Pastor Says Wives Must Obey Husbands, Make Pancakes If They Demand

A California pastor has called upon women to make their husbands pancakes on demand.

Pastor Jared Pozarnsky, of Hold Fast Baptist Church in Fresno, made the bizarre statement during a sermon about the content of the Acts of the Apostles, one of the books of the New Testament.

In a video, uploaded on June 24, Pastor Pozarnsky then brought up a passage from the New Testament's Ephesians that outlines the Biblical perspective on relationships between family members.

Passages in Ephesians say that wives should "submit" to their husbands as he is "the head of the wife." Husbands, however, are simply told to "love" their wives.

Pastor and pancakes
A split image of a pastor holding a cross and a stack of pancakes. The pastor said wives must obey their husbands, including making them pancakes if they demanded they do so. Getty

He added: "It says the wives to be subjected to their husbands in everything. Everything. So, you know, that's not popular today but there's a lot of things that are left up to the husband.

The pastor later added: "If I came home and my wife had a whole meal on the table and I said, I want pancakes. And she's like 'oh man, but I've already made hamburgers.'

"And I'm just like, 'I just have to have pancakes right now.' Look, she should make pancakes."

Pastor Pozarnsky continued: "That would be kind of a jerk thing for me to do, and I wouldn't do that.

"In 23 years I've never done that but the point is, the husband is in charge in everything. And if I want pancakes over hamburgers that's not against what the Bible says."

The pastor conceded there was no law that would compel a wife to make pancakes for her husband, but he added it was not in keeping with his view of the message of the Bible.

He added: "There's no sheriff that's going to come over and tell my wife to make pancakes if she doesn't listen to me. If she won't make pancakes and is like 'no, eat your hamburger.'

"And I'm like, well that's not correct according to the Bible. Look there's no law that's going to enforce that for me."

According to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey into marital status by religion, 14 percent of the 8,562 evangelical protestants who took part were divorced or separated.

This represented the second-highest rate of divorce among religious people in the U.S., with "historically Black protestant" coming first with 19 percent.

Newsweek has contacted Hold Fast Baptist Church for comment.

There have been numerous pastors across the U.S. who have made questionable or outright offensive statements during their sermons.

Pastor Dillon Awes of Stedfast Baptist Church, in Hust Texas, said earlier this year that the "solution" to gay people was to line them up against a wall and have them "shot in the back of the head."

He added that "every single" gay person in America should be executed by the government. The church has been designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Anders Anglesey is a U.S. News Reporter based in London, U.K., covering crime, politics, online extremism and trending stories. Anders ... Read more

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