In Reply to: Re: Cultic Fanaticism & Polarization posted by Radio Man on December 03, 2006 at 09:09:04:
I'm trying to stay on track with the original intent of your posts, but this is a huge, complex topic that I don't claim to completely understand. Nevertheless, it's something I've thought a lot about over the years.
A major point I was trying to make is this: While it is extermist to believe the US Constitution is a sacred book, many conservative Christians in the U.S. believe there is a covenant with God regarding the foundation of this country as a Christian nation that is a parallel to the covenant between God and Israel. Although not everyone goes so far as to claim the U.S. Constitution is the sacred text of the New World covenant between God and His chosen people, a general belief that the U.S. has a special place in salvation history is quite pervasive, imo, among many conservative Christians in this country. I think it is this belief that, among many other things, contributes to a particularly toxic mix of religion and politics in this country.
Another way to look at this particular religious extremism about our Constitution is to ask whether the belief that American has a special role in salvation history is perhaps the religious expression of American exceptionalism, which is the perception "that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, because of its unique origins, national credo, historical evolution, and distinctive political and religious institutions. (Wiki, American Exceptionalism.)
The fusion of American exceptionalism and Biblically-based notions of salvation history contributes to a serious problem with discussion of certain issues by exCOGers on this board, imo. The "Message of Jeremiah" that Berg preached is based on the presupposition that the U.S. has a unique role to play in the Second Coming. Why did God raise up His long-awaited Prophet of the End Time from the United States of all places? Was it not in large part to foretell the doom of this nation, who turned its back on God and became the Great Whore? Isn't that pretty much one of the big ideas that kicked off the Revolution for Jesus? And could the anti-Christ (you know who) dominate the world if not for the U.S.? The flip side of Berg's political/prophetic doctrine is something known as Christian Zionism, which is quite widespread and influential in the current toxic mix of U.S. politics and religion.
As a point of contrast, how many of Berg's prophesies are about the doom of the EU or its role in bringing about the rise of the AC? Yet, if you think about various interpretations of the Book of Daniel taught by Berg and the traditional interpretation of the Great Whore of Babylon as the Roman Empire, it would seem that Berg would have spent a great deal more time prophesying the role of the EU and its ultimate doom than he did.
I believe that in some important respects, Berg's cult is an extreme theological reworking of American exceptionalism.