Independent filmmaker Eric Preston recently released a video, “LIES About Amendment One,” that breaks down a political sermon by Pleasant Garden Baptist Church Senior Pastor Michael Barrett, “Marriage: God’s Design,” that is full of anti-gay lies (surprise!). One of the epic statements by Barrett was that if Amendment One doesn’t pass, gay marriage is inevitable and it will be the equivalent of a nuclear holocaust.

Fellow NC blogger and activist Matt Comer posted about this outlandish sermon, and gave him the nickname Pastor Michael ‘Nuclear Holocaust’ Barrett. In response, Barrett had some more to say to his 1100 member congregation, sharing the new moniker, and his flock erupted in applause. Someone attended this follow-up sermon on April 29 and shared it. Here’s the transcript.

“My critics have said a couple of things that I really want to address.  If you will remember I said as I begin that message that I was taking the role that day of a prophet.  And a prophet is never liked because of what he says.  Because he’s always, again, thus saith the Lord.  And if you go back to the scripture, nobody liked the prophet because the prophet was always in your face, dealing with sin, and, again, nobody liked the prophet.  And so I was taking the role of a prophet.”

“I made a statement that said, ‘If the marriage amendment doesn’t pass  - ahhhh – there’s going to be a lot of changes that happen and they interpreted that that it was going to happen the very next day.  So I want to say that I was not saying that it will happen the next day, but in time those changes would happen, again, down the road.  And again ahhhh so I want to correct that.”

“They also nicknamed me Michael “Nuclear Holocaust” Barrett because I used that phrase…  (applause)

(inaudible)

If you were here and know what I meant, that there were going to be unbelievable changes that happened if the marriage amendment doesn’t pass.  And so I want you to be aware that, yes, I probably should have used better words there to simply say “unbelievable changes would happen in time”.  So I want to stand as corrected on those two issues, but I do stand on what I proclaim because it is the word of God, the truth of God and I won’t, again, ever apologize for what the Lord puts upon my heart to stand for, and to proclaim and to preach, again from his precious, holy word.

And so again, I want to also say to you, again, we’re not going to respond – Adam Tucker, again, an apologist from our church, again did respond, he sent to me that response, we okay’d that and I would prefer that is the only response, we don’t need to get into a back and forth and again, who said, this said, that said, but what we do need to realize is, who again, the enemy really is; it’s not people.  Pea, make sure you understand that, it’s not people.  We know (inaudible)

If you know my heart, I’ve been compassionate towards every need that has ever risen in anybody’s life and we still will do that.  And however the vote goes we will still do that right?  We will always take the high road there.  But, but again we’ve got to understand, that again uh, we’re in a battle and (inaudible) principalities and powers of the air.  It always been and again if you study the scripture it still is.  And so what we want to do is make sure we pray for all people, right?  And we pray for those, again, even if they criticize me I’m still praying for them, God’s blessing, God’s love, God’s grace in their heart, in their life and I’m going to always take the high road in any situation and I just want you to know my heart and know what I aim for alright?  And so lets go to God’s word….”

No one was looking for an apology or “clarification” since Barrett isn’t sorry anyway, just embarrassed his fire and brimstone bigotry was refuted, point by point,. The litany of outright lies they spew from the pulpit to the flock is disgusting and continuous. If you didn’t see it, here’s Preston’s original video, “LIES About Amendment One”: