A taste of an Armstrongist state in Dubai

 I have written a couple posts on this blog about what would happen if one of the Armstrongist splinters ran a political jurisdiction like a state, province or perhaps a country itself. Unfortunately, these posts never catched on in popularity like my other posts. Probably it was tough for some to talk about but I admire those who had the audacity and forthrightness to talk about it. I think I found a place that would be similiar to an Armstrongite political state: the country of Dubai. Why? A couple was kissing in a restaurant (they insisted it was a peck on the cheek) and a jail sentence was imposed. Yes, in the historic WCG, for an unmarried couple to kiss or even hold hands was a definate no-no. It could have led one to suspension or disfellowshipment, which could have led the so-called “offender” in psychological shambles because a “minister” has declared that he has reign over the salvation of the member. Imagine a jail sentence for something innocent as a kiss? Well, it has happened in the country of Dubai. If certain authoritarian people love theocracy, Dubai is the place for them. Read ’em and weep of  how theocratic societies really are.

You Should Fear a Charismatic-Pentecostal Theocracy

On this blog, I tried to have a series of posts on an Armstrongist theocracy in North America whether in Canada or the United States. It is a shuddering thought but it is a necessary thought to make darn sure that any kind of theocracy NEVER EVER creeps in a  continent like North America that values the democratic way in all aspects of our governance.

On my other blog, The Independent Thinker (which formerly called The Way I See It, Anyway) I expressed my fear of a Sarah Palin presdiency in 2012. Thankfully, political pundits are saying that her chances are slim and I literally pray to God that it stays that way. I mentioned one of the reasons I do not wish a Palin presidency is because of her charismatic Pentecostal background. My post was picked up on another blog, a more famous one called Booker Rising and one person who was of charismatic Pentecostal background took offence and concluded that I was a bigot.  For those who know and read my works that this is not case. I am not against the people in charismatic-Pentecostal expression of Christian faith  but have deep reservations over a theology (and dare I say religious ideology)  that is chauvenistic towards rigourous study and independent rational thinking and therefore  overemphasizes ecsatic experiences as a test of  spirituality.

Thank God there is a website that is challenging the excesses of charismatic Pentecostal theology and they had a message board site (by the name of Azusa Street Survivors). One person  imagines a country runned by a charismatic Pentecostal theology. What he details in his theory is not a pleasant picture. In other words, where a  state religion  is intrusive into the politics and governance of a nation it is never good. Dare I say “Iran?”

I had to post Sarah Palin for attention and an excuse for my friend James Pate to drool over. There was one picture that I wanted to show James (and he would definately be hot and steaming in a pleasurable way) but I felt I had to show the “real deal“. 🙂

Suppose that somehow, Pentecostals managed to take over a small country or part of a larger country and decided to create a Pentecostal theocracy…How would it come about, what would it do, what would it look like and how long would it last? Feel free to be as evil or snarky as you want with your ideas.

My personal theory is that something like this would come about through Pentecostals gaining control of a regional or state government and manipulating a vote on secession from a larger country.
Of course, all minorities, non-Christians (meaning non-Pentecostals) and women instantly became second class citizens. Abortion became illegal, and birth control became so expensive only those with connections and lots of money could even afford it. The living standards for the common people went down, while those of government officials, preachers, and the other elites went up even more. Of course, unrealistic economic expectations combined with it actually being illegal to forecast anything other then stellar economic growth combined with bad management practices to cause problems. It wasn’t very long before the theocracy ran out of money. Then it got invaded both because of serious human rights violations and because the neighboring countries decided to collect on defaulted loans and whatnot the old fashioned way.
Of course, this wasn’t helped by the theocracy declaring its soldiers to be God’s invincible army. When the other side’s forces crossed the border, the generals told the theocrats that the military was ready. Of course they neglected to mention that they’d sold a lot of its supplies…food and fuel and spare parts…on the black market and then just made up the readiness reports as they went along. God would provide, after all, and He would not let an invader trouble His country, would He?
Worse, the invasion hit at around 10 AM on a Sunday morning, ensuring that because of mandatory church attendance for all but the most vital corporate,government, and military personnell (and with law enforcement enforcing this) that the invaders have at least an hour or two before they would have to worry about much of a response.
That was more then they needed because the air defense radars didn’t work (money for maintenance and software upgrades had been spent to pay the units tithes) all but a few of the fighter jets were grounded due to lack of fuel and spare parts (but the airbase had a new chapel that was all decked out) most of the tanks wouldn’t start (simple incompetance) and the patrol boats were tied up alongside their piers…all the boats worked fine and their machine guns were even loaded and ready to rock (but the chaplains,who had almost as much power as their commanders, had a lot of the sailors doing extra duty that morning, assisting the chaplains with blessing places in the neighboring towns and warding them against demons.) While there was some scattered fighting as some airmen, sailors, and soldiers managed to arm themselves and follow pre-set battle plans (though they were effectively mostly light infantry fighting against a mechanized force) the civilian theocracy first panicked, then tried to bribe the invaders, then made a lot of threats that God would rain fire down on the attackers. No one was impressed. No fire fell from the sky. Within a few hours, even as the theocrats threatened to have the generals shot for treason, the invaders took over the theocracy’s capital.

Money, or rather the Pentecostal obession with money, and general lack of responsibility would be the end of the Pente-ocracy. That’s my theory anyway.

Welcome to the State (or Province) of Armstrongland

Editor’s note: I have originally tried to get a discussion of a topic (imagining an American state or a Canadian province of where the XCG’s resided). The topic didn’t do so well on one message board but it did a little better on another. Many respondents had very good points to be made and I am going to share them in a series of posts here.  What was the basis of  forming this project? The basis was from a book I read called Central Liberal Truth by Lawrence E. Harrison. In it discussed that the prosperous and progressive societies had these religions backing them up: Protestant Christianity, Confucianism, Judaism (and with the possibility of Hinduism) and the more poorer and ultra-traditionalist societies had these religions backing them up would be Catholcism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism and Islam. Check out reviews at amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/Central-Liberal-Truth-Politics-Culture/dp/0195300416 or at Buzzle.com at http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-23-2006-97043.asp.http://www.amazon.com/Central-Liberal-Truth-Politics-Culture/dp/0195300416 or at Buzzle.com at http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-23-2006-97043.asp.

Though there some similiarities between Armstrongism and Protestantism, I never considered the XCG’s fully Protestant because they reject the essentials of historic Christian faith and have long argued that they are a cult.  For a moment to imagine (yes it’s a probably a perverse imagination too): If the XCG’s were to have a seperate state in the U.S. or a province of Canada.  For starters, I do not think it would be the best thing in North America. First of all, I believe that Armstrongism is against technology because of it’s reactionary nature. You would have the highest number of welfare cases loads, high unemployment.  I would even argue that it would be a state or province with high domestic violence rates. Armstrongists would never be cops or even participate in fire prevention because of their fanatical strict Sabbatarianism (Ox in the ditch? Fergedaboutit!). They would be relying from others out of state (or out of province) to fill in. Talk about literally sitting on your butt and not lifting a finger—pure laziness at it’s worst (but that was Armstrongism anyway! Don’t take things in your own hands God will sort it out). I think Lou Dobbs would be willing to give illegal immigrants amnesty before he would tolerate a state (or province) full of XCGers. So would I. This XCG state or province would be pushing the limits to an actual theocracy and trust me I would hope any reasonable U.S. President or Canadian Prime Minister to see that jurisdiction severely crushed. These are my observations about an American state or a Canadian province populated by Armstrongists. Therefore it is my firm belief and assessment that Armstrongism is a completely backward religion that cannot accept nor handle the modern world. Period. All more the reason to condemn it at every turn.

In the next coming days, I will be posting this series as others have given their very apt and insightful assessments on a frightening thought such as this. Stay tuned.