T.D. Jakes, Pastors Upset After Rating Drop, Dow Jones Plunge
U.S. pastors vented on Twitter their frustration as the nation boiled under news of the first-ever credit rating downgrade in its history Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 600-plus point plunge Monday.
Pastor David Roberts of Clarks Chapel Baptist Church in North Carolina is prepping his congregation for the hard times ahead. The church will be hosting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University classes once per week beginning next month.
Ramsey’s “The Great Recovery” campaign to get the country back on its feet financially "one family at a time" can’t seem to come soon enough for Roberts.
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“Watching the market speed up its tumble while Obama speaks...,” Roberts tweeted during the President's public address about the downgrade Monday. Later, Roberts tweeted: “It's a good time to invest in the stock market - buy low; sell high - right?”
As news of the credit downgrade by Standard and Poor’s broke, Bishop T.D. Jakes of the Potter's House in Dallas tweeted, “Can u believe that this political jockeying has lead according to the S&P has resulted in the USA loosing it's credit standing????”
Jakes followed with another tweet: “The whole system is out of control...esteeming party and power over country!” And later, “Changing leadership alone will not change a systemic dysfunction so self serving that it has lost it's mission. America deserves better!”
Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has been noticeably tweet-free on the trending debt subject of late. Warren’s “tax tweet,” which included the observation that “HALF of America pays NO taxes. Zero,” created quite a stir, especially among liberals.
Other pastors are trying to infuse a bit of humor into the crisis through their tweets.
“So, if I raise my own debt ceiling will it end my crisis?” asked Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Georgia.
“So glad we raised that debt ceiling so that the U.S. credit rating would not get lowered. That worked well,” tweeted Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research.
Although not a pastor, Ramsey is followed heavily by the Christian community for basing his financial advice on biblical principles. Pastors on Twitter found one of Ramsey’s micro-posts a re-tweet favorite.
“Only in DC can you cut spending by 1 Trillion over TEN years and raise the debt ceiling almost 1 Trillion THIS year and call that even," Ramsey tweeted at the beginning of last week.
Some pastors were a bit more encouraging.
"Jesus' love for us is not like the stock market. His grace never crashes even when we make stupid decisions," tweeted Greg Stier, founder and president of Dare 2 Share Ministries.
