America's Armageddonites

[Echo In Light]

America's Armageddonites
Published on Thursday, October 11, 2007.
By Jon Basil Utley

Utopian fantasies have long transfixed the human race. Yet today a much rarer fantasy has become popular in the United States. Millions of Americans, the richest people in history, have a death wish. They are the new "Armageddonites," fundamentalist evangelicals who have moved from forecasting Armageddon to actually trying to bring it about.

Most journalists find it difficult to take seriously that tens of millions of Americans, filled with fantasies of revenge and empowerment, long to leave a world they despise. These Armageddonites believe that they alone will get a quick, free pass when they are "raptured" to paradise, no good deeds necessary, not even a day of judgment. Ironically, they share this utopian fantasy with a group that they often castigate, namely fundamentalist Muslims who believe that dying in battle also means direct access to Heaven. For the Armageddonites, however, there are no waiting virgins, but they do agree with Muslims that there will be "no booze, no bars," in the words of a popular Gaither Singers song.

These end-timers have great influence over the U.S. government's foreign policy. They are thick with the Republican leadership. At a recent conference in Washington, congressional leader Roy Blunt, for example, has said that their work is "part of God's plan." At the same meeting, where speakers promoted attacking Iran, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay glorified "end times". Indeed the Bush administration often consults with themon Mideast policies. The organizer of the conference, Rev. John Hagee, is often welcomed at the White House, although his ratings are among the lowest on integrity and transparency by Ministry Watch, which rates religious broadcasters. He raises millions of dollars from his campaign supporting Israeli settlements on the West Bank, including much for himself. Erstwhile presidential candidate Gary Bauer is on his Board of Directors. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson also both expressed strong end-times beliefs.

American fundamentalists strongly supported the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. They consistently support Israel's hard-line policies. And they are beating the drums for war against Iran. Thanks to these end-timers, American foreign policy has turned much of the world against us, including most Muslims, nearly a quarter of the human race.

The Beginning of End Times
The evangelical movement originally was not so "end times" focused. Rather, it was concerned with the "moral" decline inside America. The Armageddon theory started with the writings of a Scottish preacher, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). His ideas then spread to America with publication in 1917 of the Scofield Reference Bible, foretelling that the return of the Jews to Palestine would bring about the end times. The best-selling book of the 1970s, The Late, Great Planet Earth, further spread this message. The movement did not make a conscious effort to affect foreign policy until Jerry Falwell went to Jerusalem and the Left Behind books became best sellers.

Conservative Christian writer Gary North estimates the number of Armageddonites at about 20 million. Many of them have an ecstatic belief in the cleansing power of apocalyptic violence. They are among the more than 30% of Americans who believe that the world is soon coming to an end. Armageddonites may be a minority of the evangelicals, but they have vocal leaders and control 2,000 mostly fundamentalist religious radio stations.

Although little focused on in America, Armageddonites attract the attention of Muslims abroad. In 2004, for instance, I attended Qatar's Fifth Conference on Democracy with Muslim leaders from all over the Arabian Gulf. There, the uncle of Jordan's king devoted his whole speech to warning of the Armageddonites' power over American foreign policy.

Armageddonite Foreign Policy
The beliefs of the Armageddon Lobby, also known as Dispensationalists, come from the Book of Revelations, which Martin Luther relegated to an appendix when he translated the Bible because its image of Christ was so contrary to the rest of the Bible. The Armageddonites worship a vengeful, killer-torturer Christ. They also frequently quote a biblical passage that God favors those who favor the Jews. But they only praise Jews who make war, not those who are peacemakers. For example, they vigorously opposed Israel's murdered premier Yitzhak Rabin, who promoted the Oslo Peace Accords.

Based on this Biblical interpretation, the Armageddonites vehemently argue that America must protect Israel and encourage its settlements on the West Bank in order to help God fulfill His plans. The return of Jews to Palestine is central to the prophetic vision of the Armageddonites, who see it as a critical step toward the final battle, Armageddon, and the victory of the righteous over Satan's minions. There are a couple internal inconsistencies with this prophecy, such as the presence of Christians already living in the Holy Land and the role of Jews in the final dispensation. In the first case, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and other Religious Right leaders tried to pretend that Christians already in the Holy Land simply didn't exist. As for Jews, they needed to become "born again" Christians to avoid God's wrath (or, according to some Armageddonites, a separate Jewish covenant with God will gain them a separate Paradise).

Everyone else – Buddhists, Muslims (of course), Hindus, atheists, and so on – are then slated to die in the Tribulation that comes with Armageddon. As described in the bestselling Left Behind series, this time of human misery ends with Christ then ruling a paradise on earth for a thousand years.

Armageddonites know little about the outside world, which they think of as threatening and awash with Satanic temptations. They are big supporters of Bush's "go it alone" foreign policies. For example, they love John Bolton. They were prime supporters for attacking Iraq. And, with very few exceptions, they were noticeably quiet about, if not supportive, of torturing prisoners of war (only with a new leadership did the National Association of Evangelicals finally condemn torture in May, 2007). Their support of the Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani shows that they consider aggressively prosecuting Mideast war (to help speed up the apocalypse) more important than the domestic programs of these socially liberal politicians.

On other foreign policy issues, they are violently against the pending Law of the Seas Treaty, indeed any treaty which possibly circumscribes U.S. power to go it alone. They want illegal immigrants expelled and oppose more immigration. They fear China's growth. They despise Europeans for not being more warlike. The UN figures prominently in their fears, and the Left Behind books present its Secretary General as the Antichrist. Domestically, they strongly support the USA PATRIOT Act and all of President Bush's actions, legal or illegal.

Armageddonites and Fascism
Author and former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges argues that worldview and reasoning of the Armageddonites tend toward fascism. In his book American Fascists, Hedges focuses on their obedience to leadership, their feelings of humiliation and victimhood, alienation, their support for authoritarian government, and their disinterestedness in constitutional limits on government power. Theirs was originally a defensive movement against the liberal democratic society, particularly abortion, school desegregation, and now globalization, which they saw as undermining their communities and families, their values, and livelihood. Their fundamentalism is very fulfilling and, Hedges writes, "they are terrified of losing this new, mystical world of signs, wonders and moral certitude, of returning to the old world of despair."

Hedges, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, also shows that fundamentalists are quite selective. They don't take the Bible literally when it comes to justifying slavery or that children who curse a parent are to be executed. The movement is also very masculine, giving poor men a path to re-establish their authority in what they perceive as an overly feminized culture. Images of Jesus often show Him with thick muscles, clutching a sword. Christian men are portrayed as powerful warriors.

The overwhelming power and warmongering of the Armageddonites has inspired some resistance from other fundamentalists, but they are a minority. Theologian Richard Fenn writes, "Silent complicity (by mainline churches) with apocalyptic rhetoric soon becomes collusion with plans for religiously inspired genocide." Their death-wishing "religion" is actually anti-Christian and should be challenged openly by traditional Christians.

The next election will likely loosen their grip on the White House. However, their growing ties to the military industrial complex will remain. Exposure of their war wanting as a major threat to America and the world may well become as destructive for them as was the famous Scopes trial in the 1920s. But that will only happen if Americans become as concerned as foreign observers about the influence of the Armageddonites.

Courtesy of Foreign Policy in Focus.

http://www.antiwar.com/utley/?articleid=11735

[CrispyQ]

1. Armageddonites, be careful what you wish for.

"Images of Jesus often show Him with thick muscles, clutching a sword." Weight lifting Jesus. :rofl:

I joke, but these people terrify me.

[gratuitous]

14. The Book of Amos doesn't figure into their thinking

There's a very sharp warning there to folks who are eager for the Day of the Lord: It is a day of darkness and not light. It's the passage that ends with "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream." The End-Timers like the idea of righteous judgment washing away the unsaved, but they're not too keen on the notion that they too might be in line for divine retribution.

[Devlzown]

2. Many of the beliefs of these people

are surprisingly widespread. These beliefs have a major impact on their views on foreign policy and many other political issues. This endtimes bullshit should be countered at every turn. I'd love to see that odious little heresy stamped out for good.

[Echo In Light]

12. And SURPRISE-SURPRISE, the mainline "news"

Gladly pimps this view by presenting tabloid-esque, tell-a-journalism shows that "examine" end time beliefs, as if it's actual "news." They'll claim they're merely reflecting audience interests of course, but given how fear is the vehicle for increasing draconian measures (phony "war on terror," Patriot Act, etc), they definitely want that particular seed planted within the public mind ... which I think has to do with certain factions and elements striving to stage a partial, pseudo-apocalypse - not anything that God actually wants/brings - with political and economic aims.

[Stargazer99]

3. Again, how dare they try to shove their religious beliefs down

the throats of others! I did not find one place in the Good Book where Christians were told to involved themselves in politics or government as leaders. Not ONE place where Christ told them to do this. Christ himself did not use government as an enforcer. I suspect the leaders of this religious philosophy crave power and they have the following to provide the force to acquire power. That is another caution given to Christians, not to be puffed up (ego centric)with pride. Remember when Christ was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. The Devil promised all the power and people to Christ if Christ would just bow down and worship the Devil (remind you of the Dominionist Fundies desire for control of this nation?. No where in the Good Book (incidentially there are more than one version of the Bible)were Christians told to invade and control the political arena or hastening the coming of the End Times.In fact the Good Book says to be in the world BUT NOT OF IT.

[cali]

4. "Armegeddonites"? Rare fantasy?

It's not a bad article when it focuses on the influence premillannialists on the repuke party, but historically it's not so on target. Millenarianism itself has a long and often bloody history. (See 'The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary messianism in medieval and Reformation Europe', by Norman Cohn)

Darbyism, or premillennialism caught on far before 1917 and the publication of the Scofield bible. And in fact, premillenanialism far predates Darby's formula. In 1795 Elhanan Winchester preached a famous series premillennial sermons.

Many scholars correlate the rise of premillennial dispensationalism with the rise of the Enlightenment and science- including Darwin's The Origin of the Species.

I apologize for blathering on; this is my field of study. In any case, the author is quite right on the larger points. I just read an unbelievable transcript of Hagee on Glenn Beck discussing the end times. I'll try and find it and post the link here.

Just want to add that virtually all major religions have an end time myth, just as they have a creation myth. It's just that in Christianity, it's on steroids, and has been dangerous for centuries. Millenarian have a greater influence on our gov't the anytime in the past.

[incapsulated]

5. It's the timing, I think

You have a fundamentalist resurgence in the country and then Bush, who is sympathetic to these people, is "elected" President. I don't remember American politics being so influenced by religious extremism before at such a high level or so pervasively that it effects both domestic and international policy.

[cali]

7. Yes. It's the convergence of

events and personalities: 9/11, bushco, hagee, etc. Though, the end timers have had a fair degree of influence in repuke admins and amoung repuke members of Congress for about a quarter of a century Here's a bit of Hagee:

BECK: They`ve been saying, oh, you know -- the apostles said if Jesus is coming back -- they thought he was coming back right away. We`re 2,000 years down the line, and he still hasn`t come back. So what makes you think that we`re living in the end days?

HAGEE: Well, there are ten Bible signs that we`re living in the end of days. The Bible is the most phenomenal book that`s ever been written, because when it was written 25 percent of it was prophetic, telling the future. And these signs about the end of days do not require a theological knowledge.

So people who are watching this show, say, "Well, I don`t have Bible knowledge." You -- if you read a newspaper, you`re going to get this.

The first sign is the knowledge explosion. Daniel 12, the fourth chapter, God said to Daniel, "I want you to shut up the book until the time of the end." That`s a very important phrase. The end of days, when men shall run to and from and there will be a knowledge explosion.

From the Garden of Eden until the 20th century there was no knowledge explosion. In transportation people rode horses just as David, Julius Caesar, George Washington.

And then came the car, the jet, put people on the moon. We are that generation that`s having the knowledge explosion.

The same thing has happened in communication. From the Garden of Eden to the 20th century there was no differentiation. Then we came to the ability of telegraph, telephone, television, teleroaming (ph). You can reach somebody on an airplane...

BECK: Right.

HAGEE: ... talking to them.

And now in the field of medicine, from the Garden of Eden to the 20th century, now with medicine we`ve had to redefine death because we can literally keep someone alive on stimulants indefinitely.

BECK: OK. So the first sign is...

HAGEE: The knowledge explosion.

BECK: Knowledge explosion. Second sign.

HAGEE: Second sign is the rebirth of Israel. This is a very obvious sign.

BECK: How did -- how did the people early on miss this one? I mean, that`s a very important sign, and that didn`t happen until Israel was re- established. So how did everybody else say, "Oh, yes, forgot about that one"?

HAGEE: Well, it had to do with the time that they were living in and the theological environment in which they were raised.

My father, who was a Bible preacher, in the middle `40s made this statement: "If the state of Israel is not reborn, we have a reason to believe the Bible is not true."

And believe me, for my father, who was a Bible scholar, that was a monumental statement.

And the Bible speaks, when the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Give us the signs of the end of time. When will the end of the world be?"

And I want to say when we talk about the end of the world, it`s the end of the world as we know it.

<snip>

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/12/gb.01.html

[rasputin1952]

8. Does Hagee have any idea what he says with this?

"BECK: OK. So the first sign is...

HAGEE: The knowledge explosion."

In the finer aspects of rhetoric, he is saying that people should remain ignorant, regardless of the cost to humanity in general. In his view, only those that have any Biblical knowledge, should be allowed to speak to the masses, only the Bible is correct.

Mr.Hagee, we went through that for millenia, since people have been on this planet, and there were wars and rumors of wars, there was immense bloodshed because some who had "knowledge" told others that did not, that they were doing "God's work". Millions of people have died and have been maimed because of ignorance and the power of those with some semblance of knowledge, and those who were forced into ignorance.

Mr. Hagee, knowledge is a GOOD thing, ignorance is a BAD thing. Bring on the "knowledge explosion", I prefer to call it a Renaissance, but "knowledge explosion" will work. If you want to remain ignorant for your lifetime, be my guest, but you cannot stop people from gaining knowledge, you want to, but it won't happen. And for your information, once knowledge is gained, even a fraction of knowledge, one of the first things that comes forward is the questioning of authority, something you are no doubt terrified of.

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. It's a Doomsday Cult

[ms liberty]

9. KR&B - Thanks for posting! Excellent piece - and Welcome to DU! n/t

[rasputin1952]

10. So far, the Gloom and Doomers are batting zero...

throughout history, there have been end of the world types....we're still here, for better or worse.

[Echo In Light]

11. That's dismissive of the real problem...

...that our species has only recently - mid twentieth century - attained the technology to ensure our extinction. So while it's true that throughout our history there have been various religious beliefs centered around apocalypse, we have to face the reality of now; with nukes, chemicals and bio-weaponry, coupled with zealous, quasi-religious fundies having a substantial (hidden) hand in determining policy and global intent, these people could easily create a catastrophe that they believe is "God's will," or even stage a phony, partial, pseudo-apocalypse (false flag) as a means of furthering their justification for implementing a theocratic police state.

[rasputin1952]

13. There are not many options when it comes to "rogue" nations

using devices that could seriously impede human life on earth.

I agree that there are certain religious types that would attempt to usher in such a scenario, as there always has been, up to this point however, cooler heads have prevailed, and we have not unleashed a man-made world-wide holocaust.

Most major religions have an "end times" scenario, and yes, there are some pretty sick people that are in positions of power that might unleash a chain of events that could prove to be devastating.
But there have always been such people, and while the power they had pales under the power now available, they were all stopped.

On the other hand, one age old missile from space can destroy the planet anyway...one pretty good sized asteroid could make the question moot. Some things can be prevented, others cannot.

Personally, I think we are in for some pretty tough times in the relatively near future as far as providing water and food for a burgeoning world population. Looks to me like we're going to eat ourselves out of existence. Climate changes, even "minor" ones, would make the Dustbowl look a hot Sunday in July.

[Echo In Light]

15. By "rogue" nation you mean the U.S.?

Who in terms of military and defense - the Pentagon has never once "defended" the U.S. against anything or anyone - outspends all other countries combined. Also, it's been a very, very short period of time for "cooler" heads to prevail; sixty years isn't even the blink of an eye in the broader sense of time. And now that the fundies appear to be running the show, here and elsewhere, coupled with how the checks and balances of our govt have proven largey illusory...

Let's just say I have my doubts.

[cali]

16. The millenarian crowd

is losing significant power re influencing politicians. For sure, they're still powerful, but they are no longer at the peak of their influence.

[rasputin1952]

17. No, although the leadership can certainly go"rogue", just as it

can anywhere else.

The fundies do not have as much power as people seem to be happy to give them. Even then, the "radicals" are a very small but vociferous percentage.

There are plenty of people from every religion/non-religion that are a threat. While we here see fundies as wantin to bring about Armageddon, there are plenty of sane people in religion who know this is not a "good" idea, in fact, many theologians don't want to have much to do with it, as they beieve we can work problems out, and nothing is "inevitable".

There is a threat, I keep my eyes and ears open, but at this point the threat is minimal. It has been blown ito something it is not, fear is a powerful motivator, and if we fall prey to it, we do little to avert the problem.

For the two that I know persoanlly who want to "bring Christ back", I ask them if they really want to "stand before Christ and say they were willing, or capable of destoying millions of live 'in his name'". They have begun to ponder if mass murder is they way to bring about what they want.

[Echo In Light]

18. Fear? No. AWARENESS, yes

Remember Blackwater USA on the streets in the aftermath of Katrian, disarming the citizens, rousting them from their homes. And who funded Blackwater USA?

The moderate mindset immediately seeks to trivialize and downplay conspiratorial concerns, and is very quick to blame "tinfoilers" of giving in to fear - a truly bizarre position to take in a country whose populace rolls over on command when their govt legislates away their civil rights soley based on fear - and thus "blowing things up into something they're not." Yet, the drumbeat to invade Iran continues to strengthen...

If someone isn't paying attention to something, then it's easy to dismiss it as 'no big deal.'

[cali]

19. I could make equally facile comments about the alarmist

or as Trungpa called it, negative mindset. Perhaps it would be useful to drop such generalities and simply assess each post as an individual expression of opinion rather than a symptom of a certain mindset.

[Echo In Light]

21. However, if two people view the same situation in completely different ways...

One cannot help but to examine other views they each espouse, entertain, and so forth. Generalizations are made, and certainly not 100% accurate, but that's not the point.

For example, to use two big, prevailing points of contention, if you think the idea that the 00 and 04 elections were stolen is "crazy," and if you believe that evedn the idea of govt involvement/complicity in 9/11 is "crazy," and that anyone who entertains such views is "crazy," and thus worthy of open displays of contempt, then chances are good that the person who finds these ideas and their various evidence "crazy" will also immediately seek to dismiss other information that isn't held by the mainstream i.e. "professional," "level-headed" etc. It's about perception management, "winning hearts and minds," and so forth.

[cali]

23. But that wasn't the case here.

Addressing each post without trying to pigeon hole the poster is a much better way of fostering meaningful dialogue.

If you're talking about 2000 and 2004 and someone says that it's just crazy to suggest that there was election fraud, and you must be a nut to even entertain it, counter with facts. Same goes with 9/11. Sure there are exceptions, but why try and pathologize those who are doing what you deplore.

And there are opinions that are mere speculation and come without an iota of of evidence. Those don't have the same weight as opinions that are backed up with evidence, when speaking of discrete events.

[rasputin1952]

20. I do pay attention, and I weigh the evidence...

I do not "ignore" things, I amalyze them and come to a conclusion.

I don't think we are going inot Iran, (I could be wrong), I don't think we are much more now militarily than a paper tiger. This increases the use of nuclear devices, but I also know that t bush can't just say, "let's nuke 'em" on a pre-emptive scale. There are people that would stop him.

[Echo In Light]

22. Understood...

I was addressing your statement that those outside of the rightist movement give them more power than what they do have, all stemming from "fear" i.e. justifiable concerns over dire issues

That's like me saying that I'm giving the armed robber who breaks into my house more power than he has simply because I'm acknowledging his break-in.

[rasputin1952]

24. ....

and let's hope that never happens...:)