[Screen actor Stephen] Baldwin [ed: the truly creepy Baldwin brother - you know the one I'm talking about] became a right-wing, born-again Christian after the 9/11 attacks, and now is the star of Operation Straight Up (OSU), an evangelical entertainment troupe that actively proselytizes among active-duty members of the US military. As an official arm of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, OSU plans to mail copies of the controversial apocalyptic video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq. OSU is also scheduled to embark on a "Military Crusade in Iraq" in the near future."We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war torn region," OSU declares on its website about its planned trip to Iraq. "We'll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq."
As much as I know you'd like it to be so, I am not making this up. Multiple crusades to sweep through Iraq, guided by the forces of heaven, officially sanctioned by the DoD.
"The constitution has been assaulted and brutalized," Mikey Weinstein, former Reagan Administration White House counsel, ex-Air Force judge advocate (JAG), and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told me. "Thanks to the influence of extreme Christian fundamentalism, the wall separating church and state is nothing but smoke and debris. And OSU is the IED that exploded the wall separating church and state in the Pentagon and throughout our military."[...]
With the endorsement of the Defense Department, OSU is mailing "Freedom Packages" to soldiers serving in Iraq [that contain] the controversial Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game. The game is inspired by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' bestselling pulp fiction series about a blood-soaked Battle of Armageddon pitting born-again Christians against anybody who does not adhere to their particular theology. In LaHaye's and Jenkins' books, the non-believers are ultimately condemned to "everlasting punishment" while the evangelicals are "raptured" up to heaven.
[...]
Each time a Left Behind player kills a UN soldier, their virtual character exclaims, "Praise the Lord!" To win the game, players must kill or convert all the non-believers left behind after the rapture.
From the website:
The mission of OSU Tour: Provide faith-based entertainment to our military creating a lasting impact while using celebrities, NASCAR, professional sports figures, musical artists, and Hollywood actors to share the message of Jesus Christ and the hope that only comes from God, resulting in changed lives. Join us today in addressing the issues of divorce, addictions, pornography, suicide and the fatherless within our military.[...]
OSU Tour is proud to announce our affiliation with Crown Financial, Servant Christian Community, National Christian Foundation, and Great Commission Foundation (a Campus Crusade for Christ ministry), all of which are approved by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). OSU Tour will continue to explore creative ways to help you utilize your resources to support ministry and to build God’s Kingdom.
I don't see where they are foolish enough to claim outright to actually be going to convert Muslims; they say everything but.
Displayed prominently on the "What We Believe" section of OSU's website is a passage from the Book of Revelations (Revelation 19:20; 20:10-15) that has become the bedrock of the Christian right's End Times theology: "The devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, and whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, shall be consigned to everlasting punishment in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
And...
OSU's "Freedom Packages" include a copy of evangelical pastor Jonathan McDowell's More Than A Carpenter -- a book advertised as "one of the most powerful evangelism tools worldwide" -- that is double-published in Arabic.
Because there are so many of the U.S. soldiers who also speak Arabic.
This week, Pentagon employees and active duty service members are expected to enjoy a breakfast with [OSU founder kickboxer Jonathan] Spinks and Baldwin, followed by an OSU performance in which they will receive "spiritual encouragement via a Biblical message." The events will be held respectively in the Pentagon Executive Dining Room and the Pentagon Auditorium.
And then it's off to the crusades!
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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