There’s little doubt that the world is becoming increasingly anti-Christ. As hatred toward God intensifies, so will hatred toward His Church. Mark my words: more pressure will come against the Church.
This is why it’s so important for every believer, every pastor, every Christian, to be grounded in the Word of God and in the Holy Spirit. We can advance and impact the world, even in the face of opposition, but we must be willing to stay faithful to the preaching of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Let he who has eyes to see, see. Let he who has ears to hear, hear. There is a demonic agenda at work. The enemy’s goal is to confuse, intimidate, divide, isolate, and silence the Church. Many in this world do not want to hear the message of repentance, the truth about the blood of Jesus, or the reality of the cross.
So there will be a pressure for us to conform, to be silent. They will threaten us with reputation-destroying labels. They will attempt to manipulate us with guilt. They will work tirelessly to silence us, to silence the preaching of the gospel. Like the religious leaders who were tormented by the preaching of Stephen the martyr, so today’s culture covers its ears and cries for us to be silent. The systems of the world are no doubt working against the Church.
This hour calls for bold, righteous, Spirit-filled believers.
Remember that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pressured to bow to the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had created. Society bowed. Some of God’s people bowed. Everyone bowed. Everyone except the faithful three.
The young men were threatened with death - they were to be thrown in a fiery furnace. When faced with this threat, the young men gave a courageous response:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, NLT)
We too must have the courage to obey God; whatever happens to us as a result of our obedience is up to Him. We’ve laid down our lives anyway.
Like in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, a statue has been created, and the system calls for all to bow: that statue is conformity to the ways and ideologies of the world. Conformity is exalted. Dissent is aggressively stifled. Society bows. Sadly, some pastors even bow. You must not bow.
When we stop preaching to truth, when we alter God’s Word to better suit the preferences of this generation, we’re bowing to conformity. When we stop declaring repentance from sin and salvation alone through Jesus, we’ve been bullied into conformity.
Don’t conform to culture; confront it. Confront it by preaching Christ and Him crucified.
Preachers especially, we must stop weighing our words against what might offend the world. No, the goal isn’t to offend anyone, but if our preaching of Jesus becomes offensive, preach Him anyway. We need to be more concerned about souls than about our reputations, more attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit than to our marketing strategies. We’re not celebrities; we’re servants of God. We’re preachers, not puppets. Too many are being consulted by culture instead of by the Word of God. God didn’t give you a platform to play it safe. He raised you to spread His Word - that souls might be saved.
Cry aloud. Spare not. Sound the alarm. This is a spiritual war for the soul of a generation.
You may be pressured into silence. Preach the gospel anyway.
You may be threatened by the social media mob. Preach the gospel anyway.
Let them mock you, threaten you, accuse you, and cancel you. The world needs to hear the message of salvation.
Stay on message. Focus on the mission. Jesus is still the answer. The gospel is still the mission. How we go down is history is of no importance compared to how we go down in eternity.