“Woke” Christians or Weak Christians? You tell me. (The woke culture has no place in the body of Christ - A Christian Clinician’s perspective)

Let’s jump right in and waste no time. “Woke/progressive Christians” are Christians who maybe at one point knew the word, but have decided, by repeated exposure to alternative views without a strong enough conviction of their own or by being jaded themselves, that they would rather be embracing of the world's ways because they’re tired of swimming upstream. That’s all. I’m not mad at you, but I just think you should call yourself something else - because Christian isn’t it, friend. 

“Christians” who support the presence of lesbian and gay clergy, “Christians” who support abortion, “Christians” who support weed smoking, “Christians” who care more about their racial identity than their identity as believers in Jesus Christ and low key dislike other races - I challenge you all to pull out your Bibles, especially the pages that are conveniently stuck together or bypassed, and find the scriptures to support your position. Find them. All of them. I dare you. 

Jesus was pretty clear- and He pulled no punches when He walked his earth. He set the tone for being counter culture, dismantling the common routines and disrupting religion and social norms. Whatever everyone had decided was right in their own eyes He boldly came to challenge with real Truth. Quick side step here- as Christians we only have ONE truth- and it’s whatever the Word says. There’s no “your truth my truth their truth.” There’s ONE. One way to Heaven, ONE way to the Father and that’s through Jesus. Period. 

So- if you don’t agree with this or simply find it exhausting to stick to in a world that’s pretty loud and proud about having found several avenues to appease their desires, several identities and pronouns, no right or wrong way to live or conduct oneself (oh he’s not a pedophile, he’s “alternatively attracted to youth”) - then just own it. Speak the truth (your truth haha) and shame the devil. Just stop pretending this is your way of trying to make Christianity more palatable. Just admit you’re tired of being the odd man/woman out and it’s easier to give in. Because guess what? It absolutely is. 

What we want is the path of least resistance. We’re human- we’re weak- we want everyone to like us and we don’t want to argue or offend. We want a warm and fuzzy Jesus that winks and smiles and hugs and embraces all. We want to be able to go to the party too- to drink and smoke too, to sleep around and test the waters too. We want to shush our God -consciences. We want to avoid being canceled, de-friended, uninvited to the cookout, deemed uncool, racist, sexist, homophobic, old- school, intolerant, unaccepting, judgmental, hateful and insensitive. We want to have all the Facebook likes and be comfortable.

But guess what? If you want to truly follow and be like Jesus you can’t, you won’t, you mustn’t be comfortable. 

“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ ‭TPT‬‬ (emphasis added)

”For all who choose to live godly as worshipers of Jesus, the Anointed One, will also experience persecution.“‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬ ‭TPT‬‬ (emphasis added)

Proverbs 14:12-13 TPT:“You can rationalize it all you want and justify the path of error you have chosen, but you’ll find out in the end that you took the road to destruction.”

There you go. I’m not making it up. There is no escaping discomfort as a follower of Jesus Christ. Gods not interested in your excuses around rationalizing your path of lease resistance life. I’m preaching to myself as I write this - knowing at some point I’ll lose some friends or even offend family. But God also said I MUST be courageous. 

”I know all that you do, and I know that you are neither frozen in apathy nor fervent with passion. How I wish you were either one or the other! But because you are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I am about to spit you from my mouth.“ ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭TPT‬‬ (emphasis added)

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So basically- choose. Choose RIGHT NOW. You can’t straddle the fence, because that lukewarm woke life just gets you spit out and separated from God. If you want to stay popular in the world's eyes and have their approval then please continue with your woke self. Join every parade, lead the marches, and cover your car with every possible bumper sticker.  But be clear - Jesus isn’t there. He’s not willing to compromise because He knows what Calvary cost Him. Call yourself whatever you want, but leave Christ out of it. 

However- let me talk to the Christian that’s struggling. You WANT to please God. You DO know the Word and you’re not purposely skipping sections you don’t like to soothe yourself or please your wayward friends, but man it’s HARD. You’re on that college campus surrounded by the pressures. You're fighting your own inner temptations. You’re in that corporate setting with cheating and dishonesty as the norm. You’re the cop trying to walk in integrity in a brutal field. You’re the teacher in this over accommodating age trying to honor God and keep your pension - and it’s HARD. I know it’s hard - I’m one of you. I take a sharp, deep breath every blog I write. I know there are clinicians out there who would want to take my license for my bold position. The thing is- they didn’t give it to me ;) 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.“ ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is the very scripture God gave me when I was shaking in my boots going back and forth about starting The Pastors Lounge. I was terrified and I knew it was going to be a costly venture on many levels. But alas- light must shine. We ARE to love all, respect all and give honor where it’s due - so long as who we are for Jesus isn’t compromised. This is why we go to church, we stay in community Bible study groups, join the Christian clubs on campus, get involved in volunteer work and care for those in need. We must pursue our God given callings with laser focus because the very ones who scream at us in disgust because of our position NEED what we’ve got.  If what we’ve got isn’t worth standing for and buckles under the first sign of opposition- then why the heck should they want our Jesus? Our job is not to defend God or His Word. God is really good at being God and He doesn’t need our help. I don’t feel any pressure to explain and rationalize why the Bible calls sin sin. All I know is my life has been so richly blessed by obeying God's words - even and especially when it was not easy (somewhere in these blogs I tell my dating story — look for it ) that you couldn’t convince me to come to give it up for a million zillion dollars. Life without Jesus will never be full.  If we don’t stand out and stop watering things down to suit the masses and show them the way OUT- who will ?? Did Jesus die in vain? I sure hope not. 

So come on! Drop the cowardice of the Christian woke life, pick up your cross and dare to be different by remaining in The Truth. Leave the consequences and retracted invitations to God. He will restore, and He will keep you. Ask Him for the thick skin you need and boldly follow Him. 

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.“ ‭‭Mark‬ ‭10‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬