Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I may keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much; quicken me Oh Lord, according to thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offering of my mouth, Oh Lord, and teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid snares for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end (Psalms of David 119:105-112).
Are the media and the political operatives of the McCain and Clinton campaigns really the moral authorities who define for us what the duty of a preacher is, and what is and is not appropriate for a preacher to say? Seems strange that these are the people seeking to determine, or rather to dictate to the rest of us, what can be said from behind the pulpit and what can’t be said, and also what we can listen to and what we shouldn’t listen to, and perhaps even which Churches we should, or should not attend. If it is true that the media and political consultants have it as their intent, to now define these things for us, the United States has a much worse problem than many of us imagine.
We all might feel that the Church has strayed from the path of God to a great extent, and that it is much too pre-occupied with wealth and power, when it should be more interested in souls and salvation. Yet, few of us would ever believe that the state has such an interest in the Church and vice versa, that the media and political consultants should feel that it is right or their duty to decide for us what the message of God to man is, who can deliver that message, and what we must do if we don’t like what a preacher says, or if we simply disagree with him. Who would have ever dreamed that in 2008 in the United States of America, we would be challenged by the media and political operatives, candidates and consultants to judge the preacher according to their criteria and to forget God’s? Was it Jeremiah Wright, or was it God who first said that life is sacred and should not be taken unjustly?
The Bible says that as a young man, Jesus entered the synagogue and turned over the tables of the merchants and whipped some of them because they had turned the house of God into a place of commerce. Sound familiar? How many of our Churches, Synagogues and even Mosques have become places of commerce, and have ceased to be places of refuge, and sanctuary for orphans, the poor, and the broken hearted, the drug addicted, the sick, the mentally ill, and the homeless?
It’s hard to imagine that there would have ever been an American Revolution, or the United States of America, had there not been some pretty courageous, and feisty Preachers who spent their Sundays condemning the British Crown and calling the colonists to arms to fight for freedom and rights. Had it not been for the orations of Preachers who condemned slavery, even though they were mocked and accused of treason, it may have taken years longer, and many more lives would have been lost before slavery ended. Jeremiah Wright seems to be the object of ridicule because he admonished the United States for mistakes we have made that are pretty obvious, in the same way of Preachers before him.
Wright didn’t tell any lies that took us to war in Vietnam, but he was a Marine. He didn’t cause 4000 of our children to be killed for no reason in Iraq. He didn’t vote to take us to war, and cause thousands of our children to be maimed and driven out of their minds for no reason. Did Jeremiah Wright set up Guantanamo prison? Was it Jeremiah Wright who said that it’s all right to torture people, and that our country should not honor its treaties and that we should ignore our Constitution? Did Jeremiah Wright carry out the wicked and foul acts at Abu Ghraib prison? Was it Jeremiah Wright who made mortgage loans to unqualified, and inexperienced borrowers creating a sub-prime mortgage crisis that has ruined people’s credit, and put families in the streets? Was it Jeremiah Wright who has been stealing people’s pensions while living like a King? Did he get a multi-million dollar retirement plan for doing nothing? Was it Jeremiah Wright who shipped arms to Israel and gave them billions of dollars in support of an illegal and brutal occupation, and genocide? Was it Jeremiah Wright who closed down our factories and left our country with nothing to produce, out sourced our jobs, refused to secure our borders, and tried to give amnesty to over 12 million illegal aliens? Was it Jeremiah Wright who made our dollar valueless, and gave us Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears as role models for our daughters? No. It was Jeremiah Wright who said that God would damn America if we continue to ignore the evil that is being carried out in our names as Americans, and if we, the people, continue to turn our heads, and refuse to do something about it.
Who will answer for the millions of innocent lives lost in Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Darfur, and other places in the world where we have sent arms, money and given moral cover to crimes against humanity? Who will answer for the 650,000 children that we starved to death in Iraq for no reason? If Jeremiah Wright, and other preachers wont bring it to our attention that something is morally wrong with the United States of America, and call us to repentance, who will?
When Jesus preached, the Pharisees became angry because he told the truth. He called them vipers and liars, and cursed them for hiding the truth, and oppressing people economically, and spiritually. He cursed them, and just like with Jeremiah Wright, they sent out their henchmen and operatives to defame Jesus, and when they could not silence him with threats, they sought to have him crucified. Remember John the Baptist? The authorities of his time never appointed him to a government office, never gave him millions of dollars, or allowed him to dictate public policies. As I remember, they cut of his head. I didn’t see in the Bible where either Jesus, or his cousin John ever ended their admonition of the powerful elite and the societies that fed their greed and lusts, and who ignored their injustices and crimes, for fear of public ridicule or even death. Should the Reverend Wright have to fear such a fate? Every true believer should stand with him, and stand up for him.
Someone asked why Obama would be a member of such a Church. Another person asked what man of God says things like Jeremiah Wright said? People asked, why didn’t Obama leave that Church, and someone said that what Jeremiah Wright said was vile, and hurtful and unkind. Nobody asked if he had lied. Nobody asked if he had awakened the members of his congregation to the truth, and to their duty to pray for their country and to speak out, and work against injustice. Anyway, men of God don’t answer to the media, or to politicians, political operatives and consultants, they really do answer to a higher authority.
America needs more men like Jeremiah Wright, and we need people to listen to what the true men of God have to say. Their not crying and longing for Armageddon and the destruction of the earth and all of mankind, or killing innocent people, attempting to force Jesus to return to rapture them and send everyone else to hell. Such men as Wright are filled with hope, and the belief that a good word is like a good tree, and that a good tree bears a good fruit, that can change this world. A good number of people in this country, Black and White, young and old, rich and poor, seem to believe the same thing.
Rather than to ask why Obama didn’t leave Jeremiah Wright’s Church, we should ask what Jeremiah was saying on those days that Obama was there. What caused Obama to become the type of person who can look out at a hate filled world that is suffering from the ill effects of racism, elitism, lies, greed, immorality and injustices and say, “We can change it “ initiating a movement of believers who are answering back and saying:” Yes we can.”
“Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil falsely against you for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets before you “ (Jesus speaking to the multitudes as recorded in the Holy Bible, Matthew 5:12)
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