GUIDELINES

     I have violated too many hard and fast rules in my life. I now prefer to have behavioral guidelines, I don't feel guilty for transgressing them. Such guidelines as, old men near the incontinental divide should beware of wearing tan pants in public. Or, if by some magic,  government helps most of us, it is most likely led by Democrats. Or, it's best not to listen to a politicians advice on prayer or a preachers advice on voting. There are exceptions, but these general rules have become important in recent years.

     Since about the 1980s we have been hearing about Dominionist Christianity. At first it hid in the shadows of evangelical Christianity, but it has emerged in full and potent force since obout the 2010s. Dominionism is a belief that Christians must, must, take control of government, business and culture in order for Jesus to return to Earth. Given the lack of tolerance exhibited by Dominionist Christians, it is not likely that these are behavioral guidelines. Dominionism has some hard and fast rules as exhibited by the Watchman Decree, which opines: 

Whereas, we have been given legal power from heaven and now excercise our authority.

Whereas, we are God's ambassadors and spokespeople over the Earth.

Whereas, through the power of God we are the world influencers. (if there was ever a reason to justify the Kardashians, this might be it).

Whereas, because of our covenant with God, we are equipped and delegated by him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy, we make our declarations. (Let me pause here to mention that whereas these Dominionists are openly hostile to sensible firearms legislation, and whereas they make no allowances for even modest disagreement, and whereas their history has demonstrated a harsh approach to influencing, we must be alarmed by their takeover of Government, business, and culture).

     Back to their Watchman Decree: WE DECREE THAT OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM WILL ISSUE RULINGS THAT ARE BIBLICAL, AND CONSTITUTIONAL. No advise is given as to how this is possible. WE DECLARE THAT WE STAND AGAINST WOKENESS, THE OCCULT, AND EVERY ATTEMPT AGAINST OUR NATION. Aside from having a problem with being awake, if you own a OUIJI board, it would be best if you buried it until this psychosis blows over. And getting back to woke, what kind of Watchman performs his godly mission if they are not woke. WE DECLARE THAT WE TAKE BACK OUR GOD-GIVEN FREEDOMS, ACCORDING TO OUR CONSTITUTION. Presumably their Constitution is not the same one that our forefathers enshrined to guide us some 335 years ago. I don't remember it mentioning God in any more than brief reference. WE DECREE THAT WE TAKE BACK AND PERMANTLY CONTROL POSITIONS OF INFLUENCE AND LEADERSHIP IN EACH OF THE SEVEN MOUNTAINS. So much for small d democracy.

     The Seven Mountains, as decreed by Dominionists, are, 1) business, 2) government, 3) family, 4) religion, 5) media, 6) education, 7) and entertainment. Let me posit here, that in the same way not everybody finds me entertaining, I shudder to think what entertainment means to them. Lest there be any doubt, these 7 mountains are not receptive to LBGTQ rights or abortion rights. The overall governing body of this group and other, like-minded groups, is the NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION (NAR) a body with four listed surnames, all of whom appear to be self-appointed. NAR also claims that demons are engaged in "spiritual warfare" on Earth. They teach a $97 online course on "spiritual warfare for the lost". There is no indication what is meant by the lost. An NAR apostle, Steve Sprang, wrote "I believe God raised up Donald Trump and there is warfare going on-satanic activity that is trying to tear down the fabric of this country. We need to take authority over the enemy, we are in a movement for righteousness to reclaim our country from the hands of the wicked". At some point it seems, we have turned over the government that is constituted to include all of us to that more limited version of us , as illustrated by the four self-appointed messengers of God.

     NAR apostles also claim to be able to resurrect the dead. One apostle claims to have "resurrected" a dead cat, "and he came back to life",  which i think means the same thing! "As soon as I finished praying for him, he jumped up and ran around." This reminds me of a shaggy dog story I heard in high school about an old shop cat that was near death. Somehow this cat in a last effort had found a can of gasoline used for cleaning grease from tools. The cat lapped at the gasoline, perked up his ears, and began running around the garage. At last he stopped and collapsed to the floor....."did he die, a curious listener asked"? "Ran out of gas was the reply". 

There is another Twitter video of this disciple persuading a group of men, during a prayer service, to "manifest the glory of God by convulsing and collapsing on the stage". Presumably, they too, ran out of gas, but lived to return to their families to continue dispensing the blessings of God to their families that would have been without a conduit to God until the little woman remarries. 

     It is easy to find comedy among such people that can say things, with the certainty of a preacher holding a full house in his hands (as Mark Twain might say). What is behind the belly-laugh is that these people are taken seriously, too seriously, by too many people. People who do not appreciate humor, do not respect the principles of democracy (small d), and believe they are uniquely endowed to receive divine messages from the Divine. And who believe that one of these tools is to impose God's will by any and all force available.

     What is even worse, they are assembling the necessary support to take over school boards in states where voting opportunities are targeted based on political influence. In Floriddumb, the state governor is openly campaigning in favor of school board candidates who wish to change public education to correspond to the 7 mountains psychosis. In most states, and until recently, schoolboards were the best example of local politics. They were elected by the people in that school district, no interference from outside politics needed, or wanted. In time these people might matriculate to higher political office but seldom was that a fearful proposition. Today, in at least two states, you know which ones, the governor is putting the weight of his office on the neck of schoolboard members who are not strictly aligned with the governor.

     Another point of contention. Republicans are whole-heartedly in favor of states rights...until they aren't. They love states rights when those states that oppose racial equity are free to treat people of color and oppressed groups harshly. They are all for states rights now that Roe v Wade is no longer, and states are free to pass even more draconian anti-abortion laws, the mothers health or rape notwithstanding. And yet these very people, given enough support would make a permanent aristocracy of those blessed by the divine. We can be damned sure that this would not be confined to the Bible-belt. The source of this renewed ardor from the messengers of God seems to be a small college in Hillsdale, Michigan. It's name, fittingly is Hillsdale College. As usual there are several layers of irony here, but picking just two, it started as an abolitionist college and it is known as a Liberal Arts college. This Liberal Arts curriculum is based on Western heritage. Western, I am certain, is not exemplified by John Wayne, but refers to Greco-Roman civilization. Greco-Roman is often referenced by white racists. Being squarely in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea,  the Greeks and Roman's were of a darker hue than the Germanic tribes, the Goths and such, that bedeviled Rome in the early years of the first millennium. I learned this little tidbit on Facebook by a professor of ancient history who reminded me that the Trojan War took place in the 12 or 13th century BCE, about five or six centuries before the formation of the Athenian city-state. The Roman Republic rose up around the same time as the Athenian democracy. 

     Getting back to Troy, or Ilium as it is more properly known, when the Greek tribes spent 10 years besieging Ilium, the Egyption Pharoes had been building pyramids for around fifteen centuries. The Phoenicians had been exploring the African sub-continent as far as the Indian Ocean for about 1500 years. The beginning of the Mayan civilization had preceded Troy by about 500 years. So, as you can see, the greco-romans were a little late to the game. As a final stab, some years ago a skeleton was found in the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Kennewick man, as he became known, was racially distinct form any of the native cultures of the west coast. Some think he may have been a member of the Ainu civilization of Hokkaido, Japan. He was killed about 300 years before the Athenian city-state. I must also mention the Polynesian voyages of over tens of thousands of ocean miles to establish cultures on tiny islands. These began around 1500 BCE and were accomplished without benefit of a way to figure longitude, which was not available until the end of the 18th century of our time. So I no longer understand how the Greeks and Roman's can be considered greater civilizations than these and other civilizations that explored the great oceans, established lucrative trading civilizations, and had languages and higher learning of a similar degree as the Greeks and Roman's. The Athenian liberal democracy lasted about three hundred years and was replaced by the oligarchy of the Spartans after the Pelopponesian War. The Roman Republic lasted about three hundred years and was replaced by the Ceasars and the Empire written about by Edward Gibbons. We are at 246 years as a democracy if you start counting from the Declaration of Independence. An oligarchy seems very possible, when listening even casually to these admirers of Greco-Roman Civilization. Aside from the Roman's after the 1st century CE, none of these civilizations had the benefit of divine guidance, including the Greeks, so we may infer that they are unworthy to the good liberal arts Mandarins of Hillsdale College and her adherents. Western Civilization is too often seen as intellectually superior to every other civilization that came before. In later years we sometimes earned the accolades. Mostly our over-weening pride is arrogance, inspired by a religion that doesn't acknowledge any history before the first century CE. Many of the most vocal of those don't believe the heavens and planets, including Earth, existence before 6000 years ago. It is these very people, Ron DeSantis among them, that want satellite campuses of Hillsdale College in their states. The former Secretary of public education, Betsy DeVoss, who never spent a day in public school, includes herself in this fawning rabble. It is these very people who want to take back and control permanently positions of influence in all of the Seven Mountains and every pissant hill on the planet.