Apathy and the end of America, Part Two.

Son, I'm just gonna tell you this one time. You want to keep working here? Stay off the drugs. ~Mr. McDowell, Coming To America.

Seriously?

I woke up this morning to find Paula White trending on Twitter, only to find out that she'd said some stupid shit about "Satanic Pregnancies."

Okay, where is that in the Bible? I've read the whole thing, and do not in fact recall reading about "Satanic Pregnancies."

Nor did I read that some dumb blonde with a church and a bunch of dopey followers could "Command" anybody to do anything, and in fact I have extensive experience (unfortunately) with this Prosperity Gospel and Word Of Faith crap. It's all bullshit, these people are always going around, "Commanding" this, "Praying Over" that, and generally sounding like nothing more than a bunch of self-important braying jackasses for no damned good reason. Seriously, what the hell kind of narcissist do you have to be to think that the rest of the world has to do something just because you say it?

And yes, that's exactly what it is. What's in the Bible isn't good enough for these people, so they have to make shit up to try and make themselves seem more powerful. Unfortunately, because there's a generalized lack of knowledge about the Word (and too often, nobody in people's lives to teach about it) and people are just plain dumb, or desperate, or greedy...it's all too damned popular.

Where do I think Easter came from? The Catholic church co-opted Pagan festivals to make it easier to convert people. This is known historical fact.

Of course, Larry here also fails at ancient Middle Eastern religion. Might be a good idea to stick to Football, dumb ass.

I mean, come on "Devil children?" and "Satanic Pregnancies?" First of all, this sounds an awful lot like the Christian Identity white supremacist "Serpent Seed" anti-Semitic bullshit. Second, it's the ultimate elastic, hand-waving, "Magic Words And Phrases" Republican excuse for everything.

War? Devil children. Want to cut food stamps? Devil children. Abortion? fine for Satanic Pregnancies. Medicare? Social Security? God's children don't need anything when they get old. I mean, come on, it's the Swiss Army Knife of rationalizations, and like that's not gonna get abused like a motherfucker on general principle by these fucking people and you damned well know it.

But that's the point, isn't it?

If nothing is factual or true or can be tested, and all is conspiracy theory and hype, then there's no basis for people to push back against Power, is there?

What the fuck do you think the point of stuff like the Prosperity Gospel and Q-Anon is?

If everything is a conspiracy theory, as Q-Anon asserts, then on the one hand there essentially is no hope, I mean, who are you going to believe? The world around you, or us? If nothing is true but whatever the hive-mind asserts...then whatever you do is justified. What is even the sense of communicating with another human being if all is conspiracy theory and shadow forces? If you get enough of this kind of paranoid bullshit, civilization itself starts to break down. People have already committed crimes and terrorist acts because of this crap. This level of lying perverts the purpose of interacting with other human beings, or even of speech itself. What's the damn point of anything if you can't even go get a burger without worrying about...cannibalism, of all things?

By the same token, people like Paula White believe that Jesus died on the Cross not to save humanity from Sin, but to save people from financial hardship.

The entire basis of Prosperity Theology is effectively, send some dude $10 and he'll show you the way to heaven, or you'll get rich, but I repeat myself.

I'm sorry, but that is literally not what the Bible and every bit of Christian tradition I've ever encountered actually says about either of those things...believing stuff like that is how you go to hell, period.

But, if all your moral and spiritual leaders are nothing more than well-dressed adulterers and tax cheats with amazing hair, nice churches and some bullshit nothing job title from the White House, what else is there? If that is what your version of Christianity tells you, you have no moral basis to push back against power, and freedom dies.

In point of fact, if that is what you believe and Donald Trump were to declare himself God, on what basis could you refute it or speak against him?

And that is exactly the point, heresy divides belief from Truth.

And even today there are still too few people in the Church who speak out against this crap, and those that do get their inboxes filled with bile by the angry rubes of Yokel Haram for weeks on end. I know, for several years in the first decade of the 2000's I was one of those people. After awhile, it was just easier to get away.

But truth is what sets us free.

I'm not sure about you but I'm not finding a lot of truth in the Christian church these days.

Part 1