It's a Feature, Not a Bug
The Christian Nationalist movement has devolved to such a insane degree that only the most uninformed or deluded will make the case that its most prominent advocates are not white nationalists. At the tip of that ridiculous spear is Joel Webbon, who, in the last few months, has gone full David Duke, claiming that the path to “save America” is “race-realism.” Of course, he and his right-hand man, the pseudonymous “Wesley Todd,” have been talking like this for well over a year, but eugenic racism and antisemitism have now become their primary message, making them a special type of pariah in the conservative Christian world. The people who legitimized Webbon for years, by doing his podcast and events and inviting him to theirs, were defending him until just a few months ago. Rather than do the responsible thing now and admit their obvious error, they’re proactively ignoring him in hope that he’ll go away. The problem is that Christian media is now beholden to X, a sandbox of sociopathy that has been specifically tailored for characters like Webbon.
Webbon is not the first person to shoot to stardom in the conservative Christian world, only to crash and burn on his own malignancy, especially within the Reformed subculture (Mark Driscoll serves as a prominent example). Last week I wrote about one reason I think that is, namely that a fear of being labeled a “liberal” in conservative Reformed circles drives personalities to allow, and even embrace, far-right extremists who bring far more of a political agenda than a theological one. In this post, though, I want to challenge my readers who still imbibe Reformed media to question why they are still following such a system.
That’s not a looking down of the nose; I used to be one of those people. If you are a genuine Christ follower, though—if you truly seek to follow Him above all else and to clear any and all distractions to that necessary primary purpose—it’s very hard to justify taking direction from an industry that regularly condones people like Webbon and never seems to learn from its mistakes. He always behaved in this malignant manner, and was cheered on for it as long as he only pointed it at the approved intra-industry rivals, like supposed “liberal” Gavin Ortlund, whom he called one of his “favorite race hustlers” in a 2023 episode with the Daily Wire’s Megan Basham (who appeared to agree with him).
“These are the fringes of the Reformed world, those crazy Reformed Baptists,” I’m sure some will push back. I must admit that it’s easier for me to come to the conclusion that this malignancy is most certainly not just at the fringes, when the Presbyterian theologian Carl Trueman, whose writing I’ve greatly benefited from, is still listed as visiting faculty at the new boutique seminary of Tom Ascol, who put me, along with several Reformed elders and pastors, on a social media list, named “Malakoi bois.”
Take a second to think about the above. The President of Founders Ministries and Chancellor of Founders Seminary, whose founding faculty includes Voddie Baucham and Tom Nettles, took the time to photoshop me and an editor at Christianity Today next to Pee Wee Herman and post it on social media. This is, of course, acceptable in the Reformed world, because, as people who have publicly criticized the malignant behavior of Reformed micro-celebrities, those of us on this list are acceptable targets, just like Ortlund.
This is the modus operandi of the reactionary ends of conservative Christian media, actively embraced by the more “respectable” personalities. If you are a consumer of pop-Reformed books, podcasts and conferences, this is how the people you are getting your theology, doctrine and ecclesiology, and/or their associates, behave.
Would you accept an elder in your church acting like Ascol, if he was doing this on Facebook to another member of your congregation? Would you accept your pastor publicly working with such a person, if he was the lead pastor of a church down the road? Of course not! Why do you accept it from the people online whom you are effectively treating as your secondary teaching elders? Why would you have your walk with Christ shaped by such people, either those committing the offense or those who condone it, because they’ve staked their income on playing nice with such people?
You can just walk away from it. You have two millennia of Christian thought to draw from, most of it at no cost to you. Your spiritual formation does not need to be constantly up to date with whatever the latest political battle is. None of that has anything to do with how the people in your immediate vicinity need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.