Part 4 of 5: "Fear of Man, Not God: The Crisis of Courage in the Pulpit", ... continuing from: "The P.O.P.E. in the Pulpit: Confronting the Crisis of Christian Unbelief"
- Thomas Power
- 9 hours ago
- 8 min read
The P.O.P.E. method brings up the black eyes of marital abuse and the pregnant teens as if God’s truth is a blunt instrument that only causes more harm. But we must realize that distributing Fiat Grace is not love. Real love protects the abused woman by separating her from danger and putting the offender through a rigorous protocol of repentance and restoration. Real love protects the unborn so they may one day worship the God of the living. We don't have to throw the entire congregation into chaos because of the sins of a few.
Understand that God's standard doesn't change for everyone for the minority of extreme cases. For every story of true abuse, you will have dozens of women complaining of abuse just so they can get a reset for their life. The only way you can keep from falling for a sob story is to just follow Christ. Notice how he put his foot down on remarriage, and really closed the door on it. We simply need to let God be God. Playing P.O.P.E. with divorce and remarriage will get a pastor in big trouble, more trouble than he needs. When we play 'the Devil’s advocate' by arguing against the Word, we end up hurting the very people we claim to be protecting.
IV. The Example of Saul:
This is an old story. Israel attempted to substitute sacrifice for submission, and Saul famously tried to honor God on his own terms. Tasked with the total destruction of the Amalekites as a testimony of judgment, Saul instead prioritized his own optics. By sparing King Agag, he signaled that he was a respecter of status; he viewed his victory as a trophy to be curated rather than an assignment to be obeyed.
We see this same asymmetric accountability in many churches today. There is a "pastoral elitist" tendency to overlook the compromises of those closest to the pulpit. That is the high-capacity volunteers and significant donors, get a pass, while strictly enforcing holiness among the "lesser" congregants. This creates a two-tiered system of grace: a "pseudo-papal" protection for the pillars of the institution and a rigid legalism for the rest.
Secondly, Saul’s decision to keep the "best of the sheep" under the guise of future sacrifice mirrors the modern acceptance of "tainted tithes."
We readily accept the resources of those whose unrepentant lives testify against the very God they claim to serve. Like Saul, we convince ourselves that the utility of the gift justifies the disobedience of the giver.
Finally, when Samuel confronted him, Saul admitted he "feared the people and obeyed their voice." Today’s pastors face a similar pressure. In a consumer-driven religious economy, the fear of losing members to the "competitive" church down the street—or facing a scathing Google review—often outweighs the duty to speak truth. We have traded the "fear of the Lord" for a fear of the "exit interview." This reveals a glaring lack of accountability in the Evangelical Church, a crisis of courage I will address in a future installment.
Saul continues his defense: 1 Samuel 15:16-24
Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
When confronted by Samuel, Saul lied and said that he had obeyed the Lord and “have utterly destroyed the Amalekites,” then he acknowledged that the people did took of the spoil that which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. This is not unlike the excuse pastors use, at least to justify to themselves, how they allow their church to company and to worship alongside with persistent compromise in the church. In a sense, pastors tolerate fornicators (don’t ask don’t tell) and accept their sacrifices of service and tithes for the good of the church. I hear many reason unto themselves from the pulpit, “look, people are getting saved, baptized, our worship team praises God like none other, especially with that new drum kit we added.” However the Lord looks at this differently, to obey is better than sacrifice. It is better to worship in a rented tent, or a schoolhouse, with a borrowed drum kit, than to compromise on the commands of the Lord our God.
Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and if the pastor thinks he knows better than God, if the pastor thinks his compassion is greater than God’s, then he is building his church on the sand. The pastor at this point is in rebellion to the Lord, not rightly dividing the word of God. The bible says this is as the sin of witchcraft. Wait a minute now! You are going to far…. I answer you… Hey now, don’t be mad at me. The writer is teaching here from the word of God. If the bible calls it as the sin of witchcraft to disobey the Lord, then that is what it is. What else can it be, if we are not teaching what the bible says? An example is in order here. I was speaking to a pastor about a situation that happened within his church. A women was leaving her husband, for no clear biblical reason. He had the opportunity to come along side her, and explain the truth to her. He chose to withhold the truth, because in his view, she didn’t need someone beating her over the head with bible, while she was so distraught over her situation. She just needed support. I say, “hold on now.” Is it ever ok to withhold what the bible says? Anything this pastor said to this rebellious woman other than the truth of what the bible says, was witchcraft. I am sorry, but the fruits bear this out. And now.. the rest of the story.
Well, this woman was indeed in dire straits, distraught, confused, while under the influence of pharmakeia (φαρμακεία), with literally a coven of witches whispering in her ear, saying, “leave your husband.” Unfortunately, since the pastor was too afraid to profess the truth, he suppressed the truth in unrighteousness and effectively, albeit tacitly, added his voice among the coven of witches, calling for an end to an holy marriage covenant. However, the truth cut through all this and pierced her heart, even after the divorce was final. After the coven assigned to her life thought their work was done, alas they achieved their family breakup as the couple got the divorce decree from the state of New Jersey. The State was going to get their Title IV-D matching funds from the Federal Government, a bounty of several dollars for every dollar collected in child support imposed in family court. Little did they know, God used the voice of a Jehovah’s witness women’s group to tell her the truth. That she had no grounds to divorce her husband, and that those divorce papers meant nothing. That she was still married to that man, and she needed to reconcile to him.
Let me tell you something, this is a thankless ministry. I am not complaining, I have to be honest, because I cannot be motivated by numbers, and spreadsheets of people deciding to keep the covenant. These are few and far between. However, this one was special to me. I know this couple personally, and to see the Lord show up, the way he did to save this dear couple’s marriage, makes it all worth it. Serving God, and doing what he wants me to do is truly all I need to do. Someday, I just know it, someone will finally share the truth with my wayward bride. I suppose I don’t care how she comes by the truth of marriage for life, but I would expect it to come from a professed bible-believing evangelical church. Please, don’t make the Lord use the Jehovah Witnesses again. Pastors…needless to say, this is not a good look.
It seems a modern pastor’s first instinct is to cushion the truth or even withhold the truth, when directly
confronted with sin in the congregation. I want to speak to the pastor reading this now, who is going along with his seminary training, to P.O.P.E away the powerful truth of the word. Allie Beth Stuckey shared a conversation she had with Charlie Kirk. She said, “a lot of pastors believe that they are nicer than God. That they actually are wiser and more compassionate than Him and they can’t just repeat what He (God’s word) says.” I would add to this to what she said here: that we only have to go only to the second chapter in the bible to see where God created marriage, a permanent covenant. In fact it is the 55th verse in the bible. Pastor, “you can’t drive past 55” on the marriage covenant.
Genesis 2:24
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh".
You know what is sad, that there is likely a man out there that noticed this truth, that is what Allie Beth was bold enough to say. But I would theorize that in today’s climate of empowering women, and this is in the church as well, that women often have greater freedom to speak out like this, and we hear nothing about it, but if a man would say this, he might very well be lambasted for it. So, if you don’t want to hear it from a woman, perhaps Allie was just the warm up act. I give you Pastor Paul Washer:
"People do not fear sin because they do not fear God, and they do not fear God because they do not know God and they do not know God because most preachers aren't preaching God and most preachers do not preach God because they do not know God!"
It is as if God knew that pastors would one day get confused and think that they know better on marriage than the God who created this blessed union. I feel compelled to hold up a mirror to pastors so they can see the audacity that they have been brought up in. In this modern era of Christian Ministry. In the first place, know this, there is a God, and you are not him. In fact, Allie went on to say, “you actually think that you know better than the creator of the universe, and you don’t.” Now that you know this, you can start to take on your unbelief. You think you know better, because you do not believe God, nor do you think he can take the truth that you are supposed to profess, and make a miracle in someone’s life because of it. You forget that God spoke the world into existence, using His word. What we have right here is ministry to the ministers, and it is well needed.
The root cause of this confusion may have many layers, but however you slice it, the core issue is unbelief. Does the pastor truly believe the Word is "living and active"? Or were they taught in seminary to handle the two-edged sword with such "caution" that it never actually cuts?
What’s coming in this 5-part series:
The P.O.P.E. in the Pulpit: Confronting the Crisis of Christian Unbelief ✅
Part 4: Saul’s rebellion and modern pastoral fear. ✅
Part 5: Christian unbelief, hermeneutics, and the purity call.
