The satirical video above is not only extremely well produced and quite humorous, but it also brings up a notion that maybe the people should consider. Should Tom Cruise run for President as a Democrat? Absolutely. I don’t care whether he’s a Democrat or not; he seems more like a progressive Libertarian than anything else. But that’s semantics. Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump were Democrats earlier in life. Political party isn’t really about anything other than assigning majorities in Congress.

There are actually compelling reasons for the Democrats to draft Cruise to be their candidate. I know what you’re thinking. With a couple hundred candidates already, why do they need another one? Just because they have candidates already doesn’t mean they have any GOOD candidates.

Would Tom Cruise be a good candidate? There’s only one way to find out for sure, but in the meantime we can look at different aspects of his life and compare them to the declared Democratic candidates. Here’s a list of 10 reasons Cruise should run:

1. Many of the current candidates had to fight for enough attention to get people interested in them running at all. Cruise has never expressed the desire, yet there’s a video and now at least one article telling him to do it.
2. He does his own stunts. Most Democratic candidates can’t even write their own speeches.
3. At 57 he looks healthier than Bernie Sanders looked at 37.
4. Democratic candidates have a problem understanding how the law works. After playing a lawyer, twice, Cruise’s understanding of the law has already surpassed their collective understanding.
5. Had he been born a few hours later, his birthday would be July 4th. But even if the real world deprived him of his glory, he still starred in the movie Born on the 4th of July.
6. He was in the military multiple times on tours through Hollywood productions. He has also been a spy, an inspirational speaker, a sports agent, and a smuggler. But if there’s one thing he does regularly, it’s fight to save the world. He’s fought aliens, mummies, terrorists, and even fought vampires… as a vampire.
7. There has never been a Scientologist president… as far as we know.
8. He says others are “glib.” Name one candidate who ever says other people are glib.
9. Unlike Democratic candidates, he has never espoused the desire to institute a variation of socialism in America.
10. Tom Cruise panders to nobody, ever. Every Democratic candidate panders at any moment an opening presents itself.

Tom Cruise has been needed to save the world on dozens of occasions. Now, the Democrats may need him to come in and save their party from the socialists who are taking it over. If anyone can do it, it’s Tom Cruise. Or Keanu Reeves.

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.

For months now, Kanye West has rebranded his reputation as a more spiritual musician after comments about being used by Candace Owens. He has launched a series of concerts he calls Sunday Service. But the concerts contain a plethora of gospel music and a number of collaborations. The Sunday Service has been kept under wraps with leaked videos here and there but little is known about how legitimate the faith message is or wants to be. The Sunday Service has garnered criticism for the accompanying high end fashion line with overpriced merchandise. But on a recent Sunday, we got a taste of whether the Gospel is preached at these events with the release of Rich Wilkerson Jr. preached at Sunday Service.

Listening to the Sunday Service, Wilkerson was quick to argue that this was not a concert, this was an “old fashion worship service.” Rather than resembling “Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God,” it came off as a regular, easily digestible, church service. “Praises go up, blessings come down,” Wilkerson said. He goes on to say “Jesus is the anecdote to your trouble.” It was a solid few minutes before Wilkerson read from the Bible. And to my own surprise, he read from John 14.

1″Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ESV

Kanye West’s Sunday Service touched on the exclusivity of Jesus. That’s the Gospel right? Not quite. The theme of Rich Wilkerson’s message was “trust in God.” The result of trusting in God, according to his message was rescue from troubles and hardships. The result of trusting in God, according to Wilkerson was reaching your destination or the destination Jesus has in mind for you. Yet in saying, this he does not assert that trusting Jesus is free of hardship. So what is missing from the message? The need. The need for trusting Jesus is entirely subjective and the result is eternal life, he also read John 3:16.

There’s a great resurrection for all of us, as we put our trust in him, he promises to get us to the other side

Popularity Gospel

Rich Wilkerson Jr. leaves out that which Jesus saves us from. He also leaves out what following Jesus, trusting Jesus, looks like. The Popularity Gospel says you are right and Jesus makes you better. It’s less ambitious than its cousin the Prosperity Gospel and the more adherent to scripture than the Social Justice Gospel, also known as Liberation Theology. For instance the Social Justice Gospel would never have touched upon John 14:6 without a pantheistic premise of Jesus. Similarly the Prosperity Gospel seeks to profit from the congregants. The Popularity Gospels is a marriage of the two heresies, but maintains the main commonality between them: they do not preach about sin.

They do not answer the question: what must we do to be saved? Because there is no saving. Rick Wilkerson’s message at Sunday Service doesn’t save because his message wasn’t the actual gospel. The differences are subtle but therein is the danger of a watered down gospel message devoid of the lifesaving meaning. It’s a brand of Christianity that baptizes believers but does not make disciples. Now, the Holy Spirit is capable of saving even using a watered down Gospel, but that believer is most certainly going to have to take it upon themselves to learn the Bible above an elementary level because a church that preaches a Popularity Gospel will not teach Christianity to the masses.

We have a theologically illiterate society and the danger in not understanding salvation is being led astray. People will claim to prophesy, preach, and cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and he will say “I do not know you.”

Rich Wilkerson Jr.’s Background

He was not a random pastor for Kanye to stumble upon. He was the officiant of the West-Kardashian wedding. Wilkerson is the lead pastor at VOUS Church in the Miami, Florida region. A quick visit to VOUS church website leaves the visitor confused as to what they believe. They list seven core values and the first one labeled “Jesus: is our message” is the only theological value they list. The others are all generic, western cultural values derived from scripture.

The purpose of Vous Church is to share the hope of Jesus. Jesus is our message. We are Jesus people, not religious people. Methods will come and go, yet our me3687iiiissage will remain the same.

There is no statement of faith on their website. His church fails the “website test” test astonishingly, and the likely result of his theological value is embrace of antinomianism, a rejection of morality and repentance. And yet a pastor that has no stated doctrinal beliefs, online, masterfully devoids the exclusivity of Jesus of that which we are being saved from. Kanye West’s Sunday Service did not just host some hack motivational speaker. They employed someone who masterfully preaches the false Popularity Gospel.

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.

After an earnings report that dropped Netflix stock price down to the low 300s, Netflix has reportedly been in the midst of several bidding wars in the Hollywood equivalent of free agency. In a previous article, it was noted that Netflix was willing to offer Eddie Murphy $70 million dollars for a standup special when the company announced the cancellation of feminist comedy Tuca and Bertie. This announcement also comes after Disney unveiled a bundled package of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ priced specifically to undercut Netflix.

The arms race for original content is well underway, as Netflix knows very well. And while Disney is content to rehash children’s classics like Home Alone and Cheaper by the Dozen, Netflix has reportedly dropped $200 million for an exclusive deal with the showrunners behind HBO’s Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, commonly referred to as D&D.

Rebuttal

And while some such as the New York Observer suggest that the high profile names will draw enough buzz to stabilize subscriber numbers, they underestimate just had badly their showrunning for HBO’s Game of Thrones really was. The eighth season of Game of Thrones was overwhelmingly poorly received by the audience. As I note in my column “Why Game of Thrones felt rushed” they are without the excuse of running out of source material to justify their terrible writing decisions.

Proponents of this free agent signing overestimate the forgiving nature of the internet and our ever increasing cancel culture. This move has been poorly received by fans who are accurately living up to the mantra “The North Remembers.”

Falling Upwards

If there was ever a sign of elitism, it’s the ability for people who are “inside” to fall upwards. We see this a lot in politics where losing incumbents become lobbyist, and disastrous Presidential candidates become Senators. Hollywood has rejected the audience reception of the final season of Game of Thrones with whopping 32 Emmy Nominations, several of which for writing, directing, and acting were undeserved. It was a stunning display of elitism and Netflix, instead of standing apart, is joining the flock in ignoring the reception that has made D&D the most toxic showrunners in the industry, that dwarfs Rian Johnson and Joss Whedon/Zach Snyder, by dropping nine figures of borrowed money on them. Bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off.

It’s amazing how much of an echo chamber Hollywood is in to allow D&D to fail upward to the tune of $200 million.

We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.