Pastor Allen Jackson of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, gave some pointed warnings to American Christians during a recent interview.
The pastor, who is launching a new show on Trinity Broadcasting Network, discussed why he believes Christians must get off the sidelines and onto the battlefield of ideas, especially when it comes to politics, during a conversation with Breitbart News Daily.
The pastor’s comments were sobering and necessary. But the question remains: Will Christians heed his call?
Pastor Jackson highlighted one of several factors keeping Christians from participating in political discourse: The erroneous belief that we are supposed to keep our religious and political views to ourselves. “For so long, we’ve let this notion fester that we don’t talk about politics or our faith in polite company, and the Christians have climbed into the bleachers, and we’ve got to wake up.”
Another factor dissuading Christians from becoming more involved in political discourse is one that motivates many others: Fear. Out of each of the issues keeping Christ followers on the sidelines, this one is the most understandable. We currently live in a day and age where speaking one’s mind could result in one losing their livelihood to cancel culture or even being treated as a “domestic terrorist” by the government.
However, the Word teaches us that we are not given “the spirit of fear,” but of “power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Moreover, our silence only allows evil to prosper unopposed. Pastor Jackson addressed this, saying “When you see evil and you don’t do anything, you become part of the evil … We’ve got to use voices. We’ve got to stand up.”
Lastly, the third motivating factor in keeping Christians silent is plain ol’ fashioned ambivalence. The reality is that people just do not care about what is happening in our country or the rest of the world. Many of us have become inward-focused, only concerned about our immediate surroundings.
I hate to put it this way, but I think it’s accurate: Things just haven’t gotten bad enough for many believers to motivate them to take a stand. Unfortunately, our silence will only ensure that things get worse for even more Americans. “If we don’t wake up, we’re going to preside over something that’s worse than [the Holocaust],” Pastor Jackson cautioned.
The reality is that none of these concerns should be keeping us quiet. For starters, there are absolutely no verses in the Bible telling us not to discuss our faith or political views in public. Indeed, reading through the Old and New Testaments, we see God working through his people to affect entire kingdoms. What if Moses decided not to lead his people out of the clutches of Pharoah’s oppressive yoke because he felt he should keep his views to himself? The result would not have been favorable for the Israelites, would it?
Secondly, allowing fear to stop us from speaking the truth in love is literally believing that God is not in control. I’ll never forget something Pastor Kris Vallotton once said: “Fear is having faith in the wrong kingdom.” We literally believe the Kingdom of Hell is more powerful than the Kingdom of God when we allow fear to cow us into silence. What if David hadn’t taken on Goliath because the dude was a giant? Again, things wouldn’t have turned out so well for Israel.
Lastly, the ambivalence issue comes from the sense that if something isn’t happening to me, then it isn’t a big deal. As someone who frequently covers government abuse at the state and local level, I can tell you this is not the case. It may not be happening to you or your loved ones today, but if we remain ambivalent, the evil agenda will come to our doorsteps just like it did for the pro-life protesters who are now facing years behind bars.
Christianity is declining in relevance because believers are not willing to take a stand. It’s time for us to wake up, as Pastor Jackson says, and get involved – especially at the local level. As the pastor said, “It’s not what do we want to do, it’s what do we need to do … We’ve got to start to live with that question.”
The time for passive Christianity must end. Full stop. Otherwise, we will wake up one morning to a country and world that looks nothing like what we know it should be.
You can listen to the interview below: