Offense has become one of the most persistent spiritual dangers facing the church, and author John Bevere says it is spreading faster now than at any point in his ministry. In a recent episode of The John Bevere Podcast, he said offense is no longer a private struggle but a cultural force shaping how believers think, act, and engage online. “There is absolutely a deadly, deadly trap that millions are falling into,” he said.
Bevere, joined by his son Arden, explained that social media has intensified the problem, giving the enemy a broader platform to inflame division. “People want clicks. So you’re going to amp something up,” he said, noting that gossip has become “a tasty truffle,” easy to consume and quick to poison the heart. He warned that the algorithm continually feeds whatever keeps a person offended, creating a cycle of distortion and spiritual blindness.
Bevere ties this dynamic directly to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24, where the Lord said “many will be offended” before His return. Offense, he explained, follows a progression: offense leads to betrayal, which leads to hatred—defined in Scripture as a total vacuum of love. “An offended brother is harder to win than a strong city,” he said, quoting Proverbs, adding that an offended heart builds emotional walls that imprison the one who creates them.
A key distinction Bevere emphasized is the difference between walls and boundaries. Walls shut people out and choke off compassion; boundaries protect while preserving love. “If you put up a wall, you’re imprisoning yourself,” he said. Healthy boundaries may be necessary, especially in abusive situations, but they cannot replace the biblical command to forgive.
Throughout the episode, Bevere returned to the spiritual cost of refusing forgiveness. Citing passages from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Ephesians and Colossians, he stressed that Scripture makes no allowance for holding onto bitterness. “A person that cannot forgive is a Christian that doesn’t realize what they’ve been forgiven of,” he said. His own story illustrates the point. Decades ago, he carried a deep offense against a spiritual authority figure who wounded him. “I was tormented,” he said. “I saw everything wrong. I was in darkness.” Freedom came only when he chose to pray for the man and bless him.
These themes form the backbone of Bevere’s best-selling book The Bait of Satan, now more than 30 years old and still one of the most influential resources on overcoming offense. With more than six million copies sold, the book explains why offense is one of the enemy’s most effective strategies and how believers can break free from its grip. Bevere said this generation needs the message more urgently than the first one that read it. “This message is more relevant today than it was 31 years ago,” he noted.
The episode closes with a challenge for believers to refuse to carry offense into the next season of their lives. Bevere urged listeners to forgive from the heart, pray for those who hurt them and align their lives with Jesus’ command to love one another. “Hanging on to the hurt is not what’s going to liberate you,” he said. “It’s embracing the truth and choosing to forgive the way Jesus forgave you.”
For those struggling with bitterness, Bevere offers a simple starting point: choose forgiveness today and let God restore clarity where offense has clouded judgment. His teaching, both in the podcast and in The Bait of Satan, offers a path toward freedom that many believers need now more than ever.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
