JEREMIAH WRIGHT: Eisegesis and Historical Revisionism

Occasionally, we read on blogs the accusation towards another of eisegesis rather than exegesis being the foundation of an argument. Occasionally, we may find ourselves listening to a recorded message on the radio by some pastor or some televised message that we label as eisegetical in nature rather than exegetical, but the message by Barak Obama's former pastor yet current mentor is rather obvious. In one of his sermons, which are readily available on YouTube, he makes the statement that "Jesus was a poor black man". As blinded as the Pharisees were before Jesus, this preacher stands before his own congregation. Wright's characterization of Jesus as black is as bad as those painters who give Jesus blue eyes and blonde hair. You can point to the Bible all you want and say that it tells you Jesus was a poor black man under the rule of rich white people but the fact that you are a pastor does not make it right. Point blank, Wright is WRONG! Jesus, incarnate, was a Jew come to save His people, the Jews who are not black(African) and who are not white(European) but Jews AND who also came to save the black, white, red and any other color fella you want to list. The attempt to make Jesus more/less than what He is/was is idolatry. And no one, regardless of color gets a free pass when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Occasionally, we read modern books that attempt what is called historical revisionism. This is a reference to the attempt to rewrite history not to record what actually happened but rather history with a slant from the writers point of view. This slant is supposed to help a modern agenda. Again, Wright is wrong. He seeks to make a correlation between the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 9-11. He would repaint the pre-WWII history and make the United States the aggressor rather than Japan. He would repaint the modern history of 9-11 to make the United States the aggressor rather than Al Qaida/Taliban. Wright wrongly states that this is the reason for America's troubles, that "America's chickens are coming home to roost".

America has troubles to be sure but America's troubles stem from it rejection of the Biblical principles upon which it was founded and the God that blessed America rather than aggression towards Middle Easterners. America has troubles to be sure but America's troubles stem from pastor's who do not rightly proclaim the truths of God's Word but instead tell their congregants what they want to hear rather than what God wants them to hear.

We have traded the Gospel of spiritual deliverance from sin and death for a social gospel of handouts without accountability. We have traded the truth that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places for the lie that the white man is the black man's enemy and the black man is the white man's enemy. We have an enemy and he is the same enemy that is behind racism, Nazism, Islam and a host of other 'isms. He is the same enemy that thought that by killing Jesus, he could usurp the throne for himself.

God help us to tell history as it was and the Gospel as it is.