Shepherds in the Midst of Wolves

I've spent many years of my blogging life waging war against the rising tide of false teachers within Evangelicalism. Joined with so many others who’ve dedicated themselves to the same, like watchmen on the wall, we've sounded the alarm, warning against those who, by sharing a stage with heretics, have themselves become enablers.

Time and again, we've called for qualified men to distance themselves from the unqualified—only to see those pleas ignored, dismissed, or outright ridiculed. Deaf ears abound in the modern evangelical industrial complex.

Every year, conference season arrives like clockwork, and with it, a parade of otherwise solid Bible teachers sharing the stage with those who openly pervert the gospel. Whether it be John MacArthur, for example, inviting the uber-woke Mark Dever—a man swimming in the social gospel—or John Piper, a hedonist who conflates emotions with doctrine, to stand in his pulpit.

Meanwhile, Voddie Baucham, a man not known to play games with Scripture, is regularly seen sharing a platform with theological charlatans at venues like The Gospel Coalition, Sing!, or Revive Our Hearts conferences.

The pattern is unmistakable. Their intentions, whether noble or naive, are irrelevant—these alliances persist. Their careers, it seems, depend on these speaking engagements, and the machinery of evangelical conferences grinds on, no matter the spiritual casualties left in its wake.

Now, I must concede that I cannot point to a single Scripture that explicitly declares that standing on a stage with false teachers is, in and of itself, sinful. The lines are not always clear-cut. Yet, the Bible does speak of avoiding even the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) and calls for separation from falsehood (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

Can we argue that lending tacit approval to false teachers is sinful? Absolutely. And can it be said that many of these men, whether intentionally or not, are doing just that? Possibly. But I don't believe that is the heart of many of them. In fact, I don’t think Baucham looks at the speaker list and thinks, “oh, Jackie Hill Perry, a lesbian who raps in churches about standing up to pee, is solid.”

Nope, I think it’s purely carelessness on his part.

So, now that Voddie Baucham is scheduled to appear alongside blatantly false teachers like Tony Evans, Priscilla Shirer, and Jen Wilkin at the Revive Our Hearts conference, I have to wonder if he’s given it any thought at all. Most likely, his scheduling office just sent him there, and he has no idea who else will be there.

The roster itself is a mission field—it reads like a rogue's gallery of doctrinal confusion. Tony Evans, for instance, denies original sin, an error that assaults the very heart of the gospel. Priscilla Shirer has toyed with modalistic tendencies, stating that God the Father (not the Son) is who took on flesh. Jen Wilkin, in one of her more outlandish moments, call women’s menstrual cycles a "parable of the cross."