Who are the Wolves?

Matthew 7: 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

 Forgive the mixed metaphor.... There is a new book out: “Shepherds for Sale,” by Megan Basham, a journalist for the Daily Wire.  From what I gather, it is a book dedicated to exposing those Christian shepherds who are dedicated to or otherwise advancing leftist political agendas as opposed to focusing on what might be considered a traditional, or conservative, or even a “true” understanding of the gospel.

Normally, a book like this and on this topic would be right down my alley.  I have written occasionally about this issue and how it strikes me that we may be living through a time of testing in the Church – separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to Christian leaders and Christians in general.

Apparently, this book has been much anticipated.  I, not being on X-twitter or any social media, knew nothing of it until Gavin Ortlund did a video about it.  Then a second.  Each is at thirty minutes or a bit less.  He did the videos because he found himself right in the opening chapter – a prominent shepherd for sale apparently.

The topic of the opening chapter is global warming and man’s effect (if any) on climate change.  In some earlier video some time ago, Ortlund said he has studied the issues and basically agrees with the scientific consensus (although, in truth, there isn’t a consensus – but that isn’t really important here). 

However, Ortlund does not make this a faith issue or anything of the sort.  He does say Christians should be concerned about the environment, and this is quite correct.  God put this responsibility there, right in the beginning of His book:

Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 2: 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

For Ortlund, his main point was that we should study the issue of climate change before pushing any strong opinion. 

Basham has included Ortlund in the book – in the first chapter – because of this.  Not via a steelman of his argument, but a strawman.  Ortlund addresses this in the two videos – the second of which was prompted by the social media commentary that followed his first video.

There is a very thorough article that walks through just how careless Basham is in her work on Ortlund and this topic.  The author (it appears anonymously) isn’t shy about his conclusion: “In Defense of Gavin Ortlund.”  His summary, which he defends very well (emphasis in original):

I think [Ortlund] is correct in his complaint that Basham badly misrepresented and mischaracterized his original video on climate change and, given the highly controversial nature of the book in which it appears, I think he has a right to be upset about it. 

The book is entitled Shepherds FOR SALE.  It is not a soft charge to be included in a book with such a title.  One should be quite careful about who is included in such a book, and that the charges are accurate.  In any case, if it is meaningful to you, take a quick read of this author’s defense of Ortlund.

Now, why am I going through all of this?  As noted, it is a subject important to me and one that I have written about occasionally.  Most recently here.  Looking at just the last decade or so: the embrace of pride, the reaction to covid, and now the genocide in Palestine.  In each case, many Christian leaders have failed.  In many cases, those who were strong on the first two failed and continue to fail at the third.

And this comes to my point.  When one wants to write about shepherds for sale in the Christian church, I would expect that the first several chapters are dedicated to those well-known Christian Zionists, especially those who head up or are involved in Zionist or Zionist-adjacent organizations.  If there is any group that might be considered “for sale,” it is this one, and it is a group that is supporting the most immediate violence against innocents.

Now…I haven’t read the book.  Maybe this comes up at some point.  But I doubt it; the table of contents includes all the expected topics: covid, illegal immigration, pride, etc.; but nothing on Zionism.  In any case, take a look at the first two endorsements:

“This may just be the single most important book on modern Evangelicalism in recent years. It is bold, clear, and very well-researched.” — John MacArthur, Pastor of Grace Community Church, and Chancellor of the Master’s University and Seminary

“Megan Basham is an indispensable voice in a chaotic time. Shepherds for Sale is a clarion call for churches to return to the faith of their ancestors —and to reinvigorate our republic by reinfusing it with eternal truths.” — Ben Shapiro, host of The Ben Shapiro Show, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of The Daily Wire

It’s funny that Shapiro calls “for churches to return to the faith of their ancestors.”  This infatuation with a home for Jews only goes back only about 150 years in any meaningful sense, although it has early precedents in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. 

Prior to this, there was little if any such concern in the church of our ancestors.  When various European countries expelled Jews prior to the Reformation, I have not come across any meaningful movement to establish a home for them in Palestine as a prerequisite for Jesus’s second coming, for example.

MacArthur and Shapiro do videos together in praise and support of Israel’s genocidal actions.  I wouldn’t expect such endorsements for Basham’s book if the word “Zionism” comes up in any negative sense in this book.  In any case, we know that an author for the Daily Wire wouldn’t cross this line.

If someone more familiar with this book has evidence to the contrary, for example, if John Hagee of CUFI is mentioned and examined as such a shepherd for sale, let me know and I will retract these comments (but not a retraction about her strawman of Ortlund).

Conclusion

It is difficult to consider this book as meaningful on this topic when, right in the opening chapter, the author gets something so completely wrong: that is, her complete mischaracterization of Ortlund’s views (which, I understand she continues to defend in the face of this controversy).

But, to consider which shepherds are for sale without touching on Christian Zionism?  It is a book designed to distract from what is the Christian Zionist elephant in the room.  Pro-Christian support for genocide, all in the name of a false doctrine.

Epilogue

From the anonymous author, in defense of Ortlund:

…I do tend to disagree with Ortlund when he does weigh in on cultural debates. I like him much better on issues that are more central to his focus—theology and apologetics.

Same with me.  I recall a video he did on black lives matter.  A worthy topic for a Christian to take on during the slave era, or in the deep south in the 1960s, perhaps.  But during the last few years?  I just kept thinking: read the room, man.

On theology and apologetics: Ortlund recognizes that Protestantism is taking a beating online and on YouTube, and has dedicated meaningful time to laying out history and theology in defense of Protestantism and the Reformation.  There is no one I know that does it both as well as he does and with such grace and humility as he demonstrates.