One of the Chief Heretics of our Day

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5123626/christian-nationalist-election-workers-lance-wallnau

I know - everyone is tired of the 2024 US election. I'm no exception, but as the dust settles it helps to consider all the angles in order to understand what happened and why - especially in the context of the Church. This will help us (the Church) to understand what's coming in the years ahead.

The New Evangelical Ethos in the Age of Bolsonaro and Trump

https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/projects/army-jesus

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/rise-narco-militia-pentecostal-brazil-en/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/10/cpac-argentina-milei-maga-trump-musk

This is disturbing but not at all surprising. And given that within a decade Brazil will likely have the largest Evangelical population on the planet - it's a moment for sober reflection.

Evangelism Explosion (EE) Remains Faithful to the Legacy of D James Kennedy

https://julieroys.com/evangelism-explosion-sponsors-conservative-political-summit-washington-dc/

While looking up something in reference to D James Kennedy, I came across this article from September 2023.

Evangelism Explosion (EE) was all the rage at one time and this article compelled me to take a few minutes and reconsider it once again. The end assessment is the same that I had almost thirty years ago.

Mike Johnson, the Evangelical Speaker of the House

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/1211536399/speaker-johnson-christian-nationalism-evangelical

With so much happening in the news, stories like this have almost slipped under the radar. Four months into his tenure as Speaker, some refer to Johnson as a moderate and when compared with some of the Trumpites in Congress he seems rather tame, and yet this misleading.

Pentecostal Problems in Belarus

https://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/22551/belarus-authorities-demolish-worship-place-of-vibran-evangelical-church

There's a small bit in this article that's pertinent. The pastor of the church in question was interviewed by Evangelical Focus in 2021 and in that exchange he was critical of Minsk and the Lukashenko government.

First Christo-Americanism, Now Christo-Trumpism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx8tsompfiM

This disturbing video was released in late May and yet just a month later the context has dramatically changed. The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, ruled in favour of tax money being used for private and thus religious schools, thrown out gun restrictions, ruled in favour of the coal industry and restricted the EPA, and now the court has ruled in favour of an Evangelical football coach praying in connection to school events. More than ever the Christian-Right is energized and they believe their 'victories' are due to Donald Trump.

A Jezebel Among Us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qUnnSu1Dno

I had heard of this woman (Lauren Boebert) awhile ago, but I never imagined she professed to be a Christian. She's best known for her open carry lifestyle – she's almost always armed (this talk being a rare exception) and has made a big deal about her gun-friendly restaurant in Colorado. Riding the wave of fame, she then used her 'charms' to get herself elected to congress.

Dominionism and Mainstream Evangelical Orthodoxy

https://currentpub.com/2021/05/08/seven-mountain-dominionism-at-the-mississippi-national-day-of-prayer/

Seven Mountains Dominionism is simply the Charismatic iteration and packaging put on the Kuyperian doctrine brought to them by the Calvinistic world. It's a little more blatant and crude in how it sets out its agenda as it openly proclaims its desire to capture key cultural institutions.

The story here is that it's not a story. John Fea's Current may cover it, but no one else really takes notice. This kind of thinking and the doctrinal assumptions which undergird it have become normalised and normative – to the point that it can be publically proclaimed without any real controversy.

Co-Belligerence, TBN, and Fulton Sheen

Trinity Broadcasting Network or TBN is the haunt of Evangelical apostates. No serious Biblically-minded Christian would have anything to do with that highly corrupt and heretical organisation and in saying so I do paint with a broad brush.

Charismatic Trumpism in Crisis

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2020/11/9/no-ones-covering-how-trumps-loss-is-a-faith-crisis-for-charismatics-and-pentecostals

What I see watching this video is a sad deceived woman, a woman who thinks she's serving God but is in fact zealously labouring in opposition to Him.

Evangelicals in El Salvador and Right-Wing Politics

https://evangelicalfocus.com/world/6406/evangelicals-are-a-majority-in-el-salvador-for-the-first-time

A watershed moment to be sure. Evangelical populations in Latin America have exploded in recent decades even as membership in the Roman Catholic Church has declined. The Pentecostal Movement played no small role in this transformation as it is the main driver of the Evangelical Movement and also has played a significant role in modifying the region's Catholicism.

The Intercept's Mockery of Evangelicals: Deceitful but Deserved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7Efb_lWiw

This video both angered and saddened me. The Intercept, a once respectable adversarial journalistic outlet has become a mouthpiece for the Left-wing of the Democratic Party and has embraced the rot of Identity Politics. Instead of opposing the system as a whole the outlet has aligned itself with a faction and now promotes its variety of decadent faux-Leftism.

Trump Messianism and Slippery Speech

https://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-labels-trump-opposition-demonic-rick-perry-labels-trump-chosen-one.html

I seem to recall great concern being expressed back in 2008-2009 over Obama's perceived messianism, the fact that his followers spoke of him in almost devotional terms as something of a saviour.

American Style Evangelicalism in France

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=XOHbYDfxmew

Expressing the spirit of the modern, these congregations are hip, entertaining and impressive. Putting on high budget productions and appealing to contemporary values and norms, the American Church Growth model is flourishing in Europe.

Bakker: Blind Leading the Blind

https://www.christianpost.com/news/jim-bakker-trump-has-been-led-to-christ-so-many-times.html

What is more sad, that Jim Bakker after all he's been through is still as lost as ever? Or that he is still granted a voice within the spectrum of Evangelicalism?

Suicide and Therapy: Sufficiency Denied and Disparaged

https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastors-arent-substitutes-for-therapists-suicide-survivor-apostle-bryan-meadows-says-224852/

This article came up as a suggested read in light of a 'pastor', one Andrew Stoecklein's suicide. I don't know anything about him, I can only go by what I see and read and to be honest it's not something I'm interested in giving more than a few minutes to.

In one sense I am hardly surprised that such 'Church' leaders are collapsing into scandal and now suicide. And yet who ever heard of such a thing? While the congregation is grieved I'm sure, what a startling thing to realise they were being led by someone so unqualified, so apparently divorced from New Testament Christianity! But so it is with modern Evangelicalism. Its rotten fruit is plain for all to see. Evangelicalism is built on a false foundation. Seeking friendship with the world, they've lost their way and they no longer know what the solutions are. They don't even know what questions to ask.

Ironies Surrounding Media Coverage of McCain

John McCain has died and has (most likely) gone to hell. But as is so often the case the world doesn't see it that way and they pay tribute to one that served the Beast they all clamour to worship.

Is it not ironic that the so-called 'Liberal' media not only lavishes praise on McCain and calls him a 'war hero' but all seem to forget his record of endless warmongering and militarism? Über-nationalism and militarism are suddenly values of the 'Left'? I guess it could be if you live in the degenerate fantasy world of Dinesh D'Souza but for those who are interested in actual thought, political or otherwise this seems problematic.

Or is it that the American 'Left' doesn't actually disagree with McCain's posturing? The so-called 'Leftist' media has in fact long been a champion of American militarism. On many points it's not 'Left' at all. It is thoroughly Right-wing when it comes to Wall Street and the Pentagon, even while it clamours to support sodomy, feminism and a host of other evils. In so many ways America is an evil empire and in that sense they are right to celebrate the legacy of John McCain.

Evangelicals in Brazil

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/the-evangelical-takeover-of-brazilian-politics/551423/

It is undisputed that Evangelicals are on the rise in Brazil. It's being talked about and the subject is even coming up in regular mainstream newscasts. Just the other morning, there was a brief story about how Marcelo Crivella the Evangelical mayor of Rio de Janeiro created a somewhat odd moment with his half-hearted inauguration of the Carnival bacchanal. An opponent of the pagan festivities, he has made considerable cuts to the funding earning the ire of many of his constituents.

Influential Evangelicals: The Enemies List

https://www.newsmax.com/BestLists/evangelicals-influential-america-list/2017/11/15/id/826258/

Most in Confessional circles will be less than pleased by the majority of the names placed on this list. Many are outright heretics and others, despite their abundant popularity are a source of frustration with regard to the testimony and goals of both the Evangelical and Confessional Protestant Churches.  

Charismatics and Calvinist Transformation

https://theconversation.com/how-a-christian-movement-is-growing-rapidly-in-the-midst-of-religious-decline-73507

Thank you Abraham Kuyper and in particular Francis Schaeffer. The latter laid this foundation and planted this seed... which has now produced the rottenest of fruits.