Social media outraged by pastor’s ultimatum to church member: ‘Raise your hands or get out’

Preachers and the way in which they shepherd their flocks have come under fire these days, with many questioning whether their blunt, authoritative ministry is correct or just plain mean. Recently, Dr. Jeremiah Daniel Davis was called after he told someone to follow his command to put their hands up or “get out.”

During his Teach Me Conference 2024 in Orlando in March, he was leading worship when the spirit gave him some very purposeful instruction to the attendees.

“Raise your hands, raise your hands on this whole building,” the pastor instructed.

Davis repeats, “Raise your hands. I need us all to be of one mind now… all of us of one mind… all of us in agreement. Everyone raise your hands.” He then walks to the sting of the stage and notices someone off-camera who has not followed his instructions regarding corporate praise.

Then he says, still holding his hands up, “Baby, can you do me a favor? Put your hands up or leave. Could you choose one? Put your hands up or leave?”

Repeating the command, he returns to the opposite side of the stage and says: “I’m not afraid of anyone. I mean what I mean. I’m here to protect you and anything that violates them have to be removed.”

Neighborhood Talk sent to a segment of the conference and lots of of his 1.9 million followers reacted with outrage.

“My hands went from (praise emoji) to (middle finger) and I would have quickly left Taylor,” one person said.

Another person wrote: “What if her arms hurt sir? As if you weren’t God!!”

“Mannnnn just teach people…. “Her participation or lack of participation will not affect the ‘truth’ you share to uplift people… her lack of participation may only hurt your ego,” reads a 3rd comment.

Several people within the comments felt that “some of these pastors are looking for a viral moment,” while real-life Christian rapper and pastor Th3 Saga didn’t speak too strongly but simply wrote, “SMH.”

Recently, Pastor Keion Henderson made headlines when he ordered a lady to “be quiet” during his praise and worship, stating that the member was an issue and needed to control the sacred space and tone of the room. He later claimed to have apologized to the lady, who had been a member of the church for 4 years.

Award-winning recording artist Deitrick Haddon has spoken out against Reverend Henderson’s public silencing of a lady. During the “Larry Reid Live” show, the “He’s Able” singer expressed concern about her words: “She’s embarrassed. She is humiliated. We have to think about her because she didn’t know something like this would happen to her.”

Based on comments on social media, many believed Davis could have gone too far as well.

He later posted on social media a month after the incident, contacting Larry Reid in April share his page and what a rebuke it was to him.

He told the Christian podcaster and influencer: “Dr. “Reid, my immaturity is that I become a popular preacher who suggests that everyone knows who Jeremiah Daniel Davis is.”

He explained: “This young lady comes to the service and has no idea about the culture. He has no idea what I am like as a leader. He has no idea of ​​the atmosphere and setting or how they are organized, and I assume everyone is just adapting to that because… there is a part of every preacher that has an arrogance that makes it seem like we just know it all.”

Davis continued: “It helped destroy the ego in me and say, to begin with, Jeremiah, you are not as big as you think that. Secondly, not everyone knows who you might be. And No. 3, you may’t suggest it simply because you’ve got managed to get a bunch of individuals together so that everybody mechanically understands you.

To many on social media, his explanation didn’t make him seem more compassionate as a pastor.

“He’s a cult leader, not a pastor,” one person wrote, while one other said, “His explanation made it worse!!!”

Others blamed the people following these preachers.

“To this, pastors! Be careful.’

“You think that anyone who waves a Bible has been called out,” one comment reads. “That’s the problem. The spirit of discernment is nowhere to be found.”

There was one, nonetheless, that offered an answer, suggesting that Christians should take it back to the old fashioned.

“Bring back the old school pastors with big bellies and three-piece suits,” someone wrote. Even these make headlines for things far worse than being told to shut up or wave their hands within the air.