Stumble it!Armageddon
posted in Religion by themaiden |It will be the Christians who send this world spiraling into a hell of their own making. Arguably, this won’t be the first time. The religion of love has led to a lot of bloodshed and chaos. This will be the worst time. A destabilized world today is a far more dangerous place than was a destabilized world a thousand years ago. Modern weapons and transportation guarantee that fact. And there are segments of humanity, mostly emanating from within the United States, that are seeking to destabilize the world.
I am not talking about Muslim jihadists. I am talking about Christians. While jihadists may be a danger and certainly they are, I see the Christians as a greater danger if only for the facts that they are well funded and no one is paying attention.
Dominionism is a branch of Christian theology/ideology that promotes the idea that Christians were given this world by God, and thus, Christians have a right and a duty to take this world for God. It is the idea that Christians are compelled to conquer and dominate– politically and culturally– the Earth, under God. Of course, the idea has long had apologists and supporters through the ages under various names. But the idea lost its grip on mainstream Christianity, and most Christians today deny the basic tenets of Dominionism. The movement is still alive though, and is apparently thriving as a kind of stealth evangelism. A leader of the movement, Mr. Warren of California’s Saddleback Church, describes himself as a “stealth evangelist” and he is looking for footsoldiers.
To this end he has developed a network of pastors and others of like mind to dissiminate literature. Disturbingly, he is also marketing a video game in which the hero is a thirteen year old boy charged with killing or converting “Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians.” Notice that one class of people targetted for murder are those supporting a primary American value– the separation of church and state. If these were Muslims making these claims, if this were an Islamic game, the country would be outraged. Those Muslims would likely be labelled terrorists and possibly be jailed (without trial, of course). They’d also be criticised for promoting the use of child soldiers. But the Christians are ignored.
They are ignored though Warren is apparently well funded and is packing stadiums with supporters.
The game is disturbing. While I defend video games as mostly harmless, I do worry about games where a person is supposed to take up arms against, not aliens, or criminals, but Catholics and those defending the US Constitution. That is perverse. Should the KKK take a page from this play book and market “Nigger Killer Xtreme”? I’m willing to bet there would be an outcry. I would participate.
Now, granted, other reports about the game paint a less brutal picture and the author and publisher are selling it as an RPG where the point is ’saving’ souls, not killing people. Frankly though, that was the point of the Crusades too, and the point of the Muslim expansions following the founding of Islam, and that has been the point of inumerable expeditions into newly discovered territories around the world. It always ends badly. I don’t take comfort in it, though it is a somewhat more sane incarnation of a very divisive idea. “Christians are persecuted and need to arm themselves against the forces of darkness” is only a marginally better message than “kill the pagans” and it will lead to the same result. Sure if a couple of billion or so people magically vanish and demons start to walk the Earth, maybe strapping on some guns is a good idea, but that isn’t going to happen. The ‘demons’ are going to be abortion supporters, homosexuals, atheists and women with short skirts. Oh, and the UN. I’ve never quite figured out the demonizing of international cooperation, but this game has it and the attitude worries me.
The game is not the end of the story. Warren has “a strategy to realize a dominionist vision of churches, states, and corporations forming partnerships to bring about a new world order to make way for Christ’s return by establishing a literal, physical kingdom of God on earth.” How many have complained, accurately or not, that this is the goal of Islam? How many complain about the Christians? His plan to accomplish this goal is no small one.
In order to build this earthly kingdom, Mr. Warren plans marketplace ministries - business ventures with a veneer of missionary compassion that slip into a country in order to transform it systematically through the governmental, corporate, and social sectors. And that is why Mr. Warren calls himself a “stealth evangelist” - because he wishes to cloak his dominionist agenda, which is the establishment of an earthly kingdom that reflects his skewed vision of Christianity.
He further wants “footsoldiers” to “”adopt” needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as “little Saddams.”" Warren’s plan is not just to spread the word. He intends to cause insurrection, to foment revolution. How far he gets to that end remains to be seen, but he seems to be well on his way. His Saddleback Church draws an average of twenty thousand per week and his Purpose Driven Network claims 400,000 Christian congregations, though I wonder how many in that network are aware of Warren’s dominionism. He is, after all, a “stealth evangelist”.
Here is what I see happening. As these groups reach out and “influence government”– as apparently in Rwanda already–, regions will fall into conflict. The conflict, being obviously religious, will draw in the faithful from both sides, regardless of previous affiliations with Warren or his faith. Things will escalate. How far it will progress is difficult to predict, but the potential is there for a lot of bloodshed.
[Edited on June 7, 2006 in response to some justifiable criticism.]
Popularity: 1%
