NFL Player-Turned-Pastor: Why True Christian Love Requires Total Obedience

Published: June 30, 2026

rod-long-DRgrzQQsJDA-unsplash — Photo from Rod Long via Unsplash

By Mallory Mattingly

Miles McPherson, a former NFL Chargers cornerback turned pastor, believes that obedience to God is the foundation of faith.

“I would say the greatest commandment, Matthew 22:37-40, is to love God with your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. That means you have to love God, you love other people and love yourself,” McPherson said on the Sports Spectrum podcast with Matt Forte.

But what does love mean?

“1 John 5:3, it means to obey God. To love God is to obey God,” he continued. “And whether you go to seminary or not, you still have to obey God. You can go to seminary, not obey God, and have a degree, and not obey God. So I think for all Christians, 99% of them are not going to seminary anyway, but for all Christians, even those going into ministry, the foundation has to be obedience to God.”

McPherson spoke about obedience in April, challenging his congregation by saying that “demons are more obedient than you” and pointing to how many times Jesus told demons to do something and they obeyed.

“He tells us what to do, and we think about it. The demons are more obedient than you. They never disobey him,” the former cornerback said in a video shared on his social media. “Now, you may say, ‘Well, how’d they get kicked out of heaven?’ Okay, they got kicked out of heaven, and guess what? They’re still doing what He says every time.”

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The pastor went on to share that we all have demonic presence in our lives.

“I will tell you, every single one of us in this room has demonic activity in our life. I’m not saying you’re demon-possessed at all. I’m saying the devil’s messing with you,” he said.

One of the names for the devil is the “accuser of the brethren.”

“You ever feel accused? That’s where it’s coming from. It’s not coming from God, and it comes through you, directly to you. It comes through you through other people, people in your life, because they’re being spiritually attacked, and so God can reverse that,” McPherson explained. “How does He reverse it? One, He can expose it to you, so you know what it is, so you can pray against it. So, when you hear these voices in your head talking about ‘You’re a failure, [you’re] never going to do this,’ you go, ‘In Jesus’ name I rebuke you. I am blessed, I’m highly favored, I’m anointed, I’m called by God. You can’t come against me with that noise.'”

Obedience to God is the essential foundation of Christian love and spiritual warfare.

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