IS HE RIGHT?
Does John Maxwell believe pastors should not help their people fight evil?
What else could he have meant when he told 1,000 Assemblies of God pastors to stay out of politics? How can any righteous voice do that now? Now that leftist politics and evil are synonymous.
Politics is everywhere. We cannot avoid it. And yes, it is evil. Our corrupt government invades every aspect of our lives. The Democrat Party has sold its soul to the devil.
Any Christian with a child in public school faces political persecution. Pornography in textbooks, boys in the girl’s bathroom, school counselors who secretly groom children for sex. Men in women’s sports.
Shouldn’t their pastor help them with these things? Shouldn’t they take a moral stand?
Shouldn’t their pastor help them with these things? Shouldn’t they take a moral stand?
According to John Maxwell: No. Politics is off limits. No advice or equipping here. Sorry, mom and dad, you are on your own. When your daughter wants an abortion, figure it out yourself.
Every Sunday people sit in churches facing dire moral choices. Nearly all of them involve politics. In Maxwell’s view we must not talk about gender, advice on gender, the illegal invasion at our border, or the LGBTQ+ agenda?
What did Peter do when government leaders attacked the church? He made sure the congregation knew the threat from the political enemies of the faith. Acts 4:23, “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.”
Then Peter called for prayer. Why did these 1,000 AG ministers not drop everything and cry out to God for mercy on America? Is it because they are more interested in the hottest new business model for church growth?
The pastor who does not warn his sheep about evil is like the parent who lets their child learn about sex on the street.
The pastor who does not warn his sheep about evil is like the parent who lets their child learn about sex on the street.
Maxwell says to avoid politics, because it is ‘polarizing.’ And yet his speech in Miami—ironically at the Trump International Hotel—is totally polarizing. In fact it is igniting a firestorm. And that proves my next point.
Every opinion today is polarizing. You cannot avoid polarization. Our culture forces you to choose sides on everything.
Truth is especially polarizing. Jesus called for a clear division.
Matthew 10:34-36, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.”
Preacher, you are going to be polarizing, no matter what you say. Why not do it by telling the truth?
Preacher, you are going to be polarizing, no matter what you say. Why not do it by telling the truth?
John Maxwell referenced Billy Graham. He said that right before he died, Graham told him not to endorse any political candidate.
I find that odd, since in his last days Billy Graham commissioned ads and billboards telling people about the evils of abortion and other matters. Then he exhorted Christians to vote their conscience.
Barack Obama ordered the IRS to illegally suspend Billy Graham’s nonprofit status.
In fact, because Billy took a political stand, Barack Obama ordered the IRS to illegally suspend Billy Graham’s nonprofit status.
Maxwell accused pastors who endorse candidates of trusting more in a politician than Jesus. I have never met a Christian conservative who does that. Have you?
But we do know who John Maxwell is trusting.
John Maxwell interviewed Andy Stanley about his new book Not in it to win it and gave it a glowing endorsement. I don’t get it.
Andy Stanley teaches that parts of the Bible are not true. Stanley also says the church should not be trying to save America. Wait! What?
Why are the Assemblies of God letting a man who endorses Andy Stanley tell their pastors what to preach?
Unlike Maxwell or Stanley, the Bible clearly tells us to take political and moral stands.
John the Baptist confronts King Herod: “And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison” (Luke 3:18-20).
Peter and John refuse to obey an evil government: “So they brought them and set them before the council (Sanhedrin). And the high priest examined them by questioning, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:27-29).
But is cowardice the real reason some pastors do not want to take a stand? If so, that is a scary thing.
Those who are afraid to address moral issues are no better than those who commit transgressions. -Franklin Graham
Revelations 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Here is what Franklin Graham said about Revelation 21:8, “That puts cowards in the same category as murderers and rapists. Those who are afraid to address moral issues are no better than those who commit transgressions. When you accept a position of authority, you have accepted an obligation to work toward the benefit of mankind in the name of God.”
Does telling a thousand AG ministers to remain silent play directly into the devil’s hands? If a pastor does not tell their people who to vote for, then they are probably going to vote wrong, or worse, they are not going to vote at all.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Obama said that elections have consequences. Consider the consequences of four more years of Biden.
The big question is this: Is Eric Metaxas right? Is the silence of the American church the same as the silence of the German church before Hitler came to power?
If so, then the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer settle this matter, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
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