Bishop T.D. Jakes went viral days after he delivered a super-charged Father’s Day sermon that included words about folks talking out of place.
The pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas seemed to steel himself against the impending backlash that he knows could come when he said he would lose it if another woman tried to instruct him on how to be a dad.
In the sermon titled “It’s Worth the Wait,” Jakes began with a rather confrontational posture and tone. “If another childless person tells me how to be a father, I’ll scream,” he barked as the audience roared its approval.
“I know this is going to get me on TikTok, for sure, but here I go,” said Jakes, just getting revved up. “If another woman tells me how to be father, I will open my mouth and flat-out scream.
“You can no more tell me how to be father, than I can tell you how to birth a baby. I don’t know nothing about birthing a baby. I don’t know nothing about nursing a child. You have to know what you don’t know. Shut up being the teacher and just be the wife.”
Jakes’ words garnered rousing applause from parishioners. He continued, “How do you know how to be a father? Not only are you not a father, most of you didn’t even have a father and yet you’re an expert on how to be …”
Jakes then adopted a softer, more apologetic tone as a segue back to the topic of the Father’s Day sermon.
“But, that’s all right. I’m not gonna bother you, because you’re not in the text. It’s all right. I’m sorry. I got off the text. Let me get back to the text. I’m not gonna bother you today … and all your ideas, and the stuff you read in Essence and Today’s Woman, and all the things you heard at the beauty shop about what a man ought to be,” Jakes said.
