It is no great shock to find a platform such as LifeSite celebrating this sort of thing – Christ being promoted and defended by thugs such as Jair Bolsonaro.
LifeSite represents the Dominionist nexus – the new ecumenism
born of Evangelical Dominion theology and sections of traditionalist and
integralist Catholicism. These groups celebrate anything that smacks of
Christians (of almost any stripe) wielding and exercising cultural influence
and political power.
Were these groups ever to succeed they would (at that point)
undoubtedly fragment and begin to war against each other but at present they
have a common enemy in secularism. This is Francis Schaeffer's principle of
co-belligerence at work.
And so we find them celebrating celebrities and anything in
pop culture that can be 'claimed' as Christian. And in the political sphere
they are willing to overlook the most heinous of sins and the most
reprehensible character if it grants them a means to exercise power and utilise
triumph as a means of propaganda – a method of stirring and activating their large
and largely deceived base into thinking Christ's Kingdom is being advanced by
such antics.
Christians are right to be concerned about persecution though
we know this is certainly normative for this age. But Christians should never
rely upon political power for deliverance or form alliance with such powers. In
doing so the message of the Church is wed to politics and politicking. There
are lessons from history that sound the warning in this regard but they are
ignored and the disobedient (such as Andrew Brunson and Wang Yi) are celebrated.
But all Christians should be appalled when the likes of
Bolsonaro become spokesmen for the faith. A fascistic thug, Bolsonaro has
brought great shame on the Church as he associates himself with Christianity
even while he celebrates militarism, racism, dictatorship, torture, rape, and
by implication – murder. He supports economic policies that crush the weak and
strengthen the hands of the wealthy. He has allied himself with evil and he
himself is evil –a deceived deceiver if ever there was one. But he's a servant
of the American Empire and so the Western Dominionist faction which has allied
itself with the corporate and political sectors of the Washington Imperium
champion Bolsonaro and lionise his words and deeds.
The Church should separate its testimony from the likes of
him but instead LifeSite while quoting 'esteemed' news sources such as
BreitBart wants to make him into a hero, a champion for the faith. Truly this
is the heresy of Trumpism applied to the international stage. And it's
interesting how both Dominionism and Trumpism have played into this
ecumenicism. A previous generation of Protestants would have been horrified to
ally themselves with one who consecrated his nation to the Virgin Mary. But
these things are overlooked and Bolsonaro, like Trump and growing numbers of
politicians can easily dance betwixt and between the Evangelical and Catholic
spheres. Divergent in doctrine, in terms of the day-to-day, the real motivating
factor for these movements is politics and thus Integralist Catholics and
Dominionist Evangelicals seem to be able to get along together just fine and
since they literally lust for power – Bolsonaro and his ilk are allies and
useful tools in their schemes.
And yet in every case these politicians are using them too
and are just as happy to betray them. This is happened with Reagan, Bush, and
Trump, and as the article indicates Bolsonaro is no different.
These politicians pursue their agendas and can ride off into
the sunset but the Church is left with their legacy and the sad reality that
they bound themselves to it.
Who would have ever thought that we'd come to a point in
which the Church looks to thugs and tarts, grossly immoral people of
low-character. They twist Scripture, tell lies, and blaspheme Christ with their
conduct but the people of God love to have it so. It's a sure sign of apostasy
and we're living it at this very moment. Dominion theology has set the stage
for one of the greatest defections from Biblical Christianity ever seen.
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