A number of decades ago, I was sitting in a church in Portland. The weather on that particular day was typical for the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers; overcast, drizzly and dreary. But the gloom outside wasn’t affecting attitudes inside the little church. The few dozen believers sitting in the pews were upbeat and alert, listening intently to the words being spoken.
I assume most in the congregation, (the majority of us were in our twenties and thirties), didn’t understand we were witnessing the beginning of a coup.
The words we heard were inspiring and motivating. The church leaders had come up with a concept that, properly initiated and developed, would return our country to its historically blissful, Christian origins.
We were going to take back America.
Vive La Révolution!
The “From whom are we taking the country?” list would include, naturally, all the usual, Liberal (big L) suspects, but to simplify things, just know that at the heart of and behind everything, Satan was busy pulling levers and pushing knobs and influencing events, and America was — figuratively and literally — going to Hell.
That had to stop, and these guys had an idea. And they were serious. So serious, they told the congregation that they were packing their bags and moving to . . . I can’t remember precisely where, and it doesn’t really matter . . . but it was someplace where they could put their idea in motion.
What made this church meeting so different from all the rest was its emphasis on strategy. Long-term strategy. Decades-long strategy. And its core was religious and political and economic. (Jesus in charge of every congressional committee and at the head of every corporation. Heaven on earth.) These men were about to establish a plan that would be many, many years in the making, but it was a plan that was both simple and doable.
In a nutshell, their idea was to encourage and otherwise effectuate a process whereby Christian men would, after finishing college, work to establish a successful business, marry a good Christian woman and start a good Christian family, and over many years, build a thriving enterprise. After a couple of decades of attending to family, business and church needs, the man would then launch a new career in a new direction:
Politics.
I recall the word “Statesman” being used.
It wasn’t until many years had passed that I substituted Manchurian Candidate for Statesman, but that’s something for a different article, hmm?
Anyway, the idea was, these men would be groomed over the years to believe and behave in ways that conformed to a particular understanding of the Bible, (fairly literal), and, most assuredly, adhered to political persuasions that were socially and economically conservative. (I was going to add “historically” as well, but truth be told, there was nothing historical about how things played out.) Once fully trained, the men would be sent into the political arena, to wrest control of our national bus from all the drunken, liberal hands that were about to drive us over the proverbial cliff, and steer us back onto the road that Jesus built.
Hey . . . I already told you this was a nutshell. You were warned.
The men I heard speaking those many years back were not alone in their ideas and actions. Francis Schaeffer and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Falwell, to name just a few, had similar ideas as well, and they put them into action at about the same time. Truth be told, you can’t find Jesus inciting His followers to do something of this sort anywhere in the New Testament. (Truly. You can look it up.) I know, I know … Jesus referred to his followers as “leaven” and “salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. Interestingly, (and according to the story), after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the people who had actually walked with Him as He taught His parables (aka the Apostles) ended up following the humble, leavening example they had been given. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but which of them entered politics?)
Where you DO find political activism in the Bible is in the Old Testament, and that means, of course, scorched earth genocide and “My god is bigger than YOUR god!” attitudes. We don’t need to go into all that, do we?
Anyway, all these men were behind a groundswell of conservative, Christianist, political activism designed to steer America along a particular course.
Quick Aside:
Along the way, these guys, (and many of their colleagues), became quite famous and tremendously rich. Look, I have no gripe with people who earn money from their creative endeavors. However, when your “creative endeavor” is all about telling others what God has said and what God is going to do and what God wants you to do? I suggest you take a lesson or two from the Humble Example you were given a couple thousand years ago. You say you’re doing God’s work? I say you look and sound a lot like a carnival barker. (At least at the carnival you get a good show or a fun ride.) You might also take a long gander in a mirror and ask yourself, “If my ego wasn’t getting highly stroked every Sunday morning, and if I wasn’t making so much money, and if I had to live a much more humble, less-material life like Jesus lived, would I still be doing this?” I’d be willing to bet that a gut-honest answer — for a significant percentage of American pastors and preachers — would be a very quiet, “No”. Sorry boys. I’ve known and seen too many of you at work to think otherwise. The true followers of the Prince of Peace don’t build mega-churches. They don’t concoct and publish crazy-scary tales about the “End Times” and fatten their bank accounts by squeezing fear out of their parishioners. And they sure as hell don’t blather on and on about how God wants you to be wealthy and comfy and have all the good stuff, if only you’ll buy my book and send me your tithes.
No. They don’t.
Where was I?
Oh yeah . . . strategy.
Why do I mention all this stuff about strategy? Because these discussions took place back in the late 70’s. And now, about 35 years later, it appears their strategy has fully ripened. (Yes, I’m picturing that smelly, warm banana in the fruit bowl.) I have no idea what ever happened to the men I heard speak all those years ago in Portland, but one thing is certain, either they, or men of a similar mindset, managed to get enough Conservative (big C) ducks in a row to make a difference in our country.
A big difference.
Many of those similarly-minded men . . . and a few women as well . . . are doing their utmost to gain control of the national bus. (Yes, I’m talking to all you Tea Party members in Congress.) But instead of steering it back onto the road that Jesus built, (whatever that would mean), they want to slam the brake pedal to the floor and stop the friggin’ bus in the middle of the highway. Maybe even torch the thing and build a new one. Never mind the crashes they cause as a result. Never mind the huge traffic jam that builds up behind us. Never mind all the goods and services our bus is/was intended to deliver along the way. Never mind the passengers on our bus who are in absolute, desperate need of arriving at their destination. The folks who are attempting to take control of the bus have demonstrated, over and over and over again, that they don’t really give a damn if the bus crashes or not. Truth be told, some among them would probably prefer to bulldoze the smoking hulk off the road and return to the factory to build a new vehicle.
Are you following all this?
To their way of thinking:
Jesus made America and wrote the Constitution. (He also made Israel, but mostly only because He needs a Ground Zero for a really BIG event. Spoiler Alert!) Jesus is returning soon. Jesus is going to rapture all the true believers just before He turns the Middle East into a smoking, nuclear-scorched, theme park. (Or maybe just after. The timeline’s a little fuzzy. Regardless, the Christians are OUTA’ HERE! before the really nasty stuff happens.) After the true believers get whisked off to . . . uhh . . . pre-heaven . . . ish . . . Armageddon and the AntiChrist are going to make an appearance and pretty much ruin everything for everybody who didn’t catch the rapture ride. But right before all of that prognosticated shit hits the proverbial fan, and the earth gets consumed by a heathen ball of flaming scrumpoculation, guess what happens?
Wait for it . . .
Oh. You already know the answer. Yup, Jesus returns and makes everything new and good and fresh, while all those raptured folk in the heavenly grandstand cheer and whoop it up and snicker up their sleeves and say, “See, we told you so!”
Okay, pardon my sarcasm, but the point is, if THAT scenario is your world view … if you think Jesus is going to swoop down from On High and clean up the horrific mess you’ve made of the earth … YOU have absolutely NO business near the controls of anything. If you think Jesus is coming back soon, and that He’s going to un-screw up everything that humanity has screwed up, you might be more than a little tempted to not care one friggin’ bit about the harm you cause. Truth be told, you might even be a bit tempted to grease the rails and speed things along, thinking that the worse things get, the sooner Jesus shows up. (“Hey, I’m forgiven, and I’m gonna’ get raptured and then Jesus is gonna’ make everything neat and pretty once again. What’s not to like?”)
Right. Unless, of course, none of that happens.
Back to the church meeting.
Honestly, I’m willing to back away a little bit and confess that I don’t know if such knuckle-headed, extreme radicalism was entertained by those men leading our church all those decades ago. I have a very difficult time believing they were advocating a “LET’S DRIVE THIS BUS OFF THE BRIDGE!” approach to governing America, but regardless, their message got preached, it was acknowledged, and a powerful, ultra-conservative group in the House of Representatives has metastasized beyond reason and belief, and now, from all appearances, seems convinced their way is the ONLY way to move forward. (Or backward. I’m confused.)
Anyway, it’s hard to imagine. But there you have it, and here we are.
Vive La Révolution!
