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Forgive me in advance, for some of you will accuse me of preaching before this column is over. And I guess I can live with that. If indeed I do get a little preachy, there will have been more preaching done in this little space than has been heard from the pulpit of a particular church on the south side of Chicago in recent weeks.

Call me old fashioned if you will, but where I come from, preachers of the Gospel are supposed to PREACH THE GOSPEL. It's biblical, you know. I wonder if Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Phleger and others like them have cracked open a Bible recently and noted the admonition to "Go ye into the world and preach the Gospel." (Mark 16:15). It's called the Great Commission.

Steve Saint wrote a book some years ago calling into account the strategies and methods of modern foreign missions, called "The Great Omission." I fear this phrase could be used for the philosophy of some preachers and evangelists today. They have gotten so political, they are omitting the Gospel from their ministries.

The Reverends Wright and Phleger and their enablers in the media and in the church, will defend them for the good works they accomplish. Works of feeding the hungry, treating the sick and clothing the naked. These are good works indeed, and they should be commended. These works, too, are biblical to the core. But the primary labor of a pastor or evangelist is to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lest anyone accuse me of singling out the two ministers, there is plenty of false theology going around our culture. Nowhere in my Bible do I read the words "liberation theology." But many followers are buying into this ideology.

Regardless of the primary goals of their ministries, I fail to comprehend what has been going on with Wright and Pfleger recently. They have used the pulpit of one church in south Chicago to spew venom about political figures with whom they have grievances. They were neither feeding souls or stomachs when they condemned our nation, as we heard from Jeremiah Wright -- or belittling Hillary Rodham Clinton with profanity, as we heard from Michael Phleger.

I don't get it.

It seems as though nowadays people take the liberty to say whatever they want to say and come back with an apology and think that's sufficient. It's almost like some ministers feel as though they can represent God by using whatever language or filth they please, as long as they apologize at some point. That's no different than saying "I can do all the bad things I want, as long as I do some good things to balance it out."

I don't claim to be a mind reader, but I've got to believe Father Pfleger knew exactly what he was saying in his rant against Hillary Rodham Clinton. He articulated exactly what was on his heart. Call me a prude if you will, but the street vernacular he expressed is not appropriate in the pulpit. Again, call me old-fashioned, but if the voice is as shrill in the church as it is anywhere else; if fighting and back biting is happening in the church; if alcohol and drugs are rampant in the church; if we are mentally and spiritually deflated in the church and if we are using profanity and venom like Reverends Wright and Pfleger, I ask a question for all people of faith to consider this: Why should people listen to or even be attracted to the church?

The Church (read: our faith) should indeed be liberating, if practiced correctly. It should liberate us to be better and get better and not bitter like the world. It should liberate us to know how to be successful in marriage. It should liberate us to say "I'm sorry." It should liberate us to say "I forgive you." This is the liberation theology I'm familiar with, as opposed to the liberation theology of divisiveness.

But back to Rev. Phleger. There can be no doubt his work in the underserved community and service to the least of these is admirable. But a man in his position of leadership owes his church and his community more than he showed at Trinity United Church last month.

He offered an apology, sure, but he apologized to Senator Obama and to "those he offended." But we heard no remorse toward the God he represents. I can't believe he's not at least a little embarrassed by his reflection of the priesthood.

J.C. Watts writes twice monthly for YOUR PAPER HERE. Watts is chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group. He is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002. His e-mail address is JCWatts01@jcwatts.com