Recently, I discovered an online sermon titled Jesus a Racist? It went viral. It was written by by a pastor named Brandan Robertson. His mentor is Dr. Miguel De La Torre. This is a link to Torre’s sermon first espousing the idea of Jesus was a racist.
Transcript of ‘Reverend’ Bandan’s Viral Tiktok Video
“Did you know that there is a part of the Gospel of Mark where Jesus uses a racial slur? In Mark chapter seven, there is the account of the Syrophoenician woman, a woman who is Syrian and Greek, both of which there were strong biases against within the Jewish community. And she comes to ask Jesus to heal her daughter who's possessed by a demon. And what is Jesus's response? He says, "It's not good for me to give the children's food," meaning, the children of Israel's food, "to dogs." He calls her a dog.
What's amazing about this account is that the woman doesn't back down. She speaks truth to power. She confronts Jesus and says, "Well, you can think that about me, but even dogs deserve the crumbs from the table." Her boldness and bravery to speak truth to power actually changes Jesus' mind. Jesus repents of His racism and extends healing to this woman's daughter.
I love this story because it's a reminder that Jesus is human. He had prejudices and bias, and when confronted with it, He was willing to do His work. And this woman was willing to stand up and speak truth to power.” Brandan Robertson
Before we go any farther, let’s reiterate what the Bible says about Jesus.
1 Peter 2:22 says Jesus did NO sin neither was deceit, lies, or guile found in his mouth.
Hebrews 10:14 says Jesus offered himself without spot as a blameless sacrifice…which the Old Testament says the lamb which symbolizes Jesus is to be without blemish!
Which begs the question, is racism sin?? James 2:8-11 answers this question by saying if anyone has respect of person’s or favoritism etc then it is a transgression of the royal law of liberty. Also, the Bible says God doesn’t look at the outward appearance but the heart.
Another Woke Pastor Who Goes by the Name of Grant Helbley
Her real name is Gina Helbley and she was raised Seventh-day Adventist. She used to be employed by the Ohio Conference of SDA. She had a special ‘ministry’ to OSU campus as discussed in a previous article.
Since the last article, Gina Helbley has taken up spiritual occult practices of meditations which she does live on Facebook called “Great Horned Owl Spiritual Direction.” She even has a website which contains statements that have abandoned the clear scriptural teaching on the state of the dead and spiritualism.
Helbley is most likely influenced by the previous two men who teach that Jesus was racist (2 Timothy 3:6-7). Here, she ‘preaches’ a sermon of her own about Christ’s racism.
Gina Helbley’s Sermon
Helbley reads Mark 7:24-29 and substitutes Lord with Sir.
This is the word of the Lord! Now our modern reading! Now our modern reading…
Helbley quotes Kathrine Shultz about how we view error as not a moral failing but a learning experience.
Helbley discusses children and having to say sorry…She says when you do something wrong it makes someone feel unloved.
So Jesus moment of ‘racism’ made the Lady feel unloved. Why then would 1 John say that God is love and in Him is no darkness at all?
Helbley quotes Mark again and moves on to talking to adults.
Whatever you believe Jesus to be for you, He said something really really racist And it was hurtful! He dehumanized another person who was from a different racial background and place than Him.
Question. If Jesus was a racist and the Bible says He was sinless in 1 Peter 2:22 then why would racism be a sin?
Helbley talks about Jesus leaving His home country as a way to escape the Jews. Helbley describes that Jesus was human and limited and just having a human experience.
So Jesus is being human, and being racist is okay because he was tired, hungry, exhausted? Not so. Jesus resisted the devil in the wilderness under extreme conditions and was tired and hungry after 40 days of not eating (Matthew 4).
He told His disciples more than once that he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That was His mission and His ministry. He had some boundaries. Helbley says He’s got a lot of internalized racism, because He’s lived among people who taught about other people in a certain way. He’s a product of His culture and His time and as much as He also is divine, He is human. And when the divine and human meet there are still peculiarities . There’s still deeply learned and ingrained culture prejudices. There’s still ignorance there’s still blind spots. So Jesus uses an analogy that is extremely offensive.
Maybe the analogy would be offensive to a haughty prideful person but the Canaanite woman calls Jesus Lord! She wasn’t an Israelite and she did worship false gods and heard of Jesus and decided to give Him a chance. (Jesus used the softer term for dog (akin to puppies) in his analogy than the harsher one in Revelation.) However she needs to repent of the idolatry of her country and accept him as Lord. I can see that she tried the religion of her country to no avail to help her daughter but then she tried Jesus!
Maybe you think “I would never call a foreigner or an immigrant a dog.” But that’s the thing about cultural bias and prejudice. It seeps into us because it is written into our flesh. When were born prejudice surrounds us and is as invisible as the air we breathe.
So babies are born racist? The left often says—regarding their favorite sins—you’re born that way, you’re okay! Such as being homosexual or transgender…but in this case racism.
And Jesus changes. He changes His behavior, He changes his attitude. He changes his answer and she gets what she needs.
So Jesus figures out that He treats people worse than animals and had to change his behavior and attitude. Isn’t that crazy? But in reality the lady calls Him Lord meaning He could save her daughter if it was His will and Jesus healed the daughter.
Helbley then quotes Renee brown and says that mistakes are not a big deal…that Jesus was scolded and changed His behavior…“The Message of Jesus was to repent” so Jesus had to repent of racism too. Mistakes are okay. But she makes it no big deal if Jesus was bad and made mistakes. Then we are off the hook as well? She makes that statement….So inadvertently she is defending racism as a mistake! No big deal because Jesus made that mistake.
She ends the ‘sermon’ by saying “We will mess up and that it’s okay. “Even Jesus didn’t live up to that standard.”
What a mess. She is reading her own woke rejection of the Gospel into the Bible.
Allow me to quote from WhatDoYouMeme on YouTube, a black man who is well versed on racism. His response to Brandon Robertson’s Tiktok is spot on:
“All right. So let me say this, so as a black man in America, one thing that I find particularly annoying is the imbalance of the conversation surrounding racism today. People seem to always take the conversation out of reality, and then they go to the extreme of either denying that racism exists at all today or to the other extreme of finding racism in literally everything.
So is it just me or does he (Reverand Brandan Robertson and others like him) sound like he's saying that this woman is a better and a more moral person than Jesus and that this woman needed to call Jesus out on His sin in order to show Him the moral truth? That's what it sounds like to me.
When it comes to persuasion, if this pastor is trying to persuade people into accepting his view, which it seems like he is, it seems like he would do better at persuading supremacists instead of people who actually hate racism. Telling people that they should become Christians and to follow Jesus, who was really a racist who needed to repent of His racism, is that really the best selling point to normal people who think that racism is reprehensible?
The fact that this doesn't even seem to cross his mind punts in a question, if He really cares about racial equality or if this is just a failed attempt at virtue signaling? But of course, just because it's not socially persuasive, that of course doesn't mean that it's not true, because obviously there is things that are true that are socially uncomfortable at times that we all believe. But even there, if this pastor is right, then this isn't just bad news for people like me, this is also bad news for this pastor and those who agree with him as well.
To start with the obvious, if Jesus was a sinner who needed to repent, than He couldn't have been God and He couldn't have been the unblemished sacrifice that was needed for sinners since He Himself would be a sinner who would also need a sacrifice for His sin. Given the obviousness of this, I'd be willing to bet that this pastor would actually have to reinterpret the gospel in a way that removes Jesus from having to die for our sins on the cross in order to save us” (WhatDoYouMeme).
Ellen White in the Desire of Ages
Ironically, the chapter in which she discuss the passage in question is called “Chapter 43—Barriers Broken Down” It’s hard to imagine Jesus being racist when He—according to Ellen White—knew about the woman’s problem with the demon harassing her daughter and put Himself in her pathway.
Christ did not immediately reply to the woman's request. He received this representative of a despised race as the Jews would have done. In this He designed that His disciples should be impressed with the cold and heartless manner in which the Jews would treat such a case, as evinced by His reception of the woman, and the compassionate manner in which He would have them deal with such distress, as manifested by His subsequent granting of her petition (Desire Of Ages 400.2).
The woman urged her case with increased earnestness, bowing at Christ's feet, and crying, “Lord, help me.” Jesus, still apparently rejecting her entreaties, according to the unfeeling prejudice of the Jews, answered, “It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.” This was virtually asserting that it was not just to lavish the blessings brought to the favored people of God upon strangers and aliens from Israel. This answer would have utterly discouraged a less earnest seeker. But the woman saw that her opportunity had come.
Beneath the apparent refusal of Jesus, she saw a compassion that He could not hide. “Truth, Lord,” she answered, “yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” While the children of the household eat at the father's table, even the dogs are not left unfed. They have a right to the crumbs that fall from the table abundantly supplied. So while there were many blessings given to Israel, was there not also a blessing for her? She was looked upon as a dog, and had she not then a dog's claim to a crumb from His bounty? (Desire of Ages 401.1).
The Saviour is satisfied. He has tested her faith in Him. By His dealings with her, He has shown that she who has been regarded as an outcast from Israel is no longer an alien, but a child in God's household. As a child it is her privilege to share in the Father's gifts. Christ now grants her request, and finishes the lesson to the disciples. Turning to her with a look of pity and love, He says, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” From that hour her daughter became whole. The demon troubled her no more. The woman departed, acknowledging her Saviour, and happy in the granting of her prayer. (Desire of Ages 401.3)
Conclusion
So what do we have in conclusion? Jesus was not racist, but broke down barriers and used the event to teach the disciples how to break down barriers too. He was truly sent the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He was sent to this Canaanite woman, who was a lost sheep which Israel was supposed to help!
The accusation that Jesus is racist is a woke smear campaign of Satan to defame the loving Son of God. I advise all to repent of this woke nonsense and appeal to the merits of Jesus for forgiveness.
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Chris