Mark Driscoll and the Spirit of Saul

What we can learn from the outrageous behavior of grown men

The Stronger Men’s Conference’s marketing team promised a spectacle – with monster trucks and bull riding splashed across their website’s landing page alongside a tantalizing assortment of sports stars, smoke machines and concert performances to boot. And a spectacle, my friends, is precisely what they delivered.

Mark Driscoll, infamous for misogyny, lies, inappropriate sexual fixation, public rage, and various abuses inflicted on his Mars Hill congregation in Seattle, was one of the speakers invited to this conference in which the stated mission was to “inspire and equip men to live out God’s vision for manhood to be the husbands, fathers, and leaders God has called them to be.” Unfortunately, Driscoll came to the stage highly keyed-up by a certain performance in the entertainment portion of the event in which sword swallower Alex Magala performed acrobatics and sword swallowing on a pole. Alex Magala is a two-time Guiness world record holder, the first aerial swallower in the world, performed at the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2014 and has given a popular TEDx Talk.

So, we’re not talking about a second-rate chump here, or some dude from Chippendales hustling his flesh for a stadium-full of Christian men to pay his student loan bills.

Here is the video in which Mark Driscoll publicly declared that the conference had a “Jezebel spirit,” and compared an award-winning aerial performer to a stripper. Whether the phallic imagery was intended (unlikely), or Mark saw it all in a fever dream he’d been having, apparently, since 1 a.m., it’s revealing that this outlandish scene centered around phallic obsession…at a Christian men’s conference…for the stated purpose of helping men be godly husbands, fathers, and leaders.

So much is wrong with the entire scenario that it will be difficult to name it all in one post, but I will take a swing at it anyway because I’m not only deeply disturbed by the entire thing, I’m also fed all the way up with the constant use of “Jezebel spirit” as a weapon against women and girls, scapegoating them for the disordered attachments of men to power and sex.

Aren’t You Embarrassed?

It’s difficult to comprehend how the men who paid good money to attend this conference didn’t feel condescended to by the over-the-top machismo. Take a look at the official trailer for the conference at this link.

This is marketing to every male insecurity, plain and simple. Certainly, women fall prey to this very same thing all the time. The female stereotypes are things like flowers, steaming mugs of coffee, open fields with lots of warm sunshine, perfectly outfitted women with perfect smiles and cute hats laughing and hugging. And this kind of thing is the reason I now opt out of women’s conferences. I’m better served these days sitting in a pew and reciting liturgy or listening to beautiful music or having a heart-to-heart with my real friends as we share the good, the bad, and very often the ugly of our real lives. Being marketed to in such an insulting, out-of-touch, stereotypical way in the name of Jesus no longer holds appeal for me. I’m embarrassed about the times I attempted to access the holy, or receive a sacred calling, or become spiritually inspired in these ways, because they are so insanely foreign to the authentic gospel of Christ.

And everyone who organized and planned for The Stronger Men’s Conference should be embarrassed too.

I’m not picking on bull riding or monster trucks, but let’s be clear on something: machismo has nothing to do with being a good father, husband, and leader. In fact, the very things that will make for a great human are what the Bible refers to as “The Fruits of the Spirit,” and they’re pretty much the opposite of aggression, domination, and feats of strength. The naturally outflowing evidence of God’s work in our lives are things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23).

It's revealing that the fruits of the Spirit are the character qualities that Driscoll and his ilk openly mock in others, especially in men who refuse to buy into poisoned understandings of masculinity.

Misconstruing American-style hyper-masculinity with godliness is a grave mistake, one for which countless families, churches, and communities have paid a devastating cost. Yet that was the unapologetic thrust of this ill-fated conference, and the unspiritual fruits yielded are the stuff of viral internet content and even headline news.

Lousy Theology

Driscoll’s dramatic rebuke was filled with the lousy theology that one will always find when folks twist scripture for the purposes of power, control, dehumanization, and mockery. He began by stating the Jezebel spirit was present as evidenced by:

• Alex Magala performing on a platform, which Driscoll referred to as a “high place” as in the idolatrous high places found in Kings I and II. It seems that the fact Driscoll was also standing on a stage, a “high place” as he calls it, which he continues to make a career doing, escaped his notice.

• The sword swallower stripping his shirt off before getting on a pole. He compared this part of the performance to a strip show, specifically women who tempt men into lust by bearing their bodies before them on a pole. (I must assume Driscoll has never seen other aerial performers and acrobats or that he has the same problem with the UFC fighters and boxers that have been frequent guests of the conference because they wear nothing but shorts and, in many cases tight ones at that. Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that the violence of their performances negates the sight of their flesh in Driscoll & Co’s eyes. It must have also escaped his attention that men don’t just accidentally find themselves at strip clubs, they use their agency and resources to pay for this sexual service. It could easily be argued in reverse that sex workers of all kinds are “tempted” into the trade by the money men are willing to throw at their feet. Yet, we know for sure that many sex workers are not in the trade because of temptation but rather desperation and forcible coercion).

• Magala ascending the pole in his performance. Driscoll went on to say that our God is not arrogant but humble, and does not ascend but descends. Again, he seems to have lost a chunk of his Christian orthodoxy somewhere because…well, Jesus did in fact ascend and there’s a lot written about that in the Good Book which Mark enjoys using to bludgeon his enemies.

Jezebel was a queen known in the Hebrew Scriptures for disobeying God, worshipping idols, using her influence and power to coerce others into sin, and brazenly defying her enemies. She represents cruelty, vengefulness, scheming, and maliciousness. Lousy theology connects this queen with an evil spirit that possessed a woman called by the same name in Revelation 2:20-23, and which continues to influence women to seduce and gain power over men.

The problem is that there is no biblical teaching about a Jezebel spirit which continues to possess and influence women, rather the Bible presents two real women who were doing similar things.

Instead of reading the lives of the two Jezebel’s and wondering what God might be awakening all humankind to understand about themselves, lousy theologians have used this false teaching to create contexts for the diminishment, abuse, degradation, dismissal, mockery, and despising of any woman who challenges male authority. And the kicker is that it’s also used against men, but in a most twisted manner which ends up scapegoating women for male misdeeds!

And that’s precisely the lousy theological twisting Mark Driscoll was letting rip at The Stronger Men’s Conference. He had a problem with what the men were doing, but somehow still made it about Jezebel-infected women. The only solace I can take from any of this is that, for one brief moment, the men who had to sit under Mark’s lousy theology and dramatic rebukes, felt what it’s like to have a scowling, judgmental male who they trusted accuse them of having an ancient and demonic spirit within them sent to drag godly men down, when they least expected it and in front of the world. And all they could do for those few moments is absorb the shock along with his accusations.

We can only pray that experience leads them into critical thinking of their own theology and deeper empathy for the women and children this doctrine has hurt. But that’s likely expecting too much.

Priming the Pump for Male Anger

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this entire scene was the male anger pulsating through that huge venue. Mark was shouted off the stage by one of his friends and mentors, John Lindell, who happened to also be one of the organizers of the event. The audience erupted in a mixture of booing and clapping; men were shouting at Lindell while he was angrily talking back to the audience.

The mama in me wanted to take each of them by the hand, gently rub their backs, and take them home so they could have a snack and a nap because it looked and sounded like a massive crowd of dysregulated toddlers. After a good nap, then we’d process what happened and how important it is to take personal responsibility of ourselves rather than scapegoat girls for the erotic passions you feel guilty about.

The mother wounds in so many of these men, Mark Driscoll most of all, are pronounced. Give them two days in a coliseum with coarse joking (most likely at the expense of women and “weak” men), along with none of the people they are “othering” around to look them in the eyes, and top it off with reveling in violence and lousy theology…well, it’s no wonder things devolved so quickly.

It's time to rethink what makes for a “Strong Man” and a good husband, father, and leader. Maybe they should have polled wives, children, and employees/congregants for what they think are great character qualities. Or taken Jesus’s example of what it means to be human, shaken free from lousy theology that turns the Jesus of the Gospels into a bloodthirsty warlord.

I See Your Jezebel Spirit and Raise You the Spirit of Saul

King Saul, also of Hebrew Bible infamy, is known for violence, jealousy, power-obsession, an unsound mind, and being haunted by an evil spirit that twisted his affection for young David (who was the newly chosen, and rightful King) into murderous rage. Hellbent on being “the stronger man,” he disobeyed God, did his own thing, and died in torment because of the consequences of his choices to abuse his power.

Photo by Maryna Kazmirova on Unsplash

If our lousy theology allows us to pick out biblical figures and take whatever demons haunted them and project them onto others, perhaps the Spirit of Saul was more at work at this conference than that of Jezebel.

When your deep insecurities are as palpable as your rage, and your mind is always working overtime in conspiracy, suspicion and accusation, when you’re seeing evil everywhere except in your own mocking hardened heart, when you’ve made wrestling power and control from others your life’s mission while cloaking your agenda in the sweet-sounding garb of “protective male headship,” and when you can no longer hear the tender voice of your Good Shepherd over the unmet ache in your soul for purpose even at the expense of others, is it any wonder this kind of conference publicly devolved into a cacophony of what sounded like war cries?

This movement reduces men to stereotypes and scapegoats women for their out of control sexual passions and deep insecurities. It creates the context for a known misogynist and terrible leader to boldly come on stage and instigate a modern-day witch hunt. It allows men to keep their disordered attachments while shaming them away from all that might actually bring them healing.

If you ask me, it’s time for this so-called Christian movement to go the way of Saul and die on the sword of misguided, fear-driven madness.