@BrianZahnd Yes, and from the get go, Jesus explicitly clarified that misrepresentation of the Gospel would reach its fullest, most perverse and mature expression among whom? The Second Advent does not amount to the rubber stamp we perhaps presume.
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Copy of tweet here: "The ability to disguise sin defines Anti-Christ", #IvanIllich and represents the defining feature of this 'mysterium iniquitatis', and how our world is essentially turned topsy-turvy and inside-out through its elaboration in both religious and secular form. 4/ 12:22 PM · Apr 12, 2019
@lukeburgis Girard specifically identified such systemic mimetic escalation as the "Panic in the system" indicating the truth approaching of the Second Coming and the threat the Cross ultimately represents to “the infrastructure of all religions and all cultures", the Church first. Bailie:
![[Excerpt from Gil Bailie's 'Girardian' take, 'Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads' which Sam Keen describes as “the single most important book of social analysis and prophetic theology to appear in our generation.”]
"Those living closer to the Gospel’s epicenter, beginning with Christianity itself, are more likely to experience its cultural destablilizing effects than those at a greater distance from it. Christianity no more owns the Gospels than do multinational corporations own the earth."](/media/1753454963311944041-GFWF_jlbkAA8wkc.jpg)
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[Excerpt from Gil Bailie's 'Girardian' take, 'Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads' which Sam Keen describes as “the single most important book of social analysis and prophetic theology to appear in our generation.”] "Those living closer to the Gospel’s epicenter, beginning with Christianity itself, are more likely to experience its cultural destablilizing effects than those at a greater distance from it. Christianity no more owns the Gospels than do multinational corporations own the earth."