Conclusion
Do you get my point here? It's the claim that in the 4th century, Rome presented church fathers with the same temptation that Yeshua experienced in the desert. But whereas the Great Master had refused empire as diabolical, the prevailing faction of 4th century church leadership embraced it as a gift from God. In so doing they also said "yes" to the devil worship as the necessary prerequisite to aspirations to control "all the kingdoms of the world." Christians have been worshipping the devil ever since, while calling him "God."
On the contrary, today's readings insist that all the kingdoms of the world belong only to God. They are God's Kingdom to be governed not by "power over," not by dominion and taking, but by love and gift. Or in the words of Yeshua, the earth is meant to belong to those "meek" I mentioned - the gentle, humble, and non-violent.
Yet, as Dr. Immerwahr attests, those very people living in the West's former colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia are exactly the ones ceaselessly victimized by the empire historians have so well-hidden from our consciousness.
As described in Immerwahr's How to Hide an Empire, colonialism and neo-colonialism are diabolic abominations in the eyes of Yeshua's God. They represent nothing less than a system or robbery currently bent on confiscating the rich resources of the Global South. Authentic followers of Christ can never support such depredations.
The conclusion is inescapable. QAnon is right! The world is in fact run by a cabal of Satanists from the halls of the Vatican to the White House, to the Supreme Court and all those Christians who serve the interests of empire under the aegis of our nation's armed services and the military-industrial complex. All of them have become the devil's Christians.
On this First Sunday of Lent, we should pray sincerely and work tirelessly for the defeat of such an abominable system.
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