Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), senior pastor of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, drew backlash on Easter for posting a now-deleted tweet that many labeled “heresy.”
“The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Warnock said in the tweet. “Whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.”
The tweet started quite a discussion about the true meaning of the gospel and what the pastor meant by those words. Many people condemned Warnock’s statement as antithetical to Christian beliefs, while some of Warnock’s defenders shot back with their own accusations that true heresy is “idolatry of a cult leader” like former president Donald Trump.
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s Easter Controversy
Sen. Raphael Warnock recently won a run-off election in Georgia and made history by becoming the state’s first Black senator. His church, Ebenezer Baptist, was formerly pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and subscribes to liberation theology.
Many of Warnock’s critics took his tweet as directly contradicting the Bible’s teaching that Jesus’ death and resurrection (events specifically commemorated on Easter) are the only way for people to be saved. Examples of Scriptural teachings on salvation include John 14:6, which says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” In 1 Corinthians 15:14-18, the Apostle Paul writes of the pointlessness of Christian faith if Jesus did not rise from the dead:
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
One user responded to Warnock’s tweet, saying, “You know this is literal heresy, right?” Darrell B. Harrison, who serves as Dean of Social Media at John MacArthur’s ministry, Grace to You, tweeted, “This is what the heresy of liberation theology does—reduces the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to self-salvific moralism and thereby making ourselves God.”
David Brody, Chief Political Analyst for Christian Broadcasting Networkn (CBN), said, “This is 100% theologically WRONG. We can’t save ourselves. That’s the WHOLE POINT of why Jesus came to this Earth. He came so we have a way to Heaven to be with him. Shame on the, ‘Reverend.’”
Jenna Ellis, who represented Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has commented extensively on Warnock’s tweet, calling the reverend a “false teacher.”
This is a false gospel and heresy. We cannot save ourselves.
The absolute truth and only meaning of Easter that matters is the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we must accept Him as Lord and Savior.
Read Romans, “Reverend” Warnock. You are a false teacher. https://t.co/dRVz0LdKGu
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) April 4, 2021
