You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits

The death of Chuck Norris (1940-2026) has garnered significant media attention within Right-wing and Evangelical circles. He was a hero to these factions. As they are desperate to have some Hollywood celebrities on their side, any defection from the mainstream to the Right will earn instant support. There are many B and C-list actors and actresses that have boosted their otherwise ailing careers by associating with the Evangelical movement.

Personally I couldn't care less about Norris but a host of Christian leaders praised the man both in life and now in his death. We are told to esteem his witness. So it is fitting for us to consider it.

Norris was outspoken, a champion of Far Right ideology, American nationalism, and in his later years Trumpism. This was combined with the watered-down Christianity that Evangelicals seem to love and are drawn to.

Apart from his divorce and other dalliances, Norris built a career on an ethos antithetical to the New Testament. Given that American Evangelicalism is largely apostate, it's no wonder they gravitated toward him - especially other false Christians like Mike Huckabee.

He made terrible action movies and all but unwatchable television shows. Years ago my wife spent a couple of days in the hospital and we had the opportunity (or misfortune) to watch some of his Walker Texas Ranger episodes - as there was almost nothing else on. We marvelled as we knew this show to be so beloved by Evangelicals. Aside from being incredibly stupid, it was just base and awful and after a couple of different tries, we gave up entirely. It takes a special type of low-brow person to enjoy a show like that.

Of course we who are of a certain age remember Norris in connection to Bruce Lee and in particular his Vietnam-revenge movies connected to the POW scandal. The anger connected with this betrayal by the US government and perceived betrayal in terms of the entire course and narrative of the war helped spark a host of TV shows and movies. You had more innocuous offerings like Magnum PI with Vietnam Veteran characters to shows like The A-Team and movies like Rambo, Norris' Missing in Action films, Uncommon Valor, and others. The anger associated with this period (expressed and fueled by these offerings) helped foster the militia movement and an explosion of Far Right ideology that came into open conflict with the government in the 1990's.

Norris was just an actor but like Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and others - he was an outlet for male frustration with the state and the fragmentation of society. The Death Wish and Dirty Harry franchises are outlets for this angst and anger - one character is a Korean War veteran and vigilante, the other a near renegade cop who breaks all the rules but is effective. He doesn't just defeat the bad guys - he mocks and terrorizes them.

The larger message is that the state has failed, the law has failed. Sometimes rules have to be broken in order to get the job done and save the world. A movie like Flight of the Intruder displays the same kind of ethos.

One can understand how these sorts of characters appeal to the lost mind - I know they did to me when I was a lost angry young man but I don't see them in the same light any more.

Norris was (to me) little more than a buffoon and yet there's a darker side to what he was all about - remorseless killing and the celebration of death. As long as the killing was for the American cause (which he equated with everything Holy), then it was not just permissible, it was laudatory. Given that vengeance was such a primary theme and value he expressed in his films and movies - one has to wonder just what New Testament was he reading? Did he read it all? Most Evangelicals don't actually read the Bible.

What more can we say about his support for Zionist butchery, gun culture, and war? The kind of ethos his movies depicted reflected his actual beliefs in real life and thus he was entirely supportive of military action and groups like Delta Force - which are basically death squads.

So in other words his understanding of Christianity was highly corrupt and flawed and yet because of Evangelicalism's Cheap Grace gospel, he was allowed to continue and flourish - getting rather wealthy on glorifying sin and sinful conduct. The Evangelical movement would never call him out. They wouldn't want to alienate him as he was such a friend to their causes and the Culture War.

The ends justify the means - this is the guiding ethic of Evangelicalism and all Dominionist projects, and so Norris was given a pass and since his presence drew audiences and attention to Right-wing causes - so much the better. Additionally since there is (admittedly) a crisis of manhood and masculinity in Western society, it was natural that someone like Norris would be put forward, despite the fact that his kind of masculinity is not in fact Christian at all.

I have no idea as to whether or not Norris was a Christian. God is gracious and merciful. I cannot say and have no basis for doing so. But I will say this - considering the fruits produced by Norris, I have no viable reason to believe he is in the Kingdom. The fact that the Church celebrates him says nothing in terms of his status testifies to the bankruptcy and moral collapse of American Evangelicalism.

Norris is someone that should have been rebuked and corrected, not celebrated. The many memes in social media that show him in heaven with some kind of American flag motif is telling - and tragic. The Christ he served was not the Christ of the New Testament. The Kingdom was not Zion but the American Empire. He had his reward on the Earth and has now bowed the knee to the King that will destroy American with fire when He returns - if not before.