DTS update: Chapel speaker Frank Glover intros students to Kimpa Vita, lionizing her without noting syncretist controversies (🧵 incoming).
Off the bat, he says of her: "Before Luther or before Calvin, there was a revolution." Both men died 100+ years before she was born.
It's hard to find trustworthy sources on this online, but from the Met Museum we see that Kimpa Vita, aka Dona Beatriz, was trained as a medium for spirits. Glover notes in his speech she claimed direct revelation from God. metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pwmn_4…
You can also see in this screenshot that Kimpa Vita believed, based on her direct revelation, that Jesus was born and baptized in the Kongo.
Glover says she had a vision from "God" while seemingly dead, but that's not even half the story. Her vision was from St Anthony, who she considered the "second God." jstor.org/stable/1581595
(The quote is substantiated from the above book review of "The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706" by John K. Thornton. The article is paywalled by Jstor but the text appears in the Google preview)
According to Thornton, Kimpa Vita did not just have one heavenly vision from one near-death experience. "[S]he died every Friday and spent each weekend in Heaven conferring with the Heavenly Father about the affairs of Kongo." executedtoday.com/2009/07/02/170…
A portion of the quote that Glover emphasized from Kimpa Vita is true, that the Kongo people (who believe in Jesus) are children of God and that white people are not superior in God's eyes. But we need not over-correct and celebrate pagan syncretism to make that point.
I'm not seeing anything to substantiate the "black angels" claim. In fact, one missionary wrote that she told him "in heaven, there is no color." She gave the title of "angels" to local men who were emissaries for her movement. nypl.org/blog/2021/10/0…
This same missionary also contradicts the claim, made by Glover, that Vita Kimpa's infant son was executed with her. headstuff.org/culture/histor…
At the opening of the United Methodist Church's General Conference, attendees are warned to avoid "exclusively male language for God" and to "be conscious of inferred power dynamics."
The next day, this same duo presented their "report card" on the diversity of officers elected to the conference's legislative committees, then scolded attendees to "work a little bit harder on inclusion with language and interpretation."
Fani Willis returned to church to accept an award and deliver a brief sermon on her court hearing.
"The scripture they keep sending me is 'No weapon formed against you shall prosper'...They did not say the weapons will not form, and that's the part I didn't hear until recently."
Atlanta Berean Church, a Seventh-Day Adventist congregation, hosted Willis this Saturday for nearly 20 minutes of adulation, starting with lead pastor Dr. Sherwin Jack declaring, "She is one of us" (1:26).
The church presented Willis with a "Black History Achievement Award," SDA founder Ellen G. White's "Conflict Of The Ages" book series, and more.
"These beautiful flowers are for you, the beautiful person that you are. We love you."
Kelly Rosati, a National Association Of Evangelicals board member, calls pro-life Christians' opposition to state-run welfare "useless," "un-scriptural," and "madness."
Here's wider context: Rosati, an alumnus of Focus On The Family and former member of the March For Life's board of national directors, is speaking at the NAE's "Flourish" conference in October of last year. (1/2)
"I just want to plant a flag and say: Let us be people that never advocate for abortion restrictions without an accompanying paid family leave support." (2/2)