The doors of the church are open. Good morning, Saints.
Beloved children of the sun, I had a whole sermon prepared for Y’all this morning. Yes, indeed. I was gonna stand before you in the spirit of scholarly reflection with my atheist Black Liberation Theology charity and bring you the good word.
Hallelujah, I swear I was.
But then, this week I saw a viral photograph out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that grieved my entire spirit.
Y’all know which one I’m talkin’ about. The one with Dell CEO’s wife Susan in the Oval Office standing behind the Resolute Desk in that long-ass red dress lookin’ like the emergency contact for Count Dracula. Lookin’ like she was ready to collect on a 2,000-year-old blood covenant before turning into 40 bats in front of the moon.
Saints, when I saw that photo, I dropped my jerk chicken wing, shot up from the kitchen table, and yelled at my computer screen, “In the name of JEE-ZUSS! What in the Rosemary’s Baby, Handmaid’s Tale, Bram Stoker, Eyes Wide Shut, season-finale-of-American-Horror-Story hell is THAT on Rev. Dr. Staceypants’ computer screen?”
Whewwww.
Lissen Y’all, I had to open every window in my home. I had to burn some sage. I had to speak in Latin backwards. I sprinkled some Florida Water on my laptop, over the kitchen table, and even my beloved dog’s furry head. I had to speak a word over myself. I had to call eight Pentecostal church mothers. Six from Mississippi, one from Alabama, and one from New Orleans. They all look like Baby Suggs from *Beloved *and they know how to rebuke a demon with a church fan and a Negro spiritual.
And just when I thought my nervous system and my soul had returned to baseline, I saw not one, but TWO videos that grieved me again. Lord have mercy.
At TWO city council meetings, one in Battle Ground, Washington and the other in Ottumwa, Iowa, members of satanic temples opened these public meetings by addressing the “Dark Father” and ending with “Hail Satan.” At one of the meetings, a Christian pastor had to stand up and ask the mayor for 30 seconds of silence to reverse the supernatural curse.
Thirty seconds? Really? That ain’t enough time to rebuke a demon.
And so after careful reflection, some jerk chicken wing fasting, much discernment, and an 11-hour consultation with Black Jesus, I concluded that a usual Sunday sermon just won’t do for today.
Calling on Congress won’t do. The Pope and the Vatican won’t do. Ghostbusters can’t help. Church, we need an old-school Pentecostal exorcism up in here.
I need all hands on deck this morning. We need some shoutin’. Some rebukin’. Some laying on of hands. Some speakin’ in tongues in the sanctuary this morning. I need the ushers to get the white sheets. Brotha Jenkins go get the anointing oil. Not the little bottle, sir. The one in the Costco-size jug with the big handle.
I need all the church mothers over 70 to shake your tambourines. Shake ‘em. Let the children come. Godlings! Stomp your little feet in the sanctuary. Let every unclean spirit hear you and be forced to identify itself. Deacon Charles, I need you to hook up a hose to the baptismal pool and turn the pressure all the way up because we g’on need some industrial-strength deliverance to get the demons out of America.
Brother Willie, I need you to play “Satan, We're Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” Everybody sing, “OHHHHH, SA-TANNNN, WE’RE GON-NA TEAR YOUR KING-DOM DOWWWWNNNN!
Saints, Scripture tells us in **Mark 5:9 **that Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man one day. Jesus asked this possessed man, “What is your name?” And that man said, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He said Legion, U’all. He said for we are many. That means that a large multitude of unclean spirits had taken up residence inside him.
Keep singing, Y’all. **“Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
And beloved children of the sun, that is exactly America’s problem. We don’t just have one demon causing chaos in the White House. We’ve got legions of demons running loose in America. They’re in government. They’re incorporated. There’s a whole army of them.
Sing Y’all. **“Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
So I am asking everybody in the sanctuary reading this sermon to extend your right hand toward Washington, D.C. so we can cast these demons out of America.
Sing Y’all. **“Ohhhhhh, Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
The demon of white supremacy. Come out of America!
The demon of authoritarianism. *Come out of America! *
The demon of greed. Come out of her!
**“Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
The demon of cruelty. Cast it out!
The demon of mass deportations. Cast it out!
The demon of ICE killings. Cast it out!
The demon calling for a live streamed state execution. *Cast it out! *
**“Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
Cast the demons out of the city council meetings. Cast them out of the state legislatures and the halls of Congress. Cast them out of the White House, Black Jesus. I compel you to check behind the curtains and underneath the Resolute Desk, dear Lord. Cast them out.
**“Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down!” **
Cast them out of the East Wing and the West Wing. From the Rose Garden. Cast them out of America’s institutions, its laws and executive orders, out of the economy, and cast them out of all the Christian nationalist preachers who bless this unholy experiment.
Play your organ Brotha Willie. Shake them tambourines church mothers. Rebuke the demons with that oil from Costco. Stomp your feet, godlings. Shout. Cry. America needs this deliverance.
Speak in tongues, Y’all! **HEBBABASHONDA! SHONDA-LA-BASHA! HEKKA-MOSHA-KONDA! RIKKA-TIKKA-SHONDA-LA-BO-SHA! HEEEEE-BABA-SHANDA! KOSHA-MOSHA-BASHA-RONDA! **
Let the African-American Holy Ghost have his way!
In the liberating, demon-rebuking, empire-overturning name of Black Jesus. And all god’s children say Amen, Amen, and Amen.
And Saints, as you leave the sanctuary this morning, I want Y’all to keep singing and humming that old spiritual, “Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down. Ohhhh-ohhhhh, Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Downnnnn.”
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