How would you feel if you knew that your elected representatives belonged to a secret religious cult that praised the likes of Hitler, Pol Pot, Papa “Doc” Duvalier, Mao, and other despots. According to this insider, these politicians make up as much as 30% of our elected officals of mostly Republican and a handful of Democrats. They feel they are chosen by God to be our leaders, and because of this all their transgressions from simple adulterous behavior to the toppling and ruin of foreign governments are forgiven and protected by the Family.
In a new August 17, 2009 Maddow Show segment, Rachel Maddow and Jeff Sharlet discuss, among many new revelations, the disturbing fact that the “Christian Embassy” scandal, propelled by a complaint to the Department of Defense from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, was investigated by a Pentagon Inspector General who is in fact a Family member.
The Family, also known as “The Fellowship”, is a secretive fundamentalist Washington DC ministry which runs the National Prayer Breakfast and Bible study groups attended by numerous US Senators and Congress members, wields global influence, and celebrates the leadership lessons of Hitler, Lenin, and Mao.
Over the course of the summer of 2009, Washington’s Family-run “C Street House” has become notorious as a string of sex scandals have engulfed national GOP political figures who live at, have lived at, or attended Bible study classes at the secretive former convent turned church-cum cheap-rent high end boarding house: Senator John Ensign, former Congressman Charles “Chip” Pickering, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.
By far the story has been driven, first, by Jeff Sharlet, who wrote the 2008 book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at The Heart Of American Power, which followed Sharlet’s 2003 Harper’s expose Jesus Plus Nothing. But MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who has pursued breaking new aspects of the festering scandal with a long-term dedication only rarely seen in mainstream media news coverage, has played an invaluable role in giving the mafia-like “Family” widespread public exposure.
Maddow’s willingness to cover the story of The Family and the C Street House in an ongoing manner, week to week over the summer, implicitly indicts much of mainstream news coverage as suffering from collective attention-deficit disorder; given the level of international, geopolitical influence The Family apparently wields, its members’ penchant for describing their group as a Christian “mafia”, and in light of Family head Doug Coe’s zest for celebrating useful leadership lessons Coe says can be gleaned from studying Lenin’s Bolsheviks, Mao’s Red Guard willing to chop off their own parents’ heads for the good of the revolutionary state, and Hitler’s Nazis, it’s nothing less than astonishing and appalling that most of mainstream news media has neglected for so long to dig further into revelations seeded in Jeff Sharlet’s The Family book, which came out early in 2008.
You can see a list of members here, and act appropriately when it’s time to vote.
Papa
#140 Congratulations, Dr. Joseph Goebbels couldn’t have done better…you mixed apples and oranges to conclude xyz about steak…
It was false analogies like that which fed the Nazi propaganda machine.
The passages I cited treat the coming of Christ as conquering King, to retake what is His, from the wicked…its why there is a rapture, He doesn’t want to restrain His bombardment…
Its the perfect military solution…there can be no collateral damage one regrets, if all the innocent are raptured out of the way.
When Jesus said turn the other cheek, He wasn’t talking about His military plans at His second coming to retake what is His, the earth.
He was discussing what I should do when insulted…
And I do precisely as He says UNLESS the insult has a greater purpose of suppressing truth in unrighteousness, then, as Christ Himself did, I don’t turn the other cheek, I expose the deceiver, or strike back for truth to be liberated.
You budding Nazis need someone to demonize, you are all so unhappy, something must be given to you, to take your minds off of your own personal hell..
I’ve never met a happy liberal…you all are so miserable…you troll about on these sites railing against God, smearing anyone who works for a living and doesn’t want to feed ACORN workers and supply them with free health care…
When I think of liberals like yourself, I see small trolls, wearing tin foil hats lest the UFO aliens read their minds, squatting in the rubbish…screaming at cause celebre of the moment, for putting them there…when the gate through which they could leave, is wide open.
Mr. Fusion, by the swamp, with mouth wide open….that is your name.
#141, Alphie, the Budding Nazi Statist,
But Alphie, you didn’t answer one question I put out there. Do you really think with your record and the way you act that you will be welcomed into heaven?
Sure you can hate the sin and love the sinner, but there does come a time when even god realizes that that person is just a mean, crazy dude with no comprehension of love. If he didn’t, then everyone would be welcomed. Shit, why would god allow you into heaven when all those other sinners out there lead such better lives?
Think about that. NO, don’t start quoting some scripture that is totally irrelevant. Think about what Jesus was telling you.
BTW, Christ is a title, not a person.
Alphie,
Think about what Jesus said.
Alphie
Think about what Jesus said.
Alphie,
Think about what Jesus said.
#139
Swing and a miss again Alfred1
Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Matthew 23:31
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Matthew 23:35
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
John 15:22
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
Then there is the entire concept of “justification”
Should I go on? The initiators of the Inquisition felt justified, by the Bible, for what they were doing and they were right.
#142 I answered that somewhere in this thread, I enter by the merits of Christ Jesus, on my own merits, you rightly judge I fail.
But that is the essence of Christianity, believing Jesus is LORD, risen from the dead, allows entrance because He paid the price for my sins:
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
(Rom 4:22-25 KJV)
And while I’m thinking about what Jesus said, here is another verse, for you:
28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luk 13:28 KJV)
#146 What do you mean by justification…you are using it equivocally.
#148
Justification is a rather controversial topic on which many schisms including that between Protestant and Catholics has been based.
The (very) short version is that Christ’s sacrifice alone justifies man’s righteousness before God. What that means exactly and specifically what it means in terms of a man’s deeds is at the heart of the debate.
However, in general this concept has been used to wash away many atrocities of the past in the name of “I have faith, so I’ll be saved”.
Btw, other theological justifications for Inquisition include:
Deuteronomy 13:5-10
Exodus 22:18
John 15:6
#150 Your usage is equivocal…Justification in scripture is where God declares a person in right relation to God.
If Inquisitors felt justified in doing what they did, it was they (not God) excusing their actions.
The first is a judicial act of God, the second an evaluation of self.
Your conclusion rests upon the fallacy of equivocation.
Moreover, another fallacy was employed in your argument, false cause…you imply the Bible teaching of justification somehow caused the self justification of the inquisitors…when that is utterly impossible, they are different entities…
Just as an apple cannot be cause by an orange, so also God justifying those who repent and believe in Christ does not cause self deception when committing crimes against humanity.
You distort facts also when you generalize Inquisitors were Christians when in fact they are identified as “Catholics,” who may or may not be Christian.
Christianity isn’t something one joins as in a political or religious movement, its what happens to a person when they are changed by the power of God…
You utterly failed to acknowledge the Inquisitors were killing Christians who refused to obey men rather than God…
So you blame the victim for the crime.
I can honestly state, without fear of contradiction, you are one sick puppy.
I have no idea why you are so filled with hate…I will pray for you.
#147, Alphie,
#142 I answered that somewhere in this thread, I enter by the merits of Christ Jesus, on my own merits, you rightly judge I fail.
But that is the essence of Christianity, believing Jesus is LORD, risen from the dead, allows entrance because He paid the price for my sins:
But that is where you err. You think that because you asked Jesus to come into your heart you have found salvation. Not so.
If Jesus was in your heart you wouldn’t post so many long diatribes opposing those who do what Jesus would do if he were with us today. Only a fool would believe Jesus would not want all of us to have health care so we might not suffer. Or a safe bed at night to rest our heads. Or to not encourage the brigands among us whom arm themselves with high powered weapons under the guise of protecting themselves.
You don’t have Jesus in your heart. You only have the vile hatred of the devil. The evil bitterness that devours souls. There is no room at the inn for Jesus.
Think about what Jesus would say. Think about what his message would be if he came to earth. Think about how he would want his people to experience love, joy, peace, and the power of god. Think about what Jesus would do and then look at your posts and compare.
Do you really think Jesus would want people to die young from treatable illnesses? Children dieing from leukemia because they can’t afford health insurance? Do you really think Jesus would want children to watch their father commit suicide because their daddy can’t find work.
Think about what Jesus taught.
Alphie,
Think about what Jesus would say today.
#151
> If Inquisitors felt
> justified in doing what
> they did, it was they
> (not God) excusing
> their actions.
You have absolutely no basis for making such a statement. The only way to justify such a claim is by using scripture to refute their actions which is exactly what they did to support them. The entirety of religion is based on the subjective interpretation. No one can say with any certainty what exactly was said nor meant by your deity because your deity did not actually directly write any part of the book. So you have no way of knowing whether their actions were justified by the Bible or not. At best, you can add your own speculation.
> you imply the Bible teaching
> of justification somehow caused
> the self justification of the
> inquisitors…when that is utterly
> impossible, they are different entities…
In order to clarify, I’ll capitalize Justification to refer to the Biblical concept as opposed to the vernacular meaning. The concept of Justification has been used numerous times by Church leaders to justify heinous actions.
> “Catholics,” who may
> or may not be Christian.
This is a weasel’s argument. You are using your personal, subjective interpretation of the Bible to determine whether they are Christian in hindsight. It doesn’t work that way. Otherwise, Protestants could claim that Catholics aren’t Christian, Anglicans could claim that Methodists aren’t Christian and so on. To their belief, they were 100% Christian.
> Christianity isn’t something
> one joins as in a political
> or religious movement
By every definition and interpretation in every language in the past 2000 years, Christianity is a religion. Only true 1984 new-speak would try to deny it.
> You utterly failed to
> acknowledge the Inquisitors were
> killing Christians who refused
> to obey men rather than God…
The operative word is “killing”. I would add that they were unjustified in ALL of their killing. However, according to the Bible, they were absolutely justified in killing atheists, homosexuals, Jews and women they claimed to be witches.
> I can honestly state,
> without fear of contradiction,
> you are one sick puppy.
Your entire thought process is fascinatingly contradictory. So, much like being told by a Charlie Manson that I’m a sick puppy, I’ll take your comment in stride.
> I have no idea why
> you are so filled with
> hate…I will pray for you.
Not hate: concern. If you lived out your life without harm to others nor influenced others in a way that they harmed others, I would not be as worried, but history has shown otherwise. Ignorance is probably the most powerful influencing force for death in the history of mankind.
> …I will pray for you.
If it makes you feel better. I’d prefer you take a couple courses on cultural anthropology.
#154, Thomas,
If it makes you feel better. I’d prefer you take a couple courses on cultural anthropology.
I think a lot of people would be satisfied with Alphie just taking his meds.