How to Scare an Evangelical Christian

Breaking down some of the absurd notions that seem tied to the Political Gospel movement

 I consider myself an Evangelical Christian in theology for the most part. But, the trend among Evangelical Christians in which patriotism and an America-first attitude outweigh Jesus’ teachings, is not something I can accept.

It seems to me this Political (Patriotic) Gospel is gaining more momentum. 

Though, certainly it’s not an entirely new mindset within the evangelical church. My thoughts below are meant to point out some of the absurdity of what this false gospel leads people to think. I imagine, for those deep within the confines of this offshoot of real Christianity, they’ll only be annoyed with me for calling them out. Hopefully, for others, they can see some of the hypocrisy of it, and turn away.

How do you scare an Evangelical Christian?

1. Suggest the Government Wants to Take Their Guns

For reasons I don’t fully understand, some Christian evangelicals have an unhealthy attachment to their guns. And, short of Satan himself appearing to them, the loss of their guns or right to carry them, is the scariest thing they can imagine. Even though regulations for guns to help the safety of others does not automatically equate to the government knocking on doors and taking guns away.

2. Suggest That the Poor Mexican Family They Built a House for on Their Last Mission Trip is Considering a Move to the United States

This one actually irritates me because it hits close to home. I met my wife in Mexico on a mission trip. And, we went through the arduous process of getting her citizenship legally. I can empathize with the Mexican people who go to great lengths to try getting to the United States for a chance at a better life. Whether they do it the right or wrong way.

The “America first” attitude of the Patriotic gospel implies that anyone who isn’t from the United States is of less value to God. I know Christians who went on mission trips, built houses, and sometimes genuinely got to know the people they helped. But, as soon as they got back to the states, they become actively opposed to any legislation that might offer some help to those same people. In doing so, they ignore Bible verses like Exodus 23:9 which states,

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

3. Ask Them to Make a Small Sacrifice for the Benefit of Others- Like Wearing a Mask during Covid or Getting Vaccinated. (2024 revision)

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure this out back in 2020/2021. We had evidence of how terrible Covid was, yet suggesting to these types of Christians that they should take precautions to protect others from catching it got them all in a tizzy.

Since Covid could be asymptomatic, we didn’t know if we had it and were spreading it to someone else whom it may have hurt worse. Because of that possibility, however remote, Christians should have been the first in line to do anything asked to protect the lives of others. 

Yet, many ran the opposite way. They couldn’t be bothered to wear a piece of cloth on their face on the chance it could be saving their neighbor from a virus they didn’t know if they were carrying. The masks protected others from us if we unknowingly had it, so arguments about mask effectiveness to try to justify not wearing them, simply amplified the selfishness of the decision.

Evangelical churches kept meeting without masks, putting others at risk, and generally slowing down any chance of beating the virus quickly. And, a lot of the resistance to masks and vaccines came about because of unhealthy investment in the lies of groups like Qanon and the far-right mouthpieces who claimed Covid was no worse than flu, or that it was a hoax. However, judging by the prayer requests I saw at the time (and still saw well into 2022), many of these same anti-mask Christians were exposed to, or knew others exposed to Covid, who developed serious complications from it.

God forbid they had chosen to willingly abide by a mandate for a mask because in a roundabout way it must have meant the government was after their liberties. And, to come full circle with the first way to scare them, if the government takes one liberty, it won’t be long before they come to take their precious guns.

Now, we do finally have vaccines that have shown overwhelmingly positive results. And if you get Covid today, for a healthy adult, it is a bit like the flu. But that was NOT the case back at the height of it.

Because of more conspiracy theories at the time the vaccine was first developed, they waived the option to vaccinate themselves, associating it with 5G and Democrat sex cabals. Some Christians whom I know have good theology about most Christian things, made fools of themselves by giving into this type of conspiratorial thinking at the time.

4. Remind Them the President is a Democrat and Mandatory Abortions Will Almost Certainly Come Soon

Many Christians who didn’t necessarily like Donald Trump the person, justified his presidency almost solely on the issue of abortion.

I’m convinced that Satan himself could have run on an anti-abortion platform, and evangelicals would do their best to vote him into office and call him godly.

Their fear, I assume, is that as soon as a Democrat wins the presidency, the government is going to mandate abortions. Though I must have missed the candidate who ran with the slogan of “Mandatory abortions for all!” Obviously, that didn’t happen, but the cult of Trump lives on, trying to justify his legacy of hateful behavior towards most humans by pointing out that he was against abortion. Which, I’m certain from his standpoint was just a ploy to get the evangelical votes. We’re nothing if not predictable when it comes to politics.

Never mind the kids separated from their parents at borders and kept in unsanitary living situations during the Trump presidency. Their deaths and suffering did not matter in comparison with lives of the unborn. And, while I am not in favor of abortion myself, I don’t think we can justify a terrible candidate for office based on a single issue for which many evangelicals developed tunnel vision.

5. Suggest That a Minority Life Matters Without Specifying That White People Also Matter

Black Lives Matter, Brown Lives Matter, Asian Lives Matter.

These statements do not mean that other lives don’t matter. They’re simply put out there to call attention to suffering of a specific group during times of increased persecution. To argue “all lives matter” as some sort of counter argument to accepting the Black Lives Matter movement definitely exposed some of the closet racism evangelicals had been holding onto since the Obama presidency.

What’s the Takeaway?

All of these mindsets are not necessarily their fault completely. I know good people who are evangelical Christians. They may have fallen into a conspiratorial or problematic mindset, but their theology as a whole on the essentials of the gospel remains. Yet, we are called as Christians to rebuke other Christians when they are way off base. And, that is my intention. If someone reads one of my exaggerated statements above and sees themselves as having fallen into that mindset, it’s time to repent. We are not giving up the true gospel of Christ by loving the less fortunate or sacrificing our comfort for others. If anything, we’re acting more like Christ.

We cannot let out politics and Christianity get so intertwined that we begin to worship a president or a policy more than our Savior.

God’s grace is there when we stumble into these behaviors, and certainly Christians never claim to be perfect. We are justified in an instant, but sanctification is ongoing. If we embrace unabashedly the mindsets of the Political Gospel, we damage our witness to others, and do more to push people away from the faith.

God’s love for the world, and willingness to sacrifice for the forgiveness of those who believe is the heart of our faith. We cannot preach grace while supporting or participating in actions that deny it to someone. We cannot love our neighbor while possibly infecting them with a virus because we choose not to take precautions. We cannot love our possessions so much that the idea of losing them causes us to go to harmful lengths to keep them. We cannot say we believe in a God whose love extends to people of all tribes, nations, and languages, and then actively put down those who look different than we look. Whatever we do to the least of these, we do to Christ. Isn’t it time we stop hurting the very one we claim to love?

Additional thought/plug for my song :)

Around the time of all the Christians falling for conspiracies and things, I wrote a song with Matt White called “Facebook Prophet”

Lines like “They say that if you vote wrong, God blots out your name” and “You’re damaging your witness to everyone who reads conspiracies and empty words that you’ve turned into creeds” emphasize some of the absurd things otherwise well-meaning Christians find themselves drawn towards when the Political Gospel is creeping into their beliefs. 

Like the chorus says, “Politics and Christ don’t mix, no matter how you try. The end result always reveals, the log in your own eye” (Matthew 7:3)

You can listen to the song here: Facebook Prophet

Chris Byers · Facebook Prophet

Missing Motivation

 Where do we get the energy to move through our daily lives? What motivates us? 

I've been in a season now for a little over 3 years, experiencing this lack of motivation. I can trace it back to a few things, though they would come off more as excuses. I've known what is required of me and neglected it in favor of other interests. 

I want to blame the loss of my mom in 2020, but that's not the only reason. That kicked it off, but there are a multitude of other things that have caused me to drift away from my focus. Losing my mom, disappointment with the response to my book, a big move to another state away from an established church family, and others I'm sure. 

When "A Dangerous Faith" was finally released in 2021, I was super excited to share it with the world. But, almost immediately after friends and family saw it and got their copies, I lost all motivation to market it. It wasn't supposed to be about money, and I certainly never made back what I invested into it, but part of me felt like it didn't have the impact I expected either. 

This is likely because my motivations had shifted by that time. We can tell ourselves over and over we're writing for God, that our only motivation is for others to hear His word through our medium of writing. But, how do we silence that little voice that still sneaks in and tries to convince us we should be getting more attention from it? Or, being able to make a living from it? 

It's about God, not me, so why did I feel some regret that people didn't acknowledge it as much as expected? Why did I let jealousy at others' accomplishments sneak in at that same time, and hinder my motivation to pursue God's purpose for me specifically? My purpose was not likely the same as others, but when I saw others do similar writing, and have almost immediate success, the nagging, sinful voice of "Why can't that be me?" kept coming to me.

To avoid that feeling, I shut it down completely. I still have some of the original copies I had ordered, and I've not gone back and reread it now since the release. I know the message I wanted to convey, or rather that God wanted to convey through me, is there. But, it has become something I don't want to touch because of the fear that the jealousy or pang of somehow missing out on more attention from it will come back. It wasn't supposed to be about recognition or money. 

As what was likely a combo of massive grief about mom's loss, and this disappointment with the book release, I entered a spiritual dry season that should really not be the go-to position of a professing Christian. I fell into some of the very dangers I spoke about in the book. That in and of itself isn't all that unusual, since the point of the book was that even when we are fully focused on Christ, these dangers can still trip us up. But, it feels more poignant that after living and breathing those thoughts for years and putting that writing together to be a help to others, I almost immediately fell into the trap of some of them.

My focus shifted, and my free time was put towards video games, television, movies, and for a brief moment last year, recording some music. Much like the book, though, when the music didn't get the recognition I wanted, I lost motivation to keep pursuing it as well. It's easier to play video games and feel immediately successful than to have to actually accomplish something tangible that may or may not have success at all. 

It's a lesson I'm learning. I'm trying to get shifted back into spiritual gear. We have a home church now in Weslaco, so I'm getting some of that consistency back. The pandemic hurt because online services just don't have the same effect on me. I need that presence in the building around other believers, and for well over a year, I didn't have that. 

For the past few months, I've been hyper-focused on helping Hannah get over some fears about school and going out of the house. Though we finally reached success with that, I realized afterward in hyper-focusing on her, I had neglected Juliet and other things that needed attention. This apparently is an ADHD symptom, the hyper-focusing, that I just learned about. 

In fact, without trying to blame ADHD symptoms for this whole thing, it turns out quite a bit of my difficulty in motivating myself, or in getting too focused on one thing at the expense of other things, is directly tied to that. I'm trying to get some strategies together to help me mentally address it, and work around the hinderance of it. Or, to find a way to use it productively, like a superpower. But, so far, I've not quite made it to that point. 

Along with all of these internal feelings of guilt and unmotivated spiritual laziness, Juliet has gone through some terrible loss with her family that I wasn't initially invested in enough to support her how I should have. 

This theme of me not stepping up as the Biblical leader of our household is reoccurring, and a constant source of shame for me. Though it may seem like I avoid this role, or am not aware I should be doing it, I'm actually so aware that I've psyched myself out of easily stepping into it. 

So, I need to get my act in gear with God, family, finances, and just about every other aspect of life. Oddly enough my job is about the only consistent thing I'm doing well at the moment. And, while I enjoy that, work is not the thing I want to be the main priority in life. 

Basically, I'm now good at my job and video games. Anything else I have a talent for, I can't get the motivation to pursue. Music, writing, leading the house, whatever else. 

So, with this bit of venting, I acknowledge that I'm now aware (painfully so) of changes that may need to happen. I learned at work about setting realistic goals, and am trying to implement more of a baby-step approach with everything. I'm hoping with a few roadmaps like that to guide me, and get back into the right place spiritually, I can begin to get us back to the point we were in 2019, which was the height of our spiritual maturity and engagement. 

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers so I can get back on track, and find/fulfill my God-given purpose.