“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20 NRSVue
There are weeks where it is as though we hear a tsunami of crazy...stuff...from south of the border. So much so that it's just better to tune out. At the same time, I figure it is important to pay attention to what I feel is the faux Christian rhetoric that emanates from the mouths of those in political leadership.
Vice-President JD Vance, a professed Roman Catholic, held forth on religious matters in an interview about his recent book Communion on Monday. Vance has expressed some weird views along the way about Christianity and I've wondered if he is playing to the base which could choose him as the next President (shudder here.) For instance, does he really believe that if his Hindu wife Usha, mother of his children, doesn't accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour she is going to hell?
Forbes magazine offered some tidbits from the interview and they are unsettling:
In a discussion about “end times,” Vance said he would not be “shocked if the antichrist was walking among us” and said he tries to live like the “end times are coming . . . it’s just a question of whether they’re coming thousands of years down the road or a few months down the road.”
Vance revisited the topic of UFOs after he raised eyebrows in March when he told podcaster Benny Johnson, “I”m obsessed with this . . . I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons.” Vance touched on the topic in his interview with Crawford: “I don’t have the file that says ‘this wasn’t a UFO, it was actually a demon,’” adding, “my attitude is . . . isn’t it as likely that there are angels or demons if there are extraterrestrials? But like I don’t have like a top secret file that sort of proves that one way or the other.”
Talking about the supposed "end times" and the "antichrist" is catnip for a lot of conservative Christians and Christian nationalists. The Left Behind novel series sold millions of copies with their lurid and non-biblical description of the dark period leading to the return of Christ. Yes, there are references to an antichrist entity in Revelation but it was probably a code-like reference to the oppressive Roman Empire.
The reason we should be concerned about rather than dismissive of these musings is because we already see the grim outcome of demonizing groups in the United States. And the rhetoric about the antichrist is ultimately violent and could encourage violence in God's name.
There is an considerable irony here, isn't there? I've suggested before that while Trump is not the antichrist, he is anti-Christ in almost every aspect of his being. He has successfully led America and millions of supposed Christ-followers toward suspicion and cruelty, hatred and violence. He has no love for anyone other than himself. Vance is his minion at the moment but he has the potential to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing" President before long, and walking amongst us even now.
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