Prolegomenon
I would hope that I am not alarmist – that is to say, I hope I do not live and speak as if there is danger around every corner, a monster under every bed, and a false teacher behind every new face. Living in such a way would not only be exhausting, it would even be imprudent. If everything is seen as a threat, then I will inevitably run the risk of “crying wolf” – my improper warnings and unnecessarily alarmist attitude will not only lead to an ulcer, it will effectively mute the power of my words to others. If I see a shadow at every turn, sooner or later my warnings will go unheeded (and maybe rightfully so).
An alarmist attitude will also effectively lead to my own self-isolation – if I can trust no one, and if danger abounds, then surely the best course of action is to build a small hut on a mountainside and engage in the monastic life. I would wager that more Christians have effectively accomplished this than we would care to admit, in our practice if not so much in our words.
An overly-alarmist attitude is also the result of improper eschatology. If Christ holds all authority in heaven and on earth (and He does – Matt 28:18), and if Christ is uniting and reclaiming all things to Himself (and He is – Col 1:16-20), then we should live lives that bear visible witness to that victory that Christ has achieved. That is to say, an alarmist attitude which jumps at every sound and panics at every shadow is the result of a malnourished eschatology – our attitudes should proclaim Christ’s victory.
These disclaimers aside, I would like to encourage a bit of healthy alarm. Let me explain.
A Necessarily Sort of Alarm
There are many alarms which might be raised here, but I will focus on one: the hired hand. In John 10, Christ is addressing a group of religious leaders – leaders whose hearts are far from truth, and whose actions bear witness to this reality (including their recent excommunication of a blind man healed by Christ, whose punishment was due not to his own fault but to the leaders’ seemingly-inexhaustible hubris). Within that context, Christ gives a stark warning to those within hearing:
“He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” – John 10:12-13
The hired hand is the opposite of the Good Shepherd. The hired hand cares nothing for the sheep and abandons them when the danger appears. The sheep may well look to the hired hand for comfort, but they will find none. When the danger approaches the sheep are abandoned, and the danger continues to advance unchecked. Therefore, sheep should be wary of trusting the hired hand.
Western society is such that we assume we know others. We assume we know others to the point that we assume we know public figures as well. We see them on social media, we hear their voices on videos, we read their comments in interviews. We feel that we know them, and we place great weight on their words and guidance. We are comforted by them in times of uncertainty and danger.
The problem is that this knowledge is often a façade – it is a peaceful illusion that we construct for ourselves, yet it holds little staying power. Like a sandcastle built in low tide, this illusion will crumble and wash away, revealing only smooth sand in its wake. The problem with this façade is that social media is a lie, and appearances on display rarely reveal the complete picture. We know this to be true, though we may rush to defend it. At best, we must admit that most of our online presence is carefully crafted – after all, no one posts pictures of their morning tooth-brushing routine.
This is not the rant of an old man encouraging others to abandon social media, though I suppose it could easily turn into one. This is the recognition that many Christians in the West regularly ingest spiritual direction from men and women they do not know. Consider for a moment that your spiritual state is of vital importance, and the spiritual training that you take in during the week (which is often dwarfed by our ingestion of secular worldviews – a topic for another day) is therefore of vital importance. No runner on mile 25 of a marathon will gulp down a tall lager and think nothing of the final stretch of the race – when the race is on and we are being challenged, what we ingest is of vital importance. Yet many Christians have evidently reached the conclusion that watching a celebrity preacher on YouTube or reading a devotional offering from a popular Christian source somehow constitutes biblical Christian training, and this puts us in distinct danger of following after hired hands.
How do we combat this danger? We commit ourselves to a local church, submitting to its leadership as they submit to Christ, and covenanting ourselves together with fellow believers. We listen to sermons preached by men we know, whose lives we can observe, whose words we can carefully weigh. We hold one another accountable, functioning as members of a body and not as anonymous ships passing undetected in the fog of night. In short, we live the Christian life as Christians always have, and we thrive even in dark days.
Reacting to Danger
Considering the hired hand, I must observe that we will know a hired hand by his willingness to stand in the face of danger. There is a quote which speaks to this quite well:
"If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that little point which the world and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." – Anonymous (or maybe even Luther)
I would attribute the above to Martin Luther, but (as with many of Luther’s attributed quotes) these appear not to be original to Luther (you can find the sources of this frustration both here and here). I will thus recognize that the above quotation is certainly said by someone (though pseudonymously so), and I will refrain from venting my frustration that it may or may not have been Luther who uttered it. The point still stands: where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.
I suspect that for many Christians, finding the battles to fight will not be difficult. I would, in fact, wager to say that it Is not in the least bit alarmist to suggest that the battles will find us out whether we seek them or not (John 16:33; 2 Tim 3:12). For those we follow, it is important how our leaders respond (and hopefully stand firm) in times of pressure. A hired hand will avoid confrontation, or flee from it altogether – we are to be wary of these.
Yes, but…
It is tempting to end on the note of a battle cry, but a brief word of caution is in order. We can no sooner whip ourselves into a frenzy, sword in hand, and charge out the front door to engage in combat than we may run the risk of hacking apart an unfortunate family member returning from the grocery store with bags in hand. Or, in other words, we must be careful where we swing our sword. To quote from Calvin: "Zeal without doctrine is like a sword in the hands of a lunatic."
Nothing in our vigilance negates or abrogates our responsibility to weigh our words, to seek truth in caution, and to be slow to hurl things at fellow Christians. There is a time to recognize false teachers, and there is a time to use hard words of reproof and rebuke, and those times may be close at hand on several fronts. Yet it is also incumbent that we are careful not to inadvertently cut down a true brother in our zeal.
A recent example is the bevy of weighty accusations levied against Doug Wilson. If you are unfamiliar with Doug Wilson, he pastors Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, and is not altogether unfamiliar with controversy (and defending himself against such – see here). This is what makes Wilson’s case so appropriate for what I will say here – you may well disagree with Wilson on issues, or even dislike his tone or manner, but that is exactly why this word of caution is in order.
There was a recent article posted by a secular magazine levying serious charges against Wilson, which in turn generated a quite strong response from the accused (see here). I do not downplay the seriousness of the accusations levied within the article, nor the accusations personally made against Wilson (though it is prudent to note that accusations are precisely that, and something resembling due process seems to be in order following such accusations). I do, however, question the apparent glee with which many Christian voices took to social media to target Wilson in its wake. I am not questioning the wisdom of relying on an article published by a magazine that is named after a biblical sin (though that would certainly not seem to be imprudent; cf. 1 Pet 2:16 NKJV). I am, however, questioning the wisdom of Christians and pastors who feel the need to immediately post responses to stories about which little investigation has been done (something on which Scripture is not silent). I am also questioning the Christian tendency to immediately treat any compelling accusation as truth, even while we would certainly hope this rule would never be applied to us (insisting on the establishment of truth is not uncaring, in fact it may even be biblical – cf. John 8:32). I am not questioning the wisdom of bearing our swords, though I do question the wisdom of our puzzling tendency to aim those swords at those who seem by most estimations to be standing on our side of the battlefield. This is not a plea to ignore accusations, nor part ways with any who reveal themselves to not truly be “of us” (1 John 2:19) – but it is most certainly a call to be competent swordsmen (2 Tim 2:15).
SDG,
Josh Howard
Josh Howard serves as the Elder/Pastor at Grace Community Church in Battle Creek, MI, co-hosts the Good Doctrine Podcast, and is an alumni of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (PhD, ThM).
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