Welcome to Conquest of Grace! If you would like to know more about who I am and where I am coming from, I highly recommend checking out my about page.
Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. (Matthew 7:15 CSB)
So much could be said about this book that the temptation is to follow every rabbit hole. Of course, this isn’t practical because Megan Basham touches on a lot of issues. Individually, these issues could merit book-length treatment. There is also the fact that this book generated no small amount of controversy. With several people named in this book firing back at Basham’s portrayal of them. This is worth discussing first because it can speak to the integrity and reliability of this book.
Of these controversies, I have followed up most with the controversy surrounding Gavin Ortlund. Having watched both defenses of Ortlund (including Ortlund’s two videos responding to the book) and defenses of Basham. It is worth discussing, but I do not intend to deal with that issue in detail here, because it isn’t really the main point of the book. Though it involves a topic that I absolutely do plan to cover more fully, just not in this review.
While I feel there were a couple of valid points that Ortlund made in his defense, they don’t actually detract from Basham’s book or meaningfully alter the thesis she is making. A lot of the back and forth I found exposed, at most, an uncharitable portrayal of one point that Gavin Ortlund made. Whereas the defenses of Ortlund ironically mis-characterized Basham’s book or went on irrelevant tangents. Especially when Ortlund accuses Basham of outright lying but can’t really back it up except by doing exactly what he accuses Basham of doing in her book. He exaggerates what Basham actually claims about him. If anything, I have many more issues with Gavin Ortlund than what Megan Basham covers in the small section about him.
Though, it should be said that while I have many issues with Gavin Ortlund, including what Basham describes, he is not one who crosses the line into false prophet territory. I would argue that he is misguided and holds to very problematic stances (such as his insistence on OEC and waffling on inerrancy) but he is not a wolf.
Ultimately, I found that what Basham helps to expose (which isn’t exactly original but a deeper dive than we would usually find) is extremely important, and none of the controversy has any relevance to the integrity of this book. Though, just like with everything, do your homework and check up on the sources Basham uses.
For those who aren’t familiar with the premise of Shepherds for Sale, it is pretty self-explanatory. It details the extent to which non-Christian groups have infiltrated the Church to recruit political allies for “leftist” agendas. The way they do this is through the co-opting of various people in influential “evangelical” organizations to put a Christian/evangelical face on beliefs and social policies that align with the political left.
Of course, I need to point out that one weakness of this book, and many like it, is the usage of terminology that is poorly defined and rooted in mistaken assumptions. Just like in my previous review of The Christian Left by Lucas Miles Basham relies on several framing devices that plague discourse, including the vast majority of conservative and/or Christian content. We first need to reject the very left/right spectrum in the way that people think of it (see for example my review of The Myth of Left and Right). The biggest problem is that there isn’t a “leftist agenda.” The “left” is a loose political alliance, not an ideology or belief system. So describing things as such creates a lot of category confusion. We need to reject the usage of liberal/left and conservative/right when trying to portray belief systems.
The true root of the infiltration that Basham covers is actually syncretism with various humanist and neo-pagan religions. The most important is the religion of Distrephism. This is especially clear when you see the examples that are used in the book, such as climate change alarmism, homosexuality, illegal immigration, critical race theory, and abortion.
That said, I don’t really hold this against the book. It is simply the language and categories that most people are familiar with, and I do not expect them to recognize it necessarily. For all intents and purposes, this book is a must-read for Christians. The reason is that it is an eye-opening exposé of the deceptive and corrupt nature of many evangelical organizations. Putting aside the fact that “evangelical” is itself an extremely problematic category, we can see that there are organized efforts to compromise and manipulate within many large, “conservative” denominations. There are also several evangelical leaders who have most certainly sold out, pushing propaganda and deliberately promoting positions that are contrary to Scripture, if not outright heretical. Some of them have done so in ways that would demand strong rebuke, including excommunication, as wolves wearing sheep’s clothing. Others are closer to useful idiots and cowards who seek acceptance and the praise of society, rather than faithfulness to Christ.
The author covers 8 major topics in the book, each in its own chapter. These are as follows: climate change in chapter 1, illegal immigration in chapter 2, abortion in chapter 3, Christian media in chapter 4, Covid-19 in chapter 5, Critical Race Theory in chapter 6, the #metoo movement in chapter 7, and finally the “LGBTQ” movement in chapter 8. There is one curious omission from this list: evolution and long ages. Which I would consider to be just as relevant as the rest, if not more so, when you consider organizations like BioLogos (which the author actually mentions in the chapter on Covid-19). I find it interesting how much is leveled against Francis Collins (who is the founder of BioLogos), whom Basham (correctly) accuses of pushing Covid-19 propaganda and exploiting various religious organizations to do so. BioLogos receives mention solely because they supported Covid-19 lockdowns and other flawed scientific ideas that contributed to the government’s mismanagement and overextension of power during the Covid pandemic.
BioLogos promotes outright heretical views in its pursuit of syncretism between Christianity and Darwinian evolution. For examples of that check out the article by Peter Enns, “Evangelicals, Evolution, and the Bible”, where he states “Most Christians understand that, even though the Bible assumes a certain way of looking at the cosmos, from a scientific point of view the Bible is wrong. And that is perfectly fine.” I think this omission is a mistake because the compromises that come from theistic evolution, old-earth creationism, or Hugh Ross’ so-called “Progressive Creation” are just as much of an issue as the others. These ideas also closely link to each other. Show me a church that has compromised on evolution, and I will show you a church that has also compromised on one of the issues that Basham lists in her book.
However, the subject of this book doesn’t lie there. Nevertheless, I consider all these cautionary notes essential for a proper comprehension of what the book achieves and what is happening within Western Christianity. Such works really need to be evaluated and understood with better frameworks than we often get from most conservative and Christian media.
The book itself covers a few things that I want to highlight. The first is going to be just how bad Christianity Today and associated organizations are. In chapter 4, Basham dives into the funding of the supposed flagship Evangelical publication of Christianity Today. Rather tellingly, she points out that Christianity Today received substantial funding from the Lilly Endowment starting in 2016. The author notes the Lilly Endowment’s $750k funding for causes such as North Park University, an ostensibly Christian college that touts its “Queers and Allies” student organization (p. 74). She further explains that this same college “is so committed to excising traditional biblical beliefs on sexuality from its campus that it once pretended to shut down an entire department to rid itself of a tenured professor who had the bad manners to believe out loud what Jesus teaches in Matthew 19—that marriage is meant for one man and one woman for life.” (p. 74) Further references drive home the point that the Lilly Endowment is not a Christian organization and deliberately pushes Distrephist causes. Yet Christianity Today has taken considerable funding from them.
This point is illustrated by the content published by Christianity Today, for example, articles like “The Anti-Racist Curriculum White Evangelicals Need”. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the publication’s staff and board members contributed to seventy-four political donations between 2015 and 2022. Every single one went to Democrats (p. 75). Basham points out that not only do staffers donate entirely to one side of the political aisle, but several Christianity Today editors have directly donated to political candidates. Which is a serious breach of ethics in journalism. Serious enough that even MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann over three donations that he made (pp. 75-76). Basham describes an article, since deleted, from a former CT editor who admitted the direction the organization takes, including openly stating the fact that they effectively never published articles in favor of complementarianism, but published plenty in favor of feminist egalitarianism. He also said that in over 30 years Christianity Today never ran an article in favor of six-day creation (pp. 76-77).
The interesting connection here is when you understand that Christianity Today hardly stands alone. To promote their non-biblical ideologies, evidently anti-Christian entities are pooling substantial financial resources and influence to create deceptive front organizations within Evangelicalism. Using organizations like Christianity Today to put a supposed “Christian” face on it. In the first chapter Basham covers the origins of the Evangelical Environmental Network’s (EEN) origin and influence with groups like CT (pp. 5-12). The EEN received a lot of funding from organizations such as the Clinton Global Initiative and the Hewlett Foundation (both of which are entirely dedicated to unbiblical causes) which it used to launch the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI). The ECI released a public letter called “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.” Basham clarifies that “The letter was drafted by David Gushee, Christian ethics professor and self-branded public intellectual (who has since gone on to reject the Bible’s teaching that homosexual and transgender behaviors are sinful)” (p. 10). This was, of course, endorsed by various staffers at Christianity Today. The publication of course endorsed a bill pushed by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman that would put restrictions on carbon emissions for businesses (p. 9). The ECI was launched at a National Press Club event hosted by these senators.
Finally, I want to highlight Francis Collins and BioLogos once more. Despite not covering one of the most important things that BioLogos does, Basham rather clearly exposes Collins as a wolf. Showcasing the linkage between these issues and the various compromises that result. I’m going to let the author describe it herself because it is a great example of the work that she has done and who Collins really is (p. 107):
When it came to pushing an agenda of racial quotas, Collins was a member of the left in good standing, speaking fluently of ‘structural racism’ against minorities in America’s institutions. He put his money (or, rather, taxpayer money) where his mouth was, implementing new policies that required scientists seeking NIH grants to pass diversity, equity, and inclusion tests.
To the most holy of progressive sacred cows, LGBTQ orthodoxy, Collins was happy to genuflect. He declared himself an ‘ally’ of the gay and trans movements and said he ‘[applauds] the courage and resilience it takes for [LGBTQ] individuals to live openly and authentically,’ pledging his support to them as an ‘advocate.’
We could discuss much more, yet keeping track of these organizations consumes a lot of time. This is one of the most useful aspects of Megan Basham’s book. She has done the investigative work to spell out what connections exist between these organizations, the names of people who have pushed this infiltration, and the funding behind much of it. If anything, you will need to read the book slowly and take notes to follow everything.
Unfortunately, adversaries of the Church have worked hard to obfuscate their involvement. The real problem is the fact that so many leaders of “evangelical” institutions have compromised or tolerated corruption in their ranks. Basham’s book needs serious engagement and application. Probably the biggest lesson of all is just how much you need to research the involvement and leadership of any church organization you belong to. You cannot be complacent, and the work Basham did is proof of this. Compromise is not a side issue, and we must be vigilant. For that reason, I highly recommend Megan Basham’s book Shepherds for Sale because it will arm you with a lot of information to track down compromise or corruption wherever you might be and whatever church you belong to.
I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase using the affiliate link below. Consider doing so to support my work!