Christians devote much of their energy to debating political candidates, but the more urgent crisis is in the pulpits of their own churches. Congregations spend hours discussing which party should be in power, but they allow faithless pastors and professors to stand before them without opposition. If you insist on exercising your vote and holding someone accountable, start with the man who presumes to speak for God while contradicting his word. Vote out your pastor first.
The obsession with political figures is a convenient distraction from the real confrontation that Scripture demands. Christians claim to be acting responsibly when they spend their time protesting against political leaders, but they give a free pass to those who deny the power of Jesus Christ while preaching in his name. They speak loudly about a president or senator, but they remain silent about the pastor who misleads them. The greater responsibility lies not in shaking one’s fist at Washington, but in refusing to tolerate a false shepherd who rejects the promises of God in full view of the people.
Jesus himself gave instruction on this matter. He warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing, and he condemned the scribes and Pharisees as blind guides and hypocrites who devour the flock. He declared that those who enter by another way are thieves and robbers, and he described the hireling who abandons the sheep when danger comes. His words leave no excuse for tolerating false teachers. The apostles carried this forward, with Peter declaring that judgment begins with the household of God. To disregard this and pour one’s strength into the political sphere is to disobey Jesus. The Christian who tolerates a faithless pastor while spending his passion on political activism has inverted his priorities and defied his Lord.
The clearest example of this betrayal is cessationism. Entire denominations and seminaries insist that the promises of healing and power in the gospel are no longer for today, even though the Bible itself refutes such teaching. This is an invention of unbelief imposed upon the text, and it has devastating consequences. First, it has condemned countless people to unnecessary suffering and death. Those who might have been healed in the name of Jesus are told instead to accept disease as their portion. Second, it has drained families of wealth, sending them into years of medical expenses that could have been spared by the simple faith that the word of God demands. Third, it has created an entire generation of disillusioned Christians who read the promises of Scripture but are told that none of it applies to them. In short, cessationism kills, impoverishes, and destroys faith, while maintaining a veneer of human orthodoxy that deceives the naïve.
The cessationist pastor is an enemy of Jesus who stands before the congregation as a traitor. He strips the Bible of its authority and trains believers to expect nothing from God but silence and inaction. This is a greater danger than any political scandal, because it directly attacks the faith of the people and severs them from the blessings of God. The influence of a corrupt politician is serious, but the influence of a corrupt pastor ruins souls. To expend your energy on the former while excusing the latter is madness.
Christians lament moral decline, political corruption, and cultural decay, but they rarely acknowledge the root cause. The gospel is scarcely preached. Sermons are delivered every week, but they are filled with human traditions, denominational formulas, and theological evasions. Jesus Christ is preached more like a symbol or mascot than a divine Lord of wisdom and miracle power. But without Jesus, the church becomes a powerless institution, and society degenerates accordingly. The decay of the world is the fruit of spiritual decay within the church. When the pulpit ceases to thunder with the authority of God’s word and ceases to demonstrate the power of God’s Spirit, the world loses its witness and descends further into darkness. Political campaigns cannot reverse this process, for the problem is spiritual, not civic.
The real protest must begin at the church door. If Christians desire to campaign, let them campaign against the false shepherds who rob them of the blessings of God. If they wish to post on social media, let them name their pastors and professors, exposing their faithlessness to the world. Call out those who undermine the authority of Scripture. Cancel those who teach cessationism. Boycott those who do not pray for the sick, or who oppose speaking in tongues. If they demand accountability, let them demand it from the seminaries that train men to deny the word of God. Public disgrace belongs to those who publicly contradict Jesus Christ. To tolerate them is to participate in their evil.
Devote your energy first to confronting the one who misrepresents Jesus Christ in front of you week after week. Hold your pastor accountable for what he says in the pulpit rather than wasting your passion on signs in the streets. Pour your anger upon the unbelief that has emptied the church of power instead of raging at society’s corruption. Judgment begins at the house of God. Vote out your pastor first, fire the seminary professor first, and you will discover that the world changes when the word of God is preached with wisdom and miracle power. Society will continue in corruption as long as the church remains faithless. Putting a tiny bandage on a corpse will not raise the dead. Reform begins with the church, for this is the first and greatest task laid upon every Christian.