Occupy Evangelism

By Rev. Thomas Littleton

In this decade, we have witnessed a wave of invaders into the West. Hordes of refugees, illegal aliens, sexual minorities, and various victims of injustice are currently invading our lands and our institutions.  We find very little in these movements to be organic once the media deems them newsworthy. Driven by politics, globalism, multiculturalism, egalitarianism, and activism, every latest cause is wrapped in the appropriate tone and marketed with fervor – complete with compulsory compliance and emotional conditioning. The invasion of our cultural institutions has become a national mandate. Why then should
we think the Church exempt from these forces and those whose outside interests are served by them?

Movements Become Institutions

Some of these movements become Institutions themselves, or at least remain as “occupying forces,” establishing themselves as “permanent reminders” of the “injustices our institutions have long perpetuated” (Although permanence may only be as sustainable as the funding and media attention).  One such force that took up residence in the collective view has been “Black Lives Matter,” which has now taken in a reported $100 million dollars to maintain its presence. Another shorter lived effort was “Occupy Wall Street,” which began September 2011 to protest “global economic inequality” on the doorstep of the American financial district.

Perhaps because busy news cycles coupled with short American attention spans demand attention grabbing headlines, most of these movements eventually fade or become rancid from the very corruptions, lawsuits, and inequalities of the giants they set out to protest. In the Church, we have seen a slightly different species of these movements because theological limitations in the past easily exposed those who depart Christian orthodoxy for progressive mantras like Social Justice and Income Inequality. Yet today we see a new occupying force that has taken hold like a hardy weed in the Evangelical garden.  In Biblical terms it is like the enemy who crept into the field undetected and sowed Tares (Weeds), as informed by Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matt 13:24-30). The result is that harvesting the envisioned bounty of the Field sown by the Lord of the Harvest becomes problematic once the Weeds have sprung up. The Lord does have a remedy for this predicament, but it is not a pleasant one for the Weeds.

The common misperception is that the Field has been neglected or there is no problem with the presence of the Weeds among the precious Wheat. This is not an accurate assessment at all. Today Evangelicals ARE becoming aware of the work of the Enemy in God’s Field. We have begun to see the false grain as the crop appears in the light of day, per vs 26-27 of the parable. These unusable, disowned, vulgar looking and tasting plants are not just a few easily removed weeds scattered here and there.  They have become an OCCUPYING FORCE IN EVANGELICALISM.

Five Clear Signs of The Weed Occupation

Nothing has done more to reveal the Weeds in the Evangelical Church than President Obama’s courtship and patronage of the Faith Community.

Sign 1. The Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships carried over from the President George W.Bush years easily attracted the garden variety Weeds out of their proverbial earthy closets as a host of Evangelicals joined the President and massive amounts of tax and stimulus dollars in the melting pot of inter-faith common ground for the common good feeding frenzy. The concerns for co-mingling the mission of the Church and endangering religious freedom were of NO consideration for the Pastor Weed and Professor Compost, who has been poisoning Evangelical theology to grow more Weeds in his seminary.

Sign 2. Early in the President Obama years the brazen language of “Third Way” politics entered the Field to secure the interests of the Occupation Forces. Chanting a unified mantra “Evangelicals are too political,” the Weeds adapted the Third Way political strategy of Centrism – trying to reconcile Right Wing and Left Wing politics by advocating a variable synthesis of Center Right economic and Center Left social policies. Third Way Evangelicalism only differs from Third Way politics in that Occupying Evangelicalism forces
are trying to reconcile Progressive political /social views with Conservative Orthodox theology. Quite a clever and, sadly, effective approach. Third Way: Come Let Us Reason Together: A Governing Agenda to End the Culture Wars

The Trump Panic
Nothing has caused more desperation in the Weed bed than the prospect of and decisive election of Donald J Trump as the US President. The Evangelical Weeds have been on a tear, pardon the pun, to reverse the damage done by the “sinful Evangelicals” in God’s garden who dared to vote for such a man as Trump.

Sign 3. The media blitz is currently in full swing as Next Gen/Weeds join a chorus of Old Guard/Compost producers calling out the sin of the evil Evangelical Conservative voter. In the following interview, an aging spokesperson for weed seed factory, The Gospel Coalition (TGC),pitches the talking points to an ABC news anchor. Evangelical leader Collin Hansen believes we live in ‘a culture full of fear and loathing

Sign 4. TGC MLK/ 50 Conference featured the chosen language of the Tares to communicate its message through victim narratives of Cultural Marxist highlighting advocacy for LGBTQ, Refugees, Illegals and, of course, Racial Identity politics. The video above promoted TGC event the MLK/ 50 Conference in Memphis . TGC has provided many of the false guilt producing videos of MLK/50 on race baiting, white privilege repenting, reparations advocacy, income inequality mantra, all in Liberation Theology echo chamber, and hateful Weedy finger pointing. For those with a strong stomach, you can follow on to the next weeks Together 4 the Gospel 2018 for more of the same.

Sign 5. When things get really tough, call for a special meeting on the down-low, by invitation only Tares to “Discuss the future of Evangelicalism after Trump.” Janet Mefferd dubbed this meeting “The Bilderberg Group attempts to save Evangelicalism.”  We are not sure who appointed this Weed and Compost Committee or if they have simply taken it upon themselves to decide our futures.  The reality is God does tend His Garden and these men and women ought to seriously consider whose planting they are. Though the Lord of the Harvest allows the Wheat and Tares to grow together, they do not have the same end. True repentance – as opposed to fake repentance driven by Third Way Cultural Marxism / Social Science spin – can still change a human heart and destiny.