Flashback to 'Electric Fence' Anti-Gay Pastor's 1978 Sermon: 40 Years Ago Gays Would Have Been Hanged 'From a White Oak Tree

Hate isn't something that's supposed to stream from the pulpit. This is why overt examples of controversial church rhetoric, while they represent a small minority of faith communities, spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. Take, for instance, Charles L. Worley, the pastor at Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina. On Monday, The Blaze brought you his startling words about trapping "lesbians and queers" with an electric fence until they eventually die off.

(Related: Pastor: ‘Get Rid of All the Lesbians & Queers’ by Trapping Them With an Electric Fence (Eventually They’ll Die Off))

Now, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the preacher's words, ThinkProgress notes that Jeremy Hooper, a blogger at GoodAsYou.org, dug up an equally-troubling sermon from 1978. In it, Worley allegedly made some comments about lesbians and gays hanging from a white oak tree. In a clip that was apparently posted by the church, these purportedly decades-old words can be heard.

"I’m God’s preacher. I just believe the book. Living in a day when, you know what, it saddens my heart to think that homosexuals can go around, bless God, and get the applause of a lot of people," a male voice can be heard saying. "Lesbians and all the rest of it? Bless God, forty years ago they’d have hung ‘em, bless God, from a white oak tree, wouldn’t they? Amen. Sure they would."

Listen to the recording, below (full audio here):

The clip is only seconds long and it lacks context. However, it is posted on SermonAudio.com in its entirety, dated April 30, 1978 and attributed to the church's pastor. Worely seems to make the reference while speaking about the church's need to stand up for its values.

A lesbian who claims to have attended 20 of the Worley's sermons says that such sentiment is common at the church:

Considering the story's far reach, it's likely that other videos and clips of Worely will be making their way out in the coming days.