Amos's River of Justice

Our Season of Creation

  • Accusations of leftist magic leveled by right-wing members of Congress led me to research the question of whether magic is really a leftist thing. The closest connection I was aware of was the association of the drug culture of the 1960s with shamanism. But I have always understood the Right’s connection to magic to be more of a thing. I think it would be more more correct to call right-wing magic ‘the occult’. In the end, I was not  really surprised to find that the story of magical politics in America begins by blaming the Left for the whole phenomenon. Both-siderism is apparently the handmaid of American politics, even its weirdest manifestations. This is the story of Rosicrucians, Fallen Angels, and American politics.

    Egil Asprem’s Magical Theory of Politics

    One of the first results on Google was Egil Asprem’s article about the magical theory of politics. True to historical patterns, the magic war serves a right-wing agenda. It seems the Left is only included in the discussion because it’s such a perfect target.

    The Cult of Kek, The Magic Resistance, and the Magic Reaction

    Asprem distinguished three camps of ‘belligerents’ in the magic war over Donald Trump: The Cult of Kek; the Magic Resistance; and the Magic Reaction. The Magic Resistance is where the Left comes in. He cites an article published February 16, 2017 on Medium by Michael M. Hughes, a left-leaning author and lecturer. It was entitled A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him. The article suggested that a ritual be performed at midnight on every crescent moon until Trump is removed from office.

    The Left’s Social Medial Coordinated Protest Movement

    It can’t be determined from Hughes’s own comments how serious he intended this effort to be. Asprem defines it as “a social media-coordinated protest movement leveraging the trappings of magic and witchcraft to mobilize resistance against the incumbent United States president and his administration.” But however you look at it, the magical resistance was hard to ignore. The first event took place on February 24, 2017. The ‘movement’ was given coverage on social media and in magazines such as Elle, Dazed, Vanity Fair, and Vox. It’s not clear how many people actually participated in the initial event, and the numbers quickly diminished. But the movement had enough participants, or enough publicity, to earn it equal billing with the Right in the magical drama. And this supposedly inspired the Magical Reaction.

    4chan’s Ominous Numbers

    But in my opinion, the most disturbing discovery in Asprem’s article is a date that connects Donald Trump’s nomination as GOP presidential candidate, with 4chan’s /pol/ board. It is possible that intelligence operatives are fueling political divisions, and the magical war in particular, including the Cult of Kek, 4chan, 8chan, and q anon. Consider an unlikely occurrence on 4chan concerning Trump’s coming victory in the presidential race. Asprem explains that there is “a particular form of playful superstition on 4chan”.

    Posts on 4chan are consecutively given an identifying number (currently nine digits, reflecting the fact that the total number of posts number in the billions). Due to the very high posting frequency (over one million a day, in 2018), it is impossible for a user to predict exactly what the last few digits will be when posting. This has given rise to a phenomenon where certain numbers, patterns, and repetitions of numbers–especially repeating digits, labeled “dubs,” “trips,” “quads,” and so on–are considered particularly auspicious. This phenomenon is related to a wider practice known as GET, by which posters on an image board would attempt to score certain integer sequences considered “special” (e.g. posts number 123456789, 1000000, or 555555555). Themes, memes, or users that frequently “GET,” or that just score many dubs and trebs, are considered special, allowing for hidden patterns and connections to emerge in the minds of users. During the primaries and the presidential campaign, a perception formed on /pol/ that Trump and Pepe memes were doing just this. For example, on 19 June 2016, a post on 4chan’s /p/ board with the text “Trump will win” achieved the remarkable GET 77777777. A web of significance was gradually spun, in the usual post-ironic way, in which Trump was divinely selected, the god selecting him was Kek, and the Pepe meme was one of the god’s many manifestations.

    Trump’s Nomination and the Fallen Angel Azazel

    Asprim may not be aware that July 19, 2016 also connects the Rosicrucians to the current political turmoil.  That is the date when the fallen angel Azazel was supposed to rise from his earthly imprisonment.

    There was an unusual scene at the Republican National Convention surrounding Trump’s nomination.

    Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions put Trump’s name up for the nomination shortly before 6 p.m. ET. The nomination was seconded by New York Rep. Chris Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse him.

    “Donald Trump is the singular leader that can get this country back on track,” Sessions said while nominating Trump.

    (It is likely Jeff Sessions is a 33rd Degree Freemason.)

    Particularly outraged was the Washington, D.C., delegation, which held its convention in March and attempted to award 10 votes to Marco Rubio and nine to John Kasich. But convention officials announced the rules merit Trump be award all 19 delegates from the nation’s capital.

    “This is an outrage, and this is a reason the Republican Party is turning off a lot of voters,” a Kasich delegate from D.C. said on MSNBC.

    After Trump had clinched the nomination, the Alaskan delegation contested how its vote total was recorded. They originally requested 12 votes go to Ted Cruz, 11 to Trump and 5 to Rubio, but the RNC recorded all 28 votes to Trump. However, the appeal was unsuccessful because, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said, all the votes went to Trump because Rubio and Cruz suspended their campaigns…

    The official nomination came on the second day of what has been a rocky start to the convention. An effort Monday to protest Trump’s candidacy on the convention floor fell short, but not before images of chaos unseen in recent conventions played out on live television.

  • Rosicrucians, Fallen Angels and American Politics

    Accusations of leftist magic leveled by right-wing members of Congress led me to research the question of whether magic is really a leftist thing. I have always understood the political right’s connection to magic to be more of a thing, and it wasn’t hard to find evidence of this association. This is the story of Rosicrucians and Fallen Angels.

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  • I recently found a key date that confirms my suspicions about Steve Bannon’s so-called Traditionalism.  I’ve long suspected that Bannon isn’t a real traditionalist. To be clear, Bannon is not a real traditionalist in the same sense that Donald Trump was never a real candidate.  Bannon piggy-backed on this conversation in the same way that Donald Trump piggy-backed on Bernie’s campaign.  We know Trump had no constituents when he started.  He had to hire actors to attend his first rallies. Steve Bannon is a pretend Traditionalist. He’s just trying to give depth and meaning to his audacious power-grab.

    Teitelbaum’s Book Probably Gives Bannon Too Much Credit

    In his book about Steve Bannon and the populist right, The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right, 1 Benjamin R. Teitelbaum says he first became aware of Bannon’s Traditionalism in 2016. On the one hand, he gives Bannon too much credit as a traditionalist. But I’m comparing Bannon’s version to the Traditionalism of the early twentieth century. It’s always had authoritarian tendencies, but it used to have a coherent worldview.  He’s right as far as he goes–as an ideology it has shed its coherent worldview and lost much of its luster. All that’s left is its claim to authority.

    Amid startling political gains for nationalist, anti-immigrant forces in the twenty-first century, Traditionalists on the right appeared to be carrying on with a fantasy role-playing game-like Dungeons & Dragons for racists…It was the sort of thing that “serious,” practical-minded activists on the radical right fled from as they charged toward burgeoning political opportunities and the chance to brand themselves as viable leaders.

    Teitelbaum goes on to describe his surprise that ‘an individual with such remarkable power and influence’ (Steve Bannon) had been recorded name-dropping Traditionalism’s key figures (like Rene Guenon).  He couldn’t believe someone like Bannon would even know about Traditionalism.

    What is Bannon Really Up To?

    Teitelbaum was right the first time.  Steve Bannon fits his definition of a typical Traditionalist on the right. However, Bannon represents its modern guise. He has no ideas of his own so he uses Traditionalism as a cloak.  He’s really a hyperactive trickster whose first impulse in 2016 was to steal the show.

    At the Least, Traditionalism Deserves to Be Correctly Represented as a Historical Phenomenon

    I’ve been talking about Rene Guenon since 2015. I wrote What Does Theology Have to do with Life? in March of 2015.  I wrote Transgender Rights, Same-Sex Marriage and Women in November of 2015.  I wrote Can We Talk About Patriarchy? in May of 2016.

    We would do well to ignore the piggy-backers and freeloaders on the conversation.

  • The right wing’s narrative describes a world in which evangelical Christians and their allies have God on their side.   Normally I wouldn’t disagree–according to Christian doctrine, God is on the side of the human race.  But they are actually saying God approves of their politics.  They apparently assume this will convince believers to vote for them and paint the political opposition as evil.  In my opinion, the left must respect religion enough to question the far-right’s claim to God’s favor.  This doesn’t require a personal calling from God.  It just requires the patience to listen to the far-right’s claims and compare them to the Bible.

    Since Evangelical Christians believe Donald Trump is a messianic figure, the relevant verses would be those that refer to the messianic age.  In Ezekiel 47 the Lord God showed Ezekiel a vision of abundance and blessing and joy.

    Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

    Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.

    And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.

    Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees.  Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.

    Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.

    And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this?  Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

    Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

    Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

    And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live wither the river cometh.

    And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

    But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.((Ezekiel 47:1-11))

    Ezekiel is then told that the fruit of the trees will be for meat and the leaf will be for medicine.  The leaf will not fade and the fruit will never be consumed because their waters issued out of the sanctuary.  And finally, the Lord God describes the borders whereby the twelve tribes of Israel will inherit the land.  This is not a Zionists’ dream, however.  At least not the Zionists we know.  Nor is it the dream of American wall-builders and imprisoners of immigrant children.

    And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

    And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God.((Ezekiel 47:22,23))

    This does not sound like Donald Trump and his supporters at all.  Instead, it seems to describe the hopes of progressive supporters of Bernie Sanders.

    Some say the Son of man is not a single person.  The Son of man is a collective.   Of course, Bernie has no intention of being a messiah.  You may recall the day he waved away Birdie Sanders, the bird that landed on his podium during a campaign speech.  He is a politician after all, not a religious leader.  But what about the rest of us?  We thought for a few glorious moments we saw the end of the old regime, and we projected all our hopes on this amazing candidate who appeared out of nowhere.  And they were hopes of peace and fairness and inclusion.

    See also: The Israel Lobby is Spending Millions to Defeat Progressive Democrats https://youtu.be/djZVm1n_XNA
                       Is the GOP Morphing into Christian Nationalism? https://youtu.be/kQQd90mbbDs
                         Reverend Calls Out Marjorie Greene  https://youtu.be/OExYtrfXotQ
                            Lauren Boebert Wants a Biblical Citizenship Test  https://youtu.be/oDQyj8C8PoE
                             American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel (Christian Nationalism Documentary)  https://youtu.be/B-ePCiUgD0Y
                                The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American  https://youtu.be/nVEqYk-hjNM
                                  The Psychology of Christian Nationalism  https://youtu.be/nVEqYk-hjNM
                                     Baptist Leader Speaks Out: Christian Nationalism is Not Christianity https://youtu.be/vZukWuT9lcA

  • The Republicans have spent decades trying to repeal Roe v Wade.  They were out of step with reality when they started.  Now that their cherished conservative dream has finally come true, they are even more out of step with reality.  Although Republican madness is obvious to millions of people, five conservative justices, including Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme enabler who voted to repeal Roe v Wade, are bursting with pride.  Pro-life organizations are also touting this as a victory.  Their stupidity is exceeded only by their short-sightedness.

    The decision to repeal Roe v Wade was made with the help of a doctrine called Originalism.  It’s not clear if anyone really believes in Originalism, least of all, its inventors in the Federalist Society, but it doesn’t matter.  It has been very useful for conservatives who are intent on getting their way.  In fact, that has become the definition of conservatism: People who are intent on getting their way.  If only their ‘way’ was good.

    What is Originalism anyway?  In the 1980s John M. Olin set up the Federalist society and paid it to make the courts rule in his favor in cases involving his polluting company.  The Society promptly wined and dined judges, sponsored university courses to teach Originalism, and generally helped Olin avoid the nasty consequences of his polluting ways.  Amy Coney Barrett has been a member of the Federalist Society twice.  Nevertheless, the blind and the stupid applaud her latest ruling.

    What does Originalism say?  It says that the original public meaning of the constitution is binding today.  Given that the people who wrote the Constitution saw the world very differently than we do today, it is reasonable to fear that this doctrine will have regressive and oppressive effects on American society.  Confronted with this fact, Originalists agree that some amendments to the Constitution might be in order, but the constitution has to be amended democratically.  Democratic principles are the basis of their doctrine after all.

    There are a few problems with this defense.  The media is not democratic.  Neither is the electoral system.  If they were people of good will, Originalists would assure themselves that democratic institutions and principles are working before they impose binding meanings on their society.  But although Originalists claim neutrality, they act as if the proper functioning of democratic institutions is beside the point.  In fact, they deliberately weaken those institutions.  That is not a neutral position.

    This shady, cut-rate, half-baked doctrine is not the sum total of the problem.  There is also the dishonesty and irresponsibility of the politicians who foisted Originalist justices on the Supreme Court, in plain sight of the people whose democracy they have stolen.  Last but not least there are the simple, lazy, complicit souls who have failed to develop their capacity for discernment.

     

  • It seems the Supreme Court Justices are lords of chaos.  Leaking the Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade was like waving a red cape in front of a bull, or a MAGA cap in front of a progressive.  It has brought out the worst in progressives and put anything good we might have done on hold.  Of course, this follows the sudden and meaningless war in Ukraine.  This has been a disaster for the progressive conversation.

    The Roe v Wade leak is not just about abortion, just like the Ukraine War is not just about Ukraine.  They both serve to drag your attention away from climate change, voting rights, and anything else that needs your attention.  The lords of chaos want to stop you from having a coherent conversation.

    I saw a clip today in which pro-life agitators goaded pro-choice protesters into a frenzy.  How they relished taunting those women.  How they loved rubbing it in!  How they basked in their Supreme Court ‘victory’.  Then the pro-choice protesters screamed their slogans a little louder, and the pro-lifers drowned them out anyway.  What a glorious hate-fest!  And all because the lords of chaos on the Court leaked an opinion that hasn’t been decided yet.

    Sewing chaos and division has been the establishment’s favorite tactic since that first Trump rally was shut down by Sanders’s supporters in 2016.  They try to get both sides all riled up, or afraid, or confused, or all of the above. They know if they can make us fear and hate each other, we will be ineffective.

    The lords of chaos on the Supreme Court may very well undo Roe v Wade, and the harm for women will be real.  But if the leak brings lasting hatred and confusion and division, it will have served its main purpose.  As long as we’re fighting each other, we can’t fight them.

    See Also: https://youtu.be/_d0URbems8M

  • Catholic Democrat Joe Manchin’s position on the child tax credit has put him at odds with important allies such as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Orthodox Union.  Unfortunately, these groups are in a somewhat embarrassing position after objecting to the bill’s mandate that faith-run pre-kindergarten and childcare programs obey federal non-discrimination statutes.  Manchin used their objections as an excuse for his own objections, which have more to do with his dislike of helping those in need.

    Political negotiations first broke down when Manchin proposed to White House officials that the bill maintain elements of the original legislation but omit an expansion of the child tax credit.  Then, this week Manchin told reporters he supports the child tax credit, but only if there is a work requirement for the parents involved.

    Senator Manchin has been trumpeting his work requirement for months despite his religious allies’ prediction that if the requirement becomes part of the law families who don’t pay income tax due to lack of income would not receive the benefit.

    In a September 7 letter, bishops voiced support for the child tax credit expansion without the work requirement.

    “It is especially important that the credit remain fully refundable to ensure the most economically vulnerable children benefit from this family support.”

    The National Association of Evangelicals has not taken a position on the Build Back Better Act as a whole, but the group’s vice president for government relations, Galen Carey, has consistently expressed support for the child tax credit provision. He was asked this week about tying work requirements to the child tax credit.

    “We support making the child tax credit fully available to the families who need the help the most,” he said in a statement. “Work is critically important to human dignity but having a particular level of earned family income should not be a prerequisite to accessing support for their children. Full CTC refundability is what makes it such a powerful anti-poverty tool.”

    The Poor People’s Campaign, a faith-led activist group that often advocates for liberal-leaning legislation, has been protesting against Manchin’s position for months.   The Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, called Manchin’s excuses a “regression back to the tired debate of deserving and undeserving poor.”

    Progressives may have forgotten what an incredible accomplishment the child tax credit was because it was just one item on a very long wish list.  We may have also forgotten to give the Biden administration credit for its implementation.

    This benefit was perfectly aimed at the most vulnerable members of society–children.  And it had the added benefit of demonstrating how valuable the nation’s children are to the President and the people alike.  In my opinion, if the child tax credit is all that can be salvaged from the Build Back Better Act, its survival will be a cause for celebration.

    President Biden has a clear mandate.  I urge his administration to extend the child tax credit–without  Manchin’s work requirement.

     

  • We have veered off track in this conversation.  I’ve been trying to return to the days when we could dream about another way of life.  If we thought about politics at all, we assumed our elected officials knew they’d reached a dead end and that it was time for a change.  Those days ended when we decided to support a presidential candidate.   We learned we were never taken seriously–we were merely a threat.  We have already talked about our shock and disgust at the tactics of conservatives in both parties.  What we haven’t talked about is whether the so-called left shares our vision of the way forward.

    We didn’t require Bernie to share our vision in 2016.  We supported him because he was our best bet.  We believed when he became president he would listen to us.  But now it is becoming clear that even if he had won he might never have been ours.  Bernie and his solutions belong to another time.  When he dreams he dreams about times past.

    Of course he’s not the only one.  There’s a lot of that going around.   The Catholics who fight Pope Francis are doing exactly the same thing.  Unfortunately we made it easy for them by supporting someone with a ‘socialist’ past for president.  Reactionaries need an enemy and we gave them one.  We wrote their script.

    The left will object that socialist policies are exactly what we need to combat inequality.  First, assuming inequality is the priority, you have to be president to put those policies in place.  Second, it is not clear that workers’ prosperity will solve our problem.  I admit it has been infuriating watching Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin play their part in assuring that Bernie’s programs don’t get passed, but don’t forget they are Bernie’s programs–not ours.  Sinema and Manchin prefer it that way.

    Reactionaries dream of an enemy like Bernie.  They never have to reveal their uselessness in dealing with today’s problems because all they have to do is fight Bernie.   It lets them hide the fact that they are not the people we need for the problems we are facing.

    We are losing farmland to desertification.  The green revolution has run its destructive course, depleting the land and polluting water supplies world-wide, and apparently no one is concerned about this at all.  Politicians continue to beat their natalist drums while bombing far-away people out of house and home and refusing to give them refuge.  And now they withhold covid vaccines from entire countries just because they can.  Strangely, they don’t seem to be aware that their bad behavior is catching up with them–the vaccine policy may finally ruin them.

    The supply chain is breaking down.  This affects the automotive repair industry, the construction industry, the medical industry–basically any industry that depends on the supply chain.  Could it be that parts and supplies and logistics and transportation depend on countries that didn’t get vaccinated?

    Making workers more prosperous is a worthy goal.  However our first priority today is survival, and we’re already failing.  We have a global problem that must be solved globally.  The supply chain demonstrates it is literally suicidal to throw entire peoples to the wolves.

    So what should we do?  We could start by making Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and the right-wingers on Twitter tell us what they will do about the supply chain.  Ask them if they’ve made preparations for shortages in their own states.  Ask Sinema what she’ll do when the Colorado River doesn’t have enough water to farm and fish.  Ask her what she thinks about wealthy countries withholding vaccines from poor countries.  Of course, first you’d have to catch up with her, and then you’d have to get her attention, and then you’d have to convince her she’s just an earthling, like the rest of us.

  •  

    The last article left unanswered questions.  Should progressives hope for political success under the logic of Christian theology? How are Christians to understand failure and disappointment in this important work?

    Since the 2020 election, the question of the hour has been Where do we go from here?  The answer to this question depends on your view of reality.  From the secular point of view, we have heard sound political proposals and strategies.  In a video no longer available on YouTube, N.T. Wright answers it with Christian eschatology.  They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

    “There is no excuse for Christians not being involved in the work here and now,” Wright says, but the question is, how? He begins by rejecting two common reactions to the current political situation.  The first one is, “There’s nothing we can do.”; the second one is, “Our clever planning will bring God’s kingdom.”

    Wright stresses that Christian eschatology is similar to Jewish eschatology.  He bases this on scriptures from the Old and New Testaments.  From the Book of  Daniel, chapters 2 and 7, he concludes that when God sets up his kingdom that can’t be shaken, He will set it up here on earth.

    Where is Heaven?

    The Jews were creational and conventional monotheists.  Therefore, they did not envision Heaven and Earth as two separate realms.  Heaven and earth  are meant to come together, but how, and in what form?

    The coming together of Heaven and Earth and the future renewal of creation will be like the resurrection of Jesus.  It will be the creation of something new out of the old.

    Paul’s eschatology shapes the mission of the Church.  Heaven and Earth, or the two ages, will overlap…or rather, they do overlap.

    “God has made the world so it will flourish under wise obedient human care.”

    The creation knows it is meant to flourish under the wise rule of human beings…God has subjected the present creation to futility because He designed it to work properly under the image-bearers.

    So how are we to apply Paul’s eschatology to the efforts and disappointments of progressives?  N.T. Wright says Paul’s ‘monotheism and election’ is a new version of the Church’s mission in which we go out in prayer, expecting set-backs, and believing that God has a secret way to rescue the world.  In other words, this vision is not triumphalist. It starts with sharing the pain of the world

    We are justified in order to be justice-hungry people in an unjust world.  We are put right in order to be putting right people for the world.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Today people either look forward to the New Age or they fear it.  Religious believers are probably the largest group of people who fear the age of Aquarius.   They may not believe that an age has real influence on the world, but they fear New Age belief systems and alternative lifestyles. It’s important that we all understand the connection between the birth of Aquarius and human civilization.

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