Dear Friends,
First, your reminder that the United States government left thousands of Americans and Afghan SIVs stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and the Biden Administration would not only like you to kindly forget, they are also actively working against private attempts at rescue. If you would like a comprehensive update, Mindy Belz has you covered.
One of the pernicious downsides of our digital media age—from 24/7 cable news to social media—is our difficulty in blocking out the noise and focusing on what is of real importance. The “news cycle” is practically designed to keep you distracted. The most humiliating and disgraceful foreign policy disaster in American history is ongoing and for most people it is already ancient history. Don’t be distracted by all the shiny objects.
Free of Charge
Earlier this year I stumbled on a Netflix series entitled, Scientology & The Aftermath. Apparently this was a TV docu-series on some network or another, but because I haven’t had cable television in, oh, fifteen years I missed it. So I took the time to watch Season 3, which was quite thorough so I didn’t feel the need to watch the first two seasons.
I am sure for many, many people Scientology is just an oddity, a weird curiosity. You might know that Tom Cruise is its foremost member (Well, Number Two, anyway), and have a sense that they believe some pretty weird stuff, but that’s probably all you know. I confess that I am absolutely fascinated by it.
I was reminded of this because at a recent used book sale I picked up Leah Remini’s autobiography, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood & Scientology. Ms. Remini is the creator and host of the aforementioned Netflix series, so I thought it might make an interesting follow up. It’s not the greatest or most interesting autobiography in the world—she’s an actress with essentially one hit show (the sitcom King of Queens, of which I’ve never seen a minute)—and it took me only a couple of hours to polish it off. She’s a brash Brooklynite with an often-vulgar mouth, but in many other ways the book didn’t disappoint: I am truly fascinated by this pagan cult and the story of how somebody like Leah made her escape. It is quite hard to imagine what it must have been like to be indoctrinated into this religious system as a child and have your life totally revolve around it, only to have it all come crashing down as an adult.
The reason Scientology is so fascinating to me is not that it is weird. Rather, it is that it is so incredibly common. L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer and founder of Scientology, essentially took classic pagan gnosticism (“you are divine being trapped in a material body; your dysfunctions are not your fault, but rather the corruption of the material “programming,” and you can transcend all this by working your way up a spiritual ladder using “secret” knowledge and techniques”) and he carefully re-labed each and every element with a “sciencey” sounding name. And he then found a whole lot of gullible people willing to bankrupt themselves for the secrets.
It’s easy to mock. Yes, these people are dupes. But lest you be too harsh, remember that Scientology is not a weird outlier. It is one species of a larger genus of paganism, a paganism that has enslaved multitudes for millennia. The Serpent’s promise, “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil!” is still powerfully alluring. It might sound “sciencey” but Scientology is just a kissing cousin of major religions like Hinduism and Buddhism and some small American “folk” versions invented by people like Mary Baker Eddy and Joseph Smith. They are variations, but they are variations on a theme.
It is illuminating and sobering to listen to someone like Leah Remini explain some features of what it’s like to belong to a cult like Scientology.
The fundamental core posture of “us” versus “them.”
The smug superiority one has over the ignorant masses.
The self-esteem involved in knowing the secrets to success.
The ability to instantly diagnose everyone else’s problem, because you’re “in the know.”
The absolute loyalty to the cause—even talking to a skeptic or “SPs” (Suppressive Person) is forbidden.
The ends (success of the church and its cause) justify any and all means, including harassment, bullying, and threats.
The absolute shunning of dissidents and apostates.
But enough about Woke Progressives and Critical Theorists. Let’s get back to Scientology. Oh—you saw what I did there? I have been saying for a long time that “Wokeness” is a new gnosticism. Sometimes all it takes to see that clearly is to take a look at an actual gnostic religious cult like Scientology. It bears all the hallmarks, doesn’t it? Right down to the “cancelation” of all dissidents? I mean, I would not be surprised if left-wing progressives just started borrowing Scientologist nomenclature wholesale: declaring anyone not on the bandwagon as a “Suppressive Person” to be shunned and destroyed is right up their alley!
The parallels are so numerous it is eerie. Scientologists practice something called “auditing,” which is basically a form of never-ending confession and self-examination in which a person “purges” all the hidden corruption deep in their psyche. It’s kind of like reading Robin deAngelo’s White Fragility. Same idea.
It might surprise and encourage you to know that the “Church of Scientology,” despite all their self-aggrandizing claims, only has around 30,000 members worldwide. I remember walking the streets of Amsterdam and passing by the Scientology building—it was so impressive and beautiful. What I didn’t know? There wasn’t anyone inside. Seriously, the “Church” has multi-million dollar buildings like this in most major cities in the world, but those buildings are staffed by a few secretaries to hand out literature (for a fee, mind you) to anyone at the front door; there is nobody else in the building. The “Church” of Scientology is a financial scam that takes billions of dollars from gullible people and parks it in lavish real estate. Watch the Netflix documentary series and they’ll tell you all about it.
They may be 30,000, but it is too bad the smug superiority of having the secret knowledge and insight to diagnose and heal all the wrongs in the world isn’t confined to followers of L. Ron Hubbard.
How precious is the good news of Jesus! There is no “ladder” to climb, no special techniques to master, no prior works required. We do not atone for our sins, they are forgiven on account of Christ. The gospel is news. It is an announcement that is received and believed. It is public. While there are many mysteries in Christian doctrine (we are talking about God, after all), there are no secrets.
Best of all? It is free of charge.
Miscellany
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Dr. Peter Williams was hosting an online seminar on the “Genius of Jesus.” I’m happy to report that you can watch the video here.
A few years ago I had the delightful privilege of taking my two older daughters to a Stryper concert. I had waited thirty years to see them live, and it turned out to be everything I’d ever dreamed. We had the front row. Not only were they just amazing musically, but lead singer Michael Sweet singled out my daughter and threw her one of the New Testaments they’re famous for throwing to fans. It was a great thrill. Michael and the guys are the real deal—they love Jesus and love singing about him. Amazing they’ve been doing it for almost four decades.
I bring that up to tell you that tomorrow night I get to see another concert I’ve been waiting thirty years to see. It’s just a slightly different genre. Finally, the Billings Symphony is playing Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez and I’ve been blessed with second-row-center seats. When I started playing the guitar thirty-one years ago, I began by learning the classical guitar and its repertoire. Rodrigo’s concerto is the granddaddy of them all, and I’m very excited to finally experience it live. I’ll let the fabulous and legendary Angel Romero take us out this week with the “Adagio” movement. Enjoy!