“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere,” noted GK Chesterton in 1928. As to this, critics of a new statue erected outside UN Headquarters in New York City say it crosses the line. In fact, they claim the work crosses up the Cross, in that it depicts a demonic End Times beast.
“When I first heard about this, I could hardly believe that the global elite would be so brazen,” remarked blogger Michael Snyder, who says the statue “appears to very closely resemble a ‘beast’ that is described in the Book of Revelation.”
The work, which is named the “Guardian for International Peace and Security” (GIPS) and is a gift from the Government of Oaxaca, Mexico (and, apparently, entered our country legally), “is a fusion of jaguar and eagle,” according to this website. It also “has been painted in LGBT colors,” writes Snyder.
Below is an image of the statue, along with another that some observers liken to it.
Snyder also writes that, of course,
when Christians see this monstrosity, they are immediately going to think of the “beast” that is described in Revelation chapter 13…
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
This perception certainly is reflected in the Twitter thread here, though some take a different perspective. A very level-headed editor I know, a strong Christian, said that he didn’t think the statue was all that reminiscent of the Revelation beast. He further stated that while he neither liked the UN nor believed it should be in our country, he found it unsurprising that the organization would feature international art because it is, after all, an international entity.
The editor also mentioned that the controversy reminded him of the notorious “Blue Mustang” statue (seen in video below) at Denver International Airport, dubbed “Blucifer” because of its color and glowing, red, and some would say “demonic” eyes (and because a section of the work fell off during its creation and killed its creator, sculptor and artist Luis Jiménez).
Yet as the editor also pointed out and as Fodors.com explains, the eyes are a “tribute to Jiménez’s father, who owned a neon sign workshop.”
In other words, Jiménez’s intentions were apparently entirely innocent. Yet does this mean such works’ effect is entirely innocuous? This question is deeper than that of whether the UN is purposely erecting satanic symbols, but is rarely addressed. Moreover, the larger point is that the GIPS statue is part of a larger problem.
Whether satanic, moronic, or something else, the statue might be of relatively little consequence where it an anomaly. But here’s the big picture:
Over the last many decades our society has been denuded of its historically present Christian symbols, sentiments, and observances. Some examples are how “Christmas break” has been replaced on school calendars with “winter break,” Christian symbols have been removed from city seals, and crosses and the Ten Commandments have been expelled from public property. In more recent times, statues of our historical heroes (e.g., Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt) — and, even more to the point, one of Saint Junipero Serra — have been taken down.
But as with nature, cultural landscapes abhor a vacuum. And our Christian cultural elements have been replaced with things such as a statue of crack-using mayor Marion Barry in Washington, D.C., one of Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in Seattle, images of criminal George Floyd, and works such as the GIPS and Blue Mustang.
Put differently, our culture’s flavor is being transformed from a Christian one to, if not an un-Christian one, then at least a non-Christian one; in fact, it’s becoming a very pagan one.
Consider, for example, that UN-statue donor Oaxaca, Mexico, is a place known for its “indigenous peoples and customs,” and the work reflects its pre-Columbian, pagan past.
(For that matter, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from post-revolutionary France, was influenced by the pagan Colossus of Rhodes and was meant to be in the nature of “a colossal goddess.”)
This does not, in and of itself, mean it’s a bad thing. We’ve long embraced many innovations from our pagan past, such as concrete (from the Romans) and our calendar. What’s more, some say this de-Christianization is a good thing, and arguing that is beyond this article’s scope. I’m only right now pointing out that it is a real thing — and real changes should be considered soberly, not effected bull-in-a-China-shop-style.
Of course, none of this is surprising. It’s common to blame leftist cultural revolutionaries for our de-Christianization, and they are the instigators. But a small group that instigates is impotent without a majority that tolerates. And most Americans simply don’t care nearly as much about preserving tradition as the ne’er-do-wells do about tearing it down.
But people will naturally create a culture that reflects what they are, and research shows that Christian belief has been steadily declining in the United States. Furthermore, insofar as its extant, “Americans’ dedication to Jesus is, in most cases, a mile wide and an inch deep,” stated Barna Group research company president David Kinnaman 2015. Kinnaman ought to know, too. In 2002, his studies found that only nine percent of “born again” teens believed that morality was absolute. They’re moral relativists.
Relativism doesn’t breed passion — and it doesn’t win culture wars with those who, specializing in self-deification, make everything absolutely relative to themselves.
