Christianity and the Big Lie
Christianity is about a new, more loving and effective way to live in the world, that creates more heaven and less hell. Politics is also about how we live, so religion and politics are unavoidably intertwined. I have something to say about Christianity, but first I must acknowledge the political realities of our time. So please bear with me while I recite a few facts, and then make my point as a Christian.
About 250 years ago, white Europeans living in America rediscovered an ancient form of government, called democracy. Through Revolutionary struggle and sacrifice, they threw off the yoke of monarchy and established a system of self-government through majority rule.
It was a huge leap forward in human affairs, a brilliant liberation of the human mind and spirit, striking a new and healthier balance between the government and the governed. White Americans are justifiably proud of this innovation.
Ever since, the descendants of those white Europeans -- people like me – have enjoyed complete hegemony over that system. But demographics change, and by the early 21st century, white Americans began to realize that by mid-century, they would no longer be the majority.
The prospect of being ruled over by brown and black Americans terrified many white Americans, perhaps fearful of retribution for past injustices. How could they retain power in a democracy, when they were no longer the majority?
The answer is as simple and obvious as it is diabolical: destroy democracy.
A large contingent of white Americans are destroying democracy to preserve their power. The former President, their leader, laid his axe squarely to the root of our way of life in 2016, when he claimed that election was "rigged."
Free and fair elections are the bedrock of the American way of life. To destroy democracy, you need not destroy free and fair elections. You need only destroy the people's confidence in those elections.
The former President has fashioned a crude but effective weapon for that purpose. It is the false, self-serving, thoroughly disproven Big Lie that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen by the Democrats (while somehow, the down-ballot races were unaffected).
We live in a constitutional system. If an election has been stolen, there is a remedy: the court system. And the former President availed himself of the court system, filing no fewer than 65 lawsuits in courts around the country, including courts presided over by judges he himself appointed.
He lost every one of those lawsuits. They were baseless, nothing but a politically-motivated, self-serving lie.
The former President used that lie as a weapon to inflame anger, hatred, and division, culminating in violence, in an effort to overturn the election and maintain himself in power. It has failed, so far.
But the Big Lie is alive and thriving. In fact, it has become the price of admission to the Republican Party. Those who do not sign on (such as Liz Cheney) are ostracized, reviled, harassed, and threatened, and will be primaried. Those are the facts.
Now according to the Bible, God is the supreme ruler of all creation. Satan, a fallen angel, has dominion over Earth, in the same way an organized crime boss might control a small region of a larger and more just country. The Bible tells us Satan's agenda is to turn us away from God. His chief tool for this purpose is suffering. One of the most effective ways of creating that suffering is violence, because it creates generational scars between large groups of people. The suffering lasts for centuries. The longer suffering lasts, the more people are tempted to turn away from God, and live solely for money and power, and the pleasures money and power bring.
When somebody tells you the truth, and it scares you, and arouses you to action, that truth is called a warning. It’s an act of love. But when somebody tells you a lie, and it scares you, and inflames you to anger, hatred, and violence, that is Satanic fear-mongering.
Self-professed Christians who back the Big Lie are driving Christianity off the rails, by signing on to a Satanic agenda. Jesus would be appalled that such things are done in His name.
We must come home to Jesus Christ, and humbly submit ourselves to live in harmony with our fellow man, renewing in the process a just and equitable form of government. The kind of government we thought we had created, and were so proud of.
The alternative is massive and widespread suffering, and a new Dark Age of fascist tyranny in human affairs. That would not please God. God is shalom, total well-being in mind, body, and spirit, and God calls us to more heaven on earth, and less hell.
We stand at the crossroads. Which path will you choose?
