No Paywall:
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fideas%2Farchive%2F2023%2F06%2Fchristian-movement-new-apostolic-reformation-politics-trump%2F674320%2F
The reformation meant recognizing new apostles—men and women believed to have God-given spiritual authority as leaders. It meant modern-day prophets—people believed to be chosen by God to receive revelations through dreams and visions and signs. It meant spiritual warfare, which was not intended to be taken metaphorically, but actually demanded the battling of demons that could possess people and territories and were so real that they could be diagrammed on maps.
It meant portals: specific openings where demonic or angelic forces could enter—eyes or mouths, for instance, or geographic locations such as Azusa Street in Los Angeles, scene of a seminal early-20th-century revival. It meant the rise of the Manifest Sons of God, an elite force that would be endowed with supernatural powers for spiritual and perhaps actual warfare.
Most significant, the new reformation required not just personal salvation but action to transform all of society. Christians were to reclaim the fallen Earth from Satan and advance the Kingdom of God, and this idea was not metaphorical either. The Kingdom would be a social pyramid, at the top of which was a government of godly leaders dispensing biblical laws and at the bottom of which was the full manifestation of heaven on Earth, a glorious world with no poverty, no racism, no crime, no abortion, no homosexuality, two genders, one kind of marriage, and one God: theirs.
Reading this article feels terrifying.....by the sheer ignorance of the people covered. They believe they are acting on behalf of God, literally. It feels like a doomsday cult.
Same. Every time I hear people being scammed millions of dollars, I would be like, "why are these people falling for scams so rich?"
I'm biased but I believe it was way easier to make money in the past based on growth and economic performance. Like imagine if the house you bought increased in value 4x and the stock market absolutely exploded upward. It would be hard to lose, you just needed a little bit of play money to kick start it all.
Isn't that like actual verified fact thought? Just looking at the growth (or lack thereof) of wages vs. executive compensation will tell you that money is getting increasingly concentrated in the hands of a smaller group of people.
You can thank eg. that fucking sociopath Thatcher and the useful idiot Reagan.