Of Wolves, Flies, and Woke Right

The inseperability between integrity and leadership

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

The older I get, and I’m not very old, the more I become convinced of the reliability of God’s Word. Not that I’ve ever specifically doubted its reliability. There’s just something about seeing some biblical principle played out in real time that has a confirming effect, like a voice softly whispering, “You’re not crazy.”

Recently Will Spencer wrote a timely and courageous piece on the rise of the so-called “woke right” and the danger it presents to a generation of lost boys. The woke right, a term popularized by James Lindsay but in use before him, refers to a movement that uses the power tactics of the left (purity spirals, struggle sessions, mobbing, censorship, victimhood, manipulation of language) but in defense, ostensibly, of the “values” of the right. The movement has metastasized largely through social media, which affords the propogation of shameful errors without the checks and balances normally present in real communities to slow them down. These are enabled by certain beswaggered “alpha” influencers, who proffer themselves as a refuge for the alone and misunderstood.

I don’t want to dive too deep into the woke right here. For a more thorough history and explanation, you really do need to check out Will’s longform article. Part of the difficulty of pastoring in an internet age is that you’re never exactly sure which movements are isolated online phenomena and which have spilled onto the stage of real life. Unfortunately I’ve seen enough evidence to suggest that the latter is indeed happening in regards to the woke right and will continue needing to be dealt with moving forward.

What I want to do today is apply a more generic principle that certainly applies to the woke right phenomenon, but only incidentally. I want to talk about the intended union between a leader’s life and his doctrine and the consequences of ignoring it.

Flash in a Pan Teachers

There are many people who think they want to be leaders who are really just insecure an want the affirmation, power, and influence that comes with having followers. Watch them for a while and it quickly becomes clear they don’t want the inglorious task of plodding away, year after year, among the same group of people.

It’s not hard to see why.

Such an environment has a way of rescuing anyone suffering from any delusions of your omnicompetence. Weaknesses, sin, and the general fatigue of mortality all play their part in the cure. And make no mistake, they are the cure — humbling our pride while exalting the heavenly musician who still manages to coax a recognizable tune from broken instruments. Most pastors I know are mostly notable for their absence of notability, myself included.

When someone arrives in a whirlwind of wit and would-be wisdom, however, like the Greek sophists of old, it’s hard not to be dazzled. They’re clever, they’re funny, they’re confident. They make you feel like you’re not alone. They flatter; they lift; they get you, bro. They are spectacularly competent at belittling they’re detractors. They offer themselves as an oasis of sanity in a desert of flabby, uninspired beta males. They are the solution you’ve been waiting for all your life.

And then, just like that, they disappear. Why? Because that’s their schtick. It’s this modus operandi that makes their way of life possible. See, God has designed the world in such a way that the disparities between a leader’s life and doctrine, assuming they exist, eventually come to light, which has the effect of shattering their perfect image and disillusioning their adoring fans. Longevity tends to be the spell that breaks the hireling’s illusion.

The internet, unfortunately, provides the ideal ecosystem for bad actors to flourish far beyond their expiry date. Far from the eyes of scrutiny they can indefinitely maintain an image without the hassle of ensuring their life adheres with their doctrine.

Yet even here they can’t entirely escape the reality of consequences.

Comeuppance Comin’ at Ya’

Years ago a woodpecker flew into our living room window.

Fortunately, it must have hit the window at a good clip because it was killed instantly. Departing on some errand, I noted that except for the closed eyes and the fact that its neck was frozen in permanent cambré, the bird looked like a perfectly presentable live specimen. When I returned twenty minutes later, however, a company of flies had landed on it and apparently notified their extended family. Death had called to them with its invisible resonance and they had answered the call.

Where there is the aroma of death, flies assemble. The Scriptures affirm that the same invisible principle which applies to nature also applies to false teachers. If you want to know whether a bird is dead, watch to see whether flies show up. If you want to know whether a leader is dead, watch to see whether flies assemble around his ministry.

Because of the lack of principled leaders in our own day, or perhaps because the expectations of integrity are hard conditions to live under, conservatism has done a terrible thing: it has severed the leader’s life from his office. If some official or personality happens to advocate for free speech and limited government we him “conservatives.” Sure, his life might be a mess. Sure, he might be engaged in all kinds of perverted goings-on behind the scenes. Sure he might be Nazi. Who cares? He’s on the side of truth. He’s on the side of “the greater good.”

And what is the greater good? Well . . . not being on the left.

But such distinctions, according to Scripture, are artificial. We’re not allowed to say the evil of murder is less than the evil of pornography. The standard of good is the Scriptures, not some arbitrary line in the sand that we’ve made. Our construction of artificial distinctions has, in part, been responsible for the legitimization of parastic woke movements on both the left and right.

But I digress slightly.

The reassuring thing is that the principles of Scripture endures no matter what period of history we’re in. The command for Christians, and for those who must yet become Christians, is to submit to leaders whose lives you have the opportunity to consider. You do not have the opportunity to consider the lives of self-styled “leaders” on X, instagram, or facebook. They might be oozing with that kind of caustic, degrading wit so popular with millennials and Gen Z’ers today. They might claim to “understand you” in ways that your local church and pastor never will. Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation — His Word — stands firm.

In conclusion, there are two simple questions to ask when it comes to knowing how much weight to put on an individual or ministry. First — what surrounds them: fruit or flies? What kind of people do they attract? What kind of dialogue do they foster? What tactics do they appeal to in debate? How quick are they to accept rebuke? How quick do they repent?

And if you’re wondering how in the world you’re supposed to know the answers to these questions of someone thousands of miles away, you’re most of the way towards answering the second question. Can you consider their way of life? Can you assess, in real time, whether their life coincides with their doctrine? Can you imitate them as they imitate Christ?

Don’t exchange the refined sugar of flatterers for the long-term health of your soul.