(Image: Frank Luca)
Tasha Cobbs-Leonard: the dReam Center Church of Atlanta
Cobbs-Leonard is not only a Grammy award-winning Gospel artist, she’s also a pastor and a prophet! As a Gospel artist, Cobbs-Leonard is a consistent talent with wonderfully powerful vocals. The messages in her songs can be hit or miss, however. For example, Break Every Chain is a beautiful worship song. It’s not lyrically or theologically dense, but it says enough to remind those who know better that Jesus Christ came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18)! Meanwhile, I’m Getting Ready, featuring Nicki Minaj, takes the focus off Christ and offers up more of a prosperity-focused message. I’ve previously discussed the doctrinal problems with this song as well as the issue with the collaboration.
(Image: Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, @dreamcenteratl)
While she may sing about the power in the name of Jesus, Cobbs-Leonard doesn’t tend to preach the power of Christ, the truth of His Word, at all. Like many of her health- and wealth-preaching peers, Cobbs-Leonard’s m.o. is to quickly reference a passage of scripture, manipulate its context then, for the next 40 minutes, somehow apply it to the hearers’ breakthrough, purpose, destiny, dreams, goals or whatever else their itching ears desire to hear. Meanwhile, the Lord is an after-thought. Yet, according to Cobbs-Leonard, she is a prophet of the Lord, and she tends to make numerous “prophetic” declarations in the midst of her sermons. “It’s a governmental type of prophet that God’s called me to be, that kings have to submit when I release a word,” says Cobbs-Leonard. Funny thing is God’s Word says that He NO LONGER releases “a word” through men as He did through the prophets of old (Hebrews 1:1). Now that Christ has come, God speaks through His Son, Who is the culmination of all of the revelations God had previously made through the Law and the prophets (Hebrews 1:2; Luke 24:44; John 5:39,46). In short, Jesus is the Word (John 1:1,14). As such, anyone making a true prophetic utterance in this day and age will speak ONLY that which directly aligns with the truth of Scripture (the FULL revelation thereof)! Whatever they speak will be wholly verifiable and testable against what has already been said, and it will point the hearer to Jesus Christ.
But let's hear Cobbs-Leonard out.
(Image: Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, @dreamcenteratl)
During a sermon entitled “Sonship” Cobbs-Leonard shares that the Lord asked her to release a prophetic word from John 4:35, which she said was to tell the people that it is now harvest time! But God didn’t tell her that it was “harvest time” as it relates to our going into the world to reach the bountiful number of lost souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they might repent and be saved, which is the meaning Jesus intended. Nope! Cobbs-Leonard says God told her to tell the congregants at the dReam Center Church of Atlanta that it is harvest time for their breakthrough, purpose, destiny, dreams, goals and whatever else their itching ears desired to hear. And the kicker? She told them that to reap their harvest - which she’d just said was NOW ready, they had to "sow a seed" (give money). Now, I’ve just only started to dabble in gardening, but something about that order sounds off. She went on to ‘prophesy’ a bit more, “I declare that some of the stuff that you didn’t even work for is about to come into fruition in your life...You’re going to live in houses that you did not build. You’re going to drive cars that you don’t have the money to drive. You’re going to have land and property that you’re not supposed to have!” But in order to get these free material blessings, Cobbs-Leonard says you’re going to have to pay up.
‘God’ gave Cobbs-Leonard a similar 'prophetic' word to deliver during her sermon entitled “Who Gone Check Me Boo”. In it, she references the story of Jesus healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, reading from John 5:1 through verse 12. She goes on to ‘prophesy’, “I declare that the sons of the world will no longer break the line in front of the sons of God! I declare that the spirit of the thinker has just been released in this room!” She continues, “I prophesy that the spirit of the innovator is taking over the dReam Center Church of Atlanta!” Later she declares physical healing for those in the congregation who had documented illnesses and notes that there will be some who will heal their co-workers just by showing up to work that following week. She encouraged everyone to stop making excuses for not going after their dreams. She declared a shift and a refreshing was taking place, then she spoke in tongues and cursed various spirits. The people shouted, some cried, the band crescendoed the music perfectly on cue for emotional effect. It was quite an experience! So much so, Cobbs-Leonard declared that Jesus was in the place that day. Which is odd because Jesus, who came to call men to repentance, let her teach a whole 40-minute sermon around breakthroughs, purposes, destinies, dreams, goals and whatever else their itching ears desired to hear, but never once compelled her to conclude the story of the newly healed man (John 5:14) - when Jesus told him to “STOP SINNING” (Repent!)!!!!
*This profile also appears as part of the series "'No. Women May NOT be Pastors.' Where is the lie?" which explores the ministries and teachings of female "pastors" and women who function as such.