Introduction
In one sense, this chapter of Campbell’s is inoffensive in that it is chock full of Christian advice and counsel. In another sense, that is one of the most offensive things about this offensive book.
I have mentioned before that the central offense of this book is its patronizing above-it-all serenity. But Campbell is not above it all . . . he is, as Charles Hodge would have put it, smack dab in the middle of everything. He is a partisan, with an agenda.
When I say “above it all,” I mean the pretense that he is a simple follower of Jesus, and not a political advocate objecting to other political partisans who differ with him.
Let me talk a little bit about his confusion of self-congratulation with orthodoxy.
Good Counsel . . . in the Abstract
Suppose you ran across this advice in some book or other:
“In this mission work we will be exposed to evil ideas and corrupt attitudes deeply embedded in people’s hearts. If we are to engage our mission field in hope and love, we must anchor our hearts in Jesus through prayer.”
Disarming Leviathan, Campbell, p. 124
Amen, right?
Now I can’t imagine better advice or counsel, provided you were about to embark on your mission to a tribe of head-hunters. Or if you were going to rescue some girls who were being trafficked to various cocaine-fueled sex parties in Hollywood. Or if you were going to be talking to some members of a Satanic death cult. Well, yes. Absolutely. Put on the full armor of God, man. Anchor your hearts in Jesus through prayer. I don’t object to a word of that advice.
But if you were talking this way because you were gearing up to go talk to your Baptist neighbor about the relative merits of sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, then the only possible conclusion to draw is that you are the one in need of an intervention. And not because of your views about the water, whatever those views might be, but rather because of your serene and very clueless sense of self-importance.
“Exposed to evil ideas.” Like our idea that Bruno shouldn’t be showering with the junior high girls? “Corrupt attitudes deeply embedded.” Like opposition to the dismemberment of little kids? Like lower tax rates? Like wanting a secure border? What specifically is he talking about?
And this brings us to another issue.
Skilled in Cultivating . . .
Campbell says this:
“American Christian nationalist leaders are skilled at cultivating feelings of anxiety, fear, shame, sadness, grief, and rage within their audiences to manipulate them.”
Disarming Leviathan, Campbell, p. 126
There are two observations to make about this. If it is manipulation to warn and inform people about a looming danger, then why is Campbell not manipulating us when he warns us of the demonic forces of Leviathan coming after us? Now he could reply that he is not being manipulative because the danger he is warning us about is a real danger. Ah. Okay. So let’s debate that.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe there is such a thing as rage-baiting, and there is such a thing as doom-scrolling. Yes. Very much so. But that is a phenomenon that is very much present on the left as well. Are there no leftist leaders who are skilled in cultivating the fear that the Christian nationalist have already had the red dresses for all the women manufactured? And that we are just waiting for the secret Gilead signal?
And this brings us around to the real point at issue, and my second observation. As a Christian pastor, if there is an actual danger and I see numerous Christians who are oblivious to that danger, it is my duty to wake them up. And if it is my calling, I should be skilled at doing it. That is, provided it is a genuine danger. I should not be skilled at inventing bugbears. That would be bad. So that’s one thing.
But in my experience, most ordinary Christians were already unsettled by what they saw in the disintegrating culture around them. When it comes to feelings of general dismay, Christian nationalist leaders had to do very little “cultivating.” All that was necessary for that to happen was for folks to be following the news. In short, the order of events was not Christian nationalist leaders arrived, and then shortly after that, the people began having anxiety because of these lurid sermons they were now hearing. No. Rather they saw their society falling apart, and as a result Christian nationalist leaders arose in order to explain what was happening, why it was happening, and what we should do about it.
When Paul Revere was riding on his mission, telling the people that the British were coming, was he “cultivating” fear? When the apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders that after his departure dire wolves would come in order to savage the flock, was he being an anxiety farmer? Not at all, because the threats were real, and already there.
Campbell just blithely assumes that Christian nationalist leaders are skilled a fomenting anxiety ex nihilo. Everything in our country was going swimmingly, and along come these right wing tellers-of-tales, scary tales.
A Orthodox Approach to Cults
If you want to teach Christians how to love any of their neighbors who happen to be trapped in a non-Christian sect or cult (and no, those are not the same thing), there are some necessary steps to take first, and Campbell has not undertaken the arduous task of doing any of this.
First, you have to examine the doctrine of the group in question. And by this I do not mean their doctrines on secondary matters, especially political or cultural matters. You need to go to the headwaters. Where are they on the basic facts of the gospel? God is the Creator of all things, and we rely for our personal salvation on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. The overwhelming number of Christian nationalists are Nicene Christians, and broadly evangelical. This is a Christian movement, on board with the Apostles Creed.
On secondary religious matters, Christian nationalists would be divided among themselves. There would be Baptists and Presbyterians. There would be charismatics and non-charismatics. Some have formal liturgical worship, and others have contemporary worship. And so on.
The secondary matters that would divide them from Campbell would be political issues, and on most of those, they are in the right and Campbell would be wrong on the merits. But even if he were right on the merits, that is no call for him to be treating them like members of an evil Satanic cabal. That is what happens when you let your political convictions overheat, which is what Campbell has plainly done.