Former megachurch pastor blasted for suggesting Jesus was ‘in the middle’ politically: ‘Egregious mishandling of Scripture’

A former megachurch pastor attempted to conflate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with being a centrist politically in 2025. However, the controversial analogy was widely panned on the internet by some declaring that there is “no middle ground between evil and righteousness.”

Rick Warren — a self-described “global influencer” — is the former pastor of Saddleback Church.

‘This is possibly the worst Biblical interpretation I’ve ever seen.’

On Tuesday, Warren shared a post on the X social media platform to his 2.2 million followers. The post featured an image of Jesus on the cross between the impenitent thief and the penitent thief.

In the social media post, Warren first cited a paraphrase of John 19:18: “They crucified Jesus with two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle.”

Then Warren wrote: “The guys on both sides were thieves. If you’re looking for the real Jesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.”

The idea that Jesus Christ was “in the middle” immediately stirred intense backlash online from faith leaders and conservatives. Warren was lampooned for his “egregious mishandling of Scripture.”

BlazeTV’s “Relatable” podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey: “This is possibly the worst Biblical interpretation I’ve ever seen, and that’s really saying something. Jesus is not ‘in the middle’ on the murder of children, gender deception, the definition of marriage, or anything else, for that matter. In fact, I seem to remember Him having a particular disdain for the lukewarm.”

Pastor Ryan Visconti: “How would one be ‘in the middle’ on abortion, mutilating kid’s genitals, homosexuality, open borders, DEI, CRT, etc? There’s no middle ground between evil and righteousness. You’re wrong, Pastor Rick. Your approach made sense in 1990, but not today.”

Conservative lawyer Jenna Ellis: “This is an example of proof texting scripture so badly that you should be embarrassed to call yourself a pastor. Jesus is not a moderate or ‘in the middle’ when it comes to truth. To characterize him as such simply because of the placement of his cross is perverting a historical fact into a symbolic meaning to serve your own ideological agenda.”

Christian singer Sean Feucht: “I refuse to be found ‘in the middle’ or even worse — disengaged — on the gleeful slaughter of the unborn, the mutilation of kids or trafficking of 300k children across the open border. While this theological approach to politics may have worked in the 90’s, it fails to account for how openly demonic the Left is today.”

Pastor Kyle McMullen: “Honestly, I think this is one of the worst hijackings of Scripture I have ever encountered. To turn a verse describing the crucifixion of the Son of God into a virtue signal toward the modern Left, which is EXACTLY what this nonsense about the ‘middle’ is, is egregious mishandling of Scripture. And it’s not as if you can claim ignorance, either. You have had one of the largest platforms in the history of the Church, you have written best-selling books, you have had the ear of presidents and global leaders. You know better. People need to be warned to stop listening to you.”

Conservative policy leader Jim Pfaff: “You are clearly unaware of both the logical fallacy of this post and thus the great error in this statement. Nowhere is such an analogy ever promoted anywhere else in God’s Word. There’s a reason for that. This is a false and erroneous (and therefore evil) analogy.”

Evangelist Justin Peters: “This is, sadly, typical of Rick Warren’s approach to scripture. This would have been laughed out of biblical hermeneutics on day 1. Basic hermeneutics dictates that you strive for authorial intent, and this is definitively NOT the point the author was making. This is not only embarrassing, it is inexcusable.”

Author Kira Davis: “I hold my tongue publicly on Rick a lot for reasons but this made me sad. I never thought I’d see the day when Rick Warren looked at the Gospel and took away from it some vague, lukewarm message about political beliefs. Jesus is not ‘the middle’ Rick. What are you even doing?”

Conservative commentator David Limbaugh: “Meaningless mush, with all due respect.”

Babylon Bee editor Joel Berry: “If you’re going to misuse the story this bad, you should also point out that the thief on the Right is the one that went to heaven lol.”

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck: “You’re a pastor essentially saying that Jesus was lukewarm. Insane. He was no such thing.”

The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis: “Friends, if you have a pastor peddling this kind of nonsense, you need to leave and find a church that preaches the actual Gospel.”

Conservative radio host Eric Metaxas: “This is misleading posturing. What does it even mean? Shall we be ‘in the middle’ when it comes to standing against killing babies or mutilating kids or corruption in our own govt? There is a time to be bold as lions against evil! That’s not ‘partisan’. It’s the Lord’s will.”

Author Megan Basham: “It’s so bad my jaw is on the floor.”

Conservative commentator Jesse Kelly: “Absolutely right. Jesus was neither hot nor cold. He was lukewarm. Pretty sure it’s in the Bible.”

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