The doors of the church are open. Good afternoon, Saints.
Beloved children of the sun, have Y’all been watchin’ those Trump supporters all over your TV and the Internet this week crying about the high-ass gas prices?
Have Y’all seen them?
Sister MAGA and Brother MAGA have been whining and having a spiritual crisis in front of gas pumps at Wawa. You see ‘em at Sheetz. At Buc-ee’s and the Pilot truck stops.
Cheeks red as brake lights. Faces all swollen like somebody told them Cracker Barrel ain’t got no more gravy. Wearin’ them wrap around sunglasses pushed up into their musty patriotic ball caps. Jaws clenched and eyes squintin’ so hard they can see Barack Obama on the little digital screen.
Talkin’ ‘bout how they voted for Trump not once. Not twice. But * THREE *times. And now it costs two hunnerd and thirty nine dollars to fill up their lifted F-150 with silver truck nuts hanging from the rear hitch. All of them were talkin’ about how they voted for Trump and some of them
But now that they’re payin’ those gas prices, they’re out here crying, *“I never thought it would get this bad.” *This bad for whom?
Umph. It finally took gas prices for them to recognize the harm of the Trump regime. Gas.
Now Trump keeps tellin’ Americans that the high gas prices are a price worth paying for the war with Iran. Of course he does because corrupt leaders love for people to sacrifice. They stay callin’ on other people to make some kind of sacrifice with their money, time, and even their lives while the men who write people’s suffering into policy stand up there and call it courage.
**Isaiah 10:1 **says, “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees.”
Saints, scripture already showed us these kind of cryin’ folk who enable corrupt leaders. It’s true. Proverbs 21:13 says, “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
Turn to your neighbor and say, “Neighbor, they shall not be heard!”
Brotha Willie, play your organ for us because the spirit of Black Jesus is already movin’ in the sanctuary right now.
Saints, the Bible is tellin’ us what to do when we hear the cries of MAGA. When we hear the cries of people who voted for the racism. Who voted for the immigration raids and mass deportations. Who voted to break up families. Who voted to put children in cages. Who voted against DEI. Who voted against Black history. Who voted to gut civil rights protections.
The Bible says what, Saints? Their cries . . . **“**shall not be heard!”
These people who voted to strip away women’s bodily autonomy. Who voted to terrorize trans youth. Who voted to take food off hungry families’ tables. Who voted to demonize poor folk. Who voted for the vilification of Muslims. Who voted to silence journalists that refused to be stenographers for power.
Saints, their cries . . . **“**shall not be heard!”
These people who voted for a war they thought other people’s kids would fight. Who voted for the ICE raids that have left legions of children wondering whether their parents will ever come home. Who voted for more than 600,000 Black women to be pushed out of the labor market.
Brothas and sistas, their cries . . . **“**shall not be heard!”
These people who voted for the sick to be treated like deficit burdens. Who voted for the worship of billionaires grifting everything while working people go broke. Who voted for a president who said he doesn’t care about the people’s finances. Who voted against climate protections while the floods and fires consume whole communities and lives. Who voted for cruelty and for the suffering of others whose cries they’ve repeatedly ignored.
Their cries . . . **“**shall not be heard!”
But now, the gas pump is making them feel some pain, they expect the whole nation to assemble around Pump Number Two and hold a candlelight vigil. They want mercy. They want us to show compassion for their hardship. They want prayer. Now they understand the importance of empathy and grace.
But Saints, if you read that Proverbs scripture carefully, it is not telling us that poor folks deserve to suffer. That’s not the ministry. Scripture is asking us to consider what kind of person can shut out somebody else’s desperate cries and suffering, and then turn right around and demand an audience for their own.
Church, what kind of people cry like this? Tell me, what kind of people can tolerate all kinds of cruelty toward other folks, but only get shook when their own costs rise? Has their conscience changed, or is it their circumstances that’s got tears in their eyes?
Saints, I’ll tell you what kind of people cry like this . . .
Racist people! Selfish people! Cruel people! Entitled people! Greedy people! Cowardly people!
Ohhhh, y’all don’t wanna hear me preach.
Vindictive people! Power-hungry people! Truth-dodging people! Bible-thumping Christian nationalist hypocrites! Flag-waving America first patriots! War mongering people. Gas-is-high-so-now-I-care people!
Hallelujah.
Saints, don’t be fooled. These MAGATS are not repenting. They might be crying over a gas bill but that don’t mean they have reconsidered all the hatred, racism, and cruelty they’ve accepted into their hearts. For these people, their gas receipts are more urgent than other people’s freedom, safety, and dignity.
Now, I want Y’all to watch what happens when the gas prices go back down. Watch how fast their tears dry up. These same people will go back to cheering on war, deportation, racism, and economic hardship for other people. These Trump supporters are suffering now but they still do not feel wrong about other people’s pain.
Their own self-interests set the limits of their moral compass. Matthew 6:21 tells us: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Other people’s cries don’t move the heart. Racism and xenophobia don’t move the heart. A child suffering won’t move it. Injustice doesn’t. Now we know the where their treasure is. They just want the cruelty and the cheap gas.
Beloved children of the sun, when we watch their testimonies play on loop all the way up to the November 3 midterm elections, I want you to remember what Proverbs said, “He also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
When these cruel degenerates weep, tell them to listen to the echoes of their own damn cries. We don’t even got to prayer after that. Let the church say Amen, Amen, and Amen!
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THIS CONTENT IS WRITTEN IN THE AUTHOR’S PERSONAL CAPACITY. ANY OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THE AUTHOR’S OWN AND SHOULD NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY OR MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
