Not all people of the Christian faith are gullible morons. Some have minds of their own and occasionally stray from the flock, especially when the flock is being misguided by maniacs and propaganda specialists. The danger isn't with those that reject guidance from false prophets and devious leaders, but with those that submit to such guidance.
Jerry Boykin (a.k.a., Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin) is on a propaganda mission for the Bush regime with a radical Christian theme intended for Christians throughout America. His mission is quite appealing to the fundamentalist extremists that are just as nutty and dangerous as extremists of other religions. As William M. Arkin reported in the October 16th edition of The Los Angeles Times, (See copy of this story - The Pentagon Unleashes a Holy Warrior on this Truth Out page) Boykin is doing his job as Donald Rumsfeld's underling at the U.S. Department of Defense by visiting American Christians in their churches to spin the "see the devil in the picture" propaganda. He relies on pictures that he alleges to have taken during the Gulf War where he points to one of those spots that form a pattern he's using to suggest that the spots are symbolic of Satan.
It's an old trick that still works on people gullible to the power of suggestion. Just think about how many different images people claimed to have seen in the same photos where flames and smoke plumes billowed from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (Some claimed to have seen the devil, some Al Gore, others George W. Bush and some even claimed to see Osama). With this in mind, it's obvious that Boykin's strategy would flop if he attempted to convince those of us that know how this trick is played and are inclined to explore what other images our imaginative minds can perceive when we view the spots that Boykin singles out while suggesting to Christian Americans that they are symbolic messages from God revealing certain places in the world where evil dwells and must be destroyed. As we consider what Boykin is doing, let us also remember that George W. Bush has made several references to infer that he's on a mission for God, that he's been selected to wipe out godless unChristian evil in the world. Boykin's cross-country Christian campaign is supporting Bush's claims while undermining common sense in the minds of people easily duped by propaganda with religious overtones that are crafted to resonate with them as desired.
This is another form of psychological warfare using propaganda to manipulate the minds, emotions and actions of a general population. Boykin's resume includes information that I've taken into consideration before drawing this conclusion. It matters not which side of the battle line, everyone involved in the war (no matter how great, or small their role) is considered fair game for propaganda. Because Bush has been losing public support, his administration has returned (again) to America's Christian community (mainly Protestants and those of the Evangelical faith) for support in the P.N.A.C. fascist campaign.
Mr. Arkin stated in his article on Boykin's religious propaganda campaign:
This June, for instance, at the pulpit of the Good Shepherd Community Church in Sandy, Ore., he [Boykin] displayed slides of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and North Korea's Kim Jung Il. "Why do they hate us?" Boykin asked. "The answer to that is because we're a Christian nation We are hated because we are a nation of believers."
No evidence exists to support any argument that his claims are true. In fact, he's been lying to these people. He knows, many will believe him, because he knows that they want to believe. Surely, many will feel an obligation to Jesus to cling to his every statement and prop as if he had a pipeline to Jesus. That is a fragment of Boykin's objective. He is, perhaps, an example of what the Apostle John and Jesus had in mind when they'd warned the masses to beware of false prophets and false apostles.
Boykin may be serving more than just the Department of Defense's objectives. William M. Arkin mentions in the above linked report, "He has described himself as a warrior in the kingdom of God and invited others to join with him in fighting for the United States through repentance, prayer and the exercise of faith in God." I've underlined kingdom of God because I now refer you to a story of a little known underground group based in Virginia, not far from Washington D.C.'s official government center, that uses the concept of preparing the world for the kindgom of God as a ploy to convert and manipulate specific people while depending on their fees and other contributions to help maintain it and to materialize its ideas and plans.
Consider the religious themes that have involved George W. Bush's campaign for Presidency, his administration's wars and plans for more wars that the administration profits from through tax dollars and those connected to the administration. Include Boykin's propaganda to America's Christian communities and add these things to a group that leads U.S. lawmakers in the official prayer tradition, but also teaches its prospective converts that it is preparing the world for the kingdom of God and dismisses anything that Jesus denounced (like telling lies and resorting to violence). This group is known as The Family, as writer Jeffrey Sharlet reveals in the article Jesus Plus Nothing that appeared in Harper's Magazine. I strongly suggest that you click the link to it and read, then read this GNN interview with Sharlet. There is mention of John Ashcroft and other names connected to this group that obviously mixes religion with politics and U.S. foreign policies. I mention Jeffrey Sharlet's story and his interview with GNN because I now wonder if Boykin's propaganda to American Christians is somehow tied to that religious group AND if both are tied to the Bush Cartel's wars, as well as, the Bush administration's existence and its Ashcroft war on any exercise of Constitutional rights that oppose anything concerning the Bush administration.
I consider these things as I think about how many of us, regardless of religious views and practices, have come together as a force of one to protest against the Bush Cartel's war mongering and all-around destructive insanity. (My friend R. and I had spent most of our time at the Feb. protest in Pensacola, Florida talking with a delightful woman of Muslim faith and of African American heritage.)
Let's backtrack to Boykin's suggestions to the Christians in this country. He suggests that the congregations do things like repent, pray and keep the faith in God. He suggests that America is a Christian country and subtly suggests in roundabout terms that the U.S. Army is a Christian Army fighting against God's alleged enemies, in spite of the U.S. First Amendment Constitutional right to religious freedom and the religious diversity evident in American society and members of the U.S. military. He insists that the force Christians worship as their God is different from the force that the Children of Islam worship as their God (Allah) as if their god and our god are at war with each other, vicariously through the human race.
What Boykin's been doing can inspire young Christian men and women to want to join the U.S. Army, like many Muslims have joined militant groups that include Osama bin Laden's, because Boykin and others that prey on religious fanatics convince the fools that believe them that they need to be Christian soldiers marching through the world to kill what they have been programmed to believe are the devil's advocates and worshippers. Boykin's tactics have been used by Nazi propaganda artists and also by clerics determined to convince Muslims that the United States is the Great Satan and they are obligated to destroy the Great Satan, by command of Allah (Same as the God Christians and Jews worship, regardless of the stupid claims suggesting otherwise). Boykin is fanning the flames of what threatens to be a major and global religious war.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration aims the U.S. military guns at the Philippines where Christian (predominantly Catholic) and Islamic people live, as do Buddhists and members of other religions. While the Bush camp has clearly singled out this cluster of islands and is currently moving in on the Philippines, Chinese troops are getting in to position to prepare for the possibility that they must protect North Korea from a U.S. and allied attack and invasion. These events unfold as Japan's leaders support the U.S. leaders' wars, while Thialand's fate is still uncertain, as is South Korea's should the Bush administration (and maybe with Congressional Republicans' approval) send U.S. troops to attack North Korea.
I don't know if I'm fitting the correct pieces together as they truly are. I feel that I am. Time will reveal the true answer.
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