Pastors, people saying let’s go Brandon don’t need your critique. They need hope. Too often we foolishly call out matters that are best left alone. Grievously, we don’t call out things the Bible has a bigger issue with. I recently read an article decrying Christians using the term Let’s Go Brandon. This calling out misappropriated Ephesians chapter 4, and missed the point of let’s go Brandon.

Stop shooting our own

We. Are. Not. Going. To. Be. Liked. We need to stop calling out our side on trivial matters that do not mean a hill of beans when massive, grievous, and blatantly evil issues are being left unchecked. Pastors, if you’re calling out let’s go Brandon, lighten up and toughen up. It is time we stop with the tone policing. Especially when we may not be in the right.

Swearing isn’t always swearing

Ephesians 4:29-32 is not a negation of humor or a prohibition against all swearing. Jesus himself used humor. Removing the log out of our own eye before removing a speck out of brothers eye is a joke. Ironically, it fits this topic. Here is the log: Let’s Go Brandon is edifying and fits the occasion. It actually fights corruption. So the first statements of the passage in question are met. How does this build up? Because truth matters. The issue with the phrase is simply this: Media propaganda is evil and spreads falsehoods. That is why the phrase stuck. Slander and bearing false witness by the media is a biblical issue. It is evil.

Wisdom mocks

“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you…” Proverbs 1.26. This is a wisdom poem warning against the rejection of wisdom. This wholesale fits the problem with our modern media and the DC establishment. What was clearly not let’s go Brandon was called let’s go Brandon. The blatant blowing off at the anger of a people wronged by a tyrannical regime is not a small matter. (Read the book of exodus!) Rather than call out people saying let’s go Brandon, call out the reasons for it! Or is being liked too important? An idol perhaps? The way of the happy warrior of humerus mockery is much preferred over other forms of rhetoric. Such teaches and builds up.

Prophets were pointed

Ezekiel did some weird stuff. Jesus arguably swore in Matthew 12. Paul in Galatians arguably did as well. John the Baptist was not beheaded on a whim. The needless freak out over Trump was we might lose our prophetic voice. No! The issue is we failed to speak up! That’s why Trump happened. That’s why let’s go Brandon is a thing. We failed to be pointed on matters the Bible speaks to. We failed to train our people on matters the Bible speaks too. Frankly, much of our modern mess is because we avoided politics to be nice and lead our church’s to operate politically as agnostics. We failed to show how the Bible shows us a much better way to live as a society.

Let’s Go Brandon!

God hates slander. The big ten says to not bear false witness. Gossip is a cancer. And finally, foolishness brings ruin. Our media, including things like The Gospel Coalition and Christianity Today, frequently cross these biblical boundaries. They foster what Paul says we should put away from us in Ephesians 4:31. It seems petty to call out Let’s Go Brandon when the phrase is a direct result of what created the phrase in the first place: propaganda, slander of your congregants, malice towards your neighbors, and bearing of false witness.

The bottom line:

Speak out against the evils of our times. Be the happy warrior. Stop decrying let’s go Brandon and start calling out the power structures of our day, like John the Baptist. Stand and be counted amongst those who are being wronged by a tyrannical government. We are past the agree to disagree territory in our country. Are you on the side of freedom or of tyranny? Of truth or slander? Of courage or being liked?

One more thing…

Jesus tells us to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. My sense is many of us pastors are naive like mice while trying to be innocent as doves. Snakes eat mice. Romans 13 says we must be submissive to governing authorities. In our country that is the constitution, which leaders brazenly ignore. It is time to wise up.