Plantation Preaching

In slavery times, on some plantations, the black slaves outnumbered the white slave owners ten to one. The slave owners wanted to have some protection against uprising or rebellions, so they made one of the slaves a preacher and gave him the message to preach on Sundays. The number one message was, obey your master. The second message was the story of Lazarus, the poor man that begged at the rich man’s gate. Lazarus died and went to Heaven, while the rich man died and went to Hell. The point to the slaves was clear, you will suffer now, but you will get your prosperity when you die. It was a promissory note for by and by.

Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and that you might have life more abundantly,” The modern day plantation preachers are still bringing forth the same message, in order to keep the congregation docile and passive with no sense of urgency to do anything about his present circumstances. This message is clear, “When you get to Heaven everything is going to be alright!”

This is not a do-nothing-and-wait-until-you-die world. Jesus wants us to be busy making this world a better place each day than it was the day before. No more “plantation preaching.”