Good grief! PING
Probably not...
I suspect there will be many men who cloaked themselves in the robes of God who will be rejected outright by God the Father.
2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Judgement begins at the pulpit...for good reason.
I read that title and thought: Who is Hattie Obama?
Nothing ‘Wright’ about hate
Last week, I wrote an opinion article about my experience during Rev. Jeremiah Wright's visit to a local church, Shady Grove Baptist Church in Eastabuchie, Miss. Since then, I've received numerous e-mails from church members. I would like to clear up some misconceptions and answer some questions presented to me in those e-mails.
First of all, I did not set out to “come into God's house to dig up dirt.” I visited Shady Grove several times before Rev. Wright came, and I was genuinely interested in hearing what he had to say. I went in with an open mind. In fact, I was prepared to find that the media had misrepresented him by using a few select clips and sound bites.
But that's not what I found. In fact, what I found was that Wright was even worse than the media's portrayal. To report otherwise – to omit Wright's racial rhetoric – would be an abrogation of my duty as a journalist.
Still, some have said that I “mixed-up” select portions of Wright's sermon to make him look bad. That's not true – I wrote, not only from my memory, my notes and from interviews, but from a video I had of the sermon. In context, there's no denying the intent behind Wright's message.
Wright is a master of the art of manipulative preaching. He established the premise for his sermon while reading a passage from the Gospel of John. But Wright subtly twisted it in such a way that most of the eager-eared believers in the room didn't even notice the racial overtones he had injected.
Essentially, Wright took Jesus’ spiritual proclamation to Pontius Pilate that his kingdom was “not of this world” and made it racial.
“Pilate was European; Jesus was not European,” Wright pointed out.
He contrasted Jesus – the Savior – to Pilate, the European “oppressor.”
Wright went on to spend a good portion of the sermon, entitled “Believers, Beware,” attacking all things European. Wright warned to be careful about engaging in conversations with those who are different.
“Believers beware,” he said. “You may find yourself in a conversation with somebody who lives in a different world than you altogether” – perhaps including someone who dares to challenge Wright's preaching.
His message can be summed up this way: “Believers beware – of people who are different from you.” That kind of teaching and thinking is what engenders the kind of ignorance that develops into prejudice, then bigotry, and finally hate.
Yes, I am aware that many people who were present in the service may not have consciously understood it that way; Wright intertwined his sermon with emotional stories, anecdotes and ideas that everyday people can latch onto. For those who were present for the purpose of personal growth, that's what they will have found. But for those with a discerning ear, Wright's message had far broader implications.
I'm sure there were people in attendance who understand exactly what Wright meant and completely agreed with him. But despite the fact that most people in the service were shouting and clapping at Wright's statements, I do not believe that most of the people at Shady Grove are racist or that they truly embrace his doctrine. I believe that most people at Shady Grove are probably kind, decent people.
At the same time, I don't believe most of those kind, decent people grasped Wright's true message. In fact, I think Wright knew they wouldn't. Church people are notorious for falling for the wiles of charismatic preachers without questioning them. That's why such people are Wright's primary prey.
Wright did not preach to a hateful congregation. He planted the seeds of racism at Shady Grove. He planted the seeds of anti-Semitism. He planted the seeds of acceptance for the black supremacist organization that calls itself “The Nation of Islam.” He planted the seeds of hate. It's up to Shady Grove to refuse to nourish them.
I sincerely hope that Shady Grove will not succumb to the poison that Wright sought to inject among its congregation. But first, Shady Grove must recognize that Jeremiah Wright is not the “Prince of Prophets.” It must repudiate him for the discord he has already managed to spread.
Believers, beware of men like Jeremiah Wright.
Wright is a true, modern-day Manichean. To him, everything non-European is pure, incapable of sin, and immaculate. Non-Europeans therefore have no need of redemption, their mere existence is already beyond sin. They are like the proletariate in Marx or the Arian race in Naziism.
OTOH, everything European is wholly corrupt, totally depraved, and incapable of redemption. In short, Europeans are wholly damnable by their mere existence, and they thus hold the same status as that of the bourgeoise in Marxism and that of the Jews in Naziism.
To Wright, St Paul’s saying, “In Christ there is no black or white, slave or free, male or female” etc, has no authority. He probably thinks Paul was too “Europeanized,” something of a Jewish “Oreo.” Wright does indeed poison the minds and hearts of those he listens to. The substance of this man’s teaching is truly evil.