Sheepfold Under Siege: Wolves the Church Applaudes

🕯️ Sheepfold Under Siege: introduction article

Introduction & Overview

> “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

— Matthew 7:15

If there’s one warning modern Christians seem least inclined to heed, it’s this one.

We imagine wolves as easy to spot — the snarling televangelist, the overt heretic, the snake-oil salesman with a glitzy smile. But the Lord said they come in sheep’s clothing. They look the part. They quote Scripture. They sing our songs, share our language, even champion some of our causes. And that’s why they’re dangerous.

In the American Church today, wolves rarely attack the flock from outside the fence. They stand in the pulpit, trend on social media, write bestsellers, and headline conferences. They are applauded, imitated, and endorsed.

Yet what they preach is not Christ crucified. It is Christ customized — rebranded, softened, and resized for cultural comfort.

This series, “Sheepfold Under Siege,” isn’t about slander or self-righteous nitpicking. It’s about discernment — a word that’s almost as forgotten as holiness. True discernment doesn’t look for devils under every pew; it looks for doctrine that denies Christ’s sufficiency while claiming His name.

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🕊️ The Spirit’s Warning

The apostles spent as much time warning the Church about false teachers as they did describing persecution. Paul told the Ephesian elders that “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things” (Acts 20:30). Peter, Jude, and John wrote entire letters to confront subtle distortions of the gospel.

Even Satan, Scripture reminds us, disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

That means deception doesn’t always look like rebellion — it often looks like relevance.

The modern church, desperate to be liked, has traded discernment for diplomacy. We excuse error in the name of charity and call it “grace.” We tolerate heresy for the sake of unity and call it “love.”

But love without truth isn’t love at all. It’s sentimentality — and sentimentality has slain more souls than persecution ever could.

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📖 What This Series Will Do

Each article will examine a figure or movement that has gained mainstream acceptance in the American or Western church — teachers the Church applauds, but Christ never authorized.

We’ll look at how their teachings distort one or more of the essential truths reclaimed in the Reformation — the Five Solas — and how those distortions have reshaped modern Christianity.

Some are prosperity preachers.

Some are pragmatic “church growth” gurus.

Some wear the robes of scholarship or the mask of compassion.

And some, like Jordan Peterson or Martin Luther King Jr., are admired cultural heroes whose influence on Christian thinking must be examined biblically, not sentimentally.

You will see:

The Showmen of Self-Expression (Furtick, Todd, Stanley) — who trade exposition for entertainment.

The Gospel of Gain (Paula White, Bill Johnson, Osteen) — who turn faith into a transaction.

The Academic Third-Wayists (Keller, Wright, Moore) — who confuse nuance with faithfulness.

The Progressive Revisionists (Robertson, Rohr, Mullally) — who rewrite Scripture to bless sin.

The Civil Religion Icons (MLK Jr., Tutu, Pope Francis) — who replace the gospel of grace with social uplift.

The Counterfeit Masculinists (Driscoll, Peterson, Tate) — who rebuild patriarchy without piety.

The Digital Wolves — influencers catechizing an entire generation in relativism.

Each will follow the same pattern:

1. The Appeal – why the Church listens.

2. The Drift – where they depart from biblical orthodoxy.

3. The Fruit – what their teaching produces.

4. The Call – how Scripture instructs us to respond.

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⚔️ Why This Matters Now

We live in an age when celebrity has become a sacrament and feelings a final authority.

The line between the sacred and the sensational is vanishing.

Sermons are shorter, stages brighter, and truth increasingly negotiable.

Many of today’s most celebrated “pastors” are not shepherds but brand managers, shaping public opinion rather than discipling saints.

The Reformers bled to return the Church to the authority of Scripture.

Yet many modern evangelicals are unthinkingly handing it back to the marketplace.

The Word of God has been dethroned by the words of men.

Discernment, then, is not optional — it is an act of love.

To warn the flock is not to be judgmental; it is to be faithful.

As Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”

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🩸 A Call to the Flock

If the sheepfold is under siege, it is not because the Shepherd has grown weak.

Christ still reigns. His Word still pierces. His Spirit still sanctifies.

But He calls His people to vigilance: “My sheep hear My voice, and a stranger they will not follow” (John 10:27).

The challenge of our generation is not that the wolves are stronger.

It’s that the sheep have stopped listening.

We are too entertained to be edified, too comfortable to be convicted, too distracted to discern.

This series is written for those who still care — those who love Christ’s Church enough to guard her gates.

It will not flatter, but it will equip.

It will not gossip, but it will grieve.

And it will call every reader — pastors, parents, and parishioners alike — to return to the one unshakable foundation: “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

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📜 Coming Next

Article 1 – “The Wolf You Laughed With: Entertainment vs. Exposition”

A look at Steven Furtick, Michael Todd, and the cult of charisma that replaced the pulpit with a performance — and why American Christians confuse spiritual electricity with the power of the Holy Spirit.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post