Good Conflict & Operation Reconquista
The needed corrective of Redeemed Zoomer and his conquistadors
My Choice to Leave & The Culture of Weakness Among Conservatives in the UMC
I left The United Methodist Church last year. I had some reservations about this decision. In the end, I came to peace with the decision by 1) acknowledging that I couldn’t do PlainSpoken (which was and is needed) under the umbrella of the UMC, and 2) committing to repent if I was shown to be wrong.
For many years, I did ministry while feeling quite isolated. I knew of other clergy with conservative sympathies. Very few of them were geared for spiritual warfare. Very few had the energy or clarity for pushing back the liberalism that has gradually and effectively worked to undo any integrity in the spiritual fabric of Methodism in America. I did my small part from the pulpit, and a bit more on Facebook. I participated in meetings, retreats, and discussion groups. Very little came of it. Every four years, a robust coalition of conservatives continued to negotiate with liberals as though some sort of acceptable middle ground could be reached.
It was a project flawed from a false premise. There is no middle ground between those who think the scriptures are a divine document and those who think it to be a man-made document.
When it came time to be bold, at many different points in the life of that denomination, many lost their clarity and conviction. I have years of memories of people who supposedly had the same convictions as me crumbling at the sign of opposition. Folks who talked a big game behind closed doors suddenly became quite reasonable and compromising when in the presence of cultured despisers. Men and women I felt a deep kinship with were exposed as spineless and cowardly. Today, I continue to run into folks like this in the GMC. I note that they are simultaneously optimistic about the future of the GMC, while unspeakably bitter at what transpired in the UMC. I don’t know why it is that they are so optimistic when they do not seem to have learned the lessons that were taught by the failure of the UMC. The end of this article points to the lessons I think should have been learned but probably haven’t been, yet.
Rare But Powerful Examples of Biblical Boldness
It was riveting for me when watching the deliberations of the 2016 General Conference, and Rev. Jerry Kulah rose to speak against legislation aimed at liberalizing the UMC’s positions. He spoke proudly and boldly, not fearing the insults of his enemies. I yearned for leadership such as this. It is not to be found in great supply here in America. The closest thing I have seen of late has been the words of Rev. Ralph Sigler of Harvest Church in Dothan, Alabama. His church has brazenly rebuked the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, called them out publicly for their faithlessness, and put their wellbeing on the line by fighting them in court. Sigler has spoken very clearly about the presenting issue of our day, sexual morality, in ways that are not politically correct. This is almost unheard of in United Methodism.
The bible is full of examples of men and women speaking very clearly, boldly, uncompromisingly about the righteous standards of God. Early Christians were known for speaking flatly words of condemnation against the worldly cultures surrounding them. Even in early America, preachers were not afraid to pronounce condemnation to their countrymen. The “turn or burn” narrative was only shamed into silence very recently. It is to our great detriment that we have so neutered an entire, once-dominant, form of Christian rhetoric. “Oh people today are just different. They don’t respond to all that hellfire and brimstone of the past.” Satan could not be any more pleased with such a sentiment. When all one has to lure people to Christ is sugar, we cannot be surprised when the only Christians we create are spiritually diabetic.
Intro to Richard Ackerman, the Redeemed Zoomer, and His Operation Reconquista
I don’t know when Richard Ackerman started picking up steam as Redeemed Zoomer. I don’t know when Operation Reconquista officially began. It was only after I had already been disaffiliated from the UMC for several months that I read about this crew of young bucks aiming to retake the “Seven Sisters of the Mainline.”
Ackerman is a college student. He is into Minecraft. I don’t take people who play video games seriously, as a rule. I have wondered a time or two if Ackerman is LARPing. Maybe all this is a game to him. Yet I follow him on Twitter, and I see his posts on his Discord server. The guy spends a lot of time and energy learning about the history and doctrine of the Christian faith in its various strands, going back centuries. He simultaneously speaks to the intricacies of these topics while also making comments that are not at all nuanced. Is Mary the mother of God? Yes, otherwise you’re a Nestorian heretic. Stuff like that. Or I mean, just look at his last four tweets:
The kid has a gift. This is one of the blessings of youth, but it is also a quality of good leadership. Speakers who allow themselves to get nuanced to oblivion don’t do us much good. He makes people think and feel. I sometimes wonder if his objective is really winning a fight or simply moving people to be more alive and have worthy conversations. All of these incendiary topics are worthy conversations for serious people.
I have watched him for a few months, and even spoken with him on the phone once when I was of the mind that there were progressive plants in some of his ranks. I think he is legitimate. More than that, I think he has an excellent balance of intelligence and drive. If this guy can get enough people to actually do what he says, he could achieve great things.
Responses to Ackerman’s Bombast
I see in Richard a lot of who I wanted to be as a young man, and a lot of who I was. I was also a big-mouthed slim white guy with bombast and passion, upper-middle class in my demeanor and sensibilities. Yet I lacked the clarity this guy has. I was too distracted by desire for acceptance and achieving a certain success rate with women. In a decidedly different bracket, Ackerman is already engaged to be married. At his stage of life, I was still enamored with the new. It took several more years for me to see the beauty of the old and eternal. Even today, I feel the pressures of disapproval and discomfort from others in ways that serve to limit my boldness. Ackerman, though he surely feels these things, roundly rebukes them in both word and deed.
Mark Tooley of The Institute for Religion and Democracy recently interviewed Ackerman on camera. In his usual style, Tooley did not argue or push; he simply asked the questions and congenially received the answers. Tooley represents a generation of men and women in The United Methodist Church who tried to defend traditional Christianity faithfully from within the system of the denomination. He engaged in coalitions, caucuses, negotiations, legislation, and advocacy. In the end he, alongside all of the conservative leadership, advocated that conservatives cede the denomination to the liberals and progressives and leave behind the bitter cage match for the UMC. To my knowledge, as of at least two years ago, there have been no conservative leaders of any significant stature recommending that conservatives continue to wage spiritual warfare for the soul of the UMC. As I acknowledged at the start of this article, I followed suit and am currently of the mind that it was not a mistake to have done so.
Meanwhile, Operation Reconquista, or rather its subsidiary, Young Methodists for Tradition, has issued at least one statement calling out those who left the UMC to form the GMC as cowards. Ackerman regularly and roundly condemns leaders like Tooley, though not by name, as spineless sellouts. I wondered if Mark was aware of this when he spoke with him. I have a hard time believing that he wasn’t.
I have noted the lack of defensiveness on the part of many conservative leaders in response to Redeemed Zoomer and his movement. While some have said things to the effect that, “We did every possible thing we could. There was nothing left to be done,” I have noted many others being patient and forbearing with these young bucks. Humility requires that elders consider that they perhaps have failed, or have at least been imperfect, in executing their duties. One would expect defensive, self-interested leadership to insult Ackerman’s character or motives. I haven’t seen anything like that. This pleases me.
Young Methodists for Tradition, Reconquista’s Strategy, & the Achilles Heel: Young People
Ackerman has tasked a young man named Tanner Strunk to lead the branch responsible for conducting warfare in The United Methodist Church. This group is called Young Methodists for Tradition. They have a website and a Discord server. I have paid some attention to it. It is not as active as I would like, but perhaps there is more going on than I can usually see; I am not real Discord-savvy. Most of what I see is a bunch of young people getting on board, trying to understand the bigger picture they are a part of, and getting overwhelmed by the culture and patterns of their wayward mainline denomination. Very few understand UMC polity and governance, nor the forces at play when they try to get involved in their congregation’s leadership. Many do not understand how late in the game that they are entering into the fray. Very few seem to have Ackerman’s bellicose disposition. I generally do not have a great impression of young folks. Part of this is from my time of idiocy as a young man. Part of this is knowing so many youth who cannot see anything through or produce much of anything of quality. Even so, hope is a thing.
The approach espoused by Ackerman to retake the mainline is threefold, as I understand it: 1) Retake the levers of power on every level of these denominations by faithful and aggressive participation in the polity of each group, 2) support and build up conservative holdout congregations, and 3) outlast the dying liberals. Based on his trajectories, this approach can easily and handily win out within a generation. Indeed, when one reads church history, one can pretty readily see that church wars are won in a matter of generations, rather than years or months. Ackerman rightly points to the long game. He doesn’t make empty promises of quick or decisive victories. Rather, he tells this youngest Zoomer generation to be patient and to persevere. This is not exactly a consumer-friendly message. However, Ackerman doesn’t seem to be seeking to win consumers, but rather warriors, to his cause.
This is where I sense the weakness of Redeemed Zoomer’s plan: The quality of the people and the culture with which he is working. The work of Jonathan Haidt and Abigail Schrier leads me to believe that this youngest generation is the most emotionally and psychologically disabled generation this world has ever seen. I mean that seriously. And contemporary American society is exceptionally geared towards a high sensitivity to societal disdain and hatred. This is a formula for a crumbling movement.
How They Might Be Exactly Right in Their Approach
Yet relying on previous generations, those same generations that ceded ground to liberalism, also seems fundamentally flawed, doesn’t it? Why try and teach old dogs new tricks? Perhaps it is more feasible to start with the demographic that is the most malleable, the most open-minded.
The worst plan of all when considering how to meet the challenges of the present day is to sell short the edict we have from God to preach Christ and him crucified, to call the nations to righteousness, to do God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven. It is better to fear God than men. We do not get to choose what generation we are born into or what culture in which we are located. We only get to choose whether to be faithful to God in whatever situation we are placed.
Moreover, if Christians are to be the people we are called to be, to bear the burdens required in this present age, then we cannot wait around for a stronger generation to come. We play the hand we have been dealt. We believe in a God who strengthens the feeble arms and weak knees (Heb. 12:12), who empowered Gideon’s reduced fighting force against a much greater army (Judges 7), who is not at all daunted by worldly forces. Do we believe in God’s power throughout history, or not? If we do, then it is not a hard thing for me to believe that God has the final word on this generation, rather than the sober diagnoses of Haidt and Schrier.
The Only Good Thing I Have to Say About Video Games
I used to play video games a lot as a young man. In particular, I really enjoyed Grand Theft Auto IV. As I have said many times and in other places, I think playing video games is a tremendous and sinful waste of time and resources. I don’t take men who play video games seriously as a rule. Even so, while playing this game, I was amazed at how easy it was to go from store to store looking for work. In real life, finding work was a very anxious affair for me. I struggled to find the boldness to find a need that I could then meet. In this virtual world, I had no fear of rejection or failure. If I died or lost, I could simply get another chance. Gradually, shame grew within me that I was so much braver when nothing was on the line than in situations that actually mattered. Why was I my best self for a computer and not for myself and the people around me? I resolved to be braver in my own life, which eventually led to my renouncing of video games and sin in general. Such was the move into sanctification, which continues in me today. While I don’t get any additional lives or chances like in a video game, the reward for faithful living is actually something quite a bit better: eternal blessed life.
I cannot help but wonder if Ackerman came to a similar conclusion. Out of love for his rich tradition of Presbyterianism, and a broader love of mainline doctrine and aesthetics, he set a big goal and will not suffer others to deter him. When met with opposition, Ackerman doesn’t back down and get more reasonable. Rather, he escalates and insists that the Operation Reconquista path is on the side of right. In the age of the Orange Man Bad phenomenon, such brusque and uncompromising leadership is hated. And indeed, many accuse Ackerman of being a Christian Nationalist and/or white supremacist. Some have chosen to make disgusting allegations about his fiancee. Redeemed Zoomer isn’t cowed. He wages war against his detractors on X, and his many followers buttress his efforts.
Navigating Between Extremes
Richard Ackerman humbles me in my own public engagement. I started PlainSpoken about fifteen months ago, speaking boldly for my context in an intimidating situation. I have seen significant engagement and success by my standards. I work hard on producing high quality video and audio, spreading out across multiple platforms. Ackerman, on the other hand, produces content with bad lighting and audio setups, derpy visuals, and a general lack of concern for perfection. He has been rewarded with an audience 100 times bigger than mine on YouTube. His lack of vanity and his unwillingness to make easy promises has answered the hunger of hundreds of thousands. It is quite a thing to see.
Demographers are noting at the present that young men are swinging right in their sensibilities, while young women are swinging left. This is also being seen in South Korea and, to a smaller extent, in many other countries. This has terrible implications for fertility rates around the world for the next generation. It also raises a spectre of overreacting hypermasculinity, intolerant of compassion in men and toughness in women. This tendency needs to be guarded against.
It is hard to figure out where the ideal balance of boldness and compassion lies. Ackerman has only promoted one Methodist voice at this point: that of Lucas Curcio whose ministry is called Method Ministries. I like Curcio and appreciate his ministry, but he is definitely much more combative and incendiary than I am. He lends himself to the manosphere and to less nuanced approaches to societal problems. For that, and perhaps for other reasons, he has also been rewarded with a greater number of followers than PlainSpoken. I do not begrudge him that, at all. In fact, he could be right to have this more combative approach. Time will tell.
What Is At Stake: The Soul of American Christianity
The odds are the Redeemed Zoomer, Operation Reconquista, and Young Methodists for Tradition are flawed messengers. I haven’t seen Ackerman claiming to have been entirely sanctified anywhere. I don’t think Presbyterian doctrine seriously allows for such a status this side of heaven, anyway. Yet beggars don’t get to be choosers, it was for such a time as this that we were born, and we play the hand we have been dealt. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. What is required, however, is that we faithfully fight wherever we are placed. Ackerman is fighting, and I largely agree with him and his approach, so far.
The enemy we are fighting is indeed a worthy one. Unlike many conservative leaders in Methodism, I do not see liberal Christianity as a legitimate strand of the Christian tradition. I see it preaching an alternative counterfeit gospel, much akin to Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Muslims. Liberal Christianity works on a model that gradually degrades and perverts the historic Christian faith, changes the meaning of words, takes over the gears of power, steals the wealth of faithful generations, and alienates the faithful from their fellowships while extorting them of their assets. It reworks all of the foundational doctrines of the faith: original sin, atonement, justification, soteriology, and even Christology. At its root is a love of self and hatred of the God of the bible. While I know, like, and even love individuals in the thrall of this reprobate school of thought, this in no way changes the clarity I have for the need of unceasing warfare against liberalism within the true church.
*Insert obligatory paragraph acknowledging the difference between political liberalism and religious liberalism here, acknowledging the worthiness of the former*
Any approach to religious liberalism within the church that is not of spiritual warfare is insufficient for the present moment. The dominant model of warfare at this point has been that of division and abandoning that which has been built. Thus far, due to prognoses like that of Rod Dreher in his Benedict Option, I often think retreat and separation is really the only response. Yet it is possible that Dreher and others like us have been too quick to give up and cede ground to the ungodly. We need to provide space for those who make this case, even joining arms with them to reclaim that which was built by faithful generations before us. The cause of Christian Nationalism is, in many ways, an aggressive rejection of the retreat and separate option. The venom and vitriol that Christian Nationalism elicits from both liberals and retreating conservatives indicates that there might be something more to it than is seen by many.
Accolades for Current Conservative Leadership & An Exhortation to Prayer
I admired Tooley for platforming one of the most stringent voices decrying his approach to the culture war and the fight for the soul of the church. I have appreciated the room made for me by the previous leaders of my movement, though my approach has been somewhat more confrontational and intolerant. Despite all of the sadness of our present moment, I think there is still a lot of good reason for hope.
As we are called to pray, I think it would be good to pray for the success of Ackerman, Thompson, and the other leaders within Operation Reconquista. Would it not be an amazing thing to see the tide reversed in this battle? Rather than continuing to let liberals infiltrate, infect, intimidate, and eventually overrun whatever conservatives have created, may the West be so blessed to see leaders so set on protecting the purity of God’s church that they no longer fear the approbation of men.
There is a long tradition of faithful spiritual warriors like Athanasius, Irenaeus, and Jerome, among many others who faithfully and unapologetically engaged in acrimonious fighting rather than giving up and building something else. It is worth praying for those who are willing to continue forward this legacy and, if we were wrong to leave, repenting of our decision to leave.
The Critique That Stands, Regardless of Operation Reconquista: We Need to Get Better At Conflict
Here is where things get real and personal. I suspect what is undergirding all of this is a deep unhealth about conflict in our culture. Declining social capital has been noted for many decades. As people in our culture have grown increasingly fragile, narcissistic, and unhealthy in myriad ways, they have increasingly retreated into their homes, away from voluntary associations. At an increasing rate, people prefer to stay inside, playing video games and watching TV, drinking and looking at porn, rather than engage with other people in ways that literally every other generation of humans always has from the beginning of our race.
Other people make us uncomfortable. They don’t share our presuppositions. They see things differently. Many make us think and feel things that we did not assent to. Many require us to acknowledge that we are not actually the main character of the universe. This is a main factor behind the failure of modern marriages and the dissolution of our families. We are increasingly intolerant of others. Alienated and isolated, we are increasingly miserable as we look inwards for comfort. What our scriptures teach is that salvation comes from outside of us: from God, who drives us into covenant relationship with others. This is only rightly done within a mutually-accountable covenant body: the local church.
When trying to share our world with others, we regularly come into conflict. Others have competing visions. They go about satisfying the same goals in different ways. It is difficult to discern who is a friend and ally versus who is a genuine enemy. Some err too far in the direction of bringing in people as friends when they are actually enemies (like conservatives with liberals). Others err too far in the direction of making enemies out of friends (like conservatives and fundamentalists). Gaining this discernment is difficult, and our culture is lazy, so it is easier just to shrug and let people do whatever they like. A shrug is one of the most un-Christlike responses that we can have to life.
Very few voices enter into the fray and try to set the terms of entire groups learning how to do this. We need voices that attempt to do this. We need people to model what faithful engagement with our culture looks like, especially when it is a hostile encounter. We don’t need lukewarm sellouts, nor do we need people who seem to actually relish perpetual battle. We need mature adults who can trust in God through the midst of people being angry at them on all sides.
To be clear, we do not need sociopaths to be leading. Sociopaths are unmoved by the feelings of others because they cannot comprehend them. There are leaders like this. They are very dangerous. We need leaders who understand, not just people’s feelings, but also the forces that animate them, who then out of fear of the Lord engage in battle. Operation Reconquista is working to be such an entity. May the Lord bless their work!
A Final Exhortation: Do Better
Whether or not Operation Reconquista is right in the way that they do their math and think through their theology, I want this to be a moment in which Christians in the West reassess how we are doing conflict. Christ calls us to be peacemakers. That doesn’t mean avoiding conflict, nor does it mean relishing conflict. It means doing conflict well: saying what we mean, speaking the truth in love, matching our words with deeds, practicing biblical virtue, working for the good of others ahead of ourselves, being charitable in our interpretations of others, being vigilant against covenant violation, being willing and able to see and acknowledge our own sin and imperfection. Christians in the West have grown lax and lazy. We are seeing the fallout that comes from that right now. We have been seeing it in dozens of undeniable ways for some time. If we do not learn to be more proactive and mature in the face of impending conflict, then the latest division into the Global Methodist Church will turn into a splintering into many additional denominations in the coming years. While we see this on an organizational level, we will continue to see marriages and families break apart, churches flounder for lack of committed leadership, and a general culture of narcissism claiming ground within the church. Far be it from us!
As folks from my camp continue to watch these young men and women of Operation Reconquista, may we be convicted of the ways in which we give up too quickly, divide too eagerly, and then turn and share a vision of a church catholic that brings honor to God. I pray that the future would be marked by a reuniting of the many factions that have divided for generations before us. May Operation Reconquista be a powerful movement in that direction.
The fight for the GMC starts immediately. Boldness is the answer!
I am not convinced that withdrawing from the UMC and becoming GMC means that we are ceding from the fight. The UMC - or any Mainline Denomination really - is not the point. In any long war (think, the 30 Years War, for example, or the many battles fought by Rome, or the American Revolutionary or Civil War or what have you), strategic battles require that armies move forward and backwards from time to time. A general might retreat here or there; living to fight another day. We must look at Christian History from the long view. The UMC is NOTHING from that perspective! The Truth of God's Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ Jesus... these are eternal values worth standing firm on, no matter who we are up against.
I have not heard of this young man you wrote about in this piece. Perhaps he will gain wisdom in due course. Perhaps he will be the next John Wesley. Or, perhaps he will fade with time. We do not know yet. But one thing I do know: seeking to reclaim the UMC, in and of itself, is a pointless struggle. We as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have way bigger fish to fry.