Pastor Michael Youssef: Rise of the "feel-good" gospel shows church leaders too comfortable

July 01, 2015

WRITER

Glenn predicts that when it comes time for congregations to stand up for fundamental principles, half the members will walk out and never look back. Too many church leaders focus on making feel really good about themselves, with a smile and a rock band thrown in for good measure. Faith has been replaced with entertainment. Pastor Michael Youssef, who escaped an oppressive Egypt, joined Glenn to discuss this growing problem in churches across the country and the growing crisis in the Middle East.

Below is a transcript of this segment:

Glenn: I want to introduce you to a pastor and an author, the author of a book called Jesus, Jihad, and Peace. His name is Michael Youssef. How are you, sir?

Michael: Wonderful. Thank you for having me.

Glenn: It is good to have you here.

Michael : Good to be here.

Glenn: You’re not mincing any words on what is happening in the world, and thank God, because we have very few pastors who are actually standing up for what’s happening in the Middle East, and we need more of them.

Michael: And in this country.

Glenn: Yeah. Let’s start with the Middle East. I told a story on the air today. ISIS this last weekend crucified two children for not following Ramadan. They were caught eating, and so they crucified them and just like in the biblical times put their crime up above their head. I mean, it’s amazing. Nobody seems to care. Why? What’s happened to our Christian heart?

Michael: What happened to us in the West in general—just to back up, I escaped from Egypt back in the 60s under Nasser and experienced first-hand persecution. That’s why I escaped.

Glenn: Wait. Can you explain? Because people don’t have any concept of what’s coming. We say Christians, you’re going to lose your right to conscience. They have no idea what that means. Can you explain a little, what does that mean?

Michael: And I’ve been saying this for 35 years, and people would say to me it’s not going to happen America. We have the Bill of Rights.

Glenn: It’s coming.

Michael: And I’ve written and I’ve written and I’ve spoken. I cannot imagine my seventh soon to be eighth grandchildren going to grow up in this culture where I escaped to come to America for freedom. Now, we’re losing our freedom completely. The Christians, and I am pointing the finger at me as a pastor of a very large church, a global ministry leading the way, 195 countries, radio and television.

Glenn: Wow, good for you.

Michael: So I am pointing the finger, but we the pastors have grown comfortable. We valued our comfort and our love for sports and our financial security over and above the truth. In the end, in all these rulings that are coming down the pike, the one that just came and the ones that are coming are basically making us less and less conscious of the fact that the truth matters. So, they take words out of their context such as equality and justice and love wins, they blow them around. They don’t mean anything because the truth is the victim here.

Glenn: And what is the truth?

Michael: The truth is what is the absolute truth which is declared by God. God is the one who created a man and a woman to anatomically fit, and He said this is it, this is my will for humanity. This is my design for humanity.

Glenn: You’ve seen oppression in the Middle East, so you know what it looks like. Americans don’t. Are you seeing the signs that people like you with your church are going to come under oppression?

Michael: I have no doubt. I’ve been saying this for 28 years.

Glenn: Right. And how many of the churches do you think will fold? How many churches do you think will say you know what, just go along?

Michael: Right. If you can’t fight them, join them.

Glenn: Yes.

Michael: That’s more common than you realize. It started in the mainline denominations, and I used to belong to one. Started in the mainline denominations and is now creeping into the evangelical church. There was a time when the word evangelical meant something, meant eu and angelion, the gospel that is the truth that I am the way, the truth, and the life. That is the gospel that Jesus died for all so whoever comes to him shall be saved. That has gone by the wayside. Now, we’ve got a prosperity gospel. We’ve got a feel-good gospel. We’ve got all kinds of stuff that has nothing to do with Christianity. It’s a pseudo-Christianity. That’s why you asked me how many will fold, I think they’re already folding. So many of them already folded, and that breaks my heart.

Glenn: I was talking to a leader of a church, a very large church, and he said he thought 50% of congregants of every faith will walk out the door because it’s going to get too hard. It’s going to get hard. Okay, so I had a caller today—I want to bring it back to the Middle East. I had a caller today who said to me Glenn, what do I do? Now, we’re doing an event on 8/28. We’re trying to just wake up our churches first and get our churches online, but you’ve been over there. What do we do? What’s the best thing an American can do right now with ISIS? Because the government is not doing anything.

Michael: Now, can I tell you something very quickly that has happened in Egypt? I just came back from there three weeks ago. I was in some of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. Now, I used to go every year and preach, but since the uprising, I have not been back.

Glenn: Sisi is good.

Michael: He was a wonderful guy. I’m looking forward to meeting him later this year.

Glenn: I think he is the guy that so many people have prayed for, and we’ve abandoned him.

Michael: That’s exactly right. For 24/7 were prayer meetings all over Egypt, across denominational lines. Two o’clock in the morning, you get to a church, people were crying. This is under Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president. People began to experience the pain, and I’m wondering when will we in America get to that point where we cry to God 24/7? And as a result, God answered their prayers, and 33 million people came to the streets of all the 27 provinces, not just in Cairo, but it’s all over, 33 million. BBC said never in human history have that many people out in the streets in one night. God raised up Sisi. I’m convinced of that. He’s a good man. I watch his speeches. They’re very inspiring speeches. He loves everybody. He loves the Christians, and he loves the Jews. He loves everybody. Now, I’m praying for his safety, of course.

Glenn: Yes.

Michael: We all need to pray for his safety. But I’m wondering, will it get to that point when we’re really economically on our knees like they did under the Muslim Brotherhood and the Christians began to cry? As a result, churches are continuing to pray. God is bringing hundreds of thousands of people to Christ who were not Christians.

Glenn: Yeah. I think our biggest problem, and it’s always—you know, the Bible always tells the same story over and over again. It’s amazing, you read the Bible, and you’re like these people are so stupid. Then you look at it, and you really start to think, and you’re like holy cow, it’s us. The biggest problem is humility and until your humbled. I think the Lord’s been kicking us in the head over and over and over again. It’s getting worse and worse and worse, and I think when this strife really happens, when the economic side falls apart, people are not going to know what hit them.

Michael: No, because that’s our God now, and when our God is taken away from us, and it’s the same thing with the people of Israel. In the Book of Judges, everybody was doing what’s right in their own eyes. Until they got under pressure, they cried to God. You read about it, almost 12 times throughout the Book of Judges, you would say did you get it?

Glenn: Isn’t it amazing how quickly we forgot 9/11? I mean, look who we were right after that.

Michael: Snooze button.

Glenn: Snooze button that fast.

Michael: Churches, synagogues, all packed with people the day after. Now, everybody’s back to their normal joyful leisure. Whatever it is they were into, they went back into it with vengeance.

Glenn: I’d love to have you back. We’re out of time, but I’d love to have you back. I really enjoyed our conversation.

Michael: Sure. I look forward to it.

Glenn: Maybe we can just spend some time just talking about the book and what’s in the book.

Michael: Sure.

Glenn: God bless you.

Michael: Thank you, Glenn.

Glenn: Thank you so much. Back in just a minute.

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

When did Americans start cheering for chaos?

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND / Contributor | Getty Images

Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stand with Voddie Baucham’s family in this time of loss

In the quiet aftermath of a profound loss, the Christian community mourns the unexpected passing of Dr. Voddie Baucham, a towering figure in evangelical circles. Known for his defense of biblical truth, Baucham, a pastor, author, and theologian, left a legacy on family, faith, and opposing "woke" ideologies in the church. His book Fault Lines challenged believers to prioritize Scripture over cultural trends. Glenn had Voddie on the show several times, where they discussed progressive influences in Christianity, debunked myths of “Christian nationalism,” and urged hope amid hostility.

The shock of Baucham's death has deeply affected his family. Grieving, they remain hopeful in Christ, with his wife, Bridget, now facing the task of resettling in the US without him. Their planned move from Lusaka, Zambia, was disrupted when their home sale fell through last December, resulting in temporary Airbnb accommodations, but they have since secured a new home in Cape Coral that requires renovations. To ensure Voddie's family is taken care of, a fundraiser is being held to raise $2 million, which will be invested for ongoing support, allowing Bridget to focus on her family.

We invite readers to contribute prayerfully. If you feel called to support the Bauchams in this time of need, you can click here to donate.

We grieve and pray with hope for the Bauchams.

May Voddie's example inspire us.

From isolation to connection: Overcoming loneliness

Loneliness isn’t just being alone — it’s feeling unseen, unheard, and unimportant, even amid crowds and constant digital chatter.

Loneliness has become an epidemic in America. Millions of people, even when surrounded by others, feel invisible. In tragic irony, we live in an age of unparalleled connectivity, yet too many sit in silence, unseen and unheard.

I’ve been experiencing this firsthand. My children have grown up and moved out. The house that once overflowed with life now echoes with quiet. Moments that once held laughter now hold silence. And in that silence, the mind can play cruel games. It whispers, “You’re forgotten. Your story doesn’t matter.”

We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

It’s a lie.

I’ve seen it in others. I remember sitting at Rockefeller Center one winter, watching a woman lace up her ice skates. Her clothing was worn, her bag battered. Yet on the ice, she transformed — elegant, alive, radiant.

Minutes later, she returned to her shoes, merged into the crowd, unnoticed. I’ve thought of her often. She was not alone in her experience. Millions of Americans live unseen, performing acts of quiet heroism every day.

Shared pain makes us human

Loneliness convinces us to retreat, to stay silent, to stop reaching out to others. But connection is essential. Even small gestures — a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a shared meal — are radical acts against isolation.

I’ve learned this personally. Years ago, a caller called me “Mr. Perfect.” I could have deflected, but I chose honesty. I spoke of my alcoholism, my failed marriage, my brokenness. I expected judgment. Instead, I found resonance. People whispered back, “I’m going through the same thing. Thank you for saying it.”

Our pain is universal. Everyone struggles with self-doubt and fear. Everyone feels, at times, like a fraud. We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

We were made for connection. We were built for community — for conversation, for touch, for shared purpose. Every time we reach out, every act of courage and compassion punches a hole in the wall of isolation.

You’re not alone

If you’re feeling alone, know this: You are not invisible. You are seen. You matter. And if you’re not struggling, someone you know is. It’s your responsibility to reach out.

Loneliness is not proof of brokenness. It is proof of humanity. It is a call to engage, to bear witness, to connect. The world is different because of the people who choose to act. It is brighter when we refuse to be isolated.

We cannot let silence win. We cannot allow loneliness to dictate our lives. Speak. Reach out. Connect. Share your gifts. By doing so, we remind one another: We are all alike, and yet each of us matters profoundly.

In this moment, in this country, in this world, what we do matters. Loneliness is real, but so is hope. And hope begins with connection.