Andrew Sullivan claims a petard is about to be hoisted, in reference to a sermon recently given by the pastor of Governor Sarah Palin’s church, one Larry Kroon. Sullivan clearly believes that it is exactly equivalent to some of the controversial sermon remarks of Barack Obama’s pastor and mentor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright (remember, Obama named one of his memoirs from a phrase his pastor coined, and praised him enthusiastically until the day he threw him in the garbage).

The transcript of Larry Kroon’s sermon is is at this link. The audio is here. Here is the portion we’re supposed to find shocking, as dramatized by blogger Max Blumenthal and quoted by Andrew Sullivan:

Kroon placed Zephaniah in a modern context, warning that the sinful habits of Americans would invite the wrath of God. “And if Zephaniah were here today,” Kroon bellowed, “he’d be saying, ‘Listen, [God] is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There’s no exceptions here — there’s none. It’s all.’”

Well, I listened to the audio. And the first (if least significant) correction to make to the characterizations made and implied by Blumenthal and Sullivan is that Pastor Kroon does not bellow those lines. He just speaks them; some words are even arguably hushed a little for effect.

The next thing to observe is the import of what Kroon is saying, even given the limited context which the quote above allows. Kroon is talking about God’s wrath ultimately coming against the entire world: “It’s all.” He begins by mentioning his own home town, Wasilla. He expands to include the state, Alaska, and then the entire nation, and then simply “all.” Well, although this point may be de-emphasized or glossed over in a variety of Christian churches or contexts, it is nonetheless a common and fundamental Christian belief that there will be a day of judgment and that God’s wrath will be deployed. Kroon is saying only that. And he is personalizing it for his congregation by naming their home town. Note: Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermon remarks would arguably be quite equivalent to Larry Kroon’s remarks above if in addition to bellowing “God damn America!!” he had also bellowed “God damn the south side of Chicago!!” But I don’t believe that the record shows that he bellowed with that degree of balance.

Now, let’s expand the context of Kroon’s quote just a tad, by including some lines in advance of the supposedly controversial part. I’m bolding the earlier part of the passage which Blumenthal and Sullivan left out.

[Zephaniah says] “So I will stretch out My hand against Judah…”

He has to be emphatic at this point; he has to get specific at this point, because the people of Jerusalem had the prevailing attitude-and it’s stated in Zephaniah-that ‘God won’t do anything to us, good or bad.’ And what Zephaniah says-’Listen, He is going to remove everyone from the earth. He is gonna deal with all the inhabitants; so, as a result, understand He is going to deal with you, Jerusalem and Judah. There’s no exceptions here.’ And if Zephaniah were here today he’d be saying, ‘Listen, He is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There’s no exceptions here-there’s none. It’s all.’

That should make even more clear what Kroon was talking about. He’s talking about the ultimate day of judgment, and he is talking about how Zephaniah made people listen to his warning by naming the very place where they lived. Kroon then does the same thing for his congregation. But it is not in the context of saying that the United States of America is especially guilty for one reason or another, but rather in the context of saying that we all share guilt. This is another pretty standard Christian belief, for those who don’t know.

And to add one more bit of context, here’s one of the final paragraphs from the same sermon by the pastor of Governor Sarah Palin’s church, Larry Kroon:

Yes. There’s anger with God. He takes sin personal. But there is something that answers to that anger, and that’s His love. And it’s a love that, we’re told, not only does He love the world-”He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son.” He put His Son there and said, ‘You take the anger for them.’ And with that promise is “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” No ‘perhaps’ there. It’s simply sayin’ “I’m gonna seek the Lord, starting with Jesus, responding with faith.’ That’s what you do, given the reality of the day of the Lord.

So, he wraps it up by saying that while the wrath is there, the forgiveness is there also. Forgiveness for Wasilla, for Alaska, for the United States, for the south side of Chicago, and for all. So, again, this is pretty ho-hum Christian type stuff, is it not? (Although believers like your scribe would likely maintain that it is more radical and exciting than anything else the world has on offer.)

I’m not going to make some blanket defense of Pastor Larry Kroon, whom I don’t know. I’m not going to say he’s the greatest theologian, or that he has the greatest style of preaching, because I don’t know those things. However, the passages quoted above are nothing more than his own rendering of beliefs that are preached in Christian churches the world over.

If Andrew Sullivan, Max Blumenthal et al really believe that this is equivalent to the kind of exclusivist and frankly hateful black liberation theology preached by Barack Obama’s beloved pastor and mentor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright, then that’s an argument that should be aired, and aired widely. Let’s run extended clips side by side, from this sermon and from Wright’s equivalent “God damn America” sermon, on every TV news show from here to November 4th, and let the American people decide. I suspect the average American voter might appreciate Christian fundamentals a little more clearly than your average left-wing blogger/gossip columnist.

And I’ll go out on a limb and predict here and now that if this is the worst that Larry Kroon has dished out in a sermon in Wasilla, then Sarah Palin will not be tossing him on the garbage heap where Barack Obama tossed his pastor and and mentor of twenty years, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. You see, I judge her to be a better man person than that.

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