When the apostle Paul walked into Athens, he didn’t find a city of atheists. He found a city drowning in religion with altars on every corner, temples to every god imaginable and an educated class debating philosophy in the streets. Yet Paul looked at all of it and essentially said: You don’t know God at all.
Sound familiar?
In a recent episode of The Bryce Crawford Podcast, Crawford delivered what he calls his biggest warning to the American church — drawing a striking parallel between ancient Athens and modern America.
The message is both convicting and urgent.
Religious, But Not Right With God
Paul’s words in Acts 17:22 cut to the heart of the problem: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” He wasn’t complimenting them. He was diagnosing them.
Crawford draws a connection between what was happening then and what we see in our current culture. “We got a lot of people that are worshiping a whole lot of other things that want to be a good moral person… We got a whole lot of religious people but not enough laid-down lovers for Jesus.”
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America claims Christianity by the millions — on census forms, in social media bios, in political speeches. But Crawford argues that claiming the label and following the Lord are two very different things.
The Athenians had an altar to the “unknown God.” Crawford contends that in many ways, Jesus has become America’s unknown God, too.
The Lullaby Putting the Church to Sleep
Perhaps the most haunting moment in the episode comes from a story Crawford shares about a missionary woman from the underground church of Iran — someone who risked being “beaten, raped, and murdered” for her faith. After retiring to California, she and her husband moved back to Iran within five years.
Her reason? “America is being rocked to sleep by a lullaby of entertainment.”
A Kenyan friend echoed the sentiment: “It is so hard to hear God in America… there’s so much noise here. Whereas when I’m back in Africa, I can hear God so clearly.”
Crawford’s conclusion is sobering: Satan doesn’t need to tempt Americans into outright sin. He just needs to keep them busy — scrolling, streaming, consuming, distracted.
Lukewarm Is Not a Middle Ground — It’s the Devil’s Territory
Revelation 3 warns against being lukewarm in faith. Crawford reframes it sharply: “Lukewarmness really doesn’t exist. Satan owns the fence of lukewarmness. So, either you love Jesus, or you don’t.”
Modern idols, such as money, status, social media, celebrities — don’t come with warning labels. That’s the point. “Here’s the nasty thing about deception,” Crawford warns. “You don’t know you’re being deceived when you’re being deceived.”
There Is Still Time
Crawford also reminds viewers that there is still time to move beyond lukewarm living and enter into God’s grace. Acts 17:30 reminds us that “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.”
We are still living in that window. “You and I have the opportunity right now to acknowledge maybe we are being deceived,” Crawford urges. “Maybe America is being distracted by the devil. We need to repent, turn from that, follow Jesus.”
The door to freedom is still open. The question is whether we’re too distracted to walk through it.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the upcoming book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
