When God Speaks Beyond the Pulpit - From Rocks, Animals, and Outsiders
- Micah Coate
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Upon watching Charlie Kirk’s highly publicized memorial service, political commentator and outspoken evangelical Steve Deace thought to himself that God might be up to something stark but probably needed. Pointing out the public prayers, explicit gospel language, repentance themes, and Christ-centered hope, he argued that Kirk’s memorial revealed something unsettling and provocative: God may be accomplishing His purposes outside—or even in spite of—the institutional church. As a theologically minded believer, Deace isn’t celebrating the church being sidelined; he’s warning it.
Detractors would say that the conservative movement was merely using the public tragedy to advance its own platform. That may be partly true. Yet the reverse may also be true: God could be using unexpected movements and unlikely voices to advance His will.
Consider the recent evolution of Nicki Minaj, one of the first women to have 100+ entries on the Billboard Hot 100. Known for her provocative lyrics, highly sexualized performances, and bold fashion that often embraces glamour and nudity, the Trinidadian rapper has never been viewed as a model of Christian virtue.
Yet, in November of 2025, Nicki brought massive international attention to Christian persecution in Nigeria by speaking out against it at a United Nations–related event. In a tweet she posted, “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand… FREE THE CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA!!!” As she grew closer to the political right, Nicki found herself as a key speaker (escorted by Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika) at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest.
Then, when a church service in Minnesota was broken up by protesters against ICE, she responded in a post-Grammy missive on X, writing, “Any Christian who votes Democrat again is a fool. They’re showing people that it’s OK to disrupt a church during worship… The demons inside of them are so bothered.”
If an immigrant woman of color and rap legend warming up to the Christian right isn’t odd enough, think about the 2015 Bachelorette (week one) reject, Josh Seiter.
He came out as being pansexual in January 2021 and later came out as transgender in 2024. But later that year, he revealed that his publicized coming out (as pansexual and transgender) had been an elaborate hoax—a social experiment. In an interview he said, “I faked being a faker. I pretended to be a pretender,” admitting that, “For the last five months, I’ve been conducting a social experiment online to expose how gullible and how delusional the left is.”
Josh now has 1.6 million followers on Instagram alone, and his 1–2 minute videos, where he engages in dialogue with those on the left, are pure gold. They’re not just objectively funny, but true lessons on how to quickly and logically defeat many leftist positions on abortion, transgenderism, and left-leaning slogans like “trust the science” and “no one is illegal.”
If the Christian saying that “the devil hates nothing more than to be mocked” is true, then few are doing that more today than Josh Seiter. He’s not a philosopher, a professional apologist, or a pastor—I don’t even think he’s a Christian—but he is gay, sadly proving that even a gay man can have more testicular fortitude than many straight trad men.
So, we have a gay conservative influencer entertainingly proving how delusional many leftist stances are and a female rapper who shows way too much skin calling attention to Christian persecution and religious freedom—both being quite vocal for matters close to God’s heart amid the church’s relative silence. Both are raising questions about truth, morality, meaning, and faith in ways that resonate with audiences who may never step inside a church.
Maybe Deace is right. Maybe God is going around the church—using those on the outside to speak in the church’s speechlessness. While it may sound absurd, it wouldn’t really be a new concept for God. More than once, He has used outsiders when insiders grow complacent.
In the Old Testament, it was common for prophets like Amos, Elijah, and Micah to arise outside the religious establishment to rebuke those inside. Scripture often reveals that God is not dependent on religious insiders to speak His truth—He literally used a donkey to warn Balaam and called a foreign pagan ruler (Cyrus the Persian) His “shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28) and “anointed” (Isaiah 45:1).
John the Baptist—whom Jesus called the greatest among those born of women—was not a temple insider but a wilderness preacher clothed in animal skins, calling sinners to repentance. Likewise, Jesus, the God-man, was rejected by religious leaders but was gladly heard by sinners and loyally followed by fishermen.
In my own small and arbitrary evidence, people in this time are being drawn closer to faith in Christ not because of the church necessarily reaching out to them, but because the absurdity of secularism and leftism has left them hollow and without answers. In this vacuum, men like Jordan Peterson, a psychologist and political dissident who himself isn’t even a Christian, have led many people closer to God (I personally know some who have given themselves to Christ as a result of his influence).
The apostle Paul wrote that some people “preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely,” but concludes that “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
The aim here is not to present Steve Deace, Jordan Peterson, Nicki Minaj, or Josh Seiter as models of Christian public theology. Rather, it is to consider whether God may be using unexpected voices to confront the spirit of the age at moments when His church is hesitant to do so. The church’s disobedience does not silence God’s message. Rocks will cry out if others remain silent—not to glorify the rocks, but to awaken His people.
The point is not that God prefers rocks, animals, or outsiders. The point is that God’s glory is unstoppable, and if He seems to be using a fiery talk-show host, a gay conservative, a provocative rapper, and an ornery psychologist, the question becomes unavoidable: how might He use you? As for me—I might prove more effective as a plumber than a pastor, but we’ll see.
But what do you think?
Micah Coate President & Host of Salvation and Stuff
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