On the latest episode of his “Cooper Stuff” podcast, Christian musician John Cooper interviews author and radio host Eric Metaxas about the church’s role in modern-day America. “Letter to the American Church,” a new book by Metaxas, releases on September 20. He describes it as “measured,” not “incendiary,” saying his goal is to reason with people.
During the conversation, Metaxas encourages Christians to fulfill God’s call to “stick your neck out for the truth” and, in the process, relieve suffering. One way we love people, he says, is “through who you vote for.”
Metaxas is being sued for his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He also says he’s “been canceled” but refuses to be silenced because the “satanic evil” happening in America is “deadly serious.”
Eric Metaxas: Satan Is Attacking Through Globalism
Eric Metaxas, 59, describes his “long, strange journey” to writing about and discussing the Christian faith. After attending “super-woke” Yale University, he wasn’t sure how to use his English degree. In 2010, after an “extremely painful” writing process, he released what became a bestselling, award-winning biography of Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Two years later, Metaxas spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast, sharing a pro-life message with then-President Barack Obama. That “totally changed” his life, he says, leading to an offer to host a radio show.
Cooper asks Metaxas about parallels between Bonhoeffer’s Germany and what’s happening today in America. During Adolf Hitler’s rise, the church “fell under a deception” and stayed silent, Metaxas says. “When the church is silent on crucial issues of life and death and truth, people suffer.”
Metaxas, whose mother grew up in Nazi Germany, says America is “going in exactly the same direction,” due to “anti-American, anti-biblical movements.” Although today’s citizens assume that something such as the Holocaust won’t happen again, Satan is being crafty. “The devil isn’t stupid,” says Metaxas. Instead of attacking via nationalism this time, “he’ll use globalism. He will make nationalism the enemy to fool people into thinking that ‘nationalism is bad, being proud to be an American is bad, you’re making an idol of America or Donald Trump.’”
That is “total garbage,” says Metaxas. Churchgoers in the United States have been deceived and silenced, he says, fearing they’ll get canceled. But he warns that God will judge people who aren’t willing to stand up for God and his truth. “You may get to heaven,” Metaxas adds, “but don’t expect a big mansion.” Because the Lord looks at our hearts, we are “obliged to live out our faith.” Otherwise, as James 2:17 warns, your “lack of action may prove you have no faith.”
