Rev. Otis Moss (courtesy Cleveland Plan Dealer) |
JERUSALEM – Otis Moss, the man slated to become the new chief pastor at the Trinity United Church of Christ, referenced a rap song during one of his recent sermons that includes among its lyrics “F— America” and states the U.S. is “still with triple K” – referring to the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan.
Moss was lauded last week by Sen. Barack Obama as a “wonderful young pastor,” and an acceptable choice to replace retiring pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose controversial remarks landed the presidential candidate in hot water.
Among some of Wright’s previous sermons quoted by scores of news media outlets, the pastor notoriously exclaimed “God damn America” and called his country the “U.S. of KKK-A.”
Following a series of national media interviews given by Wright last week, Obama strongly denounced some of Wright’s statements as “divisive and destructive.”
Obama, though, told the New York Times last week he will continue his membership in Trinity. He referred to Moss as “wonderful.”
“Well, you know, the new pastor – the young pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor. And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community,” stated Obama.
The 37-year-old Moss, nicknamed the “hip-hop pastor” by congregants, will become the head of Trinity Christ in next month.
In an interview in March with National Public Radio, Moss said he welcomes media scrutiny of his future sermons, calling the expected publicity “exciting.”
“I’m excited because I’m hoping some people will get saved in the process,” he said.
But his recorded March sermons are already revealing some controversial rhetoric.
In his Easter sermon, Moss spoke at length about the media attention received by Wright. Moss claimed Wright was “lynched” by the international media.
“No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching,” Moss said.
In a section of the sermon being circulated on You Tube Moss went on to quote a song by the rap artist Ice Cube:
“Do you know who’s got our back? If I was Ice Cube, I would say it a little differently – you picked the wrong folk to mess with,” Moss exclaimed.
The song Moss was referring to is actually titled “Wrong N-gga to f— with.” It includes the lyrics “F— America, still with the triple K” and it uses the spelling “AmeriKKKa.”
The full lyrics provided in the album:
“Down wit the niggaz that I bail out
I’m platinum b-tch and I didn’t have to sell out
F— you Ice Cube, that’s what the people say
F— AmeriKKKa, still with the triple K
Cause you know when my nine goes buck
it’ll bust your head like a watermelon dropped from 12 stories up
Now let’s see who’ll drop”
The cover image of Ice Cube’s album, titled “Death Certificate,” features a dead man identified as “Uncle Sam” who is covered by an American flag.
Larry Johnston, who writes at the No Quarter blog, commented, “Wright and Ice Cube share much in common. Both preach a message that black Americans are victims of white prejudice.”
As WND reported last week, Moss’ Easter sermon also compared Wright to Jesus.
“The people gathered around Jesus, they knew better. But they kept repeating sound bytes from his ministry. They kept saying, you know, things like the last shall be first and didn’t say the first shall be last,” Moss said.
In another recent sermon, Moss said blacks are “lepers” with a “skin disease.”
“You see they still are lepers. They still have a skin disease. They had a skin disease. They had a skin disease. Based on their skin condition, they were considered to be second-class citizens. They had a skin issue. They had a skin disease.
“And the lepers lived in a leper project. The lepers had bad health care. The lepers were disrespected. They had funny names for lepers. The lepers were considered inferior. They had an inferior school system. The lepers lived in a ghetto leper colony. The lepers were segregated from everybody else,” he continued.
Moss went on to imply those who segregated blacks are the “enemy.”
“But they (blacks) refused to give up. They decided to leave the city. They said that’s not going to stop me from my destiny. Once they left the particular area, they then find out God has cooked things up. The camp of the enemy … nobody is there. So they go into the enemy’s camp. They find food. They find shelter. They find gold. They find silver. They even find some drink. In the enemy’s camp. They find gin and juice. In the enemy’s camp.”
“The one who wanted to destroy them ends up being the one who blesses them. Every once in a while God will use your enemies to end up blessing you,” said Moss.
Moss served under Wright as an assistant pastor for two years. He graduated from Yale Divinity School and is the son of a preacher and former adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.
Under Wright, Moss wrote in the Trinity church newsletter that American entertainment companies operate with contempt for the black community.
“Currently, there are about eight companies controlling 90 percent of everything we hear, read, watch on television or view in the movie theater. These companies operate with contempt and disdain for the Black community,” Moss wrote.
He was introducing an article featured in the newsletter about the music industry and blacks.
That same church newsletter was widely featured in the media after it was reported the bulletin reprinted an opinion piece by a top Hamas official that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group’s official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America’s Declaration of Independence.
The Hamas piece was published on Wright’s “Pastor’s Page,” which later printed an open letter by a pro-Palestinian activist that labeled Israel an “apartheid” regime and claimed the Jewish state worked on an “ethnic bomb” that kills “blacks and Arabs.”
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