Last week Phil Johnson preached a diatribe against Christian Nationalism, arguing instead for a Christian Nihilism. In that sermon, he attacked Joel Webbon, by name. Also last week, Joel Webbon responded, invoking a meme that upset what remains of the Reformed crab pot.
Towards the end of Right Response Ministries’ episode on G3 Ministries, Joel Webbon admonishes Phil Johnson to not follow in their footsteps and make opposing Christian Nations a hallmark of his ministry. Joel Webbon credits this folly as part of the reason for the undoing of so many anti-Christian Nationalists. Among them, Josh Buice, Scott Aniol, Kris Kdubtru, and Andy Woodard were all mentioned or referenced by Right Response. Webbon expresses his desire not to see Phil Johnson’s ministries be brought down by their opposition to Christian Nationalism. In explaining this, Joel Webbon invoked the grim reaper meme, commonly used to express brands self-immolating.
And this meme was therefore seen as a threat because Phil Johnson so happens to have cancer. Justin Peters, James White, Chris Rosebrough, and Phil Johnson all attacked the meme as a physical threat, despite the fact that every name referenced by Webbon et al. is still alive.
“I think what we see happening here is we see them being destroyed. They will never have ministries amongst reformed people again. They shouldn’t. I don’t think anybody will ever take them seriously again.”
— Defiant Baptist (@DefiantBaptist) September 1, 2026
Now, you would think that after last week, James White would be… pic.twitter.com/0gx4scgdB9
James White attacks Joel Webbon and invokes a sophomoric “no you” to rebut Webbon’s claims about the demise of anti-Christian Nationalists ministries. He claims that Webbon has been driven out of the Reformed movement which is a misread of the situation.
The Crab Pot
The blue crab is notorious for keeping its comrades in the pot. And Reformed Evangelicalism, for decades, has operated like crabs. Whenever someone escapes or attempts to escape the crab pot, Order 66 goes out on them. They must rise through the ranks like a good crustacean if they want a whiff of fresh air.
But Joel Webbon’s greatest offense was leaving the crab pot to reach a bigger audience. But Webbon only left the crab pot publicly after trying to unite the Reformed world with the Christ in King conference in 2025. This did not work, and by September 2024, he was out. And his channel reached 200K subs without proper approval.
Big Eva has operated like a guild, with conference speaking, media access, and book publishing. With much overlap with the Reformed world, the ghetto turf wars are perhaps the pettiest in Evangelicalism. Sure, Joel Webbon said unsavory truths about the Jews, but the success of speaking the truth that they- the Doug Wilsons and James Whites- would not speak is the real objection. This has been about market share the whole time as much if not more than theological disagreements.
Only Small Crabs Remain
The Reformed crab pot has a lot of stream and little crabs to keep a Brutus of a crab trapped. G3 was a bigger brand than its personalities. Buice, Aniol, and O’Fallon were all 6 inchers measuring side tip to side tip. But they have succumbed to scandal. John MacArthur has departed. Doug Wilson has his trap but no control outside of it. James White is a small, feisty crab with no pull to keep someone down. And the rest of MacArthur World, aside from Johnson, are undersized crabs.
Joel Webbon got big enough to escape and set an example that the Ogden Bros followed, and many more Reformed Christians have witnessed this and are not getting in the pot in the first place. The remaining crabs are too small to keep a big crab buried and lack the charisma to lead newcomers to the pot.
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