PRÉCIS ON THE HIDEOUS GOSPEL OF THE MAGA NATIONALISM MOVEMENT: “AMERICA FIRST, AND LET THE REST EAT CAKE!”

SCRIPTURE. “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” – PHILIPPIANS 2:4, AMP

KEY TERM: “LOOK!” ‘Skopeó’ [σκοποῦντες]: “From a root word meaning, ‘To take aim at (as with spying); to regard, take heed, consider, look upon; i.e., ‘To watch!’” NOTE: “The verb ‘skopeó’ primarily means to observe or to take careful notice of something. It implies a focused attention or consideration, often with the intent of discerning or understanding. ‘In the New Testament, it is used to encourage believers to be vigilant and discerning in their spiritual lives [and that of their neighbors, though not as a meddler, but as a friend].’”

QUOTATION I. “The Love of our Neighbour in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: ‘What are you going through?’ It is a recognition that ‘The Sufferer’ exists, not only as a unit in a collection, or a specimen from the social category labelled ‘Unfortunate,’ but as a man, exactly like us, who was one day stamped with a special mark by affliction. For this reason it is enough, but it is indispensable, to know how to look at him in a certain way. ‘This way of looking is first of all Attentive.’ The soul empties itself of all its own contents in order to receive into itself the being it is looking at, just as he is, in all his truth.” ― SIMONE WEIL, Waiting for God, 2009; edited

QUOTATION II. “An American president used the slogan ‘America First,’ which is the Name of a Committee that sought to prevent the United States from opposing Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Steve Bannon promised policies that would be ‘As exciting as the 1930s.’ When exactly was the ‘again’ in the slogan ‘Make America great again’? It is, sadly, the same ‘Again’ that we find in ‘Never again!’” ― TIMOTHY SNYDER, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, 2017; edited

COMMENTARY.  “‘Look, not every man on his own things.’ Not but that a man should take care of his worldly affairs, and look well unto them, and provide things honest in the sight of all men, for himself and his family, otherwise he would be worse than an Infidel. But he is not to seek his own private advantage, and prefer it to a public good. Accordingly, the Syriac version reads it, ‘Neither let anyone be careful of himself, but also everyone of his neighbour;’ and the Arabic version thus, ‘And let none of you look to that which conduces to himself alone, but let everyone of you look to those things which may conduce to his friend.’

But this respects spiritual things, and spiritual gifts: A Christian should not seek his own honour and applause, and to have his own will, and a point in a church carried his own way, but should consult the Honour of Christ, the good of others, and the peace of the Church. He should not look upon his own gifts, he may look upon them, and ascribe them to the Grace of God, and make use of them to His glory, but not to admire them, or himself for them, and pride himself in them, and lift up himself above others, neglecting and taking no notice of the superior abilities of others:

‘But every man also on the things of others.’ Not on their worldly things, busying himself with other men’s matters, and which he has nothing to do with, but on the sentiments and reasons of others; which he should well weigh and consider, and if they outdo and overbalance his own, should yield unto them; he should take notice of the superior gifts of others, and own and acknowledge them; which is the way to submit to one another in the fear of God, and to promote Truth, Friendship, and Love.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK’S TAKE. There is indeed ‘A Great Hideousness’ that has taken hold of the White American Church (and the White House again), beloved, as we have rehearsed and explored for years now. Specifically, it is the Anti-Christian Mantra that all people, including followers of Christ, should place all things at the idolatrous footstool of:

 “Make America First!”

In the most severe Rejection of that Demonic Lie possible, I shall End Debate with a single passage from the ineffable Biblical Canon, issuing forth from the ancient dusts and desolations of The Sinai some 3,470 years ago.

Hold on tight to this, beloved: Your Life for Christ depends on it.

“Then God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me. You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.’” – EXODUS 20:1-6, AMPC

CODA. I trust that not a single reader with a modicum of Christian Conscience can read this in any way but by the obvious intentions of The Writer. ‘GOD FIRST!’ Above all the patriotic, tearful and noble Paeans to the American Republic that so overwhelmingly suffocate our Honor of the One who permitted all of it to come to pass indeed, ‘in the very First Place.’

As history records, it was JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU who recounted an episode in which he was seeking bread to accompany some wine he had stolen. Feeling too elegantly dressed to go into an ordinary bakery, he recalled the words of a ‘Great Princess,’ who, when told that the Peasants had no bread, replied:

‘Then let them eat brioches! [French sweet cakes].” – Confessions, 1790; edited

Thank you, Church, thank you, Republican Party, and thank you Businessmen and women for giving us such a King as would do our bidding, make us ostensibly rich and happy, and refuse entry to any of those who would be of, well, Different Pedigrees than are ‘We, the True People of God.’

Sine Die. Selah.