And speaking of John Hagee, I fell into a ring of a fire yesterday by implying that the “Let’s Go Brandon” chanting mood came from the Sunday morning ethos. I was wrong, and while some fine people have told me that such occasions are not outside the ordinary on a Sunday morning experience and that Cornerstone in Texas is not pro-Regulative Principle (Puritan angels are not shocked!), the argument I made from Nadab and Abihu did not apply to that incident. Now, whether such things happen regularly and whether such chants could come from the pulpit of one of America’s most apocalyptic-chart-saturated-Dispensational-pastor, I have no doubt. The few times I have tuned in to watch a clip or some matter surrounding Hagee, it has always been in the context of some political narrative tied directly to pro-Israeli policies. And further, I am also not surprised that Q-Anon advocates chose that building to do their Kennedy-ghost thingy and other shenanigans.
None of this is to imply that I am in total disagreement with their efforts. I suspect I share some common assumptions about reality with some of the speakers, but I have a high sense that we would be drinking whiskey at different tables at the bar. Not all conservatism is created equal.
That aside, I now wish to address something that stirred within me during this endeavor. I made an observation to a friend yesterday that what these types are trying to do has a ring of truth to it. They are fighting against an obvious force of evil in the White House. But what I wish to assert is that where these enthusiasts are wrong is in chanting a secularized imprecation instead of a sacred imprecation. This is very crucial. Gary North once said that you can’t fight something with nothing, well, these guys are fighting something–genuine–but with nothing but a slogan gained at a Nascar race. “Let’s Go Brandon” is their attempt to fight Bidenism to the core, but they end up heaping havoc upon themselves. Secularized forms of imprecation can only get you so far. Sure it can stir people to join forces. Sure it can motivate social media platforms and bring money into the treasure box of GOP candidates, but it has no eternal value.
After all, the implication of Romans 1 is that there is consequential insanity that comes from allowing our fleshly desires to frame our reality. Insane times call for sane measures, and sane measures only come from a revelation that defines sanity as that which proceeds from the mouth of God. Biden and Kamala hath a distaste for Christendom. I think we can all follow that logic.
My proposal is that Christians can actually erupt in chants in church on Sundays. But our chants are composed of angels and Davidic figures who know how to fight something with something good. We don’t need “Let’s Go Brandon” to motivate our forces, we need a Christianized imprecation:
May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him.
May you blow them away like smoke— as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.
The problem with many Christians is not that they don’t have a song to sing, it’s that they tend to choose the wrong one for the party. They prefer the weak options at the table to fille the dragon, but sometimes the dragon gets stronger instead. Chanting stuff at a rally is not sinful, especially since it communicates disdain for evil, but chanting true words on Sundays is more desirable and ultimately more effective in the pages of redemptive history.
Imprecation saves the world from tyrants. It keeps perspective and it allows us to say exactly how God feels about evildoers in our age. Sacred words for a sacred people will take us much farther in line in our pursuit of a just society. Everything else is only a dent in the kingdom of darkness.
