They say politics doesn’t belong in the pulpit—that the Church must stay “above” the fray, aloof from the rough-and-tumble of the public square. But what they really mean is that the Bible is too sharp to touch their idols. It cuts too close. It exposes too much.

The same men who prattle about “unity” and “winsomeness”—the JD Greears, the David Platts, and the Russell Moores—will stand before entire congregations and fillet the prophets for being “divisive.” They forget that Christ Himself said He came not to bring peace, but a sword.

The Word of God is not a therapy session for “racial trauma” or trans-queerdom not being coddled in the sanctuary. It’s a weapon—forged in heaven, swung on earth, and feared by hell. It pierces soul and spirit, joint and marrow. It discerns thoughts, motives, and affections.

And for all their talk of “avoiding politics,” that sword has always been political.

Every word of Scripture confronts power—Pharaoh’s decrees, Ahab’s covenants, Caesar’s pride, Pilate’s cowardice. It has never bowed to the kings of men. It has broken them. And yet in our day, pastors whisper their sermons into soft microphones and call it humility. They tremble at the thought of offending donors more than the thought of offending God. They preach peace when there is no peace and then congratulate themselves for “not getting political.”

But the truth is, the average Christian’s life is political, and pretending otherwise is an act of pastoral malpractice. We live in a time when morality itself has been legislated, when rebellion is enshrined as a civil right, and when children are catechized in public schools to hate the God who made them.

The people in the pew are not living in an abstract world of “theological principles.” They’re living in a world of policy, perversion, and propaganda. And if the pulpit cannot speak to that, then the pulpit has become nothing but a decorative relic.

“Oh, but politics divides the church,” say the Platts and Greears of the world.

Yes. And good. The gospel always divides. The Word of God separates the living from the dead, the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. Division is not the disease, it’s the diagnosis. The same sermon that converts one heart will harden another. And that’s not a failure of the Word of God. That’s faithfulness to it.

The prophets divided nations. The apostles divided synagogues. Christ divided households. The sword cuts because truth always cuts. If your ministry has never divided, it has never preached truth. It has only tickled ears.

The Church is not called to be a chaplain to the culture but a witness against it. The early Church did not win Rome by silence. But it did outlive Rome by conviction. It did not avoid the politics of its day, it testified to kings and governors that there is another King. The gospel isn’t apolitical, but it is anti-idolatry. And idolatry is the beating heart of every political issue in America today.

There are not “many acceptable views” to the slaughter of infants. There are not “nuances” to the mutilation of children. There are not “differing valid perspectives” on drag shows for toddlers or men invading women’s bathrooms. The Word of God is not unclear on the political hot-button issues of our day. Only those who fear men pretend that it is.

There are godly views and sinful ones. And sinful views demand repentance, not dialogue.

But that kind of preaching doesn’t grow megachurch campuses. It doesn’t keep church budgets fat or conferences packed. So the modern pastoral industrial complex chooses applause over obedience and optics over offense. They exchange conviction for career longevity while they muzzle themselves and call it humility.

Meanwhile, the faithful remnant—the ones still clinging to the Scriptures as the final authority—are told to sit down, stop being divisive, and let the “professionals” handle it. But it’s the professionals who brought us here. They built megachurches out of fog machines and self-help seminars, and when the world caught fire, they brought scented candles instead of water.

I read about how the pulpits long before my time used to thunder with the Word of God. It used to lead the preachers of old to the burning stake. And they still didn’t bow the knee to Ba’al. Now they negotiate with Satan and soothe the anxieties of the rebel.

But there is no neutral ground in a world at war with God. Silence is not gentleness, it is surrender. The Word of God is not a lullaby, it’s a verdict. And every sermon, faithfully preached, issues that verdict over and over:

Christ is King, and every knee will bow!

The sword still divides. It always has. And those who fear the blade were never fit to wield it.