I listened to the intro to the series which Peter Bell narrated. He sketched out the plan to lift the lid on CREC and Wilson regarding his racism, Christian Nationalism, removing voting rights for women, reinstitution of Mosaic law and religion, justifiable abuse of women and children, crushing the religious freedom of other faiths, and some other things. Sounds bad. I looked forward to a careful theological analysis of Wilson’s teachings.
Then I listened to the first one in the series, The War on the Evangellyfish. The whole thing was based on an interview with Kristin Kobes du May, She is a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. She viewed Wilson’s activities as being motivated by a strategic marketing perspective, so there was no analysis of his theology. She thinks his cunning plan was to provide an answer for everything, build a homeschooling base, play on people’s fears to build the church, build a Christian school, build a publishing and marketing business, take over the city, and then take over the country. Apparently Wilson believes that well-ordered families lead to a properly ordered society. That did not seem too radical to me. Wilson forged relationships with John MacArthur, Al Mohler and others because, apparently, what unites these sinister people is their strong commitment to Patriarchy. Neither Bell nor du May defined what Patriarchy is, but they both seemed to know what it is and it is a bad thing. I thought that the common denominator with Wilson’s acquaintances was Calvinistic theology, but it seems that the professor has seen through that veneer, and what really unites them is their commitment to patriarchal power. The discussion finished with an exhortation to listeners to read history, recognise different forms of Christianity, cope with the blurred line between good and evil, re-examine all that you have been taught. Seek unity with those we have differences with, stop building walls. I think Bell and du Mez are saying something along the lines of ,“Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us”. The strange thing is that I have read a lot of history, and I have explored the beliefs of those with whom I disagree, but the result was I built higher walls and kindly invited my opponents to come inside the walls of the Holy City with me in order to achieve unity. And help maintain the wall height together.
I could not find anything useful in this episode, but I will listen to some more.
