Preaching politics, ignoring the Bible

Speaking of politics and the Bible ... Mychal Massie addresses Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et. al., in WorldNetDaily: Preaching politics, ignoring the Bible. He doesn't pull any punches.

To wit ...

With pandemic levels of AIDS, black genocide (i.e., abortion), black on black crime, drugs, calculated underachievement, disregard for life and personal responsibility, toxic levels of hatred, bitterness and a firm grasp on a theological construct that serves only to enflame and exacerbate – one would think black preachers would better serve their flocks by preaching Jesus and factual biblical standards – rather than collectively plotting new ways to cash in on their old playbook of extorting government, demanding race-based preferences and handouts, and blaming whitey for everything from tooth decay to polyester.

The rest ...

One might think so – but the officious triumvirate, or perhaps better put, "elipadae" of the Revs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Joseph Lowery gathered hundreds of black ministers June 26 in Dallas, Texas, for a three-day conference "to discuss refocusing the political efforts of black churches back on fighting social injustice instead of the 'Christian right's' battle against abortion and homosexual marriage." I personally think it was more in keeping with "how to ensure your congregants fail in life and die unsaved," but I digress.

Whether in abject ghetto poverty or living in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., far too many blacks are lost when it comes to sound biblical precedents regarding bitterness, envy, forgiveness, how to be thankful and Christian service. And when the likes of Al Sharpton say, "Black churches need to get back to their roots of fighting for racial equality and stemming the tide of poverty," it is easy to understand why. It also becomes increasingly easier to understand why the so-called black community is in the shape it is today.

It seems lost on this "triumvirate of discord" that as ministers, theirs is to be about the "perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12) There is no biblical precedent for that what they espouse. The mission of the church is to be about the business of Jesus Christ – a mission that these people, and those like them, have miserably failed.

The stated purpose of the conference was to battle the evangelical church and withdraw association from same, because of said church's position on homosexual marriage and abortion. With AIDS and abortion being two of the single greatest threats to there being future black generations, one must ask why these so-called "men of God" would support a position that is shockingly hostile to future generations of their own.

We need look no further than the Democrat Party to find the answer to this question. No matter how this canard is packaged, it is nothing more than a transpicuous attempt to drive blacks back to the Democrat plantation. After all, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and party Chairman Howard Dean want to reach out to evangelicals. So it makes perfect sense to once again find a way to make blacks their useful idiots.

It is a sin against the God, whose moniker they claim, to use such treachery in an attempt to lead people down paths of destruction. Black Christians and legitimate black pastors who oppose abortion and homosexual marriage do so based on their adherence to Scripture, not based on political persuasion.

The fact that these "charades of ministerdom" are willing to curry favor with the very groups that are singularly committed to the destruction of their family nucleus and future generations is representative of an evil most closely associated with Judas.

What makes their evil even more heinous is that they gathered hundreds of pastors – many of whom come from churches on financial life support – to be indoctrinated on how to mislead their congregants under the guise of justice.

Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. was quoted as saying, "Jesse and Al are decent people who have done a lot for our community; they simply have different opinions on how to address our problems. …" ("Black churches urged to refocus"; Brian DeBose; the Washington Times; June 29)

I say that that mindset is as far off-base as Louis Farrakhan is from Christianity. Jackson and Sharpton have done nothing for blacks but submerge them in despair and immiseration. Jesse and Al are not decent people in any sense of the word – especially when put in biblical context – and neither is Joseph Lowery.

They are more focused on politics than preaching "you must be born again." They are more interested in a seat at Barmecide's table than preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our sins. Jackson and Sharpton are more interested in photo-ops and television appearances than they are the work of God Almighty. And while Bishop Jackson may not have a problem with that, as a born-again Christian, I certainly do.

What does it profit a preacher to gather unto himself White House visits, while watching his congregants go astray for lack of biblical teaching?