The Black Church and Its Demonic Den of Thieves Is the Problem of the Black Communities
By Gloria Zuurveen
Editor-in-Chief
Let me tell you, it wasn’t until I got involved in the organized Black church that I can now say I witnessed one of the most evil, criminal enterprises in all the years of my life. I am talking about chauvinistic coons like no other, whose disdainful behavior I observed in an ecclesiastical environment, coming from the head and permeating to the foot of the Black church in the name of conferences, general assemblies, and holy convocations.
This political-religious game of no shame has destroyed whole generations of Black people, and no one wants to call it by name—a diabolical, demonic, and devilish mind control unlike any story ever told. My dissertation touched on it, but in a different way. It highlighted the priesthood of God’s people as chosen vessels to fight the battle against the power of sin, and in the end, the truth wins. The Black church should be held accountable for crimes against humanity and for being complicit in the shallow game of salvation from without while practicing a lie with heavy clout. This game of classism and high-holy rolling—one man over another—is not from God, but from the heart of man. Just ask the prophet Samuel, who got angry when the people of his day, not much different from today, asked for a king instead of having that direct connection with God. They wanted to be like everybody else and do like the rest of the nations around them. They wanted a leader, someone to gather an army to fight against the enemy. They inquired and required the same thing: a man, a king, to rule over them, to guide them in their every move, and to take all they had. Today, these kings, especially in the Black church, have corrupted the people of God in the house of God. This kingship is under the spell of the doctrine of the devil, Satan himself. And it is so outrageously believable, but only the king actually shows it—diamonds and pearls, gold and fine linen, the best from the rest, good-looking women, Lamborghinis, and all the widows’ pennies. Yes, they are demonstrating the livable, visible lie, and the sadistic nature they have displayed from the pulpit to the addiction of the Hollywood itch, like the “Preachers of LA” to now “Honk for Jesus.” Lord knows what’s coming next our way on Hulu, Netflix, or BET. The Black church leaders are complicit. They are conformists who go along to get along for the big dollar days while single mothers and hungry children wonder, after a Sunday salacious sermon, where they will stay or in what yard they will play. Many women, young and old, live in shame, and no one knows their name because they live in shame of the pain they’ve gained in the Black church. The shame is real, and the pain is real too.
The Black church is a racket. It is not the house of prayer, unlearned innocence, and godly presence. No. It is conditional, sinful, and unrighteous as can be, and it’s the cause of many of our children and families being caught up in homelessness and living on the streets. The Black church has been hypnotized and mesmerized by all the promises of the ’70s integration. The leaders became complacent and went along to get along, being the only Negro in the room thanks to Affirmative Action, meeting the quota like a fly in the buttermilk. It really made Black people sick. The Black church is still under the spell and continues to drink the mixture without any questions, like Roe v. Wade and other liberal legal agendas, diverting funds from Black people to what is considered a bigger and more urgent call and cause—like women’s rights, which is now a more pressing fight. Black people have to get to the back of the line when it comes to civil rights because now, with women and other colors, Black people’s chances of getting any real reparations for all the atrocities are now slim pickings. Why? The Black church and all its lurches and leeches called preachers have sucked the blood out of their own Black communities and then ran lock, stock, and barrel behind the ones Malcolm X once claimed were the Black man’s biggest enemy—white liberals.
Dr. Randy Short, M.Div., a Washington, D.C. native and a scholar, historian, human rights defender, social commentator, anti-eugenics advocate, freelance journalist, writer, and social action/social justice missionary affiliated with the Christian Church and African Orthodox Churches, and Roger Jason Stone, an American conservative political consultant and lobbyist, in their collaborative book, “Slavery’s Mastery: Religion’s Oppressive Bigotry Unhinged” (published by Hollis Media Publishing & Distribution Group, 2021), describe how Black elites, through the eyes of William Sheppard, a missionary to Africa, fought to expose the atrocities of ethnic cleansing and racial divide between Black elites. The jockeying for influence and self-appointed grandeur caused the American Negro to lose key opportunities economically and strategically in academia. The Black gatekeepers proved just as detrimental to Black advancement as oppressive white business leaders and the government. As Dr. Short and Mr. Stone emphasize the Black elites in academia, I speak to the elites in the Black church and the damage they have caused the Black communities.
Look at many of your preachers and prominent ecclesiastical leaders, especially the likes of Creflo Dollar. Bet money on it, they don’t live in the hood or any prominent Black neighborhood. No! They move away and become the only colored person in their exclusive conclave until a burning cross or an “only color patrol” like “Karen” calls the police to have them escorted away in handcuffs. These diabolical, community-divested demons, promoted and highlighted by their actions, have shown that their own Black communities—the ones that made them who they are through tithes, offerings, and book sales like T.D. Jakes’—were not good enough. The Black church leaders sought to go along to get along, leaving behind hurt and pain, so much so that Tyler Perry’s “Madea” skyrocketed into fame by exposing the hurt and pain in the Black church. The Black church, with all its regalia, has crippled its own communities, and it is time for them to pay back with all the resources to build back the Black communities.
The high number of Black homeless people is directly related to the Black church. The problem lies among the leadership of those who call themselves pastors, preachers, and teachers. The members are the communities—if not biologically, then relationally through Christ. Until the Black church steps in and helps solve the Black homelessness problem, the crime problem, the family problem, and the social problems as a unit in the community, then the Black church, with all its devilish, demonic, and diabolical ways, will dry up like the dry bones in the valley. Because of its disobedience and lack of repentance, God will look the other way. He has already given the Black church what it needs to save the day, because faith without works is dead.
The Southern Truth.
