Shepherds For Sale?

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

This book was recently brought to my attention by a friend church. It seemed intriguing so I purchased a copy of it and began reading through it. Though I’ve not yet completed reading it, I thought I’d provide a bit of a review for anyone else who may be interested in purchasing a copy.

The byline or subtitle of Megan Basham’s book is, How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. I have to agree with Basham’s assertion that this has, indeed, been occurring within evangelicalism. I realize there are some who do not see things as I see them and that’s fine. I’m not here to convince anyone that I’m right. I’m simply offering a critique of Basham’s book and I find myself agreeing with her more often than not.

Oh, and by the way, I also find it very interesting that so many reviews on Amazon pan the book completely. Yet so many of them are not “verified” purchasers of the book. Either they bought it somewhere else and then went out of their way to review it on Amazon or they didn’t buy it, but simply made general statements about the book that makes people think they read it. Too many reviews are completely devoid of specifics, making comments like “not well researched” in spite of Basham having pages and pages of footnotes in the back of the book.

The fact that much within evangelicalism have seemingly taken a consistent turn away from conservatism toward Leftism is something that many continue to deny. The problem is that many of the leaders she quotes and/or refers to are at times difficult to pin down. The reason they are difficult to pin down is not necessarily because they are more intelligent than the rest of us. It has much more to do with the fact that those folks are what I call “nuancers.” In other words, they choose their words so carefully that the actual meaning is often left up to the listener to decide what they actually meant.

This is why, for instance, some people can read or listen to Andy Stanley, the late Tim Keller, Russell Moore and many others and find absolutely nothing wrong in what they express. For others (me included), red flags constantly go up when I read or hear what it is they’re saying about something because of how nuanced they are in their teaching. The nuancing is seemingly used to hide things, not state plainly.

For instance, most know that Russell Moore was vehemently opposed to Donald J. Trump in 2016. Though he did not endorse Hillary Clinton, the fact that he completely opposed Trump caused many to ask, “Okay, then whom do we vote for?”

The same can be said about John Piper. He essentially casts off Trump because Trump, according to Piper, Trump is an unrepentant sinner. Oh, okay. But my question is this; why aren’t these things said about politicians on the Left? Are we to assume that they think the same thing about those folks or because they never name them, is that supposed to insinuate that voting for someone on the Left is better than voting for someone like Trump? Are the Clintons also unrepentant sinners? How about Obama, Biden or Harris?

There is this sneaking in of Leftism into the conversation either through avoidance, ignorance, or deliberate measures. Russell Moore did a tremendous disservice prior to the 2016 presidential election because he created enough doubt in many evangelicals to get them to simply not vote. Moore (and Piper) were/are engaged in character assassination against Trump and let Hillary get away scot-free. In effect, Moore et al were engaged in promoting their Leftist agenda whether they realize it or not. Because of it, this country is on the verge of collapse via Marxism.

But here’s the real issue. I don’t vote for anyone based on their character. If I did, I would not be able to vote most of the time. I choose a person whose policies are in line more with Scripture. This is not true of too many people today, who will choose a candidate based on things like the person is a woman or a person of color. This makes an election a popularity contest, but it should always be based on policy.

Because elections become popularity contests, few focus on actual policies created by candidates. But whether we like Trump or not, we have to go back to what he has accomplished and promises to achieve. Did he accomplish anything? The answer is yes, he accomplished quite a bit. Did he do everything we wanted? Of course not.

So if we compare policies of Trump to what we’ve seen from the Biden-Harris administration it becomes exceedingly clear that Trump’s policies completely outweigh any policy from the Biden-Harris administration (unless you’re a Marxist). Yet, neither Moore or Piper (or numerous other leaders within evangelicalism), pointed out these differences. They were solely content to bash Trump’s character and they knew that their rhetoric would work with many people.

Basham touches on this in her book. She also spends a good amount of time dealing with the way many leaders within evangelicalism approach issues like homosexuality and transgenderism. In essence, they tend to tiptoe around those subjects, minimizing any perceived biblical condemnation of those areas as sin and failure.

Basham quotes past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, J D Greear, who on his own website refers to himself as “Pastor. Author. Apologist.” The use of the word “apologist” is concerning when he is willing to make outlandish statements like, “the Bible whispers about sexual sin.”

The problem though about his initial comment was that Greear later apologized for that statement, stating that he even regretted saying it like that.[1] He has since corrected the statement to say essentially that the Bible does not whisper about sexual sin. Okay, well why did he initial nuance it so that the exact opposite idea was placed in people’s heads? Was it intended initially to make people feel good about sinning? Was it unwittingly issued to give people some sense of license to explore sexual sinning, something that the Bible clearly and coherently speaks against?

Basham also includes references to Rick Warren and his seeming penchant to see women ordained as ministers in his church (and within the SBC). This is in spite of the fact that the Bible specifically prohibits this and even though the apostle Paul provides two reasons why women should not be in authority over men, those reasons are largely ignored as simply being “cultural” from Paul’s day. Yet, his reasons have nothing to do with culture at all. Here’s Paul’s reasoning.

12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; she is to remain quiet. 13For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:12-14)

Now, please tell me, in the above (con)text, where do we see anything that is based on culture? What we read is Paul telling us that because Adam was formed first, that gave him certain rights and because Eve was deceived (not Adam), she was the one who fell into transgression first. Satan knew he would have a much better chance of getting Adam to sin if Satan could get Eve to go along with his temptation. It worked. Eve fell, then she became the temptress of her own husband, bringing about his fall. There is nothing cultural in the above situation.

Many women today refuse this truth, saying that in Christ there is no male, female, slave, free, Jew or Gentile. That is true, but the context there underscores that Paul was talking about people who were saved and salvation is essentially offered to all people regardless of gender or culture in the very same way. All people can receive salvation and it doesn’t matter whether a person is a male, a female, a Jew or a Gentile, or a slave or free. Salvation is available to all without restriction. So the misuse of Galatians 3:28 is ripped out of context to support the feminist position.

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Megan Basham goes into some depth regarding the way Marxists have gone about attacking evangelicalism. True to Marxism, they’ve done this by infiltrating the visible Church as leaders. Once inside, they begin promoting their Marxism couched in Christian terminology (via nuancing), so as not to alarm congregants.

You have highly charismatic, good looking leaders in many pulpits throughout America. They are winsome and seem genuine in their love and concern for people. They are often excellent and enthralling speakers who captivate listeners. These type of leaders tend to disarm people’s critical thinking skills so that they become mentally pliable and easily turned toward agreement with the speaker. With guards down, people will embrace what is being taught.

Now, I’m not saying that people like Greear, Moore, Piper, Warren and others are outright Marxists (though I’ve yet to read anything from Moore that signifies he is an actual conservative). What I am saying is that they may well be on a mission to convert people to their way of thinking whether those leaders are actually Marxists or not. The fact that they hold sway over thousands and thousands of people says a great deal and those particular leaders need to never make the type of mistake that Greear did referencing sexual sin and the Bible.

One common denominator with many of these evangelical leaders has to do with the size of their church. Many to most are what we would call “megachurches” with thousands in attendance every week. Many flock to a place where people are engaged, appear happy and even ecstatic about what is happening at their church. The problem though is that this is not the New Testament version of a church, where people often met in homes with much smaller groups. Today, a megachurch is often seen as God’s stamp of approval on that particular body of believers. The small churches? Not so much.

God is much more about the individual than the crowd. Jesus often worked with just one or two people at a time. Yes, He also fed 5,000 or 10,000 or more, but this was not the norm. There were times when nearly everyone left Him because of what He taught. Today, we have evangelical leaders who do their best to couch their teaching in ways that won’t offend. They have a budget to consider and if people leave, that affects their budget. Too many churches today are big business.

Basham also deals with subjects like climate change, Illegal Immigration, the pro-life movement, the Christian Media (and the money behind it), government use of pastors during the CV-19 situation, Critical Race Theory and concludes with the LGBTQ movement invading the church. This has been the plan of Communism for many decades and we are starting to see the terrible fruits of those efforts to overthrow from within.

I’ve said this before, but I have seen institutions that began as truly biblical endeavors, fully aligned with Scripture, only to eventually become Leftwing today (for those that still exist). This has happened time and time again. How? It happened by virtue of the fact that Satan used either those sold out to him or useful idiots to accomplish his goals of eroding the authority of Scripture in that particular institution. It has happened to two biblical institutions that I have personally attended. Both are nothing like what they started out to be as they have gone so far Left that they are completely unrecognizable.

My personal opinion here is that Basham has done evangelicalism a huge favor. But will she be seen as a right-wing “extremist” or will people be willing to at least consider what she has to say and possibly take it to heart?

Let’s not forget please that Paul’s remarks to Timothy about the terrible nature of the end times days is essentially speaking of Christians, not the world. This appears to be the climate now.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

Notice Paul’s reference to Jannes and Jambres. They were among the Israelites yet they opposed Moses to his face! They were trouble makers who resisted the truth, had corrupt minds and were seen as connivers, not of the truly faithful. This is often what the true Church faces today with people coming in who are there to solely resist the truth as revealed in God’s Word, supplanting it with their own beliefs and ideas. They may do this either inadvertently (because they don’t know what they’re doing), or overtly (because they do know what they’re doing). In either case, these people need to be lovingly confronted and if they remain and continue to throw things in an uproar, then the next biblical steps need to be taken.

Folks, with the increasing rampage of the satanic host in the world today, the visible Church is being attacked almost without restraint by nuancers who are so adept at using language to confuse and befuddle. In the end, if they have their way, they will push people away from the Gospel, not bring them to their knees because of it.

[1] https://protestia.com/2022/09/12/j-d-greear-apologizes-for-suggesting-that-the-bible-whispers-about-homosexuality/

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2024/09/10/shepherds-for-sale/