The Ring of Power
Posted on October 17th, 2006 by catalyst into the Uncategorized categoryEvanglical David Kuo has written a book called Tempting Faith which slams the Bush White House for their Faith Based Initiatives and their manipulation of Christians. Kuo worked directly with Bush in creating the Faith Based program and has since come away from the whole process completely disallusioned. In a recent interview, he discusses how power has corrupted current Christian Leaders:
In some ways White House power is like [J.R.R.] Tolkien's ring of power. When you put it on, it feels good and it's dazzling. But after a while it begins to consume you in ways you don't realize. That's the nature of White House power. I have no doubt that Christian political leaders have gotten involved for all the right reasons. I just think over time it becomes harder and harder to stand up against that ring of power and the White House, to say no and walk away,"
For an example of this, look no further than Focus on the Family, founder Dr. James Dobson. I grew up admiring Dr. James Dobson's conservative stance. I read his books and magazines. But lately, you can tell that Dr. Dobson's whole goal is to maintain his access to the White House. He sold out.
(H/T - Andrew Sullivan)
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October 17th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Co-opting Jesus for political gain, was the sin of Judas.
If these religious organizations really believe their God is ALL POWERFUL, why do they need government help?
Their actions reveal their real beliefs.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:25 am
And it burns, burns, burns… the Ring of Power, the Ring of Power!
October 17th, 2006 at 10:45 am
And to think,
poor little David Kuo is out running around without his spiritual covering.
This book is going to be a big flop.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:23 am
I’ll own up to voting for Bush the both times he ran but it had not a damn thing to do with his “Christianity.” The thing that really creeps me out is the evangelical admiration for George Bush. I’ll never forget how many times I heard Judah Smith talk about how he trusted Bush and how he was so thankful to have a Christian in the highest office in the land. I don’t think Judah could intelligently describe one of Bush’s policies. I think thats the case with a lot of prominent evagelical leaders sadly. I want to shout at these people,”He isn’t God! He isn’t Jesus! He isn’t a priest! He is JUST the GOD DAMN PRESIDENT!” If we believe that heaven and earth will pass away then that includes the Republican Party, our country, the Office of the President. I’ve often heard the passage about our citizenship being in heaven quoted so many times but do we really believe that the way we seek political power? I remain a fairly conservative thinker but I think political power really is a type of Anti-Christ. Where do we have a mandate in scripture to take over this country? I hate to keep going back to Judah but it always send chills up my spine whenever he talked about GC being the headquarters for the eventual take over of the country. It seriously creeped me out to see all the militaristic imagery from that Battle Cry/Teen Mania stuff. I don’t know what any of that stuff is but it sure doesn’t seem like Jesus to me. Thats my 3 cents…
October 17th, 2006 at 11:25 am
Sullivan also had a link in his blog to Kuo’s blog in which he’d been called part of the Axis of Evil by some Christian group or other.
You’re absolutely right, this is about holding on to power and has NOTHING to do with Christ. Pharisaism at its best. I wonder what Dobson and company would do if Christ Himself came down and went Matthew 21:12-13 on their asses.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Man, I’m so disillusioned by politics. I’m mid-30’s and just get the sense the whole thing is an unfixable wreck. Dems and Reps running the whole ship off course, so enamored with the fight to ever look and see the huge iceberg approaching.
I guess I’d fall into the bucket of “conservative,” but just once I wish there was a leader that would step up that was a solid blend of fiscal and social responsibility, with a side helping of logic, and a decent sense of morality and common sense! Man, woman, white, black, whatever….just get the ship moving back in the right direction!
Is that so much to ask for?
October 17th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Jonah for President
October 17th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
No, B.T. Beauty for president! See http://www.myspace.com/bibletemplebeauty…
October 18th, 2006 at 6:48 am
PMD said,
It’s called Dominionism. Here’s an article about “Dominionism and the rise of Christian Imperialism.”
October 18th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Sorry. Here’s the link:
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/sarah-leslie/dominionism.htm
October 18th, 2006 at 6:54 am
I see Judah Smith is one of your MySpace friends.
Ick.
October 18th, 2006 at 6:56 am
I see Judah Smith is one of your MySpace friends.
I can add Judah as a MySpace friend? Dude! I am SO all over that. I hope he comes to my town.
October 18th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Double ick.
October 18th, 2006 at 7:49 am
haha This is the first good use of Myspace I have ever seen. (I usually avoid those pages like the plague.) Satire FTW!
October 18th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
What I still can’t figure out is why they (and those who think like them) think that God is sympathetic to republicans only. So if you are a democrat you have to switch parties to be truly one with God? Yet another way to alienate those who truly need Christ from ‘the church’. It reeks.
I can’t wait to read Anna’s suggested article “Dominionism and the rise of Christian Imperialism.” Who would have thought there’s actually a name for this elitest mentality that seems to be mushrooming in the Christian culture today when I thought it was just the 3 MFi churches that bother me the most (CBC,CC,CCC). . .Could this be part of the deception of the elect the Bible speaks of in the last days? That and the infamous undercover/controlling doctrine.
He’s as hungry for power as Pat-robinson. Free At Last is reading a tell-all book by one of Dobson’s staff who worked for him for 10 years and has decided to finally voice the dysfuction he suffered there. Hey, you either write a book or you start a blog, right? To be healthy it needs to be purged.
October 18th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
do you know the name of the book by one of Dobson’s staff?
I’d love to read it.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Hey Justin,
It might be James Dobsons War On America by Gil Alexander-Moegerle.
Jack
October 18th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
FYI: NPR’s Fresh Air featured an interview with David Kuo today. I could only listen to the first part of the interview, but Kuo seems to have some pretty specific charges against the way Bush played the Religious Right.
Fresh Air also interviewed Kuo former boss, H. James Towey, who apparently counters Kuo’s criticisms.
The audio clips are at http://freshair.npr.org
October 19th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
The book is JD’s War on America –I actually found a lot of clips about it on the internet if you google his name. It is extremely interesting since this aid worked side by side with him for 10 years and helped launch his radio career.
The staff meetings sounded painfully familiar as the fact that once he started getting bored with people’s problems, he like many other driven men, had to find a new challenge to take on. Where better to go than Washington, D.C. the seat of power. It is all too familiar………….
October 20th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Is that where you guys said it was said ‘heads are gonna role’?
Let’s take that concept a little further up the food chain shall we:
“I am now convinced that the only way we will see any improvement is for heads to roll at the highest levels of the company.” (i.e. “follow the money trail.” shhhh i didn’t say that…)
October 20th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
If the far Christian Right thinks they have a chance at the White House, they have competition from other cult-like controlling relgious folk. We need not look any further than the Mormon church. Here is a link to an article stating ” Governor Mitt Romney’s political team has quietly consulted with leaders of the Mormon Church to map out plans for a nationwide network of Mormon supporters to help Romney capture the presidency in 2008″
There’s really nothing new under the sun ~ these types always scramble for the most powerful position. Their original calling no longer good enough.
October 20th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
oops here it is: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C650200100%2C00.html
October 21st, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Unbelieveable –Maybe if they called Ed Buckham or Tom Delay right now they could tell them just how well it all worked out for them–
when will we learn?
October 21st, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Absolute Power corrupts absolutely!
They probably won’t learn till its too late just like we didn’t learn till it was too late.
If no one in your own organization is ever allowed to question you than you always feel you will be above what has happened to other people.
Lets march ino Washington and set up shop–gee no one has thought of that idea lately or have they?
October 21st, 2006 at 9:55 pm
no one is ever allowed to question in these types of organizations yet their leaders hunger for the highest positions in a country where the entire political system is set up for questioning. go figure. If they can’t handle questioning in their own organizations, what makes them think that they’d have the strength to endure relentless questioning 24/7 52 weeks a year in the WhiteHouse or vicinity? Who would be asking– the press, by the opposite side (which you can’t just blow off as rebellious) and by the American people themselves? They can’t shun and shine on EVERYbody who disagrees with them.
follow the money trail
October 21st, 2006 at 9:57 pm
hmmmm, i did that backwards. it was supposed to look like this:
I wonder if any of the abramhoff money was funneled in secret to focusonthefamily? if so, jimmy will be receiving a visit from the FBI. just a thought. We’ll have to keep that in mind as we read the new book.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Just a question…how many of you have written a book before? or led thousands of people to christ…or for that matter run a church and pastored over hundreds of people……i bet you none of you have.! soo really who gives you the right to Slam these people. God i know does not favor this website in any way shape or form. Look at your lives and what fruit god has given you. Some of you may think you got fruit but is it really from God. Don’t dis people when you havnt been where they are or done what they have. you dont have the right.
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Respect = Elana
He/She/It is posting from the same IP address. ‘Elana’ is now posting from 4 different email addresses.
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Respect,
I understand that through your ultra western/Americanized lense, exacerbated by life in the performance-based MFI world, that numbers (of people who come to an “altar call”–which by no means means that they are “led to Christ”–of books, of meetings or events) and other quantifiable things impress you and lead you to believe that those who do certain activities are actually bearing the spiritual fruit discussed in the Bible.
Au Contraire.
For example, see
Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
Matthew 25:31-40
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
What impresses us is not what impresses Jesus. Since you don’t know any of us, you have no idea what our lives look like, how the Lord blesses us, how we serve him and our fellow man. Also, since you don’t know us, you don’t know how close many of us came to doing all of those things you list off, and how we ran for our lives when we realized what “it was all about,” at least in an MFI setting.
I urge you to stop defending those who would likely not defend you if they faced that situation, study the Word of God for yourself, and use the mind God gave you to think.
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Are you implying that these pastors have led thousands to Christ? That would mean they would have to have a compelling message concerning a persons’ need for the salvation every time they preach. Prosperity w/a Purpose and other messages on money don’t exactly bring people running to the altar in droves.
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Elana dear, that is really immature. If you can’t understand the flaw in your logic there, well, I pity you.
Your diatribes were better when you were regurgitating random scriptures. Now do a better job of entertaining me please.
k, thnx
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 pm
WTFWJD, FFTM, Emigre, et al,
Justice, Justice L, Go Home, Nate, Janelle, Holli, Elana, Respect, and jason (last month), are likely the same person. All with hotmail accounts, all posting from Victoria/Vancouver/Burnaby, BC. Whoever it is, they’re certainly not more than 12 or 13 years old.
I’ve asked JP and Justin what we can do about moderating them by IP address, ISP or email.
Cripes, wish their mommy would get ‘em a Game Cube or something to entertain them.
Sam
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Respect
How do you know we haven’t led people to the Lord or written books or in the very process of writing one right now. don’t let this blog fool you -we are intelligent people.
Does it occur to you that maybe we were even on staff working for these highly powered types and maybe we have something to say in the only place where we can say it. The whole point is that we were not allowed to say it then and there.
You’d be very surprised at who some of these people and where they have served. But maybe Dobson’s assistant shouldn’t have written that book either though he was shoulder to shoulder for over ten years.
Just like his book these comments can serve as a warning to others:
if you see these warning signs abandon ship you are not with a leader who will serve you.
We’ve all been where you are at just to let you know but we came out of the maze clearly and don’t want to go back.
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Yeah.