I Don’t Care What Despicable Things Celebrities Say — I’m Not for Canceling ANYONE

Why would I cancel the very people I want God to save?

Let me be very clear!

Remember when I told you that the sentence above is politician code for, “I’m about to muddy the waters up a bit?”

Well, as you may have guessed, I’m no politician. So, when I say that I’m about to clear things up, you can bank on it. I’m not running for office, so I’ll just speak my mind. 

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let me be very clear about this — I have no desire to cancel anyone. I don’t care what they’ve done or what they’ve said, you won’t find me trying to destroy anyone for any reason. You can remind me till you’re blue in the face of all the horrible, wicked, despicable things a particular celebrity has said and done, and I’m still not going to do it. 

I have at least three reasons I won’t be a part of it.

I Have a Tainted Past Too

For one thing, I haven’t forgotten that time in my life many years ago when I did some horrible things. As a matter of fact, I’m still falling short of perfection in 2022. So, what kind of guilty man would turn around and condemn another guilty person and try to destroy them?

People Aren’t the Enemy

I cover this at length in my book, “Uncanceled,” but those people aren’t the problem. Not really. Sometimes people espouse bad ideas, and it’s always open season on those ideas for sure. But if I stop there, I’ve missed the point, and my efforts to help bring positive change to our nation would still fall way short. If I’m really going to make an impact, I have to have a very clear understanding of who is behind it all — of who is really pulling the strings. Check this passage out:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

If you’re a follower of Christ, you can’t ignore this. My struggle isn’t against Whoopi Goldberg or anyone else. I don’t care what side of the political spectrum you identify with — your struggle isn’t really against a single human being. Instead, it’s with the chief liar and instigator of all that is wicked that you and I do battle — the Evil One! Satan! The Devil! He’s the one who entices us to embrace foolishness. So, why would I waste my time trying to cancel celebrities and politicians when he’s the one behind it all?

I Have a Message That Really Brings About Change

 The Holy Spirit could have just as easily said, “Take up arms and wage war with the ungodly.” But he didn’t. Besides, America tried that once. Remember the Civil War? A war that resulted in the deaths of 850,000 Americans. By the way, that was three percent of the United States’ population at the time. If we had a civil war today that killed three percent of the population, we’re talking about a staggering 10 million Americans. 

Men like Abraham Lincoln tried to steer us in the right direction — toward submission to the Almighty! But we just wouldn’t listen. Read this passage from his second inaugural address:

Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continues until all the wealth piled by the bondmen’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

America’s problem wasn’t political in 1865, and it’s not political today. Lincoln knew this. The problem then was the same as it is today: People who defy God and refuse to bow down before him will reap what they sow. Bad things happen when we reject God!

Yes, abandoning the knowledge of God will result in crazy and flawed thinking — depraved thinking that will result in bad stuff happening to us. If you read Romans chapter one, you’ll see it as clearly as the nose on your face. When we kick God to the curb, his response is, “Okay, go ahead and try to chart your own course! Go ahead and ignore me! Let’s see how that works out for you!”

If you asked me, in light of the current state of the union, how we should respond to cancel culture, here’s how I’d spell it out for you. Forget the messengers! They aren’t the problem. You wouldn’t treat a disease like cancer with an aspirin. It would do no good at all. So why would you treat the disease of cancel culture with more cancel culture? The underlying cancer is that God isn’t at the center of their worldview. That’s the breakdown, so go after that. Instead of attacking them for attacking you, how about we boldly proclaim the message that the kingdom of God is here, and we can all find peace and joy only in that kingdom?

This is what I try to do — I radically attack godlessness, but I don’t attack the godless! I operate by the Tom Petty principle: I don’t back down! I am relentless because someone relentlessly attacked my broken view of life by pointing out that God relentlessly pursued me. So, I’m never wishy-washy about Jesus! I aim my gospel weapon at sin and hold the trigger down. But I’m not trying to kill anyone — I want to kill the sin that will destroy them, just as it destroyed me.

As a result, I don’t trade insult for insult. Instead, I speak plainly about the God who is real. I’m trying to win others to eternal life, for crying out loud, not to destroy them. Why would I want to cancel the very people I’m trying to bring to the throne of God for salvation? I want them all to be saved!

This may shock you, but I do love them all — even the ones who attack me. That’s because the Almighty showed me love, even though I was the most unlovable man ever. So, I pray for God to give me the grace to love others in the same way he loved me:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

I know this: God saved my filthy, disgusting, godless life from the inevitable destruction that was waiting on me. He snatched me from the fire. But it only happened after someone told me about Jesus. I just figure that if God can rescue me, he can rescue them. And if he can rescue all of us, he can rescue our nation. We just have to join together to tell the story of God’s love for mankind and let the chips fall where they may!  

Be brave, my friends!