Hitler

The Führerprinzip

February 24, 2014 By ELLIOTT NESCH

Fascist ideology has made its way into Church Growth and evangelicalism. Previously to cover this topic has been Chris Rosebrough of Fighting For the Faith in his audio presentation Resistance is Futile, You will be Assimilated into the Community.

In this article, I wanted to elaborate on the Führerprinzip, a key mechanism under the Gleichschaltung of Nazi Fascism. As churches have embraced the Führerprinzip or the Führer Principle of fascism, the pastor becomes a führer with absolutely no accountability to the congregation they lead. This makes church organization operate like a military unit rather than a ministry. Many have changed the definition of the pastor in order to destroy barriers to church growth and have absolute authority over their organizations. For example, Rick Warren says:

You must change the primary goal of the pastor from minister to leader.¹

When asked, “Should we stop talking about pastors as ‘shepherds’?” Andy Stanley responded:

Absolutely. That word needs to go away. . . It was culturally relevant in the time of Jesus, but it’s not culturally relevant any more. Nothing works in our culture with that model except this sense of the gentle, pastoral care. Obviously that is a face of church ministry, but that’s not leadership.²

“Vision-casting” becomes the common practice of the pastor to lead the church and the congregation becomes fully accountable and completely loyal to the leader to fulfill his vision. With fascism and church growth, the Führerprinzip always works down so that those under the authority of the leader make the leader’s vision happen. Dissenters are excommunicated and often escorted from church premises by security or police officers. Mark Driscoll says in this sermon,

You cast vision for your mission and if people don’t sign up, you move on. . . There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God’s grace it will be a mountain by the time we’re done. You either get on the bus or you get run over by the bus. Those are the options. But the bus ain’t gonna stop. . . There’s people who get in the way of the bus, they gotta get run over. There are people who want to take turns driving the bus, they gotta get thrown off.³

In Fascist Trends of Passion 2014, I have previously demonstrated how fascism is of necessity and by design a youth movement similar to that of the Passion 2014 event. Also surfacing last week is a children’s coloring book that Elevation Church reportedly uses in its Sunday school classes. One page on “Unity” features a smiling Führer Steven Furtick with the caption: “Elevation Church is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will protect our unity in supporting his vision.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Andy Stanley, Church Growth, Fascism, Hitler, Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, Rick Warren, Steven Furtick, Vision Casting

Fascist Trends of Passion 2014

January 20, 2014 By ELLIOTT NESCH

I cannot unpack all of the complexities of ideological fascism in this blog post and how it has revived under the name of postmodernism in our day and popular culture. 2 years in the works at HBP is an upcoming film on Fascism and the Postmodern church. See our full-length interview with Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Postmodernism, Fascism and the Church.

When people think of fascism today they think of Hitler, anti-semitism, the Holocaust, genocide, racism, militarism and the Nazis. Today, the word “Fascist” has been deduced to an insulting label for vilifying political enemies, but its true nature is greatly misunderstood. While Hitler and the Axis powers were defeated militarily in WWII, fascist ideology remains alive and well today under a new name.

Popular contemporary Christianity also appears to be emerging into something new. Much like the mainstream of European prefascist theology, many mainline church denominations have been turning away from transcendence and the Scriptures in favor of a spirituality based upon immanence, cultural activism, and existentialism. Many churches that were once committed to a high view of the teachings of Jesus and His apostles are now shifting their focus toward experience, emotionalism and communalism. In many ways, Christianity may be the strongest defense against fascism, but it may also be its point of entry. (See Veith’s book Modern Fascism: The Threat to the Judeo Christian Worldview and Chris Rosebrough’s lecture Resistance is Futile: You Will Be Assimilated into the Community)

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Emergent Church, Fascism, Francis Chan, Hillsong, Hitler, John Piper, Judah Smith, Lou Giglio, Postmodernity

Emergent Deconstruction, Train Tracks to Auschwitz

July 2, 2013 By ELLIOTT NESCH

Postmodern liberalism, which has slithered into the Church with the Emergent movement, shares intellectual roots with fascism. One of the most popular postmodernist tendencies within aesthetics is deconstruction. Deconstruction is a postmodern and Emergent tactic of textual analysis, typically literary critique, that questions presuppositions, ideological underpinnings, hierarchical values and power structures within any given text. Deconstructive approaches apply techniques of close reading of the text without reference to information outside of the text or an authority over the text such as the author. One famous deconstructionist famously wrote, “There is nothing outside of the text.”1

Deconstruction ultimately questions all objective meaning and authority. Although deconstructions can be developed using various methods, the process typically involves demonstrating multiple possible readings of a text (the Bible in this case). For instance, Eric English of Emergent Village rails against the Bible as a postmodern deconstructionist saying, “The bible is not the WORD OF GOD.” Notice the lower case letter “b” in “bible.” English’s quote below epitomizes postmodern deconstruction speaking of the Church’s use of the Bible in terms of power structures and oppression:

The bible is not the WORD OF GOD. However, our elevation of the bible to almost divine status has seemingly resulted in the Church believing it is to be the moral authority over the world – as though they speak for God. We have equated the language of the bible with the Words of God. This has seemingly resulted in the bible being used as a weapon of power to oppress others. Incredibly, the Church’s oppression has not been limited to the secular world, but has even been used as a weapon to oppress its own people.2

[Read more...]