shoes – Protestia

A preacher has come out swinging against ‘Satan’s Shoes” – the red pair of Nike shoes made in collaboration with Gay Rapper Lil Nas X and MSCHF that is alleged to contain a drop of human blood – describing them as a “direct affront to believers,” but he may not be one to talk.

The pastor in question, John Gray, released an Instagram video where he explained:

They’re selling shoes with human blood in them. And they’re selling for a particular amount which coincides with a Scripture reference to Jesus saying ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning’ – a direct affront to believers, disrespect and dishonor to people of faith during resurrection week…
I defy the devil who’s trying to snatch a generation, and the silence of the church because of fear is not okay with me! I’m not okay with it…Nobody fears the church. They don’t respect us as a people.

Speaking of affronts to believers, Gray is a former associate pastor at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. He left there and joined Relentless Church in South Carolina in 2018, moving into a $1.8 million ~~mansion~~ “parsonage” paid for by said church. This is quite prescient, as ironically the only thing he has been “relentless” about is cheating on his wife while staying employed and wearing expensive clothing. That may have something to do with why “they don’t respect us.”

While Gray complains about a set of shoes being “an affront to believers,” a typical Sunday morning outfit from Gray may cost as much as years worth of rent for some of his congregation members, with Gray being a shining superstar on Preacherssneakers.

There is the $1145 sweater, the other $770 sweater, the $4005 shoes, the $9625 parka, the other $3721 pair of shoes, and then finally these bad boys

“Satan’s Shoes” may be blasphemous and offensive, but a bit of introspection about other acts of deviltry might go a long way.

[Editor’s note: Sadly, this is no April Fool’s joke.]

The Oklahoma-based ~~real estate investment group~~ ~~church~~ religious service provider known as Transformation Church that has set a seemingly new standard for throwing money in so many directions, has set the bar even higher this December.

Long gone are the days of pastor Michael Todd being simply content to wear the latest and greatest $3,000 shoes, these collectible kicks that few others in his congregation would ever be able to sniff, let alone touch, outside of a furtive swipe of the hand while supporting their crowdsurfing man o’ God.

What do you do when you’re swimming in money, good looks and you’ve already bought $20 million worth of commercial real estate but aren’t quite ready to make the jump to plant a satellite market in the saturated market of the South?

You further the spirit of Black Lives Matter via mostly-empty and economically-indefensible PR stunts.

In the newly resurgent Greenwood District sits Silhouette Sneakers & Art, “a highly-curated retail experience that brings limited and authentic sneakers and streetwear to Tulsa”. That is to say, they sell highly-priced athletic shoes that cater to sneakerheads, examples of which include Air Jordans ranging in price from $165 to $1100 and Adidas from $290.

These are the kinds of shoes that people otherwise in poverty strain their bank accounts to wear, chest-thumpable status symbols for the street.

In a move whose arithmetic sensibilities recalls the latest proposed federal stimulus package, Transformation Church just dropped $65,000 to clean out their highly-curated inventory and get some really sweet photos. How many pairs of shoes did they get for that sum? 168.

After all, why buy $50 pairs of shoes for 1300 children when you can spend $387 each to land 168 of them? It’s a small price to pay to build solidarity with our black friends and neighbors and help make sure that 168 “kids that are in an unfortunate situation” get overpriced footwear so they can look rich, imitate Pastor Mike with his awesome kicks, and set their eyes on things of this Earth, right?

Here’s the kicker. As it turns out, the owner of Silhouette Shoes is known to street evangelists in the Tulsa area for another reason.

Venita Cooper frequently serves as a deathscort at the Tulsa child sacrifice mill. In other words, Venita and her lesbian partner have repeatedly volunteered hours to don a rainbow-vest emblazoned with “CLINIC ESCORT” so as to rush abortive parents from their vehicles into the front door of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic and help drown out the preaching of the Gospel and offers of assistance from abolitionists and other sidewalk counselors.

Venita has played a very active role, of her own free volition, to volunteer in the murder of babies, a large percentage of whom were black, in Tulsa and to draw her lesbian partner further into the same dark practice.

This is the owner of the business Transformation Church just paid almost $400 per pair to “support” and get a photo op with. Not that the Church or Crowdsurfing Sneakersporting Pastor Mike would know any of that necessarily – like 99% of the other churches in Tulsa, the only time a member or attendee ever shows up at the abortuary is as a paying customer.

We reached out to Transformation Church for comment, but no one has responded.

What’s next for the pile of cash burning a hole in Pastor Mike’s pocket? Buying and donating 600$ T-shirts? 2000$ diamond necklaces? With the way this church is going, we wouldn’t put it past them.

Editor’s note. This article was written by Alan Maricle for Protestia. Edited slightly for brevity.