Bishop T.D. Jakes slammed Christians who
flout social distancing guidelines as a
demonstration of how their faith will
protect them from the coronavirus as
“foolishness” and “dumb.”
“I believe in faith, I believe in God, I believe
in the Bible, I believe in the Word of God,
but I also believe in common sense,” said
Jakes, senior pastor of The Potter’s House
in Dallas, Texas, in a Facebook Live
broadcast Sunday.
“When the Bible said Jesus was tempted in
the wilderness for 40 days and Satan said,
‘if though be the Son of God cast yourself
off of this mountain for it is written that the
angels will bear you up,’ Jesus did not
throw Himself off the mountain just to see
if angels would catch Him. That’s not faith,
that’s foolishness,” Jakes continued in
response to some Christians who think
people of faith shouldn’t be restrained by
state lockdowns in response to the
coronavirus.
“To put yourself in a situation where you
disregard common sense, disregard it just
to see if God has got you, please don’t do
that. I’m on here talking to you today
because I’m concerned and I’m worried,
and I love you and I’m scared for you. And
I’m scared for all of us to the degree that I
don’t live in fear but I don’t make dumb
decisions either,” he said.
The 62-year-old preacher, who is
considered at-risk of developing serious
complications if he catches the virus due
to his age, revealed that he has not seen
his own children for weeks.
“Not to hug my grandchildren, not to see
my own children for the past six or seven
weeks has not been fun. But If I make
good decisions right now I get to see them
for another 30 years or so. If I make good
decisions right now I’ll get to go outside
and I’ll get to go to the beach. And I’ll get
to go to my favorite restaurants,” he said,
listing other things that he will eventually
get to do as long as he tries to do as much
as he can to protect himself.
Jakes’ warning comes as several states
across the country have started to slowly
reopen after weeks of lockdowns in an
effort to reduce the number of coronavirus
hospitalizations at one time. More than
67,000 people nationwide have died from
complications related to the coronavirus.
He acknowledged the delicate balance
many people are now facing in deciding
whether they will stay home.
“I know that most of us cross country have
been shut up in the house for weeks and
weeks and weeks on end and now the
standards are changing and the
government officials, in different areas, are
beginning to open up. And I understand
why they’re trying to open up and I
understand the dynamics between the …
economic perils verses pandemic perils,
and I don’t really criticize either side of the
argument,” he said.
“Both of them have certain merits that we
cannot ignore. We cannot ignore the food
lines that we see across the country in
Florida. I cannot ignore the foods lines I
see at my own church as we desperately
try to feed people who have lost their jobs
and don’t have income and don’t have
money. I know that we need … our
economic infrastructure has to withstand
this or we’ll fall into the great depression. I
understand that,” he said.
“But on the other hand, I look at the
pandemic and I look at the atrocities that it
has created not only amongst the horrific
death rate that is attacking all people and
people of color even more so, people
without means even more so, people with
pre-existing conditions even more so,
elderly people even more so,” he continued.
“I can’t tell you how my phone has rung off
the hook over the last six weeks with
screaming, grieving, crying, weeping
people, upset because they couldn’t say
goodbye to their mothers, fathers. And
sometimes both mother and father have it
and sometimes sisters, aunts and uncles …
and even children,” he said, noting that
“maybe that has something to do with how
I feel.”
He said he cried for the dead in New York
City because “those are like real people.”
Jakes further stressed that whatever
decision they make during the pandemic, it
will be their own.
“Just because they’re lifting up some of
the restrictions does not necessarily mean
that you have to lift up you’re restrictions
on what is best for you. That is not a
political decision. That is not a Democratic,
Republican decision. That is not a
presidential decision. It’s not a governor’s
decision. It’s not a mayor’s decision. It’s
not a preacher’s decision. You will live or
die based on your decisions and how you
handle the days ahead,” he said.
“I know there are some of you that you
have to get to work and you have things
that you have to do, and you have to go to
the store sometimes and you have to do all
kinds of things. But when there’s
something that you have to do, please,
please be very, very careful,” he added.
He explained that even though people are
tired of being in the house and they “crave
normal” they should not allow those
feelings to cloud common sense “survival
instincts.”
“I’ve had members all around me who have
contracted COVID-19. Even the young
people took a terrible beating. It is a tough
sickness. It is not like the flu for many
people who contract it,” he said. “We’ve
lost people I knew. We’ve lost a lot of
people I knew. We’ve lost a lot of
preachers. We’ve lost a lot of entertainers,
we’ve lost a lot of people.”
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