“And his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”Revelation 6:8
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The image on the right is the book cover for Rules for Reformers, a book published by Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, in December 2014. On it Mr. Wilson wears a leather jacket with an imprint of the Grim Reaper on the back. Mr. Wilson poached the image from Sons of Anarchy, which was a television series about a fictitious outlaw motorcycle gang.
The name Grim Reaper was coined in the nineteenth century. Historically, his name is Death, because the Grim Reaper personifies Death (proper noun). The typical figure of Death is a skeleton with hollowed-out eyes, dressed in a monk’s black robe, and he carries an hourglass and a scythe. The hourglass signifies the exact moment of a person’s death, as when the last grain of sand falls through the bulb, and the scythe signifies the Grim Reaper’s task — he’s there to harvest. Images of Death date back to the Late Medieval Period — especially when the Black Death swept through Europe. Death became fixed in the occult with the emergence of tarot cards, which also originated in the fifteenth century. Jumping forward 500 years, the Hells Angels adopted a variation of the Grim Reaper for their logo and they were the inspiration for Sons of Anarchy, whose logo Mr. Wilson copied for his book cover.
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Notice, however, that Mr. Wilson’s version of Death made two alterations to the Sons of Anarchy insignia. First, he replaced Death’s scythe with a baseball bat and, second, he replaced Death’s crystal ball1 with a flower pot. These alterations are significant because Mr. Wilson swings a baseball bat at flower pots in a music video he produced, which he titled Hold Your Peace. Mr. Wilson released the vid in December 2014, at the same time he published Rules for Reformers. In the video, Mr. Wilson and his minions toss flower pots into the air and smash them to pieces with baseball bats. Of course, the flower pots signify human beings — people.
So if we follow Mr. Wilson’s imagery to its logical conclusion, the insignia on his biker’s jacket does not signify the Grim Reaper — it signifies Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church, Moscow. Mr. Wilson didn’t simply alter Death — he personalized it. He adapted Death to suit his perception of himself as an agent of retribution who shatters people, to the rhythm of music, ostensibly for entertainment.
And don’t miss this. The historic Grim Reaper was constrained by time. That is, he did not wield his scythe until every grain of sand fell through the hourglass. But Mr. Wilson’s adaptation of Death removed this constraint. That is, he has no restraint. He acts unilaterally. He enjoys free license to smash whomever he wants whenever he wants — hence anarchy. Remember, he took the image from Sons of Anarchy.
Now, some may dismiss this interpretation as speculative over-spiritualization, but these naysayers face a difficult problem. They must account for Mr. Wilson’s well-documented track record of pitiless abuses, which he has delivered in public, without apology.
For example, in the last two months we have witnessed Mr. Wilson beating Natalie Rose Greenfield with his baseball bat, smashing her with one blow after another on the worldwide web. Mr. Wilson insinuated that the 13-year old threw herself at 23-year-old Jamin Wight, overcoming the defenseless man with her irresistible height, and Mr. Wilson tried blackmailing Natalie into silence by threatening to publish a private journal she kept. This is the same journal that the judge sealed in order to protect Natalie from the very harm that Mr. Wilson now threatens. But you must remember nothing restrains Mr. Wilson. He is a son of anarchy. He is Death.
Mr. Wilson has also smashed Natalie’s father with his Louisville Slugger, ruthlessly beating his reputation to death. I write as an eyewitness — Gary Greenfield is a dear friend of mine and I know firsthand his deep love for his family. I know, just as Mr. Wilson knows, that Gary does not have a malicious bone in his body. To be sure, I know, just as Mr. Wilson knows, that Gary is utterly harmless. And I know, just as Mr. Wilson knows, that Mr. Wilson blame-shifted responsibility for Jamin Wight’s crimes onto Gary out of spite. But bearing false witness against Gary Greenfield in a matter of public judicature came easy to Mr. Wilson. He is a son of anarchy. He is Death.
Mr. Wilson swung his baseball bat at Miss Katie Travis when he encouraged her to marry serial pedophile Steven Sitler. He knew this marriage would result in a life term of countless humiliations for Katie — annual mugshots for Idaho’s registered sex offender website, random polygraph tests, midnight visits from his parole officer, and the never-ending possibility of excruciating front-page headlines about her husband — no woman should have to suffer these indignities. Certainly not a 23-year old with her whole life before her. But this didn’t stop Mr. Wilson. In fact, he relished the moment, writing, “I officiated at the wedding and was glad to do so.” He is a son of anarchy. He is Death.
Mr. Wilson bashed Dr. Louis Schuler with his baseball bat, mercilessly beating him and his wife. He pumped the rumor mill full of awful lies about Duck to justify his termination. He never told anyone about the Christ Church Commitment to Loyalty, just as he didn’t tell anyone how he cancelled Duck’s insurance three weeks before Christmas, after Kim discovered a lump. He even mocked them, accusing husband and wife of nepotism. But Mr. Wilson did this because he is a son of anarchy. He is Death.
I could cite many more examples of Mr. Wilson exercising his ministry of Death, but these four suffice because most readers know them. And if Mr. Wilson doesn’t appreciate being called a son of anarchy — Death — then he shouldn’t have posed in a biker’s jacket that replicated the Sons of Anarchy for his book cover. Moreover, he shouldn’t have retrofitted Death’s tools to suit his own unique specifications and he shouldn’t have scripted let alone performed in a video where he played Death, randomly tossing flower pots in the air so he could obliterate them with his baseball bat.
But he did do these things and he did them for a reason. He wants the world to know that Doug Wilson is a son of anarchy. Doug Wilson is Death.
1 The insignia for Sons of Anarchy replaced Death’s hourglass with a crystal ball.
I think we’re giving him a little too much credit here. I don’t see Doug as “Death,” that’s far too flattering. He’s more like dysentery, or possibly a bad case of herpes.
Also, I’ll repeat this because it bears repeating: Doug Wilson is disgustingly obese. He is corpulently, grossly, immensely blubberous. I mean seriously, what a fatass.
@Dash — Notice that the Doane pulled his lens way back when he shot Death, to hide Death’s 90-pound surplus of lard, which doesn’t quite fit the profile of a skeleton (they say that black is slimming — but not in this case); and he needed to obscure Death’s eroded hand-to-eye coordination. Death’s mortality is evident.
This season in Moscow looks to be always winter and never Christmas.
I do not know Mr. Greenfield, but it sounds like Wilson’s pursuit of him goes beyond blame shifting or even punishment for not getting in line. By Greenfield’s account, he would not fully invest in Wilson’s vision of Christ Church, and Wilson was frustrated by this. But many probably fell under this category. What made Wilson go after him, specifically?
I wonder if Gary Greenfield had something that a narcissistic Doug Wilson wanted (it could be anything: humility, an enviable family, business acumen, genuine gentleness and compassion that Wilson could never manufacture…). Maybe Wilson decided to make Gary his narcissistic target. If this were the case, Wilson would pursue him relentlessly — probably with the knowledge that Greenfield would not retaliate — until he was utterly crushed.
One could extend the same logic of targeting to Natalie, who Wilson clearly believes oozed some kind of raw, unbridled sexuality — a freedom he could never experience. And to Sitler, who was able to act on his sexual impulses, sick as they were. Doug envied both, because for all his talk about conquering and planting and penetrating, he seems terribly sexually repressed. Katie was collateral damage, and Wilson could easily writer her off. Or perhaps he saw her meekness, and wanted to prove that it is the strong — the ones who punch twice as hard — who truly inherit the earth. Dr. Schuler, a skilled musician with actual educational credentials, credibly disagreed with Wilson. Wilson couldn’t have that.
Please forgive these assumptions if they’re off; I don’t know the parties involved and I could be wildly overreaching. But from the outside, it looks like a case of narcissistic personality disorder that targets people, mows them down, and moves on to the next victim.
@Anon — You are on the money, more than you could ever know.
One thing I think Doug Wilson wanted was greater control of Bucer’s. He once wrote a ‘parable’ where Gary Greenfield got hit by a bus in retaliation for Gary eschewing his advice regarding book sales and supply. When I was in Moscow it seemed like Bucer’s was considered a branch of the NSA/Christ Church kingdom, maybe Doug wasn’t happy with Gary’s intentions for Bucer’s when he was planning to leave Moscow with his family.
This weekend I remembered that parable from Credenda and wrestled with whether I should post it. Now I will.
I desperately want to see this “parable.” I wonder if I saw it in Credenda back in the day.
Here you are Sarah:
http://www.credenda.org/archive/issues/16-4thema.php
“Once there was a man who would not write anything down. This was only a mild nuisance when it came to things like grocery lists, but it was a significant problem in his extensive business dealings. He would make agreements, as he put it, “the way his grandpappy did,” with a smile and a handshake. “We are all Christians,” he would say to those who had requested a written agreement, lease, work contract, whatever. And with that, his questioners went away feeling slightly disapproved of. Some of them sometimes wondered how something like regeneration could make your memory perfect, but none of them ever said anything. Of course, it was not long before his dealings were all in a perfect snarl. One day, while crossing the street at an intersection, he objected to a written message that, when summarized, read something like, “Don’t Walk,” and he was struck and killed by a UPS truck. His widow spent a number of years and many thousands of dollars sorting everything out, and at least three attorneys lived happily ever after.”
He is Death.
Thanks, Cicero.
And ewww. I did read that once upon a time. It makes me feel like a participant in Doug’s sick games. Ew. Ew. Ew.
Also: is Wilson’s version of Death wearing a newsboy cap and Calvinist beard? Ugh, this guy.
To an outsider with no stake in the Moscow environment, there’s a genuinely laughable comedic element to Doug Wilson’s antics, not in a good way. What a buffoon, right? This guy reeks of rank idiocy.
Yes, he reminds me of Doug Phillips, of the now-defunct Vision Forum. Except Wilson’s buffoonery manifests as Scottish cosplay, rock star aspirations, and faux intellectualism.
And while Doug Phillips had poor impulse control, Doug Wilson seems very good at keeping his proclivities in check.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10
Ulysses, you are correct. It’s telling that Doug Wilson has a chosen a symbol of death and destruction on his book cover. It’s revealing that he smashes flower pots (representing people) in his video. He has chosen to identify with the devil and the ministry of death, not Jesus Christ and the ministry of life.
The wolf in sheeps’s clothing can only hide his true nature for so long. But to paraphrase an old saying: if it growls like a wolf, and threatens like a wolf, and terrorizes sheep like a wolf; and scatters the flock like a wolf; and bites and kills like a wolf, it’s a wolf. Underneath Wilson’s sheep costume we see sharp teeth and we hear hateful words and implied threats. Looking around his flock, we see his victims. But what else should we expect from a man who wrote a book called “The Serrated Edge?” Or the book “Against the Church?” And now the symbol of death is on his motorcycle jacket.
Over the years, the true sheep in Wilson’s church have turned away from the stranger Jesus warned about, and gone back to following the True Shepherd. If any true sheep remain in Wilson’s church, now would be a good time to walk away and do likewise. No telling what Wilson might do next.
Did that blurb on the cover say “lumberjack” or “dumb boorish jackass”? I don’t think honest, hardworking lumberjacks should be so impugned. – d