Hey so I still see people utterly baffled by how religious fundies (still a majority in America and moreso its senate) react on certain issues so uhhh is it actually not common knowledge what the antichrist is all about? You guys know his defining characteristic is ending war, right? That he’s foretold to unite the world under his leadership by preaching global peace and solving basically every single problem in the world? So you know when you try to talk to these people about equality and togetherness they literally believe that’s what makes you an agent of the devil right???
im sorry what. so. ok im assuming they think that this is all like. to gain trust and then take over or something? because.
Yes, he’s called the “antichrist” because he’s an imposter Jesus and the majority of the world will love him when he ends all class divides and erases all borders, creating one world government with him at the top. That’s the “new world order” they’re terrified of. But they think he’ll oppress true Christian believers who see through his ruse, which is why they’re constantly looking for signs that they’re being discriminated against and panic when they lose any control over government. This is why they fear diversity, immigration, socialized anything. The less religious right are pretty clearly still running on the same logic; they might drop some of the spiritual lore but this is where they get the idea that all progressivism leads to the “real” fascism. Some believe the antichrist isn’t a literal person either but just that entire set of beliefs, so everyone protesting against war and trying to feed the hungry is a *collective* antichrist.
So from the notes it turns out people are MUCH less familiar with all this than I suspected and that’s honestly kind of alarming, guys, you should really really pay attention to things that affect so much of this country. No these are absolutely not obscure or fringe beliefs, these are MAINSTREAM with megachurches, Trump voters, the GOP and a vast proportion of the wealthy. Alex Jones and multiple Fox News hosts openly believe word for word what I described here.
And yeah as several people pointed out it isn’t even explicitly in the bible, but something some radicals pieced together in maybe only the last century. My uncles all believe it to the letter and they all believe it’s what the Bible is “supposed” to be communicating.
A lot of people are also confused as to why they would believe the peace and unity are villainous things and what the difference even is then between the “antichrist” and actual Jesus, which brings me to another thing I realize some folks CRITICALLY overlook about American Christianity, which is that they do not believe in good or bad deeds. They believe the same deed can be right or wrong strictly according to whether or not it’s performed by a believer with God’s stamp of approval. Like, they KNOW the Satanic Church and Witch Covens do community service or donate to cancer research and they are not confused, surprised, bitter or embarrassed by that at all. It’s exactly what they’re taught to expect. They believe the forces of Satan do primarily “good” things so people will think he’s just as good or better than God. So if a pastor heals a sick child with a prayer then that’s good, but if a “witch” heals the same sick child with “magic” (not something I believe exists, but they do) then that’s a false miracle from the devil and the child was better off dying because now everyone involved is a sinner who deserves hell. They’re taught to view you as a ridiculous fool if you don’t grasp this difference, and every single argument you might make is a part of the satanic trickery.
After all, they think our entire existence on this Earth is an insignificant speck in the grand scheme of things. The suffering in the world isn’t a bug to them, but a feature that God set up to test everyone’s worthiness, teach them lessons and filter out the faithless, so they actively do not believe it’s always morally right in itself to help people or save lives. Rather, certain people are just intended to suffer and die and it can be MORE wrong to help them.
Sorry to put this big ass thing on your dashboards again but I’m downright awestruck by the notes. There’s 15,500 of them at the time of this reblog and almost zero disagreement, just hundreds of people expressing absolute terror that they didn’t realize they were living under the thumb of a doomsday cult, and I’m really really sorry for that because I really did not expect to be the bearer of that news to so many. If you haven’t looked at the notes for yourself though, they’re pretty eye opening even to me, especially the next most common type of response on it:
….And something I’ve heard before but still neglected to mention:
…..so that’s all pretty nightmarish confirmation of how pervasive this mindset is around here, but you know, if the majority of reactions to this information have been either “what the fuck are you talking about?” or “yeah I WAS taught this and I’m better now,” maybe that’s a sign that it’s slowly but consistently fading with every generation?
I actually wasn’t raised religious AT ALL, and it was still impossible for me to not hear this shit constantly in the 80′s and 90′s from basically everyone outside my immediate family. It’d even crop up on television and radio stations that weren’t even supposed to be christian-oriented. Just boom, there’s an evangelist suddenly talking about how Only God is Allowed to End War and Satan Takes the Form of Kindness, like these were just normal banal perspectives to toss in between a relationship advice segment and the latest movie reviews. I’m really proud of every person saying they escaped from that indoctrination and actually feel much better and more hopeful about the whole thing. It might not be fixed completely in our lifetimes but clearly it is fixable.
I was going full wait this can’t be real but uhhh this article provides a good summary of this phenomenon
How fundamentalist Christians who believe in the apocalyptic myth of “the rapture” could be shaping Trump’s agenda — and American life
Relevant again
Back when I realized this, in an argument with a fundamentalist-raised friend about whether the Joker could go to heaven, of all things, it hit me that their whole moral philosophy is broken. This type of fanatic does not have an actual ethical backbone. They don’t have real morality. They have an argument from a very nebulous authority. They think that morality comes from god, and that things can only be moral or ethical if they align with god’s will which is what’s in the book. Why is the book ethical? Because it’s inspired by god. How do they know it’s inspired by god? Well, you’re asking that because you’re immoral and trying to knock them off the right path.
Basically, when asked "Is morality loved by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is loved by the God?“ they are stuck on the second and pointing out any problems with either means you’re trying to send them to Hell.
And while it’s true a good damned many of them WANT to see you go to Hell for disagreeing, there’s also a bunch that are simply unable to face the world without this philosophy because it’s all they know. If they question the veracity of the Bible, then it means they don’t have an authority to look to, they need to rely on their own personal ethics and it’s like taking the wrong block out of a Jenga tower. Their whole identity and framework of behavior can come falling down. Total eclipse of the soul. An existential crisis.
Pretty sure this sort of thing is why they (Not the christians, but some other group of people who just couldn’t handle these sorts of questions) killed Socrates, but I’m not an expert on that.
Point is, they are mistaken on a fundamental question about morality and you can’t argue with them, you can only offer a welcoming place when the tower comes down on it’s own.
two questions: one, was anyone else taught that America is the new isreal or is that just a particular quirk of mormonism (and/or just my mom’s)?
but more importantly, two: anyone else who grew up in that and got out, do you see how it would be just as easy to see trump as an antichrist/ agent of satan? like hes literally coopting faith and faithful, without believing in the slightest- like, hes literally leading them astray? hes doing the thing theyre fear mongering about???? idk it just baffles me. maybe ive been out of the habit of that particularly type of double thinking too long to get it anymore. but teen me would have called his ass for a devil among the lambs a mile away
I have, personally, been coming to terms over the last few years with the fact that I was definitely raised incredibly evangelical/fundie. More than I realized.
Some resources for people like me, or anyone hoping to see more realistically what these people believe, and what people like me were raised to believe:
Tribulation Farce - Podcast, where an ex-evangelical couple read through and disect (and mock) the Left Behind series. These books were HUGE when I was a kid, and they outline (and may even have helped jump-start the popularity of) a lot of the end-times stuff talked about in this post.
Fundie Fridays - YouTuber, I believe her and her husband are non-/never-religious people who do deep dives into fundies/evangelicals and their beliefs. Always from a well-researched and compassionate pov.
Shiny Happy People - Docu-series, Netflix, a deep look into IBLP and The Duggars. Personally responsible for my roommates being traumatized by my familiarity with the beliefs espoused by the group. Fundie Fridays appears in the series.
Reads With Rachael - YouTuber, mostly a booktuber, she's also ex-fundie and occasionally covers Christian books that definitely fall in line with the beliefs in this post. She's also just fun to watch lol
