James David Manning is chief pastor at the ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York City. ATLAH stands for All The Land Anointed Holy, which is God's name for Harlem. Manning graduated from The College of New Rochelle with a Bachelor of Arts degree and continued on to Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York where he was awarded a Master of Divinity. Manning also holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the ATLAH Theological Seminary. Manning achieved some controversy in the 2008 presidential election after ATLAH posted several sermons of his that were harshly critical of Democratic candidate Barack Obama on the website YouTube. Among other accusations, he called Obama a "good house negro" in one sermon while in another he referred to Obama as "trash" due to his mixed race heritage and accused him of being a "pimp" and "long-legged macdaddy," citing the viral video "I Got a Crush... on Obama". He stated that Obama "has the cadence of an Islamic person," and he called Obama's mother "trash." Manning defended his sermons in an interview on Fox News, saying that "we also have to talk about his character." He further stated that God told him that Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic Primary and that Obama would not become the President. Manning illustrated how God showed him Hillary would win by revealing her card in the light. After his prophecies didn't become true, he defended them by saying that it is what God said to him and he will continue to follow in his faith.

He proclaimed Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey a "Babylonian whore", the "queen of the universe", and the Antichrist: "Run children, run children, and tell everybody that you know: Oprah Winfrey is the Antichrist."