But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. -Acts 4:17
We think that cancel culture only exists outside the religious system. We think it’s just in the world- maybe among liberals, not among conservatives, and certainly not within the church!
This is absolutely not true!
The church has always had to deal with cancel culture from without, but it has also plagued the church from within.
We are told that all scripture is “God-breathed”, and yet, if Christians don’t like what the Bible says, often we will simply turn away from it. What is this, other than simply canceling God! It is, after all, His Word that we are rejecting.
It doesn’t matter how plain something is or how many times it appears in the Word of God, we often simply refuse to hear things that we don’t like. If someone dares to speak something that challenges our paradigm we may turn a deaf ear as if they don’t exist, or worse, level an attack on them!
Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him. They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. -Acts 7:56
Steven was canceled by being put to death. The people listening to his message could not bear to hear what he had to say so they killed him.
When the attributes of God become taboo topics
I could have titled this section “Canceling God”, because that is essentially what we are doing when we refuse to accept the things that God has written about Himself in His Word.
There are subjects in the Word of God that basically go unpreached in many of the churches today because people simply do not want to hear them, and pastors are afraid to preach them. There are doctrines that appear throughout the Word of God that are routinely canceled and are off limits to talk about.
It’s ironic, but many of the things that are canceled in the church are actually things that God has revealed about Himself in the Word of God!
One of the things that comes to mind that has been largely canceled in the church today is the subject of the wrath of God. This is something that preachers of old talked about but present day pastors are now ridiculed for. They’re now called “hell and brimstone” preachers, and are obsolete in our “spiritual cancel culture” where the only acceptable message is thought to be pleasant and loving. Never mind the fact that the wrath of God is talked about in both the Old and New Testaments and is a very common theme throughout the Bible.
Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. -1 Thessalonians 1:10
There’s going to be a day of wrath? Yes, but you’re unaware of it because it’s been erased from the messaging of the church!
The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness… -Zephaniah 1:14
And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. -Revelation 19:15
It’s not a very appealing thought is it? It doesn’t fit our idea of a kind God and is therefore deleted. But this passage from Revelation is actually talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it really okay that we delete it from our frame of reference and refuse to think of Him on these terms? We love the gentle Jesus that we see in the Gospels and so we just leave it at that. But Jesus is, nevertheless, the one who “treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” How dare we try to erase that fact about Him!
And then there is the Judgment of God. In the Bible we often find Jesus mentioned in reference to the Judgment of God.
Nobody seems to want to ascribe this attribute to Jesus though the scripture speaks often enough about it.
Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. -Acts 17:31
All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment… This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might. -2 Thessalonians 1:5,7-9
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad. –2 Corinthians 5:10
Canceling the sovereignty of God
Finally, I would like to talk about the sovereignty of God and use it as an illustration of the cancel culture that exists in the church.
According to the Bible, one of the main attributes that makes God “God” is that He is sovereign.
In a day and age when man has taken center stage it should not surprise us that the doctrine of God’s sovereignty has also been largely canceled.
The doctrine that God is sovereign over the affairs of men, and can override the will of a person at any time He chooses, is abhorrent to many in the church. We are told that God would never override the free will of men, but is this true?
Even though I can point to scripture after scripture where God overrides the will of man and interferes in the lives of people, many people refuse to believe it. They cancel the Word of God, they cancel me for saying it, and without realizing it, they cancel God Himself, because He’s the one who originally said it in the first place!
Let’s look very briefly at the sovereignty of God as it’s talked about in the Bible.
All that Yahweh desires, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths. -Psalm 135:6
Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. -Psalms 115:3
All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” -Daniel 4:35
While these passages spell out the general principle of God’s sovereignty, I think it’s helpful to also look at a specific example of how God’s sovereignty is able work in the life of an individual.
God takes Ezekiel’s wife
Perhaps one of the most severe examples of the sovereignty of God being displayed in the Bible is the taking of Ezekiel’s wife.
God told Ezekiel that He was going to take Ezekiel’s wife as an object lesson for the people of God.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. -Ezekiel 24:15
How do you think Ezekiel felt about that?
God didn’t ask Ezekiel if it was okay; He didn’t ask him for permission. He simply told him what He was about to do.
And what about Ezekiel’s wife? I doubt that she probably wanted to die, and in any event, God didn’t ask her if it was okay with her! He just did it and she was dead that evening.
I’ve used this example to show that if God can take somebody’s life anytime that He wants to, He can also do anything else anytime He wants to! The fact is, He is God and He has that right.
Christians go on and on about how God will not violate our free will even though the Word of God teaches exactly the opposite thing!
Many christians with put their hands over their ears and run from somebody who preached a message like I just spoke about Ezekiel’s wife. They would just refuse to hear it. Others would probably go online and do a YouTube video at how bad you are for believing such a thing!
Help me to understand this. God’s the one who put it in the Bible, and I’m the one who gets canceled for simply saying what He wrote?
Canceled by my friends?
From time to time I’ll group text friends about something that has caught my attention as I’m reading the Word of God. It is often the case that if I mention biblical topics that are grave or serious in nature that I am met with absolute silence. I’ve just sent a text but nobody responds! They will act like I never wrote them. I won’t go so far as to say that I’ve been canceled as a friend, because that has certainly not been the case, but I can say that as far as my text messages are concerned, when it comes to certain biblical topics all I heard was crickets!
If instead, I copy and paste something from the Word of God that’s pleasant and likable, I get a lot of responses and affirmation. I’ve learned that if I want affirmation I need to speak about the “nice” things in the Bible, otherwise I will be ignored.
The Word of God is being canceled every single day among believers. It’s one of the most common things that happens in the church.
I think that what people don’t understand is that when they cancel the Word of God they are canceling God Himself, because He’s the one that’s actually speaking through the Bible.
The Pharisees were experts at canceling anyone they disagreed with
Jesus basically told the Pharisees that they were part of the cancel culture! By their traditions they nullified the Word of God and made it of no effect.
Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters. -Mark 7:13
If they didn’t like something they simply canceled it and ignored it. They were experts at canceling whatever it is that they didn’t like to hear!
The Pharisees were so much a part of the cancel culture that they wanted to see Jesus dead and plotted to make that happen.
But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. -Matthew 12:14
True prophets have always been canceled
We are desperately in need of preachers today who will tell the church what God says whether they like to hear it or not. We need more Ezekiel’s in the church.
And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them… -Ezekiel 2:5
Do you realize that every true prophet of God was canceled by the people of God? They were despised, vilified, and ignored because they said what God told them to say.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! -Luke 13:34
The best thing you can do as a Christian is to read the Word of God and accept everything it says whether you like it or not. You cannot cancel God and His Word without suffering the repercussions of it.
Look, your house is left to you desolate! -Luke 13:35
His Word is eternal and it’s not going to change. So you’re the one that’s going to have to change your opinion, it’s not going to be God!
You don’t want to be one of the people that the Word of God warns us about who are constantly saying “tell us something nice”.
They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. -Isaiah 30:10
If you’re a minister of the Gospel you don’t want to be the person that people run to because they have itching ears and they’re just looking for somebody that will tell them what they want to hear.
One of the marks of a false prophet is that they tell people what they want to hear, and not what they need to hear.
I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and turned them back from their evil ways and deeds.” -Jeremiah 23:21
Cancel culture is basically a part of our fallen sinful nature. It exists in the world of unbelievers, and it exists in christians who are unwilling to bow before God and the authority of His Word. We’ll never escape a “cancel mentality” until we’re willing to fully submit to the Word of God, and separate ourselves from the fear of man.