In November 2018, I wrote a piece about how the Trump movement has become a cult of personality. I noted this in the context of how people will defend certain malicious behaviors that Trump has exhibited and at times boasted about, but when others attempt to discuss said behaviors of Trump, there is an immediate reaction against that person.
The same can also be said about the Democrats. One may remember those who veritably worshiped Obama, and those who criticized him were immediately derided and attacked in spite of the veracity of said points being made. It is no different than with Trump, except one is in a “left” political context where the other is in a “right” political context.
Political idolatry is real and toxic to any society, for it tends to equivocate faith in the obesance to a political leader or a party instead of the party or leader being bound by the rules of said religion, thus making religion captive (intentionally or not) to the state or tribe instead of the reverse.
This struggle between the three estates- the government, the Church, and the governed -is a consistent theme of Christian history. It was involved in all major schisms from the Church, beginning withe the Assyrian Schism of 431, then the Oriental Orthodox Schism of 451, followed by the Eastern Orthodox Schism of 1054, then the Protestant Revolution of 1517 (in all European nations), and most recently the Russian Orthodox Schism of 2019 due to the creation of the Ukrainian Patriarchate that is supported by the Greek Orthodox Church and with the general silence of the other Orthodox Churches in the matter. The history of schism based on politics in Protestantism is too detailed to mention, for just as the saying there are “330 million gods” in Hinduism, there is veritably a Protestant sect for every political or religious belief.
The rhetoric used in such splits frequently remains the same regardless of the age, with all points tending to emphasize political legitimacy with some sort of divine mandate. This was expressed recently in the context of American Evangelical Christianity where Reverend Franklin Graham called those who oppose President Trump “demonic” because he is the “chosen one”.
The Reverend Franklin Graham has described opposition to President Donald Trump as being “demonic” in a recent interview with author and radio personality Eric Metaxas.
In an interview with Metaxas posted to YouTube last Thursday, Metaxas asked Graham his opinion on the current political climate, especially those opposed to President Trump.
“What do you think of what is happening now? I mean it is a very bizarre situation, to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States,” asked Metaxas.
Graham described what Metaxas was talking about as “almost a demonic power,” which led the radio host to interject and say that he did not believe the term “almost” should be included.
“It is a spiritual battle,” agreed Graham, who then touted the Trump administration’s handling of the economy, saying that the nation has “an economy that is just screaming forward.”
“All of this is because Donald Trump said he was going to turn things around and make American great again. He cut taxes and that cutting added fuel to this economic engine that we’re enjoying right now.”
“And you can like a prez w/o agreeing w/everything he ever said or did. That’s hardly ‘worshiping’ him as an idol. This is getting icky.”
The Metaxas program controversy comes as Energy Secretary Rick Perry labeled Trump “the chosen one” in a recent interview on the Fox News program “Fox & Friends.”
“God’s used imperfect people all through history. King David wasn’t perfect. Saul wasn’t perfect. Solomon wasn’t perfect,” explained Perry to “Fox & Friends,” noting that he also considered President Barack Obama to have been the chosen one for his time.
Perry added that he shared his interpretation of how the kings in the Old Testament should be applied to today’s presidency with Trump in a “one-pager.”
“I said, ‘Mr. President, I know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one and I said, ‘You were.’ I said [to Trump], ‘If you’re a believing Christian, you understand God’s plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet in our government,’” Perry said. (source)
One does not have to be a Christian to support or oppose Trump, as political legitimacy is not conditional on any of these things. However, it is always a danger, and can exist anywhere.
The history of the Orthodox and nationalism or identitarianism well-known, as the Churches have always veritably functioned as extensions of national power. Aside from the issues mentioned above taking place in Russia over Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church is having her own series of scandals, for the “cult of Putin” has emphasized her not only for nationalistic purposes, but under the spell of the arguably second most powerful person in Russia, Alexander Dugin. Dugin, who could be likened to a contemporary Rasputin, is a confirmed urine-drinking sodomite who practices satan worship and chaos magic in the name of Russian nationalism as he also proclaims himself to be part of the schismatic Russian “Old Believer” (staroverie) sect.
The Church is also having her issues as well with nationalism, for as we and others such as E. Michael Jones have noted, in the name of correctly fighting the evils of communism, the Church was infiltrated and has been manipulated by western intelligence agents, largely from the CIA, and much to her detriment. Such infiltrations are not new problems (one can look up the toxic influence of the Crescentii family, the Medici Family, or other examples in Church history), but have been amplified by the money and power of Washington. This has lead many Catholics of good will seeking truth and tradition to be manipulated by people who are using the Church to promote nationalist causes.
A case in point of his is Alexander Tschugguel, who Shoebat.com wrote about in two articles. The first one genuinely asked questions about his background, something which nobody in the Catholic media world had done, and after we published it we received an angry series of emails from Tschugguel saying that he wanted to talk to us, and after attempting to set up a meeting with him, he called up of his own will to yell at us and threaten to sue us for asking questions based on his publicly revealed information.
The second article came from our conversation with Tschugguel, who when asked to denounce a major Austrian political party founded by National Socialist terrorists that openly supports Germanic nationalism, Germanic supremacy, and paganism- the Identitarian Movement of Austria (IBO) -he refused and said “I do not have to answer this question.”
A lot of angry people on Youtube have accused Ted and I of “setting” him up, but the facts are to the contrary. Our very own Walid Shoebat himself, who was present during the interview, explicitly requested that Tschugguel be given the chance to dispute our points, and that if he could explain himself and his views, that we write an article in defense of him.
Ted, Walid, and I are not unreasonable people. We wanted Tschugguel to be as genuine as the person who many have made him out to be, because this would be a really good thing. I can say that as I was the one who wrote the original piece questioning him, I hoped that I would be proven wrong because if genuine, his actions would have truly distinguished him as a model for Christians today in a time when things are so corrupted.
But the facts spoke otherwise.
Religion is very important. Politics is important too. However, religion always comes before politics, and politics is subject to her, and while one can be a Christian and support a political party, one’s loyalties must always be with he who does what is morally right, be it one party, multiple parties, or no party. There is only one kingdom that all must submit to, and that is the Empire of Christ, which includes all nations and peoples, is in Heaven, and which Christ explicitly stated is not of this Earth lest his attendants fight “to keep [Him] from being handed over to the Jews”.
This is the true political party that matters. While other parties exist on Earth, they will eventually pass away with the age and world.