TV survivalist Bear Grylls, best known for “Man vs. Wild,” believes most churches have sanitized their messages to the point of being unrecognizable to Jesus Himself.
The 48-year-old British former Special Forces soldier is not your typical Christian and he knows it.
“I think Jesus would really struggle with 99% of churches nowadays,” Grylls told The Christian Post.
“Our job in life is to stay close to Christ and drop the religious, drop the fluff, drop the church if you need to because that means so many different things to different people anyway,” he said. “Keep the bit of church which is about community and friends and honesty and faith and love. All the masks, performances, music and worship bands and all of that sort of stuff — I don’t think Christ would recognize a lot of that.”
The husband and father of three sons explained that the church has replaced the realness and ruggedness of Jesus with religious language and a lack of honesty.
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“Look at the early Church. It was a roomful of people eating and drinking and doubting and struggling and arguing,” he said.
“Probably most of the people in the congregation have substance abuse, and probably most of their congregations struggle with porn and all that sort of stuff,” he said.
“What a relief it is when a pastor can stand up and go, ‘Welcome to the hospital, folks. Here we go. I’m just standing alongside you on the road, failing our way through, but reaching out of desperation for life and love and redemption. Let’s look outwards, and love other people, and we’re in it together,’” he added.
Grylls previously told HTB Church in 2020 that he starts every day on his knees in prayer as he encouraged their congregation from his devotional, “Soul Fuel”:
“There’s nothing He can’t help us through. No cave too dark or no mountain too steep. He’s the Lord of it all. as Jesus said, ‘Be sure of this, that I am with you even to the ends of the earth.’ And this is the way of Christ,” he said in part.
Grylls is sharing how to live a healthy, God-glorifying life in his latest book, “Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Every Day.”
Caleb Parke is the SMG managing editor. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.
