Sharon Kennedy: Politics from the pulpit
This might sound crazy, but I’ve always thought it was a good idea to hear both sides of an argument before making a decision. I learned that from an unfortunate experience involving a disgraceful probate case wherein the jury heard only the plaintiff’s side of the story due to the incompetence of the defendants’ lawyer. So when the 2020 election rolled around, I felt duty bound to listen to both presidential candidates.
We’re a year past the election and questions keep nagging me. In the evangelic zeal for one candidate, are religious leaders putting on fanatical sideshows for him? Have preachers become megaphones for the former president’s false claims? I’ve been listening to Greg Locke, a Nashville preacher, as well as others from the “buckle” of the Bible belt. Their radical sermons are chilling. Locke moved his followers from a small building to a circus tent where a thousand or more of his devotees pay rapt attention, if not downright adoration, to what can only be described as his rage-filled rants.
In a July 2021 issue of The Washington Post, reporter Jaclyn Peiser, wrote: “During a sermon last month, Locke called President Biden a fraud and ‘a sex trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel,’ a reference to QAnon, an extremist ideology based on false claims. He also falsely claimed the pandemic is ‘fake,’ the death count is ‘manipulated,’ and the vaccine is a ‘dangerous scam.’ The pastor has preached misinformation about the vaccine, including falsely claiming it’s made of ‘aborted fetal tissue.’”
There was a time when I was an evangelical Christian. I believed everything I read in the Bible and spent 20 years studying it and spreading the “good news” to anyone who would listen. I enrolled in Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema Correspondence Bible School and was a sneeze away from being an ordained non-denominational preacher. People thought I had flipped my lid and gone overboard in my holy-roller worship of Jesus and His teachings.
However, my zeal did not embrace a fantasy view of any political party. The deeper I delved into the Scriptures, the more I recognized a maverick Savior who displayed righteous anger. He was disgusted with the money changers and overturned their tables in a synagogue, but I don’t recall reading much more than, “My house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.” He also defended a woman of ill-repute by shaming her accusers.
Now I ask you — what are you hearing in the church you attend? A message of kindness, forgiveness, charity and acceptance of your fellow man or a message of hate-filled lies guaranteed to work you into a frenzy of rage against anyone who disagrees with your notion that every Democrat is a lying, baby-killing, blood-drinking, reckless spender, sex-trafficking freak who should be shot on sight? Is that the message of the Gospels?
You might be right if this is your belief. But you also might be following a false prophet like Locke. I’m not judging anyone. The Word says not to judge lest ye be judged. I’m saying that if non-righteous anger has overtaken your congregation through the ranting of an angry leader who tickles your ears while he robs your pockets, think twice before you hand him your cash. He might be a money changer more than he is a disciple of Christ.
As churches become political mouthpieces, it’s time to remove their tax exempt status.
To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at sharonkennedy1947@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Sharon Kennedy: Politics from the pulpit
