Introduction
So Kevin DeYoung just published an article, as of the writing of this blog, earlier today
entitled, “On Culture War, Doug Wilson and the Moscow Mood.” I am sure this article is going to light people up on both sides for some time and I’m sure there will be responses from everyone and their grandmother on this, both positive and negative. I’m also sure that every response or reflection on either side will be filled with all of the necessary obligatory nonsense.
For example, so-and-so is a dear brethren in Christ and though we disagree on much we also agree on much and he should be commended for the very things that he agrees with me about. This is usually then followed with a “but,” or a “however.” These are all of the things that he disagrees with me about and because of that, he is wrong and his motives and intentions are to be seriously called into question. And he is also, most likely a big fat meany pants, which I am obviously not because of all my prefaced niceties. You know the drill. So then, let us not stand on ceremony, and waste any of our time with such patronizing nonsense that should leave us feeling dirty and needing to take a shower in hand sanitizer to wash off all of the filth like we just spent an afternoon with Derek Webb.
My point then, in this episode, isn’t to respond to everything that DeYoung comments on in his article working through it line by line…perhaps that will have to be left to a future episode, because I think that it needs to be done. In part, because I believe DeYoung’s mood and language in this article are reflective of what I’ve coined the evangelical establishment. Many use the term Big Eva, and that’s fine but it’s doesn’t really express the nature of the beast.
When I use the term evangelical establishment I am thinking in terms of the D.C. establishment, or rather the entrenchment of the two-party system, which is really just two-sides of the same coin. We think of democrats appealing to their constituents and republicans as appealing to their constituents. But in all actuality, this appeal is just pandering for fund raising purposes. What both parties care much more about than the people they are supposed to represent is themselves, or rather, protecting the system of which they are a part.
This is one of the reasons why these guys all end up looking and sounding and acting the exact same way. How is it that these two parties, with extreme ideological differences can so easily strike a deal behind closed doors? Because they all know the game that they are playing and they know that what is most important, above all else is to play by those rules. If all parties do this, then they will all continue on as is in a very respectable fashion. What’s important is that the system continues as is, because, as those in the system, that is, those that are part of said establishment believe, this is for everyone’s best interest.
That is, there are certain rules to this game that must be followed. There are tracks to success. There are certain shibboleths that must be pronounced in certain ways. There are schools that must be attended. There are sacred cows that must be worshipped and high places that must not be mentioned. There are forms of media that must be used and certain gate keepers that must be appealed too. There are blessings that must be received and sacrifices that must be made. All of this enables the machine to keep rolling along.
I say all of this because I believe there are gross similarities between the D.C. establishment and the evangelical establishment, of which, I believe DeYoung represents, or at least the Reformed brand of it. Which it’s interesting to me as to why DeYoung is writing this article now. He says it’s because he has been repeatedly asked over the years in ministry what he thinks about Wilson, and he admits he would rather not be writing this article. Which leads one to ask, why write it then? He says, “I’m answering the question now in hopes that I might help those who appreciate some of what Wilson says but also feel like something isn’t quite right.”
DeYoung then goes on to say, “I’m convinced the appeal of Moscow is visceral more than intellectual.” And then discloses the primary thesis as to why he believes people are moving to Moscow, “In short, people are moving to Moscow – whether literally or spiritually because of mood. It’s a mood that says, ‘We are not giving up, and we are not giving in. We can do better than negotiate the terms of our surrender. The infidels have taken over our Christian laws, our Christian heritage, and our Christian lands, and we are coming to take them back.”
I think this is typecasting and condescending at best, but it’s certainly not mean-spirited because Kevin DeYoung is doing it and he is part of the establishment, and we all know they are the nicest people in the room, so we are to take this very seriously. I really don’t know why he just didn’t call people moving to Moscow ignorant deplorables, but I suppose he isn’t a Baptist, so stealing phrases is out of the question.
If I’m not careful I may end up saying more about the article here and then never stop. So then, this leads me to the purpose of this podcast. Like I said earlier, I’m sure this article by DeYoung will invoke much conversation, and that’s all well and good, and I don’t want to just be part of another echo chamber. What I would like to do then, is step back and give a few reflections on things that I think are happening here that others may not see, or do see and are unwilling to say out loud, but here I am, looking at the emperor in front of me and I can’t unsee what I saw, and as too use a word that won’t offend DeYoung, that pee-pee can’t be covered up again.
Which also leads me to propose one of the real reasons why DeYoung wrote this article now. I have been following Wilson for almost twenty years. He, nor his tone, nor mood, have not changed at all. So why now, because as that great theologian, Bob Dylan said, the times they are a changin’ and I would imagine it’s because DeYoung and those like him, the establishment, have been exposed and they don’t much like that and even worse than that they don’t like losing market share. So let’s send out the passive aggressive, effeminate respectable, nice little church boy to rebuke this wild boar. Sounds like a good idea, but also sounds kinda familiar.
W.D.S.
Wilson Derangement Syndrome, or if you will, W.D.S. is a very real thing, and it is raging
through the evangelical establishment. What I would like to do know is make some comparisons between Doug Wilson and Donald Trump. I do this not because of the similarities of the character of these men. The comparison has to do with the establishments response to both of these men within their respective spheres. And also, once pointed out, I think it is unavoidable and reflective of our broader cultural milieu and the moment we are living in, given the destabilization of once trusted structures, parties, or if you will, denominational tribes.
Love him or hate him, and there are an abundance of both, everyone should at least be willing to admit, Donald Trump changed things. He was a disrupter of the establishment and as such, he revealed things, and the toothpaste isn’t going back into the tube. I remember back in 2015, watching and interview with Trump. This was when ISIS was on the rise, and the Coptic Christians were getting the heads cut off on the beaches in Egypt. The fruit of Secularism was blossoming in our country and Christians were losing their jobs and livelihood for refusing to glorify, I believe the term that DeYoung prefers is, “fudgepacking.”
Things have only gotten progressively worse sense then, however, at the time, tensions were very high. Donald Trump had just gotten into the race and was ahead in the polls in a stacked Republican primary. All the other candidates had all the right credentials, and there was even a Bush in the race. And here comes Donald Trump, an outsider, saying the most obvious of things that be said. He was saying things that everyone knew, and everyone saw, but no one would say publicly. But what really lit people up early on, was his tone.
So back to the interview. Trump was asked about his tone. Did he really think it was helpful, or Presidential, we might even say, “winsome” to use terms like, “low-energy Jeb.” Pretty mild by today’s standards, almost sounding like a cutting jab in Puritan New England, but at the time was enough to control the news cycle. And Trump’s response was priceless, he said something along the lines of, “you guys are complaining about my tone, while ISIS is cutting the heads off of Christians in the Middle East.” I looked at my wife and said, “I think he just won the
Presidency.”
Not only that, but Trump was going after his own party. People were disgusted by the
Republicans and their hypocrisy and complete inability to conserve anything. They felt betrayed and abandoned, because, quite frankly, they had been. Trump comes along saying the most obvious of things that were not on the establishments talking points. And an interesting phenomenon occurred, you had conservatives saying, this New York billionaire populist gets us, and the establishment couldn’t understand why and they hated him for it. It’s an irrational, almost religious hated. People could see behind the curtain, and power structures were changing and paradigms were shifting and he, in part, was responsible for that. He wasn’t playing by any of the preestablished rules.
It wasn’t just what he was saying, but also how he was saying it that resonated with people, and it was also what was exposing everyone on both sides. Every time, any candidate was on front a camera to talk about themselves or their candidacy they couldn’t shut up about Trump. And the more they talked about Trump the more people could see how irrational they were, and the more people they drew to Trump. In part, it was the irrational hatred for Trump that helped to create the size and loyalty of his followers. People believed that Trump was speaking for them. And when he was constantly attacked they felt like they were being attacked.
Now obviously, there are a multitude of difference between these men, Doug Wilson and Donald Trump and anyone that stretches the similarities to far is an ignorant fool. But, hopefully one can begin to see the point that I am trying to make. Wilson is an outsider. Wilson is a disrupter. Wilson is saying the most obvious of things, that most anatomically correct men actually agree with. And Wilson’s increase in popularity, specifically over the last several years isn’t due to any change in Wilson. This is not to take anything away from Wilson, quite the contrary. He has consistently taught, “All of Christ for all of life” for decades now.
Despite what DeYoung and others would say, this positively includes Biblical and doctrinal teaching, that they actually presuppose by disagreeing with him on certain positions. And negatively, by exposing the absurdity of unbelief. Love him, or hate him, I believe it’s unavoidable to conclude that Wilson is a man that understands our times and has been building a bulwark against them for decades.
So then, the reason for the recent success has nothing to do with changes that Wilson has made, but rather with everything around him that has changed. Many saw these changes coming, including Wilson but many in the church didn’t, or didn’t think they were that serious, or that imminent. And then Covid happened, and God was shaking everything up like a good Martini. In many respects, Covid was a great revealer forcing people to pee or get off the pot. That is, it forced them to go one way or another.
Many in the church saw for the first time what could no longer be ignored. That is, not only how weak and feckless church leadership had become, but also how much they sounded just like the world. But hey, establishments going to establish. Many felt abandoned and betrayed and were looking for resolute voices to lead, or just to state the obvious. Men were looking for men to lead and most of the evangelical establishment is gayer than Russel Moore and Derek Webb playing a game of hide the zucchini at Paul Pelosi’s on a Friday night.
Not only did the evangelical establishment look weak, but they seemed to be getting all of their talking points directly from the state, so-much-so that it was often hard to tell the difference at times. Many in the evangelical establishment had closed down their churches and were not only encouraging others to do so as well but were calling them unloving if they didn’t. Those who didn’t agree with this, were loving bludgeoned with the mantra, “love your neighbor,” or were told ad infinitum to exercise church unity, which was christeneze for do what we say. All of this coupled with all of the homo and tranny hospitality being pushed while at same time being told that they are probably racist and their country sucks. People had had enough.
They were looking for sanity in a time of insanity and for strength in a time of weakness and for clarity in a time of manipulation and they were looking for masculinity, you know, the kind with balls and the accompanying spine. And when they looked at Kevin DeYoung and those in the Gospel Coalition they thought, “Wow, why are guys so gay?” And, “Wow, why are you guys so weak?” And, “Wow, how did you guys get to be so tone-deaf?” And, “Wow, why do you guys keep writing about the stupidest stuff imaginable that nobody cares about?”
Men don’t want to follow a bunch a weak, passive aggressive, emotionally manipulative women, even if those women have penis’s and carry the title of pastor. They can tell when something isn’t right. And Christian men also know, or at least they should know that true humility and meekness doesn’t mean weakness and certainly doesn’t mean capitulation with that which is opposed to Christ. If Christ, is our King then we should act like it.
So then, the evangelical establishment has been exposed in large part for what it is. Oz the great and powerful has been shown to be a whinny turd behind a curtain who is using smoke and mirrors to manipulate people. Though still incredibly well funded, they are beginning to feel the pinch of losing market share and they don’t much like it, nor do they understand why. Quick somebody write a book on the war on men.
DeYoung, and a great multitude of those like him feel the ground moving beneath their feet and it’s destabilizing. They have followed the rules and the right tracks to success. They know how to pronounce all of the right shibboleths and have gone to the right schools. They know the sacred cows to be worshipped and if you are Reformed you know that the number of adjectives that you can throw in a sentence with the name of Christ makes you more holy. They know what high places must not be mentioned and they know who the gate keepers are. They have done all of the right things in all of the right ways and they expect to be rewarded for that.
However, when you dress up in the attire of the world, it’s best to put on your pants when you leave the house because there is always going to be that one honest kid in the crowd that points out the obvious and gives others the excuse to do so as well. Kings don’t like to be told they’re naked. Pharisees don’t like to be told they’re clothed in rages and weak men don’t like being exposed as wussies. When they are, they usually get a little sassy, and default to all the right emotionally manipulative, negative word associative talking points. Moscow man bad. Moscow man racist. Moscow man Christian Nationalism. Moscow man potty mouth, and so on. All of this just looks terribly desperate and weak.
If I could briefly summarize DeYoung’s loving, and humble, and winsome, and balance article: We like some of what Wilson talks about, so he should only talk about those things. We like some of what Wilson says, but he should only say those things in ways that we approve of. Wilson is too self-aggrandizing, he should be more humble like us.
Conclusion
My intent here is not to be an apologist for Doug Wilson, not at all. But as was the case with Trump, so too here. The more his enemies continue to attack him and consistently and intentionally misrepresent him, it makes me love him all the more. Because, I believe the evangelical establishment, of which DeYoung is most certainly a part, is just as much a cancer on the church as the D.C. establishment is on our country.
DeYoung constantly goes back to mood within the article with the assumption that the Moscow mood was bad and un Christian (of course, this was not mean spirited however). In his assessment, this “mood” was an appeal to the flesh or that which is fleshly in us. In his words, the mood is the message, and he applied the old adage, “what you win them with, you win them
too.”
Perhaps, but that is a sword that cuts both ways, is it not? It’s amazing to me that one could say this with so little self-reflection (humbly speaking, of course). What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If Moscow is winning people because of their moxie, maybe, just maybe DeYoung and The Gospel Coalition and the evangelical establishment are losing people because of their mood which is weak and effeminate, and every man knows the last thing Jesus was was a wussy. The establishment is losing market share not because people see Christ in them, but rather because they don’t.