Kim Burrell, the 49-year old Gospel singer who has worked with musical artists like Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Frank Ocean recently went viral for comments she gave during a sermon at Kingdom City Church. Burrell received backlash online for referring to the attendees as broke, ugly and praising anti-vaccination ideas in favor of “walking by faith.”
Here are some of the comments she made:
“Sometimes before we get friends we have to do an interview: How long you been broke? How many times have you changed your name on your light bill? How many of your bills are in your little cousin's name? Do you live in a trailer home or a house?"
“You understand. It's not about status or material things. It's just about choices."
"We're at church… those of us that are walking by faith without a mask and no vaccine,"
"Who likes to be told you're just ugly? No one likes to be told that," Burrell said. "Most don't get offended until they know the bad thing about themselves… I haven't chosen anyone to be ugly yet. God is good. God is great. You all look great. Most of you have on hats covering most of that anyway. Here's to you."
“I have a great personality.”
I want to notate three things in particular when analyzing these comments. 1) Luke 6:45 tells us, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks 2) There is a spiritual element to the words Kim Burrell spoke and 3) Sermons like these are evidence that the loving spirit between the brethren of the church is not there.
The Spiritual Agenda Behind Burrell’s Words
We live in a spiritual world. While we live here in the physical/natural realm, the truth is that there are invisible spirits all around us with their own agendas. Satan’s agenda for the churches across the world are to take them over and “slip in” his own deceptions into the sermons while masquerading as God.
I have gleaned into Kim Burrell’s sermon and the truth is that the spirit of the antichrist is at work behind what she said! The spirit of the antichrist acts as the antithesis to God and Godly things. The Spirit of God promotes love, joy and peace amongst brethren. The antichrist who counteracts these things looks to promote judgement, condemnation, strife and conflict between people.
Lies, judgement and condemnation are among Satan’s most effective tools at keeping people in bondage and Burrell’s words are laced with them. They are used to attack a person’s soul by lowering their self-esteem and instilling falsehoods in them. Once a person “accepts” these falsehoods and it becomes part of their soul, evil spirits around the recipient have more ground to attack, influence and even use them for their own wicked agenda.
When one goes to church, one should be uplifted, empowered or sobered spiritually because the truths of God are being sprinkled into their soul upon listening to the speaker. Kim Burrell’s message has instead been used to mock people for their lack of material wealth or belongings, judging others, and promoting the idea that one is walking by faith by not wearing a mask or getting a vaccine. Are all of these ideas not purely of the flesh?
Since becoming born again, I have become more sensitive to the impact that words have on others and the human soul. Kim Burrell’s words revealed her innermost beliefs on what makes someone worthy, whether it be by their financial status or how they “exercise faith,” in this case by not wearing a mask.
Yet, I have mercy for her because it’s clear her evil spirits have gotten such a stronghold on her that she can say these ungracious and unkind things to the people she should be uplifting in Christ. It is also a sad truth that she is not the first pastor recently who has denigrated their fellow churchgoers or spread the lie that neglecting to protect oneself from COVID-19 is a form of Godliness.
Be Uplifted at EIC
Here at EIC, some of the most important fundamental teachings are understanding God, having love for the brethren and differentiating spirit from flesh. Lately in our assemblies, we have been speaking about what makes EIC unique and one of those things is demonstrating what it means to be Godly towards others both in deed and speech.
I am someone who had many flaws that were brought to the surface while being counseled in EIC. In fact, I experienced the things that Kim Burrell mocked people for because I have lived as someone who was broke with a great many ugly things in his soul. I was narcissistic, selfish, self-absorbed, manipulative, cold-blooded, angry, and many more ungodly things!
Yet, not once when I brought the truths of myself to Pastor Pam did she judge, condemn or mock me. Not once did God’s chosen vessel for pastoring me make me feel like I was less of a person or unworthy for the weaknesses and deficiencies of my soul. Instead, she taught me that I had a narcissistic flesh that was not beyond God’s power to restore with His love and mercy. I cannot imagine anyone truly being born again in Christ make the denigrating statements Kim Burrell said so casually. Indeed, a born again person would be convicted of their harsh speech and God’s Spirit would call them to repent.
Beyond this, I was taught how important it is to exercise common sense and logic, both with making decisions for myself and while interacting with other people. I was taught to be courteous and kind to others because that is what it means to be Godly. I was taught that using the scientific advantages that we as a people have been blessed with in this day and age like the vaccine is something to be grateful for and use to one’s benefit.
When the assembly of EIC gets together for service, we are about spiritual empowerment, gaining Godly knowledge from each other and moving as a cohesive unit as different limbs of the Body of Christ. EIC is what a church assembly should be, a place where we see one’s confessed weaknesses made into strengths by the mercy, glory and brilliance of God.
To the reader: I lovingly urge you to not accept ungodly ideas into your spiritual life. Do not be complacent or lukewarm with giving someone a pass if they are preaching falsehoods, condemnation and judgement to your face in the pulpit. Because God is infinitely noble and cares for you! He wants one not to be bogged down by ugly and hurtful words from a false teacher, but to give you a new spirit and heart for Christ! If one’s speech evidences that the devil is speaking through them, flee from them and instead seek God!
Exodus Internet Church is about spiritual empowerment and gaining knowledge to discern what is from God versus what is from the devil. If you find yourself seeking spiritual growth in Christ, give EIC a call at 888-818-1117 or email rescueonfb@icloud.com.
The COVIDcareless attitude is flourishing amongst the religious world, partly because of the strange beliefs that—THAT part Of the world has. My coworker when cases were extremely low and masks were optional, still had to wear one, not because he wanted to, but because HE HAD to because people in his congregation refused to get vaccinated.
Church folk failed to as Jesus told us to do, “watch and pray.” they are prayin all day and all night but no one is watching. So, when a mass amount of people have passive, suggestible minds, they cant see the message God is sending behind COVID but instead listen to pseudo scientists and satan:
“Instead, Covid-19 has spoken worldwide the same message…
As I approach this article, I thought to myself "oh wow ! But.... maybe they need to hear it to "get their stuff together"?". I heard sooo many judgmental rants like these in Martinique, in church school home in informal discussions ! So much so that I passively believed it was a form of tough love that people need. This opened my eyes to my own blindness in this area and shows how much this mentality brainwashes you. You have to believe you're too small and miserable to be respected in order to accept such bashing.
Thank you so much for such an insightful article George. You are are chief blogger of this season!
I have been in ministry for 40 years. preaching the first 25 years predominately to black folk. One thing I learned about us is that we will take criticism and even bashing from those we love. From the pulpit, the one who is loved is typically a man. .Black male preachers have the innate "privilege" to bash us, but not a woman preacher. I remember in the early days, men preachers would be offended by my boldness and criticize me for "preaching like a man."
in the early days , I was caught up in the message and out of my mouth…