Reverend Howard-John Wesley received a minute-long standing ovation from his congregants yesterday, a week after his nasty anti-Charlie Kirk sermon went viral. We previously wrote about him after he used used Proverbs 30 to argue in FAVOR of LGBTQ relationships.
Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Wesley, the senior pastor of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Virginia, preached last week in a widely circulated message:
“Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be assassinated, but I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half-staff, calling this nation to honor and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land.
How you die does not redeem how you lived. You do not become a hero in your death when you are a weapon of the enemy in your life. I can abhor the violence that took your life, but I don’t have to celebrate how you chose to live.”
Appearing subdued, Wesley revealed to his congregation that they’d turned down all media requests because “we don’t engage in soundbites, we engage in preaching the whole truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He informed the church that “the leadership of the church family, our staff, our deacons, our council have done all that we know to do at this point to make certain that you are safe whenever you are in this space. And we continue to do so to protect ourselves and our house of worship.”
After someone in the crowd shouted that they loved him, Wesley responded, “I love you back,” resulting in a nearly minute-long standing ovation.
Following the ovation, he told his congregants:
“I never stand in this pulpit looking for any kind of notoriety or viral clips. That’s not why we do what we do. You never know how God is gonna use and move and shift. And this whole week, I’ve been reminded by my mentors that God has trusted us with this moment, and we’ve got to handle it in the right way. So I thank you for your prayers, family, more than the applause, I solicit your prayers over my children.”
Wesley reveals, “It’s been a tough week emotionally and spiritually,” and that “I just didn’t have it in me to stand and preach today.” As a result, he had a guest speaker preach the message.
3 responses to “Pastor Whose Nasty Anti-Charlie Kirk Sermon Went Viral Receives Minute-long Standing Ovation From Congregants”
Blatantly making false accusations and spewing lies from the pulpit is not preaching the “whole truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”.
The claim that Charlie didn’t care about the life of black people, was a blatant and outright lie, and easily proved to be a lie. And he should repent.
It’s very hard for black preachers to repent of their erroneous viewpoints when they use their skin color to back their beliefs instead of holding their beliefs up to the light of Scripture.
True for some, I believe. Some are indeed outright racists, and for them everything is always about race. Stub their toe, it’s whitey’s fault. (and there are whites who are just as bad – some of our resident trolls here, for example) In this guy’s case, it seems to be more a matter of toeing the democrat party line, influenced by critical theory, which requires false accusation. In general it is worldly, and friendship with the world. There are always the race hustlers who have to keep racism stirred up and alive, and the democrat party itself is a race hustler. Stirring up conflict, division, and strife is how they obtain and keep power. (not to give the republican party any free passes) The truth is that he’s enslaved to a bunch of white marxists, who are the Devil’s useful idiots, and he doesn’t realize it. Ultimately, it’s enslavement to the flesh. I liked what Dr. Carson said at Charlie’s funeral. He called it the “social gospel”, which is a very accurate way of putting it, in my opinion. But the way to deal with it, in my opinion, is to point out the sin. That’s all it takes. If we do that, then everything else will fall into line. It’s ok to have different viewpoints. But it’s not ok to sin against the Lord or against others. False accusation and spreading lies, especially from the pulpit, is not ok.
As far as marxism goes, neither is idleness. It is a sin to not work and earn your own keep, if you are able to do so. (2 Thess. 3:6-12) All we need to do is point out the sin. And of course, also be ready to repent of our own sin if necessary, watching ourselves, being careful not to sin.