people holding the pulpits aren’t always shepherds, sometimes they’re actors wearing robes. They say, “Bear one another’s burdens,” but here’s what they mean: “Not yours;unless you fit the brand.”

Your spiritual failure or messes in life are  acceptable only if your story sounds right, your language matches theirs, your pain can be used as content. But if your life is just… life anxiety, struggle, quiet unraveling, daily pressure, marital breakdown, etc, suddenly they’re “busy.” Suddenly there’s no time. Unless you check every box. Unless you speak their code. Unless you drink from their fountain. Unless you fast their fast, eat their food, wear their look, move their walk, talk their talk, act their act, become their clone.
And if you don’t fall in line?

You don’t get burned, You get ignored. You get ghosted. You get invisible. Unless you write a check. Unless you give enough. Unless you make them notice your wallet. Then, suddenly there’s time for you.
That isn’t ministry, That’s transaction, That’s Charlatan activity

Let me strip this bare: when someone fails spiritually, or needs true love, grace, and mercy , we’re supposed to carry that. But that’s not the only burden people carry.
Some carry grief no sermon fixes.
Some carry shame nobody sees.
Some carry exhaustion from just… surviving. Some carry the weight of a world screaming at them to be more than they are.

Biblical burden bearing is not a filter. It’s a command. A demand. A fire that should burn within.
Yet here we are with leaders who won’t touch the messy, who won’t stay long enough to hear the real story, because they prefer their own version.
These won’t sit when it costs them time.
They don’t carry burdens. They carry images and mirrors. They carry audiences. They carry donors. They carry influence.
Call it charlatanism if you want,as that fits. Because a charlatan is someone who sells what they don’t live, who speaks love but practices exclusion, who preaches grace while selling belonging, club members only.

Now let’s talk about the thief on the cross.
He didn’t go to seminary. He didn’t fast. He didn’t learn the vocabulary. He didn’t learn their system. He didn’t jump through any of these manufactured hoops. He just reached for Christ, broken, desperate, no performance left to give.
And that was enough.
No diet. No ritual. No checklist. No manager’s approval. Just mercy. Just grace. Just Christ.
So tell me: Where did we forget that?
Where did grace become gatekeeping?
Where did faith become fashion?

Where did love become an audition? And don’t talk to me about “God diets.” Let’s get this straight once and for all: there is no diet in the Bible that makes you holier. There is no menu that earns God’s favor. There is no meal plan that grants access to grace. Fasting is prayer; it’s not a performance. Discipline is devotion, it’s not a status symbol.

You can eat a thousand health foods and still have a starving soul. You can live perfectly clean while ignoring the broken at your door. You can preach nonstop while refusing to listen. You can build every program while crushing the very people you claim to serve.
That’s not leadership. That’s deception. And deception is the oldest sin. And now now people call it “ministry”?

Some of you aren’t shepherds. Some of you are wolves in pulpit light, wolves polishing their microphones. And if you don’t think I mean that with fire you’re still listening wrong.

So here’s the truth they don’t want to hear: if your “leadership” requires people to shrink themselves to be seen, you’re not leading you’re crushing. If your “care” demands you look right, talk right, give right, you’re not serving you’re trading. If your “church” protects image over people, you’re not building the Body you’re building a failed empire.

And the thief on the cross?
He doesn’t fit your institution.
He doesn’t fit your brand.
He doesn’t fit your code. But he fit Christ. And that’s the only badge that matters. So stop pretending. Stop performing. Stop hiding behind programs, rituals, and buzzwords while hurting people wait.

Carry burdens,or admit you don’t care.

Speak truth.
Stop selling.

Live what you preach Or shut the doors and get out from behind the sacred desk