Too many of our “respectable” church leaders thought they could win the world by gaining the favour of the powerful, fashionable, and influential, but God has always been at work among the despised and maligned.
If you’re not sure who that is today, look to those ‘deplorable’ types our leaders wouldn’t be seen touching with a barge pole. There’s nothing new under the sun.
While the evangelical elite degrade and mock “right-wing conservatives,” “culture warriors,” and “conspiracy theorists,” at the regime’s behest, the Lord is at work among them. He has been for some time now.
Just consider recent viral footage of Russell Brand and Tucker Carlson praying before the applause of a packed auditorium in Phoenix, Arizona.
Brand represents the sorts Caldron Pool has been labouring to reach for years. The harvest is plentiful, indeed – we’ve seen it! – but the labourers are few.
Unfortunately, this scarcity is primarily because the evangelical elite has designated these rough sorts as “unclean.” We’ve all seen how they’ve been treated in recent years. We copped it just for standing with them. We’ve had folks distance themselves from us for providing a voice for them.
They are the new untouchables, and they’ve been designated as such because they dared to challenge the establishment that the evangelical elite are desperately trying to woo.
Just as they did in Jesus’ day, and just as they’ve always done, the religious power-establishment does not associate with those the elite deem socially unacceptable. After all, they have very important reputations to maintain, or at least they like to think so.
How could they risk tarnishing their hard-earned “respectability” by expressing any sympathy for those who voiced the slightest hint of resistance to the regime that prohibited them from visiting their dying grandmothers and threatened to take away their livelihoods?
Thankfully, the façade is fading. And thankfully, God doesn’t need any of our evangelical gatekeepers to accomplish his work. When the shepherds are silent and compromised, God raises up faithful voices in the most unlikely places.
Pray that Tucker and Brand’s faith holds firm, as there are many envious of their influence who are hoping to see it fail.
