I welcome Sydney Millage, president of Clarity in Action Ministries and former member of The Association of Certified Biblical Counselor, for this guest post.

From Sydney:

Jesus said in John 10:7-13,

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep….”

The following is an adapted version of a podcast transcript between two men in the conservative biblical counseling realm—men who influence thousands of people.

When this podcast episode was released (you can find the original here), I was a member of their organization, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).

As such, I sent personal emails asking them to remove the recording because I believed, based on the confusing ideology and logic in this episode, they were naive and uninformed. In this podcast, not only do the leaders of this organization identify “real” abuse as obvious and physical, they intentionally undermine the Duluth Model’s Power and Control Wheel.

They assert that this tool is anti-establishment (i.e., anti-authority, anti-man), and they focus on discouraging its use rather than addressing the sin of oppression, particularly in marriage.

In truth, the tactics named in the Power and Control Wheel apply to any individual who uses his or her authority, influence, and power to gain and maintain control over another.

The conversation below silences victims, minimizes tactics of abuse and coercive control, vilifies effective means of help, confuses people helpers, elevates authority, and presumes upon blind obedience. Perhaps this is why the Christian Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that 75% of abused women went to their church first for help, but of those, only 4% would ever do so again.

If the response to my request had been favorable, this article would be unnecessary. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

This article, then, is intended to expose the danger of seeking help from individuals who resist the truth about one of the most desperate issues to cross their threshold. “They tie up heavy loads, burdens that are hard to carry, and place them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to help them.” (Matthew 23:4)

When I listened to the podcast, I heard it through the filter of these substitutions:

Sheep: rams (male sheep), ewes (female sheep) and lambs (juvenile sheep): professing Christians
Sheepfold/pen: local church
Wolves: abusers
Wolf assault, wolves assaulting sheep: abuse
Fangs, claws, cunning,  musculature, speed, hunting, pack mentality: physical, verbal, emotional, spiritual, psychological, economic abuse
Undershepherds: biblical counselors and pastors
Farmers: people helpers that are not part of local conservative Christian churches
Pig farmers and unsavory farmers: feminists
Jericho Offensive: The Duluth Model is the topic and title of this conversation. This organization provides   survivor safety, holds offenders accountable for their violence, and changes the climate of tolerance for this form of violence
Tool referred to as the Identifier:  The Duluth Model’s Power and Control Wheel

In the adapted podcast transcript below, you’ll also see clarifications and comments from me inserted in brackets. Grammatical and other errors are true to the original text. For clarity, parts of the conversation have been omitted, but the essence of the meaning is retained.

Podcast Transcript, Adapted

Host: This week on the podcast I have … an expert and friend from the Shepherd’s School.  … He has written so many books, contributed so much to the literature of our movement . …. We have some really fun conversations, and today is not going to be any different.

We’re going to have a good discussion about this model, the Jericho Offensive, that is growing.¹Perhaps the host is referring to a growing use of the Duluth Model’s Power and Control Wheel among biblical counselors since its inclusion in books like The Heart of Domestic Abuse by Chris Moles and Is it Abuse by Darby Strickland. This tool has been in use since 1984.

We’re going to talk about this issue of wolves assaulting sheep and this is not a simple discussion to have, right? We’re going to try and navigate this very carefully….  I just want us to raise this issue to our listeners to help them understand a little bit about this new [41 year-old] Jericho Offensive model….

But before we get there, let’s talk just for a second about the issue of wolves assaulting sheep. It is a real issue. It is something that we are facing in the sheepfold, and we could even argue maybe the sheepfold hasn’t done a good job in dealing with some of these issues. …

The word “assault” is used in a thousand different ways, and oftentimes, it’s sort of this enigmatic term that is broad…. Are we talking about fangs, cunning, claws, musculature, speed, hunting, or pack mentality?

Talk about how wolves assaulting sheep is becoming this overused and maybe under-expressed and under-defined term.

Expert: Well, thank you, Friend. It’s always a joy to join you and discuss issues we’re facing in the sheepfold … and I agree with you. This is a very serious issue…. it’s a real problem. And, I think, for the most part, whether it’s in the sheepfold or pasture, most farmers who are in the area of helping livestock are sincere. They do want to help. We’re not looking at judging farmers’ motives per se. As far as the sheepfold, I think we’re behind, but we’re working on it. We’re addressing the issue or trying to look at what the Handbook says and the sheepfold’s role and responsibility.

But yes, when you look at violence [in the sheepfold] and call that assault, the term has morphed into focusing on fangs, claws, cunning,musculature, speed, hunting, pack mentality. It becomes so broad that now if someone just looks at you in a mean way, it’s assault  … It could refer to anything.

Unfortunately, that really hurts the true victims of serious assault by wolves, and we grieve for that. The ones who really need help and assistance are being violently shorn…they just kind of get lost in the crowd of anything and everything out there.

Host: I think that’s a really critical point as we expand this idea of wolf assault… we sort of dismiss, and that’s not our goal ever. We don’t want to dismiss… real issues livestock are suffering with…. We’re wanting to… make sure we maintain clearly what is it that we’re fighting against? How do we care for those who are truly experiencing these types of things? I know that’s a hard discussion, but I think it’s a worthy discussion.

Now… we saw the Jericho Offensive arise… trying to answer a real legitimate problem, and we’re not dismissing that at all. We’re not saying that wolf assault is not happening. We’re not saying that wolf assault is not as bad as most people say…. It is a real legitimate problem, and as you said earlier, no one becomes a shepherd or pursues this type of work because they hate sheep….

First of all, what is the Jericho Offensive? We might be introducing that to so many under shepherds, and then we’ll talk about some of the specifics…

Expert: The Jericho Offensive was primarily founded by a well-known pig farmer… and many … unsavory farmers who gathered to… reduce assault against ewes. The majority of them had been attacked in that way with violence, but for the most part, a very pig-centered agenda.

As they’re working on this, not a Shepherd model in any way, they were just there [viewing and experiencing devastation,  wondering] “How do we help?” And the design was a project of wolf-assault intervention to reduce violence against ewes….  The Jericho Offensive was formed and put together in Jericho. So that’s where it gets its name.

They quote, from their material, that ewes and lambs are vulnerable to violence because of their unequal defenses in the wild. Treatment of wolves is focused on re-education and they say, “We do not see wolf violence against ewes as stemming from individual pathology, but rather from socially reinforced sense of entitlement. So you have critical theory of the oppressor-oppressed coming through. You also see this, no one is really the villain–even male rams and wolves, who are all portrayed as all violence, they’re not even responsible. It’s the flock as a whole that’s to blame.

Host: Yeah… The difficulty… is … it’s always difficult to offer critique…. We… tend… to have a knee-jerk reaction, we overcorrect the wheel, we go from one side of the ditch to the other ditch on the other side, and we swing the pendulum often too far…. According to the Handbook, we need to be honest about the mistakes that we’re making in not caring for those who have been assaulted legitimately well but not try and run to this overcorrection… What are some of the positives that we can take away from the Jericho Offensive?

Expert: … They are addressing a real issue going on out there and bringing awareness to us. I say to us in the sheepfold, that’s a positive. … It brings awareness. That’s a good thing….  it does seek to bring rams and ewes as equal in the fold. That’s a good thing. Another thing is they’re really trying to stop true violence. We may differ at how they go about it… but …the Shepherd is against assault by wolves. Another positive thing is that they’re trying to hold accountable, trying to keep the injured sheep safe and protect them, and that’s a good thing….

But how they’re addressing it is void of the Shepherd, the Handbook….

Host: Yeah, and what they’re trying to restore back toward right? And that is the picture the Shepherd has provided in the Handbook as to what is a healthy relationship and what things should look like and that is absolutely key…But there are some concerns, and we need to be eyes wide open about some of those concerns…. I want you to talk for a second about this Identifier….

Expert: Yes…. a number of undershepherds have gotten into using this tool as their standard paradigm in how they’re dealing with wolf assault, any kind of mistreatment in relationships with professing sheep…  It’s one-size-fits-all and that’s problematic, and it’s “all rams are wolves, or predators, ewes are never seen as predators,” which it’s not even based on good science and empirical data. It’s just not.  Fifty-five percent of lamb violence is by ewes. It misses so much of the empirical data….

What’s the positive…? It expresses some of the ways that our genetic make-up carries out what we do, both rams/wolves, ewes, and lambs …

You think of the Handbook where part of the curse was that the ram will rule over you, and it won’t always be right, with love, care, and tenderness. And her desire will want to rule over him. So it’s not just males [that sin]..

The Identifier was designed just about males–to help at-risk ewes and lambs explain: look how a wolf is manipulating you and how he’s working you so he has the advantage to harm you. . . . It takes predatory behavior and applies it to males.

That’s the real downside when anyone seeks to use this as a paradigm.

Host: That’s the primary paradigm, and it’s important for us to assess that first …As you mentioned, it doesn’t recognize some of the key sinful observable expressions that males and females have in these types of issues and those things are true. The problem is that paradigm [of wolves being the only ones who wear sheep’s clothing] is set into these philosophies, and those philosophies raise some other dangers and concerns.

Expert: Yes. …. the dangers, concerns, and weaknesses far outweigh the benefits of this Jericho Offensive. The Shepherd’s not even present in their teaching, their view of livestock. [According to this model,] males are [always] predators, and ewes and lambs are always victims…

This is a spiritual battle going on from The Shepherd and Handbook versus the pig farmers and the demonic teachings that come out of these ideologies.

… immediately the wolf is [to be] put out of the sheepfold. His authority is taken away… The authority of the wolf as a protector and companion—he’s not using his authority right, but it takes his authority as a protector and companion away and gives it to the injured sheep or farmer.

Some have referred to [the Jericho Offensive] as a trojan horse that it’s coming in with “Let’s help the oppressed, the wolf-assaulted, those who are in wolf-violence. Let’s help them.” But inside is wrong with these kind of demonic…teaching[s]… that makes the wolves better predators. Now they change their tactics into a more legal wolf-assault… That is one of the biggest critiques right now of the Jericho Offensive.

Host: …That’s interesting because essentially what happens in moments like that is it makes wolves more sophisticated predators.… We’re trying to use the Good Shepherd to assess the hearts and address the heart, and anything we do that sort of band-aids or re-patterns outward behavior is essentially that. We’re creating more sophisticated predators….

…We’re just saying: “This is a point of wisdom and discernment.”  …What would your advice and cautions be … about the Jericho Offensive or… anti-wolf-assault intervention?

Expert: … What does the Handbook say? … It ought to take us… to what The Shepherd says. He is our authority. The Handbook is our authority.

Can under-shepherds  use the Jericho Offensive? I would almost like to say don’t. You can read some of the manifestations of the sinful nature of both wolves and sheep. All animals manifest their nature, and it can be in different ways… This tool can be helpful, but be guarded.

Host: Yeah. Be very guarded. I think that’s a good word of caution and especially as we consider the Jericho Offensive…. We could talk about this for hours,… addressing the real issues of assault by wolves against sheep and then ways not to address those issues…. We have … been inadequate to some degree, and we need to confess and admit that, and it should drive us… to find out, “Okay, Shepherd, how do we handle this in a way where we address the injustice, the assault by wolves that’s happening…?”

I think this has been helpful. It raises awareness, I’m sure for so many, but I hope that it breeds a zeal in our heart to run back to the Handbook and see the wisdom of The Shepherd.

*****

From Sydney: While ACBC seems to accuse the Duluth Model of creating sophisticated predators, the same can be said of any form of education apart from accountability and consequences, including biblical counseling. Along that vein, this podcast discussion fails to (a) provide effective alternatives to the Duluth Model and (b) care for wounded sheep.

To the contrary, a Christlike alternative upholds the rights of the oppressed, rescues the poor and needy from the power of the wicked, and provides justice (Psalm 82:3-4). God, in His wisdom and Word, acknowledges the reality and effects of wolves in sheep’s clothing. He does not excuse, minimize or justify sin, especially sin that oppresses individuals within His Church and marriage.

We would do well to recall the Apostle Paul’s words when he spoke to shepherds of Christ’s flock, shepherds who may unknowingly befriend wolves, shepherds whose priority is stewarding sheep.

Paul understood the messy, difficult business of identifying and removing wolves, whose fangs turn just as quickly and easily on men and equals when it will serve them and further their wicked agenda. In Acts 20:29-30 Paul said,

“…after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure disciples into following them.”

To shepherds who use sheep for their own purposes Yahweh says,

“Woe to the shepherds… who have been feeding themselves. You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.” (Ezekiel 34:2-4)

But there is hope. There are godly, Christlike shepherds. And, above all, God sees. He knows. In and through it all, Jesus remains our Good Shepherd. Ezekiel 34 goes on to say (in verses 9-16),

“This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

“I myself will search for my flock and look for them… I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered.… This is the declaration of the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.”

*****

Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by Rebecca). I’m praying it will be helpful.

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Footnotes

• 1
  Perhaps the host is referring to a growing use of the Duluth Model’s Power and Control Wheel among biblical counselors since its inclusion in books like The Heart of Domestic Abuse by Chris Moles and Is it Abuse by Darby Strickland. This tool has been in use since 1984.