Pastor Marvin Winans
[Beneath The Spin]
Matthew 6:1-34: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. …”
It is said that God works in mysterious ways.
Nothing illustrates the truth of that statement more thoroughly than the current controversy over Pastor Marvin Winans’ refusal to bless a woman’s child before his church because the child was born out of wedlock. God used that lady, Charity Grace, and her son, Joshua, to send us a very important message – STOP WORSHIPING THESE PREACHERS!
God blessed man with human intelligence, and we should bless our OWN children with the knowledge and wisdom that he bestowed upon each one of us as individuals.
No preacher is any closer to God than you are as a person, yet, one of the biggest problems that we have in this country is far too many of us are running around claiming to worship God when, in fact, we’re worshiping preachers, and in turn, those preachers are making us stupid, mean-spirited, and hateful.
A perfect example of that is the preachers who are telling their congregations to rise up and fight against the right for gays to get married. We should be doing just the opposite. We should encourage marriage, not only among gays, but among ALL people who are in love, because marriage promotes stability. And with respect to the issue of gay marriage specifically, the Bible – the “word of God” that these preachers are suppose to be following – very clearly says to these preachers, and all others, to “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
Matthew 7:1-5 of the King James version of the Holy Bible is very emphatic in saying the following:
“(1)Judge not, that ye be not judged.
(2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
(3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
(4) Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Thus, many preachers are not only NOT following the “word of God,” but they’re rewriting the Bible to conform to their own bigoted points of view. They’re helping to perpetuate the very same kind of ignorant and bigoted stupidity that has plagued Black people for centuries. And the reason that they have that warped and un-Godly mind-set is because Black people were taught about religion by the very same people who had us tied-up next to the mules, and many preachers are too brainwashed to recognize that fact.
As Black people we should never forget that we’re the product of the very same racist and bigoted environment as White people, so many of the more weak-minded among us are just as bigoted and racist as any sheet-wearing Hillbilly, and many (but not all) of our preachers are a prime example of that fact.
These preachers have neither the wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, nor morality, to speak for God.
Matthew 23:25: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
