This Is Wrong! Stand Up, Church!': Pastor's Fiery Sermon Against 'Wimpy' Activists, Abortion, Gay Clery and Christians' 'Silence

A California pastor took aim in a recent sermon at Christians' silence amid what he believes to be a government assault on religious liberty and the First Amendment, imploring his congregation to speak truth.

"The ACLU and all these groups come to take Christ out of Christmas and 'You've got to take Christian out of [schools] and they're so wimpy," Pastor Shane Idleman of Westside Christian Fellowship in Lancaster, California, recently said from the pulpit. "We should be able to hold the line and say, 'Nope, not on our watch.' My Lord and savior said do business until he returns."

Idleman went on to say that, until God returns, he plans to speak his truth, and he's imploring other Christians to do the same.

"Until he returns I'm going to say grown men should not share bathrooms with girls. I don't care if you're in North Carolina, South Carolina or Alaska — that's wrong," he said. "So, the church should be the voice of reason."

The preacher continued, "We need to stop murdering millions of babies. We need to stop ordaining gay clergy. This is wrong! Stand up, church!"

Watch Idleman's remarks below:

Idleman also invoked the First Amendment and the ongoing debate of the concept of the separation of church and state — a term that he correctly said is "not in the Constitution" and that is rooted in a letter that Thomas Jefferson once wrote to a Baptist congregation.

Rather than giving the government the power to restrict religious views, he said that the First Amendment attempts to protect people of faith, saying that it was written so the government "would stay out of it and let the church be the conscience of the nation."

"They are preventing the free exercise thereof. So, the very thing that was designed to protect the church is now destroying her," Idleman continued. "Why? Because the pulpit is silent."

The pastor urged people to abandon a "wimpy mindset" that leads many to avoid engaging in these cultural debates, imploring believers to turn to prayer and fasting, while warning that additional battles are on the horizon.

When asked by TheBlaze to share what motivated the sermon, Idleman offered up a statement.

"I believe that we can be both loving and truthful," he said, calling for prayer and for pastors to speak truth. "How can we warn if we won't confront? How can we correct if we won't challenge? How can we contend for the faith if we won't question lifestyles that oppose it."

Idleman has made headlines in the past for his views about guns among other issues.

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