She begins her book with the Anderson family. Moving from California back to Georgia and to their seeker sensitive megachurch in “the Bible Belt,” they thought they had left behind churches in which Leftist politics were pushed. They found the hard way that was not so, particularly after James Anderson was asked to join a “racial reconciliation” study, “Be the Bridge,” in which white participants were not allowed to speak for the first six months. They stuck it out for a while, but then moved to a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America, an orthodox denomination) church, only to find Critical Race Theory pushed from that pulpit and a service turned into something akin to a “struggle session.” The Andersons found out through difficult experience that “this is a bigger problem . . . not just California craziness.” Basham tells such stories well, letting readers know that more than politics are at stake but also the spiritual health of churches and people.

For months I’ve been eager to read Megan Basham’s Shepherds for Sale – How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. I’ve oft wished that it had been released before this summer of politics and of church conventions and assemblies. So when the local Barnes and Nobles let it slip onto their shelves before this week’s release date in what Basham has called a “small snafu,” I snapped up a copy. I’d rather call it a felix culpa!

Having become familiar with her online work, I expected a well researched, no nonsense work. Megan Basham keeps receipts and knows how to use them! And the book is indeed that, reflected by the footnotes and index taking up 72 pages.

What I did not expect is that Shepherds for Sale would be so well written. I knew Basham is an excellent communicator, but such skills do not always translate well to a book format. I expected a needed, well documented book; I did not expect one which would not only be easy to read but even hard to put down at times.

This is quite the accomplishment given the difficult and complex subject of evangelical leaders being too eager to heed and please the woke globalist culture of powerful elites, too sloppy in applying the Bible to today’s political and social issues, and too willing to take money from Leftist entities such as Soros. The predictable result is somewhat orthodox leaders and churches pushing toxic ideologies and politics.

Basham organizes the chapters of Shepherds for Sale mainly into how evangelical leaders have done so in the areas of climate change, illegal immigration, watering down and diverting what “pro-life” means, COVID propaganda and suppression, Critical Race Theory, #MeToo and #ChurchToo, and drift on LGBTQ issues. In addition, a chapter focuses on how Christianity Today and the Trinity Forum have departed from their original missions to become influencers for the Left with the help of money from the Rockefellers, E-bay founder Pierre Omidyar, the Lilly Endowment and more.

Yes, not pleasant topics to say the least. Yet Basham’s writing on these is assessable and engaging. And she makes Shepherds for Sale personal and relevant by telling real life stories, including narratives of how families have been affected by evangelical drift.

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