15 January 2018

Is "The Calm Before the Storm" About to End? (Part 2)

28 Tevet 5778

[Advance warning: This is a very big subject which there is not room on a blog to explain in depth. I would, however, like to give you enough of a heads-up about what's going on to forewarn you if it turns out to signal trouble ahead for the Jews. If you want to investigate for yourself, follow the internal links provided here or google it.]

[See Part I - Preparing For the Storm]

Part II - Storm Clouds Gathering

The "Q Anon Phenomenon" is of very recent origin, but according to one source, it already has attained a following in the hundreds of thousands.
Over the last month and a half, the Storm has spread from the depths of 4chan and 8chan to Reddit, YouTube, and Twitter, where it’s found hundreds of thousands of devout followers. Some of the most popular explainer videos boast nearly 200,000 views, and the QAnon hashtag has gotten so popular, it’s honestly difficult to track. (I signed up for one of those freebie “Track Your Hashtag Now!” services and #QAnon hit the 2,000-post limit within four hours.) Some poor soul even took the time to write a 117-page book charting Q’s rise to power, which I’m guessing has been seen at least as many times as this very aggressive Imgur guide, which was at 137,000 views as of Sunday night.
This is a sign of the growing popularity of Christian Nationalism on the American political right.

Q Anon may be new, but the movement which has given rise to him (them) is not. "Q" is the culmination of a long-sought plan for Christian domination of the United States of America. (Google Dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism.) And they really believe that they have their chance with President Donald J. Trump.


Above is a photo taken at one of several events where Trump was anointed by the laying on of hands before becoming president. Notice the participation of future VP Mike Pence to his right. Following is another...



Even Huffpost was clued in early on...
How Dominionists Gained Control Of The Trump Campaign
Whether Donald Trump knows it or not, Dominionists are now in control of his presidential campaign. In recent weeks, Trump has appointed Stephen Bannon to the position of campaign CEO and Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager. Both of these individuals are members of the Council For National Policy, a secretive Dominionists organization. In fact, Kellyanne Conway sits on the executive committee.
Dominionists believe that America is a Christian nation and they oppose the separation of church and state.

...They mix well with Christian Reconstructionists who want to impose strict biblical laws on America including execution for adultery, blasphemy, and homosexuality. These two fringe religious groups make up the majority of the Council’s 500 member base; along with a colorful array of extreme activists on the far right. The Council’s goal is to manipulate government agenda from within.
It was to and for this constituency that Trump spoke in his 2017 Christmas speech...


Why Christian nationalists love Trump
...But where did this cross-toting, flag-waving, and sometimes confusion-inducing form of Trumpian Christian nationalism come from, and why does it appear to resonate with throngs of Americans? And how in the world did Trump, hardly a paragon of conservative Christian virtue, end up as its champion?
A “dominionist” project decades in the making
American Christian nationalism has many forms and iterations, but it was birthed by the same spark that ignited the American Revolution. Some of the earliest revolutionaries were firebrand poets who imagined America as an all-encompassing theocracy and insisted freedom from the English crown could transform the colonies into a Protestant Holy Land. Their dream ultimately died in the hands more secular-minded men we now call the Founding Fathers, but the broader tradition of faith-infused politics continued to thrive throughout American history. From the ecstatic preachers of the various Great Awakenings to the founding of America-centric faith traditions such as Mormonism (which regards the Constitution as a divinely inspired document), Americans have a rich tradition of blurring God and country.
But as pervasive as these fusions of religion and politics were, the Christian nationalist scaffolding currently propping up Trump is far more specific, and relatively new. It shares many theological ideas with the broader spectrum of evangelicalism, but adds a different brand of intensity and emphasis (especially domestically). Its origins are also more recent, beginning with the rise of the Religious Right in the 1970s, when leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Sr. and Pat Robertson characterized America as a “Christian nation”....

Christian nationalism is by no means inherent to evangelicalism — not all Religious Right leaders are Christian nationalists per se, and their culture war battles weren’t all rooted in Christian nationalism. But among their ranks exists a subset that preaches an unusually dogged—and arguably far more subversive—vision of Christian nationalism, beginning in the 1980s. In her 2006 book Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Slate writer and author Michelle Goldberg documented the emergence of a small but influential religious community that gained momentum under the tenure of President George W. Bush. She pointed to a constantly shifting menagerie of conservative Christian pastors, homeschool groups, political action committees, and even judges who made it their mission to “restore” America to something that matched their deeply conservative understanding of Christianity.

...Goldberg said that even the rise of Mike Pence, a politician once described as a “theocrat” and who both [Journalist Jeff] Sharlet and Goldberg linked to Christian nationalism, would have shocked her when she published her book roughly a decade ago.

“[Back then], Mike Pence as a Vice President was unimaginable,” she said.
Part 3 - The Storm Unleashed

See also: Historians of Christian nationalism are alarmed by its appearance in American pulpits
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