Stan Moody
An Evangelical Pastor in Conflict:
I am so very grateful for having had the opportunity to devote the last ½ of my adult life to
ministry after a long stint in the rough and tumble world of business and politics. Yet, I now find
myself consumed not by what I have learned but by what I have yet to learn about the sovereign
rule of God.
It began in 1989 after I had published a book, No Turning Back: Journal of an All-American
Sinner. I enrolled in Seminary at age 50 for the simple purpose of learning whether or not I really
knew what I was writing about. While the answer is as unclear today as it was then, the path to
God’s love and forgiveness has become much clearer.
Journey to Somewhere, hopefully:
It took a long time, but I have found myself surprised to discover certain embedded mistruths
within the evangelical community:
Social justice, a pivotal teaching of Jesus (Matt 5, 6, 7, 25), enjoys little welcome –considered a WOKE distraction from His “Great Commission” …
The “Kingdom of God” has ascended with Jesus from “at hand” to wholly future…
The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5, 6, 7) has become largely irrelevant, and a prescription for weakness…
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (separation of church and state – Matt 22:21) has become mostly irrelevant…
So, what is the Greatest Sin?
If the Kingdom of God is a present, albeit not-yet-fulfilled reality in the life of the Christian, the
Sermon on the Mount then becomes the moral standard of the Christian life. Love of God and
neighbor hold the potential of surfacing despite our self-absorption. As a result, we begin
examining more closely our own inherent sin, accepting the need for restoration. Any other
option expresses itself as willful rebellion against the sovereign rule of God.
Rebellion against the sovereign rule of God, then, may well be the greatest sin, all too evident in
the life of today’s Church. Were we to submit to the sovereign rule of God over our own lives, there
would be no need to change the laws to force unbelieving folks to live a pseudo-Christian life.
Hope reflected in our public lives would become epidemic in the very places of greatest need.
If God truly were sovereign in the life of the Church, would there be a compelling urgency to
impress Him with and impose on others our select moral precepts? Would the strength of the
Gospel be directed toward others rather than to ourselves? Could we believers not openly display
the power of God through our weaknesses rather than through the fleshly strength of our fickle
political affiliations?
Help me here!