America’s latest pastime is outrage. Word and actions are continually being misinterpreted simply to provide a little “red meat” for the always angry masses (and this is a problem on both sides of the political aisle these days). One of my colleagues here at Patheos recently posted an article with the title PBS: Ted Cruz and His Father Are ‘Satanic’. Of course PBS didn’t say Ted Cruz or his father were Satanic, but the headline wouldn’t have been as provocative without the truth.
Here’s a quote from the article explaining what was said, and yet it was still completely manipulated to feed the outrage machine:
New York Times columnist David Brooks said Sen. Ted Cruz’s “dark and satanic tones” are now being copied elsewhere in the Republican primary. Appearing on PBS’s Newshour this weekend, Brooks said, “Cruz is somehow beginning to get some momentum from Iowa and elsewhere. And so people are either mimicking him, which Rubio is doing a little by adopting some of the dark and satanic tones that Cruz has, and so –”
At which point host Judy Woodruff quickly interjected, “What did you just say?”
“If you watch a Cruz speech, it’s like, we have got this enemy, we have got that enemy, we’re going to stomp on this person, we’re going to crush that person, we’re going to destroy that person,” Brooks explained. “It is an ugly world in Ted Cruz’s world, and it’s combative, and it’s angry, and it’s apocalyptic.”
There’s nothing untrue about that statement at all. Ted Cruz speaks as if he’s in the middle of several wars and continually implies a physical threat to people who believe as he does:
“There is a war on faith in America today.”
Commening on a Sanders/Clinton debate:
“It was more socialism, more pacifism, more weakness and less Constitution, it was a recipe to destroy a country.”
“We’re seeing our freedoms taken away every day and last night was an audition for who would wear the jackboot most vigorously. Last night was an audition for who would embrace government power for who would strip your and my individual liberties.”
From his Twitter feed:
“We’re seeing an assault on the Judeo-Christian values that built America into the greatest country in the history of the world.”
Ted’s father Rafael is just as bad, if not worse, and that’s only because he’s not running for President:
“We need to send Barack Obama back to Chicago. I’d like to send him back to Kenya, back to Indonesia.” He went on to say, “We have to unmask this man. This is a man that seeks to destroy all concept of God. And I will tell you what, this is classical Marxist philosophy. Karl Marx very clearly said Marxism requires that we destroy God because government must become God.”
“Go to Genesis chapter nine and you will find the death penalty clearly stated in Genesis chapter nine … God ordains the death penalty!”
“God has given you an anointing to go to the battlefield. And what’s the battlefield? The marketplace. To go to the marketplace and occupy the land. To go to the marketplace and take dominion.”“Evolution is one of the strongest tools of Marxism because if they can convince you that you came from a monkey, it’s much easier to convince you that God does not exist.”
“The president has the gall to tell us that this is not a Christian nation. The United States of American was formed to honor the word of God.”
“The wealth of the wicked is stored for the righteous. And it is through the kings, anointed to take dominion, that that transfer of wealth is going to occur.”
So yes, Ted and his father speak like assholes, and they do it all the time. But that’s not the only reason he’s accused of speaking in “satanic tones,” that’s because of a concept known as Dominionism or Dominion Theology. Dominion Theology calls for Christians to exert their “dominion” over everything in society and generally create a theocracy. Dominion Theology often goes one step further, implying that a dominionist government will lead to the second coming of Jesus:
“First, human beings are blessed by God. Secondly, these blessed human beings are given a mandate to take dominion of the earth for the purpose of blessing it. … The first advent of Christ was for the purpose of creating a blessed seed upon the earth – the church. The second coming of Jesus will take place after this blessed seed has completed the Dominion Process upon the earth by making disciples of all nations.”
This idea is often expressed in the speeches of Rafael Cruz, and is hinted at around the edges by a whole host of GOP Candidates. The talk about wars, assaults, etc., is really just a way to wink about the second coming and massive global extinction for anyone who is not a Christian.
There are all sorts of interpretations on just how the “Second Coming of Jesus” will go down, but one of the big ideas contained within it involves the “Anti-Christ” who will steer people towards worshipping the Christian Devil. Which takes us back to Ted Cruz and where we started, advocating for the End Times is Satanic because it leads to Satan on Earth. When people talk about “1000 years of darkness” and whatever else they are saying that Satan will rule the Earth, which is Satanic, because satanic means “of or characteristic of Satan.” I would say that implying the world is going to end and be ruled Satan is pretty Satanic.
Biblical Satanism and Christianity are two sides of the same coin; you can’t have one without the other. In other words, they are essentially the same religion, there are just two rooting interests; on one side you have millions of Christians wishing for the end of the world for whatever reason* and on the other side you have a group of people who don’t really exist (most “Satanists” are not worshipping the version in the Bible). Christians, who are a part of this equation, by their very nature use satanic imagery because they believe in Satan. It’s not that hard to figure out.
Even stepping away from the whole “End Times” thing we still see Christians portraying the government boogey-man as “The Devil” and attributing the rise of secularism, atheism, and Paganism to Satan. Heck I’ve seen President Obama referred to as the “Antichrist” on a number of occasions too. If you are going to connect things you don’t like to evil forces then you are selling the idea of Satanism.
So be wary of Ted Cruz (the worst of the GOP Candidates) and his father (who is very un-Jesus like), and be prepared for ten months of ridiculous articles and columns that reveal just how little many Christians know about their own faith.
*Most Christians are sane and rational people and are not at all wishing for the End Times or concerned about the Rapture, and most don’t even like Ted Cruz.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In