Like the sons of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32), we must be aware of the times. Throughout Scripture, the children of Israel recounted God’s goodness by bringing them out of Israel and performing miracles. So bear with me as I recount an important milestone we just passed, thank God for His goodness and announce my newest book, God and Cancel Culture, which I just finished.
On Aug. 5, 1975, the first issue of Charisma came off the press. I was a 24-year-old newspaper reporter who published the magazine for a large church in Orlando. Six years later we became independent and started what is now Charisma Media in the summer of 1981, now just over 40 years ago.
If you’ve followed Charisma magazine over the years, you know that we have often done something special on the magazine’s anniversary. Instead, I’m “celebrating” by sharing my thoughts with you.
My vision over the years has been to encourage people to experience the power of the Spirit. First it was only through Charisma, but over the years as the Lord opened doors (and as we perceived there was a need in the body of Christ) we’ve published eight different magazines as well as produced the Modern English Version of the Bible and more than 2,000 books, 17 of which sold enough copies to appear on the New York Times bestseller list.
Today by God’s grace, Charisma Media is thriving. As technology has changed the publishing industry, the company has launched many digital products, including the Charisma Podcast Network, which in mid-2021 had 65 million downloads and an audio version of Charisma. Our newest venture is Charisma Plus, a versatile streaming platform to communicate “the power of the Holy Spirit” in a new way to a new generation.
In the past few years, I’ve written several books myself. My newest book, God and Cancel Culture, deals with how dangerous this new trend is to religious freedoms and to our very way of life. Cancel culture is about much more than someone losing their Twitter account. It’s about anti-Christian forces trying to cancel the biblical perspective from our national life.
I sound the alarm through this book on how each of us must take up the battle, not with guns, but by boldly raising our voices to push back against the cancel culture before it’s too late. Standing strong for biblical truth is only possible if we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
God and Cancel Culture, which releases Sept. 7, the day after Labor Day, speaks profoundly and prophetically about where America is spiritually and culturally—and what the future holds for society, the church and each of us personally. I document how the push toward cancel culture is part of a bigger effort toward shifting our country to accept leftism and eventually communism.
Many Americans, including Christians and other conservatives, barely recognize what’s hitting them. I pray my book will help provide answers. In a way, I believe this is the most important book I’ve written. To get out the word, I’ve started a new podcast with the same title: God and Cancel Culture. The new podcast will include, over time, the 22 Strang Report podcasts I used in the book, actual interviews with leaders who help me put this problem into perspective. Each includes a great deal of information not contained in the book itself.
I hope you’ll listen on any podcast platform. I find it easiest on our new Charisma Plus app or charismapodcastnetwork.com.
The book will be available in many channels after the release date. Until then, you can pre-order it now on amazon.com; search for either Stephen Strang books or for God and Cancel Culture. They will charge you and send the book on its release date, Sept. 7, 2021. You can also find the book at my own website, stevestrangbooks.com.
The call God has on my life is not only to report on what is happening in the body of Christ but to be a watchman on the wall. That’s what this new book is about. I believe strongly in the message of this book, so I’m trying to get the word out to my Charisma family—and that includes you.
Stephen Strang is founding editor of Charisma and host of the Strang Report on the Charisma Podcast Network. His new book, God and Cancel Culture, releases Sept. 7.
This article was excerpted from the June-July issue of Charisma magazine. If you don’t subscribe to Charisma, click here to get every issue delivered to your mailbox. During this time of change, your subscription is a vote of confidence for the kind of Spirit-filled content we offer. In the same way you would support a ministry with a donation, subscribing is your way to support Charisma. Also, we encourage you to give gift subscriptions at shop.charismamag.com, and share our articles on social media.
Stephen Strang