My friend Greg Thornbury at Union University alerted me this morning to the newest version of “the Kingdom of Christ.” It’s not a sequel to my book.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced in Caracas that his leftist presidency would be characterized by the reign of Jesus Christ. As he put it, according to the Miami Herald:
”The Kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of love, of peace; the kingdom of justice, of solidarity, brotherhood, the kingdom of socialism. This is the kingdom of the future of Venezuela.”
The Miami Herald notes that Chávez has never been particularly religious and that his “conversion” to Kingdom theology has more to do with appealing to Venezuela’s unique stream of popular syncretism in a way that serves his political ends. Chávez’s use of Christian imagery for his own purposes is hardly new. Remember when he rambled on at the United Nations about George W. Bush being “the devil”?
Is the future of Venezuela the Kingdom of Christ? Yes. But it won’t come in with the rantings of a leftist dictator.
We’ll see the Shock and Awe in the eastern skies when regime change comes to Venezuela, and the USA, and the entire cosmos. And the new Emperor probably won’t be holding press conferences.
