“Cancel Culture” has become a prominent concept in the past year or so – but there is nothing new about it. Here is a definition and some explanations of what it is and how it works. I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase and have seen it at work in the media and on social networking sites:

“a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something the offends you.” (Cambridge Dictionary online)

According to the same source, this is one of the characteristics of cancel culture:

“In a cancel culture, we appoint ourselves the arbiters of right and wrong and also the judge and jury, because thanks to social media, we get to dole out punishment.”

Wow! I am reminded of Isaiah’s words when I read that.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21)

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say…

“Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be ‘cancelled’.”

With increasing frequency, this is happening to people who hold to biblical Christianity and morality—not so much people of faith, rather, people with faith in our sovereign Creator God and the inerrancy and infallibility of His Word, the Bible. In one of my last posts someone commented that faith is dangerous. It is. And it is becoming even more so as society and this nation veers farther and farther away from the righteousness of God.

Jezebel comes to mind. Some of that is because our pastor is teaching through the book of Revelation and this verse came up a few weeks ago:

“But I have this against you [writing to the church in Thyatira], that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” (Revelation 2:20)

I don’t think it is known if there was a woman in Thyatira named Jezebel or if Jesus referred to this self-proclaimed prophetess by that name because she emulated king Ahab’s wife, that ancient queen who brought sexual immorality and idolatry to deeper levels of depravity amongst God people. She was not an Israelite, instead, she was a Sidonian princess, whose primary god was Asherah, though she promoted Baal worship in Israel.

And she propagated cancel culture with intensity.

She had the prophets of God killed (1 Kings 18:4), she threatened the life of Elijah because he defied her and challenged the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 19:2), and she falsely accused, robbed, and had an innocent man murdered (1 Kings 21:5-15).

She did what the enemy of our souls intends to do: steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10)—the same thing that the cancel culture purposes to do.

As I’ve been thinking about this, my best response is to recognize that tolerating what God calls sin, particularly in the church, is not a good approach for responding to the pressure to conform. However, what many condemn as intolerance nowadays (holding onto a God-designed, biblically based perspective of gender, marriage, and morality), runs counter to the demands of modern society. Though I’m inclined to keep my head down and go about my business without “making waves”, Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world. Even when our words are taken out of context and we are assigned motives that are not ours at all, and when our livelihoods or our lives are threatened, still, standing for Godly righteousness is ultimately the safest path to follow.

Elijah experienced times of boldness when he confronted king Ahab and challenged the prophets of Baal, and a time when he fled in fear from the rage-filled threats of Jezebel. He did not back down from doing what God told him to do, and when his hope and courage drained away, God ministered to his physical needs and spoke to him in a gentle whisper, confirming His presence with Elijah and giving him his next assignment. God did not give up on Elijah and He did not let Elijah give up either!

Though Elijah was isolated and believed that he was alone in serving God rather than Baal, he was not.

And we are not alone in serving God and loving His Word. As we navigate the uncertain times ahead—when society turns to false gods, lying spirits, and “other” gospels—staying in fellowship with other Bible-believing Christians will encourage and build us up in our faith, especially when many have turned away from God and are attempting to cancel all who disagree with them. Is it any wonder that enemy wants to cancel church? Twisting scripture and accusing Christians of not loving their neighbors because they are choosing to love and obey God first (particularly in meeting together with other Christians) are a couple of the satan’s strategies to intimidate and manipulate believers into a place where they become even more vulnerable to the attacks of demons.

Jesus confronted the cancel culture amongst the religious leaders during His time on earth:

“Jesus replied, ‘You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” ‘…And so, you CANCEL the Word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.’” (Mark 7:6-8, 13 NLT)

With increasing frequency, we are seeing many pastors and church leaders buckling under the pressure of the cancel culture, abandoning the absolute truth and authority of the Bible. We mustn’t do that! It is essential that we “take up the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16); and have the Word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit, planted deeply within our hearts.