[Posted at Bene Diction Blogs On, Jan. 22nd 2011]
Political conspiracy theories usually make me laugh. But I don't think it that amusing when Christians, who should know better, wander into the fever swamps. And I've found a new example of all these poisoned streams starting to mix.
Rick Joyner was recently on Sid Roth's TV show It's Supernatural, with a prophetic dream, that the "foundations" of the United States are burning and it is up to the church to run and get a garden hose and put out the fire. Fair enough, but in addition to selling his message "Will America Survive 2011" through Roth's program, he is still peddling the wacky conspiracy theories of William Boykin.
The retired US lieutenant-general's latest video message is available along with Joyner's message through Roth's program. in addition to this a few minutes of this episode of Sid Roth's program with Rick Joyner is given over to several of Boykin's theories. Namely, that the financial bailout in the US is a defacto nationalization of property in a Marxist way, as happened in Castro's Cuba. Obamacare will be a socialist redistribution of wealth. Moreover, the enabling leglislation of Obamascare contains a small clause that allows Obama to set up his own private citizen army.
As someone who is conservative, I believe that you can critique Obama and his policies. But, lapsing into the nutty, or helping people to spread their nuttiness, is disrespectful. It's also unChristlike.
I'm reminder of something that William F. Buckley, who worked to discredit the John Birch Society amongst conservatives, once wrote. I won't be able to remember it in his articulate way, but he argued that it is wrong to assume that people always know the bad effects of what they might advocate. Thus, it's usually safer to assume that your rhetorical opponents aren't part of a big bad conspiracy.
The John Birch Society published a book that argued Buckley was a "pied piper" for the communists' allies, but I think that he was very wise. If conservative Christians in the US want their critique of Obama to be listened to, they need to be sure that their concerns are solid and factual. Speculating that Obama may be readying to have a new version of Hitler's brown shirts makes you sound incredible, and not like Jesus, at the same time.