I think you would be dead wrong about how flexible the Right really is. You have a better chance of joining Russell Brand and Glenn Beck as they become anarchists than you do of getting the right to run a secession govt closer to your way. How many of these people on the Right do you really know and how well do you know them? Charles Stanley has recently done an entire podcast style series (if you don't know who he is, you don't understand the Right) on the book of Revelations. He is claiming the Mark of the Best is NOT the clot shot. And how (and I am taking this from the title page on the antiChrist segment) the antiChrist "is anti-Israel". He means the state of Israel, mind you. They know EXACTLY what these wars are about: the end times. Trump hasn't persuaded them to ask that question AT ALL, IMHO. And they, unlike the Left, not only crave your annihilation, but also their own- so they can be with Jesus. Tucker Carlson is not representative of the Right, nor Glenn Beck, nor Russell Brand. These are the centrist outliers who are starting to embrace anarchy. And every hint of stopping the state from bringing us closer to the sudden death the Right fantasizes about and the Right are CERTAIN is happening NOW is met with vehement anger and accusations of being "not truly saved." All the family relations I still talk to are southern Baptists, and they have been well programmed to WANT those wars above their own freedom or anything else. If you break up the union of support for Israel, if you even let them know you'd consider it as a win, you are working for Satan and have forgotten the way of Jesus. These people would embrace Qanon before they would embrace the end to wars. They would line up for 30 boosters to keep the union supporting Israel from stopping the wars. I don't think you are any more realistic than those you mock. You just got as trapped in your own echochamber as anyone else and lost sight of the only movement that is actually having wins right now. You and those around you are clueless about what the Right wants if you think most of them want freedom more than anything else or to be left alone. They want to accelerate what is happening toward the collapse of civilization more than you ever did, but they are hoping for all out, world wide destruction. They are certain they are going to be whisked away moments before impact, not unlike a Jim Jones suicide cult. Except, they are probably still most of America by percentage. If you aren't doing anything about that desire for earthly destruction, if you don't have a plan for that, you don't know what you are up against and have no business telling anarchists (or agorists) they are out of touch. I say this with a little tough love here. I think we're all unrealistic. It's clash of the Titans time. The only win is if we have more people on our side defecting from either camp, I think the best way is to move sensible centrists. And they seem to be most influenced by anarchist principles at least in my experience of watching people daily, in droves leaving camp state. As per your comment to Charlotte, no one would let you run cover for agorists in your little Lichtenstein. You'd never get that far if the Right is willing to destroy the planet to stop you Lichtenstein from happening. Di Lorenzo says Lincoln underestimated the cost of war to life and economy get what he wanted. These people make Lincoln seem like a savior of the world by comparison.
What you describe is dispensationalism and it is true that it's a problem in the Christian church. It is a relatively new theological phenomena, historically speaking and I don't personally believe it is consistent with the more reasonable, reformed, covenantal and traditional interpretations of scripture. Unfortunately, dispensationalism seems to be the default theology that many Christians are presented with and I don't think they know enough to question it. (Sometimes all that is required to get them questioning is the knowledge that other understandings exist.)
For dedicated dispensationalists, however, I agree that Israel is probably always going to be a big hurdle. I think these people can be persuaded against war in general, but they will probably always feel a religious call to have foreign entanglements with Israel. I'm not sure what the answer is here yet, but I think it would be pointing out the assumptions they are making about the role of the state.
I don't think all is lost with the dispensationalist, because despite dispensationalism's shortcomings, they do tend to be wary of the state because of other dispensationalist beliefs. I don't think the majority of them think as destructively or seek as much destruction as you're describing. If they can just see the evil of the state, not conflate country with state and not see country as worth preserving at any cost.
More importantly, I definitely don't think all is lost with Christians, because there are many, many who are not dispensationalist or who are, at least, not that serious about it. Large portions of the Christian community are decidedly non-dispensationalist which sharply affects their view on God, the state and their relationship with the state.
Many, unfortunately, I think view their role as non-participants. It needs to be impressed upon them that they have a biblical responsibility to resist tyranny and the evil institutions in our society. Others already believe in actively resisting tyranny, but need to be persuaded that small, voluntary societies are preferable. A lot of these people already believe that "local government governs best". That's a good place to start and it's not too much further to go.
Most importantly, however, Christians hold to a higher authority than the state. This cannot be said for the left (in general) because, in my opinion, they replace God with the state and make the state their highest authority. If you can appeal to Christians on the basis of the authority to which they are accountable to, God, that is where I think you can make the biggest gains, because it convicts the conscience (correctly, in my opinion) and binds people to action.
I think Peter's points hold, because, despite huge blind spots, these portions of society at least question the state, where I don't think the left does at all. The state is their god, their highest authority and directs them in how they should live their lives.
Still, is it enough to question the state for a half second and then resort back to Romans 13 in fear that questioning the state goes against God and "we don't have to lift a finger because God is in control" and it doesn't matter if the world gets nuked because we'll be saved first and a bunch of other disingenuous arguments from the perspective of almost apathy or nihilism? I don't think these people are ready to change and ultimately would stamp their feet in support of Israel.
Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm looking for hope where there is little to be found.
Thank you for the video. Really discouraging. I know there's a lot of Christians fervently like the ones depicted in the video, but is it the majority? I'm skeptical, but I could be dead wrong. The Left Behind series was disconcertingly successful.
1. I don't think most Christians are that serious about Israel. Also, people in general, are more pre-occupied with their own lives than foreign policy.
2. Christians hold their ultimate accountability is to God, not the state. This can be used to separate them from the state.
3. Christians hold to scripture as their ultimate authority and are generally interested in applying the scriptures to their lives. This can be used to separate them from the State if they can be shown to be wrong using scripture.
4. Christians typically want people to be saved, so I don't think they're likely to line people up against a wall.
All of this is assuming they take the principles of their worldview seriously and I know many do not.
I know the "right" includes a lot more than Christians, so speaking in general terms instead of just about Christians, I just don't see people on the right wanting to line people up against the wall and shoot them.
With all the dehumanization, violence and vitriol I see in today's typical leftist, I have little doubt they would happily do that to me.
I interviewed Craig Harguess yesterday. He hosts The Bad Roman podcast and we discussed this. Getting Christians to acknowledge these points is happening, just not as fast as we would like. I think the vaccine injuries and personal health concerns are a more direct influence unfortunately (no one wants to see a kid hospitalized for life) than people's stated Christian values and their intellectual inconsistency with those.
Agorism makes sense to survive in the short term, but someone like myself and a few people taking over town or county government and running cover for agorists as they build new infrastructure is the long-term goal.
Someone needs to protect agorists. They won't leave you alone forever.
I choose the Amish as my allie.
I think you would be dead wrong about how flexible the Right really is. You have a better chance of joining Russell Brand and Glenn Beck as they become anarchists than you do of getting the right to run a secession govt closer to your way. How many of these people on the Right do you really know and how well do you know them? Charles Stanley has recently done an entire podcast style series (if you don't know who he is, you don't understand the Right) on the book of Revelations. He is claiming the Mark of the Best is NOT the clot shot. And how (and I am taking this from the title page on the antiChrist segment) the antiChrist "is anti-Israel". He means the state of Israel, mind you. They know EXACTLY what these wars are about: the end times. Trump hasn't persuaded them to ask that question AT ALL, IMHO. And they, unlike the Left, not only crave your annihilation, but also their own- so they can be with Jesus. Tucker Carlson is not representative of the Right, nor Glenn Beck, nor Russell Brand. These are the centrist outliers who are starting to embrace anarchy. And every hint of stopping the state from bringing us closer to the sudden death the Right fantasizes about and the Right are CERTAIN is happening NOW is met with vehement anger and accusations of being "not truly saved." All the family relations I still talk to are southern Baptists, and they have been well programmed to WANT those wars above their own freedom or anything else. If you break up the union of support for Israel, if you even let them know you'd consider it as a win, you are working for Satan and have forgotten the way of Jesus. These people would embrace Qanon before they would embrace the end to wars. They would line up for 30 boosters to keep the union supporting Israel from stopping the wars. I don't think you are any more realistic than those you mock. You just got as trapped in your own echochamber as anyone else and lost sight of the only movement that is actually having wins right now. You and those around you are clueless about what the Right wants if you think most of them want freedom more than anything else or to be left alone. They want to accelerate what is happening toward the collapse of civilization more than you ever did, but they are hoping for all out, world wide destruction. They are certain they are going to be whisked away moments before impact, not unlike a Jim Jones suicide cult. Except, they are probably still most of America by percentage. If you aren't doing anything about that desire for earthly destruction, if you don't have a plan for that, you don't know what you are up against and have no business telling anarchists (or agorists) they are out of touch. I say this with a little tough love here. I think we're all unrealistic. It's clash of the Titans time. The only win is if we have more people on our side defecting from either camp, I think the best way is to move sensible centrists. And they seem to be most influenced by anarchist principles at least in my experience of watching people daily, in droves leaving camp state. As per your comment to Charlotte, no one would let you run cover for agorists in your little Lichtenstein. You'd never get that far if the Right is willing to destroy the planet to stop you Lichtenstein from happening. Di Lorenzo says Lincoln underestimated the cost of war to life and economy get what he wanted. These people make Lincoln seem like a savior of the world by comparison.
What you describe is dispensationalism and it is true that it's a problem in the Christian church. It is a relatively new theological phenomena, historically speaking and I don't personally believe it is consistent with the more reasonable, reformed, covenantal and traditional interpretations of scripture. Unfortunately, dispensationalism seems to be the default theology that many Christians are presented with and I don't think they know enough to question it. (Sometimes all that is required to get them questioning is the knowledge that other understandings exist.)
For dedicated dispensationalists, however, I agree that Israel is probably always going to be a big hurdle. I think these people can be persuaded against war in general, but they will probably always feel a religious call to have foreign entanglements with Israel. I'm not sure what the answer is here yet, but I think it would be pointing out the assumptions they are making about the role of the state.
I don't think all is lost with the dispensationalist, because despite dispensationalism's shortcomings, they do tend to be wary of the state because of other dispensationalist beliefs. I don't think the majority of them think as destructively or seek as much destruction as you're describing. If they can just see the evil of the state, not conflate country with state and not see country as worth preserving at any cost.
More importantly, I definitely don't think all is lost with Christians, because there are many, many who are not dispensationalist or who are, at least, not that serious about it. Large portions of the Christian community are decidedly non-dispensationalist which sharply affects their view on God, the state and their relationship with the state.
Many, unfortunately, I think view their role as non-participants. It needs to be impressed upon them that they have a biblical responsibility to resist tyranny and the evil institutions in our society. Others already believe in actively resisting tyranny, but need to be persuaded that small, voluntary societies are preferable. A lot of these people already believe that "local government governs best". That's a good place to start and it's not too much further to go.
Most importantly, however, Christians hold to a higher authority than the state. This cannot be said for the left (in general) because, in my opinion, they replace God with the state and make the state their highest authority. If you can appeal to Christians on the basis of the authority to which they are accountable to, God, that is where I think you can make the biggest gains, because it convicts the conscience (correctly, in my opinion) and binds people to action.
I think Peter's points hold, because, despite huge blind spots, these portions of society at least question the state, where I don't think the left does at all. The state is their god, their highest authority and directs them in how they should live their lives.
Still, is it enough to question the state for a half second and then resort back to Romans 13 in fear that questioning the state goes against God and "we don't have to lift a finger because God is in control" and it doesn't matter if the world gets nuked because we'll be saved first and a bunch of other disingenuous arguments from the perspective of almost apathy or nihilism? I don't think these people are ready to change and ultimately would stamp their feet in support of Israel.
This video shows what we are up against. https://youtu.be/Fo77sTGpngQ
Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm looking for hope where there is little to be found.
Thank you for the video. Really discouraging. I know there's a lot of Christians fervently like the ones depicted in the video, but is it the majority? I'm skeptical, but I could be dead wrong. The Left Behind series was disconcertingly successful.
The typical Romans 13 interpretation is also frustrating. AnarchoChristian has done good work on that. https://www.anarchochristian.com/romans-13-the-christian-and-the-state/
I think what gives me some hope is that:
1. I don't think most Christians are that serious about Israel. Also, people in general, are more pre-occupied with their own lives than foreign policy.
2. Christians hold their ultimate accountability is to God, not the state. This can be used to separate them from the state.
3. Christians hold to scripture as their ultimate authority and are generally interested in applying the scriptures to their lives. This can be used to separate them from the State if they can be shown to be wrong using scripture.
4. Christians typically want people to be saved, so I don't think they're likely to line people up against a wall.
All of this is assuming they take the principles of their worldview seriously and I know many do not.
I know the "right" includes a lot more than Christians, so speaking in general terms instead of just about Christians, I just don't see people on the right wanting to line people up against the wall and shoot them.
With all the dehumanization, violence and vitriol I see in today's typical leftist, I have little doubt they would happily do that to me.
Pete shared this and I think it shows that this is the most awakening thing happening right now. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1079137282841577&set=a.136864787068836
Oh man! That hurts to see.
I interviewed Craig Harguess yesterday. He hosts The Bad Roman podcast and we discussed this. Getting Christians to acknowledge these points is happening, just not as fast as we would like. I think the vaccine injuries and personal health concerns are a more direct influence unfortunately (no one wants to see a kid hospitalized for life) than people's stated Christian values and their intellectual inconsistency with those.
Thanks! I'll give it a listen! I listened to the Bad Roman episode when Peter was on and it was really good.
I think you have a better chance swaying a lefty with a vaccine injured kid to abolish the state than a hard core conservative.
Agorism makes sense to survive in the short term, but someone like myself and a few people taking over town or county government and running cover for agorists as they build new infrastructure is the long-term goal.
Someone needs to protect agorists. They won't leave you alone forever.