A prophetic wake-up call to the Church in America
What happens when politicians replace prophets, and CEOs replace pastors?
The following words will be bold, confrontational, and a prophetic call to repentance. I don’t expect this message to be very popular or to go viral. I don’t think many preachers or ministers will appreciate these words.
But for those with ears to hear, I believe this is a prophetic word for the church in America today.
Diagnosing the problem
The term Christian has lost meaning. Jesus has been hijacked by culture, and a caricature of Him has replaced Him. Bold statements. Let me explain.
A few years ago, Arizona Christian University released a study that put quantifiable statistics on a problem I’ve felt growing for years. A massive number of Americans claim they’re Christians, yet only a small percentage have basic Christian beliefs.
This study revealed that 69% of Americans identify as Christian, but only 9% have a basic Christian worldview. (Source) Of those 176 million self-identified “Christians,” the vast majority believe all faiths are of equal value, that truth is personal, being good gets you into heaven, and less than ⅓ believe sex outside of marriage is sinful.
How is this possible? How can so many people wear the label Christian, but not live the lifestyle? How can so many claim to follow Christ yet not believe what He taught?
I believe the blame falls at the feet of many of our church leaders. The blame falls on me, too. I’ve been a part of the problem. We have unintentionally created this watered-down version of what it means to follow Jesus. In our desire to reach more people, we’ve lowered the standard of what it means to be a Christian.
Where did this word come from?
I wrote the beginning of this word a few days after Charlie Kirk was killed. I was grieved and disturbed for days after that event rocked our nation. I had been glued to social media for days, and I needed to hear from the Lord. I needed clarity about what had happened and what was happening. I was disturbed and troubled by the state of our nation. A man was murdered for boldly declaring his beliefs. He died for being willing to openly dialogue with those who disagreed with him. I needed the Lord to show me how we got here and what to do moving forward.
What follows are the words I feel the Lord gave me in response to my searching. This is a strong word. So I’ve been praying into this and writing for months. I wanted to make sure my heart was right before releasing it. I wanted to make sure the timing was right.
Today, I felt like the Holy Spirit released me to post this. So here we go…
The world will always try to restrain God’s word.
Matthew 27:1-2 ESV When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
Notice they had to restrict Jesus. They had to bind Him up. They couldn’t allow Jesus to be free and fully in charge. Our culture does the same. They like parts of Jesus. They appreciate His love and His grace. But they forget that Jesus was hated. He testified to the world of their sin and their need to repent. Jesus didn’t just come to bring peace and give everyone a warm hug. Don’t believe me? Those are literal words He said (Matthew 10:34-36). He came to divide and separate. He came to declare righteousness and confront sin. He was full of grace and full of truth (John 1:14). Truth, by its very nature, is divisive. It makes you choose a side.
Jesus is the Word (John 1), and it’s the Word that is under attack today. The Word is handed over to a leader. Pilate was the authority that could defend the Word, protect the Word, or silence the Word. For political reasons and out of fear of the mob, he chose not to protect the Word; his decision led to the Word dying under his watch and in his day.
Sounds like many leaders in the American church today, doesn’t it?
Too many leaders have refused to stand up for the Word.
Matthew 27:18-19 ESV For he (Pilate) knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
Pilate knew Jesus was handed over to him for wrong motives, he knew Jesus was innocent, and yet he refused to defend Jesus. In the same way, God chose to hand His Word to His church (Matthew 28:18-20). His church is led by five-fold ministers (Ephesians 4:11-13). They are the ones entrusted to declare, explain, and handle the Word today.
But like Pilate, these leaders are afraid to stand up and defend Jesus. These leaders know the Word. They are not ignorant of what the Scriptures teach on the unpopular or hot-button issues of our day. They are not confused.
But too many flat-out refuse to stand up for the totality of the Word. When the Word is unpopular, when the Word is put on trial before the mob, Pilate goes silent. So do many of our leaders today. They may never contradict the Word, but they selectively edit the Word to appease the crowd. Choosing feel-good topical sermons that don’t have to wrestle through what’s difficult or not politically correct about the Word of God. They get really quiet on topics of abortion, hell, homosexuality, divorce, and transgender issues, just to name a few. They get quiet because that’s where the mob starts to get violent. Here’s what’s scary… if you won’t stand up for the Word, you end up inheriting a world that will silence the Word.
Claiming to be wise, church leaders have let the world muzzle the pulpit.
Matthew 27:24 ESV So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.”
Pilate knew the right thing to do. He knew he should fully defend Jesus, no matter what the mob said or wanted. Yet he refused to stand up for Jesus. He feared the mob’s reaction and their riots. He let fear win. This is not a new problem. Jesus called out leaders in His day who cared more about pleasing people than pleasing God (John 12:42-43).
You can’t let the reaction of the mob determine if or how you defend the Word and be faithful to the Word at the same time. If you fear man, you cannot be faithful to Jesus. Full stop. Read that again.
Here’s the problem with being led by fear. Fear does a great job of calculating the immediate cost of standing up for Jesus. But it rarely considers the long-term problems its passivity will create. Fear refuses to calculate the cost of silence; it can only exaggerate the cost of standing for righteousness.
The Bible declares in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 that in the last days, people will walk away from listening to the truth. If that’s accurate, we must ask ourselves a tough question. If what you say never causes someone to walk away from your church or unfollow you on Instagram, maybe it’s because you won’t defend the full counsel of God’s Word? Maybe you’ve let the fear of man cripple your ability to speak the truth in the face of a culture obsessed with lies. Truth only sounds like hate to those who hate the truth. It’s not your job to measure what you say against the reaction of the mob. It’s your job to hear the Word, declare the Word, and take a stand for the Word.
But under the guise of wisdom, we’ve accepted a spirit of fear. If you can’t say that (whatever that is) because the mob might riot or the crowd might leave your church, you’re just like Pilate. You’ve become a politician with a pulpit. There is NEVER a reason to hide, veil, or mask the truth from your church or audience. It’s time to simply preach the Word. The whole Word.
Claiming it’s not your responsibility to defend the Bible is NOT true.
Matthew 27:24-26 ESV So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, and he approved His crucifixion anyway. To make himself feel better, he washes his hands, claiming that what happens next wasn’t his fault. While that might have made him feel better, it’s simply not true. Washing his hands didn’t make him innocent; it made him complicit.
Too many leaders are acting like they have no other choice. You know, Justin, I can’t disciple someone who doesn’t come back, so we have to make sure they come back, right? Too often, leaders are choosing what’s pragmatically expedient, not what’s biblically required. To say “It’s not my fault, I didn’t do anything wrong” doesn’t let you off the hook. To stay silent in the face of deception violates your responsibility in the Kingdom. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)
Half-truths veiled as wisdom are silencing too many leaders. Statements like, “It’s not my job to convict people of sin. That’s why I don’t mention specific sins.” To believe that is to think you know more than Jesus and the Bible itself. There are entire lists of specific sins throughout scripture. In our world today, we can’t simply tell people to avoid an undefined sin or vaguely encourage them to do what’s right. We need clarity! We need conviction! Clearly teaching the Bible is our job!
If we let the crowd determine what we do with the Word, we’ll end up silencing the very thing meant to set people free. If we’re afraid to boldly proclaim the truth, we allow people to live in bondage. We claim to love the ones chained and bound in sin, yet we withhold the very truth that could set them free (John 8:32).
Deception and lies are killing our nation because our leaders won’t stand up.
Matthew 27:26 ESV Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
Barrabas was in prison. He was restrained and confined. Scripture tells us that Barrabas was a robber, a murderer, and that he had led an insurrection. This is who Pilate released. Think about that. What was restrained was now released because a leader refused to defend the Word, let fear be their counselor, and then abdicated his responsibility.
This is where this word gets real. So buckle up.
When you lead like Pilate, you unintentionally release the spirit of Barrabbas into the world. Barabbas is a picture of Satan. It is Satan who is the robber behind every false religion. It’s Satan who was a murderer from the beginning. It is Satan who led the first insurrection in heaven.
Deception, cults, and false religions increase every day. Abortion is applauded and defended as healthcare and a woman’s right. All restraint is being cast off, and morality is being dismissed as repressive. Open sexual expression and gender confusion are a rebellion against God Himself. And yet these beliefs roam about freely.
You thought your silence was wise. You thought avoiding the hard topics would prevent a riot and keep you from getting canceled. You thought you escaped some big problem and a church split. Instead, you released and paved the way for very thing you were claiming to prevent. Barabbas is now roaming free. What held him back is now gone.
The church was meant to act as the conscience of a nation. When the church is no longer the pillar of truth, when its conviction goes quiet, and its voice goes silent, what holds back wickedness is gone. And the murderous, insurrectionist starts wreaking havoc on the masses. Your silence has allowed Satan’s deceptions to roam unrestricted.
Under the guise of protecting people from a riot, you unintentionally released something that will do far more harm than what you’re claiming to protect people from. Barrabas has been roaming free for too long. And we’ve washed our hands of our responsibility to keep him restricted.
Where do we go from here?
As with any change, it begins with repentance. It’s time to fall on our knees, humbly repent, then stand up with compassion in our eyes and steel in our spine to declare thus says the Lord.
I will be the first to repent. I have couched my language. I have avoided hard topics. I’ve let fear keep me quiet. That ends today.
It’s time to stop being politicians and get back to being prophets with a word from the Lord. It’s time for pastors to stop acting like CEOs managing a company or a PR firm, selectively editing the Word of our Savior. It’s time to stop managing the church's brand and selling our soul to our customer base. It’s time to make His house a house of prayer. It’s time to get rid of the attractional show we call church and replace it with actual discipleship. It’s time we stop applauding ourselves for all of our small groups where “real life change happens.” Because if we’re honest, many of them are more shallow than our Sunday sermons. It’s time for catchphrases like “Healthy things grow,” which we use to affirm our methods and church models to die. We have to stop ignoring the reality that cancer also grows. Just because it’s getting larger doesn’t mean it’s healthy. We must ask ourselves some tough questions and be honest about the results we’ve achieved.
If what we were doing was working, wouldn’t the church and our country as a whole be in a different condition? We must admit that what we have been doing can only produce the results we currently see. If we want different results, we MUST do something different!
I believe God is up to something. An awakening is beginning. A new type of church is rising. A new type of leader is being formed. It’s one rooted in scripture, unapologetic with truth, unwavering in conviction, and full of compassion. It’s not really a new model, but rather a return to an old one. I don’t have it all figured out or perfected. I’m just inviting you on the same journey. We cannot have new wine without being willing to produce a new wineskin.
May this be the genesis of a move of God in the church and in our nation. Come, Lord Jesus.