Leaders of the Church in God in Christ, or COGIC, are demanding that Swaggart “repent” after he criticized the influential denomination and its top leader, Bishop John Drew Sheard.
“When the largest African-American Pentecostal denomination, when that leader stands up and said I endorse that woman,” Swaggart (pictured below) told his congregation, “he was saying, I endorse murder, I endorse homosexuality, I endorse lesbianism, I endorse transgenderism. I endorse every evil that Hell could prosper or bring up to [be] right. That's wrong, folks!”
Sheard, who is presiding bishop of COGIC and its 12,000 churches, was among many black leaders who used the pulpit to publicly support the Democrat nominee and to urge their congregation to do the same on Election Day.
That “souls to the polls” partnership between Democrat politicians and black churches goes back generations, especially in urban areas, where black voters have been a reliable voting bloc for the Democratic Party.
A recent X post revealed black pastors were literally reading talking points, word for word, about Harris' fundraising to their congregations, AFN reported back in August.
One big difference during the current election season is that polls show more black men are supporting Donald Trump over Harris despite lecturing by Barack Obama to get back in line.
Another difference is that nakedly political cooperation is being criticized more often and more publicly. Swaggart’s blistering sermon didn’t hold back on what the modern-day Democratic Party stands for.
“The black church votes predominantly for the party that is anti-God,” Swaggart told his congregation. “What's going on here? What's going on?” he demanded.
Swaggart’s criticism set off black church leaders across the country, such as a Jacksonville Free Press article written by a black pastor. The op-ed said Swaggart’s sermon symbolized “white supremacy” and claimed it was an example of “white theology” and “white definitions of good and evil.”
In a podcast about Swaggart’s sermon, Florida pastor R.B. Homes said black churches won’t allow “white theology” to tell them about their culture, their history, and their faith.
“The black church was born in slavery,” Holmes angrily said. “The black church understands the power of black theology and liberation theology, and he cannot lecture me.”
In a lengthy letter denouncing Swaggart, signed by COGIC pastors, the church leaders similarly claimed white Christians have ignored the history of slavery and later Jim Crow, and have ignored the role white churches had in allowing it.
The letter also claimed the "Black Church doesn't align itself with a political party," despite black churches openly supporting the Democratic Party.
Ordained minister Steven Craft, of Project 21, tells AFN the criticism aimed at Swaggart revealed an ugly theology within the COGIC denomination.
“There's no white theology. There is the gospel of Jesus Christ for all nations,” he says. “There's only one theology that's true theology and that is biblical theology.”
