This used to be a Christian publication, and the premier one at that.
Perhaps you think it's too mean of me to imply Christianity Today is no longer Christian.
Therein lies part of the problem, my friends. We take admonitions of "let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth" turn into "never say anything slightly unkind." As Voddie Bauchum says, the great American 11th Commandment is "Thou Shalt Be Nice."
Perhaps even more ridiculous is the fact that I will take greater criticism from some Pharisaical types for this article than Christianity Today for publicly shaming Oliver Anthony while celebrating hedonistic debauchery in the name of Christ.
Let's look at these two articles.
First up, Christianity Today wants you to know that Taylor Swift - the avatar of the sexually liberated, unmarried, childless modern woman - and the "Barbie" film, with its direct feminist messages of women freeing themselves from the Patriarchy, are "bringing us together."
I'm not here to critique Swift or "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig (although you can read thoughts on her being assigned to C.S. Lewis's Narnia here and here).
I'm also not here to say every woman is called to be a redpilled "trad wife."
What I am saying is that the flagship Christian publication of the Western world (called "Christendom" in olden times) is out here stumping for vain, prideful women who have made sex and beauty their gods and have in turn become godlike symbols for millions of women seeking their own "liberated" selves.
(The new Roman gods are much flashier than the old, aren't they?)
From their article:
Barbie and Swift's Eras Tour in particular open up dialogue about what Michelle Goldberg at The New York Times calls "entertainment that channels female angst," awakening a "seismic shift for women" in "helping women reclaim girlhood without rescinding power."
These cultural artifacts draw on the ambiguities of the female experience, celebrating the feminine while honestly addressing the difficulties of being a woman in a male-oriented world. And certainly, these events are occasions for women to enjoy this together.
What does this have to do with Christ?
To "reclaim girlhood without rescinding power" sounds like something Satan himself would whisper.
Here, Christianity Today celebrates "female angst," not seeing it as unloving, but empowering. That's what's important after all, right? Power. Power at all costs. Slay you girlboss queen, you!
(Remember what I just said about Satan?)
Today, there's church versions of the kind of transportive singing experience shared by those who attend concerts like Swift's — where everyone is on their feet, some with hands in the air, some with tears on their cheeks. Many Christians are cynical about this, but Swift concertgoers and Barbie moviegoers are not.
So in one paragraph we are admitting that modern church "worship" is just an experiential concert event while also slamming fellow believers who want worship that is actually honoring to God.
So Christian, so Today!
After many paragraphs celebrating how children are idolizing someone as worldly as Taylor Swift, the article concludes with this:
Swift, too, invites her fans into her own embodied life as she sings unabashedly of emotion and relationship and loss. We humans are embodied creatures, and we need life in the body together.
And that's what church is. It's life in the body together, the people gathered around the one who is the truth, who gives life meaning, who knows our embodied longings because he took on flesh for our sake.
The kids want communal meaning. So I'm going to keep hoping — hoping that, maybe, what they want is the body of Christ.
Ah, so the Body of Christ - His Church, His Bride - is just like the Taylor Swift fan community, eh?
What a take!
"That's what church is."
Imagine a Roman mother writing an article about the community her children have found in the cult of Venus and celebrating it with the belief that this search for communal meaning, she "hopes," will lead them to Christ.
What folly!
You cannot find the light by delving into the dark. May Christ work in this woman's children's hearts despite her ignorance and foolishness that has left them at the mercy of serpents!
My son doesn't seem put off by the feminine in these events. He's not losing sleep over the purported feminization of the culture or the accusation that Barbie is demeaning of men. He's never even heard of the supposed feminization of the church, nor do I think he's ever considered the idea that such a thing might be a threat to him.
Have you ever read anything so sad?
This is the publication started by Billy Graham!
The day after CT published this glowing review of the Whore of Babylon, it took aim at Oliver Anthony, the angsty man who is frustrated at the utter decay, decadence, corruption, and wickedness of America's rulers.
But he was mean in how he said it and he suggested that lazy people might abuse welfare (also called stealing) and that the government is working to keep them addicted to handouts... and that's apparently not fulfilling the command to love thy neighbor.
From CT:
...music that names the inherent dignity of the poor, lodges a protest against establishment excess, and echoes Old Testament calls for justice, like God's condemnation in Jeremiah 5:28 of those who "have grown fat and sleek" yet "do not promote the case of the fatherless" or "defend the just cause of the poor."Then I heard these lyrics:
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eatAnd the obese milkin' welfareWell, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 poundsTaxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
The author of this article goes on from here to spend paragraphs sharing her own story of going on welfare, completely missing the point that Oliver isn't talking about a married couple that fell on hard times but fat, lazy, entitled people who steal from others using public money in a system that encourages such things in an effort to secure party loyalty and kickbacks.
She says the song reminded her of the shame she felt having to use food stamps once upon a time.
But protest against wealthy elites and government corruption, no matter how justified, cannot ride on the backs of others who are also suffering. The price of accessing food through SNAP or a church food pantry must not be the poor's dignity and self-worth.
To sum up: This woman felt bad that she probably bought cookies using food stamps once or twice while missing the entire point. Oh, and she shamed a broken man from a very broken part of the country in the process. Well done!
Let me lay it on you: If you are "5 foot 3 and you're 300 pounds" and you are pounding back taxpayer-funded fudge rounds with no attempt to find a job, and you are milking that lazy life for all it's worth, then this is what the Bible says about you:
- "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."
- "Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys."
- "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
- "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need."
And about wicked rulers who try to keep their fellow countrymen dependent on them like a drug dealer:
- "When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan."
- "A wicked ruler over a helpless people is like a roaring lion or a charging bear."
- "Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them."
And about God's judgement on the wicked:
He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
So he will repay according to their deeds: fury to his enemies, retribution to his foes, and he will repay the coasts and islands.
And:
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.
There are hundreds more verses like this. Need I go on?
One might argue that a man like Oliver Anthony loves his neighbors so deeply, so profoundly, that he is willing to set his face, as God Almighty does, against such wicked rulers and their lawlessness.
Those who did likewise during the pandemic, even while being shamed publicly by pastors and Christianity Today writers, saved their neighbors from endless tyranny and medical experimentation in the name of profit. They have received no apology for being slandered.
That leads me to my conclusion: This CT article is the perfect example of how blind guides have infiltrated the top ranks of church leadership. These people would shame you for implying some people are fat and lazy, just like they would tell you to beware the "idolatry of marriage" while the world goes to literal hell in a hand basket.
They are so wedded to the "Thou Shalt Be Nice" command of Satan that they readily do his work for him!
Let me end with an important reminder for all the "nice" Christians who spout off screeds about being "unloving" (that tactic used endlessly during the pandemic):
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
The modern American church has forgotten about the bold part, and in forgetting that love cannot coexist with evil, it has made friends with the devil in the name of "niceness."
Thus you understand what has happened to Christianity Today.
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