Thread by @PnictogenHorses

fanatical Christians, right-wing Christians, are big on *demons*. @PastorMark serves here as a handy example but he's got a hundred thousand soulmates here. American extremist Christianity, in particular, is obsessed with devils and demons and other such evil beasties.

(cont'd)

https://twitter.com/PastorMark/status/1638571244370157568

indeed there's a vibrant lucrative *trade* in demon-related services, in the right-wing Christian grifting community. it's one of those slightly shameful, guilty side-cults and superstitions that help sustain American Christians. (@MattWalshBlog, ever been "exorcised"?)

(cont'd)

here's a video clip from a "Global Vision" thing (q.v. the "Global Vision Bible Church", @globalvisionbc), affiliated with @pastorlocke), talking about casting out evil spirits:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1637541209995452417

Christian fanatics are practically *forced* to traffic with demons.

(cont'd)

why do I say that?

it's because extremist Christianity, the sort that props up people like @MattWalshBlog and @shadihamid, has been condensed down to a rigid and ultimately *unsatisfying* formula for "salvation" (whatever that is), like it was a mere set of equations.

(cont'd)

no two right-wing Christians believes in exactly the same set of Christian formulae; the "faith" of @MattWalshBlog is not the same as that of @DavidAFrench, and French's "faith" is not the same as @shadihamid's, and so on. but they do share a kindred *oversimplicity*.

(cont'd)

the ultimate thing that Christian fanatics like @RepMTG get from their formulaic faith is self-assurance: they're on the winning side and God has guaranteed them final victory, and that's that. Satan is powerful but always loses, just like Emmanuel Goldstein in "1984".

(cont'd)

Goldstein, Orwell's scapegoat in "1984", was sadly well-chosen: he's an antisemitic stereotype, for fascists (both explicitly Christian ones like @MattWalshBlog and irreligious ones like @elonmusk and @mtaibbi) still cling to antisemitic stereotypes as pocket villains.

(cont'd)

that's not *just* a right-wing thing; @elonmusk and @mtaibbi have a handy "Emmanuel Goldstein" figure in George Soros, but @TheDemocrats and @HillaryClinton like to blame their woes on "Bernie"—antisemitic stereotypes and scapegoats lurk everywhere in American politics.

(cont'd)

the scapegoats are like visible representations of the extremist Christian need to believe in *demons*, in concrete agents of Evil™—because without these things, people like @PastorMark and @MattWalshBlog have no explanation for why things always go wrong for them.

(cont'd)

the rigid formulae of their faith say that they're on the winning side, that they're "saved", that their enemies will always lose—and yet @MattWalshBlog &c. are always getting humiliated. (Walsh tries to convince himself he's a winner still—that's doublethink for you!)

(cont'd)

what's the explanation? if God always wins and if @PastorMark / @MattWalshBlog / @realchrisrufo are *with God*, then...why do they _ever_ suffer defeats?

they're almost *forced* towards dualism—which is heretical from a strict Christian viewpoint but never mind that.

(cont'd)

it's *heresy* for a Christian (even @DouthatNYT) to put the forces of evil—Satan, devils, demons, whoever—on the same plane as God, able to conquer and rule over people, able to manipulate matter and energy, able even to *create* things. (I'm not Christian, by the way.)

(cont'd)

but @MattWalshBlog, @PastorMark, &c. practically are *compelled* to believe that Satan and demons are _that powerful_. otherwise they have no good explanation for why they're a mere extremist fringe, able to succeed only through trickery and ratfucking (and coercion.)

(cont'd)

it's much easier to believe in demons than it is to believe in God or Jesus—these entities have been smothered in unreality and fantasy, reduced to mere picture-postcards and Christian-music album covers and so forth. is Jesus *real* to @MattWalshBlog? one doubts it.

(cont'd)

but Hell and devils? one can see them everywhere. if Hell is anything it's pain and suffering, and the world is inundated with pain—indeed, @MattWalshBlog, @pastorlocke, &c. practically *wallow* in the stuff, and take much glee in causing the maximum pain to others.

(cont'd)

it's easy, far too easy, to look at an unfortunate human being in the grips of some harmful compulsion—drink, drugs, @MattWalshBlog's pedophiliac impulses—and see them simply as the victim of a "devil" to be driven out. as if you could cure alcoholism by *force*!

(cont'd)

but in a way, that's the hope that sustains Christian fanatics' beliefs about devils and demons. if alcoholism or compulsive deceit or any other harmful activity is merely a *demon*, then you can just...beat it up, right?

like Ernest Angley here, grabbing a kid's head.

(cont'd)

who is Ernest Angley? they were a "charismatic" Christian preacher-grifter, much like @lancewallnau
or @Paula_White (right-wing fanatics both associated with @mtaibbi's pal @realDonaldTrump).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_An…

Angley's one of a *huge* crowd of "faith healers".

(cont'd)

"faith healing" is far from a Christian-only activity but right-wing #Christianity is *especially* taken with the idea that the only cure you need for any ailments, physical or emotional, is to have some holy person invoke Jesus to flog that evil stuff right out of you.

(cont'd)

sometimes the violence is *literal*—#Christian faith healers really love to grab their victims, hit them over the head, and do other worse things to them in the name of Jesus and "the Holy Spirit". even sexual assault and rape aren't off the table (q.v. @MattWalshBlog.)

(cont'd)

@PastorMark, whose blithering about demons prompted this thread, is known to have been a sex pest—one can be fairly certain that God and Jesus and "the Holy Ghost" were always in the room whenever he was forcing himself on a victim. it was *holy* sexual assault!

(cont'd)

anything to drive the demons out. that's the great thing about believing in demons, i.e. in creatures you've simply *defined* as always being evil and safe to destroy—you can feel justified in doing any crimes to stop demons. rape is acceptable. *murder* is acceptable.

(cont'd)

you can bet that @ThisIsKyleR's Christianized mind assisted in his murderous intentions—he probably thought he was (in some fashion) killing a couple demons when he ventured forth to find people to murder. he could tell himself he was committing *sacred violence*.

(cont'd)

"Demons don't sleep", says @PastorMark—well, neither do angels, and Mark Driscoll undoubtedly thinks of himself as angelic. same with @MattWalshBlog; same with murderer @ThisIsKyleR.

unicorns, however, do need their rest. so I think I'll take some.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen