Pulpit Puppet Masters and the Curated Gospel Reclaiming the freedom to choose in an age of manufactured faith
Why does God wait?
He has the power to end every rebellion with a word. He could silence every false teacher, expose every puppet master, and bring every wandering soul home by force. He spoke the universe into existence. He parted seas and raised the dead. Nothing is beyond His reach.
And yet He waits.
He waits for the prodigal to come to his senses in the pigpen. He waits for the adulterous bride to grow tired of her lovers. He waits for you to choose Him freely rather than comply under compulsion.
This is not weakness. This is the most profound strength imaginable: the restraint of omnipotence in the service of love.
The Wooing God
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” — Hosea 2:14
Look at that word: allure. God allures. He woos. He draws. He doesn’t drag.
Israel had played the harlot, chasing after false gods, giving credit to Baal for the grain and wine that God Himself had provided. She had forgotten her first love. And God’s response? Not annihilation. Not forced compliance. He brings her into the wilderness and speaks tenderly to her.
The wilderness is where distractions fall away. Where the false lovers can’t follow. Where it’s just you and God, and you finally have the space to hear His voice again.
Maybe that’s where you are right now. Maybe the curated gospel has left you empty and you’ve wandered into a wilderness you didn’t choose. But God is there. And He’s not there to condemn you. He’s there to speak tenderly, to allure you back to Himself.
The Patience of the Father
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” — 2 Peter 3:9
The scoffers ask, “Where is this God? If He’s real, why doesn’t He act?”
Peter’s answer: He’s patient. He’s waiting. Not because He’s powerless, but because He’s merciful. Every day that judgment delays is another day of opportunity. Another invitation extended. Another chance for the wanderer to come home.
But here’s what the puppet masters won’t tell you: patience has a limit. The God who waits is also the God who acts. The same Bible that reveals His mercy reveals His justice. The door that stands open today will not stand open forever.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” — Isaiah 55:6
“While He may be found.” “While He is near.” These are not the words of a God who will wait indefinitely. There is a “while.” There is a window. The patience of God is an invitation, not a guarantee.
Why Compulsion Fails
Think about what you actually want from someone who loves you. Do you want forced affection? Coerced loyalty? Programmed devotion?
No. You want to be chosen. Freely. Genuinely. You want someone to look at all their options and say, “I choose you.”
God wants the same thing.
He could program worship into us. He could override our wills and make us love Him. But that wouldn’t be love. It would be robotics. And God is not interested in building machines. He’s building a family. A bride. A people who choose Him because they’ve seen who He is and found Him worthy.
This is why the curated gospel is so dangerous. It doesn’t produce genuine choosing. It produces compliance. It herds people into religious behavior through manipulation, social pressure, fear, or false promises. It fills churches with attenders who never actually chose Jesus Christ. They chose comfort. They chose belonging. They chose a system. But they never chose Him.
And God is not fooled.
The Puppet Master Within
But before we point fingers at the pulpit, we need to look in the mirror.
The puppet masters can only manipulate those willing to be manipulated. The curated gospel only sells to those eager to buy. And our flesh is a ready customer.
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” — 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Notice who is doing the accumulating. Not the false teachers. The people. They seek out voices that tell them what they want to hear. They choose teachers who scratch the itch rather than expose the wound.
We do this. Our flesh does this.
The God who waits is wooing us toward surrender, toward death to self, toward the cross. But our flesh pulls the strings in the opposite direction. Toward comfort. Toward control. Toward a gospel that adds blessing without requiring sacrifice.
We become the puppet masters of our own hearts.
We choose self over God. We choose the crowd over conviction. We choose the easy road over the narrow way. And then we blame the preachers for leading us astray when we were the ones who sought them out.
This is why Joel’s call cuts so deep: “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” Tearing garments is external. It’s theater. It blames circumstances, systems, other people. Rending the heart is internal. It’s ownership. It says, “I chose this. I followed my flesh. I pulled my own strings. And I repent.”
The God who waits is not just waiting for you to leave the puppet masters in the pulpit. He’s waiting for you to dethrone the puppet master in your own chest.
The Contrast
The puppet masters compel. God woos.
The puppet masters manipulate. God invites.
The puppet masters use fear, shame, and social pressure to manufacture conformity. God uses truth, beauty, and sacrificial love to draw genuine devotion.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” — John 6:44
The Father draws. He doesn’t drag. There’s a pull, an attraction, a wooing. The Holy Spirit opens eyes, softens hearts, illuminates truth. But He doesn’t override the will. He enables the choice. He makes genuine choosing possible.
This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” — Matthew 23:37
“I would have… you were not willing.” The God who waits can be refused. The God who woos can be rejected. And that rejection breaks His heart.
The Question for You
Has anyone ever wooed you to Jesus Christ? Or were you just recruited?
Were you drawn by the beauty of who He is, or driven by fear of what happens if you don’t comply? Did someone show you the loveliness of the Savior, or just the benefits of the program?
The curated gospel doesn’t woo. It sells. It markets. It leverages felt needs and cultural anxieties. It promises your best life now, financial blessing, political victory, social acceptance. But it rarely, if ever, simply presents Jesus Christ and lets Him be enough.
Because the puppet masters don’t trust the wooing God. They think He needs their help. They think the gospel needs to be packaged, enhanced, made relevant. They’ve forgotten that Jesus Christ, clearly presented, is Himself the draw.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” — John 12:32
Lifted up. On a cross. Bloody, broken, dying for sinners. That’s the draw. Not programs. Not productions. Not political power. The crucified and risen Christ.
When did you last see Him lifted up like that?
Damascus Road Moment
Saul wasn’t looking for Jesus. He was hunting Christians. But Jesus found him anyway. Not with force, but with light. Not with compulsion, but with a question: “Why are you persecuting me?”
The God who waits met Saul on that road and wooed him from enemy to apostle. That same God is waiting for you.
STOP
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling. — Isaiah 30:15
Stop striving. Stop performing. Stop trying to earn what can only be received. The God who waits is not impressed by your religious activity. He wants your heart. Be still long enough to let Him woo you.
LOOK
“Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith.” — 1 Peter 5:8-9
Look at how you came to faith. Were you wooed or manipulated? Drawn or driven? Did someone lift up Jesus Christ, or did they sell you a program? The lion devours through deception as much as through force. Can you see where you were herded rather than drawn?
LISTEN
“Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” — Joel 2:12-13
Hear the tenderness in that invitation. Return. Not “perform.” Not “prove yourself.” Return. He is gracious. He is merciful. He is slow to anger. He is abounding in steadfast love. This is the God who waits for you. This is the God who woos. Will you hear Him?
LIVE
“Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only TRUE God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” — John 17:3
Today, respond to the wooing rather than the manipulation. Let the religious pressure fall away. Let the political anxiety quiet down. Look at Jesus Christ lifted up. Is He enough? Will you choose Him, not because you have to, but because you’ve seen who He is and found Him worthy? That’s the choice the God who waits is waiting for.
Tomorrow: The Puppet and the String — How did we get here?