When Michael stepped down as lead singer of Newsboys in January of 2025, I, like everyone else was surprised. At that time, only him, his band mates and a few others knew the reasons for the departure, oh yeah, God also knew. Earlier this month, when these allegations were made public, Michael soon went to social media to admit that the allegations were "Largely true." The Christian music world was rocked. Amidst the allegations, a Christian radio network announced that they had succumbed to "Cancel Culture" and were pulling Newsboys and DC Talk from their lineup. To them I say "Shame on you" and I will no longer be supporting your radio stations.
I grew up as a follower of Christ I have now been a follower for 48 years. I grew up during the 70's, 80's and 90's. I lived through all of the Televangelist scandals. That was before "Cancel Culture" was as rampant as it is today though. As a lifetime believer and also a Minister of the Gospel, I do not endorse or support "Cancel Culture" in any way and I'm certain that the Scripture doesn't endorse it either. We can look as far back in Scripture as Adam and Eve to see that this is demonstrably not the case with God. While there are repercussions to our sin and the mistakes we make, God redeems us, redeems our sin and transforms us if we let Him.
Let's consider that story, and a few others, directly from Scripture to see how they play out. Way back in Genesis 1:26-28 we see the creation of man. God had already created the heavens and the earth at this point, and all animals, and although He had said that creation was good, it was still lacking something. Let's jump right in at verse 26: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth," So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Let's quickly look a little further on, noting that after everything God created, He said "it is good." In verse 31 of Genesis 1, we see that God said something different after He created man, it says: "Then God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good." Notice that it was only after God had created mankind in His image that He said it is very good. Creation was good, but it was missing something, the image and likeness of God.
Now, let's shoot over to Genesis 3, I'm not going to quote the entire chapter, but I encourage you to read it for yourself, I will just highlight the key points that I am making. Verse 1 of chapter 3 says "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" The serpent was filled with the devil, this is clear from many places in Scripture, Satan is often described as a serpent. Notice what he does here, he sprinkles some truth in, just enough to make it sound like what God had said, he knows exactly what God had said. Verses 2-3 "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'.'" Notice the progression of the perversion of the word of God, it went from what God said "Do not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, or you will die," to Satan twisting it, and saying that God had said "Any tree", there comes the confusion, to Eve compounding the perversion, perhaps because she didn't get the news from God firsthand, but through her husband, "You shall not eat it, or touch it." Next, in verse 4-5 comes Satan's temptation to Eve "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." More lies, perversion of the Word of God. We know the rest of the story, Eve brings the fruit to Adam, they partake and immediately know the repercussions as God had stated them. Sin had entered creation.
Notice though, their actions had consequences and repercussions that would trickle down and grow throughout the ages. The did not die immediately, God didn't cancel them, instead there were consequences, death was now a thing, and not to mankind alone, everything now dies due to this sin. God set them apart from the garden, and now they had to eat and live by the sweat of their own brow. Before, while they were tasked with caring for creation, they didn't have to do anything to be able to eat or survive, God provided for them completely.
Let's look at another example in the Old Testament. This example is found in 2 Samuel 11 again, I recommend reading the whole chapter, but we will start at verse 2 and read selected verses in the interest of not dragging this out. "The it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold." He inquiries about her and is told that she is the daughter of Eliam , and the wife of Uriah the Hittie, he sends messengers to her, and she comes to him, they lay together, she gets pregnant. David compounds the sin, by trying to trick Uriah into laying with his wife, so that he would believe that the child was his. This doesn't work, so eventually David has Uriah sent out to the front lines, and orders that the troops retreat except Uriah, no one tells him (this is intentional) and Uriah is killed. David was canceled by God, right? Guess again, in Acts 13:22 we see "And when He had removed him (King Saul), He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." God, who is omniscient, knew David's heart, He knew that David would commit multiple sins, including Idolatry, Fornication, Adultery, and Murder. Yet He still calls David a man after His own heart.
There are many more examples Scripture is littered with them. Peter, Paul. I told you about the examples when I was growing up, although I didn't cite them by name, the great reformer Martin Luther made some really bad anti-sematic statements, but none of these people from Scripture were canceled by God, and even many of our modern-day examples weren't canceled by God or even by the world, or other Christians. Scripture is very clear about this: "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." -Romans. Read that first word again ALL. You, me, everyone that ever has lived, or will live, except Jesus. That is why His blood can cleanse and redeem us, why His sacrifice is enough, Once and For All, but in order for that to be true and for us to be redeemed and found blameless, we must repent and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. We must put Him on so that God the Father looks at us and sees Christ.
When we partake in "Cancel Culture" as believers, we make ourselves Judge, Jury and Executioner. A place that none of us has the right to assume. Christ said to the Pharisees who wanted Him to condemn the woman at the well "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Notice that the only one who had that right did not do so. That should speak volumes to us. I don't know Michael Tait's heart; I do know that he has done a lot of good through his words and using his talents to further the kingdom. I have read his very public apology; I know that he has sought treatment and has been clean and sober for 6 months. I believe he is sincere in these things; he even stated that he prays that no one loses their faith or rejects the salvation of God because he fell short of God's Glory (As we all do, every day). Will there be further consequences in the legal arena? I don't know, we will have to wait and see, however, I do know from the examples cited above, bad acts do not and should not negate all of the good that one does, We don't have that right. If someone is repentant, and shows that they are working to change, let's rally around them, not reject them.
I'm sure glad that God didn't "cancel me" aren't you? Let's choose the same path.
Blessings,
Rev. Michael
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