Given the current state of affairs in America, it is evident there will be even greater pressure brought upon the church to conform to the world’s standards. In light of the incident at the Capitol, the language of “extremism” will be applied to anything remotely appearing to be connected to Trump and conservatism.

Overwhelmingly, Christians are associated with the GOP and, as such, pressure will be brought to bear against churches to disavow any connection to Trump and his supporters. Be assured, simply condemning the actions on January 6, 2021, will not be enough. Claiming President Trump was responsible will not be enough.

Any attitude, dogma, belief, or opinion espoused by a Christian that can be connected to that day (no matter how ridiculously stretched out of shape) will be expected to be rejected. Not only rejected, but the church must espouse an opposing view, affirming the worldly definition of tolerance and love. Any belief that affirms the existence of sin, individual responsibility, objective truth/morality, and judgment from God will be declared divisive and dangerous.

This presents a clear crossroads for the American church. We have seen many evangelicals calling for more of a compromise with worldly ideals (i.e. seeker-friendly marketing, adoption of social justice ideals, softening of the gospel) in order to maintain some kind of influence in the culture.

Now, with the new order of things, such compromises will be expected to be greater by the culture at large. The professing church can either continue down the path of shifting goalposts, seeking the crumbs of approval of culture or it can stand firmly on the Word of God knowing it will cost us deeply.

Chasing the culture has always, ALWAYS, compromised the sufficiency of the Word of God and led people astray. Standing firm on God’s Word has always grown the church as it depends solely upon Christ alone.

The church can no longer be concerned with how the world views or what the world wants of us. We must stand firmly and proclaim directly to the world they need to submit to God’s Word, His gospel. The Scriptures speak to everything we need for life and godliness. Anything that detracts from this must be rejected. Wordly ideologies cannot “help” or “clarify” Scripture. In fact, they can only distract from or attempt to supplant God’s Word.

Using the world’s methods will leaving us chasing ghosts we can never catch. We will mislead our people and dishonor the Savior we claim to serve.
We must stand firmly on the Word of God, boldly proclaiming the truth without fear. This will cost us, it will bring the world against us, but we will honor God and His Word. And He will use it for His glory. Stand firm and preach the gospel.