Pastor Accused of Plagiarizing Sermon

On December 15, 2024, Christian minister and author Kristina Java posted a clip of her preaching at a Passion Java event in New York.
During the clip, she encouraged the congregation to preach to themselves and not care whether they had the credentials because it is how they can guard themselves against the troubles surrounding them.
Though the clip initially received praise from her Instagram followers, things began to sour last week.
Several commenters noticed similarities between the sermon and a 2000 sermon by megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes. In fact, it’s one of Bishop Jakes’ best-known sermons, his 2000 Woman Thou Art Loosed sermon.
The story was picked up by the Instagram account The Shade Room, which has over 29 million followers. They shared the two sermons side-by-side.
This brought the attention of Jakes’ daughter, Rev. Cora Jakes, who expressed her disappointment in the comments of Java’s original post. She said, “I’m saddened by this; I do hope you [gave] my papa credit. He labored for what you mimicked. SMH.”
Java, for her part, took to her Instagram stories. She said, “When learning how to preach, it is good to imitate those who are the best at it- the “fathers” of preaching. This will help prepare you as you grow and develop the strength, skill, art, and endurance it takes to preach the gospel.”
Jakes has not responded to the situation. However, he is currently recovering from a “life-threatening” medical incident last month.
The Challenge of Pastoral Plagiarism
Pastoral plagiarism is one of the most challenging types of plagiarism to analyze and discuss. Simply put, there is no single standard as different religions and even different denominations have different standards for what is and is not plagiarism.
It comes down to the congregation’s expectations. Do they expect an entirely original sermon? Is it acceptable to reuse another minister’s sermon with attribution? Is it permissible for a leader to reuse a previous sermon of theirs? These tough questions often don’t get asked until a story like this one breaks.
However, given the backlash, It appears Java crossed a line, at least with Jakes’ followers. This has been met with widespread condemnation and mocking. To that end, it’s surprising that Java has left the video up on her Instagram account.
But this isn’t just another case of alleged pastoral plagiarism. There are other layers to this story.
First, Java was relatively unknown before this incident. Despite her children’s book and connection with the Passion Java Ministries, she only has 1,700 followers on Instagram as of this publication. But, despite being in the early stages of her career, she chose to copy from one of the most famous in the space, T.D. Jakes.
Even worse, she copied one of his most famous sermons. Even though the sermon is nearly 25 years old, there was no chance this wouldn’t be noticed. The book Woman Though Art Loosed has been an Amazon bestseller for over 20 years.
The choice to copy one of the best-known sermons by one of the best-known is an interesting one. Either she thought so little of her audience that no one would notice or that she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
Either way, she’s facing the backlash for it now.
An Additional Layer
For many watching The Shade Room’s comparison video, the issue wasn’t just with what Java copied, but how she copied it.
According to commenters, Java’s presentation of the sermon was an exaggerated style very similar to Jakes’ original. This led commenters to accuse Java of “cosplaying” as Jakes or mimicking his style.
However, the harshest criticisms center around race and cultural appropriation. Java, who is white, was accused of “colonizing” Jakes’, who is Black, sermon. Another commenter referred to her as “Kristina Columbus” and others called her a “culture vulture” and accused her of taking “Black spiritual culture.”
As serious as the plagiarism allegations are, it’s the allegations of cultural appropriation that may carry the most weight. While using Jakes’ words without attribution would always have caused controversy, if they had been heartfelt and in her voice, at least there would have been some claim to authenticity.
Now, in addition to the allegations of plagiarism, she is facing claims of cultural appropriation and being insincere.
In the end, that might be the most damming thing for an aspiring pastor. Many other pastors have been accused of plagiarism without significant consequence. That is because their audiences still believed in their sincerity.
Here, that belief has been severely damaged.
Bottom Line
Regardless of what the specific standards for plagiarism are when it comes to preachers, the one demand that is universal among congregations is that both the message and the messenger must be authentic.
It’s likely that Java was deeply moved by Jakes’ words and wanted to share them. That, by itself, doesn’t raise any problems, However, doing so without attribution raises significant concerns among many, but doing so in a way that, in Java’s own words, imitated Jakes raises things to another level.
Java had an opportunity to use Jakes’ words in a way that not only elevated Jakes’ voice but gave her a chance to put her twist on it. She could have expressed how those words impacted and moved her. Instead, she chose to imitate Jakes.
It’s no surprise that many of the commenters are deploring her to find her individual voice. While Java is right, that imitation is often how one learns a craft like preaching; this wasn’t in a classroom or practice session. This was in front of a large audience.
While I personally feel that Java committed plagiarism, I leave that question up to her congregation. However, more than just plagiarism, this is a story of inauthenticity. Pastoral plagiarism is one of the rare spaces where plagiarism can still be and feel authentic. But that isn’t what happened here.
And, given how vital authenticity is for religious leaders, that may be the biggest crime of all.
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