Call on Jesus and your dead ancestors sermon?
George Pratt, a 2023 history and religion graduate and co-valedictorian at Morehouse College, recently told congregants at Antioch AME Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, that Jesus isn’t the only name they can call on when they need spiritual help from God.
Still, they can call on the names of their ancestors, too, because, like Jesus, their ancestors are also manifestations of God. Like Australian Aboriginal animistic worship of nature, their ancestors are now found in nature and ceremonies. Pratt is preaching another demonic-inspired warped version of Japanese ancestor worship.
“We know that God as Spirit also presents themselves in other manifestations. Specifically through Jesus Christ, our elder brother, as an intermediary, and the Holy Spirit, our comforter,” said Pratt, who describes himself as a sixth-generation son of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a liberationist.
“God also blesses us with our ancestors as intermediaries who can work on our behalf in the tradition of our African and indigenous ancestors. Ancestors are too viewed as manifestations of God, the divine creator, and can intercede for us in the spiritual domain,” he claimed with the support of the church’s senior pastor, the Rev. Vandy C. Simmons.
So now, ancestors are viewed as manifestations of God. The Mormons go one step further and say your Mormon ancestors are NOw gods. So, is this witchcraft demonic teaching? Yes.
Pratt argued that he is aware that it is customary for Christians to solely focus on the orthodox way of accessing God through Jesus but said his message about tapping into the power of ancestors is meant to free believers.
“I believe as a liberationist, I was called to speak on this subject because I feel that oftentimes, as believers, we have played the proverbial pattycake with this Western, Eurocentric, autocratic, and anthropomorphic concept of God. And as a liberationist, it is my responsibility to help the people of God free themselves. So the objective of today's sermon is for you to leave a little bit freer than you came,” he said.
He argued that Christians struggling with the challenges of daily living can find relief with help from their ancestors.
“Sometimes we find it hard to get up, to go to work and school. But if we were just to call on the resilient, strong-willed, and do anyhow spirit of our ancestors, somehow or another, we'll find ourselves receiving a boost, a source of strength to get through the day,” Pratt said.
“I hear somebody saying in my ear, call on the ancestors? I'm calling on Jesus. Yes, call on Jesus and plead the blood of Jesus. Yes, there's power in the name of Jesus; demons tremble, yolks break, and the captives are set free in the name of Jesus. However, there is power in calling on the folk in your bloodline and your lineage who precede you,” he argued. “You simply are just a manifestation of your ancestors. Your ancestors are you, and you are your ancestors. You can both call on the name of Jesus and call on your ancestors, too.”
Pratt further noted that when he needed help with his studies, he called on the spirit of his ancestors and famous black scholars like W.E.B Dubois and others to help him.
“Lord knows there were times when I did not feel like attending class or meeting. I had no energy to write my 45-page senior thesis in history and religion. But I called on my ancestors,” he said.
Calls to Antioch AME Church by The Christian Post went unanswered on Wednesday, but the concept of ancestral worship, presented by Pratt, is seen as unbiblical in orthodox Christianity.
“The Bible tells us that the spirits of the dead go to either heaven or hell and do not remain in the natural world (Luke 16:20-31; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:11-15). The belief that spirits continue to reside on earth after death and influence the lives of others is not scriptural,” explains the Christian apologetics website Got Questions. But demons can and will pretend to be ancestors. There lies the danger of this foolish thinking.
