Strangers in Paradise

How is it that the New Jerusalem of the evangelical Christians so resembles a mafia outpost, fascist puppet state, prison or plantation? One of these incredibly evil people, a preacher named Jeffress--a charlatan, bigot and slimeball of Falwellian egotism, moral presumption and ethical obtuseness--has spoken pridefully at the opening of the (our) new embassy in Jerusalem.

Palestinians were slaughtered in celebration, a curious offering to the real gods of the hucksters and hawkers of bogus salvation--used-car salesmen billed as saviors. Their gods are their own ambition and conceit. For many of them (see "Swaggart") the laying-on-of-hands has led them into the arms of prostitutes and young women and men, and into the pockets of the unsophisticated poor. 

What the hell--God has chosen winners and losers. Isn't it godlike to do the same? Look hard at the audacity and arrogance of that and try to reconcile it with anything found in the Bible. Try to reconcile their vast fortunes and mega-churches with anything like the life of Christ. But don't do it for too long because they are coming after you. Prepare to defend yourselves. 

They are after your jobs, healthcare, retirement and anything else they can take. And they think they are the agents of God's will in this, purifying the world through fire, the sword and Paul Ryan. Purifying you, that is. They are already saved and don't need it. Funny how that works. We are strangers in their paradise, illegal inhabitants of a sectarian utopia and subject to deportation.