This is all very sad. I remember this movement picking up some steam when Jerry Falwell started the Moral Majority. I was also in the Charismatic movement for a while, but quickly lost interest in it, and over several years, lost interest in organized religion. Today, I see religion and the Christian Nationalist movement as something that has totally lost sight of Jesus and his teachings. I have left the organization to walk with God outside the walls of religion. I would rather follow the example of Jesus apart from religion, church, pastors, televangelists etc and focus on the still small voice and inner leading of the Spirit of God that lives within. We place to much importance on other human beings. Jesus said the comforter lives within us, we are the temple of the Spirit. I hope to see Christian Nationalism soon fail, but if not, I will put no hope nor trust into it at all.
Early on (1973) I was part and parcel of the Jesus Movement through music. A much in demand band, courted by the Status Quo Churches on one side to the marginal Jesus Revolution Communal Types on the other. What we figured out early on, was, the power struggles indigenous from both sides of the spectrum. One side turned into a full blown international personality cult, existing to this day. The other was a white, male dominated denomination (largest protestant denomination in the U.S) that provided a majority of the 80% that ushered in the first election of Donald Trump. They retain in their name (Southern) - the very echoes of the North/South split over slavery in 1845. Its ideology is in the nationalistic power family-tree of the Religious Right, 180 years later.
In the early 80's I pursued a divinity degree and it was there that I became exposed to the "other hand" that has clapped its applause as dominionism entered the political/religious arena. This "other hand," was produced by the Presbyterians in their think tanks, called Reconstructionism or Theonomy. The movement was growing and the warnings were sounded by the likes of David F. Wells, who wrote “No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (1993) and Cal Thomas (former co - architect of the Moral Majority, who eventually jumped ship). Thomas wrote Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? (1999). He warned in referencing the temptation of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 4:5-7: "In the early days of the Moral Majority we were taken up to the mountain, and we saw how we could finally win the battle for Jesus' sake. Unfortunately, the voice we were listening to 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬." As a side note, the irony of Thomas' reference to “the mountain” of temptation in St. Luke's gospel and the obsession that New Apostolic Reformation has with the Seven Mountain Mandate has not escaped my notice.
In the former book, Wells claims that the Evangelical Church had created a massive paradigm shift that resulted in a vacuum brought about by consciously abandoning theology as its anchor to theological normalcy. What flooded in was the perfect storm of the Church/State power politics of Evangelicals, radicalization of the Presbyterian Theonomists and then the outright "black arts alchemy" of the Charismatic's New Apostolic Reformation, where everything and anything goes. This convergence gave us our present Church/State political chaos.
What I have witnessed over the past 30 years is an overt, exponential growth of all the above, yet also a type of concessionist who paradoxically watched, yet at the same time "asleep at the wheel." These are now losing their minds over Donald Trump yet still seem to not be willing to do the hard, intellectual work. We can no longer be lulled into the latter group who sat by as this soil, fertilized by ideological waste and a lust for power and wealth, grew this monster. Thank you Dan for your excellent analysis and doing the hard work. We must continue together at this level of informative exposure and not be silenced.
This background is helpful to anyone interested in pursuing a deeper dive. Thanks Tim. I am familiar with Thomas' book, and his change of mind/heart. The use of the "mountain" metaphor works in so many different ways and you pointed out an important one. Thanks.
Thanks for this excellent piece. I, too, was influenced by similar experiences and was turned off by the prosperity preaching. Seminary studies turned me in a different direction when I couldn't square the life/teachings of Jesus with these prophets. Jesus was very political (invitation to join the Kingdom of God), but he would not support the notion of America First and Dominionism through political power. In every way his approach is diametrically opposite of what these modern "prophets" are teaching.
This is all very sad. I remember this movement picking up some steam when Jerry Falwell started the Moral Majority. I was also in the Charismatic movement for a while, but quickly lost interest in it, and over several years, lost interest in organized religion. Today, I see religion and the Christian Nationalist movement as something that has totally lost sight of Jesus and his teachings. I have left the organization to walk with God outside the walls of religion. I would rather follow the example of Jesus apart from religion, church, pastors, televangelists etc and focus on the still small voice and inner leading of the Spirit of God that lives within. We place to much importance on other human beings. Jesus said the comforter lives within us, we are the temple of the Spirit. I hope to see Christian Nationalism soon fail, but if not, I will put no hope nor trust into it at all.
Early on (1973) I was part and parcel of the Jesus Movement through music. A much in demand band, courted by the Status Quo Churches on one side to the marginal Jesus Revolution Communal Types on the other. What we figured out early on, was, the power struggles indigenous from both sides of the spectrum. One side turned into a full blown international personality cult, existing to this day. The other was a white, male dominated denomination (largest protestant denomination in the U.S) that provided a majority of the 80% that ushered in the first election of Donald Trump. They retain in their name (Southern) - the very echoes of the North/South split over slavery in 1845. Its ideology is in the nationalistic power family-tree of the Religious Right, 180 years later.
In the early 80's I pursued a divinity degree and it was there that I became exposed to the "other hand" that has clapped its applause as dominionism entered the political/religious arena. This "other hand," was produced by the Presbyterians in their think tanks, called Reconstructionism or Theonomy. The movement was growing and the warnings were sounded by the likes of David F. Wells, who wrote “No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (1993) and Cal Thomas (former co - architect of the Moral Majority, who eventually jumped ship). Thomas wrote Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? (1999). He warned in referencing the temptation of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 4:5-7: "In the early days of the Moral Majority we were taken up to the mountain, and we saw how we could finally win the battle for Jesus' sake. Unfortunately, the voice we were listening to 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬." As a side note, the irony of Thomas' reference to “the mountain” of temptation in St. Luke's gospel and the obsession that New Apostolic Reformation has with the Seven Mountain Mandate has not escaped my notice.
In the former book, Wells claims that the Evangelical Church had created a massive paradigm shift that resulted in a vacuum brought about by consciously abandoning theology as its anchor to theological normalcy. What flooded in was the perfect storm of the Church/State power politics of Evangelicals, radicalization of the Presbyterian Theonomists and then the outright "black arts alchemy" of the Charismatic's New Apostolic Reformation, where everything and anything goes. This convergence gave us our present Church/State political chaos.
What I have witnessed over the past 30 years is an overt, exponential growth of all the above, yet also a type of concessionist who paradoxically watched, yet at the same time "asleep at the wheel." These are now losing their minds over Donald Trump yet still seem to not be willing to do the hard, intellectual work. We can no longer be lulled into the latter group who sat by as this soil, fertilized by ideological waste and a lust for power and wealth, grew this monster. Thank you Dan for your excellent analysis and doing the hard work. We must continue together at this level of informative exposure and not be silenced.
This background is helpful to anyone interested in pursuing a deeper dive. Thanks Tim. I am familiar with Thomas' book, and his change of mind/heart. The use of the "mountain" metaphor works in so many different ways and you pointed out an important one. Thanks.
Thanks for this excellent piece. I, too, was influenced by similar experiences and was turned off by the prosperity preaching. Seminary studies turned me in a different direction when I couldn't square the life/teachings of Jesus with these prophets. Jesus was very political (invitation to join the Kingdom of God), but he would not support the notion of America First and Dominionism through political power. In every way his approach is diametrically opposite of what these modern "prophets" are teaching.
Good comment Loren...Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world." When evangelicals clamor for political power, they are seeking the wrong kingdom.
Dan, this is fascinating. Thank you!