Collectivism 133, Part 3: Oh Satan, You Clever Boy
PACE Revised 2002
Welcome back, reader!
If you need context for this post, I encourage you to check out Part 1 or Part 2:
Quick warning: this post is going to include Christian occultism. If the idea of angels physically manifesting or direct demonic possession keeps you up at night (like it does me), read with caution.
Let’s get right to it. Where we left off in Collectivism 133, Part 2, we had just finished Donald Howard’s version of the Garden of Eden. Donald’s retelling of the story has Eve taking majority blame for Satan’s success.
She totally wanted it, bro.
The first time Adam gets any real blame is where we pick up the PACE today:
Exhibit 78
The real ruler of this world
When he sinned, Adam actually transferred his allegiance from God to Satan. Before his fall, Adam was the satrap of his suzerain lord—God. After the fall, Adam became the satrap of his new suzerain lord—Satan. Along with the vassal—Adam—also went the vassal’s dominion—earth. Satan took over control of this earth and has been called “the ruler of this world,” “the prince of this world,” and “the god of this world.” This is no passive overlordship, but real, direct, and personal reigning. The “god of this world” takes an active part in the affairs of this world.
Collectivism 133, page 11, 12
So far, this PACE has been a demonstration of all the different ways you can say the exact same thing: SATAN IS THE GOD OF THIS WORLD. Over and over again.
Where Donald takes this “takes an active part in the affairs of this world,” stuff is pretty disturbing. More so, to me, than the idea of outright demonic possession:
Exhibit 79
Collectivism 133, page 12
You don’t call someone an “evil genius” unless you have some sort of respect for the way they employ their genius. I don’t really know what else to say about that. That is just a crazy person saying crazy things. You can guarantee this line of thinking will remain the exact same when we cover figures like Charles Fourier, Karl Marx, Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, etc. Anyone he doesn’t like is/was, to varying degrees, under the direct control of this wily evil genius.
Here is where we get some 1v1, angel vs. demon action. I really enjoyed this display of deductive reasoning:
Exhibit 80
Collectivism 133, page 13
I, too, mistake world leaders for Satan himself. Tons of ‘em. All the time. Even so, this dude is fucking crazy. You cannot seriously market this as education and not be permanently committed to an insane asylum.
It wasn’t enough to blame Satan for every single attempt at societal perfectionism improvement, now he’s “the real ruler of all the kingdoms of this world.” All of them. And remember “This is no passive overlordship, but real, direct, and personal reigning” (Ex. 78). If true, every single person on earth has the moral obligation to abolish all governments and reject any government’s claim to authority. Full-stop, end of story. You could say the human race would be obligated to perform a collectivist utopian revolution to save humanity from Satan’s stranglehold. That, or we should all be anarchists.
At the very very least, good Christians should have no part in government.
Instead of backing up and ironing out this impending train wreck, he just plows on. We pick up on the very next page:
Exhibit 81
Human government is an absolute necessity because fallen, sinful man needs a moral restraint on his evil and immoral tendencies. […]
In the “Age of Conscience” that followed the fall of mankind, each man was to be he head of his own family. Each family head was the government of that family unit: “unto the woman he [God] said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conceptions; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (emphasis added, Genesis 3:16) At this point in time, each family head could have effected his own utopia, but not one succeeded.
Collectivism 133, page 14
How does one reconcile All guman governments = Satan’s kingdoms = absolutely necessary to restrain evil??
You see, Donald can’t commit to arguing against governments entirely. His utopia (for straight-white-Christian-middle class-land owners) requires oppressive, top-down hierarchies, like a Christian Nationalist state. These power structures don’t occur naturally. “Each family head was the government of that family unit,” is some wild creative licensing, but that’s what I mean. There’s like, what, 4 families on the entire earth at this point? Per the Bible, I mean. Why would God think of these families as individual governments? And if we’re being this literal, wouldn’t those governments be classified as patriarchal dictatorships?
From here on out, Donald never again acknowledges Satan’s “real, direct, and personal reigning”:
Exhibit 2 [sic]
After the Flood, God instituted human government. In the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis, God instituted capital punishment for the crime of murder:
"And surely the blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." (Genesis 9:5-6)
God authorized human government, in His Name, to have the power of life and death. If a man took the life of another, God demanded that the murderer's life be forfeited to the state. God-ordained government is to act as a restraint on selfishness and to regulate man's societal interactions when it is necessary.
Collectivism 133, Page 15
As I said in God Votes Republican, there is no mention of a human government or forfeiture of life to the state in Genesis 9. Not one. No definition of “God-ordained government,” and not one mention of selfishness or greed in the entire chapter of Genesis 9. Nothing about human government regulating “man's societal interactions,” or a description of “when it is necessary,” and no concrete definitions or examples of these things from Donald. Yet, that doesn’t stop Donald’s lazy, feelings based ramblings from being published as education and sold to families for-profit. This would have been a good time for Accelerated Christian Education to have some sort of proof-reader or peer-review system (Ex. 67, Ex. 68). But I’m sure that’s just some satanic-commie propaganda.
If I was to summarize the first 13 pages of this PACE it would be “Satan rules every human government on earth, and women are subservient to men.” I’d summarize pages 14, 15, and 16, as “God ordained human governments to slay evil-doers, and women are subservient to men.” I remember doing this PACE from my senior year and being super confused by this stark change in rhetoric. That’s actually why I started with Collectivism for my PACE reviews. Donald made no effort to bridge these two realities, so the student is left to decide for themselves. More than a decade later, I can’t say for certain what I concluded. I just remember checking and rechecking to see if I’d missed anything.
I’m certain I didn’t:
Exhibit 82
Governments were established to punish wrongdoers and to reward the good. In fact, any society that does not mete out swift justice to lawbreakers will surely destroy itself. […]
(21) God’s commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” negates capital punishment. (True or false?) _______
(22) Governments are to (a) _______ wrongdoers and (b) __________ the good.
(23) If thou do that which is evil, be ____________; for he beareth not the sword in vain.
Collectivism 133, page 15, 16
Answers are (21) False, (22a) punish (22b) reward, (23) afraid.
Following page 15 comes a long winded conversation about Noah and Nimrod, where Donald is inconsistently literal, and spends entire pages inventing lore. Pages 17-19 could be adequately summarized as mental masturbation.
So we skip to Page 20, which is a check-up. I think the questions asked say something:
Exhibit 83
Collectivism 133, page 20
That’s where we leave it for today.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Part 4!