The Hidden Meanings (And Trauma) Behind Evangelical Church Language  🔗 **Source:** [The Hidden Meanings (And Trauma) Behind Evangelical Church Language](https://share.snipd.com/episode/b63248ba-b33f-459e-a8c2-93a5275067f8) ## Highlights - **How Evangelical Code Words Mask Political Systems** - Evangelical code words package political and theological systems into comforting spiritual language. - Jeremy Steele explains these phrases feel normal to insiders because they're learned from childhood and tied to safety and belonging. Transcript: Jeremy Steele So this episode is about evangelical code words, the phrases that sound harmless or spiritual or wise or patriotic or, you know, quote, family friendly, until you realize they're Carrying entire political and psychological systems and theological systems underneath them. And the strange thing is that most people inside evangelical culture don't even realize it's happening, right? If you grew up in that space, a lot of times it's not something that's like right there on the surface. It's so programmed in, you don't realize what's happening. Because when you hear these phrases since childhood, like they stop sounding extreme, they start sounding normal. I mean, comforting even, which is why so many people leave evangelicalism and suddenly have this weird, delayed realization. Like, oh, that sermon wasn't just about God, or that youth group lesson wasn't just about morality, or that worship conference wasn't just worship. It was also about obedience, authority, gender, fear, nationalism, power, control, and basically who counts as a good person. And what this does also for people that are outside of evangelicalism is they hear these code words and they don't understand what's underneath them, just like many people who grew Up in that tradition don't, and might read them in the wrong way. So this is, I mean, this is one of the most effective things evangelicalism ever did, right? Making these extreme theological claims and political ideology sound like spiritual wisdom. And, you know, once church language gets emotionally attached to safety and belonging and family and heaven and morality and like identity, like questioning those things and even Unearthing the deeper meanings, you know, it starts feeling dangerous. That's why these phrases matter. Because sometimes this code word or this dog whistle also isn't just internally with evangelicals. It's, it isn't hidden from outsiders. ([Time 0:01:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/012fb40e-c8aa-43c1-90a3-1272c53b4e16)) - **Spiritual Warfare Turns Politics Into Cosmic Battles** - Spiritual warfare reframes ordinary disagreements as cosmic battles influenced by angels and demons. - Steele cites Frank Peretti novels and Ephesians' armor imagery as examples that turn politics and criticism into perceived spiritual corruption. Transcript: Jeremy Steele So I'm sure that you heard the term spiritual warfare, and it sounds dramatic because it is dramatic, right? The phrase trains people to interpret ordinary disagreement through this invisible cosmic battle narrative. When I grew up, there was a really popular book. Actually, it's a two-part series by an author named Frank Peretti called This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. And in the book, everything that's happening in the world, in the real world, is being influenced by angels and demons. And so you get this like, angelic demonic warfare that is directly attached to the actions of humans. And that's really the core concept behind spiritual warfare is that there are these beings, these heavenly beings that are directly influencing what's going on in the world right Now. And so, you know, things like political disagreement becomes spiritual corruption, like the demon has won the day, or there is a spiritual fight going on. Social change is also demonic influence. And criticism becomes spiritual persecution. You know, so then your aunt, who is posting about pronouns on Facebook, isn't just annoying. Like, is feeling like she is participating in fighting back against the collapse of civilization that is coming under satanic influence. I remember there is this passage in Ephesians that would be quoted from Ephesians chapter six. Our struggle is not against spiritual, is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. And it has that armor of God metaphor where you're supposed to put on the breastplate of righteousness and all of that. And I remember we did a many, many weeks study just on this armor of God and protecting ourselves against demons. And so this term, spiritual warfare, creates an entire world in which the people who are using this terminology live. And so that's something that has been programmed deep on the inside of evangelicals. ([Time 0:04:26](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0786f347-4df2-49d1-83eb-ca8618503bf7)) - **Personal Memory Of Armor Of God Study** - Steele recounts his armor of God study experience to show immersion in spiritual warfare teaching. - He remembers multiweek church classes focused on protecting against demons using Ephesians imagery. Transcript: Jeremy Steele When I grew up, there was a really popular book. Actually, it's a two-part series by an author named Frank Peretti called This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. And in the book, everything that's happening in the world, in the real world, is being influenced by angels and demons. And so you get this like, angelic demonic warfare that is directly attached to the actions of humans. And that's really the core concept behind spiritual warfare is that there are these beings, these heavenly beings that are directly influencing what's going on in the world right Now. And so, you know, things like political disagreement becomes spiritual corruption, like the demon has won the day, or there is a spiritual fight going on. Social change is also demonic influence. And criticism becomes spiritual persecution. You know, so then your aunt, who is posting about pronouns on Facebook, isn't just annoying. Like, is feeling like she is participating in fighting back against the collapse of civilization that is coming under satanic influence. I remember there is this passage in Ephesians that would be quoted from Ephesians chapter six. Our struggle is not against spiritual, is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. And it has that armor of God metaphor where you're supposed to put on the breastplate of righteousness and all of that. And I remember we did a many, many weeks study just on this armor of God and protecting ourselves against demons. ([Time 0:04:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fac31e07-f138-4074-9ada-a0400088a2a0)) - **Rebuke Converts Disagreement Into Exorcism** - 'Rebuke' expands from confronting possession to dismissing ideas, media, and people as demonic. - Steele notes events where leaders 'rebuke' cultural trends, turning disagreement into performed exorcism-like acts. Transcript: Jeremy Steele It's sort of related to all of this. It's rebuke. And actually, there was an event in DC with a bunch of Christian nationalists. And one of the speakers talked about rebuking all of the forces that are influencing people being more acceptive of queer people and all of the, all of the talking points. And, but rebuke is, is a huge deal because it is this church language that is referring to confronting spiritual evil, but it's not just confronting it. It's the idea that you can, by saying, I rebuke this in the name of Jesus, all of the demons are expelled from whatever it is. This is also a word that is used when people are saying that somebody is like possessed by the evil, by a demon, and you're going to rebuke that demon in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I'm going to rebuke them. Hallelujah. I'm going to cast them out in the name of Jesus. But this expands outside of just demon possession to everything. Since everything is part of this spiritual warfare, like ideas get rebuked, movies get rebuked, politicians get rebuked, history books get rebuked, therapists get rebuked, right? Because they're all being influenced by satanic, demonic forces. ([Time 0:08:38](https://share.snipd.com/snip/759b82a6-a885-4c32-b128-9651a6fdd2a8)) - **Patriotic Phrases Become Christian Nationalist Dog Whistles** - Nationalist language like 'One Nation Under God' functions as a dog whistle for aligning government with conservative evangelical Christianity. - Steele explains 'under God' shifts from generic patriotism to a demand that state law mirror a narrow theology. Transcript: Jeremy Steele And this is a really interesting one where like one nation under God comes into play, right? And now in most of the world, Americans will hear this phrase as like generic patriotism. But when we talk about Christian nationalist culture, under God means under a very specific thing, right? Under God becomes a way to talk about being aligned, the government being aligned with a very specific, very conservative view of Christianity. And we need to bring the nation back under the authority of God. And by that, they mean basically legislating evangelical theology into America. And this is built on an idea where you are supposed to sort of submit yourself to God. You're supposed to try to do God's will. And you should submit yourself to the authorities in your life. And so this One Nation Under God that comes off as like generic patriotism is actually like a dog whistle. It is actually, it carries this weight and meaning that is not clear from the outside. And when you are steeped in that culture, because they have taught you that this conservative, evangelical version of Christianity is Christianity, then when they talk about America Coming under God, one nation under God, you just automatically understand that they're meaning conservative Christianity. So it's not recognizing pluralism, right? It's not like shared democracy. It is their cultural rules, what they have said are right and wrong. And the phrase becomes dangerous because it shifts the word God from meaning like a general starts meaning our political tribe aligned with our very narrow view of our one religion And sacred text so i guess i don't know to me it's like funny how the term christian nation like never even includes Christians they disagree with. Like under God is not even, not even just the Christian God. Okay. Then there's this idea of rededication. So everybody grew up in evangelicalism knows that like when you get off track or when you become backslidden, right? When you stop playing by all of the rules that they've given you, you need to rededicate, right? You need to recommit your life to Jesus after like spiritually drifting away. And often that's at like an altar call or that's at a church service or, you know, and you go forward and you say a prayer and you commit to God, to doing all the things you've been told are Right and wrong. But when we move into this Christian nationalism space, they actually talk about rededicating America. And again, from the outside, it doesn't sound that big of a deal, but really on the inside, what that term, when you apply that to nationalism, when you apply that to a governmental system, It's actually saying the governmental system has drifted away from God and has been in rebellion against God, which something I didn't talk about is when you drift away from God, you Are going to experience God's judgment. God is going to punish you. Depending on which stream you are, you might be in danger of hell. And so when that all gets applied to government, it means that, okay, so we have drifted as a nation away from God in rebellion, sin, all of that. And that carries with it the idea that God is going to punish us or God is punishing us right now. So basically, the nation starts getting treated like a Christian convert who has backslidden after youth camp and made out with their partner. The language, I mean, this language, it sounds emotional and spiritual, but underneath it, it is a claim about national identity and ownership. This is tied in to the way that the evangelical culture actually ties America to Israel, right? The Israel in the Bible is this chosen nation. They are special and set apart by God, and they're saying that America is also that chosen nation. And so you look at Israel, you see the things that God said to Israel, those apply directly, one for one, literally to America, which is just made up, right? So this is all very potent. The power of this sort of revival language it makes political ideology feel sacred instead of debatable and so I mean I guess I guess what they're trying to do is like have nations go down To the altar and cry. ([Time 0:11:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/23044229-f257-474b-b89b-19c16390f50d)) - **Rededication Language Sanctifies Political Revival** - 'Rededication' reframed at national scale treats a country like a backslidden convert facing divine judgment. - Steele links revival language to claims that America must be recommitted to a single religious vision. Transcript: Jeremy Steele This phrase is really interesting because it plays on that Israel narrative, right? And there's all this word about returning to the Father and the God of our fathers, God making covenants with them, all of that in the Bible. But it's also something that they tie to a false narrative that says like all of the founding fathers of america were christian and uh and that's like just completely dismissed by legitimate Historians that's not the case but it um but by doing that um when you combine those two things, right, it is like this country used to belong to people like us, right? And God has claimed this country. This country belongs to God, but we have lost control of it. And so it turns like Christianity from religion practiced within America into the thing that America supposedly is, right? And by Christian, Christianity, I mean, evangelical conservative Christianity, right? That is what America supposedly is. That's what it was from the beginning. And so once the nation gets like framed as belonging to one religion, everyone else starts sounding like they're a guest here, right? They should abide by our rules. And, know, nothing says religious freedom like spiritually claiming the entire country. Because I mean, like, this is when they talk about religious freedom, like, okay, we will move on. ([Time 0:18:33](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d9a1dea7-8d60-48f6-b92a-260fdea717a3)) - **Biblical Values Used To Legitimize Policy** - 'Biblical values' gets weaponized to justify specific contemporary policies as divinely mandated. - Steele argues this flips interpretation: policy positions are presented as direct translations of scripture rather than debated ethical choices. Transcript: Jeremy Steele So you have a biblical values, right? And biblical values sounds, you know, vague until you realize that it almost somehow, you know, always lands on the exact same Fox News policy positions. The phrase, returning to biblical values, right, creates this impression that one very specific political worldview, right, is simply what God says. Because the biblical values are not top down where we take the value and we try to find how to live that out. It is flopped in nationalism to where now it is used to support the political policies and actions. But on a personal level, these biblical values are programmed in to you, like all of the things that they told you the Bible said. And going against those things that they said are right and wrong, and they said that was what the Bible said, isn't just doing something different, experimenting, evaluating something. It is contradicting the Bible itself, contradicting God, putting you in danger of hell. And so, there is this compounded trauma that exists even after you leave evangelicalism, because you've been programmed in that these are the biblical values that you should follow. And there is this emotional response that is just, it's almost involuntary that you have to through. And then you have this language of sin. And this, I think, is one of the most potent and to unravel personally because sin was characterized very specifically and very harshly. And this was very rule-based, very static. These things are sin. If you do this, you are sinning. Where when you read the Bible, especially when you get into the New Testament, sin is really not spoken of in these super specific ways. Jesus doesn't come up and say, here are the list of 20 things you should not be doing, right? He says, love God, love other people. His life is not one of like a rule-based system. Sin really in the Bible is more about like getting off track, not being the person that you want to be, not being the best version of yourself. And so when you are in this rule-based system, you start to look for just a different set of rules, right? Because there's this like programmed into thing where sin and obedience are doing these specific things instead of trying to live out these specific values and put more love into the World and less hate into the world, right? Now, when people, so people, when they're from the outside looking in, they don't understand that sin is a word that is very specific and very tied to the right and wrong mentality. And so when somebody like Franklin Graham talks about sin at a political rally, he's not just talking about people getting off track or not being Christian. He's talking about people and the government and politicians not following the exact rules that he has decided are the correct interpretation of the Bible. He has taken the biblical text and decided a list of things that are right and wrong, and when you don't do that, you are sinning. ([Time 0:20:48](https://share.snipd.com/snip/84181306-fc3a-42c9-a423-e735b2afd476)) - **Rule Based Sin Language Causes Lasting Trauma** - Evangelical 'sin' rhetoric is often narrow and rule-based, not the broader biblical concept. - Steele contrasts rule lists taught in churches with Jesus's focus on love and living well, explaining lasting trauma when rules are internalized. Transcript: Jeremy Steele And this, I think, is one of the most potent and to unravel personally because sin was characterized very specifically and very harshly. And this was very rule-based, very static. These things are sin. If you do this, you are sinning. Where when you read the Bible, especially when you get into the New Testament, sin is really not spoken of in these super specific ways. Jesus doesn't come up and say, here are the list of 20 things you should not be doing, right? He says, love God, love other people. His life is not one of like a rule-based system. Sin really in the Bible is more about like getting off track, not being the person that you want to be, not being the best version of yourself. And so when you are in this rule-based system, you start to look for just a different set of rules, right? Because there's this like programmed into thing where sin and obedience are doing these specific things instead of trying to live out these specific values and put more love into the World and less hate into the world, right? Now, when people, so people, when they're from the outside looking in, they don't understand that sin is a word that is very specific and very tied to the right and wrong mentality. And so when somebody like Franklin Graham talks about sin at a political rally, he's not just talking about people getting off track or not being Christian. He's talking about people and the government and politicians not following the exact rules that he has decided are the correct interpretation of the Bible. He has taken the biblical text and decided a list of things that are right and wrong, and when you don't do that, you are sinning. ([Time 0:22:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fb8c2b9f-daf6-4af0-8076-9f56190c5a5f)) - **Separation Language Enforces A Walled Christian Subculture** - 'Worldly' and 'unequally yoked' language enforces a walled Christian subculture and discourages independent thinking. - Steele traces 'unequally yoked' misuse from a business/religious context to rules about dating and isolation. Transcript: Jeremy Steele So I remember growing up and people talked about people being worldly, right? And when you were worldly, you went to R-rated movies, you listened to secular music, maybe you believed in science, maybe you might have gone, oh my gosh, to a yoga class, you know, like, I mean, Beyonce, definitely Worldly. Um, and it meant that, and it was this like reinforcement of a conservative Christian subculture that was being set up that had their own authors, their own musicians, their own politicians, Their own movies, all of that. And to not be worldly meant to stay in this Christian subculture, and there was this fear of what would happen if you listened to one of those things. The demons might come after you if you listen to ACDC, right? And the other thing, though, that happens is it creates this internalized, deep suspicion towards anything outside of this Christian subculture, right? If it's not part of our little walled garden, then what are they trying Um, and, and basically what it does is it short circuits the, the people from evaluating, thinking for themselves, Right? Instead of like, is this thing healthy or good or true or beautiful? It's like, is this, is this part of the approved list inside of our little walled garden if yes great it's good if not it is worldly i need to reject it and so now i don't have to think for myself When i don't have to think for myself that means that somebody else is basically thinking for me and um which can also make it really hard when you leave that world, because there's been A lot of skills around spirituality, um, that you haven't developed because you were told to turn off your brain. And, um, and when it comes to like purity culture, right, any sort of dating relationships, any sort of, um, experimentation sexuality or intimacy, all of that was like the super worldly Thing. And it's why they ended up using this term against that, this term unequally yoked. I'm sure if you grew up, you were told that you should only date Christians. Otherwise, you were unequally yoked. And really, when I was being taught this, it wasn't really just any Christian. It was a conservative evangelical. You needed somebody who also lived in the walled garden, who also knew the list of things that made you go to hell, right? This is really problematic because it is actually in a Bible verse, um, in second Corinthians chapter six, but that, that was not talking about dating relationships. It wasn't talking about marriage relationships. In Corinthians, they were a big metropolitan city and they had all kinds of gods, all kinds of religions. Was a place where massive business deals were done. And a lot of times those business deals required you to go and worship with somebody at their temple to make a sacrifice to their God. And that was sort of the ceiling of the business contract. And what the writer of Second Corinthians is saying is like, no, that you are yoking yourself to another person, another religion. Do not like your business transactions are not worth you violating your religious beliefs and practices and worshiping another God that by the way, really, really helpful idea for Today for politicians. Let's not have a politician that goes against all of our ethical and religious values and support that politician. Don't be unequally yoked. It has nothing to do with dating. And so this like isolation of people from romantic partners that are different than them is a further way of like reinforcing all of this as a norm, as the right place and making you feel Even more suspicious of what is outside of this. ([Time 0:25:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cc04d277-9565-4bed-82ec-9d2232b58669))