Pure Church

Because of their high profile positions and marriage this incident has drawn national attention and in my view demands some kind of response from the church. And at this point I’m speaking particularly of the black church whether Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist and Reformed (small as it may be). We have to respond because Mr. Weeks and Ms. Bynum represented a large and growing (and at this time the most influential) section of the black church and we accepted that. Few ever questioned their theology, their claims, their methods or their lifestyle. It seemed to matter little to us that almost every time they took the stage they systematically violated each of the first four commandments. If that weren’t enough it appears they consistently broke the ninth command and instead of keeping the tenth actually elevated it, turned it completely upside down and declared that covetousness is the real mark, purpose and goal of salvation and life.

All the while we for the most part stood by silently. They were black after all. If they wanted to engage in the organized crime of weekly flock fleecing well who were we to judge. No, for the black church (including some within the black reformed community) theology is the white man’s distraction. An opiate that would lull us to silence in the face of the "real" problems blacks folks face in white man’s America. I hate to say it but it seems that for far too many of us ethnic strife with our white brothers and the larger white society is THE issue. It’s as almost as if we didn’t care that week after week our people (whom we claim to represent and care for so much) were being fed poison that would corrupt their souls and destroy their lives. I wonder how would we respond if a white person stood up and told black people to send them the mortgage and rent money to receive their blessing? It seems that we’re all too willing to call a spade a spade as long as that spade sports a white visage.

Do I sound angry? Good because I am. I’m angry because it appears that it’s alright for black people to be led into gross idolatry as long as the high priests and priestesses are black like us. I’m angry because if a white evangelical got up and declared that churches separated along ethnic lines was the will of God we’d jump all over him, call for his immediate removal and demand an apology and retraction. Yet over and over and over again false prophets can recast and re-imagine God in their own image to line their pockets and for the most part we utter not a mumbling word.