The Evangelical "Mainstream" Insanity Behind the Michigan "End Times" Militia

[Joanne98]

A federal prosecutor in Michigan says authorities decided to arrest members of the Hutaree Christian militia after learning "they were prepared to kill."

When I first learned of the news I went to the Hutaree Militia homepage and was struck by the fact that their site included links to a number of evangelical "End Times" sites like that of the Jack Van Impe ministries.

In the 1970s and 80s I appeared several times with Jack Van Impe on his TV program. His act was to predict the "imminent" return of Jesus. My act was to raise money for my latest far religious right effort to make abortion illegal.

As the son of well known evangelicals and far right leader Francis Schaeffer I was in the middle of the chain of events that led to the arrests of men prepared to kill cops for Jesus. The rhetoric we in the early pro-life movement unleashed combined, with the apocalyptic fantasies of the fundamentalist evangelicals, is a deadly brew.

As I describe in detail in my books Crazy For God and Patience With God this movement has a deep evangelical background. In fact I've been predicting violence from these people for years now, something I talk about in detail in Patience With God (from which I drew material for this article since I have a whole chapter there about the "Left Behind" cult).

My warnings have been largely ignored by the mainstream media who haven't a clue as to the sort of religious paranoia boiling in the Tea Party and other movements.

Continued>>>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/the-evangelical-mainstrea_b_520990.html

[OHdem10]

1. They ignore these teachings at the countries peril. Do not overlook

Hagee.

[Joanne98]

2. Hagee's the worst.

[safeinOhio]

3. Local Adrian Pastor speaks up

Hutaree beliefs not Christian
http://www.lenconnect.com/extras/hutaree/x1838123068/Pastor-professor-Hutaree-beliefs-not-Christian
By Dan Cherry


Daily Telegram
Posted Apr 02, 2010 @ 05:19 PM
ADRIAN, Mich. —
An Adrian pastor says the beliefs put forth by the Michigan-based, radical Christian militia Hutaree appear to have come from taking a few scriptural verses out of context and then building a theological worldview around them.
That view was echoed by a Western Michigan University professor who has been following the case.
Pastor Joel Sarrault from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Adrian said the Hutaree, like other fringe groups throughout history, often corrupt Christian teachings to suit their own agenda.
“They make the error that has long been a part of history,” Sarrault said. “They take one or two Scripture verses out of context and build an entire theory of doctrine and philosophy.

Good for this guy.

[kristopher]

6. Ah, the inevitable "No true Christian" fallacy...

They say they are Christian, All their lives they've been recognized individually within their peer groups as Christian, but suddenly, they aren't Christian.

It is amazing how that works...

Christianity is not only a religion, it is an ethnic identity. Inclusion in ethnic groups is established by individual being either self-identified and/or identified by others as being members of that group.

There is absolutely no question that these people are representatives of "Christians" including both their specific church and the broader ethnic group that identifies as Christian.

Christians need to own their bad side. Pedophilia, war, greed, hate; any number of evil practices find a home and support within the context of religion and the situation is made worse by denying the link between the unifying principle inherent in monotheistic religions and the antisocial behavior of many of the adherents to these belief systems.

[boomerbust]

4. Mainstream?

These people are anything but mainsteam Christian values that I grew up with.

[handmade34]

7. there are many levels of thought

within Christianity. While you and many others have been fortunate enough to experience the positive that can come from the Christian Church, do not dismiss the fact that there are many more that experience a more radical, unhealthy, dysfunctional Christianity. I can count my mother (from Michigan) in that group and I have come across many other people that buy into all the lunacy. We must step outside of our own experience and understand what really does exist in this big world.

[madrchsod]

5. the national media has been ignoring the far right militias and...

other aryan nation groups for years and years. i`m not surprised about any of what has happened.

[Kablooie]

8. Welcome to the Christian Jihad. They are exactly the same kind of people.

[Enthusiast]

9. They act as if

the Tom Lahaye books are supplements to the bible. This end times thing has become a huge money maker for the unscrupulous pretenders.