Pastor and ‘Crazy Faith’ author Michael Todd goes viral after rubbing spit on churchgoer’s face
The Transformation Church leader's message about maintaining faith was lost on many Twitter users who expressed shock and disgust over his gesture
An Oklahoma church leader shook up the internet on Sunday after a video of him rubbing spit in a man’s face during a sermon went viral on social media.
Pastor Michael Todd of Transformation Church in Bixby, Oklahoma was standing on stage with a reportedly blind male churchgoer when the application of bodily fluid occurred. Some of Todd’s followers said on social media that the blind man is Todd’s brother.
Todd referenced a New Testament Bible story about Jesus healing a blind man during his “Vision Sunday” sermon. The pastor’s message to his congregation was about maintaining faith in God’s vision and process even when it gets “nasty” or seems nonsensical.
Todd’s address reached a climax after he coughed up phlegm and spat it in his own hand.
“And this is where most people would not face Jesus anymore,” Todd said.
“What most people would do is turn away,” he continued as he coughed up more phlegm before spitting in his hand once more. “What I’m telling you is just as [the male congregant] is physically standing here knowing what’s coming, God is saying, ‘Can you physically and spiritually and emotionally be able to stand it when getting in the vision and receiving it might get nasty?'”
“I just bought my dream car,” Todd added. “And now you’re going to ask me to sell it back and ride in the hoopty again? Yeah, because the vision I’m about to give you, it might get nasty.”
At that moment, Todd spread enough spit on the male congregant’s face to leave snot hanging from one of the man’s cheeks. Onlookers in the church congregation groaned as the display unfolded.
“Do you hear and see the responses of the people?” Todd asked. “What I’m telling you is how you just reacted is how the people in your life will react when God is doing what it takes for the miracle.”
Todd’s message was lost on many Twitter users who expressed shock and disgust over his gesture.
“Had never heard of ‘Pastor’ Mike Todd before today,” Atlantic writer Jemele Hill tweeted Sunday night. “But I truly understand now why the elders used to frequently tell us that we’re in the last days.”
OscarsSoWhite hashtag creator April Reign shared a similar sentiment.
“Unless you are Black Jesus himself and can prove it with a papyrus birth certificate, what you NOT gonna do is…. I’m disgusted,” Reign tweeted.
But some of Todd’s followers defended his actions on Facebook.
“This is why so many miss their miracle or blessing because it didn’t come the way you expect to,” Facebook user Kimberly Glover-Vaughn wrote in the comment section of one of Todd’s latest Facebook posts.
“Btw this was his brother and I’m certain they had a conversation prior to,” Glover-Vaughn added. “Besides who are we to decide how God speaks to Pastor Mike and what instructions He gives him[?] Also is that the only thing you retain[?] He preached a bomb message[,] don’t get stuck on the object lesson.”
Todd is also the New York Times best-selling author of “Crazy Faith: It’s Only Crazy Until It Happens.” He didn’t address his spitting controversy in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day message to his Facebook followers on Monday.
“When God gives you a dream or a vision,” Todd wrote, “the power is not in just ‘Seeing’ the dream …or ‘Saying’ the dream … but the power is in ‘Serving’ the dream! …
“Grateful for the Life Legacy and Learnings of Dr. King!” he added. “I Live out his dream!”
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