There's a sad irony here. Russian
Evangelicals are right to condemn and reject the state's ban on The
Watchtower Society. While the Watchtower represents a rejection of the Biblical
Gospel it nevertheless should be allowed to exist and its followers should be
permitted to pursue their own path.
Western Evangelical condemnations of the ban, instigated
by the Anti-Western Kremlin and the anti-Evangelical campaign flowing from the
Orthodox Patriarchate, are often more rooted in pragmatics and politics.
In principle many Western Evangelicals have no problem with
the state suppressing contrary opinions, introducing censorship and promoting a
regime of compulsion. This is really what the Christian Right is all about,
though amazingly very few of them seem to have worked this out and/or thought
through the implications of the political order they would establish.
The more robust sectors of the movement, especially those
rooted in Magisterial Protestant Confessionalism and modern Theonomy would call
upon the state to 'promote' the true religion and to 'suppress' error and
heresy. Their view of the state demands a
legislation of orthodox Protestant Christianity. If given power they would
undoubtedly suppress all deviations, starting with the blatantly heterodox
groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses. Next they would pursue other forms of
dissent and non-conformity, particularly other Christians who criticise them
from the Scriptures. Certainly these groups represent a greater potential
threat than the criticisms of mere infidels.
There's not a lot of talk about this these days and it's not
something openly broadcast. Right now, Western Evangelicals feel like they're
the ones on the ropes and engaged in defensive warfare. And yet the teaching is
there, it's in their own confessions. I wonder how many 'members' understand
this as they sign on to the various denominations, especially those of the
Continental tradition. Even the Lutheran variety of Two Kingdoms would seek to
utilise the state to suppress movements which would challenge their idealised
narrative of the Christian state.
The Kremlin is rightly condemned, as are the blasphemous
claims and narratives of Third Rome Orthodoxy. And yet I find that Western
Evangelicalism and Confessionalism so wed to statist Right-wing politics has
little to say in this regard.
They don't want the Kremlin to crack down on their missionary
works and yet in principle the Kremlin is doing exactly what they would want
the state to do.
Even during the Cold War the US State and elements within the
Christian Right-affiliated GOP sought to undermine and influence ecclesiastical
bodies that had extra-state connections... the very thing Moscow and Beijing
seek to do in our own day.
There's a raging hypocrisy here. Those that have rejected
Sacralism part and parcel have something to say on this matter. Western
Evangelicals have no basis for censure of Russia. They should cease their
criticisms and instead repent of their own ideology.
Just as the Christian Right's pro-capitalist policies have
led it to embrace Narendra Modi, persecutor of Christians, there are elements
within the Right that see Orthodox Russia as an ally in the conflicts with
Islam. In particular they would like to 'flip' Moscow away from its alliance
with Iran.
And yet, even as they engage in this project they are selling
out to both the American and Russian Beasts. Putin and Russian Orthodoxy while
maligned and misrepresented by Western media narratives are no friends to
Biblical Christianity, but especially Western-connected Evangelicalism and its
dominionist agenda. There's a lot of confusion at present as the Western Right
is reaching out to Russia. Moscow would love to see a policy shift in the West
and they're reaching out as well to both Western politicians and Church leaders
and yet this is little more than window dressing. Until the West shifts its
policies and NATO stands down, the Kremlin will remain highly suspicious and
critical of any Western connected groups operating in its country.
Even this brief article delineates some of the connections.
While I don't think John MacArthur's movement is collaborating with Western
intelligence, his teachings have never given me any indication that he would
oppose such collaboration.
In the case of Rick Warren, I think a strong case could be
made that his organisation and its money are wed to aspects of the Western
'humanitarian' Establishment, a sector deeply infiltrated and manipulated by
the Western Deep State. These examples are but the tip of the iceberg.
I'm not for a moment defending Putin. Do not misunderstand
what I'm saying. I merely wish to point out that his actions make sense from
his point of view. His policies are evil but no more than those of Washington,
Brussels, London, Beijing or any of the other great powers. My concern is for
the Church and the alliance between the Christian Right and elements with the
Western Establishment have proven highly detrimental to Christianity. This is
true in the West and sadly their actions are rippling across the world and
generating grief for our brethren abroad.
Post-Soviet Russia might have become a haven for Biblical
Christianity but sadly, the West's aggression toward Moscow has driven the
Russian state to defensively re-embrace a form of Orthodox Traditionalism as a
means of galvanising both its own public and a growing faction of Eurasian
dissenters who increasingly are turning away from the Trans-Atlantic Bloc, led
by Washington and Brussels.
See also:
This article contains quite a bit of the Western bias one
would expect from a publication like Politico, but it's still an interesting
read. We hardly need to sympathise with Pussy Riot and Secularists to be
concerned with Russia's deliberate move toward a Sacralist society.
For further reading on what I have called The Shapur Effect,
a situation applicable to 21st Century Russia, see the following:
There are a couple of different currents within the US right-wing which are tearing at the seams over Russia. There's, of course, the old Moral Majority rump, full of dominionist-esque rapture-ready baptists and 7-mountains charismatics, which believe that the US is a special, covenanted, nation, and that foreign policy involves promoting America and Israel.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the growing alt-right movement, which is almost anti-American in its criticism of failures to conform to the idea of a Christian nation. They are the types who drink in the imagery of the Middle Ages as golden-age, pushing even beyond the old Theonomist critique of it. These people are critical of Israel, and any non-Christian state, and favor Russia's turn to New Rome, drinking up Alexandr Dugin. There's even some phylotic notions of Christianity, and anti-semitism here.
Both groups backed Trump, though the latter is definitely newer in its public persona and growing base. The former is still more popular, but the latter is far more articulate and internet savvy. The former still dislikes Russia and loves Israel, while the latter sees Putin as a heroic Christian prince, like Olaf, Charlemagne or Vladimir and Israel as a petit tyranny.
I wonder if they'll eventually destroy each other.
I had a chat with some JWs on the way to work the other day. We talked about non-participation in politics (as you've written about their views before) which we had much common ground on, but also how they weren't allowed to take communion, a sign to me of the sad non-participation in Christ that the Watchtower enslaves them to. I can't help but wonder if they are a prophetic sign against the church - even these heretics are more committed to avoiding serving the Beast than the orthodox, even if they end up serving another Power instead.
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