The Persecution-Industrial Complex Panders to the Right

I must say, this sort of thing just makes me sick. I will explain why. This email appeared in my inbox last fall.

Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 10:32:39 AM
Subject: Jeff King Discusses Persecution on Fox & Friends

Dear  John, A few weeks ago, we shared with you an interview that I did with Fox News about ICC's annual Persecutors of the Year report. We are grateful that Fox & Friends has invited us back, allowing us to shed light on Christian persecution on a major platform.  Through opportunities like this, many who are unfamiliar with persecution are able to see a quick snapshot of what our brothers and sisters are suffering. It is our hope that they would then be moved to prayer and action. Will you join us in prayer that this year’s Persecutors of the Year report would touch hearts around the world? Please pray that it would lead to growth, protection, and care for the persecuted.  Jeff King President: International Christian Concern Author: Islam Uncensored, The Last Words of the Martyrs Blog: jeffkingblog.com

And why do I call it the persecution-industrial complex? It is an industrial complex insofar as it's a big business that networks and has taken on a self-sustaining institutional life of its own. By appearing on FOX, Mr. King (who collects a nice salary I might add) effectively politicises the issue as he taps into Right-wing impulses regarding foreign policy.

Disgust with America and what it does in the world, the regimes it supports and does business with is right and proper for Christians and those Christians advocating for the persecuted Church, but that's not King's goal and that's not the result. He energizes the Right-wing base and ironically (or maybe not) promotes both nationalism and xenophobia.

One does not need to support the regime in Pyongyang to nevertheless reject American policy in Korea. One does not need to endorse the CCP in order to condemn the militarism of the United States in East Asia and the endless anti-China propaganda flowing from American media outlets. And while the regime in Tehran is evil, there's a much bigger story that needs to be understood if one is to contextualize and understand what led to its rise and what fuels its policies and its anger. The same is true regarding a place like Nigeria.

But as is so often the case, the American-led Persecution-Industrial Complex parallels or echoes the State Department line or in a narrower sense the line being promoted by think-tanks like The Heritage Foundation which has long established track record of deceit and pro-American militarism.

Pray for the persecuted but we should also pray that these 'ministries' change course or fail. They are in bed with political factions and their message has been corrupted.

Fox and Friends is an evil show - just as evil as Bill Maher, Anderson Cooper, Stephen Colbert, or Rachel Maddow. It's not news but an endless stream of misleading editorial and phoney dialogue. We can argue about the nature and extent of their lies but they're all liars. Fox is like a serpent, tapping into large sections of its audience, tickling their ears, even while the leadership views this same audience as a commodity to be milked and manipulated. There are no Christians at Fox. The station and its leadership care nothing about Christianity apart from its market value. Remember, Rupert Murdoch also dominates the Christian publishing world - to the shame of the Evangelical movement that allowed it to happen.

How is the Church promoted by giving credence to such? Should we go to Egypt for help? That's what King has done and he boasts of it.