Televangelist Mario Murillo must be sweating up a storm, now that the right-wing epistemic bubble has failed him:
Murillo, who recently proclaimed that he “will never accept” that Biden is president-elect, said that refusing to accept Biden’s election is a test of loyalty to God.
“I’m gonna say this,” Murillo announced. “That Joe Biden is president is the conspiracy theory. Not the Dominion voting, not all of the corruption that we’re uncovering. The conspiracy theory, the tinfoil cone hat theory is that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States. Get that. Now, here’s what you are doing. The Bible says not to fear their conspiracy theories but to fear the Lord and then he will be a sanctuary. … If you are filled with the Holy Spirit and give into fear, God is going to judge you. God is going to correct you for that.”
“If you’re giving in and you’re one of those that voted for Biden, if you’re one of those that is kind of using cheap grace as an excuse to accept this cultural change and say, ‘Well, let’s be loving,’ God is going to judge you,” he continued. “Right now, this is a test. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a test. It’s a test of whether you are going to stand on the word or go by what you see.”
Murillo said that “it would make no sense” for President Donald Trump to lose when various prophecies supposedly foreshadowed his reelection, and thus Christians have “got to be loyal to God in this hour and not give in because God will surely bring correction.” [Right Wing Watch]
The power of magical thinking. Wave at vague prophecies, inject a bit of emotion, hang on for the ride.
Once believers go whole hog, believing what the preacher says, rather than adhering to the social conventions that we’ve built and revised and rebuilt over the centuries, then we’re on the road to perdition, we’re on the road covered in stakes and writhing figures in flame.
Or so history teaches us. Once religious mania overtakes social sanity, we get religious wars, first abolishing the old order, which is considered anti-God, then on each other, slicing all the cults into finer and finer pieces, until the survivors get together and realize there’s real wisdom in admitting doubt.
In saying, I don’t know the mind of the divinity.
In the meantime, subjective certainty of the intentions of a divine being that may not even exist can wreak tremendous havoc on both believer and unbeliever, and it’s really sad. The arrogance of pastors such as Murillo, as well as his followers, are such a curse on everyone. Besides Murillo.
There’s no real comeback to Murillo, unfortunately, except to wait for real-world consequences to inflict themselves on his followers. He’ll never apologize, never back down. But a sufficiently disillusioned follower, who either has lost everything, or finds their credulity has been stretched beyond redemption by such facile arguments as This is a test! I’m not wrong! Don’t lose your faith!, will walk away. Intellectual arguments? Theological arguments? No.
They may think their way out of their trap, but leading them out of their trap seems unlikely.
