Thursday, March 13, 2008

Obama's Pastor Anything But Wright


What's it going to take for Barak Obama to heed his moral conscience, exercise his judgment and make a bold step to leave his church, Trinity United Church of Christ? How many more outlandish, anti-white, anti-American statements do we need to hear from Barak's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Where are the voices of evangelical black pastors condemning the skewed gospel of liberation theology and racist perspective of this Chicago pastor?

When asked about his pastor, Barak Obama has said, "we don't agree on everything . . . I've never had a thorough conversation with him on all aspects of politics." Well, the Senator from Illinois better sit his pastor down real quick before he throws a monkey wrench into Barak's campaign. On Townhall.com we discover, for the last 20 years Barak told reporters, he didn’t think there was 'anything particularly controversial' about Wright. Is Barak asleep concerning his radical spiritual mentor?

My prediction is either Barak and his wife Michelle distance themselves from Rev. Wright or the Senator's presidential campaign is going to go all wrong!

For one thing, Rev. Jeremiah Wright sees the United States of America through the lens of white racism. He is guilty of making scorching remarks on the government of the United States. During a sermonic rant Wright calls America, "the USA KKK." Is Obama's pastor making the American government equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan? Does he understand the white supremacy of this despicable Jew-hating, anti-black racist group? Sounds like Rev. Wright holds to some extreme conspiracy theories as well. If the KKK is controlling American, at least we know Wright disagrees with Louis Farrakhan that the Jews control the U.S. You can't have it both ways.

In a video of a recent sermon, the Rev. made disparaging, sarcastic remarks about the names of Colin Powell and Condoleezza (Condomleezza) Rice. How childish for an accomplished inner city pastor!

According to Rev. "Wrong" when a politically conservative black man or woman succeeds in entering government leadership, unless that person espouses the liberal black political gospel, that person is an "Uncle Tom" or a "house n-explitive" to the pastor. Are black intellects like Thomas Sowell or Shelby Steele allowed to think for themselves or must they follow the black group think of Rev. Wright's black caucus.

Where is Obama in this heyday where his pastor's sermons are being tossed around on the internet, radio and television like food samples at Costco? Does Obama have the guts to stand up to this "man of the cloth" and "rent his garments" like an Old Testament prophet disgusted with the corrupt leadership of his day? It appears Rev. Wright gets a pass from Obama simply because he is his pastor. If he cannot stand up to Rev. "Wrong", I have serious doubt about Obama's ability to make clear, moral judgments and follow through on his convictions. For Obama to admit after attending Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years that he was not aware of "anything controversial" about his pastor calls into question Obama's ability to discern right from wrong and truth from error. Is he wearing ruby red slippers too?

From a 2007 NY Times piece, we learn that "in 1984, Rev. Wright traveled to Cuba to teach Christians about the value of nonviolent protest and to Libya to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, along with the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan." Of course, the media was quick to point out that having Louis Farrakhan as Wright's companion no way is an endorsement of the leader of the Nation of Islam.

In Richard Cohen's Washington Post column reveals, "In 1982, the church [Trinity United Church of Christ] launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan."

Rev. Wright turns out to be a admirer of Minister Wrong not just a travel companion to Libya. The spiritual advisor of potentially the next President of the U.S. is Rev. Wrong once again.

Oddly, the left is jumping all over John McCain for being endorsed by Pastor John Hagee, an anti-Catholic evangelical. According to radio/TV host Sean Hannity, McCain has not embraced Hagee's endorsement. John Hagee is a Christian universalist who denies the necessity of Jesus as the Messiah for the Jewish people. Regardless, John Hagee is NOT McCain's pastor. Furthermore, Hagee's denouncement of Catholics is over theology not race. Also, I have yet to see John Hagee endorsing David Duke or any other avowed white racist as a man who "epitomizes greatness."

How can Obama sit by when his pastor hangs accolades on a man who calls white people "blue-eyed devils"? Louis Farrakhan is no hero to the black people when it comes to racism. He is an anti-Semite and has made hateful remarks about the Jewish religion as a "gutter religion." Why has he gotten a free pass on his racist remarks?

Does Rev. Wright preach the message of the New Testament or the liberal black liberation theology of the 70s? Again, the New York Times comments:

Mr. Wright preached black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as the story of the struggles of black people, who by virtue of their oppression are better able to understand Scripture than those who have suffered less. That message can sound different to white audiences, said Dwight Hopkins, a professor at University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. “Some white people hear it as racism in reverse,” Dr. Hopkins said, while blacks hear, “Yes, we are somebody, we’re also made in God’s image.”


There is no black, white, Asian or Hispanic Gospel. No one people has claims on the New Testament message. The NT message was carried to Africa by Ethiopian man who came to know Christ through a Jewish follower of Christ. This took place during the first century according to the eighth chapter of the Book of Acts. Christianity is not the white man's religion. It is a faith that started among Jewish people to declare the liberation of redemption from sin and that message was sent out to all people regardless of race, color and ethnicity.

Obama has his hands full in light of the controversial video of his pastor that aired on Thursday March 13, 2008. His sermon focuses on how Hillary cannot relate to American black culture like Obama does. Listen to the Trinity United Church of Christ orator on Townhall.com: “Hillary ain’t never been called a [n-expletive]!” Wright fumes. I wonder if Obama, having a white mother, who has mysteriously disappeared in her son's presidential race, and an African father was called names by blacks for being half white? Let's not distance Barak too far from Hillary. We already know from Lynn Cheney that Barak Obama, on his Caucasian side is an eight cousin of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Then he accuses Hillary of fitting the mold of a rich white woman in contrast to Obama who "isn't privileged." Yet, in Obama's book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he bemoans the fact that he did not grow up in poverty like his black friends; he had a very good education and did not go through inner city schooling. He was not raised in a single parent home, as Wright explains, but Obama's mother remarried when Barak's father left, and she married a non-practicing Muslim man and they lived in Indonesia and Hawaii. That doesn't sound like Obama's from the 'hood to me. At least Hillary was raised in Chicago! You go, girl!

Rev. Wright makes up his own New Testament in his sermons: "Oh, I am so glad that I have a God who knows what it’s like to be a poor, black man in a country, in a culture that is controlled and run by rich, white people" Jesus grew up as a poor Jewish boy in a culture controlled by militant Romans who oppressed the Jewish people. If anything, God knows what anti-semitism feels like. In fact, if Rev. Wright knew the God of Israel, he wouldn't be hanging around the Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan.

Here's a part of his sermon he needs to direct to Minister Farrakhan, a man who "epitomizes greatness," "He taught me, Jesus did, how to love my enemies. Jesus taught me how to love the hell out of my enemies and not be reduced to their level of hatred, bigotry and small-mindedness. " How shortsighted Rev. Wright is.

The final curtain call on Rev. Wright's ministry comes in a sermon reported on today's ABC with Brian Ross. According to Ross, Wright delivered a speech in 2003 in which he said, “No, no, no, not ‘God Bless America” but “god damn America."

According to Ross, Wright said “The government gives them [African Americans] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three strikes law and then wants us to sing 'God bless America,' No, no, no, not 'God bless America,' God damn America -- that's in the Bible, you're killing innocent people, God damn America for treating us citizens as less than human."

No where does Pastor Wright admit that black men are in prison because they committed crimes. In his view black are victims of the U.S. government's conspiratorial plans to destroy the black race. Face it, Barak Obama, a presidential hopeful, attends a church pastored by a minister who hates America and hates its government.

Rev. Wright is no pastor who is true to the biblical text. He is true to his black ideology and disdain of white people and the country his "spiritual son" is seeking to lead.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a man who can only see the world through the filter of racism and not through the lens of the love of Jesus for all people. Barak Obama needs to take a hard look at a man he considers his spiritual mentor and take the next step out the door of that church. He must see that Rev. Wright is all Wrong for him. If not, Rev. Wright will mentor Barak Obama into a landslide defeat to the Republican contender John McCain.
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3 comments:

DB Smith said...

Why hasn't the Louis Farrakhan -lifetime achievement award hit the mainstream news yet? ...shocking information that leaves me without the option to support Obama.

Anyways, I'd say building bridges between our many cultures is the biggest issue Americans face. African American leaders have got to come up with some real answers to the many problems black Americans face. They need to work with measurable ideas rather than the churchy faith-based feel good bullshit that only distracts

Regardless, Obama has no shot against McCain now.

Louis Lapides said...

Db: you might remember in one of the last debates between Hillary and Obama, Mrs. Clinton asked him if Barak denounced the endorsement made by Louis Farrakhan. Barak said he denounced Farrakhan's anti-Semitism. Hillary pressed further: Do you denounce his endorsement of you? Barak hesitated and gave a garbled response in which he said (and I am paraphrasing), "if it makes you comfortable, I denounce his endorsement." I was shocked. Does this man has his own convictions? If he felt receiving Farrakhan's endorsement was not a problem then he should have stuck to his guns. The big issue is Barak's pastor-Rev. Jeremiah Wright. According to my blog, I referred to an award the church magazine gave to Farrakhan, "Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan." That's a red flag to me. You're right. The feel-good stuff is meaningless and operates like an opiate as it shuts off a person's ability to think clearly through many issues. I was a pastor for 26 years so I have a sense what this is all about. I thank you so much for writing.

JonnyBGood said...

The more and more the issue of Louis Farrakhan is raised, there is a likelyhood of McCain carrying the Jewish vote. Obama's explanations for his pastors actions and everything else raises more red flags and makes me scared to think that this man could be our President. Anyone who stands by Jeremiah Wrights comments and stays in that church after hearing those things associates themselves with him and racisim. Obama didn't choose his white grandmother. He chose his pastor and he can "disown" him any time he pleases. The pastors comments go along in the lines of Michelle Obama's comments as well. He had an influence in their thinking and that is scary. Obama's speech was not inspiring or give clarification. He did not denounce it and that troubles me.