As a complement to our piece Scandal to End All Scandals: John MacArthur Owns a Nice Watch, we wanted to draw our readers’ attention to the Instagram Account Prophetsnwatches, which catalogs Pastors wearing both high-end luxury timepieces whose price is only “available upon request , all the way to 10$ Timex specials.
The website is essentially identical to Preachersnsneakers, except whereas the excesses on that one top out at around $3600, the accessories shown here are far more expensive.
It covers most of the players we routinely cover here Protestia, such as TD Jakes, Steven Furtick, Brian Houston, John Gray, Lecrae, Ed Young Jr, Judah Smith, Creflo Dollar, and others, all sporting stunning wrist candy. It also demonstrates some contrast, such as showing the new pastor of Hillsong N Chrishan Jeyaratnam wearing an $89 Casio, and then contrasted with the disgraced pastor he took over for, Carl Lentz, who is rocking a $38,000 Rolex
Richard Roberts, the CEO of Oral Roberts Ministry, wrote an article for Charisma News where he lauded and praised the famous modalist for his “powerful words” and “wisdom and insight” on the topic of “communicating to breakthrough in relationships” during an appearance on his podcast Expect a Miracle.
Unless an orthodox Trinitarian, T. D. Jakes has gone on record as saying he doesn’t believe that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, but rather is just a “manifestation” of God. In fact, even now his church website reads “There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Despite not being a Christian even a little, Roberts gave Jakes free reign to discuss a host of topics, as well as promote his new book “Don’t Drop The Mic,” all while describing the encounter and conversation with Jakes as “Spirit-filled.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the purveyor of theological poison known as Charisma has promoted and endorsed Jakes. They have a long history of it, showing again why they have no discernment, and no regard for the love of truth or foundational Christian doctrine.
Pastors Judah and Chelsea Smith of Churchome, a hip-to-be-cool, celebrity-endorsed 10,000 member megachurch, further cemented their theological obliviousness by bringing on Trinity-denying Modalist T. D. Jakes as a Board Member of their congregation, effective January 1, 2021.
The Seattle-based church, spread across its five locations in Washington State and California, joins other celebrity preachers like now-disgraced Carl Lentz and Elevation Church’s Steven Futick in having very close ties with the “Jesus is a manifestion of God” Pentecostal Bishop. They made the announcement on their website, writing:
Bishop TD Jakes has been in church leadership for more than 40 years, and is the founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House Church. He has been in relationship with Churchome since 2006.
One of the world’s most revered faith leaders, his passion to bring people together is evident over his decades of ministry. He is an inspiration in matters of reconciliation and racial diversity. The wisdom of his collective experience leading people to Jesus, and instinct to serve others in areas beyond the church brings invaluable leadership to the Churchome board.
It is not a supremely surprising move, given that both men have had close ties for years, speaking at conferences together and even at each other’s churches.
By way of a brief profile, the Smiths are about as seeker-sensitive and biblically compromised as they come. They live in a multi-million dollar home and have a penchant for Gucci luxury clothes, where a single outfit can cost upwards of $ 5000$. They count Justin Bieber as one of their members and let him occasionally lead worship, with theoerotic songs like Reckless Love being a mainstay.
He frequently tweets stupid, unbiblical things like this, clearly having no knowledge of Acts 10:38, 2 Corinthians 5:10, John 5:22, 27, and other scriptures.
He is, by all accounts, emblematic of the skinny-jeans-wearing soyboy pastors that breed effemininity and are a blight on the church today.
As for where the couple stands on abortion and LGBT issues, more unbiblical, cagey, waffling garbage abounds. In a long-form article in Marie Claire that is worth the read, writer Jennifer Swann quickly zeroes in on the ethos of the couple.
Regarding his 2005 comments on abortion, (where he preached against it) Judah says (through his publicist), ‘We have grown significantly in the past 15 years. I wouldn’t agree with my approach when I was a young pastor on many issues and understand that no life decision is easy. We hope to be a loving home for humanity, no matter what someone has experienced.’
When I ask Chelsea what she would say to a member of her congregation considering an abortion, she is quick to clarify that, unlike a priest, a pastor—at least at Churchome—isn’t meant to provide counsel. ‘We know what we’re good at, which is the Bible and Jesus and telling His story. And we know what we’re not good at. There are amazing trained professional psychologists and counselors [for that].’
That’s why, on the Churchome Global app, the Smiths titled a section of videos ‘Question and Response’ rather than ‘Question and Answer.’
Throughout the two days we spend together, Chelsea has few answers for me. So I call her up a few weeks later to ask more questions: What is Churchome’s position on LGBTQ members, for example? ‘Every individual is entitled to their own persuasion, and it’s not our job to persuade. It’s just our job to proclaim. They feel just as loved and welcome and a part of our community,’ Chelsea says.
Have Judah’s views on homosexuality changed since 2005? ‘We are a church who love and welcome people regardless of their beliefs or background,’ he says. Would Churchome be open to having a gay pastor? After a long pause, Chelsea says, ‘We are very much in the category of “We love everybody. God is for everybody. And God’s heart is for people.” So our hearts are for people, and that is where we land, absolutely.’
Having TD Jakes on their church board, as bad as that is, is clearly the least of their problems.
Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church has invited “African American and/or Black Members” and their spouses of any ethnicity to attend a special gathering with racial trauma experts, with non-spousal white church members asked to pray for the event but to stay away.
Warren sent the invite out to members, informing them that “We don’t want to be a church that just talks about love, that just studies love, that just defines love, that just prays about love. It’s not enough to just say we love people. We have to show love.“
With Saddleback’s many campuses still closed and with no plans to reopen any time soon (the opposite of loving people in their church), the special gathering is happening via Zoom and is virtually hosted by Pastor Anthony Miller and Dr. Anita Phillips.
Miller is the communications pastor at Saddleback, and Phillips is the Trauma-expert. As one might expect, Phillips is a theological mess and deeply compromised. She promotes and partners with Trinity-denying Heretic TD Jakes, retweeting out his material and being a speaker at his “Woman Thou Are Loosed” masterclass. When she’s not doing that, she’s hosting In the Light Podcast, which is a smorgasbord of divisive, gospel-redefining critical race theory talking points. The announcement continues:
Our worship team has also arranged a one-of-a-kind gospel experience. We want this to be a safe space for our Black brothers and sisters to heal and be fed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by their church family heading into the new year…
Worshipping next to a person with white skin is not safe? Congregational worship is nothealing or edifying when there is white folk around? What fresh hell is this? Does Saddleback believe white brothers and sisters are giving black members the heebie-jeebies because of their melanin?
Furthermore, keep in mind this is a Zoom call. No one is even in the same room. This is some next-level divisiveness that the church is facilitating black members needing a virtual “safe space” to have their “gospel experience” so that they can “heal” away from the lighter-skinned congregants.” God forbid there might be white members sharing bandwidth with black members and streaming the same thing.
Notice also how Saddleback singles out “African American” members as privy to this evening of racial healing and that other “persons of color” like Asians, Hispanics, and Latinos will have to content themselves with staying away from this blacks-only service and hanging out with the whities in prayer? To wit:
For everyone else in our church family, I invite you to pray that God will use this night to begin the healing process that leads to true fellowship in our church family, and that God will begin the ministry of reconciliation in all of us as we head into new waters in the new year.
True fellowship and reconciliation do not occur within a body by having a “Blacks-only service,” or a “Latino-only service,” or a “Whites-only service.”
Rather, true fellowship occurs when you denounce these hellish, racist, race-baiting filthy rags as satan-stained damnable doctrine and instead have every tongue, tribe, and nation worship together as one in Jesus Christ, irrespective of race, gender, age, socioeconomic status, or any other artificial divider the world might think up.
Dear Saddleback Family,
We don’t want to be a church that just talks about love, that just studies love, that just defines love, that just prays about love. It’s not enough to just say we love people. We have to show love.
I can’t wait to share with you my vision for next year, and how we’re going to continue loving and serving people who are in pain. But right now, before the year is over, we’re starting with our Black brothers and sisters.
So if you are an African American and/or Black member of Saddleback (and spouses, no matter your ethnicity), you are invited to a special Zoom gathering Monday night December 14, at 6:00 PM with me, Pastor Anthony Miller, and Dr. Anita Phillips, racial-trauma expert and host of the In the Light podcast. Our worship team has also arranged a one-of-a-kind gospel experience. We want this to be a safe space for our Black brothers and sisters to heal and be fed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by their church family heading into the new year. Click here to register and receive the link.
For everyone else in our church family, I invite you to pray that God will use this night to begin the healing process that leads to true fellowship in our church family, and that God will begin the ministry of reconciliation in all of us as we head into new waters in the new year.
