Much of the disappointment I felt with our evangelical leaders during the Mike Huckabee campaign can be summed up with the title of this post. What happened to our warriors? Ken Hutcherson puts it all in perspective for us in this report from Jeff Johnson of OneNewsNow.com. Your comments are welcomed and encouraged.

An outspoken pastor and pro-family activist is speaking out about Evangelical leaders he says have no spiritual backbone.

Pastor Ken Hutcherson of the Antioch Bible Church in suburban Seattle is known as much for his straight talk as for his former NFL career. And when it comes to Evangelicals who want to disengage from allegedly “political” issues, his comments are as hard-hitting as his tackles.

“Right now a lot of white Evangelicals are just ‘Evan-jellyfish’ with no spiritual vertebrae,” he says.

Hutcherson is particularly critical of the many liberal and some mainstream leaders who signed on to the recently released document “An Evangelical Manifesto.” He accuses the signers of “trying to hijack evangelicalism because of their moral standards and because of their cultural background.”

The Manifesto’s call away from allegedly political issues, Hutcherson argues, shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the very nature of the culture war.

“We haven’t gotten political as Evangelicals,” he asserts. “What has taken place is, the government knows [that] if it makes something political that the church will step out — and that is exactly what has taken place. They are hijacking our moral issues and then telling us to be quiet about it … and that isn’t going to work.”

The Seattle-area pastor believes the best thing that could happen to churches would be to lose the 501(c)3 tax-exempt status that liberal activists currently use to threaten pastors who might speak out on moral issues in the political realm. Then, perhaps, churches would “find [their] backbone again,” Hutcherson says.

“The government did not give us our 501(c)3 because they like us,” he shares. “The government gave us our 501(c)3 so they could control us.”

Pastors need to stand up for biblical truth in every area of society, including politics and government, Hutcherson says, ignoring any threats to their church’s tax-exempt status. “We need to start standing together to do the things that God has called us, take back these moral issues that belong to the church, and stand strong on them — regardless of who says or regardless of what the government threatens us with.”

Amen…