4GW, DOMINIONISM, AND SEVEN MOUNTAINS

INTRODUCTION

On December 10, 2017, I gave a 45-minute briefing to the Humanists of West Florida, a group I belong to, on "Fourth Generation Warfare, Dominionism, and 7 Mountains Doctrine."  Below, the talk is presented in three parts.  In addition, each slide is presented along with any information I had previously written on the Notes Page.  Virtually every Notes Page has a citation to sources and some explanation of the slide.  But, what I briefed and what is on the Note Page are not identical.  My briefing style is to simplify and condense.  Any errors are mine alone and not the cited materials.

VIDEOS OF PRESENTATION

PART 1

 

PART 2

 

PART 3

POWERPOINT SLIDES WITH NOTES

NOTE:

Lydia DePillis, “Meet the New GOP Centrists: How a formerly fringe caucus is giving Tea Parties a direct line to the Hill,” The New Republic, January 13, 2010, at https://newrepublic.com/article/72431/meet-the-new-gop-centrists.

FIGURE 1 NOTE: 

DISCUSSION, PART III, pages 1-12 and 26-29.

COMMENT: Federation for American Immigration Reform—between 1992 and 1995 FCF broadcasts FAIR’s Borderline television program over its National Empowerment Television channel.  In 1998, John Tanton and Tanton-supported American Immigration Control Foundation (hate, SPLC) wrote of multiculturalism destroying ”Euro-American culture” with multiculturalists and immigrants the main culprits.  SOURCES:  Media Transparency, “Free Congress Research and Education Foundation,” at ttp://mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=126.  FCF broadcasts Borderline.  Heidi Beirich, “The Teflon Nativists. FAIR Marked by Ties to White Supremacy,” Intelligence Report Winter 2007, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=846.  FAIR produces Borderline.  Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Puppeteer,” Intelligence Report Summer 2002, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=93.  AICF and Tanton wrote about multiculturalism.

In 2001, FCF gives tacit approval for Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) (racist, SPLC) to produce and distribute video on Culture Wars and multiculturalism.  CCC linked to neo-Confederacy movement, Ku Klux Klan, and neo-Nazis.  SOURCES:  Bill Berkowitz, “Reframing the Enemy.  ‘Cultural Marxism,’ a conspiracy theory with an anti-Semitic twist, is being pushed by much of the American right,” Intelligence Report Summer 2003, Southern Poverty Law Center, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=112, 113, and 114.  SPLC: CCC distributes FCF-like video.  Southern Poverty Law Center, “Sharks in the Mainstream. Racism underlies influential ‘conservative’ group,” Intelligence Report Winter 1999, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=620.   CCC members linked to neo-Confederacy and factions of Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi National Alliance, America First Party, and Christian Patriot-militia group such as the Populist Party.

COMMENT: In June 2002, William Lind, Director of Cultural Conservatism at FCF, addressed major Holocaust denial conference sponsored by Willis Carto’s Institute for Historical Review.  Sometime after 2007, William Lind appeared as a guest on the IHR-CCC-sponsored radio talk show “The Political Cesspool,” the “shamelessly white nationalist radio talk show that’s….become the primary radio nexus of hate in America.”  SOURCES:  Southern Poverty Law Center, “Mainstreaming Hate. A key ally of Christian right heavyweight Paul Weyrich addresses a major Holocaust denial conference,” Intelligence Report Fall 2002, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=40#.

The Political Cesspool, “Guest List,” no date, at http://www.thepoliticalcesspool.org/guestlist.php.  “William Lind” listed as guest.  David Holthouse, “Memphis Sewage,” Intelligence Report Fall 2007, Southern Poverty Law Center, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=1433.  SPLC: radio nexus for hate.

JOHN TANTON: Heidi Beirich, “The Tanton Files. Nativist Leader’s Racist Past Exposed,” Intelligence Report Winter 2008, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=981.  Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Puppeteer,” Intelligence Report Summer 2002, at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=93.

WILLIS CARTO:  Anti-Defamation League, “Willis Carto,” at http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/carto.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=carto.

FIGURE 2 NOTE:

This slide depicts how the white nationalist, nativist anti-immigration movement founded by John Tanton, became partners with various ad hoc Christian Right coalitions on immigration issues.  These included the short-lived Secure Borders Coalition, the Families First on Immigration coalition, and the Declaration Alliance.

At the top, Tanton’s FAIR influenced the House Immigrationn Reform Caucus to end the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship.

And, the bottom depicts the relationships that Tanton’s network of anti-immigration groups forged with racist, white nationalist groups.

It is interesting to note how the 1990s concern of white nationalist groups regarding “white genocide” has now migrated further into the Christian Right, the Tea Party movement, the Patriot militia, and, now into the White House.

FIGURE 3 NOTE:

The Conservative Action Project, headed by former Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III, itself the operational arm of the secretive Council for National Policy, was involved in the anti-immigration movement; the Tea Party movement; the Freedom Federation, a hybrid of old and new Christian Right groups plus the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity.  And, there is the yearly Values Voter Summit where every Republican hopeful pays obeisance and fealty to the Christian Right.

FIGURE 4 NOTE:

This slide depicts how the Council for National Policy and its Conservative Action Project operate through TheVanguard network apparently to produce and coordinate operational plans.

Notice that two key members of the Trump campaign, Steven Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, were part of this network, with Conway herself working inside TheVanguard.

NOTE:

Richard Viguerie, The New Right: We’re Ready to Lead, Falls Church, VA: The Viguerie Company, 1981, p.55.

The late Paul Weyrich, employer of William S. Lind, the originator of Fourth Generation Warfare, is a radical revolutionary.  Weyrich was one of four men who created the Christian Right in the 1970s—along with the late Howard Phillips, the late Terry Dolan, and Richard Viguerie.

NOTE:

William S. Lind, et alia, “The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation,” U.S. Marine Corps Gazette, October 1989: 22-26, Global Guerrillas, at http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/lind/the-changing-face-of-war-into-the-fourth-generation.html.

William S. Lind, having worked for years with the late Colonel John Boyd, probably America’s greatest military strategist, published a seminal article on Fourth Generation Warfare in the U.S. Marine Corps’ Gazette.

Of particular note is one element of his thoughts on 4GW—that the manipulation of reality would be a strategic weapon designed to undermine the support a government receives from its citizens—and would be more valuable than military operations at the physical level of combat.  We can see that even in 1989 that the main ideas of 4GW were consistent with John Boyd’s thinking on the nature of moral conflict.

NOTE:

William S. Lind, Major John F. Schmitt, and Colonel Gary I. Wilson, “Fourth Generation Warfare: Another Look,” U.S. Marine Corps Gazette, December 1994, at http://www.dnipogo.org/fcs/4GW_another_look.htm.

Wikipedia, “National Empowerment Television,” no date, accessed April 26, 2013, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Empowerment_Television.

Watch Pair (Barbara Aho), “The Heritage Foundation: Power Elites: The Merger of Right and Left,” April 22, 1999, at https://web.archive.org/web/19990422122843/http://www.watch.pair.com/heritage.html.

What is shocking about Lind’s 1994 article on 4GW in the Gazette is that in an official U.S. Department of Defense journal, Lind openly and deliberately and obliquely targeted President Clinton, the Democratic Party, and the liberal intelligentsia and academia.

We know from Wikipedia that Lind’s program, Next Revolution, began broadcasting on the Free Congress Foundation’s National Empowerment Television network in December 1993.  Barbara Aho quoted from a FCF blurb for the program.  Lind described the program: “Next Revolution is one of the most radical—and most popular—programs on America’s Voice.  Each week, hosts Bill Lind and Brad Keena say what people are thinking but are often afraid to say: that the cultural Marxism of Political Correctness is destroying our country, that ‘multicultural’ nations break apart in civil war, and that uncontrolled immigration and rising crime are turning America into a Third World nation.”

NOTE:

Eric Heubeck, ‟The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement,” [Free Congress Foundation, 2001], no date, at https://web.archive.org/web/20010713152425/http:/www.freecongress.org/centers/conservatism/traditionalist.htm.

Bruce Wilson, “Paul Weyrich’s Teaching Manual For The New Progressive Movement,” Talk to Action, September 9, 2006, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/9/9/13473/53538.

 

NOTE:

William S. Lind, “Understanding Fourth Generation War,” Antiwar.com, January 15, 2004, at http://antiwar.com/lind/?articleid=1702.

William S. Lind, “Hate!,” Traditional Right, October 25, 2013, at https://www.traditionalright.com/hate/.

William S. Lind, “Cultural Marxism Takes the Offensive,” Traditional Right, April 21, 2015, at https://www.traditionalright.com/cultural-marxism-takes-the-offensive/.

The following quotes illustrate how a practitioner of 4GW, William S. Lind the originator of 4GW, uses rhetoric to delegitimize an opponent, in this case, liberalism.  Lind is certainly not the only Christian Right political operator to do so and these quotes do not exhaust his loathing for liberalism.  But, Lind constantly tells his right-wing audience that liberals are the enemy, they pose an existential cultural threat to their version of America, and an existential threat to them as persons.

NOTE:

William S. Lind, “The Rise of White Political Consciousness,” Traditional Right, March 23, 2016, at https://www.traditionalright.com/the-election-the-rise-of-white-political-consciousness/.

William S. Lind, “How to Prevent 4GW in America,” Traditional Right, February 19, 2017, at https://www.traditionalright.com/the-view-from-olympus-how-to-prevent-4gw-in-america/.

NOTE:

William S. Lind, “Nazism and Fascism Are Dead,” Traditional Right, September 24, 2017, at https://www.traditionalright.com/nazism-and-fascism-are-dead/.

William S. Lind, “Words That Lie,” Traditional Right, September 20, 2017, at https://www.traditionalright.com/words-that-lie/.

David Neiwert, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, Sausalito, CA: Poli Point Press, 2009.

Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, The Politics of Unreason: Right-Wing Extremism in America, 1790-1970, New York: Harper Torchbook, 1970, p. 6.

Lind, having painted liberals as an existential threat, then suggests that the final solution for liberals is extermination.  David Neiwert calls this rhetoric eliminationism.  It is widespread on the right-wing.  But, this eliminationist rhetoric also strongly corroborates what Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab noted was one the central characteristics of the right-wing, namely, its commitment to monism.

As Lipset and Raab observed, “More precisely, the operational essence of extremism, of monism, is the tendency to treat cleavage and ambivalence as illegitimate.”

NOTE:

Major Jeffrey L. Cowan (USAF), “From Air Force Fighter Pilot to Marine Corps Warfighting: Colonel John Boyd, His Theories on War, and their Unexpected Legacy,” U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, paper submitted for the Masters of Military Studies, 1999-2000, at http://www.dnipogo.org/fcs/boyd_thesis.htm.

Frans P.B. Osinga, Science, Strategy and War: The strategic theory of John Boyd, London: Routledge, 2007, Chapter, pp. 166-180, 215-7.

In Boyd’s schema of conflict—physical, mental, and moral—moral conflict is the highest and most powerful.  The objective of moral conflict, the underlying epistemological strategy of 4GW, is to create fear, anxiety, and alienation which magnifies friction and thus collapses an enemy from within.  As Boyd wrote (Osinga, p. 176), the “strategic aim is to: ‘Penetrate moral-mental-physical well-being to dissolve his moral fiber, disorient his mental images, disrupt his operations, and overload his system, as well as subvert, shatter, seize or otherwise subdue those moral-mental-physical bastions, connections, or activities that he depends upon, in order to destroy internal harmony, produce paralysis, and collapse adversary’s will to resist.’”

NOTE:

Boyd’s moral conflict involves both offensive and defensive operations.  Defensively, leaders must inoculate their soldiers or citizens from menace, uncertainty, and mistrust.  Offensively, leaders must undertake operations to create menace, uncertainty, and mistrust in the adversary’s military or society.

Whether one is attacking the mind of the opposing commander, the adversary’s military, the opposing political leader, or the enemy’s citizens, the objective is to collapse their will to resist.

NOTE:

Julie J. Ingersoll, Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

James C. Sanford, Blueprint for Theocracy: The Christian Right’s Vision for America, Providence, RI: Metacomet Books, 2014.

Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America’s Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives, New York: Doubleday, 1982.

We have seen how Lind used menace and fear to both delegitimize liberals and liberalism and to warn right-wingers of the existential danger to themselves.  But, the Christian Right has been building up the moral resolve of its followers using a very conservative brand of evangelical, neo-fundamentalist Christianity.  Believing that they are obedient to the “authority of God” and executing the “will of God,” they believe they will be victorious and bring in the Kingdom.

NOTE:

Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America’s Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives, New York: Doubleday, 1982, pp. 215-7.

NOTE:

H. Wayne House and Thomas Ice, Dominion Theology, Blessing or Curse?: An Analysis of Christian Reconstructionism, Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1988, p. 412.

See also the discussion in Julie J. Ingersoll, Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 56-69.

Anti-Defamation League, The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance & Pluralism in America, New York: ADL, 1994, p. 1.

The Christian Right, the driving force of the Republican Party, in ideology, public policies, and electoral power, wants domination.

The King James Version Dictionary defines dominion in its first meaning: “Sovereign or supreme authority; the power of governing and controlling.”  Its second meaning is even more ominous: “Power to direct, control, use and dispose of at pleasure; right of possession and use without being accountable…”

Nothing suggests that the Christian Right is dedicated to maintaining America’s current secular, democratic, pluralistic society.  As the ADL noted 1994, “During the past 15 years, an exclusionist religious movement has attempted to restore…the ruins of a Christian nation by seeking more closely to unite its version of Christianity with state power.”

NOTE:

Frederick Clarkson, “Dominionism Rising: A Theocratic Movement Hiding in Plain Sight,” Political Research Associates, August 18, 20160, at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/08/18/dominionism-rising-a-theocratic-movement-hiding-in-plain-sight/.

Frederick Clarkson, one of the country’s leading and early analysts of the developing Christian Right, noted that all of the key concepts of dominionism, whether in a hard or soft version, lead to religious domination by a peculiar version of Christianity.

NOTE:

Frederick Clarkson, “Dominionism Rising: A Theocratic Movement Hiding in Plain Sight,” Political Research Associates, August 18, 2016, at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/08/18/dominionism-rising-a-theocratic-movement-hiding-in-plain-sight/ .

Clarkson pointed out that there are three strains of dominionism.  The originators in the modern America era were the Christian Reconstructionists, a small religious movement founded by Rousas J. Rushdoony, that proved to be the intellectual driving force of the Christian Right from the early 1960s.  Though many Christian Right leaders have been influenced, explicitly or implicitly, by the Christian Reconstructionists, few will admit to being followers.

The most dominant strain is now the New Apostolic Reformation, a non-denominational brand of Christianity that brings together Pentecostals, Charismatics, Fundamentalists, and Evangelicals.  It is geared, in part, towards Spiritual Warfare against demons on earth and Spiritual Mapping of satanic bastions.

Francis Schaeffer’s importance has greatly faded.  He helped bring evangelicals into the anti-abortion fight, but it is admitted by Paul Weyrich that opposition to the desegregation of whites-only, Christian academies is what compelled the formation of the Christian Right.

NOTE:

Coalition on Revival, A Manifesto for the Christian Church, July 4, 1986, at http://www.churchcouncil.org/Reformation_net/COR_Docs/Christian_Manifesto_Worldview.pdf, 1986/1999/2002.

Frederick Clarkson, Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1997, p. 96.

Colonel V. Doner, Christian Jihad: Neo-Fundamentalists and the Polarization of America, Denver: Samizdat Creative, 2012, pp. 160-8 .

Discernment Research Group, “Denying Dominionism,” Herescope, August 26, 2011, at http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/08/denying-dominionism.html.

The central importance of the Coalition on Revival cannot be overstated.  The COR allowed conservative religious groups that had not previously cooperated due to deep theological and eschatological differences to join together in a coalition to engage in political combat against the forces of secularism, liberalism, and pluralism.  These documents provided a common political and theological ground allowing the racist, anti-Semitic Christian Identity movement to cooperate with the Christian Right in the formation of the Patriot militia movement in the 1990s.

The 17 worldview or sphere documents were eventually reduced down to 7 mountains.

NOTE:

Gary DeMar and Colonel Doner, “The Christian World View of Government,” Coalition on Revival, COR Sphere Document, 1989 and 2004, at http://www.reformation.net/Pages/COR_Docs_Worldview_Docs.htm.

These foundational documents of the Coalition on Revival demonstrate beyond a shadow of doubt that the Christian Right is pursuing a political-religious strategy in deep conflict with the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution.

NOTE:

Gary DeMar and Colonel Doner, “The Christian World View of Government,” Coalition on Revival, COR Sphere Document, 1989 and 2004, at http://www.reformation.net/Pages/COR_Docs_Worldview_Docs.htm.

NOTE:

Frederick Clarkson, “Dominionism Rising: A Theocratic Movement Hiding in Plain Sight,” Political Research Associates, August 18, 2016, at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/08/18/dominionism-rising-a-theocratic-movement-hiding-in-plain-sight/.

Sandhya Bathija, “Praying For Theocracy?: Across The Country, Groups Seek To Impose ‘Religious Law,’” Americans United, November 20, 2009, at http://blog.au.org/2009/11/20/praying-for-theocracy-across-the-country-groups-seek-to-impose-religious-law/.

In 2009, the Christian Right managed through the leading efforts of a Catholic scholar and eventual 7 Mountains proponent, Robert P. George, to forge the Manhattan Declaration, essentially the opening shot in the battle over the meaning of religious liberty and a war for religious supremacy.

NOTE:

Frederick Clarkson, “When Exemption is the Rule: The Religious Freedom Strategy of the Christian Right,” Political Research Associates, January 12, 2016, at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/01/12/when-exemption-is-the-rule-the-religious-freedom-strategy-of-the-christian-right/.

NOTE:

Rachel Tabachnick, “Palin’s Churches and the Third Wave,” Talk to Action, September 5, 2008, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583/.

Sandy Simpson, “The Third Wave ‘New Apostolic Reformation,’” Deception in the Church, October 2002, at http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/thirdwaveteachings.html.

Dog Emperor, “Dominionism as a coercive religious movement (part 3),” Daily Kos, October 4, 2006, at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/04/253481/-Dominionism-as-a-coercive-religious-movement-part-3.

The New Apostolic Reformation is a fluid religious movement.  Known also as the Third Wave or Joel’s Army, it is also includes the mixture of Latter Rain and the Manifest Sons of God.

Of central importance is the belief that members of Joel’s Army are divine beings carrying out God’s will to conquer the world and bring the earth under Christ.  Of course, they also believe that Christ dwells within themselves, so it is apparent that they are going to do the killing.

But this belief in moral superiority and physical invincibility conforms with Boyd’s notion of Moral Victory—the defeat of menace, fear, and alienation.

NOTE:

Dog Emperor, “‘Seven Mountains’ and the ‘Joel’s Army’ plan for takeover,” Daily Kos, October 7, 2008, at https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/10/7/621837/-.

Philip Jenkins, Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can’t Ignore the Bible’s Violent Verses, New York: HarperOne, 2011, p. 34.

The 7 Mountains doctrine is not benign. DogEmperor, a survivor of an abusive, coercive right-wing church, uncovered that the proponents conceive of themselves as equivalent to ancient Israel’s founders and apparently endorse genocide.

NOTE:

Johnny Enlow, “Girgashites and the Mountain of Government,” Reclaim 7 Mountains, January 2008, at http://www.reclaim7mountains.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=39113&columnid=4336.

Enlow is a leading proponent of the 7 Mountains doctrine and is quite explicit in stating that, translated into English, Democrats are doing the work of Satan.

It is important also to note that an apostolic ruler need not and probably should not have the title of “apostle.”  Rather, this ruler should have the anointing to do God’s will.

NOTE:

Cole Parke, “Religious Right Leaders Strategize: Who Needs SCOTUS When You Can Control Everything Else?,” Political Research Associates, June 26, 2015, at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2015/06/26/religious-right-leaders-strategize-who-needs-scotus-when-you-can-control-everything-else/.

If you look at 7 Mountains doctrine in light of Fourth Generation Warfare, you can see how various groups and policies are attacking the legitimacy of a secular, democratic, and pluralist society.

NOTE:

Miranda, “Fact Sheet: Gov. Rick Perry’s Extremist Allies,” Right Wing Watch, June 9, 2011, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/fact-sheet-gov-rick-perrys-extremist-allies/.

Kyle Mantyla, “300: Religious Right Forming Its Own Spartan Army,” Right Wing Watch, March 7, 2011, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/300-religious-right-forming-it-own-spartan-army/.

Frederick Clarkson, “Dominionism is the New Religious Freedom,” Political Research Associates, February 14, 2016 at http://www.politicalresearch.org/2016/02/14/dominionism-is-the-new-religious-freedom/.

Kyle, “Dominionism and The Religious Right: The Merger Is Complete,” Right Wing Watch, July 6, 2010, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dominionism-and-religious-right-merger-complete.

Bruce Wilson, “Palin Pastors, Ensign C Street House Owner Promote Same Infiltration Plan,” Talk to Action, July 16, 2009, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/7/16/143533/029.

Kyle Mantyla, “Congressional Prayer Caucus Teams Up for Seven Mountain-Themed Pre-Election Prayer Rally,” Right Wing Watch, August 30, 2012, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/congressional-prayer-caucus-teams-seven-mountain-themed-pre-election-prayer-rally.

Brian Tashman, “Religious Right and Dominionist Leaders Come Together (Again) for ‘America for Jesus,’” Right Wing Watch, July 27, 2012, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-dominionists-again-america-for-jesus.

NOTE:

Mike Lofgren, “GOP Insider: How Religion Destroyed My Party,” AlterNet, August 7, 2012, at http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/gop-insider-how-religion-destroyed-my-party.

Miranda, “Fact Sheet: Gov. Rick Perry’s Extremist Allies,” Right Wing Watch, June 9, 2011, at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/fact-sheet-gov-rick-perrys-extremist-allies/.

Hemant Mehta, “South Carolina Governor Calls on Pastors Across the State to Join Her for a Christian Revival,” Patheos, May 18, 2015, at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/05/18/south-carolina-governor-calls-on-pastors-across-the-state-to-join-her-for-a-christian-revival/.

Bruce Wilson, “Ted Cruz: Born From The Heart of the Dominionist Christian Right,” Talk To Action, March 23, 2015, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2015/3/23/133750/843/.

Warren Throckmorton, “Bachmann Staffer Likens Rick Perry to King Saul and Bachmann to anointed King David,” Religion Dispatches, August 18, 2011, at http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/guest_bloggers/5004/bachmann_staffer_likens_rick_perry_to_king_saul_and_bachmann_to_anointed_king_david/.

Rachel Tabachnick, “Lou Engle Only One of Many of Sen. Brownback’s NAR Apostle Problems,” Talk to Action, October 17, 2010, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/17/11135/471/.

Bruce Wilson, “Ensign’s ‘C Street House’ Owned By Group Touting Plans For Christian World Control,” The Huffington Post, July 11, 2009, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/ensigns-c-street-house-ow_b_230015.html.

NOTE:

D.C. McAllister, “Why It’s Justified To Vote For A Morally Questionable Politician,” The Federalist, November 28, 2017, at http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/28/justified-vote-morally-questionable-politician/.

No one would mistake Donald Trump for a righteous man, let alone a man with a moral compass.  But, have no doubt that the leading thinkers and operators of the Christian Right believe that Donald Trump is on a divine mission.

Writing at the “secular” The Federalist website, McAllister argued that conservative Christians could vote for an immoral man because God used them to do his work.  McAllister claimed, “God uses, in this secular sphere, all kinds of ‘immoral’ men and women to bring about his purposes for his church. He is actually rather utilitarian and pragmatic regarding the secular world…. King David was an adulterer. Samson was a womanizer. Jonah was a coward. Peter denied Christ. All served God well.”

In other words, in the alternate reality of the Christian Right, biography and character count for nothing.

NOTE:

Michael Reynolds, “Rendering Unto God,” Mother Jones, December 2005, at http://motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/rendering-unto-god.

Mike Reynolds [mryen], “At Play in the Fields of Mammon,” Talk to Action, October 26, 2006, at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/10/26/182546/91.

Nothing demonstrates commitment like the source of money.  The National Christian Foundation receives a rather large donation from a donor and then makes a donation to an organization that adheres to those Christian beliefs.  The Foundation determines the ultimate recipient, not the donor.

Do we ever see disclosure of funding for such “secular” organizations as the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity or the Heritage Foundation or the Ludwig von Mises Institute in the media?  The State Policy Network is a 50-state network of libertarian, “secular” think tanks, partly funded by the Koch brothers.  The State Policy Network was instrumental in giving policy direction to the then nascent Tea Party movement.

This shows the two-faced nature of the Christian Right.  Right next to its religious face is an essentially faux secular face—both in service to the billionaire class.  For tax cuts and no regulations, the billionaires will gladly fund a theocratic movement.