckers-need-godzilla-satan-5260417

[G0sp3l]

I seem to remember a Chick Tract with Godzilla, but I may be confusing it with a parody.

My favorite parody is this one.

[CalMeacham]

@G0sp3l

I seem to remember a Chick Tract with Godzilla, but I may be confusing it with a parody.

My favorite parody is this one.

Yes, the pamphlet I have does recall that one, but it’s not the same.

found my copy. It’s by an artist friend, Lee Moyer, whose site is here (www.leemoyer.ninja ) But I can’t find it on his site… or anywhere else on the internet. To give you a taste of it, here’s the prayer from the back of the pamphlet:

Come and open your heart to Him – the one true Godzilla! Recite this prayer, as the mindful have done now for lo, these many centuries. Speak it, and mean with every fibre of your total being:

Godzilla,
Who art in Tokyo,
Hallowed be thy flame

Thy footfalls come,
Creation’s undone
Right here, as it is in Japan.

Ramen

[G0sp3l]

He does good work, I especially liked the cartography section.

[Gatopescado]

There goes Tokyo!

[ioioio]

It is wonderful, but the church was not fully committed to the idea (smaller than expected, unfinished). My vote still goes to Memphis’ Statue of Liberation, which is seven stories tall and always kept in pristine condition.

Incidentally, after 9/11, this church put up a banner that said . . .

PRAY FOR “ALL” PEOPLE

[thelurkinghorror]

Zillah is also a minor Biblical figure, one of the wives of Lamech.

They could do so much more. Get the funding to be like Cabazon.

“Let’s talk about your big ‘but’.”

[Two_Many_Cats]

Whom Godzilla loveth, Godzilla stompeth.

[blondebear]

@thelurkinghorror

They could do so much more. Get the funding to be like Cabazon

I really love the dinosaurs at Cabazon, despite the creationist propaganda that one has to endure when visiting. Getting to walk up inside the T-Rex and look out from his mouth is one of the coolest things a dino geek (or Pee Wee Herman fan) could ever do.

I haven’t been down there in awhile…reading the wiki entry I see the Wheel Inn Restaurant closed down in 2013. That bums me out–it was a great old roadhouse-type place that had tons of interesting stuff on the walls, a cool gift shop, and pretty good food.