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…
James T. Roberson III of Bridge Church NYC denounces the assassination of Charlie Kirk but spends roughly half his statement (and even the following prayer) dragging the man's name through the mud:
This morning before we pray, I want to lean into some of the political tension in our country and the recent assassination of gentleman named Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated this past Thursday, I believe. And I've written out a statement here.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reads this way: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to obey Christ."
In this text, Paul is reminding us that as believers, our battle is not a physical battle. It's a spiritual battle God has called us to be a part of. And it is therefore not fought with carnal weapons but with spiritual ones. And I think in this political tension that we live in, Charlie Kirk and other political activists, particularly some on the evangelical right, often see ideas and policies that claim to be Christian, but they're fought with in a carnal posture. They're fighting for Jesus with anger and harshness and rage. And the danger of that is when you when you fight spiritual battles in a carnal way, the world responds with that same carnality. It's as if the world says we know how to do worldly better than you.
So, let me be clear. I denounce his assassination veheminently [sic], and we all should. That shouldn't be hard. It's wicked. That's obvious. It is also wicked to celebrate his death. It is carnal to celebrate his death. To lack empathy for someone who doesn't have empathy for you is to live in carnality.
At the same time, while he fought for ideals that he believed were Christian, I also denounced the way he carried himself and especially the way he talked about black people.
So, here's what I want us to remember as a church, what I need all of us to know. People are not defined by their ideology. They are defined by the image of God. Genesis 1 says "God created them in his own image." So here's what we've got to understand. Charlie Kirk, at his core, is not a Republican or a conservative. He is a child of God made in the image of God who has right-wing positions. And as a believer, we're called to see people not politically but spiritually. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh." I think we're getting some feedback over here, FYI.
So, let's be clear. We should be grieving with his wife, his kids who have woken up this morning without a father. We should weep with those who weep, and we should be praying for their families. But I also grieve for our country that elevates people into hero status and martyr status so quickly.
Disagreement is not wrong, but it's how we disagree that matters. And my prayer is that we, the people of God, would resist the temptation to fight our battles with carnal weapons. Instead, let us choose a spiritual posture that Christ has given us, because truly, the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and not carnal. Amen. Pray with me.
Father, we pray right now that as we jump into the word here, we do lift up the Kirk family. We lift up those who are weeping this morning. And I pray, God, for a spirit of compassion in this room. Make us wise with what we post online. Make us wise with what we watch online. But just because someone fought for Jesus doesn't mean they fought like Jesus. God, I pray for a spirit of peace. I pray that a spirit of fruit in our community and I pray that we would renounce all elements of the flesh. Now, God, be with us. Speak to us in this time. In Jesus' name. Amen? Amen.
Of course, Roberson is throwing stones in glass houses here. I knew to look him up because in 2020, his was one of the most harsh and angry voices I found. He plagiarized a profane, viral video in defense of riots during a sermon
Roberson is tight with leadership in @NAMB_SBC, will be speaking at a Send Network event this October
1/21/25: The @j29coalition announces its formation, touting a "goal of providing support to theologically conservative pastors"
1/16/25: Caleb Campbell, the leader of J29, publishes an interview with progressive exvangelical April Ajoy, endorsing (without qualification) her book that explicitly states "queer affirming" is the only right and loving position for Christians to take on sexuality.
Campbell even compares her being "hated by evangelical" to Paul and Jesus facing resistance from "the religious elite" in Judea.
@J29Coalition For those who aren't aware, Ajoy is a co-host of The New Evangelicals with Tim Whitaker and in 2022 produced a podcast called "The Non-Binary Marriage" boasting of her husband becoming a cross-dresser. She celebrates Pride Month and explicitly denies the inerrancy of scripture.
@J29Coalition Ajoy's book, endorsed by Campbell, declares: "After years of praying and learning, I am now fully queer affirming and hold to an inclusive faith." She says this position is held by "those willing to choose love over dogma."
A PCA Mission To North America (MNA) employee under Irwyn Ince speaks out in support of the segregated event that has caused controversy in the past week.
Kellie Brown, the MNA staffer who suggested the Trump assassination attempt in PA was "staged," says "safe spaces" for minorities are the reason she remains in the PCA.
Brown and her husband Howard Brown are currently planting a church for the PCA, "Kindred Hope," which advises white Christians to become "allies" and financial backers rather than congregants.
"There's a lot of conversation around diversity. And a lot of, sadly, Christians are saying that we shouldn't have spaces for black folks, that it's divisive and whatnot. And I actually am a testimony that that's just not true.
When minority people have a safe space to be themselves and to share their hearts, and that space is protected and initiated and supported by the majority culture that's around them, then that makes them feel even safer, and it actually pushes us closer to being one church.
And a lot of voices out there would lie and manipulate that and make it seem like it creates divisiveness, but Christ Central is a testimony that that's just not true. And I'm still here in the PCA after 30-some odd years because of safe spaces and places like you had with Pastor Omari [Hill, of Perimeter Church] and other brothers to help navigate."
At Christ Central, the church plant she touts, pastor Howard Brown led corporate prayers declaring the Puritans guilty of genocide
Receipts from the website of their new church plant, Kindred Hope