Jesus NEVER Said That! 🛑 5 Lies Most Christians Believe
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6. That’s not just a verse. That’s a verdict. A generation of Christians is being led blindfolded by shepherds who look more like wolves. And if we don’t wake up, many will walk straight into hell, thinking they were heading to heaven.
If your pastor is always preaching comfort but never conviction, that’s not ministry. That’s manipulation. In a generation obsessed with self-esteem, self-care, and self-love, many preachers have become nothing more than spiritual therapists. They feed the flesh, stroke the ego, and make you feel good about being far from God. But here’s the hard truth.
Comfort without conviction is a lie. And it’s a lie that can send you straight to hell. The true gospel is not designed to make you feel good about yourself. It’s designed to show you how utterly lost you are without Christ. It’s not a message of self-empowerment. It’s a message of death to self. It’s not about becoming a better you.
It’s about becoming dead to you so Christ can live in you. But the modern church has exchanged that gospel for one that builds bigger crowds while shrinking the truth. If you can sit under your pastor’s preaching for months or even years and never feel the weight of your sin, never feel the sting of conviction, never feel the need to repent, then something is terribly wrong, you don’t need to be affirmed in your lifestyle.
If your lifestyle is offensive to a holy God, you need to be confronted. The word of God doesn’t coddle sin. It crushes it. But instead, many pastors today are preaching smooth things. Just like the false prophets in Isaiah’s day who said, “Prophesy illusions, tell us pleasant things, prophesy deceits.” Isaiah 30:10. That spirit is alive and well. And pastors who preach comfort over conviction are feeding people illusions while their souls are in danger. They talk about breakthrough but never about brokenness.
They talk about destiny but never about depravity. They want you to feel good about where you are. Even if you’re on the broad road to destruction, let me make this plain. Conviction is not spiritual abuse. It’s spiritual mercy. When God convicts you, it’s not because he hates you. It’s because he loves you too much to let you die in your sin.
And if your pastor won’t allow that conviction to come through the preaching of the word, then he is standing between you and the very thing that could save your soul. People say, “Well, I just want to leave church feeling uplifted.” But the question is, have you been lifted out of sin or lifted into denial? Because the gospel will cut before it heals.
It will humble you before it restores you. Jesus didn’t die to boost your confidence. He died to crush your rebellion and resurrect a new heart in you. This is why Paul told Timothy to preach the word, reprove, rebuke, and exhort. 2 Timothy 4:2. Twothirds of that command is correction, not encouragement. And yet we flipped it around.
We want 95% encouragement, 5% truth, and 0% confrontation. But you cannot grow in Christ without confrontation. You cannot be sanctified without the truth wounding your pride. You need a pastor who tells you the truth even when it hurts. Not one who’s afraid you’ll stop coming if he calls out your sin.
If your pastor is more concerned about your attendance than your soul, you’re being entertained, not equipped. A real shepherd doesn’t protect the wolf’s feelings. He protects the sheep’s souls. And here’s what’s dangerous. Comfort preaching can harden your heart. When week after week you’re told that everything is okay, while you’re living in disobedience, your conscience begins to go numb.
