Regarding J.D. Hall as a Mad Dog

Wokism and Leftism are pressing the Church in America inside and out. A great many reasonable, decent, everyday folks are afraid. They do not recognize what has happened and is happening to their churches, denominations, communities, schools, and nation.

Eager to resolve the question in favor of orthodox Christian life and thought, they look for fighters to fight for them – men not afraid to punch the communist sympathizers and condescending elitists in the nose for all to see. The townsfolk look for champions.

Some of the men who step into that gap seem, from my perspective, to be doing a decent job – A.D. Robles and Jon Harris, for instance.

However, I have very real concerns about J.D. Hall being embraced as a partner in this campaign against Woke Christianity and radical Leftism in America.

Personal Concerns

On a deeply personal level, I am concerned that Hall’s partnership serves as a kind of poison pill for such efforts and will ultimately help rather than hinder Wokism and Leftism, both inside and outside the Church.

My concerns are not merely hypothetical, but are borne of my personal interactions with Jordan – having attended his church for a brief time, and having gotten to know him directly, family-to-family, over the course of several months.

To be clear, we did not move to Sidney, Montana or start attending Fellowship with any foreknowledge of the his controversial backstory. I was completely clueless about who Jordan was prior to that first Sunday in 2013.

As memory serves me rather fuzzily, it may have actually been a few years before I read up and researched the controversies surrounding Hall and his public life. But in any event, I was not acquainted with his infamy when we decided to attend, nor when I felt strongly led to stop attending.

Occasion and Conscience

I wrote about Hall twice at On The Rocks Blog – once in November of 2017 after he and another man from his church had the police called on them during a Pentecostal revival in Dickinson, North Dakota; another time in January of 2020 when my earlier publication was picked up by a local reporter at the Sidney Herald and was being used to try and quash efforts at making Richland County, Montana into a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary – efforts Hall was serving as the spokesman for.

In other words, I have written publicly about Hall as the intersection of occasion and conscience has necessitated, and no more. 

I maintain roots in Eastern Montana, my homeland, despite having moved to Weld County, Colorado two years ago. And I still hear about Hall’s antics from time to time, without prompting or pursuit on my part.

Before moving to Northeastern Colorado, I had even entertained some thoughts of running for public office at a certain point – for Montana House District 35, for instance, if Jordan ever ran for that seat. And I had close ties with a few persons who were very involved in Eastern Montana politics and had encouraged me to join political movements there – Richland County Republicans, for instance. 

I ultimately declined to join that last movement in particular when I learned that Hall was the leading spokesperson. And I declined precisely because I believe him to be a mad dog who will in the end hurt the causes and people he embraces, and who embrace him in return.

This episode of my podcast is dedicated to warning the likes of A.D. Robles and Jon Harris to not embrace Hall for the same reasons I did not embrace him. He is toxic, and will discredit you and the good causes you are trying to stand for.

Mad Dog

It is one thing to say that a guard dog is good to keep around when there are wolves in the wooded hills. And I do say that, heartily.

When the guard dog either cannot or will not distinguish between the wolves and the sheep, and might as soon bite your guests and family as defend them from the wolves, that sort of guard dog is more of a liability than an asset. 

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

1 Peter 3:13-17 (ESV)

God’s Word calls us to be ready “in season and out of season,” and to be ready to give an account for our Christian faith and life to anyone who asks. But we are charged explicitly to give that account with gentleness and respect.

We do not have the liberty to cherry-pick half of this, and leave the other half alone. And because J.D. Hall does just that, he disqualifies his Christian testimony and his role as a pastor, and should be marked and avoided accordingly.

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