The media is really good at manipulating people to further the goals of political parties. Take war for example.
I am generalizing here, but if you want to get people on the left to back a war then you simply tell them that innocent people are being bullied and killed by another country. The USA can use their force to stop the bullies. If you want to get people on the right to back a war then tell them that their personal freedoms are being threatened by another country’s system of government or ideologies. The USA needs to stop these hurtful ideologies 5,000 miles away. Use either one of these methods and you can get half the people in the country to start clamoring for war.
What happens after this is that military defense contractors line up to receive defense contracts for all things related to war. Bombs, planes, drones, information, and the list goes on and on. These defense contractors lobby congressmen, cabinet members and other politicos to win these contracts. In turn these politicos receive under the table kickbacks and make large amounts of money when their stock in these companies skyrocket because of the government contracts (https://prospect.org/power/the-members-of-congress-who-profit-from-war/)
This is what we call the American Military Industrial Complex (MIC).
It becomes a war to win the hearts of the American people to continue this cycle of war, profiteering, and political power. When you see it for what it really is, it can be disheartening. But this is not the only industry where this happens.
Sadly, American Evangelicalism experiences the same cycle of war, profiteering, and political power. I will call this the Religious Industrial Complex (RIC). In this series of blogs I will do three things.
- I will define this Religious Industrial Complex and expose what I believe are some key tenets to the complex.
- Next, I will talk about how I was caught in this complex (and in some ways still am).
- Finally I will tell you the ways I have begun to escape the RIC in the most unexpected ways.
American Evangelicalism’s Religious Industrial Complex has some core beliefs that coincide with the Military Industrial Complex.
The first core belief is that you must grow at all costs. I cannot tell you the number of times I heard that this phrase or something similar saying, “If something is not growing, then it is dead.” And that sounds all well and good. However, if I stumbled upon an apple that was as big as a watermelon then I would immediately know something is wrong (or that I stumbled on some Nephilim fruit like in Numbers 13). An apple should not be the size of a watermelon. In the same vein, if I have a growth in my body that is not supposed to be there then it is a cause for concern. In fact, it is likely it could be cancerous.
The “growth at all costs” mentality promoted by the RIC does two things. It produces cancers and it elevates people who are good at growing things but do not have the character to sustain it. How many churches have tried to grow by watering down the gospel, becoming seeker sensitive, and not feeding sheep but by comforting goats. In an effort to grow they may have become a cancer in the Church.
God seems to be taking an aim at false leadership and apostleship right now as well.
In the church right now there seems to be reckoning with people who had vision for big global, national, or outsized ministries but did not have the character to support it. Names like Mike Bickle, Robert Morris, Jeremy Riddle, and Tony Evans have been exposed to be abusers, philanderers, and worse.
What if these men were supposed to be faithful to small communities with their gifting and vision? Did they get swept up in the ethos of the RIC? How many sheep did they steal with fancy lights and slick production and yet had little intention to disciple anyone?
With the “growth at all costs” mentality comes another tenet of the RIC. This tenet is “grow your platform.” A big platform is not wrong. In fact, in can be a good thing if God is growing your influence. But in our day and age it is too easy to manufacture a platform with likes, shares, and algorithms. The pursuit of a platform is dangerous to church leaders. I understand the draw. We talk and teach and we believe the more people that hear us, the more successful we are. But there is something damaging to your soul when you want to share something just so people think you are important. It is misplaced identity. This is why “Facebook prophets” and YouTube preachers are everywhere. These spaces are full of people who do not have the character or the good reputation among the Church to lead (Acts 6:3) but have christened themselves leaders anyway and take to social media like the Calvary.
This next paragraph may sound like I am being a hypocrite and using a big name or two to show how important I am. That is not the intent. It only serves to show how easy it is to get caught up as a cog in the RIC.
One of my heroes in the faith, Jack Deere invited me and my wife to do ministry with him. We were with Jack Deere and my friends Michael Miller and Michael Rowntree (who along with Josh Lewis have one of the good platforms at The Remnant Radio) at a conference in Orlando. It was my first exposure to traveling ministry with someone who is well-known. I was talking to Miller and just casually said, “This is so cool. I want to share it on Facebook, but I don’t want to share it at the same time.” Miller, who had been traveling with Jack for decades at that point just looked at me and said, “Don’t get caught up in that stuff. It’s not worth it.” And that was all I needed to hear to know that building a platform that way is dangerous. Without knowing it, he helped me stay away from one of the trappings of the RIC.
So finally, if you take “Growth at All Costs” and add it to “Grow Your Platform” then the natural consequence is “Perform at all Times.”
You always have to be “on.” You always have to be articulate, funny, smiling, and approachable. How many ministries and church leaders would have been spared the discipline of God if they did not feel the need to always perform? If you find a fallen leader, then you usually find someone who never let anyone hold them accountable. They told no one their sins. They believed confession and repentance would lower them in the eyes of the people that followed them. For those caught in the RIC what people think about you is the highest value. And like Jesus warned the Pharisees, when you do things for the praise of men, then the praise of men is the only reward you get. You miss out on the true rewards. This need to perform is poison to Christians and especially church leaders.
There is so much more that goes into the Religious Industrial Complex. This just scratches the surface.
Next blog we will look at what happens to leaders caught in the RIC by looking at my own experience.
