How Did We Get Here? How do we respond? What SNAP teaches us about Theology Shifts in the Church...

We were pretty busy on Social Media the past few days... we thought we would take a moment to cover some things here in a blog as well...

We have talked a lot recently about the current time we are in, and how seemingly fast and sudden these cultural and sociological shifts are taking place. As I am writing this, the status of most of the country's nearly 42 million SNAP recipients is waiting to find out if their funds will continue in the next 24 hours. It has caused a wide variety of responses from a wide variety of people. The Christian responses to this current SNAP situation provide us with a clear example of how these shifts happen and how they are not as sudden as we would like to believe.

THE TIMELINE

This is just from our experiences with people online and in person:

• Spring 2023: We were told Matthew 25 was only about Christians, not those around us.

• Fall 2023: We were told the parables of Jesus were about capitalism exclusively.

• Late 2023: Docetism began to re-emerge as the model of Jesus presented by many.

• Late 2023: Mental health was redeclared sinful by multiple pastors online.

• Early 2024: We were told that our Jesus is weak.

• Early 2024: The “no enemies” tweets went viral and caused chaos in our DMs.

• November 2024: Christians mocked those worried about the future.

• Winter 2024: “Toxic empathy” became the new talking point.

• Spring 2025: We were told that teaching Philippians 2 the way we do is sinful and heretical, because it doesn’t prioritize Christians over everyone else.

• Spring 2025: Empathy itself was declared sinful.

• Summer 2025: A Fox host called for euthanizing the homeless, and Trump demanded their removal from D.C.

Now, here we are, under 24 hours before SNAP goes away, and I have Christians and pastors:

• celebrating its demise,

• demonizing the poor,

• calling capitalism “Biblical,”

• and saying that now they can finally control who is worthy of help.

This was a slow process — but a predictable one.

Shifting Churches

When did this shift happen? It started when the Church refused to take horrific, anti-Christ theology seriously a few years back. It was treated as a fringe internet trend, and every time it moved up a level, that level was dismissed, too. Until suddenly, it became the main viewpoint.

This is why we constantly “make a big deal” about bad theology online and in media — because if we don’t stop the cycle, it will eventually overtake us culturally. And as we have discussed a lot recently, when we arrive at this point of takeover, it's too late to change course.

So What Now Church?

The world is watching how we respond as a church right now. We put out a short video today, taking Matthew 25, and putting it on recent pictures from immigration arrests, incarcerations, homeless encampment removals, and the SNAP situation we started with. The message we ended with was simple. This is an IMAGO DEI issue and not a political one. Many of the responses we received from this, though, wanted to make it a political piece instead. But the reality is that this post was simply Matthew 25. It is not a call for a Christian government or for the government to actually do anything at all. As we say all the time, "The government is going to government." No, this is a reminder for the church that how we react to the government matters.

The response from Christians today needs to be that the Imago Dei matters more to us than politics and systems of economics and society. Because the response from many Christians at the moment is that their political idols and desire for comfort outweigh the reality that we are called to serve and stand for the image bearers in our midst, regardless of what Washington ends up doing. It’s that simple.

We have to make the decision now to stand with those Jesus stood with. Because if we do not, the cycle will continue to grow bigger and bigger. Many in the world already cannot recognize the Church from American Culture and Dominance. Now is an opportunity for us to show that we still are here, standing with Jesus for those who otherwise will go unseen and unheard.

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This post was written by Andrew Fouts. The founder and main content creator for Ministry Misfits. He is also one of the directors and writers for KFM Broadcasting Network.