The False Church Baptising the World's Wisdom

Listening to American Family Radio (AFR) I was struck by something 'Bishop' EW Jackson said. When I'm down in a certain area I can pick up AFR and it seems like his show comes on while I'm in the car eating my lunch.

After repeated listens I can state categorically that his show is worthless – little more than the regular AFR diet of right-wing nationalist and capitalist filth, accompanied by a great deal of spin and misinformation. I could fill pages reporting all the rubbish I've heard on his show – some of it dangerous.

I listened to one exchange in which a woman confessed that she had finally come around and realized that yes, as a Christian she should be concerned about the 'open border' and all the immigration – Jackson could be heard saying 'amen, amen' in response.

These people are under judgment. Their minds (and hearts) are just gone. I understand that nations will guard their borders but if you look into what has happened in Latin America over the past thirty years, and the role America has played in generating the suffering and chaos – you can't help but be disgusted with the anti-immigrant attitude that has been sanctified by the Right.

As a follow-up Jackson explained that he was all about the Biblical Worldview. He went on to explain that it's mostly just common sense.

It was telling, because apart from all the other things I could say about 'Bishop' Jackson and AFR – this kind of explained everything. Assuming for a moment the 'Biblical Worldview' project which in itself is highly problematic and rests on many false and actually anti-Biblical assumptions – regardless, whatever is meant by Biblical or Christian Worldview, it cannot be compatible with 'common sense'.

The gospel in the New Testament is foolishness to the world. New Testament Christianity rejects the world's wisdom, its means of reckoning value, and evaluating questions. The citizens of Christ's Kingdom turn away from mammon and its ethics, and its cousin the sword – and ultimately from all the world has to offer. Common sense embraces pragmatism – the end justifies the means, which is the active ethic within American Evangelicalism and so grossly displayed on a network like AFR.

The gospel turns common sense on its head as the world cannot understand why we would reject temporal flourishing, success, and pleasure and instead opt to be persecuted, hated, and live as pilgrims dying to ourselves – confessing this is not our home and we are citizens of another Kingdom.

You see the good bishop knows about marketing and political strategies but he doesn't know the first thing about New Testament Christianity, let alone the pilgrim-faith expressed in a place like Hebrews 11. His so-called Biblical Worldview is revealed to little more than the world's wisdom dressed up in Christian garb. It's false teaching and it dominates AFR's programming. It's dangerous and needs to be exposed and rejected. It is but another manifestation of the Bride turned Babylonian Whore.

Common sense gives us a world of selfishness, greed, and vengeance and justifies these things. This kind of compromise (dangerously dressed up as Biblical) leads the Church astray. Instead of transforming the world (the goal of a Dominionist outlet like AFR) the world simply transforms the Church. When you read Matthew 7 and the judgment of the self-deceived false prophets – an outlet like AFR should come to mind.

Because they stand against one of the world's factions they think of themselves as spiritual – on God's side. Instead they are but one faction of the world fighting another – one of the bestial hydra heads ultimately in service to the Dragon. I must once again call upon my oft-used illustration – they seek to build the Tower of Babel and yet think it's Zion because they put a cheap cross on top. All they can produce in the end is a counterfeit. They are deceived deceivers and as such, instead of understanding the Scriptures, they fall prey to the concerns of the world and protecting their empires – hence the piety associated with taking a militant (and thus violent) stand vis-à-vis the southern border of the United States.

In the end, the network is simply an adjunct to FOX – and has nothing to do with the Kingdom of Christ.

And in keeping with such 'common sense' it is men like Jackson and his AFR affiliates that bring the business model into the Church and as such make merchandise of God's people. Their supposed gospel message is turned into a product that they market and it leads them to form cultural and political alliances even while they rake in the money. Jackson is a far cry from being some servant of the gospel. No, he's little different from the rest of the hucksters at AFR and most of the people who dominate Christian radio. They're getting rich and pay themselves exorbitant salaries accompanied by benefits – they do so love their Faustian bargain with the state that allows them to escape the tax burden, but it also means that many of their records are public. The more clever ones find ways to hide what they're doing and tax forms in the end are only the tip of the iceberg. But even those who attempt to obscure their activities cannot hide all their tracks. People would be genuinely shocked to find out just how much these 'ministries' take in – some would be rather offended I think.

But as the fools in the New Testament who measure and compare themselves by themselves, as opposed to the rule given by God, these corrupt teachers find endless ways to justify and rationalise their exploitation and modern day simony. The financial ethics of the New Testament are utterly foreign to these people and rejected by them.

It's just common sense.