Atlanta pastor Myles Rutherford has called on churches to speak boldly against what he calls the godlessness of American culture. Rutherford, who pastors Worship with Wonders Church in Marietta, Georgia, outside Atlanta, recently spoke to Fox News on his new book, “Raise Your Voice,” and criticized churches for their silence on cultural issues. “The culture is loud. Satan is loud right now. However, I’ve seen the church remain quiet on important issues out of fear,” he said. He added that his motivation to write his book was due to “the majority of the silence of the American church over the last three years with major topics, relevant issues that were going on. And it just seems like the church was non-responding.” Instead, he said, churches had turned away from speaking on controversial topics and were more focused on motivational preaching, avoiding offending anyone. “Soft sermons produce soft saints,” he warned.

Speaking to The Christian Post, Rutherford reiterated his stance that the biggest problem facing churches today is their silence. “The voice of the Lord has to be brought out by the believer,” he said. He also stated that the message matters. “What [Christians] speak is just as important as why they should speak.” He said that a lot of Christians were receiving the Word of God but not learning how to witness to others, unlike the believers of the early Acts church. The interview stressed that even though topics like homosexuality and gender identity may be controversial to the culture, sharing the Bible’s perspective on those issues is ultimately sharing the truth. Rutherford remarked how Jesus told people to repent. “In other words, there’s something that has to happen here,” he said. “Speaking the truth in love is what we need right now.”

 Rutherford is one to practice what he preaches. In June, his church was criticized for billboards they sponsored with the phrase “Proud to be delivered,” highlighting Christians who had left their LGBTQ+ lifestyles after accepting Christ. Darian Aaron, who works with GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, called the billboards anti-LGBT. “Not only has the church erected billboards across metro Atlanta but if you were to visit the pastor’s Instagram page, it is completely flooded with anti-LGBT rhetoric,” he said. Rutherford’s critics included other local pastors, such as Reverend Matt Laney of Virginia-Highland Church. He said Rutherford’s rhetoric demonized the LGBTQ+ community. “Gay and Christian are not incompatible. Can same-gender love be sinful and harmful? Of course, it can. Heterosexual love can be sinful and harmful as well. But neither are inherently, automatically sinful. It is no crime, it is no sin to be gay or to be in a loving relationship with someone of the same gender,” he said.

During his Fox News interview, Rutherford stated that Christians must be prepared for pushback and persecution. Persecution in the 21st century for American Christians would be in the form of censorship and cancel culture, he said. “And there are so many people that need God right now, and we need to be out there sharing that with them. And I want to encourage everybody that’s doing that. You’re not alone. Elijah, at one point, thought that he was alone in the Bible, says God spoke to him and said, ‘No, I have 7000 that have not bowed their knees.’ So I want to encourage people to continue doing it because you’re not alone,” he said.