Unless you’ve been living with your head under a rock or buried four feet deep in the sand, you’ve probably noticed that the current state of the modern-day Christian church is a four-alarm fire. And by that, I mean we’re witnessing a great apostasy taking over many mainline evangelical denominations that is leading millions of people right to the bad place.
A great example of this is what happened this previous weekend when infamous Pastor Mark Driscoll, formerly of Mars Hill Church fame, was booted off stage during the Stronger Men’s Conference in Springfield, Missouri, after he dared to call out the “Jezebel spirit” that “opened our event.”
According to a report from USA Today:
The conference, an annual event hosted by the James River Church, “exists to inspire and equip men to live out God’s vision for manhood to be the husbands, fathers, and leaders God has called them to be,” according to a news release. It was held at the Great Southern Bank Arena on April 12 and 13. Driscoll’s remarks came following a performance from Alex Magala, a sword-swallower who took off his shirt, climbed up a pole and swallowed a sword live at the conference, according to reporting by Newsweek.
“Before the word of God was opened, there was a platform, it was a high place,” Pastor Driscoll went on to say in video captured of the incident. “On it was a pole … the same thing that’s used in a strip club for women who have the jezebel spirit to seduce men.”
NEW: Pastor Mark Driscoll gets kicked off stage at a men’s conference after he calls out pastor John Lindell for allowing a demonstration from a male stripper.
The incident happened at the Stronger Men’s Conference in Springfield, MO.
After Vegas stripper and ‘sword swallower’… pic.twitter.com/hlDHqHHriY
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 14, 2024
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Notice that the post from X above mentions that the performer was a stripper. I can’t verify if that is something he still does or quit doing to take up this new act he’s got, but regardless, it very much looks like a strip show. At a men’s conference. Featuring a male performer. I want you to think about this for a second. Why would a church conduct a conference allegedly designed to make stronger men feature an opening act that reeks of homosexuality, which biblical Christianity clearly condemns?
Something seems awfully fishy about all that, don’t you think?
John Lindell, lead pastor of James River Church, ordered Driscoll to leave the stage after he criticized Magala’s performance and told the audience to stand up against members of the LGBTQ+ community. The arena erupted into applause and boos, and some members of the audience can be heard chanting: “Bring him back.”
I want you to take a look at how USA Today framed Driscoll’s response to Magala’s act. They are trying to paint the pastor as being against homosexual people and other folks who are part of the LGBTQ community and not against the acts themselves. They want their readers to walk away with a picture of Driscoll as a filthy bigot rather than a biblically accurate man of God. That’s what they think of you and me and our faith in Christ. We are the enemy for opposing sexual deviancy and wanting to see the souls of all men, women, and children saved by the grace of God through Christ.
Lindell then told the audience that Mark Driscoll was out of line for his comments. He then cited a passage from Matthew 18, which talks about discussing issues Christians have with one another in private as Driscoll left the stage. The thing is, this was a sin committed in public and damaged a number of men’s souls in the audience. That requires a public rebuke, which Driscoll handled delicately.
“If Mark wanted to say that, he should have said it to me first,” Lindell went on to say. “Matthew 18, if your brother offends you go to him privately … I talked to Mark for half an hour; there was not one word of that.”
The following day, Driscoll posted on X that he was “going to livestream every day this week to help everyone understand The Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah spirit. The same spirits are at work today. Get ready.”
Going to livestream every day this week to help everyone understand The Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah spirit. The same spirits are at work today. Get ready 😉🔥
— Pastor Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) April 15, 2024
Lindell needs to publicly repent for hiring Magala to do the act in front of those men at the conference and issue an apology to Driscoll for the humiliation he put him through on stage. It’s time for bold, godly men who actually read the Bible, believe it, and do that it says, to stand up and flip the tables on the apostates that have managed to seep into the church and are trying to lead God’s people astray.