On Thursday, May 1st I published a piece comparing the relationship of WI GOP operative Brian Sikma with his pastor, Wayne Van Gelderen Jr., to that of President Obama and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. In that piece I asked if conservatives believe President Obama’s spiritual pastor reveals something about his own beliefs and values, shouldn’t they also be concerned
the racism and extremism of Brian Sikma’s spiritual leader has had a similar impact on him?
A mere three days after this piece ran, on Sunday, May 4th, Brian Sikma’s pastor, Wayne Van Gelderen Jr. took to the pulpit to advance a fundamentalist Baptist doctrine that blames “Africans” for introducing America to illicit sex, teenage rebellion, drug abuse, demon possession, idolatry, and rampant violence. How exactly is one people group to “blame” for corrupting an entire nation with such “satanic influences”? According to Brian Sikma’s pastor African-Americans have successfully seduced America through demonic and voodoo worship disguised as “rock and roll.”
So how does someone like Sikma become a high ranking GOP operative and have a weekly platform on radio and tv shows hosted by Wisconsin power broker, Charlie Sykes?
As outlined recently by Politico Magazine, the religious right actually originated from Bob Jones University and its fight to keep the school segregated. Where did Brian Sikma’s pastor attend school? You got it, Bob Jones Univeristy. Along with his two brothers, who also preach at Sikma’s church and teach at the non-accredited college Sikma graduated from and worked at, Wayne Van Gelderen Jr. signed a statement promising to never date women of different color or even associate with organizations that advocated interracial dating. As detailed in last week’s piece, Wane Jr.’s father was part of the Bob Jones University board that defended segregation by saying, “God created people differently for a reason.”
That brings u back to Wayne Van Gelderen’s May 4th sermon, “Spiritual Music” which can be listened to in its entirety here or a condescend version can be found here.
“Rock music is a tool of Satan,” he thundered from the pulpit, and “Music must come through instruments separate from the world, separate from devilment.”
Later he quoted the Rolling Stones Mick Jagger to prove that, “even soft rock and roll is all about sex.”
In a weird sexual laced rant that maybe expounds on Sikma’s alleged views on sex and women, Van Gelderen asked his congregation, “Do you think it’s appropriate for, especially a woman, to sing with a microphone pressed very closely to her mouth, singing with a type of music behind her which could also be a love song and sing to God. Do you think there is a problem to that scenario? That’s a very definite problem.”
Sikma’s pastor isn’t the only fundamentalist Baptist to espouse such beliefs. Another member of the sect, Jeff Godwin, is regularly hosted by local media outlet VCY America. Sikma also frequently appears on VCY’s programs and according to their documents his church serves as their personal recruiting station. The network’s President, Randy Melchert attends, Brookside Baptist – a sister church of Sikma’s whose pastor is another Bob Jones segregationist. Ironically, Melchert’s son, Randy Jr., a former VCY employee, recently announced his candidacy for Secretary of State after Sikma used his group, Media Trackers, to drive the frontrunner out of the race.
All that aside lets return to Jeff Godwin and Sikma’s pastor, Wayne Van Gelderen Jr. At a recent VCY rally held at the Waukesha Expo Center, Godwin paraphrased the same Mick Jagger quote Van Gelderen used on May 4th. Godwin, however, decided to offer a deeper description of their shared beliefs.
When Van Gelderen told Sikma and other church members that drums and the rock beat are “defiled by the world” he was preaching from a belief that Africans use these instruments and sounds to, “invoke demonic possession.”
As Godwin explained words like, “Boogie, juke, mojo, cool, jazz, and funky are all sorcery and voodoo words from the African Key Congo language.”
What is one of his sources? You got it, Van Gelderen family friend, creator of Brian Sikma’s mandatory college curriculum, and accused sexual predator Bill Gothard. A booklet put out by Bill Gothard’s music ministry, Sound Foundations reads, “Our instructors have studied the influence of African-Americans on music, and teach that the drum beat (which goes counter to the heart) is inextricably linked to Satanism.”
At minute 44 of this VCY recording, Godwin explains even further where this “demonic music” comes from, “People are scared of being called racist, I’m just giving you the facts…voodoo stuff from the continent of Africa came together in the Caribbean islands because of the slave trade… It wasn’t long until that moved up into New Orleons which was the biggest pagan city in the US and some of those voodoo queens became the mothers of illegitimate children who were the first of the blues and jazz musicians.”
Just as your trying to process how hateful it is to deride a slave woman for bearing an “illegitimate” child when as a slave she had no control over who she slept with, Godwin follows it up with an even more disturbing statement, “All this voodoo music has been underground because of segregation, but Elvis unleashed it to America as a whole.”
This quote brings us back to segregation and Brian Sikma’s pastor again. From Wayne Van Gelderen Jr.’s perspective the de-segregation of “Africans” exposed America to demon possession, illicit sex, drug abuse and numerous other evils. Under this world view it’s completely understandable why he preached on this subject on May 4th. It also explains why Bob Jones University fought so hard to block black students from attending their school and convincing students like Brian Sikma’s pastor to sign a pledge promising to not even associate with those who supported inter-racial relationships. As Politico Magazine artfully showed, these racist beliefs launched a political movement that lives on today through racist GOP operatives like Brian Sikma.
What hope then is there for those of us “addicted” to this satanic music? Thankfully Brian Sikma’s church offers a rock and roll addiction program called “Reformers Anonymous.” The programs founder, Steven Curington, explains, “To wean people off rock music, I teach the doctrine of replacement: a 6-month fast from all music and a simultaneous 6-month feeding on preaching CD’s. Then the next song they hear will make em cry.”
“The evidence is credible enough to merit action.” – Charlie Sykes