Chicago-based pastor Charlie E. Deitz said white evangelical pastors who celebrated President Donald Trump's inauguration as a sign of God's grace were accused of “theological arrogance” and “understanding the Bible in the light of history.” He recently argued that we should repent for our “mistakes.” Mr. Deitz is senior pastor of Chicago's Progressive Baptist Church and Salem Baptist Church. video “White evangelical pastors in Texas, Georgia, and other places who want us to think theologically that God somehow intervened and brought about America's salvation,” he wrote on Instagram Thursday. The inauguration ceremony of the 47th president of the United States, some of whom are my colleagues. ”
“That's not Christianity,” he insisted.
According to church leadersQuoting orator, author, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Mr. Deitz distinguishes between Christianity “of this land” and Christianity “of Christ,” saying, “Between the two… We recognize that there are too many differences to be friends with either of us.''That would be to be enemies of the other. ”
“Some pastors would have you believe that God is somehow on the back of their issues or candidates right now,” he says. “But the problem with that is that we end up positioning God in light of our own political and cultural interests, which we all want to do.”
“Brother Pastor, I want to ask you, where was God when my ancestors were praying to Him during the 240 years of American chattel slavery?” I was asked for a date. “Where was God when Reconstruction failed? Where was God when my ancestors and grandparents were marching to end the 73-plus year long night of Jim Crow? God Didn't exist or does it still exist? What you choose now wins?”
“I want to say something that I wasn't taught in seminary: America's theological heroes who claimed to have a correct understanding of the text were racist, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradling He was a predatory rapist,” Deitz said.
“Your grandparents, who were not willing to march with my grandparents under the guise of Southern Christianity, have come to adopt the philosophy given to them by the 'moral majority' and believe that abortion is the most important, or only “I started telling them it was a problem,” he said. Facing corruption in America. ”
The pastor went on to point out that today, “your only issues are sex and abortion,” and that the pastors he is objecting to “also hold the Bible in high esteem, and that Jesus Christ believes that the gospel is It’s the only way to get to my father, which I fundamentally believe is the only message that can cure what has been diagnosed.”
“While you were waving the flag of victory, God gave us a great opportunity and now we need to repent,” Deitz said. To repent. 'We need to repent not only of our theological arrogance, but also of our failure to understand the Bible in the light of history. ”
Towards the end of the video, Deitz asserted that God is not on the side of “those in power” but on the side of the oppressed.
And He was given the power, he continued, to “deliver us not only from the slavery of sin, but also from the sin of slavery.”
“So if you're going to go after issues that you're only preaching in front of your own congregation, then you're going to go after other issues and talk to black pastors and brown pastors who see this cultural environment and moment differently than you do.” Talk to the preachers of race,” Deitz concluded. Not because they have a different Jesus, but because they made Jesus their Lord and not the American flag. ”
Similarly, he wrote in the caption that his video was a “pastoral rebuttal to those who sincerely seek the Christ of the Bible and those who defend the faith against its misrepresentations.”
“You should vote according to your beliefs. But claiming the results of this election and this Inauguration Day are God's blessings to America is a sad historical inheritance of inaccurate and irresponsible theology. ” he explained.
Deitz also said that neither Democrats nor Republicans “fully represent the interests of Jesus Christ. Both parties have failed miserably. My problem is not with the political parties, but with the connection between Christ and the candidates.” “It is up to the leaders of the churches that are
He went on to claim that “what we saw this week” was “not the Christianity of Christ, but the Christianity of this country,” alluding to Trump's inauguration.
“Our nation needs both repentance and restoration,” Deitz concluded. “God bless the United States of America.”
View this post on Instagram
According to him, WebsiteDeitz is an affiliated professor at Baylor University's George W. Tuett School of Theology, Trinity Evangelical Theological School, and Wheaton College. He is also a contributor A Letter to Birmingham Jail and Telling It: Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition, He is currently writing his first book on Christianity and social justice.
Photo provided by: ©Instagram/Salem_Chicago
First publication date is January 24, 2025.
