For the last couple of years I have been watching in disgust and horror as practically every religious TV program has slowly drifted toward a disgusting form of political propaganda. Most notable among these are “The Jim Bakker Show” and “Frances & Friends”. Now, don’t get me wrong here. As a polytheist I don’t really give a hoot what these charlatans believe or preach. I am well-versed in their several theologies, having been brought up in a Christian home, having studied my Bible from cover to cover when a kid – constantly reading it, and having obtained multiple theological degrees in the course of my lifetime. I know, and have always known, what they believe and what they are supposed to teach. I used to do it myself as I was once sort of an itinerant preacher. In fact, if I had continued on that path you would likely be seeing my face up there along with all the other cooks spouting end of the world psychosis as we speak. But I learned better. Yet, I digress.

The issue I have with even the Christian fanatic is not what they believe and teach as far as actual theology is concerned. Again, I really don’t care about that. To each his/her own. If people are willing to follow you and give you money, then so be it. But what has become an increasing concern of mine – and what should be a concern of everyone, including the Christian, is the determined course change toward an apocalyptic world view that sees the USA as part of an end-times scenario, complete with “God” judging us (or at least trying to get our attention) by way of various calamities, especially when we somehow are not joined at the hip with either Israel or Donald J. Trump. It has become so bad that, on “Frances & Friends” yesterday she read the following sickening political diatribe.

“How do civil wars happen?
Two or more sides disagree on who runs the country.
And they can’t settle the question through elections because they don’t even agree that elections are how you decide who’s in charge.
That’s the basic issue here. Who decides who runs the country? When you hate each other but accept the election results, you have a country. When you stop accepting election results, you have a countdown to a civil war.
The Mueller investigation is about removing President Trump from office and overturning the results of an election. We all know that. But it’s not the first time they’ve done this. The first time a Republican president was elected this century, they said he didn’t really win. The Supreme Court gave him the election. There’s a pattern here.
What do sure odds of the Democrats rejecting the next Republican president really mean? It means they don’t accept the results of any election that they don’t win. It means they don’t believe that transfers of power in this country are determined by elections.
That’s a civil war.
But the Democrats have rejected our system of government.
This isn’t dissent. It’s not disagreement. You can hate the other party. You can think they’re the worst thing that ever happened to the country. But then you work harder to win the next election.
When you consistently reject the results of elections that you don’t win, what you want is a dictatorship. Your very own dictatorship.
Our system of government is based on the constitution, but that’s not the system that runs this country. The Democrat’s system is that any part of government that it runs gets total and unlimited power over the country.
If the Democrats are in the White House, then the president can do anything. And I mean anything. He can have his own amnesty for illegal aliens. He can fine you for not having health insurance His power is unlimited. He’s a dictator.
The Constitution has something to say about that.
Donald Trump has caused the Shadow Government to come out of hiding: Professional government is a guild. Like medieval guilds. You can’t serve in if you’re not a member. If you haven’t been indoctrinated into its arcane rituals. If you aren’t in the club. And Trump isn’t in the club. He brought in a bunch of people who aren’t in the club with him.
Now we’re seeing what the pros do when amateurs try to walk in on them. They spy on them, they investigate them and they send them to jail. They use the tools of power to bring them down.
That’s not a free country.
It’s not a free country when FBI agents who support Hillary take out an “insurance policy” against Trump winning the election. It’s not a free country when Obama officials engage in massive unmasking of the opposition. It’s not a free country when the media responds to the other guy winning by trying to ban the conservative media that supported him from social media. It’s not a free country when all of the above collude together to overturn an election because the guy who wasn’t supposed to win.
Have no doubt, we’re in a civil war between conservative volunteer government and a leftist Democrat professional government.
David Vincent Gilbert
AND WHEN GOVERNMENT MAKES PEACEFUL REVOLUTION IMPOSSIBLE, THENVIOLENT REVOLUTION IS INEVITABLE!”

For my part, I have to explain something here. I happen to be a Democrat, and proudly so. And I am a Democrat because I am a Democrat, NOT because of my religion. And this is part of the very reason that I left Christianity in the fist place. Even back in the 1980s it was beginning to become uncomfortable to be a church member and a Democrat at the same time. The pro-Reagan stench was everywhere. But, still, at that time they would not have dared to come out like they are now. And they are doing it because Trump has allowed it. The fetters are off and they are now showing their true colors – going where they wanted to go since the 1980s and early 1990s when the “Moral Majority” tried so hard to take politics over in this country.

But, to these fanatics, Democrats are simply “evil” (and, believe me, they do use that term). I have heard the question more than once posed on one or the other program as to whether one can even be a Christian and also a Democrat. The answer, inevitably, is actually “no” (pay attention – if you watch these programs and haven’t noticed this yet, then you haven’t been doing so). So they are creating a Republican Conservative Christian entity that, in the future, could actually become a political party if something is not done about it (and it won’t be).

If one is not completely joined at the hip to complete, blind support of Israel coupled with complete, blind support of Donald J. Trump and literally anything he wants to do, then you are the enemy and you are “evil”. When one is sworn into the military one agrees to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. If these people are successfully able to paint everyone who doesn’t completely accept the two pillars – Israel and Trump – as “enemies”, then what do you think might really happen? They have already been talking about a new “Civil War”, after all, as essentially laid out in the above.

Want more? Yesterday Carl Gallups was on the Jim Bakker Show and was asked “What is President Trump’s prophetic role?” That’s right – Trump is part of prophecy! Of course, none of this is new either. Over the last couple of years this is the kind of tripe that they have regularly spouted, especially since the Johnson Amendment was repealed.

So Jim Bakker rants about “hanging around with prophets” and learning from them, along with his supposedly prophetic dream about 9/11 (yes, he really claims to have seen it in a dream before it happened). Then he rants about all the rockets fired toward Israel recently and makes the de facto statement “so we are living in the last days”. Moving on he rants about the fires in California and, true to form, states that it is “God” trying to get our attention (not climate change like the scientists are saying in a new report put out this very day). Bakker says that “God will curse America” if we don’t get right with him. And he brings out his “big gun”, the late David Wilkerson to prove it. Yes, the fires are the “worst in history” and HIS “God” is doing it! Frankly, if I had managed to survive such a calamity and I heard some madman like Bakker saying that the Christian “God” had caused it, I don’t think I would want to serve that “God” anymore. In fact, I’m sure of it. The only other response, if one were to remain a Christian, would be to simply dismiss him as a fraud. Problem is, it’s not just him anymore. And it’s not just the fanatical televangelists. It’s often your own preacher who also believes exactly the same. Are you really going to attend a church, Sunday after Sunday, and listen to your preacher tell you that we are in the last days and “God” is bringing calamity upon us and we must support Israel and Trump no matter what?

Then they show a clip of Trump saying that “God has a big role in my life” (I really wanted to laugh) and finally get to Gallups who said that Trump is fulfilling gods will and that is why he must be supported – who cares that he isn’t perfect (again, not new). And he goes on to rant about “deep state” and “fake news”, etc.  And Bakker intercedes with anyone who is in opposition to Trump are “trying to destroy the very fiber of America”. After all, Satan is guiding them. Further, according to Gallups, “God” is using Trump for “cleansing” and for “exposing” the opposition. Bakker: “God picked this man; do you believe that?” Gallups: “Yes.”

And they both expressed soreness about the mid-terms not turning out as they had hoped because Republican Conservatives didn’t completely take over – and it is the fault of the church because the people were “lazy” and didn’t get out and vote. That’s right, the church is to blame for all of this – not just the way these elections came out but also the disasters that are happening because the church is simply not stepping up and doing its job. Christians, do you like to be blamed for all of this?

Then Gallups starts stating that, because of “God”, Trump is now the most powerful person on the planet. And the “fact that God is using him” is the only reason that matters when considering whether to support Trump. And, of course, Bakker had to add a recording of him and “brother Sadu” from India, who said that Trump is the last respite for American Christianity to allow them to get their act together before Christ returns. Then Bakker rants about an “army of demons attacking this country” (how that coincides with “God” devastating it with calamities I can’t quite fathom). Bakker: “God gave us a president that we’re cursing. I don’t think you can understand what he’s doing unless you’re a Christian.”

And, of course, at the end Bakker had to hock his Christmas food bucket and Gallups ranted about everyone who is opposed to Trump being guided by demons. Wow!

Well, I oppose most of what he is doing, more on political grounds than religious ones, and I can categorically state that I am NOT guided by demons, not matter what some fanatic may state. I am guided by reason and intellect. I am guided by the scientific method and years of education that shows me that blind faith is foolishness. The one thing that these people are actually right about is that the church needs to wake up! Wake up to these fanatics and put them out of your midst if you want to survive as anything even resembling what your Lord might have wanted. Reject these charlatans; for as long as you either ignore them or accept them, you do great damage to yourself.