One of the most subtle forms of intimidation is the gradual normalization of aberration.

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Remember the Mormons? They walked the earth not so very long ago. Here is the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in 1993. The title of his address is "Behold, the Enemy Is Combined."

[I]t is the engulfing effects of [the] deteriorating world on Church members which is the “clear and present danger.” . . . Yet we must not be intimidated or lose our composure even though the once morally unacceptable is becoming acceptable, as if frequency somehow conferred respectability!

One of the most subtle forms of intimidation is the gradual normalization of aberration. Alexander Pope so cautioned:

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Every Mormon used to know and quote those lines from Pope's Essay on Man. They used to turn up in sermons like Ezra Taft Benson's "Satan's Thrust -- Youth," prefaced with "Tolerance is a word valuable in the service of Satan." They seem to have fallen out of favor in recent decades; the formerly-Mormon hierarchy has switched its allegiance to the other Pope and all he represents.

(Pope : the Pope :: science : The Science)

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Here's what Elder Maxwell's successors at The Church That Can't Be Called Mormon Anymore have chosen to put on the homepage of their official website -- which is no longer lds.org because they have renounced the label LDS.

The "LGBT" article is about 1,400 words long and never once mentions, even in passing, that disordered sexual behavior is sinful. Here is the article's one and only use of the word sin:

The Church distinguishes between same-sex attraction and homosexual behavior. . . . Identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin and does not prohibit one from participating in the Church, holding callings, or attending the temple.

Notice how they conflate experiencing temptation (which is the common lot of man) with choosing to identify as a particular sort of temptation-experiencer, to embrace the temptation as central to who you are as a person. The latter absolutely was considered a sin not so long ago. In my day, the Church never even used words like gay  -- preferring "those who struggle with same-sex attraction" -- precisely because they wanted to avoid encouraging people to identify with their besetting sins.

To see the fundamental dishonesty and cowardice of this stance, imagine replacing the temptation to indulge in socially-promoted sexual perversions with any other, non-socially approved, temptation. Alcoholics, pedophiles, necrophiliacs, men with roving eyes, lazy people. While it may be technically true that a disordered passion is only a sin if you act on it, there would obviously be something deeply wrong with an organization that was constantly harping on the need to understand and welcome necrophiliacs, without bothering to mention that they don't actually condone the sexual abuse of corpses.

In this modern world, where everyone is under overwhelming social pressure not only to tolerate but to celebrate sexual perversion, where it takes great courage even to say publicly that sin is sin, the Church has decided that the message its members need the most is that they need to be more accepting -- only up to a point, of course! -- of this evil. This is an act of moral cowardice and a dereliction of duty. It is indistinguishable from Bergoglio's "who am I to judge" crap and will lead to the same end. The ex-Mormon hierarchy needs to return to Mormonism, stop hobnobbing with the Pope, and reread their Pope.

What is Trump's mission?

From an old Babylon Bee story

On January 8, John C. Wright posted A Word of Encouragement, which I linked to, explaining why his "faith that Mr. Trump will serve his second term, to which he was lawfully elected by a landslide, is unaltered by recent events." If you haven't read it, you should.

In his post, Mr. Wright compares the situation of Trump supporters on January 8 to those of Jesus' disciples between the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Imagine, if you will, that you and I were standing next to Mary Magdalen after the Crucifixion. To us, at that moment, all the evidence was in. The thing was done. All was over. All dreams were dead. All hope was fled.

But one of the three of us would see him tomorrow, risen. The other two would not, at first, have believed her.

In this hour, to us, for America and for Christendom and for the World, is like that Holy Saturday. All the promises have come to naught.

In this hour, there is no worldly sign of hope.

Logically, that means either that there is no hope, or it means worldly signs are not trustworthy. Take your pick.

I've been thinking of that comparison lately, and especially about the last few chapters of Luke and the beginning of Acts. When, at the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, "he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one," they must have thought, This is it. The Messiah is going to make his move, vanquish his enemies, drive out the Romans. Thy kingdom come!

They went armed to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus prayed, and when a multitude came, armed with swords and staves to arrest him, led by the traitor Judas, with the chief priests and elders bringing up the rear -- the disciples attacked, slicing off the ear of one of the mob. But Jesus said, "Suffer ye thus far," healed the severed ear, and allowed himself to be taken into custody.

He was taken before Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate again. He was pronounced innocent, and Pilate announced that he would "chastise him, and let him go." Again the disciples must have thought, This is it. The Messiah has been vindicated, the plans of his enemies frustrated, and the hour of his victory is at hand. But then Pilate changed his mind, deferring to the angry crowd, and decided to have him crucified after all.

Even while he hung on the cross, there must have been moments when the disciples thought, This is it. Some miracle will happen. Elias will rescue him. He will come down from the cross. But no such thing happened, and Jesus died.

Later, on the road to Emmaus, the disciples spoke of their disappointment to a stranger -- how they had "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel" but instead he had been crucified and everything had come to naught. But then came the astonishing revelation that the stranger with whom they were conversing was Jesus himself, that he was alive, that he had literally risen from the dead!

This is about as far as Mr. Wright takes things, but let me continue.

Now, surely, the disciples must have thought, This is it! The Messiah is back. Even death could not stop him! All the prophecies were true after all. Rome is finished. Game on!

But Jesus just hung around for a few weeks, mostly just going around letting people know he was alive. At first the disciples waited patiently for him to make his move, but finally they asked him directly, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus just said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons" -- and then he ascended up to heaven and never came back. You know, like dead people do.

A few short decades later, Titus Flavius Vespasianus marched against Jerusalem. He razed the Temple and paraded its holy relics through the streets, destroyed the Holy City, put over a million Jews to the sword, and scattered the rest. Jesus did nothing to stop this.

So much for the whole Messiah thing.

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In other words, even after triumphing against impossible odds -- it doesn't get much more impossible than rising from the dead! -- Jesus still disappointed, still failed to deliver on the Messianic expectations of his followers.

Some gave up on him.

Some held out hope for a "second coming" at which he would fulfill all the Messianic prophecies after all.

Some came to terms with the fact that Jesus' mission had never been about Making Israel Great Again in the first place. "A greater than Solomon is here," he had said, and he had meant it. His mission was far greater than, and qualitatively different from, that of restoring the kingdom of Solomon. He wasn't merely the Messiah; he was the Christ -- a term that, from then on, would have a new meaning defined by him and him alone.

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And what is Trump's mission? I trust that my readers are intelligent enough to realize that this extended comparison is only that, and that I obviously don't see the President as the Messiah or anything like that. My point is this: Even if President Trump is "miraculously" restored to power and serves out his second term -- as I believe he will -- what then?

Four more years? Just that?

Reform the electoral system and make "democracy" democratic again? Just that?

Make America Great Again? But only the American people as a whole, and God, can do that.

These famous lines from Alexander Pope have been much on my mind lately:

Respecting man, whatever wrong we call,

May, must be right, as relative to all.

In human works, though labour'd on with pain,

A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain;

In God's, one single can its end produce;

Yet serves to second too some other use.

So man, who here seems principal alone,

Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown,

Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal;

'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole.

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Some old posts you might want to reread:

• A Word of Encouragement by John C. Wright
• Jesus and the Messianic prophecies: Summary and conclusion by myself
• Samson on the Cross: A Good Friday Reflection by Alastair Roberts