Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

The year 2025 is coming to a close, and with that are going to be some significant changes with Worldview Warriors and what is being done. For those who have been following Jason’s “return” to the scene, it seems the ministry is firing back up, but my role in the ministry is going to change. For 12 years, I have been a blogger for the ministry, and at the end of this month, I will publish my final blog post for the time being. I will still be involved and will continue writing, and I will share more of that at the close of the month, but as I close out my weekly blog, I want to leave you all with two critical messages for our day and age.

Those who follow me know that I am not one who readily minces words. I just say it just as I see it and don’t have much of a filter in a very “over-sensitive” culture that has trained people to believe that their emotions are their literal identity and anything that would make them feel bad is an attack on their person. I cannot tell you how many times I will address the tactics and actions people are doing, and they think I am attacking them personally. It gets comical at times, but it’s also frustrating.

Making emotions our identity has led to some excessively weak people who completely crumble just at the word “no,” and it’s been supported by taking the Christian command of hospitality, love, and gentleness and twisting it on its head into what some have called “The 11th Commandment.” What is this unwritten commandment that seems to hold all precedence above any other command? “Thou shalt be nice.” Let’s define this by how it is practiced and used.

Being “nice” today is very much like being “tolerant.” You have to be open-minded to all opinions, treating anyone’s ideas with equal weight, except for any ideas that come from God. Because that, by definition, is not “nice.” You cannot say anything that would dare hurt anyone’s feelings or say they are wrong. Everything must not be merely sugar-coated but made of nothing but sugar. If someone actually wants to kill you and hates absolutely everything you stand for, you cannot stand your ground, but you must love and accept them and let them into your circles and home, and you must not speak against their beliefs or lifestyles. That is what being “nice” means in how it is being applied. No matter what anyone else says or does, the Christian is to be the doormat, a softie, a pansy.

C.T. Studd wrote an excellent essay to counter this: “The Chocolate Soldier.” This whole 11th Commandment of “thou shalt be nice” and “tolerant” is telling us that we need to be made of chocolate – a dandy, a lollipop, taste good, feel good, always hospitable, but never sour, rough, challenging, firm. This is a chocolate soldier. A weak, effeminate man who melts with the slightest amount of heat. We are in a battle, the greatest battle that has been going on for millennia. A battle for truth, a battle for souls, and God does not build his men with chocolate.

Studd went on to describe several men who were made of chocolate. Reuben and Meroz were rebuked in Deborah’s song for their lack of support in the war against Sisera. Balaam sought the wealth of the world and taught Israel to sin because he didn’t have the guts to do it himself. Demas left the faith to seek his own pleasure. Mark quit on Paul early in his ministry but then chose to quit being a chocolate, became Peter’s primary translator, and then a good friend of Paul’s. An old prophet deceived a man of God who rebuked Jeroboam for his idols. The ten spies melted like chocolate before the giants of Canaan and drove the rest of Israel to melt with them. Jonah ran away from God to avoid the task given to him.

Each of these men and tribes showcased at least one time of cowardice, weakness, or softness, and the end result was sin. Disobedience, defiance, worldliness, and frankly, an easy trophy for the enemy. Satan and this world LOVE chocolate soldiers; they’re so easy to devour. There is another key characteristic in this description: cowardice. The “chocolate soldier” is a coward, afraid, weak, pathetic, and caves and surrenders to the opinions and pressures of men and this world easily. And the coward is the first in the list of those who will not enter the kingdom of heaven in Revelation 21:8.

But we are not called to be “nice.” We are called to be men of actual substance. Studd describes what a real man of God looks like with many examples: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Nathan, Daniel, John the Baptist, and Paul, not to mention Jesus of Christ. There was no sugar or chocolate in them. And when there was, that was when sin came out (except for Jesus, of course). But there was no softness, no sugar, no “niceness,” no “tolerance” as this world wants of us. Instead, there is the rock-hard, firm resolve that changes this world. There is a refusal to back down without any regard to how it is received, and the only care is to be obedient to what God said to say and to do. Now, in this, there is the warning to be innocent as doves, so we are to do all we do without sin. But beware, our culture and many in the church consider standing your ground to be “toxic,” and to say “That does not belong in the church” to be “inhospitable” and “unloving.” And how dare we actually tell a professing Christian they are in error, let alone in heresy and outside the faith, when they have denied, directly or indirectly, Christ, the work of Christ, or even the necessity for Christ. It’s one thing to pursue Christ and be wrong. But when someone is intentionally teaching something in error and has no regard for correction, regardless of which “tone” is used, that must be called out.

Now, to be clear, every one of us has chocolate in us. Every one of us has those moments where we put our guard down and join the “chocolate brigade.” David did, Jonah did, Mark did, but they hated it and repented and rejoined God’s army properly. As for me, it doesn’t take long to see that I am not easily made of chocolate when it comes to truth, but I also know myself in other areas where I certainly have too much chocolate in me. We are to be kind and loving and draw people to Christ, but NEVER are we to be “nice” and cowardly. We must make a stand and not back down, telling this world, “We aren’t going anywhere.” And that is what we are seeking to do with Worldview Warriors. Even as I step down from blogging soon, it only means my job description is changing, not my position or my resolve. I’ll explain more on that in the upcoming couple of weeks.

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