VCY: Enough is Enough

https://www.vcyamerica.org/crosstalk/2021/10/20/pushback-enough-is-enough/

To Jim Schneider of VCY's Crosstalk, you're right – enough is enough.

It really is time for some 'pushback' as they say.

VCY wants to lionise healthcare workers who resist vaccine mandates. These are the same people who have for decades submitted to vaccines, seasonal flu shots, and other protocols, the people who used to understand medical service as a sacrificial calling rooted in putting others first – are these the same type of people resisting the call to get vaccinated? It would seem not. A new Right-wing individualist ethos has come to town.

But what I'm puzzled about is this – how does resisting the call to get a vaccine compare to David the hero of the Covenant people fighting against the demonic Philistine foe that had subjugated the people of God? If (to follow this dubious analogy) the healthcare industry or the government is Goliath, then why have these same 'heroes' been working for it all along?

'Elijah gave pushback to Ahab' – a prophet of the Covenant resisting an apostate king who was seeking to corrupt the people of God. This is somehow analogous to healthcare workers not wanting to get a shot to stop the spread of disease?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar. But they went willingly to the furnace and God rescued them. They didn't fight back. They refused to worship the idol and submitted to the providential will of God. So even if we granted this tortured analogy of covenant exiles resisting the compelled idolatry of Babylon as being akin to refusing a shot that's meant to stop the proliferation of disease – how does the resistance (with lawsuits and the like) of healthcare workers match up? And if vaccine mandates are inherently idolatrous, why have they been accepted up until now?

Likewise when Peter and the other apostles were resisted in their preaching of the gospel and were beaten as a result, they didn't fight back, they rejoiced. But again I'm confused, how is this refusal to quit preaching the gospel comparable to healthcare workers refusing to get a vaccine? Is vaccine refusal the gospel?

No doubt Schneider would resonate with the latest lame argument I keep hearing from this sector – 'Just because I have different beliefs doesn't give you the right to persecute me.'

To which I reply – This isn't a matter of you being persecuted for your beliefs. That's to twist and distort the issue and re-package what is effectively your self-focus and selfishness – as the gospel. It's quite sinister but I hear this more and more. And it's not too surprising given the influence of libertarianism on ethics. To these people we must say, the principles you supposedly stand for have appeared out of nowhere. You're not being persecuted, you're making a political choice and a largely arbitrary one at that. It's your prerogative. If you don't want it then quit. What you want is everyone to bend to you and you don't care if you put others around you at risk. And when people aren't willing to bend to your stubbornness, you cry persecution? I don't think so.

VCY says that Airline employees resisting a health-oriented mandate by their employer are somehow related to people making a stand for the Kingdom against the enemies of God? That's the analogy Schneider is appealing to.

Parents who send their children to public school, entrust the same system to keep them safe for 6-7 hours a day, transport them safely, and then rely on the same institution to teach their children all things necessary to adult life and success in society – are now upset because the school wants the kids to get a shot? But these are the same parents who also have already submitted to the school when it comes to a long list of other shots, health mandates and other intrusions into parental authority. Many of these parents even rely on the school to fund breakfast and lunch. It would seem that the parents who have acquiesced to this system have already relinquished a great deal of their rights and responsibilities. I'm not sure why VCY celebrates this point as no Christian in their right mind would consider sending their children to a public school – especially in California.

And once again, I'm a little confused as to how this highly compromised and ethically dubious 'stand' somehow compares to the stand made by Biblical saints in the face of opposition to the covenant. It would seem the 'stand' was already made by those who pulled their kids out of school long ago and were willing to pay a social and financial price for it.

In'N'Out (which has great burgers by the way – or at least they did thirty years ago which was the last time I had one), is being compared to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

It would seem to me that in order to run their business they already submit to health and building codes. Retail outlets that sell liquor and tobacco are compelled to enforce the related laws and restrictions and are fined when they don't verify people's ages. It's the same in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. Though social etiquette is rapidly disappearing you used to get thrown out of a store if you weren't wearing a shirt or shoes. In better days, employees could be fired for refusing to cover up a tattoo. All these things were normative and accepted. But suddenly to take measures that help to arrest the spread of disease – is akin to worshipping an image of Nebuchadnezzar?

These people aren't serious. This is a VCY stunt. They've watched too many hours of FOX and found some inspiration it would seem.

Governors DeSantis and Abbott are decidedly un-Christian in their governance and their resistance to Biden has nothing to do with prophets resisting apostate kings. The very suggestion is sacrilege. In covenantal terms it's more like the heads of the Dan and Bethel shrines opposing the priests of Baal. But it's not really even that. These are just zealots opposing Rome, patricians opposing the plebeians – or to bring it forward the Neo-Confederacy opposing the Union. There's nothing Christian about any of this.

One need not be a fan of Biden to find the conduct and character of the Florida and Texas governors to be reckless, obscene, and unchristian.

While transgenderism is certainly an abomination I'm not sure how Christians filing lawsuits against the state is somehow a reiteration of the David-Goliath showdown.

As far as Florida's incentive packages to unclog the supply chain, we all know what this is. It's politics. The US economy is highly dependent on the retail sector and consumer spending. And the vast majority of this is centered on the gluttonous mammonism known as the Christmas season. If the supply chain doesn't get moving in the next couple of weeks there will be serious repercussions to the economy that will become evident in early 2022 as stores close and the unemployment rate increases. November 2022 is the mid-term election and the GOP hopes to flip both houses of the US Congress and render the Biden presidency impotent.

Biden knows all this and is intervening – and in perhaps unprecedented if not spectacular fashion. For good or ill he's preparing to send in military troops to help get the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports moving again. This represents a complete circumventing of the Longshoremen's and Teamster's unions. In terms of labor history, it's pretty stunning – hardly a 'Leftist' move. The military as scabs. That's something new.

The GOP doesn't want to see Biden succeed. They've already demonstrated that their willing to harm the US economy and let the nation default on its debts in order to win an election and control the narrative. DeSantis is merely trying to steal Biden's thunder (as they say) and if the retail sector is successful he wants to claim as much credit for it. It's all a big game but apparently Jim Schneider at VCY doesn't know this – or (just as likely) he does, and is simply being deceitful, which (based on my experience listening to the show over the years) is nothing new.

But what's ridiculous is to compare this to Daniel giving 'pushback' to Darius. Somehow DeSantis scheming to out-logistic his political rival is akin to Daniel's covenantally faithful testimony to a pagan king who had agreed to implement ungodly legislation? 

Is Schneider serious? Is he a serious person or is this some kind of clown-comedy routine? Is he laughing knowing that his audience is woefully ignorant. I don't know what's more troubling, to think he's simply a buffoon or that he's serious. Either way the comparisons are sacrilegious and betray a deep spiritual and Scriptural poverty on his part.

While I understand the world covets gold and power and is all about the ethics of 'mine and thine', I fail to understand why Christians would get caught up in the battles over immigration. Defending the nation, its power, and its borders is not our concern. Let the Babylonians build and defend their Babylon. It's also mystifying to me the way they go after these people when a large section of the economy is built around their cheap sub-standard wages and services. It galls me all the more when I think in terms of NAFTA and other US policies which have eviscerated the economies of Central America. Americans have grown rich on the suffering of these people and so when they come here to try and find some security and the hope of earning some money to help their families, they are hated, abused, put in cages, and the like. It's disgusting and all the more when one considers that it's Christians who all but lead the charge in this.

And then to draw a comparison between this vile anti-immigration rhetoric and encouragement of violence – almost always couched in sham humanitarian terms no less – with Peter and the apostles struggling to proclaim the gospel, all I can say is 'wow'.

Wow.

It's also 'funny' when I can think back to anti-immigration rhetoric about a decade ago when one of the Right-wing talking points was that immigrants are unvaccinated and bringing disease into the country. Some have tried to make this argument in connection to Covid but the reasoning gets lost because sometimes Covid is fake – and other times it's a Chinese plot. And beside they wouldn't want to argue that the immigrants should be vaccinated, because the logical implications (for the already resident public) are obvious enough even to some Trump followers. And so that line of attack has mostly become dormant.

It's also somewhat rich that the Right is screaming about proposed IRS intrusion into bank accounts. Is this some draconian measure? Maybe. Or maybe it's an acknowledgement that the thresholds set twenty years ago (the outrageous and intrusive Patriot Act measures championed and cheered by the Right) are no longer sufficient to deal with the new economy.

Today, we have growing numbers of 'gig' workers who are paid through unconventional means and storing and moving their money around in venues outside the traditional banking system and even traditional currency. More and more people don't receive W-2 or 1099 forms at the end of the year and so it's become easier for them to evade tax. As Biden is trying to find ways to make the numbers work – something Trump wasn't even concerned about – yes, he's attempting to close revenue loopholes.

Now, we could point out that many large corporations pay essentially no tax at all. Or that those who live off investments and are only subject to capital gains tax on paid dividends pay significantly less than most wage earners. And yet every time someone suggests that measures should be taken to have these people (or entities) pay a fair or comparable rate, it's the Right and its Evangelical allies who resist this.

Once again we see it's all a big political game – fighting over mammon. The Right and their Evangelical factions oppose tax and regulation when it's politically convenient, and yet champion it in other contexts. It's all politics.

But this is just like David (who was a picture of Christ) fighting the Philistine Goliath. That's right, after all the New Testament doesn't say anything about paying taxes, does it? And apparently if the government takes too much then we have the God given right to take up arms and kill them. We even have so-called Bible teachers openly teaching in defiance of God's Word that taxation is theft. Ignorance reigns it would seem.

Yes, Jim Schneider of VCY, it's time for some pushback.

Some Christian voices need to rise up and pushback against the heresy you promote and the worldly ethics you and your comrades teach. The Christianity you present is a counterfeit. It's Right-wing Christo-Americanism, a mammon-religion of the Enlightenment producing an ethic of pride, power, and revenge. In the end your mammon-god is revealed to be the same god of Babylon, Persia, and the Philistines. We need heroes to rise up and challenge the likes of you.

The Bible speaks of false teachers and deceived deceivers. Once again, the patent charlatans on TBN, the followers of Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Joseph Prince and the like don't really concern me. Their followers are lost to begin with. These are people who don't know the Christ or the Scriptures for if they did they wouldn't be taken in by that lot for more than five minutes. In some respects its people like Schneider that are more dangerous. Their deceit is more subtle because it's far more plausible and they're leading vital people astray, turning them away from the true faith and teaching them to embrace idols. As a result of their work, there are Christians who will not endure to the end, who will lose their way being consumed and entangled by the cares of this world, and their faith will be choked by the deceitfulness of riches.

Yes, it's time for some pushback.

See also:

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2015/12/observing-two-december-deaths-and.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2021/07/christ-flag-burner.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2021/03/employing-accommodationist-triad-in.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/12/lutzers-trumpite-christianity-and-its.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/01/vcy-crosstalk-chaos.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-lesser-magistrate-heresy.html