MBA Episode 35: Wounded Sheep vs Wolves (and the Importance of Knowing the Difference)

In our last podcast, we asked “What in the world is happening to our Christian leaders?” where we addressed the differences between the way that Joshua Harris and Marty Sampson of Hillsong declared their loss of faith. In this episode, we go a little further into what the differences are between sheep, wounded sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves. Because if we get them confused, we are either causing further wounding to an already wounded sheep, or letting a wolf into our flock in an act of misguided compassion.

If we get them confused, we are either causing further wounding to an already wounded sheep, or letting a wolf into our flock in an act of misguided compassion.
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Main points covered:

Sheep

1. 
   
   • Parallels to modern Church culture
     
     • The Flight Distance – the buffer zone sheep keep between themselves and anything that is new or unfamiliar
     • Defenseless
     • Creatures of Habit – prefer not to think and fearful of new things (much like modern church culture)
     • Oblivious to real danger, but hypervigilant to what isn’t actually dangerous.
       
       

       Sheep Dogs

       
       
     • Not a wolf, not a sheep, but there to protect the sheep from the wolves
     • Sheep are leery of the sheepdogs
     • Sheepdogs have a herding instinct
     • Heelers nip at sheeps’ tails. Other types stare until the sheep back off and move into a different area.
     • A lot of sheep don’t recognize the danger until it’s too late, so the role of the sheepdog is important.
       
       

       Wounded Sheep vs. Wolf

       
       
       • The wounded sheep and the wolf can look a lot alike
       • The wounded sheep often can’t distinguish between someone trying to help and someone trying to hurt
       • If we treat a wounded sheep like a wolf, we might turn them into one. The difference is a wolf is trying to bring people down with them.
       • A wounded sheep is self-focused. They can only see their own pain, whereas a wolf is self-focused in a narcissistic way. The wolf is still trying to be an influence by attacking and scattering (John 10:12).
       • Wolves today often have a sob story that precedes wolfish behavior. See Mama Bear Apologetics, Ch. 6.
       
       
     
     
   
   

People and resources mentioned:

Joshua Harris

Hillsong Leader

J. Warner Wallace

Matthew 7:15-20

Matthew 3:8

Fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23

August 20th Article by Hillary Morgan Ferrer: “Teaching Our Kids To Spot Empty Statements”

John 10:12

Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies

Unfamiliar vocab:

Apostasy

Slippery Slope

Quotable quotes: 

There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal because a wounded animal doesn’t recognize the difference between someone trying to help them and someone causing further hurt
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—Hillary Morgan Ferrer

If we treat a wounded sheep like a wolf, we might turn them into one.
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—Hillary Morgan Ferrer

We have to be unified around something. It’s not enough to simply say we want to be unified. We have to be unified around Christ and His truth.
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—Hillary Morgan Ferrer

The wolf is using the godly instinct of compassion to remove our defenses emotionally in order to take us down ideologically.
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—Hillary Morgan Ferrer

You can love someone by holding them accountable.
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—Amy Davison

Hillary Morgan Ferrer is the founder of Mama Bear Apologetics. She is the chief author and editor of Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies and Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality: Empowering Your Kids to Understand and Live Out God’s Design. Hillary has her masters in Biology and has been married to her husband, Dr. John D. Ferrer, for 15 years. Don’t let her cook for you. She’ll burn your house straight to the ground.

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