Standing Against Evil: Repentance, Rebuke, and the Fear of the Lord (Part 2)

Principalities or People, and Tadpoles in the Ocean.

Yesterday, I told you that we repent first. That’s the starting line. There are no excuses, no dodging. If the people of God won’t repent, then why would anyone else? Judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

But today? Today I need to point out the disease in the water.

Kids in Charge

Parents, listen. It is not your child’s job to disciple themselves. It is yours. Right now, too many moms and dads treat church like a drop-off service. Dump the kids at youth group. Let the pastor handle it. Then load the car up for twenty more hours of sports, rec, 4-H, ag, and band.

Here’s the problem—when you don’t disciple at home, your kids are being discipled. Just not by you. Sports teams disciple. Band directors disciple. Group chats disciple. Every locker room, bus ride, and late-night Snapchat thread is discipleship in motion. The question isn’t whether your kids are being shaped, it’s who’s shaping them.

And we wonder why the world is winning.

The excuse? “We’re empowering the next generation. We’re letting them lead.” Nonsense. That’s not empowerment. That’s abdication. That’s parents who are still bitter about their own childhoods, overcorrecting by handing the wheel to kids who don’t even know how to drive.

I’ve let my son Ray try to steer my car before. He can’t reach the gas. He can’t turn the wheel. He doesn’t know the rules of the road. If I gave him control, we’d be in a wreck in seconds. And yet, that’s exactly what we’re doing with morality, theology, and right and wrong. We’re letting kids drive, and then acting surprised when the wreckage piles up.

Sure, maybe they’ll “succeed.” Maybe they’ll get a debate team scholarship. Maybe they’ll play clarinet into a full ride. But while parents are bragging about scholarships, no one is asking the eternal question: where are we sending them forever?

What’s the scholarship of the soul worth?

It’s a dark and twisted reality… Youth sells. Youth has energy. The youth truly run American culture. And when kids run the house, they end up becoming their own role models. Parents indulge, kids see the indulgence, and then kids reinforce the same pattern back. It’s a feedback loop of idolatry. We’re literally teaching kids to worship themselves.

But here’s the hope: we can still take the wheel back. We can choose to disciple. We can choose church over tournaments. Prayer over practice. Scripture over schedules. We can decide that success in the world isn’t the point. It’s our eternal citizenship that matters.

I know, because I had to learn it the hard way. Back in 2019, I was chasing the mold myself. I was cutting singles, booking studio time, brushing shoulders in Nashville with names you absolutely hear all the time. My vision was clear: make songs that people loved so much that I could do it for a living. By January of 2020, the album was lined up to begin in April that year. And then—COVID. The whole world shut down, including the studio, and I had to confront my motives.

The truth? I didn’t want the world singing Firm Foundation because I wanted them to stand on Christ the Rock. I wasn’t building a foundation at all. I was building a platform. I had to repent. God stripped away my hunger for the stage and replaced it with a deep responsibility for the chancel. But not before rocking my world because it was performance I was after. And performance is exactly what we’re feeding our kids now.

We practice twenty hours. We pray ten minutes. Performance is king. Spirituality is an afterthought. And if we don’t flip that script, we are doomed.

Tadpoles in the Ocean

And then there are many of these pastors... spineless shepherds. They toss out one-sentence statements like, “All gun violence is wrong,” and then vanish while their comment sections turn into graveyards of mockery and hate. No rebuke. No correction.

That’s not courage. That’s not leadership. That’s not Christ.

It’s small. They’re stunted. Tadpoles who will never grow into frogs. They’ve got just enough theology to sound dangerous, enough lingo to pass as legit, but no depth, no backbone, no Spirit. And here’s the irony: they’re the first to label you dangerous.

When a man is brutally murdered on a screen for the whole world to see, what should a Christian do? Mourn. Weep. Lament. But instead, people laugh. They type things like, “I’ll sleep better tonight knowing there’s one less a**hole in the world.” Saw that comment under a recent cheap condolence by a local pastor, who, at the end of his status, made sure to remind his flock how “awful” Kirk was.

What a horrible way to do church.

That’s not righteous anger. That’s evil. And if you can’t see the difference, maybe you need to ask God to shine the light back on your own heart.

Who’s in Heaven?

Romans 10:9 still stands. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Charlie Kirk confessed. He defended. He pointed to Jesus again and again. Was he perfect? No. Neither are you. But if you walk through the gates of heaven one day, don’t be shocked when you see him there. Don’t stand there with your jaw on the floor, wondering if you’re in the wrong place.

You’ll be surprised who’s there. You’ll be surprised who’s not. But I pray that the biggest surprise to you will be that you made it. Then I hope you sit with Charlie and rejoice in the Lord together as God’s perfect assurance replaces your surprise.

The Call: Repent and Rebuke

Stop obsessing over “us” and “them.” Stop obsessing over sides. Look inward. Let God search you. Let Him expose the vines that have choked out your soul. Let Him uncover the rocks you’ve scattered across the path.

Repent.

I’ll keep saying it until our nation finally bends the knee. Repent. Not because it’s a cute church word. Not because it’s a nice bow on the end of a sermon. Repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent because eternity is longer than the applause of your town or the roar of your stadium. Repent because the fear of the Lord is real, and He will not be mocked.

Repent.

But today, we don’t just repent. Today, we rebuke.

We rebuke evil. We resist evil. We overcome evil with good. Scripture says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). Right now, so many on the left are being overcome by evil—mocking, jeering, posting clever little one-liners about a man’s death. “Oh, I’ll sleep better tonight.” They think it’s witty. It’s not. It’s ignorant. It’s not Christian. It’s not even human. It’s evil.

But here’s the distinction: when we see that evil, we remember the person is still made in the image of God. They are not the enemy. The principalities running their show are the enemy. The forces of wickedness are the enemy. The spiritual powers dragging them into hell are the enemy.

And yes, the same goes for those puffing up their chests on the other side: Charlie’s own followers talking about “enough is enough” and slipping into the language of breaking points and fighting. That’s the same trap. That’s the same evil in different clothes. Because it’s it’s not evil they’re mad at. It’s not the principalities that these people have chosen to side with. It’s like being mad at the drugs and the dealers when we all know it’s the suppliers we need to be going after.

Anyway, my point: You cannot be overcome by evil. You must overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21. And the good here is rebuke.

Rebuke in the Name of Jesus

Jesus did this Himself. In Mark 8:33, He looked Peter in the eyes and said, “Get behind me, Satan.” Was Peter His enemy? Absolutely not. Jesus loved Peter more than anyone ever could, so much so that He would die on the cross for him. But in that moment, Jesus wasn’t speaking to Peter the man. He was rebuking the spirit twisting Peter’s words and blinding his understanding of the cross.

That’s the pattern: rebuke the spirit, love the person. Compassion for the vessel, fire for the lie. Our example is Jesus. Jesus didn’t “empathize” with Peter’s deception, He cut through it. And every rebuke came from compassion, not contempt.

That’s the model for us. Rebuke the darkness without mistaking it for the person. Rebuke the lie without hating the image-bearer. Rebuke the spirit at work without losing compassion for the soul.

Yes, it’s frustrating when people willingly let themselves be used by evil. Yes, it grates when the Lord’s instruments get twisted into playing Satan’s tune. I’ve felt it. There are days I want to knock someone’s block off. Days I jump into comment wars with a sharp tongue. Days when my words are tamed but my face still preaches anger. But I know that is not Christ in me. That is sin in me. That is the absence of God’s light in me. And every time I let my guard down, principalities rush in to exploit it.

So repent, yes. But also rebuke. Rebuke boldly. Rebuke biblically. Rebuke in the Spirit. Hold each-other accountable in love. Because silence in the face of evil is complicity, and complicity is not an option for those who bear the name of Christ.

God has wrath for the people He chooses, Our wrath should be focused on the principalities that we are at war with.