Last week The Alantic published a hit-piece titled "The Demons of Maryville," about a portion of Christianity called "charismatic Christianity."
If you're familiar with the politics of the leftist socialists who run The Atlantic you know they constantly sneer at Christianity--and anyone who claims to be Christian. It seems to be hard-wired, as with all leftist, "woke," "sophisticated" groups--I think in part because virtually all Christians are fairly "ordinary" folks, lacking the "sophistication" of the wokies at the Atlantic.
I suspect very few Media types or fashion designers or university professors or Broadway producers are Christians, cuz it's just SO un-hip, eh? I'd love to be wrong about that, so if you know any hip New York City "elites" who are Christians I'd love to hear about it.
SO...the hit-piece (by Stephanie McCrummen) starts by introducing Mike and Andrea Brewer, who the author suggests check every possible box for being unsophisticated, un-hip, not bright : in the first sentence of the third paragraph he's introduced "by his own account" as "an exhausted factory worker and a lapsed Pentecostal addicted to pornography."
The couple have started a kind of church--an "apostolic hub"--in eastern Tennessee. And now the topper: they believe in demons. LOTS of demons, and to prove her point the author names a dozen or so.
The author notes that the Brewers attend conferences on demons, and claim to see angels and "manifestations." Classic.
You can't get less sophisticated and hip than this, eh? Cuz all guuud liberals--all totally sophisticated, of course--are sure demons don't exist. This isn't surprising because most liberals (did we mention they're all "sophisticated"?) seem to believe God and Jesus don't either.
After introducing the Brewers the author sets up their opponent: Lisa Misosky owns a bookstore and bar across the street from the "apostolic hub." Lisa comes across as a level-headed, well spoken, totally sympathetic lesbian who "sometimes" hosts drag shows in her bookstore/bar.
So the battle lines are drawn:
On [one side] were the forces of Satan—legions of demons with names, ranks, and personalities that could inhabit people, geographical regions, and entire nations. In India, the Brewers claimed to have battled Shiva, Brahma, and Kali. In Haiti, Python and Mami Wata. There was Marduk, Osiris, Ra, Horus, Diana, Artemis, Shesha Naga, and so on—a whole pantheon of demons that represented ancient religions and civilizations, and whose earthly expressions were essential to understanding current events.
As noted above: classic. On the one side, the thoughtful, level-headed lesbian bookstore/bar owner, and on the other the deplorables who believed in scores of demons, all named, all said to be playing a unique role in current events.
The author of the piece claims this modern demonic pantheon was identified by a group called the "New Apostolic Reformation," the NAR, which claimed "a wave of Holy Spirit power was surging around the globe." While the historic biblical view has held that Christians were supposed to retreat from the world and wait for the Second Coming, the NAR pushed a different approach: that Christians were to establish God's kingdom "right now, on Earth."
The author notes that this would essentially mean the end of life as libs and Dems have known it:
The Kingdom would have limited government, free markets, two genders, one kind of marriage, and one kind of God.
One imagines liberals and Democrats recoiling in utter horror: "Limited government and free markets"? What manner of eeebil witchcraft is this? "One kind of God"??
A logic puzzle for Democrats: If you postulate that there's one Supreme Being who created the whole shootin' match, how do ya get more than one kind of God from that?
What I think she means is that people are free to argue over what God wants or supports: the author implies "Yew deplorables think He's male, only made two sexes, and that Jesus is his son. But we here at the Atlantic--like all smaht people--know he's 'non-binary,' and that there are 48 or 54 or 65 "genders," depending on which network you watched that morning. And that everyone can change as desired. Oh, and Jesus isn't God's son, but just a human prophet with lots of good PR and special effects."
I won't bore you with the rest--read the link if you like. https://archive.ph/4aW88
Instead let's go back to an earlier hit-piece The Atlantic published just before Trump was sworn in for his second term. Published January 9, 2025 by the same writer (Stephanie McCrummen), titled "The army of God comes out of the shadows."
Sub-title: Tens of millions of American Christians are embracing a charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which seeks to destroy the secular state.
Trump wouldn't be sworn in for 11 more days, but the leftists were already lobbing propaganda pieces to prep the battle-space. They wanted a meme that would be as effective as "Trump colluded with Putin to steal the 2016 election from Hilliary" that they kept in front of voters for almost all of Trump's first term--and which most Dems still believe to this day.
The first paragraph sets the tone:
On the Thursday night after Donald Trump won the presidential election, an obscure but telling celebration unfolded inside a converted barn off a highway stretching through the cornfields of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The place was called Gateway House of Prayer, and it was not exactly a church...." Instead "Gateway House of Prayer, it turned out, was a kind of war room.
Ahh, "a kind of war room," y'say?
The author says it's "an alluring, charismatic movement that has little use for religious pluralism, individual rights, or constitutional democracy. It is mystical, emotional..."
"Little use for...individual rights or constitutional democracy," y'say? Wow. And no proof needed, eh?
The NAR ["New Apostolic Reformation"] is supplying the ground troops to dismantle the secular state.
Constructing the Kingdom meant destroying the secular state with equal rights for all, and replacing it with a system in which Christianity is supreme.
The first hoot here is that this is precisely what Islam demands: everyone must either convert to Islam, or pay the special "jizya" tax on non-Muzz, or be killed. But neither the author nor the editors of the mag recognized it. Kind of an obvious blind spot, eh? "NOOooo, we nevah herd dat 'bout Islam! We don' think dat true! We think dat jus' a 'right-wing, Trumpist conspiracy story.'"
The second hoot is that the author doesn't give a source for the "destroying the secular state with equal rights for all" assertion--because to liberals it's unnecessary, cuz jus' obvious: "See, Trump thinks he's a kang an' iz completely junking the Constitution! So dat means no more equal rights!" To liberals, case closed.
The author cites an analyst with Political Research Associates, "which tracks antidemocratic movements" and has been watching the rise of the NAR for years and warning about its theocratic goals. The author says the analyst sees the NAR as "a profound threat to democracy."
It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions. And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Wow, same thing as the DSA, eh? But the Atlantic isn't worried about the DSA cuz it's socialist. It's never been concerned about Islam, because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," eh? But Christianity is a huge threat. "Theocracy." Wait, Iran is a theocracy, but the Atlantic sees no problem at all with that theocracy. Just the one they've made up.
“It’s the synchronization with Trump that is most alarming,” he said. “The agenda now is Trump. And that’s how populist authoritarianism works. It starts out as a coalition, as a shotgun marriage, and eventually the populism and authoritarianism takes over.”
In another sense, the movement has never been about policies or changes to the law; it’s always been about the larger goal of dismantling the institutions of secular government to clear the way for the Kingdom. It is about God’s total victory.
This is a total inversion of reality. In other words, total horseshit.
She fawningly, approvingly quotes a dipshit named Matthew D. Taylor, noting he's written a book titled "The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy."
Violent take it by force, y'say? You mean like assassinating Charlie Kirk? Trying to assassinate Trump, only missing by a quarter of an inch?
And at the end of the web version of her article is an ad for...Taylor's book. What a coincidence. And in tiny print an inch or two below, the Atlantic admits they get a commission. Nice.
In summary: Like all liberals, they don't see their own internal contradictions, like bitching about what they claim Christianity is pushing, while turning a totally blind eye to what Islam explicitly, openly demands in that cult's official book.