Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock is drawing criticism for a past comment he made during a sermon involving God and the military.
“America, nobody can serve God and the military,” Warnock told a church gathering in a video labeled “When Truth Meets Power,” posted on YouTube in 2011. “You can’t serve God and money. You cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. America, choose ye this day who you will serve. Choose ye this day.”
Warnock added: “Politicians try to keep their power. Political parties lie in order to keep their power. And church folk, yeah, you too, maneuver … in order to keep your power. And Jesus says, that’s not power. That’s paranoia.”
“America, nobody can serve God and the military.”@ReverendWarnock, who is running for Senate against @KLoeffler, gave a sermon in 2011 about only serving God over money and “the military.” pic.twitter.com/kqchqP89W8
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 18, 2020
A spokesperson for the Warnock campaign defended the comment, stating that the message was based on a biblical verse.
“This sermon is based on a biblical verse that reads, ‘No man can serve two masters … Ye cannot serve God and mammon,’ a biblical term for wealth,” Warnock communications director Terrence Clark told the Washington Examiner. “Reverend Warnock was speaking about the need to commit to moral life before pursuing other priorities. As the video of the congregation’s response makes clear, this is another blatant effort by Kelly Loeffler to take Reverend Warnock’s words completely out of context. Given her own decision to spend her first days in the U.S. Senate profiting off the pandemic, perhaps she should watch the sermon more closely.”
Others, including Sen. Tom Cotton, took issue with Warnock’s comment.
“This is an insult to everyone who served,” Cotton tweeted. “Raphael Warnock should withdraw.”
This is an insult to everyone who served.
Raphael Warnock should withdraw. pic.twitter.com/64EmmpYlEm
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 18, 2020
Warnock has drawn criticism multiple times over the past couple of weeks for controversial moments from his past, including several days ago when video from a speech in 2016 resurfaced showing the reverend telling a crowd that America must “repent” for supporting President Trump and for its “worship of whiteness.”
“If it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent,” Warnock told Atlanta’s Candler School of Theology at Emory University. “No matter what happens next month, more than a third of the nation that would go along with this is reason to be afraid. America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness, on full display this season.”
It was also reported last week that Warnock was working at a Harlem church in 1995 that hosted and applauded Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Warnock is set to face off in a runoff election in January that, along with another Senate runoff between Sen. David Perdue and his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, will determine which political party controls the Senate for the next two years.
