If the Old Man Is Dead, Why Is He Still Cashing the Paycheck?
By The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
At The Craig Bushon Show, we don’t just follow the headlines. We read between the lines to get to the bottom line of what’s really going on. And one of the most uncomfortable truths facing Christianity today is not coming from hostile media, progressive institutions, or secular activists. It is coming from inside the Church itself.
Scripture does not teach that accepting Jesus Christ is merely a spiritual insurance policy. It teaches death. Death to the old self. Death to former allegiances. Death to living primarily for comfort, security, and personal gain.
Yet in modern Christianity, that death is often ceremonial rather than real.
We say we are “new creations,” but we structure our lives as if nothing fundamental has changed. Faith is professed, but allegiance remains intact. Identity is declared, but priorities are untouched.
Nowhere is this contradiction more visible than in how many professing Christians engage with institutions that openly reject, undermine, or promote values fundamentally opposed to biblical truth. Corporations, manufacturers, and organizations that aggressively advance anti-biblical and explicitly anti-Christian ideologies are financially sustained every day by people who claim allegiance to Christ—while saying nothing, doing nothing, and justifying everything with a paycheck.
At some point, this must be said plainly: if your faith never costs you anything, you are not living out the death Scripture describes.
The Apostle Paul did not say the old life was “managed,” “balanced,” or “rebranded.” He said it passed away. That language is not metaphorical comfort; it is categorical separation. A new creation does not quietly coexist with the values that once defined it. It moves in a new direction under a new authority.
Calling Jesus “Lord” is not a sentimental phrase. It is a declaration of governance. A lord commands. A lord directs. A lord claims loyalty. You cannot affirm Christ’s lordship on Sunday and spend the rest of the week strengthening systems that actively oppose His teachings while telling yourself that neutrality is faithfulness.
Neutrality, in this context, is a myth.
Modern culture trains people to believe they can be “professionally neutral” while morally opposed to what their institutions promote. Scripture does not recognize this category. There is no morally neutral ground when it comes to allegiance, authority, and truth. When Christians remain silent while their workplace or industry advances values that contradict biblical teaching, they are not standing still; they are moving in the direction of least resistance.
Silence is not prudence. It is complicity.
One of the most revealing indicators of this problem is the absence of any visible distinction. Christians are not called to withdraw from the world, but they are called to be set apart within it. When believers work inside institutions that openly reject biblical truth and yet experience no moral tension, no pressure, no cost, and no clear moments of refusal—when their conduct, affirmations, and compliance are indistinguishable from non-believers or even atheists—it raises an uncomfortable question. A new creation does not disappear into an old system without friction. If there is no separation in allegiance, then the transformation Scripture describes has been reduced to a private label rather than a governing reality.
Anti-Christian movements do not survive on ideology alone. They survive on revenue, labor, productivity, and legitimacy. And much of that comes from Christians themselves. When millions of believers continue to work for, invest in, and purchase from organizations that openly mock or undermine Christianity, they provide the scale and insulation that allow those movements to thrive without consequence.
This is not merely an individual moral issue; it is a systemic one. The reason anti-biblical agendas advance so confidently is not because Christians lack numbers, but because they refuse to use leverage. Economic participation is power. When that power is surrendered for the sake of comfort, it becomes fuel for the very forces believers claim to oppose.
Many Christians reassure themselves with familiar refrains: “I’m just doing my job,” “I can’t change the system,” “I need to provide for my family.” Those concerns are real, but they are not morally neutral. Scripture never promised that obedience would be convenient. It promised that it would be costly. When financial security consistently overrides moral conviction, the issue is no longer external pressure but internal allegiance.
This is where the charge of hypocrisy gains credibility.
From the outside, non-believers observe Christians who loudly claim faith while quietly funding and enabling institutions that ridicule that faith. The conclusion they draw is not irrational. Christianity appears performative, selective, and hollow—not because Christ is unworthy, but because His followers seem unwilling to live as though He actually reigns.
Why would anyone want to become a Christian, they ask, if it changes nothing?
That question should unsettle the Church far more than cultural criticism ever could.
Rather than confronting this inconsistency, many believers retreat into a narrative of persecution. It is easier to say “the culture hates us” than to admit that the culture has learned it can ignore Christian convictions because Christians themselves do. When there is no meaningful withdrawal of support—economic, social, or institutional—there is no incentive for change.
The issue is not merely that Christianity is under attack. The issue is that Christianity has become predictable, manageable, and non-threatening to power structures.
That is not how the faith began.
The early Church did not transform the world by blending in. Their confession reordered their economics, their careers, their social standing, and their willingness to suffer loss. Their faith disrupted systems. That is why it spread. That is why it was credible.
This is not an argument for reckless judgment or self-righteous purity. It is an argument for coherence. A believer may stumble. A believer may struggle. But a believer cannot indefinitely live at peace with systems that openly defy the Lord they claim to serve.
The greatest loss in all of this is not political or cultural. It is moral witness. When Christianity becomes indistinguishable from the culture it critiques, its authority evaporates. People do not reject Christ because they have studied Him carefully and found Him lacking; they reject Him because they see no evidence that He changes lives in ways that matter.
If the old self is truly dead, then old loyalties must die with it.
And if your faith never disrupts your income, your career trajectory, your social standing, or your institutional affiliations, then it is fair to ask in what meaningful sense Christ has reordered your life at all.
Bottom line:
Faith that does not change allegiance is not transformation; it is religious branding. And until Christians are willing to live as though Jesus is actually Lord, anti-biblical movements will continue to flourish—funded, legitimized, and protected by the very people who claim to oppose them.
We don’t just follow the headlines. We read between the lines to get to the bottom line of what’s really going on.
Disclaimer:
This op-ed reflects the perspective and analysis of The Craig Bushon Show Media Team. It is intended to encourage critical thinking, personal reflection, and open discussion on matters of faith, culture, and moral responsibility. It does not constitute legal, employment, or financial advice, nor does it single out specific individuals or organizations. Readers are encouraged to examine the issues raised thoughtfully and prayerfully.
