Mastriano, Dominionism, and Mennonite Capitulation

https://currentpub.com/2022/05/19/where-does-doug-mastriano-go-to-church/

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/doug-mastriano-governor-christian-nationalism-qanon-20220504.html

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and GOP nominee Doug Mastriano represents the extreme edge of the Trumpite spectrum. A Christian Nationalist – or in terms used here, a Dominionist and Christo-American, Mastriano promotes the many lies of the Far Right and even the myths and delusions of QAnon. His ties range from the Far Right fringe to sections of the Neo-fascist militia movement.

He's part of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign and he was on site during the January 6 Insurrection. He's an avid member of the Christian Right who has all the lingo down – even when it comes to pious expressions and the various dog whistles. And alarmingly his rallies are starting to incorporate Christian hymns and worship songs, making them at times indistinguishable from an Evangelical-style service. Increasingly I see his campaign signs on Church property as well – once right next to the official Church sign. We have real reasons to be alarmed about Mastriano and the trend he represents.  

From the perspective of New Testament Christianity it's hard to find someone worse than Mastriano. I think of this constantly as my area is saturated with his campaign signs – all of which include John 8.36 in the corner, another confused reference to 'freedom' so typical of the Christian Right. The usage is actually heretical as it conflates Enlightenment concepts of liberty with the freedom/liberty presented in Scripture, a freedom from judgment and the bondage of sin. Ironically the American concept of freedom (and the language surrounding 'rights') is more related to license – the exact opposite of what is being presented in Scripture. License is self-indulgence and while that may be very American it has nothing to do with New Testament religion. This also plays into Mastriano's understanding of ethics surrounding Covid and the like and it's safe to say (even apart from his military career) he already has blood on his hands.

We could go on about Mastriano, his Judaizing, his befriending of Neo-Confederates, his blasphemous read of American History, and his twisting of Scripture. He is the very sort of nightmare heretical candidate that you almost have to stretch your brain to imagine. I had to laugh listening to him talk about Josh Shapiro (the Democratic candidate and front-runner). Mastriano argued that Shapiro would turn Pennsylvania into something like East Germany – that's his vision for the state. Mastriano just spews out ridiculous stuff on a regular basis and this all the more interesting in light of the Right's draconian plans with regard to the post-Roe v. Wade landscape. Even now the Right is drafting plans for an authoritarian structure that will monitor phones, travel, social connections, internet searches, mail, and the like in order to hunt down and prosecute women who seek abortion and those who might help them. This new so-called 'abolitionism' is being championed by many within the Christian Right, and some Theonomic-minded New Calvinists have even made it into the mainstream news on this point.

Obviously as a Christian I am opposed to abortion but I find the Right to be so appalling in so many ways and this is no exception. And yet the irony and the hypocrisy cannot be overstated. They frequently accuse the Left of being authoritarian and hypocritical and then they promote agendas like this one. It's almost unbelievable at times and yet the record is clear – the Dominionist Right only believes in freedom for its own constituency. For those beyond it, the groundwork for an authoritarian regime has already been laid, ready to take over if given the chance.

We could go on ad nauseum about Mastriano and the threat he represents not just to Pennsylvania and America but the Church. But to me the real story here is related to Mastriano's church affiliation and considerable numbers of his supporters. As implausible and counter-intuitive as it might be, he actually attends a Mennonite congregation and looking out over the crowds at his rallies – what do you see? Mennonites. What is going on?

It makes no sense that this pro-military nationalist politician would attend such a congregation which has non-resistance built into its makeup. The church's website even has forms to help you file as a Conscientious Objector.

As the Current article posits, there's no explanation forthcoming from Mastriano on these topics. Who knows why he attends there? Maybe he doesn't even agree with what the congregation teaches? Maybe he's unaware of their stances?

But what about these Mennonites who not only tolerate him but increasingly support him?

It could be that the Mennonites are undergoing a change. There's evidence to suggest this as many Mennonites and even Amish have become politically active in recent years – Amish have been seen at Trump rallies, in nationalist parades, and if the rumours are true they're starting to vote.

The comments following the article are interesting. In official terms these Mennonite and Anabaptist groups have not changed their positions and yet the reality is that the people in the pews are.

Why? Once again I posit that it all comes down to mammon.

Again when one drives down through that part of the state – into old Pennsylvania Dutch country as it's called, one sees Mennonite churches everywhere, along with many of the other minority sects associated with early Pennsylvania history. I've written about this before and how I am repeatedly struck by the affluence of the region. These people have done well for themselves. Farming, tourism, and increasingly small scale manufacturing, lumber, construction and the like have generated a great deal of wealth for these communities.

Once again, wealth leads to a social investment and a wider set of concerns. You start worrying about tax and regulation, about state and national policies that are affecting your business and your profits. As you grow a company it starts to become entangled within a wider set of concerns and you start to take note of what is happening on a national level, in other states, and so forth. In other words you get pulled in and open yourself up to being affected by these tides and currents.

And increasingly people are simply alarmed about the state of culture and its rapid degeneration. The Anabaptist community in particular is not well educated and so long disconnected from mainstream life it is not had the time to reflect on history and the way it has shaped American society. As such they fall easy prey to manipulation and demagogues. Their churches should be denouncing Mastriano and the false Christianity he represents but instead they're falling for it as their concerns have ranged well beyond the Christian calling in the Scriptures and they are alarmed by what they're seeing out in the world.

But rather than understanding that American debauchery is related to its decadence and thus the corrupting influences of its wealth and power, instead they fall prey to the hucksters and charlatans of the Christian Right.

Because Anabaptist leaders have grounded their conduct in tradition and not through deliberate and thorough study and application of Scripture, they're discovering (and sometimes embracing) the present if unfortunate reality – that the people in the pews are keeping the outward forms of the tradition but abandoning its substance.

And make no mistake for Mennonites to support Mastriano and attend his rallies is to abandon their heritage. They can wear their little outfits, drive their black vans, ride in their buggies, and the like but they've abandoned Kingdom Christianity and have thrown in with the Magisterial Reformation.

Concerned with the things of the world, they are turning to the world for answers and embracing its ethos. Interpreting 'simple concerning evil' as just plain simple, they are like children wandering into the midst of Vanity Fair and a great battlefield and there are many powers and their agents more than willing to scare these simple folk, lie to them, and use them – their votes and their money, to further the agenda.

Mastriano is a disgrace to New Testament Christianity and needs to be condemned but the Mennonite leadership also stands under condemnation. This wouldn't be happening if they had focused less on the particulars of their traditions and instead taught the Scriptures so that people could not only understand the New Testament – but think and live like New Testament Christians. Instead they can look at themselves (and based on a contrived and culturally conditioned checklist) say 'Okay, I'm right' even while they then venture out into the world and be quite wrong in terms of money, power, and even things like personal drive and motivation. If more time was spent on some things like Church history and yes, even just history in general and perhaps less time fussing over buttons and beards they would be able to interact with ideas and the world around them. They would see and understand that American culture is much like the Roman cultural context of the New Testament Church – it was a time of great power, wickedness, perversion, and decadence. And yet at that time Christians weren't lining up with Tiberius or Trajan. Far from it.

Sadly the condemnation that most comes to mind is that they've strained at a gnat and swallowed the camel. They've put their major focus on things that don't matter very much and have become ridiculous as a result. And yet the big picture has been missed. If the Anabaptists abandon the Kingdom distinctives of the Sermon on the Mount and their movement's historical attitudes toward worldly power and violence – the ethical views held before the Reformation by groups like the Waldensians, then there's nothing left. They are nothing but an empty tradition, quaint oddities for the tourists. But their Christianity has become a bad joke.

It's an absurdity I've commented on before. I recall encountering a Wesleyan Holiness girl in the grocery store. Her hair was in a bun, she had a long skirt on with the tennis shoes – the whole look. But (as this was during the pandemic) she had a 'Trump' facemask on. I remember thinking how badly she had lost her way, lost the forest through the trees. From the Wesleyan perspective your person is supposed to exhibit and even exude holiness – a testimony to the world. As such you dress modestly (terms for them defined by early twentieth century standards) and you eschew adornment of any type – make-up, jewelry, styled or displayed hair and so forth, and yet you crown this with 'Trump'. What is Trump? Trump is a symbol of mendacity, avarice, gluttony and usury, blasphemy and adultery, exploitation and pride, violence, corruption, theft and railing, and all manner of perversion, and decadence. She might as well have put a pornographic picture on her mask, some kind of profanity, or even a satanic pentagram. That's how absurd she appeared and so it is with these Mennonites associating with Mastriano.

But in some ways I think Mastriano is even more dangerous than Trump. Listening to him, he knows how to speak to the Evangelical audience in a way Trump does not. Mastriano can be far more effective if he chooses to be.

Church leaders should be warning their congregations about Mastriano but instead they're promoting him. Mennonites should be publicly rebuking the people in these social media videos – those seen at his events. Will it happen? Hardly. One is hard pressed to find another professing Christian in the state that isn't excited about Mastriano and given to his cause. Discernment has been abandoned and a functional apostasy is on the rampage.

I wish John Fea of Messiah College was right – that people are watching and will remember the hypocrisy of the Court Evangelicals:

https://currentpub.com/2022/07/14/trump-is-going-down-and-he-is-taking-evangelicals-with-him/

But I'm afraid evoking January 6 is more likely to take down pastors or lead to individual Christians being ostracised. The Court Evangelicals have no shame and the larger unbelieving public has already made up its mind about these people – many increasingly associate them not with the testimony of the gospel but with evil.

For their part, the Court Evangelicals are simply waiting and counting on the fact that American memory is short and since the culture is not given to reflection, little in the way of actual or emotional connections will be made. By election time they're hoping this will be forgotten and they will be able to trot out employ the same old tired and deceptive arguments they are wont to make.

All of this returns me to one my favourite topics of reflection. People question the Constantinian Shift narrative – that the Church underwent a profound change in the fourth century – that after Constantine there was a period of widespread apostasy and transformation. The Church embraced new forms of ethics, doctrine, worship, and the like. Men like Nevin and Leithart argue it couldn't have happened, a change so profound wouldn't have been embraced on such a large scale. It would mean that in a relatively short time that vast majority of Christians would have undergone a fundamental shift in terms of ethics and their understanding of Christianity. 'It can't be,' it is argued and yet the past fifty years have shown us yet another episode of this. It's actually part of a pattern. From the Fundamentalists, to the Holiness groups, to once culturally shy Evangelicals and Catholics, to the various Restorationist sects, and now to the Anabaptists, we're witnessing such a shift take place yet once again.

It's a form of functional apostasy. The Christ of Scripture is rejected and replaced with an idol that affirms power and worldly glory – and thus money too. They always go together. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Christ was unequivocal. The modern Church (including many in the Anabaptist movement) is making its choice and has by means of deceit (and self-delusion) fashioned a pseudo-Christ that is compatible with mammon.

See Also:

https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2020/07/anabaptist-storm-clouds-on-horizon-part.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2022/08/a-usurious-alliance-evangelical-avarice.html