I recently wrote a reflection for preachers in our current time, and shared it with Ministry Matters. Here is that reflection on the preachers who pander to the political powers, and the call to be gospel preachers with integrity and courage. I hope it is an encouraging word for you in your work for today.

—Will

There’s a history of preachers attempting to ingratiate themselves with the powerful; some clergy are always willing to sacrifice the gospel in exchange for proximity to the crown. Louis XIV had his pet court preachers like Bossuet and Massillon who came to Versailles and, in elegant sermons, told the Sun King what he wanted to hear. Encountering mild resistance from some German Protestant preachers, Hitler elevated a prominent pastor, Ludwig Müller, to the role of Reich bishop in his new German Church and the majority of the churches stepped into line behind the…