Yesterday, things got quite eventful in front of the Hill University Center at UAB. While I was finishing up a book by NT Wright, a friend spotted me in a nearby foyer. He and I chatted a bit until finally it was time for his class. As he was packing up, he asked if I had heard the “street preacher” who was outside. Intrigued. I walked out and spotted a growing crowd surrounding a young gentleman who was holding a sign which read – “JESUS CHRIST will cast ALL SINNERS into the LAKE OF FIRE on the DAY OF JUDGMENT.”
Hmmm… let’s see what the “preacher” is preaching.
A few quotes by the “preacher” (Jesse Morrell) that stand out:
- “If you voted for Obama, you need to repent of your sins… you are not born again.”
- “The bible says, ‘Thou shalt not be a socialist.’”…
- “God is a capitalist.”
- “I serve the ‘real’ Jesus.”
- “You all are sinners!” “I’m going to heaven!”
- “Obama is an anti-Christ!”
Well, there were other similar statements made, as well as numerous rebuttals offered by onlookers. Yet, after about 15-20 minutes of listening to the young man, I was still listening for the “Good news.” Granted, he was definitely “preaching” his opinion of things. But was it “biblical preaching”?
Furthermore, how effective is such “evangelism” which proclaims the love of God in a manner that seems to contradict the message. Understandably, the judgment of God is a grave and oftentimes neglected truth. However, do such methods of “sharing God’s love” invite others to forsake their sins and turn to Christ by faith? What are your thoughts? Might this method of “evangelism” win the lost? Or does it do more harm than good?
Also, I imagine Jesse isn’t alone in folks who consider God to be a Capitalist. But is this the case? What if God is not the capitalistic, democratic god that many in the western world have devised? Might the Kingdom of God exemplify a different politic? Does it matter that Jesus Christ offers a way of life that stands over against the fallen powers by which our world’s governments function?
Still thinking about things,
Shannon
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A quick comment. Jesse is an open theist also.
Didn’t know if you knew.
Love you all
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No, I didn’t know that. It goes to show that there’s definitely diversity of thought under the “open theist” umbrella.
I visited his website http://www.openairoutreach.com and watched his introductory video (which has an excerpt of his preaching). You may have already checked it out.
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Yeah. I didn’t know that was him at UAB but I have seen his website and remembered his picture after you named him. He is the one that was banned from Theologica that tried to convince all the reformed folk about the truth of open theism. I didn’t know he preached like you are describing though. But it doesn’t surprise me.
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To preach against sin is certainly needful as long as you also share the remedy for sin–the atonement. However, to preach your definition of sin (i.e. voting for Obama) as opposed to God’s definition (i.e. the Ten Commandments) is an entirely different matter. Don’t get me wrong, I could never have voted for Obama or anyone else who would hold to a belief in the “right of abortion,” but to call one a sinner because of that vote would be claiming an authority not given by God.
Secondly, to claim that God is a capitalist is ignorance in the highest degree of the nature of God and His Kingdom. If you study the scripture you will clearly see that God is neither a communist, nor a socialist or even a capitalist. He is a God of justice, which is not inherently present in any man-made system–because man-made systems of government, finance or politics are inherently evil because unredeemed man is inherently evil.
The things for which God condemned the nation of Israel (via the prophets) and subsequently sent them into exile were largely matters of spiritual infidelity and social injustice. Those issues of social injustice are present within the constructs of capitalism as well as socialism or communism. The very nature of capitalism brings it into conflict with the Kingdom of God simply because its goals are the attainment of wealth for the benefit of self. Whereas, the goal of the Kingdom of God is to seek “those things which are above (spiritual) and not those things which are below (carnal) with the ultimate goal of benefiting all of creation.
There is, unfortunately, such a social, cultural and political conceit in the United States that we assume we are as “pure as the driven snow” in the sight of God, when in fact our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. We are consumed with consuming, and the goal for all of it is not sharing with others but rather the desire to heap to ourselves more and more “goodies”. People “climb the ladder of success” usually at the expense of others and we declare it is o.k. because it is the nature of competition in a capitalistic society. Yet, Jesus tells us that in order to win we have to be willing to lose, in order to live we have to be willing to die (to ourselves), and in order to rule we must learn to be the servant of all.
In my opinion, Jesus would have utterly failed at being a capitalist, and unfortunately we often succeed all to well– and then pat ourselves on the back for doing so. I firmly believe that it would only take Christians truly seeing and understanding the nature of the Kingdom (heaven), and judgement (hell) in order for our priorities to be completely realigned.
I thank God for the United States because of the relative freedoms we enjoy here as opposed to the rest of the world, but we would be utterly foolish if we assumed that our government, financial system or even our religious heritage would somehow exclude us from the coming judgment that God is bringing upon the earth.
God Bless,
Mike
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Great comments Mike. I wholeheartedly agree
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