Shepherds For Sale by Megan Basham

  

Shepherds For Sale, as one would expect, is not an uplifting read, but it's very insightful.  Each chapter gives details about how so many church leaders are turning away from the Bible as their sole authority of faith and practice and instead turning to the 'moral' 'causes of the world.  

I really liked how Basham did this, giving facts in  journalistic way and yet giving Biblically based commentary/critiques throughout.  I wasn't sure how to write this review (or 'tome' as it turned out to be!) as this book is a little more unique from any book I've read before, as it has a lot of 'data' as it were, a lot of documenting of the downfall of church leaders. So I'll write it a bit different and go chapter by chapter:

CLIMATE CHANGE: Pastors have accepted the idea of climate change as one of the things they are obligated to warn their people about. Some of them are doing it under the guise of it's being "Creation Care" or something of the sort. And some are even making it out to be a "part of the Gospel".  That, of course, is absolutely false. But many church leaders have bought into concepts like that. I really liked that Basham went on to explain what the Gospel actually is.  

I also liked how she pointed out that there is another side to all of this supposed 'creation care' and that it isn't necessarily as 'caring' as it appears.  Actually, it could be argued that it is causing harm to people in poorer countries. And she gives examples of this, showing how other developing countries have made deals to implement climate protecting measures in exchange for certain things and they end up halting the progress toward wealth and prosperity and causing the reverse of prosperity in their countries.

This earth is temporal, not eternal. We should not live for it. As Romans 8 says, The earth is not getting better, right now it is in bondage to corruption, decay, and was apparently put into that bondage by God Himself.  It is waiting, not for mankind to care for it correctly, but rather, it is waiting for the "revealing of the sons of God"(vs.19), waiting for the day when Christ will come again along with His people who are already with Him in Heaven, on that day He will also rescue His people who are still on earth, rescuing their fleshly bodies from their bondage to sin and corruption. On that day He will also set the creation itself free from its bondage to corruption. But even after this, even after the thousand year reign of Christ, apparently He is going to torch the earth and make a new Heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1).

ILLEGAL IMMEGRATION

This topic has been promoted with similar, seemingly Biblical, disguises.  In this case, welcoming illegal immigrants under the banner of "welcoming the stranger". And yet, our country does welcome the stranger, and has welcomed the stranger. But does this mean that Christians should push for our government to welcome any and every stranger into the country we live in? Basham shows that actually, this mindset is actually harming the citizens and legal immigrants who already live here.  A government report given in 2018 "showed that between 2010 and 2015, illegal migrants who were incarcerated were responsible for the deaths of 33,000 people. Simple back-of-the-envelope math suggests that the total over the last thirteen ears could easily top 85,000." And they're not just losing their lives, they're losing jobs too, and human trafficking over our border has also risen.  Sure, we Christians could risk losing our lives, jobs..etc. But where is our love for the lost, natural born citizens of our country? Do we not care what happens to them?

Basham points out that "'Of course, believers are to preach Christ crucified to all, no matter how they arrived here. Of course, we should provide for those in real need, no matter how the needy came to cross our path. But 'welcome the stranger' was Christ's command to his followers to personally emulate the Good Samaritan. To insist that it was meant to be used as a blanket immigration policy is spiritual manipulation that cheapens its meaning…" 

Which leads to some thoughts that came to mind while reading this book.  There seems to be this thought, in the minds of many Christians, that any given country, especially one based on Judeo Christian principles, should act as if it were an individual Christian toward other nations and even toward its own people. If that makes any sense. Let me explain some more:

When you look at what the Bible says about government leaders, even though government leaders are set up by God, both collectively and individually, the leaders of a country apparently do NOT have to act as an individual Christian is supposed to act. A Christian is supposed to love his enemies, turn the other cheek and return good for evil. The leaders of a country are given a sword, to punish evildoers (Romans 13). An individual Christian should not make people who do wrong against him terrified of him, and  they are not allowed to punish, or take vengeance on those who hurt them,  but one could make the case that, apparently, governments rightfully do so (Romans 13:3-4), and not only that, the leaders of governments are God's avengers, agents, as it were, of His wrath "on the one who practices evil".

 So yes, vengeance is God's, not ours as individual Christians, but part of how He carries out His own vengeance is through government leaders. (Can the government misuse their authority, yes, but that's not what we're looking at here). One could also make the case that governments are not to love their enemies, but rather to protect the people over whom God gave them charge, which may involve military conflicts with other countries, and yes, even borders to keep potential enemies from entering their country. As Basham notes, "Scripture does not require us to sacrifice national sovereignty. In fact, Acts 17:26 tells us that God 'marked out [our] appointed times in history and the boundaries of [our] lands.' The Lord is not opposed to borders; He invented them."

HIJACKING THE PRO LIFE MOVEMENT

Oddly enough, Basham shows that even Christian antiabortion movements are being affected by a more liberal stance.  The concept of not taking innocent life is one of the most basic truths, the 6th commandment. And yet she shows that there are some 'Christian' movements who think that one shouldn't be so vigilant in standing against it, and some professing Christians who seem to be questioning whether we should even be against it at all.  

I liked her argument to those professing Christians who (bizarrely)thought that one should vote for Clinton or Biden rather than Trump, (largely because of Trump, "Let's be clear, no one cast a ballot for Trump because he committed adultery….Nor was the legal protection of adultery or lechery a feature of the Trump campaign's platform.  In contrast, Clinton and Biden did promise voters that electing them would allow the butchery to continue. They did make it a part of their platforms, and a significant number of voters cast ballots for them based on those promises. Given this, which vote is more morally uncompromising for the Christian - the one that places power in the hands of those who promise to allow the innocent to be put to death or the open that vests power in those who promise to make a way to rescue the innocent?"

CHRISTIAN MEDIA AND THE MONEY MEN

And then, of course, there Christian publications that are headed down…or solidly on, the liberal path. Basham demonstrates examples of these and the mindsets of the various people promoting them.

GRACIOUS DIALOGUE

Wow. Covid-19. Those were weird years. I remember seeing some of the arguments that Basham cites. "Love Your Neighbor" in particular. As if the only way to love one's neighbor was to avoid your Christian brethren when they were sick or rather, just avoid them all together because both of you might get sick or be carriers of covid. It's frightening to think that this all seems to laud the actions of those who, on the judgment day, Christ condemns  for not caring for other Christians,  "[I was] sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’"(Matt 25:43). 

As Basham shows, many presented the Covid restrictions as a matter of obedience to Jesus. But she argues that there were practical and Biblical arguments against them, including Hebrews 10:25.  It is a very fascinating and sobering chapter to see detailed many of the various manipulation of the facts and the Scripture that went on during those days.

 To add more of my own argument, even if it WERE an extremely, very deadly serious sickness, don't Christians believe in the sovereignty of God? He is ultimately in control of who gets sick and who doesn't. And He's not just over sickness, He controls our life and death, whether sick or not.  And if early Christians (and many present day ones)were willing to risk their lives (and the lives of their unbelieving family members and acquaintances because of association) by meeting together to hear the Word of God (in spite of government command), to fellowship and care for one another, shouldn't we do the same in the face of deadly disease? Risking our own potential death and even the potential death of our unbelieving relatives and acquaintances? Wouldn't we want to be one of those to whom Christ says, "I was sick and you visited me?"(Matt 25:36) And when you think about it, the covid restrictions also hindered other loving acts toward "the least of these, my brethren", like giving a cup of water to them, or food, or clothes…etc.  This truly was a case of "We must obey God rather than men"(Acts 5:29). 

CRITICAL RACE PROPHETS

Critical race theory is also infiltrating churches, and Basham sums it up well when she says, "Where Christianity teaches that mankind's greatest need is salvation from his sin, CRT teaches that it is power over his oppressors. The two groups in CRT are not, as in the Bible, sinners and saints, but victims and oppressors. CRT encourages collective grievance in the first group and collective guilt in the second, without ever dealing with the individual heart. Rather than embracing unity through Christ, it encourages division through ethnicity".

We expect the world to hold grudges and be racist and put up dividing lines, but not the church!

Christ tore down the dividing wall between ethnicities (Ephesians 2:11-18). But Churches are putting a new dividing wall up.  They are teaching a different Gospel, namely, that, we are not "One new man", but rather, in Christ, THERE ARE Jews, Greeks, People of Color, White People…etc. And so we should treat each other, not as brothers and sisters, but as divided peoples, some of whom did not have ALL their sins atoned for by Christ. They act as though there are certain sins that Christ did not wipe off of the slate and therefore we need to make each other atone for them on their own (as if they could do that). They are basically teaching a doctrine of unforgiveness. That is not the Gospel and it is not Christlike. 

Even IF people do treat me badly because of my ethnicity or the color of my skin, I'm supposed to love my enemy (Matt 5:44) and do good to those who hate me(Luke 6:27). I don't want to spend my life focused on the sins of others when my own sins have been eternally forgiven by such a gracious God.  I want my enemies to have this forgiveness too.

And then when churches try to force a DEI type of qualification for their ministers, that is unbiblical as well. In one instance Basham brings up how a potential DEI hire for a church leader position was disqualified because he didn't meet the criteria for having pastored a huge congregation or had experience with a large budget.  My dad(a pastor), who has been listening to this book in audiobook form, lamented that that wasn't right either. He pointed out that the main thing people should be looking for in a pastor is whether his goal will be to prepare the people in a congregation to stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Should he be a good studier and know the Word of God? Absolutely. Should he be chosen because of his ethnicity? No. But neither should be chosen or rejected because of his administration skills and his knowledge of how to handle a large budget. The job of a pastor is to feed the sheep. 

#ME TOO, #CHURCHTOO, AND AN APOCALYSPE

I actually skipped chunks of this as I didn't want to read the details of the accusations of sexual assault n' stuff like that. I do like how Basham brings it back to, not necessarily just being the man's fault but that the woman being equally culpable in many instances. And the fact that any woman consented to sex outside of marriage, and then was  abused physically or emotionally doesn't then acquit her of any sin or culpability. If she wasn't married to him but still  initially consented, then it was sin too.  

Basham points out Christ's dealing with women who had sinned, He doesn't let them off the hook or say it was the man's fault but rather, "He acknowledges these women's transgressions and forgives them, because though the men with whom they transgress have sinned as well, those are not the hearts Jesus is concerned with at the moment. He is concerned with freeing the women from their burden of guilt for THEIR sinful acts, which could only happen if He and the women acknowledge that sin."  And she ultimately emphasizes the need for one to focus on their own sins, turning "Metoo" into a whole different connotation.

NONE DARE CALL IT SIN

And finally, the LGBTQ+ mindset is entering the church, as, not sin, but just a part of one's core identity that one cannot change, even as a Christian.  Basham does a very good job here, basically pointing out that churches who think that God saves LGBTQ people without changing them are denying the command for Christians to put off the old man and put on the new (Eph 4:22-24) That they are essentially denying the "rebirth" that happens at salvation. They don't believe that people need to be born again, to be new creations. 

It's not loving to say the opposite, that God doesn't think you need to change but saves you WITH your sin not FROM it. It is not Christlike love to tell someone a lie. As my dad says, the people who claim that God saves you WITH your sin are "hugging people straight to Hell ". And that is about as cruel as you can get.

I appreciated this account that Basham gives: "Becket Cook is no pastor, no celebrated theologian, but he is a former Hollywood production designer who became a Christian and repented of his former homosexuality….He explained in an interview with The Gospel Coalition that he would never call himself a 'gay Christian' because his former gay identity has been crucified with Christ: 'Why in the world would I use a sinful adjective-gay-to describe my new identity in Christ? I wouldn't and I don't.'"

I also really liked how she pointed out that, unlike the liberal churches who are sending out 'activists', true churches are simply following the Biblical command, even if it goes against reason. "While theologically conservative churches might conversely say they would like to see every affirming church embrace biblical standards on sexuality, gender, and marriage, they're not training activists to infiltrate affirming denominations in order to transform them from within. Instead, again and again, they have done what the Bible commands us to do when we find heresy and immorality in our midst: they have warned and , when those warnings were not heeded, they have separated (Matthew 18:15-17, 2 Thessalonians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 5:9-10)"

And so to conclude my (rather strange) review. This book was very enlightening, showing that things are all messed up in many churches nowadays. Biblical truths, like the 6th commandment, and the destiny of thieves,  homosexuals, idolators…etc. that the Bible warns about  are denied, all while at the same time, concepts that are not necessarily sin, but are grey areas, like HOW one should take care of the creation, Or 'Love your neighbor, get the vaccine'! are being promoted as essential truths despite not being rooted in the Bible. They are in the category of Romans 14 where Paul tells the Romans how to deal with scruples, a.k.a. grey areas, to let each individual be convinced in his own mind but don't judge each other in these matters.

Overall, it's a sobering read. It really seem that we may already be extremely close to the great "apostasy" that must happen before the Day of the Lord (2 Thess 2:3).

Many thanks to the folks at Harper Collins Publishers for sending me a free review copy of this book! My review did not have to be favorable.

One of the places where you may purchase this book:  Amazon.com

Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel resilience - by Mark Sayers

Disappearing Church by Mark Sayers posits an interesting thought:  We live in a culture riddled with "liberal Christian residue", our seemingly secular culture is basically Christian liberalism without the label of 'Christian' and without being considered 'religious' .  By trying to be relevant by trying to appeal to the ever-changing culture around them liberal Christianity became so relevant that it's basic tenets became a part of the culture and thus the church 'institution' was irrelevant as the culture had already been won.  Sayers illustrates it in this way, "" Like a team of suicide bombers who obliterate themselves yet irrevocably change the cultural atmosphere, liberal Christianity has essentially destroyed itself as an ecclesiological, institutional force,  yet won the culture over to its vision of a Christianity reshaped for contemporary tastes."

The author explains that the modern 'church' has imbibed and taught a contemporary form of Gnosticism (his chart comparing ancient and contemporary Gnosticism to the Gospel is very interesting), "This new religion could be detected in an increasing obsession with the self, with personal development and the preference of spirituality over religion, and with therapy over communion with a transcendent God."  The discovery of self is the religion of the day, even in many Christian churches the goal is self-satisfaction, self-fulfillment, self-discovery, a follow your heart mentality…etc.  Sayers points out that it is no wonder people can leave church so easily without even finding another one as they can get the same teachings from the world. The book brings to light the idea of our day and age that personal spirituality is better and more holy than organized 'religion'.

Though I thought that Sayers insights into our modern culture were fascinating I do have some misgivings about the book. Sayers  says some things that imply to me that he may consider Roman Catholicism a legitimate/biblical type of Christianity, and thus the people who hold those doctrines are Christians, that concerns me.  He uses movie illustrations that I think were rather unnecessary and I didn't quite get what he meant by using the statement, "withdraw/return"…it's probably just me.

Overall though it was rather interesting, though I think it could have been better…it just seemed as though there was something missing, though I'm not sure what at the moment.  But again, it is a very interesting insight into the 'disappearing' institutional church of our day and is quite thought provoking.  I'll end, as I usually do,  with one of  my favorite quotes from the book:

"As Rolheiser comments, 'Our age tends to divorce spirituality from ecclesiology.  We want God, but we don't want church.'  However, the great flaw of our search for spirituality and faith  minus church is 'the unconfronted life.  Without church, we have more private fantasy than real faith….Real conversion demands that eventually its recipient be involved in both the muck and the grace of actual church life.'  More than ever we need the limitations and glorious messiness of church…The mere fact that God chooses it, in the same way that He chooses us, humble vessels, is part of His grace that fools the wisdom of the world."

Many thanks to MoodyPublishers for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable)

A couple of the places (among others) where you may purchase this book is at Amazon.com and also at Christian Book Distributors

Daily Readings from: The Christian in Complete Armour - by William Gurnall

I have read a good chunk of the unabridged Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall, it is very good but HUGE, you kind of need to plough through it. This book, Daily Readings from The Christian in Complete Armour, was an excellent idea!  Breaking it up into small chunks for daily reading makes it a much easier read, and gives you a good taste of Gurnall's great skill of teaching and illustrating various spiritual warfare concepts.

The best summary that I can come up with is that this book is like having a spiritual commanding officer giving you a rousing speech each day to be ready to fight the battles to come.  Gurnall talks about the armor our General has provided for us and each individual piece's purpose,  he instructs us to keep in  mind that we should 'wrestle' with the enemy in the way our General has instructed us to do so, not merely in the way that we think we can defeat him,  he also examines the strategy of our spiritual enemy, and gives many warnings about his tactics

Every day Gurnall will warn you about the enemy's deceptive tactics, alerting you with statements like, "When Satan cannot hide the truth, he works to hinder the practical application of it."  and  "If you wish to stand firm in the midst of suffering, forewarn yourself of this fact:  Temptation is never stronger than when relief seems to dress itself in the very sin that Satan is suggesting."  He'll remind you to be ready to follow the Commander's orders at any moment, "Sometimes soldiers do not have as much as an hour's warning before they  must take the field.  And so you, too, might be called out to suffer for God …. Abraham, for example, had very little time to deal with his heart and persuade it to obey God by offering his child.  'Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest' - not in a year, not a month or week, but now (Genesis 22:2).  This command came during the night and 'early in the morning' he was on his way to the mountain (v.3). .....Sometimes God makes very sudden changes in our personal lives."  He will remind you to keep your focus during suffering, "Let those who will, mock and scorn your faith.  What is Heaven worth if you cannot bear a little shame?  If they spit in your face, Christ will wipe it off.  They may laugh at you now, but not later.  The final outcome has already been declared, and you have sided with the victor."  And reminds us that our Commander is invincible, "Let Lucifer choose his way; God is a match for him at every weapon.  If he assaults the saint by persecution, God will oppose him.  If he works by a subtlety, God is ready there also.  The devil and his whole council are mere fools to God.  The more wit and craft in sin, the worse, because it is employed against an all-wise God who cannot be outwitted."

But remember, this book shouldn't be used to replace the Word of God, if you are going to ready any book every day that book should be the Bible.  Like any book, besides the Bible, this book has its flaws, to  name a few, the author may give a bit too much credit to Satan in our spiritual warfare and even in this world in general (he seemed to think that Satan can control the weather), and I don't agree necessarily with all of his advice or application of certain texts, but overall I thought the book was very good, It's now one of my favorite books.  It is VERY motivating and thought-provoking, it is a very good sort of 'push' to have in the mornings to get out and do the work, and fight the battles, that God has ordained for us to face. 

I'll end with one of my favorite, motivating, go out and fight the good fight type of quotes from the book:

 "You should find great strength and encouragement in the knowledge that your commission is divine.  God Himself underwrites your battle and has appointed His own Son "the captain of [your] salvation" (Hebrews 2:10).  He will lead you on to the field with courage, and bring you off with honor.......For bravery none compares with our Lord.  He never turned  His head from danger, not even when hell's hatred and heaven's justice appeared against Him.  Knowing all that was about to happen, Jesus went forth and said, "Whom seek ye?" (John 18:4).  Satan could not overcome Him - our Savior never lost a battle, not even when he lost His life.  He won the victory, carrying His spoils to heaven in the triumphant chariot of His ascension.  There He makes an open show of them, to the unspeakable joy of saints and angels.    As part of Christ's army, you march in the ranks of gallant spirits.  Every one of your fellow soldiers is a child of a King.  Some, like you, are in the midst of battle, besieged on every side by affliction and temptation.  Others, after many assaults, repulses and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall as conquerors.  From there they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them.  This is their cry: "Fight to the death , and the City is your own, as now it is ours! For the waging of a few days' conflict, you will be rewarded with Heaven's glory.  One moment of this celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the sharpness of the fight with all the joy of your permanent victory"

Many thanks to Moody Publishers for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review (My review did not have to be favorable).

One of the websites where you may purchase this book is Amazon.com

Readings in Baptist History - Joseph Early Jr.

Readings in Baptist History: Four Centuries of Selected Documents by Joseph Early Jr.  is a very different (at least for me)way of learning about Baptist history, or any history.  Instead of reading about events, one reads documents from those events in generally the order they were written.  This book is, as it says on the back cover, "An Entire Library in One Book", though it should be noted that several of the documents given in this book are abridged.  It is more of an overview of Baptist history rather than a deep dive into it, but it is an interesting overview.  It contains evidence of good and bad theology(including the bizarre) down through the centuries, and interesting perspectives on various theological controversies amongst the Baptists  themselves and between them and other denominations.   

The concern of many Baptists in regards to making sure they keep holding to the Bible and not man's opinions, the fight against accepting whatever spirit of the age in which they lived, was encouraging to see, and a good encouragement for us to remember to be on the lookout for attacks on the truth in our day.  The statement keeps coming up in the documents is that that the Bible is "the only rule of faith and practice", as one document states: "If it be allowed that reason or sanctified common sense shall determine in matters of faith and practice, it shall still be an open question as to whose reason and sanctified common sense shall make the decision.  If reason or common sense shall be the rule of any part of faith and practice then it is certain that we shall see division, contention, strife.  Le the Bible be the rule of faith and practice and our only difficulty shall be understanding our rule."

It was intriguing too to see various controversies connected with various historical events.  For instance, there is a document from the time of the American Revolution where Baptists are critiquing the paedobaptists because they were imposing a tax on Baptists and yet were complaining about the British Government taxing Americans without representation: "And now dear countrymen, we beseech you seriously to consider these things.  The great  importance of a general union through this country in order to the preservation of our liberties, has often been pleaded for with propriety.  But how can such a union be expected so long as that dearest of all rights, equal liberty of conscience is not allowed? ….You have lately been accused with being disorderly and rebellious, by men in power, who profess a great regard for order and public good.  Why don't you believe them, and rest easy under their administration?  You tell us that you cannot, because you are taxed where you are not represented.  Is it not so with us?......And as the present contest between America and great Britain is not so much about the greatness of taxes already laid, as about a submission to their taxing power.  So (though what we have already suffered is far from being a trifle yet) our greatest difficulty at present concerns the submitting to a taxing power in ecclesiastical affairs…"  

Overall, I think that it is a pretty interesting overview, oh, and I liked that the language of the documents was updated in some places for easier reading.  My only big complaint is that some of the documents seemed too short and I wanted to know more about that time period, or what was going on…(like in Russian Baptist history) which is probably the curiosity that the book is meant to produce, inducing an active desire for more information on Baptist history, so people will go out and research on their own. 

I'll end with a quote which I liked from a 1611 declaration of faith and which I found particularly interesting (though I didn't agree with the whole confession as I didn't think it held completely to the Rule of faith and practice): "That the members of every Church or Congregation should know one another so that they may perform all the duties of love one towards another both to soul and body.  Matthew 18:15.  1 Thessalonians 5:14. 1 Corinthians 12:25.  And especially the elders should know the whole flock, of which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers.  Acts 20:28. 1 Peter 5:2, 3.  and therefore a Church should not consist of such a multitude that they cannot have particular knowledge of one another."

 

Many thanks to the folks at B&H Academic who sent me a free review copy in exchange for my review (which did not have to be favorable).

 

This book may be purchased at Amazon.com and directly from the publisher (and also from other bookstores)