PRÉCIS ON FALSE HOPE, FALSE TEACHERS & FALSE MOVEMENTS: THE VACUOUS TREACHERY OF MAGA CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

SCRIPTURE. “A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.” – PSALM 33:17, AMP

KEY TERM: “FALSE HOPE.” ‘Sheqer’ [שֶׁקֶר]: “Deception, disappointment, falsehood; from a root worth meaning, ‘to cheat;’ i.e., be untrue; fail, deal falsely; to lie; a sham; without a [legitimate] cause; deceit; feigned; a vain thing; fully wrong; a lying witness, false prophet [accompanied by false ideas]; refers to ‘those who practice fraud.’”

QUOTATION. “False hopes are more dangerous than fears and they will not keep us warm this winter.” – J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The Children of Húrin, 1937; 2007

COMMENTARY. ‘A horse is a vain thing for safety’ – Though it is prepared for the Day of Battle, and is a very warlike creature, and of great service in war, yet ‘safety only is of the Lord’ Proverbs 21:31; this is put for all kinds of military preparations which men are apt to trust in, but should not, for they are ‘a lie,’ as the horse is here said to be; that is, deceives and disappoints when trusted to; in like manner the olive is said ‘to lie,’Habakkuk 3:17; when Hope of fruit from it is disappointed; so ‘Fundus Mendax’ in Horace [Third Book of Odes, 23 BC]. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength; in the Time of Battle; either by fighting for him, or fleeing with him.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. I have been watching the burgeoning presence online of a clearly gifted Canadian psychologist, DR. JORDAN PETERSON, who has quickly become the darling of the American Christian (Conservative) Right. Peterson prefers the term, “Traditionalist.” He speaks with eloquence and presumed authority on all issues, including the Biblical Text, but confesses to be “terrified” of Christianity if it were really true (Megan Dent, Church Times, April 1, 2021).

So what’s my real point. He is an ‘Apologist for Donald Trump.’ And that makes this obviously brilliant man a dangerous cultural weapon in the upcoming months prior to the Presidential Election of November 5, 2024. He has variably called trump “an anomaly,” of an “entrepreneurial temperament,” and basically a strong leader because he has “kept us out of war.”

Wow.

This stands him in massive opposition to the entire American Psychiatric and Clinical Psychological community. Highly regarded forensic psychologist BRANDY X. LEE, for example, said this in an interview with TANYA LEWIS of Scientific American (Jan. 11, 2021).

“He is certainly of an Autocratic disposition because his extreme Narcissism does not allow for equality with other human beings, as Democracy requires. Psychiatrists generally assess delusions through personal examination, but there is other evidence of their likelihood.

First, delusions are more infectious than strategic lies, and so we see, from their sheer spread, that Trump likely truly believes them. Second, his emotional fragility, manifested in extreme intolerance of realities that do not fit his wishful view of the world, predispose him to psychotic spirals. Third, his public record includes numerous hours of interviews and interactions with other people—such as the hour-long one with the Georgia Secretary of State—that very nearly confirm ‘Delusion,’ as my colleague and I discovered in a systematic analysis.”

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM. Christian Nationalism is the belief that the American Nation is defined by Christianity, and that the Government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian Nationalists assert that America is and must remain a ‘Christian Nation’—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Scholars like SAMUEL HUNTINGTON have made a similar argument: That America is defined by its ‘Anglo-Protestant Past’ and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance.” – PAUL D. MILLER, from, “What Is Christian Nationalism?” Christianity Today, Feb. 3, 2021; edited

Mr. Miller goes on, wisely and presciently, to warn that people outside of that Christian Canopy would be treated as second class citizens. And I add, especially where minorities and people of color are involved. I have pointed out in previous commentary that America’s historic disdain for Blacks, Native Americans and Latinos is nothing new. To the following incendiary point:

Donald Trump’s MAGA Christian Nationalism legitimizes such Nativism by the power of Law.

Beloved, we are on a towering Precipice, with the American Republic’s life literally teetering on the edge Constitutional Collapse as Trump’s Nationalism is about to be enforced starting the Day he retakes the Oval Office on January 20, 2025. His Right-wing cronies have already crafted his Master Plan for all to read (but most will not) in his crony-prepped “Project 2025.” A chilling MSNBC excerpt follows.

“PROJECT 2025 [is] a radical, Far-Right plan to purge and restructure the U.S. government if the Republican Party wins the 2024 election, including dismantling the FBI, Department of Justice, Department of Education, among others, and placing federal agencies directly under the President’s control.” – Sep. 24, 2023; edited

CODA. Due to the suffocating, self-willed Blindness of the American Church, Republican politicians and hordes of conspiracy-driven citizens of all stripes, backgrounds and even politics, Henry Luce’s American Century is about to crash down all around us not unlike an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. It’s coming inexorably, so long as Satanic Delusion is invited to the dinner tables, halls of power and Church sanctuaries of America.

Therefore, it falls to God’s Faithful Remnant to rescue as many as possible before that Day happens – starting on Inauguration Day next year. The Beginning of the End of the American Enterprise. Selah.