The Wilson-Moscow Mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1ckd_Jx_obk

https://clearlyreformed.org/on-culture-war-doug-wilson-and-the-moscow-mood/

It's been a year since Doug Wilson released his 2023 No Quarter November/Thanksgiving video. I saw it at the time and followed some of the responses to it. I thought DeYoung's comments were fairly astute but missing one important element regarding the 'mood' - Donald Trump.

Wilson has long played the Culture Warrior role and his Eastwood-inspired antics are not necessarily new. Rather he's amplified them, riding a cultural wave, emitting an ethos, reflecting the zeitgeist of the moment - the same zeitgeist that produced Donald Trump and made his buffoonery and crudity so popular and in demand. In fact with Trump this sinful vulgarity has been so championed as a 'warrior' spirit, the rapist and criminal has become something of a messiah for many of these apostate Evangelicals that have joined his cult.

Wilson turned up the dial a few notches and has synchronized himself with the Trump ethos. Even if his message follows a somewhat different tune, he's cashing in on the same cultural spirit.

The same is true we might add with someone like Dave Ramsey who also needs a mouth washing. I never thought much of Larry Burkett but he seems like a sage gentleman when compared with the thuggish demeanour and neanderthal-like 'advice' of one such as Ramsey.

With regard to Wilson, one grows weary of all his cutesy insider humor - in fact I was tired of it back in the 1990's, and after reading several of his books and many of his newsletters, I set him aside. I have periodically 'checked in' to see what he's up to and what he's saying. It's only gotten worse. I find him unpalatable.

Nevertheless I was (a year ago) using this video to point out (to my kids) how these folks make such a big thing about 'feasting' - a visiting CREC guy that spoke at our church awhile back certainly did. The feasting is wed to their triumphalist over-realized eschatology. And while it's fine to drink or even smoke a cigar, for these folks it's always a case of conspicuous consumption. I remember picking up on that back at seminary when I first encountered these people face to face.

As my boys are interacting with other Christian young men they've encountered the growing 'Christian Manhood' cult - admittedly it isn't hard to see why it has arisen and yet so often (as is the case here) such 'manhood' seems to manifest itself as juvenile or boyish antics. And this is not something I've noticed just once or twice but over and over again. On a more serious note it seems to be that with a lot of young men in the Church it's become all about gun culture - not just having a gun or going hunting, but an obsession and a sick one at that. As usual, the remedy is worse than the sickness.

And Wilson in addition to being a donkey (or ass) - is just sick and twisted. I won't even bother dissecting all that was said in his little video. I was even more sickened to go through the copious comments and realize how many are blessed and encouraged by this kind of PT Barnum-inspired rot. I'm not a fan of Kevin DeYoung or any of the New Calvinist Evangelicals, but he had it right when he said Wilson is marketing a mood, a crude vibe far more than any kind of comprehensive doctrinal package - especially in more recent days as he's attempted to walk back some of his former associations (such as Federal Vision) even as he's making lots of new friends.

I was looking at some of the photos on the CREC Facebook page for the group that started up near us - we know several people there. I can almost guarantee that the reason why they're attending is more related to the mood and vibe than anything else. In fact I would be willing to bet (as they say) that almost none of them actually understand the doctrinal system and objectives that Wilson represents. To be fair it wouldn't be a bet. It's a sure thing. That's not why they're attending that congregation. It's the mood - the feasting, the swords, and the pompous and snarky insider humour. As DeYoung suggests, the mood is the message.

I've been thinking about this video since I first saw it. It astonishes me that we've come to the place that people think this is spirituality, Christian maturity, and wisdom. Wilson has found his moment - the season of Trump. Wow.