Bishop Charles Ellis Of Greater Grace Church In Detroit Should Resign Or Be Fired For That Stupid And Silly Prayer Service For The Auto Industry
This story is way beyond embarrassing! This wrong-headed publicity stunt is clearly a cringe-inducing, rage-inspiring, and completely befuddling act to any intelligent African American that considers themselves Christian. Black folks should not allow themselves to be used in this fashion by their pastors. This is not the way. Black folks need to stop allowing their church leadership to turn them into pawns for materialistic industries and opportunistic organizations that have NEVER done a damn thing for the black community except when they need to pimp them for their own gain.
If Bishop Ellis and Greater Grace Church want to get into public policy, then they should do their homework. If the auto industry gets their bailout, they are going to FIRE thousands of workers in order to survive just a little while longer until they need another taxpayer bailout. Bishop Ellis and his flock needed to hold a prayer service for new jobs in Detroit outside of the auto industry and for training and educational programs to re-direct displaced auto workers to new professions. Pray for something that will actually help your church members, not something that will keep white auto industry executives collecting bonuses for failing at their jobs!
And with all that said, don't get me started on the very idea of holding a prayer service for the auto industry when so many black folks are losing their homes, dying in Iraq, struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol, dying of AIDS, languishing in prisons, not getting a quality education, not saving for the future, not safe in their own homes, etc..... What a waste!
31 comments:
For the past decade I too have felt that many preachers have been pimping their congregation. It comes down to $$ for many of them -not truly doing the Lords work.
PT,
You and I are gonna be friends for life. I KNEW you were gonna pick this up!!! LOL
Where were these public displays of prayer and concern during Kwame Kilpatricks' term? What about the paryers for Detroit's school system, one of the WORST in the nation? What about the less than 24% of Detroit High School students being eligible for graduation? What about the rempant poverty, high crime, dilapidated hospitals, poor streets and infrastructures?
Jesus died to save the US autmotive industry from its impending collapse? Did Jesus tell GM to ignore its consumer demographic reports and create an abundance of cars and trucks that no one would buy? Did Jesus tell Chrysler to poorly manage its merger with, then divestiture from Daimler?
Why the hell are those damn hybrids in the pulpit for chirssakes? Is nothing sacred to the chitlin' eatin' negro anymore?
I sincerely hope that god hears their prayers and does exactly the opposite. If they couldn't pray to get Kwame out of office for being a jackass, surely their paryers should sound like crap to god now.
And in the PAW church no less! PAW used to have the reputtion of being consistently bible driven and and free from secular influence. What a damn shame.
That is uncle tom foolery at its best. I am glad that I became a Christian OUTSIDE of this whole "historical" Black church thing...
Auntie,
Here is yet another example of why black clergy, and we as worshippers, need a new paradigm in the church just as Barack created a new one within the Democratic Party and US politics in general. From stupid/shameful 'tudes on gays and AIDS, to silence on the social/econ. ills, to lack of female pastors, to corruption in local politics and in the pulpit itself, these folk and the people who feed off them have done us nothing but a huge disservice. What would Jesus say? Well, after he he shook his head as these white right-wing evangelicals, he'd plain vomit when he came to our folks!
PS I voted for Mr. Hanky and I'm going to launch a campaign for him on my blog. Hell with that flaming fat fool Heat Miser, his hook nosed brother, and Rudolph...
Don't even get me started on these Chicken Grinnin preachers. You don't want that many cuss words on your blog! You said it all Prof Tracey!
I guess they either kicked him down a nice chunk of cash for that fake ass promo or he got a lot of GM workers contributing to the offering plate.
Regardless - it's OUR responsibility to not buy into this crap - but unfortunately our people love to put preachers on a pedastal. Its like a status symbol to belong to bishop's so and so church. We give them too much juice for what they don't produce.
ROFL!!!
Question - Is his congregation FULL of autoworkers?
Wow! I can't believe this. How did he convince his "Christian" congregation that this was ok? The Bible says beware of false prophets.
supposedly this foolishness will be on live tv today (don't ask how i know...LOL):
CNN NEWSROOM - 1:30 PM
FOX NEWS CHANNEL - 4:30 PM on the Neil Cavuto Show
FOX BUSINESS NEWS- 7:00 PM
LARRY KING "LIVE" ON CNN - 9:00 PM (Bishop appears with Pastor Joel Osteen)
Bishop Ellis allowed UAW folks to speak before him and then gave a sermon titled "A Hybrid of Hope".
All of the SUVs on the stage were Hybrids... and church niggas lap it up like breast milk!!!
I hope god had his/her ipod on while these fools were praying.
This is no surprise from this character... In your spare time check out the way his father is idolized and remembered on the church property.
There are always extremists in religion. It's frightening how removed from realities they can go.
Sadly there are probably many parishoners that don't see anything wrong with this behavior.
And if "God" doesn't heed his prayer performance than what?
Lunacy...pure lunacy.
I guess if they lose their jobs anyway, he can say it was because they weren't tithers and that God is now bringing correction. REPENT and bring your offering to the pulpit! Hurry, I got a mansion to pay for.
Utterly ridiculous the way we enable our preachers to do all sorts of bafoonery before the Lord.
His church ought to be empty as heck this week.
I guess Hybrids are "Holy Rollers"
I wondered what the sam hell this was all about. During the day I have the tv on CNN, but usually with the sound muted. So I only saw the picture and couldn't get my mind around the notion of a bunch of gas-guzzling SUVs in the church.
Anything I could say would be littered with multi-syllabic profanities, so I'll limit myself. Jesus wept.
I already have a probelm with mega churchs - but if your PULPT can hold 3 large suv's and you still have room to preach - somthing is WRONG with this pitcher. Maybe be tooo many tithes and offerings or not enough community outreach tothe poor.
arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
don't even get me started on this mess. i saw it on tv last night as the story following commercial but forgot to turn back to it. what tripped me out was that rev had the pulpit lookin like some sheisty car dealership which too many churches try to emulate. motor city needs prayer in general. this city is so gloomy and depressing to me b/c of the ridiculous unemployment rates, crime, Kwame's crooked ass, school system, etc.
Nonsense is what this all is. so I take it another preacher will have those plastic life size play houses from fisher price,little tikes, or whatever the hell on the pulpit preaching to pray over the real estate market?
Get outta here!!!
Anything I could say would be littered with multi-syllabic profanities, so I'll limit myself. Jesus wept.
LOL @ Rosyln!
This some funny mess...
All these folk (clergy & laypersons) will surely have to Answer to God for this mockery of His wore & His will. I do not envy them this position on judgment day.
Off Topic-I voted for the Heat Miser!
Can Bishop Ellis prayer for a bailout of my student loan debt??? Better yet, can he pay them off with the tithe money from all those people??
Sidebar: Heat Miser is my favorite Christmas cartoon.
I'm just really disturbed at the pictures...I struggled trying to read the article. Um, I have no words because I'm just in a stupor.
I mean, why are they doing praise and worship around these cars? And why the SUVs? That just continues to feed into the cycle of having items beyond our means (NOT implying that any of these folks cannot afford such cars). And hybrids? We can't even get most black folks to recycle and you put a HYBRID on the stage? *smh*
This just goes to show you that a bible is just a prop in these churches. There are a million and one scriptures in the bible that tell you how God feels about wealth, extravagance and a "showy display of one's means" especially in a church. Proverbs 15:27, 1 Timothy 6:9,10, Luke 12:13,14 and basically the whole chapter 6 in the book of Matthew.
The ONLY time in the bible where Jesus had an "AW HELL NO" experience and prettymuch flipped out, was when people turned his father's house (the church) into a commercial business.
(Tosses hands up) Ah well.
I must say that when I saw this on the news I cringed. I too thought, "Lord where were the prayers for the murdered Tamara Green and her children? Where were the prayers for the babies that lost their lives to gun violence? Where were the prayers for people who sat in that very congregation in need of help to pay a mortgage, and feed their family?" I bowed my head and prayed for God's people beginning with myself for if this is happening I must bear the responsibility as well. The cars on the pulpit turned it into a circus act. Yet, when congregants have turned to the church for help in finding a job, no help has been available. Sista, you are right to call this out and we must all begin speaking up against all wrongs in and out of the church.
If GM goes down the toilet, how are the preachers supposed to get around? Where will they get their God sponsored/subsidized Cadillac every other year?
How ignorant are you people! The word of God tells you to keep your mouth off of the prophet and God's people so you better watch it...
Further more, this church was praying for Kwame the entire time the scandal went down so talk about what you know. This church also prays for the school system every Sunday especially since school board members are prominent members at GGT, again, talk about what you know.
To answer someone's question about the congregation, yes it is full of autoworkers...but even if it wasn't this is still the type of church that prays for all...you need to once again visit the ministry before you crucify it.
Maybe it is easy to jump all over Bishop Ellis for putting the cars in the pulpit, but most this post in way off base and incorrect when it says the Big 3 is going to layoff people EVEN IF they get the bailout! Where are you getting your facts from? Many of the posters on here will be reconsidering there posts, once they find out how close their jobs are tied to the auto industry. Wake up people...stop missing the message due to the delivery. YOU too will suffer, if these companies collapse.
Kev -
With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about. For the auto industry to survive, they WILL close plants, in fact, they are already closing plants. They will let go administrative staff and lower level management to stay in business. If you have been following the testimony of the big three in Washington, DC - they made this clear.
Further, they have also pledged to stop making certain kinds of cars, jobs will be lost there as well. If they merge or sell divisions, the potential for more American jobs being lost is also a possibility.
And since the auto bailout failed, GM will most likely go out of business. They said themselves that the could not survive without a cash infusion in December. And since you didn't present any facts, I'm not exactly sure what "facts" you think folks are getting wrong.
So, I am not sure what exactly you are referring to when saying my post is "way off base." It is nothing of the sort. You clearly misunderstood my words to imply that I was saying the auto industry should fail, but I NEVER said that.
And the point of the post was not about the auto industry. It was about a black church putting too much effort into something that was completely pointless and unhelpful.
@Kev, I am fully aware of the impact the failure of the auto industry will have on our national economy. However, it is true that even with the bailout money there will be reductions in force. The bailout money is to keep the companies operational. The money itself will not increase consumer demand for cars or the credit crisis that is preventing potential buyers from achieving finances. It solves one part of the economic issue. Do you really believe that with a loan to remain operational they will continue to operate at over capacity?
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