A Pearl-clutcher's nightmare- "These are truly the last days"
A drag queen? Taking over the Christian and Gospel charts on iTunes? Oh, the humanity.... Cue the Rapture in 4...3...2....
I have defined the hundred percent American as ninety-nine percent an idiot.
George Bernard Shaw
And then he thought: Is this how idiots rationalize their stupidity to themselves?
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Shadow
It’s no secret that controversy sells. We’ve seen it with Jason Aldean’s song, Try That in a Small Town. The video features racist dog whistles, and the lyrics are barely camouflaged calls to violence…precisely what you’d find in a small town, no?
Well, no…but why let the truth stand in the way of a song and video that will leave Aldean laughing all the way to the bank? It was a tribute to pure, unadulterated MAGA values- White supremacy, Christian Nationalism, and the promise that we’ll come to your town and kick your sorry ass if you don’t like it.
It turns out that controversy isn’t profitable only for the Far-Right. We saw a new twist on the formula when former worship leader Derek Webb collaborated musically with a drag queen.
Oh, the humanity….
Pearl-clutchers like MAGA preacher Sean Feucht were left crying for oxygen; such was the outrage throughout Christendom! OMG, how could a just and righteous God allow this to happen?
Hmm…maybe she wasn’t paying attention?? Or perhaps she was rocking out with the drag queens. Yeah, maybe she was OK with love, tolerance, acceptance,and understanding- you know, the things you’ll find taught in the Gospel?
Maybe God isn’t an angry, spiteful, and vindictive son of a bitch after all.
The number one song on iTunes this week is Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town,” not because it’s a particularly good song (content aside, it’s terrible, and I have no problem admitting when I think terrible people have good voices or wrote a catchy tune) but rather because the Right ran out and bought it in order to “own the libs.” You know, because we’re not so hot for lynching jams.
But two can play at that game!
I don’t know if Derek Webb and Flamy Grant are terrible people (I’m guessing probably not, but Sean Feucht certainly is), but I’ve heard they released a catchy tune…and now Feucht’s outrage is approaching nine on the Richter scale.
Pobrecito. It sounds like someone could use a Xanax, no?
All that righteous outrage can’t be good for a person’s blood pressure. Perhaps Webb and Grant could teach Feucht something about Christian love and tolerance.
Last week, the very ridiculous MAGA preacher Sean Feucht, whom you may remember from his COVID lockdown-era shenanigans and the rumors that he was Lauren Boebert’s sidepiece, pitched a fit about Christian musician Derek Webb’s recent musical collaboration with drag queen (and fellow Christian musician) Flamy Grant.
“If you're wondering the end goal of the deconstruction movement in the church, then look no further than former worship leader @derekwebb's new collab with a drag queen.” he wrote on Twitter. “These are truly the last days.”
It is very normal to believe in an almighty deity who would look down on Earth and say, “What? Someone is singing songs with a drag queen? Not on my watch! Time to pack it all in — start vacuuming up the righteous so we can explode the entire giant universe I created!”
“End goal? Baby, we’re just getting started,” Grant retorted.
I don’t think I’m being overly harsh when I say that if Sean Feucht is a Christian, I’m Megan Rapinoe. Feucht’s a 24-karat, top-shelf, USDA Prime, Grade-A en flambe asshole who, for reasons known only to himself, thinks he communicates directly with God.
I’d lay off the peyote, dude….
He’s quick to condemn those who don’t meet with his approval, but he could spend some serious time and effort getting his own house in order. Sadly, he lacks the self-awareness to recognize that, and he’s the poster child for his local chapter of the Dunning-Kruger Club.
Feucht might be well-advised to take his own advice.
“Well good for us hardly anyone listens or cares what you do,” Feucht tweeted. “Bad for you is that one day you’ll sit before Jesus and give an account for the perversion you tried to force on kids. There’s a verse about a millstone to warn you (Matt 18:6).”
Oh for Feucht’s sake.
Feucht, it turns out, is something of a false prophet — his little spat with Flamy Grant led to a lot of people listening to her and caring what she does, and now her album Bible Belt Baby is number one on the Christian and Gospel charts!
The only name I recognize on that list is CeCe Winans, and I’m not even sure why I know her name. But for those to whom worship music is important, Flamy Grant is a big thing now. The idea that a drag queen is singing praise and worship songs is no big deal to much of the Christian music-buying public.
This, of course, chaps Sean Feucht’s hide to no end, which, of course, makes me smile. I usually take no joy from the discomfort and/or suffering of others, but Feucht is such a hateful pinhead that I’ll happily make an exception for him.
When it comes to Sean Feucht, I’ll take all the schadenfreude I can get, gurl. Just keep it coming. This barrel has no bottom, knowhutimean??
I don’t know Flamy Grant from RuPaul, but that’s not the point. What concerns me are the false prophets and MAGA “Christian” assholes like Sean Feucht. Those cretins are having conniption fits and practically wetting themselves in fits of rage, and I’m totally 100% here for it. Feucht can’t handle the idea of a Christian musician collaborating with a drag queen.
Hey, Sean…that’s a “you” problem, if you know what I mean.
“It just ain’t Christian….” Here’s a news flash, Pontius Pilate- neither is hypocrisy, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and Christian Nationalism.
But what if it was the most perfectly Christian thing in the world to do? What if it was just about the music? And what if it was about love? And acceptance? And tolerance? And all those lovely things that drive MAGA “Christians” like Sean Feucht bat-shit crazy?
In addition to the album itself charting, her song “Good Day,” featuring the aforementioned Derek Webb, also hit number one on the Christian and Gospel iTunes charts.
Whoops!
Flamy Grant responded to the 10-month old song and album charting on Instagram with gratitude to her fans and supporters, writing, “I don’t know what else to say except: if you’re gonna come for a drag queen, you better be ready for how she comes back. She comes back with an army of love.”
What if Flamy Grant and Derek Webb were the ones who were the ones living and modeling the teachings of Jesus Christ and not Sean Feucht? Because, truthfully, they are. Feucht is as much a Christian as I am a neurosurgeon…and (trust me on this one) you do NOT want me standing over your exposed brain with a scalpel and a “how-to” manual.
Though he sees himself as a “prophet,” Feucht gives himself far too much credit. His self-ascribed “prophet” status is little more than an ego trip intended to line his bank account and inflate his massive ego. He’s neither living nor modeling the teachings of the Lord and Savior he claims to revere. He swiftly condemns those who fall short of the lofty standards he’s unwilling to hold himself to.
Yeah, he seems nice, eh?
Sean Feucht has some serious self-righteousness issues- most notably delusions of grandeur and anger management. He declared in August 2022 that Christians must “step out and confront the demonic schemes being pushed through the schools.”
Sorry, son…no “demonic schemes” are being pushed through our public schools. Just because Feucht doesn’t like that public schools aren’t doubling as churches doesn’t mean there’s a problem. There’s still the separation of Church and State, which, to his dismay, is still a thing.
Right; when students are taught to think for themselves, they realize that modern Christianity is a scheme to control them and their thoughts. And Feucht wants public schools to create reliably obedient Christian soldiers. Because he admits to being a straight-up Christian Nationalist who wants Christians to be in positions of power- “the righteous must seize cultural authority.” Uh-huh.
Don’t let Muslims smuggle in Allah. Or Buddhists Buddha. Or Jews ‘not Christ’. Or pagans Thor. Or atheists science & reason. Christ is King.
Precisely what Jesus would do, eh?
There’s nothing “Christian” about “Christian Nationalism.” You can call yourself a “Christian” or a “nationalist,” but conflating the two makes you neither. Anyone familiar with Jesus’s teachings understands that. Hell, I’m an atheist, and even I know that much.
(Oh, and did I mention that Feucht takes credit for curing Floriduh First Lady Casey DeSatan of cancer? The man’s just that good.)
If nothing else, I give full credit and praise to Derek Webb and Flamy Grant for pissing off Sean Feucht. Anyone who succeeds in getting under Feucht’s self-righteous skin can be on my team anytime.
As for their music, I haven’t listened to it and have no plans to. My experience with Christian music is that it’s to music what single-A baseball is to Major League Baseball. There’s some talent there, but it’s pretty raw and rough around the edges. Most of it will never sniff the major league level.
Most Christian music, at least to my ear, is boring, poorly written, and not very interesting. But that’s just me, and I’m an atheist, so you can take that critique for what it’s worth.
Once upon a timeI once spent a week shepherding a Christian musician around Croatia. The hours when I had to be around the guy (whose name I’ve thankfully long since forgotten) were some of my life's longest and most boring. By the end of the week, I wanted to juggle hand grenades with the pins removed.
The poor guy was WAY too full of himself. He thought he was God’s voice poured out in music. I kept thinking, “Dude, you’re in the middle of f*****g nowhere in a war zone in Croatia. If you were a Christian music star, wouldn’t you be in Nashville…or at least some place farther away from a f*****g minefield?”
When he finally went wheels-up from Zagreb, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was about Christian musicians that made them feel like they were bulletproof- as in, “What part of ‘We’re in a war zone’ doesn’t register with you?”
Ah, but I digress….
I hope those who hate and fear drag queens will at some point be able to hear and see this side of the story. Perhaps they’ll change their minds. Perhaps not. It may just be that their hatred and bigotry have so warped them that they’re beyond reach.
In the end, though, Derek Webb and Flamy Grant’s love perfectly counters the hatred and racism spread by people like Sean Feucht and Jason Aldean. So, even though I haven’t heard Webb and Grant’s music, and though I’m no fan of Christian music, they’re OK by me.
Rock on, Garth.
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