Preachers Can’t Touch T.D.

I (Justin) normally don’t trust black (or white) pastors as far as I can throw ‘em. But one guy I really enjoy listening to is T.D. Jakes. Much more than the “pie in the sky,” “Jesus will fly down and save us” tripe we usually hear in black churches, Jakes challenges and inspires with aggressive, instructional and intellectually stimulating interpretations of the Scriptures.

“The challenge is when you have defined yourself through a dependency, or a co-dependent relationship or issue or area of bondage or a simple thing like poverty,” Jakes says that Sunday in March, speaking to a congregation that was 90 percent black, dabbing away the perspiration with a red cloth. “You would be surprised at the people who would not give themselves permission to prosper because they are accustomed to seeing themselves as poor. When you try to rescue them, they come out physically but they don’t come out mentally because they are so used to being the victim . . . . because they’re hooked on their pain.”