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This is scary crap...

Rick Perry’s Belief That Trump was Chosen by God is Shared by Many in a Fast-Growing Christian Movement
DECEMBER 2, 2019 BY BRAD CHRISTERSON AND RICHARD FLORY

In a recent interview with Fox News, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry stated that Donald Trump was chosen by God to be president. He said throughout history God had picked “imperfect people” such as King David or Solomon to lead their people.

Perry is not alone. A large number of evangelical Christians in the U.S. believe that God has chosen Donald Trump to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Several high-profile religious leaders have made similar claims, often comparing Trump to King Cyrus who was asked by God to rescue the nation of Israel from exile in Babylon.

Many of these Christians are part of a movement that we call “Independent Network Charismatic,” or “INC Christianity” in our 2017 book.

Leaders such Rick Perry are connected to this movement. Eight years ago – in August of 2011 – more than 30,000 people cheered wildly when Perry, who was then a U.S. presidential candidate and Texas governor, came center stage at “The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis” at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Perry quoted from the Bible and preached about the need for salvation that comes from Jesus. Many of the leaders who organized this event are the same leaders who claim that Trump is God’s chosen to advance the Kingdom of God.

We argue that INC Christianity is significantly changing the religious landscape in America – and the nation’s politics.

Most Christian groups in America have seen the role of the church as connecting individuals to God through the saving grace of Jesus and building congregations that provide communities of meaning and belonging through worship services.

INC beliefs, however, are different. Most INC Christian groups we studied seek to bring heaven or God’s intended perfect society to Earth by placing “kingdom-minded people” in powerful positions at the top of all sectors of society. These “seven mountains of culture” include business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, family and religion. In this form of “trickle-down Christianity,” they believe if Christians rise to the top of all seven “mountains,” society will be completely transformed.

“The goal of this new movement is transforming social units like cities, ethnic groups, nations rather than individuals,” one INC leader we interviewed explained. “If Christians permeate each mountain and rise to the top of all seven mountains…society would have biblical morality, people would live in harmony, there would be peace and not war, there would be no poverty.”

We heard these ideas repeatedly in most of our interviews, at events we attended and in INC media materials.

Most significantly, since the 2016 presidential election, some INC leaders have released public statements claiming that the Trump presidency is part of fulfilling God’s plan to “bring heaven to Earth” by placing believers in top posts, including Perry, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.

INC Christianity is a movement to watch. If it continues to draw adherents in large numbers in the future, as we predict, it will produce a growing number of Christians who see their goal not just as saving souls but as transforming society by taking control over its institutions.

While the Ukraine scandal, family separations at the border, and allegations of corruption have made some evangelical Christians question their support of Donald Trump, most of those steeped in INC Christianity will never abandon their president.

To them, as we found, to oppose Donald Trump is to oppose God who chose him specifically to bring America and the world back to God.

Excerpts taken from HERE.

More scary crap...

The Supreme Court Has Paved the Way for Christian Nationalism to Thrive
BY HEMANT MEHTA - NOVEMBER 5, 2019

By allowing explicitly Christian invocations at government meetings (Greece v. Galloway) and saying Christian monuments on government property are legal if they’ve been around for a long time (American Legion v. American Humanist Association), the Court has effectively ushered in a new age of Christianity Nationalism, where a certain kind of conservative Christianity is the country’s default religion.

That reality makes it more likely that non-Christians (and even non-conservative Christians) are treated as second class citizens and deemed unpatriotic by many powerful people.

If nothing else, government-sponsored Christianity creates a caste system based on religion. For the government to align itself with one and only one religion is to send a message that (a) there is one true religion and (b) adherence to that religion is the approved way be a true citizen of the polity. All those who do not bow their heads with the government do not belong in the same way (or at all). In short, the government-approved Christian symbols and Christian prayers create an in-group (Christians) and an out-group (non-Christians). “Those who aren’t Christian — or aren’t the right kind of Christian — can never be full citizens of the country the Christian nationalists wants to create.”

It’s a fascinating, sobering read that shows you how far we’ve strayed from a nation where religious neutrality by the government used to be respected. Unless Republicans are outvoted, and their lifetime-appointed federal justices are outnumbered, none of that will change anytime soon.

Excerpts taken from HERE.