What Is Wrong With Some Modern Pulpit Preachers? – Preachers of Hate - Jeremiah Wright and Others

As a retired pastor I am greatly offended by some of the political ranting of Jeremiah Wright and other partisan preachers over these past few years. Christ is not glorified, people are not edified, souls are not being delivered, and the Good News to the poor is not being conveyed. It is as if the shepherds have lost their way, and their new age agendas have become the new Messiahs; it is as if it is now ok to use God’s name in vain as long as you wear a robe or collar; it is as if love and hate have changed places, and missed the very mark of the Gospel. Indeed, modernism and agenda preaching have redefined that target. These reverends have moved the goal from salvation of the lost to ridicule of their opposition. They are hate-baiting the “sheep” of their congregations into a frenzy to “call down fire from heaven!”

I hope that the reader might pause with me and reflect on the greater point of this hub. My question, “What is taking place in America when misguiding “pastors” and other “clergy” are practicing religion that is as far from the Gospel as east from west?”! This is not a race issue; it is a hate issue. This is not a social class issue; it is a sanctimony of salvation where whole classes of people are denied redemption. It is not a sexist issue; it is a denial of equal opportunity for all believers. It is an anti-Christ and an anti-Gospel preached by anti-Servants of God leading flocks of lost souls to the pits of hatred. America has come a long way and rather than building on her achievements, these preachers (of all colors) desire to bury her in loathing. We need to pray and preach, “God save America” not the other!

I am not asking you to agree with me. Nay, I am only entreating your common sense to understand why I am offended. I have given my life to preaching a message where God is love, and the good news that Jesus Christ is THE source of abundant and eternal life. Red and Yellow, Black and White are all precious in His sight. I preach with intensity that, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...” I do not need to make apology for this; all I need to do is herald that love and my God will do the rest. I see the fields of humanity as (the words of Jesus) “white unto the harvest”, and I feel that folks of all colors are ready and hungry for this saving message.

I invite all Christians to wade into this field of harvest to help in the reaping in these closing days of our age. However, I am offended when someone of any color enters the harvest and begins to plow under the sheaves of my Jesus’ sacrifice! If you don’t like one color, do you have to trample it to reap another? God forbid. If you don’t like the field, do you have to destroy it like a herd of wild boar stampeding through ripe corn? God forbid. America is not perfect, but why poison her fields and her harvesters and her many precious spectators? Why do you make the beautiful Gospel we preach to appear like dirty linen to the world?

These recent harbingers of hate disguise themselves with the word “prophet” as if they are appointed for such a time as this. Have they not studied the Biblical role of the New Testament prophecy? It is true that the Old Testament prophets were hard preachers of reality. They told it “like it is!” However, in that era, they were the very agent of delivery of God’s Word. There was no complete revelation as we have today in the Bible; they were the voice of God, and their agency and office were recognized as such. Their duties were social, political, judgmental, redemptive, and (most importantly) prophetic toward THE coming Messiah. When Christ came, he fulfilled the office of the prophet, and today the church has this office fulfilled in THE Prophet, Jesus. There is no greater. The Bible says:

Acts 2:17 MKJV "And it shall be in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Read the words of this prophecy, “… in the last days … your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…!”

Now it is revealed that we are all, in essence, New Testament prophets. The Gospel message is the good news that the poor and the common folk are the new prophets and priests and kings – all serving under (and with) The Christ - Prophet, Priest and King! It all points toward Jesus and no other foundation will last.

The Apostle Paul mentions the three ministries of us prophets:

1Corinthians 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Edify, exhort and comfort – these are the three characteristics of a New Testament prophet! This does not mean that, within this ministry, straight talk is not ever used. It is, but always with deliverance and healing in mind and not damning and hate.

Let me “tell it like it is!” Jesus Christ became the “damned” one on the Cross for something he did not do and for someone like me who deserved “damnation”. He suffered and died that I now have no condemnation (etymology of word is “con” –‘with’, and “damnation” - ‘a judgment against crime’. Therefore, condemnation draws a meaning ‘with an impending judgment from God,’)!

Romans 8:1 KJV There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus …

When any preacher invokes the name of God to damn someone, he/she is in the very least taking God’s precious name in vain. He also pretends to his audience to speak for God Himself - for judgment belongs only to God!

Luke 9:54-55 KJV And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did? (55) But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

On the other hand, there are some New Testament examples of prophecy where God did send judgment as when the Apostle Peter spoke to Ananias. It needs to be noted that this is still in the establishment era of the church and the judgment that followed was quick, sure, and without doubt:

Acts 5:4-5 KJV … why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (5) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

However, Paul in 1^st Corinthians makes it abundantly clear that this type of harsh pronouncement is not the norm for the church of the New Testament. By the writing and the sealing of this prophesy (the Bible), the goal of New Testament prophecy is to edify, exhort and comfort. This is the delivery of the message of love. Read 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter).

1 Corinthians 13:2 MKJV And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have charity (Godly love), I am nothing.

In closing, I write this hub not to judge these reverends, but I do judge their message. They may have loads of good deeds; they may give all they have to feed the poor; they may have faith to move mountains, but without the message of love, their preaching is less than nothing. I love eggs, but I don’t want a three egg omelet if one of the eggs is rotten. To admit a ton of good does not make an ounce of hatred any more palatable.

Here is my message, “God bless America: God bless America for leading the world in missions; God bless America for churches on every corner; God bless America for advocating freedom of religion; God bless America for being the banner of freedom across the world; God bless America for a people that can correct the injustices of slavery; God bless America for being the most giving country in the world; God bless America where the lowliest citizens (regardless of race, creed, color, gender – regardless!) with hard work can achieve and prosper!”

God does bless America – surely He is not making a mistake.

God Bless America

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free, Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. "

God Bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Thru the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home.