“This is what’s going to happen to me. I’m probably going to be investigated by the IRS. For the record, I owe no taxes, I paid all my taxes and I’ve never been late on my taxes. … I want to get out ahead of the power of what these people have. The next thing is to be swatted. I was told by a congressman, ‘Watch out. Don’t be surprised if you are swatted.'”
These were the words of Pastor Jack Hibbs following his passionate prayer before members of Congress that set off several Democratic representatives.
The prayer must have convicted them something fierce, because several Democratic congressional members then wrote a strongly worded letter condemning the prayer and alleged that “Hibbs is a radical Christian nationalist who helped fuel the January 6th insurrection and has a long record of spewing hateful vitriol towards non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community.”
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Fast forward several days later, and the atheist advocacy group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has fired off a letter complaining Hibbs used his pulpit to endorse Republican candidate and former Dodgers player Steve Garvey for the U.S. Senate.
“I want to publicly right now, today, encourage all of you to vote for Steve Garvey. You’ve gotta vote for Steve Garvey,” Hibbs said to a round of applause.
Realizing his error, with a wry grin, Hibbs moved out from behind the podium and admitted his error before continuing to exercise his First Amendment rights.
Hey, for all of you in California, I’m asking you guys to cast your vote for @SteveyGarvey6. Steve Garvey, the legendary Los Angeles Dodger, has decided that he loves California too much to leave it. So in his retirement, he has decided to step up with us to fight for California….
— Jack Hibbs (@RealJackHibbs) February 26, 2024
“I just remembered it’s against the law for me to say that in the pulpit. As a public citizen, Steve Garvey is not only one of the greatest baseball players of all time. But we want Steve Garvey to represent us in the Senate. So, Steve Garvey is your only guy on the ballot,” he continued.
“So there, that was legal. I just had to move from here to there.”
In no time at all, the FFRF’s Staff Attorney Christopher Line fired off a letter to IRS bemoaning Hibbs’ actions and accusing him of “illegal political campaigning.”
Yet Hibbs is far from the only pastor to do this, as The Christian Post reported:
In 2022, as Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock were facing off for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, Pastor Jamal Bryant of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta area slammed Walker and encouraged his congregation to vote for Warnock from the pulpit.
For whatever reason, the FFRF took more issue with Hibbs’ message than Bryant’s. In fact, in the FFRF’s press release at the end of 2022 urging the IRS to investigate certain churches for electioneering, there is no mention of the state of Georgia at all, much less Bryant and his church.
Regardless of the outcome in this situation, and the many more that are sure to follow in this 2024 election year, don’t expect Pastor Hibbs to kowtow to the threats and the critics he’s garnered while preaching the Word of God.
“God’s Word prepares us for what’s coming. And our nation has been going the wrong way for a long time, and we have forgotten God. And our nation must pay, will pay, God makes that clear in His Bible. But we need to understand something: You who trust Christ will never be separated from the love of God. It’s not possible. It’s impossible,” Hibbs preached.
“…We’re not about to establish our empire. It’s not about us establishing our thing. It’s not about us living for us. It’s all about Him and for Him.”{eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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