Once again I recently found myself in a Wal-Mart and as usual
I perused the book section. It's instructive because of the fact that Wal-Mart
is only interested in carrying a relatively small number of books that are
guaranteed to sell. In other words Wal-Mart carries the best-selling books
within certain categories and of course it also targets its demographics, the
types of people that shop in its store.
And so what you'll find are best sellers with some
exceptions. For example if some kind of artsy-book happens to be a top seller
on the book markets, Wal-Mart might not carry it because their shoppers aren't
of that set. It's a best-selling but targeted book shelf.
For many Christians Wal-Mart is an almost but not quite
Christian company that represents their values. It represents capitalism in all
its glory and they say 'Merry Christmas', what more could you ask for? Of
course for many non-Christians the values of Wal-Mart (Christmas aside) are
extremely offensive. For Christians deeply rooted in New Testament doctrine,
such Evangelical heresies, such as the glorification of exploitative capitalism
are nothing new. There's nothing Christian about Wal-Mart, in fact it is in
many respects a uniquely evil institution.
The book shelf is telling... telling about Wal-Mart, telling
about its demographic and about the culture in general. There are no specific
conclusions available and given that the book shelf is constantly changing only
generalities are available, but even a broad sweep approach is instructive and
worthy of reflection.
But on that recent day that I visited the store, I was
particularly struck looking at the shelf.
Many of the books celebrated murderers, militarism and
violence. From police to soldiers, to specifically the Special Forces types
(which are literally state death cults) there is clearly a popular appreciation
of those who wield violence in the service of the American Empire. Such sentiments
are hardly surprising as they're basic to virtually all cultures... but contrary
to the false shepherds and profiteers that dominate American Christianity that
celebrate such killers and their deeds, they have no place in the Christian Church.
These are not people we should praise or commemorate and if their deeds and
ethics are wed to Christian theology (as they clearly are) they represent a
heresy of the most offensive and subversive variety, one in which New Testament
doctrine is turned on its head and ethics are turned inside out. Though on one
level state violence is granted a type of legitimacy in the New Testament, it
is specifically contrasted with Christian ethics. The lost world in its fallen
wisdom will praise such Nimrods, Nebuchadnezzars and other slayers, but such
thinking runs contrary to the doctrine and spirit of New Testament
Christianity.
The book shelf also celebrates the role of various thieves.
Some are universally understood as such, mafia figures and the like. And indeed
I've done more than my fair share of reading about organised crime and the
criminal world however I'm a little cynical about the popularity of such books
in light of our current culture. I've never seen The Sopranos but I know what it is and I know what such shows have
done in terms of cultural perceptions. They have normalised a type of lifestyle
and ethic and sometimes they have tangentially glorified it. There are some
mafia movies that play up the violence and the glamour of making it in the 'big-time'
and others that are more reflective, wishing to tell the story and yet expose
its futility and what it does to the people engaged in such a life.
There are other thieves on the shelf. I speak of the
financial gurus and Wall Street tycoons who are celebrated as 'wise' and
'successful'. Christians should easily reject this understanding knowing that
you cannot serve God and Mammon and that what the world esteems is reckoned an
abomination in the sight of God. But clearly that's not the case. There's a
long legacy of false teaching on this issue and sinful behaviour is instead
glorified and often justified even from the pulpit.
And yet they are thieves. The system is predicated on usury,
fiscal transactions which amount to little more than alchemy or sorcery and in
true witchcraft fashion their 'deals' are about manipulation, obfuscation and
the exploitation of others. Of course their self-aggrandisement is always cast
in terms of morality and the flourishing of society. The Western system relies
on military strength and the forcing open of markets in order to gain quick
cheap access to labour and resources. It's a racket rooted in violence, theft,
avarice and sorcery. Again it shouldn't surprise us. The tale is as old as
Babel but since the time of Constantine there has been a devilish theology at
work which seeks to sanctify these aspirations and processes and this theology
was given a serious boost, a shot in the arm (as it were) by the Magisterial
Reformation and the modern Europe which it birthed. Post-war Evangelicalism
re-cast it yet once again and revitalised the theology with what can only be
described as a vengeance.
Murderers, death cultists, usurers and thieves. What else?
How about liars and falsifiers of history and current events?
There's a spate of recent books, many of them seem to be associated with
current and former FOX news hosts (using co-authors of course) that attempt to
put Right-wing spins on historical events. A lot of them fall within the
category of heroic America, nationalist histories which at times venture into
myth especially concerning topics like Reagan, World War II or even the
Revolutionary War.
There are other pieces of propaganda. The shelves that a few
years ago were loaded with books about Obama the amateur, Obama the Muslim and
Obama the communist are today filled with books about the greatness of Trump,
Pence or other figures associated with them.
There are the sodomite and slut books. Whether about bullying
or a biography of someone like the filth that is Elton John, it seems
impossible to escape the aggressive propaganda campaign of the various perverts
and degenerates who seek to lead our Babel-Sodom Empire. Likewise there are the
slut volumes, the self-esteem books with some scantily clad suggestive woman on
the cover telling you her life story or how to be strong and be like her. Or
worse there are the many books that seem to be written by some FOX news
hostesses, most of which seem to be blonde, tanned and very few seem to have
skirts which properly cover them and almost none seem to own outfits with
sleeves. Self-esteem, feminist empowerment and Right-wing politics are all
cobbled together into some kind of faith, family and nation narrative.
I recently read a piece praising the beauty of conservative women
as opposed to the myriad of ugly liberal types. One, it's simply not true.
There are certainly some ugly liberal types but the conservatives don't have a
corner on the market when it comes to either beauty or ugliness. The
conversation is in itself rather stupid and in the vein of teenage boy
philosophising. It also might be pointed out that Right-wing news outlets
deliberately promote attractive women as their display is more likely to gain
an audience. This is a well known tactic used by the late whoremonger Roger
Ailes.
Additionally as I and others have pointed out before there's
a real confusion at work in our culture. There's a fear of the feminine in some
circles and yet in other circles femininity has been grossly confused with
sensuality. What the one conservative author was celebrating as beauty an older
generation and a more conservative one (in a Biblical-modest sense) might see such
presentations as smutty and indecent. In fact I know some older folks who won't
watch FOX because of the women and the whole abrasive and manipulative demeanour
of the programmes. From their standpoint it's not conservative in a moral sense
and they find it all rather offensive, even though they are probably just as
Right-wing in their thinking. Women who use their bodies for empowerment and
attention are in keeping with a certain school of feminism or are just plain
old fashioned indecent women... the kind you didn't bring home to mom. Far too
often, these are the Christian women that are looked up to in today's
Evangelical milieu.
But as far as what they are... well, that could be debated.
But we can safely say they are immodest and therefore they are not
conservative, nor are they conservative in terms of traditional values. Career
women, often loud-mouthed and aggressive, these women are Right-wing to be sure
but they're not conservative in terms of social mores, morality or even
ideology for that matter. They are on one level women trying to be men, and on
another level seeking to exploit their feminine charms, using their bodies to
gain attention and give them access. As mothers and wives they are not to be
emulated but condemned. I say this especially as so many of them claim to be Christians
even as they build their lives and shape their character on values that are
opposed to what the Scriptures teach.
Finally, there are the heretics. The books that sell are by
prosperity teachers, advocates of Church growth/seeker tactics, proponents of
gimmicky fads, and women preachers. There are devotionals and studies that
teach therapy and psychology instead of Scripture and if there is any kind of
actual doctrinal book on the Wal-Mart shelf, it is of the lightest kind, filled
with as many errors as truths.
And then of course there are the crossovers, the books that
seem to represent all the aforementioned classes in one. Christian celebrity
girls cashing in on their familial fame and name association, to a hyper-hunter-warrior
masculinity-on-steroids type of Evangelicalism coupled with capitalist ethics
and guns... it's all there.
The fact that there are actual Bibles in the midst of all
this just seems to add to the confusion. The fact that the young adult section
is practically dominated by occultic fiction is also something to ponder. At
that particular moment it was being closely studied by two girls in their
underwear (popularly known as yoga pants), that left very little to the
imagination in terms of their lower bodies. I suppose in such a context the FOX
news girls might seem 'modest'.
I felt like Paul standing on the Areopagus.
But what really disturbed me was that with the exception of
the mafia figures (unless they're friends of Trump) and maybe the Elton John
biography, most of the titles are happily and eagerly embraced by large
sections of Evangelicals.
It's telling and also represents an outworking of Evangelical-dominion
theology's subversive teachings. An ethos of transform the culture equals a transformed church every time. The
Wal-Mart book shelf is a reminder of the movement's compromises and failures,
the disease and false Christianity that is American Evangelicalism.
Finally there's another disturbing irony and that's the
background presence of Rupert Murdoch, the owner of FOX news as well as a
significant section of the publishing world. As owner of Zondervan and Thomas
Nelson, Murdoch's FOX news/Wall Street Journal ethos has worked its magic on
the Evangelical scene.... a scene that willingly embraced him as he made
merchandise of them. He has sold them his view of the world, has played them
for fools and has taken their money and they love to have it so.
Murderers, thieves, deviants, promiscuous women, liars and
heretics. It's a snapshot of our culture but it also sadly represents the
interests, proclivities and even the values of the American Evangelical
population which seems to all but universally love Wal-Mart and its capitalist
and patriotic (in reality predatory) values. It's a perfect yet rather sick and
depressing picture.
But again it's also instructive. It's something to reflect
on, something to consider as we wrestle with what we're up against. The truth
is on our side and the truth will prevail, if not in this age, in the age to
come. I always make a point to look at what books are selling. It tells me
something and gives me information I can use, even if the message is less than
encouraging. There are good things happening in the world but I think it can be
safely said... they're not connected to Wal-Mart or the ethos of its world.
In Ezekiel 16 we learn that Sodom was also to be condemned
for its pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness. Neither did it
strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. Giving itself over to mammon
worship and the Babel spirit, the culture of Sodom produced exploitative decadence
and it was (and is) this milieu that produces perversion and ultimately the sin
for which the cities of the plain were best known for. It's a tale that was
repeated in Greece, Rome, Renaissance Italy and in the modern West.
The false teachers, and here I'm speaking even of those in
conservative and confessional contexts have blessed the former sins and
strengthened the hands of those that would do evil. They decry the present
state of the culture and the state of the Church and yet they have foolishly
and blindly laboured to bring this about... even while they decry it. Blind
leaders of the blind, truly they have led American Christianity into a ditch.
Wal-Mart on so many levels represents a 'snap shot' of their cultural project
and its fruits – in all its decadent ugliness.
Of course elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments, the
decadent apostate Church is compared to Sodom and thus we learn this is a
pattern, something we should come to expect but clearly it's also something
that very few seem able to see or discern.
Bits and pieces are picked up by various teachers but very
few seem to be able to take in the full picture, let alone understand the
theological foundations that have led the Church to where it is. On one level
this isn't too surprising as the implications are almost impossible for many of
them to consider – the reality that American Evangelicalism is functionally
apostate and bears almost no resemblance to New Testament Christianity. It is a
counterfeit, an acculturated faux-Christianity of the exact same character and
spirit as medieval Roman Catholicism. Guided by the same compromised worldly
syncretic spirit, it's the same disease, simply in a different cultural
setting.