I am known as the Fighting Preacher for a reason. I am a retired MMA Champion and trainer for the US Army in Hand-to-Hand Combat and I am the pastor of Freedom Church. Of late there has been quite a bit of turmoil in my life.
For the last couple of years there has been a competitor that has gone out of his way to insult me, slander me, and do anything else he could to get under my skin. I have always attempted to walk out the call of the Gospel with this situation and chose to remain silent. Then, one week ago, this individual decided to cross the line and began insulting my wife.
This, in and of itself, was rather surprising; however what was more surprising was the response of some believers when I confronted this man over his attack on my wife. You see I am a fighter. I am a warrior and it is who God made me to be. I called this man on his offense and told him to publicly apologize to my wife and gym or meet me in the cage as professionals for a Mixed Martial Arts bout (he has yet to officially accept.)
Believers went insane. They spoke of Jesus as a man who would turn the other cheek regardless of the situation. They spoke of a Jesus who was not a man who would defend women and children. They spoke as cowards! This disease of cowardice has infiltrated our churches and subsequently infected our culture.
We see it all around us. We see it in our churches where pastors are afraid to speak the truth for fear of alienating the largest donors in the church. We see it in churches when believers know of things happening but refuse to get in involved. We see it in our public school systems when a young man or woman isn’t allowed to physically defend himself or herself against bullying because of the punishment from school and the false ideology being preached that self defense is violence and they should turn the other cheek. This infection, this disease, has been slowly spreading in our churches and in our men for centuries. All we have to do is look around to see it.
As the church has compromised and embraced cowardice so our culture went. When we look at the response of Americans to evil, sin, and unrighteousness instinctively you all know I am telling the truth, but I will prove the truth to you with several following blog post that will expose both the Church and our Culture.
The Church, the agency that Jesus ordained to show the world His Kingdom, chose time and time again to walk in cowardice during the times of persecution and abuse of Native American Indians, African Americans, Jewish people in Germany, and currently has remained relatively silent about the millions of women and children all around the world enslaved in the dark world of the Sex Slave Trade. Where are the men and women like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, William Wilberforce, other heroes, and Jesus himself who stood up against evil in their generation with both word and deed? So the question is will you continue to be the example the Church at large has set or will you be someone who stands up against evil?
“We don’t fight for victory, we fight from victory” (Romans 8:37)
