Make’em Sweat—Turning Up The Heat On ‘Respectable Christianity’

Dec 11, 2023

Introduction

No Quarter November 2023 (What???) is still smoldering in my mind as a number of notable articles hit the nail on the head in naming “respectability” as the besetting sin of evangelicalism. I think they’re onto something big!

(Read here: Wilson, Rigney, Sumpter, Longshore, Protestia)

A week or so before this conversation heated up, Colin Smothers primed the pump, tweeting:

I’ve come to believe that winsomeness might not be quite at the center of the bullseye for what besets so much of evangelicalism. I do believe it may be related to what’s at the center,…So what do I think is to be at the center? Respectability™. Or, what the Bible refers to as fear of man.”

Smothers makes a key distinction between the Biblical admonition to be respect worthy and the vain pursuit of worldly respectability:

“Respectability is wholly dependent on society’s determination of one’s respectfulness, not with the virtue of respectful integrity. This means your measure of success regarding respectability depends entirely on socio-cultural standards — which are always changing and frequently contrary to righteousness — and not God’s standards. Too many at ETS, and evangelicalism at large, are beset by Respectability™.”

This November, it was Kevin DeYoung who proved the point when he penned a lengthy article essentially tone-policing Doug Wilson and the ‘Moscow Mood.’ DeYoung began his article, well enough, by acknowledging all the undeniable good springing up in Moscow. Expectedly, DeYoung’s glowing praise quickly gave way to a downpour of criticism as he rained on the Moscow parade for a perceived overuse of satire and the serrated edge, which he tried to frame as a combative mood “incompatible with Christian virtue.”

But, as Pastor Toby Sumpter so aptly rebutted,

“I can barely think of a more blinkered concern in our day. Sure, we must not be jerks; and the fruit of the Spirit must be vibrant in all that we do and say. But I’m sorry: too pugnacious when the forces of globalistic sexual fascism are surrounding us and gunning for our children? No, if anything, we are not pugnacious enough. We are not fierce enough. And too irreverent? If only we could topple more idols. If only we had more sarcasm for the Goliaths that taunt the armies of the living God.”

Joe Rigney responded to DeYoung’s criticism of the rowdy “Moscow Mood,” by spotlighting Big Eva’s unhealthy craving for worldly acceptance, which he dubbed “Respectable Mood.” Rigney gave a summary of the underhanded ways in which ‘Respectable’ Christianity conducts itself behind the scenes, including threats to blacklist those who dare to associate with Moscow. Pastor Doug Wilson nodded in agreement, noting that “The temptation to ache for worldly respectability is, however, rampant throughout the evangelical world.”

It’s quite telling, that DeYoung went out of his way to critique another Christian camp, when he has yet to critique his own camp. The Gospel Coalition has drifted undeniably leftward, producing tons of obscenely bad fruit in recent years—enough to make TGC risible on a regular basis. You really can’t ignore all of that, and expect to be believed when you proceed to forecast bad fruit in Moscow, especially after you’ve already conceded the fruit in Moscow, for 30 years now, has been remarkably good. As Rigney, Sumpter, and others amply demonstrated, DeYoung’s criticisms ultimately fall flat, and rather serve to highlight a much more pervasive problem in the church today—namely, a grasping for respectability.

That’s where I want to pick up today—for anyone with eyes to see, the rampant idol of respectability has rendered modern evangelicalism impotent against the moral insanity running roughshod over America. This selling out for social acceptance is the besetting sin beneath all the woke, feminist, LGBQT+ virtue-signaling that’s pouring in and from the church today, and it’s the muzzle that has silenced a generation of pastors, turning them into “mute dogs, that cannot bark.” (Isaiah 56:10)

Kevin DeYoung is, in many respects, a respect worthy pastor, which means he ought to be thanking Doug Wilson for his willingness to constantly draw the worst fire from the frontlines of a white-hot culture war, appreciating that for the blessing that it is—ample cover for faithful pastors to speak more boldly against all the assailants coming against the church, while still appearing moderate, by comparison. What more could you ask for? Yet, instead of being appreciated, men like Doug Wilson (and Charles Spurgeon, for that matter) are blamed, criticized, and ultimately banished by groups like G3 and The Gospel Coalition—such men are the gnats that must be strained from the ointment of “Respectable Christianity” as it continues choking on the camel of worldly approval.

Note: We’re still holding out hope for our brothers at G3.

‘Respectable Christianity’ & The White Flag of Surrender

We live in a nation fractured by no-fault divorce, hen-pecked to death by feminism, decimated by abortion, molested by grotesque sexual perversion, apostatized through secular ‘education,’ brainwashed by wokeness, addicted to the dopamine drip of the internet, and tyrannized by a blood-sucking, parasitic regime that we’re too weak, in every way, to resist.

In short, over the decades, ‘Respectable Christianity’ has gotten the pants beat off of it and has long since waved the white flag of surrender to today’s godless culture, with half the team adopting the adage, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em,” and the other half hunkering down with, “If you can’t beat’em, beat it!”

The first bunch is now flying rainbow & BLM flags, flashing pronouns, sporting skin-tight yoga pants & smashing the patriarchy. To one degree or another, they’re bending over backwards to assimilate with the new religious order of “Anything But Christian” Nationalism.

The second bunch is huddled in a corner on the rooftop, with their eyes closed ‘real tight’ while they pray for the Rapture. Occasionally, they’ll open one eye long enough to criticize the fighting remnant, but otherwise, to borrow from Doug Wilson, they’re just hoping to be helicoptered out of Saigon before the whole thing goes up in flames.

And so, we find ourselves in the bottom of the nineth, as it were, in dire need of a rally, but instead we’re met with a chorus of defeatism ringing forth from the belltowers of American Christianity. Truth be told, most modern evangelicals are defeated in both directions; they incessantly bemoan the moral collapse around them while continuing to baptize their children in the putrid springs that feed that collapse; namely, immersion into a godless secular education built on the foundation of atheistic evolutionary theory, with some TikTok and Taylor Swift sprinkled on for good measure.

Older Christians wonder why their children and grandchildren are apostate and lesbian, and the answer comes: for the same reason that Boomers are pragmatic and pluralistic, ‘progressive’ and egalitarian—because our so called “Christian Nation,” for far too long, has been far more influenced by the liberal consensus than by the Word of God.

‘Respectable Christianity’—A Field Day For The Devil

Satan and the secular left routinely exploit the church’s desire for respectability in order to derail effective gospel ministry.

In his book, Rules For Radicals, Saul Alinsky praised Lucifer as “the first radical known to man,” and then proceeded to teach the radical left how to fight like the devil. Alinsky’s rule # 11 reads, “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don't try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual.”

Whenever a particular pastor is being effective in preaching the gospel and confronting the idols of the day, a favorite strategy of the world is to single out the ‘troublemaker,’ smear him with mud, and cause his name to become a stench in the community. This strategy presses respectable people to distance themselves from the ‘troublemaker’ so as to preserve their reputation within the community. The Pharisees ran this play on Paul (and Jesus, as well). They had Paul arrested, imprisoned, and branded as a rebel-rouser. It was effective, as Paul wrote to the Philippians, “…not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only…” The ‘Respectable’ Christians left Paul to rot in prison.

This is the play being run against Pastor Doug Wilson, and it’s the play being run against faithful pastors everywhere, who effectively challenge the golden calves of the culture. I, myself, have faced this treatment.

Two years ago, I accepted a call to pastor a small town church in the Florida Panhandle. Three months into my new ministry, a group of the most prominent (and ‘progressive’) people in our town launched a concerted effort to smear me and run me out of town.

My crime?—daring to articulate a biblical, sexual ethic from the pulpit, and online. For that, they did everything in their power to bury my reputation beneath a pile of lies and slander. (Read about it here, here, and here). This devilish attack emptied our church and killed my ministry almost as soon as it started. I was blacklisted all over town, as was the church I pastored.

You have to ask yourself—How in the world can a small gaggle of grumpy feminists have so much influence over an entire town? The only reason such smear tactics are effective at all is because evangelicals are sorely afflicted by a ‘Respectable Christianity,’ that’s embarrassingly easy to manipulate by social pressure—it’s called the fear of man.

The immense cultural pressure to disassociate with faithful gospel ministers is really a pressure to be ashamed of the gospel itself. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. (2 Timothy 1:8)

Not one local pastor in the whole town stood with me as I was slandered non-stop for two plus years, yet these same pastors can be seen, annually, at the town’s National Day of Prayer, standing proudly on stage next to their openly homosexual mayor as he makes the opening remarks at an event they claim is marked out for repentance. In so doing, these men make a mockery of prayer, and subject the gospel to open disgrace by portraying it as a license for sexual immorality.

There’s a reason none of these pastors have gotten the same vile treatment as I have. The reason is because ‘Respectable Christianity’ poses no threat to the powers of darkness presently devouring our nation.

John the Baptist was willing to lose his head for calling out Herod’s sexual sin. These pastors aren’t even willing to lose their reputations…or building permits. Rather than stand for truth in the moment of truth, they’ve chosen, again and again, to play Robert the Bruce and go home with their tales between their legs in order to keep in the mayor’s good graces.

This same scenario is playing out in cities across America, as ‘Respectable Christianity’ grovels for approval scraps from the world.

Time For A Pitching Change

American Evangelicalism needs a pitching change. Hall of Fame pitcher, Sandy Koufax said, “Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser.” Such a stinging sentiment strikes at the heart of the problem with ‘Respectable Christianity’—far too many of today’s preachers are pathetically unwilling to pitch inside; unwilling to bring the high and holy heat of the flaming hot gospel anywhere near to striking a nerve of conviction, or to brushing back the idols of our day. Far too many pastors and preachers have abdicated their job; failing to sound the alarm and safeguard the flock against the cultural onslaught.

America’s pulpit ought to be a beacon of truth, and a bulwark against evil. Instead, it’s become a stage for prancing ponies and strutting peacocks to parade about in pristine uniforms that have never seen a spec of dirt from the field of battle. These eggheaded preachers tout their credentials while virtue signaling their compliance with “the current thing.” These major league losers, churned out, en masse, by today’s big-league seminaries, are nothing more than ‘powder puff’ posers; establishment “yes” men trained to lob ‘winsome’ slow-pitch softballs of affirmation to a world in full-blown rebellion against God.

In a time when we desperately need a return of the Black Robed Regiment leading the church into battle, we instead have the Nancy Boys Brigade lulling the church into surrender.

A.W. Tozer, in the mid-20^th century, told us the kind of preacher(s) we need:

“If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation, it must be by other means than any now being used. If the Church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher…Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type,.. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many), he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt- spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the One and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath.”

Tozer wrote that 80 years ago, back before no-fault divorce, abortion, gay mirage, and genital mutilation were legalized and celebrated by the mainstream. How much more dire must things get before the average person in the pew grows desperate enough to leave behind the pretentious foppery of modern-day preachers in pursuit of the ‘old prophet’ types who boldly proclaim a true and compelling vision of God and His Kingdom, even as they beckon the Lord’s bride to come out from among them and be separate unto the Lord.

When John the Baptist burst onto the scene with his thundering message of repentance and scathing rebuke of religious leaders, ecstatic throngs poured out of the city, flooding past the pharisaical gatekeepers, in a beeline for the wilderness wonder.

The preachers we need in this hour won’t be found in the posh palace halls of the respectable establishment; not at the cool-kids table of Acts 29, or in the ‘good ol’ boy’s club of the SBC. The leaders we need have been pushed to the margins, exiled from the pastorates and the public square. Why? Because such men aren’t ‘safe.’ They don’t self-censor to fit the confines of effeminate, politically-correct discourse presently choking the life out of Christianity, today. These dangerous men make the deacon’s wives, the WMU, and the rest of the ‘church-ladies’ (of both sexes) quite unsettled, and so, naturally, they must be expelled.

It remains to be seen whether this generation will ever look to the principled outliers who refuse to bow the knee, or if they’ll continue to outright lie to themselves about how deep goes the rot of ‘respectability.’

One thing is for sure, guys like me aren’t sitting on the bench anymore, politely waiting around for ‘Respectable Christianity’ to bite the dust. We’re here to preach its funeral, and we’re starting on time.

We’re taking a play out of George Whitefield’s playbook. When Whitefield & the Wesley brothers were shut out by the Church of England, they took to preaching in the open field. The class of preachers I belong to have been shut out by Boomer Establishment Christianity (read SBC) and blacklisted by their decadent offspring (read hipster Christianity) so we’re starting new churches, networks, podcasts, printing presses, and preaching ministries. While the SBC continues to pat itself on the back for their foreign mission effort, our mission focus will be reaching all their apostate children and grandchildren.

We aim to honor the legacy of Charles Spurgeon—the country bumpkin who took Victorian London by storm. Blacklisted by the fashionable Christians of his day, Spurgeon pleaded with future pastors to, “Give us all the vulgarities of the wildest back-woods’ itinerant rather than the perfumed prettinesses of effeminate gentility.”

When God used Ezekiel’s preaching to bring the ‘dry bones’ of apostate Israel roaring back to life, this included divinely inspired vulgarity denouncing Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness as “whoredom;” a ‘lusting after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emissions was like that of horses.” (Ezekiel 23:20)

If you think Doug Wilson is too vulgar, wait till you see what else God is sending your way. That humming sound you hear is the sons of Ezekiel warming up our fastball. It’s time to bring the heat.

Make’em Sweat

There’s a cost that comes from leaving behind ‘Respectable Christianity’ and choosing to live, instead, with Biblical courage and conviction. You’ll lose friends, family, status, opportunities, upward mobility, maybe more. You’ll be maligned, castigated, ostracized, and falsely accused of being arrogant and unloving. As Spurgeon once said, “…bold-hearted men are always called mean-spirited by cowards.” When you choose Christ, you gain enemies from both sides—from pagan Rome, and from apostate Israel; from the world, and from a worldly church. But Jesus promised, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Abraham Kuyper wrote,

“When the principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then the battle is your calling, and peace has become sin. You must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy with all the fire of your faith.”

We need more courageous men to count the cost. Pagan barbarism is steam rolling this generation, and only a handful of brave pastors are standing in the gap. For the sake of appearance, the evangelical establishment would rather shoot these men in the back than join them on the front. If such turncoat cowardice isn’t worthy of the staunchest reproof and most scornful derision, I don’t know what is.

‘Respectable Christianity’ is damning many people to hell, and rendering masses more impotent in today’s spiritual battle, as it breeds a fear of man over a fear of the Lord; a tendency to trend with the world, rather than remain true to God’s Word. Jesus warned, “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed…”

It’s far better for ‘Respectable Christianity’ to be rebuked now, than condemned later. As Joe Rigney explained, satire and the serrated edge, like other forms of rebuke, are “deployed to correct and reprove someone when they’re heading down a sinful or foolish path,” and these Biblical functions “operate on a dimmer switch.” Godly preachers have range—they instruct, exhort, gentle correct, and also rebuke, when called for. Jesus reserved his most blistering rebukes for the fancy religious establishment that was far more concerned with appearance than faithfulness.

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Today’s fancy religious establishment has been laid flat on its back by the sexual revolution; struck down by the fear of man and the fevered chill that comes from whoring after the world. They hate us for spotlighting all the festering decay inside their white-washed tombs of winsome compromise, but there’s only one cure for this pandemic of ‘respectability’—it’s time to turn up the heat and make’em sweat!