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Opinion: In Idaho, ‘Christian Reconstructionists’ Thrive Amid Evangelical Turmoil

By Crawford Gribben
idaho Doug Wilson
In September 2020, Pastor Douglas Wilson led a protest of his congregants in Moscow, Idaho. (Photo: Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, CC BY-SA)

Evangelical groups in the U.S. have for years faced dwindling numbers, and a messy cultural fight over the direction of the movement might serve to drive further defections. But while some of the largest Protestant denominations in America, such as Southern Baptists, continue to hemorrhage members, one small group of conservative evangelicals in Idaho appears to be bucking the trend – despite currently numbering only around 1,300 or so.

For the past 30 years, believers from across the United States and beyond have been gathering in Moscow, a city in northern Idaho with a population of around 25,000. Here, as part of the Christ Church congregation, they have set their face against the cultures of American modernity.

Guided by a controversial social theory known as “Christian Reconstruction,” which holds that biblical law should apply in today’s setting, they look to the Bible to understand how they believe American institutions should be reformed.

Followers believe that abortion rights and same-sex marriage, among other evidences of what they would see as moral decline, will eventually be repealed. Their goal is simple – the conversion of the people of Moscow to their way of thinking as the first step toward the conversion of the world.

This hope might appear to be unrealistic. But as a scholar who has charted the rise of the movement in my book “Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America,” I know that these believers have already made steps toward that goal.

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Growing influence from isolated Idaho

In Moscow, the community has established churches, a classical Christian school, a liberal arts college, a music conservatory, a publishing house, and the makings of a media empire. With books published by major trade and academic presses, and a talk show on Amazon Prime, the community is setting the agenda for a theologically vigorous and politically reactionary evangelical revival.

These believers are led by conservative pastor Douglas Wilson, whose views on gender, marriage and many other topics are controversial, even among the most conservative Christians. For over 30 years, Wilson has been campaigning against the influence of everything from atheism to feminism.

In so doing, he has attracted some significant critical attention – not least from the late journalist and prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, with whom he debated whether Christianity was good for the world in a series of exchanges that was later turned into a book.

The community that Wilson leads in Moscow, Idaho is still small. It is hard to obtain figures for the growth of Christ Church in terms of numbers, but my research and conversations with members of the congregation suggest it is expanding. 

What is clear is that in little more than three decades, Christ Church has gone from being a little-known congregation to one generating media attention and getting attention from senior political figures.

The community has established a K-12 school, a member of an association of hundreds of classical Christian schools heavily influenced by the educational beliefs of Wilson. In a testament to the political reach of the group, in 2019 Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska was one of the speakers at the association’s annual convention.

As I note in my book, the community’s liberal arts college sends students into doctoral programs in various disciplines at Ivy League and leading European universities – it isn’t an insular educational world. Its small and closely connected group of authors has worked with publishers such as Random House and Oxford University Press.

And then there is the talk show on Amazon Prime.

This talk show, “Man Rampant,” gives an indication of why this community is growing in influence despite the evangelical decline. Wilson, as its host, uses the platform to set out the ideas that undergird his vision of Christian renewal – developing an agenda drawn explicitly from the Bible about the revival of traditional masculinity.

As its title suggests, “Man Rampant” promotes an extremely muscular Christianity. Forget Jesus as well-meaning, meek and mild; the first episode condemned the “sin of empathy.” Empathy, say Wilson and his guest, Joe Rigney, “is not a good thing.”

The “Man Rampant” agenda is reinforced on Wilson’s website, which draws upon the creative people living in the Moscow community to turn his arguments into striking visual metaphors, and where, while dismissing racism, he argues that “it really is OK to be white.”

Going local to convert America

In America’s crowded religious marketplace, Wilson’s message is clearly distinct.

One of Wilson’s most important influences is the late R.J. Rushdoony, an Armenian-American Presbyterian theologian who was driven by protecting Protestants in the U.S. from suffering the kind of genocide from which his parents escaped. Frustrated by the other-worldliness of many American Christian denominations, whose adherents he feared preached more about heaven than earth, and their complacency in what he perceived to be a hostile liberal culture, Rushdoony set about developing biblical principles for how society should be organized.

The Ten Commandments were no longer to be considered as an artifact in the history of morality, Rushdoony argued. Instead, they should be understood as setting out the core principles for the running of the modern state. “Thou shalt not steal” ruled out the possibility of inflation, which Rushdoony argued devalued monetary assets and was therefore was a form of theft. And “Thou shalt have no other gods besides me” ruled out any possibility of religious pluralism.

Rushdoony promoted these ideals in titles such as 1973’s “Institutes of Biblical Law” – a 1,000-page exposition of the Ten Commandments that argued for both the abolition of the prison system and a massive extension of capital punishment.

Christians would be secure in American society only when it was shaped by their religious values, he argued. But the Christian America that he anticipated would not be secured through revolution or any form of top-down political change – only by the transformation of individual lives, families, towns and states.

This strategy of promoting beliefs at the local level explains why Christian Reconstructionists, like those led by Wilson, prefer to focus energies in small towns as in Idaho. The Reconstructionists in Moscow believe that they can achieve much more significant cultural impact if they can secure significant demographic change, either by the conversion of existing inhabitants or by encouraging others to move to the area.

Eschewing the existential crisis

The stated goal of Wilson’s congregation is to make Moscow a Christian town; at present only around a third of Moscow residents identify as “religious,” according to a 2019 report.

But it is Wilson’s attitude about public health measures during the pandemic that has most recently brought him and his church back to the attention of political leaders. Throughout the pandemic, he has argued that mask requirements reveal the hypocrisy of government.

In September 2020, Wilson led his congregation in the illegal hymn-sing in front of City Hall that led to the arrests of several church members – footage of which was retweeted by President Trump, who suggested that the Moscow congregation’s arrests were emblematic of what would happen to evangelicals if Democrats took control. “DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY,” the former president tweeted in all caps.

And yet, whatever the former president’s fears, Wilson’s congregation is growing. While large denominations, like the Southern Baptists, divide in the debate about critical race theory, Wilson’s church shows how some congregations could respond to evangelicalism’s existential crisis – and possibly thrive.

The author’s views do not necessarily represent those of The Roys Report. 

Crawford Gribben, Professor of History, Queen’s University Belfast, wrote this commentary for The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. 

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39 Responses

  1. Wow. Get rid of empathy and set massive capital punishment in place. So what would come next? Burning at the stake those born-again Spirit-filled Christians who do not adhere to every one of their beliefs? Scary.

      1. Oddly relevant, given that Doug Wilson advocated on behalf of at least two child rapists. Do you consider him to be a moral man?

      2. Ummmm…Doug Wilson wrote to get trial rapists reduced time and wanted them at church, encouraged them to marry and have kids, blamed other people for their actions (child’s parents), etc.

        You good with that?

    1. I was thinking public crucifiction. Romans had no empathy either.

      These people are truly dangerous and evil.

  2. Only those who agree with Wilson’s idea of Christianity will thrive. The community as a whole, and any Christian who disagrees on secondary issues, will not.

  3. Professor Gribben, you may not be aware of this but Doug Wilson’s MOST important influences would be his parents Jim & Bessie. They have influenced me in important ways as well. Here is a film I made of Jim’s teaching in 2011: https://youtu.be/De6n7ijuZoE – Steve in Boise, Idaho

    1. I can’t help but wonder what Doug Wilson’s parents think about his erotic novel about a sex robot, Steve. Do they have any concerns about whether his conduct is appropriate for a pastor?

  4. I Rarely weigh in on these things… but here’s 3 things I think worth pointing out:

    1) It would be very helpful if the author mentioned that Wilson was Post Millennial. His eschatological vision drives his Christian reconstruction.

    2) Joe Rigney, president of BCS, is NOT a “Protege'” of Doug Wilson.

    3) And my goodness that empathy talk is getting some bad press… The truth is, Joe Rigney is NOT against empathy the way most people mean it… but he IS against it the way HE defines it… nuance is everything. Was crucifying a commonly used term wise? No. I don’t think so. He did the same thing with the song “the things of earth” in his book “The Things of Earth.” John Piper did it with the term “Chipper” in Gravity and Gladness. Just not helpful in my opinion. The talk opens far more doors in people’s minds than he has time to close.

    1. Rigney himself tweeted that Doug Wilson is a mentor of his.
      https://twitter.com/joe_rigney/status/1140655073556684800

      A protege is “a person who is guided and supported by an older and more experienced or influential person.” So, how is Rigney, a person Wilson mentored, not Wilson’s protege?

      Rigney also received a Master of Studies degree from New Andrews University where Wilson is a senior fellow in theology and a permanent member of the board of trustees.

      Here’s the link for Rigney and Wilson’s empathy talk. I encourage people to listen for themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i9a3Rfd7yI

      1. Thanks for the response Julie. Fair enough- I guess the phrase protege carries more semantic freight in my mind than friend and mentor- both of which I know are totally true. Along with Doug he would list CS Lewis, and Jonathan Edward’s. I’d be curious if he’d want to nuance the term protege himself.

        As to the Empathy talk, I have listened to it.

        1. The word ‘protege’ has lost some of its meaning, I guess, because it is regarded as something other than the counterpoint to mentor. Mentee is not a word! I’m in a mentor program with my alumni association. They keep referring to my ‘mentees’ and I keep calling them proteges…I guess this will never end.

          1. Mentee is a word. See OED: A person who has a mentor; the person guided or tutored by a mentor.

    2. “Joe Rigney is NOT against empathy the way most people mean it… but he IS against it the way HE defines it… nuance is everything.”
      ++++++++++++++++++++++++

      I’d say ‘nuance’ is manipulation of christian concepts in order to manipulate and control.

      1. in The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape brags about Semantics to Wormwood, specifically about “redefining The Enemy’s words into their ‘diabolical meanings’.”

    1. This IS the same PASTOR Doug Wilson who penned Southern Slavery as It Really Was, a defense of The Peculiar Institution regarding Animate Property.

      His attitude towards women would also not be out of place in Talibanistan or The Handmaid’s Tale. A famous quote of his (presumably from “Man Rampant”) about husband-wife relations is “The Man Penetrates, Colonizes, Conquers, Plants. The Woman lies back and Accepts”.

      1. Ah yes. The pamphlet in which the perennially self-published Doug Wilson described slavery as “..a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence” which was for the slaves “a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.”

        About the South, Wilson maintained “There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world…”

        Revolting and risible and then–when it came out that parts of his revisionist history were plagiarized–also ridiculous and laughable. Which describes Doug Wilson himself pretty well.

  5. This is reminiscent of the Orthodox Jews in Kiryas Joel (the subject of a VERY enlightening documentary called City of Joel – about the struggle between the Hasidic Jews and residents of a neighboring town; https://jfi.org/watch-online/jfi-on-demand/city-of-joel)

    There is also another documentary about the Oregon town of Rajneeshpuram, where the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh went up against the locals and there were some very strange things the cult members did to attempt to gain control of the town. https://www.oregonlive.com/tv/2018/03/netflix_documentary_on_rajnees.html

    What Wilson is doing in Moscow, ID is nothing new.

  6. Lest anyone be impressed with Wilson’s “credentials”, note that he ordained himself, formed a college and named himself a fellow, formed a denomination and named himself its head, and formed a press to publish his own books. All of his titles, his books and indeed his entire career are self-granted.

    There have been at least two significant sexual scandals in Doug’s temples of narcissism, both characterized by his own mismanagement and obstinate insistence on his own infallibility. They led him then, and still do now, to ever more contorted attempts to justify moral wrongs as rights.

    (Extensively documented here but please note that the content is explicit and deeply troubling: http://www.moscowid.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Analyzing-DWs-Response-to-Sitler-and-Wight-Cases.pdf

    Wilson presided over the wedding of a confessed serial pedophile (>25 kids, as young as 1)–who was then a a student at Doug’s “college”–to another student and supported their bearing a child. Wilson had not informed his congregation of a molester in their midst until after the pedophile had been incarcerated, and subsequently did not report to the court that the paroled pedophile was now living with an infant for whom he confessed “deviant fantasies”. Fortunately, the court had more sense than Doug Wilson, and removed him from the home.

    Wilson later attempted to publicly defame the victim of another of a pastoral student at his “seminary” when it was revealed that preyed upon her as a 14 year when he was a “boarder” in her household; an arrangement Wilson encourages for his college students that also happens to enrich his church members tax-free. Doug publicly discussed the young woman’s pubescent body, blamed the victim and her father, characterized the relationship as “parent-approved”, quibbled about the meaning of consent and rape, and insisted the young man–who had been sent to Haiti as a missionary using church funds–was somehow not a sexual predator.

    1. I think Lea James has given enough documentation for anyone who has never heard of these situations. With regard to the married-off pedophile, it would be bad enough that all the events and circumstances fell out as they did but there’s more. Despite the bad fruit of his choices, Doug Wilson obstinately maintains his innocence in the matter and has stated he would do exactly as he did, were he given opportunity to do the whole thing over. The young woman who was inveigled to marry a pedophile had not dated other men and was persuaded to marry after a very rushed “courtship”.

  7. The author had a major miss in this article as noted by a Joel above. Dr Wilson ideas are based on an eschatological view of Postmillennialism.

    (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4S0TQ2dXnms)

    This eschatological view is the world will get better and more Christianized. It has a lot more than that, but that is an essential element for this article. This view was held by RC Sproul, Men like James White and Jeff Durbin also hold this view. I do not agree with that eschatology. Postmillinialists go to places such as Salt Lake City and have the goal for example to turn a Mormon culture upside down. Their goal which is based on their biblical hermeneutics is that eventually places like Salt Lake City will be a Christian city.

    When this article states Doug Wilson’s “attitude” he assumes motives. We do not know Doug’s motives. It is logical to deduce his premise of why he has his personal perspective on society. He believes it’s biblical. If one would do a study of those ministries that hold to a postmil eschatology, the evidence will have what the author Professor Gribben call a “Christian Reconstruction” view.

    I watched the video Julie Roys posted. . From the get go, Joe and Doug define the difference of sympathy and empathy. Based on Galatians 6:1-2, (and their are many more texts but this text distills the difference) Paul makes the same distinction. “ Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Any transgression can also mean as verse two clarifies “burdens” which can be a result of a transgression. (Paul also makes in Ephesians 2 the difference between transgression and sin). Restoring has the idea of sympathy as they describe verses empathy as they describe.

    I wish the author dealt with the biblical presupposition and not ascribe motives. I do disagree with Wilson’s eschatology. Things will get worse (2 Timothy 3:1-9, by the way that text is in the context of the church not the world) and there will be a remnant, not a Christianized society. It will be a sad day when Jesus says, “I never knew you, Depart from me.” I don’t know but I think it is why Julie Roys has this emphasis on the purity of the church. Trying to root out sin. So amen! I just believe that what the author Gribben calls “Christian Reconstruction “ would be what Doug would call the overflow of a “Postmil Eschatology.”

    1. I agree that a discussion of postmillennial eschatology would bring more clarity to Wilson’s views. However, I also think it’s probable that Wilson is both a postmillennialist and a reconstructionist. One seems to lend itself to the other.

      I am surprised that some defend “The Sin of Empathy.” The video goes far beyond defining sympathy vs. empathy. It is a treatise for leaders (most assuredly men, as the title of the podcast is “Man Rampant”) to doubt victims (always referred to in the video as female). It assumes that the problem in the church and society is that the men in power are to quick to listen and empathize with victims and the vulnerable. From my vantage point, that is almost never the case.

      I can understand why just watching the video is triggering for abuse victims. Far too many have experienced pastors and male leaders precisely as Rigney and Wilson appear in the video–emotionally detached, skeptical, condescending, and biased toward less emotional men who often fit the profile of the perpetrator. Very rarely do these victims encounter men in power who humbly want to listen and learn, and admit they likely have no idea what the woman has gone through and may have a bias toward believing the perpetrator. It’s as though we’ve learned absolutely nothing from the Ravi Zacharias and Bill Hybels scandals.

      Of course, Wilson also has a history of mishandling sex abuse cases in his own church and has zero moral platform from which to speak. And the way he talks about women is reprehensible. Here’s a quote from Wilson: “When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage. This means that we have sought to suppress the concepts of authority and submission as they relate to the marriage bed.”

      This view of marriage and sexuality is perverse and such a far cry from Ephesians 5, where Paul encourages the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. The idea of Christ coming to conquer, colonize, and penetrate the Bride seems the exact opposite of the model Jesus gave. It’s very concerning that the president of Bethlehem College and Seminary would consider Wilson his mentor and begin spouting Wilson’s twisted ideals.

      1. I agree with your statement, “ I also think it’s probable that Wilson is both a postmillennialist and a reconstructionist. One seems to lend itself to the other.” I just believe that he is being true to his hermeneutic.

        The second concern brought out. Well I will just put the author’s words down.

        “In Moscow, the community has established churches, a classical Christian school, a liberal arts college, a music conservatory, a publishing house, and the makings of a media empire. With books published by major trade and academic presses, and a talk show on Amazon Prime, the community is setting the agenda for a theologically vigorous and politically reactionary evangelical revival.

        These believers are led by conservative pastor Douglas Wilson, whose views on gender, marriage and many other topics are controversial, even among the most conservative Christians. For over 30 years, Wilson has been campaigning against the influence of everything from atheism to feminism.

        In so doing, he has attracted some significant critical attention – not least from the late journalist and prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, with whom he debated whether Christianity was good for the world in a series of exchanges that was later turned into a book.”

        Feminism and atheism are based on a sinful foundation. Biblical convictions as throughout history is divisive by what the Bible asserts. Having a publishing house, education and other venues for communication of truth is not a bad thing.

        I believe the video is a separate issue. There are over a hundred Christian Women’s podcasts on Apple Podcasts. I do not have a problem with it having “man” in the name. Having watched the video. I agree with Rigney’s explanation of sympathy vs empathy. I think it is Biblically-Based.

        A comment in reference for always referring to victims as women. The target audience is men. It would be unwise to ALWAYS agree with a woman that makes a charge against a man. At the same time, it would also be not wise to ALWAYS stand behind the denial of a man as regards to the charge.

        It would be biblical to ASCERTAIN what happened with regards to a charge made against someone. Prudence would be better to gather all the information before you take sides. I think the pendulum has swung too far from one end to the other end. Both ends of the pendulum are dangerous.

        Was the quote you used in the video? I do not remember hearing that. But I may have missed it. I believe that quote is inconsistent with the passage in Ephesians and I disagree with his view on intimacy. Intimacy in the confines of marriage is always giving, period.

        I do believe in authority and submission roles. However, it’s the upside down authority. Men are the head of the family, as they love their wives as Christ loved the church. That means not leading from above, but leading from below or leading from within. It is sacrificial not authoritative. It is giving not taking. It is blessing not belittling. It also have to be corrective and correctable. Agreeable and mutual.

        I would like to hear the context of that quote. Not that it would justify the words but clarify the context.

        All that being said, the article is using non related issues to validate the point and lend merit to his point. It would be helpful to focus on the issue at hand.

        1. The issue is Wilson. The quote is from his book, “Fidelity: How to Be a One-Woman Man.” Here’s more context. If the context makes it more palatable to you, then we really have nothing to discuss:

          “Because we have forgotten the biblical concepts of true authority and submission, or more accurately, have rebelled against them, we have created a climate in which caricatures of authority and submission intrude upon our lives with violence. When we quarrel with the way the world is, we find that the world has ways of getting back at us. In other words, however we try, the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. This is of course offensive to all egalitarians, and so our culture has rebelled against the concept of authority and submission in marriage. This means that we have sought to suppress the concepts of authority and submission as they relate to the marriage bed.

          “But we cannot make gravity disappear just because we dislike it, and in the same way we find that our banished authority and submission comes back to us in pathological forms. This is what lies behind sexual ‘bondage and submission games,’ along with very common rape fantasies. Men dream of being rapists, and women find themselves wistfully reading novels in which someone ravishes the ‘soon to be made willing’ heroine. Those who deny they have any need for water at all will soon find themselves lusting after polluted water, but water nonetheless.

          “True authority and true submission are therefore an erotic necessity. When authority is honored according to the word of God it serves and protects — and gives enormous pleasure. When it is denied, the result is not ‘no authority,’ but an authority which devours.”

          1. “True authority and true submission are therefore an erotic necessity.”

            As long as the Man holds the whip.
            (Penetrate! Colonize! Conquer! Plant! Penetrate! Colonize! Conquer! Plant!)
            IT’S SLAVE GIRLS OF GOR!
            WITH “GOD SAITH!”

      2. (most assuredly men, as the title of the podcast is “Man Rampant”)

        In medieval Heraldry, “Rampant” is the position usually associated with lions – in profile, rearing up on hind legs, clawing air with the forepaws, fangs bared, and ROARING.

        (As opposed to “Passant” – standing on all fours – or “Sejant” – sitting on butt with forelegs erect like a cat on a windowsill.)

        1. That’s the heraldic meaning of rampant, but it’s archaic meaning is simply upright, or erect.

          Doug Wilson, ever the transgressive, sniggers in his sleeve like a six-year old every time he draws an otherwise respectable Christian into repeating his dirty joke.

          1. You said,

            “Doug Wilson, ever the transgressive, sniggers in his sleeve like a six-year old every time he draws an otherwise respectable Christian into repeating his dirty joke.”

            No judgment either way other than to say I like this sentence. Nicely done.

      3. I think Doug Wilson is a self-aggrandizing weirdo. However, I wish to point out that the phrase “doubt the victim” presupposes the person is a victim, which breaks the OT principle that the burden of proof rests on the accuser. We should follow up on accusations. But, ethically, we aren’t allowed to assume guilt.

    2. “would be what Doug would call the overflow of a “Postmil Eschatology.””

      So I would assume you’re familiar with Doug Wilson. It seems strange to me to be so engaged with the eschatology of an neo-confederate self-ordained “pastor” who advocates for child rapists, writes erotic novels, frequently engages in vulgarity both in and out of the pulpit, and whose latest episode in self-promotion, the “Man Rampant” talk show is quite literally a dirty joke?

      Isn’t Doug Wilson’s fitness to speak to the church at all the more critical point? Does his eschatology even matter, when his morality is so depraved?

      Do you consider Doug Wilson to meet the Scriptural qualifications of an elder?

  8. Glad to see you’re taking on The Jerk with the Kirk in Moscow ID.
    (Guy’s a real piece of work. Besides his pet pedos, remember his Bible defense of a Peculiar Institution regarding Animate Property?)

    Trying to take over the town like the Rajneeshees tried with Antelope OR, except cosplaying with bowlers and brollies and veddy veddy faux-British accents. Today Moscow Idaho, Tomorrow the World!

    P.S. Bethel (the grave-soaking necromancers) are also trying to pull a similar Rajneeshpuram in Redding, CA. Today Redding, Tomorrow The World!

  9. Very interesting article!

    I am skeptical of any movement involving Doug Wilson – among other things, he wrote an article at one point that seemed (to me) to justify Civil War slavery in the US:
    https://www.theaquilareport.com/a-question-for-doug-wilson-fans/

    He and his daughter, Rachel Jankovic, also appear to be very much against women preaching, which I personally support:
    https://www.workthegreymatter.com/potatoes-scandalzzz-rachel-jankovic-book-promotion/
    (this article talks more about the daughter’s beliefs, but I think it’s made clear from whom she got such beliefs)

    If this movement makes it to my neck of the woods in the East Coast, I’ll definitely be saying, “Thanks, but no thanks!”

  10. Wilson is a malignant narcissist and a cult leader. He has all the character of any cult leader. His charisma is building a following but his character is pure anti-Christ. The man is doomed to hell and is doing what the Pharisees did in Matt. 23:15.

  11. How is Rushdooney an Armenian? There is, what appears to me, a handful of errors in this article. Rushdooney is a Calvinist. Also, the hymn-sing wasn’t illegal, they had a permit.

  12. Neither the Republican nor the Democrat party follow the law of God. So why all the fuss about which ones unscriptural policies of the flesh are better?

    Republican greed and cheating the scales – That is in opposition to God’s law.

    Democrat abortion and gay marriage – That is in opposition to God’s law.

    I will not vote for either. But I will pray for the leaders so that we may spread the gospel in peace and harmony.

    1. Your characterizations are unfounded.

      Greed is every bit as rampant on the Democrat left as anywhere else, if not more. Most multi-billionaire swing Democrat, or at least leftist liberal. What do you do with that? But your spot on with abortion and gay mirage.

      And “cheating the scales?” Don’t even know what that means.

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