Would John The Baptist Be Welcome In Your Church?

The answer is almost certainly no. John the Baptist would not be welcome in almost every church that exists in America today. I know of three that would welcome him, and one that would have 40 years ago but wouldn't today. I hope there are more. But they are clearly a tiny minority. Let me explain why.

This is not that ridiculous nonsense where some ignorant people claim that John the Baptist was homeless. That is making up things that aren't true for a political agenda. The truth is John was nothing like the homeless today. He chose to live the way he did for good reasons. John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt, just like the prophet Elijah. He lived in the wilderness and his diet was insects and wild honey. So he was dependent on no one. He was certainly clean, and was not abusing drugs or alcohol. He spoke the truth from God, not incoherent ramblings of a homeless person. His manner of living is not why churches today would reject him.

John was called the Baptist by the people of that time because his baptism was different. Baptism itself was normal for thousands of years before John. People who converted to Judaism were baptized. Baptism was done in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other ancient cultures before Judaism as a religion even existed. Therefore baptizing itself was nothing special in Israel of that time. People who try to claim that Christians can't do something because pagans did it first are contradicted by this. Jesus commanded us to be baptized despite pagans doing it first.

However, John's baptism was different than what was normal in Israel. He wasn't baptizing converts to Judaism. He was baptizing everyone who came in repentance, most of whom were already fully followers of Judaism. The baptizing of people who were already religiously Jewish was a sign of the coming of the Messiah. Ezekiel 36:22-32 talks about a time when God will cleanse Israel by sprinkling them with water and a big transformation will occur within them, including God's Spirit within them. This was and is understood to be a messianic and eschatological, (end times,) prophecy. Thus for John to do this was to proclaim the Messiah was here or about to arrive. This is why the Pharisees sent people to question John the Baptist about it in John 1:19-28. But this going outside the norm for baptism is not why John the Baptist would be rejected by most churches today.

You see, baptism was just a small part of John's ministry. The label of John the Baptist was applied by the people back then because this was the most significant part of his ministry to people looking for signs of the Messiah. But in reality it is a misleading nickname. People who only engage in a superficial reading of scripture wrongly think that's what John was all about. He was much more than that.

There was something else people had to get through before John would baptize them. And it was the overarching purpose and focus of his ministry. He would yell at them about their sin. This wasn't just a general rant. He would address the specific sins of the people who came to him. After they had repented he would baptize them. Those that came insincerely he would turn away. He was very harsh with everyone, especially those who were faking. Granted, he was the only person who had the Holy Spirit before birth. So it is very likely he had divine revelation about the people who came to him. But it doesn't take a divine revelation in most instances to tell who is insincere. Jesus said we just have to see what kind of fruit they produce. John did not tolerate sin. He required repentance. And that is not allowed in most churches today. You can't call out sin, you can't be honest about sin, and you can't be harsh with people in nearly every church in America today.

Anyone who even nicely calls out sin in people's lives today is removed. To be honest, the vast majority of people won't turn away from their sin unless someone strongly and forcefully confronts it. They are like Gollum in Lord of the Rings holding onto their "precious" even though it is killing them. I'm not just talking about drugs or something like that. All sin is killing us. And Jesus is the cure. But we have to be willing to turn away from the sin to Jesus. Few people today are willing to do that. They insist on holding onto their sin. They insist on worshipping themselves while pretending to worship God.

Matthew 7:13-23 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

These are the words of Jesus. But most people in churches today would take great offense is someone were to quote these verses to them. Think I'm wrong? It's happened to me many times in many churches. And others have had the same experience. Think about that, people who claim to be Christians getting offended by scripture. And this is the gospel and words of Jesus the Messiah. Anyone who dares to bring up Matthew 7:13-23 is run out of the church.

People want salvation, but only on their terms. God doesn't work like that. It's His way or the highway. He has to be on the throne of our lives. There is no such thing as a "God in a box". But that's what the vast majority of people think they are doing. They have this tiny corner of their lives for "god", and in everything else they hold the reins. But that's not the real God they have tucked in the corner. It's a fake. It's themselves and their own ideas dressed up in a god-suit. Like a scarecrow is full of straw, there is nothing real inside their fake god. John the Baptist would call out these people for not being Christians if he were here. He would be kicked out of the American church today.

I'm sure most people reading this are rejecting this saying something like Jesus forgives sin and/or none of us are perfect. Those are both absolutely true. No one is good except God. Which means the only human who ever lived a sinless life is Jesus, God incarnate. Even after we repent we will sin again including the sins we repented from. And God will continue to forgive us. But this is completely missing the most vital point. It's not that people aren't perfect before judgement day. It's that they refuse to repent at all. They deny their sin is even sin. They try to justify it and defend it like King Saul instead of owning it and repenting like King David.

A church staffer failed to do their job for five months. Then they tossed me under the bus saying I didn't provide them the information they needed to do the job. They never asked for it the entire time. And when they got in trouble for it costing the church unnecessary money, they wrongly blamed me for their own failing. This was not a one time thing, but a regular occurrence with this person. So nothing I did or said would change things. And as Jesus said in Matthew 7:6, I shouldn't cast pearls before swine or they will trample them and tear me to pieces. This staffer had done that in the past. Like every church I know but three, there was no biblical church discipline there. Discipline only happens in most churches because a pastor gets offended. And it doesn't matter if the person then disciplined was the one in the right. That's blatantly anti-biblical. Leaders are supposed to be held to a higher standard biblically, not protected against correction by throwing members under the bus. But that's where most churches are today. John the Baptist would call these people out as the fake Christians they are. And the church would kick him out for it.

Read Matthew 7:13-23 again. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to salvation. Do not be deceived, few find the small gate and stay on the narrow path. If you are a Christian that means you are a disciple of Christ. If you don't believe His words, how can you be His disciple? How can you legitimately call yourself a Christian? Unfortunately a majority of self-proclaimed "Christians" wouldn't know Christ's words if they heard them or read them. And in most churches His words are heard rarely if ever. Calling someone out for being a fake Christian would make most people in American churches freak out. They would say you can't know that! But Jesus said we can by judging their fruit.

It ought to be easy to judge good fruit from bad. But the problem is too many people are easily deceived. This is because scripture is a stranger to them.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
1Timothy 4:1-2 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

I'm sure most people are convinced that their church isn't like this. Their church would welcome John the Baptist. As the old joke goes, denial is not just a river in Egypt. Not one of the churches I've ever been involved with would welcome John the Baptist today. He would disturb their comfort, their self-deception, and would call out their sin and error. This is especially true with the leadership of most churches. None of that is tolerated in churches today. If you think your church would allow this, try it! But be prepared for the attacks that will come. Even if your church is one of the rare ones that tolerates it, there are certainly many people there that don't. We shouldn't cast pearls before swine or they will trample them and attack us. But should we do nothing about churches that reject correction? Does it bother you that there are people you know who think they are saved but will be surprised on Judgement Day as Jesus said would happen in Matthew 7:22-23?

Matthew 7:13-23 has been a burden on my heart since I was a teenager. Yet I have not come up with an effective strategy for reaching self-deceived people who think they are Christians. They seem to fight to the death to hang onto their delusions. Reaching people who aren't Christian is a hundred times easier. But Jesus commanded us to reach everyone in his Great Commission, not just the easy ones.