Sen. Raphael Warnock Deletes Easter Tweet After Being Accused of ‘Heresy’

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Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who was a prominent Atlanta preacher before he was elected to the Senate, deleted a tweet on Easter Sunday that drew allegations of heresy.

“The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Warnock wrote in the tweet posted Sunday morning. “Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.”

The comment from Warnock, who was a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, landed the senator in hot water.

There is literally no variety or denomination of Christianity (outside of some guy in a shack somewhere, I dunno) that holds that we believers are saved by anything except the blood of Christ. That’s literally the one part that’s NOT up for debate. https://t.co/V6QV92Sg37

— Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) April 4, 2021

There is nothing more transcendent than the resurrection of the God-man, Jesus. Literally: his resurrection transcends our finite conceptions of science & rationality. That the Word became flesh, dwelt among us, then was slain for our sins only to conquer death 3 days later? ?

— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) April 4, 2021

Warnock received a defense from MSNBC host Joy Reid — before his tweet was deleted.

“This lady,” Reid wrote, responding to former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, “is literally calling the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church — a heretic.”

This lady is literally calling the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church — a heretic. This actually happened today. Madame, I’m gonna take @ReverendWarnock‘s take, as a pastor and a scholar on the Word over yours, if you don’t mind. https://t.co/xia6HjwDCG

— Joy-Ann Pro-Democracy & Masks Reid ? (@JoyAnnReid) April 4, 2021

“Madame, I’m gonna take @ReverendWarnock’s take, as a pastor and a scholar on the Word over yours, if you don’t mind,” she wrote.