[Vision2020] Extremists

Sun Aug 7 20:02:19 PDT 2005

Nate is pleased to read about himself and *his* family on Vision 2020, he says.

It's just as nice for me to do the same on his father's blog, where Wilson senior has fallen to the level of suggesting that my mother, Saundra Lund, and whoever else falls into the category of "temperance biddies" take prune juice in the Eucharist, which has given them diarrhea--a graceful and seemly turn of phrase in a minister of God.

All of us who do not follow Mr. Wilson's form of worship "dismember our children in the womb" for amusement.  Those who object to his glorification of slavery "hate their own" race.

I think the Pot and the Kettle can once again join hands in a lovely ceremony of greeting.

Melynda Huskey

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nate Wilson 
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: 8/7/2005 2:17:40 PM 
Subject: [Vision2020] Extremists

Aloha All,
    It's always fun to glance over a backlog of 20/20 and find such edification. Joan's been paying me high compliments, Tom's posted a list of horrendous things composed by Dr. Q. (who knows better) on his website. It's nice to see a family conference I'm working on included with some cultural terrorism, bombings, serial killings, and a murder on Moscow Mountain. And Wayne is just being the self he has to be. I only have one direct comment and that's to Wayne, who took it upon himself to bring some class into his allegations that my father has a serious mental disorder, and add an insult to my mother, the woman to whom I owe my life (and a lot more). I had to dig back into my past (back in the fourth grade when I had to deal with a foul kid who'd climbed into my yard) before I remembered what to say -- Watch your mouth Wayne, if you're able. That sums it up nicely.
    To the rest of you I think RFK said it best: "What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents." I think he was talking about villification.
    Thanks for another day in Moscow. Cheers.
NDW

Art Deco wrote: 
Joan,

It is interesting that you post about the flailing of Cult Master Douglas Wilson of members of his own cult.

Has he just now caught on that his mental health and imperially dictated wisdom is being questioned by an increasing number of congregants, and not just women?

Overheard conversations and discreet murmurings indicate that Wilson's gargantuan egomania and megalomania are finally being realized by a larger number of congregants of both sexes, and not just as a character fault, but possibly as a serious disorder.  

In fact, some appear to wonder if a breakdown is on the horizon:  He has allegedly become a beleaguered laughing stock nationally among some of the Trinitarian community; he already is a laughing stock among many in his own community; certain male congregants are joining a larger number of female congregants seeing him as a pitiful, self-absorbed demagogue;  given his behavior, some wonder if he really believes in the alleged god and son whose alleged word he uses to manipulate people with;  NSA president Atwood now publicly claims that Wilson does not speak for members of the cult;  the ultra hypocritical Dickison divorce/remarriage debacle has certainly shaken the faith and confidence of many congregants in Wilson's (and Dickison's) integrity and sincerity; etc; etc.

Wilson can control the upper hierarchy of the cult since so many of these are economically dependent upon him and need to stay hypocritically in the cult to keep their and/or their relatives' jobs.  But does Wilson have enough jobs to retain the larger part of his congregation?  What will happen when sales tax investigations reach into the many shadows of the cult?

Old saying:  "Old sins have long shadows."  The payback for extortion is likely to be much greater than the pay-in.  I wonder how many are really aching to really stick that payback in?

Oh, yes.  Will Cult Mistress/wife Nancy suddenly take her half of the accumulated gleanings and migrate to a more joyful, fulfilling, independent life erelong?

Stay tuned.

Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Joan Opyr 
To: Vision2020 Moscow 
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 2:40 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Correction (plus a fresh, if pointless, rant)

Just noticed that I misspelled Galatians in the post below. Before Heirloom or Studly hop on me for my glaring ignorance, that was a typo, son. A typo. Keep your eye on the ball, son. Eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. Eyeball. That's a joke, son. A funny. A ha-ha. Get it?

Sorry. I've been possessed again by the spirit of Foghorn Leghorn. It happens all the time.

Posting to you from Portland, Oregon, I am,

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com

PS: I'm enjoying Portland, though I have to admit that, in my opinion, there are far too many men here wearing brightly-colored Ikea rubber clogs. I have a thing against men in clogs. It's not rational; it's not reasonable; it's none of my business. I just think they look dorky. Shoes with laces, boys, shoes with laces! Get 'em on, damn it! Get 'em on!

On Aug 4, 2005, at 2:09 PM, Joan Opyr wrote:

Nick writes:

"This column has appeared in the on-line magazine New West and will appear in the Sandpoint Reader very soon.  My interaction with Pastor Lillback has been a model of civil interchange.  Perhaps the good pastor can teach Pastor Wilson a few manners during his stay in Moscow.  Since the eloquent dressing down that he received from an anonymous Christian, I've noticed that Wilson has reduced his name calling dramatically. (I'm now just an enemy rather than a banshee.)  But he has a long way to go to meet the challenge of his kind Christian critic."

I'm pleased to report that Nick has become a regular contributor to New West's Northern Idaho node. He's written a review and analysis of Michael Hayes' documentary "My Town," and his latest piece is a model of truly appropriate (and constructive) theological discourse. As New West's Northern Idaho Editor, I am delighted to have him on board. He has greatly enriched the site with his knowledge and carefully reasoned arguments.

About models of civil exchange -- on my drive to Portland yesterday, I happened to catch a Pastor Rogers preaching on the lower end of the FM dial. His sermon was taken from Paul, 11 Corinthians and Galations. A few things he had to say interested me greatly -- and, being a closet fan of Baptist preaching style, I really couldn't help listening. Pastor Rogers is a master of the form. Every sentence ends with an exclamatory "ah," as in "Jesus-ah!" Rogers preached about the "real Jesus" and a "false Jesus," declaring that Paul in II Corinthians warned us of a false Jesus to be found in false gospels and false ministers. 

(For some reason, Rogers specifically castigated the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons as worshipping a false Jesus. I can see why a Baptist (or proto-Baptist) preacher might disapprove of the Mormons -- Southern Baptists, at least, consider the Mormons polytheists. This has to do with that telestial versus celestial kingdom business. Also, The Book of Mormon, "another testament of Jesus Christ," is an insurmountable problem for the Baptists. It freaks them out like nothing else short of Wicca, Catholicism, and lesbians wearing jeans, flannel, and Danner steel-toed workboots. Gay men, on the other hand, are A-okay with most Southern Baptist women: someone has to decorate their homes and tease their hair. 

I must admit that I am puzzled as to why would Rogers slam the Jehovah's Witnesses. My understanding is that the JWs are a sort of primitive Primitive Baptists -- very strict, very literalist, not a lot of fun at surprise birthday parties. If anyone can enlighten me about this, please do so offlist. Keely? Scott?) 

Okay, where was I? Ah yes, Pastor Rogers and II Corinthians. He quoted Verse 4: Am I therefore the enemy because I tell you the truth? There has been a lot of talk coming from Christ Church and the Christ Church-affliated blogs lately about Doug Wilson's "enemies" and the "battle to come." Doug launched an astonishing attack on the members of his own congregation (http://dougwils.com) last week that beat all I have ever seen. He accused members of the church of being traitors and turn-coats, weaklings and cowards. He castigated them for not supporting him in his battles; for daring to have opinions and ideas of their own; and for not being what Rose would call "lock-step toadies" to his particular (and frequently peculiar) interpretation of the Bible. He talked about enemies existing both within and without the church, but his focus was on those within. 

"Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth?"

I recently re-read "Labour of Love" (which is available on Tom Hansen's website, http://www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse) and was struck by the difference in tone between its gentle but firm Christian remonstrance and Doug's flailing about, his girding up his loins for battle, his turning up rocks, searching behind trees, and looking under the bed for heathen enemy boogeymen. I doubt Pastor Rogers and I would enjoy one another's company. He's anti-choice; he's anti-gay; and he probably has hair taller than the Empire State Building, with Fay Wray and King Kong shellacked to the side, but yesterday he said, "When looking for the devil, fail not to look in the pulpit."

Doug is welcome to attack me. So, too, are his minions -- my dear blogstalkers, who give Brother Carl and I a good fifteen minutes of free radio material every Sunday -- but when a shepherd begins to assault his flock, I begin to worry. I begin to worry a lot. I fear for those who cannot escape the onslaught for whatever reason, social, spiritual, or financial. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Doug recently announced that his son, Nathan, was his best and wisest advisor. Nathan is a foolish and sheltered 26 year-old. He edits Doug's magazine, Credenda Agenda, a nightmare publication of hateful bigotry, willful ignorance, and distasteful, snotty, immature arrogance. He acquired a few years of nearly-real life experience at the margins of the wider world by attending a couple of small, sheltered liberal arts colleges, but he came home and entered his father's employ. On the whole, he knows about as much of the world as a novice in a nunnery. Nate's fathe!
 r is his be-all, end-all, his boss and his minister, his teacher and his guide, and yet Nate is now the man to whom Doug turns for his best and wisest advice? Nate is a filial echo chamber. This is a sad case of the snake biting its own tail . . . when it's not biting its own flock.

"Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth?"

The answer, clearly, is yes. I don't expect Doug to listen to me. Doug doesn't believe I have access to the truth. I'm not saved. I don't believe in Jesus Christ, and if I did, I wouldn't be a Calvinist. I wouldn't buy into the notion that God created some of us to be saved and the rest to be damned. That's not a god worthy of worship; that's a capricious god worthy only of fear and contempt. But Doug believes in this god, and so too, I must assume, do his followers. When Doug attacks those followers -- when he calls them enemies and traitors -- they must fear for their salvation. How extraordinarily cruel their minister is -- how cruel, and how contemptuous of his flock. I am sick and sad and sorry for them, and I pray for their deliverance.

(Jerry Falwell says that God doesn't answer the prayers of Jews. Jerry Falwell is a jackass. God answers the prayers of all of us, just as surely as the staff at the Wendy's Drive-Thru answers Jerry's late-night Frosty orders.) 

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com

PS: Though I will continue with the blogstalker update on The Auntie Establishment & Brother Carl Show (when and if any of their bloggy nonsense amuses Brother Carl and me), I am hereby unilaterally declaring a Sunday night blackout on Doug Wilson and Christ Church. No news, no jokes, no nothing about the BM (Big Man) of New St. Andrews, Anselm House, Logos School, Credenda Agenda or Christ Church. If you tune in expecting to hear it, you will be disappointed. For the time being, I am done. Finished. Finito. The sign is up: Do Not Feed the Bear of Moscow. He doesn't want our secular berries -- he's got parishioners to eat. 

PPS: Another reminder that Brother Carl's and my show is now on KRFP, 92.5 FM from 3 to 5 PM on Sundays, rather than 5 to 7 PM. This is because Carl is an old man. Don't let his youthful, sexy voice fool you; he's actually 107 years old, and not only does he want 1.7 more beers before dinner, he wants to be in bed and asleep by 7:30. This is so he can get up at 4 AM and wake all the area roosters. Without a nudge from Brother Carl, they might forget to crow. 

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_____________________________________________________
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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