The destructive politics of hate vs. the power of faith

We Americans are living in a time unlike anything before. Most of us can barely keep up with the changes coming out of Washington, D.C. to the rest of America and the world. 

Nobody has even asked what President Donald Trump is going to do in his first 100 days because he has already done more than the last four presidents combined did in their first 100 days. The fact there would be resistance to this new agenda was a given, but what I do not tolerate is the call for violence in Jesus’ name.

When Rev. Steve Caudle took the pulpit at the Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church of Chattanooga in Tennessee, he said that "sometimes the devil will act so ugly that you have no other choice but to get violent and fight."

Caudle set the stage for his call for violence with a foreign policy focus. "Fact of the matter is, we live in a world that is violent," he said. "You don't believe me, all you have to do is turn on the television set this afternoon and you'll see Gaza, where every building has been leveled by bombs, and then shooting and killing."

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He added: "All you have to do is look at what's going on in the Ukraine, and it's the same thing."

Caudle then turned his eyes to America and warned that we faced a similar situation. "In this nation, I'm worried that we are on the verge of bloodshed. This is an attempt to take us back to a day that we do not want to go [back to] and we will not go. Therefore, there will be conflict."

At first, I thought he was referring to the common accusation by Democrats that the Republicans want to put us back in the chains of slavery.

Instead, he was accusing Elon Musk of using DOGE to force "his way in to the U.S. Treasury" where he would "steal your personal information and your social security check."

President Donald Trump speaks as Elon Musk, joined by his son X Æ A-Xii, listens in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Anyone can make this ludicrous claim about any presidency. But the question here is, why call for violence? Why would this reverend go on to justify this violence by saying that Jesus also spoke the language of violence? "…the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.’" He then added that, "the kingdom of God is a war zone. It is a battlefield."

All because President Trump has positioned Musk to root out government corruption?

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What troubles me is that this call for violence follows other similar calls. Several days ago, outside the Department of Treasury in Washington, Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., called for violence: "Shut down the city! We are at war!"

Before her, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. urged people to "fight" President Trump's agenda. "That's not acceptable. We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We're going to fight it in the streets."

Now, we have a reverend in Tennessee twisting Jesus and his message of love and neighborliness into one of violence. All because he doesn’t like what Trump and Musk are doing?

Though I deal in politics because of my position in the city of Chicago, I never let it rise above my faith in God. Too many of us have committed the sin of using religion to justify our political agenda but that only corrupts the soul. The power of God remains supreme.

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Rev. Caudle has lost his way along with those politicians and I fear they will lead many astray. The answer here is not the politics of hate but building faith. Imagine where I would be today if I had spent all my time hating the politicians in my city for obstructing my good work? Instead, I chose to build and I am now more than halfway to completing a 90,000 square foot Leadership and Economic Center on the South Side of Chicago where I know countless numbers of lives will be transformed.

What got me there? Hate? Turning Jesus into a man of violence? 

No. It was faith. It was faith in God and in my fellow man. It was this faith that saved me from the far easier path of destruction and despair and put me on the far more challenging but promising path of development. 

A weak man uses Jesus but a strong man believes in Jesus. And that, my friend, is what works wonders in this world. 

Now is the time.

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Pastor Corey Brooks, known as the "Rooftop Pastor," is the founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and the CEO of Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), the church's local mission. He gained national attention for his 94-day and 343-day rooftop vigils to transform the notorious "O-Block," once known as Chicago's most dangerous block, into #OpportunityBlock. Learn more at ProjectHOOD.org.