Black pastors talking about gay people going to hell
Raymond Smith is on the run. In the cavernous sanctuary of the Wal-Mart-sized Mt. Ararat Baptist church, he races down from the choir loft, his Twizzler hair locks streaming behind his head. He jukes and weaves among the worshippers, who spill into the aisles to shout praises, wave their arms and twirl. He darts between them, overflowing with ecstasy and the inspiration of a supremely delivered word.
Usually, Ray's dash begins just as Pastor William H. Curtis' sermon begins descending from its almost perfectly timed high point. On some Sundays, if the Sacred Spirit drives him hard enough, Ray will make his way to the second-floor balcony, gathering speed like he's stealing bases. You can always announce the visiting folks in the pews: They're the ones craning their necks to watch Ray get busy on his laps.
Ray is what many in black and Pentecostal churches contact a "runner" ... a worshipper inspired by the Divine Ghost to sprint around the sanctuary. Often as he runs, he shouts, whistles or bangs the tambourine, making joyful noises unto the Lord.
But sometimes it can be hard to see what the 29-year-old is running to ... or from. He has traveled a circuit from Erie to Pittsburgh and bac
"Hell's gonna be pretty heated for you": My summer with a Christian detest preacher
“I mean it’s just the same thing I’ve heard a million times,” he said when I objected to his homophobia.
He leaned in and said to me, “I would just give you one last opportunity to be saved”.
I told him that, as it happened, 11 other people had already said that to me.
“Well hell’s gonna be adorable hot for you if you don't get saved after hearing it 11 times. That’ll be the warning that I would give you.”
Steven and his family get death threats on an almost daily basis. He played me some of the voicemail messages he receives in his back-office just before I left Phoenix for the last time.
The scratchy voice of a male echoed out from Steven’s computer, “Talk about God striking down? He should strike down on your church and burn it to a crisp.”
Steven looked through the lists of voicemails and picked another.
“This was a classic,” he said.
An angry woman shouted: “Just wait until we bring our AR-15 [assault rifle] in and destroy you, and kill all the people who think in killing the LGBT."
I watched Steven for any sense of remorse or fear, or even worry for his congreg
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This is the second story in a series about the Black Church in Los Angeles, and its social, economic, political and cultural impacts. Read the first installment.
Church is where I first heard chat about gay people. Homosexuality was a frequent topic, often discussed with disdain or pity. Within those sacred walls, we were a constant punching bag. Sitting in the pews or behind the pulpit in my choir robe, I cringed when the pastor called me an abomination. I tried (unsuccessfully) to hide my attraction to boys.
Week after week, I heard I was going through a phase. That my homosexuality was a trial or tribulation I needed to overcome. That I should repent. End practicing that lifestyle. Hundreds of people in the congregation nodded their heads or cried out ‘Preach!’ at any mention about homosexual sin. They yelled ‘Amen!’ when they heard gays would go to hell unless we turned from our wicked ways. My parents were unknowingly among them. Those messages coming from the pulpit were the beginning of an unspoken chasm in our relationship. I did not experience safe.
Carlton Pearson – can a Pentecostal megachurch preacher change into LGBTQ affirming?
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Carlton Pearson, eminent Pentecostal megachurch preacher and one of the imaginative televangelists, passed away last week at 70. So young. I had the delight of spending a day with the dude in 2013. I had hoped to reconnect when I next visited Tulsa. Sadly, that will never happen now. He’s left an inspiring legacy; Pentecostal preachers can admit they were wrong and alter their beliefs (but it comes at a price).
Who was Carlton Pearson?
Carlton came from four generations of African American Pentecostal preachers. In 1977, the year before I began my itinerant preaching ministry, Carlton left the Christian based Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to commence his as a gospel preacher and singer. He was always popular and charismatic.
Many itinerant preachers, after years of constant travelling, the yearning to create roots becomes prominent, so in 1981, Carlton founded Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Centre in Tulsa. The centre and Carlton Pearson’s ministry went from success to success. The church grew to an average weekly attendance of ove
Religion is crumbling. The views that were once held sacred and unfixed by Christianity, have been questioned and challenged at a rapid pace for decades. That I knew, but when I heard what former Pastor Joshua Tongol had to say about his views on hell, Satan and homosexuality, my jaw dropped.
Never had I ever run across a Christian as forthcoming about his faith and his doubts as Tongol was in his new guide, So You Thought You Knew: Letting Go of Religion.
In my interview with the best-selling creator today, we discuss what led him to his spiritual metamorphosis, the challenges he's faced speaking from the heart and how the healing he's been known for has affected his life.
What moment in particular led to that total change in tune from following Christianity to the letter to where you are spiritually today?
Tongol: For me, it could be cliché, but honestly, love. For my whole life I don't feel like I'd been living as honestly with myself as much as I could have. My entire life I would hear things at the pulpit, I would peruse things in Christian books, and it just didn't make sense to me at times. It's fancy the moment I started to understand unconditional lo