You Cannot Serve God And Mammon [updated]

The original title of this post was going to be A Parliament Of Whores but that would have been an insult to the sex workers of the world, most of whom have demonstrated consistently higher moral and ethical standards than the presumptive GOP nominee and his sycophants.

The good news is this:  Not all of those attending the mass meeting with Trump fell for his finely honed line of bullshit.  While it’s safe to say there are no Clinton fans in that crowd, it would be unfair to say they are all falling in lockstep with Trump.

The bad news is this:  There are enough rubes among the mass attendees who are buying into Trump’s finely honed bullshit to explain the rapid collapse of Christianity in this country.

American Christianity, in particular white conservative Protestant evangelical Christianity, is infested with a virulent strain of power-hungry Mammon-worshipers who would sell their own mothers to a donkey show in order to further their own ambitions.

While 960 evangelicals cooled their heels awaiting Trump’s presence, he held a private meeting with 40 movers & shakers in the evangelical movement.

These instruments of Satan -- ‘scuse me, Mammon; to paraphrase The Big Leibowski, say what you will about Satan, he at least has an ethos -- are eager to push Trump onto the rest of the world.

Some of these turds are fueled by racial hatred, others merely by the reward of catering to bigots and white supremacists.  Others still are misogynists, more than a few are child rapists who abuse their pastoral authority to cover their crimes.  There are LGBT-haters so closeted they might as well be Ikea shelving units.  Prosperity gospel preachers who tell the most desperate members of their flock that God won’t love them until they give everything they have to their pastor.

And they all taint the teachings of Christ by perverting it into the most vile, hate-them / fill-my-pockets evil imaginable.

And we, the body of Christ on this earth, have allowed it to happen.

Here’s how:  When I was growing up in the South back during the cusp of the civil rights era, the thing that held African-Americans back was not the most evil, most violent, most racist members of white society but the vast majority who recognized African-Americans were being sadly short changed on the scales of justice, yet were unwilling to speak out against it because it would mean being critical of friends and neighbors and family members who were racist anusoids of the lowest order.

Rather that offend that minority of gibbering hate filled baboons, the majority of Southern whites kept their mouths shut and averted their eyes at African-American suffering.

…until the day came when their TV sets just wouldn’t let them look away anymore, and they saw what it cost to maintain a segregated society, and they finally -- finally! -- said, “Hold!  Enough!  If this is the cost of segregation then we are unwilling to pay it.”

Christian America has not yet had their moment when they have said, “Hold!  Enough!” to the thieves and liars and cutthroats who denigrate the faith, who demean being a follower of Christ for their own power and profit and glory, who wipe their asses with the Bible.

And every day -- every minute! -- that we remain silent, more and more people look at the Christian faith and echo Eric Cartman.

As

Well

They

Should

We have failed them by not purging our ranks of the most egregious charlatans, profiteers, hate-mongers, and know-nothings.

We have failed them by not freezing these bozologists out, by not roundly condemning them for their visibly harmful actions, by not exposing again and again and again how everything they preach is in direct contradiction to the words of love and mercy and compassion and justice from our Lord and savior.

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

The world at large looks at these shitheels in their thousand dollar suits and says, “If they are the representatives of Christ in this world, then I want no part of him.”

Now, some reading this are going to say, “Aren’t you being harsh and vindictive?  Are you indulging in the exact same sin you accuse them of?  Shouldn’t this be better handled quietly, among the Church itself, without going public?”

To which I say: Screw that noise.

The time for private, quiet counseling is long gone; the snakes have taken over the garden of Eden and are re-writing the gospels to satisfy their self-centered needs.  The Christian faith is imploding in America, and it is imploding because for the first time people can compare notes outside their immediate congregation and they can see others calling the same shenanigans they see and for the first time they know they are not alone much less wrong in turning their back on what passes for organized Christianity in this country.

As

Well

They

Should

You are a damn fool idiot to disregard the evidence of your own senses and follow self-serving greedy bastards as they lick the ass shoes of an even bigger damn fool idiot who knows nothing except how to lie cleverly enough to con people out of their money.

I grasp not liking Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party or progressive ideas, and to those who say they would feel a bit more comfortable with the evangelicals issuing a statement along the lines of "considering our options, we think this is the lesser of two evils", I understand.

I don’t agree, because based on his lifetime behavior there is more than ample evidence Trump is lying to you and doesn’t give a flying fuck at a donut hole what you think or want, but I understand.

And to those who opt to vote Libertarian or Green or Peace & Freedom or some other protest vote this year, hey, go for it.

But in the sweet and holy name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, don’t further denigrate the faith by having anything to do with this ruthless conman.

Yeah, I know God can wrought miracles, I know even the hardest of hearts can change should they desire to, but Donald Trump is a 70 year old narcissist who has spent his life lying and cheating and stealing from others to line his own pocket and make himself famous.

Hoping -- no, strike that -- wishfully thinking that somehow he is going to become introspective enough to realize he needs to change his behavior is just going to drive more people from the faith.

“Hold!  Enough!”

© Buzz Dixon

[updated Oct. 6, 2018]