Deitrick Haddon, gospel music artist and pastor of Hill City Church LA, gave a sermon that went viral on social media. In his impassioned message, he said that not only would Jesus Christ be a Democrat if he were still on earth, but he would support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policies. Reaction online was decidedly mixed, with many mocking the pastor.
“My allegiance, brothers and sisters, is unto God and not unto men. When I said yes to the call of God on my life, it did not include an allegiance to a particular party,” he began. ” I said yes to God to preach this gospel in season and out of season and speak …Thus said the LORD. However, let me just put this side note in here. I believe that if Jesus [were] still walking on the planet, he would be a Democrat.”
” Because he was all about diversity, equity, and inclusion. For God so loved the world -come on diversity- that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever -come on equity,- who would believe in the gift, should not perish but have everlasting life. That’s inclusion. Somebody. Shout, Hallelujah,” he argued. Oh, yes, he would probably be leaning on that side, based on whatever was going on, because Jesus was all about taking care of the poor.”
Commenters online were quick to mock the woke rant. “Yeah, but DEI would want to also give it to those who don’t believe,” one user astutely noticed. Deitrick Haddon’s point is similar to arguments made by Debleaire Snell, who lectured the congregation at Breath of Life Ministries about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). He made the bizarre argument that Christians need to emulate the ancient Babylonian empire.
In his screed, Snell referenced Daniel 2:31. In this passage, Daniel has been called before the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to interpret a dream. “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay,” the passage reads.
The pastor has a novel take on this passage. “What God is telling Daniel is that Babylon, the head of gold, would be the most powerful nation in this succession. So then the question should be, what would make Babylon so great?” he asked his congregation. “Do you realize that for all of Nebuchadnezzar’s eccentricities, he had one good civil practice,” he said. The Babylonian rulers ‘eccentricities’ included throwing Jews into a furnace and a mental break where ” he was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox.” However, the pastor contends, “What made Babylon stand out was they instituted a Diversity Equity and Inclusion program.”
“So what Babylon did was [from] every captured nation, they would take individuals from that group, and they would train them in the science and literature of Babylon and put them to work in the king’s service,” he went on. He argued that, ” any kingdom that has a homogenous cabinet is going to have a lid on its prosperity…the only way to get a 360-degree view of wisdom is to have people from every nation represented in the leadership of government.”
Watch Deitrick Haddon Preach Here:
He applied this principle to modern politics. “If America can learn something from Babylon…we’ve got to be willing to let everybody have a seat at the table. …what set Babylon apart is they literally created space for everyone to bring their diverse perspectives and gifts to employ them in the use of the kingdom,” the woke pastor said.
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