Associated Baptist Press - African-American pastor says SBC leaders should repudiate Drake

African-American pastor says SBC leaders should repudiate Drake

By Bob Allen

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Dwight McKissic repudiated Drake and said SBC leaders should do the same.

ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) -- A prominent African-American pastor says Southern Baptist leaders should publicly repudiate comments by a former Southern Baptist Convention officer that he is praying for President Obama to die.

Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, said he had not heard an interview on Fox News Radio in which former SBC second vice president Wiley Drake said he is praying "imprecatory prayer" against Obama.

McKissic, who is asking the SBC this year to adopt a resolution celebrating the election of the nation's first African-American president, said if Drake was identified in the interview as a Southern Baptist, then his remarks should not go unchallenged.

McKissic, a former president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention pastors conference and speaker at the group's evangelism conference, personally denounced Drake's comments and said he would ask SBC president Johnny Hunt to do the same.

"They need to be repudiated by Southern Baptist leaders," McKissic said.

McKissic said Drake's views "are in the same ballpark" as Rush Limbaugh saying he hopes that President Obama's administration will fail.

"Southern Baptists don't need to line up with the Rush Limbaughs and Wiley Drakes in attacking Barack Obama," he said.

A resolution that McKissic proposed to the SBC Resolutions Committee mentions the 1996 election of Fred Luter, an African American, as the convention's second vice president as evidence of "a renewed commitment to racial equality and justice" on the part of Southern Baptists.

Drake, a white man elected to the same office 10 years later, said June 2 on "The Alan Colmes Show" that unless Obama repents, he is praying that God will kill the president. Drake said he believes that is what happened to slain abortion provider George Tiller, who was shot to death while attending church in Wichita, Kan., on Sunday, May 31.

Wiley Drake said on Fox News Radio he is praying "imprecatory prayer" on President Obama.

Describing the interview on "The Wiley Drake Show" on Crusade Radio June 3, Drake said Colmes invited him on the program because someone had asked him about his initial response to news that Tiller had died.

"I've been a Baptist pastor for a long time, been in the pro-life fight, been face-to-face with Tiller, told him about Jesus, and I've seen many, many others tell him about Jesus over and over and over again," Drake said. "And I've seen horrific things that go on in those death abortuaries -- and that's what they are -- and so my initial response to those people, they said, 'Well what was your response,' and I said, 'Well, in all honesty I have to just respond directly and say I am glad that he's dead.'"

In the Fox interview, Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., called Obama "a usurper" and claimed he is "not an American-born citizen." Challenged for referring to the president as "B. Hussein Obama," Drake denied calling him that because it makes him sound like a Muslim. "I call him that because it's his name," Drake insisted.

Accused of holding views on the fringe of American culture, Drake acknowledged: "It is a fringe point of view, and I take that as a badge of honor. I am on the fringe."

Drake said Southern Baptists have lost belief in "imprecatory prayer" -- praying passages from the Psalms where the Psalmist is asking God to bring death and misfortune on his enemies -- and need to regain the practice.

"It is in the Bible, and we are proud to say as Southern Baptists that we believe the Book," he said. "You've got to believe the whole Book, brother, or you don't believe any of it."

McKissic said members of his church voted both for and against Obama, and he doesn't have a problem with that, but to suggest members of his church who voted for Obama aren't Christians goes beyond the pale.

"I don't question people's Christianity based on how they vote," McKissic said. He said questioning Obama's profession of faith "is not playing by the same rules" that Southern Baptist leaders used with President Bush, who rejected the inerrancy of Scripture and was a member of, or regularly attended, several churches significantly to the left of most Southern Baptist congregations theologically and politically.

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP stories:

Drake, former SBC officer, says he's praying for Obama to die (6/4)

Pastor proposes SBC resolution celebrating Obama's election (6/4)

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written by Slick, June 05, 2009

Preach it, Dwight!!

Southern Baptists have already spoken.
written by Ken, June 05, 2009

In case people have forgotten, Wiley Drake was a candidate for president of the SBC last year. He was one of six nominees, and he came in dead last, receiving less than one percent of the vote. Dwight McKissic's candidate came in next-to-last, receiving less than five percent of the vote. That tells me that neither McKissic nor Drake represent the mainstream of Southern Baptists.

Just who are mainstream Baptists??
written by Slick, June 05, 2009

Mainstream members of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention are not the politicians who go to state convention meeting and to the SBC annual meeting to argue convention politics. Mainstream Baptist care far more about a relationship with Jesus Christ, finding and following His will in each of their lives, and living the way He taught that in who the president of the SBC is.

slick
written by Ken, June 05, 2009

Sigh. The annual conventions are made up of duly-elected messengers from local churches. Whether you're willing to admit or not, they ARE the Southern Baptist Convention.

Out of the thousands who attended the SBC meeting last year, Wiley Drake only garnered 45 votes, so my point stands either way. Just what is your point?

An interesting view
written by manaen, June 05, 2009

As a Latter-day Saint, this is an interesting view into your faith. As the Lord said in modern times, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine."

Wiley Drake also recommends praying for Pres. Obama's benefit
written by manaen, June 05, 2009

FYI, this is posted on http://www.wileydrakeinbuenapark.com/
.
"The Presidential Prayer Team has asked that I relay this
information to my friends and colleagues so that it will reach
its goal of enlisting 2.8 million people (1% of the population)
to pray daily for the President.
.
"I recommend that you join this effort and provide encouragement
to the President in this way. The President will be notified of
your involvement. There is no fee or obligation and your name
will be kept confidential. You'll receive a free Presidential
Prayer Team window decal in the mail and email updates on the
specific prayer needs of the President and his Cabinet.
.
"To sign up, go to http://www.PresidentialprayerTeam.org - It
will only take a minute of your time."

...
written by Argon, June 07, 2009

The silence of the "moderate" Baptists with regard to the "radical" Baptists is every bit as deafening as the silence of the moderate Muslims with regard to the radical Muslims.

Drake is a sick man.
written by seathanaich, June 19, 2009

Mr Drake is an evil and bigoted man. It is a good thing he is on the "fringe", and it is sad that he considers this a badge of honour. He is the same sort of person who has fought against equality for women, non-whites, and gays. He is the type of person through history who has fought against democracy and freedom. He is an embarrassment to America who has more in common with jihadists and terrorists than with those who love freedom.

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