Nowhere to go, nothing to hide
Winter Christian #10
We have discussed some signs that WW3 is being engineered overseas, but the other question is what will happen at home. Jesus Christ said that we will be taken prisoner, brought to synagogues, and have to testify in front of powerful people. But how do we get from here to there?
As we contemplate the fate of Christians in the coming Green World Order, we can see early warning signs. This week, The Guardian’s Jason Wilson published a special piece on a certain “Christian nationalist ‘haven’ in Kentucky” that is still in the planning phase. Let’s see if we can gain any insights about how the world is preparing to use Christians as scapegoats in the near future.
Paranoid projection
The headline itself speaks volumes. “REVEALED” — as if they are shining a floodlight on criminals caught in the act. “Far-right” invokes Nazi imagery. “Christian nationalist” is another paranoid buzzword, applied to anyone who opposes globalism and happens to be Christian, not just wackos who believe Christians must monopolize religion and take over the government. But most importantly, their fear seems to revolve around the concept of a “Haven”, which is why they put it in scare quotes.
The media is paranoid about Christians who are willing to take action to protect themselves. This is why the NRA and lawful gun ownership by peaceful Christians is seen as more terrifying than soaring crime rates, massive illegal immigration, human trafficking by drug cartels, or high-level pedophile blackmail operations by our own intelligence agencies. The idea of a Christian “haven” is inherently worrying to them for some reason. Just ask yourself: if this place were being prepared for a Jewish haven, a Hindu haven, or an Atheist haven, would it be just as terrifying to them?
When you subconsciously want to kill an entire segment of the population, the idea of them escaping and preparing to defend themselves is terrifying. The idea that they know their rights, own firearms, and can sustain themselves during the collapse of society means they won’t be helpless victims when the time comes to purge them.
Their paranoia is a form of projection. As Rene Girard explains in his model, guilty people always have to blame others and find a scapegoat, and it always ends up being somebody who’s innocent. Even the Old Testament reminds us that those who plan to do evil live in the fear of the righteous:
The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
—Proverbs 28:1
In other words, paranoid projection is ancient.
Redoubt
The article goes on to discuss the details of this seemingly wholesome isolationist group, who are trying to create a modest residential community for themselves and those who share their traditional values.
The promoters have presented the planned development as an “aligned community” for rightwingers who want to “disappear from the cultural insanity of the broader country” and “spearhead the revival of the region”.
The move is the latest effort by the far-right to establish geographical enclaves, following in the footsteps of movements like the so-called “American Redoubt”, which encourages rightwingers to engage in “political migration” to areas in the interior of the Pacific north-west.
The term “redoubt” means a place of refuge and safety, where people can retreat to in times of crisis. It’s generally fortified, and can defend itself from attacks. To the extent that the American Redoubt movement happened (in 2016), it hasn’t reshaped the nation’s political system. Tens of millions of immigrants have flooded into Texas and distributed themselves to low-population states that were once deeply conservative, and the conservatives have been losing on a federal level. But a redoubt is not intended to go on the offensive, by definition. It is an escape.
Why are shelters scary to liberals? Aren’t progressives obsessed with tolerance, diversity, and “safe spaces”—to the point where they endrose racial segregation in universities? And yet they quake at the thought of a minority group having their own chunk of land where they keep to themselves and don’t bother anyone.
“New Founding” Fathers of America?
Speaking of a potential purge, is it simply a coincidence that the group in question calls itself “New Founding”? Those who remember the 2013 stinker The Purge and its sequels (I never watched them) may know that their fictional political party was called “The New Founding Fathers of America”…
In the 2013 film, America collapses and both political parties go extinct. In its place, a one-party system of fascist dictatorship seizes power and implements a special holiday called “The Purge”, where every crime including murder is legal for one day. But secretly, the fascist New Founding government uses this opportunity to send out death squads and kill the undesirables in society. These types of dark fantasies fill the minds of tolerant progressives, who perpetually see themselves as guarding society against a new American Hitler, who they fear will be swept into power by a base of angry, equally paranoid, heavily-armed evangelical Christian fanatics. Another clear example is the ongoing TV series The Handmaid’s Tale (2017), based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, which tells a similar story of right-wing takeover and population control.
Although this idea would normally be absurd, the Trump + QAnon phenomena in particular raises legitimate concerns about the military’s role in ultraconservativism and fascist nationalism. As readers of this Substack will know, I believe Trump is a military asset designed to lure in evangelical and rural Americans and ultimately serve as an Antichrist figure who ruins the world, thus drawing blame back to the Christians who supported him. “The Storm” is still on the menu according to those who worship Trump as the great savior of America. Obviously, both a purge and a storm are designed to sweep away filth—one by flame, and the other by deluge. Creating cities for evangelicals to hide in is also in Trump’s agenda.
Freedom cities and shmucks
Donald Trump’s official website includes his “Agenda 47” plan, which we have discussed in the past. Here’s part of a transcript where he describes his wish to create what he called “Freedom Cities”:
In other words, we’ll actually build new cities in our country again. These Freedom Cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact, the American Dream.
New Founding’s real estate scheme seems poised to take advantage of the same desire, only with a smaller budget and no real plan. It may very well be a beta test. As Jason Wilson points out in his article, the group is looking to buy up acres of dirt-cheap land and turn a do-nothing dump into overpriced magnets for conservatives who’ll pay a premium for leaving liberal hellholes.
“Utopian communities have long been a feature of the American landscape, but this may be more of a money-driven land speculation project with a culture war angle than an effort to create a utopian project in the classic sense”, said Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers, a key book on Christian nationalism. [emphasis mine]
I think Katherine Stewart nails it, actually. The piece goes on to quote Heidi Beirich, co-founder and chief strategy officer of the “Global Project against Hate and Extremism”, “How are you going to impose political views on your buyers? What are the litmus tests going to be?” This is also a fair point.
The Federal Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and other categories in the sale of housing.
The Guardian asked [Joshua] Abbotoy [the managing director] via email whether he reserved the right to deny prospective purchasers of land intended for the “aligned community” and on what basis. He did not respond.
According to its website, New Founding seeks to “build and back companies defined by American ideals and a positive national vision”, that it “explicitly oppose[s] DEI/ESG and the bureaucratization of American business culture” and targets “customers disfavored by corrosive ideologies”.
What exactly would prevent these communities by being overrun by Open Society backed activist groups? Depending on how New Founding’s project goes, we may see adjustments in Trump’s plan for Freedom Cities. A private solution is almost always preferable to a federal or state project, especially for the modern military “front company” modus operandi.
Be wary of false hope. The Winter Christian does not look for an escape, but faces the servants of Satan with love and truth.
Light of the world, city on a hill
Let’s face it, there’s no place to hide in the coming collapse, especially if it’s prophecy. I have nothing against people trying to optimize their last days, and I love farms, but don’t you think clustering into an obscure little village would just make it easier for FBI agents to round you all up (on suspicion of being domestic terrorists, probably,) or for mercenary anarchists to kill everyone if that’s what it comes to? And if you want to arm yourselves and shoot your way out of the situation, not only are you violating Christ’s commandment to love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44), but you will only justify and provoke a greater response by the military to wipe out your “haven”. Forming your own militia is not viable in the modern era. It’s exactly what the progressive world is paranoid about, and preparing to crack down on. The Winter Christian will not play into the trap of self-defense and survivalism.
It will be better to stay in your existing town and allow them to arrest you on false charges. Jesus did not tell us to flee and hide, but said it would be a time to serve as witnesses. We have nowhere to go and nothing to hide. Evil will come for us. We will be unable to stop it. No election, location, or munition can be your salvation. Only God in Heaven controls your destiny. Trust Him and you will always end up where you’re supposed to be.
The world wants us to run. They want us paranoid. It proves them right. Loading up on ammunition and retreating into the woods is an old stereotype by now. The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Stand and fight the only war that matters: the war to remain a light to the world.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
—Matthew 5:14
Redoubts are hidden. Refuge is hidden. We are meant to be seen. We are meant to shine forth when everything else is darkness. When winter closes in, where will people turn for warmth? Indeed, the very cross of Jesus was on a hill, and he was raised up for the world to see, stripped and bloodied, hiding nothing. That is our example and our Savior.
I think the reason Christians should prepare for what lies ahead is to provide a safe place or sanctuary for those in their community who will be in need. I see the red horse and black horse, with the resulting loss of human life as being before the prophesied persecution. We may have a long dark, road ahead of us before we are relieved of our witness on this earth. Jesus did say that those who try to save their lives will lose it, but those who are willing to lose their lives for His sake will keep it. The idea of caring for those in our immediate surroundings has mostly vanished from the church. It has been replaced with the 'focus on the family', which in my opinion is just a softer variant of the prosperity gospel. Historically the focus of believing Christians was the Church, not the family. When the Church was the central. organizing structure of the christian life we ran hospitals, schools, universities, homeless shelters, orphanages, etc. We were salt and light and the rest of the world saw our good works and glorified out Father in heaven. The prosperity gospel and Christian feminism changed all that by funneling a large majority of the churches tithes into multi-thousand person campuses and feel good, self help messaging instead of community support programs. I believe it is this shallow, narcissist re-framing of Jesus teachings that has laid the groundwork for the collapse of western civilization. There are a few exceptions. The recent charges against an Ohio pastor who refuses to stop sheltering the homeless is one example. This should be what every church in North America does, but for some reason Christians appeal to the increasingly unbelieving state to obey the very commands that Christ gave to his followers.
Peace
It's better to testify before wicked people than to exist in an echo chamber. Tell them to bring it on. We all die anyways. Is not our very lives in the hands of God? Is it in a gun? Or land? Or money? Or connections?
If we accept reality if what it is, we look to the future promise and this world can go to hell.