Pastor Josh Howerton isn’t mincing words when it comes to the growing number of online personalities who once identified as Christians and now argue that believers should step away from politics. In a recent Live Free reaction episode, Howerton responded to viral comments from former Christian and YouTuber Rhett McLaughlin, who claimed that Jesus’ teachings forbid Christians from pursuing political influence. Howerton said that the argument rests on selective Bible reading, bad theology and what he described as intentional misdirection. “There’s a massive difference between people who stumble into church saying, ‘I don’t want the world anymore,’ and people who are out there evangelizing unbelief,” Howerton said. “If there’s no God over the government, then the government becomes god,” Howerton said, describing how politics takes on religious meaning in secular cultures.