We Must Overcome the Strong Pull of Leftism
Wheaton has truly become the evangelical Harvard—but in all the wrong ways.
In light of yet more evidence of the school’s capitulation to the spirit of our liberal age, it’s obvious that the rot at Wheaton goes deep. A historic institution founded in 1860, the school has been slowly hollowed out over the decades. Their traditional, orthodox theology has been undermined by the twin errors of egalitarianism and antinomianism, and is now being passed off as “Gospel-centered evangelicalism.” As the kerfuffle over a social media post congratulating alumni Russ Vought shows, Wheaton’s focus is clearly on making Christianity safe for modern liberalism. The administration there seems, above all, to be concerned with not offending the leftist pieties of a group of alumni, along with the watching world.
Weakness, timidity, pusillanimity, and spinelessness—is this what Christians want to be known for?
Wheaton’s collapse is in sharp contrast to the character Vice President J.D. Vance recently displayed. He showed courage in discussing the traditional Christian doctrine of ordo amoris, which was taught by Augustine, Aquinas, and a number of Protestant Reformers. Vance also displayed aplomb in backing a DOGE researcher who had been fired for a series of bad social media posts.
Even with the Pope himself weighing in against Vance’s explication of the ordo amoris, the vice president is standing strong like a rock, refusing to disavow what he said. Likewise, Vance hasn’t buckled to the press’s incessant hounding of the Trump administration for rehiring the researcher that had been fired.
Christians should see Wheaton as another sad tale of what happens when we take our cues from the world. Like the phenomenon of regulatory capture, which is when government agencies are captured by the very industries they’ve been tasked with regulating, too many Christian institutions have been captured by the strong pull of our 21st-century moral consensus. But that way lies empty churches, a rotten culture, and evangelicals in the mold of David French.
Vance shows Christians the way forward: sticking to orthodoxy and not bowing to leftist pressure, holding true to historic doctrines and not allowing the world to dictate our beliefs, standing firm in the face of pressure for Christ and His kingdom.
Fortunately, not every Christian institution of higher education has given up the ghost. Historic ones are successfully resisting the siren song of the world. New institutions are cropping up, such as St. Dunstan’s Academy, a K-12 Anglican boarding school for boys in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Seminaries like Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary teach Scriptural truths that pose a deep challenge to our culture today and are not merely an echo of liberalism, such as outlets like Christianity Today and celebrity pastors like Rick Warren.
Whether it’s through efforts like Operation Reconquista that aim to revive mainline denominations that were once the lifeblood of our nation’s elite class, planting new churches, or creating new fellowships of churches, movements are afoot across the nation to revive orthodox Christianity in the United States. As the New Atheists sputtered—Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger, a recent convert to Christianity, has noted that they always produced mediocre work—and as life in the U.S. becomes worse when considering the real economic metrics that lie underneath the approved facts, the field seems ripe for harvest.
The Holy Spirit is clearly working in some interesting ways. And the recent cultural vibe shift, a factor that some quickly write off but should be taken much more seriously, has put an energy in certain Christian circles that hasn’t been there for quite some time. Increasing numbers of Americans seem to be waking up to our political moment—and more importantly, they seem to be intrigued by Christianity in a world of entropy, ugliness, and decline.
Making Elite Pastors
A crucial part of this budding movement involves producing pastors who can speak to more Americans than just those living in rural places (though we need good pastors in those areas, too). More orthodox pastors are needed for the suburbs, which the New Christian Right ignores at their own peril. There also needs to be a crop of pastors who can minister to elites as well. In other words, we need a class of pastors who can handle the Kanye Wests of the world.
It wasn’t all that long ago when Christians were excited that West, a very high-profile but eccentric rapper, seemed to show deep interest in Christianity. In 2019, West released Jesus is King, a Christian album that was a stark departure from his previous work.
But he was soon “scorched” “when the sun rose,” as Jesus describes those who fall away from the faith in the Parable of the Sower. The ground he was planted in was rocky and choked with thorns. West showed some fruits for a time, but he’s certainly no longer among the fold, as anyone who has lately perused his X account can attest. As St. John recounted in his first letter, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
I’m certainly not putting blame on Pastor Adam Tyson, a graduate of The Masters’ Seminary whose southern California-based church West attended, for West falling away from the faith. But there’s a broader point to be made that celebrities often are difficult to handle. Shortly after his seeming conversion, West started his own Sunday “services,” complete with invitees signing NDAs to prevent them from disclosing what happened there. West didn’t seem to have the oversight he needed. He needed someone who could rein him in, given his impetuous impulses, someone alongside him, possibly 24/7, who would constantly point him to Christ.
Pastors of this grade also need to be mindful that elite converts often seem to leave the denomination where they first made a profession of faith. The tattoo artist Kat Von D was baptized in a small-town Baptist church in Indiana and was featured on a number of evangelical Christian podcasts, including one hosted by The Blaze’s Allie Beth Stuckey. But just a year later, Kat is now a catechumen in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Even when evangelicals are able to snag a high-profile convert, most seem to leave after a season, which suggests that evangelical Christianity is not a draw for most elites.
The Mission Field at Home
We also need pastors who, like Vance, actively resist the Left’s framing and cultural power. A quick glance at social media suggests that too many pastors and online public theologians treat certain mission fields—the dissident Right comes to mind—as being filled with lepers. Instead of working to catechize dissident right-wingers, they’re quick to warn other Christians not to associate with them. And if any right-wing Christians have relationships with the dissident Right, this group of pastors and theologians seems far more interested in figuring out ways to doxx and cancel those Christians than bringing the Gospel to the unwashed.
The dissident Right should be seen as an important mission field—and one that has potential for converts since they haven’t been the focus of any sustained evangelization effort. Since most in that group reside in the United States, they are closer in proximity to American Christians, which means that the cultural hurdles that need to be overcome are that much less.
We need Christians—pastors, theologians, and laypeople—with the courage of J.D. Vance. We need Christians who will not bow to the idol of leftism and push back with firmness and grace, citing historic Christian doctrines like the ordo amoris. We need Christians who have a spine and don’t care if they are attacked in op-ed columns in the New York Times. We need Christians who will not blanche when the media goes after them for violating leftist orthodoxy. We need Christians to stop sending their kids to institutions that have essentially baptized modern liberalism under the guise of the Theology of the Cross.
Think this type of Christian will be produced by institutions like Wheaton? Or is a better guide the courage and fortitude Vice President Vance has recently shown? The choice is clear.
Image Credit: Wheaton College
Did Vance really get it right?
R. Scott Clark, in a blog article at Heidelblog.net, warns us on his blog that Christian Nationalists are getting the order of love wrong? But is he correct with his assessment?
According to the New Testament, one’s neighbor is the one whom we come in contact with who is in need. Please note how today’s technology is making our neighborhoods pretty darn big. In addition, are we told in the NT to give to those who cannot repay and to love our enemies? Were these New Testament teachings factored into the above article? In addition, how unorthodox is it to get the orders of love wrong. After all, the order of love does not imply any disagreement with orthodox doctrines of the Godhead or Soteriology. And so are we putting the order of love for others in the wrong category when we say that those who are wrong are not orthodox in their faith?
Unfortunately, the answers to those questions do not shine favorably on the above article. In addition, Rosa Luxemburg writes something about Socialism that might challenge the above article. She wrote that Socialists are opposed to injustices regardless of their location. Would that claim make Luxemburg’s view of Socialism more compassionate than Sabo’s view of Christianity? If so, should we wonder why we have Critical Theory and Post Modernism?