"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Today's Must-Read: Onward, Christian Soldiers!

I'm not the only one who's noticed the rabid support Trump gets from evangelical "Christians" -- from Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress on down. And I'm not the only one who's noticed how the evangelical movement has taken over the Republican party -- at least, the part not already owned by corporate America. It's not by chance, as Val Wilde points out in this post at Friendly Atheist:

This I guarantee: You know the “Seven Mountain Mandate.”

You’ve read about it online. You’ve watched it on the news. You’ve seen it in action, even if you’re not aware of it. Most Americans aren’t. Yet it’s a concept that inflects nearly every part of U.S. politics, touching the lives of all Americans as well as plenty of others around the world.

It is the battle plan for an American theocracy that has been in the works since the 1970s. At least, that’s when the movement’s founders claim God spoke to them individually and directly about the seven “mind molders” of culture and how to claim them for Jesus Christ.

Wilde goes on to lay out the game plan, from its beginnings in the '70s to now. From a video by Lance Wallnau:

What we need to be doing now, in this complicated world that we’re having such a limited impact, is we should be going into all the systems instead of all the nations… The Christians in the West are not shaping culture because they don’t understand the game. The game is: not souls only, but nations. If you get a nation you can win souls. It’s not about just focusing on eternity, it’s about focusing on what’s happening now.

What's happening now is that they've got someone in the White House who will give them free rein in return for their support.

Read the whole thing.

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