COMMENTARY
How did we get here? Why did evangelical Christianity stray so far from the teachings of Jesus? And how has that decision helped divide us more than ever?
In the Gospel of Matthew, the devil offered Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world" if he would bow before him. Jesus refused. But many have taken the devil up on this offer. They've traded Jesus' invisible kingdom of heaven for a tangible empire here on earth. They've done it in the name of nationalism, school prayer, the unborn, and, yes, segregation. But more than anything else, they've done it to preserve their favored status as a "the chosen" even as their numbers decline.
Today, many evangelical activists place loyalty above character and blind faith ahead of principle. They've abandoned Jesus for a different kind of savior: a militant messiah like King David, who slept with his friend's wife, then arranged to have him killed - but who established a theocratic kingdom on earth. That's what they want. Not a democracy or a republic, but the rule of God.
Their impulse to empire dates back to the fifth century, when the African bishop Augustine argued that faith should be compulsory. Their blind faith has birthed scams by televangelists, and conspiracy theories, from the Salem witch hunts to social media. They consider themselves a chosen people, a "moral majority," and they've used this special status to justify racism, conquest, and oppression.
Jesus, You're Fired explores the history, theology, and motives behind the movement to exchange the kingdom of heaven for an earthly empire. And to replace Jesus with a different kind of messiah.
Media Meltdown in the Age of Trump
$11.95 paperback, $3.95 ebook
Some politicians use the media to their advantage. Others reshape it in their image.
Had the political force that is Donald J. Trump met the immovable object that was the American news media in the 20th century, the result would have been predictable. Trump would have vanished without a trace, along with such wannabes and also-rans as Edmund Muskie, Howard Dean, Gary Hart and John Edwards.
Today, however, the once-powerful Fourth Estate might as well be in foreclosure, shattered into a million pieces by cable television, talk radio and the internet. Newspapers, their stranglehold on information broken, are on life support. Gutted by cost-cutting and consolidation, they see the very same digital platforms that crippled them as their last, best hope for salvation. Television news, meanwhile, has descended from Cronkite and Brinkley into a three-ring circus of breaking news and talking (or shouting) heads.
Trump, a carnival barker of a president, has taken for himself the role of ringmaster, using his chaotic style and the power of his office to dominate the spotlight. At once condemning and exploiting the media, he’s transformed the presidency into a reality show, complete with multiple scandals and cliffhangers to keep everyone tuned in.
He didn’t arrive out of nowhere. The way for his ascent was paved by the media themselves, hungry for drama to stoke ratings and boost subscriptions. When cable and the internet began siphoning off readers/viewers by targeting their built-in biases, the nation became polarized and the gloves came off. Civility was sidelined, spin became the MVP, and the referees – the mainstream media – were benched.
This is the story of how carnival journalism has supplanted and, in some cases, co-opted what’s left of the mainstream media, and how politicians like Trump have both fueled and profited from the change. Is any of this good for the nation? A game without a referee might be more fun to watch, but is it fair? Media Meltdown provides the answers.
PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT!
$9.95 paperback, $3.95 ebook
Have you ever wanted to plug your ears and scream after hearing a newscaster, politician, sports announcer or your boss use THAT word again? You know the one: that buzzword or cliche that sets your teeth on edge because you've heard it so often? It doesn't really mean anything. It's just there. On people's lips. In the newspaper. On television. Everywhere, all the time. Well, chances are, it's here, too, in this irreverent look at some of the things people say far too often while giving them far too little thought.
Consider this book your last line of defense against the banal inanities that assault your ears on a daily basis. Its purpose is to poke fun at them, which is really all most of them are good for: poking fun at. "Please Stop Saying That!" is a no-holds-barred, sarcastic look at the catch phrases used in politics, religion, sports, business, pop culture and elsewhere. You'll never look at (or listen to) jargon quite the same way again.
POLITICAL PSYCHOSIS
$7.95 paperback, $4.95 ebook
Journalists, political scientists, and psychologists have spent years asking themselves how Donald Trump managed to take the American people captive. Now, you know.
In this volume, you’ll find the 12 rules Trump followed to secure and retain his base’s devotion. You don’t need to ask him to find out what they are. Just watch him; listen to what he’s said. You’ll discover:
A man who’s not immoral, but amoral: He doesn’t care about what he fights for, as long as he wins. A man whose life is built on an illusion and branding. On image, not substance. A modern-day snake oil salesman obsessed with preserving that image, because he’s deathly afraid of being exposed as the fraud he really is. A man who depends entirely on others’ approval to validate him, because he’s never succeeded on his own. A man so broken that no achievement is enough to provide him with the sense of self-worth he desperately craves.
Here’s what Trump’s method tells us about him, and about ourselves. We can take our power back — from him and others like him — by exposing it for what it really is.