‘We are going to just invite the devil in’: Philip Anthony Mitchell’s dire warning to the American church

Philip Anthony Mitchell has been faithfully preaching the gospel for years, but in the last few, his platform — known for urgent, fiery, no-nonsense exegesis — has gone viral. His sermons and podcasts now reach millions of people across the country. On today’s episode of “Live Free,” Mitchell joins BlazeTV’s Josh Howerton for an unvarnished conversation about Mitchell’s gut-wrenching testimony, his rise to prominence, and a dire warning he has for the church in an age of casual Christianity.Mitchell’s first book, “Contend,” which comes out next month, dives into the the warning. It unpacks Jude’s urgent letter to ancient Christians who were living in an age of false teachers, watering down the gospel, and treating the faith as a comfortable inheritance instead of the paramount mission it is — and draws parallels to the church in modern America. In this episode, Mitchell takes that same warning to Howerton. Howerton begins by reading an X post Mitchell wrote about “Contend”: Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. – JudePolicies that could eventually muzzle the Scriptures. Satanic delusions running rampant on social media. A growing hostility towards Christianity, globally. And time that is running out. Now is the hour to contend. “Tease this out for me. … Why did you say policies that could eventually muzzle the Scriptures, satanic delusions running rampant on social media, growing hostility towards Christianity?” Howerton asks.Mitchell, acknowledging that his answer will likely “stir up a bit of trouble,” bluntly explains what he means by policies that could “muzzle the Scriptures”: “There are ideologies and certain political streams that, if left unchecked, they will pass legislation and laws, I think, that would inadvertently muzzle the Scriptures.” “It will get to the point where those who are faithful in gospel proclamation will be considered preaching things that will be hailed as hate speech and illegal,” he continues, “and they will threaten us to say we’ll remove your 501(c)(3); we’ll shut down your church if you preach this way.” If this happens, Mitchell warns preachers will be forced to make “a tough decision” — “be faithful to proclamation or capitulate to that kind of pressure.” “I’m watching that happen right now in real time in other countries, and I feel like it’s encroaching on the West,” he warns. Mitchell then turns to his warning about “satanic delusions running rampant on social media.” “Right now as I’m talking to you, there are people on social media who claim the name of God, but they are heralding doctrines of demons — seducing spirits that are leading people astray in the name of God,” he tells Howerton. He highlights the growing popularity of “spiritualism,” which he exposes as religious “syncretism” — a blending of distinct religious belief systems into a new and heretical practice.He gives the example of “people merging crystals and mystics and psychic behavior … with the kingdom.”“There is a syncretism I see on social media amongst people who don’t even know … they’re being used by the enemy to lead people astray, and then those who are direct pawns of the devil who are willingly leading people astray,” Mitchell explains. “And these delusions are running rampant so bad, and I’m watching a generation being carried astray by these delusions, Josh. And the thing about it is that if we don’t know the Scriptures, we won’t be able to determine that this is heresy packaged eloquently.” He then turns to his final warning in the X post: the “growing hostility towards Christianity.” “There is another monotheism that is almost an antichrist monotheism. It is one of the fastest-growing ideologies in the world, and there are fringes of that ideology that is radical and hostile towards Christianity,” says Mitchell, noting that he’s “talking about radical Islam.” “There are people who for the sake of inclusion think that we are doing people good by allowing that ideology to … infiltrate and invade our political sphere and our social sphere,” he says. But this “inclusivity” comes at an enormous cost. Mitchell fears “we will keep giving away seats in office and we will keep giving away seats in various legislatures across the country until the day comes where that ideology has enough political power … to introduce Sharia law in America.” “Oftentimes, the past is a good predictor of what’s going to happen in the future. We’re talking about an ideology that has conquered the East, has conquered most of North Africa,” he warns.“Now it’s encroaching on our shores. To talk like this — they will say we are closed-minded and we are hateful and we are bigoted — at the expense of not contending and not taking a stand, not praying. Our children and our grandchildren will suffer.” “They will suffer the consequence of our complicit nature right now if the church in America, in the West, does not wake up and realize the infiltration of what the enemy is doing through politics, through social media, right under our nose to hijack from our country what I think an ideology that is incompatible with Western fundamentals and incompatible with Christianity,” he warns. Mitchell acknowledges people will hate both him and Howerton for speaking about the dangers of radical Islam, but he knows a day could come when those same naysayers seek out the very warnings they’re issuing today. “Ten years from now, 15 years from now, they will be underneath … the tyranny of that ideology, and then they will go on YouTube and search for my messages and they will search for yours, but by that time it would be too late,” he says. “Now is the hour to vote right, pray right, stand right, contend right — all the things to hold back that invasion as long as we could, and if we don’t do that right now, I feel like we are going to just invite the devil in.” To hear the full interview, watch the video above. Join BlazeTV+ and start watching Josh today at blazetv.com/JOSH. Use promo code JOSH to get $20 off your subscription.