Pastor Pete's Pulpit

@SecWar's Office of Religious Affairs.
   

Sept 28th, 2026

Among a half-dozen program announcements he made at his latest Quantico "State of the Force" presentation was his establishment of the "Office of Religoius Affairs," slated to report directly to him, noted theological scholar that he is.

 

I helpfully annotated the document image posted on X by his war.gov deputy Sean Parnell.

 

IN RELATED NEWS

 

New book release coming from Matthew D. Taylor.

 

Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists
by Matthew D. Taylor 

"Quite simply, Defying Tyrants is a book every Christian should read." --Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne.

In this powerhouse book, an expert on Christian extremism issues a profound and biblical rebuke to all who would claim the name of Jesus but disdain his way.

Christian fixation with political power is the theological emergency of our time, and in Defying Tyrants, Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force, traces the origins of Christian supremacy. Jesus directed his followers away from the race for power, but somewhere along the way, many Christians turned Jesus into a mascot for imperial domination. Where did it all go so wrong?

A trenchant reckoning with the murder, mayhem, and monsters of Christianity--from the early church and the Crusades to colonialism, slavery, and the Holocaust--Defying Tyrants demonstrates how imperialism has infected the body of Christ. With cogent argument and moral precision, Taylor excavates scriptural texts and unpacks the notion of Christian antichrists. When the term antichrist occurs in the Bible, it's frequently plural--not "The Antichrist" who populated the nightmares of fundamentalism's young people. Antichrists originate within the church and abuse people in the name of Christ. Christian antichrists justify harm and vengeance theologically, pointing people away from the God who entered humanity as a colonized peasant in the hinterlands of the Roman empire.

Both searing polemic and lyrical meditation, Defying Tyrants challenges us to put steel in the spine of Christian resistance to tyrants and reprimands the Christian leaders who bless them. It also spotlights a countertradition of Christians who have lived generous lives of sacrifice and stood up to authoritarians through the centuries. The gospel of Jesus pulls the rug out from under all human hierarchies, Taylor argues. In this brilliantly conceived and scrappy quarrel with Christian supremacy, he calls us to find in the teachings of Jesus and the witness of the early church a model of rebellion against tyrants of all kinds. Because if Jesus is Lord, Caesar isn't. [Amazon blurb]

I've cited Matthew before amid prior "Christian Nationalists" posts.

 

UPDATE

 

ALSO, GET A LOAD OF THIS CREW

 

www.newchristianright.com

 

Openly and unapologetically anti-democratic, anti-Islamic, antisemitic, and proudly misogynist.

 

 

Surf around on their website. Ugh.

BTW: Jus’ fer Grins, google “Life Surge Tim Tebow.”

 

AND, "GOD MADE TRUMP"

 

 

CODA

“Hegseth’s performance belongs to the same world as Trump’s gold. Each expresses a belief that power becomes legitimate when it looks impressive enough. More shine. More swagger. More insults. Surround yourself with famous men, furnish the room like a monarch and demand that everyone mistake the production for achievement.”

Now streaming: The Oaf of Office, Season 2

 

This appeared on TwitterX today, posted by a Trump insider:

1. Restoring Presidential Authority
Trump intends to reissue an executive order from 2020 which would restore the president's authority to remove federal employees, thereby allowing for the aggressive management or dismissal of federal workers.

2. Overhauling National Security and Intelligence
Trump's plan includes removing individuals from national security and intelligence agencies who have engaged in corrupt practices or have used these agencies against political adversaries.

3. Reform of FISA Courts
He proposes a comprehensive reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts to address issues where judges have ignored misleading information in warrant applications.

4. Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Plans to establish a commission to declassify and make public all documents related to alleged deep state activities like spying, censorship, and corruption.

5. Crackdown on Leaks
Trump plans to pursue legal actions against individuals involved in unauthorized leaks that contribute to misleading media narratives.

6. Independence of Inspectors General
Ensure that inspector general offices are physically separate from the departments they oversee to maintain objectivity and prevent them from becoming part of the entrenched bureaucracy.

7. Independent Auditing System
Establishment of a system to continually monitor intelligence agencies to prevent unauthorized surveillance of citizens or disinformation campaigns.

8. Geographic Redistribution of Bureaucracy
Continue the initiative of relocating federal offices outside of Washington, D.C., to other parts of the country, reducing the concentration of bureaucracy in the capital.

9. Ban on Post-Government Employment
Prohibit federal bureaucrats from taking positions at companies they previously regulated or dealt with to prevent conflicts of interest.

10. Term Limits for Congress
Push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, aiming to reduce the influence of long-term incumbents and refresh the political landscape.

Yeah. Blah, blah, blah. We'll see...

_________

  

A "White Christian Nationalist" theocracy drawing nigh, commencing Nov 5th?

Perhaps. My dubiety waxes and wanes with increasing frequency.

  

My initial Photoshop reaction.

“Gish Gallop," anyone?

 

Two lengthy, relevant, eminently credible reviews. Neil Shenvi, and Kevin DeYoung.

 

Recommended new reading by the impressive Tim Alberta.

 

 

November 5th will be here shortly. Read Rick Wilson.

Previously cited reads:

       

 

To cite just a few. 

 

Related prior posts: Let Us Prey, Onward Christian Soldiers, Project 2025, Claremont Institute.

OH, AND GET A LOAD OF THIS CREW 

Okeee Dokeee, then. 

 

While we're citing books, this is topically pertinent: 

 

This one is by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. It had been scheduled for release in September, but they've delayed it until November 12th, a week after the election. It contains an inconvenient "Forward" by Trump running mate J.D. Vance.
 

 

There's a brief "sample" on Amazon (non-downloadable) comprising the first half-dozen pages of Chapter 1. It does not include the J.D. Vance Forward. 

 

Another curiosity: They altered the original cover art text. Note that "Burning Down Washington" (w/ the cute little wooden matchstick) is now the more bland Project 2025-ish, "Taking Back Washinton."

 

 

UPDATE

If you're not yet overstuffed with Biblical doom stuff, this is a doozy.

 

Good grief.

 

Why am I reading all this stuff?

 

AUTHOR TIM ALBERTA ON BILL MAHER

Stay tuned...

_________

  

A Republic,

if we can keep it.

  

What part of the phrase "Explicit Contingent Threat of Violence" escapes you? What part of the phrase "Capitulate and Submit, or ELSE" escapes you?

JOYCE VANCE WHITE TWITTERX THREAD

A week ago, Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation & architect of Project 2025, responded to Democrats plans to take on Project 2025. Roberts said, “Project 2025 will not be stopped,” & that Democrats are “more than welcome to try” to stop it.

On Tuesday, Roberts was on Steve Bannon’s War room. It was minus Bannon, of course, because he’s in federal prison. Roberts told a guest host: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

Is Roberts threatening people who speak out with violence? What if they protest? What if they vote? He’s saying it will get bloody. The more we learn about Project 2025 and the people behind it, the worse it gets.

Roberts’ comments are not something we can just move on from. They must be taken seriously. It’s one thing for conservatives to like some of the policies Trump espouses. It’s an entirely different thing to suggest they’ll use violence against people who don’t agree. Roberts’ words come in a context and that context is Project 2025.

This morning in my newsletter Civil Discourse we continue to look at Project 2025 & Roberts into, one quote from it is below. Come learn the facts for yourself. 

MORE KEVIN ROBERTS

The Declaration of Independence famously asserted the belief of America’s Founders that “all men are created equal” and endowed with God-given rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It’s the last—“the pursuit of Happi- ness”—that is central to America’s heroic experiment in self-government. When the Founders spoke of “pursuit of Happiness,” what they meant might be understood today as in essence “pursuit of Blessedness.” That is, an individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained—to flourish. Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought. This pursuit of the good life is found primarily in family—marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners, and the like. 

That stuff is single-malt Adrian Vermeule (aged on the truck and served neat), i.e. "Common Good Constitutionalism," wherein Our Moral Betters dictate to us how we ought think and behave.

 

Forcibly, should Kevin Roberts et al deem it necessary.

 

KEVIN ROBERTS, PROJECTION 101

Ultimately, the Left does not believe that all men are created equal—they think they are special. They certainly don’t think all people have an unalienable right to pursue the good life. They think only they themselves have such a right along with a moral responsibility to make decisions for everyone else. They don’t think any citizen, state, business, church, or charity should be allowed any freedom until they first bend the knee. [Foreword, pg 16]

Cue the violins.

 

I guess I'm one of the hated "Left."

  

Bring it (knowing full well you'll delegate to some Proud Boys for the actual dirty work).

 

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION IRONY-FREE ZONE 

 

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING:

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF TOTAL BELIEVABILITY

 

SOME DETAIL FOR DISENGAGED DONNIE

PROJECT 2025 CONTRIBUTING ORGANIZATIONS (54)

Alabama Policy Institute


Alliance Defending Freedom


American Compass


The American Conservative


America First Legal Foundation
American Accountability Foundation
American Center for Law and Justice
American Cornerstone Institute
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Main Street Initiative
American Moment
American Principles Project


Center for Equal Opportunity


Center for Family and Human Rights
Center for Immigration Studies


Center for Renewing America


Claremont Institute


Coalition for a Prosperous America
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Conservative Partnership Institute
Concerned Women for America


Defense of Freedom Institute


Ethics and Public Policy Center


Family Policy Alliance


Family Research Council


First Liberty Institute


Forge Leadership for Defense of Democracies
Foundation for Government Accountability
FreedomWorks


The Heritage Foundation


Hillsdale College


Honest Elections Project
Independent Women’s Forum


Institute for the American Worker
Institute for Energy Research


Institute for Women’s Health
Intercollegiate Studies Institute


James Madison Institute


Keystone Policy


The Leadership Institute


Liberty University


National Association of Scholars


National Center for Public Policy Research
Pacific Research Institute


Patrick Henry College


Personnel Policy Operations


Recovery for America Now Foundation
1792 Exchange

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America


Texas Public Policy Foundation


Teneo Network


Young America’s Foundation

Be interesting to have a look at their respective annual IRS 990 returns where germane.

 

CODA

_________

   

Hillsdale College whiffs, big-time

 

   

So, I just got this unsolicited fat snailmail pitch. An envelope containing a quarter-inch of fervent exhortatory materials (replete w/ ill-advised postage-paid return) urging that I contribute $$$ generously to help fight The Increasingly Menacing Evil Woke CRT DEI Marxists.

Wrong guy, peeps.  (Hmmm... what might I put in that envelope to send back?)

CLICK

apropos,

"Required reading for anyone seeking to understand Christian nationalism." —Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne

A propulsive account of the network of charismatic Christians that consolidated support for Donald Trump and is reshaping religion and politics in the US.

Over the last decade, the Religious Right has evolved. Some of the more extreme beliefs of American evangelicalism have begun to take hold in the mainstream. Scholar Matthew D. Taylor pulls back the curtain on a little-known movement of evangelical Christians who see themselves waging spiritual battles on a massive scale. Known as the New Apostolic Reformation, this network of leaders and believers emerged only three decades ago but now yields colossal influence, galvanizing support for Trump and far-right leaders around the world. In this groundbreaking account, Taylor explores the New Apostolic Reformation from its inception in the work of a Fuller Seminary professor, to its immense networks of apostles and prophets, to its role in the January 6 riot. Charismatic faith provided righteous fuel to the fire that day, where symbols of spiritual warfare blazed: rioters blew shofars, worship music blared, and people knelt in prayer. This vision of charismatic Christianity now animates millions, lured by Spirit-filled revival and visions of Christian supremacy.

Taylor's unprecedented access to the movement's leaders, archives, internal conference calls, and correspondence gives us an insider account of the connection between charismatic evangelicalism and hard-right rhetoric. Taylor delves into prophetic memes like the Seven Mountains Mandate, the Appeal to Heaven flag, and the Cyrus Anointing; Trump's spiritual advisor Paula White's call for "angelic reinforcements"; and Sean Feucht and Bethel Music's titanic command of worship styles across America. Throughout, Taylor maps a movement of magnetic leaders and their uncompromising beliefs--and where it might be headed next. When people long to conquer a nation for God, democracy can be brought to the brink. [Amazon blurb]

PAGE 1 SNIP

   

SPIRITUAL WARRIORS 2024

THE CHRISTIAN WHITE NATIONALIST FLEA MARKET OF IDEAS

 

Tangentially, heard this while in the car.

 

 UPDATE

From the latest issue of Science Magazine,

Anthropologist and primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s impressive new book, Father Time, is a natural history that examines the biggest picture of hominim evolution in search of a small but important development in modern society: an increase in the care and nurturing of babies by men. Hrdy’s earlier works on the evolution of mothering and maternal instincts, Mother Nature (1999) and Mothers and Others (2009), also considered much of the paternal side of hominim parenting, but in her telling, the origins of her interest in fathers began with The Langurs of Abu (1977)…

In Hrdy’s analysis, men’s ancient limbic systems have been restimulated to engage more actively in childcare by modern developments that include the increased costs of educating and caring for children, women working in larger numbers, more men engaged in co-parenting, gay marriage, and the many options available to prospective parents, including in vitro fertilization, for creating hybrid families. As she has experienced in her own family, the more time men spend with babies, the more nurturing they become.

       

Ahhh... don't let the Hillsdale peeps (or Mizzou Senator Manhood Hawley) know. Oh, the Horrors!

    

UPDATE

In November, Calvin Hayden spoke to a fringe gathering of “America First” conservatives at a church in Kansas City. He told the crowd at Hope Family Fellowship Church that they were in the middle of a war between good and evil, that the Apple logo reminded him of Eve eating forbidden fruit, and that “a lot of the LGBT stuff and questioning the gender” might really be a Communist Chinese plot to “demasculinize our men and our warriors.” [ HuffPo ]

Calvin Hayden is the Sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas. Good grief.

  

UPDATE:

THE STORM IS COMING.

JASON STORM, WITH, AMONG OTHER THINGS, HIS "MANHOOD RESTORED BOOT CAMPS"

 

Another self-appointed, incoherent Christian Nationalist "Personhood Savior."

 

See allso "Let Us Prey: U.S. "Christian Nationalists" are making plans for us."

___

   

A personal Father Time note:

I have a lot of shortcomings. Failing to be a consistently devoted father is not among them.

CODA

   

Tom Nichols has released a 2nd edition of his excellent book "The Death of Expertise." 

  

   

Well worth your time. I've written him up previously.

 

A bit more Tom:

________

  

The U.S. White Nationalist Flea Market of Ideas.

 a.k.a. The “Claremont Institute”

   

 

On one level, the jokes just write themselves. However, this stuff is really not funny. Stay tuned for some serious fracking on this poignant, sorry motherlode of rhetorical fallacies and Incel-resonant White Male Victimhood pearl-clutching and indignantly harrumphing MEGO sophistry.

[Note: "The Claremont Institute" is not affiliated in any way with the SoCal Claremont Colleges. I called the school to confirm that.]

FOR STARTERS, A BIT MORE CONTEXTUALLY RELEVANT READING

The movement now called MAGA has long existed in the American political bloodstream; fittingly, Trump’s companion motto, “America First,” originated in 1940 among isolationists at the outbreak of World War II. Across every iteration, this movement’s ideology was and is loosely defined by nationalism and traditional social values, fierce opposition to liberalism as a slippery slope to communism, and a tendency toward paranoia and conspiratorial thinking. For most of the postwar era, this worldview remained on the fringe of American politics—that is, unpersuasive to most Americans, and systematically frozen out by the two major parties. In contrast to the mainstream GOP, the fringe passionately opposed immigration and trade and rejected bipartisan compromise, even tolerating violence.

In spite of, or maybe because of, being so marginalized, a core tenet of this belief system was that its adherents were surely right, and most Americans surely agreed with them, if only their views could be heard—that America was inherently and immovably a right-of-center, conservative country, no matter how many times the voters said otherwise. This faction managed to persist and even grow despite the repeated electoral setbacks that befell its champions, from Barry Goldwater to Pat Buchanan. By the 2010s, with the rise of the Tea Party backlash to Barack Obama’s election, the coarser side of the American right was gaining strength but still decidedly an outside force pressuring the Republican Party. The movement lacked someone with the political talent, charisma, fame, or resources to popularize its ideology (as Ronald Reagan did for his sunny small-government conservatism)—until Trump. The America of Trump’s first inaugural—“this American carnage”—sounded shockingly dark to anyone not already steeped in the harsh pessimism that had long festered on the outer edge of the American right. To those who were, listening to Trump sounded like finally, for the first time, being recognized and represented.

Trump never missed an opportunity to use his presidential megaphone to elevate these views, from defending white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville to railing against “deep state” enemies. He both welcomed more people from the radical fringe into the Republican fold and at the same time mainstreamed their views to steadily radicalize the existing rank and file. In his final year in office, two genuine crises collided to radicalize millions more Republicans with astonishing speed. First, the pandemic upended all semblance of normalcy, injected politics into daily life, and fueled a spasm of conspiracy theories that presented attractive alternatives to experts asking for major sacrifices; suddenly, as government officials started exercising powers unseen in living memory, many Republicans found it a little less far-fetched, a little more credible, to believe that Democrats wanted to control their lives and take away their freedoms. Then, massive street demonstrations responding to the murder of George Floyd created an atmosphere of social upheaval, racial unrest, and, based on portrayals in right-wing media, rampant lawlessness and destruction. Trump’s campaign messaging rolled it all up—the “China virus” and the “thugs”—into a vast voter-fraud conspiracy arrayed against him and his supporters. The widespread misinformation about the virus and the protests primed Trump’s supporters to reject the result of the election. The names, dates, and places of the supposed theft, to the extent they were ever specified, were always changing and never really mattered. The essence of the stolen-election myth was the latest, biggest expression of insisting America must tilt right, that, as Trump would repeat at his rallies, “this nation does not belong to them, this nation belongs to you.”

Arnsdorf, Isaac (2024-04-08T23:58:59.000). Finish What We Started. Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition. 

Click the cover page above.

QUICK OFF-TOPIC ERRATUM

I am an inveterate Rick Wilson fanboy. After a brain-numbing day of reading everything, I never wanted to know about the hatemongering AntiWoke non-cosmopolitan Stephen Miller, (See prior post; I finished the Miller bio) this provides a good respite, for me, anyway. Not that I totally, uncritically buy into all of this AI Gartner hype cycle.

More shortly…

_________

 

SPIRITUAL WARRIORS 2024

"Onward, Christian Soldiers..."

   

A follow-up to my recent post "Let Us Prey. U.S. Christian Nationalists are making plans for us."

 

Fully-recovered Episcopalian here (former choir boy). If I had a dollar for every time I had to sing that thing...

They're now apparently increasingly taking that "Christian Soldiers" thing literally ("Playtriots?" or, outright Insurrectionists?). We'll see, 'eh? I'm reminded of the marginally more secular yet equally poignant Bundys.

Current read (one of them). Almost done. Pretty sad, actually. What her parents called "righteous Christian Moral Upbringing" I call Child Abuse.

I wrote a song about religion once. Long time ago. Has sort of a 3/4 time Loggins & Messina 70’s groove to it.

Just getting started. Stay tuned. BTW: The "Spiritual Warriors" YouTube video came from this organization.

Click here.

Right up the road in Towson. I was not aware of them. Very good. Will have to study up.

UPDATES

 

apropos of the ICJS documentary at the top of this post:

 

A good use of an hour of your time

 

Also, I finished Sarah's book. It made me at once extremely sad and angry. Will have more to say there shortly. One excellent quote:

 

OK, I'll just drop this snippet in for now, from an October 2023 post of mine:

14.5 Living With Uncertainty
Without uncertainty, there would be no hope, no ethics, and no freedom of choice. It is only because we do not know what the future holds for us (e.g., the exact time and manner of our own deaths) that we can have hope. It is only because we do not know exactly the future results of our choices that our choice can be free, and can pose a true ethical dilemma. Moreover, there is much uncertainty in the world, and one of our most basic choices is whether we will accept that uncertainty as a fact or try to run away from it. Those who choose to deny uncertainty invent a stable world of their own. Such people’s natural desire to reduce uncertainty, which may be basic to the whole cognitive enterprise of understanding the world, is taken to the extreme point where they believe uncertainty does not exist…

Hastie, Reid; Dawes, Robyn M.. Rational Choice in an Uncertain World (p. 333). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

MONDAY NEWS

BUT, WAIT! THERE'S MORE...

We havin' fun yet?

 

Nonetheless, notwithstanding the yucks, let's not lose sight of the serious aspect (from my "Let Us Prey" post cited above).

Oh, please...

OK, Affirm or Deny whatever rings your bells to your hearts’ content. On your own dimes. Leave the rest of us out of it. We will not passively submit.

 

UPDATE per Dobbs

 

Tuesday March 26, 2023, SCOTUS Orals on outlawing mifepristone. 

_________