'Bake At Fahrenheit 451....It'll Burn On It's Own'

             Faye Dunaway's character accuses Robert Redford's character in 1975's Three Days Of The Condor....of being a spy....this because be told her that he works for the CIA....and this after he had kidnapped her at gunpoint. Redford's character showed frustration...."I am not a spy....I just read books! We read everything that's published in the world." He told her that he then puts plots and possible codes into a computer to see if it matched anything that the CIA actually did. He was looking for leaks....or real life conspiracies. That was his job.....sit at a desk.....read books....and then go to the computer. As part of the plot he had found a real life conspiracy...reported it....and that is why someone was trying to kill him.
             That scene sticks out in my mind because that's kind of what I do. I read books. Right now I'm in the process of reading a Brad Thor book....three new books on Trump....two new Christian books that just came out....one of which is the impetus for this post....and I'm going through John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress again....for the umpteenth time. I've always analysed things. When in the army I had a top secret clearance....as an analyst....(the lowest level on this kind of work possible.) Most importantly I am in God's Word every day of my life.
             The one Christian book in question that I am reading is standard prophecy fare. I read them anyway....for in amongst the wild speculative authors....there can be some pretty good ones. This particular book is edited and has about twenty contributing authors. Once again a couple of them had something to offer....but a couple of them are part and parcel of a problem today in evangelicalism.
              One of the contributing authors put forth the theory that Covid was a "purposely manufactured disease....to bring America down." Another believes that masks and vaccines are just part of the plan to enslave us. 'Well'....you say....'this is nothing new....we've known and warned of this since it began.' No....this type of thinking is nothing new....but this whole mindset....a disease in itself....needs addressed.
               The Republican Party....and conservatism in general....were already far gone by the time that the pandemic hit in early 2020. The cult of personality having been formed....Jim Jordan...Mark Meadows....Ted Cruz....Mike Pompeo....all these men....and others....once heroes....had been compromised by their failure to stand up to Trump. We didn't burn books that would educate us on who Trump really is....we just labelled them fake news....so that no one would read them.
               Trump led the way....and everyone else....having thrown all honor to the wind....had no choice but to follow....the pandemic had to be downplayed in light of the more important issue of the coming election. Trump was nothing short of a buffoon as he led those Covid press conferences....and the worst part of it all....evangelicals fell head first into this political horse manure....and fought anything and everything the people who actually had knowledge of communicable diseases tried to do....and then in denial....led on by egregious false teachers as mentioned in the above book...they take God's gift of a mind....paste it with talk radio red state wine....vintage 1984....marinate it an hour in the evening in Tucker Carlson's Russian vodka....bake it at fahrenheit 451....and then....having no longer any original thoughts of its own....send it out to evangelize and inflame.