The Jig is Up: American Evangelicals and Fascist Seduction

This past week, Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, announced that, as an individual, he could not, in good conscience, cast a vote for former New York City Mayor and presidential candidate, Rudy Guiliani. Why not? It is because Rudy has been a serial and unrepentant adulterer as well as being staunchly pro-abortion.

Dr. Dobson said, “The jig is up.”

Well, I have something to share that, I believe, goes deeper. While I basically agree with Dr. Dobson, yet it seems to me that Dr. Dobson’s support for President Bush and disdain of Giuliani is based on “moralism” combined with hypernationalism.

What is moralism? Moralism is legalism taken outside of the Church (our leading export, it seems). It judges others solely based on specific behaviors (particularly sexual mores), much like the Pharisees judged others. It typically condemns rather than reaches out. It expects unbelievers to act as righteous as believers (or even more so). In addition to the tendency of feeding self-righteousness, one of the key dangers of moralism is that it can cause us to miss the bigger picture. That’s what I will attempt to share here.

You see, last Tuesday night, a dagger pierced my spirit, and, left me nearly gasping. Regardless of the consequences, I cannot stay silent (for folks at State College Assembly, this is not a huge surprise:)).

Though I’ve touched on this general subject before, this goes beyond what I’ve previously said.

Please take a deep breath before you decide to plunge on.

After coming home from ministry out of town, I chose to stay up and catch the May 15 primary election returns on my home computer. Why? Because two people from our congregation were running for office (and as their pastor I cared deeply about them), and, because I love State College, I was interested in the outcome of the heated State College Area school board race.

Also, because I like to multi-task, I decided to turn the TV in the next room on and listen to the Republican Presidential Debate. Since it was sometimes 5-10 minutes before each election update, I moved back and forth between the two.

I have already forgotten much of the debate, but one moment I will never forget. It was after Dr. Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas, asserted that America’s interventionist policies over the past 50 years may have played a role in generating much of the Islamic hatred toward America, including 9/11. He cited, specifically, the American overthrow of the legitimate Iranian government in 1953 and the installation of the new American puppet, the Shah of Iran. He further stated that if other nations (for example, China) were to do to America what we are habitually doing to others, Americans would be rightly incensed.

When he finished, a historic moment occurred. Mayor Giuliani asked the moderator if he could say something. He angrily said to Rep. Paul that he had heard many explanations of 9/11, but never one so absurd. The audience went wild with applause for Giuliani. It was probably the strongest audience reaction of the night. It sounded nearly unanimous.

Now this is important. We must also remember where this debate took place—it took place in the heart of the Bible Belt (South Carolina) where culture is largely dominated by evangelicals, in particular Baptists and, to some degree, Pentecostals (though Pentecostals are strong in the South, they are not as strong in South Carolina, but American Pentecostals are almost universally guilty of what I am about to share).

Mayor Giuliani then asked Rep. Paul to retract his statement, which Paul refused to do, saying that he was simply articulating classic, small-government, non-interventionist Republicanism.

Please remember that what I am about to share has little to do with Mayor Guiliani or Rep. Paul (who has been consistently pro-life), but everything to do with the audience. Furthermore, I am not campaigning for or against any of the candidates. This is not an endorsement of Ron Paul. I don’t know that much about him. For all I know, he might be a horrible presidential candidate.

My comment here is purely based on spiritual dynamics. You see, by knowing the Word, it was instantly obvious to me that Rep. Paul was articulating two key teachings of scripture. One is from Jesus and the other is articulated by the Apostle Paul.

First, Jesus tells us to do unto others as we would have them do (not what they do, but what we would have them do) to us. We call it the ‘Golden Rule.’ You can check it out in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31. Second, the Apostle Paul builds on the principles of Jesus’ ‘Golden Rule’ when he tells us the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. That means we must always be careful what we ‘sow’ in life, because we will ‘reap’ the same. That principle applies to giving, blessing, cursing, really everything we do in how we treat others. As they say, what ‘goes around comes around.’ You can check that out in Galatians 6:7.

Without a doubt, most of the audience had heard sermons on these passages or had read them in their Bibles, yet they didn’t seem to recognize them. The clear teaching of scripture apparently sounded foreign and alien to them. The question is how they could be so blind, or as Jesus said, so “dull of hearing”? (Matt. 13:15, KJV)

Okay, I hope you’re still with me. Now, please hear the spiritual dynamic of what I heard on Fox News that night as follows:

Ron Paul (pro-life, anti-Iraq war candidate): America needs to be careful. We should follow the ‘Golden Rule’ and remember the ‘Law of Sowing and Reaping’ by having a “humble foreign policy.”

Rudy Giuliani (pro-abortion, pro-Iraq war candidate): That is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.

Instant Audience Reaction: Wild applause for the pro-abortion, pro-Iraq war, quasi-fascist (I’ll get to this in a moment) candidate.

In effect, they were saying, “Forget the 50 million slaughtered, beheaded and incinerated babies, save my skin, Rudy Baby.” (I truly believe abortion is the modern equivalent of the Ammonite practice of burning up children, offering them to Molech. See Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; 1 Kings 11:7 and Jer. 32:35)

It has been a long time since I’ve been so shocked into stark reality. Oh, yes, I’ve seen the trends, but I didn’t think it was this bad.

The next day it got worse. I checked out two Christian evangelical blogs (here and here) that totally supported Giuliani and trashed Paul. My ‘blink’ reaction was confirmed.

Folks, spiritually speaking, it can hardly get worse than this.

It seems to me that Satan is using the fear of Islamic terrorists (as well as the fear of Hillary Clinton) to deceive Bible-believing American Christians. He is using 9/11 in order to get us to run into an even worse trap—fascism. In fact, he has been so wily as to get us to use the term ‘Islamo-fascism,’ which every historian in the world would laugh at—there is no such thing as Islamo-fascism. There is Islamic fanaticism; there is Islamic terrorism, but fascism is a product of the ancient Roman Empire and has been solely manifested (either in symbolism or in reality) in Western Culture.

What is fascism? Yes, the House of Representatives is adorned with its obvious symbolism on either side of the American flag (see the huge ‘fasces’ and an explanation for kids here), but few people understand it. You can easily google it yourself, but, simply put, fascism is the close cooperation/nexus of government, big business and big media in a totalitarian atmosphere (America is very close to that right now). It was reborn in modern-day Italy, under Mussolini, and then embraced by Hitler’s Germany and Imperial Japan. With fascism, you either blindly love or blindly hate your nation. There is nothing in between.

Mayor Giuiani has been called the fascist candidate. In fact, in the debate, he jokingly thanked another candidate who called him soft on something else. Giuliani said, I want to thank him for “calling him soft on anything.” It was only humorous to those who don’t understand history. As Chris Matthews, the astute pundit from Pennsylvania has noted (no hyperlink here because of the profanity), Rudy Giuliani is popular all over the nation because he cleaned up New York and America wants a “little bit of fascism.” Remember what they said about Mussolini—“At least he made the trains run on time.”

Yes, the saying is right: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I have become totally convinced that American evangelicals are acting like the Christians in Germany before WW2. The danger is not Islamo-fascism, but the totally degenerate, syncretistic (combining holy and unholy) and blasphemous Christo-fascism. This is turning up again like a bad reichsmark.

For those who don’t agree or are angry at me right now, let me ask you this: What would you propose that Christian leaders in Germany should have done when they saw the trends going as they were in the early 1930s? Should they have been silent or strident? When would you have had the courage to stand up against the flow?

Please listen to this Pennsylvania German.

In mid-twentieth century Germany, many Christians were sure Hitler was God's man for the hour, including the leader of a great revival at Penn State almost a hundred years ago, Frank Buchman (founder of both the Moral Rearmament movement [note the name--it has nothing to do with Jesus] and the catalyst later behind Alchoholics Anonymous). Germany's new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, was admittedly tough, but (1) He was moral—he outlawed abortion, he didn’t smoke or drink or run around with women, and he outlawed pornography as well, and (2) They needed a strong leader to deal with the real and present fear of nation-consuming Russian communism, led by Josef Stalin, and (3) Hitler seemed to honor their Christian heritage, by having the soldiers belt buckles read “Gott Mit Uns (God With Us),” painting crosses on the military vehicles (ever notice in a WW2 movie?). Even military officers wore the ‘iron cross.’

Well, as it turned out, Hitler was not God’s man, but the devil’s man. Germany, the birthplace of the Reformation (America can’t claim that), arguably the ‘greatest’ (in almost every field of science and art) and most intellectual nation in the world in their time, had been deceived.

I’m saying it as clearly as I know how to say it. Christian patriotism in America has crossed the line into clear idolatry. We evangelicals are very close to apostasy, and I can tell you that many of our brothers and sisters around the world can see it. I believe this idolatry—not Sun Myung Moon, not the DaVinci Code, not Hillary Clinton--is our last-days deception. Those other things are bad, but there’s little danger that evangelicals will be deceived by them.

It ain’t deceptive if it ain’t seductive.

Yes, American evangelicals are not only part of the goose-stepping parade of fascism, it seems that we are so impressed with ourselves that we are at the front of the parade. We are too naïve to understand where the parade is headed, but we are sure proud that, after many years of social isolation, some of our number are at the front.

The whole world can see that evangelicals have been the strongest supporters of the current erosion of First Amendment free-speech rights, warrantless searches, and everything else that has chilled open dissent. Again, I’m not making a political or even a constitutional argument, I’m just saying that evangelicals are seen as empowering the gradual movement toward totalitarianism.

The fox has even been invited into the chicken house. Last year, the Global Pastors Network annual meeting (consisting of a few thousand of the leading evangelical pastors/leaders in America) had Rudy Guiliani speak as a “surprise guest” speaker.

Yes, I was surprised. I didn’t think that evangelical leaders could be *that* naïve.

You see, naivete is both the Christian’s greatest strength and our greatest weakness. Jesus said to be as wise as serpents *and* harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16). One without the other is dangerous.

This week I was also reminded of Ezekiel 33:6, where the watchman is required to ‘blow the trumpet’ and sound the alarm, else he will held accountable for the blood of those killed.

I take that very seriously.

If you’re still angry, let me also ask this: Would you rather I sound the trumpet too early and be wrong or not rock the boat and wait until it’s too late? Which would rather my primary loyalty be to--God's Word or a kingdom of this world?

It’s time for American Christians to repent (turn around). Yes, liberals need to repent for selling out the core of the gospel, but conservatives also need to repent of our nationalistic idolatry. Truth will set us free, not leaders that promise us security by means of an endless war and torture. Our rage toward the enemies of America has blinded us. We don’t even recognize God’s Word when we hear it applied to our times. Can it get worse than that? Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.”

What’s worse, spiritually lost people in America see our hypocrisy when we don’t. No wonder our evangelism efforts have flat-lined. How can we convince them of the Truth of Jesus if we aren’t convinced ourselves (i.e., “What Jesus taught doesn’t work in the ‘real’ world")?

Besides, there’s neither left nor right in God’s eyes, only truth and hypocrisy.

If there is not a turn soon, then the time may have come that I learned about when I was growing up. I was warned that the day may come when I would have to choose between Jesus and America.

Maybe that time is now.

So, as it were I am saying with my small voice to the enemy of our souls (not Mayor Giuliani), “The jig is up.” The Bride of Christ is not your mistress. With God’s help, our hands and our garments will be clean (Rev. 3:4) as we await the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the true Bridegroom.

And as the true Church has always said, “Maranatha.”