A few weeks ago my YouTube channel was permanently deleted without any explanation or reason other than that it was promoting "hate speech." The channel had seen a lot of success within the last 6-7 months with a peak of 112,000 subscribers, 6.2 million views every 28 days, and a handful of videos that went viral. The content was well received and began to gain a lot of traction reaching a new audience. Most importantly, people were getting saved, baptized, joining our church, and even learning how to evangelize. The new "shorts" feature made it possible to access a new group of people by delivering concise 60 second videos filled with doctrine. The response to the content made me realize how hungry people are for even basic truths of the Bible that regular church goers may take for granted.
Now, since the channel's inception in 2017, I have liberally preached sermons that would be deemed as "controversial" and even hateful without apology. Who cares? We as Christians (and even as Americans) possess the constitutional right to free speech. Moreover and certainly more importantly, we have the God-given mandate to preach the entire counsel of God regardless of how some liberal hater of God feels about it. I've vehemently preached against sodomites multiple times (and will continue to do so by the way), I've voiced my Biblical opinion on abortion, governors, presidents, liberals, feminism, false religions, vaccines, whoredom, BLM, the police, Jews, immigration and church cover-up's (just to name a few). But, In spite of all of this "hate speech," I didn't receive any extreme recoil from youtube other than your occasional warnings, strikes, and removal of videos.
It wasn't until I began making YouTube shorts on basic doctrines that I caught the attention of the ADL who decided to report me claiming I was propagating anti-semitism, at which point Youtube proceeded to issue strikes resulting in the termination of my channel. However, youtube couldn't provide a single video violating their ridiculous "community guideline standard." How do I know this? Well, because as the channel began to gain momentum, I purposely either removed my most controversial content or put it on private. I wanted to ride the "short" wave as long as I could knowing full well it was reaching a lot of people and producing fruit. I didn't want anything to hinder it.Therefore, the majority of the content being published was benign and palatable for youtube with an occasional "Pastor Reacts" video that my new audience seemed to enjoy. So what was it? Why did they remove the channel? If the content being pushed centered around salvation, systematic doctrine, and current events (like so many other channels do) why take it down? Simply put, it's because they HATE the Bible!
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. - 1 Kings 22:8
The Word of God is powerful, and Satan is well aware of the ramifications the right type of preaching can have on an individual and a nation. It is for that reason that he will stop at nothing to hinder its propagation by silencing the vessel proclaiming it. This has been the case throughout history and especially in the New Testament. The Pharisees sought to silence the Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples throughout their ministry. The Apostle Paul stated in 2 Thessalonians 3, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith." Our desire is that the Word of God would be given free access without obstruction to the ears of the masses. However, with open doors come many adversaries to withstand the message and the messenger from passing through. These unreasonable and wicked men who have not faith sought to inhibit the preaching of God's Word by physically harming the disciples, threatening them, or even constructing a narrative against them. "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren." - Acts 14:2 Notwithstanding, the disciples pressed on and continued to reach the multitudes. They simply moved on and preached elsewhere and found a new group of receptive listeners and the efforts were definitely not in vain. "Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few." - Acts 17:12
And sure, we can point to tons of conservatives, libertarians and the like who have been removed from youtube and other social media outlets for their stance and convictions. However, none of them are proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. There are many messages out there that this wicked world hates, but none so much as the message of the Gospel and counsel of God.
The agenda to de-platform the man of God today is as alive as it was in the book of Acts, and there is no new thing under the sun. However, the Bible is like a boiling pot that will eventually overpower the lid containing it. They can put a lid over our channels and bind our mouths with censorship to silence the truth as much as they want but the fact remains that the "...Word of God is NOT BOUND!" There will always be people out there looking for the truth and responding to the light God has given to them. And, when they search, we'll be right there. Our church will never be silenced, nor will our soul winning efforts be in vain. We will continuously make converts and win the multitudes with or without social media, because the truth cannot be stopped. Our preaching will be used to reform the minds of each generation no matter what. You can't shut us up! Shutting down a channel with millions of views was too little too late, but the message of the Bible has already spread and is embedded in the hearts and minds of millions. And, no doubt, we will continue to see the fruit of it for years to come.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:1
MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT OUR SERMON LIBRARY!
