(OPINION) Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California questioned Evangelicals supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for president after she rebuked Christian students at a recent rally, telling them they were at the “wrong rally” in response to their shouts against abortion and saying “Christ is King!”
In a sermon delivered Sunday, Hibbs addressed his congregation about the importance of voting and raised concerns about the Democratic Party. “What is the deal if you’re a Democrat? … Why did your party say, ‘No God. … We won’t have God in our platform? Why?’” he asked.
“Kamala Harris … did you see what she said the other day? She was speaking at a rally, and somebody shouted in the rally, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ And she said, ‘Wait, excuse me, you’re in the wrong rally; you need to go down the street where there’s fewer people.’”
The pastor was referring to a rally at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where two Christian students, Grant Beth and Luke Polaske, interrupted Harris by shouting, “Christ is King!” and “Jesus is Lord!” as reported by New York Post.
Harris responded by telling them, “You guys are at the wrong rally. I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street,” which was met with applause from her supporters.
Beth and Polaske later appeared on “Fox & Friends Weekend” to discuss the incident. “I was pushed by an elderly woman. We were heckled at, we were cursed at, we were mocked,” Beth said.
“In reflection of the event, Jesus was mocked. You know, His disciples were mocked, and that’s OK. In reality, we did God’s work, and we were there for the right reasons, and God is watching us in this moment.”
Polaske said Harris gave him “an evil smirk” as he held up his cross and pointed at her while being escorted out. “She looked directly in the eye, kind of gave me an evil smirk,” he recounted.
During the sermon, Hibbs asked Evangelicals who support Harris, “What are you going to do with that? Even Evangelicals for Harris — what are you going to do with that one? She said, ‘If Jesus Christ is Lord, you’ve got to go to the other party.’ Wow! … Well, you better hurry up, by the way, before they erase it (the video on YouTube).”
Underlining the responsibility of Christians to vote, Hibbs said, “When Christians fail to vote, we reject the reality of truth. When Christians fail to vote, we abandon our calling. When Christians fail to vote, we neglect our ministry.”
In a post on X, Hibbs shared a link from the Got Questions apologetics website and wrote, “I like to think of voting and VOICING. Think about it. You may not get the opportunity to preach to a million people like Billy Graham or pastor a church of 10,000 like Charles Spurgeon — but God has called each of His true children to take advantage of every opportunity (talent) that comes along.”
He continued, “As messy and as dirty as this year’s election is, I am grateful that God is using it to separate the wheat from the chaff, the Christian from the almost Christian. There is one thing for sure here in California. There’s no gray zone any longer for a pretender to hide.”
