Spoiler at Noonday

There I was a-worshipping my gods

When Jeremiah’s word came through the door

Who is he to throw God’s word around like clods?

And why is he so sullen and demure?

 

How can a man from Judah be pinned down to just one god?

A mind is meant to wander, to spiritually poke and prod

The king himself encourages us to worship Baal

If I follow each and every god, however can I fail?

 

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Tra-la-la-la

We’re perfectly fine with idolatryism

 

I take advice from any foriegn man

Send negativity from whence it came

I worship any god or other deity at hand

A god’s a god by any other name

 

I’ve a god for happiness, I’ve got a god for health

And look here in my pocket, a shiny god for wealth

Some are made of iron, some are made of wood

Here’s one made by the blacksmith right here in my neighborhood

 

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Tra-la-la-la

We’re perfectly fine with idolatryism

Yet perhaps idolatry has gotten out of hand

Do I require an object to give me purpose?

What’s to stop me from just being my own man?

And who's to say I do or don’t deserve this?

 

But look at King Manasseh, the envy of us all 

He sacrifices children, in case you don’t recall

And uses divination to reap harvests in the fall

Yet Jeremiah warns it will be sorrowful for all

 

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Tra-la-la-la

We’re perfectly fine with idolatryism

 

Jeremiah’s says his God will send a spoiler at noonday

To those of us who reject his one true God

We’ll all be held as captives unless we all obey

In this time of peace it all sounds rather odd

 

If he’d look around he’d see all our enemies are gone

Be he is just a prophet whose predictions have been wrong

I for one am sleeping in, I won’t be up at dawn

It will take a while for captors to come all the way from Babylon

 

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Tra-la-la-la

We’re perfectly fine with idolatryism

 

I hope you know this song is written tongue in cheek

A leaky faucet dripping thick with irony

Eternal truth isn’t just made up by you or me

History proves Jeremiah made the correct choice of deity.

 

Like Jeremiah we can all trust in the God of Israel

Instead of trusting man-made gods that we can buy or sell

He speaks to us loud and clear like the ringing of a bell

In the Bible you can learn the way, I urge you and compel

To discard the ways of defiance of God, your tendency to rebel

He is a good God and wants nothing more than to save your soul from Hell

 

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, Tra-la-la-la

It’s time to let go of idolatryism

 

By Royce Waxenfelter

12/4/20

 

Note: Inspired by the “spoiler at noonday” warning in Jeremiah 15:8. Sing this to the tune of Johnny Comes Marching Home or Billy Bragg’s The Marching Song of the Covert Battalion