Let me literally play the Devil’s advocate here and help him refine his approach to attacking and undermining modern American Christians and Christianity. As a pastor, I’ve personally seen what works, and so I’d offer these tips in helping lead Americans away from God, the Gospel, and the Church.

So, here are my five quick pieces of advice for the Devil to be more effective:

1. MAKE SUNDAY MORNING SPORTS MANDATORY

Most Christian parents have already demonstrated they’ll do whatever youth sports require, so just double down on getting sports to happen on Sunday and particularly, Sunday morning. Keep them thinking that as long as they “catch the service online,” it’s a suitable substitute because they already have the “church attendance doesn’t save you” card in their back pocket. It’s paramount the kids see this modeled and also that you never let families see the long-term consequences of this – until it’s too late. Basically, keep them overly committed to secondary things and loosely connected to the primary.

2. KEEP POLITICS THE LITMUS TEST FOR FELLOWSHIP

Keep liberal Christians focused on decrying Trump and denying that true Christians could ever support his presidency. Make sure they keep their smugness, too. Keep conservatives in the narrow mindset that anything that remotely resembles liberalism is anti-Christian. Oh, and keep them in the attitude that meekness is weakness. Do this, and fellowship between Christians of different perspectives will become impossible.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA IS YOUR PLAY. DON’T STOP.

Continue to let people think their comments and posts will change people’s minds because the truth is, it does change people’s minds. It changes what they think of the person posting, not what is posted. Social media doesn’t inform people, it infuriates them. It keeps people in echo chambers and algorithmic cages, which preserves their isolated viewpoints. It keeps people dumbfounded at how others could ever see things differently and even becomes evidence in some people’s minds that the other side is actually the enemy. This is exactly what you want. So, keep feeding people the “likes” because grandstanding and virtue signaling to like-minded people is actually more valuable to them than gracefully engaging with those who disagree.

4. MAKE SURE ONLINE PASTORS ARE MORE INFLUENTIAL THAN LOCAL PASTORS

Sure, keep people “going to church,” but just make sure they are more discipled by the most flamboyant, opinionated, savvy, and brash pastors online, rather than the local pastors who shepherd, minister, and actually interact with their congregation. Keep Christians holding their ministers to the standard of their favorite online platform pastors, rather than the standard of modeling the humble boldness and principled compassion of Jesus Christ. Also, this ties into point number three, but keep people sharing those short social media posts that lack nuance but seem sanctified.

5. KEEP THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION OUT OF THE CONVERSATION!

This is critical and given the current cultural climate, this shouldn’t be too hard, but maintain the focus solely on mercy, kindness, empathy, and other such attributes. These qualities help demonstrate who Jesus truly was without painting the full picture of what Christ truly did. Keep the image of Christ as the person who models love for the marginalized, not the God-Man who came to be the sacrifice for sinners and on the third day rose again. Keep the focus on making social change rather than making disciples. Likewise, keep conservatives thinking the Gospel has no direct impact on Christian engagement in public or cultural affairs. Remember, elevate calls to compassion but vilify calls to repent. This keeps well-intended people thinking they are doing Jesus’ work while missing Jesus’ mission.

And because I’m a nice guy, I’ll give a bonus tip for free:

BONUS: KEEP PEOPLE TRAPPED IN SECRET SIN 

Mr. Devil, here is where pride can really do you favors. The longer a sin stays secret, the more powerful it becomes, so don’t let Christians garner a group of friends they can truly trust. If they do, they might confess. Confession sheds light on sin, and sin cannot stand in the light. So, if you want to take down the church, you need to do it from the inside. Not just from the inside of the church through leadership (though that’s effective, too), but from within the hearts of individual Christians who don’t have the connection and trust built up to feel safe enough to admit and repent of sin. This is a long-game strategy, but truly a winning one.

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And so, there are 5+1 tips I’d give to the Devil if he were to ask me what’s most effective in leading people away from God, the Gospel, the Church, and each other. Now, the Devil is smarter than I am, and so he not only does *not* need my help, but he’s got a better plan anyway. That being said, I’ve still seen these points be detrimental to people growing in faith and Christian community.