If you thought it was beginning to be safe for your children to listen to talk radio, you might need to learn about Dr. Larry Bates.  A self described expert on the economy, investments and the stock market, Bates has gathered a binge following.  His recent book, The New Economic Disorder, is making its rounds through Christian radio, television, and internet posts.  Bates provides the lovely prospect to his readers and listeners that he nation is heading for economic disaster.  He has teamed up with Larry Pratt of Gunowners of America to prepare the country for the certain downfall in the nation that is just around the corner and will make the Great Depression mild by comparison.  Those who promote the prospect of a waning Religious Right might do well to check out Larry.

The Feb. 6, 2010 Hal Lindsey Report had its usual hard right slant to current events.  It is quickly noted that Lindsey is not a friend of the current administration in the nation.  He has a long history of attacking President Obama and often complains that the President has a secret agenda to harm the Christian faith.

In David Brog's book, STANDING WITH ISRAEL, he deals with the charges leveled by many that ministers like Jon Hagee and Pat Robertson have a history of anti-Semitic theories.  Brog does admit that early on Dispensationalists did often use anti-Semitic authors and viewpoints in many of their publications. He includes the fact that the PROTOCOLS was often woven into the fabric of yarns that these types spun.  pg. 205

San Antonio TV preacher John Hagee is an ex- college football player with two earned PHDs.  The physique of a football player is long gone as well as the early marriage and divorce.  Hagee, whose church teaches men to throw up their demons in a brown paper bag, started out with 25 members.  In 2 years the church had a 1,600 seat auditorium.  In 1987 Southern Baptist and fellow Texan W.A. Criswell surprised many in the country when he led an anointing service for Hagee in the dedication of  the new church.  Criswell's blessing on John was peculiar being Hagee is a pentecostal.  The connection with pastors like Criswell can be explained by secular political movements.  Hagee is chummy with Texas Governor Perry on a personal level.  He was close to candidate John McCain until people began to read up on some of Hagee's theories.  Hagee believes we ought to strike Iran now with nuclear weapons and blames the Rothschild families in Europe for world problems.

[Editors note: As indicated in his John Hagee Ministries bio and on bookjackets of his recent books, Hagee has three honorary doctorates, not earned doctorates. The three honorary degrees are from Oral Roberts University, Netanya Academic College in Israel, and Canada Christian College.]

Christian Reconstruction founder R. J. Rushdoony wrote in his book, THY KINGDOM COME, saying the great beast spoken of in the book of Revelation is government.  Though Rushdoony did not share eschatological views with religious right kinsman Tim LaHaye, he did share a common attitude toward government.  LaHaye's writing, much like modern end of times spokesman Jack Van Impe, lace their seminars and books with theories about secret organizations at work to take the world to Satan.  You can check out my review listed in Wikipedia about Pat Robertson's catch all conspiracy book ONE WORLD ORDER.  Rushdoony said the Christian view of history was that of conspiracy.

Having recently read Matt Taibbi's book about John Hagee's church, I was startled to read of what passes for phophetic language.  The conspiracy theory about Al Gore working secretly with global warming folks to take over the Unites States stayed with me.  I was reminded of other religious right conspiracy theories that have brought with them "amens".

Rolling Stone author Matt Taibbi has just published a new book called GREAT DERANGEMENT.  Since Jeremiah Wright occupied so much media attention some were shouting that people needed to look at McCain's spiritual connections. A media conspriacy was suggested.  Thus Taibbi was dispatched to San Antonio, Texas to go under cover pretending to be an interested member of John Hagee's mega church.  The cover of the book claims the author is the funniest angry writer around.  We might also ad profane.  Taibbi takes on the conpiracy theories of Left Behind writers as well as the strange theories regarding the 911 catastrophe which links up President Bush and Dick Cheney with secret plots to deceive the nation. The writer says, "The 9/11 'Truth' and Christian end timer phenomena are both basically crude parodies of the same old left/right canned media Holy War."  pg. 265  Matt believes that both these groups adhere to a beleief that a militant against-them exists and the only folks to be trusted are their own.  A view point I have often witnessed among the religious right that holds you cannot trust the media or any writer outside their own ranks. Thus they reinforce their own phobias.

In what was billed as a conference for Houston pastors, the topic of how minister's freedoms were being assaulted was addressed by Tim LaHaye.  The specifics of this meeting have been posted earlier. In short, these pastors felt as if Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State had picked on pastor Riggle.  Riggle, an Oral Roberts U. grad had allowed his name and the church where he was pastor to be highlighted in an endorsement for a political candidate to take Tom DeLay's place in Congress. The web site is wrong claiming that a Liberty U. law professor would take up the topic.  Tim showed up along with Kelly Schackleford.

The producers of Left Behind: Eternal Forces thought they were going to make a big score last Christmas -- with a new video game based on Tim LaHaye's best-selling Left Behind series of novels. It didn't work out that way. Talk to Action's Jonathan Hutson exposed that the game peddled an ideology of 'convert or be killed' to children and promoted, even rehearsed end-times religious warfare.  Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, among others, agreed; denounced the game and variously encouraged the producers of the game to with draw it; stores not to stock it; and consumers not to purchase it. The controversy generated international media coverage. The game did poorly; got terrible reviews, even from gamers who were not concerned about the content. The company's stock tanked and it appeared that that was the last we would hear from them.

Then, researchers for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation learned that an evangelical Christian group operating under the auspices of the Pentagon was going to disseminate the controversial apocalyptic game to American troops in Iraq. Max Blumenthal exposed their plans in The Nation last week. This week, ABC News asked the Pentagon about it:

Plans by a Christian group to send an evangelical video game to U.S. troops in Iraq were abruptly halted yesterday by the Department of Defense after ABC News inquired about the program.

Operation Start Up (OSU) Tour, an evangelical entertainment troupe that actively proselytizes among soldiers, will not be sending the "apocryphal" video game in care packages as planned, according to the department.

"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" was inspired by about the battle of Armageddon, in which believers of Jesus Christ fight the Antichrist.

Following massive losses, Left Behind Games has embarked on an executive purge:

Officials from controversial Christian game developer Left Behind Games (Left Behind: Eternal Forces) have announced that senior management at the company have accepted the resignation of senior vice president Jeffrey S. Frichner, with CEO Troy Lyndon also demanding the resignation of the company's other three board members.

Two new co-chairs have been installed: Michael A. Knox and Leslie N. Bocskor.

When Left Behind Games launched its convert-or-die videogame Left Behind: Eternal Forces on November 7, 2006, its stock traded at a peak price of $7.44 per share. Breathless boosters at RedChip issued a "strong buy" recommendation and predicted that within 18 months, the stock would soar to as much as $18.70 per share. Really?

In fact, Left Behind Games' stock chart looks like a ski slope. Not a gentle bunny hill, but a World Cup grand slalom course, groomed for a world-beating downhill run. Today, you could buy a share of Left Behind Games for a quarter -- with change left over. On March 21, 2007, the stock closed at 18 cents a share.

A recent issue of Christian Retailing carries an article (22 Jan, p. 10) on the Left Behind: Eternal Forces videogame. As the piece notes, the game has come under attack from various groups (Christian and secular) for allegedly featuring

...teens...killing nonbelievers, teaching teens that most musicians are "singing the praises of the Antichrist" and portraying non-Christian humanitarian aid workers as part of enemy forces.

Talk to Action, of course, has been at the forefront of making these concerns public, particularly in a series of articles by Jonathan Hutson.

The Christian Retailing piece features input from Jeff Frichner, the president of Left Behind Games (LBG), who responds to the criticisms:

We are honored to welcome essayist and story teller Joe Bageant as a guest front pager. His book, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War, is due out from Random House in June.  This essay was originally published in December 2005 -- long before the Democratic take-over of Congress seemed possible. One friend said after reading it: "Bageant writes in the tradition of Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth."  -- FC

What the 'Left Behind' Series Really Means

A Whore That Sitteth on Many Waters

"Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again."

-- From Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

"The best thing about the Left Behind books is the way the non-Christians get their guts pulled out by God."

-- 15-year old fundamentalist fan of the Left Behind series

That is the sophisticated language and appeal of America's all-time best selling adult novels celebrating the ethnic cleansing of non-Christians at the hands of Christ. If a Muslim were to write an Islamic version of the last book in the Left Behind series, Glorious Appearing, and publish it across the Middle East, Americans would go beserk. Yet tens of millions of Christians eagerly await and celebrate an End Time when everyone who disagrees with them will be murdered in ways that make Islamic beheading look like a bridal shower.

On Tuesday the mainstream Muslim civil rights group, Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the hate-based video game, Left Behind:  Eternal Forces. This followed an international media firestorm resulting from a press teleconference by DefCon, Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) and Talk to Action. These groups called on WalMart to stop selling the game. DefCon reports that more than 30,000 people have contacted Walmart so far.  CAIR also called on WalMart to withdraw the game. Meanwhile, several progressive Christian groups led by Crosswalk America, CAP and the Beatitudes Society had also asked the manufacturer to withdraw the game and consumers not to buy it.  The matter has issue has now escalated in both activism and in media coverage.

Jews on First! a progressive web based organization concerned about the religious right, has posted a report and joined with Crosswalk in petitioning the manufacturer to withdraw the game -- and the AntiDefamation League (ADL) has issued a statement, based on an analysis of the game by their staff in consultation with game experts.  

"The game and the belief system behind it are dangerous, because they teach that Judaism and other non-Christian faiths are not valid," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians are seen as incomplete unless they convert, a concept that is contrary to the American ideal of respect for all religions."

 The game is also the subject of major new articles in Rolling Stone magazine and The Christian Science Monitor.