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Christian Missionaries, CIA Agents?
First, Christian leader Pat Robertson publicly calls for the assassination of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Second, a story comes out of the BBC that some Christian missionaries in Venezuela may be CIA operatives. Is your pattern-recognition meter going off the charts yet?
The group is called the New Tribes Mission. Their wildly imperialist tagline is “planting tribal churches.” In one of their header graphics, they also feature a reference to the Book of Revelation, 5:9. You can read the whole chapter here, but the part they are referencing reads:
And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Whether or not these guys are really CIA assets, there’s definitely something creepy about all the End Times references. In any event, you can also read about their missions in Venezuela on their site.
It seems that on the 12th of October, Chavez started beating the drums for the NTM to leave, accusing them merely of being colonialists. By two days later, the rhetoric had been amped up and they were now accused of sharing sensitive information with Washington. NTM has been “helping” (and by that I mean Christianizing) indigenous tribes in the Venezuela region for around 60 years; they and their supporters deny any claims of wrong-doing. The latest news as of this writing seems to indicate that NTM has not yet received official notice of expulsion and hence has not left. I’ll be keeping my eye on this story for any further updates, as the notion of complicity between right wing Christian groups and the intelligence community is an eerily fascinating one.
October 19th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
New Tribes Missions might just be the single most evil organization on the planet. Of course, historically, missionaries have been the vanguard of every imperialist endeavor, with a long history of paving the way for slavery and genocide. But NTM in particular has always been nefariously effective in destroying tribal cultures–which for me, translates roughyl as, “everything good left in this world.” That’s why we had such a little party over at Anthropik when we heard the good news.
I don’t want to trust Chavez, but damn, it seems like every time I hear his name I like him more….
October 19th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
Right wing missionaries working with intelligence agencies? Tell me something new! The sooner they force the NTM out the better.
October 19th, 2005 at 9:04 pm
interesting that it is seen as an attack on tribal cultures when the u.s. is rapidly retribalising faster than any other country on earth thanks to computers. the retribaliser. we are all able to sit around the campfire now and listen(read) at virtually the same time as the shaman shakes the bones(keys) and types out a harmonising rhythm. more badly paraphrased mcluhanisms, but i believe i got the gist of it correct.
the global village is upon us. slowly but surely we are all getting the message that a small group of people cannot dictate the wishes of the many when we all sit together and talk, now can they? this technology is powerful shit, when used as a tool for constructive living. it`s not about anarchy, it`s about peaceful existance. we can run our own affairs and the cops and lawyers and mbas will look over and decide that what we have built is a better thing. a calmer, quieter more manageable, technological, sophisticated, liveable existance. nobody needs to get shitty and the tyrants will become redundant.
i think we know a fair number of the answers now. hold the door open for someone, smile……plan deeply for your existance…..meditate, cast a bigass spell. one that thrills you, and then live it. whatever it means to you make it real. stir it up. make it mean something. then show someone what you did and how you did it and how they can too. all of human endevours are conspiracies. bet on it.
October 23rd, 2005 at 8:26 am
I´m a missionary in Chiapas, Mexico. About six weeks ago (i.e., about month before Chavez´s accusations), I met a US missionary to Venezuela who´s visiting some friends here. I am strongly and outspokenly opposed to missionaries serving imperialistic interests in any shape or form, and especially to missionaries collaborating with the CIA. When I said this to the missionary to Venezuela, he replied that he sees nothing wrong in “information sharing” with the CIA. I had never heard this term used before, so when Chavez used that term in his accusation, it rang a bell. Whether the charges against NTM are true or not, I of course cannot say, but at least one missionary there would have no qualms about doing exactly what he said.