Where are the heroic Christians to take a stand in our day?
Christ-driven Christianity
What does a real hero look like?
Every time I see this unimaginably powerful image of Trump’s fist in the air as he barely survives an assassination attempt, I am reminded of all the fake heroes that our generation has promoted, primarily Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and other members of “the squad”. The photo above, on the right, shows the photo shoot that AOC participated in to bolster her own image and platform, portraying her pretending to weep at a fence that is supposed to be representative of the border. It is the definition of inauthentic. She wants to be heroic…clearly, yet her idea of heroism involves pretending to cry at a fence and making impassioned speeches on the house floor from time to time.
It’s not that she’s fake. It’s even worse. She wouldn’t know what heroism looked like if it slapped her in the face. She is a product of her generation, my generation, the millennials. The generation bound so much by comfort and convenience due to being taught that this is the most important thing by previous generations—it doesn’t matter what gen-Xers and baby boomers think; this generation didn’t randomly end up like this. Randomness does not exist. The people who raised millennials believed that monetary comfort was more important than anything and were shocked when millennials believed them.
Below is another photo of the controversy where AOC allegedly pretends to be handcuffed behind her back when being escorted by cops to make it look like she is being dragged away to be imprisoned. This was aggressively called out when it occurred for its lack of substance. It’s not just AOC though. It is the entire generation to which I belong. She is simply an easy example that most people have encountered.
At this point, I don’t think my generation (millennials) and younger are familiar enough with the heroic to actually recognize it. But I found this to be the case with even elders and more mature folks than myself, even if they are voting for him, they are certain that Trump is a bad person while feeling as though they have to vote for him to help save America.
What I’m getting at is to say: why can’t we just accept that Trump is heroic? For real. He has been battered and bruised by the global elites and their anti-Christ system, and he keeps getting back up. He could have left politics after the shenanigans pulled in the 2020 election and never looked back, but he didn’t. He has stayed fighting for the rights of the average salt-of-the-earth American. He has not backed down. He is a warrior in our generation which is almost devoid of real warriors, yet I still hear people speak about what they didn’t like that he said. Whenever someone compliments Trump, it’s always something like, “I don’t like him but God is using him” or “he is a great businessman but I don’t like everything he says.” It’s unreal.
I have a thorough distaste for qualifiers and caveats in this generation since it seems as though we have more of those than we have of honest, heartfelt statements. Trump is all heart. He really, actually, terrifyingly says what he actually believes and thinks most of the time. He is essentially apolitical, meaning non-ideological, he isn’t a “real” conservative or “real” Republican; he is just honestly trying to help save America in accordance with what he sees that’s going wrong with our nation. People think that they would like a King David or a King Cyrus, and some even confess that Christians should be like a King David (in particular); however, when they encounter someone who has that warrior, intense, no-nonsense attitude and simply goes around saying and doing what they really think, they tend to not like that guy at all.
King David was a great warrior and King who loved the Lord but had a few chronic problems like: a woman problem (that his son future King Solomon inherited) and a pride problem (like when he felt justified in killing Uriah and when he began counting his armies and comparing them to his enemy). He was a man after God’s own heart because he repented when he sinned which gave him access to redemption. Regardless, the people of modernity, even those who spend their time quoting the Bible and admiring King David, would not be able to stand his intense attitude, the attitude of being a leader on a mission.
Everyone thinks that they would be a Joshua or a Caleb. Everyone thinks that if they were in Nazi Germany, they would go out of their way to help the Jewish people…If you agree with the majority opinion on an issue without having thought about it, if your statements are in agreement with the 83% (10 out of 12 tribes), then you are revealing what you actually would do in a crisis. If you cannot find a difference between your opinions as a Christian and what worldly people think and say, that is a sign that you are on the wrong path. Christians walk the narrow way. If everyone is on your path, you are not on the narrow way.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate, because broad is the gate and spacious is the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it,
A good test was the jab. Did you take it, knowing it was bad, because of the pressure? I didn’t, but almost all of my family did. Are you part of the 80% that talk big but can’t back it up? Or are you part of the 20% that stands up against the intimidation of rogue government? Of that 20%, are you part of the 10% that falls asleep but wakes up with oil in their lamps to face the darkness or the 10% that doesn’t have enough oil for the journey (10 virgins fell asleep, only 5—half—awoke with enough oil for the journey)? These are questions that Christians need to start asking themselves. If you are not constantly in conflict with what the World confesses—set apart to God for his purposes—then how can you say that you are prepared to die for the name of Jesus Christ?
If you cannot reject a jab, then you will not reject the mark (whatever form it takes) when it comes. The pressure will be much worse than what we had for the jab. Are you prepared?
If you cannot reject modern TV, music, and other forms of entertainment, how can you claim to “be in the World but not of the World”? I barely ever watch TV. The only show that I’ve watched seasons of recently was Bluey, a wholesome family/kids show.
If you cannot stop yourself from uttering caveats and qualifiers to your statements about people that you support to make yourself look good to those who do not support him, how will you be able to witness and confess Christ to those all around you? Very few are going to accept the name of Jesus when you are preaching him. Are you ready to experience that rejection or do you only share when you are comfortable?
If you do not have a good report about the destiny of America now (that it can be saved and turned around towards God), then how will you be able to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a broken world in need of saving?
A Bible teacher is going around saying many of these things. He points out that many Christians would not even like Jesus if they met the real Jesus as he is presented in the Gospels. Since he never sinned, not getting along with him and his intensity and passion for the lost reveals that something is actually wrong with your character. Jesus was on a mission for 3 years and nothing was going to get in the way of him executing the will of the Father in his allotted time for his ministry. If you were in his way, he would say to you as he said to Peter, “get thee behind me, Satan!”
When someone is on a providential mission, they will not orient what they say or do around what pleases others but around the heartfelt message that God, the Father, has placed within them. Jesus got it right every time because he is the Christ, the messiah. Everyone that is being used by God obviously makes mistakes and sins because we are not the Christ, but God blesses us with purpose and destiny through repentance so that we can work with him within the bounds of his Word to execute his will on the earth.
Most Christians would burn up in the heat of the intensity of leaders who have that “man on a mission” energy, so when they encounter these leaders that are cut from a similar cloth as King David in modernity, they are allergic to their effectiveness and intensity. Most Christians have to focus on what these leaders do wrong because their self-righteousness causes them to be envious of those who are authentically chosen to walk a particular and difficult path. To put it plainly, excessive criticism that is aimed at leaders like Donald Trump and even Elon Musk comes from an attitude where those excessively criticizing feel like they could do it better. They feel like they are more qualified and more valid than those who are carrying the flame of freedom from corrupt government.
I am reminded of Mitt Romney’s clearly visible disgust and hatred for Donald Trump. You can tell that he walks around believing that he should have been president over him. He clearly lives his life seething over the fact that someone as undignified and wild as Trump could occupy the consciousness of the American people with non-stop momentum far more than he ever could. His attempts to undermine him and the MAGA movement are the confession of his envy. He thinks that he could do the job better, but if you asked the average conservative voter, I would doubt that they would agree. Romney is a Mormon, but this applies to actual Christians who talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.
If Trump didn’t say things that many people were offended by, he wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective at accomplishing his mission. It’s not that he has to offend. It’s that he will likely offend even when he is doing the right thing because doing the right thing is offensive to the world. There is too much whining and complaining coming out of so-called Christians, and there is not enough action. Everyone has an idea of how things ought to be run, but very few would make the sacrifices to see things set in order; thus, we end up having to rely on a Trump or an Elon Musk instead of Spirit-led Christians who know the identity given to them by God. Many Christians complain about these figures but refuse to take a stand when the pressure rises.
Jesus was loved by the people, and he was hated and killed by the Chief priests and the scribes, the leftovers of the “church” of the old covenant. Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the leading denominations in Jesus’ time, plotted to kill the Messiah using the hand of the Roman government. The cost of speaking the truth only allowed Jesus to minister for about 3 years. If you call yourself a Christian and have not paid any sort of price for the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you should be concerned that you may not be walking in the narrow way. If you are not being hated for the message you have preached—ignored by non-believers and shunned by lukewarm Christians—then your message may not be the same as the one Jesus preached.
The world is ruled by the things listed in 1 John 2:16.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
But a Christian should be ruled by the things listed in Revelation 12:11.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
If you find yourself not at odds with worldly people, if you can listen to the same music and watch the same TV shows and play the same video games and endure the same streams without being disturbed by the content even a little, then you may not be walking in the narrow way. Begin asking yourself if Jesus would watch that same TV show that you watch where you have to fast-forward the naughty scenes to make yourself feel good about watching degeneracy as a Christian. The classic saying of WWJD is a good rule of thumb if you want to walk in holiness, being set apart, to God. If you don’t think Jesus would watch that TV show, then maybe you shouldn’t watch it if you like calling yourself a Christian. If you can’t imagine Jesus sitting down to watch something where he has to fast-forward the naughty or profane scenes in it, then maybe you ought not be watching it. Would Jesus listen to the music that you enjoy? Would Jesus play the video games that you play?
Most people who claim to be Christians have been taught that we should imitate Christ, but few people seem to actually act on that teaching in demonstrable ways.
I could say much more about the topics that I have discussed here, but to put it all together neatly, here is a bullet point list:
False heroism reigns in our culture but is exposed when something actually heroic happens.
Heroes do not take “no” for an answer and are driven to accomplish their mission even when they face adverse odds.
Real heroism for Christians is embodying the leadership aspect of the Faith regardless of the consequences.
Christians should be the real leaders in our society.
Because Spirit-led Christians are not taking a stand, we have to depend on leaders outside of that domain to do the right thing.
These leaders, even though they are babies in the faith or outside the faith altogether, still have an aspect to them, being driven and mission-focused, that actually aligns with Jesus’ vision far better than most church-going Christians.
Christians ought to be driven and mission-focused, prepared to travel the narrow way, to complete the works that God has for us to accomplish.
Walking the narrow way means sacrifice and suffering at the hands of the world and its systems while rising up with a redeemed system built upon the rock of the foundation known as Jesus Christ.
Are you walking the narrow way of an imitator of Christ, set apart to God in holiness and sanctification, a mission-driven leader, anointed to do the works of the Kingdom while you walk the earth?
Or are you a Christian that reads the Bible 5 minutes a day, prays 5 minutes a day, attends church for max 2 hours on Sunday, occasionally says a phrases like “praise the Lord” at work so that your co-workers know that you are a Christian, and thinks that these things are enough for you to be seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb at the table with people like the Apostle Paul that gave up his life for the faith, while you refuse to even give up a meal or a day or a 10 minute span of time to talk to someone about Jesus?
What does a heroic Christianity look like?
Maybe it looks like Stephen, a Christian who was known for uncommon miracles that was a table-server who died for his faith for earnestly preaching the Gospel without even being an apostle, prophet, teach, pastor, or evangelist. He was just a common believer in the days of the early church, and he was killed for his faith because his ministry was just that powerful (Acts chapters 6-7). He was a hero and is now present in the great cloud of witnesses hoping and praying that you, a Christian, would rise up to be a hero in your generation as he was in his own.
It’s time for Christians to not just say it but to become the body of Jesus in the earth so that we can accomplish “the greater works” that Jesus preached.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
—James 2:18 LEB, emphasis added