Thread by @SeditiousMe

I believe that some radical once wrote, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people,” in about 1843. This is around the time that Darby was fashioning his #pbcc theology. /1

1844 was quite the year for theology and philosophy and science and movements. This is made very clear in these screenshots from a site you definitely don’t want to visit. But it sums things up nicely AND thinks Darby was evil so I am down with that. /2

For almost 200 years folks have fought- blood on the streets in many instances- over these competing ways of looking at the world. But Darby managed to convince not just HIS church, but other churches, too, that #TheEndIsNear - Jesus is coming back to take believers to heaven./3

The USA and Canada have people high up who believe that Armageddon is a thing and that Jesus is coming back. They make policy for government, own big businesses, and hold top spots in major corporations, here and around the world. /4

psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-hu…

Up until the last month or so I had no idea of how much influence the Plymouth Brethren Christian church had on theology, business and government. AND I GREW UP IN THIS MILIEU. Used the Scofield Bible on occasion. Saw how local churches influenced $ and politics in my town. /5

I thought I knew a lot. And was disgusted by what I knew, most days. I mean where I live was a hotbed of early Reform Party activity and organizing- precursor to The Conservative Party of Canada. /6

I was steeped in anti union (commies) rhetoric, bathed in hatred of everything from Eastern Canada (especially that first Trudeau) and marinated in social conservatism of every form and fashion. The bootstraps, bullets, and babies crowd surrounded me for my formative years /7

My deconstruction story is long, boring, and involves reading forbidden theologians, psychologists, and philosophers in my twenties. It also involves re-engaging and disconnecting after a “safe” church changed leaders, but again- boring stuff. /8

9/11 also showed me how fragile things were. People I KNEW AS GOOD PEOPLE were now spouting racist bull that was astonishing. At the same time life as I knew it cracked open, leaving a personal before and after landscape. /9

I sat in astonished disbelief as I saw cheap theology weaponized against vulnerable people in a public institution whose aim was to erase reality. Kafka would have been in awe of these people who worked nice government jobs by day, in rooms brightened by gaslight set on low./ 10

There was no Buber’s “I and Thou” anywhere, just the “cheap grace” that Bonhoeffer railed against. A lot of “fear and trembling” as I petitioned the god like figures that even Kierkegaard would have met his match against…/11

I realized that I was up against angels and principalities I had no idea how to fight. It was pervasive- this mix of religion in the interests of commerce- and I was stunned at its insidiousness. Even people that did not go to church believed in this prosperity gospel. /12

Me being me, I did all the deep dives, and wrote about this strange intersection of religion and commerce to prop up systems- medical, commercial, law, politics, etc. Having been immersed in it, I knew the roots of what I was seeing, but seeing it in action was wild. /13

Anyways- all of it made me very aware of how it hid in plain sight. So when Harper became PM I knew how things would go.

But the #KlondikePapers have even surprised me with their revelations. /14

And the unearthing of how it became normal to show kids movies like #AThiefInTheNight to scare them into believing the end of the world could happen at any time- where that belief originated- is welcome. Scared people make good citizens in the #PBCC world. /15

That church, and that Darby dude, are the originators of a horrible and awful theology that people in power welcomed so they could use it to amass power, wealth, influence and whatever else their corrupt hearts desired. /16

If nothing else, I have at least learned THAT. Thank you David Wallace.

#klondikepapers

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