“The Family”-Some Scary Christians

It is not often that a book sends chills up and down my spine. I don’t feel that way when I am reading apocalyptic interpretations of modern history based on odd interpretations of Revelations, Daniel, and so on. I don’t feel that way when I am reading about the latest attempt of our denomination to shoot itself in the foot, or knee cap. But Jeff Sharlet gave me shivers.

To think that there is a Christian network woven into American imperial notions leaves me feeling dull inside. I can believe it. It is like a bad dream come true. All of a sudden, all those anti-Christian and anti-American diatribes that we hear on al-Jazeera have a toe hold in reality.

I would not consider myself a political junkie exactly. I think I am just experimenting at the moment, but this book may be the gateway.

So there was the Religious Right, there was the Moral Majority, there was the Christian Coalition, a whole set of expressions of fundamentalist and some evangelical leanings in the political spectrum. But they are public, seeking to ride the news cycle, engaged in the political games of the day. This ‘Fellowship’ or ‘Family’ under the leadership of Douglas Coe bypasses that. Their agenda seems to be within the halls of power, intermingling with the well-placed and whispering in their ears, not standing up and demonstrating in front of their faces.

I see some real theological confusion going on with the covenant God made with the people of Israel through Moses and the covenant these folks seem to see between God and America.

The covenant God made with Moses, reiterating the promises made to Abraham, promising security, prosperity, a land to live in, blessings to those who bless them, cursings to those who curse them, all that came by direct revelation. All that was verbally and completely dictated by God-millennia ago. I do not believe God is re-issuing a variation of the covenant theme with the USA.

The Christian faith now is dictated by the records of those earlier times, the canon of Scripture closed centuries ago. Some may think it weird that the largest faith on the planet takes it lead from a book closed 1600 years ago, a book compiled over several thousand years, but that is for a different blogsideration.

The Family seems to move under a principle of new revelation. Mr. Sharlet does not come out and explicitly use that kind of theological language, but he is a reporter, not a theologian. And as a rather thickly Bible-led Christian, I have trouble explaining what the Family is doing otherwise.

I think the best defense we have is the light of day. Mr. Sharlet’s book provides a whole lot of light and I thank him.