This story received some press in rural Pennsylvania. It certainly caught my eye as I'm very familiar with the area, located near the Venango County airport and the small community of Franklin. And as expected the reporting is somewhat sketchy on the exact theology of these people. But in truth Christo-Trumpism, the growing hybrid religion (of Right-wing Trumpite extremism with elements of Christianity) is able to both defy and transcend traditional labels and categories. Whether Catholic or Charismatic, Confessional, Evangelical or something else, it doesn't matter all that much. The religion is (in the end) a form of hyper-nationalism with a mythology and messiah to accompany it. We've seen this sort of thing before - these monsters are born of collapsing societies.
Obviously there is a strong Charismatic element to Barthen's tale and so my immediate guess was that there would be connections to the Dominionist New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. And sure enough just a couple of paragraphs down the connection was revealed. The Reformed may shake their heads at the theology but it was elements within their movement that helped spawn it. For the Theonomists and other ultra-dominionists, these are the ranks of fools doing the work in the trenches. Let these useful idiots do the bleeding and dying as it were. And when the victory comes, the Calvinist-dominated Dominionist Intelligentsia will stand poised to take the reigns - or at the very least steer the ship.
One has to chuckle with no small degree of bitterness reading about all the things 'God told her' even while she uses her sin money (her divorce settlement) to advance the Kingdom - as she sees it. This fact alone is rather telling and demonstrates how far afield these people are when it comes to the New Testament. But in that respect she's not really any different than most of the Evangelicals out there and in addition to her worldliness she also shares their confused conflation of America and Zion.
Just the other day, only a matter of miles from the Allegheny River I was in the parking lot of a building store and as I was checking over my list the Evangelical voice on the radio was decrying the depravity of our culture and the need for masculine men to rise up.
Indeed, throughout the course of the morning I encountered men with fingernail polish, a man masquerading as a woman, but also the normal fare of feminist-driven couples - passive men and assertive women. Women driving the family car, women ordering the food - all the things that have become so normative that no one thinks anything of it. But alongside these things I was engulfed by scenes of wanton and conspicuous consumerism, gluttony, and sad lonely people crying out for attention and searching for meaning. Everyone wants to be seen as exhibited by the ever more outrageous bumper stickers and t-shirts. I'm afraid on this score the Right-leaning folks are much more aggressive at least in my pro-Trump area. From veteran paraphernalia and flags, to 'love it or leave it' shirts, and lots of obscenity - everyone wants to be seen. The parking lot seemed full of twenty and thirty-something heavily tattooed men driving big loud pick-up trucks, blasting music, with Right-wing patriotic accoutrements, some even with waving flags anchored to the truck-bed. And all these childish but dangerous 'men' had defiant looks on their faces, looking like they wanted to start a fight. Back in the day that would have meant a shoving match or some fists. Today, I'm certain every single one of them is packing a gun and (at least they think) they're looking for an occasion to use it.
Truly this society does not reflect anything akin to New Testament Christianity. But the Evangelical radio commentator (I think) wouldn't have a problem (or at least as much of a problem) with the violent thugs I was seeing. The only thing really keeping them from overt fascism is they're still too individualistic, too focused on self and the promotion of their own shallow personas. And yet it's not hard to imagine such weak-minded and willed people getting straightened out and put in line - if the movement ever coalesces into a unified force - God forbid.
Depravity reigns, but I see it on both sides of the political and cultural spectrum. And right alongside this depravity there is a growing chaos. Everything and everyone is wound up so tight it's as if everything is going to burst. Confusion rules the day and this is no less so in the Church - to the shame of its hireling leaders. Listening to the radio station all I could think about was the alliances these people form with the political powers and movements and how they are literally being paid to echo, slightly re-package, and re-transmit their messages to the sheep.
And the article is right to mention Doug Mastriano. Thankfully he lost the election, and yet his movement is pervasive - his signs are still everywhere and I know of many Christians who supported him. I even know of a Reformed elder who was happy to whore out his daughter full time to the 2022 Mastriano gubernatorial campaign. Apparently that's what all those years of homeschooling were all about - so his denim skirted daughter could go and volunteer for a fascist political campaign. It's so touching.
And clearly Mastriano was right on the mark. He insisted that Josh Shapiro wanted to turn Pennsylvania into something like East Germany. Any day now I'm sure we'll be feeling it.
The article follows a very familiar progression in the lives of these sorts of people - shuttling between the latest 'apostle', adopting all the narratives put out by the Trumpist Far Right and so forth. It's kind of a sad read to be honest, a story of people entrapped by deception - and yet potentially dangerous to society. They are of course a clear and present danger to the Church. Their influence is waxing and yet on another level I find it hard to believe that any serious student of Scripture, anyone truly engaged with Christ would be tempted by these people or led astray by them. Matthew 24.23-24 certainly comes to mind.
Barthen has 'Blessed' tattooed on her arm - another sign of defective theology. The only thing I can think of is - 'Lost'. A lost soul led astray, a deceived person who reads the Bible through selective eyes and has not understood its message.
The Dutch Sheets rally caught my eye - the headwaters of the Allegheny are near Coudersport, Pennsylvania - in Potter County. That area has been known for some Far Right associations, including militias, the KKK, and that sort of thing. It's Pennsylvania's version of the Idaho Panhandle. I've driven by the Gospel Tabernacle on Route 6 that held the event in 2020 on numerous occasions - but I didn't know that it had NAR ties. It's not too surprising, nor was I shocked to read that these people were involved in the January 6 business. The 'Appeal to Heaven' flag appropriated by these people is being seen more and more. I even know of a deacon in a Reformed congregation that flies it in front of his business - as he walks around with a 2nd Amendment t-shirt emblazoned with an AR-15. No doubt this is what Christ meant by being salt and light.
I sighed reading about their appropriation of William Penn and I was reminded of how many Mennonites and other Anabaptists are getting pulled into this orbit - many of them supported Mastriano's candidacy and you can even see Amish flying Trump flags at parades. I was in the Pennsylvania capitol about a year ago and thinking about these people and some of the Christians (including ones from my area) that were outside the building (with guns) protesting everything from attempts at Covid mitigation to the election.
Barthen and her apostles may think the Spirit is moving - and I agree a spirit is moving, but it's not the Holy Spirit. Increasingly I believe the world Church (so to speak) is rapidly moving toward a state of widespread and pervasive apostasy - perhaps unlike anything seen before. As I have often written, even during the darkest times in Europe, during the Middle Ages there were vibrant underground movements with surprising numbers - all the more if one looks at them in terms of a percentage of the population. Obviously precise statistics are impossible but there is a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence. I'm really starting to wonder about just what is happening in our day. Where are the faithful? Dominionism, the re-packaged Constantinianism for the Enlightenment era has all but won the day.
As I was sitting in the parking lot taking in the scene, it also struck me that as I scan through the radio stations, it's almost as if the Christian stations dominate. Maybe that's too strong a term but there are quite a few and yet one does not feel any kind of viable Christian presence when out and about. I see lots of 'Stand for the Flag, Kneel for the Cross' stickers - alongside obscene (sometimes political) stickers that I wouldn't have wanted my young children to see. These are often on the same vehicle.
So while Barthen and her cohorts may believe they're building the Kingdom - it has nothing to do with Christ or His Kingdom. I have an uneasy feeling about where all of this is headed, but there's one good thing about it. The lines are being drawn in unmistakable terms. It's just that when you eliminate the Christo-Nationalist/Christo-Trumpist types, the acculturated Evangelicals, and the rank theological liberals - there's not much left to choose from. And that's basically where things stand. I had long hoped that disgruntled and convicted Christians would start thinking outside the box and be willing to break with the institutionalised church bodies, but for the most part they're not. I see lots of people just sitting through the rock shows or sitting under women preachers. They've given up, quit fighting, or find ways to justify their compromise.
As aggravating as it is, the group most likely to break free from convention and meet in homes or some other atypical locale are the Right-wing folks - the very people I'm trying to avoid and yet cannot seem to. Even in the New Calvinist congregation we've been attending we've got gun nuts walking around armed - literally men that patrol the halls and are never in the service, never taking communion or anything. This is their 'ministry'. They even pack their firearms during the potluck dinners. Needless to say our days there are numbered - we're looking for something else. The worship is confused, the fellowship is about zero - the preaching is okay. It's little more than 'checking a box' for Sunday morning, hardly ideal but that's what we're reduced to. But after the last dinner, it's too much. I don't want to be part of it. There is no fellowship with these people. The fact that MacArthur's hymnals are in the pews and that Grudem's books are promoted from the screen doesn't help.
I am confident a resistance (not that kind of resistance) will arise, but it may be my children and future grandchildren are the ones to benefit from it. Apparently things are going to have to get a lot worse before they get better. Church history supports this narrative as well.