THE GOSPEL OF PEOPLE CHEERING FOR THE HOUSE TO BURN

THE GOSPEL OF PEOPLE CHEERING FOR THE HOUSE TO BURN

Now we have people saying the destruction of America is part of God’s plan.

Apparently, the Almighty Creator of galaxies has become a demolition contractor with a political action committee.

Some religious extremists voted for a corrupt strongman because they believe chaos, war, cruelty, ecological collapse, and national ruin might speed up the return of Jesus.

That is not faith.

That is spiritual arson.

They are standing in the living room with gasoline on their robes, shouting, “Don’t worry! The fire department is coming from Heaven!”

And then they call everyone else godless.

If your religion requires the suffering of millions to prove that you were right, you are not following love. You are feeding an apocalypse fantasy.

If you celebrate cruelty because you think it fulfills prophecy, you have turned God into an excuse for your own appetite for destruction.

If your savior needs democracy to die, children to suffer, nations to burn, and the planet to choke before he will return, perhaps you have misunderstood the savior.

Or perhaps you are following something else entirely.

The Bible itself calls Satan the father of lies, but religious history is full of people committing atrocities while insisting that God handed them the matches.

The prince of lies rarely introduces himself with horns and smoke.

Sometimes he arrives carrying scripture.

Sometimes he wears a flag.

Sometimes he promises that hatred is holiness, domination is righteousness, ignorance is obedience, and destruction is divine destiny.

There is also an old Gnostic suspicion hiding beneath Christianity’s official furniture: What if the violent, jealous, tribal ruler worshiped by religious empires is not the highest God at all? What if Jesus was pointing beyond domination, sacrifice, hierarchy, and revenge toward a deeper source of mercy?

That is a theological interpretation, not a proven historical fact, but it asks a question worth asking:

Why does the God of so many political preachers sound exactly like a tyrant?

Jesus said you would know a tree by its fruit.

So look at the fruit.

Fear.

Cruelty.

Conspiracy.

Authoritarianism.

Contempt for the poor.

Hatred of outsiders.

Indifference to truth.

Joy at the thought of catastrophe.

That tree is not producing salvation.

It is producing poison apples wrapped in campaign signs.

The real crisis is not that people believe in religion.

The crisis is that millions of people do not understand what religion is supposed to do.

Religion should deepen humility.

It should expand compassion.

It should make power nervous and suffering visible.

It should teach us to protect the stranger, feed the hungry, forgive our enemies, resist empire, and recognize the sacred value of human life.

Instead, too much modern religion has become a cosmic conspiracy theory with tax exemptions.

The Pope of Love does not believe America is sacred because America is perfect. America is not perfect. It was built through contradiction, courage, theft, struggle, blood, imagination, rebellion, exploitation, and unfinished promises.

But people live here.

Children live here.

Families live here.

Dreamers, workers, immigrants, artists, believers, doubters, and beautifully confused human beings live here.

You do not get to sacrifice them on the altar of your prophecy.

You do not get to destroy a country to prove your interpretation of an ancient book.

And you do not get to call that love.

If your God commands you to cheer while the world burns, put down the matches.

You may not be hearing God.

You may only be hearing the oldest liar in the room, whispering through your own certainty.