In a normal atmosphere it would not be necessary for me, or any loyal American, to have to state that what we all witnessed on the 6^th of January this year was beyond the pale of irresponsible, shameful, and reprehensible. It didn’t border on treasonous; it was treasonous. Anyone who took part in the violent, destructive part of this is a traitor, plain and simple. Practically everyone is pointing to Trump for the blame and, in fact, he shares much of the blame because he, and others around him, did incite what took place. That is clear.

However, for those who are not in the know about these things, there were others behind the scenes who contributed to what happened. The thing that is roundly ignored by everyone, including the news media, is the role religion is playing in this disgusting episode in American history, specifically (but not limited to) those who promote and follow Dominion Theology – those who have been openly calling for a second civil war for at least two years now.

It literally begins with the concept that those who espouse this brand of theology not only must, but have the perfect right to, take over this country in the name of “God”. From there it extends to the absurd theology that there are “Cyrus rulers” leading various nations, including ours. Yes, for them, Donald Trump is some kind of “Cyrus”. The details are more than I want to get into here. Suffice it to be said that even those who claim that they do not endorse Dominion Theology, such as the Swaggarts and their team – just a cursory observation of the things they espouse and state regularly on one program or another demonstrates that, if they do not endorse at least most of it specifically, they do so in the political positions they take and in their unwavering support of Donald Trump.

Indeed, it is with the Swaggart team that we will focus here, mainly because of the two programs of “Frances & Friends”, as well as others, that followed the anarchy and chaos of the 6^th of January, 2021. The statements made on these programs demonstrate their complete lock-step support of Trump even as they subtly try to distance themselves from him in a minimal way.

On Thursday’s program of “Frances & Friends”, the Swaggarts almost from the start went straight into blaming the chaos and destruction of the capital that took place on – believe this – Black Lives Matter and Antifa. No, it wasn’t followers of Trump who were to blame! It was secretly instigated by a cabal of Leftists disguised as far Right extremists! This even as Frances accepted that some members of far Right groups were necessarily present and agitating just the same. But, as she insisted, these are people who also hate Trump and that was their motivation (where she gets this idea is anyone’s guess). She managed to name the Proud Boys as one group and went on to state that she didn’t even know the names of any of the others. Interesting how she could somehow know with absolute certainty that they took part in what happened and still not know much about them.

From there Jim Nations, who is literally always on the program, jumped in stating that the truth was that Mike Pence is really a Roman Catholic and, therefore, subservient to the Pope who, by the way, is an antichrist. Anyone who watches this program enough knows that Nations misses no opportunity to blame just about everything on either Roman Catholics, witches, Democrats, or any combination thereof. One might have thought that hatred of Roman Catholics and the idea that any Pope is the Antichrist would have gone by the wayside after the election of John F. Kennedy, but I guess it just takes some people a little longer to get over such things than others. By the way, for the record, Pence was brought up as a Roman Catholic but has since embraced evangelical religion.

Everyone on the panel to a “t” insisted that Pence had the power to send electoral votes back to the states from which they came if there was a dispute, but at that time did not elaborate as to how it is that he has such power other than to say it’s in the Constitution. Their irritation concerning the fact that Pence did not do as they thought appropriate was evident.

Soon Frances read an email in which the writer said Ted Cruz should be praised for his role in what happened – his determination to object to the electoral count even after the capital had been invaded and ransacked. Frances and the panel verbally agreed “one hundred percent”.

That gave Nations the opportunity to have a pity-party for Trump as he stated that most people surrounding him never really stood with him, and that is the case especially now when he needs them the most. Waaaa!

Following this, Frances read several emails containing assorted conspiracy theories without much comment from anyone. One specifically stated that those who stormed the Capitol were paid rioters posing as Trump supporters, to which they agreed. After that Frances went into a short diatribe about how persecution is coming to the Church and how bad it will get – all because Biden has become President.

The first caller attempted to reason with the panel by pointing out how absurd it was to posit that Leftists and Antifa would pose as Trump supporters and invade the Capitol. But the panel did not accept anything the caller said. When the caller went further in stating that that everyone, as Christians, should pray for Biden just as they would for Trump, Frances said that they do pray for Biden, but added (as the panel agreed) that they pray for his salvation, not for his agenda. She went on to specifically say, “however, the Democrats do not believe in prayer” and that “Joe Biden does not believe in God”. Nations went further to directly state, “I pray for his salvation. The man is evil….” Frances then said, “I cannot pray for him [his agenda] to succeed”. The arrogance of all of this might not seem obvious to some, but it is perfectly obvious to me.

Then, minister Bob Cornell from Tennessee called in. He basically stated that he and his family had been there for the rally and speeches – although they conveniently did not hear everything that had been said – and had been there only to pray. He insisted that the election had had “fraudulent activity” and added that they saw the people break into the Capitol building and were “surprised” by all of it, insisting that they had no part in that and also that neither Trump or any other speaker had incited any of it. His wife, Sharon, insisted that “God” had put Trump into office to begin with, and that those they were around in the rally were not the kind to invade the Capitol building, whatever that is supposed to mean. This even as she kept insisting that “massive irregularities” took place.

When Frances asked Bob how he felt about all of it, he said that the country needs to cry out to God for mercy and that he was disappointed in the events that took place. He added that “some” of those who got in must have been Trump supporters, and that they could not all have been Antifa. How generous of him! Frances agreed and then asked if they had seen any far Right people there, to which Bob responded that they had not specifically seen any they could pinpoint, but some went there wearing camo, etc. But he added that they were “very few”. Frances then asked if Trump had incited what happened, to which Sharon responded, “absolutely not”, adding that Trump “stated what we know to be truth”.

Finally, Frances said one of her nephews had been there as an eye witness and that he had said that the “good people” there were sabotaged. He also agreed that “some” far Right people were there (how he would know is an open question) but not many as most were Trump followers. Sharon agreed that it was all likely a set-up, but added that they didn’t have any proof of that, though.

Following this call, Frances said that her heart “aches for Trump” because of all he has had to endure, continuing that he has done so much for this country. She continued that the “people we saw yesterday” do not love this country. Then, as if they had not gone far enough with the blame-game already, she placed blame on former presidents Clinton and Obama! This without many specifics other than to say that they brought the country to this place.

At one point earlier in the program one email writer had tried to steer Frances into actually promoting the gospel to those who might need it during this crisis situation. Frances actually stated that they were focused on the current subject and she would get to that later – just blithely putting it off. So, naturally, one caller questioned her on that response (such happens often). His name was Carl, and he tried very meekly to get her to realize that that was a moment in time during which she might have been able to reach someone for Christ. Sadly (and naturally), his pleas fell on deaf ears. Frances took offense and argued with him, just as she does anyone with an opposing viewpoint.

That was about it for Thursday, the day after the wanton siege of our nation’s Capitol building, which all loyal Americans should respect, honor and cherish, not desecrate and plunder, especially based on unfounded beliefs.

On Friday, the second day following the barbaric plundering of our Capitol building, I was able to watch some of the SBN program “Insight”. From the beginning, John Rosenstern insisted that all should pray for the new administration – “that God would have his way” – not necessarily for its success. He continued that he liked Trump as president and had supported him, but added that many of Trump’s followers “became more enamored with the man” than they should have, as they should have focused more on the issues rather than him. Needless to say, this was a departure from previous comments John has made on this program and others.

After that followed “Frances & Friends”; the panel including the Rosensterns as with just about every Friday. There, John Rosenstern again stressed praying for the nation, saying that the church is going in the wrong direction (a familiar refrain among the Swaggart folk), and that the present ills are because God is chastising his people, the church. OK, well, that’s better theology than some posit on other programs, at least. Not that I would agree with it either.

Of course, Jim Nations had to get his two-cents in as he stated that government officials in the capital on the 6^th “committed treason”, except for the ones who stood up to oppose the electoral count. If anyone missed that – Nations had no condemnation whatsoever for anyone who broke into the Capitol building or anyone who participated in the looting of several items there or of the murder that took place there. No, his condemnation fell only upon those who did not oppose the electoral vote.

Josh Rosenstern interjected, stating, “it made me sick to my stomach”, not specifying exactly what made him so sick. But then he added that those who did not oppose the count were “the powers of darkness”. Even so, he stated that he was “believing in the Lord” even as Biden was certified as President, adding that he wants them [the Biden team] to “give their hearts to Christ”.

Frances then began by mentioning that she had received a lot of emails from people who were “extremely disappointed in Pence”, adding that she believes “God appointed Trump for this moment” in time. Then she blathered a little about how much he has done again, adding that she was glad he was a businessman since she and Jimmy agree that “only a businessman can run this country successfully”. That latter is a mantra they developed after being castigated by several emails and calls about why they supported Trump. I watched it progress over several weeks and months.

John Rosenstern then derided those who are, in his mind, turning on Trump here at the last minute, obviously referring to those who are leaving his administration at the end. Then Nations had to jump in by stating that Biden is an “illegitimate president”. Frances then said, “and Obama”, to which Nations added, “but Biden was not legally elected. Trump’s not finished yet, I can tell you that!”

Then Frances went into this sad rhetoric that the fact that it was Trump supporters who scaled the Capitol walls and stormed the building is a “false narrative”. She kept saying that it couldn’t have been Trump supporters because – get this – most of his followers haven’t been trained to scale walls like that – like those associated with Black Lives Matter and Antifa have. Seriously, this is what she said!

Then she even went so far as to show a video of the female rioter who got shot as she was almost to break into the Senate chamber (yes, she was climbing in). But, she didn’t show said video to demonstrate the chaos of what was going on or anything, and she didn’t even express remorse for the woman’s death, although that may have been implied. No, the point of showing the video was to emphasize who was taking said video. She stated that it had been taken by someone named John Sullivan, whom she referred to as a far Left violent agitator, adding that he could not explain why he was present in the first place. For the reader, it should not be lost in translation here that Sullivan is black. Frances went on to state that he was the founder of “Insurgents USA”. She finalized her short presentation by stating, “so we do know there were agitators there yesterday [referring to the 6^th, which was two days prior]”. She then added, “why was this man there if he was peaceful? That’s where the violence came from. It was not Donald Trump’s followers.” The lunacy of believing that Trump followers could have been induced to violence by a black Leftist agitator taking a video with his phone seems to have been lost on Frances and her panel.

John Rosenstern then interjected that their (the Democrat’s) narrative “is a stinking lie”. Nations then added that “they [the Capitol Police] opened the doors and let them in”, insinuating some sort of collusion had taken place.

This is part of THEIR narrative as they seek to place blame on anyone other than Trump supporters. Sadly for them, many fact-check outlets, such as Politifact, for example, have shown that there is no evidence that the mob was infiltrated at all, and they also show that Mr. Sullivan stated that he was there to document what happened. Since it was all over social media that such as this might take place, and was even being called for (I even saw some of it myself), it stands to reason that someone might have wanted to document it.

In any case, the panel in general continued briefly from there ranting about how much Trump has done for this country and Israel and that, even at that, he may not even be a Christian (for them, he doesn’t have to be, which is ironic all by itself and flows from the concept of a Cyrus ruler, whether they wish to admit that or not). They went on to ramble about how Christianity will be restricted under Biden. Then Nations again interjected that “they’re all guilty” of treason for not stopping the electoral vote.

Then finally, Frances said it was time for John Rosenstern to explain why Pence really did have the constitutional power to reject electoral votes and send them back to the states. In essence, their entire argument for this hangs on the single fact that, supposedly, some states sent competing electoral votes to the Senate. That would have made Pence obligated to order an audit in said states to be again certified. Their entire argument hinged on this! Trouble is, NO state sent any competing electoral votes to the Senate that was done by certified, legal, electors. Those self-appointed electors who cast votes for Trump, who had not been selected by the legal process, sent in fraudulent ballots! What they did was illegal! But, don’t try telling that to the Swaggart crowd.

In any case, the lone voice of reason in so many instances (even as he treads water so as not to be attacked and drowned by the other panel members), Josh Rosenstern, said that, in fact, the Senate was following proper protocol. However, he added, there was too much of a question about the votes so that, after they had a debate, then the question should have been sent back to the states to be resolved.

Even though that is also in error, it was at least an effort toward moderation of the stance of the panel overall. The fact of the matter is that the vote count issue does not get sent back to the states for further consideration just because a lot of people THINK something fraudulent may have gone on, any more than the storming of the Capitol building was legitimate just because some people THOUGHT something improper went on. It just doesn’t work that way. If it did, we would all be subject to the whim of other people’s thoughts and beliefs.

Of course, that just got Nations started again as he vehemently accused the news media of being “liars”. Several on the panel then agreed that the whole thing had been a set-up. Later, Frances even added, astonishingly (but not surprisingly) that there was no fraud concerning those who voted FOR Trump. Yes, you got that right – fraud everywhere other than for Trump votes. How she would know this, I leave to the imagination of the reader.

Following this, one email writer stated that they would never vote again because it is all fraudulent and pre-determined anyway. Suddenly, caught in their own lack of logic, the panel was aghast! Frances was like, “No!” She and the others insisted that, even though they had previously stated that it was all fixed and fraudulent, people MUST vote anyway! But, really, if you have any ability to utilize logic, then, by inference, if the election is fraudulent and controlled to the extent they posit, then there is literally no use in voting.

Then, very self-servingly, both John and Josh Rosenstern moved to again insist that their trust was not in the man (Trump), but in Christ, as opposed to the idea previously expressed that many had placed their trust in Trump himself. But, even then they expressed their un-swavering support of Trump and his policies. This, even as Frances stated that she was unsure that the majority of Trump supporters were really doing that. Josh Rosenstern then, following an email on the subject, interjected; “quit believing the lies of the mainstream media”.

Finally, when Frances asked the panel members for further final thoughts, Jim Nations, naturally, was the most pointed in that he stated, “put Biden and President Trump side-by-side. I can have respect for President Trump. . . . I can have no respect whatsoever for Biden. He’s a crook. He’s a thug. . . .” Do I really have to express how delusional that statement is?

I don’t know; maybe members of this panel didn’t really follow the events thoroughly. Maybe they only watched Fox News or, worse, One America News, or even TruNews. Maybe they didn’t see Trump speak just before the carnage that took place, insisting that people needed to march and fight hard or they wouldn’t have a country. Maybe they didn’t see the video of Trump and his family as they watched the events with expressions of sheer, animalistic glee! Maybe they didn’t see footage of the mob that broke into the Capitol, destroyed windows, furniture, etc., throwing anything they could, including American flags, at Capitol Police as they tried to keep the building secure. Maybe they didn’t see one Capitol police officer being crushed nearly to death by said mob….

But, oh, I forgot – it was Antifa, not Trump supporters. The guy in the QAnon shirt who chased the police officer up several flights of stairs was Antifa. The people carrying Confederate flags were Antifa and Black Lives Matter folks. And, obviously, the lady who almost got into the Senate chamber and was shot and killed in so doing was Antifa too! Obviously, because Trump people just don’t have the training to break into buildings, assault and murder people (yes, one Capitol police officer was murdered by this mob), and give their lives for their unfounded beliefs. No, it couldn’t have been Trump People!

You know, most of us learned as children in school that once you start telling a lie, in order to keep it believable you have to keep telling more lies to compound it. It seems that these folks have not learned much in school. But, it’s even more than that. The fact of the matter is that so-called “gospel” programs like “Frances & Friends”, the “Jim Bakker Show”, and others should never have gotten started delving into politics in the first place. But, once they helped put Trump into office they just couldn’t help themselves. Before long, they were so far into it that they literally couldn’t extract themselves and they went on to take full-credit for his victory. The pleas from callers and emailers began quite early, asking Frances and her panel to stop discussing politics and to simply focus on the gospel like they used to. At that early date, they could have done so, for it was not too late then. But, Frances called any criticism of what they were doing “ridiculous”. I watched the program. I know. Now, it’s literally too late for them to extract themselves unless they are forced to do so. And, if this is done, they will instantly call it persecution, as they do everything else they don’t like, including wearing masks.

That having been said, there is another lesson everyone should have at least been exposed to growing up, although I am aware that many never have been. It is a lesson from one of the trials of Hercules. In this particular instance, Hercules was tasked with destroying the hideous Hydra that terrorized the town of Lerna. The Hydra, for those who don’t know, was a serpent-like creature with many heads – nine in all. Hercules found this to be a daunting task in that, in every instance where he was able to kill one of the heads, two would sprout back in its place. This was making the Hydra literally impossible to kill! He and his partner, Iolaus managed to kill off each of the mortal heads by first chopping off the head and then burning the remaining neck so that no more heads could grow. This allowed Hercules to, at last, move toward destroying the one remaining head, which was immortal. That head was chopped off and buried, after which Hercules disposed of the rest of the Hydra’s body.

The basic lesson, for those who still don’t quite understand, is that in order to eradicate something, one has to get the main part – the heart of it. Everything else is virtually hopeless. The fact of the matter is that the news media and others have done well to enlighten us as to entities such as QAnon and the like. They have also done well to point out that certain politicians have, frankly, been willing to sacrifice their own reputations and even their political careers in support of Trump. But, what they are all ignoring, in my view because it is easily found, is where all of this ultimately comes from. It comes from a growing religious movement called Dominionism, and it won’t be stopped as long as everyone refuses to acknowledge its part in this whole thing. To ignore it will only allow it to continue to grow – to come back in any number of differing forms, twice as strong as it was before. One cannot take just a piece of it down and be satisfied that the job is done. The root cause has to be addressed. And the root cause of everything we saw on January 6^th was not just Trump and his family; it was not Antifa; not Black Lives Matter; not even the Proud Boys, although some undoubtedly played a part (but the idea that Antifa started it is absurd). It was Dominion Theology and their absolutely absurd, and unbiblical, insistence in their belief in “Cyrus rulers”.

In the end, I have yet to hear, or witness from the Swaggarts or any of the others, a single condolence for the lady, Ashli Babbitt, who was killed trying to enter the Senate chamber; not one word of condolence said for either of the other three who suffered medical emergencies during the invasion and who subsequently died; not one word of condolence for Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was killed by the insurgent mob as they stormed the building; and not one word of condolence for the Capitol Police Officer who was nearly crushed to death by the mob! No prayers either, unless it was done by John Rosenstern at the beginning of Friday’s airing of “Frances & Friends” (I couldn’t listen to it).

And, by the way, Frances never did get back to the gospel on either program either. It must not have been that important to her.