When Josh Duggar was sentenced to 151 months in prison last year, it was widely assumed that the worst of his family’s troubles were over.
Yes, Jim Bob Duggar had been exposed as an accomplice in his son’s predatory behavior, but Duggar supporters reasoned that with Josh locked away, the family could resume the work of restoring their battered public image.
These days, however, the Duggars continue to be rocked by one scandal after another.
And though he’s finally locked away, Josh is still indirectly involved.
Earlier this week, we reported on the news that Josh’s wife, Anna Duggar, had been kicked out of the family home after a fight with Jim Bob.
Anna and her seven children had been living with Jim Bob and Michelle after being left destitute by Josh’s imprisonment.
The exact cause of the fight is unknown, but there’s been speculation that Jim Bob is fed up with the bad press he’s been forced to endure as a result of recent behavior from Anna’s father.
Not surprisingly, Mike Keller is an evangelical minister, and it seems he’s in demand these days as a guest preacher at various fundamentalist churches throughout the country.
Keller spoke at Fairpark Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas last week, and a since-deleted YouTube clip of his performance went viral.
“I’ll show you how to change America,” Keller said at one point, according to Yahoo! News.
“A hundred-fifty years ago, or 200 years ago when the Blacks were slaves: Did they ever go to Washington, D.C., and have a rally 200 years ago to protest against slavery?” he asked the audience.
“No. What did they do?”
Keller went on to claim that the enslaved Americans benefitted from the “good people on the plantations” — their enslavers — who “loved them and taught them how to read so they can read the Bible.”
Yes, Keller seems to be arguing that the institution of slavery wasn’t nearly as horrific as it appeared.
Not only that, he claims that it was only through prayer, “humility,” and the intervention of kindly whites that the enslaved people eventually found their salvation.
“They humbled themselves. They prayed. They sought God’s face and they turned from their wicked ways and God made slavery illegal through several white presidents. It worked, didn’t it? They didn’t protest,” Keller ranted.
Not surprisingly, his remarks were not well-received on social media.
“I’m pretty sure running away is a form of protest,” one TikTok user observed.
“This is why they don’t want books and actual history taught. Ignorant people soak this shit up,” said another.
“Did he really just blame black people for being slaves and then make white people out to be their saviors? This is why we need CRT [critical race theory]. Period,” a third chimed in.
Keller’s sermon was littered with countless historical and political falsehoods, including the claim that the Pilgrims came to America after being “burn[ed] at the stake” for memorizing scripture.
He also falsely alleged that the US voids passports from the Dominican Republic (which he called “Dominion Republic”) because of the country’s ban on abortions.
Keller concluded his sermon with the claim that the rapture will be happening “soon.”
We’re not sure why someone who’s so excited about the end of the world is also obsessed with gaining political influence, but the contradiction makes about as much sense as everything else that comes out of Duggarland.
Anna, of course, has yet to condemn her father’s remarks, and it’s unlikely that she’ll ever do so.