It’s been amply established that one of the biggest reasons that we’re entering the third year of this pandemic is that far too many Christian leaders either cannot or will not take COVID-19 seriously. Another reminder of this came a few days ago from a member of a very exclusive club—Black pastors who have bowed down and worshiped The Messiah, Lord Donald Trump, The Most Merciful. A pastor from Richmond, Virginia, actually suggested that any pastor who believes in wearing masks or supports vaccines is a false prophet.
Leon Benjamin is the founder and bishop of New Life Harvest Church in Richmond. Two years ago, he was the Republican challenger in Virigina against Democratic incumbent Don McEachin—and got his head handed to him, 61-38. He’s back for a rematch in 2022 in this Richmond-to-Hampton Roads district, even though he’s now running in territory that is even more Democratic than its predecessor. According to Cook Political Report’s analysis of the recently redrawn map in Virginia, the new VA-04 has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+16; the old VA-04 had a PVI of D+10.
But Benjamin isn’t letting the prospect of being a sacrificial lamb dissuade him from the spotlight. Late last week, he was one of the guests at the Phoenix edition of the Reawaken America Tour, a right-wing conference organized by podcaster Clay Clark and co-sponsored by Charisma magazine. The speaker list is a virtual who’s who of deplorables. At various times, speakers have included Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Mark Burns, Mark Lindell, Greg Locke, Lance Wallnau, and many more.
With a list like that, you should expect ignorance to be a requirement. Benjamin didn’t disappoint. During his speech on Thursday, Benjamin took a swipe at pastors who actually take COVID-19 seriously. Right Wing Watch got a clip:
Benjamin claimed that very soon, there was going to be a “sweep in America of false prophets.” Who was going to get caught up in it? Well, according to Benjamin, any pastor who told people to get vaccinated or wear masks, or who shut down their churches during the initial COVID-19 surge of 2020, needs to repent, and fast.
As far as Benjamin was concerned, if you’re a Christian leader and you gave such advice, “you are a false prophet.” Why? In Benjamin’s mind, “God would never cover the mouth of a true prophet!”
So let’s see if we’ve got this right. Benjamin is saying that if you go to a church whose pastor encouraged his or her followers to mask up and get vaccinated, you’re sitting under a false prophet. And here I thought that they were actually taking this virus seriously, and obeying Jesus’ command to love our neighbors.
I’m reminded that my little charismatic church here in Charlotte, North Carolina, went virtual-only for six months during the initial surge in the spring of 2020. We didn’t open the building back up until September—and even then, for much of the fall and winter capacity was limited to 40 people, with masks and social distancing required. We gradually scaled back up to full capacity by the spring, and after Easter we had the option of taking off our masks if we were fully vaccinated. Something like 70% of us were fully vaccinated, so it was the only indoor setting where my wife and I felt safe going unmasked until the CDC recommended putting the masks back on in early August—shortly before Charlotte imposed a mask mandate.
At risk of sounding like a broken record, we didn’t do this because we were being deceived by a false prophet. We did this because we care about keeping our community safe—an idea that seems lost on Benjamin. Then again, we’re talking about a guy who seems to be willing to condone an out-and-out racist just because he was willing to check the boxes on social issues.
As bad as this was, the rest of his speech was every bit as wingnutty. He started out by touting a link on his church’s website where you could get forms for a religious exemption from vaccine mandates. Apparently this is a thing among some churches that still have their heads up their butts about this virus. Just before Christmas, my wife saw that a church here in Charlotte was staging a free performance of the play “Scrooge.” But then we saw that they were touting religious exemption forms similar to what Benjamin is offering now. Needless to say, this was a hard pass.
Offering such exemptions would have been bad enough at any time. Indeed, to my mind, any pastor making such an offer is no different than a drug dealer. Now, in the midst of the omicron surge? Benjamin is essentially setting a dirty bomb in the middle of Richmond. I can only recall one time that I’ve been more outraged at a pastor being so willing to endanger others. You may recall that back in 2020, the United House of Prayer triggered a superspreader in Charlotte when it held a huge “convocation” at its flagship church mere minutes from where I grew up. The church refused to cooperate with Mecklenburg County officials who were trying to find out the extent of the outbreak, forcing them to issue an abatement order that shut down ALL gatherings at the United House of Prayer’s three Charlotte churches for two weeks.
Benjamin also revealed that he is a loud and proud supporter of the New Apostolic Reformation, the overtly fascist offshoot of the religious right that believes it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. He talked about the importance of the “Seven Mountains Mandate.” That’s the idea that Christians must take over the seven forces, or “mountains,” that influence our culture—business, education, media, family, religion, entertainment, and especially government.
But it says a lot that the fact Benjamin openly supports fascism wrapped in the cross isn’t the most outrageous part of this video. Not by a long shot. When you claim that pastors who take this virus seriously are false, your moral compass is severely warped.
