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A red-faced pastor said he had no idea of the innuendo surrounding the term “spit or swallow” when he put up a sign outside his Buckley church.

Reverend Bob Marshall, who is originally from Indiana in the United States , placed a board outside the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel on Brunswick Road saying: “Forgiveness is swallowing when you want to spit.”

But it wasn’t until a parishioner explained the sexual connotations of the message on this side of the Atlantic that he realised it was a double entendre.

Rev Marshall said: “When I put that sign out I had no idea what it meant over here. Forgiveness is what it’s all about. One lady said she didn’t even see the word forgiveness.

“It’s obvious to me what I meant but it never really entered my mind it had another meaning.”

Rev Marshall, who has lived in Buckley for 30 years, joked there was some divine intervention when the British interpretation of the sign’s meaning became apparent.

“The Lord helped me take it down because the wind blew it over," he said.

"The intention is to be hard-hitting. I want people to think. It’s real stuff.”

His chapel is famous for its eye-catching signs.

He said: “We get a lot of attention. We have had numerous people stop and tell us they like the signs.”

This week’s offering reads: “Honk if you love Jesus: Text while driveing (sic) if you want to meet him.”

(Image: Jez Hemming)

Local councillor Carol Ellis said the signs were a well-known feature of Buckley life.

“Every week there’s a strange one and they are always a little bit off the wall,” she said.

“Someone usually puts them up on Facebook.”

Rev Marshall and his wife Janice are members of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, based in Missouri.

The organisation has around 5,000 ministries in approximately 110 countries.

Since taking over the dilapidated chapel, the organisation has spent more than £10,000 restoring and renovating it, with the help of labour from volunteers within the congregation.

Asked if he would be taking advice from his parishioners on future signs’ wording, Rev Marshal said: “I sure will.”