Pastor Michael Youssef: Rise of the "feel-good" gospel shows church leaders too comfortable

July 01, 2015

WRITER

Glenn predicts that when it comes time for congregations to stand up for fundamental principles, half the members will walk out and never look back. Too many church leaders focus on making feel really good about themselves, with a smile and a rock band thrown in for good measure. Faith has been replaced with entertainment. Pastor Michael Youssef, who escaped an oppressive Egypt, joined Glenn to discuss this growing problem in churches across the country and the growing crisis in the Middle East.

Below is a transcript of this segment:

Glenn: I want to introduce you to a pastor and an author, the author of a book called Jesus, Jihad, and Peace. His name is Michael Youssef. How are you, sir?

Michael: Wonderful. Thank you for having me.

Glenn: It is good to have you here.

Michael : Good to be here.

Glenn: You’re not mincing any words on what is happening in the world, and thank God, because we have very few pastors who are actually standing up for what’s happening in the Middle East, and we need more of them.

Michael: And in this country.

Glenn: Yeah. Let’s start with the Middle East. I told a story on the air today. ISIS this last weekend crucified two children for not following Ramadan. They were caught eating, and so they crucified them and just like in the biblical times put their crime up above their head. I mean, it’s amazing. Nobody seems to care. Why? What’s happened to our Christian heart?

Michael: What happened to us in the West in general—just to back up, I escaped from Egypt back in the 60s under Nasser and experienced first-hand persecution. That’s why I escaped.

Glenn: Wait. Can you explain? Because people don’t have any concept of what’s coming. We say Christians, you’re going to lose your right to conscience. They have no idea what that means. Can you explain a little, what does that mean?

Michael: And I’ve been saying this for 35 years, and people would say to me it’s not going to happen America. We have the Bill of Rights.

Glenn: It’s coming.

Michael: And I’ve written and I’ve written and I’ve spoken. I cannot imagine my seventh soon to be eighth grandchildren going to grow up in this culture where I escaped to come to America for freedom. Now, we’re losing our freedom completely. The Christians, and I am pointing the finger at me as a pastor of a very large church, a global ministry leading the way, 195 countries, radio and television.

Glenn: Wow, good for you.

Michael: So I am pointing the finger, but we the pastors have grown comfortable. We valued our comfort and our love for sports and our financial security over and above the truth. In the end, in all these rulings that are coming down the pike, the one that just came and the ones that are coming are basically making us less and less conscious of the fact that the truth matters. So, they take words out of their context such as equality and justice and love wins, they blow them around. They don’t mean anything because the truth is the victim here.

Glenn: And what is the truth?

Michael: The truth is what is the absolute truth which is declared by God. God is the one who created a man and a woman to anatomically fit, and He said this is it, this is my will for humanity. This is my design for humanity.

Glenn: You’ve seen oppression in the Middle East, so you know what it looks like. Americans don’t. Are you seeing the signs that people like you with your church are going to come under oppression?

Michael: I have no doubt. I’ve been saying this for 28 years.

Glenn: Right. And how many of the churches do you think will fold? How many churches do you think will say you know what, just go along?

Michael: Right. If you can’t fight them, join them.

Glenn: Yes.

Michael: That’s more common than you realize. It started in the mainline denominations, and I used to belong to one. Started in the mainline denominations and is now creeping into the evangelical church. There was a time when the word evangelical meant something, meant eu and angelion, the gospel that is the truth that I am the way, the truth, and the life. That is the gospel that Jesus died for all so whoever comes to him shall be saved. That has gone by the wayside. Now, we’ve got a prosperity gospel. We’ve got a feel-good gospel. We’ve got all kinds of stuff that has nothing to do with Christianity. It’s a pseudo-Christianity. That’s why you asked me how many will fold, I think they’re already folding. So many of them already folded, and that breaks my heart.

Glenn: I was talking to a leader of a church, a very large church, and he said he thought 50% of congregants of every faith will walk out the door because it’s going to get too hard. It’s going to get hard. Okay, so I had a caller today—I want to bring it back to the Middle East. I had a caller today who said to me Glenn, what do I do? Now, we’re doing an event on 8/28. We’re trying to just wake up our churches first and get our churches online, but you’ve been over there. What do we do? What’s the best thing an American can do right now with ISIS? Because the government is not doing anything.

Michael: Now, can I tell you something very quickly that has happened in Egypt? I just came back from there three weeks ago. I was in some of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. Now, I used to go every year and preach, but since the uprising, I have not been back.

Glenn: Sisi is good.

Michael: He was a wonderful guy. I’m looking forward to meeting him later this year.

Glenn: I think he is the guy that so many people have prayed for, and we’ve abandoned him.

Michael: That’s exactly right. For 24/7 were prayer meetings all over Egypt, across denominational lines. Two o’clock in the morning, you get to a church, people were crying. This is under Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president. People began to experience the pain, and I’m wondering when will we in America get to that point where we cry to God 24/7? And as a result, God answered their prayers, and 33 million people came to the streets of all the 27 provinces, not just in Cairo, but it’s all over, 33 million. BBC said never in human history have that many people out in the streets in one night. God raised up Sisi. I’m convinced of that. He’s a good man. I watch his speeches. They’re very inspiring speeches. He loves everybody. He loves the Christians, and he loves the Jews. He loves everybody. Now, I’m praying for his safety, of course.

Glenn: Yes.

Michael: We all need to pray for his safety. But I’m wondering, will it get to that point when we’re really economically on our knees like they did under the Muslim Brotherhood and the Christians began to cry? As a result, churches are continuing to pray. God is bringing hundreds of thousands of people to Christ who were not Christians.

Glenn: Yeah. I think our biggest problem, and it’s always—you know, the Bible always tells the same story over and over again. It’s amazing, you read the Bible, and you’re like these people are so stupid. Then you look at it, and you really start to think, and you’re like holy cow, it’s us. The biggest problem is humility and until your humbled. I think the Lord’s been kicking us in the head over and over and over again. It’s getting worse and worse and worse, and I think when this strife really happens, when the economic side falls apart, people are not going to know what hit them.

Michael: No, because that’s our God now, and when our God is taken away from us, and it’s the same thing with the people of Israel. In the Book of Judges, everybody was doing what’s right in their own eyes. Until they got under pressure, they cried to God. You read about it, almost 12 times throughout the Book of Judges, you would say did you get it?

Glenn: Isn’t it amazing how quickly we forgot 9/11? I mean, look who we were right after that.

Michael: Snooze button.

Glenn: Snooze button that fast.

Michael: Churches, synagogues, all packed with people the day after. Now, everybody’s back to their normal joyful leisure. Whatever it is they were into, they went back into it with vengeance.

Glenn: I’d love to have you back. We’re out of time, but I’d love to have you back. I really enjoyed our conversation.

Michael: Sure. I look forward to it.

Glenn: Maybe we can just spend some time just talking about the book and what’s in the book.

Michael: Sure.

Glenn: God bless you.

Michael: Thank you, Glenn.

Glenn: Thank you so much. Back in just a minute.

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

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This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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