John Pavlovitz Profile picture
Author of 'If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk’
Liz Profile picture Peter Evans Profile picture Troy Swanstrom Profile picture 7 subscribed
May 20, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
Jon Bon Jovi is trending.

Back in 1989, I snuck into the Philadelphia Spectrum disguised as a roadie. I hadn't intended to, but just impulsively walked down the load-in ramp, and since I looked the part, no one stopped me. I was actually shocked. It was 2:00PM. I spent the afternoon in the bowels of the venue, walking back and forth with a large roll of brown craft paper and trying to look busy. I ducked into the band's dressing room for a bit, looked at their guitars, and watched the stage being assembled.
May 13, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
The people who think he’s a Good Samaritan also think Trump is a Christian. The Good Samaritan tended to a wound and helped a victim of violence, he didn’t use violence. You can’t strangle someone by accident.
Apr 19, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Last week I was coming out of the drugstore and in a hurry. I opened my car door, only to see a woman I didn't know in the passenger seat. It was then I realized I had opened the wrong car door. I apologized immediately and profusely to the woman and pointed to the exact same make and model car next to her as I scurried away, mortified. She smiled through the window, laughing off the awkward moment and waving.
Nov 21, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
From a friend on the ground in Colorado Springs:

"The Club Q (the site of the murders) had planned to host a 'Friendsgiving' dinner this Thursday for all the folks who don’t have family that love them. If they go ahead, the one way we can help them is by donating food." This not only shows the beautiful heart of the LGBTQ community, but it is a further reminder of the cancer of hatred: the way it permeates from politics and pulpits and into families and homes.
Oct 31, 2022 12 tweets 3 min read
No one on the Left is surprised by the assassination attempt on Nancy Pelosi and the brutal assault on her husband. This is what the Republicans under Trump are and will be. It is the rotten, putrid fruit of MAGA. It is the only logical evolution of Trumpism. I could tell you countless stories about the documented cases of harassment, threats, and violence I and other progressive ministers writers, speakers, and politicians have received since 2016, all at the hands of professed "Christian patriots."
Jun 1, 2022 25 tweets 4 min read
"If you keep attacking gun owners, you'll never change hearts!"

Nonsense.
It they had hearts capable of changing, any of these would have altered them:

Thurston High School.
Columbine High School.
Heritage High School.
Deming Middle School.
Fort Gibson Middle School. Buell Elementary School.
Lake Worth Middle School.
University of Arkansas.
Junipero Serra High School.
Santana High School.
Bishop Neumann High School.
Pacific Lutheran University.
Granite Hills High School.
Lew Wallace High School.
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School.
May 30, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
When I pastored in Charlotte years ago, I used to speak regularly at Rev. Billy Graham's organization. As Billy became sicker, his son @Franklin_Graham began asserting himself. Fox News anchors and incendiary politicians like Sarah Palin began showing up. The change was drastic. As his father grew more and more incapacitated, Franklin began publishing pieces with Billy's name attached to them, exploiting his name. After his death, Franklin fully transitioned his organization to a mouthpiece for the Republican Party and then fully for Donald Trump.
May 30, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
.@ksorbs I'll donate $100.00 to a non-gun related charity of your choice if you can tell me with any clarity precisely how Joe Biden has caused high gas prices or food shortages since taking office.

You have one hour. I'll also include a signed copy of my latest book, which you desperately need.
May 20, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Holy Communion is a sacrament remembering Jesus' final meal with his disciples—one of whom who would betray Jesus' leading to his arrest and murder. The text tells us that even with this knowledge, Jesus welcomes Judas to the table.

Archbishop Cordileone is wrong. The Gospel of Jesus was about inclusion, invitation, of all being welcome at his table. He dined with priest and prostitute, with his disciples and his adversaries, with the religious elite and the street rabble. There is no scenario in which someone would be refused. None.
May 18, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Name this music act. Image Went for walk. Came back to these glorious responses.

Dying. 🤣
Feb 2, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
Conservatives think I'm a partisan hack.
I've been a registered independent my entire life, and I'd been writing the blog for years and never mentioned a politician or party.
I began speaking explicitly in 2016 because I felt we were at a moment of unprecedented urgency here. As a longtime pastor, it was particularly alarming seeing Christians embracing the unapologetic hatred, vitriol, and exclusion Trump was peddling, and I felt it was my responsibility to name and condemn it.
Nov 6, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
7 years ago at this Starbucks table I was fired from a church for my progressive stances on sexuality, race, politics.
Weeks later a blog went viral.
I've since written 6 books and reached tens of millions of people.
Even if I hadn't, it still would have been worth it. There is power in your story and resonance in your voice. Yours. Speak with clarity about what you have seen and experienced, and trust that will put you where you need to be. This will be especially difficult to remember when you're seated at "the table." Be encouraged.
Oct 28, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
It’s FDA-approved and 750,000 Americans have died. If you could put down your political tribalism and think critically for a second, you might develop some common sense and some empathy. As it is, you’re helping the virus, failing the adult test—and your kids if you have them. Our kids have to have several vaccines in order to attend school. Your objections to this one are not based in science or data, but the same politically-generated conspiratorial nonsense that is swallowing up the minds of once-rational people. It's a global disaster. Do better.
Oct 27, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
If you’re a Trump supporter and you think you’re going to challenge me to a “Biblical debate” save it. If you’d truly read the Bible you’d recognize the golden idol you’re bowing down to. And if you really cared about the teachings of Jesus you wouldn’t be a Trump supporter. Nothing tells me you’ve lost the plot more than being anti-mask, anti-vaxx, anti-immigrant, anti-empathy, and pro-gun—while claiming you follow a Jesus who healed the sick, fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, and shunned retributive violence. Hit the books again.
Oct 19, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
Last week on the second day home from surgery my blood pressure skyrocketed to dangerous levels. At 3AM a group of first responders were in our living room.
I was grateful they were all masked and told me they were vaccinated.
All frontline healthcare/law enforcement should be. It's antithetical to the work first responders do, to exacerbate people's fear/worry/trauma by bringing the possibility of a deadly virus into moments when they are at their most vulnerable.
This shouldn't even be a conversation or debate.
Oct 11, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
10/11 AM Recovery Update:

Hello everyone! John here. Most of today's tweets have been prescheduled, as I planned in advance not to be online much while my body begins recovery from brain surgery.
I wanted to check in with a real-time update on my progress: Follow-up visits today with both neurosurgeon and ENT who performed my procedure to assess my progress.

Hoping to get clarity on the wildly fluctuating hormone and BP levels, and the water/sodium balances which have been the most challenging so far to get a handle on.
Oct 2, 2021 7 tweets 1 min read
John here!

Feeling well enough to give you a brief update while waiting on my wife to arrive:

Tumor removal went very well and I avoided cranial fluid leak which would have made recovery much longer and more involved. During surgery my BP did drop significantly so they inserted an arterial line to monitor continually and treated to bring up. Now trying to get it down to normal levels. Weaning my off those meds.
Sep 30, 2021 8 tweets 2 min read
I'M OUT OF TIME!

We're less than 24 hours until my surgery and I'm about running out of time to answer messages and return calls and do a bunch of stuff that just ain't gonna get done at this point! I'm good with that. We've done a lot this week. I'll be devoting most of the evening to getting in one last workout (as it will be a few weeks before I can) having a great meal (in case my sense of smell goes) relaxing, and being with my family.
Sep 30, 2021 8 tweets 4 min read
'IF GOD IS LOVE' MEDIA ROUNDUP!

Hello all!

Here's a thread of interviews and news stories about the book and my upcoming surgery in case you'd like to read, watch, or share! .@HeidiStevens13 for the Chicago Tribune:

chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-…
Sep 22, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
.@johnlcooper is a "Christian" musician who doesn't love his neighbor.

Guess he just wants people to meet Jesus—sooner rather than later.

If God is love... A professed Christian who defiantly refuses to do everything possible to keep people from getting sick and dying, is short one Jesus.

This is so reckless and antithetical to the Gospel it’s a disgrace.
Sep 11, 2021 9 tweets 2 min read
On September 11th I was working as an art director in Philadelphia.
I was walking through our artist studio when I heard Howard Stern on the radio say something casually about reports of a plane crash at the World Trade Center. For a few seconds everyone on the show was speaking with almost glib curiosity, imagining it was a small private plane and speculating on what might have happened. Very quickly it became clear that this was something different.