He's Still Not Afraid to Confront
At 68, Price is showing no signs of mellowing. He remains an uncompromising, shoot-from-the-hip faith teacher whose ministry has seen controversy but no public blemish. Much of his teaching, while grounded in Word-Faith doctrine, flies with prosperity teaching. His current series is "None Suffer Lack," and his previous, "Race, Religion and Racism," lasted for more than a year.
Though this explosive series ended in early 1999, its shrapnel remains imbedded in Price's soul. He strongly believes that racism is an open wound in the body of Christ and an injury the church largely ignores.
"We believers can say that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us overcome drugs, drink and lying, but it is not quite powerful enough to get rid of racism," he told Charisma. "If we don't deal with it, it taints everything else we do."
Price's series on racism brought to light notes in The Dake Annotated Reference Bible that list 30 reasons why God intended the races to live separately. This 1963 version has since been replaced by a 1997 edition rewritten, according to its authors, to remove any racial overtones. The company issued a letter of apology to Price saying in part, "We agree that racism has no place in the body of Christ, or anywhere else."
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His criticism of statements made by fellow faith teacher Kenneth Hagin Jr.--and the ensuing backlash--still causes pain. The dispute began when Price heard an audiotape by the pastor of the 5,000-member Rhema Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, recorded in 1993. On it Hagin Jr. said that when he found one of his children playing with a black friend, he told his child: "We play. We go together as a group, but we do not date one another."
Hagin Jr. has a policy of not responding to criticism, but he later wrote an apology to his board that read in part: "If I could take the words back, I would...but I can't. I can only apologize for having said them and pray that the hurt and confusion will be healed."
It hasn't. And what's worse, Price holds an honorary degree from Rhema and his church had been a supporter. He also credits Hagin Sr.'s book The Authority of the Believer, which he read in a single night in 1970, with making faith his ministry's staple.
He said he has sought a retraction from Hagin Jr., but when asked if he received it, Price replied: "When was the last time you got an e-mail from Mars? He apologized for 'if what I said hurt you,' but that is not a recantation of what you believe.
"Because you made a statement that made it appear that you have a problem with blacks and whites, you've got to come back to the plate and say, 'Listen, I said thus and so, but I have to take it back.' They simply apologized for saying something that offended me. They never recanted, and everybody is missing the whole thing. It's amazing to me how they can't see that or refuse to see it."
When informed that Bob Jones University had lifted its long-standing prohibition against interracial dating after a February visit by Texas Gov. George W. Bush created a firestorm of criticism for the Republican presidential nominee as well as the school, Price was suspicious.
More at the link provided.
Please read: The history of the A.M.E. church and the Southern Baptist Convention resolution on racial reconciliation.
So, has any of this been mentioned with the Wright and Obama controversy?
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