HAMILTON — Solid Rock Church co-pastor Darlene Bishop has settled a bitter, years-long estate battle with the four children of her deceased brother, a hit Nashville songwriter.

Bishop has signed over control of Darrell Wayne Perry's estate and music catalog to Perry's son, Justin Jones. She filed Monday, July 26, to settle the account in Butler County Probate Court.

(Submitter's note: Solid Rock Church (best known as the home of the now-melted "Big Butter Jesus" of comedy song fame) is a NAR, neopente-dominionist church that has been the de facto center of the dominionist movement in southern Ohio. Among other things, they're linked to the "Gothardisation" of the city of Cincinnati via Gothard's frontgroup "International Association of Character Cities".

(There have also been reliable reports that Solid Rock Church extensively uses coercive tactics--many of which were documented in the lawsuit by the songwriter's family (which involved, among other things, a potentially forged will essentially giving his estate to Solid Rock). -dogemperor)

A new UNICEF report says accusations of child witchcraft are on the rise in Africa — leaving kids vulnerable to abuse, abandonment, and horrific "exorcisms"

(Submitter's note: Another report on the increasing crisis about child "throwaways" being accused of witchcraft or "ndoki"--a crisis definitively linked to the activities of NAR and neopente-dominionist "missionary" groups in sub-Saharan Africa.

(NGOs focusing on the needs of these children estimate that thousands (UNICEF estimates over 20,000 children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the COngo alone)of children end up dead or as internally displaced persons--effectively orphaned--as a result.

(This is, unfortunately, also likely to lead to further condemnation of the UN by dominionists worldwide; in fact, it is primarily dominionist lobbying that has kept the US as the sole functioning UN-recognised state that has failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child; even the provisional government of Somalia (the other non-ratifying nation) has agreed in principle to ratify it once Somalia has a unified government. --dogemperor)

A Jacox Elementary teacher who anointed students with "holy oil" in the classroom has resigned.

School officials say she may have performed inappropriate religious practices during her three years with the division[...]

[...]Earlier this year, the division conducted an investigation at Oakwood Elementary after teachers told the state that their principal had led staff and students in prayer prior to Standards of Learning testing. Teachers also said they felt pressured by the principal, Sheila Tillett Holas, to attend prayer or Bible sessions before school.

(Submitter's note:

(This is indicative of possible widespread NAR infiltration of the school. The style of "annointing" here is NOT the use of sacramental chrysm (as is common in Catholic and Episcopalian/Anglican/CoE churches) but rather is a form of "spiritual territorial pissing" that is a veritable hallmark of NAR and neopentecostal groups. (Often the "oil" used is Wesson oil straight off the shelf; supposedly its very use by NARasites in "territorial pissing" supposedly blesses it.)

(Probably the best discussion of this form of "territorial pissing" in print, besides one of my artlcles here (which discusses the supposed theology behind the practice), is in the article "Soldiers of Christ" by Jeff Sharlet (published in the May 2005 issue of Harper's and available courtesy of Sharlet's website here). Sharlet, who went on to do an expose of the secretive "Family"/"Fellowship" dominionist group, describes an incident involving the NAR-linked New Life Church (yes, Ted Haggard's former church) wherein a massive "territorial pissing" of this type was done by spraying entire city blocks in Colorado Springs with a 5-gallon garden sprayer full of Wesson oil, in what is probably one of the more extreme versions of NARasite "annointing".)

[editor: This story is about a radical right wing movement in charismatic Christianity that claims to fight demons but, leaving demonology aside, is demonstrably close to seizing the reigns of power in entire US states.]

They claim to be able to raise the dead and cause miracles, such as the multiplication of Thanksgiving turkey dinners. They burn "witchcraft items" and "idols." They hold mass exorcisms to cast out alleged evil spirits they say cause lust, pornography, addiction, homosexuality, bisexuality, and perversion. They claim to be able to heal HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, Glaucoma, and cancer, and to break "generational curses" and "witchcraft curses." Who are they? Here are a few overviews[...]

A Norfolk teacher has resigned after it was discovered she was rubbing "holy oil" on students and their desks during school, a Norfolk Public Schools spokesperson said.

(Of note here--"annointing" of this sort is used as a form of "naming and claiming" by neopente-dominionists, including NAR dominionists; rather than the sacramental use of chrysm by mainstream Christian groups, the practice of "annointing" in neopente circles is typically done as a form of "spiritual territorial pissing". -dogemperor)

[...][T]he American left, the secular mainstream, and many secular Republicans (certainly conservative but not thrilled with the idea of Christian theocracy or the teaching of Young-Earth Creationism in public schools), have missed, and still do to this day, the disproportionate influence conservative evangelicals exert in American politics and culture.

And in specific, immediate terms they've missed the political impact of Christian Zionism, misinterpreted the Tea Party movement - which is more influenced by the Christian right than typically acknowledged, and failed to notice the rise of a parallel phenomenon that looks and behaves very differently from the Tea Party but holds many of the same political views and is quietly organizing in major US cities and integrating its efforts with the work of local city police departments.

A recent successful infiltration of NAR promoter Lou Engle's most recent training seminars--which were open to the public--gives a rare glimpse at the private face of NARasitism--one where its members are literally described as "stealth bombers", a literal holy war against non-NARasites is planned (using this explicit verbage), and Engle commands LGBT people to "let the Bible kill them" rather than find open and welcoming congregations.

[ ...]Last March, the Rev. Barnard J. Wilks, who leads the church-based Pray For Newark effort in the city, presided over the graduation of 54 new Newark police officers. Pray For Newark's founder Lloyd Turner is a regular at Argentinian evangelist Ed Silvoso's International Transformation Network conferences, and footage from ITN's 2008 conference shows Lloyd Turner sitting in the audience while Ed Silvoso compares his opponents to rats that should be exterminated[...]

Per the article, the same group is linked with the NARasite de facto militia group Repent Amarillo, which has been conducting a campaign of targeted harassment against adult entertainment businesses, "indecent" non-adult entertainment businesses, and non-NAR churches open and accepting of LGBT people using the same tactics of harassment used by Army of God-affiliated groups.

[...]What if your million copy-plus bestselling inspirational book calling on men to act more manly, aggressive, even violent became a key source of inspiration for a ruthless cultic Christian paramilitary fundamentalist crime syndicate that controls most of the Crystal Meth traffic in the US and is fond of tossing severed heads into Mexican discos ? [...]

Given the current disturbing growth of the U.S. imperial presidency, you might think this headline was a leak from the bowels of the CIA or the NSA. But in fact, it concerns the dark past of a famous Christian inspirational book owner who, at a top-secret anti-gay Colorado conference conference in 1994, outlined a strategy for stripping the rights from an entire segment of American society[...]

...Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar says giving precedence to teachers and scholars when revising curriculum standards for public schools would be like what the Nazis did in Germany during the 1930s. Really? Seriously?

Recently, the IRS has started to take the entire area of illegal electioneering by dominionist churches and 501(c)3 nonprofits rather more seriously, and in a tit-for-tat move dominionist groups are now going after blogs of progressive organisations--in essence threatening lawsuits and hinting at complaints to the IRS to have their 501(c)3 statuses removed. (In fact, a blog operated by a friend has recently been targeted in such a fashion.)

In this article, we give a bit of info on the new tool that dominionist and even some racist groups are using in attempts to stifle dissent--and the ongoing campaigns to make certain dominionist groups follow the law.

Blogs and electioneering and fun with finance law

The first part of this story comes in back in 2006, stemming from Bush-era initiatives to expand electioneering laws to private blogs (these in general have failed so far) stemming from a 2004 court decision that the FEC could not exempt blogs from regulations i regards to promoting candidates.

In general, the FEC has been using a press exemption since 2005 for blogs, but this has not stopped groups on occasion from threatening progressive blog sites, but there is still some legal uncertainty if a blogger who puts more than $5000 in "work" or funds on a site is considered to be going over the "in kind donatin limit".

It doesn't help that FEC rulings during the Bush era have generally been unfavourable to blog sites even with traditional grassroots fundraising.

Ironically, the rule that has led to this mess was a 2002 campaign financing act that was originally designed to prevent overt electioneering by corporations and unions close to campaign time (ironically, the court decision upholding this law resulted when Mitch McConnell--GOP ringleader and friend to the dominionist GOP wing in KY--attempted to have it overturned as the law was essentially interfering with ongoing "astroturf" campaigns.)

The rulings in the Obama administration, including the most recent ruling that essentially states that private blogs in support or opposition to a candidate are okay, have tended to be more favourable towards private advocacy of candidates. (The latest court decision involved a notably conservative group which supported candidates in favour of major relaxations of campaign finance rules.)

Attacks against blogs and bloggers

Dominionists and other groups have taken advantage of this to start targeting progressive organisations explicitly fighting dominionism--usually claiming that a progressive group or blog site is engaging in electioneering, and essentially threatening they will target the group to force them to register as a PAC or to have their tax-exempt status removed.

A number of sites have been threatened with this, including DailyKos (because of advocacy of progressive Democratic candidates by independent bloggers on the site), Americans United, People for the American Way, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Southern Poverty Law Center (which increasingly has been reporting on distressing trends among dominionist groups, including virulent anti-LGBT hate-speech and association with neo-Confederate groups) and even some independent anti-dominionist blog sites.

In other words, they are threatening a variation of what has been termed a SLAPP--Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, essentially a form of censorship-by-lawsuit. (It's been described as the legal equivalent of "Shut up and sit down", after an infamous quote by one of the NAR-linked steeplejackers of Singaporean women's NGO AWARE; aforementioned head of the board was trying to stifle dissent in the emergency board meeting where "people power" successfully took control back.)

Of note, the use of SLAPPs to shut down criticism is not only NOT unknown by dominionists, but is a common tool across coercive religious groups in general. An anti-dominionist group on an independent forum which I participate in was threatened with a SLAPP by a dominionist "deliverance ministry" promoter (who claims to be an ex-Mafioso who had a religious conversion) when information on his site and a linked site was posted; Operation Save America (a group that is essentially the modern continuation of Operation Rescue and which has such extensive linkage to the Army of God domestic terror network that both it and its "parent" Operation Rescue can legitimately be described as the Sinn Fein to the Army of God's "Real IRA") regularly has threatened SLAPPs against critics, particularly those connected to reproductive-rights advocacy; dominionist coercive "Messianic" group Jews for Jesus has engaged in not only SLAPPs but attempts at domain hijacking to shut down a walkaway forum critical of the group; the Assemblies of God has regularly attempts SLAPPs against walkaways in Oz (including an attempt, via a threatened SLAPP against her original publisher under the broadly abusable libel laws in Australia, to squelch publication of Tanya Levin's expose of Hillsong Community Church entitled "People In Glass Houses") and against pastors who got expelled due to reporting to the church administration about religious abuse simply for writing about the NARasitisation of the denomination; and finally even a company responsible for what amounts to "Joel's Army endtime fanfiction" threatened SLAPPs against not only every anti-dominionist site that had reported on "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (a tactical RPG where one literally played a dominionist "endtime army" which did include a feature where one could convert--or kill--"unbelievers") but even against an independent game review blog that had given it a poor rating.

There may in fact be a reason that dominionist groups are using the threat of tax exemption revocation on progressive non-profits in particular (many of which have blogs, and some of who have staff that blog independently or on independent sites NOT associated with the nonprofit they work for)...namely, this is an increasing, and far more legitimate threat, against dominionist groups themselves.

Electioneering starts to get risky for dominionists

Since 2006 (when the "new generation" of anti-dominionism activism started ramping up)--and particularly since the Obama administration--the IRS has become increasingly intolerant of nonprofit groups engaging in explicit political electioneering, even issuing explicit warnings to churches and to political parties in 2008 to remind them that electioneering for specific candidates, parties, or bills was prohibited.

The last major wave where the IRS gave the hairy eyeball to dominionist groups was during the Clinton administration--during that period, the Christian Coalition lost their tax-exemption (and essentially ceased to exist as a major force in the dominionist movement), the Kentucky-based NAR-linked "Freedom's Heritage Forum" was stripped of its tax-exemption and actually legally required to reorganise as a PAC (and now operates as a shell PAC of AFA-KY, the state American Family Association affiliate), and Focus on the Family nearly lost its tax-exempt status due to activities of the then-affiliated Family Research Council (thus forcing FotF to spin this off as a supposedly-independent group, and promptly forming the shell org "Focus on the Family Action" for the identical purposes of FRC).

As it turns out, the IRS is again turning its eyes to major dominionist groups--among other things, Focus on the Family has undergone some major reorganisation (including spinoff of at least one group that promoted "degaying" and separating itself on paper from James Dobson's massive dominionist publishing empire) and there have been rumours that FotF is being investigated by the IRS. In addition, thanks to the revelations of the "C Street" shenanigans, possibly the most secretive and oldest political dominionist group in the US--the Family aka the Fellowship--is reportedly under IRS investigation thanks to efforts by anti-dominionist activists and the anti-corruption organisation Citizens United.

A surprising amount of the efforts to fight abuse of tax exemptions by dominionist groups has been by evangelical Christians and faith groups. An ongoing Congressional investigation of several televangelists connected to an embezzlement scandal at Oral Roberts University was launched by Senator Chuck Grassley--normally a friend to dominionist initiatives, but apparently not a friend to institutionalised corruption by dominionist groups.

An even more notable example is with a growing coalition of anti-dominionist pastors and other religious leaders in Ohio who have (since 2006) been recording violations of electioneering law and challenging the tax-exempt status of churches in Ohio that are the center of the dominionist electioneering engine--including World Harvest Church of Columbus, which is not only at the heart of the dominionist movement in Ohio but is behind a growing movement to encourage illegal electioneering from the pulpit, particularly in Texas.

Perhaps as a result of the busts in the 1990s and the threat of busts nowadays of tax-exemption revocation, dominionist groups (most notably the "American historical revisionist" and NAR-associated group Wallbuilders) are explicitly organising as churches themselves; much of the actual electioneering has also been ongoing for decades within NAR-linked churches and "cuckoo church" laymen's "cell churches". This is to take advantage of a specific tax loophole for churches--alone of all 501(c)3 nonprofits, churches do not have to file a form 990 (the equivalent for nonprofits of a 1040 form) meaning it is very easy to hide the profits and sources of funding and who the group itself is funding. (This is actually why Chuck Grassley has had to issue a Congressional subpoena to many of the televangelists he's investigating for possible embezzlement; there are no public records available because they don't have to file a form 990.)

Needless to say, the threat to their funding would be substantial if they had their tax-exempt revoked. Focus on the Family has historically pulled in upwards of $140,000,000 US (this year, between the economy and reorganisations, it may be less, but still in the high tens of millions US), and most other political dominionist groups pull in tens of millions of dollars US. For the VERY few NAR-linked groups that financial info is available for--such as the Lausanne Conference--the figures tend to dwarf even those of Focus on the Family; some pull in $240 million yearly.

And this is still dwarfed by the worst offenders--dominionist denominations themselves such as the Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptist Convention. Based on known finances of frontgroups of the Assemblies (such as known funding for the publically documented parts of Teen Challenge and Mercy Ministries), the figure is potentially in the billions of dollars US of taxable income. (We can't say for certain, though--this is just estimated based on what precious little is available.) It's actually been stated by multiple researchers that removal of the "Form 1023 Loophole" (the form 1023 being the statement to the IRS that a group is a church, essentially the "get out of jail free" card) would do wonders in shutting down much of the dominionist engine simply because the funding sources of the "dominionist engine" would suddenly be tracable for the first time.

(Of note here: The Assemblies in particular has a very good case of having its own tax-exempt status revoked as it is not only consistently ranked as one of the worst offenders by Americans United for electioneering violations but has engaged in direct funding of GOP candidate's election campaigns, been a recipient of non-negligible largesse from known friendlies (up to and even including giving the legislative equivalent of a "get out of jail free" card to one of the most confirmedly abusive "faith based rehab" chains in the US which is one of three separate Assemblies frontgroups in that sector worldwide) and even explicitly encouraging dominionist pastors to disregard Congressional subpoenas in Grassley's probe. The situation is even worse if international electioneering--including the Family First party in Australia, a de facto official Assemblies political party that in itself is a front of Hillsong Community Church, is considered.)

It's also not coincidential that a lot of the progressive groups being threatened due to their blog sites--or due to employees having blog sites--is because these groups themselves are among those who regularly challenge the tax-exempt status of dominionist groups engaging in illegal electioneering.

Probably one of the main questions--right next to "How do we stop dominionists?"--I'm asked when writing is "Why do into coercive religious groups in the first place?"

One thing to note is that, in general, people less join a coercive group and more are recruited into a coercive group or are raised in a coercive group.

A new article by Jonathan Rice and Vyckie Garrison--the latter of whom runs No Longer Quivering, a support forum for ex-Quiverfull survivors--gives a glimpse of how coercive group recruitment works from a first-hand view.

A glimpse on a disturbing dominionist movement

Some of my longterm readers may be familiar with the term "Quiverfull"--I've mentioned it in my series on religiously motivated child abuse in relation to Michael and Debi Pearl (a series that is, unfortunately, timely again due to the recent death by chastening rod of a seven-year-old girl) and particularly in regards to my writing on Bill Gothard's "Bible-based" coercive group empire.

For those uninitiated, "Quiverfull" is a movement within both "independent fundamentalist Baptist" and neopentecostal-dominionist (including New Apostolic Reformation/Joel's Army) circles that promotes the idea of dispensing with any form of contraception whatsoever--even the rhythm method is prohibited--and actively attempting to have as many children "as God will allow".

In NAR circles in particular, this is explicitly seen as a method to breed as many future members of "God's Army" as possible using justification not dissimilar to that of the King of England in "Braveheart" ("If we can't burn them out, we'll breed them out"); segments of the Quiverfull movement also increasingly push for home births without medical assistance and even "unregistered births" (where the birth is never registered with the state Department of Human Resources or other state birth registries and where the child is never signed up for Social Security).

In fact, the term in its modern use does have NAR-ish roots--the term "Quiverfull" denotes having a "full quiver" of arrows to defeat The Enemy (in this case, secular society)--only in this case, the metaphorical "arrows" are children who are reared from birth onwards in a regimented, socially isolated manner. (In general, the only typical contacts kids in "Quiverfull families" have are with families of other members of the movement.) The term ultimately stems from a scripture-twisting of Psalms 127:4-5:

[4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the sons of one's youth.

[5] Happy is the man who has

his quiver full of them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

(RSV. In context, this is a psalm of Solomon stating that true protection is in the hands of God and that true preparedness and security only comes from God. Prior verses explicitly note that a watchman's duty is in vain unless God is the foundation of the country, among other things.)

Promotion of "Quiverfull" is commonly done via dominionist correspondence-school circles promoting themselves as "Christian homeschooling"; the Pearls' and Gothard's empires have largely grown, in fact, through dominionist correspondence-school support networks.

A related phenomenon is that of "purity balls"--also written about in part one of my series on religiously motivated child abuse--where daughters sometimes as young as four are symbolically "married" to their fathers until such time as they are married legally--often to an arranged spouse.

As I've noted, the movement is heavily connected with dominionism and would constitute a coercive group in and of itself. As the article notes:

These children are homeschooled for the most part, in the hopes that they'll become an army of the Lord's mighty warriors who, through sheer demographic force, reclaim America for God. Females are kept in perpetual servitude from earliest childhood, where they are considered the property of their fathers and spend their days caring for younger siblings. When a girl reaches puberty she must pledge her virginity/purity to her father (often in writing). Once the father finds a suitor to his liking, he transfers his ownership of the young lady to her husband. Adult women in the movement are not allowed to work outside the home, and usually forbidden to speak in church (obviously, they can never be ordained!). And based upon a quirky interpretation of an obscure biblical passage (Isaiah 3:12), they are also forbidden to vote.

Lurking beneath the QF/CP lifestyle lies the teachings of R.J. Rushdoony, the leading exponent of a dire and militant form of Calvinism called "Christian Reconstructionism." In his massive tome Institutes of Biblical Law, he advocated the overthrow of modern democracy, replacing it with a theocratic state in which all the laws of Leviticus are imposed (including the death penalty for disobedient children, adulterers and homosexuals). Also, as per his reading of the Bible, the theocratic state would reintroduce slavery. Hard-line QF/CP believers think that creating a population explosion of their own is the most effective means of bringing this dystopic vision to fruition.

It is not an exaggeration in some cases--particularly Gothard's program--to compare the general setup to a dominionist version of Taliban-era Afghanistan.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, most people have seen a Quiverfull family on TV--though they might not have known it.

And, of note, there is at least one Quiverfull family that has become famous--the Duggar clan, who are known Gothard acolytes and whom are presented as pretty much the poster children for the Quiverfull movement.

Another Quiverfull family, alas, became quite infamous. This was, unfortunately, the family of Andrea Yates--who was involved in a dominionist church that promoted Quiverfull theology, and who ultimately ended up drowning five of her young children as a result of postpartum depression complicated by what may well have been cult-related complex PTSD.

* * *

As with most coercive religious movements, there are walkaway networks for support. The best known by far is No Longer Quivering, run by Vyckie Garrison (who is herself not only an ex-Quiverfull survivor, but prior to walking away was a major promoter in the movement). The images one gets are of a highly patriarchial, overtly female-hostile, coercive religious movement (and it does meet the characteristics of an overt coercive religious group, particularly in its isolation of members) in which women are expected to give all, up to and including their bodies and health, for the whim of their leaders.

And it's through these forums that we get a rare glimpse into what it is like to be recruited into a Bible-based cult.

Like a frog being boiled in water

People have asked me repeatedly how folks get recruited into coercive groups. As I am a multigenerational walkaway--that is, I was raised in a coercive group rather than joining one as a teen or adult--it's hard for me to answer this personally; pretty much, most of my life "Jesus Camp life" was all I knew, and my experiences have been more of essentially resocialising myself (not unlike a kid who was raised by wolves and having to figure out human culture).

Johnathan W. Rice's recent article in Salon Magazine, Fear And Loathing In Jesusland, describes a story I've heard across ex-cult forums from recruitees who became walkaways--that you're never given the "Full Monty" straightaway but are gradually inducted.

The big difference, here, is that--for one of the first times since Matt Taibbi's "The Great Derangement"--this is talking about a non-negligible part of the dominionist movement:

In mid-February 2010, a thread title on the forum caught my eye: How did you get yourself into this mess? The author, a female refugee from the movement, was wondering how she and so many others could have fallen for it in the first place.

After reading it, I again realized how closely the QF/CP movement intersects with mainstream evangelicalism and fundamentalism; and how easily I too could have been recruited, given the wrong circumstances. How, one may ask, do people get into such a seemingly bizarre religious movement? And how had I (in the past) been in danger of being sucked in myself?

The answer boils down to one simple word: "gradually."

The substance of my gradual experience, which I'll summarize here, is the shared story of countless rank & file believers who come under the broad labels "Pentecostal," "charismatic," "evangelical," and "fundamentalist."

In the beginning, as a teen in the mid 1970s, my cousin, followed by my mother, became born-again Christians. It was really positive in those days: God loves you and has a wonderful plan, and so forth. It was all about having a new life, full of purpose and meaning. A life in which the very Creator of the Universe actually cared about little people like us!

Among other things, a big thing that the more coercive groups in the movement (including not just Campus Crusade and YWAM, but the infamous Maranatha) were involved in was "love-bombing"--smothering people with affection, making them feel wonderful and loved. The author himself experienced some of this, and also describes how after the "love-in" the indoctrination started to trickle in, eventually becoming a torrent:

It was all really positive in those early, idealistic years. Loving Jesus, hoping to save the world, helping homeless people, having an abundance of real friends who stood with me through thick and thin: it was all good; really good. The song that often brought tears to my eyes in the early days was written by Keith Green immediately upon his conversion (before he'd entered into his extremist phase): Like waking up from the longest dream How real it seemed Until your love broke through

But gradually...

A radio program called Focus on the Family that I used to hear doling out advice to crisis-wracked families, was becoming politicized. Through the show, and then through the warnings of Tim LaHaye and others, I began learning of sinister threats being hatched against us by people called "Secular Humanists." LaHaye, in a breathless, frenzied spiel, warned of the threat as follows. Humanists, he said: have been "planted" in strategic places in the United Nations, they teach children in public schools "to read the words scientific humanism as soon as they're old enough to read," and 275,000 humanists control the American government, education, and media.[2]

As conspiracy-paranoia mounted, politics in church began to subvert the innocent, Jesus-loving expressions of faith I'd known in the beginning. Our churches started distributing candidates' score cards in the foyers, telling us to vote accordingly.

And then there was a radio preacher, William Steuart McBirnie, whose Voice of Americanism program daily rehashed senator McCarthy's and Carl McIntire's Red Scare fundamentalism, updating it for the mid-1980s. We had much to fear and many to loathe.

([2] Tim LaHaye, The Battle For the Mind (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1980), pp. 27, 74, 97, 179. Summarized in George M. Mardsen, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism ( MI: Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1991), p. 109.)

In addition to describing a phenomena I've witnessed myself--the increasing radicalisation of "Christian Contemporary" performers, including Steve Taylor and Carmen (the latter of whom actually co-published (with Ron Luce of Teen Mania Ministries, an infamous NAR group targeting--naturally--teenagers) a guide for teenagers on how to recruit fellow teens into Bible-based coercive groups using love-bombing and harassment)--he notes personally meeting Francis and Frank Shaeffer, two major leaders of the dominionist movement in the late 70s and early 80s. (Frank Schaeffer later left the dominionist movement and has written a tell-all book, "Crazy for God", describing his own experiences; reportedly, per the book, he initially recruited his own father into the movement.)

Of note, the author almost makes a point I have been writing about for well over five years--that dominionism is less a political movement and more of a series of Bible-based cults that have as a common goal the establishment of a dominionist-supremacist government:

Most cults have a well-planned program for the indoctrination of new recruits, in which they deceitfully hide their more bizarre teachings from seekers (an exoteric/esoteric truth divide). The new convert is only taught the vision piecemeal; gradually gaining deeper (and weirder) knowledge over a period of months or years.

But with us, although it may have appeared that way, it wasn't exactly so. I later realized I was living in the midst of a drastic change in popular American Christianity. The movement still really was (for the most part) benign when I joined. The resentful loathing was added gradually, not as a planned indoctrination program, but because the church genuinely was in the midst of radical transition during 1980s and '90s.

I myself would agree and disagree with his statement--what he may not have been aware of is that, particularly during the 80s and 90s, there was an organised campaign (beginning as early as the waning days of the Latter Rain movement in the 40s) to explicitly steeplejack the non-Christian-Nationalist segment of the evangelical movement. Legitimate "Charismatic" movements in Catholic and Protestant denominations were taken over from within by neopentecostal "cuckoo churches".

In this case, the cult recruitment was less of individual people and more of a takeover-from-within and indoctrination of a very large chunk of the evangelical movement--one particularly mediated by New Apostolic Reformation groups as well as a group calling itself the Institute for Religion and Democracy that was closely connected to Christian Reconstructionists. (Probably the prototypical example, in fact, was the ultimately successful steeplejacking of the Southern Baptist Convention--formerly a conservative but relatively mainline denomination, it has gone hard-dominionist and is now quite possibly undergoing a second "consolidation" steeplejack by NAR-linked groups.)

The NAR takeovers and plans for steeplejacks--particularly of non-NAR-linked charismatic worship groups--is, to this day, woefully under-documented (about the only people who've written on this regularly are myself, Bruce Wilson, Rachel Tabachnik, and Katherine Yurica and to a lesser extent Sara Diamond), so that's an understandable lapse--to someone who didn't grow up in one of the major foci of the NAR movement (as I did), it would appear that the evangelical movement just "radicalised slowly".

Interestingly, it turns out I'm not the only one to make that argument--theologian Richard T. Hughes noted in a recent article the likelihood that the evangelical movement had essentially been steeplejacked by Christian Reconstructionists and the NAR for purposes of promoting "Christian supremacy":

This definition of the kingdom of God as a kingdom of political power helps explain why so many fundamentalist and evangelical Christians lent such broad support to America's war against Iraq. It also helps explain the rise of the Christian Reconstruction Movement led by the late R. J. Rushdoony, a Calvinist who argued that Christians should control civil government and that biblical law should govern the United States. It also helps explain a large and thriving contemporary network, closely akin to the Christian Reconstruction Movement, called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) -- a network that works through business, politics, religion, and the media to promote Christian control of the United States and even the world.

And by 1985--and definitely by 1992--Rice was experiencing a classic hallmark of coercive religious groupthink: An "us versus them" seige mentality, a Culture Of Fear, that every researcher on coercive religious groups from Robert J. Lifton on has defined as a red flag warning of a cult:

And thus by 1985, my original faith, though still there, was mixed with anger, resentment and fear—a sense of being under siege.

After another few years, the Rev. Don Wildmon, who Max Blumenthal would later describe as "churlish,"[4] started telling us to boycott Mennon Speed Stick deodorant because it was advertised on a TV show which he, and therefore God, didn't approve of.

Then, in 1990, James Dobson openly began using the language of civil war: "Nothing short of a great Civil War of Values rages today throughout North America. Two sides with vastly differing and incompatible world views are locked in a bitter conflict that permeates every level of society."[5]

Whether the timing of Dobson's drum beating was cunning or just plain lucky, I don't know. But it certainly was fortuitous.

. . .

Civil War. What a great idea! Brother against brother. A woman against her coworker. Neighbor against neighbor. Divide and conquer. A nation's unity destroyed. And when all was said and done, Dobson emerged from the fray as the new Republican Kingmaker.

In such a milieu, those negative traits of resentment and fear had become almost central, my original faith being sickly, barely alive and far beneath the surface. We were now in the midst of full-blown culture-war. And all that the churches and Christian mailing list materials were trumpeting was also confirmed by an outside source: The Rush Limbaugh show.

By 1992 I'd made the full transition from a spirituality of awe, joy and wonder to one of hatred, fear and all-around loathing. We Christians were under siege.

"They" were taking away our freedoms. "They" had planted Secular Humanist agents in every 'government school,' brainwashing the next generation. Not only that, The New Age Movement (painted as a well-organized conspiracy rather than the loosely knit spiritual fad that it was) was out to forge a One World Government and wipe the final vestiges of Christianity from the face of the earth.

([5] James Dobson, Children at Risk (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990), pp. 19-20.)

In noting that the movement was increasingly trending towards "two-minute hates", Rice also notes how the "Rambo Jesus" meme was becoming increasingly popularised:

As the content of our faith changed, so did our conceptualization of Jesus. He was no longer a God of love, but a muscle-bound tyrant. Speaking of the Christian Right in 2009, journalist Max Blumenthal's following description also summarizes the view of Jesus that was gaining ascendancy among us in the 1990s:

The movement's Jesus is the opposite of the prince of peace. He is a stern, overtly masculine patriarch charging into the fray with his sword raised against secular foes; he is "the head of a dreadful company, mounted on a white horse, with a double-edged sword, his robe dipped in blood," according to movement propagandist Steve Arterburn. [Mega-church pastor] Mark Driscoll…stirs the souls of twenty-something evangelical men with visions of "Ultimate Fighting Jesus…"

A portrait of virility and violence, the movement's omnipotent macho Jesus represents the mirror inversion of the weak men who necessitated his creation. As [Erich] Fromm explained, "the lust for power is not rooted in strength, but in weakness [italics in original]. It is the expression of the individual self to stand alone and live. It is the desperate attempt to gain secondary strength where genuine strength is lacking." [8]

([8] Max Blumenthal, Republican Gomorrah, pp. 9, 10.)

Rice also notes that he now considers himself lucky that he was not within proximity of the more charismatic promoters of Quiverfull--as he, already inducted within what he has all-but-admitted was a coercive religious group, would have been the perfect recruit:

I knew three Quiverfull families back in those days, though I didn't yet know the term. Two of them had become discredited in my sight, one badly so. The other had moved far across the country to the Bible Belt, and thus their influence on me was minimal.

But: supposing a well-spoken, polished QF/CP promoter, who in outward appearance had an exemplary life and family, had befriended me then. And supposing this theoretical person had possessed a charismatic personality. Had this happened, I very well could have bought into the QF/CP vision.

The angry and ever-intensifying Christian Right machine had changed our churches into pre-stocked ponds in which QF/CP and other extremists fished. I was one of those pre-stocked fish.

I just happened (by no virtue of my own at the time) to always be on the other side of the pond when people like Nancy Campbell, R.C. Sproul Jr., Doug Phillips, et al., went fishing.

That's why I find it no surprise that so many of the former QF/CP people (like Vyckie Garrison, for example) are so smart and articulate. People don't join the movement because they're idiots. On the contrary, they join because they're thoughtful, intelligent human beings who really care about their country; who are concerned about the kind of world in which their children and grandchildren will live.

But these same good qualities became a curse when cunning fascist leaders subtly began to channel them for their ends. And thus over the gradual course of time—sometimes even a decade—we (both "regular" believers and QF/CP Christians) became foot soldiers in a zombie-army, doing the political bidding of our Christian Right masters.

In other words...the process of recruitment is a gradual one. People generally don't join knowing the "full deal"--they are recruited with something innocuous, then the indoctrination begins over time until they've been recruited and are marching lockstep to a leader's command.

The process is not unlike the old yarn on how to boil a frog. Put a frog in boiling water, he'll jump right out (just like nobody would willingly join a coercive religious group if they knew it was coercive).

Put a frog in body-temperature water, though, and slowly turn up the heat...by the time the frog realises what's going on, he's cooked.

And so it is with recruitment in coercive religious groups...and the "Bible-based" coercive groups at the heart of the dominionist movement are absolute masters at turning up the water very, very slowly for a whole kettle of frogs.

And how the frog realises, "oh dear, I'm in a pot"

Interestingly, Rice ended up walking away in a similar way to myself--only in his case, he ended up going to the Emerald City of the dominionist movement, Colorado Springs, and saw for himself that the Emerald City isn't nearly as pretty without the glasses on:

As I headed toward Colorado in a U-Haul van, my knowledge of that city was minimal. I knew it was America's new evangelical Mecca, populated with scores of Christian organizations; and I loved the beautiful Front Range Mountains I'd seen on my visit a month before.

But my main source of information was a book I'd read seven years prior, Ted Haggard's, Primary Purpose: Making It Hard for People to Go to Hell from Your City.[9] In it, I'd read the amazing story of how Haggard and his initially small band of followers had transformed the supposedly pagan, anti-Christian city into God's own country. Through spiritual mapping (identifying the ruling demons in a given area) and systematic warfare-prayer walks through each neighborhood (in which those demons were expelled from the region, presumably to resettle in Washington state, California, New York and Massachusetts), Colorado Springs was now the godliest place in America: truly a city that was "hard to go to Hell from."

Or so I thought…

Although the organization that employed me was benign and apolitical, through my involvement with it I was exposed to the other big ministries in the area. Year after year I witnessed countless episodes of hypocrisy and self-congratulatory backslapping amongst Christian Right leaders.

I soon felt uneasy amongst people I'd once greatly admired. The church we attended turned out to be a de facto outpost of the Republican Party, and according to the pastor's bizarre interpretation of an Isaiah passage, God had foreordained Republican Jesus to defeat Babylonian Saddam Hussein.

By 2005, the church was showing a smiling picture of Sam Brownback each Sunday on the large overhead screen. The pastor would then instruct us to stretch forth our hands and pray fervently for him. Brownback, dubbed "God's Senator" by Jeff Sharlet, was a near-perfect embodiment of America's new civil religion. He was a syncretic marvel who could glide effortlessly between his (Fundamentalist) Topeka Bible Church, Roman Catholicism, and a smattering of Orthodox Judaism.

One cold winter Sunday, the pastor excitedly told us of the senator's latest mystical experience: Brownback, the pastor claimed, had just been to Valley Forge with a group of prayer leaders. There, he knelt at the exact spot where George Washington had once famously prayed. While on his knees in the snow, Brownback had received "the spiritual mantle of George Washington," an anointing which would send him to the Whitehouse in 2008—but only if God's people prayed long and hard enough.

Growing weary of weekly political rallies, we soon dropped out of the church. As the Iraq War went sour and the federal deficit went into the trillions under the "godly" Bush, I became increasingly disillusioned. Then came wave upon wave of varied Republican scandals; so many that they soon became an endless blur in my mind, and would have remained so to this day had Max Blumenthal not compiled them all under one cover in Republican Gomorrah.

I realized that we'd been duped by the Christian Right: the politicians they promoted were not godly at all. They'd exploited a few causes that people felt passionately about, using them to con millions of voters. It had nothing to do with God's will, only the will to power.

([9] Florida: Creation House, 1995. Of note, the book wass a major "how to" guide for NAR churches, though a bit less so now due to Haggard's outing as gay.)

In addition to finding out that the local dominionist churches were essentially doing political stumping disguised as sermons, he also made the unhappy discovery (through his daughter, no less) that Colorado Springs was considered the methamphetamine capital of Colorado; even worse, around the time he left (in 2007) a major scandal broke regarding a human-trafficking ring where Asian women were being kidnapped and forced to work as de facto indentured servants in massage parlors.

More to the point, his breaking point was, interestingly, the same as mine--discovering that the moral crusaders were lying out their teeth:

During that season I also learned we'd been lied to. Contrary to the jeremiads of the Christian Right's propaganda industry, it wasn't "America's godless, secular intelligentsia" who had removed the Bible and the knowledge of God from our educational system. In reality, Christians themselves had caused it nearly 200 years ago.

By the 1820s, America's public schools were in a dilemma. Calvinists wanted the schools to teach only Calvinism, but Arminians (mostly Methodists) wanted them to teach only their doctrines. Several other sects were making demands of their own. And all of them agreed that no matter which version of Christianity won out in the classrooms, it should never be Roman Catholicism, which they all abhorred with equal passion. The endless infighting overwhelmed school authorities, who eventually gave up on the teaching of religion, substituting a vague, generic moral science in its place.[10]

The same thing goes for taking Bible reading out of public schools. No, it wasn't a cabal of Secular Humanists in the early 1960s, but Christians themselves who brought it about, through viscous infighting between Protestants (most of whom championed the King James Bible) and Catholics who could only accept the Douay-Rheims translation.

Speaking of the "Bible Wars" in the mid-nineteenth century, Stephen Prothero writes, "The most visible battlefield in these early culture wars was Philadelphia, where Protestant-Catholic riots over whose Bible would be read in public schools left over a dozen people dead and Catholic churches burned to the ground in 1844."[11] In addition to outright violence and murder, the endless polemical clashes between these groups caused school administrators to become weary and wary. As a result, by the 1870s, public schools in many states had not only done away with Christian education, but Bible reading and hymn singing as well.

Contrary to what we'd learned from the Christian Right, the rulings of 1962 and '63 were merely the final few nails in the coffin—not the beginning of a cultural decline engineered by Secular Humanists.

. . .

Living in Colorado Springs and learning what I did there was like Neo swallowing the red pill. I'd seen the truth about The Matrix. I could never go back; life couldn't continue as it had before.

([10] Stephen Prothero, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn't (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), pp. 109-120.

[11] Ibid, pp. 121-127.)

It was much the same with me--finding out I was being lied to was the "red pill" that eventually led me to reality in the end.

And it is precisely this breeding of a Culture of Fear that causes thousands--if not millions--of children to be subjected to religiously motivated child abuse; the same one that forces women to live under a system of religiously motivated patriarchy that places them at grave risk of religiously motivated spousal abuse...

...and it can be said that the Fear Engine, at its core, and the hypermasculine bravado is the very engine running the dominionist movement.

Over the past few days, I've been writing a series of articles on religiously motivated child abuse, largely focusing on the "Bible-based baby beating" empire of Michael and Debi Pearl (whose tactics have been linked to multiple deaths).

They are, sadly, by far not the only promoters of these tactics. One of the best known promoters of religiously motivated child abuse, in fact, has a network of hundreds of radio stations, a column carried in no less than 400 papers, and an international dominionist lobbying empire that has been linked to everything from the Justice Sunday events in the US to the attempted steeplejacking of the women's NGO AWARE in Singapore.

The folks behind Stop The Rod have been some of the best folks around at exposing this dirty secret of dominionism and keeping the promoters of "Bible-based baby-beating" from sweeping the subject--and the occasional corpse, and the scores more psychically and physically wounded from this--under the rug. Among other things, they were among some of the first to do an expose of the works from the Pearls now linked to the death of a child, and have done valuable work in also exposing the promotion of religiously motivated child abuse by Tedd Tripp (whose methods in some ways are even more abusive than the Pearls'!), Richard Fugate, Reb Bradley (who at times literally commits plagarism of Fugate's baby-beating manuals), Lisa Welchel (who became quite infamous when she promoted the use of "hot saucing"--placing hot-sauces and extracts--on the tongues of small children for things like "sassing"; Tabasco's manufacturers (McIlheny Inc.) and Texas Pete's makers both issued statements calling the practice "strange and scary" and giving strong warnings about it) and has a heartbreaking and horrifying story from a survivor of--and the main test subject for--Roy Lessin's baby-beating books.

And now the folks at Stop The Rod have begun their same stellar work at exposing abuse from probably the most well known name in religiously motivated child abuse--none other than Dr. James Dobson.

Yes, that Dr. Dobson. As in the guy behind "Focus on the Family" Dobson. Sit tight--this is going to be a heck of a ride.

* * *
Dr. James Dobson has made a career off of two industries--running the largest dominionist political group in the US (one which was recently found to have registered itself as a church with the IRS--this should hopefully lead to some investigation).

His other major business is targeting families--and particularly children. Some of it is in the method of recruitment of kids--most infamously in the giveaways of CDs from "Adventures in Odyssey", a radio programme produced by Focus on the Family and targeted at the elementary school set.

The other way he targets kids isn't so innocuous; in fact, he is one of the primary promoters--and probably the most successful--of "Biblically based child-beating". In fact, he makes a healthy living by it--over $25 million dollars of Focus on the Family's income yearly is from royalties from Dr. Dobson's "child-training" manuals, all of which are used to fund dominionism and printing of more of his books.

In my initial series on the subject of religiously motivated child abuse, I mentioned some of the more well-known "highlights" of Dr. Dobson's material that had been documented by watchdog groups concerned about religiously motivated child abuse. A review starts out with possibly the most infamous quote reported--the literal use of the beating of a Dachsund to show how children's wills should be broken in the introduction to his book "The Strong-Willed Child":

"Please don't misunderstand me. Siggie is a member of our family and we love him dearly. And despite his anarchistic nature, I have finally taught him to obey a few simple commands. However, we had some classic battles before he reluctantly yielded to my authority.

"The greatest confrontation occurred a few years ago when I had been in Miami for a three-day conference. I returned to observe that Siggie had become boss of the house while I was gone. But I didn't realize until later that evening just how strongly he felt about his new position as Captain.

"At eleven o'clock that night, I told Siggie to go get into his bed, which is a permanent enclosure in the family room. For six years I had given him that order at the end of each day, and for six years Siggie had obeyed.

"On this occasion, however, he refused to budge. You see, he was in the bathroom, seated comfortably on the furry lid of the toilet seat. That is his favorite spot in the house, because it allows him to bask in the warmth of a nearby electric heater. . . "
. . .
"When I told Sigmund to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. That was Siggie's way of saying. "Get lost!"

"I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me 'reason' with Mr. Freud."
. . .
"What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt. I am embarrassed by the memory of the entire scene. Inch by inch I moved him toward the family room and his bed. As a final desperate maneuver, Siggie backed into the corner for one last snarling stand. I eventually got him to bed, only because I outweighed him 200 to 12!"

After describing thrashing the family dog, he notes this in the context of childrearing:

"But this is not a book about the discipline of dogs; there is an important moral to my story that is highly relevant to the world of children. JUST AS SURELY AS A DOG WILL OCCASIONALLY CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF HIS LEADERS, SO WILL A LITTLE CHILD -- ONLY MORE SO."

"[I]t is possible to create a fussy, demanding baby by rushing to pick him up every time he utters a whimper or sigh. Infants are fully capable of learning to manipulate their parents through a process called reinforcement, whereby any behavior that produces a pleasant result will tend to recur. Thus, a healthy baby can keep his mother hopping around his nursery twelve hours a day (or night) by simply forcing air past his sandpaper larynx."

Dobson, much like other promoters of "Bible-based baby-beating", claims that if you don't whack the hell out of your kids (literally) they'll be damned:

"Perhaps this tendency toward self-will is the essence of 'original sin' which has infiltrated the human family. It certainly explains why I place such stress on the proper response to willful defiance during childhood, for that rebellion can plant the seeds of personal disaster."

Dobson has, previously, been considered one of the "kindler and gentler" promoters of "whacking your kids for Jesus"; Stop The Rod, however, is showing that in many ways the "Dr. Spock" of the dominionist set is just as bad as the Pearls and more infamous "child training" manual authors.

In what is an appropriate start for an expose of Dobson, Stop The Rod--a group that has been successful in getting a bill in Congress that may finally stop the marketing of devices as "chastening rods"--begins with a review of "The New Strong-Willed Child". Of course, the Scourging of Siggie is covered with the observation that this would be considered animal abuse. (Not only that, but it's also the observations of people I've know who have worked in humane shelters that beating dogs like that tends to turn them into fear-biters--which, sadly, often have to be put down as unadoptable.)

The article also notes, of interest, how Dobson really seems to feel about kids--and, much like the Pearls, apparently he thinks that all infants are in a great conspiracy against their parents for World Baby Domination (and he even has a nice little bell graph to explain his original views, followed up with a graph showing most kids as "defiant" as his present view:

(from page 7)

However, having talked to about 100,000 harried parents, I'm convinced my supposition was wrong. The true distribution looks more like this...

The fun continues with the claims of Infantile Tyranny, as documented by Stop The Rod:

Dobson calls children many insulting names in this book: brat, bratty, pugnacious, spitfires, defiant, confirmed anarchists, hot lava, Goody Two-Shoes, sneaky, horrid, little revolutionaries, defiant, contentious, double trouble, hardheaded as mules, tough-minded, little fat-fingers, defiant, toughie, irritating, pack of adolescent wolves, confirmed revolutionary, Hurricane Hannah, little chameleon, negative, sour, sullen, ill-tempered, prissy, stick of dynamite, flighty, spoiled brat, goof-off, obnoxious, fireball, snippy, defiant, rambunctious, difficult, testy, groaning lump, nasty, all legs, all nose and ears, cantankerous, rude, unruly, stubborn, defiant, hostile, mischievous, gangly legs, foolish, selfish, insane. Did I mention "defiant"? On p. 6 he makes the bizarre claim that some children have "crooked wheels" and that's why they are "defiant"!

Dobson has some particularly disturbing ideas about infants, claiming that some are "defiant upon exit from the womb" (p.x) "They come into the world smoking a cigar and yelling about the temperature in the delivery room" (back cover). Dobson also says "A healthy baby can keep her mother or father hopping around her nursery twelve hours a day (or night) by simply forcing air past her sandpaper larynx" and "Don't be afraid to let her cry." (p.94)

Dobson says children cause "constant battles" (p.xii) they "pull stunts" and "they just love to go toe-to-toe with their parents. They get their kicks by playing power games." (p.17). Dobson claims "most children seem to have a need to take on those in authority." (p.39) He says "children are naturally inclined toward rebellion, selfishness, dishonesty, aggression, exploitation, and greed." (p.45)

Frighteningly, the theme of "tyrant babies" and the need for children to be broken is a recurrent theme in these books--and a recurrent theme in dominionism in general.

Of course, the recommended tactic is to whack the kid, starting at around fifteen months of age (incidentially, the age at which children start recognising themselves as separate beings from their parents) on page 136. Dobson even recommends making kids cut their own "chastening rods" to be used on them, a common tactic among dominionist "child training" manuals to make kids an active participant in their torture:

My mother always used a small switch, which could not do any permanent damage. But it stung enough to send a very clear message. One day when I had pushed her to the limit, she actually sent me to the backyard to cut my own instrument of punishment. I brought back a tiny little twig about seven inches long. She could not have generated anything more than a tickle with it. Mom never sent me on that fool's errand again.

(Some of the "chastening devices" sold by groups promoting religiously motivated child abuse are around 12 inches, and a switch can cause injury even if it is small. This is completely aside from the whole aspect of making the kids pick their own switches; I remember I would be beat rather severely for attempts to bring in logs or very thin switches in an attempt to avoid a "switching"--once for having misbehaved (which could be as simple as not responding right away), and once for trying to be "defiant" in getting out of the original beating.)

Of course, Dobson's typical argument is "if it was good enough for the Good Old Days, it's good enough for kids now":

On p.120 Dobson quotes an anonymous poem "Grandpop seized a slipper and yanked Junior `cross his knee. Grandpop hasn't read a book since 1923." Then Dobson says "Dear ol' Grandpop. He may have been a little old-fashioned in his ideas, but he certainly knew how to handle Junior."

Dobson even suggests some things that could put parents at risk of visits from the local child-protective services:

On p.15 Dobson tells the story of a mother who spanks her 5 year old daughter and locks her in the garage for throwing some stones at cars. On p.18 he tells the story of a mother who slaps her 18 month old 9 separate times for reaching for a candy dish. On p.20 he tells the story of a mother who counts to three "and if the kids had not minded by then, they would have to face the wooden spoon."

On p.61 Dobson says to spank a 6 year old for calling his parents "hot dog" or "moose" and on p.63 Dobson says to spank a 7 year old for lying.
. . .
On p. 135 Dobson is asked this question: "Q: How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished or spanked? Is there a limit? A: Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion, they should be permitted to fall. But crying can quickly change from inner sobbing to an expression of protest aimed at punishing the enemy. Real crying usually lasts two minutes or less but may continue for five. After that point, the child is merely complaining, and the change can be recognized in the tone and intensity of his voice. I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears."

On p.136 Dobson recommends using a switch or paddle to beat children. (link above)

On p.137 Dobson says "The spanking may be too gentle. If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't motivate a child to avoid the consequence next time. A slap with the hand on the bottom of a diapered two-year-old is not a deterrent to anything. Be sure the child gets the message."

When it's been pointed out to Dobson that research is showing that religiously-motivated child abuse (and, increasingly, even moderate to severe corporal punishment) causes longterm harm, he boils it all down to a conspiracy and basically accuses accredited researchers of making things up from thin air:

On p.123 Dobson states his beliefs about corporal punishment: "Many children desperately need this resolution to their disobedience" and says spanking actually prevents child abuse because when parents spank they don't "get more and more frustrated" and "blow up". However, research by Dr. Murray Straus and others show that 70% of child abuse cases start out as spanking!

On p. 125-130 Dobson inserts an article that claims the research on corporal punishment is mostly "opinion-driven" and "flawed" and "spanking is not abuse" if done "appropriately and not in anger". This article also recommends hitting a toddler who hits, or the toddler's "hitting will persist or even escalate".
. . .
For the record, Dobson calls positive discipline "repackaged permissive claptrap" "ridiculous advice" "horse manure" and "wimp parenting" (p.37-39).

Were this just one book, it'd be bad enough--especially considering Dobson's multimillion-dollar media empire and the fact he runs the single largest dominionist group in the country (giving him a very large platform indeed to promote this stuff).

Unfortunately, it's not isolated. Stop The Rod has also evaluated another Dobson book, The New Dare To Discipline. If anything, it's actually worse in that it uses some of the same hard-sell tactics of fear to promote what is, in fact, religiously motivated child abuse.

Chapter 1 begins with a round of Tyrant Infants Part 2, this time involving a three-year-old who has the audacity to not want to take a nap when she isn't tired--and Dobson's recommendations to beat the poor tyke into submission:

On p.4 the story is told of a 3 year old girl whose mother tries to force her to take a nap when she is not at all tired. This is a daily occurrence; the girl doesn't want a nap and is never tired at the mother's designated "naptime". The absurdity of the mother expecting her to sleep anyway is never commented on by Dobson. Instead, he describes the girl as "defiant," a "tyrant," a "dictator," and her mother as "hopelessly beaten." The child was crying from her crib. Dobson says she "was brazenly rejecting the authority of her mother."

A lonely, not-at-all tired, three year old kid is crying for her mom who is trying to force her kid to a specific schedule (a tactic often promoted in dominionist baby-beating books to "break" children and get them used to regimentation; the Ezzos are particularly infamous with this with the "Babywise""Growing Kids God's Way" books, and multiple cases of malnutrition and failure to thrive have resulted when those books were used as recommended). Oh, the /humanity. :P

Dobson confuses the home and family with boot camp in chapters 2 and 3:

p.11 Dobson decries the lack of discipline (spanking) from the "unstructured permissiveness we saw in the mid-twentieth century." This is when 99% of parents spanked their children, according to surveys! Dobson is making absolutely no sense here.

p.13 Dobson says a child must obey or he has "utter contempt and disrespect for those closest to him" and "anarchy and chaos reign in his home" and his mother will be "nervous, frustrated" and "embarrassed," enduring "hardships."
. . .
p.18 "My primary purpose...has been to record for posterity my understanding of the Judeo-Christian concept of parenting that has guided millions of mothers and fathers for centuries." and "It is imperative that a child learns to respect his parents." Dobson says a child must not "defy" parents, "laughing in their faces and stubbornly flaunting their authority," and developing a "natural contempt" for parents.
. . .
p.20 Dobson says to hit a child for "willful, haughty disobedience" and when a child says "I will not!" Dobson says to "respond to the challenge immediately." Challenging authority and "disrespect" deserve corporal punishment.

p. 21 Dobson turns parenting into a contest of wills: "You have drawn a line in the dirt, and the child has deliberately flopped his bony little toe across it. Who is going to win? Who has the most courage? Who is in charge here? If you do not conclusively answer these questions for your strong-willed children, they will precipitate other battles designed to ask them again and again." Dobson never considers that children might have good reasons for not wanting to go along with everything a parent wants them to do.
. . .
p.25-6 Dobson says "Parents should be gentle with their child's ego, never belittling or embarrassing him or her in front of friends." Contrast these words of Dobson's with all the belittling names he calls children, like "tyrant, brat, terror, little fat-fingers." Dobson also says "A father who is sarcastic and biting in his criticism of children cannot expect to receive genuine respect in return." Yet in the very next paragraph, Dobson says: "A toddler is the most hard-nosed opponent of law & order" is "selfish" "demanding" "rebellious" "destructive" "a tiger" "a butterball" an "anarchist" and has "fat little legs."
. . .
On p.28 Dobson says "If discipline begins on the second day of life, you're one day too late."

p.29 Dobson says parents must not "yield authority to their infants." "A child's resistant behavior always contains a message to his parents, which they must decode before responding. That message is often phrased in the form of a question: `Are you in charge or am I?' A distinct reply is appropriate to discourage future attempts to overthrow constituted government in the home."
. . .
p.34 Dobson claims "Nothing brings a parent and child closer together than for the mother or father to win decisively after being defiantly challenged."

In chapters 2 and 3 he gives the usual cure--literally knocking the hell out of Junior:

p.28 Dobson describes a mother shaking her 3 year old for spitting. The child spat again. This was "embarrassing" to the mother; she was "too weak or tired or busy to win." Shaking can cause brain damage and death, but Dobson doesn't comment on this.
. . .
p.34 Dobson sends wife Shirley on a "seek and destroy mission" when their 2 children are noisy in a church balcony.

p.35 Dobson says "spanking should be of sufficient magnitude to cause genuine tears." Afterwards when the child crumples "to the breast of his parent, he should be welcomed with open, warm, loving arms." "Tell him how much you love him."

p.36 Dobson's wife whipped their 15 month old daughter for going onto the patio in the rain. Dobson says to show "parental warmth after such discipline" and to have a "Loving conclusion to the disciplinary encounter." This is what leads to S & M behavior.

p.36 Dobson recommends painful squeezing of the trapezius muscle on the neck to obtain "instant obedience." Dobson does this to a teenager on p. 41, as well as hitting him.
. . .
p.57 Dobson says "sick and deformed" children can be hit too.
. . .
On p.64 Dobson recommends using "switches" and "paddles" to hit children.

On p.65 Dobson recommends starting whipping at age 15-18 months, and "there is no magical time at the end of childhood when spanking becomes ineffective."

p.66 Dobson recommends hitting a toddler when he "defies his parents' spoken commands!" He says to hit toddlers when having a tantrum, and when a toddler "hits his friends." Toddlers should be "taught to obey." Toddlers can be given a "firm rap on the fingers."
. . .
p. 68 Spank children if their bedwetting is an "act of defiance."
p. 70 If a child cries more than a few minutes after being spanked, hit them more.
p. 71 If spanking a child doesn't produce "obedience," parent needs to "outlast him and win, even if it takes a few rounds." Parents must always punish "acts of defiance."
p. 72 Spanking should not be "too gentle."
p. 73 Dobson recommends a child should respond to a hitting playmate by hitting back.
. . .
p. 108 Dobson says "With most children, tantrums are a form of challenging behavior that can be eliminated by one or more appropriate spankings."
p. 115 Don't pick up crying infants right away, to minimize "reinforcement of their tears."
p. 117 If child loses lunch money, "let her skip a meal."
p. 122 Justice should "sting the child who has challenged authority."

At one point, Dobson literally blames the decline and fall of Western civilisation on working mothers (most of whom must work now to put food in the bellies of their children!) and on abandonment of abusive childrearing tactics:

pp. 156-158. Blames the supposed crumbling of "moral values" and "anarchy that is now rumbling through the midsection of democracy" on working mothers and "permissiveness."
. . .
p.249-250 Dobson quotes the "rod" verses in Proverbs. (There is not a single quote from Jesus in the entire book, and not a single verse from the Gospels).

p.250 Dobson states: "From Genesis to Revelation, there is consistent foundation on which to build an effective philosophy of parent-child relationships. It is my belief that we have departed from the standard which was clearly outlined in both the Old and New Testaments, and that deviation is costing us a heavy toll in the form of social turmoil. Self-control, human kindness, respect, and peacefulness can again be manifest in America if we will dare to discipline in our homes and schools." But where is the "human kindness" and "respect" for children? Not in this book!

One of the more interesting notes, IMHO, in Stop The Rod's evaluation is the fact that Dobson himself--in a case all too sadly familiar in the dominionist community--seems to have been the victim himself of some pretty horrific child abuse and now thinks this is "normal". Examples from the book:

p.23 Dobson says "I learned very early that if I was going to launch a flippant attack on her (Dobson's mother), I had better be standing at least twelve feet away. This distance was necessary to avoid an instantaneous response--usually aimed at my backside." Dobson here admits his normal fear of being hit when he was a child - and his efforts to avoid the hitting. But it doesn't stop him from the behavior that triggers the hitting.

p.23-24 Dobson's mother once whipped him with a girdle that had "a multitude of straps and buckles." "Believe it or not, it made me feel loved." (!!)

Pretty much ANY child protection agency nowadays would see being literally flogged with a girdle as being sufficiently abusive as to remove the child from the home. One only wonders now how things could have been different had Dobson been removed from that abusive situation as a kid and taught that such things are not normal. (Frankly, this is something I'm still learning to this day, partly because of my own experiences with religiously motivated child abuse.)

Dobson also expresses an interesting commentary in the book which could be taken in his direction--but not in the way he presumably would like:

p.19 Once when Dobson is out of town, his 2 year old son is asked by Dobson's wife to pray before dinner. The toddler was "startled" but then said "I love you, Daddy. Amen." Because the tiny child said "Daddy" instead of "Our Father" Dobson decides his tiny son's mistake means the child has identified Dobson with God. He takes this idea even further, concluding that ALL children believe Daddy is God.

It's been quipped before that "The name for 'God' on the lips of all children is 'Mother'". If anything, especially based on his abusive treatment growing up and his recommendations to parents now--their God is a wrathful, borderline sociopathic creature who pretty much believes in "the ends necessitate the means", no matter how unethical those means may be.

I wish I could say this is exaggeration, but one only needs to look at the activities of Focus on the Family in promoting dominionism, in the demonisation of their critics and LGBT people and women and anyone who ISN'T a dominionist, to see it. If their is truth to the concept that the first image of God to a child is in a child's parents, it's probably no wonder that they are in a path of hatred and fear and have hatred and fear towards others.

I write this series on religiously motivated child abuse and on coercive tactics within dominionist groups in part to show this, and partly in the real hope that their kids might not grow up knowing God--and their first image of God in their parents--being hateful, wrathful, hurtful. That there's a better way to things, and hopefully someday kids won't grow up with the scars that persons like me, like Beth Fennimore, like the three successful walkaways from the Phelps'...that we deal with every day.

And maybe, just maybe, there won't be any more James Dobsons either.

Awareness of the sad subject of religiously motivated child abuse within the dominionist community--in a series I began writing on her and which is now being reported on by the likes of Salon Magazine--is now going international...unfortunately due to Americans exporting the problem of religiously motivated child abuse worldwide.

The Guardian Unlimited, a British newspaper which has reported on dominionism in past, has an article in regards to religiously motivated child abuse that brings a unique perspective.

The article starts out with descriptions of British canings in schools, a practice which was eventually ruled illegal and abusive within the UK:

Pretty much all I remember from my prep school are the beatings: that lonely wait outside the headmaster's study; the cane, the slipper, the table tennis bat. I remember my underpants filled with blood. I remember seething with frustration when they beat my brother. My mother had asked me to look after him. But there was nothing I could do as he was led towards the study in his little tartan dressing gown.

That was 30 years ago, but in time measured out by the psyche it was yesterday. Thank God such things are now illegal. But there remain those determined to turn back the clock. "We are told that in England it is a crime to spank children," writes Debbi Pearl from No Greater Joy Ministries, following a row that has erupted over the distribution of their literature in the UK. "Therefore Christians are not able to openly obey God in regard to biblical chastisement. They are in danger of having the state steal their children."

The "row" in question involves promotion of the Pearl's books in a British homeschool association--specifically through a magazine targeting dominionist correspondence-schoolers in the UK called "The Old Schoolhouse" (the publishers of "The Old Schoolhouse", of note, are actually based in the United States--another example of dominionism being exported to other countries). The group has promoted the Pearls in their literature, and is even going on tour in the UK to promote the Pearls. And the article linked above includes a description of the Pearls whacking an 11-month-old child they were babysitting:

"As I was writing this I was interrupted by a child screaming. Deb is baby-sitting an eleven-month-old little boy. I let him scream for about five minutes, as I wrote the last lines of the above paragraph, and then I left my office and went to investigate. Deb was doing business on the phone--talking to a missionary, long distance. The child was clawing at the back door, trying to get it open so he could go outside.

I picked up a switch and walked over to where he was conducting his scream-in. In a calm but firm voice I said, "No, stop crying." I didn't expect him to respond, but I wanted to establish the rules. When he failed to respond, I switched him twice on the only exposed skin--about three inches between his sock and pants leg. Again he did what I expected, what he does when his mother swats him--scream in defiance. But I have seen her swat him, and it never even gets his attention, other than a signal to scream louder. But when I switched his bare skin, he looked shocked and started to rub it. He continued to cry in protest, so I gave him two more licks on the bare leg.

This time, he was convinced that I meant business. I know that he understood the issue, because he crawled past me, away from the door. Again I commanded him to stop crying, brandishing the switch. He stopped crying immediately, continuing to rub his leg while staring at me."

The "row" is in fact a boycott of Old Schoolhouse Magazine and its associated websites by homeschooling parents who feel promotion of the cruel tactics of the Pearls is in fact wrong and even Un-Christian.

The Guardian article continues, noting that the Pearls recommend the whacking of infants under the age of 1 year with 1/8" diameter switches:

Chastening begins early. "For the under-one-year-old, a little, 10- to 12-inch long, willowy branch (stripped of any knots that might break the skin) about one-eighth inch diameter is sufficient," writes Michael Pearl. With older children he advises: "After a short explanation about bad attitudes and the need to love, patiently and calmly apply the rod to his backside. Somehow, after eight or 10 licks, the poison is transformed into gushing love and contentment. The world becomes a beautiful place. A brand-new child emerges. It makes an adult stare at the rod in wonder, trying to see what magic is contained therein."

Needless to say, the author is completely and utterly shocked:

It's incredible to me that books such as this are readily available on Amazon; it is little short of incitement to child abuse. What makes the whole thing doubly sick is that it's done in the name of God. Apparently, the "proper application of the rod is essential to the Christian world-view". Note "essential". Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. For, as evangelicals, the Pearls believe that salvation only comes through punishment and pain. God punishes his Son with crucifixion so that humanity might not have to face the Father's anger. This image of God the father, for whom violence is an expression of tough love, is lodged deep in the evangelical imagination. And it twists a religion of forgiveness and compassion into something dark and cruel.

It's terrifying how deep this teaching penetrates into a philosophy of child rearing. Just as divine anger is deemed to be provoked by the original sin of human disobedience, the beating of children is seen as punishment for rebellion. According to Ted Tripp, in his monstrous bestseller Shepherding a Child's Heart, even babies who struggle while having their nappy changed are deemed to be rebellious and need punishment.

It is extremely gratifying to see more attention--even on an international level--being brought to the "dark secret" of religiously motivated child abuse in the dominionist community.

Unfortunately...the Pearls, even with the recent tragedy bringing new awareness, aren't the only ones promoting--or exporting--what amounts to "Bible-based" baby beating.

They aren't even the richest or most well known.

That would be the one we focus on tomorrow--James Dobson, head of the $140 million Focus on the Family publishing empire and dominionist lobbying group, and whom (as we shall see tomorrow) uses his own history of being abused as a child as an example of how to raise children...perpetuating his own multigenerational history of child abuse across countless generations.

Over the past few days, I've written a series of articles on the subject of religiously motivated child abuse, in part inspired by the recent tragic death of a child who was literally flogged to death based on instructions from Michael and Debi Pearl's "No Greater Joy" publishing empire.

Salon Magazine--one of the few American media outlets to actually do any writing on religiously motivated child abuse--has two separate articles on the Pearls--one dating from the last death in February 2006 linked to the Pearls' books, and a newer article published today--almost six years to the day after the last "death by chastening rod" attributable to the Pearls, and sadly necessary because of yet another death.

Far from the first time the Pearls have been under the microscope

The first article starts out with the story of Meggan Judge, who was a former user of the Pearls' techniques until she had a case of post-partum depression--and realised the techniques were inherently abusive and dangerous.

Much of the article covers some of the same ground that articles I have written; the article does give a few new frightening facts, though:

While the Pearls are not in direct competition with Christian media juggernauts such as Veggie Tales or "The Purpose-Driven Life," they are part of the booming religious publishing and products market, which hit $7.3 billion in 2005 -- a 28 percent increase since 2002, according to an April 2006 report by Packaged Facts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com. Among Christian books, the "Christian Living" subcategory, which includes parenting, is one of the most popular sub-segments; products for children are expanding as well. The Packaged Facts report, titled "The Religious Product Market in the U.S.," cites "the culture wars" as being one reason for this overall growth. "What has until recently frustrated evangelicals is their difficulty in translating political power into social and cultural clout," states the report. "In addressing and attempting to redress this problem, evangelicals are increasingly turning to publishing."

As for their position on corporal "chastisement," the Pearls are following in the footsteps of their forebears -- and are not out of step with most of their peers. "The tradition of 'breaking the child's will' using physical punishment is long-standing among evangelical, fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic Protestants," says retired Rutgers University historian Philip Greven, author of "Spare the Child: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Child Abuse." "It's associated with a very strong patriarchal authoritarian tradition," he adds, along with a belief in the literal truth of the Bible. Greven found calls to physically punish children in 17th and 18th century American Protestant texts; he was surprised, in the course of his research, to see that they'd persisted into the20th century and even today.

Of particular note--the original article links to a series of articles from Focus on the Family wherein the use of "switches" is advocated on small children that kids are forced to get themselves (thus becoming an active participant in their abuse), among other things.

The article also notes that it's not just the Pearls advocating this stuff, and that this stuff is all too screamingly common in the dominionist community:

Indeed, not sparing the rod is the norm among Christian parenting books. Ted Tripp's 1995 book "Shepherding a Child's Heart," which endorses judicial spanking, was recently at No. 37 on Christian Retailing magazine's list of bestsellers; the same magazine, last October, called W Publishing "one of the first major Christian publishing houses to publish a book that is opposed to spanking children." (The book is "Grace-Based Parenting" by Dr. Tim Kimmel.) And today, there are not only texts, but also products, such as "The Rod of Discipline" (see Proverbs 22:15 ) and a plastic "chastening instrument" said to "fit easily into purse or travel bag."

The article also notes that the Pearls have advocated the literal use of meter sticks and rulers as tools for beating children who have not yet celebrated their first birthday:

"Select your instrument according to the child's size," writes Pearl. "For the under one year old, a little, ten to twelve-inch long, willowy branch (stripped of any knots that might break the skin) about one-eighth inch diameter is sufficient. Sometimes alternatives have to be sought. A one-foot ruler, or its equivalent in a paddle, is a sufficient alternative. For the larger child, a belt or larger tree branch is effective." Additional advice from their Web site: Switching with a length of quarter-inch plumbing supply line is a "real attention-getter."

The article also--notably--notes the use of scripture-twisting in justification of religiously motivated child abuse, a subject rarely touched upon.

It also notes that--of particularly interesting note--some of the most vociferous opposition of the Pearls and other hawkers of religiously motivated child abuse is coming from people who are homeschooling their kids (this is of note because dominionist "homeschool" associations promote these books heavily):

While supporters of child-training see the Paddock case as a tragic misuse and misrepresentation of Pearl principles, some of their opponents have taken it as a call to arms. Recent protest has perhaps been loudest and most organized among home-schoolers. "Most home-schoolers, secular and Christian, are familiar with the Pearls, and speaking out never made a difference. Now a child has died and public scrutiny is on the Pearls. Strike while the fire is hot," says a home-schooling Oregon mother of 16-year-old triplets who blogs under the name "Doc Smith." (She requested that her real name not be used because of the threatening comments she and others have received in response to their anti-Pearl posts.)

Following in the footsteps of a British blogger known as Carlotta -- who, pre-Paddock case, worked to draw attention to the association between the Old Schoolhouse Magazine, a popular Christian quarterly for home-schoolers, and the Pearls' ministry, one of its advertisers -- Doc launched a boycott of the magazine and its partner blog services, Homeschoolblogger.com and Homesteadblogger.com. Other bloggers picked up the banner. (One printed anti-Pearl T-shirts. ) As a result of such efforts, Doc estimates, at least 250 bloggers have left Homeschoolblogger.com. Rumors abound that the Old Schoolhouse's subscriptions have dropped since the boycott -- its current readership is around 100,000 -- but according to the magazine, business is booming. "Subscriptions are actually up," says Nancy Carter, marketing manager. "With bad P.R. I think you also get folks saying, 'Hey, we want to show you we support you.'"

Doc admits that this boycott is but a "small battle" in the fight against child abuse. Ideally, she'd like to see the Old Schoolhouse -- a major market source for an often-isolated community -- stop printing articles by the Pearls and advertising their wares. But she hopes at the very least to draw attention to the methods espoused by the Pearls -- and distinguish them from other branches of the home-schooling community. "When a secular person/parent whips a kid, they're doing it because they're ignorant or just a jerk. They don't say God gave them permission or commanded them to do it," she says. "Home-schoolers who beat their kids make all home-schoolers look like freaks."

One home-schooling/blogging mother went so far as to buy the plumbing hose and try it on herself. "What I did was take the small supposedly 'harmless' tube and LIGHTLY tap myself on the forearm with it," she reports. "Not only did it sting like an SOB but it also left welts on my arm for TWO hours afterwards."

The article also notes some interesting statistics, which are especially relevant as many of the same folks hawking books on how to beat your baby for God are also hawking books on how women should "submit to their husbands" and how "God hates divorce" even in the case of abusive spouses:

"The evidence is that any corporal punishment, on average, is harmful down the road," says leading family violence researcher Murray Straus, professor of sociology and co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. Among other problems, it has the potential to threaten the parent-child bond, inhibit the development of conscience, lead to juvenile delinquency, and even partner violence, Straus says. (Some disagree, saying -- for example -- that children who grow up with an understanding or fear of "consequences" are less likely to get into trouble down the road.) "There are now three very good studies showing that the more someone was spanked as a child, the more likely they are to hit their partner as an adult," says Straus. (Some suspect that spanking at home, or paddling at school, may be particularly harmful to girls.)

The article also notes on how dominionists are coached in these books, and also coach each other, on how to hide the signs of baby-beating:

Her father goes farther. "Don't be so indiscreet as to spank your children in public -- including the church restroom," he writes on his Web site. But discretion, here, is more than just the better part of embarrassing your kid. "I get letters regularly telling of trouble with in-laws who threaten to report them to the authorities," he goes on. "Parents have called the Gestapo on their married children. Church friends who have noses longer than the pews on which they perch can cause a world of trouble. If you cannot get [your children] trained before going out in public, stay home and read our four books again. If the Federal or State agencies take me to court over advocating corporal chastisement, this will be part of my defense: 'He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (Prov. 13:24).'"

For similar reasons, the Home School Legal Defense Association recommends spanking only in private. (The HSLDA is a Christian organization, though it serves home-schoolers without regard to affiliation. It is dedicated to preserving the "fundamental right of parents to choose home educations, free of over-zealous government officials and intrusive laws.")

All in all, a very good article, and a good introduction for those who are wishing to research--or wishing to work against--religiously motivated child abuse in the dominionist community.

Unfortunately, history repeats if we don't remember

Ultimately, the mother in question was convicted of first degree murder and felony child abuse; she is presently serving life plus 83 years in the North Carolina women's prison system.

The amazing thing--the tragic thing, considering the events of February 12 when yet another child suffered "death by chastening rod"--is that the Pearls were not considered accessories to murder and also placed in prison.

There has been surprisingly little criticism in the media, or even reporting on religiously motivated child abuse (one is, sadly, more likely to find objective reporting OUTSIDE the US, particularly in the British media); again, Salon Magazine is the exception and notes that most criticism in print Stateside has actually been from evangelical Christians opposed to religiously motivated child abuse:

It's one thing for those of us outside the fundamentalist Christian/Christian home-schooling world to point fingers at the Pearls and voice outrage at their methods. What really matters, and what stands to have actual impact, is the outrage inside the Pearls' world. And right now, more than ever, an anti-Pearl movement within the conservative Christian community is rising up in heated, if sometimes whispered, fury. Some say -- even pray -- that Lydia Schatz's death will bring Michael and Debi Pearl exactly the kind of attention they deserve.

"I think many in the Christian and/or home-school community wanted to see Sean Paddock as an 'extreme' example. Lynn Paddock was 'just' a foster mom. She already had issues. Whatever someone could use to rationalize away the influence of Michael and Debi Pearl, they would. Because they did not want to admit that a 'normal' home-schooling mom could abuse her child to death, they did not want to admit that a book that has been normalized in home-schooling circles was a factor in the death, they did not want to admit their own vulnerability to being deceived or hurting their child," says Alexandra Bush, 35, a "home-schooling mom and theologically conservative Christian" in Sarasota, Fla., who grew up with Pearl-style teaching around her (though not in her family) and who is an oft-heard anti-Pearl voice online. "Now, with Lydia Schatz, it is harder to explain away. I have seen a stronger response than before to her death and her sister's hospitalization. The defensiveness has cracked a bit. This is the logical outcome of the spank-until-submissive teachings of the Pearls. People are no longer able to see it as just an 'exception.'"

Interestingly--and disturbingly, and in line with something I myself have observed--Salon's report, in its interview with various Christians opposed to religiously motivated child abuse, notes that the Pearls may be forming a de facto personality cult around their practices:

Also, the particulars of child-training are only one aspect of the Pearls' ministry. "The focus when their teachings are promoted isn't on the spanking, but on the 'tying heartstrings' and enjoying your kids," says Alexandra Bush. "It is easy to filter out the harsher teachings, the extremism, when surrounded by word pictures of peaceful, loving, fun families. The Pearls seem to tell parents that they just have to 'win' once and make sure their children know who is in charge, and then they will never have to spank again. That's how parents get sucked in -- promises of a fun, peaceful home, minimal confrontation, doing the 'right thing' for their children. Basically, the BS detectors are turned off by the pretty promises that are made."

Bush believes that's why the Pearls' teachings hold so much appeal for conservative, home-schooling parents who are, overall, "highly motivated to spend time with their children, love their children, willing to make sacrifices for their children, want the best for their children. They are not, in general, people prone to neglecting their kids or motivated by abuse and anger," she says. "So when people criticize the Pearls and in the same breath misrepresent parents who use Pearl parenting, those parents easily tune out the criticism."

And that's where the Pearls get their relatively "free pass," she concludes: "People know parents who are amazing and love their kids and don't abuse them -- and recommend the Pearls -- and so they have trouble believing the truth about the awful teachings. After all, if your home-school neighbor family looks like they have it all together, has sweet children and a calm mother -- and they use the Pearls, and they don't beat their kids -- then obviously it must be the critics who are wrong. Add to that the loyalty home-school parents have to the home-school movement -- hard to criticize one's own. Finally, even if someone can see the problems with the Pearls' words, they may be unwilling to admit that the Pearls are completely wrong and off their rocker, because that would be admitting that they themselves were susceptible to bad advice and may have harmed their own kids."

In other words, says Diamond, Pearl devotees are "loving people, people who take joy in their children, in their marriages, who like to participate in the community and do good for others. They aren't monsters. It would be easier, I think, to speak up loudly if they were."

To anyone who is a walkaway from a coercive group, or who is aware of how coercive groups work, this in and of itself is a red flag warning--one of the first things coercive groups do (and what the Pearls explicitly do) is set up an "us versus them" meme, literally demonising critics (the Pearls have publically stated in past that critics of their "Bible-based" domestic violence regime--including not only abuse of children but a program almost expressly designed to sanction religiously motivated spousal abuse as well--are possessed by "Jezebel spirits").

The second article is encouraging in that there is increasing criticism--most critically within "Christian homeschooling" circles, heavily infiltrated by dominionists and a major source of promotion of religiously motivated domestic abuse programs:

Christian and home-schooling bloggers are also voicing increasing anti-Pearl sentiment, and not just the ones who already reject any form of punitive parenting, Bush notes. Timberdoodle, a highly regarded and influential resource for conservative home-schoolers, responded to Lydia Schatz's death by exhorting its community to speak up: "Read, be informed, and share with your friends. There are many new, well-meaning parents who are looking for instruction and help in parenting. Use your knowledge to help them keep away from this dangerous path."

Unfortunately, I do agree with a final commentary by Alexandra Bush of TulipGirl:

But discrediting the Pearls shouldn't depend on word-of-mouth or the grass roots, Bush argues. "As a Christian, I believe it has been a failing of the evangelical church in the U.S. as a whole for not warning their members about this type of harmful teaching. It is something the church cannot, biblically, ignore," she says, noting that increasing resistance to the Pearls comes at a time when even those in the most conservative Christian circles are reevaluating, on theological grounds, the evangelical movement's embrace of the practice of corporal punishment.

I would go further, in fact--it's not just a failing, but the promoters of religiously motivated child and domestic abuse are just the most notable and infamous of those within evangelical circles working to turn them into dominionist circles--dominionism, in and of itself, is fundamentally a culture of fear.

The very same circles that promote the Pearls et al are those who increasingly call for isolation of their children from mandatory reporters, who are part of multi-million-dollar media empires who have worked to scuttle existing laws and prevent the US from being a signatory to the one international treaty designed to protect children from abuse.

It goes, I'm afraid, beyond mere failure. It is the "suffering of the children" on a level Jesus himself would have never intended and would be most horrified to witness.

So far, I've written several stories on what is probably one of the major "deep, dark secrets" of the dominionist movement--namely, the promotion of religiously-motivated child abuse as a form of "child training", the idea being that one can literally beat the devil out of your child and make him a good little "God Warrior" in doing so. (Much of the more hardline material is largely promoted within the "spiritual warfare" movement in dominionism.)

We started initially with an expose of the worst offenders, including some well-known names like James Dobson and Lisa Welchel; we also covered the considerable legal roadblocks that dominionist promoters of "Bible-based baby beating" have put up to make prosecution of religiously motivated child abuse as difficult as possible.

Over the past two days, I've focused on a promoter of religiously motivated child abuse whose tactics have resulted in the deaths of at least two children in as many years that have been reported to media--Michael and Debbie Pearl, who have promoted an empire based on whipping children like recalcitrant mules (a tactic, of note, not likely to work on mules much less children; usually a mule has a perfectly good reason for balking, often the fact he's overloaded).

Today's post goes into a more in-depth look based on an article in the Raleigh-Durham News-Observer detailing a history of the Pearls, and giving some unique--and disturbing--insights as to the persons using these books.

A warning: the stuff I'm about to talk about here is almost guaranteed to be upsetting to most of you, and is potentially triggering to walkaways and survivors of childhood abuse.

To remind you all of the general context here:

In this small, rural community (Pleasantville, TN--ed.), Pearl tends a modest flock. It's through a satellite Internet connection and a traveling road show that Pearl captures a following he pegs at more than half a million people. From military bases in Europe to a Pentecostal church in Smithfield, N.C., parents spank their children with rods, "switching" out their bad attitudes, just at Pearl advises. His books on child discipline are sold at home-schooling conferences, delivered to the doorsteps of new moms and passed from pastors to parents in churches across the nation.

That's how Lynn Paddock, a Johnston County mother accused of beating her children with plastic plumbing supply line and suffocating the youngest, learned of Pearl's child-training methods, according to her attorney Michael Reece. He's popular in her church circle, Reece said.

She scoured his books and Web site a few years ago looking for tips on how to control her growing brood of adopted children. Paddock began whipping them with the thin, flexible pipe Pearl heralds as a good substitute for the "rod" described in the Old Testament.

Paddock, 45, is behind bars, charged with first-degree murder in 4-year-old Sean's death. She also faces felony child-abuse charges in connection with the welts that covered the backsides of two of her other five adopted children.

(The original article had noted that only one other child had been flogged along with Sean.)

I've described these "rods" in the other article and even included a photograph of them in my other article focusing on the Pearls, "Death By Chastening Rod"; these "rods" are capable of causing serious injury.

Interestingly, Michael Pearl himself may be called to the witness stand because of his specific promotion of PVC "chastening rods":

Reece said he is considering ordering Pearl to testify if the case goes to trial.

"She wouldn't have come up with using plastic pipes on her own," Reece said.

One of the more notable things about this article is how it details some of the Pearls' more abusive techniques. Among other things, it's revealed that they promote the use of willow-branch "switches" on young infants.

It also--in something that should genuinely scare everyone involved in the movement against dominionism--gives a frightening quote from Michael Pearl himself regarding the extensive use of their methods in the dominionist correspondence-school "homeschool" community:

By Pearl's math, one-sixth of the nation's estimated 3 million home-schooling families use his training methods.

(emphasis mine)

Yes, you read that right. Fully 500,000 households in the US are regularly using Pearl's methods of "chastisement" on their children.

Pearls' children, interestingly, defend his promotion--but there is good evidence (via nospank.net) that those children were not subjected to the methods in his books.

Very interestingly--and in frightening parallel to another infamous figure, Fred Phelps--Michael Pearl may lead a church that is largely a familial coercive religious group. The article notes:

There's no sign welcoming visitors to Pearl's Church at Cane Creek. Getting there means driving down a steep ridge where the Tennessee foothills begin fading to plains. Then, it's a left at the hand-painted signs advertising vegetables, crafts and furniture. As the blacktop turns to dirt, a bridge leads to the Pearls' farm. At the foot of a cow pasture, on the bank of a rippling stream, Pearl's loyal base gathers on Sundays.

A private property warning is tacked to a sturdy oak at the foot of the church: a weathered red assembly hall perched on 10-foot stilts to survive floods. On a crisp Sunday morning earlier this month, Pearl, in muddy boots and a bright orange shirt, chirped "good morning" to a wobbly toddler as he strode to the front of the drafty room. Debi, his wife of 35 years, hugged every neck and patted every little head in sight.

Three dozen or so locals -- a third of them Pearl's kin -- settled into plastic garden chairs in the one-room sanctuary. Debi Pearl, perched delicately beside her husband, smiled brightly as her granddaughter fished for a raisin from a snack bag. Older children sat as still as statues.

Yes, you read that right--the same place where, as the Pearls have claimed, "jezebels" protested their practices is essentially a "congregation" of around 36 people, at least 12 of which are related to the Pearls. (Even Phelps' familial cult Westboro Baptist Church is larger.)

Disturbingly, Michael Pearl may be involved in "faith-based coercion" in the prison system, especially disturbing in light of the fact that fully 83.8 percent or more of people in the prison system who are incarcerated for violent offences have histories of severe child abuse and there is increasing evidence that severe abuse may in fact cause criminal behaviour in a percentage of the population (this based on a NZ study showing that for the one third of the human population having low levels of monoamine oxidase A, 85% of boys with low MAOA who have suffered physical abuse have gone one to commit antisocial and criminal behaviour as adults):

Pearl prayed for the souls of the murderers and rapists he preaches to each week at a state prison; another man read an e-mail message from a congregation member on a mission in Southeast Asia. Long silences separated their discussions as they waited for one of the men to pick a hymn or read Scripture.

Speaking of abuse, the Pearls seem to have little concern that they could be potentially causing criminality with their "child training" techniques (much less thousands, thousands more examples of "spiritual warfare collateral damage"):

"The chances of one of them committing a crime is pretty good," Pearl said, shrugging at the question in his churchyard after Sunday services and refusing to say much more.

As it turns out, the Pearls are making a surprisingly tidy earning off of promoting literally beating the hell out of kids:

No Greater Joy Ministries is doing a brisk business. The ministry earned just over $1 million last year from sales of a half-dozen or so books, said the general manager, Mel Cohen.

Up a hill from the Pearls' home, 11 employees answer letters and design six newsletters a year for more than 70,000 readers, Cohen said. "To Train Up a Child," their first and best-selling book, has sold more than 500,000 copies. Used copies are also sold on the Internet and grabbed up at yard sales. Debi Pearl's first solo book, "Created to be His Helpmate," sold 150,000 copies since publication 14 months ago. Business grew so rapidly this past year that the Pearls hired Cohen, a businessman experienced in running Christian ministries.

Cohen said practically all proceeds go right out the door -- to pay for foreign missions, to cover printing costs for the newsletter and translation services to print the books in 25 other languages. The ministry also ships free copies of the books to American soldiers.

Despite Pearl's international recognition among Christian fundamentalists and home-schooling parents, people hardly know him in the community he has called home for nearly two decades. Natives scratch their heads as they try to place him. A cluster of men loitering outside a country store in Pleasantville can't decide whether he's the fellow with the bushy white beard or the lanky guy who used to work at the lumberyard.

Stella Rhodes, postmaster in the nearby town of Lobelville, say most folks around the region figure Pearl is a "half-Mennonite," the kind, she said, that gave in to modern luxuries enough to buy a car.

"Most people around here don't have a clue how big their business is," Rhodes said. "To tell you the truth, I think that's just the way they like it." A decade ago, when the couple started selling their books, Rhodes used to hand-stamp every package the Pearls mailed.

(emphasis mine)
Yes, you read that right--they have earned over a million dollars from their books, sold 500,000 copies alone of the very book linked to the death of young Sean Paddock, and are giving guides on baby-beating and making your wife be a "submissive helpmate in a Christian family" free (and potentially unrequested) to our servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan (and potentially Iran, too, in the next few months).

The article also gives a good idea of the Pearls' techniques in action, and the mindset of the dominionists who use the Pearls' techniques. One particularly disturbing report shows that even county-supported nonprofit groups are promoting "Biblically sanctioned" baby-beating:

Highlighter and pen scribbles mar the pages of Joel Killion's copy of "To Train Up a Child." The Wilson father's only daughter, Moriah, is just 2, and already Killion has read Pearl's discipline book four times.

"We're preparing her to be someone's mate one day," said Killion, who works in the banking industry.

Killion picked up a copy of "To Train Up a Child" years ago at a yard sale, before he met his wife, Lauren. He finally read it when Lauren became pregnant. When he saw the book stashed in a goody bag for new parents delivered by a Nash County nonprofit after Moriah's birth, he felt even more confident in its methods.

Applying Pearl's training techniques wasn't easy, Killion admits. Letting his baby girl cry it out from her lonely crib nearly broke the young father's heart.

The regimen was even tougher on his wife, who majored in child development at East Carolina University. "No spanking" had been drilled in her head. Lauren Killion, a stay-at-home mom, said she would sit on the couch and wince while her husband switched Moriah's hand with a twig from a bush.

"I used to think the switch was so mean and cruel," she said. "But all in the hands of a loving parent, it's right."

Moriah is docile, and the Killions say everyone asks their secret. The Killions believe in Pearl's methods so much, they snatch up copies of "To Train Up a Child" and give them to other young parents.

(Emphasis mine)

So let's review so far--we have parents whose solitary goal for their child is to be a housewife and breeder of "God Warriors", which in and of itself is not encouraging--and, sadly, is quite common in dominionist "spiritual warfare" communities. The only role for women is to breed, "obey her husband as her husband obeys God", and homeschool (and beat) the younguns.

They leave a young infant to cry in her crib, which is now known to be potentially damaging to bonding--much less potentially dangerous (the kid could have laid on a sharp object, rolled over and gotten herself trapped, etc.)

They whack a child who is less than two years old with a "switch" from the yard.

The child is "docile", but most pediatricians will tell you docility is one of the two possible consequences of abuse--essentially the kid withdraws. One pediatrician (whose wife is a regular poster on Dark Christianity) has reported that some children from dominionist households that use these sorts of "chastening" methods have withdrawn to the point they have symptoms almost indistinguishable from higher-functioning autism. Even for kids who deal with abuse by being docile and withdrawing, there are severe, lifelong trust issues that can prevent them from establishing stable relationships with other people.

Another parent quoted has also unknowingly crossed over to the level of abuse:

Beck relied on his advice to teach her daughter, then 3, to stay in bed after being tucked in. After 23 nights of getting switched with a willow tree branch, her daughter, now 12, finally relented. "Mike Pearl taught me my daughter needed to know there was a limit," Beck said.

(Nowadays, in many jurisdictions a report that a three-year-old child was being "switched" on a nightly basis for 23 days for getting out of bed would trigger at least investigations of abuse by the parent.)

"Spiritual warfare" groups promote the books and by their own statements don't care about the "collateral damage" and "friendly fire":

Berry Byrd, a Pentecostal minister in Smithfield, says "To Train Up a Child" is the most brilliant parenting book he'd ever read. This month, he ordered 25 copies and passed them out to young parents in his congregation.

"I sure wish I had this book when my boys were growing up," Byrd said. "This 'timeout' business just doesn't work."

Byrd doesn't worry that a mother less than 10 miles away hurt her children after reading Pearl's books. He urged his parishioners to use common sense.

In some cases, this has caused parents to seriously rethink the methods--and question their "Biblical" justification:

"I was sucked in. I wanted to be happy and wanted happy children," said Chris Jones, a mom from Georgia who eventually gave up Pearl's techniques. "He makes you think he has the ear of God."
. . .
"You have people that are so needy, and there's such danger in them going too far," said Jones, who says she abandoned Pearl's training regimen after realizing she had alienated her small children.

"You have to suppress your natural instincts and natural mothering to be able to do this," she said. "I learned that there is a good reason something is trying to stay your hand."

(emphasis mine)

The article also gives info on how the Pearls (and by extension a lot of dominionist "family" groups) recruit:

Mothers never suspect a backlash because Pearl's books and newsletters are filled with stories of happy, godly children. The trick: training them while they are young. He urges fathers to tempt the little ones with an off-limit toy. When the child reaches for it, the father is advised to swat his hand or leg with a rod.

Pearl explains in "To Train Up a Child" that he used this strategy to keep his kids from going near a shotgun. Pearl also gets creative: When his children were toddlers and strayed to the pond's edge, he pushed them in and let them flounder to prove how dangerous the pond could be.

(Needless to say, the taunting of a kid with a toy and whacking Junior with the chastening rod when he grabs for it is both physically and emotionally abusive. You're flat out teaching kids not to want anything or trust. The pushing of kids into a lake and letting them "flounder" to teach them to stay away from it is amazingly dangerous--the kids could well have drowned.)

One mother expressed regret about having used the Pearls' methods and is grateful she stopped using them before potentially maiming her child:

Meggan Judge, a mother in Alaska, wishes someone had stopped her from following Pearl's instruction sooner.

"Thirty times a day, I was striking my son. He wasn't even 2 years old," Judge said. "I kept waiting: Where is this joy we were promised?'"

She slowly gave up Pearl's methods three years ago after locking her son in his room one afternoon for fear that she would hurt him.

Years later, hearing of Lynn Paddock's story, Judge knows she's lucky. She suspects she could have been driven to such lengths if she hadn't met a community of other Christian mothers on the Internet who urged her to abandon Pearl's teachings.

"Without a doubt, I know I would have been capable of that," Judge said. "Anyone who says they wouldn't is a liar. I never knew I had anger issues until I started using his methods."

(emphasis mine, and--having also been subject to multiple-times-a-day "chastenings" as a kid, I can definitely believe it)

The newspaper article also gives some notable examples of abusive childrearing techniques promoted by the Pearls:

This is a sampling of Pearl's advice from "To Train Up a Child" and his newsletter, "No Greater Joy":

PROBLEM Baby bites during breast-feeding

SOLUTION Pull baby's hair

I've noted this abusive practice in my article "Death by Chastening Rod"; a child who bites during breastfeeding is often not aware he is causing pain. The appropriate response is to remove the child from the breast, not to yank baby's hair.)

PROBLEM Boy is a crybaby

SOLUTION "When he begins to scream his defiance or hurt, just ignore him. ... If he demands attention to a supposed wound, then reach in your purse, pull out a terrible tasting herbal potion and give him a spoonful. After he gets through gagging on the vitamin and mineral supplement, tell him that he is now completely healed, and invite him to come back for another dose if he again gets hurt."

This is abusive and dangerous.

Firstly, if a child is demanding attention to a supposed wound, the appropriate response is to check the child and--if he is not hurt--reassure him he's okay.

Secondly, it is not appropriate to dose a child with a "terrible-tasting herbal concoction" or "vitamin and mineral supplement" as a punishment; firstly, if a kid cries a lot, you run a real risk of potentially poisoning Junior. Secondly, you teach him that medicine is Bad and is a form of punishment (not what you want to teach him if, say, you need to get meds into him to treat an illness). Thirdly, this is a thinly-veiled version of "hot saucing"--the tactic of placing Tabasco or a similar hot-sauce on the tongues of children for "sassing", "lying" or "backtalking". (Hot-saucing is itself considered abusive by many CPS agencies, both Tabasco and Texas Pete have issued formal statements condemning the use of their products as "chastening aids", and most child experts outside the dominionist community also find it cruel and potentially dangerous due to both swelling from the "heat" and the risk of a possible allergic reaction.) Some of you who are sufficiently old enough may remember when castor oil was used as a similar punishment--there's a reason stuff like this was left behind in the fifties!

PROBLEM Rebellious child who runs from discipline

SOLUTION "If you have to sit on him to spank him, then do not hesitate. And hold him there until he has surrendered. Prove that you are bigger, tougher, more patiently enduring, and are unmoved by his wailing. Hold the resisting child in a helpless position for several minutes, or until he is totally surrendered. Accept no conditions for surrender -- no compromise. You are to rule over him as a benevolent sovereign. Your word is final."

Firstly, benevolent sovereigns generally do not hold someone down forcibly to show they are bigger or tougher. (The US embassy recently had to be reduced to essential personnel, and all non-essential personnel and families evacuated, and an order was sent to all Americans to leave Nepal quite recently because of a sovereign trying to show his subjects he was "bigger and tougher". The French Revolution happened in part because of efforts to quell dissent. Heck, in America's own mythology the American Revolution happened largely because King George and Parliament tried to hold down the Colonies to show who was "bigger and tougher".) Truly benevolent sovereigns listen to their subjects, and will try to assist them for the betterment of their countries. (There's actually an entire concept called "noblesse oblige" that states a good king must--as an obligation of being king--treat his subjects with respect and work for the whole good of the country; in return, the king gets privileges, but this is purely dependent on helping and looking out for his subjects and not mistreating them.)

Secondly, this is abusive, and (as noted above) is at minimum going to engender resentment towards the parents. If the parent breaks the will successfully of the kid, this makes it very difficult for the kid to learn to trust, say, a future wife or equal. It can leave girls open to exploitation of all sorts. (Unfortunately, the Pearls promote the idea of women being subservient to men as "men are to God" so this is likely by design.)

This is one I myself was subjected to as a kid.

PROBLEM Child whines to mother after father disciplines him

SOLUTION Mother must go over to child and "give him one or two licks on his exposed ankles or legs while commanding, 'Obey your father.' "

Abusive; a better response is to explain to the kid what he did wrong and that you agree with the other parent that he misbehaved. (I myself was subjected to this one a lot.)

PROBLEM Child lies

SOLUTION Switch him 10 times at noon each day. Make him pick the tree branch.

A better response is to explain to the kid how lying is hurtful, including asking him how he would like it if other people lied to him.

Dominionists, as an aside, use this for a lot of things other than "lying", and very often a part of dominionist "discipline" involves making the kid get the very tools of their own "chastening"--making them an active participant in it. (There are two parallels I know of in the adult world--in some states, making a condemned prisoner choose his own method of execution; in states that practice torture, forcing the tortured to choose the manner of torture or forcing them to get the implements of torture. In the latter case, it is explicitly meant as an additional form of psychological torture and survivors report it as damaging and humiliating as the physical torture itself.)

I myself, as well as my sister, were often subjected to the "get yourself a switch because you're going to be whupped till you cry" method of "chastening" for offenses as simple as yelling too loudly in the backyard or the usual sibling scuffling or even walking outside of the yard without permission to the next door neighbour's.

In fact we got whacked enough that we started becoming minor experts in the strength of wood, etc. Thin switches hurt more, thick switches a bit less, and old wood would often break. (My sister also notably learned to cry on command to stop the beatings sooner; I ended up telling my folks at age four that they could "beat me till their hands fell off but they weren't making me cry" and I've pretty much held to that.)

One time (I was possibly all of four years old) I picked a log that was so large that I could not pick it up but had to drag it as the "switch"--my child brain figured if the beater couldn't pick it up, they couldn't whack me till I cried.

Unfortunately, this did not work in practice--I got whacked with a separate, parent-picked switch not only for the original transgression, but got whacked again for being "willful" in picking a log to prevent a "switching".

PROBLEM What to use for a rod

SOLUTION For babies under age 1, a footlong willow branch shaved of its knots. For older kids, plastic plumbing pipe, a 3-foot shrub cutting or a belt to help turn a child "back from the road to hell."

THIS is likely the quote that could potentially cause the Pearls to be listed as an accessory to manslaughter or even murder (depending on whether child abuse deaths are considered manslaughter or murder in the state of North Carolina).

Note that beating of children under the age of 1 is advocated with willow-switches, and the beating of children older than 1 with PVC "chastening rods", large sticks, or belts.

Again, I've been subjected to all of this--when I first reported I had been hit with some of this to my high school counselor (at age 16, not realising before then that it was abusive or even particularly weird for kids to be hit with belts even at the age of 14-16) they called CPS. (Unfortunately, CPS in my area was unaware of religiously motivated child abuse and tended not to trust any reports from teenagers. :()

I've been told by a therapist that I could potentially retroactively file charges, but I'm not sure it's worth it--as it is, I still don't trust the system to help me. And that's one of the big things that these "child training" techniques do--destroy any trust in the idea that people might help you when you're down. If anything, it teaches you that the very people who are supposed to protect you are going to be the very ones causing harm.

There's a quote from "The Crow" that comes to mind--"'Mother' is the word for 'God' on the lips of all children". If so, parents who use the techniques of the Pearls and other promoters of dominionist "baby-beating" guides are teaching their kids that God is a horrible, vengeful, abusive entity not to be trusted. They're making people who either are afraid God is going to smite them for the smallest transgression--or they are making people who question the necessity of a God at all.

It is notable to see the idea of God of the dominionists--vengeful, smiting at the smallest transgression, sending disasters to people, the "Jesus soaked in blood and splitting his enemies in twain" as depicted at the end of the "Left Behind" books. Hating people for how they were when they were born, hating them for things they can't control, cursing people who aren't as vengeful.

It is probably the case here, sadly, that there may be truth to the quote from "The Crow" about Mother being the word for God on the lips of children--and they are learning their terrible lessons about the dominionist God in infancy, as their Mother thrashes them with the willow chastening-rod for the wails of a seven-month-old child who just misses the closest thing he knows to God in the world.

As I noted in the opening post of this series, the "Bible-based baby beating" methods of Michael and Debbie Pearl are now linked to yet another death--this time, a literal "death by chastening rod" in which a child was beaten so viciously that their muscles were literally tenderised like a sirloin steak.

This is, alas, far from the first case where a child has died because of Michael and Debbie Pearl.

In 2006 I had the misfortune of reading, via the following news article, of a death directly attributed to childrearing methods promoted by dominionist child-rearing authors Michael and Debbie Pearl--who operate a website called No Greater Joy and who have published several books.

These books and online guides are nothing more or less than a guide to religiously motivated child abuse--as even the state of Tennessee and numerous child welfare agencies have testified.

And the Pearls, sadly, are by no means alone at promoting this. The article sadly reports:

A few years ago, Lynn Paddock sought Christian advice on how to discipline her growing brood of adopted children.

Paddock -- a Johnston County mother accused of murdering Sean, her 4-year-old adopted son, and beating two other adopted children -- surfed the Internet, said her attorney, Michael Reece. She found literature by an evangelical minister and his wife who recommended using plumbing supply lines to spank misbehaving children.

Paddock ordered Michael and Debi Pearl's books and started spanking her adopted children as suggested. After Sean, the youngest of Paddock's six adopted children, died last month, his older sister and brother told investigators about Paddock's spankings.

Sean's 9-year-old brother was beaten so badly he limped, a prosecutor said. Bruises marred Sean's backside, too, doctors found.

Sean died after being wrapped so tightly in blankets he suffocated. That, too, was a form of punishment, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said.

The Pearls' advice from their Web site: A swift whack with the plastic tubing would sting but not bruise. Give 10 licks at a time, more if the child resists. Be careful about using it in front of others -- even at church; nosy neighbors might call social workers. Save hands for nurturing, not disciplining. Heed the warning, taken from Proverbs in the Old Testament, that sparing the rod will spoil the child.

Just how bad is the Pearls' childrearing advice? The article gets into detail:

Paddock seems to have carefully followed the Pearls' teachings. Investigators found 2-foot lengths of plumbing supply line in several rooms of her remote farmhouse.

The Pearls offer shopping advice on their Web site, www.nogreaterjoy.org: "You can buy them for under $1.00 at Home Depot or any hardware store. They come cheaper by the dozen and can be widely distributed in every room and vehicle. Just the high profile of their accessibility will keep the kids in line."

For those interested, here's a picture (courtesy of Home Depot's website) of the PVC supply line in question they advocate beating kids with:

I have done research on religiously-motivated child abuse, and one of the true examples of "Talk To Action" is Stop The Rod which was founded by Christian parenting groups who were gravely concerned about the techniques promoted by the Pearls.

As I have documented in a thread on Dark Christianity as well as on Talk 2 Action and will now document here, "highlights" from the Pearls include:

Examples from the Pearls (which also have published a series of baby-beating manuals popular in the dominionist community and which are often included with the sale of chastening rods and similar "Biblical chastening devices"; they operate a website, No Greater Joy (also the title of one of their manuals on baby-beating the dominionist way) that promotes the same advise online; the Pearls are under investigation by the state of Tennessee for child abuse based on the material in their books):

woman is told to stay with abusive husband because "God hates divorce"

assertive women are accused of having a "Jezebel spirit" (in dominionist groups into "spiritual warfare" there are even exorcisms in attempts to drive "Jezebel spirits" out of women who are seen as being too "uppity" and not "staying in their place")

woman is literally told it is her HUSBAND'S decision, not HERS, whether or not she is to practice birth control and how many children she is to have

In some of the links at stoptherod.net noted above, it's detailed how the Pearls have advocated beating infants as young as eight months old with "chastening rods" for playing with their food and advocate pinching infants as young as four months.

more on tyrant babies! (Did these people watch too much "Family Guy" or something?) Yes, this is very sadly a TYPICAL attitude))

techniques practiced in dominionist households to break will of kids (who are termed "Twinkie twerps" by the Pearls)

the Pearls (who, incidentially, are under investigation by the State of Tennessee for child abuse--in part because of material from the books) actually try to defend their child abuse manuals

advocates being extremely strict from birth; also claims kids being bullied somehow deserved it

yet more fantasies of babies plotting to take over the household from "parental rule"

advocating using a "chastening rod" on a seven-month-old child who will not get to sleep (it's on page two)

advocates beating of children with "chastening rods" made from PVC plumbing pipe for thumbsucking

claims that people who have criticised the Pearls for their extreme methods of childrearing are literally demon-possessed (sadly, a common form of "dead agenting"/"character assassination" in the dominionist community and one reason why it is at times next to impossible to debate dominionists heavily into "spiritual warfare")

Putting some of the quotes from these articles puts them in light. To give some examples when someone on the Dark Christianity thread asked how much more extreme than merely beating with a length of PVC pipe can be:

Try using one of those PVC "chastening rods" on a seven-month-old BABY just because it won't get to sleep:

If the child has been mistrained, or if you have failed to provide a good prelude to sleep, and the child rises up to fight and resist, you should evaluate your whole procedure so as to improve your pre-sleep ritual for tomorrow night. But for the moment, you must constrain the child to obey authority and remain lying down. As a last resort, you may have to prove the power of your word by enforcing it with one or two stinging licks (applied with a small flexible switch) to the child's leg that says to the child, "There is no reward for getting up; Mama means business; she is not going to give over to my demands; the path to greatest pleasure is to go to sleep; there is no alternative; my parents always get their way; what can I say? Good night."

Again, you are reminded that this was in reply to a letter complaining that a SEVEN MONTH OLD BABY was waking up at night.

Or how about whacking two-year-old and four-year-old kids with one of these PVC pipe "chastening rods" for sucking their thumbs or picking their noses:

Please give me a description of the switch or rod of which you so often speak. I wish you could send me one so I could see it.

The rod we speak of is a plumbing supply line that can be bought at any hardware store or large department store. It is a slim, flexible, plastic tubing that supplies water to sinks, and toilets. Ask for "¼ inch supply line." They cost less than one dollar. I always give myself one swat before I swat the child to remind myself how much force to exert. It stings the skin without bruising or damaging tissue. It's a real attention-getter. Michael demonstrates its use in our new Seminar videos.

Or, how about yanking baby's hair to discourage hair-pulling:

A child left to himself in a crib or a room is being trained. All child-initiated events that have consequences, be they pleasant or unpleasant, are training. If a child stumbles into an experience and finds the consequences pleasurable, he is trained to repeat it. If the consequences are unpleasant, then he seeks to avoid it. If an infant sticks his finger in his eye, the pain will discourage him from repeating that on himself, but he may try it on you. That is unless you should make his unwelcomed advances unpleasant for him. The first time an infant pulls your hair, if you pull his, he will never be a hair-puller. One taste of a plastic toy communicates that it is not made to eat. These experiences are physical, and are easy to understand, but what about soul training?

It gets worse. According to the Pearls, kids who surreptitiously steal cookies from the cookie jar (or Twinkies)--whom are termed "Twinkie Twerps"--need a good whacking with a 2-foot length of 1/4" PVC pipe:

What if he should continue to scream and protest when you give the Twinkie to the other children? Lead him to the place where the "magic wand" is kept and give him respect for the "Powers that be."

What if he should continue to steal sweets and make demands? Simply tell him that his actions have led you to see that his addiction must be broken, so you will not buy anything sweet for one month--and stick to it. The worst thing you could do is to make an exception or to give-over after a week or two.

If that's not enough, the Pearls literally advocate yanking the hair of tiny four-month-old babies for being a bit rough in nursing even as they attempt to defend the very manuals that have gotten them prosecuted for child abuse (yes, the Pearls have been investigated by the State of Tennessee for child abuse, as will be noted below):

For example, if a 3 month-old nursing baby bites, don't spank. She does not know she did bad. Just gently pull a hair on her head. She will startle back in momentary discomfort and immediately start nursing again. The tiny bit of discomfort makes the baby relate the biting down with the gentle pulling of the hair. You have not made her obey, you have only conditioned her to respond differently. That is training.

(The same article also refers to "popping the leg" of a thirteen-week-old infant not being quite so effective--the fact that it's mentioned at ALL is disturbing. This was in regards, incidentially, to a letter from a concerned reader who had noted that kids raised strictly by the Pearls' methods had literally lost "the spark of life". Very similar things have been reported by people who've been tortured or severely abused.)

And if that's still not enough, if you ain't with 'em, you're with Da Debbil Hisself and even encourage frank harassment and "spiritual warfare" against their critics:

For the last year or so, we have had a group of about eight "damsels" working overtime trying to disrupt our ministry.

Acts 16:16-18 - And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

For the last year or so, we have had a group of about eight "damsels" working overtime trying to disrupt our ministry. When we advertise for a Seminar, they call the church where we are scheduled to be and warn them that their tax-exempt status could be in jeopardy, or that we are being watched by the authorities. One pastor, believing their lies, almost canceled a seminar 24 hours before it was to take place. We explained the situation, so he let it go on, but he stayed home so he could not be implicated. Recently, when we held a seminar in Chattanooga, Tennessee, being warned by these damsels, the Department of Human Services of Tennessee sent a "spy" to observe. We welcomed him readily. We have nothing to hide. A few weeks later, the head detective for the state of Tennessee dropped by our place to visit. We knew we did not have to talk to him, but again, having nothing to hide, Michael answered all his questions for about an hour, gave him our booklet "Biblical Chastisement," our DVD set, The Joy of Training, and several of our books. Biblical Chastisement was written for just this purpose--a defense of Biblical child training. He talked to Deb for about an hour and also spent time with our office staff. He then called and spoke with one of our grown, married children. So the nice detective left, having come to the conclusion that the ladies who were reporting us did not KNOW us. He was satisfied that everything we do and teach is within the law. Since he left, I have honestly been expecting him to invite us to teach foster parents how to train the State's children. We welcome cooperation with them. They need direction desperately. So, we would like to thank the "damsels" for helping to give us a clean bill of "child-training" health. We are now officially investigated and approved, however unnecessary it was. Thank you, damsels.

The damsels are apparently on a campaign to load up web sites that sell our materials with bad (sometimes vulgar) reviews. Feel free to crowd out their bad reviews with your positive ones. Since there are only 8 of them, and 150,000 of you, it should be quite easy for the Saints of God to disrupt the "ministry" of these ungentle damsels. They must not have much of a love life or family life, because they spend so much time bashing us.

Also, someone has (perhaps these same damsels) started messing with our website. It adds extra work for us, just trying to pull down orders and e-mails. Someone has sent messages in our name wanting credit information. We NEVER ask for credit information from you, so please, NEVER give out information thinking we have asked you for it. One man contacted us, complaining of the nasty e-mail we sent him. We did no such thing! If it was nasty, it certainly didn't come from us!

So, we really feel a kindred spirit with Paul and Silas, which is very encouraging. We ask that you do remember to pray for us and to stand in prayer against the forces of darkness that would hinder our ministry. We are just two old folks, and we need an army of young, strong families standing with us in prayer, including their active participation in combating these grievous damsels and any other tools of Satan he may use.

You might be interested in reading the rest of the story in Acts. The possessed damsel was in the hire of someone, and when she lost her devils, that employer took legal action against Paul and Silas. These men of God ended up in jail. God caused an earthquake, setting them free, and when the jailer saw the power of God he and all his family were saved. As I said, pray for us. Mike likes to go to prison every week to preach, but neither of us wants to live there, although Mike would enjoy the excitement of an earthquake (not me, I'm a sissy).

Yes, you're reading this right. Not only are they making themselves out to be martyrs, not only have they called people who have (legitimately) called the authorities complaining of child abuse being promoted by the Pearls, but they are actively encouraging dominionists to harass people who criticise them.

Even more frighteningly--the children aren't the only ones to suffer (turning the admonition of Christ on its head)--women, too, must suffer.

One of the more frightening examples is where the Pearls literally tell a woman not to leave their abusive husband and even claim she's being abused because she's not submitting enough:

The Scripture makes it very clear how God feels about divorce, He hates it. It is an Old Testament passage, but God has not changed his mind. He still hates divorce. It is not His will, it wasn't so from the beginning, and it is not so today. There have been occasions, both in Scripture and in our ministry, where a man was so vile that God has killed him. A woman can come to God asking Him to deliver her from a man if he will not repent, but a woman should be sure she has obeyed God in her relationship to her husband, before she asks such a thing.

God has given us several promises concerning marriage to unbelievers. I Peter 3:1-6 tells us how to win our unbelieving husband, and in 1Cor. 7:14 God promises that our children will be holy if we stay with our unbelieving spouse and honor God in our relationship with him. That is a promise from God. These Scriptures give us the "how to" on our end and the expected results. I have seen God keep His word. I have also seen many who would expect God to keep His word when they did not obey their end of the "how to."

(Note the lovely bit of scripture-twisting. 1 Peter 3:1-6 is essentially used in the dominionist justification of "submit to your husbands as they submit to God":
1: Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
2: While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
3: Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4: But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
5: For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
6: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Notably, the rest of the chapter--also containing an admonition for husbands to support their wives and the church community to support each other--is not included.

1 Corinthians 7:14 is similarly abused:

14: For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

Very interestingly, this is part of a series of verses which have been interpreted as a condemnation of divorce. The full context is actually recommending people not marry at all, because it might distract them from being missionaries!)

Later, they subtly suggest she pray for her husband to die as a method of escape:

You say your husband is just "too vile," that it would "take a miracle" or him "dying and being born all over again." Yes, now you are beginning to understand. God has a miraculous plan to make it possible. You are part of that plan. Every day, minute by minute, as you respond to the living God in obedience and thanksgiving, you make that plan unfold. "That, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives." He has given you the power to overcome the reactions (lust) of the flesh and to see that plan become a reality in your life. Will you?

Even in the case where physical abuse is occuring or (Gods forbid) sexual abuse of their children, they recommend that dominionist women "stand by their man":

If you or your children have been hit (other than the children being spanked) so as to leave discernable marks two hours later, and you genuinely fear that he will repeat his battering, you can take legal steps without divorcing your husband. In a moment when he is not angry, calmly inform him that the next time he physically assaults you or the kids, you are going to call the law and have him arrested. You must first resolve in your heart that you are willing to prosecute him and see him go to jail. I visit prisons every week. It is a great place to mull over the consequences of one's deeds. And I have never met a prisoner that turned down a visit from anyone. Think about it, lady; it is a great time for writing love letters and sharing a three-minute romantic phone call once a week. Guys who get out of prison run straight home to their ladies and treat them wonderfully—for a while anyway.

If your abusing husband fully understands that you have the power of the law behind you, he will learn to keep his hands in his pockets. I am not suggesting you do this to be vindictive or to get even with him. It must be done in humility and love. If your husbands knows that you are the weaker vessel, desperately seeking your survival and that of the kids, and that you are not trying to punish him, but that you are going to stand by and continue to love him, that you are going to wait for him to get out of prison and then try to start over again, it may move his heart to fear if not to repentance. You say, he cannot help himself. Does he help himself when his peers—other men his own size—make him angry? Does he fly out of control and start hitting his boss or his employees? No? Then he has self-control when he must. The law can make it a must, which will allow you to continue with him and demonstrate your womanhood and win him to yourself and then to your God.

But if your husband has sexually molested the children, you should approach him with it. If he is truly repentant (not just exposed) and is willing to seek counseling, you may feel comfortable giving him an opportunity to prove himself, as long as you know the children are safe. If there is any thought that they are not safe, or if he is not repentant and willing to seek help, then go to the law and have him arrested. Stick by him, but testify against him in court. Have him do about 10 to 20 years, and by the time he gets out, you will have raised the kids, and you can be waiting for him with open arms of forgiveness and restitution. Will this glorify God? Forever. You ask, "What if he doesn't repent even then?" Then you will be rewarded in heaven equal to the martyrs, and God will have something to rub in the Devil's face. God hates divorce—always, forever, regardless, without exception.

Even worse--and which shows very clearly the direction dominionists would love to place women--the Pearls literally tell a woman that her husband, not herself, has ultimate control over whether she may or may not have children:

The Bible clearly teaches that your husband is your head. He has the rule over you. You are to submit to him, obey him, honor him, and never usurp authority over him. I fear you have not submitted, not obeyed, and not honored. You got your "conviction" someplace other than the Bible. The Bible does not state that it is sin to use natural means to space your children, but it does state it is sin not to obey your husband. He should have the final say in birth control, unless he would employ a method that would abort a fertilized egg. It is your duty to trust God to direct your man.

Instead of your children being a blessing, they are an unwanted burden. To your husband they have become a symbol of your dishonor to him. You suffer, your children don't have a daddy, and not much of a mother, and your marriage is failing. Go to your husband and tell him you are sorry, and humbly ask him to help you learn to honor him. When he sees your broken submission and willingness to honor his will, he will stop being so angry and, hopefully, begin to take more interest in the children.

(Ironically, this is to a woman who didn't want to go on the pill because she believed the dominionist line about the pill being an abortifacient!)

There's still more. This time we go to their actual baby-beating manuals (that are referenced in the newspaper article). Courtesy of Stop The Rod (who has probably done the best job documenting the abuse promoted by the Pearls) there's some interesting quotes.

First, with the book "No Greater Joy" (of which some stuff has been excerpted directly from the Pearls' website), here's a lovely list of quotes:

"My two-year-old will not stay in bed when I put him down. It seems like I am whipping him too much. No matter how many times I whip him he still gets up." This is their recommendation: "If your spankings are too light to gain his respect, an increase in the intensity might be more persuasive." p.6 "If he gets up, when his feet hit the floor, spring into the room with your little switch and pop him on the bare leg one or two times." "Never allow him to get his way." p.7

If a child screams or cries "Just ignore him. Don't be moved by it. Don't pick him up." If the child says he is hurt give him "a terrible tasting herbal potion." p.9

On p.19 Michael Pearl jokes about a "tot" getting "half a dozen little spankings a day."

Michael Pearl praises parents who for a year kept their young son from medical treatment and who "was so sick that when he finally got to a doctor, the doctor expressed amazement that he was still alive." p.20

To the question "Should a mature ten-year-old be allowed to switch a two-year-old if the mother is unavailable?" Michael Pearl says sure!: "Ten-year-olds ought to be mature enough to discipline a smaller child. In our house, there was no difference between the parents and the older children in enforcing the rule of law over the younger children." p.24-25

When a 3 year old screams the Pearls recommend: "without saying a word go straight to the switch. Spank her where she stands." "Never threaten, and never show mercy. One squeak of a scream gets a switching." p.26 The Pearls apparently have never read the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus says "Blessed are the merciful!"

Here is some crazy teaching about violence from Michael Pearl: If a child hits, bites, kicks or shoves he should get "a thorough spanking. Children must be taught that violence is never an acceptable alternative in personal conflicts." ??? p.27

When a 4 year old screams "Turn and walk away. If she were to scream again, turn back and give her a spanking." p.30

On p. 33 "A mother describes her dilemma: `I get so frustrated with the children. No matter how many times I tell them or spank them, they just do the same thing again. We just go around and around.'" Michael Pearl recommends "meeting every transgression with a swift penalty." "They will obey."

On p. 34 Michael Pearl relates the story of a mother hitting her 11 month old who doesn't want to eat any more "spinach-squash-mush" and pushes it away. The mother "picked up her little enforcer (whip), which was lying on the table, and swatted the child's hand." When the baby tries again to push the unwanted food away she "received another spat." Michael Pearl says about this scenario: "I loved it. It was beautiful." (p. 35) And then on p. 36 he says "I must encourage those of you with small children, train up your children now. Don't want until they are one year old to start training. Rebellion and self-will should be broken in the six-month-old when it first appears. Take this young mother's example and think of ways you can train your child. (smiley face)"

On p. 46 a mother is described as ignoring her crying 3 month old, until the baby "became cheerful." The story ends with Michael Pearl's comment about a teenage girl visiting this mother and baby: "Maybe when this young girl becomes a mother she will have the wisdom to begin training her newborns and not wait until they are three months old."

On p. 47 a 9 month old is left crying, sitting alone and ignored. Pearl recommends coming by to pat her on the head every 10 minutes. This is cruel and neglectful, and dangerous.

On p. 72 Michael Pearl says "switches and rods make many things mighty inconvenient (for the child). (smiley face)"

On p. 85 Michael Pearl recommends giving a little girl who won't get into her car seat "five licks with a stinging switch." If the girl still doesn't get in the seat "repeat the switching." If the little girl continues to refuse to get in the seat he says to take the seat into the house and strap the girl in it for "two or three hours."

On p. 96: when one of the Pearls' children tattled on another child Debi Pearl "spanked both of them regardless of who did the tattling."

The Pearls also have a second book out, "To Train Up A Child" (a reference to the Biblical injunction to "train up a child in the way he should go, so that he may never stray from the path of righteousness"). The full text of the book is available at the following link (in case anyone wants to read the whole vomitous thing) but again Stop the Rod gives its selection of the worst of the Pearls here:

1) The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of "every child" (p.2) for "Christians and non-Christians" (p.5) and for "every transgression" (p.1). Parents who don't whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are "creating a Nazi" (p.45).
2) On p.60 they recommend whipping babies who cannot sleep and are crying, and to never allow them "to get up." On p.61 they recommend whipping a 12 month old girl for crying. On p.79 they recommend whipping a 7 month old for screaming.
3) On p.65 co-author Debi Pearl whips the bare leg of a 15 month old she is babysitting, 10 separate times, for not playing with something she tells him to play with. On p.56 Debi Pearl hits a 2 year old so hard "a karate chop like wheeze came from somewhere deep inside."
4) On p.44 they say not to let the child's crying while being hit to "cause you to lighten up on the intensity or duration of the spanking." On p.59 they recommend whipping a 3 year old until he is "totally broken."
5) On p.55 the Pearls say a mother should hit her child if he cries for her.
6) On p.46 the Pearls say that if a child does obey before being whipped, whip them anyway. And "if you have to sit on him to spank him, then do not hesitate. And hold him there until he is surrendered. Prove that you are bigger, tougher." "Defeat him totally." On p.80 they recommend giving a child having a tantrum "a swift forceful spanking." On the same page they say to whip small children on their bare skin until they stop screaming. "Don't be bullied. Give him more of the same." They say to continue whipping until their crying turns into a "wounded, submissive whimper."
7) On p.47 they recommend their various whips, including "a belt or larger tree branch" to hit children.
8) The Pearls recommend pulling a nursing infant's hair (p.7), and describe tripping their non-swimming toddler so she falls into deep water (p.67). They recommend ignoring an infant's bumped head when he falls to the floor, and ignoring skinned knees (p.86). They also say "if your child is roughed-up by peers, rejoice." (p.81) And on p.103 the Pearls say if children lose their shoes, "let them go without until they (the children) can make the money to buy more."
9) The Pearls claim their "training" methods are Godly, yet they have no religious training or credentials They never mention Jesus' injunctions to forgive "seventy times seven" and be merciful, and they decry the "extraordinary ingnorance of modern psychology."

Frighteningly, the Pearls' guides--and "chastening devices" as documented on Stop The Rod--are promoted in dominionist "homeschool" programs and church groups, as documented in the original news article:

Gena Suarez, publisher of a magazine for home-schooling parents that publishes advertisements for the Pearls' books, said their teachings are often inappropriately used to defend child abuse.

"[The Pearls] are talking about something that would fit in a purse," Suarez said. "The only way you can kill a child with that is by shoving it down his throat."

Even more disturbingly, some "faith based" social services groups funded with your tax dollars have been promoting the Pearls' methods:

Christian evangelicals who, like the Pearls, teach the importance of corporal punishment have loyal followers. The results are tangible, said Dot Ehlers, executive director of a Smithfield nonprofit who teaches parenting skills to mothers and fathers referred to them by the Johnston County Department of Social Services. She said about a quarter of the 60 parents she instructs each week say their faith defends and encourages corporal punishment.

The Pearls' techniques helped Sandy Hicks, a mother in Texas who said she was desperate to restore peace in her home.

"Some people would rather spend an hour reasoning with a defiant 5-year-old instead of requiring the kid to behave and giving him a swat if he doesn't," said Hicks, who said she has used a peach-tree switch to spank her four children. "Some people are just queasy about swatting their kids."

If the Pearls were the only ones promoting these childrearing methods, this would be one thing. Sadly, they aren't.

James Dobson--and it should be noted that Dobson is on the liberal end of things when it comes to Dominionist Discipline--has used the beating of a Dachsund to show how children's wills should be broken in his book "The Strong-Willed Child":

"Please don't misunderstand me. Siggie is a member of our family and we love him dearly. And despite his anarchistic nature, I have finally taught him to obey a few simple commands. However, we had some classic battles before he reluctantly yielded to my authority.

"The greatest confrontation occurred a few years ago when I had been in Miami for a three-day conference. I returned to observe that Siggie had become boss of the house while I was gone. But I didn't realize until later that evening just how strongly he felt about his new position as Captain.

"At eleven o'clock that night, I told Siggie to go get into his bed, which is a permanent enclosure in the family room. For six years I had given him that order at the end of each day, and for six years Siggie had obeyed.

"On this occasion, however, he refused to budge. You see, he was in the bathroom, seated comfortably on the furry lid of the toilet seat. That is his favorite spot in the house, because it allows him to bask in the warmth of a nearby electric heater. . . "

. . .

"When I told Sigmund to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. That was Siggie's way of saying. "Get lost!"

"I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me 'reason' with Mr. Freud."

. . .

"What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt. I am embarrassed by the memory of the entire scene. Inch by inch I moved him toward the family room and his bed. As a final desperate maneuver, Siggie backed into the corner for one last snarling stand. I eventually got him to bed, only because I outweighed him 200 to 12!"

After describing thrashing the family dog, he notes this in the context of childrearing:

"But this is not a book about the discipline of dogs; there is an important moral to my story that is highly relevant to the world of children. JUST AS SURELY AS A DOG WILL OCCASIONALLY CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF HIS LEADERS, SO WILL A LITTLE CHILD -- ONLY MORE SO."

. . .

"[I]t is possible to create a fussy, demanding baby by rushing to pick him up every time he utters a whimper or sigh. Infants are fully capable of learning to manipulate their parents through a process called reinforcement, whereby any behavior that produces a pleasant result will tend to recur. Thus, a healthy baby can keep his mother hopping around his nursery twelve hours a day (or night) by simply forcing air past his sandpaper larynx."

Also, like the Pearls, he emphasizes that parents risk the damnation of their kids if they do not literally beat the hell out of them:

"Perhaps this tendency toward self-will is the essence of 'original sin' which has infiltrated the human family. It certainly explains why I place such stress on the proper response to willful defiance during childhood, for that rebellion can plant the seeds of personal disaster."

Keep in mind that Dobson is actually considered liberal for a dominionist "Dr. Spock". Most are far worse.

More typical, sadly, is a book by Tedd Tripp called "Shepherding a Child's Heart". Tripp has written several books on dominionist childrearing and--in a trend mirrored by that of the Pearls' books--is promoted on sites catering to dominionist "homeschool" programs. A Google search shows the level of promotion of Tripp in the dominionist community; Stop The Rod has begun documenting the promotion of abuse.

Quotes from Tripp's book are telling:

1) Parents are "God's agents"

p.xviii "You exercise authority as God's agent. You must require obedience of your children because they are called by God to obey and honor you. Parents should be `benevolent despots'".

p.34 "It is sobering to realize that you correct your child by God's command. You stand before him as God's agent to show him his sin. The parent must be aware of the fact that he is God's representative to the child."

p.139 "Obedience is not simply an issue between the parent and the child. It is an issue between the child and God in which the parent is God's agent."

2) Parents should have total control

p.xx "You need to direct not simply the behavior of your children, but the attitudes of their hearts. You need to show them not just the `what' of their sin and failure, but the `why.'"

p.23 "You want to control the flow of events so that it is never chaotic, but rather a well-structured home." "I am interested in helping parents engage in hand-to-hand combat on the world's smallest battlefield, the child's heart."

p.133 From birth to age 4, "The most important lesson for the child to learn in this period is that HE IS AN INDIVIDUAL UNDER AUTHORITY."

p.134 "Acquaint your children with authority and submission when they are infants. This training starts the day you bring them home from the hospital."

p.135 "It is imperative that children learn to honor and obey. The disobedient child has moved outside the place of covenant blessing."

p.138 "Obedience means more than a child doing what he is told. It means doing what he is told---

Without Challenge

Without Excuse,

Without Delay."

p.139 "When your directives are met by a discourse about why what you have asked is not fair, your children are not obeying. When you are met with excuses or explanations, they are not obeying. When they refuse to respond at once, they are not obeying. When you say to your child, "Dear, I want you to go to bed now," there is only one appropriate response. It is not, "I'll go after I finish coloring this page." There is only one obedient response. It is to go to bed without delay. If you accept any other response, you are training your children to disobey. You must challenge disobedience and persevere until the lessons of submission are learned. Victory does not come to the faint of heart. Never allow your children to disobey without dealing with them."

p.142 "You must provide examples of submission for your children. Dads can do this through biblical authority over their wives, and Moms through biblical submission to their husbands."

p.145 "Don't waste time trying to sugarcoat submission to make it palatable. Obeying when you see the sense in it is not submission; it is agreement. Submission necessarily means doing what you do not wish to do. It is never easy or painless."

p.151 "Your children must understand that when you speak for the first time, you have spoken for the last time."

p.155 A parent poses the question "What if my child says, `But I didn't hear you'?" And Tripp's answer is "One of our children seemed to have much trouble with `hearing.' We sat down with this child and had this conversation: `You are having trouble hearing. I think, therefore, that you better start to develop the ability to pick my voice out of the other noise in your world. When you hear my voice, you should perk up your ears. From now on, if you fail to obey because you `did not hear', I will spank you for failing to listen to my voice.' We only had one spanking for failure to hear. After that the hearing problem cleared up."

3) Children are sinful, idolatrous and "fools"

p.6 "Your concern is to unmask your child's sin, helping him to understand how it reflects a heart that has strayed."

p.21 "Even a child in the womb and coming from the womb is wayward and sinful. One of the justifications for spanking children is that `Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him' (Proverbs 22:15). The point of the proverb is that something is wrong in the heart of the child that requires correction."

p.24 "Since it is the Godward orientation of your child's heart that determines his response to life, you may never conclude that his problems are simply a lack of maturity. Selfishness is not outgrown. Rebellion against authority is not outgrown. These things are not outgrown because they are not reflective of immaturity but of the idolatry of your child's heart."

p.54 Children "need to understand subtleties of the malignancy of their own hearts. They need to know the dangers of trusting in themselves."

p.67 Children must have their "character flaws" addressed, and understand the "deceitfulness" of their hearts.

p.105 "The child is a sinner. There are things within the heart of the sweetest little baby that, allowed to blossom and grow to fruition, will bring about eventual destruction. The rod functions in this context. It is addressed to needs within the child. These needs cannot be met by mere talk. Proverbs 22:15 says, `Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.' God says there is something wrong in the child's heart. Folly or foolishness is bound up in his heart. This folly must be removed, for it places the child at risk."

p.106 "The fool's life is run by his desires and fears. This is what you hear from your young children. The most common phrases in the vocabulary of a 3-year-old are, `I want...' or `I don't want....' The fool lives out of the immediacy of his lusts, cravings, expectations, hopes and fears." "Watch a baby struggle against wearing a hat in the winter. Even this baby who cannot articulate or even conceptualize what he is doing shows a determination not to be ruled from without. This foolishness is bound up within his heart. Allowed to take root and grow for 14 or 15 years, it will produce a rebellious teenager who will not allow anyone to rule him. The spanking process drives foolishness from the heart of a child. Confrontation with the immediate and undeniably tactile sensation of a spanking renders an implacable child sweet."

p.143 "Show (children) how they are inclined to disobey and turn irrationally from what is good for them."

p.174 "Children need to be convicted that they have defected from God and are covenant-breakers. You must deal with the child in a deep way that enables him to see the implications of his behavior and to indict himself."

p.177 "You cannot, with integrity, tell your child that if he tries hard enough, if he is good enough, if he really wants it, he can be what God has called him to be. He can't."

4) Don't encourage children's self-worth

p.51 "When I ask parents why they put their children in these dance classes, they explain that it has helped their child's sense of self-worth. Are there any passages (in the Bible) that make the development of self-worth a biblically mandated goal? Are we not encouraging pride that comes from the capacity to perform?"

5) Parents don't protect children when they are abused

p.16 "Your children are responsible for the way they respond to your parenting."

p.53 Regarding schoolyard bullies: "You should instruct your children to entrust themselves to God in the face of unfair treatment, to face injustice without retaliation, and see the needs of those around them."

p. 58 "Faced with being kind to one who abuses you, there is nowhere to go but to God, who alone can enable a person to respond in love. When your child's heart desires revenge, when she must love an enemy, when her faith demands she leave room for God's justice--there is no place to go but to the cross." "Getting help from Christ was powerfully illustrated in the life of our daughter. As a ninth grader she seemed to get on the wrong side of her Spanish teacher. Through four years of high school she struggled with feeling angry over being sinned against. We spent many hours talking about how to respond. We discussed the impossibility of her loving this lady apart from God's grace. We encouraged her to find hope, strength, consolation and comfort in Christ."

6) Using "the rod"

p.31 "I recall many conversations that went like this:

Father: You didn't obey Daddy, did you?

Child: No.

Father: Do you remember what God says Daddy must do if you disobey?

Child: Spank me?

Father: That's right. I must spank you. If I don't, then I would be disobeying God. You and I would both be wrong. That would not be good for you or for me, would it?

Child: No. (A reluctant reply)"

p.36 "The child learns to receive correction, not because parents are always right, but because God says the rod of correction imparts wisdom."

p.74 "A biblical approach to children involves two elements that you weave together. One element is rich, full communication. The other is the rod. `Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.' Proverbs 13-14."

p.104 Tripp describes spanking his son while guests are over: "Nick, a friend from church, and his girlfriend, Angela, were visiting for a Sunday afternoon. During our meal, one of our sons was disobedient. I took him to a private room upstairs to discipline him. "What's he going to do with him?" Angela inquired. "Probably spank him," my wife responded matter-of-factly. At that moment my son's cry could be heard upstairs. Angela went running from the house in a state of great agitation."

p.110 "The rod is a rescue mission. The child who needs a spanking has become distanced from his parents through disobedience. The spanking is designed to rescue the child from continuing in his foolishness. If he continues, his doom is certain. Thus, the parent, driven by love for the child, must use the rod." "Failure to obey Mom or Dad is failure to obey God. This is the issue. The child has failed to obey God."

p.112 "I know of nothing harder than spanking my children. It is difficult to hold your own child over your knee and purposefully inflict pain on him. Who benefits if you do not spank your child? You do. You are delivered from the agony of inflicting pain on one who is precious to you."

p.114 "I have witnessed spankings administered through a double layer of diapers to a child who never stopped moving long enough to know he had been spanked. The spanking was ineffective because the parents never made the rod felt."

p.115 "The rod returns the child to the place of blessing. Left to himself, he would continue to live a lust-driven life. He would continue to seek comfort in being a slave to his desires and fears. The rod of correction returns him to the place of submission to parents in which God has promised blessing."

p.149 "The `when' of spanking is so simple that parents miss it. If your child has not obeyed, he needs to be spanked."

p.151 Tripp describes the whipping procedure: take the child to a private place (so nobody can stop the abuse), make the child confess, tell the child "how many swats he will receive", put the child over your lap (as Tripp says, to "put the spanking in the context of your physical relationship" (!!)), pull the child's diapers or "drawers" down and whip them. Then pull the child up and show affection.

p.152 If the child is angry about being whipped, then "the discipline session is not over" and Tripp says to whip them some more until they are "sweet".

p.153 "Because you are dealing with young children, there is a heavy emphasis on the undeniably tactile experience of spanking."

p.154 "When your child is old enough to resist your directives, he is old enough to be disciplined. Rebellion can be something as simple as an infant struggling against a diaper change or stiffening out his body when you want him to sit on your lap. When our oldest child was approximately 8 months old, we were confronted with parenting our first mobile child. We had a bookshelf constructed of boards and bricks. Fearing the shelf would fall on him, Margy told him not to pull himself up by the shelf. After moving him away from the shelf, she left the room. As she peeked in on him, she observed him surveying the room. Not seeing her, he headed back toward the forbidden bookshelf. Here was a young child, not yet able to walk or to talk, looking to see if the coast was clear so he could disobey. Obviously, he was old enough to be disciplined." (He's not old enough to even understand English! - my comment)

7) Hide the whippings from others

p.114 Tripp answers the concern of a parent: "I'm afraid of being arrested for child abuse." This is his answer: "There is validity to this concern. You must be careful to avoid unnecessary exposure to being reported by someone who does not approve of spanking. Spanking should be done in the privacy of the home."

There are others promoting similar works--Stop The Rod links to the poignant letter from a survivor of similar tactics promoted by Roy Lessin (author of a large number of dominionist child-spanking manuals, some of which have promoted the use of "chastening rods".

One particular group of "spare the rod" dominionists--the Ezzos--are so infamous that entire entire websites have sprung up to warn against their tactics. (The Ezzos promote a book called "Babywise" in secular circles and "Growing Kid's God's Way" in dominionist circles; the only differences between the two are that Biblical scripture-twisting has been largely stripped from the secular version, whilst the original verses justifying things like extremely strict scheduling of infant feedings and punitive spanking of tiny infants are in the dominionist versions. This is actually a similar pattern to those that occur in many dominionist groups setting up "bait and switch" evangelism, like the "Character First!" campaigns which have been written about here.)

Gentle Christian Mothers is another site which, much like Stop The Rod, is set up by largely Christian, largely homeschooling parents who are gravely concerned about dominionist child abuse manuals.

One of the grave concerns these groups have had was that someone was eventually going to be killed by these manuals.

Sadly, they have been proven all too correct.

In fact, in the more hardline dominionist community--the same ones promoting "deliverance ministry"--it's all too common.

So far in what will be a continuing series on religiously motivated child abuse, we've been focusing on the most popular promoters of religiously motivated child abuse in the dominionist community.

People have asked two very good very good questions related to this--"Why aren't the promoters in prison yet?" and "How does this relate to dominionism?"

There are many reasons--the dominionist "parallel economy" is increasingly a large reason why, as is the reluctance to prosecute by CPS agencies--and even a few cases of quisling CPS agencies who see nothing wrong with this sort of abuse. Also--as incredulous as it may seem--in many cases, the promotion and even execution of this madness is legal--including the giving away of tools designed for abuse.

The "How does this relate to dominionism?" section

The relationship to dominionism is multifold. Among other things:

a) Some of the same folks promoting this are the very same groups promoting political dominionism--including some of its leaders.

b) A disturbing number of dominionist "parallel economy" institutions exist in part to protect religiously motivated child abusers.

Two leaders known for political dominionism and religiously motivated child abuse in particular are Bill Gothard and James Dobson.

Dobson in particular is head of Focus on the Family--one of the largest, at this point probably the largest, dominionist group in the United States if not the world. Dobson's empire includes a programs from his network being broadcast on practically every major dominionist "parallel economy" radio network of note; it also includes a book, media, and electioneering empire worth over $140 million dollars (according to their last form 990).

And yes, Focus on the Family very much engages in electioneering for dominionist candidates. In essence, they now hold the position that the Christian Coalition held in the dominionist community back in the 80s; much like the Christian Coalition, they've had their tax-exempt status threatened at least once as a result. (That threat led to the formation of the Family Research Council, now a separate organisation.)

FotF's primary electioneering has been through Focus On The Family Action: CitizenLink; FotF Action is a 501(c)4 that was spun off as an explicit electioneering arm of Focus on the Family (to try to save their 501(c)3 status when Federal investigators came sniffing around a second time). In violation of regs for both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 groups, FotF Action CitizenLink regularly promotes electioneering for specific bills in Congress that are friendly towards dominionism. (I have multiple specific examples in the note on FotF's worth.)

FotF also promotes some rather explicit political content in its radio programming, which is often the primary source of radio news for dominionist families.

Bill Gothard's role in promotion of dominionism is not as obvious--but is definitely very much in play, if more insidiously. As has been noted previously, Gothard is heavily promoted in Assemblies circles, as recounted by an ex-Assemblies pastor who was literally driven out of his own congregation:

I was finally pulled out by a lovely woman who had heard that Jimmy Swaggert, at that time (early 1980's), was calling the UPC a cult. This woman got me involved in an AG Church in Bellevue, NE. From there I went to college and became a minister in the AG.

My first church was quite an experience. I was an associate working with 2 other associates and a workaholic senior pastor. One by one, the associates quit. I was the last to quit, being new and uninvolved with what was going on and absorbed in my own ministry with inner city children.

I didn't pay too much attention to what was happening until one day, my wife and I had had enough of the demands of trying to build this pastor's vision of having a 5000 member church. The 80 plus hour weeks almost flung us into divorce court. I resigned and was immediately called into a meeting with the elders.

The meeting was rough and during the meeting, I was accused of not coming under the umbrella of authority of the senior pastor (Bill Gothard teaching). One of the elders was a Gothard worshipper. This elder accused me of practicing witchcraft - he deduced that since I used illusions to illustrate Bible stories to the kids that I must be doing witchcraft because "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft".

The senior sat up in his chair and pointed his finger at me and said, "Do you realize that if you resign, God will curse you?" I almost fell off my chair! He suggested that if we left without his "blessing" then my wife could bleed to death! (My wife has a bleeding disorder.) We ended up leaving, but not without an all-church meeting. Everyone was invited to learn what was going on. I was made out to be the bad person - being rebellious and as this was going on during the time that Swaggert and Baker were national news; I was likened to the status of them.

This is particularly notable due to the Assemblies' status as the inventors of modern political dominionism.

Gothard, as previously noted, has been heavy into the "faith based initiatives" thing--infamously being responsible for running a highly abusive "Bible boot camp" in Indianapolis and more recently promoting dominionist "character education" courses in public schools.

Gothard's http://www.gentlespirit.com/gs6n10/HSH2.pdf">program for homeschoolers is especially explicit in its promotion of dominionism, as detailed in a history of the hijacking of home education by dominionists (again, of note, by a group friendly to the interest of legitimate home education).

Two other groups--HSLDA and ACPeds--also linked to protecting and sheltering the parties responsible for religiously motivated child abuse are also heavy promoters of dominionist causes themselves. (I have noted HSLDA's involvement in particular below; they are, among other things, closely connected with the LaHayes of Coalition on Revival, Concerned Women for America, CNP, and "Left Behind" infamy.)

The "Why the hell aren't they in jail?" section

People have asked a very good question in regards to the entire issue of dominionist child abuse, both in the home and in "Bible boot camp" type facilities:

Why the hell are these smegheads not in jail yet?

The sad thing is, there are some signifigant roadblocks even in regards to prosecution of regular child abuse cases (including a general assumption on the part of the court that the parents and parties the parents place in loco parentis usually know what is best for the kid and a pressure to not break up families).

There are, even more sadly, a plethora of issues that exist very specifically in regards to the type of "Bible-based" child abuse promoted in dominionist groups that complicate even finding out about abuse, much less prosecuting it:

a) Kids subject to "Bible-based" child abuse are, increasingly, being isolated from practically all mandatory reporters who are likely to actually report abuse.

You know the segments in my "dominionism's parallel economy" series on dominionist medical associations and especially dominionist alternatives to mainstream mental health groups? You know how increasingly there is a heavy, heavy push for dominionist parents to pull their kids out of the public and even private school systems in favour of dominionist correspondence-schooling promoted as "Christian homeschools"?

Those aspects of the dominionist "parallel economy" take on a very, very frightening aspect in that schools, mental health professionals, and pediatricians are often the three main groups of "mandatory reporters" (outside of the church) that a kid in a dominionist household is ever likely to see in their childhood...and all three are being very systematically shut out, with "parallel economy" alternatives explicitly promoted in dominionist circles as ways to avoid prosecution for child abuse.

We've already seen (to a frightening degree this week) how "Bible boot camps" and other dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to mental health facilities are extremely abusive in practice (some responders actually compared the conditions to Abu Ghraib); pediatricians in dominionist circles aren't much better. From the post on dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to the legit American Academy of Pediatrics:

And here, we get to focus in detail on the first of the dominionist "parallel economy" medical groups--the American College of Pediatricians.
...
(T)heir positions on things are...shall we say...more than a bit skewed towards dominionist positions that most legit doctors would probably find a bit horrifying.

Among other fun statements:
. . .

2) ACPeds has literally lobbied the UN to exempt almost all physical punishment from the UN's working groups on child violence. This is not surprising, seeing as:
3) ACPeds actively promotes the works of James Dobson, a leading promoter of religiously motivated child abuse. They also have used info from Family Research Council to promote the idea of Bible-based baby-beating.

(Seriously, it is very hard to overstate how bad this is. Physicians are mandatory reporters for child abuse, and are often the first (and increasingly only) persons outside of closed communities to see signs of abuse. There is a very real risk that ACPeds docs will not report religiously motivated child abuse (not seeing it as abusive); already, dominionist groups are referring parents explicitly to ACPeds pediatricians as a method of avoiding reports of religiously motivated child abuse, and seeing as it is almost impossible otherwise for kids in abusive dominionist households to report abuse without being subject to retaliatory abuse by other mandatory reporters such as pastors--there is a very real risk that these kids will in fact not have abuse reported at all (with potentially very serious or even fatal consequences--religiously motivated child abuse is one of the horrible, dark secrets of dominionism today.)

Sadly, it's not just pediatricians (which are, I'm afraid, probably the last reliable "mandatory reporter" most dominionists' kids come in contact with).

Dominionist "homeschooling" groups as well as dominionist private schools actively advertise that they not only practice religiously motivated beatings themselves but that parents wishing to use even fairly extreme methods of religiously motivated child abuse can do so with near impunity. In fact, many of the most egregrious offenders in regards to promotion of "Bible-based" child abuse (including the Pearls, the Ezzos, and Tedd Tripp's literature) are promoted primarily in dominionist "homeschool" support groups.

In fact, dominionist homeschooling associations actively will coach their members on how to handle visits from child welfare agencies if a concerned neighbour tips off CPS:

Scenario 2: In which the agent encounters a prepared parent, aware of his rights.

[It is 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and a knock comes at the door. WISE opens the door and finds an agent from Child Welfare Services on the doorstep.]

WISE: Can I help you?
ORWELL: Yes, are you Mr./Mrs. Wise? I work with the local social services agency. There's been an allegation made that you've been abusing and neglecting your children....
WISE: Wait a minute. Do you have a business card? We don't just talk to anybody. We want to know who you are, and that, in fact, you work there. Do you have a card, sir?
ORWELL: Uh, yes, just a minute....but, I want you to understand that this is a very important matter. As you can see, I'm from the Department of Social Services.....
WISE: Hmmmm. [Reads name on card.] How long have you been working there?
ORWELL: I ask the questions here. You've been turned in for abusing and neglecting your children.
WISE: Well, what are the allegations specifically?
ORWELL: I'm not in a position to share those with you until I have met with each of your children privately for questioning. After I've talked with them, then I'll tell you.
WISE: Well, I appreciate your interest, and I too, want to get to the bottom of this. I assure you, nothing is going on. There's nothing that we're hiding here. However, I can't even proceed until I know of what I'm being accused.
ORWELL: As I said, I am not going to tell you the allegations until I meet with your children. If you're not willing to cooperate, I'll have to get a police officer. If necessary, we'll obtain a search warrant or court order, and we'll come back and talk to each one of your children privately. It would be much easier though if you cooperated with us here and now, so that we could avoid the unpleasantness of bringing in the police. What's it going to be?
WISE: Well, you obviously have to do what you need to do, and I'm not in a position to stop you. However, you'd be making a major mistake, and I'd hate to see you get in trouble over something like this. As I said I am more than happy to work this out. We'd be glad to meet with you. But I do need to talk to my attorney first. We could possibly set up a mutually convenient time when we could meet to resolve this. But right now, I can't let you into my home. I don't even know what the accusations are!
ORWELL: Good day, then, I'll be back.
WISE: I've got your card here, and I'll call you as soon as I have contacted my attorney.

[After the social worker leaves, the prepared parent calls HSLDA and gets counsel for the next meeting with the social worker. The prepared parent is able to do this because he joined HSLDA as a member in advance! The HSLDA attorney will generally call the social worker on behalf of the member family. He will find out the allegations and try to resolve the situation. If he can't resolve it over telephone, he will set the parameters for a meeting. This meeting is never held in the home, but rather in a designated place away from the home. The HSLDA attorney prepares the parent on what to say at the meeting and recommends bringing a witness or a tape recorder.]

[It is now another day, and the social worker meets with the prepared parent to follow up.]

WISE: Well, it's good to see you again. I understand now that you can let us know what the allegations are.
ORWELL: All right. We received a telephone call from a person who was "concerned because the children were all thin. This person thought that the removal of food was probably a form of child discipline and was under the impression that this discipline may have been a practice of your religion - some "born-again" ideology, or something. The caller cited that the parents give a lot of money to the church and spend little money on groceries, and the caller also mentioned that the mother home schools her children." [This comment is in quotation marks because it came from an actual case.] Are these allegations true?
WISE: They are not true --except for the fact that we are homeschooling our children and we are born again. Do you know what born again means?
ORWELL: Uh....no, but...
WISE: Let me explain. You see, in John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus he must be "born-again" in order to enter the kingdom of God. Since the wages of sin is death, we all need a Savior. Do you know where you are going when you die?
ORWELL: Look, are your children healthy?
WISE: You bet!!
ORWELL: Do they eat enough food?
WISE: Yes. We believe children are a gift of the Lord, and as a result, we have to take care of them, giving them the best possible. Part of that is how we feed them - we make sure they have plenty of nutritious food to eat.
ORWELL: Do you ever deprive them of food as part of your religion, or part of your born-again beliefs, or part of your child discipline, or any of that?
WISE: No, we don't. We can, as our attorney has probably told you, offer you references from individuals in the community who would vouch for the good care we give our children.
ORWELL: Now you realize that we are going to have to have your children meet with our physicians so that they can evaluate whether or not the children have been properly fed.
WISE: I've talked to our attorney about that also, and we have already had our children go to see our personal family physician, and he is putting his report in writing for you. Our children have a clean bill of health.
ORWELL: That report does not remove the need for me to personally interview your children.
WISE: Well, I think we went over this before, but our position is that we cannot take that risk. Besides, we've already provided this other information so that you can really close this file because you're going to have references from individuals, the doctor's report, and our own assurance that everything is fine. The reason we don't want you to talk to our children, frankly, is because we don't trust the system. We're aware of statistics that show that 60% of children that are removed from home by the social welfare system shouldn't have been upon later review. We just can't take that risk because sometimes those children are put into foster homes where they are abused. So it has noting to do with hiding anything, it's just that we care so much for our children that we can't take the risk. We don't know you.
ORWELL: Everyone else cooperates, Mr./Mrs. Wise. If you have nothing to hide, then why are you hiding so hard?
WISE: As I said, we'd be more than happy to cooperate if you could guarantee that you would find this "unfounded." But since you can't, and we don't know how you're going to interpret this, and the studies show that many, many families' statements are misinterpreted, how can we take that risk? Would you take that risk with your children?
ORWELL: [Hesitates in knowing how to respond.]
WISE: Please understand, we appreciate your great interest in our family. We know you're just doing your job, and sometimes that can put a person between a rock and a hard place. But we've got certain rights that we talked to out attorney about. We have the right of privacy which comes under the Fourth Amendment which protects us from state officials coming into our home at will, and we're standing on that right. Are you familiar with the Fourth Amendment?
ORWELL: Uh...we did not learn about the Fourth Amendment in Social Workers School. However, I am familiar with the Second Amendment....do you have any guns in your house?
WISE: That's really irrelevant. I'll take the Fifth on that one.
ORWELL: Let's talk about your homeschooling. I have to see your curriculum and facilities. I need to verify that you have enough light for these children to read. For all I know, you're ruining their eyesight by reading to them on a couch or something.
WISE: Well, I've talked to my attorney again about this, and we are legal. We're legally home schooling, and in this state, we're allowed to home school. We've followed the necessary requirements under the law. If you have a problem with this, you need to let the school district know because it's not really in your jurisdiction. Meanwhile, our attorney would be glad to send you a letter verifying the legality of home schooling.
ORWELL: Just because you're legal doesn't mean you're not neglecting your children.
WISE: If you have a problem with our educational program, you'll need to contact the local superintendent. We're on file. I can assure you that we're educating our children. It's part of our religious beliefs. We must teach our children to the best of our ability so that they can become productive citizens. Our philosophy is to provide them the best quality education that we possibly can.
ORWELL: Look, I have specific charges against you: You're starving your children, you're giving all your money away, your neglecting their education, and you're not willing to cooperate with me.
WISE: As I stated, we are going to provide you evidence so that you can find the allegations "unfounded." We're going to provide a statement from our doctor and various references. You have our word on it, and we're known in the community. Besides, we base our decisions in our family on the Scriptures, where we are clearly instructed that "if you harm one of these little ones, it's better a millstone be tied around your neck and be thrown in the deepest part of the ocean." That's a responsibility we take seriously in raising our little ones - that God would hold us accountable - in fact, we would be sinning before Him if we harmed them in any way in discipline, or withholding food as we've been accused of...we would never do those things.
ORWELL: Mr./Mrs. Wise, look, I can tell that you're sincere. I don't know....I'm really concerned about this situation. I wish you would cooperate with us instead of making our jobs so difficult.
WISE: Let me assure you. We care for our children, too, and we appreciate your care. And I believe that you will find this can all be resolved and you can put on file that it is "unfounded." In fact, we'd like something in writing, describing your finding. By tomorrow we should be able to get that statement from our doctor, so we just ask that you hold off any further decision until you can look at this. And if there's still a problem, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
ORWELL: It's obvious that you're not willing to do anything more than you've done. So I'll look at your doctor's report...I just want to say, for the record, that this kind of attitude is what makes it so hard for us to protect children. While you may be very sincere, there are real kids out there who are getting hurt. Your way of dealing with this matter ties us up with lawyers and reports when we should be resolving serious crisis. Good day, Mr./Mrs. Wise.

(Disturbingly, this is from a dominionist "homeschooler" group focusing on the needs of special-ed kids. One of the things that is emphasized in that entire screed is that the CPS workers are not allowed to contact the kids at any time lest they get any info that may reveal signs of abuse.)

In regards to the "HSLDA" mentioned above--that would be a dominionist group known as the Home School Legal Defense Association. (We will focus in a future segment on how they are in fact a dominionist group masquerading as a homeschooling defense organisation--suffice it to say that they've supported explicitly dominionist causes in past and have deliberately tried to lock inclusive homeschoolers (that include non-dominionist homeschoolers like "unschoolers") out of state recognition as a legit form of home education. Homeschooling Is Legal (a site set up by a legit, inclusive home educator's association who details the explicit dominionist agenda of HSLDA) has much more info.)

And as it turns out, HSLDA is one of the very groups seeking to gut the present protections that kids have under the law (and make it next to impossible for CPS agencies to investigate religiously motivated child abuse). In fact, much of its recruiting is via the use of scare tactics to literally frighten home educators into joining by using fear of CPS visits:

Words That Strike Terror:

* "A truant officer is at the door. He pushes his way in. He will not leave until he can take your children to the public school..."

* "A police officer is at your door with an arrest warrant to take your six year-old child..."

* "The local public school official insists that your home school arrangement is not legal and threatens you with criminal charges..."

* "More and more frequently, home schoolers are turned in on child abuse hotlines to social services agencies."

These scenarios were presented on the first page of the Dealing With Social Services Contacts section of the fall 1999 HSLDA Support Group Seminar workbook, below the heading, "The Social Worker at Your Door."

The Seminar workbook also contained two lengthy fear-inducing skits titled "How to Handle Visits from Social Service Agents," by HSLDA attorney Christopher J. Klicka. According to the document, these skits have been performed at homeschooling conventions since 1993. The characters' names are "Orwell" the Child Welfare Services worker, "Innocent" the hapless homeschooling parent, and "Eager-to-Please," a homeschooled child.

The skit begins with "Innocent" opening the door to "Orwell's" knock, and learning that the Welfare agency has received a report that the "children are being abused or neglected."

By page 4, "Orwell" tells "Innocent" that the Welfare worker must view the children stripped, "so I can see if they have any bruises."

Portraying these scenes incites the kind of fear that propels homeschoolers to buy what they perceive as legal protection: membership in an oganization such as HSLDA. Frightening sketches invoke visions of authorities run amok whisking our children away, but even HSLDA admits that homeschoolers are highly unlikely to face such predicaments.

(Part of that skit is included above.)

I had noted above HSLDA promotes some pretty explicitly dominionist causes. Among dominionist causes HSLDA has officially lobbied for are DOMA laws and amendments including on a federal level; various laws restricting "partial birth" abortions (which were rare to begin with); pushing for John Ashcroft's nomination (Ashcroft is probably the most explicitly dominionist Attorney-General we have ever had and has very, very extensive connections to the Assemblies of God); fighting the ratification of a UN convention on chemical weapons; and even stumping for a Constitution Party candidate:

The Case of Michael New

In 1995, HSLDA was criticized for representing 22 year old, home schooled Texan Michael New who refused to wear "a UN insignia on his sleeve and wear a UN blue baseball cap". (Cliff Kincaid, "Patriotic GI Gets Taste of Clinton 'Justice'," Human Events Magazine, Vol. 52, Issue 4, February 2, 1996, page 1.) Michael New was found guilty of failure to obey a lawful order and dishonorably discharged. ("Michael New Convicted" Home School Court Report, Vol. 12, No.1, page 21.) He is appealing his discharge and his defense team includes lead counsel Ronald Ray, David S. Sullivan, attorneys Henry L. Hamilton, Michael Farris, and Herb Titus. Michael Farris continues to use HSLDA's address and phone number as his own on Mr. New's court filings. (Institute for Media Education Distribution, First Principles Press, P.O. Box 1136, Crestwood, KY 40014; 1-800-837-0544; fax; 502.241.1552.)

While Michael New does not fit the description of a homeschool family whose homeschool is challenged by authorities, the political implications of Michael Farris choosing to represent him are difficult to ignore. In 1996, Michael New nominated Howard Phillips for President at the U.S. Taxpayers Party convention in San Diego, California. Phillips then named Herb Titus, another of Michael New's attorneys, as his Vice Presidential running mate. ("Taxpayers Party Picks Howard Phillips Again", Human Events Magazine, Vol. 51, Issue 33, 8/30/96, page 7.) Herb Titus is a strict dominionist (or reconstructionist) fired by Pat Robertson in 1993 from his post as dean of Regent University's School of Law. (Alan Foege, op. cit., page 176.) Michael New's father, Daniel, is the Chairman of the U.S. Taxpayers party in Texas and former primary candidate for U. S. Congress.

In 1995 HSLDF gave the Michael New Defense Fund a $1,000 contribution. (Home School Legal Defense Foundation, Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, individuals or organizations receiving money as a grant or contribution 1995.) In 1996 the Michael New Defense Fund received $9,607 in contributions from HSLDF. (Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, Internal Revenue Service, HSLDF, 1996.)

In 1996, Daniel New ran for the U.S. Congress in the 8th district of Texas, but was defeated in the Republican primary. Howard Phillips was a contributor and a recipient of campaign disbursements in Mr. New's bid for office through his T. C. Concepts organization. (Report of Receipts and Disbursements, Daniel New, Texas Ethics Commission, Disclosure Filings Division, P.O. Box 12070, Austin, TX 78711-2070.)

Kentucky Attorney Ronald Ray has set up a legal defense fund for Mr. New that solicits homeschoolers (and other conservative groups) for donations. (Michael New's Petition Denied, Home School Court Report, Vol., 12, No. 4 page 4.) HSLDA has also participated in soliciting funds for Mr. New's defense through their Court Report publication.

On March 12, 1997 the New Action Fund of Conroe, TX issued a press release announcing that "the U. S. Court of Appeals has denied the Department of Defense's request to throw S.P.C. Michael New's case out with a 'summary affirmation' and has granted New a full hearing. Michael Farris is head of the Home School Legal Defense Association, and is New's lead attorney in the civilian courts." ("New Appeal Granted", press release, New Action Fund, Conroe TX, March 10, 1997. For more information contact (540) 338-1835 or Daniel New (409) 539-1917.)
-Mary McCarthy

(I've written rather extensively on the Constitution Party--formerly known as the US Taxpayer's Party--here. Suffice it to say that the Constitution Party is as close as one gets to an official Christian Reconstructionist political party in the US.)

As it turns out, HSLDA's leader is also a major player in dominionist circles, specifically as a member of the Council for National Policy (reportedly HSLDA pays his membership dues). HSLDA itself supports a whole plethora of causes totally unrelated to home education including truly tinfoil-hatter claims in regards to United States Census surveys and sections on how to opt out of immunisation requirements; they also offer info on how to make sure homeschooled kids still get their SSI checks. (In fact, if people want to know what HSLDA has lobbied Congress on in past, they have a convenient page for that too.)

There is probably a good reason why HSLDA caters to the "Left Behind" fandom--HSLDA founder Michael Farris has very, very close links with Tim and Beverly LaHaye who are central to the modern wave of dominionism and may have in fact been formative in some of the earliest political dominionist groups.

Another site aimed at dominionists (the page is from a dominionist group called "Child Protection Reform" which wishes to utterly gut child protection laws) also gives explicit coaching to "homeschool" kids to hide signs of religiously motivated child abuse and also advises people to pick dominionist "parallel economy" counselors who are likely to approve of religiously motivated child abuse:

Step 2: Be careful in your application of physical discipline

* Regardless of what's right, of your own past experiences, of anything you believe – understand the system, in the words of one counselor we've contacted, "clearly hates spanking. The system wants spanking eliminated from the face of the Earth." In using physical discipline, you are indeed in the mainstream. You are also at odds with the governing elite. They're convinced they know best. They will get you if they can. They won't be sorry.

* Don't spank in public. A classic is the "grocery store parking lot spanking". Some busybody Boomer is sure to get your license plates. And the cops, lacking serious bad guys to chase, will be waiting for you at home.

* Don't spank in ways that leave bruises. The system treats a welt on the posterior with the same seriousness as a cigarette burn, a broken bone, or a severe beating. State laws provide NO distinction between a single mark from legitimate discipline, and devastating injuries from willful, sustained torture.

Step 3: Protect yourself

* If, Heaven forbid, you do bruise your child – do NOT allow him/her to attend school the next day. Services to Children and Families (SCF) indoctrinates teachers to turn OFF the brain and get ON the phone to report "any" suspected child abuse. As mandatory reporters, teachers are told they are at serious risk of prosecution for not reporting. That is not true. However, most teachers believe it is true; they will act accordingly.

* If you spank, strongly consider taking your kids out of public schools. Statistics verify what we've been told by SCF caseworkers: most reports of child abuse come from public school teachers. Further, a recent study of Oregon SCF indicated the agency regularly questions and removes children from public schools without parental permission or notification. If you choose to homeschool, spend the $100 to join the Home School Legal Defense Association. They have a website: www.hslda.org

* Be an active member of a community of faith. Your local church or synagogue is a family of faith who will come to your aid in your time of need. They are the second part of your support network. Through prayer and physical support, fellow Christians will prevent far greater damage to your family.
. . .
Step 4: Respond to the attack
. . .
* Comply fully with any ordered counseling. If the idea of being at the mercy of some bearded, Marxist counselor makes you wretch, realize you have a choice of counselors. Pick a good one. Fully attending all counseling doubles the chance your child will be returned to you, according to Oregon 1995 stats.

Lest anyone doubt the site's agenda:

Isn't a bruise from
discipline, clearly abuse?

Most system professionals say, "yes.". They are mistaken.

Consider the following:

* Balanced, thorough studies show spanking in loving homes has not been shown to cause
long-term emotional damage, and that charges of spanking as abuse are junk science. Visit an excellent site for more information.
* System professionals also say it's okay for a mother to hire a man to crush her newborn's skull, then suck out its brains (conduct a late-term abortion). If society is going to place any stock in what system professionals think, shouldn't it at least demand a little consistency?
* The "bruise as abuse" position lacks historical standing. Only since the late 1960's has a hard spanking been defined as a crime. Hundreds of generations of bright, happy adults have grown up with some variant of "spare the rod, spoil the child". This includes the much-respected WWII generation, and may even include your own. Was spanking then so wrong?&
* None of the world's major religions say so; Like it or not, God pretty clearly says a bruise given during legitimate punishment is okay. After all, He gave His own Son to the cross.

Consider the Doctrine of Competing Harms: SCF intervention doesn't start with a nice
grandmotherly social worker asking if she can help. It most often begins with sudden,
forcible removal by law enforcement, which nearly always causes serious, lasting
psychological trauma to parent and child alike.

Finally, in America, spanking is legal. More than half of all parents spank. Numerous polls reveal most adults believe spanking is sometimes necessary. We need to acknowledge no parent comes with a calibrated arm.

(Let's review: apparently the existence of third-trimester abortions (and the "partial birth" abortion of which they speak is actually illegal now in the US) and the crucifixion of Christ make religiously motivated child abuse OK; one is in fact Biblically mandated to use abusive forms of discipline; things like broken bones can be dismissed as "not everyone has a calibrated arm"; and discredited studies from the Family Research Council (a dominionist group) are used as well as a UK study promoting the return of caning in public schools. Of note, the FRC is a sister-org of Focus on the Family (and originally started out as FotF's electioneering wing); needless to say, they are quite a bit in support of religiously motivated child abuse.)

Ministers are certainly not a safe bet in regard to mandatory reporters (which they are in 25 states)--not only do dominionist ministers typically not report abuse, quite often they are the very promoters of religiously motivated child abuse (Michael Pearl, among others, is a pastor of a small church) and all too often ministers of dominionist churches target kids for abuse themselves for reporting:

The pastor of an Elgin church has been charged with battery after it was alleged that he repeatedly used a piece of wood to discipline a 12-year-old girl.

Police said the girl's mother took her to the pastor because she doubted the girl's claim that she was being sexually abused by another man.
. . .
Elgin police said Thursday they believe the girl's original allegations are true. On Wednesday they charged Daryl Bujak, 30, pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church, with misdemeanor battery. He was released after posting $500 bail. He has a June 16 court appearance in the Elgin branch of Kane County Circuit Court, said police Lt. Mike Turner.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "It's a sad case for this girl."
. . .
Bujak's church, at 385 Silver St. in Elgin, describes itself as a fundamentalist and independent Baptist congregation.

Elgin police said the girl's parents took her to the church after she alleged she was being sexually abused.

Bujak told the parents that she was lying and privately disciplined the girl on Wednesday evenings between March and May of 2005. The girl, now 13, was struck with a 3-foot strip of wood molding, causing welts and bruises on her legs and buttocks, according to police and the girl's mother.

"He took her in the ladies room, across from his office," the mother said in an interview Thursday. "I was downstairs in the Fellowship Hall." Afterward, the mother said, "Her face was red, and I could see that she'd been crying.

In other words...increasingly, kids in families that practice religiously motivated child abuse may not have anyone--save for the neighbours--that they can even safely report things to in the first place. And especially if the moms promote "tomato staking" and families live in heavily dominionist towns--kids may not even have that option.

b) There is a considerable bias against reporting religiously motivated child abuse.

Among other things, one of the legitimate fears is that First Amendment lawsuits will be filed against CPS agencies who remove kids from homes on the basis of allegations of religiously motivated child abuse. As noted previously, HSLDA is especially notable in filing lawsuits against child welfare agencies; there are also explicit dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to civil rights groups (like the American Center for Law and Justice and Alliance Defense Fund) which are all too willing to take cases of this type in the courts.

Partly because these cases very rapidly are promoted for their "martyr status" value (both in dominionist publications produced by CWFA, AFA, and FotF CitizenLink and on shows like Bill O'Reilly's as evidence of "the war against Christianity"), many CFS agencies are understandably very reluctant to make themselves targets.

c) There is a considerable bias against adolescent reporting of abuse.

Too often, people who make their initial reports of child abuse in adolescence are seen as malingerers by CPS agencies--it's assumed the kid is going through an "I hate my parents" phase rather than the kid being in a situation for the first time that they have access to a mandatory reporter who may take them seriously.

As a result, kids who report abuse as teens are often directed to very inappropriate forms of "resolution" like family therapy (which is not likely to be effective in the case of religiously motivated child abuse) rather than getting the kid out of a potentially dangerous situation.

In the case of "Bible-based boot camps" and "degaying facilities", this is often sufficiently serious of a problem that kids have to literally run away from home for their own protection (thus putting them in danger related to living on the streets) or--increasingly--file for legal emancipation as the only way to protect themselves from an environment that can be potentially lethal.

d) CPS agencies are often not aware of religiously motivated child abuse.

In particular, they are not in general aware that there is a definite "adolescent reporting" bias (because most of these kids do not in general realise they grew up in an abusive household); they are not in general aware that family therapy is wildly inappropriate; and they are not in general aware that even things like parenting classes and conventional therapy are likely to be rejected by the parents (due to the parents feeling they literally have a biblical mandate to abuse their kids).

In general, this parallels a general lack of understanding in society of specific issues relating to coercive religious groups in general. (Of note, even researchers into coercive religious groups have not in general paid much attention to the issue of multigenerational walkaways until recently, and there is much research in progress. One of the things being found out is that there are often comorbid conditions causing complex PTSD (religiously motivated child abuse and the initial cultic environment) and one of the biggies that survivors deal with is in fact resocialisation issues.)

e) In some areas--sadly--police and CPS agencies may be sympathetic to abusers.

in many areas of the country, parties investigating religiously-motivated abuse may themselves be sympathisers and dominionists (this is not uncommon in the midwest US, where they may see this as merely "tough love" discipline and in some cases people have been recommended to send their children to coercive "boot camp" facilities like Love In Action or the WWASPS facilities).

One of the most blatant examples is the DPS chief in Missouri--this is the head of the agencies who would be doing initial investigation of most child abuse. (Of note, Missouri also has some of the most lax laws in the US in regards to "Bible-based boot camps"--they are almost totally unregulated.)

Not only that, but in areas with large dominionist influence the existing laws on the books either have large enough loopholes to sail the HMS Queen Mary II through or are extremely laxly enforced. An example is the following list of Tennessee Department for Youth and Families intake records where it was specified in section D(1)(b) that "developmentally-appropriate, discipline-related marks and bruises on the buttocks or legs" of children over 5 should not be regarded as evidence of abuse. (The same agency also eventually ruled that the Love In Action/Refuge facility had "insufficient evidence" of abuse; it was eventually the state medical licensure board that got them shut down for operation of a mental health facility without a license.)

Another document, this from the state of Colorado, states that whacking adolescents with the metal buckle of a belt used in flogging is permissible.

f) Dominionists are actively working to gut existing laws and prevent new laws from being passed.

An example of a website run by dominionist groups working to gut existing laws in the US is Family Rights Association; we've mentioned the role of HSLDA and Child Protection Reform in attempts to gut laws. Many of the major dominionist groups--notably Focus on the Family and Family Research Council--have also explicitly lobbied to remove the very few protections kids have.

Dominionist interference with child protection laws isn't just limited to the US. The United States and Somalia are the two solitary countries that have not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Somalia has the valid excuse that the country (outside of Somaliland and Puntland) has been in a state of anarchy since 1992.

The US does not have that excuse. The sad truth is that the reason the US hasn't signed on yet is because dominionists object to a section stating children have the right to grow up without being subjected to abuse--and this might slam the doors on the "Bible-based" baby-beating industry:

Article 19:
"States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and education measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programs to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement."

Needless to say, dominionist groups do not like this. So far, they have been successful at keeping the US as the only nation with a functioning government in the world to not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

One of the big opponents has been, not surprisingly, none other than the same HSLDA that promotes dominionist home-education as a way to avoid CPS investigations:

If ratified by the U.S. Senate, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child would undermine families by granting to children a list of radical "rights" which would be primarily enforced against the parents. These new "fundamental" rights would include "the right to privacy," "the right to freedom of thought and association," and the right to "freedom of expression." Such presumptions subvert the authority of parents to exercise important responsibilities toward their children. Under the UN Convention, parental responsibility exists only in so far as parents are willing to further the independent choices of the child.
. . .
Severe Limitations Placed on the Parents' Right to Train Their Children

Under Article 13, any attempts to prevent their children from interacting with material parents deem unacceptable is forbidden. Children are vested with a " freedom of expression" right, which is virtually absolute. No allowance is made for parental guidance. Section 1 declares a child's right to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice."

In Article 14, children are guaranteed " freedom of thought, conscience and religion." Children have a legal right to object to all religious training. Alternatively, children may assert their right against parental objection to participate in the occult.

Article 15 declares "the right of the child to freedom of association." Parents could be prevented from forbidding their child to associate with people deemed to be objectionable companions. Under Article 15, children could claim a "fundamental" right to join gangs, cults, and racist organizations over parental objection.

The Convention Would Entrench the Right of Teenagers to Abort Their Babies

Under Article 16, the "right to privacy" is granted to children. This UN sanctioned "privacy" would seemingly establish as the child's right to obtain an abortion without parental notice, the right to purchase and use contraceptives, and the right to pornography in the home.

New Bureaucracies Would Be Created to Monitor Families

Article 19 mandates the creation of an intensive bureaucracy for the purpose of "identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment, and follow-up" of parents who, in violation of the child's rights, treat their children negligently.

To insure State and U.N. control over their development, Article 7 requires all children must be immediately registered at birth.

A Prohibition On Corporal Punishment

Articles 3, 19, 37 require all ratifying countries to protect children from "degrading punishment" and "physical violence" which includes corporal punishment. The U.N. Committee of Ten (pursuant to Article 44) must oversee the implementation of the treaty. Over the last several years, the Committee published reports criticizing several countries (including Canada and Great Britain) for allowing corporal punishment to continue.

(HSLDA seems to fail to realise that registration of children is already mandatory at birth in the US--states require the issuance of birth certificates. Many dominionist families do not register their kids for Social Security cards (so as to avoid "the number of the beast"); there is a push in some circles for home births; I've not yet heard of a push to not have a kid issued a birth certificate, but I honestly would not be surprised to find this out either.)

This is sadly not an uncommon sentiment; at least one page aiming UN conspiracy theory at the "Left Behind" reader crowd (who largely think the UN is satanic anyways) has promoted similar folderol.

g) Tools of abuse are as close as the local hardware store and are even available for free online.

I had joked in my last post in regards to "Bible-based" child abuse as to whether Lowe's or Home Depot would have to start registries for buying plumbing equipment (similar to those used to track purchases of Sudafed).

The sad truth is, pretty much that is all that is needed--if that much (in suburban areas, it's not uncommon to make kids pull their own "switches" from trees and bushes--or for parents to make their own "chastening rods" from felled branches).

Much of the reason that the site Stop The Rod exists is because the founder of the site (a "Christian homeschooler" mother, though apparently not a dominionist homeschooler) was horrified to see marketing of various "chastening devices" in "Christian" homeschooling circles. (Very often these would be sold with Tedd Tripp's or Richard Fugate's material as instructions for use.)

The sad thing is, parents don't even have to pay for this stuff--a site calling itself Spare Rods actually gives away large paddles as "chastening devices" complete with "appointment slips" and instructions for use. (Lest one doubt these types of paddles are dangerous, a five-year-old kid was recently killed by being beaten to death by a paddle.)

As of right now, promotion and sale (and giveaways) of these devices is all too legal.

h) Compared to other forms of child abuse, there is a high risk for persons committing religiously motivated child abuse to target multiple kids and to fail to comply with instructions in CPS hearings due to specific circumstances that do not exist in "conventional" child abuse.

One thing that makes religiously motivated child abuse especially difficult to treat is that, in many cases, the system of abuse is in fact tied into a larger "culture of abuse" that mandates that children be subjected to abusive forms of discipline as a literal divine mandate. These same churches also often teach that civil authority may be disobeyed if it comes in conflict with "God's commandments".

In other words, even if CPS does successfully manage to contact the kid, does manage to get a hearing, and does manage to get a consent decree with parents--the parents are very likely to keep on doing what they will when CPS isn't looking, because they very much believe that if they do not knock the hell out of their kids their children will be utterly ruined and doomed both in the physical and spiritual realms. It's often taught that kids will not only become criminals and "wastrels" if not beaten, but that they will become non-dominionists and even actively on the side of the devil--an even worse fate, as far as dominionists are concerned.

In fact, part of why dominionist groups so insistently promote abusive forms of discipline and are among the most likely to sue CPS agencies if a prosecution ensues is that they literally believe--very sincerely--that CPS is in fact endangering their kid (to both become a statistic in either the criminal or rehab systems and--worse yet--to burn in Hell, be "left behind", etc.). In their minds, to risk their kid's exposure to Outside risks the ultimate annihilation of their kids in both body and spirit.

Ironically, this makes it even more important to get the kids out of those situations.

And things you can do to help

I am not one for dumping this metric tonne of horridly depressing stuff on DailyKos for no good reason

Among other things, I think you guys and gals can actually help out. :3

So I am providing a little bit of homework for you all. :3 Here's a list of action items:

Legislative action:

1) Contact your congresscritters and ask them to support laws banning sale of "chastening rods". Rep. Ed Markey has a bit of example legislation that needs cosponsors that would essentially ban the sale of "chastening rods" and similar devices used for religiously motivated child abuse under consumer product safety regs. Stop The Rod, a group working to spread awareness of religiously motivated child abuse (and, equally, the fact that most Christians do not support this being done in their names), has a handy form to automatically contact your legislator about this.

2) Ask your congresscritters to reintroduce--and vote for--an HR 1738-type bill regulating the "Bible-based boot camp" industry. HR 1738 (introduced by Rep. George Miller (CA) in 2005, so it may well need reintroduction) is also a bill that would essentially shut down the more abusive "Bible-based boot camps"--among other things, it prohibits sending US national kids to offshore facilities and requires states set up regulation of "behaviour modification" facilities and children's homes (with mandatory inspection, including federal funding). You can also contact your congresscritter in regards to reintroducing HR 1738 at ISAC's website.

3) On a state level, contact your state reps to pass state level versions of HR 1738 and Markey's bill; also work with state General Assembly folks to get rid of the wide "religious exemption" loopholes in regards to child protection laws.

Advocacy action:

1) Inform and educate your state and county child protective services agencies about religiously motivated child abuse--including the special circumstances that are involved with abusive methods of discipline promoted in dominionist groups.

2) Support advocacy groups working to inform and protect kids. Advocacy groups that really deserve your time include ISAC, Children's Safe Passage Foundation, http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/">Teen Advocates USA, Project NoSpank (which is a general anti-corporal-punishment group, but which is involved in a great deal of awareness activity in regards to religiously motivated child abuse), Stop The Rod, and others.

3) Warn folks about abusive childrearing practices. Among other things, reviews warning about the content of books promoting religiously motivated child abuse can be given at Amazon (and in fact Stop The Rod provides links to review forms for practically all of the books it has reviewed); another tactic is (if you know anyone who is using these forms of abuse) is to steer them to alternative methods of discipline like "Grace-Based Discipline" (a non-abusive form of discipline increasingly promoted in "Christian Mommy" circles as an alternative to religiously motivated child abuse). Stop the Rod in particular has a good resource list for people who know "soft dominionists" who might be amenable to gentler forms of "Christian parenting".

4) Support groups fighting dominionism in general. As much of this is tied into the theological bases for dominionism (especially Gothard's obsession with "authority"), it helps to make people aware that this is a parenting practice primarily promoted in dominionist churches. I have a good list of blogs on the right hand side of folks who work against dominionism, but two good groups in particular are Talk to Action and Committee to Defend the Constitution. Some of the older-guard religious freedom groups like Americans United, People for the American Way, and The Interfaith Alliance can always use help too; more focused groups like Texas Freedom Network, Southern Poverty Law Center (recently threatened by a Klan group with being bombed because of the stellar job it's doing in shutting down hate groups) and Jews On First are also good groups to support in the general fight.

5) In the immortal words of Anthrax and Public Enemy--"Bring the noise". Inform folks about this yourself. If you're a survivor, write about your experiences. If you're a parent who formerly used these methods and abandoned them, write about it. If you're an EMT or a social services worker or someone on the front lines who's seen the tragic consequences, write about it. Notify the media. Mirror posts others have done. Make such a huge goddamned stink that it can't be ignored.

Tomorrow, we begin a special focus on the "Bible-based baby beating" promoters most recently linked to the death of a child--Michael and Debbie Pearl.

Much buzz is going on lately regarding Susan Hutchison in the race for King County Executive (and leadership of the Seattle metro area in general)--one thing that has been poorly publicised so far is her extensive and documentable linkage to multiple dominionist groups.

Link the First: Young-earth creationism promotion

The first group Hutchinson turns out to be linked to is the Discovery Institute--the infamous organisation which got quite the legal smackdown in Kitzmiller vs. Dover School District. Discovery Institute was founded in part from funding by infamous Christian Reconstructionist Howard Abramson Jr. (who is on the board of directors) and--aside from running a number of front groups--specialises mostly in trying to sell young-earth creationism as "Teaching The Controversy" (they formerly sold it as intelligent design, but after the legal ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover brought public awareness to the "Wedge Document"--where Discovery Institute pretty much admitted they were just rebranding young-earth creationism--they've backed away from that branding).

Since the news broke, Discovery Institute has scrubbed it pages--but http://www.discovery.org/fellows/">Internet Archive and form 990s don't lie.

Link the Second: A parachurch taken over by NARasites

The second group that Hutchison is intimately linked with is a lesser-known org called Young Life. Young Life promotes itself as a parachurch group that takes kids and adults on religious retreats; reports on anti-coercive-group forums (like Rick Ross Institute) show something rather disturbing--kids being solicited for conversion without permission from parents, as well as reports of classic coercive tactics used by all manner of abusive cults.

In particular, info in their Form 990 is particularly worrisome. Among other things, Young Life (which is probably the second-richest (in a way documentable in tax forms) dominionist group in the US) is co-partners with not only the NARasitised International Foursquare denomination and World Vision Inc. (the American division of the charity World Vision--which, sadly, operates far more as a funding front for dominionist churches and groups than as a charitable org helping kids) in a Bermudan insurance company that is essentially operated as a Foursquare front.

In addition, the group operates a "halfway house" (called Dale House) for at-risk teens that serves as a de facto maternity home and reform school; disturbingly, it serves particularly as a training facility for C. Peter Wagner's very college (Fuller Seminary's School of World Mission--the very school and department where Mr. Joel's Army himself is head professor) for "missionary students".

And Hutchison isn't just a member--just like with Discovery Institute, it turns out she has been a board member since at least 2004.

Links...with Joel's Army hategroups?

The third--and one that in my not-so-humble opinion should disqualify her from office every bit as much as being an admitted member of a neo-Nazi or Christian Identity group--is her recent endorsement by Joseph Fuiten.

This is problematic, seeing as Fuiten is probably one of the most virulent hatemongers--and I do NOT use this term lightly--within the Joel's Army movement.

The first problem here is that Fuiten is such a promoter of the extremist "NAR nationalist" line that has infected the Assemblies of God that he called for the mass denationalisation and exile of all "secularists" on the CNN miniseries "God's Warriors" ("Secularists" is an NAR buzzword for "not dominionist", and "God's Warriors" was--ironically--a series focusing on religious extremism in the three Abrahamic faiths).

This is--amazingly--not the worst Fuiten has done; this is probably on the light side, in fact.

Fuiten is a known member of the virulently anti-LGBT hategroup Watchmen At The Walls--a group known for attacks on LGBT people in the US and full on riots at and attacks of people at Pride Parades in eastern Europe. In fact, "Watchmen At The Walls" is so virulent a hate group it pretty much singlehandedly got NAR groups on Southern Poverty Law Center's radar, and it is one of a very few non-neo-Nazi, non-Klan-linked groups officially listed as hate groups by that organisation.

When called on his links, he proceeded to use anti-Moslem invective to back up the hategroup--and research found he has rather an extensive history of promoting hate within the Assemblies of God itself, up to and including training pastors how to set up front businesses for the purpose of hooking in people to convert (this is a classic coercive-group tactic used by abusive cults like Scientology or the Moonies).

Not only that, but to top it off (Aristocrats-style) he attended and gave speeches at a conference which exemplifies just how far down the Joel's Army rabbit hole the Assemblies of God has gone as a denomination--a conference called "Second Billion" (as in "Second billion convertees"), held by a group controlled in part by "Watchmen At The Walls" founder Alexey Ledyaev, featuring speeches by both Fuiten and Ledyaev...and also featuring similar speeches by the head of the denomination itself at the time at what amounted to a pow-wow of NARasitised Assemblies of God church leaders (at the same time that the Assemblies was officially "condemning" the old branding of Joel's Army as being an "excess").

(And of personal note--the pastor of the very church I am a walkaway from also was a speaker at this conference.)

So in short: Hutchison just *so far* has been shown to be a board member of a group trying to whitewash young-earth creationism, a board member of a borderline "Bible-based cult" that turns out to be engaging in abusive tactics, and she's happily taking endorsement by a leader of a known hategroup and one of the big voices for hate in the largest pentecostal denomination in the world.

...should someone like this REALLY be in charge of the Seattle metro area? I don't think so. :P

Over the past few days, I've written articles for Wayang Party on the international involvement of Joel's Army groups in the steeplejack of AWARE ¹ and the actual agenda of the American-based "Christian Nationalist" group Focus on the Family ². From the responses received here, it's obvious that steeplejacking and the growth of "Christian Nationalism"--especially the Joel's Army variety--is of such a national concern that even the Home Affairs Minister has issued a statement warning of the threat to the secular state ³.

In this particular article, I wish to present essentially a layman's guide to the internal mythology of "Joel's Army"--and how it tends to radically differ from mainstream Christianity or even evangelical Christianity.

A "Joel's Army" mythological primer

Firstly, just to note--in this particular sense, I'm using the term "myth" in the way sociologists use it, not in the term that it's used in common parlance. Basically, in social sciences, "mythology" and "myths" are used to refer to stories people tell to teach a certain cultural and spiritual path--there's no value judgement made on this. (I note this, as an aside, because people in modern living faith systems sometimes get offended when sociologists refer to their religious or spiritual paths as "mythology" or "myths".)

Anyways, much like other faith systems (including mainstream Christianity), "Joel's Army" groups have their own faith system that is often at radical odds with mainstream Christianity.

One area where the Joel's Army groups diverge from mainstream Christianity is with the common Christian story of the fall of man from grace--where Eve and Adam were tempted to eat the fruit despite God's warning. Joel's Army groups tend to teach that at this moment Satan was given dominion over the world ⁴--this becomes very important later, because it can be argued the whole general theme of Joel's Army theology is dominion--literally a Biblical mandate to take over the world.

The Wagner-linked Joel's Army groups, as well as some of the older Assemblies-linked "Joel's Army" groups, go even further and promote concepts not noted in the Bible at all. Specifically, they rely on a very odd claim by William F. Branham ⁵--an early "Latter Rain" preacher ("Latter Rain" was a sort of proto-"Joel's Army" movement popular in the 30s and 40s)--that claims that Eve made love to the Serpent and that Cain and his descendants were, literally, sons of the Devil.

Branham's concept of interspecies and interplanar adultery--what he termed the "Serpent Seed" theology--ended up going in two different directions. One branch, promoted by racists (Branham was a known member of the Ku Klux Klan) became the racist theology known in the US as Christian Identity; the other branch--which held that people who opposed the "Latter Rain" and its agenda were the "sons of the Devil"--became what we know now as Joel's Army or Elijah's Army. (Interestingly, Branham himself may have well coined the "Elijah's Army" branding--he promoted himself as a reincarination of the prophet Elijah. ⁶)

This isn't the only area at variance with traditional Christian eschatology. In traditional Christian belief, Jesus' death and resurrection ultimately defeated the devil. "Joel's Army" churches have a decidedly neutered interpretation of this--usually they preach that Jesus was tortured in hell or wrestled the devil in hell for three days (the so-called "Harrowing of Hell"), and his death and resurrection only merely bought the keys for man to take back dominion--and it is "Joel's Army", acting as "regents for Christ", who must reclaim the world and society for God. (Yes, you're reading this right; essentially these groups promote Christ as being too weak to free humanity. Christians may be free to be utterly mortified at this.)

In "Joel's Army" theology, the world is at perpetual war, with the "Army of God" at one end, the literal sons of the devil at the other, and most of humanity and humanity's diverse societies seen as literal battlefield "territory" to be "named and claimed". This is, in part, why there's such a heavy emphasis on steeplejacking and taking over institutions (including other churches) from within--in their viewpoint (as I'll note in the next few paragraphs), the people within aren't really "Saved" and thus are seen as legitimate territory to "name and claim". ⁷

In addition, the "Joel's Army" groups tend to be neopentecostal (often labeled as "charismatic" in denominations that aren't traditionally part of the pentecostal movement)--and these tend to have some rather unique claims regarding salvation, especially those close to traditionally neopentecostal denominations.

Most mainstream Christian churches either believe one is saved at baptism (the Baptists and a number of other "adult baptism" Protestant groups) or upon confession and formal dedication to the church including first Communion (Catholics, Anglicans, and most of the Christian denominations that practice infant baptism). Most Christian churches also tend to believe that once one has been saved, one retains that salvation short of really messing up (things like mortal sins like murder, etc. or outright conversion to another religion).

"Joel's Army" groups, and neopente groups in general, are a little different. In these groups, you are not seen as truly saved unless one has had an additional "baptism in fire" or "baptism in the Holy Spirit"--and in these groups, the invariable sign of this is some form of supernatural manifestation. In pentecostal churches, this has traditionally been "speaking in tongues" (usually without someone translating what is being spoken, and usually noted as being a "heavenly language"); in the "charismatic" groups in "non-denominational" churches and steeplejacked churches, this tends to be in regards to other "divine gifts" (usually someone being a prophet or an "apostle")--you hear a lot about something called the "fivefold ministry" ⁸, which is a term used for a specific division of "divine categories" of preachers and pastors in these groups.

Even in the mainstream churches that do accept "speaking in tongues" and divine gifts of the Spirit, the practice is a lot different. Typically "speaking in tongues" requires the tongue to be in an earthly language and translated to be accepted (for example, this is how it works in evangelical Methodist churches in the US); other divine gifts also have similar "testing of the fruits of the Spirit". There is little or none of this testing in churches infected with Joel's Army theology; in fact, people who attempt to do so are often accused of "denying the river" or of being possessed by the Devil and trying to "rob God's blessing" ⁹.

In general, there is a huge emphasis (compared to mainstream Christian churches) of "signs and wonders"--up to and including claims that the "outbreaks of miracles" are proof that these groups are the only ones truly saved, and that only they have the "key" to thwarting the Devil and unlocking all the blessings that are rightfully theirs (as direct descendants of God via Adam). In Singapore itself, this imagery has even included references to the "red packets" traditionally given out at Lunar New Year's ¹⁰.

Conversely, it's also taught that it is very easy to lose salvation, to "backslide", to even lose one's blessing if it is not aggressively "named and claimed". This leads to things like 40-day "fasting and prayer marathons" (where they don't eat for 40 days in fasting that is more severe than Puasa/Ramadhan fasting) where people pray for wealth or healing, the "prophetic conferences"--and massive calls for censorship of anything that could be opposed to their theology, because the mere act of being exposed to such things can lead to "demonic oppression"--essentially remaining not-rich and in strife--or even frank possession by the devil. (This, incidentially, may be why AWARE itself was targeted--not only is LGBT tolerance considered controlled by demons, but feminism in and of itself is promoted as being controlled by "Jezebel spirits".) The term for this is "deliverance ministry", and in practice tends to lead to people being isolated from all info sources other than that led by the church ¹¹.

It's not only what you do that may mess things up as well. Even "saved" people can be "demonically oppressed" due to the actions of their ancestors up to seven generations back, according to their theology--there's even a term for it called "generational curses". (Those of you who have respect for the ancestors are free to be rightfully horrified.) This has led to literal purges of pre-Christian cultural references en masse in some countries (sub-Saharan Africa in particular as well as in Guatemala ¹²).

This has led to another thing at wide variance to mainstream Christianity--the practice of Joel's Army exorcisms ¹³. Most Christian churches do not conduct the rite of exorcism, or tend to have only specific people trained in the rite who have also had psychological training to be able to differentiate mental illness from potential "spiritual illness"; Catholic priests trained in the Rite of Exorcism are essentially to a one licensed psychologists in their countries. "Joel's Army" groups conduct it all the time, and for such perceived things as being a feminist (and thus being possessed by "Jezebel spirits") or a child being "willful" or someone being depressed; this has led to suicides and worse in the US and elsewhere ¹⁴.

The demon-haunted world of Joel's Army also directly leads to their "mandate from God" to steeplejack everything.

In Joel's Army theology (unlike mainstream Christianity, which typically teaches--even in its evangelical variants--that the kingdom of God is not one of this world) it's taught that businesses and countries and entire cultures, just like people, can gain and lose God's blessing depending on how strictly they follow the "battle plan"--and that just like people, businesses and countries and cultures can be literally possessed by Satan en masse. (In the States, it's popularly promoted by Joel's Army groups that Moslems as a whole are possessed; this, despite large populations of moderate Moslems in Singapore and Malaysia.)

In order to secure not only their own "blessing" but "blessings for their nation", Joel's Army groups feel they must take over all institutions, essentially "exorcise" them, and "name and claim" them for God--converting everything to a Joel's Army owned-and-operated tool for theocracy that, taken to its ultimate extent, forces non-NAR people--including Christians not part of steeplejacked churches--to submit or die. (And yes, they have stated rather blatantly internally this is the intent.) There are even specific seminars on this subject--the "Transformation" conferences (of which a branch is held in Singapore sponsored by LOVE Singapore) promote a particular branding of this strategy called the "Seven Mountains Strategy" ¹⁵ that goes into rather graphic detail on how not only governments but NGOs, schools, entertainment industries, the military, and all pillars of society must be taken over as "strongholds from the enemy".

Other uniquely "Joel's Army" theologies

The evidence of "Joel's Army" and "Christian Identity" groups being "brothers" shows up in other ways as well that don't show up in any other group claiming to be Christian.

"Joel's Army" groups have been documented promoting the "Phinehas Priesthood" (named after a famous Israeli priest who impaled a man and his Midianite lover in the temple, led a bloody revolution, and went on to almost cause fully a fourth of the tribes in Israel to be slaughtered over a misunderstanding over building a second temple) as an example of the levels of dedication needed to take over the world ¹⁶; there's a Christian Identity group in the US that has used the same name as a call for extermination of interracial couples (and has occasionally committed pro-racist domestic terrorism here in the US) ¹⁷.

In addition, the endtime theology of these groups is so variant that it deserves a special mention.

Most mainstream Christian groups tend to fall in one of three categories regarding their concept of the end of the world: postmillenial (meaning that Jesus reigns for 1000 years and then the end of the world comes), premillenial (meaning that Jesus "raptures up" the Faithful, seven years of literal hell on earth breaks out in what is called the Tribulation, and then evil is defeated and Jesus reigns for 1000 years) or amillenial (in which the millenial reign is seen as rather irrelevant and the important thing is "doing what Jesus would do"). Typically most Protestant groups trend towards postmillenial or amillenial thought, with evangelical groups trending towards either being postmillenial or premillenial.

The denominations that spawned "Joel's Army" (the Assemblies of God and Foursquare) started out as premillenial--and some of the unique quirks in their versions of premillenial theology come from a particular reference bible called the Scofield Reference Bible ¹⁸. Premillenial theology, more often termed premillenial dispensationalism, is actually pretty young as a theology (dating back to John Darby in the 1820s and with what would become the Brethren), and Scofield's version even younger than that (1907 at its earliest). Much of Scofield's version did become the basis for the theology promoted in "Assemblies linked" groups like Campus Crusade and FGBMFI, and later on Youth With A Mission.

The Wagner line started out as postmillenial--with a unique twist, based on a version of Latter Rain theology called "Manifest Sons of God", that claimed that in essence the church was the "corporate Christ" and that the millenial reign could not begin until everything was "named and claimed".¹⁹

There's been quite a lot of cross-fertilisation, and now the dominant theology can't really be said to be premillenial or postmillenial--more of "quasi-premillenial" theology that goes something like this ²⁰:

a) Satan has dominion over most of the world, so "strongholds" and in particular spiritually powerful areas known as "gates" have to be secured, purged of Satanic influence, and converted to "Godly strongholds" to secure blessings for those peoples in the area. (Of note: Singapore has been mentioned as a "gate" in Wagner's "Joel's Army" groups ²¹.)

b) Areas "named and claimed" will be sites of great miracles and "outpourings" which will cause people to convert en masse, adding foot soldiers to "Elijah's Army". It's taught that until a critical mass of people are converted ("every nation", and/or 144,000 Jewish people, and/or 1/3rd of the human population total--there's a huge emphasis on "second billion" (as in "second billion Christians") in some Joel's Army circles) Jesus cannot return--hence there's the whole "regents and holding army for Christ" thing going on.

c) Rapture happens, two people convert post-Rapture and are martyred in Jerusalem (where every Jewish person in the world has been herded by the Russians--this is one of the Scofield weirdnesses that was originally a reference to Tsarist progroms) and this causes a massive revival about three and a half years into the Tribulation

d) At the end of the Tribulation, all the Raptured along with General Jesus descend from Heaven and join the convertees, who all proceed to slaughter the rest of humanity, consign them to Hell, and are granted a "new heaven and new earth" as reward.

Amazingly enough, this very scenario has been laid out for public view in a book series. Tim LaHaye, who has not only written several books on this particular endtime scenario but has co-published (along with Jerry Jenkins) what amounts to Joel's Army fanfiction (the "Left Behind" series). It's a wildly popular series among the Joel's Army set in the US, and a writer called "Slacktivist" has been conducting a read-through including notes on the rather bizarre theology promoted therein (at least from a mainstream Christian viewpoint) ²².

Scofield's contributions bear special note. Among other things, Scofield is directly responsible for claims that Russia and Iran will go to the Final War with the US and Israel; this was used to frighteningly good effect by early Joel's Army groups who promoted themselves as "anti-Communist" (and now are being promoted as "anti-Islamist" as well, though being arguably as dangerous). This has led to some very interesting conspiracy theory, including claims that the United Nations is run by the Russians or is otherwise secretly a Soviet plot. In addition, Scofield's view of how the world will end can literally be described as a sort of "Hopscotch with the Bible"--hopping to one verse, then another, then another, often in separate testaments much less books or chapters, and typically taking verses wildly out of context ²³. (This has often led to even evangelical Christians wondering just where they're getting this stuff.)

In addition, Joel's Army groups also have a heavy emphasis on "divine revelation" completely outside of the Bible altogether--they put as much stock in utterances of "prophets" and "apostles" (as long as their utterances fall under the general "party line" of the Joel's Army group in question) as the Bible itself, and if the "prophecy" is justified at all it's often in terms of other "prophecies" or a Bible verse taken out of context. (There's an amazing amount of examples of this "in action" over at the main Joel's Army site online, "Elijah's List" ²⁴.)

All in all, Joel's Army groups can legitimately be said to be about as divorced from mainstream Christianity--or even mainstream, non-NAR evangelical Christianity--as, say, the Unification Church or other "Bible-based" groups. (Many Biblical scholars at the least state they should be essentially treated as a third denominational grouping separate from Catholicism/Orthodoxy and Protestantism; some have more recently argued that these groups should be considered a religion wholly separate from historical Christianity ²⁵.)

_Footnotes:

_{1) http://wayangparty.com/?p=9047 "The AWARE steeplejackers and their deep connections to Joel's Army and American dominionists", self, 10 May 2009.}

_{2) http://wayangparty.com/?p=9175 "Focusing on 'Focus On The Family': An export of American-style 'Christian Nationalism'", self, 12 May 2009.}

_{3) http://wayangparty.com/?p=9337 "Wong Kan Seng sends a stark warning to religious fundamentalists: don't mix religion with politics", Wayang Party admins, 15 May 2009 (also reported in Straits Times and other Singaporean news sources).}

_{4) http://tinyurl.com/dominionist-mindsets "Dominionist Mindsets (a prelude)", self, 24 July 2007. This is part of a series on the "parallel economy" promoted by "Christian nationalist" groups in the US. Also discussed much further in detail in http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/12/19/155228/97 "A history of Dominion/'Kingdom Now'/Restoration Theology", self, 5 October 2006. Aspects also treated at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/3/114749/049 "Dominionism as a coercive religious movement (part 2)", self, 3 October 2006; http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/17/11272/3341 "'Deliverance', involutnary exorcisms, and abuse", self, 17 July 2007.}

_{5) A history of Dominion/'Kingdom Now'/Restoration Theology", plus http://www.apologeticsindex.org/b05.html Apologetics Index, "William Branham" article; http://tinyurl.com/branhamquote1 "An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages", William M. Branham (Jeffersonville IN, WBEA, 1965) p.98; Burgess and McGee, editors, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. p.96; http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain4.htm "The Teachings of 'the Prophet' William Branham", Let Us Reason, undated; http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain6.htm ibid.}

_{6) Apologetics Index ibid from D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, Hendrickson Publishers Inc., Peabody, MA, 1988. p. 166; http://watch.pair.com/rain.html "The Latter Rain Revival", Barbara Aho. A large number of articles referencing William Branham is at http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/312350.html?thread=1928222#t1928222 (Of note, a great number of sites focusing on Joel's Army groups are from conservative Evangelical Christian groups in the US opposed to the movement; very little writing in non-apologetics circles has been done until fairly recently.) Also extensively documented at http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain6.htm ibid, http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain3.htm "W. Branham's History", ibid.; http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain9.htm "William Branham's basic beliefs" ibid.}

_{7) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/4/102528/740 "Dominionism as a coercive religious movement (part 3)", self, 4 October 2006; also some discussion on this by Jeff Sharlet, "Soldiers of Christ", Harper's Magazine, May 2005 (Internet Archive copy at http://web.archive.org/web/20070307090843rn_1/www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist-20061103288348488.html) in regards to New Life Church of Colorado Springs. Also discussed in part in "A history of Dominion/'Kingdom Now'/Restoration Theology" and "Dominionism as a coercive religious movement (part 2)". The general neopentecostal/"Joel's Army" concept of territorial "marking" is discussed at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/1/14/232742/509 "Senate 'annointer' curses WV mine families", self, 14 January 2006 (in relation to imprecatory prayers and an attempt to "name and claim" the Chambers of the US Senate by a Joel's Army group).}

_{8) A plethora of links on this are at Eastern Regional Watch (http://www.erwm.com/Latter%20Rain.htm), a conservative Christian organisation opposed to Joel's Army groups. Explicit description of the "fivefold ministry" in regards to Joel's Army groups is available at http://tinyurl.com/fivefoldministry "Fivefold Ministry Makes A Comeback", Christian Research Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1 (1999); http://www.cephasministry.com/toronto_background_of_holy_laughter.html "Background to the Holy Laughter Movement", Tom and Sheila Smith; http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rseaborn/New_Apostolic_Reformation.html "The New Apostolic Reformation", Orrel Steinkamp (particularly relevant re Wagner-lineage Joel's Army groups and Assemblies/"Australian Community Churches" linked Joel's Army groups); http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/24/82239/9750 "The Lions In The Pews", Ruth (of New Apostolic Reformation Research Team), 24 September 2008; http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10167 "Christian Fundamentalism Permeates The Republican Party: Sarah Palin's Links to the Christian Right", F. William Engdahl, Global Research, 12 September 2008; http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/8/114332/7479/Front_Page/Sarah_Palin_s_Demon_Haunted_Churches_The_Complete_Edition "Sarah Palin's Demon Haunted Churches: The Complete Edition", Bruce Wilson (of NARRT), 8 September 2008 (of note, NARRT is probably the sole secular group doing fulltime research on Joel's Army groups, and in the nature of full disclosure I do resarch for NARRT); http://www.discernment-ministries.org/content/dominionism-and-rise-christian-imperialism "Dominionism and the Rise of Christian Imperialism", Sara Leslie, Discernment Ministries (of note, Sara Leslie is also a walkaway and now operates an anti-Joel's Army apologetics group). C. Peter Wagner himself is shown to make direct reference to the concept of the "Fivefold Ministry" in http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/12/28/13255/764 "C. Peter Wagner Fights The 'Religious Spirit'", Bruce Wilson (of NARRT), 28 December 2008.}

_{9) Numerous examples of this exist that have been documented on websites of walkaways and parties critical of Joel's Army theology, particularly the use of the term "in the river" as a eupehemism for being "manifesting". An example of an ex-Assemblies of God minister who was expelled from the denomination for raising concerns re spiritual abuse related to Joel's Army groups has compiled a list of articles regarding this (http://www.timefortruth.com/ForYourSpirit/StateOfChurch.aspx), and another site has noted that criticism of pastors is generally not allowed (http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/the-new-revival-characteristics-the-third-wave-outpouring/?referer=sphere_related_content/); I myself have noted this as a defining characteristic of these groups in http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/11/24/235826/75 "Dominionism and Coercive Tactics (part 1)", self, 24 Nov 2005 and http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/11/21/103824/67 "Dominionist groups as coercive religious groups?", self, 21 Nov 2005. Documentation of these tactics by recently disgraced Joel's Army promoter Todd Bentley is noted at http://www.letusreason.org/Latradir.htm (Let Us Reason Ministries' extensive archive on Latter Rain and "Joel's army" promoters); Jacob Prasch has also attempted (unfortunately without much success) to stop the steeplejack of the entire Australian A/G by NAR promoters (http://www.hnlc.org.au/rensford/toronto_footnotes.htm).}

_{Groups in the Assemblies targeting youth seem to be especially "NAR-infected" in this manner and there are indications the denomination as a whole has been well and truly taken over by the NAR proponents (particularly damning info on this at http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/youthalive.html from "Deception In The Church"); the same site has descriptions of the Brownsville A/G "Pensacola Outpouring" (a major Joel's Army revival in the 90s) at http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/pensacola.html including resignation statements of deacons forced out of their own churches by NAR proponents, and info on the "Third Wave" branding of Joel's Army theology at http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/gen_thirdw.html including, again, information from walkaways including a former Assemblies pastor in the UK (http://christian-witness.org/pdf/TheUK%20Assembliesof%20God-ADifferentMovementwiththeSameName.pdf "The UK Assemblies of God: A Different Movement With The Same Name", Phillip L. Powell, Christian Witness Ministries, October 2008). Of particular note here with this last article is revelation that the Assemblies of God as a whole apparently have a book, "The Seduction of Christianity" by Dave Hunt (which is critical of Joel's Army theology from a conservative Christian perspective), on its list of books officially forbidden for members or pastors to read; there are indications that C. Peter Wagner's works are also being given official sanction on a denomination-wide level.}

_{10) http://www.coos.org.sg/resource/index.php?coospg=ce2008/ce2008janmay.html Church Of Our Saviour "Cell Edification Notes", with 14 March and 11 April lectures entitled "Heaven's Red Packet" (http://www.coos.org.sg/resource/index.php?coospg=ce2008/ce2008janmay.html#14mar); the notes for the 14 March lecture are especially egregrious in this regard (http://www.coos.org.sg/resource/ce2008/cenote_20080314_a_people_of_blessing_pt2.pdf). Of note, these are lesson plans designed for use by "cell church" leaders for cell churches, and similar appropriations of "gifting holidays" have tended to occur with NAR groups (including Christmas, New Years Day in eastern Europe, and Ephiphany/"Los Tres Reyes" (Three Kings' Day) in Spanish-speaking countries).}

_{11) A far more in-depth discussion of "deliverance ministry" is included at "Dominionism and coercive tactics, part 2" (link above); of note, experts in coercive religious groups have made direct comparisons between tactics common in groups using "deliverance ministry" and those used in the Church of Scientology, a group considered so coercive and such a threat to public safety that it is banned in Germany under its laws against extremist organisations. A very in-depth discussion of these coercive tactics in practice is included in Sharlet's article "Soldiers of Christ" (link above), and also at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/9/511990/-A-weekend-at-Hagees-Jesus-Camp-for-grownups and http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/10/511810/-God-of-Chunder:-McCains-spiritual-advisor-will-make-you-puke,-literally. self, May 9-10 2008 (and based in part on information from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke/1 Matt Taibbi, "Jesus Made Me Puke", Rolling Stone, 1 May 2008 and excerpted from Taibbi, The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire, Spiegel & Grau, 2008).}

_{12) Sources regarding sub-Saharan Africa and "spiritual warfare" campaigns include: http://tinyurl.com/muthee1 "Palin, dominionist intimidation, and actual witch-hunters", self, 22 Sep 2008; http://timesonline.typepad.com/uselections/2008/09/palin-linked-el.html Hannah Strange, "WBLG: Palin linked electoral success to prayer of Kenyan witchhunter", Times Online, 16 Sep 2008;http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2008/09/15/sarah-palin-and-the-thomas-muthee-witch-hunt/ "Sarah Palin and the Thomas Muthee Witch Hunt", J.Clifford, Irregular Times, 15 Sep 2008; http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0923/p15s1.html "Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping', prayer", Jane Lampman, Christian Science Monitor, 23 Sep 1999; http://www.choicesforliving.com/spirit/part4/kenya.htm "The power of prayer over witchcraft", Choices for Living (pro-Joel's Army magazine), undated; http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/946438.html (archive of "Christianity vs. the Old Gods of Nigeria", Dulue Mbachu (via AP), 4 Sep 2007).}

_{Documentation of destruction of cultural artifacts and "witch hunts" in Guatemala include: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/20/171755/145/Front_Page/Palin_Muthee_and_the_Witch_Journalists_Miss_the_Major_Story "Palin, Muthee and the Witch: Journalists Miss The Major Story", Ruth (of NARRT), 20 Sep 2008; http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2004/05/31/doug-giles%E2%80%99s-brother-in-law-wants-men-to-fight-demons/ "Doug Giles' Brother-in-law Wants Men To Fight Demons", Bartholomew's Notes on Religion, 31 May 2004; http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/20/2406/2232/786/259560 "Rios Montt, Yonggi Cho, New Life, and the strange history of dominionist juntas", self, 19 Oct 2006; http://dogemperor.livejournal.com/122935.html "Guatemala: a case history of dominionist hell", self, 7 April 2007 (and sourced in part from "Accounting for fundamentalisms", Martin E. Marty, R. Scott Appleby, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, University of Chicago Press, 2004; in particular chapter 5 of this book, "'Jesus Is Lord of Guatemala': Evangelical Reform in a Death-Squad State", David Stoll; pp99-100 describes an incident where members of the Joel's Army linked El Shaddai attempted destruction of a pre-Columbian monument to Quetzalcoatl; in a perhaps ironic footnote, Quetzalcoatl aka Kukulcan is the god of learning and enlightenment in most Mesoamerican mythologies).}

_{Examples in the US include, again, Sharlet's "Soldiers of Christ" (link above) and numerous book-burnings (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/21/400793/-Albus-Dumbledore-publically-outed;-dominionist-apoplectic-fits-imminent and http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/12/596291/-More-info-comes-out-on-Palin-and-dominionism,-Armageddon,-and-book-bans to list but two major categories of examples); in the case of a pastor in the Wasilla, AK area who authored a book entitled "Pastor, I'm Gay" (designed to assist mainstream Christian pastors with assisting LGBT parishoners) the local Joel's Army groups (heavily active in the area since the 1960s) went to the point of harassment of bookstores and attempts at picketing the pastor's home and church (personal communication with author Howard Bess as well as http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6554706&articleid=CA6594759 and http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5766173&page=1).}

_{Of note, this is one example where a direct parallel can be made to the tactics of another extremist group in a different Abrahamic faith, namely, the Taleban and its destruction in 2001 of the famous Buddhas of Bamyan, Afghanistan (one of the very few "Western-style" representations of Buddhas known to have survived to that period) by order of a fatwa declaring them "idols"; this is precisely the same argument used in "deliverance ministry" NAR-linked groups to justify destruction of cultural artifacts.}

_{13) Cases targeting adults are well known; aside from the information in "Dominionism and coercive tactics, part 2" there are numerous court cases resulting from attempted neopente "exorcisms" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/17/11272/3341/129/358866 "'Deliverance', involuntary exorcisms, and abuse", self, 17 Jul 2007 just covers a few of these including the Laura Schubert case, now heading to the US Supreme Court). Other notable examples described include http://www.skepticfiles.org/fw/exorcist.htm Skipp Porteous, "The exorcist", Walk Away Magazine, undated (and this is, sadly, typical of such an "exorcism" in a cell church). Exit counselor Rick Ross in particular has dealt with several cases of persons requiring inpatient hospitalisation due to severe PTSD and mental breakdowns resulting from "exorcisms" of this sort (http://www.rickross.com/reference/about/about2.html Interview w/ Ross, Walk Away Magazine, Summer 1990); not noted in the interview with Ross is the fact that Phoenix First Assembly is the largest Assemblies of God church in the US and operates its own "faith based detox center" chain called Dream Center.}

_{On occasion, "exorcisms" and even imprecatory prayers--prayers designed for the explicit purpose of cursing someone to suffer until conversion or death--are done using the names or belongings of targets (an example noted at http://www.talk2action.org/comments/2006/1/6/103519/9115/11?mode=alone;showrate=1#11 "'Annointing' as territorial marks", self, 6 Jan 2006 and http://www.talk2action.org/comments/2006/1/6/103519/9115/19?mode=alone;showrate=1#19 describes the general theory; I have personally witnessed this type of "praying over" someone numerous times). This has, in Joel's Army circles, included claims that their imprecatory prayers led to the death of Mother Theresa (http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/20/195730/89).}

_{Cases targeting children are particularly egregrious and include: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/09/tracymcveigh.theobserver Tracy McVeigh, "Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt", originally printed in The Observer, 9 Dec 2007; http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/01/30/kurt_belief_law_feature.shtml (BBC articles summary regarding child abuse cases related to Joel's Army churches targeting West African emigre communities in the UK); http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_exor5.htm (Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance report on the Joel's Army related child abuse crisis in the UK and sub-Saharan Africa); http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR750.pdf (British public aid agency document on how to spot religiously motivated child abuse); it is estimated by some resources that upwards of fifteen known cases of "exorcism related death" occur in the United States yearly and probably far more cases go unreported (especially if figures from the UK's working group at Scotland Yard who reported 50 cases of exorcism-related child abuse are anything to go by).}

_{It can also be argued that the majority of cases of "religiously motivated" child abuse, and its general promotion, are intimately linked with the promotion of "deliverance ministry" as a whole (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/370953/-Dominionism-and-child-abuse,-part-1 and http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/14/371430/-Dominionism-and-child-abuse,-part-2 note several popular promoters of "Bible-based baby beating" that explicitly promote caning of children as young as six months old using "deliverance ministry" as an explicit reasoning).}

_{The problem of religiously motivated child abuse, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where much abuse is directly linked to NAR "revivals" in these countries, is severe enough that a dedicated NGO (RISE International: http://www.riseinternationalcic.org/) has been formed specifically to assist these children with their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US is presently the sole UN member with a functional government that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, explicitly due to political pressure by "religious right" and "Christian nationalist" groups who legitimately fear lawsuits under the Convention (specifically over cases of religiously motivated child abuse) and who claim the Convention will "take away the right of parents to discipline their children" (documented http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/15/371898/-Dominionism-and-child-abuse,-part-3:-Why-they-arent-in-jail "Dominionism and Child Abuse, part 3: Why they aren't in jail", self, 15 Aug 2007); even Somalia's provisional government as well as the provisional governments of the unrecognised Somali breakaway countries of Puntland and Somaliland have agreed in principle to ratify the Convention once their governments are recognised or the country is sufficiently stable. NAR-linked "Christian Nationalist" groups are also behind moves in Australia and New Zealand to call for these countries to revoke their ratification of the Convention (in exactly the same way that North Korea "revoked" its ratification of the Convention on Non-Prolifieration of Nuclear Weapons).}

_{14) Porteous' "The exorcist" (ibid.) notes a case of suicide; Rick Ross (ibid.) has noted cases of suicides and inpatient hospitalisation; Laura Schubert (noted in "Deliverance, involuntary exorcism and abuse" ibid.) has longterm PTSD that is disabling; and Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance have noted a very conservative note of 15 reported deaths yearly from exorcisms of children in the US (other NGOs, such as RISE International, estimate the numbers are far higher; possibly thousands in sub-Saharan Africa alone). A particularly sad and infamous case here in the States of what could be worse than suicide is the eventual "mental breakdown with automatic weapons" of Matthew Murray, who was a regular on several walkaway forums, particularly those for survivors of NAR promoter Bill Gothard's coercive groups; Murray had been raised under Gothard's extremely coercive tactics and was involved with Youth With A Mission when he started having psychotic PTSD manifestations (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/14/421737/-Matthew-Murray:-an-American-tragedy and http://tinyurl.com/murray2 "Matthew Murray: An American Tragedy" series, self, 14-17 Dec 2007; in the interest of full disclosure, I was a regular of one of the walkaway boards Murray was a member of and hence saw the full reality of what happened).}

_{This is, of course, completely aside from the near epidemic of LGBT kids who are forced out of their homes (either kicked out or forced to flee for their lives) in the US, largely from homes where "Joel's Army" theology is promoted. It is estimated according to an increasing number of studies that LGBT youth in the US have close to a 30 percent suicide rate (http://www.outproud.org/article_suicide.html and Mays,V.M. & Cochran, S.D. (2001). Mental health correlates of perceived discrimination among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 91(11), 1869-76), and that this may be a conservative estimate due to kids in "Joel's Army" households remaining closeted until the time of their death; the virulently anti-LGBT rhetoric in Joel's Army churches, including involuntary "outings" of gay youth for public "exorcisms", surely has much to do with this. Kids who are LGBT and who grow up in anti-LGBT religious groups (and Joel's Army groups are easily among some of the most virulently anti-LGBT groups ever documented) are known to be at higher risk for suicide even compared to most LGBT youth. Interestingly, Joel's Army groups including frontgroups for Campus Crusade for Christ try to debunk this info (http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/labarbera.html). Upwards of 20-40 percent of homeless youth in the US identify as LGBT (versus the estimated number of people in the US identifying as LGBT as a percentage being around 1 to 2 percent), indicating a lot of LGBT kids are having to flee their homes for safety or are being kicked out (http://www.thetaskforce.org/blog/20070130-jason-cianciotto-lgbt-youth-homelessness and http://www.wcsap.org/pdf/RAD%207-1.pdf) and in some areas the problem is regarded as sufficiently serious that specialised LGBT-friendly youth homeless shelters are in operation (http://www.aliforneycenter.org/resources.html being but one example).}

_{The fear of abuse is legitimate; in addition to religiously motivated child abuse and abusive "exorcisms", there also exists a system of "faith based rehabs" and "degaying centers" which children are often forced into involuntarily (and often subjected to exorcism-related abuse within). Exorcism-related abuse has been documented at all three Assemblies-operated "faith based mental health centre" chains, notably with Mercy Ministries (http://www.mercysurvivors.com as well as http://ruinedbymercy.co.cc/ and http://mmoa2.blogspot.com/ particularly have information) and Teen Challenge (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/27/503961/-Teen-Challenge:-Coercive-groups-disguised-as-rehab and in general http://teenchallengecult.blogspot.com/2008/05/daily-kos-dogemperor-teen-challenge.html) but similar reports also exist re Dream Center indicating a systemic problem. The "Joel's Army mental health system", of note, includes almost an entire "parallel mental health network" designed as an alternative to legitimate psychiatric care (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/27/363063/-Dominionisms-parallel-economy,-part-4:-Dominionist-social-services); this may in fact have been a direct contributing factor to the murder-suicide of Matthew Murray, as his only options for psychiatric care were Joel's Army "theophostic counselors" rather than legitimate psychiatrists) and as a direct result he disregarded the advice of multiple members of walkaway communities to seek professional help for his increasingly violent thoughts.}

_{15) http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/10/06/1960547-thomas-muthees-seven-mountains-and-coded-messages and http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/10/07/1963800-seven-mountains-and-the-joels-army-plan-for-takeover in particular (self, Oct. 6-7 2008). Some of the initial documentation of "Seven Mountains" strategy has been noted by Bruce Wilson (of NARRT) in http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/24/13112/0816 "In Video, Pastor Annoints Palin, Urges 'Infiltration' of Schools, Government, Business" (24 Sep 2008). Joel's Army sites explicitly promoting "Seven Mountains" strategy include the site "Reclaim Seven Mountains", used as source material for "Seven Mountains and the Joel's Army Plan for Takeover" (http://www.reclaim7mountains.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=41538&columnid=4347).}

_{16) "Dominionism as a coercive movement, part 3" (link above); http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/21/519046/-Joels-Army-and-omnicide-in-the-name-of-God "Joel's Army and omnicide in the name of God", 21 May 2008; http://web.archive.org/web/20071220065238/http://www.pawcreek.org/articles/endtimes/DominionTheologyandJoelsArmy.htm "Dominion Theology and Joel's Army", Paw Creek Ministries, undated (via Internet Archive); http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain10.htm "Joel's Army", Let Us Reason, undated; http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain11.htm "A New Thing", ibid; http://www.onlinethoughts.com/Prophesies/vision_of_the_harvest.htm "A Vision of the Harvest by Rick Joyner", "Online Thoughts" (a pro-Joel's Army site) and excerpted from Joyner's The Harvest. "Joel's Army and omnicide in the name of God" gives much more detail on how the Phinehas reference is a very nasty coded phrase.}

_{17) Noted in context of hardline Joel's Army groups partnering with far-right orgs linked to domestic terrorism in http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/10/10638/489/534/255752 "Racists and dominionists, part 2: a true gallery of rogues" (self, 10 October 2006); Christian Identity groups known to use "Phinehas Priesthood" imagery for racist domestic terrorism noted by Anti-Defamation League (http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/an_phineas.asp). There is some evidence that both Joyner and Christian Identity promoters may have used the same source for the term, namely Richard Kelly Hoskins' "Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood" ("Dominion Theology and Joel's Army"); Hoskins' book is a manifesto for Christian Identity proponents to commit domestic terrorism, indicating very close links yet exist between racialist "Christian Identity" promoters and Joel's Army despite claims of "interracial reconciliation". Of particularly disturbing note, the book explicitly calls for the killing of LGBT people and interracial couples.}

_{18) Most extensively noted in http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/4/366484/-Dominionisms-parallel-economy,-part-8:-Dominionism-and-the-Scofield-Reference-Bible "Dominionism's 'parallel economy', part 8: Dominionism and the Scofield Reference Bible", self, 3 August 2007.}

_{19) The term "Corporate Christ" had its earliest origin in the writings of Watchmen Nee (and has been continued in the writings of his protege Witness Lee, particularly the book "Life-study of Exodus"); it can be seen as an alternate branding of what has been termed "Manifest Sons of God" theology (http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c137.html). (Joel's Army theology has undergone numerous renamings, including "Manchild Company" and the modern rebrandings of "Elijah's Army" and "Gideon's Army".) In Joel's Army circles, this is termed nowadays the "corporate church" (http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c138.html) and essentially teaches that the church essentially is the Second Coming, or at least triggers it.}

_{C. Peter Wagner explicitly uses the term "corporate church" in his book Freedom from the Religious Spirit (Gospel Light, 2005); this book essentially claims that all "denominational" churches--all those outside the Joel's Army "post-denominational" movement--are literally possessed by the demon of "religion" and must be "exorcised" forcibly. The term also has been used by lesser-known Joel's Army proponents, explicitly in the context of steeplejacking mainstream Christian churches (http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/discernment/3-28-networking-church-3.htm discusses its use by Peter Whitehouse among others, and http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/thirdwaveteachings.html notes its promotion in early Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God writings). Sarah Leslie, a noted expert on Joel's Army and a walkaway herself (who still writes extensively for Christian audiences warning about Joel's Army), has documented that cell churches are an essential part of this model and that the concept of the "corporate church" can be said to be core theology of these groups (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/cellcurch.html "Notes On Analysis Of The Cell Church Model", Sarah Leslie, Christian Conscience, 1999).}

_{20) Described in "Dominionism and coercive tactics, part 3" in large part, as well as "Seven Mountains and the Joel's Army plan for takeover". The aggressive targeting of government in particular is described at (http://firstplumbline.blogspot.com/2008/04/deceptions-of-matt-willson-and-hope-08.html) and (http://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/2008-the-year-of-the-great-shift/?referer=sphere_related_content/).}

_{21) Joel's Army promoter Shawn Bolz has apparently labeled Singapore specifically as a targeted "spiritual gate", particularly in the field of animation--which is rather bizarre as Singapore is not exactly internationally known for anime (http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/angels-angels-angels-index/ and comment 3). C. Peter Wagner has explicitly set up in Singapore under the belief that it was a "gate" since at least 2000 and documentably far earlier (http://www.cephasministry.com/apostles_c_peter_wagners_endorsements.html); also noted in http://www.intotruth.org/res/latterrain.pdf "Annointing or Apostasy? The Latter Rain Legacy", Charles S. Graves, pp.91) There are indications, particularly a "prophecy" by Rick Joyner on "Elijah List", that indicate that quite possibly all former British colonial holdings in the East Indies are being targeted as "gates", including Sydney (a known Joel's Army hotspot and headquarters of Hillsong Community Church) and Hong Kong (also experiencing its own problems with a "Joel's Army" invasion) per (http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=645).}

_{22) Fred Clark's reviews are at his website (http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/index.html); reviews so far include up to the second (in sixteen) books in the series. Other reviews of books in the series exist, a brief list including: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/11/0080291 "The apocalypse will be televised: Armageddon in an age of entertainment", Gene Lyons, Harper's, November 2004 (including excerpts from the final book of the series, "Glorious Appearing", featuring people literally exploding and Jesus riding literally hip-deep in the blood and gore of the dead); http://girardianlectionary.net/res/left_behind_resacralizing_violence.htm "Re-Sacralizing Violence in the Left Behind Books", Girardian Lectionary, 18 May 2004 (also including other excerpts from the same section of "Glorious Appearing"); http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Books/2004/04/Killer-Ending.aspx "Killer Ending", Paul O'Donnell, BeliefNet, April 2004 (again, focusing on the gory-as-all-getout "Glorious Appearing" and including excerpts).}

_{There is also a considerable media empire surrounding the "Left Behind" "Joel's Army endtime fanfic" series including a series of movies, a spinoff series aimed at children, and a highly controversial video game called "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"; this game is referred to in part in "Joel's Arm and omnicide in the name of God", and discussed in far more detail on the "Religious War" section on Talk to Action (http://www.talk2action.org/section/religious_war). Especially controversially, the game (a strategy RPG which included literal "convert or die" options) was designed to be marketed to children as young as six years of age and was to have been marketed in megachurches. The producers have also attempted "SLAPPs"--the lawsuit equivalent of "Shut up and sit down"--against parties who have done negative reviews of the game (http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/10/12/161855/92).}

_{23) Most extensively noted in http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/4/366484/-Dominionisms-parallel-economy,-part-8:-Dominionism-and-the-Scofield-Reference-Bible "Dominionism's 'parallel economy', part 8: Dominionism and the Scofield Reference Bible", self, 3 August 2007; also noted specifically by Fred Clark in wonderful fashion (http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/05/tf-bible-studies.html "TF: Bible Studies", 15 May 2009 in noting the leaps and bounds used to promote the very theology fictionalised in "Tribulation Force").}

_{24) Multiple examples noted already, but those wishing to get an eyeful can visit the site directly at http://www.elijahlist.com (assuming it's not already been blocked); there is also the (saner for one's sanity) option of reading the NARRT report (http://www.talk2action.org.nyud.net/pages/docs/Transformation.pdf). Let Us Reason also has compiled a report on the extensive role played by Elijah List in promotion of Joel's Army theology and "prophecies" (http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain36.htm "The ElijahList: the biggest distributor of false prophecies in hyperspace", Sandy Simpson, Let Us Reason, April 2008).}

_{25) Bruce Wilson (of NARRT) (http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/4/13/195435/702/Front_Page/NAR_Show_and_Tell_Bianca_Decries_Joel_s_Army_amp_New_Apostolic_Militancy and http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1273 and http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/4/5/172139/5062/Front_Page/The_Renewalist_Christian_Explosion_Worldwide) via "World Christian Trends, AD 30-AD 2200" (David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, Christoper R. Guidry, Peter F. Crossing, William Carey Library, 2001) beginning on page 299. Also explicitly noted by René Holvast, http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2008-0710-200706/holvast.pdf "Spiritual Mapping in the United States and Argentina, 1989-2005: A Geography of Fear" (Brill Publishing, 2009 and originally published as dissertation for the University of Utrecht, 2005), excerpts used by NARRT in "Transformations" expose ibid; Alix Spiegel, http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=77 National Public Radio programme "This American Life", 26 Sep 1997 and reaired 12 October 2001 (of disturbing note, Spiegel notes she had to undergo informal exit counseling during the course of researching New Life Church for the programme); Phillip Jenkins, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200210/jenkins "The Next Christianity", The Atlantic, October 2001; Jane Lampman, "Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping' and prayer", CSM, 23 September 1999, link previously noted; http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0916/p11s1.html "Operation Prayer", ibid, 16 Sep 1999--among many others (it can be legitimately argued that all of the numerous conservative Christian apologetics sites who have the most information regarding "Joel's Army" groups--largely to keep their own Evangelical churches from steeplejacking by "Joel's Army--definitely count in this regard as well).}

Thanks to a few Singaporean friends (who shall remain anonymous), I had become aware of a disturbing development--an attempted hijack of a major women's NGO. Through those same folks and Fred Clarkson's post on the AWARE EGM vote, I also found that the takeover of AWARE--something I describe as a "steeplejack" because of its similarities to hijacking-from-within of churches--would seem to have been averted for now. (Unfortunately, I've also read via various Singaporean sources that the same folks in question seem to be attempting to challenge AWARE's educational programs in the schools in a remarkably identical manner to how US groups like FotF operate.)

Several of us in the general anti-dominionist community here in the States have founded a bit of a research group on "Joel's Army" groups (also known as "Elijah's Army" or "New Apostolic Reformation" or "Third Wave" groups), and we'd noticed something was odd in Singapore.

The AWARE steeplejacking scandal has brought some new, and distressing, info to the surface--namely, that a Joel's Army insurgency has been festering in Singapore for at least thirty-five years and possibly closer to 45...and it is being aided and abbetted primarily by groups from the US, South Korea, and Australia.

(Note: This article has also been posted in slightly expanded format at the Singaporean independent news site Wayang Party; commentary from experts on political "Christian nationalist" groups in the comments or guest articles are always appreciated.)

Some necessary backgrounder, or a brief Dominionism 101

A little backgrounder is necessary in discussion of these groups to understand the full threat. This is an area that even a lot of "religious right" experts in the US are not all that familiar with; those of us who focus on Joel's Army-related groups are a pretty small community. That said, let us begin.

The term that is increasingly in use regarding the "religious right" in the US is "dominionist"--referring to a specific theology that largely originated in Assemblies of God and Foursquare churches back in the 30s and independently in some "independent fundamentalist Baptist" groups.

Put very succinctly: These groups feel they have a literal mandate from God to take over the world--including governments and all institutions of society--by any means necessary. The reasons do vary--the groups descended from pentecostal and "charismatic" (more properly termed "neopentecostal") denominations and parachurches tend to couch it in terms of countries or nations being at risk of "losing God's blessing". Some groups go further than this--seeing themselves literally as proxies of God's will.

What we know now as "Joel's Army" or the "New Apostolic Reformation" has actually had multiple names (they don't even use the term "Joel's Army" very much anymore, preferring "Elijah's Army") and is part of a movement originally known as "Latter Rain" and "Manifest Sons of God" that originated in revival movements in the 30s and 40s. Some of the claims coming out of these groups were so ludicrous that the Assemblies of God officially disavowed any groups using the terms "Latter Rain" in 1948...after which most went to parachurch organisations and splinter groups, or simply promoted the same things in the Assemblies without using those terms.

As a result, we essentially have three different lineages of "Joel's Army" groups. The first, and the oldest, is a branch connected with the parachurch Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth With A Mission. Campus Crusade originated some of the initial strategies for taking over secular groups and other churches including the use of what I have termed "cuckoo churches" (so named after the breeding habits of cuckoos, who lay their eggs in other birds' nests and cause the young of the "foster parents" to starve and die as the cuckoo chick literally crowds the other chicks out of the nest)--"cell churches" set up in mainstream Christian churches like the Anglicans, meant to convert everyone from within until the church is a de facto neopentecostal church. YWAM also developed a fair amount of the "internal mythology" of these groups--including concepts regarding "spiritual warfare" and particularly a "fifty year plan" for takeover called the "Seven Mountains Strategy".

A second lineage consists of Assemblies of God-linked groups that promote NAR theology. One of the major groups promoting this is the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International; another notable figure is Paul Yonggi Cho aka David Yonggi Cho who has been spreading "Third Wave Madness" since the fifties (and who ran the Assemblies worldwide through most of the 90s, and who is still a major figure in the denomination thanks to the fact he runs the world's largest megachurch). Still another link in the "Assemblies-NAR chain" is the Australian Community Churches (the renaming of the Australian Assemblies of God) and in particular Hillsong Community Church; essentially the entirety of the Assemblies in Australia has gone hardcore "Joel's Army", has its own political party, and (notoriously) has been connected to abuse of women in a "faith based rehab" chain it operates including reports that depression was attempted to be cured by lay "exorcisms". (This is highly irregular in most Christian churches, by the way.)

A third lineage--increasingly associated with Singapore's "religious right"--is that of a "postdenominational" movement linked to C. Peter Wagner and his International Coalition of Apostles. These folks are among the most hardcore of the "Joel's Army" folks; Wagner and fellow NAR promoter Rick Joyner coined the phrase "Joel's Army" (and abandoned it when mainstream and conservative evangelical Christian groups in the US picked up on the phrase and started warning folks about the NAR groups), attempt to convert churches from within even more aggressively than the Assemblies-linked groups and parachurch orgs, and outright see themselves as proxies for the will of God. Possibly the most complete resource that's been written so far for a secular audience is a major dossier composed by the research group I am a part of, the "New Apostolic Reformation Research Team".

And it is essentially this--and in particular the "Wagner branch"--that we're dealing with in regards to Singapore's growing "religious right".

In the case of Singapore, there is a minor complication in that a "Christian nationalist" group more associated with Southern Baptists here in the US also seems to be involved and partnering with Joel's Army groups; however, this does match a pattern seen in other countries, notably Australia.

The gallery of rogues

With this, we can now focus on the actual rogues who seem to be bringing this into Singapore.

Based on a list of megachurches in Singapore that was forwarded via a sympathetic contact, I was able to do some evaluations of these groups--and found (to my horror) that literally every megachurch in Singapore is connected to NAR groups. This is, of course, discounting the "LOVE Singapore" org, which in and of itself is linked to NAR promoter and Wagner "apostle" Ed Silvoso.

Interestingly, we can also discover a wee bit of a timeline with this. No less than three separate and distinct "NAR injections" seem to have occured in the past:

1) An early "invasion" (of which, so far, the earliest record I can find is 1963) involving groups linked to "nondenominational" neopentecostal churches. The "Patient Zero" here would be Church of Singapore; the church seems to have been founded from a number of ex-members of denominations that are not historically part of the pentecostal movement and generally have not had charismatic movements--indicating that there may have been an earlier attempt to target mainstream Christian churches from within. (In particular, Church of Singapore promotes a program called "Growing Kids God's Way" that has been linked to hospitalisations and even deaths of children and is pretty well only promoted in hardline Joel's Army and "independent fundamentalist Baptist" groups.)

2) The "big invasion" proper (and second wave of expansion) started in 1975 with a veritable flood of NAR-linked groups. Notable churches in Singapore and the parties they're linked to include: Covenant Evangelical Free Church (itself spawned from another "evangelical free church" and part of a parachurch/paradenomination group that promotes NAR theology in a wide variety of churches and is connected with the US-based NAR groups Navigators and Promise Keepers as well as LOVE Singapore); Victory Family Centre (founded in 1978 and connected with LOVE Singapore and Youth With A Mission; their head pastor is now head of LOVE Singapore per religious magazine articles); Lighthouse Evangelism (founded by members of a "cuckoo church" that had tried to steeplejack a mainstream Presbyterian church), and the founding of LOVE Singapore itself by Ed Silvoso.

3) Wave 3 started around the mid-80s and is a mix of Wagner-linked "postdenominational" groups and Assemblies-linked NAR groups-and particularly Australian Assemblies of God churches.

It's important to know why the "Aussie Connection" is particularly of interest. The home church of the Australian Community Churches (what used to be known as the Australian Assemblies of God) is Hillsong Community Church; it is the de facto denominational headquarters in that country, and the organisational setup is such that essentially all ACC churches are essentially satellite congregations of Hillsong. (This is quite common in NAR churches.)

Notable figures and churches include COOS itself (possibly steeplejacked during this period or later) and--disturbingly, considering that COOS is apparently a Anglican "in name only" church steeplejacked by an Assemblies-linked "cuckoo church"--Kong Hee of City Harvest Church. Hee himself would appear to have been recruited into Paul Yonggi Cho's network at about this time (Hee was formerly an Anglican but is not only head of a de facto Yoido Full Gospel satellite but is linked to a massive network of Australian A/G-linked churches throughout the East Indies; reportedly he was recruited by Bethany Christian Centre in Singapore out of http://www.charismanews.com/a.php?ArticleID=8559">general a dispute that led him to being an Anglican missionary and eventually an Assemblies youth pastor). This is indicative of something rather disturbing--especially in light of other things going on such as the steeplejack of HTB in England; namely, a concerted effort by NAR groups to specifically target Anglican churches for subversion from within.

Other notable NAR-linked groups that were established in this era,and the parties they're linked to: New Creation Church (founded 1985, and for all intents and purposes is a daughter church of Hillsong and maintains close partnerships with the infamous Australian church); Faith Community Baptist Church (founded in 1986 and not really Baptist in any sense of the word; its actual affiliation is small NAR denomination called G12 that is part of Wagner's network of "postdenominational" churches and whose pastor is listed as a member of Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles); Trinity Christian Center (founded by Naomi Dowdy who is mentored by C. Peter Wagner and whose main pastor is also an ICA member); Jesus Lives Church (founded 1986 and whose pastor is in the ICA directory--and who explicitly invokes NAR theology about Singapore being some sort of "spiritual gate" that must be secured, hence the probable reason for the country's targeting), and likely many, many others. (Reportedly no less than 40 churches in Singapore participated in the "Transformation 2009" conference.)

More damning info re COOS and Joel's Army

As if that weren't enough, the "feminist" solicitor now acknowledged as the "brains behind the attempted hijack" of AWARE may have thrown up the biggest signal yet of their Joel's Army allegiances.

Specifically, it would appear (as has been reported in Wayang Today) that Thio Su Mien has been published on the "Elijah List" website as claiming SARS was divine retribution and that an "intercessory prayer team" saved Singapore from the Boxing Day Tsunami.

This gets considerably more disturbing if you know anything about "Elijah List".

"Elijah List" is, quite possibly, the main conduit and online meeting place for Joel's Army and NAR supporters and promoters. (In fact, we researchers ourselves use it--as a method of intelligence on NAR groups.) The list was founded in the 90s as a mailinglist for NAR promotion by Steve Schultz; the mailinglist and its website serve as the semi-official mouthpiece for C. Peter Wagner's branch of Joel's Army and Wagner's "International Coalition of Apostles"--and certainly as a major advertising point for their conferences. In fact, they outright promote Wagner as well as Rick Joyner and a veritable "who's who" of the Joel's Army movement.

Generally, you don't get promoted or mentioned on Elijah List unless you are, shall we say, a veritable celebrity in Joel's Army circles and have friends among Wagner's buddies. The entire purpose of the list is to promote NAR plans and claimed "prophecies"; much of what scuttled Sarah Palin's political career here in the States was the revelation she was being actively promoted by a "prophetess" on Elijah List.

And it would appear that Mrs. Thio the Elder is quite deep in with Wagner's circle. In the very article noted on Wayang Party, it's noted that Thio Su Mien was speaking before a conference including representatives from the US Strategic Prayer Network--a Wagner/ICA frontgroup that came to attention in research circles due to connections with the "prophetess" who was promoting Palin. Much as other NAR-linked groups are want to do, the USSPN has since changed its name--to the US Global Apostolic Prayer Network--and is blatantly "NAR nationalist". In fact, the org is naught but a front of Global Harvest Ministries--C. Peter Wagner's "main group".

In fact, that Washington-state USSPN rep may be either Burdell Austin or someone closely connected to him; he's also made such lovely statements as bragging about essentially conducting an "exorcism" of the "Queen of Heaven" (which is actually a very anti-Catholic statement; the Queen of Heaven is a term used for the Virgin Mary).

It would also appear that she--and her daughter, an appointed member of the Singaporean Parliament--also have quite the history of this sort of behaviour. A pro-NAR blog (using yet another rebranding of "Joel's Army" common in use--"Joshua Generation") notes that she and her daughter were promoting Joel's Army theology in 2007 in Singapore itself:

Drs. Thio Su Mien and Thio Li-ann (a mother and daughter team that speaks powerfully of Malachi 3:24 in the Jewish Bible and Malachi 4:6 in Gentile Bibles, of the reconciliation and working together of 2 generations) both led the charge at the Prophetic School of Law and Justice at the Marketplace Bible Institute , urging Christians to boldly and wisely speak up in the public square. We must not vacate the scene, but rather pray for God's wisdom, and equip ourselves to speak up for the Kingdom of God. We must not be silent, or retreat into compromise and the cowardice of political correctness, when it is a time to speak up. Did not the Preacher say there is a time to be silent and a time to speak? It is also written that we are to be quick to listen and slow to speak, but we must still speak up on behalf of those who cannot speak, when there is injustice or when there needs to be correction or even rebuke. See how appropriately the movie "Amazing Grace" is showing now! William Wilberforce spoke up for the abolition of slavery and was encouraged by Wesley that if God is for him, who can be against him? We pray, however, for the mature fruit of self-control or temperance, and we are to be slow to anger, because a person's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness,

It would appear that Mrs. Thio the Younger is sufficiently infamous regarding her promotion of Joel's Army theology that this is specifically mentioned in her Wikipedia entry. One wonders how many generations of the family may be involved; it's worrisome to me that she's in the Singaporean parliament at all (and it could be potentially even a national security risk) seeing as to the love for political power by these groups; Joel's Army groups took over a major political party in the US in conjunction with other "Christian nationalists", have been increasingly engaging in paramilitary imagery and paramilitary activity including frank domestic terrorism in the States (and including to the point of promoting literal Holocaust revisionism to justify progroms against LGBT people), and historically have not been above the use of coups-de-etat to gain power if necessary (notably in Guatemala during the 80s and early 90s, and Fiji from around 2000 to 2006).

And Mrs. Thio the Elder's talk at the "Marketplace Bible Institute" gains new importance with AWARE's attempted steeplejacking...and the purpose of the "institute":

*Marketplace Bible Institute Ltd* was founded with a mission to equip ordinary people called by God to become annointed and competent Marketplace Ministers. Our courses offer a balance of biblical and theological study, with a focus on contemporary issues. To cater to the time constraints of the busy marketplace minister, a greater emphasis is placed on self-study, with classroom time devoted to teaching, clarification and impartation.

About that "Marketplace Ministry"...what they're describing, flat out, is setting up front businesses that outwardly appear to be secular, but are in fact recruitment fronts for NAR churches. (The Unification Church also notably does this, and even has a name for it--"heavenly deception".)

Also, a word about those "Reconciliation committees". In NAR-speak, "Reconciliation" typically means cultural appropriation of a particularly disturbing kind--stealing the outer trappings of another faith's worship style but with a "Joel's Army" core. An example is with Youth With A Mission promoting "Messianic Moslems"--keeping Moslem cultural practices but engaging in explicitly neopentecostal worship. (More well-known in the US are groups targeting Jewish people for conversion to "Messianic Jews"; there are also "reconciliation groups" targeting Native Americans that essentially hold Joel's Army powwows in the literal sense. Even martial arts aren't sacred; "Christian tae kwon do" (stripped of all the Korean historical and mythological background and replaced with Joel's Army imagery) is promoted as a form of "reconciliation" as well.)

Yet again, we're dealing with another frontgroup. The two main international advisors are Kevin Conner and Ravi Zacharias; Zacharias is by far the more famous, linked to the pentecostal Christian and Missionary Alliance (the parent denomination of the Assemblies of God) and is connected with Campus Crusade for Christ (Leadership U is a frontgroup of Campus Crusade by its own admission--in fact, it's pretty much a training group for Campus Crusade leaders). Kevin J. Conner is connected with a far-less-known NAR group called World MAP; World MAP is notable for being one of the innovators of the use of "cuckoo" cell-churches to hijack other churches from within, the fact that it has been long a conduit for promotion of Joel's Army theology, (under its "Latter Rain" branding), and that http://www.world-map.com/FWP_Interview.htm">it's a frontgroup of the infamous Joel's Army group Youth With A Mission (yes, the same one trying to "reconcile" Moslems into "Messianic Moslems").

(Yes, if you've been following along--this does, in fact, mean that Thio Su Mien is connected intimately with all three major branches of Joel's Army groups.)

To attend this "Marketplace Bible Institute" (which would appear to be wholly unaccredited and only offers degrees in ministry), you are not only required to sign a statement of faith but must be a member of a "local church" and have a recommendation from a pastor (of note, "local church" is a common euphemism in these circles for a cell-church).

Remarkably, she seems not to mention her connections to the "Prophetic School of Law and Justice" on her profile on her legal site's page, and it appears that her legal offices in fact operate as a subsidiary of the Australian firm Allens Arthur Robinson. (Perhaps she fears it'd be bad for business.)

An additional link to American "Christian Nationalists"

One area that the steeplejackers seem to be linked to which isn't obviously NAR--but which in and of itself has some disturbing implications--is the connection to Focus on the Family.

FotF is a primarily US-based "Christian Nationalist" org--most of their work involves stumping for various political "religious right" initiatives, promoting "degaying" of LGBT youth, and promoting James Dobson's books on religiously motivated child abuse (one of which literally starts out with the beating of a small dog as an example of how to "break the spirit" of a "willful child", and another book in the series has Dobson happily recalling being literally caned with his mother's girdle).

One particular oddity that has been brought up in other sources is the fact that FotF Singapore is apparently registered as a secular nonprofit--which is almost the exact opposite of its legal status in the US.

First, a minor primer on how nonprofits work in the US. It's my understanding that in Singapore there are separate registries for religious and secular nonprofit orgs; in the US it's a little different in that we have a general "nonprofit without lobbying" category (501(c)3) with a mess of subcategories and a "nonprofit with very limited lobbying over broad issues" category (501(c)4). Even 501(c)4 orgs are not supposed to lobby for specific bills or candidates (technically, only political action committees are allowed to do this), and only donations to 501(c)3 organisations are tax exempt; most groups tend to have both orgs.

Among 501(c)3 nonprofits here, the only real difference between churches and other nonprofits (including parachurches and nondenominational religious groups) is that churches are exempt from filing any forms with the Internal Revenue Service; others file a form called a "form 990" in lieu of the regular tax forms.

"Christian nationalist" groups in the US typically organise themselves as 501(c)3 orgs, with some having 501(c)4 divisions if they've been given warnings about electioneering; however, by and large, they incorporate as secular orgs (in part to hide the fact they're explicitly religious. (And yes, almost all of what they actually do politically is illegal under the tax codes and elections laws; sadly, however, these are rarely enforced here.)

Focus on the Family, at least how it operates here, is one of the rare exceptions. Specifically (and likely to take advantage of some very favourable laws in California when it incorporated), Focus on the Family gets its 501(c)3 exemption under sections for "historical" and "nondenominational religious" groups--in fact, in the 2004 form 990 for FotF (from page 31 on) it lists its formal incorporation papers as a "religious corporation" in California. (In the US, many states require you to either be a member of a recognised denomination or--for things like nondenominational ministries or churches not part of an established denomination--to formally incorporate as a religious corporation. California is probably the easiest state in the US to do this in; FotF started out in California then moved to Colorado in the 80s.)

VERY interesting indeed. (Of course, if you look at the rest of the article re FotF's "oddities" you'll notice they have a habit of "playing not quite fair" with tax laws.)

I expect that FotF may have been registered as a secular nonprofit largely to fly under people's radar--they knew from their experiences here in the States that people do actively resist "religious right" orgs, so they were "stealthing" a bit.

All in all, it looks like the NAR and even political dominionist groups are trying the same dirty tricks in Singapore as in the US--the difference is, Singapore seems to have had a major "teachable moment" with the attempted steeplejack of AWARE.

A few days ago, I had reported onhe steeplejacking of AWARE, a women's NGO in Singapore (which effectively operates as *the* major NGO that focuses on women's issues); the rough equivalent of what happened in the US would be if (for instance) the National Organisation for Women had been taken over from within by dominionists.

Even more disturbing, the particular group in question behind the steeplejack is an NAR church that was actively implementing the steeplejacking as early as December 2008 and also had links to the SG affiliate of Focus on the Family. (And as to how deeply they were into NAR stuff--well, in essence, it's a direct "granddaughter" of none other than the infamous Hillsong Community Church in Sydney and its direct "parent" church in Perth manages to be even more outwardly extreme re NAR promotion than Hillsong itself is.)

I do have good news to report on this, fortunately.

Thanks in part to not only international publicity about the steeplejacking but some good-old-fashioned group activism (including, largely, networking via blogs including Livejournal) the dominionists are out and the "old guard" of AWARE has seized its org back:

* Motion to remove new AWARE exco from office and elect new president has been passed. Ms Josie Lau and her exco have stepped down. Former President Dana Lam has been elected President. *

THE RESULTS

3(a) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because it has not acted or is acting in the best interest of the society.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1411 Number of Votes AGAINST = 761

3(b) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because they do not appreciate or share the values of the society.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1412 Number of Votes AGAINST = 762

3(c) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because they does not have requisite experience of carrying out the society's work or is otherwise inadequate to further the society's objectives.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1419 Number of Votes AGAINST = 755

Before a formal ouster could begin, the dominionists stepped down from the leadership--this means that AWARE is, finally, back in control by its members and not by the steeplejackers.

Dominionists tried to derail, and (fortunately) met with FAIL

In addition, more info has come out regarding the integral role of the NAR-linked "Church Of Our Saviour" in the steeplejacking--further pointing to an attempt to essentially turn AWARE into a COOS frontgroup. Per the Straits Times (which is actually a fairly conservative and pro-government paper in Singapore), reportedly COOS's pastor explicitly exhorted the church to support the "new leadership" after AWARE was steeplejacked. Amazingly enough, the sermon in question is still online (and part of a general anti-LGBT rant), and included such statements as "It's not a crusade against the people but there's a line that God has drawn for us, and we don't want our nation crossing that line." (Of note, COOS is known to have planned the steeplejack based on claims that AWARE is somehow "pro-lesbian"; in truth, they are unhappy the group doesn't exclude lesbians, or try to refer them to bogus "degaying therapy" of the sort that COOS explicitly promoted in its sermon.)

This was, of note, in direct response to folks opposed to the steeplejacking of AWARE joining the org and wishing to join the emergency meeting to such an extent that the site of the general meeting had to be moved to a larger venue. Even then, the AWARE steeplejackers tried to have it moved to the same venue as an NAR conference and was reportedly encouraging its membership to try to pack the emergency meeting with "yes" voters.

The Straits Times gives a little more info on that attempt to move the conference:

Meanwhile, The Straits Times learnt of other misgivings expressed over the Expo as a venue. Netizens and supporters of the old guard had pointed out that a two-day Christian conference, Transformation 2009, was also being held there.

They were concerned that people attending the conference would swamp the Aware meeting and outnumber supporters of the old guard hugely.

The Christian conference is being organised by LoveSingapore, an inter-church organisation founded by Pastor Lawrence Khong from the Faith Community Baptist Church.

Its committee members are pastors from different churches, including Pastor Derek Hong from the Church of Our Saviour in Margaret Drive, where several of Aware's leaders worship.

As we'll note below--this would appear to have been no less than an attempt to have the emergency meeting at the same location as an NAR revival/planning meeting (with a speaker notorious for promoting steeplejacks of businesses from within as a form of "taking back the world for Christ").

Fortunately, the Singapore police intervened--refusing to allow the permit to change the venue there, in part because of concerns re conflicts between the "old guard" and the dominionist steeplejackers.

Even after this, the dominionists didn't stop. A particularly damning bit of info showed a series of emails were sent directly tracable to Church Of Our Saviour explicitly encouraging women to join AWARE en masse and attempt to derail the emergency meeting on 17 April--to the same network of email addresses (presumably to cell church leaders) that the previous "organising the steeplejack" emails had gone to..

Of course, after the news came out regarding COOS's integral role in the steeplejacking, the church went into classic "damage control" mode--first trying to deny they were behind the steeplejack, then--when threatened with its outing as an NAR church in Anglican drag when tthe National Council of Churches of Singapore issued a statement condemning the mix of religion and politics (NCCS is the main ecumenical body for mainstream Christian churches in Singapore--including the Anglican church, the denomination NCCS (falsely) claims to be part of)--issued a very-much CYA "apology". In fact, the smackdown wasn't just by the Anglicans--literally every mainstream religious group in Singapore issued statements supporting NCCS's stand, including representatives of the mainstream Buddhist, Taoist, and Moslem faith groups.

(For the record, if anyone has contacts with the National Council of Churches of Singapore, I'd appreciate it if you'd forward them the info re COOS's actual theology, thanks. I think the legit Anglican church might want to know about the steeplejacking.)

An attempted diversion...to an honest-to-dog Joel's Army revival

As it is, AWARE (thanks to the intervention of the Singapore national police) may have dodged a potential cannonball--and the attempted move of the emergency meeting to the same expo center as the "Transformation 2009" conference gives a rare glimpse on just the sort of tactics Joel's Army groups like to use to solidify control once they have it and fear losing it.

Actually, to term the "Transformation 2009" conference (which would have been held, coincidentially, the very next day after the EGM of AWARE--as attendees would have been arriving, or would have already arrived, for the conference) as merely being a conference of evangelicals is not quite accurate.

In fact, it would be extremely inaccurate.

There's actually only one group I've seen that uses that phrase on a regular basis for conferences--namely, NAR-connected groups, and those closely connected to C. Peter Wagner at that. (Among other things, there's a series of videos called the "Transformations" series that is popular in NAR circles; fellow researchers have written some informative material on that series which essentially lays out the long term "game plan" for NAR groups to steeplejack society at large.)

My Spidey-sense on this is, as usual, (unfortunately) quite accurate in this; the main speaker is Ed Silvoso, who is not only a direct C. Peter Wagner (aka "Mr. Joel's Army") acolyte but also one of the major architects of NAR planning for taking over the world--particularly using cell-churches explicitly as "cuckoos" and in remarkably similar ways to Marxist "people's revolutionary cells":

"Silvoso bases his strategy on four fundamental principles: 1. [t]he spiritual unity of the churches of a city, 2. [p]owerful intercessory prayer, 3. [s]trategic-level spiritual warfare, [and] 4. [m]ultiplication of new churches. Peter Wagner says, 'The most sophisticated strategy for evangelizing a city we have at the present time is Edgardo Silvoso's Harvest Evangelism.' To see how spiritual mapping fits into the whole evangelistic design, allow me to summarize Ed Silvoso's six steps for taking a city... [Step] 4. Infiltrate Satan's perimeter. Launch the 'air attack' of specific and strategic intercessory prayer through hundreds of thousands of prayer houses (prayer cells), having the objective of weakening Satan's control over the unsaved, claiming instead a favorable disposition to the gospel. At the same time begin to plant embryonic churches ('lighthouses') in anticipation of an abundant harvest. [Step] 5. Attack and destroy Satan's perimeter. Begin the 'frontal assault.' Launch the spiritual takeover of the city, confronting, binding and casting down the spiritual powers ruling over the region... Disciple new believers through the established lighthouses." (Excerpt is from Victor Lorenzo's "Evangelizing a City Dedicated to Darkness," a chapter in C. Peter Wagner's book, "Breaking Strongholds in Your City" (Regal Books, Ventura, CA, 1993). The parenthetical comments are in the original.)

And, as we'll see, Silvoso is actually one of the nastier NAR promoters.

The group actually holding the conference, LOVE Singapore, is quite possibly the "mother ship" of NAR churches in the Singapore area, or at least its primary "five year planning committee"; along with the (extremely NAR, Latter Rain-derived) usual neopente 40-day marathon fasting (yes, people willingly deprive themselves of food for 40 days and are expected to on multiple occasions a year in these groups as part of their "name it and claim it" theology; even the fast of Ramadan does not cover nights, equivalent Orthodox and Eastern Rite Christian churches usually restrict themselves to vegetarian fasts or *short* fasts of 1-3 days (generally the Dewahedo Orthodox tend to have the strictest fasting outside of NAR churches, but even here they tend to be vegetarian fasts) and doctors note that fasting of over 10 days continuously is very dangerous) we have plenty of indications we're dealing with an NAR group and quite possibly among the most hardcore (the Wagner-lineage NAR promoters).

One of the things Silvoso likes to promote is the concept of essentially setting up front companies for the sole purpose of gaining "marks" for conversion, as well as redirecting funds towards dominionist groups. In fact, the Transformation 2009 brochure helpfully promotes his book on the subject--as well as noting his links to a number of American political dominionist groups with extensive linkages to C. Peter Wagner's network of NAR "apostles" (including Mission America) and his role in promoting NAR theology in Argentina.

In fact, a legitimate argument can be made that in fact LOVE Singapore is nothing but a Silvoso frontgroup--apparently he actually founded the org as essentially a very large "nest" for a whole mess of cell-churches and NAR-linked groups.

And I'm *not* kidding when I state Silvoso is a nasty bit of work. Among other things, he is in part responsible for not one but two major epicentres of NAR activity in the past 20 years in North America--namely, the Toronto Airport Fellowship and Brownsville A/G (in Pensacola, FL) NAR "revivals" which led to popularisation--and spread--of NAR theology outside of neopentecostal circles. It can be, quite literally, stated that Silvoso himself is one of the "generals of Joel's Army".

Notably, his group where he promotes the concept of front companies as "business evangelism" only has a transparency grade of "C" on ministrywatch.com--one of the worse ratings, at that (only a few, known, outright fraudulent televangelists tend to get worse).

And--notably for our discussion of the attempted steeplejack of AWARE--Silvoso does like to actively promote the idea of setting up "cuckoo" cell-churches in businesses if you can't set up a front business yourself:

The quote above comes from a chapter in C. Peter Wagner's book The Church in the Workplace, which is an account of the marketplace transformation movement. This book is an attempt to justify a new role for the church co-mingling with the corporate business world, based on the newly concocted doctrines of C. Peter Wagner, George Otis, Ed Silvoso, Dennis Peacocke, and a host of other Latter Rain and Reconstructionist leaders.

In a chapter entitled "Apostles in the Workplace," Wagner details the "strategy for war" for marketplace transformation, and puts out a plea for leaders to "standardize our terminology" for the "7 spheres" or "7 mountains" or "7 gates" of society that must be transformed. Wagner suggests "using a list that can be traced back to Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM, and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade." (p. 112)

(For the record, I've actually written quite extensively on the "Seven Mountains" fifty-year plan of NAR groups here and here.)

In addition, the "Baptist" (and there is a very specific reason I use that phrase in quotes) church in question linked to the conference is, just like Church Of Our Saviour, an NAR rabid dog in a non-NAR church's "sheep's clothing". In fact, it seems to have been set up explicitly as an NAR church from the very beginning and deceptively named a Baptist church; it's certainly not affiliated with any legitimate Baptist denominations. In practice, it's a typical NAR neopentecostal church of the sort that would be branded "nondenominational" here in the States; the *true* denominational affiliation would be with a small NAR paradenomination that recruits members primarily through cell-churches and "encounter weekends" (where people are isolated from outside contact and by their own admission subjected to a hard-sell via essentially a neopentecostal revival in a closed environment).

These are *incredibly* coercive in practice; Matt Taibbi has written about his own experiences at an "encounter weekend" and some evaluations indicate these "weekends" and the groups that hold them may be literally more abusive than Scientology (especially if the use of abusive "cell churches" is also considered--cell-churches and similar "shepherding" tactics being among the most documentably coercive and harmful tactics known to be in wide use in abusive religious groups).

Fortunately, the attempt to derail the emergency meeting by redirecting it to essentially the same location as a Joel's Army revival (ironically featuring a speaker who talks openly of setting up exactly this type of steeplejacking attack against legitimate businesses as a form of "evangelism"!) failed.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance

That said--the folks at We Are Aware will need to remain vigilant. Undoubtedly, the dominionists *will* attempt to fight the result of the vote and/or try to steeplejack again (and in fact the recently booted dominionists have in fact made a veiled threat to do just that). Fortunately the folks at AWARE have learned from this--one of the thing being proposed are changes to the NGO's constitution to try to make the org more steeplejack-resistant including having been an active volunteer for a year before running for high-level positions.

Still, though, the beatback of the steeplejack does prove one thing.

People *can* take back power, and they *can* stop the dominionists in their tracks.

It takes education and motivation to get to that destination--but the folks at We Are AWARE--and thousands of Singaporeans--have proven it's possible.

May we all be inspired by their example, and may they continue to successfully prevent a steeplejacking--and hopefully even us folks in the States can learn by example.

Just in case people thought dominionism was a problem restricted to the US or Australia or Canada:

Dominionism is unfortunately a global problem.

And a favourite tactic of dominionists--steeplejacking of churches and nonprofit orgs--has now come to one of the last places we'd expect:

Singapore.

A necropsy of a steeplejack--right down to the planning stages

Firstly, some backgrounder. Presently, the law in Singapore technically criminalises same-sex relationships (the law is a holdover from the British colonial period); there is an ongoing political debate in the country about revoking that law. In general, there's good public support for decriminalisation, but one major group is fighting it--dominionist groups in Singapore, which are typically linked to NAR/Joel's Army groups like Hillsong. This has included a particular church called Church Of Our Saviour, which has been especially politically active in trying to keep same-sex relationships illegal.

And apparently, dominionists in Singapore have been taking notes from the Americans and Aussies on steeplejacks of not only churches but NGOs and political parties.

So perhaps what occured, starting in December, was inevitable.

The women's group AWARE (which is roughly the equivalent of the National Organisation for Women in Singapore--they do lots of activism on women's issues in general) has been essentially steeplejacked and a major purge done of the former leadership by a group connected largely to an NAR-linked "Anglican" church (in truth, it's neopentecostal and NAR-linked; we'll be going into MUCH more detail on this)

Of note, this "Joel's Army in Anglican clothing" church is very anti-LGBT; not only do they extensively promote anti-LGBT info but have official policy statements condemning LGBT people and promoting de-gaying and promote bogosities about LGBT people being inherently mentally ill.

And in March of 2009, the NAR-linked Church Of Our Saviour effectively steeplejacked the major women's rights NGO in Singapore--a country that effectively is under one-party rule as is and has precious few groups able to lobby successfully.

The speed and level of the steeplejack is actually rather horrifying--from all indications, literally 80 members of the 102-member org joined between January and March of this year. In what may be a rare glimpse at the planning documents for the steeplejack, apparently the pastor himself was exhorting members and leaders of cell-church groups linked to the church to join and there is evidence from email archives that the steeplejack was planned as early as December 2008.

The reason AWARE was targeted? Because they acknowledge that there are specific women's rights issues that affect lesbians and don't deny lesbian women their services.

Even worse--this may be, quite literally, an attempt at a hostile takeover--by groups that are hostile to both LGBT people and women in general. This isn't just on the subject of LGBT rights, either.

An in-depth look at the church behind the steeplejack

The Church Of Our Saviour stands out in that--visiting their website one gets the impression one is not visiting an Anglican church's website (they claim Anglican affiliation)--but rather one of the "hip" websites run by many an Assemblies of God or "nondenominational" NAR-linked neopentecostal congregation.

There is actually a very good reason for this.

For starters, most CoE churches don't have long talks with Hillsong A/G operatives about "prophetic dance" or have extensive NAR/neopente buzzwording and discussions of "Brownsville Revival"-esque "gold dusting" in their church newsletters.

In fact, there's only one place I have EVER heard of that phenomenon--and that is within NAR-linked neopentecostal churches, and even a specific subset of the NAR (namely, Assemblies, Foursquare, and Vineyard-linked NAR churches).

In general, COE churches also do not have indoctrinations lists for the quarter for cell-church leaders or use Hillsong A/G recordings and other "Christian contemporary" artists in their hymnal or specific promotion of "health and wealth" gospel including sections on "maintaining your healing". (The latter is, shall we say, unique--apparently failures of faith-healing can literally be blamed on "thinking negative thoughts" and thus "opening doorways to Satan".)

In fact, this church is literally in the "Hillsong network" of NAR churches--the sole church listed in the "Churches to attend when you're away" section is a Hillsong satellite church in Perth that is one of the most extensively and openly Joel's Army churches I've seen--including the literal condemnation of non-dominionists and critics as "Jezebels" and invoking a party typically only referred to by Christian Identity promoters:

We are a Church that will build ourselves strong in the spirit man. We will not yield to the giants of the land but like Joshua, we will dare move out and possess. Like a David, we will dare take on the Goliaths of our time. Like an Elijah, we will dare confront the Ahabs and the Jezebels of our day. Like the zeal of Phinehas, we will stand for righteousness.

This...quite bluntly...is a LOT of Joel's Army Buzzword Bingo:

a) "David" and "Joshua" and "Elijah" have often been invoked in modern-day rebrandings of "Joel's Army" (particularly in the terms "Joshua Generation"--denoting the NAR concept of an "end-time generation" who will "Take the world back for the godly"--and "Elijah's Army").
b) "Ahab" and "Jezebel" are epithets for non-dominionist men and women respectively.
c) The Phinehas invocation is especially disturbing--as pretty much only NAR groups and Christian Identity "race warriors" use it, and both in a remarkably similar context--stating that it is ideologically acceptable to kill, if necessary, to establish purity. (I've written much more on this particular phrase's use in Joel's Army circles here. Cliff's Notes version: Phinehas was so much of a zealot he not only is infamous for shish-kebabbing a man and his fiance for the act of inflagrante delicto in the temple, but nearly caused the extermination of almost a third of the tribes of of Israel due to a misunderstanding over a temple being constructed outside of the one in Jerusalem.)

Not only does FCC promote cells openly, but they promote within "women's cells" a particularly horrific religiously motivated child abuse program (namely the Ezzo's "Growing Kids God's Way", linked starvation deaths and hospitalisations of children and which is essentially a program of religiously motivated child abuse and neglect). In addition, they are quite explicitly NAR in promoting the "fivefold ministry" concept as well as cells and the very Alpha Course invented by the steeplejacked Holy Temple Bradenton.

I expect that FCC is used as the "parent church" because of a large number of Chinese immigrants--COOS seems to target mostly the Chinese-Singaporean community, and FCC seems to be composed almost entirely of people of Chinese descent as well.

And--by their own blatant admission--they are targeting the East Indies as a whole, including not only Singapore but Timor Leste.

Back to COOS itself, among some of the other oddities that further confirm that it's an "NAR Assemblies church in all but name" include the promotion of essentially a diploma mill calling itself the School of Supernatural Ministry; literally all of the speakers at the conference where these bogus diplomas are to be handed out are linked to Bethel Church of Redding, CA; Bethel is a Joel's Army congregation which links to a veritable New Apostolic Reformation who's who--including, notably, Todd Bentley and many others associated with various neopente "Third Wave" "revivals".

There are other aspects that resemble the American NAR churches strongly (as well as the Aussie ones). Among other things, "Christian" alternatives to Scouting are promoted (unlike in the US, Boy Scouting in the rest of the world is not heavily religiously influenced)

Among other things, COOS targets (just like NAR groups in the US) military members, including cell churches targeted towards persons serving mandatory military service (like many other countries, Singapore has mandatory national guard/civil service periods).

Another of the "seminars" held is actually particularly revealing--a seminar on steeplejacking businesses and using them for "bait and switch" evangelism...something that becomes particularly relevant with AWARE's new head.

American dominionists helping things along too

As it turns out, it's not just the Assemblies that are actively helping out here. One of the partners in crime in regards to the Steeplejacking of AWARE is none other than the largest political group in the US promoting "Christian nationalism"--none other than Focus on the Family itself.

It may surprise people to know that a big part of FotF's activities have involved--as of late--international export of dominionism. But export they do, and it's big business--including schemes similar to the "funnel aid to the Contras under the claims of 'helping missions'" scams in the 80s (only now targeting insurgent groups in Colombia).

These include, notably, affiliates where you would not expect to find FotF affiliates--including Singapore as well as Malaysian, Indonesian, and Chinese affiliates. (Of note, I honestly don't see how the Malaysian or Indonesian affiliates are operating legally; Christian worship is tolerated but prosyletisation is prohibited as both of these countries officially have Islam as the state religion. Moderate Islam, yes--but it's not open season for prosyletisation.)

The fact that FotF has a Singaporean affiliate is bizarre enough, but this grows ever more interesting is the fact that Church Of Our Saviour is apparently the de facto headquarters of FotF in Singapore--and the new leadership has links to both groups.

Firstly, the person now acting as the head of AWARE (Josie Lau) was responsible for quite a controversy--namely, Mrs. Law was behind a campaign conducted at behest of COOS to set up donations to FotF via a "Christmas Credit Card" program by her bank DBS. (DBS is one of the larger bank and trust companies in Singapore.) Yes--pretty much the general "charity affinity" fraud scheme that dominionist groups here in the US are fond of--signing up for charity donation programs (meant more for Little League and Scouting programs) and encouraging their members to buy and use the "discount" numbers to funnel a good amount of money to their group.

Needless to say, DBS was shortly the subject of a boycott, and eventually DBS dropped mention of FotF in their "Christmas Credit Card" programme. Lau, interestingly, seems to have gone on--eventually ending up as COOS's point-woman in AWARE.

This is not the end of the FotF-Church Of Our Saviour partnerships, though. The chairman of FotF's operations in Singapore is also notably a member of COOS.

And the necessary backgrounder

For folks coming in new to the discussion of NAR churches, the best I can suggest on a backgrounder of what I mean regarding the NAR groups being Bad News is an ongoing series of articles by Talk to Action regulars Bruce Wilson and Ruth (full disclosure; I have a professional working relationship with both of these folks as a part of a research team based on essentially "Joel's Army-busting") as well as my own writing on the subject (as an ex-member and researcher) at Talk to Action, NewsVine, and a certain "orange site". (I do plan on mirroring most of the content here on Newsvine as well.)

Even shorter for readers who are in countries where it's been released: The NAR/Joel's Army folks are the subject of the movie "Jesus Camp" (specifically, an NAR group that promotes "child ministry"--in their theology, kids born after the legalisation of abortion are literally promoted as a "chosen generation" to "take the world back for God"). Yes, I pretty much grew up "Jesus Camped" (I got better, fortunately, in part because (thankfully) dominionist "homeschooling" was not yet in vogue and I did have *some* exposure to the outside world--I still live with the scars and probably always will, though).

One thing that hasn't been covered much in the media (well, outside of Australia) is the fact that the NAR does have characteristics of a coercive religious group in pretty much the same way Scientology does. In fact, NAR groups and Scientology have a disturbing number of parallels, up to and including paramilitary equivalents of the Scientologist "Sea Orgs" in the US.

NAR groups, especially those in completely-NAR-dominated neopentecostal groups, have been linked recently to some horrific hate crimes against LGBT people--up to and including assaults--as well as the promotion of literal calls to war against LGBT people and the documented use of literal Holocaust revisionism in justifying targeting LGBT people for harassment and desired extermination.

The use of cell churches (which is known to be in practice at Church Of Our Saviour) is particularly worrisome--not only are these used to infiltrate churches and political groups (and, as we've seen with AWARE, also NGOs), but are a major factor in how dominionist churches grow explosively and organise politically (as we have seen, interestingly, with AWARE's steeplejacking--in fact, this may be some of the best documentation of this tactic ever recorded) and in and of themselves are horribly coercive--to the point that Matt Taibbi (who infiltrated the NAR-linked Cornerstone Church in Texas for a segment of his book "The Great Derangement") literally documented personality changes occuring even though he knew what these groups did to rile people up.

In fact, cell-churches (as used in these groups) are well known among researchers to be one of the most documentedly abusive tactics in use in coercive religious groups in general; short-term and long-term personality changes are documented in members of cells and similar groups that are not documented in mainstream churches and religions that do not use coercive tactics. In combination with several other tactics, in fact, NAR groups can be considered as bad as the Moonies or Scientologists just on levels of sheer mind control and a good argument can be made that the really hardcore NAR groups--and COOS does appear to be one of these--are actually worse than Scientology and rank as among the most coercive groups ever documented outside of a North Korean gulag.

Another thing especially worrisome about COOS in particular is their association with the Australian Community Churches (and in particular Faith Community Church). For those unaware, the Australian Community Churches are what used to be called the Australian Assemblies of God; they had to change their name because of repeated revelations in the Australian press of highly abusive practices at their churches, particularly the "home church" of the denomination in Australia (Hillsong A/G in Sydney). In fact, the antics of the Australian A/G and Hillsong in particular became so infamous that most exit counselors in Australia consider the denomination as a whole as coercive (as well as at least one American exit-counselor who has dealt extensively with ex-NAR walkaways).

Hillsong has been particularly active in exporting NAR theology to countries in the Asian and Oceanic spheres, including Fiji and Singapore; they also have their own political party in Australia known as Family First, and have taken tactics very similar to those used by Scientology to shut up their critics--including trying to sue a walkaway for libel and intimidate their publisher into not printing a book that was particularly damning towards the group.

Hillsong has been noted for graft against its members, a sexual-abuse scandal involving multiple pastors (in fact, the founder of Hillsong is noted for having molested kids in New Zealand), and institutionalised abuse of women through a "faith-based rehab" chain funded through Gloria Jean Coffee. (Yes, Gloria Jean is--unfortunately--a major funder of this stuff.) In addition, just like Scientology and the Moonies, Hillsong runs a *lot* of "front groups"--including quite a number targeting kids.

A hostile takeover bid

This is all bad enough--but a disturbing prospect comes up, even as the AWARE Steeplejackers have admitted their major purpose was to purge people tolerant of helping out lesbians...there is a non-negligible possibility that the purpose may be even deeper than this.

Namely, there is a very real possibility this is, quite literally, a hostile takeover--meant to destroy the org.

Two major data points play up how this could be meant as a targeted attack against women's rights in general (and LGBT people in particular). The first is a letter from an Angela Thiang--now on the board of directors for AWARE post-purge--who sent a letter to the Singapore Times calling for abortion to be banned (and bringing up the "post-abortion syndrome" canard).

The second is potentially even more damning. At Church Of Our Saviour, membership in cell-church groups is mandatory, and their seminar notes for essentially an adult "Jesus Camp" have some very revealing information regarding their concept of a woman's place in the home and in society:

a) The husband is the head, and as such has to act as God's vice-regent, to govern not
according to his, but according to the divine will.
The authority put into his hands is from the Lord, and it is his to exert for Him, and it
cannot therefore be delegated to another.
First, don't allow your family (especially mom) to meddle in your marriage...it's
none of their (her) business.
. . .
b) The wife is in subjection to her husband, even as the Church is subject to Christ,
the husband on his part having to love his wife even as Christ loved the Church, and
gave Himself for it.
. . .
Divine order is an order of authority and responsibility that is spelled out in the Bible
1. Head of every man is Christ
2. Head of every woman is the man
3. Head of the children are the parents
. . .
But God has given her a role that is different than that of the husband and one that requires
submission to the husband for its proper fulfillment.
. . .
Illustration:
One lady stood up and said, "I'm so thankful for these lessons and what they've done for me! I'm so thankful that
God loves me! I'm so thankful for this relationship that I have with God in Jesus Christ!"
She started to sit down and Dr. Parker said, "Just a moment. Tell me, with this new relationship in Jesus Christ, how does that affect you in the home?
• Does this make you a better mother?
• Does it make you a better housewife?
• Are you sweeter to your husband because of your relationship with Christ?
• Has this really made you a better wife and housekeeper?..."
He felt a tug on his coat and the minister behind him said, "Press those points, brother! That's my wife!"
. . .
It's unfortunate that so many mothers are not at home with their children. Many women
have run off with another man at work (was it worth that extra income?). It's often a great
stress on the marriage when the wife is independent of her husband. Regardless of what we
think, God has declared to us that His will for a young woman is to do four things:
1. marry
2. bear children
3. guide the house.
4. not be a reproach to her husband
This scripture alone makes it clear that the Christian couple should plan to have children.
There will have to be a family in order for the young women to "love their children." Titus
2:4.

(Emphasis in original bolded; my emphasis italicised.)

There's much more where this came from--in essence, the entire workshop states that--quite literally--a woman's place is in the home, barefoot, and popping out litters of God Warriors. Not just this, but it also states that women who are outside of these roles are literally invoking the wrath of God Himself.

One section even quite blatantly promotes women as the weaker sex both physically and spiritually:

E. Submission a means of protection
1. Women are subject to being attacked physically and emotionally, therefore they need
man's protection
2. Women are also vulnerable emotionally, psychologically and spiritually
3. Women are subject to emotional attacks of her own children -She should not have to
ask for their respect. Husbands protect her from that
a. Protects her from discourtesies and abuses of children
b. Instills in them a sense of respect for womanhood
4. Subject to spiritual attack- husbands should shield her, women are easily deceived

(As an aside, the use of this material by COOS in and of itself presents further evidence of it being an NAR church; the seminar is originally from SOS Ministries, a Joel's Army church affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (this is the branding the Assemblies of God uses in the Great White North, just like they use "Australian Community Churches" in the Land Down Under) in Edmonton, Alberta. In fact, it's looking more and more and more like Church Of Our Saviour is just an Assemblies of God church in all but name.)

Do forgive me if I fear the "New AWARE" is NOT exactly going to be friendly towards women's concerns in Singapore.

Over the past few weeks, I've written about a particular aspect of Rick Warren that has so far seen very little formal media attention--his extensive connections to groups and persons connected to the "New Apostolic Reformation" aka "Joel's Army", a particularly virulent "Christian Nationalist" movement (which had its initial origins in neopentecostal dominionist churches but has since spread via "cuckoo" cell-churches to even some mainstream denominations).

In particular, Rick Warren is not only well documented to be a dominionist with links to Joel's Army promoters in the Assemblies of God, but has been mentored from his beginnings in the ministry by no less than C. Peter Wagner--"Mr. Joel's Army" himself.

Recent research by members of the New Apostolic Reformation Research Team have found, however, possibly one of the most disturbing examples of this yet--where Rick Warren literally promotes the Hitlerjugend and the Cultural Reformation as explicit models for steeplejacking entire nations.

NARRT PRODUCED VIDEO INCLUDING THE WARREN QUOTES IN QUESTION:

Rick Warren's "Private Face"

In my writings on dominionism since 2005, one thing I have tried to emphasize is that dominionists--and especially those particular dominionist movements ultimately derived from neopente dominionist groups such as "Joel's Army"--very much have a "public face" and a "private face", similar to many other coercive religious groups.

As it turns out, Rick Warren--who literally was taught almost everything he knows re ministry by one of the very founding fathers of the Joel's Army movement, a "founding father" who was particularly influential in the spread of NAR theology outside of neopente dominionist circles--is no different.

Bruce Wilson, a member of NARRT and one of the few persons doing full-time research on Joel's Army-linked groups, has recently uncovered audio from Saddleback Church that show Warren's "private face" in a particularly disturbing light.

The particular audiotape--which is actually available for sale at Saddleback's "resource site"--is actually merely part 4 of a six-parter series and was delivered at the 25th anniversary of Saddleback's founding--and the fourth "capital fundraising" effort.

Most large, "nondenominational" churches do tend to have fundraising, and one does expect to hear the calls for "name it and claim it" "love offerings" and such.

What one does *not* expect is a literal call to revolution that is explicitly described as breeding in stealth:

[ ~minute 33:00 ]

"God is going to use you to change the world.

"We have a kingdom that nothing can destroy... it's indestructible, it's unshakable, going to last forever, it's going to cover the planet.

So the kingdom is multinational, it's powerful, it's eternal and, number four (this is the best news), it's inevitable because God is in control of history. History is his story.

And the Bible says this in Matthew 24 : 'The Good news about God's kingdom will be preached into all the world, in every nation, and then the end's going to come. '

And you can go argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody he's wanted to hear the world has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God's going to bring everything to a culmination.

For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of time, the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

You've been hearing little snippets about it, today we're going to unveil it publicly. But the first thing before I even talk about it in a minute is you need to understand that at the heart of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is this theme - The Kingdom of God.

Saddleback and our Purpose Driven Network has now trained over 400,000 pastors in over 162 countries."
. . .
[ Minute ~43:00 ]

"What is the vision for the next 25 years ? I'll tell you what it is.

It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God.

It is the total mobilization of his church.

And the third part is the goal of a radical devotion of every believer.

Now, I choose that word 'radical' intentionally, because only radicals change the world.

Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people.

Moderate people get moderately nothing done. And moderation will never slay the global giants. . ."
. . .
[ minute 51:50 ]

"Jesus said, 'I want you to do this publicly.' So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say 'Rick, I am willing to serve God's purposes in my generation.'

I want you to open up to the sign that says 'Whatever it takes.'

Whatever it takes.

And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "

And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .

I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.

Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.

And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.

And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly, "I'm in, God. I'm in...

...I'm in.' "

One *especially* does not expect to hear literal comparisons of religious movements--and exhortations to engage in "Christian nationalism"--comparing these movements to Hitler Youth, the Bolsheviks, or the Cultural Revolution in China:

[ minute 48:45 ]

"In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil.

And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium, "Hitler, we are yours."

And they nearly took the world.

Lenin once said, "give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I'll change the world." And, he nearly did.

A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.

When I hear those kinds of stories, I think 'what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say 'Jesus, we are yours' ?

What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ? "

Now, let's see--he's just directly compared his "P.E.A.C.E. Plan"--which borrows extensively from the "Seven Mountains" strategy as promoted by many Joel's Army leaders including C. Peter Wagner (and it can be legitimately argued that the "P.E.A.C.E. Plan" is essentially a "kindler, gentler" version of "Seven Mountains") to what have legitimately been described as three of the most destructive--and arguably some of the most evil, if one believes in such a thing--movements in the 20th Century; certainly the Nazi Party and Communist movements (as promoted by the USSR and China) have been some of the most dictatorial movements in recent history. (North Korea's government and its regime--widely regarded as the most repressive country in the world--heavily borrowed from Maoism as well as Stalin's personality cult. We won't even get into such fun things that have been the direct result such as the Cold War, World War II, and--ironically--the worldwide spread of neopentecostal dominionism including Joel's Army groups as "anti-communist" orgs.)

Hitlerjugend--better known in English as Hitler Youth was a group that was essentially an arm of a government known best for snuffing out over 13 million lives--nearly half of them of Jewish descent, and wiping out fully two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population (and nearly totally depopulating several countries of persons of Jewish descent).

Membership was mandatory for youth living in Nazi-controlled areas (as pointed out by quite a number of sources when it was pointed out the present Pope was a former Hitlerjugend member--and so was practically every male in a generation in Germany) and was explicitly instituted as a "parallel economy" alternative to legitimate Scouting movements worldwide with a heavy emphasis on paramilitary training. (Ironically, Leninist and Maoist groups would also institute their own "parallel Scouting" groups--the Young Pioneers; the only other groups that promote similar "alternatives to Scouting" (in countries where Scouting groups are not exclusive) tend to be, interestingly enough, Joel's Army-connected groups promoting groups like the Royal Rangers, Missionettes, and "Heritage Girls".) In fact, during the period Warren explicitly mentioned, the Jugenddienstpflicht (Youth Service act) had just been passed--the second law requiring all males of age to become members of Hitlerjugend even if their parents disapproved. (Yes, you are reading this right; kids in Nazi Germany were essentially drafted and required to serve mandatory periods in the Nazi Party's "alternative" to the Boy Scouts.)

The Leninist--and later Stalinist--regimes may well have topped even the Nazi totals, according to some (according to some statistics, the Holodomor--a little-publicised genocide of the people of Ukraine in the early 30s--may have felled over ten million alone and most records estimate 8 million people at least died in Ukraine alone from starvation and plague).

And the zeal the USSR held in its purges served as a model both for the initial Maoist regime in China and, infamously, later the Cultural Revolution--in which people were sent to collective farms for the mere crime of being "intellectual". (This caused an entire "lost generation" of Chinese who had no access to proper education, brought China to an economic standstill, resulted in untold devastation to the cultural property of China and especially to its minority populations (the present situation in Tibet is essentially a continuation of this), millions of displaced persons, no less than 500,000 dead (with some sources stating this number is actually closer to 3 million dead)--and a rising death toll from countries going for "Maoism-plus". (Pol Pot's regime, based largely on Mao's model but going even more fundamentalist with it, resulted in no less than 3 million dead; the Kim pseudo-imperial dynasty in North Korea has resulted in estimates of at least 2 million dead from their attempt. Albania also had a horrid human toll during its period of "Euro-Maoism".)

Just so we know whom Warren is using for models, that is. :P

Mind, this is quite horrifying enough--promoters of genocide being held up as examples for a "revolution".

It doesn't stop there, though. In this same speech, Warren praised the first two "Purpose Driven" certified nations--Rwanda and Uganda--both of whom are run by presidential figures with close links to Warren and other dominionist figures.

These, too, may not exactly be the best parties to use as examples--unless you're talking forming an army of God Warriors With Guns:

In 1998 under Kagame's leadership Rwanda, along with the now officially "Purpose Driven" nation of Uganda, invaded the Democratic Republic of The Congo, touching off a conflict that has claimed more civilian lives than any since World War Two. On December 12, 2008, the United Nations accused Rwanda of aiding Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda, accused of massacres and human rights violations and whose recent offensive has created several hundred thousand Congolese refugees.

In fact, one of Warren's darlings--Martin Ssempa, who advises the First Lady of Uganda on HIV/AIDS issues--has literally called for progroms against the country's LGBT population and is almost singlehandedly responsible for reversing what had been one of the true bright spots in the African HIV epidemic:

Warren's man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempe enjoys close ties to his country's First Lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa's stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

Dr. Helen Epstein, a public health consultant who authored the book, The Invisible Cure: Why We're Losing The Fight Against AIDS In Africa, met Ssempa in 2005. Epstein told me the preacher seemed gripped by paranoia, warning her of a secret witches coven that met under Lake Victoria. "Ssempa also spoke to me for a very long time about his fear of homosexual men and women," Epstein said. "He seemed very personally terrified by their presence."

When Warren unveiled his global AIDS initiative at a 2005 conference at his Saddleback Church, he cast Ssempa as his indispensable sidekick, assigning him to lead a breakout session on abstinence-only education as well as a seminar on AIDS prevention. Later, Ssempa delivered a keynote address, a speech so stirring it "had the audience on the edge of its seats," according to Warren's public relations agency. A year later, Ssempa returned to Saddleback Church to lead another seminar on AIDS.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Uganda was becoming one of the true success stories in countering the spread of HIV through a very successful campaign to educate people on safer sex (including the use of barrier methods). Emphasis on had; thanks to Ssempa's influence, this has (sadly) almost been totally reversed:

On New Year's Eve, 1999, Janet Museveni, who had become born-again, convened a massive stadium revival in Kampala to dedicate her country to the "lordship" of Jesus Christ. As midnight approached, the First Lady summoned a local pastor to the stage to anoint the nation. "We renounce idolatry, witchcraft, and Satanism in our land!" he proclaimed.

Two years later, Janet Museveni flew to Washington at the height of a heated congressional debate over PEPFAR. She carried in her hand a prepared message to distribute to Republicans. Abstinence was the golden bullet in her country's fight against AIDS, she assured conservative lawmakers, denying the empirically proven success of her husband's condom distribution program. Like magic, the Republican-dominated Congress authorized over $200 million for Uganda, but only for the exclusive promotion of abstinence education. Ssempa soon became the "special representative of the First Lady's Task Force on AIDS in Uganda," receiving $40,000 from the PEPFAR pot.

Emboldened by U.S. support, Ssempa took his anti-condom crusade to Makerere University in Kampala, where senior residents of a men's dormitory promoted safe sex by greeting incoming freshmen with a giant effigy wearing a condom. According to Helen Epstein, one day after she visited the school, Ssempa stormed on to campus, tore the condom from the effigy, grabbed a box of free condoms, and set them ablaze. "I burn these condoms in the name of Jesus!" Ssempa shouted as he prayed over the burning box.
. . .
AIDS activists arrived at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006 with disturbing news from Uganda. Due at least in part to the chronic condom shortage, HIV infections were on the rise again. The disease rate had spiked to 6.5 percent among rural men, and 8.8 percent among women—a rise of nearly two points in the case of women. "The 'C' part [of ABC] is now mainly silent," said Ugandan AIDS activist Beatrice Ware. As a result, she said, "the success story is unraveling."

Needless to say, the "private face" is turning out to be just as ugly as suspected.

Not the first time, either

As astonishing as this is, the 25th Anniversary speech was not the first time he has used this most disturbing comparison.

The first was in a particular guide we have focused on before--the book "Purpose Driven Church", which contains extensive quotations by and cross-promotion of multiple NAR leaders including C. Peter Wagner.

Comparisons of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan to Hitlerjugend and the Cultural Revolution (with the latter two being held up as positive models of zeal--disturbing indeed as both are textbook examples of personality cults that have directly led to genocide) appeared in the book in 2005, right on page 357 in a section termed "Developing Mature Members".

After a very brief (less than one paragraph) section detailing two promoters of peace (Ghandi and the Buddha), an Italian who got lost and confused Hispaniola for Indonesia and touched off the genocide of First Nations people in the Americas starting with the Taino Nation (Christopher Columbus), Martin Luther and Karl Marx, he gives an early version of the speech he gave at Saddleback almost ten years later:

"In 1943, 100,000 young people in brown shirts filled the Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany, the largest stadium in the world at the time. They formed with their bodies a sign for a fanatical man standing behind the podium. The message read, "Hitler, we are yours." Their commitment allowed them to conquer Europe. Years later, a group of young Chinese students committed to memorizing and and living the philosophy of a little red book, The Sayings Of Chairman Mao. The result was the Cultural Revolution that to this day keeps over one billion people in the world's largest country under the slavery of communism. That is the power of conviction!

(Ironically, after this he notes that groups with high "conviction" tend to devolve into personality cults--he blames this, in essence, on these groups "not having enough Jesus" and not on the inherently coercive tactics that tend to develop in what are termed "high-demand groups" by researchers.)

What is particularly interesting is that there isn't even the brief apologia that "Nazis were bad"--this is the quote in its raw form, and in a particularly pernicious form (it being aimed at church leaders). In essence, he is stating that groups need to essentially form a personality cult--and if they have "enough Jesus" that they won't go overtly cultic. (It's now being recognised this is not in fact the case by exit counselors. One of the textbook examples of "Bible-based cults" is Maranatha, an early NAR group; Youth With A Mission and Campus Crusade for Christ (both of which have early NAR links) are now widely regarded as "Bible-based cults", and there is an increasing awareness among exit counselors of New Apostolic Reformation groups in general being inherently coercive and abusive.)

Nearly two and a half years to the day, I wrote an early article detailing Rick Warren's connections with Paul Yonggi Cho nee David Yonggi Cho--a figure who is practically at Ground Zero regarding the continued perpetuation and promotion of what has been termed "Latter Rain", evolved into "Joel's Army", and is known now as the "New Apostolic Reformation".

This early post has gained sudden relevance now with Rick Warren now being chosen as the pastor to give the inauguration prayer on 20 January.

This is also rather unfortunate, as it turns out that Rick Warren's connections to "Elijah's Army" go farther than trading tips with Cho on megachurch growth...far deeper.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave

Quite possibly one of the earliest warning signs of the level of Rick Warren's ongoing embrace of NAR groups dates from the famous Talk to Action series on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" game--a game which had connections to Saddleback via the international church director (later forced to step down from both Left Behind Games' board and Saddleback's board due to the controversy).

As it turns out, the initial article hints at Warren actually using a variant of what is known now as the "Seven Mountains" Strategy--a literal NAR playbook on how to essentially set up a Joel's Army "fifth column" to take over the very foundations of modern society:

A key aspect of dominionist thought is a conviction that the Scripture gives the church a mandate to take dominion over this world socially and culturally before the return of Jesus Christ. Mr. Warren's global plan is a strategy to realize a dominionist vision of churches, states, and corporations forming partnerships to bring about a new world order to make way for Christ's return by establishing a literal, physical kingdom of God on earth. In order to build this earthly kingdom, Mr. Warren plans marketplace ministries - business ventures with a veneer of missionary compassion that slip into a country in order to transform it systematically through the governmental, corporate, and social sectors. And that is why Mr. Warren calls himself a "stealth evangelist" - because he wishes to cloak his dominionist agenda, which is the establishment of an earthly kingdom that reflects his skewed vision of Christianity.

According to Mr. Warren, the establishment of this earthly kingdom requires "foot soldiers." As part of his plan, Mr. Warren said he would encourage laypeople to "adopt" needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as "little Saddams." Mr. Warren said his purpose is to enlist "one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God" in the developing world. And the stadium crowd roared its approval.

It literally did not hit me until sections of the "Seven Mountains" Strategy publicised in the "Transformations" videos were analysed: the "P.E.A.C.E. Plan" (which Warren loves to promote as the great cure-all for whatever ails the world) would seem to be simply a kinder, gentler--or, more likely, simply rebranded--version of "Seven Mountains", complete with some of the specific "targets" being identical (including government, the church, and businesses).

In fact, here it is right from Rick Warren's mouth:

What are the problems that are so big in this world that don't seem solvable? The UN has failed at them. America has failed at them. Business has failed at them. Governments have failed at them. I came to the conclusion that there are several big problems--the global Goliaths.

Number one is spiritual emptiness. Most people don't know that they're not an accident. That they were made by God and for God, they were made for a purpose, this life is not all there is, they're made to last forever. This life is preparation for the next. Jesus came to earth so that their past can be forgiven, they have a purpose for living, and a home in heaven.

The second biggest problem is egocentric leadership. Poor leadership is the cause of poverty and disease and illiteracy. They tried to solve these problems without the church which is the only thing big enough. The only thing growing faster than the AIDS pandemic is the church.

I went to the scriptures and I said, "God, what is the plan?" That is where I came up with this PEACE plan, the antidote to these global giants.

P - Plant a church or partner with a church if there is one there. It always starts with a church... in, through, and to the church.
E - Equip servant leaders.
A - Assist the poor.
C - Care for the sick.
E - Educate the next generation.

It's the five things Jesus did when he was here on earth. The first thing he did was he planted a church. The second thing he did was equip leaders. He spent three years training these disciples. The third thing he did was he cared for the poor. In fact, in his very first sermon, he says, "I am here to preach the good news to the poor." He cared for the poor. Fourth, he healed the sick. One-third of his ministry was a health ministry. The fifth thing is he taught. Particularly he cared about the next generation.

So for the last two years, underground, stealth, we have been working on this PEACE Plan. We've been developing a prototype of it in 47 countries. We won't let anybody do the PEACE plan by themselves. You have to do it in a team, in community.

There are 2.1 billion people who claim to be followers of Christ. If you just mobilize half of them that would be a billion people. That would be quite a force.

Quite literally, Thomas Muthee covered the same points in his now-infamous speech at Wasilla A/G:

In a moment, I'll be asking you that we pray for Sarah, and I'll tell you the reason why. When we talk about transformation of a community, we are talking about God invading seven areas in our society. Let me repeat that one more time. When we talk about transformation of a society, a community, it's where we see God's Kingdom infiltrate, influence seven areas in our society.

Number one is the spiritual aspect of our society. Mainly, the church for a long has just concentrated on that dimension, whereby we simply want people saved, we want them to go to heaven, we want them delivered, and that's it. But I'll tell you something: if all we do is come to the church and get people saved and then they go, I don't think much will happen in our society.

So the second area whereby God wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It is high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity, running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the Israelites, you know, that's how they won. And that's how they are, even today. When we will see that, you know, the talk transport us in the lands. We see, you know, the bankers. We see the people holding the paths. They are believers. We will not have the kind of corruption that we are hearing in our societies.

So we go to the third area, it's in the area of politics. Tell your neighbor, "politics." Do you know what I discovered? This is funny. The people who actually split churches, they have the gift of politics, but they are exercising it in the wrong place. That's what I came to know. There are people who are wired to politics because God wants to take the political, you know, dimension of our societies. And those people should be prayed for. That's why I was, you know, I was so glad to see Sarah here. We should pray for her, we should back her up. And, you know, come the day of voting, we should be there, not just praying, we should be there. And I'm saying this because that's what I'm telling our church. I'm telling them that we need this in Parliament. In here is what you call Congressmen, you know, you know, the, the Governors, we need the bretheren right inside there. Is anybody hearing me?

You know, because who will change the laws of the lands? The problem is do we just pray, but we do nothing about it. If the believers had not done something in this country, your president would not be in office today. Yes or no? Am I right?

Number three, or number four, it's the area of education. We need believers who are educationists. If we had them, today we would not be talking about the Ten Commandments being kicked out of the church, I mean out of our schools. They would still be there. One of the things that you, you know, I would love you to know, I'm a child of revival of the Seventies, and that revival swept through the schools. They are open to preaching, you know, open. Open. Wide open. You go to any school, there is what we call Christian Union. Christian Union is nothing more but a bunch of kids that are born again, spirit-filled, tongue-talking, devil-casting. Is anybody hearing me? All over the country! Is anybody hearing me?

We need God taking over our education system! Otherwise, we, if we have God in our schools, we will not have kids being taught, you know, how to worship Buddha, how to worship Mohammed, we will not have in the curriculum witchcraft and sorcery. Is anybody hearing me?

The other area is in the area of media. We need believers in the media. We need God taking over the media in our lands. Otherwise we will not have all the junk coming out of, you know, coming out of the media. And not only that, we need God t__— [period of silence in video]. Why can't we have our living church in Hollywood? Guess what will happen. If we have a living church right in Hollywood, we would not have all the kind of pornography that we are having. Is anybody hearing me?

And the last area is in the area of government. Hello? We need believers there. We need men and women of integrity. You know, as the Secretaries of State. We need them right there. People that are born again, spirit filled, people who know God, and people who are serious with God.

It's also notable that Warren has a strong emphasis on what he terms "Stealth evangelism"--which can be more properly termed "bait and switch" evangelism, and is a hallmark of both coercive religious groups (who tend to use deceptive methods of recruitment) and particularly NAR-linked neopentecostal dominionist groups. (The "Alpha Course", a bait-and-switch recruitment campaign developed by a CoE church steeplejacked by a Vineyard-linked "Cuckoo church", is a particularly popular method--people get pulled in by dinner dates and are eventually pressured to go to weekend "retreats" where particularly hard-sell conversion tactics are used (such as Matt Taibbi rather famously described re a John Hagee "Deliverance Weekend"). It is also notable that the "Alpha Course" has been officially endorsed by Saddleback Church.)

As it turns out, I'm not alone in noticing the Joel's Army linkage--Let Us Reason (an anti-dominionist Christian apologetics site that is very aggressive at monitoring and warning against the NAR targeting evangelical churches) has also noticed this strong similarity:

1. The term "transformation" is used to describe a planned, intentional "Second Reformation" (also called "New Apostolic Reformation"). An early proposal for a "second Protestant reformation" appeared in The Emerging Order (1979) by New Ager Jeremy Rifkin, who called for a re-definition of Genesis 1 to create a stewardship mandate for a dominion over the earth. Rick Warren, of purpose-driven fame, positively referenced Rifkin's proposal for this new Reformation. Just this year Warren launched what he calls the "Second Reformation." Other evangelical leaders calling for this new reformation include Ralph Neighbour, Bill Hamon, Luis Bush, C. Peter Wagner, Jim Rutz, Robert Schuller, Donald Miller and many others.

2) This "transformation" is not personal but is applied corporately to groups and entities. One example is: "Social transformation was defined as seeking positive change in the whole of human life materially, socially and spiritually, by recovering our true identity as human beings created in the image of God and discovering our true vocation as productive stewards, faithfully caring for our world and its people."

3) This "transformation" is to be accomplished by a "mission" strategy of doing "whatever it takes" to launch political, social, and cultural reforms on a global scale. A philosophy of "the end justifies the means" has been embraced to accomplish these colossal goals.

4) Extremely sophisticated psycho-social marketing techniques are employed to facilitate this "transformation."

5) State-of-the-art statistical measurement and assessment methods evaluate this "transformation," judging "effectiveness" by pre-set, man-made criteria.

6) A plethora of intricate spiritual activities with new names, new techniques, new methodologies, and new doctrines purportedly cause "transformation" to take place in the heavenlies and then on earth. These include strategic-level spiritual warfare, identificational repentance, prayer evangelism, on-site praying, spiritual mapping, prayer walks, labyrinths, spiritual formation, and a host of other newly-concocted doctrines with corresponding activities. (The reader is challenged to find any of these in the Bible.)

7) A re-alignment of church hierarchical structures, not unlike network marketing, is said to be essential for "transformation" to take place.

8) These new authority and accountability structures must be superimposed between believers and God. The model is touted as a return to the early New Testament model, in which churches met in homes. In reality it is a data-driven model with a top-down hierarchy of authority and control. It is variously called cell church, G12, shepherding, House2House, etc.

9) This "transformation" dialectically thrives on a diet of constant change which is accelerating rapidly. Continuous change in the church is pointed to as "revival," despite the fact that it utilizes business marketing methods such as Total Quality Management.

10) The claim is made that submitting to and participating in this radical and comprehensive "transformation" is necessary to fulfill the Great Commission. Thus "transformation" has been inextricably linked to the modern missions movement.

11) This "transformation" is said to be incomplete until the Bride of Christ is perfected on earth and "God's kingdom is seen on earth as it is in heaven.

12) Therefore, believers are told they are co-creators and co-redeemers, renewing the earth through their various "transformative" activities.

(The original article at Let Us Reason has extensive footnotes and documentation. In a pattern that is all too common in research of New Apostolic Reformation groups and those tied to them, the vast majority of detailed info on practices tends to be from--ironically--conservative Christians highly opposed to dominionism. Yes, they do exist. :3)

For that matter, it can be argued that Warren's talk of a "Second Reformation" is itself a bit of a NAR dogwhistle--neopentecostal dominionists, and particularly NAR neopente-dominionists, *do* see themselves as a second reformation, or as a "Third Wave" of pentecostalism (which they see in and of itself as a "Second Reformation"). The actual term "Second Reformation" itself has also shown up in Joel's Army circles proper on occasion.

At least one site has directly compared the tactics of Warren and NAR-linked groups such as Youth With A Mission and C. Peter Wagner's various orgs:

Rick Warren and many other postmodern types of ministries have approached evangelism from a new paradigm. This model has changed from using the Word of God, to building relationships and becoming friends and then eventually Christianizing them, not to a real conversion in Christ, but to the tune of a different gospel, even a different (view of ) Christ altogether. I have seen this happening as the major emphasis on evangelism has changed through the efforts of the International Congress on World Evangelization and the Lausanne Covenant. YWAM has been using this same model for years through the input of C. Peter Wagner and Fuller Theological Seminary where Rick Warren was involved.

The similarity has also been noted in at least one discussion forum focusing on coercive religious groups, this time with ex-Wagnerites discussing the similarities with Warren's program:

I agree with Richard about Wagners crazy unbiblical doctrine but his Fifteen Health Factors for American Churches sound lile they are straight from the Porpose Drive Life

Then again, looking at who trained Warren in the first place...the apple might well not be falling all that far from the tree, and there turns out to be a very good reason for the NAR dogwhistles.

The relationship between Warren and "Mr. Joel's Army"

In fact, as it turns out, Rick Warren was personally mentored by none other than C. Peter Wagner himself--Wagner being, in essence, "Mr. Joel's Army" (as both the person who coined the phrase and has led the rebranding of NAR groups since to things like "Elijah's Army" and so forth once the "Joel's Army" brand got to be too well known in apologetics circles).

Not only was Warren mentored by him, but apparently still praises the dickens out of Wagner and looks up to him as a role model in his book "The Purpose Driven Church":

4. Dr. C.Peter Wagner. This man has also been cited as a successful leader by Rick Warren. You have noticed his name above. Who is Wagner and what does he believe? He is the professor of Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission, Pasadena California. He believes in Dominion Theology, Kingdom Now, which is the premise that the Kingdom of God is already here! Wagner's spiritual warfare book, "Territorial Spirits," is a compilation of the writing of such people as Paul (David) Yonggi Cho, Larry Lea, Jack Hayford and others who accept the neo-dominionist doctrines.
. . .
On p. 127: he mentions favourably C.Peter Wagner, an apostate teacher...

In case you were curious, yes, this would be the same C. Peter Wagner who has literally accused non-NAR churches of being demon possessed for wishing to maintain their orthodoxy.

And it appears that Rick Warren was quite the good little student:

Saddleback Church promotes and endorses C. Peter Wagners book "Your Spiritual Gifts can help your church grow" here on saddlebacks website as part of there SHAPE class 301
here http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/ministry/images/discoverytool.pdf

Warren did his D.MIN. in 1993 under Peter Wagner at Fuller NEW CHURCHES FOR A NEW GENERATION: CHURCH PLANTING TO REACH BABY BOOMERS. A CASE STUDY: THE SADDLEBACK VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH (California). In it he wrote "We must establish new churches to reach this new generation of Americans. It will require new churches that understand the Baby Boom mindset and are intentionally designed to meet their needs, tastes, and interests."

Ministry Advantage at Fuller features articles from various "Christian leaders" Warren is listed among others like Ted Haggard, Jack Hayford, Bill Hybels, Peter Wagner, John Wimber etc. (http://www.fuller.edu/cll/ce/ma_writers.html)

All this means Fuller sees him as being in agreement with these men and what they are teaching. Peter Wagner who taught at Fuller optimized his vision of church growth with executing a new Church government, ie. new apostles and prophets laying a new foundation for today (ICA).

Yes, you read that right--Wagner and Warren do rather extensively cross-promote each other, and also include a number of other partners in crime (including John Wimber, who we'll get into in a moment).

According to the FACTnet thread earlier, Warren actually cites C. Peter Wagner no less than eight separate times in the disseratation in question--NOT exactly a good sign.

Let Us Reason (always a reliable source for reporting on what is going on with NAR leaders) notes the relationship goes so deep that Warren is involved in several Wagner-operated groups including a megachurch association and Mission America:

All this means Fuller sees him as being in agreement with these men and what they are teaching. Peter Wagner who taught at Fuller optimized his vision of church growth with executing a new Church government, ie. new apostles and prophets laying a new foundation for today (ICA).

Peter Wagner, is the Founder and President of the American Society For Church Growth (ASCG). Rick Warren is a member of the American Society For Church Growth (ASCG) which is located at Fuller Theological Seminary. http://www.ascg.org/links.htm Saddleback Valley Community Church.

Rick Warren, Founding Pastor (ASCG member at large) is found alongside many names which includes Global Harvest Ministries of C. Peter Wagner, Founder, President (the ASCG Founding President); The World Prayer Center C. Peter Wagner, Co-founder.

"Saddleback Community Church senior pastor Rick Warren is on Mission America's Facilitation Committee [http://www.missionamerica.org/leaders.html 1997].

A person does not become part of a board unless they are in agreement with the doctrines and philosophy of ministry of those who are part of the board.

And as for Mission America's philosophy? It's pretty much a pure Joel's Army group. This becomes rather apparent by looking at the membership list for Mission America, which is a veritable "who's who" of the New Apostolic Reformation...and which prominently includes Warren.

More proof of Mission America's status as a de-facto Joel's Army org comes from the Board of Directors--with only about two or three exceptions, every member is linked to or a leader of a group tied to the NAR. Some of these include orgs like Campus Crusade for Christ, Aglow International, and International Foursquare (itself an "Assemblies daughter" and the earliest known)--all of which have been linked with the "stealth candidacy" of Sarah Palin.

And, it would appear, the linkages don't stop with Cho *or* Wagner.

Still more NAR relations

One name that Warren has also been repeatedly mentioned in association with is John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard denomination (and this is using the term loosely; both it and its "parent", Calvary Chapel, tend to promote themselves as "church organisations", do denominational membership via signing of statement of faith and payment of a yearly membership fee, and in general straddle the line between a denomination proper and a parachurch).

Vineyard, as it turns out, shows up quite frequently when one does research on the NAR--in no small part because multiple Vineyard churches have been linked to it, including the Toronto Airport Fellowship (the site of a Joel's Army/Third Wave "revival" in the 80s), and partly because Vineyard churches have been particularly enthusiastic about exporting NAR-style dominionism to other denominations.

One particular tool that Vineyard has used to export NAR theology outside the neopentecostal dominionist set--with a disturbing amount of success--is via the "Alpha Course". As it turns out, "Alpha" http://www.understandthetimes.org/c15.shtml">had its origins via the steeplejacking of a CoE church by a Vineyard-associated cell church:

Although Nicky Gumbel's Alpha course was founded at Holy Trinity Brompton in 1991, the effectiveness of the course was not realized until a few years later after the "Toronto Blessing" was transported to England from Canada in May of 1994. It was then that Church leaders of Holy Trinity Brompton received a dose of the "blessing" through Eli Mumford who had just returned from Toronto.

On May 24, 1994, Elli Mumford met with several leaders of Holy Trinity Brompton. As Mumford prayed at this meet­ing, the "transferable blessing" from the Toronto Airport Vineyard was manifest. Sandy Millar, the highly regarded vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, decided that Elli would preach the following Sunday morning. After giving her testi­mony about her 'Toronto experience,' Elli asked the congregation to stand while she prayed the Lord would bless and give them all He had. Immediately people began to laugh hysterically, weep, shake, jerk, bark and roar.

Apparently both Wimber *and* Warren co-taught the same courses at Fuller:

3. John Wimber. Now deceased, John Wimber has been used as a model by Warren: From Dave Hunt's "Seduction of Christianity" p. 174: "...these men are creating a powerful New Age "paradigm shift" that is changing the way thousands of pastors and future pastors view Christianity and the Bible. In his latest Signs and Wonders Lecture Notes, John Wimber writes:

At the time of the preparation of this manual, Dr. C. Peter Wagner and I have been teaching MC510 for three years. It has been one of the most invigorating and exciting adventures of our lives.

At this date, January, 1985, we have had in excess of 700 students take the course at Fuller Seminary School of World Missions. The results have been astounding. Better than 90 percent of the students have indicated a paradigm shift in which they are now ministering in an altered worldview.

And again--despite Vineyard being one of the neopentecostal dominionist denominations most clearly linked to the NAR--Warren again held up Wimber as a role model when the latter died:

Warren commenting on John Wimbers death: "I will remember John Wimber as a man who truly loved Jesus more than anything else. I always enjoyed our conversations because that love for Christ produced an uncommon passion in his life that was contagious. I will miss that. A hundred years from today, people will still be singing "Spirit Song" because it verbalizes that deep love for Jesus." http://www.crvineyard.org/WhoAreThesePeople/History/WIMBER2.htm

It's good to be respectful and encouraging when there is a loss like this, however, to be so flattering brings to question what he really believes about the Vineyard movement that launched the prophet and apostle movement and the Toronto disaster, along with so many other aberrations. John Wimber's connection with Peter Wagner is well established; Wagner is now in the saddle with the prophet/ apostle movement that began with Wimber.

And, as has been noted, Warren actually promotes the "Alpha Course", specifically as a tool of "bait and switch":

Rick Warren has also endorsed Alpha course, which is something that goes well with his seeker friendly model. Alpha course is supposed to be a evangelistic outreach, but it is an offshoot of the Toronto blessing. "It's great to see how Alpha has been used to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ, who wouldn't normally come to church. This resource is very complementary to helping seekers connect with The Purpose Driven Life" (http://www.resourcefoundation.org/Current/Alpha/endors.shtml)

And this is *still* not the end of the Vineyard connections--in "The Purpose-Driven Life", he directly quotes from a major NAR preacher in C. Peter Wagner's network:

He quotes in The Purpose Driven life on p.108 a seemingly innocuous statement of Floyd McClung - who is involved with the 3rd wave Movement and now pastors Mike Bickle's church (one of the prophets that was in the Vineyard under the Kansas City prophets -now is affiliated as a prophet with Peter Wagner's Apostolic Movement).

And, as amazing as it sounds, we're still not done--there are indications of a relationship with Campus Crusade for Christ to boot, with a book endorsement by Bill Bright of CCfC for "Purpose Driven Church" (which would make at least the THIRD direct endorsement and/or contribution by NAR-linked groups).

Needless to say, this all adds up to Rick Warren being--contrary to the popular opinion promoted in the media--not the "innocuous evangelical", but quite possibly being involved in a branch of dominionism that has had well over sixty years to practice breeding in stealth.

Let's just say that I am not terribly happy regarding Barack Obama's recent choice for inauguration pastor--none other than Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, one of the largest megachurches in the US.

There are many reasons why I'm particularly displeased at this choice, but suffice it to say that--despite the media spin of Warren and his "Purpose Driven Life" spiel being the "kinder, gentler face of the Religious Right"--once one scratches beneath the touchy-feely surface, one finds...well, to quote The Who, "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss..."

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the real Rick Warren

For starters, Warren--in the typical nature of dominionists having a "public face" and a "private face"--has said some things to his "friendlies" audience that definitely put the private face in the "old school dominionist" vein, and in fact including some statements that would seem more at home at a "Watchmen At The Walls" event or a Fred Phelps rally than the "welcoming evangelical" he portrays himself as in public.

A recent article in BeliefNet reveals some of the "private face" of Warren. Among other things:

Most Likely to Infuriate Liberals:

* Gay marriage is morally equivalent to allowing brothers and sisters to marry.

* He opposes torture but didn't try to convince President Bush to change course because "I never had the opportunity."

* A possibly veiled slap at Islam: "He could have made us all puppets. ... He could have put us on strings and we'd pray five times a day and we'd have no choice."

* "Abortion reduction" efforts are mostly a "charade."

* His historical argument that "social gospel" Protestantism was "just Marxism in Christian clothing" and that "the mainline [Protestants] died."

Yes, you're reading this right. Warren not only has called most of mainstream Protestant Christianity flat out Marxist (which in dominionist-speak, is actually a closet method of calling them practicing devil worshippers; Communism and Marxism are directly equated to Satan worship in these circles and have been since at least the late 1920s) but literally equated same-sex marriage to incest.

Not only this, but Warren has also promoted a common bogosity that is promoted in dominionist circles in efforts to prevent expansion of hate crimes protection to LGBT people--namely, the (completely and utterly false) claim that adding sexual orientation or gender identification to hate crimes statues would essentially criminalise Christianity as a whole:

Oh , I do. For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman. And the reason I supported Proposition 8, is really a free speech issue. Because first the court overrode the will of the people, but second there were all kinds of threats that if that did not pass then any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn't think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships, and that would be hate speech. We should have freedom of speech, ok? And you should be able to have freedom of speech to make your position and I should be able to have freedom of speech to make my position, and can't we do this in a civil way.

This, of course, is aside from other fun things in the interview--like (and I wish I were making this up) a claiming the economy is in the tank because people aren't being evangelicals (as if thrift and saving money were purely a Christian trait, much less a dominionist one!).

This is, I will note, far from the first time Warren's fuzzy mask has slipped.

In a television interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Warren literally advocated--rather than the Christlike example of turning the other cheek--outright Biblically ordained assassination of world leaders in language that paralleled Pat Robertson's infamous calls for the assassination of Hugo Chavez:

HANNITY: Can you talk to rogue dictators? Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust, wants to wipe Israel off the map, is seeking nuclear weapons.

WARREN: Yes.

HANNITY: I think we need to take him out.

WARREN: Yes.

HANNITY: Am I advocating something dark, evil, or something righteous?

WARREN: Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped. And I believe...

HANNITY: By force?

WARREN: Well, if necessary. In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers.

HANNITY: I'm just gotten, thanks to my wife, who you know, you know, been reading the Old Testament. Because as a good Catholic growing up, I studied more the New Testament.

WARREN: Just ignored that part.

HANNITY: I ignored the Old Testament. But what about King David? What about the -- all the battles, all the conflict, you know, going back--you know, Abraham -- Adam and Eve and their children, going forward?

WARREN: The point is, there are some things worth dying for. There's no doubt about that. And I would die for my family. I would die for my freedom. I would die for this country.

HANNITY: If somebody broke into your house, you would be justified to kill them?

WARREN: I would be justified to protect my family. Absolutely.

HANNITY: And if it took killing them?

WARREN: Absolutely.

HANNITY: But it's not murder at that point?

WARREN: No. Murder is not self-defense.

There are also indications that Warren's tactics may in and of themselves be potentially coercive. Not only does Warren heavily rely on "stealth evangelism"--essentially "bait and switch for Jesus"--but explicitly implements a multilevel method of recruitment and indoctrination that makes it impossible to know what you are getting into fully:
One is the baseball diamond, used to explain the flow of church ministry in a person's life. Vast crowds attend church, but they reach first base, Membership, only by completing Class 101 and signing a covenant of commitment to Christ and the church. Second base is Maturity, reached through another class (201) featuring a covenant of commitment to a daily quiet time, tithing, and a small group. Third base is Ministry, in which members commit to serving actively in the church. They are interviewed and placed in one of dozens of thriving church ministries. Home base is Mission, in which Christians commit to the cause of evangelism. At the center of the diamond is Magnification, which stands for worship. How can one reach maturity before committing to mission or ministry? Chalk it up to the Baptist penchant for alliteration. Purpose-Driven churches make worship the starting point--it's where unchurched people experience the church and decide to commit. It's also the end, since everything centers on glorifying God.
In addition to refusing to be up-front (itself considered a danger sign), apaprently membership in cell groups and tithing are mandatory once one is considered a "full" church member; this is also a setup known in most coercive religious groups that use a "cell" structure. One particularly infamous non-"Bible-based" coercive religious group that uses this model is none other than the Church of Scientology--the various "operating thetan" levels (including the (in)famous OT VII "all your problems are the result of Evil Galactic Overlord Xenu chucking a mess of aliens into Kilahuea and Las Palmas 73 million years ago--after making them watch bad movies and drugging them up then placing them on space jets with strong resemblances to DC-9s) are in exactly this same regimented setup.

This is disturbing enough...but we're really just scratching the surface, unfortunately.

Rick Warren's links to Joel's Army promoters

Warren, unfortunately, has even more nefarious linkage--he has been associated not once, but twice with known promoters of Joel's Army theology, and in particular an individual strongly linked to the spread of Joel's Army/New Apostolic Reformation theology throughout the Assemblies of God (and in particular what is now known as the "Third Wave").

The first definitive linkage found with Warren and Joel's Army promoters is with early promotional linkages between Saddleback Church's media director and Left Behind Games--a company which produced what amounted to a Joel's Army strategy RPG based on the "Left Behind" novels by Tim LaHaye et al. (The "Left Behind" books, themselves, are in fact a fictionalisation of Joel's Army/NAR endtime theology--specifically regarding what have been referred to as the "Tribulation Saints", post-Rapture convertees to NAR theology who are joined at the end of time by the rest of "Joel's Army" to destroy everyone else on the planet.)

Astonishingly--until a Talk to Action series exposed the game and its content for the world to see--the initial plan, as suggested by Saddleback Church's international director, was to promote the game in churches to children as young as six:

Time magazine has described Mr. Warren as one of the nation's most influential Evangelical Christian leaders. He describes himself as a "stealth evangelist" and describes his training programs as "a stealth movement, that's flying beneath the radar, that's changing literally hundreds, even thousands of churches around the world." He claims that he has sold tens of millions of copies of The Purpose Driven Life by developing a worldwide network of pastors.

The international director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver, is a former investment banker who serves on the Advisory Board of the corporation created in October 2001 to develop and market this game. The creators plan to market their game using the same network marketing techniques that Mr. Warren used to turn The Purpose Driven Life into a commercial success. For example, they plan to distribute their merchandise through pastoral networks, especially mega-churches.

Fortunately, wind was caught of this, and the plot publicised--and (in part as a method of damage control) Carver ultimately resigned both positions.

This same article also notes that Warren has in fact adapted some of the concepts in the so-called "Seven Mountains" strategy (which ongoing research by the New Apostolic Reformation Research Team has found may ultimately originate from Campus Crusade for Christ and/or Youth With A Mission--both coercive parachurch groups known to promote Joel's Army theology and with very close connections, in the case of YWAM literally as a frontgroup, to Joel's Army interests in the Assemblies):

His dominionist theology is apparent in this ministry. A key aspect of dominionist thought is a conviction that the Scripture gives the church a mandate to take dominion over this world socially and culturally before the return of Jesus Christ. Mr. Warren's global plan is a strategy to realize a dominionist vision of churches, states, and corporations forming partnerships to bring about a new world order to make way for Christ's return by establishing a literal, physical kingdom of God on earth. In order to build this earthly kingdom, Mr. Warren plans marketplace ministries - business ventures with a veneer of missionary compassion that slip into a country in order to transform it systematically through the governmental, corporate, and social sectors. And that is why Mr. Warren calls himself a "stealth evangelist" - because he wishes to cloak his dominionist agenda, which is the establishment of an earthly kingdom that reflects his skewed vision of Christianity.

According to Mr. Warren, the establishment of this earthly kingdom requires "foot soldiers." As part of his plan, Mr. Warren said he would encourage laypeople to "adopt" needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as "little Saddams." Mr. Warren said his purpose is to enlist "one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God" in the developing world. And the stadium crowd roared its approval.

As disturbing as this is, even more worrisome--in my personal opinion--is Warren's extremely close relationship with Paul Yonggi Cho (nee David Yonggi Cho)--who can legitimately be said to be the person who brought not only Joel's Army theology into the Assemblies, but led to its official embracement throughout the 1990s (Assemblies "disavowals" of the Joel's Army branding of "New Apostolic Reformation" and "Third Wave" theology notwithstanding).

There is a very intensely personal reason why I find Warren's association with Cho highly disturbing. I myself am a walkaway from what would appear to be one of the first churches in the US, if not one of the first churches outside of South Korea, where Cho tried to foment a Joel's Army revival; this was all the way back in the sixties, at that. (The church I am a walkaway from is now considered one of the ten most influential "Joel's Army" churches in the US.)

Suffice it to say, I am all too familiar with "old time religion" a la Cho (and have the therapist's bills to prove it).

Cho, for those who aren't familiar (and most of you won't be unless you are a walkaway from some of the most spiritually abusive segments of the dominionist movement), is the head of Yoido Full Gospel Church--an extremely large Assemblies of God church in Seoul, South Korea (and with multiple "satellite" congregations throughout South Korea) that qualifies as the world's largest megachurch and (if its satellite congregations are counted) quite possibly the largest single congregation of any church; the church has claimed quite literally three-fourths of a million people in South Korea as members, and effectively is the Assemblies of God in that country for all intents and purposes.  His megachurch empire started a scant ten years after the Assemblies entered Korea, so he is a prime study on how the Assemblies actively exports dominionism worldwide.

The reason that Cho has two names is a story in and of itself (and is where we begin jumping deep into the rabbit hole and seeing how far down it goes).  Cho has claimed that that he died and later came back from the dead:

Paul Yonggi Cho

Some of the biggest names in the charismatic movement claim to have been to the other side and back. Among them is Paul Yonggi [David] Cho -- controversial pastor of the largest church in the world (with more than 500,000 members) in Seoul, Korea. He said he met a blue-skinned, deceased missionary to Korea there who commissioned him to reach his country-folk for Christ.[1]

Cho has also stated that one of his assistant pastors at the Yoido Full Gospel Church died and came back to life after three days. During that time period, according to an interview Cho gave

to Mary Stewart Relfe, he was reunited with his wife in heaven where he saw God and was able to meet various biblical figures -- including Abraham, Stephen, and David.[2].

(Sources: [1]Cho, Leap Of Faith) (Bridge Publishing, 1984); [2] "Interview with Dr. Paul Cho," Mary S. Relfe, League of Prayer (P.O. Box 4038, Montgomery, AL, 36104).)

During this bit of a trip to the Other Side that Cho claims to have experienced (a surprisingly common claim by Assemblies-linked "name it and claim it" promoters; Jesse Duplantis, another "name it and claim it" promoter popular on the Assemblies traveling-pastor circuit, also claims to have died and come back, as have many others) Cho claims to have been told to change his name and also claims to have seen Jesus as a member of the local fire brigade:

Cho claims to have received his call to preach from Jesus Christ Himself, who supposedly appeared to him dressed like a fireman. (Dwight J. Wilson, "Cho, Paul Yonggi," Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 161)
. . .
As Cho tells the story of his name change, God showed him that Paul Cho had to die and David Cho was to be resurrected in his place. According to Cho, God Himself came up with his new name. (Paul Yonggi Cho interviewed by C. Peter Wagner, "Yonggi Cho Changes His Name," Charisma & Christian Life, November 1992, 80)

Cho is the inventor of possibly one of the most spiritually abusive tactics ever devised--the "cell church" or "shepherding group", which has been the primary method in which his church has grown exponentially. (Of note, it was originally invented as a way to keep control over the huge congregation; it is now being used to "seed" dominionist movements in churches to take over from within, "cuckoo style".)  Cho is also, very much, a promoter of dominion theology and particularly "name it and claim it"; Cho has had links with the Assemblies frontgroup Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International which has historically been a major force in promotion of dominionism both here and abroad, and a profile at Rick Ross Institute notes that he has bastardised concepts from traditional Korean shamanism in almost identical fashion to that of the Moonies. He has also, by his own admission, used tactics based on those used by Soka Gakkai--a "Buddhist-based" highly abusive coercive religious group that is almost universally considered cultic and possibly violated law in obtaining confidential NCIC records for purposes of "dead-agenting" critics and which uses prayers as a form of cursing mainstream Buddhist leaders in Japan, has in general engaged in extremely unethical behaviour and whose members have even literally attempted to torch the temples of mainstream Buddhist churches.

It is, in fact, probably not a major exaggeration to state that Cho has been responsible for the increasing rate that the Assemblies of God has gone hard-dominionist worldwide; in fact, in 1992, he was elected head of the World Assemblies of God Council (the group overseeing all Assemblies of God churches worldwide)--the exact period when "Third Wave" pentecostalism (such as promoted in Brownsville Assemblies of God during the "Pensacola Revival") and its associated spiritual-warfare movements were embraced officially as a "move of the spirit" by the American Assemblies of God headquarters.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Cho has tried to breed the "Pensacola Madness"--in addition to the church I am a walkaway from and Brownsville A/G itself, one of the earliest churches he tried to foment a "Brownsville Revival" at was Juan Carlos Ortiz--pastor of Body of Christ (a large Argentinian Assemblies of God megachurch) who was one of the major parties who ultimately popularised Cho's "cell church" concept.

Another article (which notes that the church I am a walkaway from was the first in North America targeted by Cho) also notes that between the time the church I left was targeted and Brownsville was targeted that he claimed the next "outpouring" would be in Canada--at the Toronto Airport Fellowship, a Vineyard church often credited for "Third Wave" pentecostalism and its associated "spiritual warfare" movements. (Toronto Airport Fellowship has also been listed as an early Joel's Army church, though there were many Joel's Army churches before the "Toronto Outpouring" and this is now fairly well documented.)

Sadly, the rampant spiritual abuse I have reported as a survivor of "Third Wave Madness" is all too typical in the "Third Wave" churches--in fact, the whole "Third Wave" is increasingly regarded as spiritually abusive per se, and some of its core doctrines are frighteningly similar to those in Scientology.

Not only did Cho devise "Third Wave" pentecostalism, he in fact invented many of the tactics that are used by "spiritual warfare" groups--including "prayer gangs", "territorial marking" with Wesson oil, etc. and can in fact be credited with much of the dominionist "spiritual warfare" movement's invention and popularising.

Of interesting note, Cho has attempted to promote dominionist movements in South Korea itself and has multiple links to dominionist groups here in the States including Robert Weiner; the latter was founder of Maranatha, one of the earlier Joel's Army groups in the US and one of the first neopente dominionist groups widely regarded as a "Bible-based" coercive religious group (due to the extremely coercive manner of their "shepherding"; in fact, Maranatha was so abusive they were actually banned from several collegiate campuses before they "shut down" and rebranded as (initially) Morning Star International and (most recently) Every Nation).

In addition to the FGBMFI and other links, he's also linked to quite possibly one of the most spiritually abusive of the Assemblies frontgroups, "Youth With A Mission" (which is almost universally considered by exit counselors as cultic, and which is not only a confirmedly Joel's Army group but which is increasingly being found by NARRT researchers as being a major conduit of spread of much of the "spiritual warfare" theology within Joel's Army groups).

And this is still not the extent of Joel's Army involvement by Cho--among other things, Cho has a very close relationship with Mr. Joel's Army himself--C. Peter Wagner, who runs a massive network of Joel's Army churches and "apostles" and who can be considered to have coined the phrase "Joel's Army" (as well as its recent replacement in Joel's Army circles, "Elijah's Army").

Quite obvious why I consider anyone and anything to do with Cho as being Bad News.

And the links between Cho and Warren are, sadly, extensive indeed.  Deception In The Church and Let Us Reason document this:

Warren was a key speaker at Yonggi Cho's church growth conference in 1997. Cho is known to mix occult concepts with Christian teaching. He is especially known for his word faith & visualization techniques. Warren was also a key speaker at Schuller's Institute for Successful Church Leadership.

David Cho's connection to Robert Schuller is evident. Robert Schuller writes in the foreword to Yonggi Cho's book, The Fourth Dimension: "I discovered the reality of that dynamic dimension in prayer that comes through visualizing.... Don't try to understand it. Just start to enjoy it! It's true. It works. I tried it."

To say Cho is promoting mysticism would be an understatement. He says if Buddhists and Yoga practitioners can accomplish their objectives through fourth dimensional powers, then Christians should be able to accomplish much more by using the same means. (Paul Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension, vol. 1, 1979, pp.37, 41) "You create the presence of Jesus with your mouth... He is bound by your lips and by your words... Remember that Christ is depending upon you and your spoken word to release His presence." (Ibid., 83)

In Warren's interview with Cho we can see his respect for him.

Warren: Do you think American churches should be more open to the prayer for miracles?

Cho: I feel that the most American churches really don't believe in the miracles of God. The church is getting very institutionalized. But I tell you that by a new anointing the American church would start to believe the miracle of the nation of God's hand."

Warren: Can you please pray a prayer of blessing to the pastors that are reading this? (Rick Warren And David Yonggi Cho Talk About Using The Internet by Tim Bednar July 25, 2003) (originally from e-church.com

More damningly, a dominionist publication has http://www.pastors.com/articles/ChoInterview.asp">interviewed Cho wherein the latter admits links with Rick Warren; this same publication has http://www.pastors.com/article.asp?ArtID=9230">an article by Rick Warren where he quotes Cho directly in admitting both have possibly plaigarised sections of sermons from Billy Graham and a pastor of a Dallas, TX church:

There has been much talk in recent years on blogs and Web sites about how much of other people's sermons is appropriate to incorporate into your own messages. When does it get to the point of "plagiarism"? A friend of mine in Cincinnati was recently dismissed by his church's board of trustees because of this. As I predicted to that board of trustees, the size of that thriving church has been cut in half, the momentum they had been experiencing has gone away, and they are in big financial trouble. What a needless waste of God's momentum that had been resting upon them.

At a seminar, Dr. Cho, pastor of the world's largest church in Korea, was asked during a question and answer time, "How do you put your weekly messages together? They are so powerful!" He said, "Honestly, I have never given an original message in all my years of ministry here at Yoido Church. Each week, I preach word-for-word messages from either Billy Graham or W.A. Criswell from Dallas First Baptist Church. I can't afford to not have a home run each weekend when we gather. I don't trust my own ability to give completely original messages." Wow!

Warren was also a speaker at the Azusa Street Centennial (held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, generally held as the "birth" of pentecostalism including the Assemblies of God) and reportedly shared the stage with Cho.

Warren and Cho also have joined forces in promoting megachurches via the Internet including setting up "cell churches" online (and networking fellow dominionists):

Churches need to stop building bigger buildings and start relying more on the Internet, say two leading pastors in the church growth movement. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the 750,000-member Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, and Rick Warren, pastor of the 15,000-member Saddleback Valley Community Church, say the Internet is a "next generation strategy" that will connect decentralized home groups to the larger church body.

The two met recently in California to discuss church growth strategies for the 21st century, and their conclusion was -- stop building buildings and use that money for world missions. The interview appears in the July 25 issue of Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox, a free, e-mail newsletter available from the Web site www.pastors.com.

With 20,000 new converts a year, Cho says there is no way his church can match buildings to membership and so he's encouraging younger converts to stay at home and worship through the Internet.

"We are so jammed that we have no way to keep growing except by going to cyberspace," says Cho. He says he tells young people, "Don't come to church, just stay home and get your teaching through the Internet." These long-distance members give regular feedback on the sermons and services, and they can give their tithe through the Internet, and they stay physically connected to the larger body through small study groups.

Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Church," adds, "Even if we had all the buildings we needed, one question is whether or not the next generation wants to worship in huge buildings." He says Saddleback is experimenting with live Internet services on the weekends and has already set up a GroupNet to help small groups stay connected to each other.

Cho's church offers live services over the Internet, including Sunday and Wednesday. "But also, when I want to give special instructions or teaching to the cell groups," says Cho, "then I will teach it through the Internet to the cells and apartments."

"It is silly to build larger and larger church buildings," says Cho. "It is silly to spend more money on branch church buildings! You'll never have enough. I really believe this, and I have already announced to my people and ministers that the next step is to go into total cyberspace ministry because it is a real waste of money to build larger buildings." Warren adds, "No matter how much land you have, it eventually fills up.

Besides, just think of that money and how it could be used for missions. Our goal is to decentralize -- to send our church members out for ministry into their neighborhoods." Regarding the traditional need for buildings, Warren cites Saddleback's legacy: "We wanted to prove to the world that you don't have to have a building to grow a church. We were running over 10,000 in attendance before we built our first building. So we know how to grow and minister without buildings. What we're trying to learn now is how to do it through the Internet -- into the homes."

(It is worth noting--on a rather frightening note, at that--that many estimates have South Korea as the world's most "wired" nation, especially in regards to broadband access.)

Especially damning, Cho admits on his own website the links between him and Warren and cross-promotion of each other:

Prayer is the only way to survive!

Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in the USA came to see Dr. Cho who was visiting Los Angeles for the Spiritual Renewal Conference 2001 at Sarang Community Church in Los Angeles (Rev. Jung Hyun Oh). While Dr. Cho was talking to him, he urged the churches in the USA to pray. Dr. Cho emphasized prayer for the survival of the churches in the USA. He further said that leaders should listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and find out the methods of drawing young people into the Church, such as using the Internet.

It is frightening that Rick Warren is very, very close with the person who may in fact be one of the most responsible for the fact that the Assemblies of God is, denomination-wide, dominionist and embracing of spiritual abuse in the name of "spiritual warfare"--and in the process creating thousands of instances of "collatteral damage".

And the sad thing is--we are still not done with Rick Warren's extensive connections to Joel's Army groups.

In fact, Warren has close connections with some of the same folks Cho hangs around with--including not only having relationships with C. Peter Wagner but explicitly promoting him as an example to follow:

4. Dr. C.Peter Wagner. This man has also been cited as a successful leader by Rick Warren. You have noticed his name above. Who is Wagner and what does he believe? He is the professor of Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission, Pasadena California. He believes in Dominion Theology, Kingdom Now, which is the premise that the Kingdom of God is already here! Wagner's spiritual warfare book, "Territorial Spirits," is a compilation of the writing of such people as Paul (David) Yonggi Cho, Larry Lea, Jack Hayford and others who accept the neo-dominionist doctrines. This book is an anti-biblical book which teaches that Christians can dispossess Satan's angels from their seats of authority over geographical areas. Biblically, these spiritual entities will not be put down until Jesus Christ returns, at the end of the Tribulation period, when Satan himself is bound for a thousand years. Revelation 19-20. Wagner says the Kingdom has come NOW. P.14: "The kingdom has come."

A book could be written re Wagner--several books have been written in apologetics circles and NARRT is working on a number themselves. Suffice it to say that pretty much C. Peter Wagner is considered the founding father of Joel's Army--association with him is damning indeed.

And it would appear that Rick Warren was directly mentored by Wagner...which would explain why Warren's strategies for social change sound so much like the Joel's Army seven-year plans.

In fact, it'd appear that Wagner, Cho, and Warren are working together in what amounts to a council of large Joel's Army megachurches.

...and now you know why I am quite unhappy with this choice.

The readers of this diary all know by now that--to put it very mildly--I am not one to sympathise with dominionists, and in fact could be described politely as being Mad As Hell about dominionists targeting kids in particular.

This does not mean we should descend to their level, though--an important thing we need to realise in order to prevent feeding a preexisting paranoia.  As the old yarn goes, "When you wrestle with a pig on its terms, both you and the pig get dirty, you get bruised up, and the pig likes it."
The reason I make a point on what is appropriate rather than inappropriate protest against dominionism is due to the following article in Christian Post that indicates that dominionists are already using the fact that people are doing Bad Stuff back to keep their folks in line--and to play the victim:

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A woman whose summer camp for children near Devil's Lake, N.D., was featured in a documentary called "Jesus Camp," says all the attention led to her decision not to continue camps there.

"I have a responsibility to keep the children safe," the Rev. Becky Fischer said.

Fischer said the camp, which is owned by the Assemblies of God and rents to a number of groups, was vandalized after the release of the movie about her Kids on Fire camp. The Assemblies of God church also was vandalized, she said.

The camp's windows were broken and it had about $1,500 worth of damage. Police figure the church was vandalized the same night, said the Rev. Winston Titus, the camp administrator.
. . .
Fischer has asked that Magnolia Pictures not release the Jesus Camp movie in the Bismarck area because she worries about the risk of other incidents there.

She said the movie is scheduled at the Fargo Theater on Nov. 17, and will be out on DVD in a couple of months.

Anyone who reads this column knows damn well I am no fan of the Assemblies of God's promotion of dominion theology, of the religious abuse inherent in dominion theology, of the promotion of "Joel's Army" theology, or of the concept of raising kids as "Joel's Army" recruits.

However, vandalising the property is not cool.  Why?

a) It is sinking to the same level of people in the dominionist movement who firebomb women's clinics and the like.  (In fact, special federal provisions exist in regards to church vandalism, and it's stunts like this that tend to get groups listed as domestic terrorist groups.)

b) It feeds into an existing "us versus them" mindset in "Joel's Army"-type groups and in fact further reinforces abusive tactics and practices within the group.

I actually have an example of the latter from my own youth growing up dominionist--when I was around 13-ish, the Sunday school chapel (normally used for teen services; Sunday school was held in the "old church" which was by that point used for their private school and for Sunday school and "bible camp" stuff) was chained shut.  

The Sunday school teachers claimed later that day that this was because it had been vandalised--supposedly a pentagram had been burnt on the floor, graffiti saying "666" and "Hail Satan" had been sprayed several places, and paint or blood had been splashed on the altar.  

To my knowledge, it was not re-opened during the entire time I remained in "teen church" (maybe a year after that); furthermore (and here's what I mean by feeding on pre-existing coercive tendencies) the church both in its main services and in its Sunday school used this to repeatedly drive the point home that there was a massive Satanic conspiracy against the church and that it was because the church was God's Army and making Satan scared

To this day, I have to wonder if such an incident actually happened--I don't remember hearing anything on it on the news (and such an act of vandalism would certainly be notable, as the FBI was investigating church vandalism at that point), I don't remember anything about the FBI looking into things, and if (and this is a pretty big "if" here) the incident actually happened, I expect it was a bunch of stupid kids mucking around...but the effect was that it was used by the dominionists as Proof That They Really Are Out To Get You, So We're Doing The Right Thing And Need To Get Even More Extreme

c) They can turn around, portray themselves as the victims--and portray everyone fighting dominionism as the Bad Guys, as potential terrorists-in-waiting, based on the action of a few asshats.  (An extreme version of this is what the Phelps familial cult does--practically all of the members of the family are lawyers or disbarred lawyers, and they are very prone to filing lawsuits against people for assault or for even preventing their protests.)

I had thought--*hoped* at least--that the message had gotten through, but it would appear not so much--reportedly Wasilla Bible Church, one of several churches Palin attended, may have been the target of arson. (Of note, this is still being investigated.)

And hence, I will note just why stunts like this are so damn *stupid*.

Torching churches (and in the case of WBC, this was actually the *least* radical of the churches Palin attended) will just cause the dominionists to start up elsewhere--only in an unannounced location, and quite possibly even more radicalised than before.  I'd not be surprised to find that internally the Assemblies of God church in question where "Jesus Camp" is held isn't making very similar sermons to the Assemblies church I escaped after the "Chapel Incident".

In the particular case of Palin, too, this may actually give her the out to drop her WBC involvement--and either try to "stealth" at another church, or stop the pretense of "stealthing" and admit she's a Joel's Army stalking-horse. (It has been widely speculated that Wasilla Bible Church--the solitary non-neopentecostal-dominionist church she attended--may have been attended by Palin to "stealth" her actual denominational affiliation; reportedly she did not attend all that frequently, sometimes walking out mid-service.)

In fact, probably the only good thing at all that came out of this particular cunning plan (that was not thought all the way through) was that "Jesus Camp" was linked officially to an Assemblies of God church--something not too surprising to me, having attended a "Jesus Camp"-style day program in an Assemblies church in my youth and knowing how popular "Joel's Army" stuff is in the Assemblies anymore.  I'd much rather that this info had come about without giving aforementioned Assemblies church ammo to claim that "Folks Who Think We're A Cult Are Working With The Devil To Destroy Us", however.

We may find out more about what goes on at Wasilla Bible Church (which, whilst not solidly Joel's Army, is still hardline dominionist--though more of the SBC/"independent Christian church" variety, rather than the frothing "God Warrior of Elijah's Army" sort. Again, though, this gives them an incredible ticket for sympathy.

No, we can't sink to their level.  There are far more effective ways to fight this stuff:

a) Education, education, education.  Me writing about my own experiences is a way of this; "Jesus Camp", of interest, is another in that it's a fairly neutral portrayal of what these groups are like--many dominionist groups are having apoplexy now as a result of their "private face" finally being captured on film.
(Ironically, the asshats who vandalised the "Jesus Camp" grounds may have sabotaged the goal of educating people, in that the subject of the film went on to pressure movie theatres to request not to have it distributed in its hometown.)

b) Provide more resources for people who are escaping these groups--or who may need help in escaping these groups--and encourage them to share their stories.  (There are a number of excellent resources for walkaways now--but little awareness of religiously motivated child abuse in the social work community or psychologist communities.  Thousands of LGBT kids, for example, are on the streets at serious risk to themselves because they are "throwaways"--kids who have either been kicked out of dominionist households or who have had to run away to protect themselves.  Awareness of walkaway issues by social workers would do wonders to help kids who are escaping places like this.)

c) Work to make sure that dominionist groups can't hijack the political process.  (Be aware of the dominionist groups and churches in your area, and if they are explicitly supporting candidates or other things in violation of their 501(c)3 status, start making complaints to both the Federal Election Commission (or your state elections board) and to the IRS.  In this vein, it is also vitally important to GOTV for folks who are running against candidates backed by dominionists.)

d) Work to get rid of some of the extremely broad exemptions for abuse, inspections of camps, etc. that religious groups use in many states.  (In many states, "behaviour modification" facilities are run by dominionist groups and are not even required to be licensed (and the same goes for "Jesus Camps", preschools, and the like); state child protection services are also likely to give broad leeway in regards to religiously motivated child abuse.  These loopholes need to be closed; in states like Tennessee that require licensure for groups giving medicine, for instance, groups like Love In Action have been shut down based not on religious matters but on being unlicensed facilities.)

The bonus of this approach (as opposed to merely smashing in windows and vandalising the grounds of a dominionist group) is that the group is shut down or limited statewide if not nationally--and it also sets a precedent that can be used to protect other kids in groups outside of just that one group.  (In other words, if "Jesus Camp" had been shut down legally for something like fire code violations, not only would that have been the end of it restarting period in that state, but other "Jesus Camps" run by other groups could have been stopped.)

e) I cannot emphasize enough, as well, the importance of keeping a good amount of cleansing sunlight on these groups. In the case of Palin's connections with not just Wasilla Bible Church but other more explicitly Joel's Army churches, this has led to one of the first dedicated research groups focusing on educating and shining the spotlight on "New Apostolic Reformation" groups--including their theocratic intent and their abusiveness. This is something that is desperately needed, and *will* be needed in the coming months and years--the "religious right" is far from dead, and is already at this date promoting Palin as a potential Presidential candidate in 2012.

One thing we will have to keep a watch on post-WBC fire is the fact that there may be people who try to claim criticism of these groups subjects them to being targets (this did happen after the "Jesus Camp" incidents). We cannot afford to let this happen.

f) Make sure businesses are aware of the possibility of "affinity abuse" by dominionist groups--the use of company charity programs to fund promotion of things like the AFA or "Jesus Camp"-style facilities.  Don't be afraid to tell them that if they do not drop the dominionist companies, that you and your friends won't do business with them.  (

g) Keep our noses clean--do not engage in physical attacks on the property of dominionists or on dominionists themselves.  As I noted above, stuff like vandalising property or smashing windows does nothing to help them, in fact flatly encourages them, and allows them to play the victim and potentially endangers the entire movement in fighting dominionism.  (To give a clue from the other side--the reason dominionists are doing so much damage control re "Jesus Camp" is because the movie shows realistically the levels of indoctrination of kids.)

We have a hell of a lot of legal ammunition we can use against abusive dominionist groups (including the most effective ways--starving their conduits of power and money).  Let's not drop to their levels, folks.

It's generally the tradition that people do like to be scared around Halloween--originally a festival meant to drive away the monsters of the night, we now celebrate all things spooky and monstrous.

There are some monsters, though, that do need to be driven away...and some things which really are frightening.

One of those things in the "monstrous" category would be the particularly extreme branch of Joel's Army that Sarah Palin is closely connected with...and, as we'll see, it is truly horrifying as to the results.

Among other things, apparently a second nation besides Guatemala may have fallen to a Joel's Army coup (Fiji in the early 2000s)...and not one but two separate appointments have been made to Alaska's Suicide Prevention Council that are linked to Joel's Army groups that Palin is a member of.

Into the House of Horrors

We begin our trip into the frightening world of Sarah Palin's connections to Joel's Army--more formally known among a quickly-coalescing band of researchers as the New Apostolic Reformation, after a branding used by C. Peter Wagner--with the results of longterm research by Ruth at Talk to Action.

Ruth, along with a number of other folks (including myself and Bruce Wilson), is part of a research team specifically focusing on Joel's Army issues. Her most recent project has been with digging into the "Transformations" series videos--a series of videos produced by a Joel's Army umbrella organisation called the Sentinel Group.

The Cliff's Notes version of the Transformations vids is that if a country and its culture are converted over wholescale to Joel's Army theology, pretty much it can create a utopia--crime going down, prosperity going up, kittens farting rainbows, the whole nine yards.

As the report from the New Apostolic Reformation Research Team (henceforth referred to as NARRT) reveals, though, the truth is quite a bit more horrifying.

. . .

As we've reported earlier in posts on Talk to Action, several of the persons Sarah Palin is known to be associated with--including Thomas Muthee--promote a "Seven Mountains Strategy" that is essentially a Joel's Army "five-year plan" to take over all institutions of human culture and civilisation--including the financial, governmental, educational, and even entertainment sectors.

Quite ironically (for being a group that claims to be "God Warriors" so much), the ultimate intent of the "Seven Mountains Strategy" is to eventually set things up where one would effectively have to take the Joel's Army "Mark of the Beast" to survive--literally no services, not even at somewhere as mundane as the grocery store, would be available to those not converting. Apostates and the "unchurched"--a category that explicitly includes Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, members of non-neopentecostal Protestant churches, and even people involved in Freemasonry--would have the choice, literally, to convert or die.

The recently-released 36-page report from NARRT gives much more information on just *how* this is planned. Among other things, the Transformations video series promotes and discusses:

1) Establishment of what amounts to a parallel banking system, and even goes into explicit detail on "wealth transfer" from the "godless" to the "godly" (C. Peter Wagner, one of the "Founding Fathers" of the Joel's Army movement and practically Mr. Joel's Army himself, is quoted in the 2006 Transformations video as stating "I decree that vast amounts of wealth will be released supernaturally, even from godless and pagan sources. . . The enemy's camp will be plundered."

2) The explicit steeplejacking of emergency services. (This has been a subject of discussion before in this journal, particularly in regards to the Gothard frontgroup Police Dynamics Institute, but the trend is accelerating and has been around since at least 2005--based on documented activity with front groups of dominionist orgs and Hurricane Katrina relief.) Disturbingly, and again in parallel with trends noted as early as 2005, there is explicit discussion of partnership of front-orgs with the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. This is also including steeplejack of police departments (such as through Gothard's PDI front) and the promotion of "prayer walks" and marathon fasts (water-only for 21 or 40-day periods, initially popularised in Latter Rain circles back in the 40s and still considered a hallmark of groups descendant from Latter Rain) as a form of community policing.

3) The explicit steeplejacking of psychiatric and social services, including suicide prevention councils. Palin herself is a canonical example of this--she appointed no less than two people heavily connected to Joel's Army groups to the Alaska Suicide Prevention Council: Pat Donelson who is founder of a Joel's Army front called Carry The Cure (that targets First Nations youth in Alaska for conversion) and Brenda Moore (who is connected to a theophostic "Counseling center" and medical clinic that is run as a front of a Joel's Army church in Anchorage and who is closely connected to Palin via Mary Glazier--whom we'll get into much more detail about shortly). (We'll be doing a dedicated post on Brenda Moore tomorrow.) The increasing promotion of the highly abusive Teen Challenge, Dream Center and Mercy Ministries--all of which are Assemblies of God frontgroups with close connections with Joel's Army--as "alternative sentencing" is also a big part of this.

4) Promotion of outright anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic information in the bizarre name of "spiritual mapping" and "spiritual warfare". At one point, a group goes on a tour of Mt. Everest to attempt to exorcise the "Queen of Heaven, who prevents the prayers of Catholics and Moslems from reaching God" (the Queen of Heaven is a title of the Holy Virgin Mary--claiming the "Queen of Heaven" is a demon is about as anti-Catholic as you can get, and directly equates Catholicism with Satanism), and at another, it's claimed they essentially assassinated Mother Theresa via imprecatory prayers; in another "spiritual mapping" trip, the Knesset in Israel is declared to be the "mind of Satan on earth". The US, alas, is also not alone--anti-Masonic imagery is brought up (due to the Founding Fathers having been Freemasons) and "exorcisms" have been performed on the city of Washington, DC under the claim the US--and Constitutional rule respecting the freedom of religion--was founded via a "false covenant made to Baal."

5) Have promoted the use of military coups--including death squads run out of Joel's Army churches, literal God Warriors With Guns--to promote their ideology. Guatemala of course is used as the canonical example, but in some of the Transformations videos an example is made of a coup-de-etat in 2000--where Joel's Army promoters (largely based in the indigenous Fijian population, after Assemblies "cell churches" largely steeplejacked the Methodist church in that country) proceeded to use Joel's Army theology to justify policies that largely disenfranchised Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians who disagreed with governmental policies. (This ultimately led to a coup in 2007.)

Sometimes the two combine. 1) and 4) combined quite recently in particularly bizarre fashion as Joel's Army promoters prayed over (I am not making this up) a bronze bull on Wall Street to call for the US economy to be completely steeplejacked and thus not "bullish" or "bearing" but "lionish"--in other words, if you're not Joel's Army, you don't get to do business. Seriously, this is some of the bizarreness promoted in these circles.

And the real horror story here: Palin is, quite blatantly, among their number as friends.

Fright Night

The folks at NARRT have been digging up quite a bit of info on Palin--and if the initial revelations re Muthee were disturbing, the following info may be horrifying.

Part of the reason the "Transformations" series of videos has come to attention is that because Ed Kalinins, head of Wasilla A/G apparently loaned a grateful Sarah Palin the videos back in 2000.

Even worse, it would appear this just scratches the surface.

For the first time, we have direct evidence of a top-level candidate being actively shepherded by an extremely hardline Joel's Army preacher.

In the same article above, it's noted that Sarah Palin not only is friends with Mary Glazier--a darling among the Joel's Army set, in part, because she is a major lynchpin in Joel's Army networks associated with C. Peter Wagner and because she's of Haida Nation descent--but would appear to be in an ongoing shepherding relationship:

On July 13, 2008, an Alaskan woman named Mary Glazier told attendees at a religious conference near Seattle that Palin joined Glazier's prayer group in 1989, when Palin was 24.

Glazier's group soon evolved into a prayer-warfare group and sometime in the early 1990's that group was absorbed into a budding national, then international, entity called the "Spiritual Warfare Network" and Glazier became the network's Alaska state director.

In 1995 Glazier's Alaska prayer-warriors mounted effort to drive an employee in the Alaska State prison system, a chaplain alleged to be a witch, from her job with "prayer warfare".

In the late 1990's, the prayer warfare network, now global, began to interlock with other rapidly coalescing national, then international networks - coalitions of "apostles" and councils of "prophetic elders" - all under the ideological imperative of something called "spiritual warfare".

Bruce Wilson, a NARRT researcher, has written a good piece on Glazier's activity and transcripts are available of the video where Glazier explicitly endorses Palin.

Since that article was published, additional confirmation that Palin is being actively shepherded by Glazier has come out, including via reports to the New York Times:

Sarah Palin has been publicly anointed and blessed by a top leader and inspirational figure in the New Apostolic Reformation, a global movement rapidly transforming Christianity: Thomas Muthee. Another top leader in the movement has stated Palin joined her prayer warfare group in 1989, at twenty four around the time when, according to Mary Glazier, "God was speaking to [Palin] about going into politics." A third movement leader has stated that Palin is still in Glazier's prayer warfare network, and a fourth movement leader has confirmed, to a New York Times reporter, the relationship.

And this is *still* not the full extent of Palin's relationship with Glazier.

As noted, Glazier runs effectively a statewide network of Joel's Army promoters and sympathisers. And Brenda Moore--the subject of a dedicated post tomorrow--is the other appointee Palin made to the Alaska Suicide Prevention Council; she herself is connected to Glazier via fellow Glazier shepherdee Eleanor Roehl.

We will get much, much more into that tomorrow--space does not permit me, unfortunately, to go into details (this does require a dedicated post).

But suffice it to say, the prospect of Palin being near the presidency (and no, folks, we *cannot* count an Obama victory as "in the bag" until votes are in, votes are counted, and he's sworn in as President Obama on 20 January 2009--a whole lot can happen in four days, much less three months)--an act which would quite literally give an apocalyptic, coercive Bible-based cult whose core theology dictates a nuclear war with Russia potential access to the Nuclear Football should McCain die in office--should give ANYONE nightmares.

In yesterday's post, I went into some of the initial detail on a statement given by Thomas Muthee in the infamous sermon where he "annointed" Sarah Palin and also claimed to literally run a traditional religious practitioner out of his home base.

Muthee's statement referred to a popular concept in Joel's Army circles--the concept of the "seven mountains", that is, seven pillars of society that these groups see as a major priority for takeover "by hook or by crook". (Of note, Palin was actually used as an example for the takeover of "government".)

Today, we look into how the "Seven Mountains" concept is promoted in Joel's Army circles--including some of the incredibly disturbing code-phrasing used (including literal references to genocide and extirpation of opponents), and how Palin is being used as merely a rook in what amounts to a "50-year plan" for national and societal steeplejacking by a group that can be literally described as calling for holy war with the rest of humanity. We also look at how the mere candidacy of Palin--and McCain's *other* overtures towards Joel's Army--are a symptom of a serious systemic problem in the GOP that could have literally apocalyptic consequences if unchecked.

More on the seven-point plan, revealed

"Seven Mountains" imagery, as we dig into it, becomes rapidly very disturbing. For starters, the "seven mountains" are directly equated with seven historical peoples and nations that formerly occupied what is now Israel, and who were driven out or completely extirpated during the pre-royal era of Israel (when the prophets and priests were running the country). This in itself is symbolic--many Joel's Army groups actually have claimed Israel started on a downward path when they changed their rule from a theocratic/theonomic model to a king with divine right of rule (this is seen as the "will of man", not the "will of God").

A particularly revelatory look regarding what Joel's Army has intended for the rest of us is at a site called Reclaim 7 Mountains, which is to say--succinctly--"convert or else":

As the blessed seed of Abraham according to Galatians 3:29, possessing the gates of our enemies and taking dominion of the earth to bless all mankind is the church's chief responsibility. Like it was for Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joshua and David, it will take warfare, strategy, teamwork, ingenuity and patience but the redeemed seed will prevail in taking the message of the Kingdom of God around the earth.

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Matthew 24:14

In other words, the church is not sitting around waiting for the return of Jesus. It is working for the return of Jesus. It is the job of the redeemed sons and daughters of God to make disciples of every nation and prepare the earth for His return.

"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."

Revelation 19:7

Notice in the above verse that the bride (the corporate church comprised of all the nations of the earth) has made herself ready. This implies two things. First, John saw the corporate church finally becoming complete in the last days. Secondly, he saw that it was the primary responsibility of the church to make these preparations happen.

The first time that Jesus came, He came to redeem the seed. Now he is waiting for the redeemed bride to make herself ready by taking dominion of the earth. Her preparations will be complete as she adorns herself with the nations of the earth. Then the end will come.

Note the subtle reference to "serpent seed theology"--many Joel's Army groups have a concept that all of humanity is descended from either sons of God (through Adam) or of the devil (through Cain--who is believed to have been the result of Eve having sex with the Serpent). Christian Identity takes a racist version, whilst Joel's Army promotes itself and "Elijah's Army" as the literal sons of God with its opponents being literal descendants of the Devil.

Interestingly, "Reclaim 7 Mountains" seems to embrace the "Joshua Branding" here (as opposed to the "Elijah Branding") of Joel's Army, based on a quote re an upcoming conference on workplace prosyletism and the use of the "parallel economy" as a recruiting tool--and also explains the "seven" fetishism:

When God called the people of Israel out of Egypt to form a new nation in the Promised Land, He told them that they would be the head, not the tail, if they obeyed the commands of the Lord. He told them to divide the land into 7 parts (Joshua 18:5). They would also have to displace 7 enemies that currently resided in the Promised Land. "This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out 7 enemies before you including the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girga@!$%#es, Amorites, and the Jebusites (Joshua 3:10).
Have you noticed a pattern yet — 7 mountains, 7 parts of land, and 7 enemies that needed to be displaced? 7 is the perfect number in scripture. It is the number for completion. He made the world in six days and rested on the 7th.
The 2008 Church in the Workplace Conference will be focused on the 7 mountains that shape culture. This conference will be unlike any you've experienced becausey ou will hear from people who are having an impact rightnow in each of these 7 areas and understand the role you can play in reclaiming these 7 mountains.
And remember, we ARE the Church in the workplace!

Yes, you're hearing this right:

a) "Joel's Army" is directly equated with the founders of Israel (this ties into theology indicating that they are in fact the "chosen people" along with Jewish people).

b) Their enemies are being directly equated with seven nations that were either displaced or the victims of wholescale genocide by the founders of Israel.

c) They are on a literal mission from God, in their minds, to do this--by hook or by crook.

"Reclaim 7 Mountains" goes into much more detail regarding this imagery--including potentially setting up kids as targets of child abuse for normal moves towards independence:

(re "family")

The family unit is clearly under assault by Satan. More specifically, it's fathers who have failed, although Satan's assault shows up in other areas too. The Mountain of Family is in dire need of an infusion of Elijah Revolutionaries. It could also be called the Mountain of Social Justice because the true greatest social injustice we currently face is that the hearts of fathers are not turned toward their children and the hearts of the children are not turned towards their fathers. All other social injustices spin off of that central injustice.

Scripture says that in the last days, it's not just the parents "fault"—something evil will be released on children to turn them against their parents.

But know this that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

The italicized words specifically describe the kind of children's behavior we may be familiar with, but their intensity and degree in the latter days will be worse. It is Satan's attempt to subvert the last days work of the spirit of Elijah with a preemptive strike.

The commentary re kids is worrisome for an entirely different reason than much of the rest of this section--it's a case where they indicate a willingness to turn against their own flesh and blood to maintain the party line.

Neopentecostal dominionists--and in particular those involved in the Joel's Army movement--are among some of the leading proponents of the beating of babies and toddlers with "chastening rods" in the name of "spiritual warfare". At least one major promoter of "Bible-based baby beating"--Bill Gothard, who has known connections to Palin via the International Association of Character Cities--explicitly runs a paramilitary training camp for "Joel's Army with Guns", among other fronts including "Bible-based" boot camps; Gothard, as well as many other promoters of religiously motivated child abuse (including Michael and Debbie Pearl, whose books are linked to the deaths of children), explicitly refer to Joel's Army concepts of "spiritual warfare" and driving out "generational curses".

In fact, there is a very strong component of religiously motivated child abuse connected with accusations of "witchcraft" in Joel's Army revivals in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere of the exact type promoted by Thomas Muthee--it's in fact enough of a problem in the United Kingdom (not exactly a place known as a huge Joel's Army hotbed) that formal advisories are given to social services groups on how to spot "deliverance ministry" related abuse and in Africa itself has resulted in a massive--and under-reported--humanitarian crisis. There is also a non-negligible crisis of religiously motivated child abuse of this type in the States--but, unfortunately, considerable barriers exist in regards to successful prosecutions.

In a particularly relevant note re Palin, the Assemblies runs a chain of "faith-based rehabs" called Teen Challenge where not only coercive tactics are rife, but parents are encouraged to send their kids there if they're seen as "disobedient"--and yes, being a gay kid in a Joel's Army household, or even being a walkaway or having questions about one's faith, is most certainly seen as being "disobedient".

Unfortunately, it's not just their own kids they turn on. A hidden call for genocide against LGBT people is given, as well as literal comparison of women's clinics to pagan temples of a particularly infamous god:

(re "family")

The seventh nation listed in Deuteronomy 7 is the Jebusites. The name Jebusites means "a place trodden down, rejection." That's the spirit on the Mountain of Family that must be dispossessed. The Jebusites represent rejection as it applies to our understanding of a main enemy on this mountain.
. . .
One could serve Baal by serving Molech, the one to whom children were brutally and cruelly sacrificed. [note: Worshippers would heat up statues of Molech and then place their children in the statues' red-hot arms and watch them burn to death.] For us, this represents the prevailing god and influence over abortion. Since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, more than 50 million children have been sacrificed at this altar of convenience. Baal worship in our land has cost millions their life. Abortion is the rejection of a child by a parent, evidence of the Jebusites of rejection at work. We see the heart of a parent turned not toward their children, but rather against them in a deadly way.

Homosexuality is also a manifestation of Baal worship and why male prostitution was integral to Baal ceremonies. Homosexuality is the rejection of one's natural sex drive. This rejection isn't necessarily a conscious choice; it's the fruit of rejection that has been sown in someone and defiled him. The point is not whether one is born homosexual or not.
. . .
A mass homosexual parade and celebration that was to bring many millions of dollars to New Orleans was scheduled the week Katrina hit the city. Baal was doubling up in the city by adding homosexual decadence to his existing active altar there. Hurricanes Wilma and Rita also each brought judgment on cities that were about to host major gay events—Key West and Cancun—thus seriously curtailing the celebration of gay acceptance. God loves homosexuals so much that he will spare no expense in making it clear that homosexuality is an abomination to Him, and that He can deliver someone from it. The name Katrina even means "purity"—perhaps a message of God's intent for that hurricane. What looks like God's anger against homosexuals is really His passionate love working to spare them from greater judgment—lifetime in a real hell.
. . .
We haven't touched on that last phrase yet, but it's important. If this family restoration doesn't come, the earth will be struck with a curse. That word "curse" means "annihilation." The earth will suffer annihilation if true family is not restored on earth. AIDS is a disease that has its roots in the violation of God's mores for the family. It's a sin disease that decimates families and leaves millions of orphans behind. A man and a woman who marry as virgins have provided themselves with the ultimate protection against AIDS. There are innocent AIDS carriers, but the source of the disease is sinful, anti-family behavior. Forty million people in the world are now infected with a death sentence that is directly attributable to violating God's known standards for family life. Could the curse of Malachi 4:6 be an even worse disease or virus that takes out the disobedient? Elijah Revolutionaries will not stand by and allow that possibility to unfold. We will receive and carry the restorative work of the spirit of Elijah to the nations.

(Note the shift in branding to "Elijah Revolutionaries", a variant of "Elijah Branding" of Joel's Army.)

Yes, you're reading this right. LGBT people and workers at women's clinics are not only directly equated to worshippers of a pagan god (equated with the devil and child sacrifice) but to a group that were ultimately forced into serfdom by rabbinical tradition (modern archaeologists state it is arguable whether Jebusites ever existed as a distinct people). Oh, and they're among the legions who claim Hurricane Katrina was some form of divine retribution (if so, God has aim worse than the Stormtroopers in Star Wars--the French Quarter actually made out pretty well) and I can only imagine what lovely things are being said about Hurricane Ivan being God's Wrath. :P
Oh, and the fact that bitty babies and haemophiliacs die of AIDS is apparently the fault of allowing the queers to exist. :P

It should be noted that one area they explicitly have targeted is the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court, then, is probably even more influential on the Mountain of Family than on the Mountain of Politics. It decided Roe v. Wade and is the only entity with the power to reverse it. Its justices have the power to determine, for legal purposes, what a family is. They are involved in all morality-related rulings. To fully dethrone Baal and take this mountain, we will have to "take" the Supreme Court. The emerging Elijah Revolution will begin to bring God's order to the top of this mountain.

If anything, their bit on the "mountain of government" is even worse:

(Re "Government")

The second enemy nation mentioned in Deuteronomy 7 is the Girga@!$%#es. The name means dwelling in clayey soil and represents being motivated by earthy desires and ambitions. In essence it represents corruption brought on by the "pride of life" (1 John 2:16). The definition of corruption is "the impairment of integrity, virtue, or morality." This is what presently rules in politics and government.

All governments suffer from corruption, a built-in sabotage that guarantees their eventual implosion. The only government that will never have any corruption is the theocratic Kingdom of God. Here on earth, there will always be something less than a perfect government. We can (and should), however, insist on high ideals, principles, and individual character—people who can help manifest a form of government that is a blessing to a nation. We cannot instill a theocracy in a human government because theocracy is transcendent to humanity. The Kingdom of God can be superimposed on people through influence, but only God Himself can be "theo." Therefore, any attempt to establish a physical theocracy is ill-conceived unless it is reinterpreted as something other than what it actually means. (-cracy—government, theo—of God). A government can potentially function as a virtual theocracy, but only as the individuals in power allow themselves to be puppets (i.e. servants) of the theocracy (God's rule and reign). The goal is to bring the influence of heaven to bear on whatever political machinery that exists.
. . .
The Mountain of Government is perhaps the most important of the mountains because it can establish laws and decrees that affect and control every other mountain. Therefore, we find Lucifer himself entrenched on this mountain as the usurping "prince" over the nations. Whereas God's government is established through service and humility, Satan's government is established through manipulation and pride. Lucifer sits at the top of this mountain, where he specifically functions as the Antichrist. His role over the nations is to stir and raise up whatever would defeat the purposes of God on earth. When he is firmly entrenched in a nation, that nation will manifest the following "antichrist" distinctives.

1) Working to destroy Israel
2) Working to destroy the next generation (abortion, wars, and plagues)
3) Working to destroy Christians
4) Working to suppress women or release "Jezebels"
5) Working to pervert sexual mores (homosexuality, adultery, etc.)

Every one of these topics deserves a book of its own, so we won't be able to develop them much deeper here. The point is that Lucifer tries to weave into all aspects of governmental influence the seeds of these five distinctives. He attempts to change and arrange laws, pacts, and agreements that will advance his antichrist agenda. And he still thinks he can succeed—which will just make the end result a little sweeter. Anyone attempting to climb this Mountain of Government must understand who is ruling and what he is looking to perform. The Girga@!$%#es of corruption serve his purposes because they condition people to be pawns of his master plan. The displacement of Lucifer is guaranteed by God, and nation by nation will be pulled out of his clutches.

OK, step one: literally all secular government is compared to an obscure tribe of Caananites who were apparently entirely extirpated; secondly, pretty much any nation allowing reproductive health services or tolerating LGBT people is in direct control of the son of the devil himself.

Going back to the "Reclaim Seven Mountains" site, one of the most unintentionally hilarious parts of this speech is where the Apostles are almost literally compared to Larry the Cable Guy:

A quick look at the original twelve apostles should convince us that none of the natural qualities I've listed above define the role. Peter and the gang were primarily unlearned, redneck-type fishermen, and their natural gifts did not indicate the level of spiritual call upon their lives. Through them, we see a manifestation of God's divine strategy of choosing "nobodies" to turn the world upside down.

(And now you know why so much is made of Palin being able to field-dress a moose!)

In a note that is a very subtling--and very damning "from the horse's mouth" indictment--there's a segment that notes that "apostles will know one of their own" in regards to those appointed for government steeplejacking...disturbingly relevant in regards to those who've blessed Palin:

It will take true prophets and "wise men" to uncover true apostles. Whether or not the title comes into play, God is now preparing and raising up apostles to possess the Mountain of Government. They will be humble, intimate servants of the Lord who carry great spiritual power and authority. They may either be the advisors (intercessors) of politicians or the politicians themselves. (These will be the natural "disguises" for an actual apostolic anointing. Many will be women, who are the key for the church being released into her full destiny.) Daniel, for example, had an apostolic anointing from a position of influence. Esther and Joseph had actual positions they operated from—as well as influence beyond the position. King David was a good example of a presidential/apostle type. He had the highest spiritual authority and natural authority in the land.

And it should be noted that...well...if you're not a Joel's Army member, you're not seen as Christian enough and they intend to put you to the convert-or-die sword, too...because if they don't, God will allow the entire country to be screwed over:

This apostolic positioning will increase more and more among the nations of the world as the mountain of the Lord's house is exalted above all others. One reason we haven't advanced as far as expected in this area is that "Christians" who have come into power in various national governments haven't always been apostolic Christians. By apostolic Christians, I mean that they have made it to the top of the mountain without carrying apostolic authority. Apart from apostolic anointing, there is no displacement authority. Therefore many of these Christians have fallen to the same corruption as their predecessors. Lucifer and his corrupting Girga@!$%#es have not been spiritually displaced by the angels that would normally accompany a true apostle.

The goal is not just to have Christians in high places, but rather to have Christians who are called to be in high places step into that role. And wearing a "Christian" label on our sleeve isn't the point. We need to learn to be "as wise as serpents and harmless as doves" and realize that stealth authority and influence are much preferred over overt authority and influence. A low profile diffuses resistance from the opposition. Political righteousness isn't determined by whether someone calls himself a Christian or not anyway. That's established by whether the political values they are prepared to defend or establish are actually righteous. A Christian who espouses abortion rights or the validity of gay marriages, for example, is worthless as a "Christian" candidate. If candidates don't understand righteous politics, they aren't anointed for this mountain. They may have enough Christianity in them to enter heaven, but they don't have enough Christianity to bring the rule and reign of God down to earth.

This will change as the Elijah Revolution is released upon the nations. Sons and daughters of the King who understand the call to take the seven mountains will rise to the mountaintops. More important than their confession of faith will be their understanding of Kingdom issues. Do they understand God's redemptive plan for Israel in these last days? Do they understand that "if you touch Israel, you touch the apple of His eye"? (Zechariah 2:8). Entire nations will be severely judged or highly blessed and favored based on this issue alone. Governing cannot be done by the flesh anymore, as the issues will be increasingly highly charged spiritual matters that God will directly address—often through devastating judgments (Isaiah 26:9).

The world will come to learn, for example, that though God passionately loves every homosexual, remaining in that sin will cause someone to fall under the sword of His judgment. Feelings don't validate a homosexual lifestyle any more than they validate a murderer's desire to kill. We are all born with feelings that we must curb and cut off, and the sooner we embrace God's standards, the sooner we have a chance to be at peace with Him. It is well understood that any child, when left to his or her own standards based on a feeling, will become a spoiled, unruly brat. What comes to us naturally is sin. We will lie, cheat, fornicate, dishonor our parents, and commit every other form of sin when we define righteousness by whatever we think we were born with. The sooner we understand that God expects righteousness—regardless of what our innate tendencies tell us—the sooner we will be able to eliminate His judgments from our personal and corporate lives.

And now you see just WHY Palin is so damn dangerous--and why there's things like imprecatory prayers for McCain's death. Palin is seen, literally, as one of their Chosen--one of the few that, in their view, is sufficiently "in line" with Joel's Army theology to establish their own little Republic of Gilead, where anyone who doesn't toe the line will be driven out or killed.

And yes, Palin is pretty explicitly promoted as being one of the chosen of Joel's Army. In addition to that "Deborah Annointing" stuff, none less than Palin's mentor and darling of the Joel's Army movement Mary Glazier is rather actively promoting her as the Chosen One, politically speaking:

Just a few minutes ago Eleanor Roehl, a powerful Eskimo intercessor and prophet, called me to say she senses an imminent attack against our nation. Then Karen Fink came into my office to share the following revelation she had this past Friday with increasing weight on her heart ever since:

She received the scripture Gen. 50:3,"A period of NATIONAL MOURNING". She then saw Sarah Palin standing alone and she was mantled with the American flag. The flag was upside down because things are inverted (upside down) right now. I knew she was stepping into an office that she was mantled for."

(Of note, there's an interesting bit of scripture-twisting going on--and particularly disturbing, at that; Gen. 50:3 describes the 40-day embalming period and 70 days of mourning for a leader--in context with the rest of Gen. 49-50, the death of Jacob. Also, an inverted flag is a universal symbol of national emergency.)

And yes, they do pretty explicitly see themselves as divine agents:

Jesus has no intention of visiting temporarily to see who wants to "get saved." He will release His government and rule upon the earth—through His sons and daughters—and His Kingdom will never stop growing. He never gives the planet to Satan! The takeover of the affairs of earth is somehow tied into bringing order to the entire universe. Our planet is the last bastion of rebellion, and He will overwhelm it on His terms here on this planet. His terms? That His weak, foolish, simple, love-struck sons and daughters finally wake up to their inheritance and become the instruments that crush Satan—here and now.

This is also why prosyletisation is perfectly accepted...and why George W. Bush, and the Iraq War, are explicitly seen as divine mandate:

As I write this, President George W. Bush is a Christian who also serves as civil leader of the most powerful nation on earth. This position carries great responsibility—beyond what most people understand. "Most powerful nation" status is given by God; just as He places leaders in nations, He also establishes leadership among nations. President Bush has a responsibility before God to terrify terrorists and rogue nations. He probably relies on his personal walk with the Lord for guidance for the correct strategy to do so. But it's important to know that he has a biblical, God-ordained command to exercise "the sword" to stop those who would do evil. Confronting evil and delivering practical justice is a central call of those in civil positions of authority.

And lest anyone doubt, their primary allegiance is with Joel's Army, not constitutional rule:

We must approach this mountain as those whose citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). In the latter days, the Lord will use citizens of heaven who live on earth to exalt the His mountain above all other mountains. This citizenship must transcend our natural citizenship. Our natural citizenship is still important, as it establishes a specific arena where we're called to be active. But it's as citizens of heaven that we are sold out to our King and consumed by a deep love for Him, positioning ourselves to receive empowered strategy from heaven to fast forward His prayer while He was on earth: "Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

Both the Federal government and--bizarrely--Harvard University are explicitly targeted:

If Washington, D.C., is the geographical top of the mountain, then at some point we must embark on a holy invasion of that stronghold. We see this already taking place with new ministries coming and physically spending a lot of time in the D.C. area. Prayer warriors, as well as those called to be the new visible faces on this mountain, need to invade.

If Harvard is a seedbed for the future leaders who will occupy the top of the mountain of politics, then it needs to be invaded as a part of the multi-pronged strategy. We need a host of Elijah revolutionaries to go and attend that school and bring the order of heaven to that place—a strategy we'll discuss in much greater detail in the next chapter. Christians at Harvard is not a new concept, but Elijah Revolutionaries on that campus would be. An Elijah Revolutionary lives out of his Kingdom identity. He or she is first and foremost a citizen of heaven, and only secondarily is he a citizen of his nation. A revolutionary will carry the zeal of the Lord for righteousness and justice—which are the foundations of His throne (Psalm 97:2). Harvard will again burn with transformational governmental righteousness that will bring light to the nations of the world. As I'm writing, I'm prophetically seeing these things for Harvard and how that is a key part of the action strategy for taking the land that the Lord has given us at the top of the Mountain of Government.

...and trust me, it only gets worse from there.

Rick Joyner, a "founding father" of the Joel's Army movement (and actually one of the persons who originally coined the term "Joel's Army"), also dropped hints as to how this particular band of "Christian nationalists" plans to deal with such complications as the Constitution (using terminology that could have been straight out of the Aunt's "Freedom from" speech from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale) on a post made on 19 June 2007 to the ElijahList (a major Internet mailinglist and forum for the Joel's Army crowd):

The kingdom of God will not be socialism, but a freedom even greater than anyone on earth knows at this time. At first it may seem like totalitarianism, as the Lord will destroy the antichrist spirit now dominating the world with "the sword of His mouth" and will shatter many nations like pottery. However, fundamental to His rule is II Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Instead of taking away liberties and becoming more domineering, the kingdom will move from a point of necessary control while people are learning truth, integrity, honor, and how to make decisions, to increasing liberty so that they can.
. . .
The kingdom will start out necessarily authoritative in many ways, or in many areas, but will move toward increasing liberty--so do all true churches and movements that are advancing toward the kingdom. You may have to be very controlling of toddlers, but the older they get, the more they can be trusted, and the more freedom they should have if they are going to develop into true maturity, which requires personal responsibility.

(Emphasis actually in Joyner's post.)

The post seems disturbing enough on its face (with lip service towards religious freedom--after a period of totalitarian rule--in phrasings that would do the North Korean propoganda agencies proud) but the true threat comes across when one realises that the Joel's Army folks are also among some of the biggest promoters of literally using "chastening rods" to beat toddlers into submission--giving a further, veiled, *very* dangerous threat that they intend to literally "beat the devil out of people" if deemed necessary.

Pretty much anyone who is not a neopente dominionist in "Joel's Army" is at grave risk should anyone with connections get near the Oval Office, or the Supreme Court, or Congress--and we already have some in Congress, though thankfully not a majority. And no, the risk isn't just restricted to Palin--McCain made some very overt gestures towards Joel's Army promoters John Hagee and Rod Parsley even *before* the selection of Palin, which makes those of us watching wonder whether it's a matter of an "olive branch" or possibly a sign that the Republican Party is so thoroughly steeplejacked that it may soon be impossible for nominations to occur without a candidate having "Elijah's Army cred".

And here's where it matters in this election

The Hagee connections in particular are worrisome--Hagee's church operates what may be one of the most abusive coercive religious groups ever formally documented, in some ways actually managing to be worse than Scientology in sheer intensity and amount of thought-reform tactics used (and that takes some major doing!). Hagee's group Christians United for Israel not only uses Joel's Army terminology in a way that even confirmedly Joel's Army churches in the Assemblies won't touch with a 40-foot barge pole but has explicitly called for essentially a massive holy war against the non-Jewish population of Israel and its surrounding countries, and has also hinted at Joel's Army endtime theology regarding nuclear war with Russia and the Moslem world.

In fact, McCain did not drop his association with Hagee and Parsley until too much came out regarding the promotion of "hunters and fishers" theology by Hagee--a virulent covert-anti-Semitic theology becoming increasingly common in Joel's Army circles in which Israel is rather explicitly promoted as a divinely-ordained "megaghetto" to which Jewish people must either be "lured" by "fishers"...or "herded" by "hunters". (A brief glimpse on how truly anti-Semitic this stuff is--Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and modern neo-Nazi groups, are explicitly promoted as "hunters" literally doing the work of God to herd Jewish people to Israel as if they were sheep and slaughtering them if they are "obstinate".)

And sadly, the bloodlust isn't just restricted to Jewish groups who refuse to act as good little end-time pawns on the Joel's Army chessboard. As I've noted in a previous post, Joel's Army groups have literally used the same "Phinehas Priesthood" imagery used by Christian Identity groups to promote omnicide against anyone not falling in line (including, notably, one of the "founding fathers" of Joel's Army--Rick Joyner)--the "Phinehas Priests" taking their cue from the Biblical leader Phinehas, infamous for a number of bloody purges (including the complete decimation of the Midianite people save for virgins--taken as spoils of war--and what very nearly resulted in the extermination of the Israeli tribes of Reuben and Gad over a case of mistaken identity re a temple) and the impalement of not only a Midianite but her Israeli fiance (who was seen as guilty by association).

More associations with what amount to a war on humanity come from the "horses' mouth". An increasingly popular rebranding of Joel's Army in their own circles is "Gideon's Army"--and an increasing fad is with Gideon Conferences, devoted to promoting "Seven Mountains" planning and typically limited to 300 people apiece. Why 300? It's not Frank Miller's comic re the Battle of Thermopylae they're thinking of--no, supposedly Gideon (who ran Israel after Deborah) managed to beat back a Midianite occupying force of 100,000 with only 300 men. (Much more will be discussed on this in future posts.)

This imagery has even been subtly referenced in regards to Sarah Palin, amazingly. An analgous imagery used in Joel's Army circles to "Phinehas Priests" is the concept of "Deborah Annointing" in women--that is, comparison to the Biblical prophetess Deborah, who led a bloody revolt against the Canaanites and whose right-hand woman literally killed the leader of the occupation by driving a tent peg through his head. In other words, women with "Deborah Annointing" are seen basically as "Mommy Phinehas Priests"--and Joel's Army promoter J. Lee Grady explicitly has promoted Palin in this regard.

This is by far not the only especially blatant salutation of Palin as essentially a member of Joel's Army, WACS Division. Thomas Muthee explicitly describes her as a canonical example of the kind of person they'd like to see taking the "Mountain of Government" during his "annointing" of her during her run for governor in 2005:

And the last area is in the area of government. Hello? We need believers there. We need men and women of integrity. You know, as the Secretaries of State. We need them right there. People that are born again, spirit filled, people who know God, and people who are serious with God.

So in a moment if you do not mind, I'll ask, you know, even before I go to do this thing, you know, I'll ask Sarah, would you mind to come please? Would you mind? Come, please. Let's all stand up, and let's hold hands all over this house. Come, Pastor, come.

[Sarah Palin comes to the stage in front of the congregation. Sarah Palin bows her head stretches her forearms forward and places the palms of her hands upward. Thomas Muthee lays hands on Sarah Palin's head. Pastor Ed Kalnin and unidentifed man lay hands on Sarah Palin's shoulders.]

Thank you, Jesus. Let's all pray. Let's pray for Sarah. Hallelujah! Come on, hold your hands up and raise them. Hold them and raise them up here! Come on, talk to God about this woman! Come on, talk to God about this woman we declare favor from today. We say favor, favor, favor! We say praise my God! We say grace to be rained upon her in the name of Jesus. My God, you make your judgement, you make room. You make ways in the desert, and I'm asking you today, we are asking you as the body of Christ in this valley, make a way for Sarah, even in the [inaudible]. Make her way my God. Bring finances her way, even in the campaign in the name of Jesus, and above all give her the personnel, give her men and women that will back her up in the name of Jesus. We want righteousness in this state. We want righteousness in this nation. Because you say [inaudible] in the name of Jesus. Our Father, use her to turn this nation the other way around. Use her to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers so that the curse that has been there long can be broken. In the name of Jesus. Father, we thank you today. We come in the hindrance of the enemy, standing in her way to there. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus! Every form of witchcraft, it will be rebuked in the name of Jesus. Father, make her way now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

With the previous explanation that they claim to "know their own" in office, and explicitly referring to some of the other "seven mountains" memes--this and yesterday's post should hopefully give you some insight as to just *why* this is far from an innocuous blessing.

The sad thing is...this is just scratching the surface as to the depths of connections with Palin, McCain, and Joel's Army stuff. (In fact, just today Ruth at Talk to Action has posted on how the links may go prior to Palin's political career--a subject we will be going into much deeper detail on in the days and weeks to come.) In future posts, we will reveal more info on how deep the rabbit-hole goes (and it goes very deep indeed)--issues which could have very real implications for the US and the world at large, especially considering that not only will Palin be a heartbeat away from the Presidency if McCain is elected--but McCain himself is likely to lend an ear to these folks, if his prior associations with Hagee and Parsley are any clue. In fact, there are some indications that McCain still has associations with Hagee via Joe Lieberman--indicating that the ties aren't so much broken as hidden.

And that could be a Very, Very Bad Thing Indeed for America and the world.

Today's diary is--and yes, I know, this is a shocker--NOT going to be about Sarah Palin. At least, not directly. This is more towards some of her supporters...and especially in light of Palin throwing stones whilst in a glass house re the Jeremiah Wright controversy, a deeper look is warranted into one group Palin is associated with in particular.

The truth is, Palin's stealth candidacy is but a single symptom of a much larger problem--much as a wound that won't heal is often indicative of the cancer beneath. And so it is here--as we'll get into in the coming weeks, Palin is actually a rook in what amounts to a high-stakes national game of chess that the Joel's Army movement is playing with the rest of America.

Today, we focus on some statements that were made with Thomas Muthee's "annointing" of Palin as governor--yes, that Thomas Muthee, the infamous Kenyan witch-hunter who spoke at Palin's supposed former congregation--and how he actually revealed much of what amounts to a longterm strategy by Joel's Army groups to steeplejack the country...and society.

First, some backgrounder

Hopefully, this will explain to some extent just why I've got such a concern here, but in order to discuss this, some background info is necessary.

A great deal of my own personal concern regarding Palin's candidacy is because she does still appear to be an active member of a particularly coercive movement that I myself am a walkaway from--namely, the Joel's Army segment of what I term "neopentecostal dominionism", a particular "Christian nationalist" ideology that had its origins in but is by no means restricted to the Assemblies. (If anything, it is now in a process of metastasis to even some mainstream churches--Episcopalian and Roman Catholic churches in particular being explicitly targeted via "cell churches".)

Of note, this is an evolving movement, and partly because of this and partly because of the fact that the movement tends to reinvent itself whenever bad press comes out, there is not really a standardised name for the movement even among its own practitioners. (The term "Joel's Army" itself has largely gone out of favour within the movement, replaced by things like "Joshua Generation" and "Elijah's Army" and such--largely because of bad press specifically re "Joel's Army" in apologetics circles.) It's also a coercive religious movement that has had very little formalised study of any kind; until fairly recently, the only people really writing about these groups were Sara Diamond and Skipp Porteous (both of whom have largely retired from research on Christian nationalism as a whole), and even exit counseling groups have only recognised in the past five years that many of these groups use the same systematic forms of control as better-known coercive religious groups like Scientology or the Moonies. (In fact, some indications are that these groups may be among the most coercive groups yet documented--particularly worrisome in light of their extremism.)

"Ruth", who is one of the few people (besides myself, Bruce Wilson, Chris Rodda, and Jeff Sharlet) who actively specialise in research of neopentecostal dominionism, has done an excellent series on both Palin's churches and the modern outbreak of this sort of thing (I myself would argue that the problem is far more extensive within the Assemblies and has had a habit of remission and flareup over a 60-70 year period, but she is concentrating on the worst bits of things, and some of it may not have been so obvious to people not in the movement--I've seen apologetics researchers note this too). Her first article notes the theological basis in "third wave" neopentecostalism, with the followup focusing on Rodney Howard-Browne being a major vector of Joel's Army theology and her most recent article being clarifications to writers that this is in fact an extremist movement not identical to "old school" pentecostalism and noting further info regarding Palin's churches and Joel's Army theology. In particular, she also has a very good post regarding a subtle form of anti-Semitism increasingly promoted in Joel's Army circles, including by Muthee--the concept of "fishers" and specifically "hunters" essentially herding Jewish people to Israel as a form of divinely-ordained ghettoisation.

Bruce Wilson, who's also been doing impressive research on this for quite some time, also has been performing an extremely valuable service--it's been said that a picture can tell a thousand words, and if this is true, video can tell even more of a story. Wilson, along with the site Irregular Times, has been doing the primary video documentation of the extensive linkages between Palin and "Joel's Army"--including a mini-documentary consisting of clips from Wasilla A/G in particular that were later scrubbed from their site, some of the earlier documentation of Muthee's call for infiltration, and the usual explanation that Joel's Army theology is an extremist movement.

In fact, Wilson's videos have riled up neopente dominionists sufficiently that an astroturf campaign was launched to try to remove Wilson's initial documentary from Youtube--bogus complaints claiming "inappropriate content" were sent to Youtube, in a remarkably similar manner to how Scientology has tried to get videos critical of the group pulled (only instead of filing DMCA complaints, the astroturfers apparently tried to label it as "inappropriate"--against Youtube's acceptable use policy, either for banned content (hate speech) or mislabeled adult material--probably in an attempt to get the posting accounts themselves yanked).

As for myself and my own background info, pretty much the first page of my diary should work, but I would also recommend specifically as backgrounder info re the use of the NIV in "Joel's Army" circles as well as a history of neopentecostal dominionist theology and info on two very specific coercive tactics that become very important in any discussion on neopente dominionism and "Joel's Army" in particular--the concepts of deliverance ministry and cell churches, in particular their uses in breeding "cuckoo congregations" and their historical use in Joel's Army groups. (As an aside, Paul Yonggi Cho has been a very underappreciated figure in the spread of this theology, in particular within the Assemblies.)

Until I get a formalised "bestiary of Christian Nationalism" together as well as a future chronological timeline of Palin's involvement with these groups (she's dared to invoke the Jeremiah Wright thing, nut her own connections with Joel's Army groups are far more damning put into chronological context--and this includes some involvements that have not as of yet been widely publicised), this is your homework reading for today's post. :D Trust me--it makes the following much easier to understand. If nothing else, start with Ruth's and Wilson's work; it is necessary backgrounder for what we're about to discuss.

Coded messages in Muthee's speech

As I had noted in a previous post, I had reported on how Irregular Times had posted the full transcript of Palin's "blessing" by Thomas Muthee. Space unfortunately prohibited me from going into a discussion on how a great deal of Muthee's talk was essentially a coded message to the Joel's Army community--something I hope to rectify in this post.

The relevant parts of the transcript are as follows:

In a moment, I'll be asking you that we pray for Sarah, and I'll tell you the reason why. When we talk about transformation of a community, we are talking about God invading seven areas in our society. Let me repeat that one more time. When we talk about transformation of a society, a community, it's where we see God's Kingdom infiltrate, influence seven areas in our society.

Number one is the spiritual aspect of our society. Mainly, the church for a long has just concentrated on that dimension, whereby we simply want people saved, we want them to go to heaven, we want them delivered, and that's it. But I'll tell you something: if all we do is come to the church and get people saved and then they go, I don't think much will happen in our society.

So the second area whereby God wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It is high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity, running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the Israelites, you know, that's how they won. And that's how they are, even today. When we will see that, you know, the talk transport us in the lands. We see, you know, the bankers. We see the people holding the paths. They are believers. We will not have the kind of corruption that we are hearing in our societies.

So we go to the third area, it's in the area of politics. Tell your neighbor, "politics." Do you know what I discovered? This is funny. The people who actually split churches, they have the gift of politics, but they are exercising it in the wrong place. That's what I came to know. There are people who are wired to politics because God wants to take the political, you know, dimension of our societies. And those people should be prayed for. That's why I was, you know, I was so glad to see Sarah here. We should pray for her, we should back her up. And, you know, come the day of voting, we should be there, not just praying, we should be there. And I'm saying this because that's what I'm telling our church. I'm telling them that we need this in Parliament. In here is what you call Congressmen, you know, you know, the, the Governors, we need the bretheren right inside there. Is anybody hearing me?

You know, because who will change the laws of the lands? The problem is do we just pray, but we do nothing about it. If the believers had not done something in this country, your president would not be in office today. Yes or no? Am I right?

Number three, or number four, it's the area of education. We need believers who are educationists. If we had them, today we would not be talking about the Ten Commandments being kicked out of the church, I mean out of our schools. They would still be there. One of the things that you, you know, I would love you to know, I'm a child of revival of the Seventies, and that revival swept through the schools. They are open to preaching, you know, open. Open. Wide open. You go to any school, there is what we call Christian Union. Christian Union is nothing more but a bunch of kids that are born again, spirit-filled, tongue-talking, devil-casting. Is anybody hearing me? All over the country! Is anybody hearing me?

We need God taking over our education system! Otherwise, we, if we have God in our schools, we will not have kids being taught, you know, how to worship Buddha, how to worship Mohammed, we will not have in the curriculum witchcraft and sorcery. Is anybody hearing me?

The other area is in the area of media. We need believers in the media. We need God taking over the media in our lands. Otherwise we will not have all the junk coming out of, you know, coming out of the media. And not only that, we need God t__— [period of silence in video]. Why can't we have our living church in Hollywood? Guess what will happen. If we have a living church right in Hollywood, we would not have all the kind of pornography that we are having. Is anybody hearing me?

And the last area is in the area of government. Hello? We need believers there. We need men and women of integrity. You know, as the Secretaries of State. We need them right there. People that are born again, spirit filled, people who know God, and people who are serious with God.

Interestingly, there are areas where this very sequence has shown up before--Muthee himself is quoting from another Joel's Army promoter, one Lance Wallnau (who works as a motivational speaker in neopente dominionist circles). And, as we'll see today and tomorrow, Wallnau is far from the only Joel's Army cheerleader using this specific terminology.

After finding reference to "Seven Mountains" in one of "Ruth's" posts (in which she includes a video from Wallnau himself, I did some digging and was able to find info on a seminar where Lance Wallnau referred to an almost identical set of planned points for takeover of the country, Joel's Army-style:

What are the Seven Mountains?

The seven mountains are seven spheres of influence that make up the mind molders that control Nations. He who occupies these mountains controls the harvest. As Satan gains power over these mountains he increases his capacity for "Mind Control." That's the spiritual force that inclines whole people groups to think along the same pathway. It is the phenomenon that explains sudden trends in fashion or music. It works to turn whole continents against each other and will be used to facilitate global wars. Mind Control will increase as the Last Days speeds toward a conclusion.

Here are the Seven Mountains or Mind Molders:

1. Spirituality and Church
2. Family
3. Education
4. Government and Law
5. Media and Communication
6. Arts and Entertainment
7. Business and Finance

World Rulers of Darkness operate through people. Their goal is to penetrate key strategic positions at the tops of the mountains, and to populate these positions with people who will become gatekeepers to their foul agendas. A small group in control of Media with a homosexual bias can put on programs that make the Gay lifestyle appealing and entertaining. This media pummeling has the effect of softening minds to the issues of morality and creates intolerance for moral absolutes regarding sexual purity and a false tolerance for perversion.

Mind Molders work together in order to accomplish the strategies of the devil. This year alone, the family (Family Mountain) has come under assault by government legislatures (Government Mountain) in the State of Massachusetts to recognize that the union of a man and a woman is a thing of the past. Men now marry men and woman marry woman. Simultaneous with this, education (another mountain) chartered a school in New York to honor those students with a homosexual preference.

Abortion and Pornography are coming through this same gate at a rate that is barely keeping up with the number of marriages falling apart and the number of men and youth who are becoming addicted to sex on the internet.

The same strategy to leverage the power of mind molders is now being worked out by the spirit of Anti Christ in Europe. "Anti" means against or "instead of" - and "Christ" means "anointing". Therefore it is the name of a spirit that opposes Christians and seeks an alternative anointing. The World Ruler of Islam has so successfully joined with the spirit of Anti Christ in Europe that America is now the most hated country and George Bush in particular is now the number one most hated leader in Europe.

This, less than one generation after young Americans spilled blood to liberate our friends from the tyranny of Hitler's war machine. How can this happen? Again, it's called end time mind control. The manipulation and infection of the hearts and minds of people in mass through the mind molders. By the way, what is the number one thing Europeans most dislike about the President? His piety, they don't like the fact that he is a praying Christian!

Remember, Anti Christ is anti anointing. Europeans aren't against all prayer. They don't mind Muslims praying three times a day toward Mecca. This explains why a land where churches once dominated the landscape is now laced with golden domed Mosques dotting the horizon. This and the sudden rise of the European economy as their currency surpasses the U.S. dollar make all those who are afraid of being "Left Behind" nervous. But God has a plan- "Go into the entire world, all its systems, its mind molders and its Nations and infiltrate the world with My power and teaching. Don't run and don't hide.

Go through the door of globalization- world economics- and while it is yet day, while opportunity exists, penetrate these nations and systems with a demonstration of a belief system that has superior power and results. This is what Daniel did in Babylon and what Joseph did in Egypt. This is a large part of the reason why God is blowing on the marketplace message in this hour. This is a day where third world nations are asking for help, and developing nations are seeking to trade. The window is wide open to the church to impact the world. Opportunity is everywhere.

The anointing and the spirit of wisdom will give you access to people and places that will be altered by the covert and overt application of these commands. That's right- you can be covert! One friend of mine is transforming entire schools and businesses by applying certain key commandments to his client's lives and systems. They are not even aware of the degree to which their organizations are being aligned with the teachings of Christ. All they know is that it's working. In schools the students are getting better grades and discipline problems are on the decline. In business the people are starting to work like real teams and treating each other with respect. Companies are prospering. It works!

The 50 Commandments of Christ are the key to transforming your home, community and business. Memorize them. Meditate upon them. Ask the Holy Spirit for illumination on how to apply them to your life. Expect God to put His divine favor upon you. Favor takes you to the top of the mountains. Be full of the Holy Spirit and you will break the power of Mind Control off of every system you invade.

(Emphasis mine. Apologies for the huge quote, but it is needed in context.)

This is one of those rare areas you do get to see "Joel's Army, Unleaded". Namely, note the extensive demonisation of Europe and Europeans--this does play into "Joel's Army" endtime theology, most variants of which increasingly promote Europe as being (at best) a vassal state of Russia if not the home of the Antichrist itself. (The former is more common among groups that base their endtime theology more heavily on the "old" Scofield Reference Bible.) This is in turn tied to *other* conspiracy theories common in Joel's Army circles--namely, that Moslems and LGBT people are part of a vast Satanic conspiracy to undermine the US (which is seen as God's chosen nation along with Israel). Scott Lively's works, actively promoted by "Joel's Army" hategroup Watchmen At The Walls and many other Joel's Army groups, actively integrate this into a particularly nasty form of Holocaust revisionism in which some of the persons who were in fact victims of ha-Shoah are portrayed as its instigators...only with the word "Jew" replaced with "Homosexual".

The orders do tend to vary, but there are common references to "seven benchholds" or "seven mountains" or "seven spheres" in quite a lot of Joel's Army groups. The "seven points" are pretty much a common staple in describing essentially a plan for massive steeplejacking of what these groups see as the very foundations of human society.

Even Wallnau wasn't the ultimate originator of this. The term goes much deeper--at least one site critical of Joel's Army notes a possible derivation from a Coalition on Revival document--but the linkages are especially clear in regards to Joel's Army circles. Quite possibly the most damning of these is the fact that Wallnau's primary partner in promoting the "seven mountains" meme is none other than C. Peter Wagner--regarded, along with Rick Joyner and Rodney Howard-Browne, as one of the literal "founding fathers" of Joel's Army:

Lance Wallnau, who is now working with C. Peter Wagner on a global dominionism project using the motif of 7 mountains (or "spheres"), has proposed a strategy whereby-

"a very small minority of people. . . as small as 3-5% . . . can control how the agenda works in a nation and thus create or dominate the culture.

"He also makes a rather shocking statement....

"He says leaders of countries are not looking for Christian solutions to their cultural problems. But what they ARE looking for represents a *massive* time-sensitive opportunity for Christians to have a platform to impact and disciple entire countries of our world today." [Os Hillman, "Weekly Resource Offer," June 18]

Hillman turns out to be connected to a Joel's Army group called "Reclaim 7 Mountains". Per this site, two groups that have been consistently linked with Joel's Army theology--the Assemblies frontgroup Youth With A Mission and the "Assemblies conjoined twin" Campus Crusade for Christ--are credited with the idea and in fact Youth With A Mission may have been the ultimate originators based on an interview with YWAM founder Loren Cunningham, who (along with Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright) in turn plagairised it from TV preacher Dr. Francis Schaeffer back in 1975:

It was August, 1975. My family and I were up in a little cabin in Colorado. And the Lord had given me that day a list of things I had never thought about before. He said "This is the way to reach America and nations for God. And {He said}, "You have to see them like classrooms or like places that were already there, and go into them with those who are already working in those areas." And I call them "mind-molders" or "spheres". I got the word "spheres" from II Corinthians 10 where Paul speaks in the New American Standard about the "spheres" he had been called into. And with these spheres there were seven of them, and I'll get to those in a moment. But it was a little later that day, the ranger came up, and he said, "There is a phone call for you back at the ranger's station." So I went back down, about 7 miles, and took the call. It was a mutual friend who said, "Bill Bright and Vonnette are in Colorado at the same time as you are. Would you and Darlene come over and meet with them? They would love to meet with you." So we flew over to Boulder on a private plane of a friend of ours. And as we came in and greeted each other, {we were friends for quite a while}, and I was reaching for my yellow paper that I had written on the day before. And he said, "Loren, I want to show you what God has shown me!" And it was virtually the same list that God had given me the day before. Three weeks later, my wife Darlene had seen Dr. Francis Shaffer on TV and he had the same list! And so I realized that this was for the body of Christ.

I gave it for the first time in Hamburg, Germany at the big cathedral there to a group of hundreds of young people that had gathered at that time. And I said, "These are the areas that you can go into as missionaries. Here they are: First, it's the institution set up by God first, the family. After the family was church, or the people of God. The third was the area of school, or education. The fourth was media, public communication, in all forms, printed and electronic. The fifth was what I call "celebration", the arts, entertainment, and sports, where you celebrate within a culture. The sixth would be the whole area of the economy, which starts with innovations in science and technology, productivity, sales, and service. The whole area we often call it business but we leave out sometimes the scientific part, which actually raises the wealth of the world. Anything new, like making sand into chips for a microchip, that increases wealth in the world. And then of course prediction sales and service helps to spread the wealth. And so the last was the area of government. Now government, the Bible shows in Isaiah 33 verse 22 that there are three branches of government, so it's all of the three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive. And then there are subgroups under all of those seven groups. And there are literally thousands upon thousands of sub-groups. But those seven can be considered like Caleb: "Give me this mountain," and they can be a "mountain" to achieve for God.

There's some evidence Bright also plagairised from a secondary source--a neo-Calvinist Abraham Kuyper--indicating some of the more interesting influences in the Joel's Army movement outside of neopentecostalism.

In short, the concept of "Seven Mountains" is in fact quite possibly the ultimate extension of what has been termed "spiritual mapping" in Joel's Army circles. The earliest references I can find to this practice are in some Assemblies fronts (FGBMFI and Youth With A Mission) as well as quasi-front/"Assemblies daughter" Campus Crusade for Christ; the general concept is that these groups map out "spiritual strongholds of Satan" to focus "spiritual warfare" on.

The concept of "spiritual mapping" has led to some rather bizarre incidents. One of the more infamous examples of "spiritual mapping" in action was documented by Jeff Sharlet in his article Soldiers of Christ, originally appearing in Harper's:

So Pastor Ted did. First, he started a church in his basement. The pulpit was three five-gallon buckets stacked one atop the other, and the pews were lawn chairs. A man who lived in a trailer came round if he remembered it was Sunday and played guitar. Another man got the Spirit and filled a fivegallon garden sprayer with cooking oil and began anointing nearby intersections, then streets and buildings all over town. Pastor Ted told his flock to focus their prayers on houses with FOR SALE signs so that more Christians would come and join him. Once Pastor Ted and another missionary accidentally set off an alarm and hid together in a field while the police investigated. It was for a good cause, Pastor Ted would say; they were praying for the building to be taken off the market so it could someday be purchased for a future ministry. (It was.)

He was always on the lookout for spies. At the time, Colorado Springs was a small city split between the Air Force and the New Age, and the latter, Pastor Ted believed, worked for the devil. Pastor Ted soon began upsetting the devil's plans. He staked out gay bars, inviting men to come to his church; his whole congregation pitched itself into invisible battles with demonic forces, sometimes in front of public buildings.

Even in this American example, the bizarre shortly went to the frankly disturbing, crossing over in some aspects to frank harassment:

He moved the church to a strip mall. There was a bar, a liquor store, New Life Church, a massage parlor. His congregation spilled out and blocked the other businesses. He set up chairs in the alley. He strung up a banner: SIEGE THIS CITY FOR ME, signed JESUS. He assigned everyone in the church names from the phone book they were to pray for. He sent teams to pray in front of the homes of supposed witches—in one month, ten out of fifteen of his targets put their houses on the market. His congregation "prayer-walked" nearly every street of the city.

This was, of note, in addition to a claim by now-defrocked Ted Haggard that a "witch" had tried to assassinate him:

One day, while he was working in his garage, a woman who said she'd been sent by a witches' coven tried to stab Pastor Ted with a five-inch knife she pulled from a leg sheath; Pastor Ted wrestled the blade out of her hand. He let that story get around. He called the evil forces that dominated Colorado Springs—and every other metropolitan area in the country—"Control."

Such narratives, unfortunately, are not isolated. One of the more modern--and now distinctly more infamous--examples of this surrounds Thomas Muthee himself, who in the same speech claimed to have conducted a remarkably similar campaign of harassment of a traditional healer in his Kenyan home base including police harassment. Leaders of El Shaddai Church in Guatemala City--another church connected to not only Joel's Army but proteges of former junta leader (and genocide architect, and Verbo Ministries pastor) Gen. Rios Montt--have also issued almost identical calls for destruction of Guatemala's pre-Columbian heritage (especially disturbing, considering their connections with dominionist juntas where an estimated 200,000 Mayans died).

The main difference here is that the scale is bigger, in that the "seven mountains" in question are seen as seven pillars of society that must be conquered. Religious diversity and protections are seen as the enemy, as an article describing the links between El Shaddai and "Joel's Army" founding father C. Peter Wagner demonstrates:

"Christians in the global South are way ahead of us in this area," C. Peter Wagner, founder of Global Harvest Ministries and head of the International Coalition, told Charisma magazine. "The values of the kingdom of God should penetrate every level of society, and they understand that.... [Caballeros is] doing it right, going right to the top and taking dominion."

Wagner's Web site is loaded with standard right-wing political material, including attacks on church-state separation. Last year he called on followers to "Ask the Lord to remove the lie of 'Separation of Church and State' from this nation's governmental philosophy and from Believers' mindsets! There is no such language in the Constitution."

And the ultimate goal, in Joel's Army circles?

To quote Pinky and the Brain, "Try to take over the world".

And we discuss this in much more detail in tomorrow's post...as the implications are disturbing indeed.

Over the past few weeks, folks on the Internet have turned up an impressive amount of info re Sarah Palin's questionable judgements--including scandals involving the Alaska State Police (now known as "TrooperGate") and similar hijinks with the Wasilla PD, info re Palin trying to make rape victims pay for their own evidence collection kits (which led to the state stepping in), and Palin's disturbing connections with "Joel's Army" neopentecostal dominionists.

What has not been publicised so far is that the first two scandals have direct connections to the third--and, even worse, there's the most damning evidence yet that the very "Joel's Army" folks Palin is linked to may have been grooming her explicitly as a "stealth candidate".

Dominionist connections to TrooperGate

Most know about the questionable firing practices Palin did as Alaskan governor--what has not been widely publicised so far is that almost identical purges may have occured with the Wasilla PD--and in both cases due to the desire to get dominionist-friendly candidates in power.

Interestingly, it also appears that some of TrooperGate may have been related to dominionist connections of the replacement:

But Gov. Palin did not promote a socially conservative agenda during her first two years as governor and some Alaska right-wing commentators called her an economic liberal. Send us a sign, national fundamentalist Christian leaders seemingly said, that proves your credentials. In firing Monegan and hiring Kopp, Palin would have gained a controversial measure of revenge in a family dispute and established her standing as a Christian conservative politician.

Kenai City Police Chief Chuck Kopp was a rising star in Alaska's Christian conservative movement. He was a frequent speaker at local religious and patriotic gatherings. He was school board president of Cook Inlet Academy, the fundamentalist Christian high school in Soldotna his missionary-educator father founded. Kopp also was on the board of Port Alsworth's Tanailan Bible Camp, also founded by his father.

Through Samaritan's Place, Franklin Graham has been the chief benefactor of the Tanailan Bible Camp building and rebuilding a church and meeting hall and guest cabins. The evangelical scion of Alaska, Rev. Jerry Prevo of the Anchorage Baptist Temple, is on Samaritan Purse's Board of Directors, so there's a clear connection between Graham, Prevo and Kopp.

Ah, yes, Samaritan's Purse. Frank Graham, alas, has been quite a bit more openly dominionist than his daddy Billy Graham; Samaritan's Purse itself is quite the nasty bit of work. In the latest rendition of the List of Good and Bad Charities, Samaritan's Purse gets its own dedicated section as to why they're listed as "bad guys":

Samaritan's Purse (Billy/Franklin Graham's charity group. Both Billy and Franklin Graham have been known to espouse dominionist statements in past, Franklin especially so. Per a report from someone who has sought employment with them. non-dominionists are not considered for employment and employees are required to have a reference from a pastor as well as a "testimonial of faith" on resumes for employment. Also is working with known dominionist group Traditional Values Coalition in promoting a "refugee adoption" scheme that requires statements of faith from both participating churches and refugees. Numerous reports of forced evangelism, in particular targeting children; a major part of Samaritan's Purse's operation in fact focuses on "convert or starve" targeting of children, including "sheep-stealing" from children who are attendees of mainstream Christian churches (extensive information in this Dark Christianity post--a full discussion would require a dedicated post on DailyKos). Frank Graham has been noted as promoting concept of Hurricane Katrina being God's retribution on New Orleans. Is known to have explicitly partnered with FGBMFI (an Assemblies of God frontgroup known infamously for interference in Latin American and US politics) in the FGBMFI's attempts to interfere in the inner affairs of nations on a worldwide basis. Has promoted Iraqi War and Israeli bombing of Hizbillah sites in Lebanon as "God softening the hearts" of Iraqis. Has promoted the attempted genocide of the Kurdish people (during Gulf War I) as a missionary opportunity. Maintains links to dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to mainstream medicine (including the "Christian Medical and Dental Association", written about here.)

(Note to non-regular readers: FGBMFI is the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International, an Assemblies frontgroup which has worked at promotion of the neopente version of "Christian nationalism" for decades, particularly in Latin America. FGBMFI is intimately connected with the Iran-Contra Scandal (Oliver North is a regular speaker at FGBMFI events and FGBMFI itself was used as a funding-front for the Contras) as well as the genocidal regime of Gen. Efrain Rios Montt in Guatemala, and is also a major conduit for the spread of "Third Wave" theology (the basis of "Joel's Army" theology) via Paul Yonggi Cho.)

In fact, the info is so extensive as to why "Shepherd's Purse" is Bad News that there's pretty much a one-stop shop commentary on it on Dark Christianity--look through the comments.

It also appears that Palin herself has some connections to Graham, via the National Prayer Breakfast--a frontgroup of a secretive dominionist org called "The Fellowship" or "The Family" that increasingly has had links to neopente dominionists. Jeff Sharlet, a walkaway from "The Family", has written the definitive book on the subject; the article detailing the Samaritan's Purse/TrooperGate linkage gives some more info:

Palin's connection to what Jeff Sharlett has called "elite fundamentalism" is of interest now that she is an election and a heartbeat away from the presidency. Franklin Graham has been the keynote speaker for the Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast the past two years. According to their Web site, the organizers believe, "God directs the affairs of Man and is the ultimate authority over human events." The Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast is connected to the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by The Fellowship Foundation, also known as "The Family," which espouses similar beliefs. The Family is headed by Doug Coe, one of the most influential evangelicals in Washington, D.C. Coe's group tends to operate behind the scenes organizing small cells attended by the power elite, mostly Republicans. George Bush was saved in such a cell while in Texas.

(This may in fact be some of the first confirmation of something I've speculated on before in this blog--the likelihood that George W. Bush is a member of a cell-church group and was thus recruited to at least some sympathies with neopentecostal dominionists.)

And the linkage still does not stop there. One of the groups trying to derail the investigation into TrooperGate is a dominionist legal group called Liberty Legal Institute:

On September 16th ABC News reported, "A group of Alaska Republican lawmakers, with the support of a Texas-based conservative legal group, has filed suit to stop the Alaska Legislature's "Troopergate" probe into Gov. Sarah Palin." The ABC coverage was not untypical of mainstream media coverage generally and is not being singled out for scrutiny.

This "Texas-based conservative legal group" is generally referred to as LLI (Liberty Legal Institute). Their website, which is very open and honest, may be found here.

To describe the LLI as a "conservative legal group" is like describing O. J. Simpson as a "well-dressed African-American". Both are true, as far as they go.

LLI describes themselves as, "a 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 1997 to protect religious freedoms and First Amendment rights for individuals, groups and churches." This self-description is from the front page of their website. The site also quickly makes clear that the First Amendment Rights they defend are those of the religious right. The banner of one page proudly displays this quote, "Group is the flip side to ACLU. [sic]" - Dallas Morning News

A quick click on the "Cases" tab reveals 14 cases under the headline of "Recent Cases". Briefly looking through the summaries, 11 are plainly related to religion. In the other three cases a connection to religion is unclear. One has to do with a high school student's political tee shirt, one has to do with a political contribution and one has to do with the wording on a town monument. All case were based in Texas.

LLI is in turn connected to one of the most secretive dominionist groups in existence, even moreso than the Council for National Policy--a group termed the Arlington Group, essentially a "who's who" of dominionist leaders of which very little public info is available.

It's worth taking some time to dig into LLI's leader--whose primary experience has been with the Rutherford Institute, another dominionist legal group:

Before founding Liberty Legal Institute, Mr. Shackelford was the Regional Coordinator for the Southwest and Mid-America regions of the Rutherford Institute (1993-1997) and the Director of Texas Rutherford (1989-1992). In addition, he has been sought out as an Advisor by the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives and serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School teaching religious liberties (1994-present).

The Senior Attorneys aren't much better--and then there's the matter of their internship program with what amounts to the modern "big guns" of dominionist "parallel economy" alternatives to the ACLU et al:

Liberty Legal offers an internship program, in coordination with the Blackstone Fellowship and the Alliance Defense Fund, each summer that gives six of the top law students from across the country an opportunity to take action on current cases. Working in conjunction with our attorneys, the interns research and develop proposals on existing cases that attack our constitutional freedoms. Eventually, these men and women will become lawyers or judges and have a better understanding of constitutional freedoms and laws. The investment we make in their lives advances their leadership and commitment to making a difference.

Yes, this *would* in fact be the same Alliance Defense Fund that is encouraging dominionist churches to explicitly violate laws against electioneering from the pulpit in hopes of making a federal case out of it.

RapeKit-Gate and its connections with Palin's anti-abortion politicking

And the article also gives some tantalising info to suggest that the now-infamous info regarding Palin's refusal to allow Wasilla's government to pay for "rape kits" was also directly related to dominionism:

5. The LLI wants to pervert justice to perpetuate the strongest anti-abortion candidate ever. A candidate bold enough to strike rape kits from her city's budget because they contain emergency contraception (the equivalent to a "morning after pill").

And yes, more evidence is pointing to exactly *that* as the problem that Palin had. As I've noted before, many dominionists use a definition of the start of pregnancy that is *not* widely accepted in the medical community--defining pregnancy as beginning at conception rather than implantation. (Yes, those of you who had sex, had eggs meet sperm, but never implant are abortionists according to these folks.)

A claim that pregnancy starts at conception also allows these groups to claim, via some *very* interesting mental gymnastics, that practically all birth control outside of "natural" family planning is potentially abortifacient--even barrier methods (because they typically require the use of spermicide). And yes, this is one reason why increasingly dominionists are targeting pharmacies for infiltration.

And as it turns out, one of the "pro-life" groups Palin is connected to--the misnamed "Feminists for Life"--admits to promoting this bogosity. In fact, there's quite a bit of dogwhistling in their "Pro Life Answers" that they do in fact oppose hormonal contraception:

What about contraception?

Since FFL's mission is based on life beginning at conception, there is no FFL policy on contraception except when it presents a threat to a woman's health. Some FFL members support the use of contraception as long as there is no abortifacient effect, while others oppose it. Some oppose all or some forms of contraception for health reasons, others for religious reasons; others prefer natural methods to plan a
family; and still others want to incorporate new medical technologies that track a woman's fertility to be used in conjunction with natural family planning methods. FFL's mission begins at conception, not before.

And now, the explanaition.

Typically in dominionist literature, non-"natural family planning" methods are condemned as potentially abortifacient. "The Pill" and Plan B are claimed to prevent implantation (thus causing "abortion") as is the IUD; nonoxynol-9 and other spermicides commonly used in barrier methods (such as condoms and diaphragms) are claimed to be "uterine irritants" and thus potentially causing failure of implantation (and "abortions").

Did I mention that there are some very interesting mental gymnastics these groups go through?

It gets worse. It would appear that when Palin became the mayor of Wasilla, she was actively engaging in "clinic blocking" and a dominionist attempt to steeplejack the main community hospital serving Wasilla:

Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

And yes, the same Wasilla PD that charged people for their rape kits...is also the same Wasilla PD that may be extensively infiltrated by Wasilla A/G to such an extent that critics are afraid to speak out in literal fear of their lives.

Yes, this *would* in fact be the same Wasilla A/G that Palin has kept a relationship with even after claiming she left in 2002--and the same Wasilla A/G that led not only the protest against the clinic providing abortion services but book-ban initiatives--including attempts to go around the existing book-challenge policy of Wasilla Public Library..

In fact, there's evidence to suggest that the policy began shortly after the purge of Chief Stambaugh and the replacement by Chief Fannon...

...thereby linking TrooperGate (or, more properly, CopGate in general--there seem to be different incidents both on the state and town level), RapeKitGate...and the ever-growing "Joel's Army-Gate" Palin is hip-deep in.

Oh, and speaking of "Joel's Army-Gate"...that, *too*, has gotten more interesting with some truly damning info indicating Palin was explicitly promoted by none other than Thomas Muthee (whom we just wrote about) as being a dominionist stealth candidate as early as 2005.

New info re Palin and her "exorcist" friend...and her stealth candidacy

Just two days after writing about Muthee (who is connected with a Kenyan Joel's Army church literally linked to running a woman out of town--and who is part of a large and relatively unknown humanitarian crisis where literally thousands of children have been forced out of their homes as "witches" in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in what amounts to a massive "deliverance ministry"-based renewal of the Burning Times), some disturbing new info has come out re Muthee and his relationship with Palin.

Specifically, Irregular Times has come out with some very interesting new info that should give the most damning info yet regarding Palin's status as a Joel's Army "Manchurian Candidate".

Firstly, there's some new info regarding some of Muthee's sermons, including statements that not only pretty officially prove he's "Joel's Army" but also prove the lie to official "condemnations" of Joel's Army/Third Wave theology in the Assemblies--suggesting it's been rebranded, rather than truly condemned.

Specifically, it appears Thomas Muthee has dropped something I have only heard in Joel's Army circles because only two known English-language Bible versions use it--specifically, a very specific "God Warrior reveille" based on a mistranslation of Matthew 11:12 popular in Joel's Army circles. Per an archive originally coming from Kingsgate Community Church (KCC is a Joel's Army church with close connections with other neopente dominionist churches in the US and UK, and the term "community church" is commonly associated in the UK with neopente dominionist orgs), Muthee explicitly calls for holy war, "Joel's Army" style, at 23:30 in the recording:

The violent take it by force. People that have spiritual backbones are the ones that are going to advance. They are the ones that will move forward.

I thank God for what I see happening in this place. I thank God for the vision, the passion that I can see here. And my word is this: the more violent you become, the more committed you become, the quicker you will see things happen in this region.

Of note, this is a dead giveaway we're dealing with yet more Joel's Army nastiness. This particular phrasing is based on a specific misinterpretation of Matthew 11:12 that only occurs in the New International Version and "God's Word" Bibles--both "modern English" versions commonly used in Joel's Army circles. The phrasing in particular hints at the NIV version being used--itself the basis of a specific pro-"Joel's Army" reference Bible now being used as the official reference Bible by the Assemblies of God and other neopente groups.

For those not familiar with this misinterpretation, and its use in "Joel's Army" circles, a minor explanation is needed. In most versions of the Bible including the KJV, NASB and RSV, Matthew 11:12 is worded something like this:

RSV version, Matthew 11:12:

12. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.

KJV version, Matthew 11:12:

12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

NASB version, Matthew 11:12:

12. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.

Literally every Bible version commonly used with the exception of three versions uses similar wording--denoting Heaven itself being under attack by violent men. Even the "old" Scofield Reference Bible--the source of much of neopente dominionist theology and internal mythology--sticks with this interpretation:

[2] suffereth violence

It has been much disputed whether the "violence" here is external, as against the kingdom in the persons of John the Baptist and Jesus; or that, considering the opposition of the scribes and Pharisees, only the violently resolute would press into it. Both things are true. The King and His herald suffered violence, and this is the primary and greater meaning, but also, some were resolutely becoming disciples. CF Lk 16:16.

The major outlier ("God's Word" and the International Standard Version are relatively unknown outliers, and even the ISV mentions specifically Heaven being attacked) is the text in the NIV, which is practically opposite of literally every other known English-language Bible version with the exception of one other very obscure Bible translation used primarily in neopente dominionist circles:

NIV version, Matthew 11:12:

12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

Literally nobody but a solitary, obscure translation uses this wording--they either use wording like in the RSV (heaven being attacked, and violent men trying to storm their way into heaven) or wording similar to the ISV (talking of the forces of Heaven advancing, but being under assault by violent men). (The NIRV, essentially a more modern redux of the NIV, also has this odd translation; even one of the "daughter translations" of the NIV, the TINV, doesn't agree with it.)

And guess what is the most common translation used in "Joel's Army" circles? If you guessed "NIV", you win the jackpot. And much of that popularity, unfortunately, *is* due to the decidedly *unique* translation of Matthew 11:12--"Joel's Army" groups like to use that misinterpretation as a call for "God Warriors" to target people for explicit harassment and worse.

And it gets worse. Per this video (warning: potentially triggering to ex-neopente walkaways) and the transcript at Irregular Times, Muthee pretty much explicitly calls Palin out as a member of Joel's Army, God Warrior SEALS Division:

In a moment, I'll be asking you that we pray for Sarah, and I'll tell you the reason why. When we talk about transformation of a community, we are talking about God invading seven areas in our society. Let me repeat that one more time. When we talk about transformation of a society, a community, it's where we see God's Kingdom infiltrate, influence seven areas in our society.

. . .

So we go to the third area, it's in the area of politics. Tell your neighbor, "politics." Do you know what I discovered? This is funny. The people who actually split churches, they have the gift of politics, but they are exercising it in the wrong place. That's what I came to know. There are people who are wired to politics because God wants to take the political, you know, dimension of our societies. And those people should be prayed for. That's why I was, you know, I was so glad to see Sarah here. We should pray for her, we should back her up. And, you know, come the day of voting, we should be there, not just praying, we should be there. And I'm saying this because that's what I'm telling our church. I'm telling them that we need this in Parliament. In here is what you call Congressmen, you know, you know, the, the Governors, we need the bretheren right inside there. Is anybody hearing me?

You know, because who will change the laws of the lands? The problem is do we just pray, but we do nothing about it. If the believers had not done something in this country, your president would not be in office today. Yes or no? Am I right?

. . .

And the last area is in the area of government. Hello? We need believers there. We need men and women of integrity. You know, as the Secretaries of State. We need them right there. People that are born again, spirit filled, people who know God, and people who are serious with God.

So in a moment if you do not mind, I'll ask, you know, even before I go to do this thing, you know, I'll ask Sarah, would you mind to come please? Would you mind? Come, please. Let's all stand up, and let's hold hands all over this house. Come, Pastor, come.

[Sarah Palin comes to the stage in front of the congregation. Sarah Palin bows her head stretches her forearms forward and places the palms of her hands upward. Thomas Muthee lays hands on Sarah Palin's head. Pastor Ed Kalnin and unidentifed man lay hands on Sarah Palin's shoulders.]

Thank you, Jesus. Let's all pray. Let's pray for Sarah. Hallelujah! Come on, hold your hands up and raise them. Hold them and raise them up here! Come on, talk to God about this woman! Come on, talk to God about this woman we declare favor from today. We say favor, favor, favor! We say praise my God! We say grace to be rained upon her in the name of Jesus. My God, you make your judgement, you make room. You make ways in the desert, and I'm asking you today, we are asking you as the body of Christ in this valley, make a way for Sarah, even in the [inaudible]. Make her way my God. Bring finances her way, even in the campaign in the name of Jesus, and above all give her the personnel, give her men and women that will back her up in the name of Jesus. We want righteousness in this state. We want righteousness in this nation. Because you say [inaudible] in the name of Jesus. Our Father, use her to turn this nation the other way around. Use her to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers so that the curse that has been there long can be broken. In the name of Jesus. Father, we thank you today. We come in the hindrance of the enemy, standing in her way to there. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus! Every form of witchcraft, it will be rebuked in the name of Jesus. Father, make her way now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

(Emphasis mine; note the reference to national and generational curses near the end. I would recommend wide archival and distribution of the video (as Wasilla A/G will almost inevitably try to get it pulled from Youtube via bogus "inappropriate content" claims, similar to how Bruce Wilson's videos on Wasilla A/G and Juneau Christian Center have been targeted) and for folks to read the whole transcript--it is a very rare look at what kinds of sermons are done in Joel's Army churches internally, and pretty much lays out the "fifty-year plan" of neopente dominionist nationalism. A diary at Philip Munger's DailyKos account gives a bit more explanation re the video.)

It's worth noting that there's also a very subtle coded message here. Seven specific spheres of influence are noted, typically referred to as seven mountains in Joel's Army-speak, and researcher Bruce Wilson has video of Joel's Army promoter Lance Wallnau going on about this.

Those "seven mountains" are the exact spheres that Muthee is talking about neopente dominionists targeting, per the first link:

What are the Seven Mountains?

The seven mountains are seven spheres of influence that make up the mind molders that control Nations. He who occupies these mountains controls the harvest. As Satan gains power over these mountains he increases his capacity for "Mind Control." That's the spiritual force that inclines whole people groups to think along the same pathway. It is the phenomenon that explains sudden trends in fashion or music. It works to turn whole continents against each other and will be used to facilitate global wars. Mind Control will increase as the Last Days speeds toward a conclusion.

Here are the Seven Mountains or Mind Molders:

1. Spirituality and Church
2. Family
3. Education
4. Government and Law
5. Media and Communication
6. Arts and Entertainment
7. Business and Finance

The rest of the link is quite a bit of distilled Joel's Army crazy in and of itself. Per the link, LGBT people are in a conspiracy to control the media and to destroy families by taking over the "Media" and "Family" "mountains"; Europe is apparently in a major conspiracy with Islam to take over government and finances; and apparently everyone is pissed at George W. Bush because he's a "praying president" rather than the fact he's a reverse Midas. It reads like a twisted version of the game "Illuminati" and would be hilarious if they weren't so serious.

Writer "Ruth" on Talk to Action notes how Joel's Army promoters are essentially the "extreme of the extreme" and how they aren't content to wait for Rapture--and may be even *more* dangerous than the Christian Reconstructionists most folks are familiar with:

While Pentecostal churches have always celebrated a restoration of the church, this has been tempered with Rapture theology. As churches embrace this Apostolic revolution they are moving away from the traditions of Assemblies of God and other denominations and are adopting a view of the end time that includes the triumph and perfection of the church as opposed to escaping in the Rapture from an evil world descending into the apocalypse. They see the imminent end times as a time of great glory for the restored true Apostolic church greater than the one of New Testament times, and a time when the foot soldiers of this church will be imparted with supernatural powers. This outpouring of powers will allow them to crush evil with a "rod of iron" and deliver a purified church to Jesus when he returns. Their schedule is even more pressing than many in other Dominionist groups because their hybrid mixture of end time beliefs maintains the urgency of an imminent return of Jesus. The writer whose title I borrowed for this article states, "This growing army of delivered, discipled and deployed Christians are now prepared to become active participants in the cosmic battle for every area of God's terra-firma."
. . .
Regardless of how the end time narrative is altered to allow for this triumphant army of God, these warriors believe they have a mandate to take control of all earthly spheres. They teach that Jesus is waiting for humans to accomplish this task before coming to meet his Bride, the purified and perfected church. This purification of the church will take place through a restructuring of Christendom under the Fivefold ministry. This means a revamping of the governments of the church and the earth primarily under the authority of Apostles and Prophets who are anointed by God as defined by the anointed belivers in the movement.
. . .
Ed Kalnins of Wasilla Assembly of God is actively preaching and teaching theology which comes directly from the leadership of the New Apostolic Reformation/Third Wave. Kalnins has stated in sermons his desire that his church be Apostolic. This is Kingdom theology and Kalnins is quite open and blatant about the need for his church to take control for the Kingdom, starting with Wasilla and Alaska.

While it is very true that Palin's churches may officially still retain mention of the Rapture in some form, there is absolutely nothing in these sermons, associations and activities to indicate that they are waiting around to be snatched from the earth. Conversely, they are intent on taking control of society and government in the here and now.

And there's quite a bit of spin--and intimidation--being brought against critics. Along with the expected astroturfing, writer Max Blumenthal reports his own experiences at Wasilla A/G where he describes the damage control being done by the church:

Since Palin was nominated as vice president, Wasilla Assembly of God has taken a draconian line with reporters. The church now forbids members of the media from filming, taking notes, or bringing voice recorders to its services. I was able to record Muthee's recent sermons only by deploying an array of tiny cameras and hidden microphones. Though the quality and comprehensiveness of my footage was severely compromised by the church's closed door policy to the press, I was not going to be deterred.

By the end of the second day of Muthee's sermons, the church had been tipped off about me, the liberal media member in its midst. An associate pastor told me he had received an email from an anonymous source warning him about me. When I tried to interview members of the congregation in the church parking lot, my questions were either met with silence or open hostility. I strongly suspect the McCain campaign has mobilized the Wasilla Assembly of God against perceived threats from the media.

But they hardly needed encouragement. On the first night of services, Muthee implored his audience to wage "spiritual warfare" against "the enemy." As I filmed, a nervous church staffer approached from behind and told me to put my camera away. I acceded to his demand, but as Muthee urged the church to crush "the python spirit" of the unbeliever enemies by stomping on their necks, I pulled out a smaller camera and filmed from a more discreet position. Now, church members were in deep prayer, speaking in tongues and raising their hands. Muthee exclaimed, "We come against the spirit of witchcraft! We come against the python spirits!" Then, a local pastor took the mic from Muthee and added, "We stomp on the heads of the enemy!"

And this is--in a word--quite possibly the most damning evidence of something I noted in my original post--Palin may well have been groomed from the start of her political career as the Great White Hope for "Joel's Army" to get one of their own in the White House.

And this could be, in a word, a very bad thing for children and other living beings--even if the fact dominionists are doing imprecatory prayers for McCain's death should he be elected President isn't considered.

A few days ago, I had reported on Palin's linkages to "Bible-based cult" promoter Bill Gothard...and, sadly, followup info proves that this may be far from her only links to religiously motivated abuse.

It turns out that Palin--and Wasilla A/G--are intimately connected with "Joel's Army" promoters directly responsible for not only harassment of critics, but also a little-reported and growing humanitarian crisis in sub-Saharan Africa: namely, the growth of "Joel's Army" "exorcists" and people--including young children--fleeing for their lives from a literal "God Warrior" progrom.

Palin's links to Thomas Muthee, Witchfinder General

I have written in past re Palin's connections with "Joel's Army" promoters of deliverance ministry--a concept in neopente dominionist circles, including in the Assemblies of God, that anything and anyone outside the group can be demonised or "open doorways to Satan" in exactly the same way that Scientologists refer to "body thetans", "suppressive persons", and "enturbulation".

The past few days have been spent on gathering some of the most damning and disturbing info on this yet--namely, Palin's linkages to Thomas Muthee, head pastor of the neopente dominionist Word of Faith Church of Nairobi, Kenya.

And, per posts in the Wild Hunt Blog (a neopagan site that also has a major watchdog project focusing on promoters of "deliverance ministry") has noted based on Bruce Wilson's initial expose of Wasilla A/G, this includes a frank endorsement from Muthee:

As for Palin herself, she spoke approvingly of being personally prayed over by Thomas Muthee just before winning governorship of Alaska. Muthee is a popular figure among Third Wavers for driving out the "spirit of witchcraft" that resided in Kiambu, Kenya.

"He and his wife committed to six months of prayer with various types of fasting before ever entering Kiambu. Their goal in prayer and fasting was to ask God to reveal the name of the demonic principality ruling over Kiambu and keeping the city under such oppression. God revealed through a vision that a spirit of witchcraft was the ruling principality there and that a number of other demonic spirits were functioning under the headship of witchcraft. An effective strategy for conquest would be to topple the spirit of witchcraft first and thus bring the coalition of evil spirits into disarray and drive them from the city."

An article in the Times Online gives more info:

In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: "As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he's so bold. And he was praying "Lord make a way, Lord make a way."

"And I'm thinking, this guy's really bold, he doesn't even know what I'm going to do, he doesn't know what my plans are. And he's praying not "oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor," no, he just prayed for it. He said "Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that's exactly what happened."

She then adds: "So, again, very very powerful, coming from this church," before the presiding pastor comments on the "prophetic power" of the event.

This is disturbing on multiple levels.

For starters, Muthee is a rising star in "Joel's Army" circles--especially being promoted as being a God Warrior in Darkest Africa. For seconds, as Bruce Wilson noted, it appears he was a regular at a Joel's Army revival at Wasilla A/G during the exact period Palin was running for governor--and proving even more of a lie to her statement to have quit the church:

Mike Rose, senior pastor of Juneau Christian Center has a long relationship with Rodney Howard-Browne, credited with being the instigator of the outbreak of 'Holy Laughter' around the world, including the Toronto Airport Revival. Thomas Muthee visited Wasilla Assembly of God and gave 10 consecutive sermons at the church, from October 11-16 2005. As both Palin and Wasilla AoG Head Pastor Ed Kalnins have attested, Thomas Muthee 'prayed over' Sarah Palin and entreated God to "make a way" prior to Palin's successful bid for the Alaska governorship. Muthee made a return visit to the Wasilla Assembly of God in late 2008. Thomas Muthee's Word of Faith Church is featured in the "Transformations" video which details an account on how Muthee drove "the spirit of witchcraft" out of Kiambu, Kenya, liberating the town from its territorial demonic possession and enabling a miraculous societal transformation. The "Transformations" video set is used as an argument for social improvement through spiritual instead of human means, and as the best method for fighting corruption, crime, drugs and even environmental degradation.

Bruce Wilson has the video up of the conference (and I would encourage wide mirroring, as there is apparently an astroturf campaign by Wasilla A/G to get the vids yanked from YouTube) and extensive documentation of the Joel's Army/Third Wave linkages of all of the neopente dominionist churches she's attended--for those who aren't easily triggered, it's worth a look just to get a good gander on the "private face" of Joel's Army".

Oh, as for that "method" of purification? It involves something that most people thought was dead with Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General...but which still has a very dark and terrible life in neopente dominionist circles.

Namely, this involves literal calls to round up suspected "witches".

A look into a neopente dominionist witch-hunt

Bruce Wilson's article notes:

In the video, producer George Otis declares that after Thomas Muthee and his followers banished the "spirit of witchcraft" from the town, the crime rate in Kiambu dropped almost to zero, along with the rate of alcoholism, and according to Otis most of the residents of the town joined churches. The "Transformations" video has helped spark a network of 'Transformation' ministries and mission organizations and 'transformation' has become a buzz word for change based on supernatural instead of human efforts.

Unfortunately not noted is pretty much how most of the people were convinced to convert.

There are now multiple YouTube videos up discussing the matter, but it would appear (based on multiple reports) that this involved a coordinated campaign of harassment of the likes not seen since the days of the Salem Witch Trials of the execution of Jeane Panne in Belgium in the 1600s:

Sarah Palin has been linked to a witch hunt. No, not a figurative witch hunt, the kind in which people are made to feel pressured and discriminated against. I'm talking about a real witch hunt, in which a woman is accused of witchcraft by someone seeking political power, and the woman is forced to flee her home in fear of her life.

That's what one of Sarah Palin's favorite preachers, Pastor Thomas Muthee, has done.

sarah palin thomas muthee witch hunt video podcastMuthee wanted to get control over the town of Kiambu, Kenya - a place just outside of Nairobi. Not content to set up a church and slowly gain the trust of the local inhabitants, Muthee decided to get publicity and gain political power through a piece of cruel theater.

Muthee chose a local woman named Mama Jane who happened to work as a fortune teller. Mama Jane had never caused much trouble before, but she was an important target for Muthee, because she was a close associate of town's leaders. Muthee accused Mama Jane of being a sorceress - a witch who was engaging in spiritual warfare to curse to town of Kiambu.

Muthee's proof of Mama Jane's witchcraft? There had been three car accidents in the neighborhood of the clinic where Mama Jane worked. That, said Muthee, was sure evidence that Mamma Jane was a witch. So, Muthee got the local population in a panic, and sent three police officers into Mamma Jane's. They fired their guns, killing one of Mama Jane's pets.

Then, they arrested Mama Jane and threw her into jail. Muthee made his demand: "Mama Jane either gets saved and serves the Lord or she leaves town!"

Yes, you are reading this right--a woman was targeted simply for being a fortune teller, recruited the local cops, and arrested her simply for refusing to convert to "Joel's Army" spirituality.

An article in the Christian Science Monitor dating from 1999, and discussing the "Joel's Army" practice of "spiritual mapping"--that is, systematically mapping out which areas are supposedly "demonised" and targeting them for "spiritual warfare"--goes into more detail on Muthee's purge and the targeting of Mamma Jane:

In 1988, he and his wife, Margaret, were "called by God to Kiambu," a notorious, violence-ridden suburb of Nairobi and a "ministry graveyard" for churches for years. They began six months of fervent prayer and research.

Pondering the message of Eph.6:12 ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world..."), they prayed to identify the source of Kiambu's spiritual oppression, Mr. Muthee says. Their answer: the spirit of witchcraft.

Their research into the community revealed that a woman called "Mama Jane" ran a "divination clinic" frequented by the town's most powerful people.

After months of prayer, Muthee held a crusade that "brought about 200 people to Christ." Their church in the basement of a grocery store was dubbed "The Prayer Cave," as members set up round-the-clock intercession. Mama Jane counterattacked, he says, but eventually "the demonic influence - the 'principality' over Kiambu - was broken," and she left town.

Not so much discussed is what tends to happen in these meetings--typically what goes on are literal imprecatory prayers against "targets", that they either convert--or be forced to leave or die.

Ironically, it's a Joel's Army site promoting Muthee that goes into detail on the harassment of Mama Jane--and on tactics used:

Pastor Muthee said, "When we began to recognize who - or what - Mama Jane really was, my wife Margaret and I set ourselves to pray. Our aim was to break the power of witchcraft over the town -- a power that was preventing people from turning to the Lord. It was a struggle that involved much groaning in our spirits. In time, however, we felt the burden lift. The dark cloud we had seen covering the town drifted away, and we felt supernatural joy inside. We knew things were going to change.
. . .
"Our services became very oppressed. People would try to sing, but they just couldn't." Praying 24 hours a day, Thomas Muthee and his members did what they could to counteract the demonic attacks. But the power of evil invaded the church to the point that they could hardly pray. One day it got so bad they started a worship song and were never able to finish it! They went outside and found the remains of fresh sacrifices and rituals left behind by Momma Jane.

"Finally we decided we had had enough. The whole congregation raised their hands towards the Emmanuel Clinic. We asked God to either save this woman or remove her from Kiambu.
. . .
In plain terms, Thomas Muthee challenged Momma Jane to a power encounter, much as Elijah challenged the priests of Baal.

By now word had spread to the city officials that Momma Jane did not seem to have the power she once had. Her clients were embarrassing her by openly burning fetishes and renouncing curses. Some began pointing out that it could be no coincidence that her clinic was right next to the area where the serious accidents were occurring. "

Pastor Muthee continued, "Do you know what happened? A few days later, three children were killed outside her clinic. The people were furious because they suspected that Mama Jane's witchcraft was linked to the accident. Some were clamoring that she be stoned. When the police were called in to quell the uprising, they found one of the largest pythons they had ever seen in one of the clinic rooms. Startled, the officers drew their weapons and shot
it. That promptly ended the spiritual battle. Mama Jane was questioned by the police, releases, and moved to another town. Interesting, the same `bloodless accidents began happening there. [This was about 1992.] "We have not had a single accident since. In fact, since that woman moved out of Kiambu, the entire atmosphere has changed. Whereas people used to be afraid to go out at night, now we enjoy one of the lowest crime rates in Kenya.

The Times Online article also reveals some choice info on the specific forms of harassment:

According to accounts of the witchhunt circulated on evangelical websites such as Prayer Links Ministries, after Pastor Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. Public outrage eventually led the police to raid her home, where they fired gunshots, killing a pet python which they believed to be a demon.

And some of the most damning info is also at another Joel's Army site--largely a repeat of the first site, but also talking about specific organisation of not just prayer-gangs but targeted recruitment of officials to harass Mama Jane.

Sadly, incidents like this are part of a growing humanitarian crisis, especially in Nigeria and Kenya. And--even more tragic--often the targets are the youngest of all.

Bringing a terrible new meaning to "suffer the children"

Neopentecostal dominionism has grown explosively in sub-Saharan Africa, partly due to extremely aggressive targeting of the region by neopentecostal dominionists starting in the 1940s and partly because one of the main conduits of promotion has been "word-faith theology"--the same "name it and claim it" that Creflo Dollar et al promote on TBN and other dominionist networks. (Ironically, they are targeted much for the same reason Jewish people are targeted for conversion--many neopente dominionist end-time scenarios explicitly call for communities of "God Warriors" to be established in every nation and/or ethnic group before Jesus can come back and Rapture the lot of them off.)

And with "name it and claim it" tends to come "deliverance ministry"...and in Africa, "deliverance ministry" tends to breed "God Warrior" progroms, some of which even manage to put the actions of neopente dominionist hate-group "Watchmen At The Walls" to shame.

One example is with the destruction of traditional places of worship:

Born to a family of traditional priests, Ibe Nwigwe converted to Christianity as a boy. Under the sway of born-again fervor as a man, he gathered the paraphernalia of ancestral worship — a centuries-old stool, a metal staff with a wooden handle and the carved figure of a god — and burned them as his pastor watched.

"I had experienced a series of misfortunes and my pastor told me it was because I had not completely broken the covenant with my ancestral idols," the 52-year-old Nwigwe said of the bonfire three years ago. "Now that I have done that, I hope I will be truly liberated."

In addition, it's not just the recently converted burning this stuff, but apparently temples are actually being raided for the African equivalent of Assemblies-style book burnings:

As poverty deepened in Nigeria from the mid-1980s, Pentecostal Christian church membership surged. The new faithful found comfort in preachers like evangelist Uma Ukpai who promised material success was next to godliness. He has boasted of overseeing the destruction of more than 100 shrines in one district in December 2005 alone.

Achina is typical of towns and villages in the ethnic Igbo-dominated Christian belt of southeastern Nigeria where this new Christian fundamentalism is evident. The old gods are being linked to the devil, and preachers are urging not only their rejection, but their destruction.

The Ezeokolo, the main shrine of Achina — a community of mainly farmers and traders in Nigeria's rain forest belt — has been repeatedly looted of its carved god figures. While no one has been caught, suspects range from people acting on Christian impulses to treasure thieves.

Recently, a village civic association volunteered to build a house to keep burglars away from a giant wooden gong decorated with carved male, female and snake figures. The gong in the market square is reputed to be more than 400 years old, and in decades past was sounded in times of emergency.

"We feared it may be stolen or destroyed like so many of our traditional cultural symbols," said Chuma Ezenwa, a Lagos-based lawyer.

And then there are those who bring a new, and all-too-often deadly, meaning to Christ's impunction to "suffer the children".

. . .

Little reported in the US press, but more reported overseas in the UK, is the growing crisis of not only traditional healers and traditional faith communities being targeted for harassment but the crisis of ndoki orphans...children who are literally forced to flee their homes for their lives due to being targeted as "witches" in neopentecostal dominionist "revivals" in even more horrific manner than Mama Jane:

The rainy season is over and the Niger Delta is lush and humid. This southern edge of West Africa, where Nigeria's wealth pumps out of oil and gas fields to bypass millions of its poorest people, is a restless place. In the small delta state of Akwa Ibom, the tension and the poverty has delivered an opportunity for a new and terrible phenomenon that is leading to the abuse and the murder of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children. And it is being done in the name of Christianity.

Almost everyone goes to church here. Driving through the town of Esit Eket, the rust-streaked signs, tarpaulins hung between trees and posters on boulders, advertise a church for every third or fourth house along the road. Such names as New Testament Assembly, Church of God Mission, Mount Zion Gospel, Glory of God, Brotherhood of the Cross, Redeemed, Apostalistic. Behind the smartly painted doors pastors make a living by 'deliverances' - exorcisms - for people beset by witchcraft, something seen to cause anything from divorce, disease, accidents or job losses. With so many churches it's a competitive market, but by local standards a lucrative one.

But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much more sinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming them as witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turn on the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buried alive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.

Some parents scrape together sums needed to pay for a deliverance - sometimes as much as three or four months' salary for the average working man - although the pastor will explain that the witch might return and a second deliverance will be needed. Even if the parent wants to keep the child, their neighbours may attack it in the street.

This is not just a few cases. This is becoming commonplace. In Esit Eket, up a nameless, puddled-and-potholed path is a concrete shack stuffed to its fetid rafters with roughly made bunk beds. Here, three to a bed like battery chickens, sleep victims of the besuited Christian pastors and their hours-long, late-night services. Ostracised and abandoned, these are the children a whole community believes fervently are witches.

If anything, the practices are essentially the same thing that goes on at neopente "deliverance" services here with an African twist--and have, disturbingly, had the power at times of an entire village and neopente preachers who launch essentially "Joel's Army" fatwas against infants in some cases:

Mary Sudnad, 10, grimaces as her hair is pulled into corn rows by Agnes, 11, but the scalp just above her forehead is bald and blistered. Mary tells her story fast, in staccato, staring fixedly at the ground.

'My youngest brother died. The pastor told my mother it was because I was a witch. Three men came to my house. I didn't know these men. My mother left the house. Left these men. They beat me.' She pushes her fists under her chin to show how her father lay, stretched out on his stomach on the floor of their hut, watching. After the beating there was a trip to the church for 'a deliverance'.

A day later there was a walk in the bush with her mother. They picked poisonous 'asiri' berries that were made into a draught and forced down Mary's throat. If that didn't kill her, her mother warned her, then it would be a barbed-wire hanging. Finally her mother threw boiling water and caustic soda over her head and body, and her father dumped his screaming daughter in a field. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she stayed near the house for a long time before finally slinking off into the bush.Mary was seven. She says she still doesn't feel safe. She says: 'My mother doesn't love me.' And, finally, a tear streaks down her beautiful face.

Gerry was picked out by a 'prophetess' at a prayer night and named as a witch. His mother cursed him, his father siphoned petrol from his motorbike tank and spat it over his eight-year-old face. Gerry's facial blistering is as visible as the trauma in his dull eyes. He asks every adult he sees if they will take him home to his parents: 'It's not them, it's the prophetess, I am scared of her.'

Nwaeka is about 16. She sits by herself in the mud, her eyes rolling, scratching at her stick-thin arms. The other children are surprisingly patient with her. The wound on her head where a nail was driven in looks to be healing well. Nine- year-old Etido had nails, too, five of them across the crown of his downy head. Its hard to tell what damage has been done. Udo, now 12, was beaten and abandoned by his mother. He nearly lost his arm after villagers, finding him foraging for food by the roadside, saw him as a witch and hacked at him with machetes.

Magrose is seven. Her mother dug a pit in the wood and tried to bury her alive. Michael was found by a farmer clearing a ditch, starving and unable to stand on legs that had been flogged raw.

Ekemini Abia has the look of someone in a deep state of shock. Both ankles are circled with gruesome wounds and she moves at a painful hobble. Named as a witch, her father and elders from the church tied her to a tree, the rope cutting her to the bone, and left the 13-year-old there alone for more than a week.

There are sibling groups such as Prince, four, and Rita, nine. Rita told her mum she had dreamt of a lovely party where there was lots to eat and to drink. The belief is that a witch flies away to the coven at night while the body sleeps, so Rita's sweet dream was proof enough: she was a witch and because she had shared food with her sibling - the way witchcraft is spread - both were abandoned. Victoria, cheeky and funny, aged four, and her seven-year-old sister Helen, a serene little girl. Left by their parents in the shell of an old shack, the girls didn't dare move from where they had been abandoned and ate leaves and grass.

The youngest here is a baby. The older girls take it in turn to sling her on their skinny hips and Ikpe-Itauma has named her Amelia, after his grandmother. He estimates around 5,000 children have been abandoned in this area since 1998 and says many bodies have turned up in the rivers or in the forest. Many more are never found. 'The more children the pastor declares witches, the more famous he gets and the more money he can make,' he says. 'The parents are asked for so much money that they will pay in instalments or perhaps sell their property. This is not what churches should be doing.'

5000 kids abandoned--a conservative estimate--in *one* area of Nigeria yearly. The problem of "ndoki orphans" is prevalent throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa--Kenya is a hotspot, as is Ghana, as is Nigeria, as is the Congo, as is South Africa.

The problem is in fact severe enough that it's being actively exported--the United Kingdom has done much coverage of "deliverance ministry"-related child abuse, in part, because it's becoming a rather serious problem thanks to neopente dominionists in African emigre communities there. The BBC was one of the first mainstream news agencies to report on this form of religiously motivated child abuse due to a number of rather infamous cases of "deliverance ministry"-related abuse in the UK, which led to the discovery of at least thirty cases and the setup of a dedicated division of Scotland Yard to investigate; even now, UK social services groups are given instructions on how to spot "deliverance ministry"-related child abuse and are among the very few groups taking an aggressive stand against it including via research and educational efforts.

And sadly, deaths occur not just of children but adults too. The Nigerian Tribune reports that the Burning Times have come to Africa as people accused of being witches--typically in neopentecostal dominionist "deliverance services"--are literally being burnt at the stake in scenes more closely resembling the Spanish Inquisition than the 21st century:

Let's take for instance, the belief in witchcraft. Most Africans believe that witches exist and are real.

That witches cause diseases. accidents, death and business failures. Incidentally,. there is no evidence of witchcraft or the activities associated with witches.But because of the misconceptions associated with witchcraft, those accused of being witches are attacked, tortured, maltreated and killed in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In May, at least 11 people alleged to be witches were burnt to death in Kenya. Those who masterminded this heinous act said they had 'evidence' that they were witches. There have been other cases of witch hunt in Nigeria, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa , Uganda, etc.
. . .
Critical thought should also be applied to the teachings of all religions including those of Christianity and Islam. Many paranormal beliefs continue to exist in Africa beeause Christianity and Islam promote and sanction them. They include the belief in witches, ghost, after life, faith healing, divine revelation, communication with spirit, etc. The two world religions -Christianity and Islam- introduced and control formal education in modern Africa.

One of the few other groups trying to help kids in this situation is RISE International--whom has contributed to efforts to help "ndoki orphans".

The problem, alas, isn't just restricted to Nigeria. As a major researcher on Joel's Army and the "Third Wave" on Talk to Action reports, it's not just sub-Saharan Africa, and "independent" neopente dominionist groups are promoting this worldwide--including via a Guatemalan church linked with a literal coup-de-etat:

The last city segment features Almolonga, Guatemala. Otis begins this segment by claiming that Almolongo is now 80% born again after the transformation of this town of about 19,000. Again he tells of a town in the grip of demonic strongholds, this time the demons of folk deities and syncretism. He states that previously the gospel could not take hold and evangelical Christians were a despised minority. Again a group of intercessors prayed and "after many signs and wonders and deliverances from demonic possession" the town was transformed. Otis then catalogs the miraculous changes in this once poor town plagued with crime and alcoholism. He claims that all four jails have been closed as there is no longer crime. Two dozen evangelical churches have replaced 36 bars and cantinas. The streets and buildings have been renamed after biblical places. But more remarkably Otis claims that this spiritual transformation has healed the land and revived the agricultural economy. Harold Cabelleros, founder of El Shaddai Church in Guatemala City, claims that Almolonga farmers now have three harvest per year, and that once God came to town, the harvest time for a radish dropped from 60 days to 40, and then 25.
. . .
Cabelleros also contributed to Wagner's 1993 book, Breaking Strongholds in Your City. Mell Winger was the director of the Bible Institute at El Shaddai Church in Guatemala City and later served with Ted Haggard at New Life Church, which shares the campus of the World Prayer Center. See Richard Bartholomew's Notes on Religion.

The involvement of El Shaddai is extremely disturbing for a special reason. Not only does El Shaddai have close links with Mell Winger (and by extension, Tedd Haggard at New Life Church--at least until Haggard was outed as gay, that is) but it is linked with the one dominionist group explicitly linked in a court of law with genocide and crimes against humanity. Specifically, El Shaddai is a member of a group of "Assemblies daughters" known as Verbo Ministries and a frontgroup of Verbo, Global Outreach Ministries...and two of the most infamous members of Verbo Ministries are Efrain Rios Montt and Jorge Serrano Elias.

Serrano Elias is particularly noteworthy here, as he was not only a protege of Rios Montt (and a protector of Montt's slaughter of upwards of possibly 200,000 Mayans (we aren't for sure how high it goes; they're still finding the bodies over 25 years later) and over a million displaced persons) but apparently was also a member of El Shaddai--not just a member, but apparently a minister and one of those establishing the initial benchhead for the closest thing the world has known to Nehemiah Scudder's regime in Heinlein's "If This Goes On...":

In 1976 he collaborated with various American Protestant churches to help the population recover from the devastating earthquake that had afflicted the country. He then published a document describing the miserable conditions under which the indigenous population lived, which resulted in his receiving threats. He went into exile in the US, only returning in 1982, to work in the government of fellow evangelist General Efraín Ríos Montt as Vice President of the Advisory Board to the government.

And El Shaddai, too, has attempted harassment of people and destruction of cultural relics in the name of "spiritual warfare":

As soon as the church started building, government archaeologists leaped to the defense of the pre-Colombian site. But before the church's laborers stopped, they are said to have dug up the head of a snake carved in stone. The leaders of El Shaddai Church interpreted the suddenly revealed archaeology of their new location as a sign: the Lord had brought them face to face with his vision for Guatemala.

Three hundred years before Christ, Pastor Haroldo Caballeros announced, the serpent mound had been built to dedicate the entire country to Satan. Ever since that offering to the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, Guatemala and all of Latin America had been cursed. Why else would a continent so rich in resources and faith be among the poorest and most indebted of the earth? Why else would a country so green and blessed by God be so afflicted with violence and poverty? But now this curse of centuries could be lifted, Caballeros said. It is probably no coincidence that the name of his church, El Shaddai, means "The Almighty" in Hebrew; this was a vision not just for saving souls, but for seizing a country's destiny. Caballeros preached like a polished courtroom advocate--his former profession--and was attracting influential people to El Shaddai, including a man about to be elected president of the country.

Funded by a well-heeled congregation, Caballeros mounted a national prayer campaign to take the vision for overcoming the serpent's curse to every evangelical pastor in the country. Fifty thousand prayer warriors were needed to battle the territorial demons controlling Guatemala, Caballeros declared. God wanted to open up the skies and rain down his blessings. He wanted to bring a revival with so many signs, prodigies, and wonders that every tongue would confess that Jesus is Lord of Guatemala. Uplifted by an army of prayer, the church would rise up like a giant. It would prophesy over Guatemala, liberate it, and turn the curse into a blessing.

El Shaddai is also at the heart of an attempt to make a third go at turning Guatemala into the Republic of Gilead--only bloodier, if Montt's rule is any guide.

The CSM article itself notes other examples of similar "witch hunts", even here in the States:

* In Hemet, Calif., a new pastor began noting on a map sites where what he believed to be negative spiritual influences were located: controversial religious centers, cults, youth gangs, and the West Coast's largest methamphetamine manufacturing facilities.

After years of research and targeted prayer, participants say, drug production has been dramatically reduced and corrupt police have been fired, gang members have converted, the "power of a demonic strongman" was broken, cults left town or were burned out, and Christians are in key leadership positions.

* In Cali, Colombia, home of the infamous drug cartel, pastors carried out a spiritual mapping campaign "gathering intelligence on political, social, and spiritual strongholds" in each of the city's 22 administrative zones. They began holding all-night prayer vigils involving thousands in the soccer stadium.

When vigils were followed by periods without homicides and the arrests of major cartel leaders, "a new openness to the Gospel was felt at all levels of society," and churches began to see "explosive growth."

Interestingly, one of the US churches most consistently linked with this sort of thing is New Life Church in Colorado Springs--former home of Ted Haggard. In Jeff Sharlet's article "Soldiers of Christ"--published May 2005 in Harpers Magazine--targeted harassment of not just critics but of people seen as the Enemy are noted:

He was always on the lookout for spies. At the time, Colorado Springs was a small city split between the Air Force and the New Age, and the latter, Pastor Ted believed, worked for the devil. Pastor Ted soon began upsetting the devil's plans. He staked out gay bars, inviting men to come to his church; his whole congregation pitched itself into invisible battles with demonic forces, sometimes in front of public buildings. One day, while he was working in his garage, a woman who said she'd been sent by a witches' coven tried to stab Pastor Ted with a five-inch knife she pulled from a leg sheath; Pastor Ted wrestled the blade out of her hand. He let that story get around. He called the evil forces that dominated Colorado Springs—and every other metropolitan area in the country—"Control."

Sometimes, he says, Control would call him late on Saturday night, threatening to kill him. "Any more impertinence out of you, Ted Haggard," he claims Control once told him, "and there will be unrelenting pandemonium in this city." No kidding! Pastor Ted hadn't come to Colorado Springs for his health; he had come to wage "spiritual war."

He moved the church to a strip mall. There was a bar, a liquor store, New Life Church, a massage parlor. His congregation spilled out and blocked the other businesses. He set up chairs in the alley. He strung up a banner: SIEGE THIS CITY FOR ME, signed JESUS. He assigned everyone in the church names from the phone book they were to pray for. He sent teams to pray in front of the homes of supposed witches—in one month, ten out of fifteen of his targets put their houses on the market. His congregation "prayer-walked" nearly every street of the city.

Population boomed, crime dipped; Pastor Ted believes to this day that New Life helped chase the bad out of town. He thinks like that, a piston: less bad means more good. Church is good, and his church grew, so fast there were times when no one knew how many members to claim. So they stopped talking about "members." There was just New Life. "Are you New Life?" a person might ask. New Life moved into some corporate office space. Soon they bought the land that had been prophesied, thirty-five acres, and began to build what Pastor Ted promised would be a new Jerusalem.

As disturbing as this is...it also appears that Sarah Palin may have been taking notes from Muthee et al--right down to the use of cops for harassment.

Evidence of subversion of Wasilla government?

Some of the info that has come out re Palin--and regarding her own running of Wasilla's government as well as her stint as governor--give ever more info indicating she essentially is running as the Manchurian Candidate of Joel's Army. And interestingly, a fair amount of this may directly tie into police scandals.

One bit of info includes info on Progressive Alaska indicating Wasilla A/G may have engaged in major infiltration of the Wasilla Police Department and that critics fear retribution:

A blogger told me that he needs to back off the more sensitive Palin information because he's afraid of getting shot by some of the more fanatical, hard-core "Palin-bots." I've been told that when media representatives attempted to speak to several members of Palin's former church, one member wouldn't speak out of fear of his/her life and the other declined out of fear of potential treatment by law enforcement who are also members of the church.

(And now you know why I post pseudonymously and am a bit paranoid on giving my personal info out!)

And tomorrow, we have some explosive new info to point out regarding how Palin is a veritable dominionist Midas--it turns out TrooperGate *and* "RapeKitGate" both have strong dominionist connections.

A few days ago, I wrote an article detailing several more links between Palin and particularly disturbing elements of the "Joel's Army" movement--namely, apparent links between Palin and Bill Gothard's network of groups, and some very disturbing dog-whistles from some of the "Joel's Army" faithful comparing her to the prophetess Deborah.

Now that I have my power restored...we can get to "the *rest* of the story", so to speak...and now you get the background as to why the latest revelations are quite disturbing.

Sarah Palin a Gothardite?

In my last post, I noted an article from the Cincinnati Beacon--a regular source of good investigative reporting regarding Gothard's various fronts--on Palin's links with Gothard. A recent article in Salon gives more detail--and more reason to worry.

Among other things, Wasilla is one of 200-plus cities in the US that have been recruited into a particular Gothard front--the International Association of Character Cities:

Sep. 18, 2008 | In April 2000, under the direction of then-Mayor Sarah Palin, the Wasilla City Council passed a resolution declaring itself a "City of Character." Adopted unanimously, the resolution pledged that the city would "do all in its power" to promote "positive and constructive character qualities which distinguish between right and wrong," which the resolution predicted could work a range of wonders, from reducing juvenile delinquency to increasing corporate profits.

Thanks to Palin's efforts, Wasilla is now among roughly 200 cities nationwide (and others in 27 countries around the world) that have committed themselves -- in name, at least -- to following the teachings of the International Association of Character Cities (IACC), an organization that purports to be secular but is modeled on the evangelical teachings of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP).

Palin's personal connection to IACC, and her efforts to bring its agenda to Wasilla as mayor, sheds new light on her connections to the Christian far right, as well as her willingness to infuse government with its ideals rooted in religion. Her championing of IACC principles raises further questions about Palin's views on running government, including the hiring and firing of government employees, an area in which she has come under intense scrutiny in part due to her involvement in "trooper gate."

It is not exaggeration to term IACC a recruitment front for what amounts to a very nasty "Bible-based cult" Gothard promotes. The Salon article does touch on this, but--as in most cases involving neopente dominionists and coercive activity in neopente dominionist groups--most of the writing has been in either apologetics circles, survivors' communities, or the small community focusing on this sub-segment of "Christian nationalism".

The first definitive bits of writing re Gothard's IACC and its role as a recruitment front (outside of those in apologetics circles) would be two articles--the second being an article on Talk to Action entitled Developing Dominionist Cities which is itself a summary of Silva Talji's "Cult of Character". I would strongly recommend people start out with those two articles as backgrounder.

One piece of backgrounder, too, that I would recommend would be an article I have written regarding experiences in several "Gothardised" cities who were members of IACC--the program is promoted as "secular", but in the actual seminars, there tends to be a rapid hard-sell to a specifically neopente-dominionist theology, and pointers to the "real content" being in the explicitly religious material.

Even more disturbing, IACC is part of what amounts to a multi-headed hydra of frontgroups linked with Gothard. One known front is Police Dynamics Institute, which promotes Gothardism to police, firefighters and EMTs; another is ALERT Teams.

The ALERT Teams linkage--which is actually quite close indeed with PDI and IACC--is especially disturbing, as it is one of the few Joel's Army groups that can be legitimately described as "Joel's Army With Guns" (complete with a paramilitary training facility). Even worse, it's a "Joel's Army With Guns" group directly linked with possible neopente-dominionist infiltration of the armed forces and potentially grave national security consequences; the head of the US Air Force's Cyberspace Command is a major supporter of ALERT Teams (as if the US Air Force didn't have enough issues with "God Warriors" and mandatory religious prosyletisation scandals!).

There is evidence that--at least in the particular case of Palin's involvement--there was even less pretense than usual on the program being supposedly "secular"--including a talk by David Barton of Wallbuilders, a major promoter of a form of historical revisionism popular in "Christian nationalist" circles claiming that the US was established as primarily a dominionist nation:

Palin, Menzel confirmed, learned how Wasilla could become a City of Character at an IACC conference held at IBLP's International Training Center in Indianapolis in April 2000. A conference brochure shows that Gothard and other speakers affiliated with IBLP taught several of the sessions. The conference included a videotape presentation on the separation of church and state by David Barton, a regular on the Christian right speaking circuit who argues that the separation of church and state is a "myth."

Although Menzel and the IACC's materials insist that the program Hill launched at his company is secular, IBLP's Web site boasts that as a result of Hill's efforts, Kimray "benefited from the application of Biblical principles." Menzel admitted to the Texas Observer two years ago that "these are biblical principles." Hill has ties to Gothard dating back to 1974; he served on IBLP's board of directors from 1993 to 2005, and is currently on its "board of reference."

Gothard's teachings, and his implementation of them, are highly controversial even among evangelical Christians. Based on seven "non-optional" biblical principles, Gothard demands obedience to "God-ordained authorities, such as parents, government, and the church."

This gets *very* disturbing, *very* quickly--especially if you have an idea of just what Gothard promotes.

One thing Gothard is big on promoting is the concept of coercive "Bible-based" boot camps--in fact, one facility in Indianapolis was *so* horrific it was shut down by the state of Indiana. This is, alas, simply an extension of the religiously motivated child abuse he promotes as an extension of an entire system of abuse that actually manages to resemble Scientology's infamous Sea Orgs far more than any "church charity".

And some of the abuse of children in particular is extreme. A correspondent whom wishes to remain anonymous forwarded info from a now-defunct mailinglist for support of "Gothard parents":

Lori-We learned about spanking babies. WE learned about disciplning a child with a rod at the age of 6 months, when the weeds are very little we pluck them out. We use a 1/4 inch wooden dowel when they are 6 months. If you ignore those weeds then by the time they are toddlers you have to do something drastic. WE learned that if we started when they were babies, they were so much more obedient in coming and sitting and being quiet. OUr goal
was that they be able to sit quietly for 2 hours on Sunday morning. Now it has been a joy.

I have learned that just one whack on a baby's bottom is not enough, it is 5 or 6 whacks. I found I was spankiing my children a whole lot less when I did it right the first time.

(And yes, the rest of the thread is just as bad.)

Of note, this is probably the most extreme religiously motivated child abuse I've seen documented yet; even Tedd Tripp and the Pearls, who formerly held the title of "worst of the worst", don't recommend using *that* thick of a rod to whack a six-month-old. :P

Gothard's system of abuse is in part based on enforcing a particularly extreme version of the coercive "discipling and shepherding" model common in abusive neopente dominionist churches--the same "cell church" model, of note, in use in John Hagee's church, in Wasilla A/G, and others. This is also the same cell-church model documented to cause short and long-term personality changes--in some cases, in as short as three days.

Little documented is that Gothard's "coercive neopente dominionism-plus" system has a heavy emphasis on not just the abusive "cell church" model (including a requirement people be under the "covering" of a shepherd) and some especially horrific child abuse, but also a very heavy emphasis on another oddity in neopente dominionist circles--namely, the concept of "deliverance ministry". "Deliverance ministry", boiled down, claims that literally anything can be "demonised" or "open doorways for Satan" and cause one to be "oppressed" or even frankly possessed by the Devil; in practice, it strongly resembles some of the worst practices in Scientology regarding "body thetans", "engrams", and "suppressive persons".

In similar manner as have been documented at some of Palin's churches, Gothard promotes the idea that illnesses are caused by "generational curses"--or even by things as innocuous as Cabbage Patch Kids or "Troll" dolls.

Combined, the two practices amount to one of the most coercive systems ever documented--and Gothard's system is far more extreme than even the infamous coercive chunderfest at Hagee's church documented by Matt Taibbi in his book "The Great Derangement".

As if this weren't enough, Gothard will in general not discuss his tactics unless you have been recruited into his programs (a dead giveaway we are dealing with a frank cult here), and promotes "Quiverfull" stuff in his own way by claiming in essence that "God will provide" for women having extreme amounts of kids and that parents shouldn't have Caesarian sections (and again attributes infertility to having Cabbage Patch Kids in the house)...among other things. In addition to this, one of Gothard's known fronts is a completely unaccredited "college" that includes classes on "Christian midwifery", and Gothard has even been known to encourage women to not register home births at all.

In addition to all the other fun stuff I've mentioned, Gothard is also very explicitly dominionist (as if you hadn't yet guessed this), has encouraged others to set up incredibly abusive "Bible boot camps" not unlike his Indianapolis misadventure, and attempted to suppress publication of a guide critical of his tactics.

Gothard's teachings have in fact been described as those of a Bible-based cult--which I am inclined to agree with, having grown up in a coercive group where Gothard's writing was heavily promoted and having written on the subject of abusive dominionist groups throughout most of my diary entries on DailyKos. My experiences aren't unique--apparently Gothard's stuff is heavily promoted within the Assemblies of God in particular (which is the denomination I am a walkaway from); disturbingly, Gothard is also heavily promoted within the dominionist "home education" movement.

...and yes, that would be the same Assemblies in which Palin was, and has been up to June 2008, heavily involved in...including in an official policy as state governor.

And this, after Cincinnati's commissioner has called for an investigation of IACC due to its heavy support of religiously motivated child abuse.

More on that "Deborah" dogwhistle

I also reported the other day on how J. Lee Grady--a Joel's Army promoter who is editor of the site "Fire In My Bones" and who has hailed fellow Joel's Army promoter Todd Bentley as a modern-day prophet--literally compared Sarah Palin to the Biblical prophetess Deborah.

This is a prime example of how many of the promoters of "Joel's Army" theology tend to drop code-words and overt "scripture twisting" as dog-whistles to their parishoners--and the "Deborah dogwhistle" is a particularly nasty one indeed, as we'll get into.

The specific dogwhistle in question:

When McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate, I was reminded of the biblical story of Deborah, the Old Testament prophet who rallied God's people to victory at a time when ancient Israel was being terrorized by foreign invaders. Deborah's gender didn't stop her from amassing an army; she inspired the people in a way no man could. She and her defense minister, Barak, headed to the front lines and watched God do a miracle on the battlefield.

In her song in Judges 5:7, Deborah declares: "The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel" (NASB).

The use of the New American Standard Bible is somewhat unusual (most neopente dominionists tend to use the NIV), but despite the version, the message is clear...and disturbing.

The Song of Deborah describes a particularly vicious battle against the Canaanites during the pre-royal period of Israel--when the judges ruled the country along with the priesthood. It is worth noting Judges 5:6-5:8 in particular in the NASB version:

6 "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael, the highways were deserted,
And travelers went by roundabout ways.
7 "The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 "New gods were chosen;
Then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or a spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel.

(NASB version.)

It's also noteworthy what appears in the New International Version, the version that most neopente dominionists are more likely to be using:

6 "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned;
travelers took to winding paths.
7 Village life [c] in Israel ceased,
ceased until I, [d] Deborah, arose,
arose a mother in Israel.
8 When they chose new gods,
war came to the city gates,
and not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.

([c] or "Warriors"; [d] or "you".)

It's also worth noting some other minor dogwhistles. BibleWiki notes:

Name of the triumphal ode found in Jdg 5:2-31 and ascribed in the title (Jdg 5:1) to Deborah; it celebrates the victory in the plain of Megiddo over Sisera and his army.

For those unaware, Megiddo is of course the traditional site upon which the Final Battle will be fought--Armageddon. At least some groups do directly equate the two.

Then again, seeing as one of the persons fighting with Deborah was named Barak, this may not be as significant as one thinks--unless one counts that Barak ultimately failed at assassinating Sisera, and was beaten to it by a woman.

Oh, and the scene of aforementioned assassination is also noteworthy, one of the more spectacularly gruesome offings in the Old Testament that was not the result of direct divine intervention:

24 "Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
25 "He asked for water and she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
26 "She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen's hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 "Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell dead.

(NASB version.)
Ironically, Judges 6 is not mentioned--in which Deborah reigns, and the people go to evil ways resulting in Midian occupation for seven years before Gideon takes over:

1 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years.

(NASB version.)

And yet there is deeper meaning in this particular dogwhistle. One thing being heavily promoted in the Joel's Army community is the concept of a "Deborah Anointing"--that is, essentially a "women's corps of Joel's Army". An example from a site promoting "Joel's Army" theology explains succinctly:

THE DEBORAH ANOINTING

King David prophesied in Ps. 68:11-12, "The Lord gives the word (command); the women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host; Kings of armies flee, they flee; and she who remains at home will divide the spoil!" The book of Judges declares Deborah as the 5th and last judge of Israel who resided under a tree, where she spent her days and nights alone with God, and received the strategic war plan to defeat Israel's enemies while being outnumbered. As a wife, judge, prophetess and strong military leader, Deborah saved her nation from bondage and tyranny, and sang of being a mother in Israel and dividing the spoil of her conquered enemy, Sisera (Judges 5). Her commander of the troops, Barak, and the scribe of Issachar (who knew and read the times of Israel) refused to engage in war without her. Why? Because of the anointings that rested upon her. The DEBORAH ANOINTING will be released upon women's ministries and housewives, birthing new ministries releasing higher seats of power, authority and the prophetic. High-ranking commanders of God's Army will not engage in battle without them. The vast majority of front liners and trench diggers are women, and the scars of battle are evident. However, this anointing will birth a new song in the hearts of many women who proclaim the Word of the Lord.

In other words, folks seen as having a "Deborah Anointing" are seen explicitly as God Warriors In Dresses--basically the WACS of Joel's Army, as it were.

The same site gives some rather disturbing insight as to what they thought of the biblical Barak:

Last night in the 'wee small hours' I agonised over wondering if I had made a terrible mistake in the word the Lord gave me for Wales. I know full well that Deborah did not slay Barak, indeed it was Jael who slew Sisera and yet somehow I did not 'see' what I had written at the time of testing/posting. I prayed about it, repenting if was in error, not understanding why the prophetic word for Wales, spoke of Deborah slaying Barak. I asked the Spirit of God to show me in His Word the explanation for the use of such terminology. I believe the Lord in His Wisdom permitted me to remain 'blind' in order that He might bring forth the following revelation. The Lord led me to a specific page within a book on the Welsh revival and I believe this is what He has shown:
. . .
Barak almost made a grave mistake. When he first heard the Lord's instruction to go and fight the enemy commander and his army, his initial response was not faith but fear and denial of the power of God. Through Deborah the Lord was instructing Barak to go and take on the 10,000 men of Naphtali and Zebulun and to lead the way to Mount Tabor.

BARAK TO DEBORAH --"I'LL ONLY GO IF YOU GO WITH ME"

Barak was not prepared to enter the battle trusting God. He replied to Deborah "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." Judges 4:8

The spirit within Barak did not believe in a conquering God who was able to defeat all opposition. Barak placed more belief in Deborah by his side than in the Lord God of Hosts as his strong deliverer. He had no revelation of the battle belonging to God, nor of the power that was in him being greater than the power in this world. Further, Barak was concerned for his flesh. The Lord is bringing together an end time army who will "love not their own lives unto death".

This is the revelation within the prophetic word for revival in Wales that we must understand. Without our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus as the risen victorious Christ, we will not be able to be used in the Lord's army against his enemy's.
. . .
The end time army will be a fearless, anointed army with no trace of the 'spirit' and rights to self within Barak. To be anything less that completely focused on the Lord and His awesome power will mean we are in danger of missing the commission set before us. It must be in His strength alone and completely dependent on Him that we move forward into revival. There are 'giants' that must be slain and it is only hidden in Christ and abandoned to His precious Spirit that we may be used to re-enforce the victory of Calvary.

Within God's Holy Word we come to understand how the enemy commander Sisera was killed by Jael - we are shown the defeat of the 'enemy without'. The Lord in His loving mercy is giving us a further 'key' - in studying Barak's responses and actions we are given some insight into the 'enemy within' - our sinful concern for our flesh, and our carnal doubts and lack of faith and belief in the nature and character of God as the Lord of Hosts.

WE MUST REPENT OF THE SPIRIT OF BARAK

I therefore believe we must repent of the sins that Barak walked in and ask the Lord for forgiveness. The Spirit will bring this conviction and through the Deborah anointing He will release those with a similar spirit to Barak. The end time army must march out in faith having sought the Lord with all of their heart, for there is no time for half hearted commitment or poorly shod armour or any amount of self-reliance.

(Of note, the "Wales revival" in question was a Joel's Army/Third Wave revival occuring in 1999.)

This is far from an isolated reference. Specific references to "Deborah Anointing" occur on multiple Joel's Army sites, including this one (linked with Hillsong A/G in Sydney, Australia--a particularly infamous Joel's Army congregation that is the home of the Family First political party) as well as this site, and a major Joel's Army promotion site (Fresh Fire Ministries) promotes it as "the mantle of Deborah".

There are indications that the term may well have been used in Joel's Army circles as early as 1998 or earlier, based on its use in Guatemalan "Joel's Army" churches. (Guatemala has suffered possibly more than any other country the sad reality of neopente dominionist regimes...in particularly genocidal fashion during the reign of Gen. Rios Montt.)

A subtle dog-whistle indeed--and not likely that anyone outside the Joel's Army movement would catch the full import of it.

Much like the US Postal Service, neither rain nor snow nor 70% of my hometown's power infrastructure being eaten by Ike will stop me from posting the latest on Palin's connections with dominionists.

We've posted before on her initial outing as a dominionist stealth candidate, her links to "Joel's Army" including Alaskan state funds being used for groups promoting apocalyptic theology, and her attempt at a back-door book ban in conjunction with a crusade by one of her home churches.

Today, we find out even more info on the book-ban attempt giving further proof that Palin has *not* dropped her links with Joel's Army--and if that weren't enough, there's some very telling evidence from the horse's mouth.

More info on the attempted book-ban--and its theological connections

Recently, a new article in Salon gives more disturbing info regarding Palin's attempt at an end-run against Wasilla Public Library's book-challenge policy--and more evidence that this was part of an attempt by several dominionist churches, with Wasilla A/G at the front, to purge LGBT-supportive books from both libraries and bookstores.

Since the initial links between Palin and neopente dominionist groups (including two separate Assemblies congregations linked to the "Joel's Army" movement as well as a third "independent" neopente denomination also promoting Joel's Army theology) have come out, there's been quite a lot of spin control--including claims that she left Wasilla A/G because it was "too extreme" (despite apparently having appeared regularly at Assemblies churches, including Wasilla A/G and at the district H/Q even as late as June 2008--four years after she claims to have left; not in a pattern fitting with someone leaving a church because of claims of being "too extreme").

Unfortunately, the Salon article would seem to prove the lie to this--with info indicating Wasilla A/G not only supported her but actually proclaimed her as the chosen candidate of "Joel's Army"--whilst carefully warning their parishoners to keep mum to the press:

WASILLA, Alaska -- The Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church where Sarah Palin came of age, was still charged with excitement on Sunday over Palin's sudden ascendance. Pastor Ed Kalnins warned his congregation not to talk with any journalists who might have been lurking in the pews -- and directly warned this reporter not to interview any of his flock. But Kalnins and other speakers at the service reveled in Palin's rise to global stardom.

It confirmed, they said, that God was making use of Wasilla. "She will take our message to the world!" rejoiced an Assembly of God youth ministry leader, as the church band rocked the high-vaulted wooden building with its electric gospel.

The article gives some very revealing information regarding the hostile environment that Wasilla A/G tried to create:

When it was published in 1995, Bess' book caused an immediate storm in the Mat-Su Valley, an evangelical stronghold dotted with storefront churches. Conservative ministers targeted the book, and the only bookstore in the valley that dared to stock it -- Shalom Christian Books and Gifts – soon dropped it after the owner was barraged with angry phone calls. The Frontiersman, the local newspaper that ran a column by Bess for seven years, fired him and ran a vicious cartoon that suggested even drooling child molesters would be welcomed by Bess' church.

(Of note, the equation of paedophiles and LGBT people tends to be all too common in Assemblies churches--here's an example from my own hometown.)

There's also some info indicating that the attempt to go around the Wasilla Public Library's book-challenge policy was in fact inspired by the ongoing Joel's Army fatwa against "Pastor, I Am Gay" (which even extended to the point of literal pickets against bookstores daring to carry the book):

And after she became mayor of Wasilla, according to Bess, Sarah Palin tried to get rid of his book from the local library. Palin now denies that she wanted to censor library books, but Bess insists that his book was on a "hit list" targeted by Palin. "I'm as certain of that as I am that I'm sitting here. This is a small town, we all know each other. People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do."

And--as it turns out--her reported membership in "Feminists For Life" and statements on being virulently anti-abortion also directly influenced her policies in Wasilla--and in a different way than the infamous "make them pay for their own rape kits" way.

More evidence of theology and policy mixing

The article also notes an attempt to steeplejack community hospital boards, combined with an attempt to effectively ban abortion in the borough--one which led to the state of Alaska stepping in and ruling it unconstitutional:

Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

Another attempt at governmental steeplejacking firmly linked to Palin was what may well have been the very model for her attempted run as a dominionist stealth VP--namely school boards, a target for dominionist steeplejacks-by-stealth since the Christian Coalition's early organisational days in the early 80s.

Even worse, there are indications she has answered the question on whether or not she followed dominionist--and specifically neopentecostal dominionist--theology in governmental decision-making:

Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism -- your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

As bad as this is, there is still far worse.

Palin's connections with Gothard--and queenmaking by the heart of the "Joel's Army" movement

Recently, links have been found between Sarah Palin and one of the more distinctly coercive "Joel's Army" groups out there--namely, Bill Gothard's "International Association of Character Cities", one of a veritable hive of frontgroups run by Gothard:

According to articles in today's Daily Oklahoman and Washington Post, when she was mayor of Wasilla AK, Sarah Palin "spearheaded" efforts to establish the town as as "a community of character" via the International Association of Character Cities (IACC). What these stories don't mention is that the Oklahoma City-based IACC is a secular front for Chicago millionaire evangelist Bill Gothard.
. . .
1) When she introduced the "Character Cities" program in Wasilla, did then-Mayor Palin inform other council members that it was a front for Bill Gothard?

In 2006, Arizona State Treasurer David Petersen was forced to resign after getting busted for accepting commissions for implementing Gothard's Character Training programs in the Grand Canyon state.

2) Has Sarah Palin received any income from the IACC or other organizations affiliated with Bill Gothard? Are she and "First Dude" Todd Palin going to release their tax returns as Joe and Jill Biden have done?

As The Beacon and others seek answers to these and other questions, we respectfully urge Governor Palin, good Christian that she is, to seek guidance from the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky's "Character Quality of the Month" for September 2008: TRUTHFULNESS.

The links with Gothard are particularly disturbing. Gothard's nest of fronts are among those directly provable to be running training camps for "God Warriors With Guns" and also have a history of links with "Christian nationalist" secessionists and racists. This is, of course, on top of actively infiltrating police and other public safety agencies to convert those to wings of "Joel's Army", and the promotion of religiously motivated child abuse so extreme that it's been linked to murder-suicides due to those being tortured finally snapping.

And...disturbingly..."Joel's Army" certainly seems to be getting the signal on their own end, as she is explicitly being promoted even more on their ends.

One example comes from Fire In My Bones (yes, "Joel's Army" groups love fire imagery) literally comparing Sarah Palin to the Biblical prophet Deborah. The original post seems to have been pulled, but the article was reportedly published in Charisma Magazine, and what is available is disturbing indeed:

A prominent evangelical figure in the U.S. this week said Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a modern-day incarnation of the Biblical prophet, Deborah - primed to miraculously slay her nation's enemies on the battlefield.

Writing in his influential magazine, Charisma, editor J. Lee Grady likened the 44-year-old Alaskan governor to Deborah, the Old Testament prophet "who rallied God's people to victory at a time when ancient Israel was being terrorized by foreign invaders."

Evangelicals who don't support Charisma worry that J. Lee Grady has not only embraced Sarah Palin as a prophet, but in 2005 heartily endorsed Todd Bentley, the disgraced B.C-based faith healer.

Yes, you're reading this right; Palin is now being actively promoted within Joel's Army circles as being one of the very generals of their holy war.

And the article notes just how bluntly the point is being made:

As Grady wrote in this week's column, the gender of the Old Testament prophet Deborah "didn't stop her from amassing an army; she inspired the people in a way no man could. She and her defense minister, Barak, headed to the front lines and watched God do a miracle on the battlefield."
Grady continues: "In her song in Judges 5:7, Deborah declares: 'The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel'... Sometimes it takes a true mother to rally the troops."

Even worse, she's being promoted as a walking, talking prophecy-in-the-flesh by those promoting holy war with America by the same author:

Talk about a role model. Palin's life is a prophecy to America. She doesn't have to preach against abortion. She and her family, even with their flaws, are the embodiment of the compassionate pro-life values America desperately needs to adopt.

Even worse yet, there's reports that Joel's Army and other dominionists are literally making imprecatory prayers for McCain's death...so Palin can be president.

The explicit promotion of Palin as a latter-day end-times prophet is disturbing indeed--and a dangerous sign, a strong sign that Palin getting close to the Presidency could have the whole world's fate riding on it.

Over the past few days, I've been one of those Damned Annoying Palin Diarists--though not on BabyGate or some of the other stuff, but more on the fact she was originally put in as a dominionist "stealth candidate", that she has extensive and ongoing connections with "Joel's Army" neopente dominionists including providing tax dollars to them. Most disturbingly, more than a few of us have raised serious questions on how Palin's connections with these groups may have literally thermonuclear consequences and how much her dominionist connections would affect her public policy.

We may very well have reason to worry. Two new recent updates have given call for alarm--one being a disturbing call for war with Russia, and the second being new revelations re the attempted Wasilla book-ban that indicate it may have been a preemptive attempt.

And in both cases, her "Joel's Army" sympathies may be closely linked.

Palin conveniently answers the "Does being a 'Joel's Army' member mean I want to nuke Moscow?" question

A few days back, I wrote an article on the implications of "Joel's Army" endtime theology regarding Russia in relation to Sarah Palin--an article that has apparently made it all the way to none other than fark.com and which I wrote, in part, based on my own observations as a walkaway from a "Joel's Army" church and my own post-walking-away research.

Unfortunately for us and the rest of the world, Palin may have just answered that question.

The definitive DailyKos diary on this subject was written a few days ago by Rock Strango, but it's also worth looking at the original quote as well. After a fair amount of backpedaling on her commentary re Gulf War II being essentially a holy crusade (an idea that is actively promoted in "Joel's Army" circles, incidentially--including the very Assemblies of God church she claims to no longer be a member of but did guest preaching at as recently as June 2008, as we'll see below), she let slip that she'd be quite willing to go to war with the Russians--and furthermore promoted the concept of first strikes against any country that is seen as a potential threat:

* Gibson then brought up Russia's recent invasion of Georgia, an act roundly condemned by the Bush administration and by McCain himself. He asked Gibson if the US would be compelled to answer militarily under the NATO treaty if Russia again invaded Georgia. Palin answered, "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help."

* Expanding on her answer, Palin said, "[W]e've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable."
. . .
ABC's Charlie Gibson asked Sarah Palin if she believed that the Iraq war was part of God's plan.

GIBSON: "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?"

PALIN: "In what respect, Charlie?"

GIBSON: "The Bush ... Well, what do you interpret it to be?"

PALIN: "His world view."

GIBSON: "No. The Bush doctrine. Annunciated in September 2002, before the Iraq war."

PALIN: "I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell-bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made, and with new leadership -- and that's the beauty of American elections of course, and democracy -- is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better."

GIBSON: "The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is we have the right of anticipatory self defense. We have the right to a preemptive strike against any country we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?"

PALIN: "Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country."

This is quite a bit disturbing, seeing as:

a) As we went over in our last post, an end-time nuclear war has been a big part of end-time theology in Assemblies churches (and particularly those at the heart of the "Joel's Army" movement) pretty much since the time that nuclear weapons have been around.

b) Russia and the US still have enough nukes, between the two of them, to pretty much send the planet back to the Permian/Triassic boundary as far as the planetary ecosystem goes. (For those unaware, the P/T boundary is an event known by paleontologists as the Great Dying--the end-of-Permian extinction is the largest ever recorded, so thorough that only thirty percent of land vertebrates and only four percent of all sea-dwelling life survived; it is estimated that at least 90% of all species on the planet at the time went extinct. For fully twenty to thirty million years into the Triassic, life was dominated by a handful of "disaster taxa" in the closest thing this planet has known to a truly apocalyptic event.)

c) At least some stumpers for Palin have tried to claim her supposed "leadership of the Alaskan National Guard" (debunked by its actual general, by the way) qualifies her re foreign policy because "Alaska is right next door to the Russians".

. . .

If this were a case of severe foot-in-mouth disease (akin to Ronald Reagan's infamous accidentially-broadcast mike-test quip about "signing legislation outlawing Russia: we begin the bombing in five minutes"), it'd be bad enough.

Unfortunately, tied into apocalyptic imagery we know that her churches have supported, it becomes (as tvtropes.com playfully puts it) "Unleaded Nightmare Fuel".

Palin's official handlers have claimed she hasn't attended a neopente dominionist church since 2002. Despite this, however--and in an indication she may well have started attending Wasilla Bible Church (a still very dominionist, if not overtly neopente, church--but still (outwardly) "God Warrior Lite" compared to her previous congregations) as an attempt to cloak her true denominational allegiances--Palin has attended both Juneau Christian Center and has done official speeches for both Wasilla A/G's "teen ministerial Jesus Camp" (Master's Commission) and for the Alaska District of the Assemblies of God as recently as June 2008--fully six years after she claims she up and quit.

In fact, there are strong indications that Palin's relationship with the Assemblies--and misuse of Alaskan state funds to pay for trips to "revivals"--went on close to the date that McCain picked her as his choice for VP. Bruce Wilson, a noted co-researcher on neopente dominionism, has noted:

Along with her entire family, Sarah Palin was re-baptized at twelve at the Wasilla Assembly of God in Wasilla, Alaska and she attended the church from the time she was ten until 2002: over two and 1/2 decades. Sarah Palin's extensive pattern of association with the Wasilla Assembly of God has continued nearly up to the day she was picked by Senator John McCain as a vice-presidential running mate.

Palin's dedication to the Wasilla church is indicated by a Saturday, September 7, 2008, McClatchy news service story detailing possibly improper use of state travel funds by Palin for a trip she made to Wasilla, Alaska to attend, on June 8, 2008, both a Wasilla Assembly of God "Masters Commission" graduation ceremony and also a multi-church Wasilla area event known as "One Lord Sunday."

At the latter event, Palin and Alaska LT Governor Scott Parnell were publicly blessed, onstage before an estimated crowd of 6,000, through the "laying on of hands" by Wasilla Assembly of God's Head Pastor Ed Kalnins whose sermons espouse such theological concepts as the possession of geographic territories by demonic spirits and the inter-generational transmission of family "curses". Palin has also been blessed, or "anointed", by an African cleric, prominent in the Third Wave movement, who has repeatedly visited the Wasilla Assembly of God and claims to have effected positive, dramatic social change in a Kenyan town by driving out a "spirit of witchcraft."

Needless to say, it is extremely unusual, if you are truly switching denominations, to attend two churches like this--much less do the majority of your public speaking to congregations at the church you supposedly left. And it is still more unusual *yet* to have the pastor of your supposed "former" church doing a very specific type of blessing which is only conducted in neopentecostal churches--which includes, of note, imprecatory prayers against enemies and much nattering in tongues. (This, of note, is why I take Palin's claims of no longer being Assemblies with a grain of salt the size of a Taurus. Whether the Taurus in question is a bull, a Ford, a giant robot, or the actual constellation is up to the reader.)

This is especially true if you left the group because you claimed they were becoming "too extreme" (as some spin-doctoring for Palin has alleged)--most people I know who are walkaways from the Assemblies (and from "Joel's Army" groups in particular, and yes, this specifically includes people I know who are attending non-dominionist evangelical churches) tend to avoid their former congregations like the plague. (And yes, this is one of those areas where *being* a walkaway is uniquely enlightening.)

Palin's ongoing relationship with Wasilla A/G becomes especially worrisome in this light--her little speech to their missionary training camp in June 2008 is worrying enough, but it appears the pastor has also done quite a bit of promotion of Perpetual Spiritual Warfare With Actual Military Armament, based on several videos and reports:

The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."

At one point, Pastor Kalinin actually makes a call remarkably similar to the calls made by the Taliban for people to sacrifice themselves for God, and further confuses Jesus Christ for John Rambo rather than the ultimate pacifist:

What you see in a terrorist -- that's called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. ... We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. ... Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.

(Of course, if you want the unleaded version of the madness, the sermons have remarkably not been scrubbed yet. I recommend archival before they catch on.)

More indications of theology influencing policy--this time with censorship

In one of my earlier reports, I had noted Palin's links to book censorship--namely, the attempts to remove several books from the Wasilla Public Library system (despite fake lists floating around based on the American Library Association's lists of most frequently challenged and banned books, we still do not know specifically what books were targeted) and an attempt to sack the librarian who refused to play along.

We now have a documented effort at both spin control and evidence that there seems to have been definitely something amiss with how the situation went with the attempted book ban.

One of the claims going around in GOP circles is a claim that no list exists of books Palin attempted to ban, but this doesn't mesh with both the report from the librarian and reports on librarian sites. There's also been evidence that one challenge was found--but only one: an attempt to remove the book "Heather Has Two Mommies" (frequently challenged by dominionist groups due to positive portrayal of lesbian parents).

This leads to two separate, but equally disturbing possibilities: that records have not been kept properly in the Wasilla library system (or may have been scrubbed) re book challenges, or that Palin herself may have been attempting more direct censorship or at least probing for vulnerabilities.

To recognise why this is a possibility, it's important to know how most public library systems handle things like book challenges. Typically, a formal complaint must be filed with the library and investigations conducted as to whether the book should be kept, moved to a different section of the library (reference or adult sections) or removed entirely. The library system the Wasilla Public Library is a part of does in fact follow these procedures.

There are indications from the very article mentioning the ongoing attempts at spin control by the GOP that Palin herself was considering banning books at first--preemptively, without benefit of library patrons filing complaints:

According to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper, Emmons did not mince words when Palin asked her "how I would deal with her saying a book can't be in the library" on Oct. 28, 1996, in a week when the mayor had asked department heads for letters of resignation.

"She asked me if I would object to censorship, and I replied 'Yup'," Emmons told a reporter. "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union would get involved, too."

A look at the article in question--which dates from 1996--gives more details, including indications that Palin specifically instructed the librarian to go outside of normal policy regarding book challenges:

"This is different than a normal book-selection procedure or a book-challenge policy," Emmons stressed Saturday. "She was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can't be in the library."
. . .
"I'm hoping it was just a trial balloon," Emmons said, "because the free exchange of information is my main job, and I'll fight anyone who tries to interfere with that."

Interestingly, this matter came up with a call for revision of Wasilla Public Library's book challenge policy at the time:

The timing of the issue comes at a time when Emmons is trying to get the book-challenge policies of the Wasilla Library and of the Palmer City Library in line with the Mat-Su Borough policy, revised in December of last year.

Emmons described the new borough policy as "a very good one."

It is a step-by-step blueprint of procedures for anyone wanting to challenge the selection and availability of library material, Emmons explained. "it is a good process, and almost all public libraries have one."

The borough's policy was revised mainly to replace the borough manager as the final decision maker with a formal Reconsideration Committee Mat-Su Borough Manager Don Moore said Saturday that changes were made, with the blessings, after a dispute that was resolved about two years ago involving a challenged book at the Big Lake Library.

Emmons said the current Wasilla policy, which she described as written in more general terms than the borough's, also worked procedurally in a book-challenge case last year. Emmons said then-council-woman Palin was distressed about the issue when it came up, indicating she was aware of the city's book-challenge policy.

And there is some disturbing evidence to suggest that, again, "Joel's Army" theology may have directly influenced Palin's probing and ultimately her attempt to sack the librarian in question.

It appears that the Assemblies shows up yet again--this time, as one of the major proponents of book-banning in the area. In fact, it appears local Assemblies churches were trying to get not only books challenged but banned from bookstores around the time Palin became mayor--and Palin herself was working to get the book in question banned:

Gay book raises flap
ABCNews.com reported that the church Palin then attended, the Assembly of God, had tried to get a book called Pastor, I Am Gay out of local bookstores, according to author Howard Bess, a pastor of the Church of the Covenant in the nearby town of Palmer. "And she was one of them," Bess said. The book argues for churches to be tolerant of gays and lesbians.

Was that one of the books? While two copies donated by Bess to the Wasilla Library disappeared, leading him to donate more copies, Bess told PolitiFact that he "would be surprised if my book was not one of those at issue," but he couldn't be sure.

Former Frontiersman reporter Paul Stuart told PolitiFact that Emmons cited three titles Palin wanted removed. However, he could remember only two—and he got the names wrong, first suggesting I Told My Parents I'm Gay, later agreeing it was Pastor, I Am Gay.

Baker told ABCNews.com she "couldn't dispute or substantiate" Stuart's information, but Stuart said he was confident about the conversation. Friends and colleagues have said that Baker felt she was treated harshly by Palin.

This apparently was an organised attempt at book censorship by the Assemblies locally:

Palin's church at the time, the Assembly of God, had been pushing for the removal a book called "Pastor I Am Gay" from local bookstores, according to the book's author Pastor Howard Bess, of the Church of the Covenant in nearby Palmer, Alaska.

"And she was one of them," said Bess, "this whole thing of controlling information, censorship, that's part of the scene," said Bess.

Palin even asked at one point if the librarian at the center of the controversy would be willing to brave a picket by angry dominionists to preserve books:

According to coverage in the local newspaper, the Frontiersman, Palin asked the librarian at a meeting "if she would object to censorship even if people were circling the library in protest about a book."

And very interestingly, the very article noting GOP spin control has noted Wasilla A/G's central role:

The Rev. Howard Bess, a liberal Christian preacher in the nearby town of Palmer, said the church Palin and her family attended until 2002, the Wasilla Assembly of God, was pushing to remove his book from local bookstores.
. . .
"Sarah brought pressure on the library about things she didn't like," Bess said. "To believe that my book was not targeted in this is a joke."

Of note, the disappearance of the copies of "Pastor, I Am Gay" from the library (at the same time that "Heather Has Two Mommies" was also apparently challenged) points to a method of book censorship that is becoming more popular in dominionist circles--so-called "censorship by theft", where books are checked out and never returned (despite library fines) as a method of keeping them out of circulation.

And, as we'll see, book censorship--and worse things done to books--are a regular feature of "Joel's Army" and Assemblies "spiritual warfare".

. . .

As it turns out, the Assemblies has a long and ignominious history of not only book-ban attempts but literal book burnings (and you thought this just happened in "Farenheit 451" or at times of history that risk invocation of Godwin's Law!).

As I've noted previously in this series, the Assemblies--and especially the "Joel's Army" folks--are big, big believers in "deliverance ministry"--the concept that pretty much anything can be possessed by demons, can cause one to be possessed or "oppressed" yourself, and can only be cured by exorcism and removal of the offending item. (Why, yes, you have heard of this concept before--it's pretty much identical to a lot of the same harmful concepts as exist in Scientology. And yes, it does tend to mess people up just as badly mentally. Seriously--replace "enturbulation" with "demonic oppression", "Suppressive Persons" with the "Serpent Seed", "Sea Orgs" with "Joel's Army" (or "Children of Destiny" or "Elijah's Army" or whatever they're calling it this month), "introspection rundowns" with "deliverance services", "body thetans" with "demons", and "Xenu" with "Satan" and it's pretty much the same bucket of toxic stew.)

And in their own version of "mocking up their reactive mind", erm, "conducting spiritual warfare"...books and other media are very, very frequently targeted. The works of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling are a favourite target of censorship, due to their magical references (and despite the fact that both authors were Christians); C. S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle (who in part incorporated Christian apologetics explicitly in their works, especially Lewis) are also frequent targets for similar reasons. (Yes, it may surprise you to realise that the Narnia Chronicles have been challenged and even burned in pyres by Assemblies-linked groups; it happens, though.)

A brief list (and this actually is a brief list) of Assemblies and "Assemblies daughter" book-burnings (as in the literal kind, not the metaphorical kind) are as follows:

First Assembly of God (Minot, ND) book-burning, September 2006
Harvest Assembly of God (Butler, PA) bookburning, March 2001 (also noted here)
Jesus Party (Lewiston, ME) planned book-burning, later turned to "book cutting" after burning permit denied by fire dept., Nov. 2001
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_708627.html">Second protest from Jesus Party including destruction of Harry Potter books, Nov. 2002 (Jesus Party is a neopente group that is known to target kids for recruitment via "bait and switch" ice-cream socials)
Christ Community Church (Alamogordo, NM) book-burning, Dec. 2001 (Christ Community Church is a neopentecostal church of uncertain denominational affiliation, though it is likely either a "stealth Assemblies" or "Assemblies daughter" congregation; of note, at least one other source reports that Pokemon and an image of the Holy Buddha were also burned (Pokemon are often claimed to be Satanic by neopente churches) as well as "personal problems" written on paper (in typical neopente magicking similar to "naming and claiming" objects and people); was subject of large and organised counterprotest)
Full Gospel Assembly (Grande Cache, AB), 1990s (noted in Wikipedia article on book-burning;  church is member of Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, which is the name under which the Assemblies of God operates in the Great White North)
Jesus Non-Denominational Church (Greeneville, MI), August 2003 (JNDC is a neopente church that is in the "Assemblies family" of dominionist churches and is heavily into "name it and claim it" and is KJV-only; another media report notes Catholic rosaries and non-KJV Bibles were also burned)
Dominionist neopente churches in general, spreading to the larger dominionist movement (article re book challenges and book-burnings targeting Harry Potter in particular, notes involvement of Focus on the Family in challenges)
Multiple neopente churches (Forbes.com article on phenomenon of "book burning" parties in Assemblies and "Assemblies daughter" congregations)
Multiple neopente churches (from a "Christian blog" entry on the morality of book-burning--includes, notably, discussion from dominionists who justify the burning of books and records)
Dominionist groups in general (PFAW article on book censorship efforts by dominionist groups, noting how deliverance ministry is often used as an explicit justification)

I should note that the practice of book-burning (and record-burning) is nothing new at all among the Assemblies or its daughters.  Other incidents not related to Harry Potter:

Unknown Assemblies of God church, presumably 1950s-1960s (noted in review of Cal Thomas book on how Assemblies churches would burn Elvis albums; this is especially hilarious as apparently Elvis Presley was known to have grown up in the Assemblies)
Attempted destruction of pre-Columbian Mayan relics (documented in "Accounting for Fundamentalisms", chapter 5; El Shaddai church is neopente church in El Verbo Ministries, an "Assemblies daughter" heavily connected with genocidal regimes in Guatemala including (during the regime of Gen. Rios Montt) the genocide of at least 200,000 Mayans and displacement of upwards of a million more including as refugees worldwide)
Disruption of White Deer Ceremony (ongoing), Yurok Nation (documented at Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC; traditional religious practices have been targeted by neopentecostal church conducting "spiritual warfare" against this yearly renewal ceremony)
Unknown dominionist church, Monticello MN, 1982 (book and record burning photo from exhibition "Bonfire of the Liberties")
Numerous neopente churches (experiencefestival.com noting history of book-burnings, notes history of Assemblies record-burnings including those of Elvis (ironically, later an Assemblies member himself during his "gospel album" period), Ozzy Osbourne, and Iron Maiden)
Attempted destruction of tribal relics, Nigeria, 2007 (almost entirety of non-Catholic, non-Anglican Christianity in Nigeria is of neopentecostal bent and consists of Assemblies and "Assemblies daughters")

Of note, in the case where Harvest Assembly of God went on its book-burning spree, "deliverance ministry" was specifically invoked:

"It's just something a little different. We're not trying to create a riot or anything. Cleanse your house from ungodly items and idols. It's time to deal with ungodly and demonic books, tapes, videos, statues and any other thing that gives demons the opportunity to traffic into your life."

Some of the calls for the destruction of books go right to the point of calling for the neopentecostal equivalents of fatwas against fictional characters. One of the more infamous examples of this occuring in an Assemblies-linked group was in the movie "Jesus Camp"; a scene occurs where a pastor is calling for Harry Potter to be put to death (of note, whilst not well documented in most media, the "Jesus Camp" of motion picture infamy was run out of an Assemblies of God church).

For similar reasons to why Harry Potter et al are targeted, books giving non-condemnatory views of LGBT people are also targeted explicitly. The official viewpoint of the Assemblies (and yes, this is in fact an official position paper, one of two separate ones) is that LGBT people are going to hell, should be "degayed", and are a part of a vast conspiracy to convert everyone to being gay (no, I'm not making this up: the second link actually all but comes out and says this).

And this is actually understated, compared to what often goes on in Assemblies megachurches. Assemblies megachurches are often horrifically anti-LGBT both officially and politically, to the point of dead-agenting of LGBT groups in attempts to smear them, involuntary outings and "exorcisms" of LGBT youth and shipment to abusive facilities for "degaying", denomination-wide support of vicious anti-LGBT hate groups including endorsements from denominational leaders, and even the use of literal Holocaust denial in regards to LGBT folks to excuse promotion of hate (specifically via the promotion in many Assemblies churches of an execrable work called The Pink Swastika as true history; the book claims that not only were LGBT people not killed in the Holocaust but were its primary architects and are ringleaders in a worldwide Satanic conspiracy).

Small wonder in this, then, why books on LGBT issues are among the most frequently targeted for book bans.

And in cases where book bans are not successful--such as, thankfully, what seems to have been the case in Wasilla--neopente dominionists in particular are resorting to decidedly more direct methods of censorship. A recent report from the Kennebec Journal notes the increasing problem with dominionists all too willing to violate the Eighth Commandment in the name of censorship:

At the public library in Mount Vernon, someone waltzed off with the "Kama Sutra."

Copies of "What's Happening to my Body?" have vanished from Penquis Valley Middle and High School library in Milo.

Missing from the Lincoln Middle School library in Portland is a copy of "It's Perfectly Normal."

All three books deal with the subject of human sexuality, and all are sharing the spotlight with works on other controversial subjects this week during Banned Books Week.

Sponsored by the American Library Association and other groups, the annual event is designed to raise awareness of efforts to restrict access to books through censorship or other challenges. Libraries across the country will mark the week with special displays, public readings and other activities.

In Maine, there's a heightened awareness this year, at least among the state's librarians after a Lewiston woman checked out copies of "It's Perfectly Normal," a popular sex education book for young adolescents, from the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries.

JoAn Karkos refused to return the book, which she described as pornographic, and sent each library a $20 check to cover the cost of the loss. She faces a court fine in Lewiston and the loss of library privileges in Auburn.

Although Karkos wanted to limit access to the book, Lewiston library director Rick Speer said her action had precisely the opposite effect. Supporters of the library have donated new copies, more readers are checking out the book, and community reaction has been overwhelmingly in the library's favor, he said.

This is by far not the only case of "censorship via theft"; a book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin has also been the target of "censor-theft" due to people objecting to the idea of homosexual penguins, the book Sandpiper has been the target of censor-theft, Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate have also been victims of censor-theft (targeted because they are books concerning same-sex relationships aimed at younger kids), books supporting decriminalisation of marijuana have been targeted for censor-theft, a book discussing children around the world--including Cuban kids--in a positive light was targeted, and so on and so on. (Sadly, the disappearance of "Pastor, I Am Gay" from Wasilla-area libraries would also fit the pattern of "censorship by theft"--especially as there was an organised effort by Wasilla A/G to have the book removed from bookstores as well as libraries.)

It's in fact a severe enough problem that librarians are now having to address the specific issue of book theft as a form of attempted censorship and libraries nationwide are starting to compile most frequently stolen books lists--among other things, to track an increasing epidemic of "censorship via theft" in public libraries.

Disturbingly, dominionist groups are also increasingly embracing the concept of "censor-theft".  Family Friendly Libraries, a dominionist pro-censorship group that has had a history of pushing for censorship of Harry Potter books and which has promoted "reparative therapy", has also promoted the tactic of deliberately misfiling library material.

So between her "Let's go to war with the Russies" comment and her documented attempt (fortunately, one which met with epic fail) to backdoor book censorship in Wasilla (at the same time what is likely her real church attempted an organised book-ban campaign against a book on LGBT folks and faith issues!), we already have answers to one of the big questions:

Yes, unfortunately, Sarah Palin is likely to let her "Joel's Army" convictions override the rule of law. :(

All the more reason never to let her near the Presidency...or a heartbeat away from it.

Over the past few days I've been writing about Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections, including ongoing relationships with and even guest-preaching at and taxpayer support of several Assemblies and "Assemblies family" churches connected with the "Joel's Army" movement.

Now, none other than Chip Berlet has broached the question that those of us watching this particular form of "Christian nationalism" have been asking ourselves, and I give my own thoughts and commentary on that question:

Could the prospect of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency, and her connections with neopentecostal dominionists, have literal end-of-the-world consequences?

Berlet's article raises disturbing questions

Chip Berlet, a well-recognised researcher on Christian Reconstructionism (one of several distinct forms of "Christian nationalism" that include neopentecostal dominionism and ultramontaine Catholic nationalism) has written a very good article on the subject of apocalyptism, "Christian nationalism" in general, and neopente dominionism in relation that bears a good read by all. Whilst I do quibble about some of his terminology (I myself dislike the terms "hard" and "soft" dominionist, preferring "theological dominionism" and "functional dominionism" for his terms) I do hope to establish a base for his request:

Does Sarah Palin share with millions of other evangelicals a nightmare vision of an approaching global battle between Godly Christians and evil Satanic agents of the Antichrist in the End Times? I hope some reporters ask Palin if she shares the vision of an apocalypse soon.

Unfortunately, I fear the answer to Berlet's inquiry is likely to be a "yes"--partly because of my own personal experience in some of the very groups Palin maintains relations with, and partly based on my own research.

A brief history of apocalyptic thought in the Assemblies of God

Knowing the history of apocalyptic thought and theology in the Assemblies and denominations descended from it--including one-church "Assemblies daughters" such as many "nondenominational" neopentecostal groups--does not exactly reassure one in this regard.

The Assemblies, it can be said, literally had its birth in apocalypticism. The Azusa Street Revival--considered to be the birth of pentecostalism, and ultimately the very revival that the Assemblies of God considers as its "birth"--got a major kickstart when rumours spread that the San Francisco Earthquake had been prophesied at its start only a week before the great quake in 1906. These reports--and claims that the quake was in fact a sign of God's impending judgement on humanity--led to the revival getting quite the crowd, and the split of the pentecostals from the Holiness movement proper.

The love for "end is nigh" theology--and the looking-forward to literal apocalypse--hasn't dampened at all; if anything, for the majority of the Assemblies' history it was blatantly encouraged by the major reference bible used in the denomination.

For roughly sixty years (until the publication of the New International Version in 1973), the primary reference bible used by the Assemblies was the "old" Scofield Reference Bible--a particular reference bible that not only was premillenial dispensationalist, but can be said to have laid the initial groundwork for "Joel's Army" theology in its specific claims re the end of the world.

Claims, of note, which still have grave importance in national politics--partly because they inspired the literal incorporation of the Cold War into Assemblies theology (as well as a literal theological vehement hatred of all things Democratic Party), and partly because there are very specific claims regarding Russia and Iran that are still part of the core theology of these groups and which would come to a potentially thermonuclear head were Palin to ever become President of the United States.

Specifically, the Scofield Reference Bible has as a central point (regarding its Rapture and Tribulation mythology) that Russia would be home to the Antichrist and that its leader would be the literal son of Satan:

(from the studylight.org archive of Scofield Reference Bible notes, Ezekiel chp. 38)

38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

Gog

That the primary reference is to the northern (European) powers, headed up by Russia, all agree. The whole passage should be read in connection with Zechariah 12:1-4; 14:1-9; Matthew 24:14-30; Revelation 14:14-20; 19:17-21, "gog" is the prince, "Magog," his land. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification. Russia and the northern powers have been the latest persecutors of dispersed Israel, and it is congruous both with divine justice and with the covenants (e.g. (See Scofield "Genesis 15:18") See Scofield "Deuteronomy 30:3" that destruction should fall at the climax of the last mad attempt to exterminate the remnant of Israel in Jerusalem. The whole prophecy belongs to the yet future "day of Jehovah" ; Isaiah 2:10-22; Revelation 19:11-21 and to the battle of Armageddon Revelation 16:14 See Scofield "Revelation 19:19" but includes also the final revolt of the nations at the close of the kingdom-age. Revelation 20:7-9.

This has already had implications that have gravely affected the world, both in US and global policy. From at least the 1930s on, Communism and Socialism were directly equated with Russia, and by extension with Satan; from this time on, Democrats were literally demonised as "closet Reds" and thus--in Assemblies end-time theology--as being literal agents of Satan.

The earliest example of "spiritual warfare against the Commies" that I am aware of is the steeplejacking of the Russian Reformed Baptist Church that resulted in the neopentecostal dominionist hate-group "Watchmen On The Walls" (a group, of note, that A/G Western District head Joseph Fuiten has extensive connections to, and which the Assemblies of God has sanctioned at official conferences for pastors); by 1934 Aimee Semple McPherson tarred no less than Upton Sinclair with one of the first televangelist "Red smears" simply for being a Democratic candidate running on social reform platforms.

The red-baiting in the Assemblies and its daughters would eventually have far more dire consequences. A surprising amount of Cold War hijinks were helped out by the Assemblies frontgroup Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International as the Red Scare was literally incorporated into theology; this included not only turning one's head the other way whilst the FGBMFI happily steeplejacked Roman Catholic dioceses via cell-church based "cuckoos" (many of the Roman Catholic churches promoted "liberation theology", seen as too left-wing) but--especially in the case of Latin America--actively supported right-wing insurgents and juntas.

In the cases of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala this would bear especially bloody fruit. The FGBMFI funneled aid to the Contras in Nicaragua, typically under claims they were CARE packages for "church missions" for the Miskitu First Nation (who have been Westernised and Christianised since the 1700s and were actually regarded by the British as a sovereign nation in the 1860s) in Honduras and Nicaragua; this resulted in the Miskitu Nation being targeted by both sides. Guatemala fared even worse; it suffered not just one but two separate political coups by neopente dominionists linked with FGBMFI, including the genocidal reign of Verbo Ministries preacher and junta leader Efrain Rios Montt (who is STILL to this day hailed in FGBMFI literature and has spoken at FGBMFI conferences, despite having international arrest warrants out against him for genocide and crimes against humanity).

In an example of how "Christian nationalists" in the Assemblies and "Assemblies daughter" communities were organising in even this early date, the FGBMFI (who later would be one of the key players in the steeplejack of the Republican Party) were promoting themselves in the 50's and 60's as a specifically anti-Communist group, and there are persistent rumours to the effect http://lowcountry.humanists.net/SEPS/sep-2001-03.html">that US taxpayer dollars may have been used particularly during the Reagan years to essentially export neopentecostal dominionism. It is also entirely possible that the promotion of FGBMFI and other dominionist groups as "anti-communist bulwarks" directly led to the spread of "Joel's Army" theology worldwide; Paul Yonggi Cho nee David Yonggi Cho, the likely true originator of "Third Wave" neopentecostalism (the most recent font of "Joel's Army" theology), is extensively connected with both "Joel's Army" promoters and with FGBMFI (and in particular, cases where FGBMFI has been known to interfere with national politics).

I myself can recall, on a much more personal level, the thoughts of the church I grew up in re Russia--thoughts that still give me screaming nightmares to this day, especially since the church in question is the seventh largest Assemblies church in the US:

One of the things I still have nightmares over to this day--and modern political events don't help at all with this--is of Cold War sermons regarding the Final Battle.

You see, they would preach that Russia (back then the USSR) was the literal country of Satan and its leader was the Antichrist. And at the very end of things, Russia would use some Middle Eastern country--Iran was quite frequently mentioned--and would launch an invasion of Israel after having nuked Jerusalem.

The US would begin a nuclear exchange with the Russians after that, which would end up with the US and Israel against the rest of the world in a nuclear Mother of All Wars to be centered on Megiddo Hill.

Of course, all the True Believers would be raptured up first. And they'd have a heaven-side seat to watch everyone else burn in literal nuclear hellfire.

And the sick and sad thing was that they welcomed this. The preacher almost seemed to be in orgiastic joy over the fact that in 1984 the relations between the US and USSR had worsened to such a point people were thinking nuclear war was a very real possibility.

I didn't know then that they were pulling this stuff out of the Scofield Reference Bible (along with their support for young-earth creationism and a lot of other bizarre things) and that the reference in the Scofield bibles were actually from Tsarist Russia--back when the Russian secret service was doing progroms against its Jewish population and printing things like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to justify them.

I know that now, but I still have nightmares about how the whole church was so damned happy that literally the rest of the world was going to be nuked and they were finally going to Get Theirs Against All Those Non-Dominionist Heathens.

The fact that we could end up going into a nuclear war with Iran doesn't help my nerves any at this...nor does the fact that, even to this day--fully 12 years after the Berlin Wall fell--they still claim that Russia is "Gog" and that Boris Yeltsin is part of a grand Satanic conspiracy.

Such things have been the very meat and potatoes of Assemblies theology for years--the Cold War, and later (as we'll see) the Gulf War, literally turned into a holy crusade and the thermonuclear obliteration of most of humanity turned into a divine rite.

If it were just the Russians that were being labeled as the Antichrist, that'd be one thing. The thing is, however, both Iraq and Iran have *also* been labeled as "Antichrist Toadies" for practically the entire time the Assemblies and its daughters have been in existence. Iraq gets labeled because of it being the historical site of Babylon; Iran because of some of the same sections in the Scofield Reference Bible equating Gog with Russia equating other "enemies" with Iran.

And it still gets worse.

Demonisation of Democrats

Berlet does in part refer to this history with "Christian nationalist" groups in general:

That all began to change, partly because Jimmy Carter announced in 1976 he was born-again. When Jimmy Carter announced that he was born-again, a number of previously nonvoting evangelicals and fundamentalists went back to the polls to vote for him, because they were so ecstatic that someone who announced themselves as born-again could be running for President. It legitimized their religious faith and their religious outlook in many ways.

What happened, of course, was that some of the political activists who in '64 had parlayed Goldwater into a doomed Presidential run, looked at what Carter had achieved by bringing voters back to the polls from the evangelical and fundamentalists communities, and these right-wing organizers said: that's really a powerful bloc of voters. We could organize people like that, too.

And these are conservatives -- like Weyrich and Falwell--and in 1979 a bunch of them met and decided that Falwell should start a mass movement among evangelicals called the "Moral Majority" and that it should be built around stopping abortion as a way to get evangelicals to start voting Republican.

But they were faced with this theological problem: If you were a literal, Bible-reading Christian fundamentalist or evangelical, you needed a theological justification to engage in political activity of any sort. You can't just decide that you have two realms, the secular and the religious, and there is no connection. There is always a connection. So you need a theological justification for political participation.

Starting in the 1960s, the postmillennial Christian Reconstructionists, especially R.J. Rushdoony, began to write polemics at the broader premillennial community, and what they argued was that there was a failure to take back America for God. America was becoming increasingly secular, it was straying away from God, and, as postmillennialists, they obviously saw the need for political participation. They thought that people who didn't see that need, no matter what their eschatological outlook, no matter what their view of the End Times, needed to deal with political struggles in some way because they saw widespread sinfulness around America.

Berlet largely attributes the rise of "Christian nationalism" to the women's reproductive health movement (and largely to the abortion issue)--and this *did* have a fair amount to cause rallying (especially when abortion was literally equated to child sacrifices to Molech in Assemblies churches)--but I myself can recall that--at least in the Assemblies and its daughters--there was also a very strong meme, promoted during the Carter years onward, that pretty much equated the Democratic Party as a whole with being a Communist proxy, thus directly equating them with Satanists. (Did I mention that "Satanic Panic" was quite popular in these circles, too?) And yes, the more hardline did--and do--still see us as closet Communists and closet Satanists, as this has been part of the core theology for a long time.

Even with Palin's churches, this has been noted explicitly. Despite claims of no longer being a member, Palin has maintained an ongoing relationship with Wasilla Assemblies of God, including (as has recently been documented) giving "guest testimony" at a "Master's Commission" ceremony in June 2008 (Master's Commission, as we've noted in previous posts, is a group run by the Western District of the Assemblies of God as essentially a "ministerial training" group for teens and young adults). And the pastor of Wasilla A/G has let loose this little gem--one that is, sadly, quite typical of Assemblies congregations:

During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."

If you know that the Democratic Party is literally equated with the Party of Satan in the eyes of these groups, this starts to make a little more sense (in the topsy-turvy funhouse manner).

Also, the internal mythology in neopente dominionist circles of Russia being the Great Enemy has rather expanded. One of the first books published (besides Scofield) detailing this mythology is Hal Lindsey's "The Late, Great Planet Earth"; the modern version (which has gotten more extreme since the 80s) has been fictionalised in the "Left Behind" series of novels, and includes a newer meme that seems to have been imported from "sovereign citizen" movements (and is evidence of cross-pollination across "Christian nationalist" and far-right groups in general)--namely, the concept that the United Nations is secretly controlled by the Russians or the Eastern Bloc, and thus is itself also a proxy of Satan.

A theology calling for holy war

Also, the very Bibles used in reference in the Assemblies have gotten more extreme--and more strident for their calls for the rest of humanity to be converted, forcibly if necessary, including calls for the unrepentant to literally be put to the sword.

After the publication of the New International Version (itself a version with some definite skews towards dominionist viewpoints, including an apparently unique translation of Matthew 11:12 that has been extensively abused to promote "God Warrior" and "Joel's Army" theology), the Assemblies commissioned a new study bible--the most recent version being the "Fire Bible" (it's been published previously under other names, such as "Life In The Spirit Study Bible" and "Full Life Study Bible").

The already-disturbing imagery has been fairly consistently kicked up a few notches with each revision. I've written extensively on this particular study bible (and I would strongly recommend people read these articles in full), but it's worth noting how it's used in the sorts of "Joel's Army" churches that Palin keeps close company with.

The following list of so-called "prophecies" from a Joel's Army group using the Fire Bible as a primary reference is but one example:

Prophecies Concerning the Last Days

1. Increase of wars and rumors of war Joel 3:9-10; & Matt. 24:6-7
2. Extreme materialism 2 Tim. 3:1-2; & Rev. 3:14-19
3. Lawlessness Ps. 78:8; & Prov. 30:11-14; 2 Tim. 3:2-3
4. Population explosion Gen. 6:1
5. Increase in speed and knowledge Dan. 12:14
6. Departure from the Christian faith 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1, 3-4; 2 Tim. 3:5; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:3-4
7. Intense demonic activity Gen. 6:1-4: 1 Tim. 4:1-3
8. Unification of the world's religious, political, and economic systems Rev. 13:4-8, 16-17; 17:1-18; 18:1-24
9. The absence of gifted leadership among the nations, thus making it easy for he Antichrist to take over
10. Universal drug usage (The word "sorceries" here can also refer to drugs.) Rev. 9:21
11. Abnormal sexual activity Rom. 1:17-32; 2 Pet. 2:10, 14; 3:3; Jude 18
12. Mass slaughter of innocents by unconcerned mothers (abortion) Rom. 1:31; 2 Tim. 3:3
13. Widespread violence Gen. 6:11, 13; Rev. 9:21
14. Rejection of Gods's Word 2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:3-4, 16
15. Rejection of God himself Ps. 2:1-3
16. Blasphemy 2 Tim. 3:2; 2 Pet. 3:3, Jude 18
17. Self-seeking and pleasure seeking 2 Tim. 3:2, 4
18. Men minus a conscience 1 Tim. 4:2
19. Religious hucksters 2 Pet. 2:3
20. Outright devil worshipers Rev. 9:20, 13:11-14
21. Rise of false prophets and Antichrists Matt. 24:5, 11; 2 Pet. 2:1-2
22. False claims of peace 1 Thess. 5:1-3
23. Rapid advances in technology Gen. 4:22
24. Great political and religious upheavals in the Holy Land Matt. 24:32-34
. . .
THE ANTICHRIST

1. Ruler during the tribulation who controls the entire world. Dan. 7:2-7,24-27; 8:4; 11:36 Rev. 13:1-18; 17: 11-17
2. An incredibly wicked person, a "man of sin" and lawlessness. Dan. 9:27; 2 Thes. 2:3; Rev. 13:12
3. Describe as the beast. Rev. 13:1-18; 17:3,8,16; 19:19-20; 20:10
3. Will set up an image of himself in the temple and will demand worship. Dan 7:8,25; 11:31,36; Mat. 24:15; Mark 13:14; 2 Thes. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:4,8,12,14-15; 14:9; 16:2
4. Will exercise miracles through the power of Satan. Mat 24:24; 2 Thes. 2:9-10; Rev. 13: 3, 12-14; 16:14; 17:8
5. Will have the ability to deceive the nations. 1 Thes. 2:9-10; 1 John 2:18; Rev. 20:3
6. Will be assisted by the false prophet (the beast of the earth). Rev. 13:11-17; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10
7. Will kill the two witnesses who proclaimed the gospel. Rev. 11:7-10
8. Will attempt to kill all who do not have the mark of the beast. Rev. 6:9; 13:15-17; 14:12-13
9. Will eventually destroy the religious system with which he was aligned. Rev. 17:16-17
10. Will be defeated by Christ when He returns to earth to establish his kingdom. 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 16:16; 19:15-21 (The Full Life Study Bible)

Christ Appearing from the Heaven to Judge and to wage War

1. Christ will return with believers and His angels. 2 Thes. 1:7-10; Jude 14-15; Rev. 19:14
2. Christ will gather the tribulation saints. Mat. 24:31; 24:31-40, 46; Mark 13:27; Rev. 20:4
3. Unbelievers will be unprepared for this event. Mat. 24:38-39,43
4. Christ will separate peoples on earth. Mat. 13:40-41, 47-50; 25:31-46
5. Nations will be enraged at this event. Rev. 11:18
6. Saints will rejoice at this event. Rev. 19:1-8
7. Christ will judge and destroy the ungodly, including the antichrist and Satan. Is. 13:6-12; Ezek. 20:34-38; Mat. 13:41-46; Luke 19:11-27; 1 Thes. 5:1-11; 2 Thes. 2:7-10,12; Rev. 6:16-17; 11:18; 17:14; 18:1-24; 19:11-20:3
8. Tribulation saints will receive rewards. Mat. 5:11-12; 1 Cor. 3:12-14; 9:25-27; Gal. 6:9-10; 2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 20:4
9. Tribulation saints will share in Christ's glory and kingdom. Mat. 25:31-40; Rom. 8:29; 2 Thes. 2:13-14; Rev. 20:4 (The Full Life Study Bible)

(As in original--yes, one of the lists had two #3s listed.)

The term "Tribulation saints" refers to an unusual bit of Assemblies internal mythology. Specifically, post-Rapture, two people are supposed to convert to Christianity and then be publically martyred (with great celebration, typically compared to Christmas parties complete with exchange of gifts, in sermons on this)--and this (and their activities beforehand) are supposed to lead to a mass conversion of much of the remaining Jewish population (long since herded to a mega-ghetto in Israel) to "Messianic Judaism". And at the end of the Tribulation, all the Raptured "God Warriors" and dead "Saved" descend from Heaven along with Gen. Jesus H. Christ, they band together with these convertees and kill everyone else, and rule for 1000 years after which they knock down one last uprising and get a new heaven and earth. (The end. :P)

And, as you may have guessed, this is one reason why Israel is seen as an "end-times pawn"--pretty much for the end-time scenario to take place like this, all of the world's Jewish people must be herded to Israel (yes, even the population in New York, which is actually larger than in Israel itself) and at least 144,000 converted.

It is probably not a shock to most of you to find that much of the "Joel's Army" theology focuses heavily on the "kill 'em all" bit at the end of the Tribulation.

Another example again raises the call for "Christian nationalism" as something that must be done, lest smiting ensue--and may well have been a major impetus for Palin's attempted (and, fortunately, failed) attempts at book censorship in Wasilla:

Most people are unfortunetly ignorant of where the road really leads. Our casual acceptance of the philosophies all around us can short circuit nearly every part of our Christian walk and can certainly derail our ability to stave off spiritual attacks. We have become increasingly tolerant of witchcraft and other occult practices in our society. Show such as "Bewitched" and "Sabrina the teenage Witch" taught us to do more than just tolerate witchcraft. They promoted and encouraged it. Above all, it worked subtly on our senses teaching us to accept it as the norm. Just as a person who is poisoned a little bit at a time doesn't die after the first dose, in the end after enough "doses" our ability to recognize the evil began to shut down and we were doomed. By the time we realized what was really happening we had become too weak to climb out and soon became the delicacy on the Devil's dinner plate. By giving ungodly entertainment our time, mind, money, or emotion, even though we are not involved physically, is the same as if we were actually participating. In Romans 1:32 Paul states this: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them. The Full Life Study Bible explains it like this: "Being entertained by watching other people sin and engage in ungodly actions, even while you yourself abstain, brings you under the same divine condemnation as those engaging in such evil practices...Those who use the immoral actions of others for entertainment and enjoyment are directly contributing to public opinion favorable to immorality and therefore to the corruption and eternal damnation of an indefinite number of other people." It is also spiritually damaging to allow these influences a place in our lives and homes. Entire households are weakened and can lose their spiritual battles because of the actions, attitudes, and even physical possessions of one member (see 1 Sam 15).

(This is actually not all this shocking; the Assemblies are one of the major promoters of "deliverance ministry"--a concept that literally anything can be demonised. In practice, the practice is amazingly similar to Scientology's concept of "body thetans" and engrams, and just as harmful psychologically; in fact, severe psychiatric injuries requiring inpatient mental health treatment are not an uncommon consequence of "deliverance ministry".)

The following example from another group using the Assemblies reference Bible, actually pretty much proves the lie to the official "denunciation" of "Joel's Army" theology. Specifically, much like Palin's "guest speech", it specifically refers to "chosen generations" and general God-warrioring against those seen as impure:

The Third Principle is renewal of the covenant; this is change according to the Word of God. Again, we see the great love and mercy of God in 2 Kings 23:3 as Josiah made a covenant, again, with the Lord and brought about specific changes in Israel. Renewal requires specific changes. The following paragraph is taken from an excellentcommentary found in the "Full Life Study Bible" regarding verse 2 Kings 23:4.

"Josiah's reforms follow the Scriptural principle that repentance for specific sins is essential to true revival. Whenever genuine repentance occurs, specific sins will be identified, false brothers and sisters expelled, worldly practices forsaken and godly standards restored. Any talk of the need for revival and repentance in the churches without specifying what must be changed indicates that the commitment to real change in people's hearts and lifestyles is lacking."

Repentance and change must come in areas of adultery, lying, slander, gossip, hate, envy, pride, enmity, alcohol, smoking, drugs, and in-submission to authority. 2 Kings 22:5 mentions that Josiah removed the idolatrous priests. May I pose to you a question? Are you true or false priests of the Lord?

The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:9, that we are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people." We must ask ourselves if Jesus would have been talking about us when He said in Mark 8:38, "For whomever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He come sin the glory of His Father with the holy angels." James also said in his book, "Adulterer and adulteresses! Do you no know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Again, some backgrounder in "Joel's Army" theology is required to understand why this is so terribly dangerous (and why the Assemblies' claims they "condemn" the movement are so full of BS that there has to be an entire herd of Angus stationed in the Springfield, MO headquarters). Firstly, neopentes and Jews are promoted as "God's chosen people", with an explicit requirement to "name and claim" the planet--in fact, "naming and claiming" here is explicitly promoted as a form of repentance for not establishing a theocracy the FIRST time. Secondly, establishment of a theocracy is explicitly noted as part of the "covenant" that God supposedly has with "Joel's Army" and the "Joshua Generation" being essentially the "chosen People". (This is actually subtly hinted at in describing Josiah's reforms; 2 Kings 23 in general notes the bloody re-establishment of a theocracy. At 2 Kings 24, God ends up smiting them anyway, as Nebuchadnezzar II took over the area of Judah and Israel; hence why "rapture theory" and political dominionism aren't seen as incompatible by neopente dominionists.) Thirdly, mainstream Christianity is yet again condemned (of note, the document this is from is to a Croatian neopente group)--in fact, they are directly compared to worshippers of Babylonian ba'alim, pagan gods.

In fact, these quotes are from an earlier, more moderate version of the study bible--more recent versions have gone more extreme; you can see for yourself at the Assemblies' own website. Of note, this is also very likely the same "reference bible" used by the Master's Commission group Palin spoke at.

In what may be one of the most damning bits showing the Assemblies' "denouncing" of "Joel's Army" is about as much of a lie as GlaDOS's infamous cake in "Portal", the Assemblies helpfully includes a sermon exhorting teens to join a Joel's Army movement under the rebranding of "Josiah Revolution" (thus showing how they can promote the same stuff whilst claiming to denounce a specific name-brand)--including a subtle call for "holy war" with folks of the Moslem faith:

Illustration
Here in America we are making special accommodations for those of the Muslim faith with tax dollars, while at the same time prohibiting public displays of the Ten Commandments and making school students remove crosses or other Christian symbols from their jewelry, clothing, or lockers.
The point is that as Christians we are losing our influence for Christ in our culture. We need a spiritual revolution in America!
We need more than just a little change. We need much more than a moderate course adjustment. We need far more than just cleaning up our act. We need exceedingly more than just better attendance at church. I say that we desperately need even more than a spiritual Reformation. We need a Revolution!

What is a Revolution?
Webster: a sudden, radical, or complete change; the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed!
A Revolution is an UPHEAVAL, a 180° change of DIRECTION. It is a COMPLETE OVERTHROWING of the ungodly powers that have ruled our hearts and led us into apathy, covetousness, cussing, hatefulness, insecurity, judging, selfishness, sensuality, carnality, and every kind of immorality. We need a Revolution!

Who am I to think I'm capable of changing anything?
Whether you realize it or not, when you were born again, God planted a seed in your heart to change your world. If you or I don't at least attempt to complete this assignment, our life purpose might be wasted or squandered.
It's like a painting that's not been finished. It's like a letter that's written, but not mailed. It's like a delicious pizza carefully prepared and then thrown in the trash. Don't waste your window! You were born for such a time as this!
Throughout the Scriptures some of the Lord's greatest victories were led by the young. The young man Joseph, in spite of imprisonment and slavery, saved both his family and the rest of the nation from starvation. Samuel heard the Lord call his name when he was still a child. A boy named David defeated the Philistine champion Goliath. Remember a boy named Daniel and three Hebrew boys who honored God in a fiery furnace? A girl named Mary—the list goes on.
In 2 Chronicles we find a boy named Josiah. His name means "the fire of the Lord." (See 2 Chronicles 34 and 2 Kings 22.)

Wow, it's that same quoting we noted above, in this case referring to the prelude to the establishment of a theocracy. Specifically, 2 Kings 22 goes into detail on how Israel is cursed due to not being theocratic enough, and Josiah being informed he'd at least be lucky enough to die before Nebuchadnezzar II came knocking.

There's a literal exhortation to "cleanse and purify" anything not sanctioned by the church:

Joshiah Removed the Idols
2 Chronicles 34:3 (NIV)

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to PURGE Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images.

During the reign of King Josiah, idolatry was flourishing; contempt for theology was common.
There was little or no resistance to moral erosion. Over time the people of God became corrupted by the ways, customs, music, and culture of the world. They began to call good evil, and evil good! Remember, this was Judah, God's people!
Josiah would have seen a great contrast between his grandfather Manasseh and his sinful father Amon. Josiah had the opportunity to see true worship in action alongside the idolatrous practices of his father. So Josiah turned to the temple. But the Word of the Lord could not be found! They had forsaken the prominence and proclamation of the Scriptures, and turned instead to idols of every kind.
An idol can be any possession, relationship, or activity that robs your worship from the Lord.
Giving the Word prominence helps me see the idols in my life that must come down!

(The rest of it gets even better...among the usual "hand out tons of copies of this to everyone you see", there's an exhortation to give "no compromise" and general calls for "God-warrioring" throughout the text.)

...needless to say, now you all know why I'm quite worried about the mere possibility of Palin getting near the Nuclear Football (and if McCain is elected, this does become a distinct possibility; some folks state there is at least a one-in-seven chance he could die in office based on age alone).

Which is one reason we must publicise this, and we must get out the vote.

Our country--possibly all of humanity--could depend on it.

Over the past few days, I've done reporting on Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections--including the attempt to run her as a "stealth" dominionist candidate and her connections to some scary dominionist groups including not just "Joel's Army" folks but a far-right Christian Reconstructionist political party linked to domestic terrorism.

As bad as all this--and the scandals regarding her misrule in both Wasilla and as state governor--are, there's apparently still more.

Today, we find that part of those funding scandals include the tax money of Alaskans used to pay for youth programs at Juneau Christian Center. We also reveal info regarding a particularly disturbing Assemblies frontgroup Palin recently did a talk at, and we go into researching the dominionist connections of her most recent church--Wasilla Bible Church.

* * *

Your tax dollars, going to support dominionism for kids

In another example of what appears to be some extensive whitewashing at almost all of Palin's former and present churches, there were some very interesting links removed from JCC's site regarding an interesting bit of largesse by Sarah Palin to the church.

Fortunately, an astute blogger happened to archive the material, which included not only documentation of a $25,000 grant to JCC's "The Hub" from Palin's administration, but also a request for $100,000 total in state and federal funding and pictures of Palin actually being at the opening of "The Hub" (which have since been scrubbed from her website).

And all is definitely *not* as it seems with "The Hub".

"The Hub" is essentially a frontgroup run by JCC for recruitment of future members--much of its activities focus on recruiting kids. The page itself begins with the phrase "Destiny Has Begun!"--a codephrase commonly used in "Joel's Army" circles to denote the "generation of destiny" (the new rebranding of "Joel's Army" borrowed from an Assemblies-linked church in New Zealand, now that the press is starting to catch onto the "Joel's Army" branding). "Destiny" in and of itself is a favourite codephrase in these circles--in "Joel's Army" theology, people are "destined" to inherit all manner of wealth and take over the planet and whatnot.

The original blogger has also noted he's received some info to suggest that ongoing prosyletisation may be going on at "The Hub":

I also found some publicly available videos about JCC's "Ground//Zero" youth program through a rather circuitous route that I won't post here to protect the privacy of people in the videos that lead me to believe that more goes on here than what is described in the application.

The "Ground//Zero" program, too, is worth noting--and even based on its rather scrubbed page, the intent is to essentially set up an army of teen "God Warriors":

ground//zero - the center of rapid or intense development or change.

Our name speaks our purpose. At ground//zero we have a vision to develop youth that are marked by purity, passion, and the presence of God. This vision exists to create young people that will carry ground//zero as a movement, not just a meeting.

ground//zero is not a place, it's not a time, but it is a movement transported by people that will impact this generation with a message that instills hope and a purpose. The movement meets Wednesday nights.

Doors open at 6:00PM and service begins at 6:30PM for Middle and High School service.

Doors open at 8:30PM and service begins at 9:00PM for University service (ages 18-26).

(Last I checked, "ground zero" was the central blast point of explosions. And also a name that at least the New York community would probably find in extremely poor taste.)

Seeing as it's actually been established through some quite official sources that Juneau Christian Center is an Assemblies church, that means that at least $25,000 of Alaskan taxpayers' money may have gone for active efforts to convert Alaskan teenagers to "Joel's Army" theology.

More evidence of Palin's dallyances with Joel's Army

Possibly some of the more damning info yet on Palin's membership in "Joel's Army" comes from the recent revelations of Palin's speech to a group called "Master's Commission". The full transcript of her speech has now come out, and it's actually *worse* than the initial reports of her claiming that Gulf War II was a holy crusade.

Some of the badness is from specific codewords she uses (at the beginning, she literally describes the members as being under the "umbrella of the church"--a codephrase used in orgs that use abusive "cell churches" to denote the cell-church relationship). And she gives some real zingers, too, including one which notes pretty much *why* I get alarm bells when I hear neopentecostal dominionist churches ranting about "destiny":

But, um, so, having grown up here, and having little kids growing up here also, this is such a special, special place. The Assembly of God here has been a real center point in the Valley for all these years, and the Valley has been a center point for the state of Alaska. So what comes from this church I think has great destiny. And I say this to the Master's Commission students who have been here under this umbrella, who are going to be sent out now and bringing people in.
. . .
I just want to bless you, and oh, because I didn't know if I was going to get here tonight, I flew in from Juneau last night and I fly again to Juneau tomorrow. So I didn't prepare anything, thinking my schedule wouldn't allow me to be here. But I have a word, but really I'm cheating 'cause it's a, I think it was given to me today but I'm going to give it to the Master's Commission students because I think it's so applicable to they are headed. And this word was given to me, bless his heart, by Pastor Ed Kalnins this morning at our big Valley-wide church service.

It was called Ephesians 1:17, and this is what I want to pray over you guys too: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, and that spirit of revelation also including a spirit of prophecy, that God's going to tell you what is going on and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you, and it's just going to bubble up and bubble over and, and it's going to pour out over the state of Alaska. Again, good good things in store for the state of Alaska. Let us pray for God's will to be done here, for all of your destinies to be met in this state.

(Yes, you're reading this right--Palin is stating, flat out, that the whole reason that Alaska is rick in natural resources and why people are moving there is so that neopentes can hold the Great-Grandmother Of All Revivals.)

However, this isn't all of why this is disturbing. For the rest of it, you have to do a little bit of digging into Master's Commission itself.

The efforts at whitewashing haven't been so successful with Master's Commission, as a fellow blogger has recorded, but even more enlightenment is found via some Google-massaging.

There are a number of groups using this name (and a surprising number of them are Joel's Army connected, indicating this may be one of the "rebrandings" we need to keep an eye on), but in this particular case, the "Master's Commission" we're concerned about is a post of an Assemblies frontgroup at Wasilla A/G that is connected to Phoenix A/G (Ted Haggard's present church). Whilst the main headquarters are now in Texas, the group did have its origins in the largest Assemblies church in the US (and one of the largest megachurches in the country).

The group promotes itself as a "discipling and shepherding" group (which is bad enough), but the info on Wasilla A/G's site--amazingly, not yet redacted--is even worse.

A preview of just how far we're going to be going into the rabbit hole becomes obvious on the website for Master's Commission North Pole (the state org--which, incidentially, has one of the most annoying Flash-based websites known). Aside from all the "sword" imagery and spouting off "destiny" every five seconds, it's let out that participants engage in "marathon fasting" of the type popularly promoted in Assemblies circles (which is to say, 21- and 40-day fasts with nothing but water, no food); in comparison, Lent just drops certain food groups, and Ramadhan only has daytime fasting. Such extreme fasts are considered quite unhealthy by medical personnel, and are seen as one major "warning sign" of a potentially abusive religious group.

Have I also mentioned the fun of the group targeting Native Alaskan and Inuit communities for conversion? And this is just baby steps, really, compared to what we're about to dive into.

The truth is, the group exists primarily as an ordination mill for the Assemblies of God:

Q: What sort of materials will I be taught?

A:
-Berean School of the Bible (work towards being credentialed with Assemblies of God)
-Scripture Memory (hidding God's word in our hearts)
-John Bevere Curriculum (Under Cover and Bait of Satan)
-Francis Frangipane (In Christ's Image Training)
-Steve Thompson (developing and operating in prophetic ministry)

Of note, that "Berean School of the Bible" is the Assemblies of God's mail-order correspondence school--and the Assemblies tends to have particularly lax standards for ordination (you can get by with two good words from other Assemblies preachers, a multiple choice "Bible quiz", and two years of "ministerial experience" without setting foot in a seminary hall).

Another sign that Something Is Not Right is the fact that a big part of the work of "Master's Commission" is working with another Assemblies front--namely, the "Dream Center" chain of "faith based rehabs":

Here at Masters Commission Wasilla Alaska you will be involved in many different ministries. Here are just some of them:

. . .

Dream Center: You will be serving Rob and Cherise Hyslip who are taking on the vision of a dream center here in Wasilla. Like the one Pastors Matthew and Tommy Barnett have started in L.A., it is a shelter and resource for those facing homelessness, poverty, drug addiciton, and hopelessness.

Ah, yes, Dream Center. :P Dream Center is one of several chains of "Faith Based Rehabs" that the Assemblies of God operates; in Dream Center's case, it is largely the Western District of the Assemblies promoting it, but it has spread to areas outside the Western District (such as Alaska). Past readers may remember Dream Center Phoenix as the site of Ted Haggard's so-far-unsuccessful degaying (he was ultimately dismissed from the program, as expected).

And--much like other Assemblies-operated "faith based rehab" chains such as Teen Challenge and Mercy Ministries, there have been reports of abuse...some egregrious.

One of the more disturbing reports of abuse at Dream Center facilities involves profiteering off Katrina evacuees and holding them in conditions identical to people in rehab (complete with random pee tests). Much like similar cases at Teen Challenge, at least one facility had a registered sex offender working with youth in Dream Center St. Louis in violation of Missouri law, and there are similarly coercive practices at Dream Center as exist at Mercy Ministries and Teen Challenge (including forced conversions as a condition of receiving aid--including Katrina evacuees who were targeted quite aggressively

Back to "Master's Commission", though. Probably some of the most damning material as to *what* and *whom* that speech Palin made was meant for is revealed on the "About Alaska" page, including textbook use of the term "Destiny" as a neopente dominionist codeword--and noting some very frequent offenders here:

Alaska has a divine destiny that has been spoken about by many church leaders and prophetic leaders from all over the world such as Dutch Sheets, Todd Bently, Steve Thompson, Woody Woodson, and Dr. Cho just to name a few.
You will have an awesome opportunity here in Master's Commission Wasilla Alaska to partner with God as he is getting ready to pour out His Spirit like never seen before and cause a great awakening that will see millions all across our world come to know the Lord in a radical and intimate way.

If this isn't a veritable "who's who" of modern Joel's Army promoters, I don't know what is.

Listed prominently is Todd Bentley, who recently became the primary focus on a new Southern Poverty Law Center article on "Joel's Army" groups; also listed prominently is Paul Yonggi Cho (nee David Yonggi Cho), head of the largest megachurch in the world in Seoul and pretty much the "founding father" of Joel's Army stuff in the Assemblies--oh, yes, and there's always Cho's lovely connections to the party responsible for a particularly genocidal attempt to establish the Republic of Gilead in Guatemala. Steve Thompson is connected with Rick Joyner's Morningstar Ministries (and Rick Joyner is one of *the* names most consistently connected with "Joel's Army") and tends to show up frequently in reference material re "Joel's Army"; Dutch Sheets is a real piece of work and a major, major promoter of this stuff as well (in fact, he's also engaging in rebranding of "Joel's Army" as "Gideon's Army" on his end) with connections to "Joel's Army" promoter C. Peter Wagner. Woody Woodson is probably the most obscure of the lot--he's heavily promoted on the Assemblies "traveling pastor" circuit along with a number of "word-faith" promoters.

And this is *still* not the full extent of the "Joel's Army" linkage; one group they're connected with is the International House Of Prayer along with Morningstar Ministries. (The International House Of Prayer has been mentioned in the SPLC report om "Joel's Army" groups; I am, to this day, surprised that the proprietors have not had the living you-know-what sued out of them by the proprietors of the International House of Pancakes.)

If that's not enough to curl your nosehairs, apparently the intent--as I noted above--is to essentially hold the Great-Grandmother of Revivals, for the express purpose of turning the Great White North into Jesusland:

In 1967 during the Alaska Purchase Centennial, Richard Peter wrote our Alaska State Motto. The motto is meant to represent Alaska as a land of promise. "North to The Future", we believe this is Prophetic; Alaska will be in the middle of a great outpouring.

Yes, you read that right...apparently the state motto is seen as a prophecy of a giant tent meeting. I can't make this up if I tried.

Again, I hope this puts to rest any doubt on the whole "Joel's Army" thing. :3

And her present congregation aren't exactly angels, either

Compared to this, Palin's present congregation--Wasilla Bible Church--seems rather harmless.

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving...especially with all the whitewashing of info critical of Palin going on. Wasilla Bible Church may not be Assemblies-scary, but it *is* definitely in the "SBC-level of dominionism, post-steeplejack" levels of "worrisome".

Finding out any solid info in regards to Wasilla Bible Church has been difficult, because there's very little info on the church's website; it claims to be nondenominational, but some things like the Statement of Faith point to similarities to so-called "Independent Christian Churches" (which, in the case of the megachurch variety, trend dominionist).

And an early, non-purged Internet Archive version of Wasilla Bible Church's page already turns up, as early as 2003, links to Focus on the Family--and both WBC and its parent church, as we'll see, are closely connected to FotF.

The linkage continues to the present day--in the most recent church flyer I've been able to find online, a Focus on the Family frontgroup called "Love Won Out"--which promotes the "degaying" bogosity--is actively promoted.

We actually tend to find more revealing info at the *parent* church of Wasilla Bible Church--a Palmer, Alaska church by the name of Lazy Mountain Bible Church. Again, there's an almost-deliberate attempt to hide where the origin was (all that is noted is that people apparently came to Alaska to found the church at some unidentified date, no bios on the pastors, no nothing)...but there are some indications of a potential neopente bent, and a *definite* dominionist bent.

One of the first warning signs is actually from a want-ad for an assistant pastor--specifically someone into "discipling and shepherding". (I mentioned earlier how this could be a Bad Thing in regards to Wasilla A/G.)

One surprising thing that I did find in research was apparent promotion of a popular women's writer in SBC circles within Lazy Mountain's church newsletter; in the same newsletter, though, we also find more promotion for that FotF frontgroup conference.

Another thing that pinged my radar--and may give a clue to the true denominational affiliation of WBC and its parent--was the discovery of a "Potter's Group" course. This raised my alert, in part, because some highly abusive "Assemblies daughters" tend to use this imagery (including the "Potter's House" group).

The application also gives hints of a potentially neopente group--it is in fact very similar to the form Matt Taibbi filled out to attend weekend at John Hagee's "Jesus Camp for Grownups" that turned into a literal vomitorium. (One of the giveaways we may be dealing with neopentes: one of the questions asked re abuse is a history of "Satanic Ritual Abuse", something that is pretty much *only* taken seriously in neopentecostal circles and which has been pretty well thoroughly debunked elsewhere.) Interestingly, it is one of the few applications for joining a cell-church group that I've seen that includes an indemnity form.

And yes, this *too* has links to Focus on the Family:

An Adult Sunday School Class featuring Focus on the Family's The Truth Project meets at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday mornings in room #11. The class is facilitated by Jonathon Peters, Doug Prins and Ed White.

A Truth Project Discussion Group will meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the home of Ed White. This is open to men and women.

(Again, the "Truth Project" is a little FotF project--only this time going for explicit dominionist indoctrination, in a surprisingly blatant attempt (via cell-churches)...and when I mean blatant, I mean flat out Christian Nationalism 101.)

And it wouldn't just be these two pet projects the "Bible Churches" in question are associated with. Another group that LWBC likes to promote is the Alliance Defense Fund--a dominionist legal group that effectively operates as the de facto legal battering-ram of FotF. (Yes, it's little known, but the Alliance Defense Fund *is* actually a Focus on the Family "daughter".)

The particular speaker that LWBC had from ADF is also particularly damning--and disturbingly in-line with Palin's past history. Chuck Lane, in addition to being a regional ADF head, also has connections with Campus Crusade for Christ (yes, the same Campus Crusade now linked to attempts at military steeplejacking and coercive tactics aimed at college students, among other fun things--yes, the same Campus Crusade that runs the "Fellowship of Christian Athletes" that Palin held membership in, the same one that is practically joined at the hip with the Assemblies) *and* Promise Keepers (the infamous dominionist "men's org" that came into controversy because of its use of abusive "cell church" tactics; to this day, Promise Keepers is still listed as a coercive religious group by some exit counselors).

Of note...this is on *top* of the documented promotion of conversion of Jewish people to "Messianic Jews"; in fact, the speaker in question literally blamed terrorist attacks against the Israeli community on Jewish people failing to convert and God giving a smiting as a result:

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

And yes, this is the same "Jews for Jesus" that is almost universally considered a coercive religious group because of deceptive recruitment tactics--as documented by many independent researchers and exit counselors (in fact, the last exit counselor noted got into exit counseling due to attempts by Jews for Jesus to recruit his grandmother when she was in a nursing home).

And this is *still* not all. Apparently, WBC's pastor has pulled his own version of a John Hagee foot-bullet--claiming in a sermon that America is due for a smitin' due to "rampant immorality".

So...yeah, Wasilla Bible Church are definitely not angels here.

And it's not entirely accurate to say that WBC is her sole congregation, either. Some media reports have indicated she may be attending both WBC *and* Juneau Christian Center--though there's definitely some ongoing spin on that.

And in fact, it looks like Wasilla Bible Church itself has been recruited into whitewashing the muck covering Palin:

On Monday, the church had another cause for notoriety. Kroons told NEWSWEEK that Palin's campaign staff had contacted him that morning to ask for his discretion when discussing the pregnancy of Palin's teenage daughter Bristol. "All I'll say is that Bristol is a young lady. We care about her and want to support her and the family," Kroons said. Ashley Brown, another pastor at the church, said he'd also been contacted by the campaign with the same request.

All the more reason, methinks, to keep shining that million-candlepower light in Palin's direction.

A few days ago, I wrote one of the first articles out there regarding Sarah Palin's VP nomination as a "stealth dominionist"--a "stealther" with extensive Assemblies connections (and to particularly scary segments of the Assemblies, as we'll get into) as well as dominionist orgs like Campus Crusade frontgroups and deceptive "feminist" anti-reproductive-healthcare groups.

The thing is, I may have just scratched the surface.

Much has been made of the recent revelation that Sarah Palin may be connected to the "Alaska Independence Party", but not revealed is its connection to the far-right Constitution Party--and she not only has attempted censorious campaigns in office, but was also apparently put in the GOP vice-presidential spot by none other than the kingmakers of the dominionist movement in the US.

* * *

New information re Palin's church...and what it could mean for you

In my original post, I noted Sarah Palin's membership in a "stealth Assemblies" congregation--that is, an Assemblies of God church that tries very hard to hide the fact from outsiders that it is, in fact, an Assemblies of God church. This is pretty much a danger sign in and of itself, especially to those of us familiar with the Assemblies and its increasingly strident calls from district leaders for literal holy war with the rest of America.

However, a recent Harper's Magazine article reveals just WHY she shouldn't be near a borough dogcatcher position, much less a literal heartbeat away from the office of President.

For starters, apparently the church she presently attends maintains *very* close relations with John Hagee's "Christians United For Israel". I've written on Hagee in past--ironically, Hagee was one of two "Joel's Army"-connected pastors McCain formerly used as "spiritual advisors" in an attempt to curry favour with the dominionist wing of the GOP.

And this relationship is troubling, to say the least, because Hagee and CUFI have a real love of seeing Israel as a literal "Armageddon pawn" to make the Rapture hurry the hell up and get here--including destroying the Dome on the Rock to build the Third Temple, if necessary (and yes, they've done Photoshopped images of just this). This is also the same lovely fellow, of note, who also essentially termed the nuking of the East Coast as a divine pimp-slapping.

And it'd appear that Mike Rose of Juneau Christian Center shares remarkably similar sentiments:

From an April 27, 2008 sermon: "If you really want to know where you came from and happen to believe the word of God that you are not a descendant of a chimpanzee, this is what the word of God says. I believe this version."

From a July 8, 2007 sermon: "Those that die without Christ have a horrible, horrible surprise."

From a July 28, 2007 sermon: "Do you believe we're in the last days? After listening to Newt Gingrich and the prime minister of Israel and a number of others at our gathering, I became convinced, and I have been convinced for some time. We are living in the last days. These are incredible times to live in."

The sad thing is, this may actually be less extreme than her former congregation. Between her membership at Wasilla A/G and JCC, she apparently attended another neopente church--Church on the Rock, a neopente "Assemblies daughter". Like JCC, it promotes cell-churches and the usual other claptrap--and also a healthy dose of Armageddonism and "Joel's Army" War On America:

From an November 25, 2007 sermon: "The purpose for the United States is… to glorify God. This nation is a Christian nation."

From an October 28, 2007 sermon: "God will not be mocked. I don't care what the ACLU says. God will not be mocked. I don't care what atheists say. God will not be mocked. I don't care what's going on in the nation today with so much horrific rebellion and sin and things that take place. God will not be mocked. Judgment Day is coming. Where do you stand?"

From an October 28, 2007 sermon: "Just giving in a little bit is a disastrous thing…You can't serve both man and God. It is one or the other."

Disturbingly, it would appear that Sarah Palin may have been expressing "God Warrior" sentiments as early as her membership in Wasilla A/G, literally proclaiming that the US Armed Forces in Iraq were on a literal holy crusade:

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

This is not entirely surprising, hearing some of the sermons at Wasilla A/G:

The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
. . .
If the church had a political alignment, it would almost surely be conservative. In his sermons, Kalnins did not hide his affections for certain national politicians.

During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."

Months after hinting at possible damnation for Kerry supporters, Kalnins bristled at the treatment President Bush was receiving over the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. "I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."

Much of his support for the current administration has come in the realm of foreign affairs. Kalnins has preached that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a "world war" over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives.

What you see in a terrorist -- that's called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. ... We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. ... Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.

As for his former congregant and current vice presidential candidate, Kalnins has asserted that Palin's election as governor was the result of a "prophetic call" by another pastor at the church who prayed for her victory. "[He made] a prophetic declaration and then unfolds the kingdom of God, you know."

For those of you who had doubts about my initial claim that she attended "Joel's Army" churches that wanted to establish a theocracy by hook or by crook...consider the question answered.

Palin tries to strongarm book censorship

According to a recent Time Magazine article, it would appear Palin was almost singlehandedly responsible for bringing nasty state-level GOP-style politics to Alaska's "Bible Belt", and that she pretty much ran as a dominionist-friendly candidate to get that mayoral position:

One thing all sides agree on is that the valley was in flux. The old libertarian pioneer ethos was giving way to a rising Christian conservatism. By shrewdly invoking issues that mattered to the ascendant majority, Palin won the mayor's race. But while she may have been a new face, says Naegele, she was no maverick — not yet. "The state party gave her the mechanism to get into that office," says Naegele. "As soon as she was confident enough to brush them off, she did. But she wasn't an outsider to start with. She very much had to kowtow to them."

Once in office, one of her very first acts was an attempt to strongarm book censorship in--even threatening to fire officials unwilling to toe the line and putting a "muzzle order" on all city officials to prevent press leaks:

At some point in those fractious first days, Palin told the department heads they needed her permission to talk to reporters. "She put a gag order on those people, something that you'd expect to find in the big city, not here," says Naegele. "She flew in there like a big-city gal, which she's not. It was a strange time, and [the Frontiersman] came out very harshly against her."

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

This should not be entirely surprising, however...as we'll soon see.

Palin's links with the Constitution Party

When I had heard the initial info re Sarah Palin's speeches and former membership in the Alaskan Independence Party, I had a few alarm bells ringing--among other things, the group does have known links to the Christian Reconstructionist and neo-Confederate group "Christian Exodus" as well as racist neo-Confederates "League Of The South" (see referral links at their home site), and a number of Constitution Party state affiliates also use similar names.

Today, it appears, none other than Fredrick Clarkson has confirmed my suspicions:

But what has not been reported as far as I can tell, is that the AIP is the Alaska affiliate of the Constitution Party, founded by Howard Phillips, and has been the political home to leading theocratic Christian Reconstructionism such as John Lofton, Otto Scott, Joe Morecraft and movement founder R.J. Rushdoony himself. It has also been the party of some of the most militant anti-abortion activists in the U.S. such as Matthew Trewhella and Ralph Ovadal of Missionaries to the Preborn and for many years Randall Terry -- until he decided to run (unsuccessfully) in a primary challenge to an incumbent Republican State Senator Jim King (who had stood up to the Religious Right  during the Terri Schiavo episode.)  More recently perennial GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes unsuccessfully sought the Constitution Party nomination.  Currently the third largest political party in the U.S. in terms of membership, it is usually on the ballot in about 35 states.

To say that this is a Bad, Bad, Bad Thing is quite possibly the understatement of this century.

For those who are new to this diary series, the Constitution Party is a political party that back in the 1980s used to be known as the US Taxpayer's Party. It actually manages to make the Texas GOP (probably the most thoroughly hijacked-by-dominionists GOP convention in the US) look downright moderate in its viewpoints; it has also historically been a political wing of the branch of the far-right most historically linked to domestic terrorism in the US.

And this "Happy Family" in the Constitution Party, of note, has included not only racist and neo-Confederates but literal bombers and assassins and "Christian Patriot" militia members. Some of the supporters of the Constitution Party in past--including that Matthew Trewhella mentioned above--http://www.skepticfiles.org/moretext/mushwak.htm">have literally called for armed insurrection against the United States and passed around petitions claiming that Army of God domestic terrorist attacks and assassinations of women's clinic workers were "justifiable homicide". Mr. Trewhella himself kept his own hitlist:

Rev. Matthew Trewhella --USTP National Committee, Wisconsin. A signer of Paul Hill's Defensive Action statement, Trewhella leads the anti-abortion group Missionaries to the Pre-Born. At the USTP Wisconsin state convention, he called for the formation of armed militias, such as the one he leads through his church. Newsweek reports that one member of the Missionaries who lived in Trewhella's basement for five months in 1990) kept a journal which included apparent plans for a guerrilla campaign of clinic
bombings and assassinations of doctors. What's more, a 100 page guerrilla army manual was sold by the USTP of Wisconsin at their May convention. Among the manual's justifications for armed resistance to the federal government is legalized abortion.

In part because of some bang-up investigative work on the US Taxpayers Party's more unsavory connections (including to Christian Identity groups gunning for "racial holy war", the usual "God Warriors With Guns And Bombs", links to the "tax protester" movement claiming that the Sixteenth Amendment was never ratified and that people given citizenship under the Thirteenth and Twentieth Amendments were untermenschen and just "subjects" but all white male landowners were Real Honest-To-God Citizens not bound to most laws, etc.) they changed their name in 1992 to the Constitution Party--hoping to throw off some of that bad press.

In fact, the Constitution Party (under its prior name, the US Taxpayer's Party) ended up listed as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center and was subjected to "dead-agenting"--character assassination--by a state head of the party. The listing as a hate org was only consolidated in the late 90s, when Michael Peroutka (a recent Constitution Party presidential candidate) became a member of the racist League of the South.

Yes, you are reading this right, folks; from 1992 to 1996, Sarah Palin was a card-carrying member of what is the de facto political wing of far-right domestic terrorist networks, including the most extreme branches of "Joel's Army" groups, in the US.

And finally, info from the horse's mouth

And--as has been suspected by many of us--info is now filtering out to suggest she was specifically proffered up by the dominionist wing of the party, and specifically by a secretive group long known as dominionist "kingmakers".

Max Blumenthal, who has spent quite some time watching the group known as the Council for National Policy--a secretive, invitation-only group that essentially acts as the "five year planning committee" for political dominionist and neoconservative groups--has confirmed through his sources that Palin has received the CNP's official blessing in possibly the most enthusiastic greeting of a pro-dominionist candidate since Reagan:

I learned of the get-together only through an online commentary by one of its attendees, top Dobson/Focus on the Family flack Tom Minnery. (Watch it here) Minnery described the mood as CNP members watched Palin accept her selection as John McCain's Vice Presidential pick. "I was standing in the back of a ballroom filled with largely Republicans who were hoping against hope that something would put excitement back into this campaign," Minnery said. "And I have to tell you, that speech by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin -- people were on their seats applauding, cheering, yelling... That room in Minneapolis watching on the television screen was electrified. I have not seen anything like it in a long time."
. . .
The members of the Council for National Policy are the hidden hand behind McCain's Palin pick. With her selection, the Republican nominee is suddenly -- and unexpectedly -- assured of the support of a movement that once opposed his candidacy with all its might. Case in point: while Dobson once said he could "never" vote for McCain, he issued a statement last week hailing Palin as an "outstanding" choice. If Dobson's enthusiasm for Palin is any indication, he may soon emerge from his bunker in Colorado Springs to endorse McCain, providing the Republican nominee with the backing of the Christian right's single most influential figure.

Combined with what else we know, this is incredibly frightening--especially considering that, if McCain gets elected, Palin may literally be but a heartbeat away from the Presidency and the Big Red Button.

This is too important to let this remain stealthed...it's time to shed some light on the subject.

The big news, obviously, in the blogosphere today is John McCain's surprise pick for the Republican veep nominee--a relative unknown by the name of Sarah Palin, whom--at least in the more conventional political circles--would appear to be a complete cypher.

Unfortunately, if one digs just a bit deeper, Palin is found to have some very interesting--and very disturbing--connections...among them, being potentially the first Assemblies-linked VP candidate, being a member of a "pro-life" group promoting itself as a feminist org, and having a number of links to dominionist groups targeting kids via "bait and switch" evangelism.
. . .
Sarah Palin's connections that McCain doesn't want you to know about

There are quite a number of extremely troubling links between Sarah Palin and neopentecostal dominionists--enough that, in truth, she may be ultimately as much of a "dream candidate" for the dominionist movement as Mike Huckabee was. Even worse, she's running in a manner that has been frighteningly successful for dominionist groups since the early 80's--specifically, as a "stealth candidate".

Palin's Assemblies linkage

The first link in and of itself is a doozy--and one of the most damning indeed. No less than the official newsletter of the Assemblies of God of Alaska promotes her proudly as one of the denomination's own, and she was actually feted at an official function of the Assemblies' Alaska District as recently as this year:

The opening night banquet of the 2008 Alaska District Council was honored to have Governor Sarah Palin address the delegates and guests. Governor Palin spoke of her appreciation for the Assemblies of God and requested that the Council pray for both her and the State of Alaska. Superintendent Ted Boatsman, who was Palin's junior high pastor at Wasilla Assembly of God, along with Pastor Mike Rose of Juneau Christian Center, where Palin presently attends church when in Juneau, laid hands on the Governor and led the Council in prayer.

Palin, who was elected Governor in 2007, is Alaska's youngest governor and the first female governor of the state. She just recently gave birth to her fifth child, Trig. Palin spoke of the faith challenge she faced when learning that Trig would be a Downs Syndrome child. However, she and her husband, Todd, believe that every child is a gift of God, deserving of life, and that God was asking them to accept His will for their lives. The Alaska District Council believes that the State of Alaska is blessed to have a woman of faith and courage as Governor.

A look at the home website of Palin's church tends to be revealing. Among other things, a particular Assemblies buzzword associated frequently with Hillsong A/G and New Zealand Assemblies churches shows up ("Destiny", here, is a buzzword for "Joel's Army", and is being preferred even as the phrase "Joel's Army" is getting enough negative spin that even the Assemblies is now having to do some rather massive spin control); cell churches are promoted (of the same sort that are linked to short-term and longterm psychological damage and are among the most coercive tactics ever documented in spiritually abusive groups). The church, like a number of other large Assemblies churches, is the center of a dominionist broadcast TV center whose programming is carried across multiple channels in Alaska.

In a trend that has been recently documented by no less than Southern Poverty Law Center (in its recent report on the Joel's Army movement), the church operates a Seven Project-esque targeted recruitment campaign aiming at teens (this is common across the Assemblies and across "Joel's Army" groups in general; fully a third of the documented national-level front groups operated by the Assemblies target teens).

And...believe you me, Palin's church is *definitely* "Joel's Army".

Mike Rose, pastor of Juneau Christian Center (Palin's church), is noted to be connected with the "Third Wave Movement"--a movement in neopente dominionist circles that is the major theological home of "Joel's Army". In fact, he's quite closely connected with Rodney Howard-Browne, a major (in fact, for some years, *the* major promoter) of "Third Wave" neopente dominionism, and actively promotes this insanity in his church:

1. Mike Rose

Mike is an AOG pastor in the largest city in Alaska, who had Rodney Howard-Browne minister in his church four years ago. At that time, they had a congregation of 200, but over the last 4 years, they have seen it grow to 600 in a community of 35,000.

The format that Mike uses is one which gives a balanced approach to church life, allowing for worship and the Word, ministry to the unsaved as well as impartation of the Holy Spirit.

To do this, he has followed a fairly traditional Sunday morning worship service with worship, communion and preaching of the Word, as well as all the other activities which occur in our morning services, such as dedications and so on.

If there are two or three people who are perhaps crying or laughing uncontrollably, the ushers will gently lead them into the prayer room where they can continue to enjoy the presence of Jesus without affecting those around them.

However, he is also open to the possible occasions when the Holy Spirit will just sweep over the service and the majority of the people will be either laughing, crying or worshipping at one time.

His Sunday evening service generally lasts for three to four hours, compared to the morning one of around two hours. At the conclusion of the evening evangelistic endeavour, people are invited to open up their hearts and hunger for a fresh touch of the Spirit. It was during these times that the powerful manifestations will take place and, having observed what has been happening in our Adelaide meetings over the last few weeks, these times have a great similarity to the old time Pentecostal camp meeting or tarrying services where people received a fresh touch of God.

Mike encourages his people to hunger and has taught them along that line. He helped them to understand and develop a new sensitivity to the ways of the Holy Spirit. His observations were:

* You cannot sustain a move of the Spirit without hunger.

* Corrections need to be made from time to time.

* Don't just get fascinated by the move of God, but rather keep your eyes on Jesus.

* Mission giving and outreach evangelism should be a prominent part of this move and the churches which don't reach out soon dry up.

He encourages us not to hype it up and that there needs to be a continual emphasis on holiness and that only qualified people should lay hands on those who have come for prayer.

Mike is also an adviser on Rodney Howard-Browne's Revival Ministries committee, along with three or four other AOG pastors in the USA. He informed me that he had sat in over 110 of Rodney's meetings and been impressed by the lack of pressure and hype, but by the powerful anointing of the Spirit which accompanies this young man.

As to *why* Howard-Browne's involvement is distressing--well, this previous article should give some pointers, but suffice it to say that another notable church he's had close connections with is the very church I am a walkaway from--hence how I know some of this up close and personal.

Some of the fun includes literal imprecatory prayers and curses against critics and literally accusing critics even within pentecostal circles of literal blasphemy against the Holy Spirit:

Rodney Howard-Browne gave this 'prophesy' last year at New Life Center: 'Do not compromise. For if you compromise, you shall not only lose the anointing that I placed upon you, you shall lose your life.'" [T.A. McMahon, "Experience-Driven Spirituality," The Berean Call, May 1995, page 4]
. . .
"I'm telling your right now," [Rodney Howard-Browne] hissed, "you'll drop dead if you prohibit what God is doing!" Dramatically he gestured toward the crowd [at Melodyland Christian Center, Anaheim, CA, 1/17/95] and warned them
that those like me, who would dare to question that what he was doing was of God, had committed the unpardonable sin and would not be forgiven in this world or the next." [Hank Hanegraaf, "Counterfeit Revival" (1997), page 22]

Bad news...but it doesn't stop there.

Palin's links to "Feminists" For Life, a deceptive anti-abortion group

As if the Assemblies links weren't enough (and between this diary and the stuff that has been reported re John Ashcroft--much less George W. Bush's consistent support for Assemblies frontgroups--that should be a pretty big damn danger sign right there!), there's still more to indicate Sarah Palin may have been put in as a "stealth dominionist".

Among other things, Palin explicitly promoted "teach the controversy" by calling for the misnamed "creation science" to be taught in public schools (as now well documented in Kitzmiller vs. Dover School District, it's known that "creation science" is nothing more and nothing less than a method of putting young-earth creationism in public schools).

It also appears that Sarah Palin is a member of a misnamed group called Feminists for Life. FFL in fact engages in "cultural appropriation" of women's suffrage icons to promote a very woman-unfriendly agenda that--despite attempts to sound "not like those crazies in Operation Rescue"--would not only criminalise abortion but the IUD and hormonal birth control methods, and potentially everything outside the rhythm method (the term "abortifacient birth control" is a codephrase in the dominionist "pro-life" community for hormonal birth control--partly due to a unique urban legend claiming "the pill" and other hormonal birth control causes abortion and partly because of a unique definition of pregnancy beginning at conception rather than at implantation (the latter is what most mainstream OB/GYNs use) and thus making *anything* preventing implantation potentially "abortifacient").

FFL promotes such fun bogosities as "post-abortion syndrome" (the idea that having an abortion will inevitably lead to PTSD and insanity), and promotes mandatory waiting periods and misinformation guidelines that can be insurmountable for poor or rural women--even those forced to make the most heartbreaking choice because of a nonviable pregnancy. In fact, one of their biggest causes isn't feminist at all--they actively promote the idea that the best choice for women is to stay home as fulltime mothers, and it can be well argued that the only traditionally feminist viewpoint they really support is women's suffrage!

One of the big things FFL promotes is deceptive "pregnancy counseling centers"--where pregnant teens are forced to essentially listen to an altar call on how "abortionists want to murder their children" whilst a pee-stick test clears--and if she tests "yes", she gets a hard-sell to keep the child or to check herself into a dominionist-run "halfway house for teenage moms" where she will ultimately be forced to sign her kid over. (Yes, there is an entire private adoption industry in the dominionist community--mostly focusing on adopting out the infants of poor teenage mothers who have been forced to give their kids up and who have been either scared into it or checked into such facilities by their parents.)

Ironically, FFL itself is rather a "stealth" organisation in and of itself--yes, even the dominionists admit this. Interestingly, despite their claims of being more "moderate" than most anti-abortion groups, very few real solutions are offered on how they intend to fund such things (which can be boiled down to "CHOOSE TO BREED").

Palin's links with Campus Crusade frontgroups

Palin's linkages don't stop there. In Kaylene Johnson's book Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down (2008, Epicenter Press) it's mentioned that Palin was head of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes branch in her school--up to and including leading team prayers.

It is helpful to know a bit of FCA's past history to know why this is a matter of concern. FCA is, in fact, a known frontgroup of the coercive dominionist group Campus Crusade for Christ--yes, the selfsame Campus Crusade that has such close links to the Assemblies of God that it can be described as a "conjoined twin" of the Assemblies and the same one documented as having links to an ever-widening prosyletisation scandal in our Armed Forces. FCA also gets quite a lot of cash from de facto Assemblies funding-front Hobby Lobby--a chain, of note, that has bailed out a neopente university and has even funded paramilitary "Joel's Army" groups targeting teens.

The links between FCA and a particular Hobby Lobby frontgroup, Bearing Fruit Communications, are particularly close. At least one member of Bearing Fruit's board of directors (T. Ray Grandstaff) is a former Senior VP for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Regarding FCA itself, the group has been linked to dominionism in numerous ways; they are well known for "bait and switch" evangelism (in fact, they and Athletes in Action are among the two groups most frequently banned from public school campuses due to bait-and-switch "altar calls" marketed as anti-drug talks to the school administration). More info here. (Such tactics are a favourite of dominionist groups explicitly targeting youth.) It's also well known (and, apparently, explicitly by design) that Fellowship of Christian Athletes rather aggressively "dominionist-ises" any team they are let into (this tends to be bad even within the NFL, but even more so within FCA groups run in colleges and high schools).

Of particular note, FCA has close links with the US Air Force Academy religious coercion controversies (and is but one of *multiple* Campus Crusade frontgroups documented by Military Religious Freedom Foundation as involved in military religious coercion scandals), and the ACLU has had to fight them since the 60's because of religious coercion (in particular, Jewish people tend to be targeted, according to the anti-cult group Rick Ross Foundation); in addition, it is explicitly supported by dominionist groups, and explicitly partners with other dominionist groups targeting youth (including Chi Alpha (an Assemblies of God frontgroup), Campus Crusade for Christ, and even scarier groups like "See You At The Pole" (infamous for, among other things, nailing people's names to crosses and "praying" over them to essentially curse people in the name of Christ to convert or suffer) and Council for National Policy).

And finally, the dominionists themselves like her

As expected, many if not most of the dominionist groups in the US have given explicit approval for Palin on her anti-abortion bona-fides alone--including Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, and a pack of the more extreme dominionist anti-abortion groups.

I'm not the only one to have noticed the rather extensive dominionist bona-fides--Pastor Dan over on Street Prophets has noted this as well. Frederick Clarkson over on Talk to Action has also noted salutations from two other dominionist leaders--one being Kenneth Blackwell, who was the "dream candidate" of neopente dominionists in his home state (fortunately, he lost the gubernatorial election).

Chip Berlet has also noted on Talk to Action a further endorsement from Eagle Forum--the oldest dominionist political group aside from "The Family" and the Assemblies-linked FGBMFI.

In addition, it would seem she may well have quite a bit of approval from dominionists in general--that is, if the barometer of the Texas GOP Convention is to be believed. (The Texas GOP is one of the most thoroughly steeplejacked GOP conventions in the US; many of the official party platforms are indistinguishable from Constitution Party platforms.) The Houston Chronicle reports:

"It's a slam dunk. I think that people who are concerned about 'How conservative is Mr. McCain' are now going to say, 'If he can make a choice of Sarah Palin, then he can be trusted with our conservative ideals,' " said delegate Cathie Adams, Republican National Committeewoman-elect and president of the Texas Eagle Forum.
. . .
"I always thought he needed to pick a woman," said Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, former president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women. "I think Hillary Clinton's campaign stimulated a lot of interest among women voters, and I think this is going to hit a chord."

But Kaufman added: "I look forward to learning more about her." She also noted that Palin is considered to be against abortion rights, and McCain "thought he needed to satisfy that wing of the party."

Here's hoping this article starts shining a little bit of light on the subject--the last thing we need a literal heartbeat away from the Presidency is a ninja dominionist.

People who've followed the hijinks of the Assemblies of God in regards to televangelist scandals--and the history of televangelism, for that matter--know that the denomination has a long association with televangelism--and as the Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Ted Haggard scandals have shown, often a quite unsavoury one at that.

So today's news that the Assemblies are hip-deep in the latest televangelist scandal is no shocker--the thing is, they may have tangled themselves rather deep, as the latest association is with an explicit defense of Kenneth Copeland--one of six televangelists implicated in an embezzlement scandal with Oral Roberts University and one of six who are presently the subject of Congressional subpoenas re the scandal.

Even worse, the Assemblies are now trying to use the very scandal as a wrecking-ball to knock down the separation of church and state--and in an attempt to hide illegal electioneering and even potential funding of campaigns by the denomination.

The Assemblies officially supports graft and corruption

Today's post comes courtesy of one of my co-researchers, who noticed the following gem in the Christian Post (a newspaper largely aiming at the dominionist set, and I do note this in part because of a bibolatrous statement of faith and its board of directors") in what turns out to be a prime example of why "recon" on what is going on in the dominionist press is a Good Thing:

A group of Pentecostal ministers and churches have thrown their backing behind televangelist Kenneth Copeland and his refusal to cooperate with a Senate probe into his ministry's spending.

Assemblies of God International Fellowship released a statement in their latest newsletter saying the current investigation, led by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), into the financial records of six prominent ministries "seems to be crossing a legal boundary."

"Politicians enact laws to separate Church and State which many think to be unconstitutional and then try to intrude into Church affairs while denying the Church discussion of State (political) affairs. This sounds like a one way street in favor of the State," the group said.

This whinging shouldn't be all that surprising for multiple reasons--partly because of the Assemblies' long history of involvement with televangelism (in fact, they can be legitimately stated to have invented modern televangelism with Aimee Semple McPherson's "radio church"--which later grew into the first "Assemblies daughter", International Foursquare, after the first of several scandals she was involved in). There are other reasons, though, which tend to be a bit more disturbing.

A brief history of the probe

One reason the Assemblies may be especially feeling the heat is because--for the first time--this is an actual Congressional investigation of televangelism, and as a result has a potential to put a real hurt on the major conduit used to spread both theological neopentecostal dominionism and political dominionism. (Remember, the modern political dominionist movement was in part spearheaded by two televangelists--Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson; Tim LaHaye, who can ultimately be considered the "founding father" of political dominionism, was also a very frequent guest on the PTL Club. It is unlikely the neopente versions of "Christian Nationalism" would have been as popularised were it not for the main troika of televangelists overtly promoting it.)

The probe began when Sen. Chuck Grassley (ironically, a Republican; even more ironically, an evangelical himself) began a Congressional investigation of six televangelists who were members of the board of directors of Oral Roberts University--itself mired in a major embezzlement scandal where upwards of $1 billion (yes, that is billion, with a b) were stolen yearly by the board.

The matter also threatens to knock down the major tool neopente dominionist churches use to hide finances. Typically, with regular nonprofits one must account for all yearly incoming and outgoing funds via a form 990 filed with the IRS; however, churches and "missionary groups" get an extremely broad exemption (referred to by researchers as the "Form 990 Loophole") where they need only file a Form 1023 to state they are a church--and they need never file anything again.

Needless to say, there has been increasing use of the concept of "ministry as tax shelter and blackhole for financing" among even some political dominionist groups (the group "Wallbuilders", which specialises in what amounts to American historical revisionism (and is the subject of Chris Rodda's Liars for Jesus), uses the "form 990 loophole" and claims to be a ministry), and has been abused massively by neopentecostal dominionist churches (and increasingly, by the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention as well) to hide exactly how much money is going into illegal electioneering (among other things).

Thanks to the "form 990 loophole", Sen. Grassley had to essentially issue Congressional requests for info. (This is not uncommon; typically court orders or subpoenas are necessary to get this info, and most of what we know about the finances of most coercive religious groups has been the direct result of walkaways suing the groups for damages and legal discovery resulting from this.)

In Round 1, only two of the six televangelists targeted--Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer--bothered to respond at all; Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, "Bishop" Eddie Long, and Paula White did not. (Nearly all of these either are Assemblies preachers or Assemblies-trained, or have close links with the Assemblies.)

The letters were, in essence, asking the same questions that Ray Stevens asked--"Would Jesus Wear A Rolex On His Television Show?" Grassley had received reports of donations being diverted for such things as private jets (or, in the case of Kenneth Copeland, an entire general aviation airport where there have been some reports of flights coming in at decidedly odd times), Bentley automobiles, and so on--and Grassley wanted to know where the heck the money was in fact going.

By March 11, Creflo Dollar was still telling Sen. Grassley to pound sand whilst Long and White finally answered the Congressional inquiry. In fact, both have stated to Grassley that formal Congressional subpoenas will be needed in the televangelist equivalent of "You'll never get me alive, copper!"--and Copeland finally delivered a mess of papers on 6 December 2007.

Of the six, only Meyer and Hinn have delivered full responses and the others are likely to require followup subpoenas:

As of Friday, Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn are the only two ministries that have submitted full responses for the Senate probe. Randy and Paula White have submitted partial responses, Eddie Long and Copeland have submitted "very limited responses," according to the spokeswoman, and Creflo Dollar has submitted no requested information.

There has been some talk on the investigation that, if warranted, the investigation of those six televangelists could expand into a general review of groups involved in televangelism and tax-exempt groups using the "form 990 loophole". And it is precisely this which the Assemblies fears, for good reason.

Possible evidence of illegal funding of GOP by Assemblies?

To say the least, the Assemblies of God is not very happy about the latest development:

But some, including Assemblies of God International Fellowship, are backing Copeland and his questioning.

The fellowship believes that the IRS, created by the State, should be conducting an investigation, not the Senate.

"It seems that Rev. Copeland is right in ignoring the Senate's investigation of Church affairs but pledging to fully cooperate with any investigation by the IRS," the group stated.

Of course, the Assemblies is fully aware that without tax records it's difficult for the IRS to investigate (this is, of note, one reason it does tend to be quite difficult in practice to pull the 501(c)3 status of a church--the IRS essentially must issue subpoenas, or have a governmental body issue subpoenas, for church financial info in assessing penalties). The Assemblies itself, as well as its big megachurches, use the "form 990 loophole" extensively--and do a very good job of hiding where their assets are as a result.

And there is reason that the Assemblies has (pardon the pun) a bit of the "fear of God" in regards to a formal Congressional investigation of tax-exempt group accountability. It's already been mentioned previously in this diary that Assemblies and "Assemblies daughter" churches tend to have severe problems with accountability--in fact, due to the "cell church" structure used in many Assemblies churches, meaningful accountability of leaders can be impossible; the Assemblies, and its daughters, effectively operate as de facto ordination mills and even pastors have found themselves expelled from the denomination for bringing up concerns re embezzlement and spiritual abuse.

As it turns out, the Assemblies of God has been a rather consistent source of reports of illegal electioneering to Americans United (in fact, it and the SBC are the worst offenders re reports of illegal electioneering)--and the Assemblies is a particularly longterm offender. No less a source than the book Religion and Politics in the United States (written by Kenneth D. Wald and Allison Calhoun-Brown) has noted the seminal role the Assemblies played in founding modern "Christian Nationalism" and in particular the takeover of the GOP by dominionists:

Christian Voice, the oldest of these Christian Right groups¹, grew out of an unsuccessful attempt by California evangelicals² to pass a state law limiting the public employment of homosexuals or homosexual advocates. Concentrated in the western and southwestern states and composed primarily of members of the Assemblies of God, Christian Voice concentrated its efforts on electioneering--compiling information on candidates, offering lists of favored and opposed candidates, and raising funds to support independent campaigns of favored candidates. It also had an active lobbying presence in Washington, DC.

(Emphasis mine. pp. 214-215, 5th ed. published 2007, Rowman & Littlefield.
Footnotes:
¹Out of "Christian nationalist" groups active in the 70s. In my own personal research, only Eagle Forum and FGBMFI (another Assemblies of God frontgroup) have longer histories of overt "Christian nationalist" electioneering, and by its own claims predates most other groups involved in political dominionism, giving a date of founding of 1978.
²It is not uncommon in these publications to conflate evangelicals with neopentecostal dominionists, in part because neopente dominionists have done some considerable "cultural appropriation" of the term.)

It is not widely known, but the Assemblies of God was one of the top political donators to Ashcroft's 2000 Senate campaign--to the tune of $19,850, including a known $1000 donation from the denomination's leader. (This is actually not as surprising as it sounds; Ashcroft's father is founder of Chi Alpha, a "ministry"/frontgroup of the Assemblies targeting college-age youth in a manner similar to Campus Crusade for Christ.)

Of note--and in a probable attempt to hide the fact the money was coming from the church itself or as a potential sign that persons were explicitly directed to donate to Ashcroft's campaign--this seems to have been done by pastors or employees, including a number of folks who are complete cyphers otherwise: three separate donations by Richard Arnold of Colorado Springs, CO amounting to $2000 and donations by Bob Houlihan, also of Colorado Springs, also for the same amount. (Both are listed in the top 100 contributors to Ashcroft's campaign.) Other Assemblies-linked contributors in Colorado Springs include Bob Cook ($250) and Daniel Vagle ($1000).

In fact, there are anomalous donations from Assemblies-employed persons in no less than 9 states outside of Missouri: the aforementioned Colorado donations; Kentucky from one person donating $250; Alabama from two separate individuals of $250 and $1000 respectively; a donation from Oklahoma for $250; two separate donations from an Assemblies employee in Minnesota totaling $2000; Ohio being a source of multiple Assemblies-linked donations including two separate individuals donating $250; Pennsylvania donations including a donation for $250; Texas including one donation for $1000 as well as one donation for $500; California including another case of "double donation" of $2000 total as well as a second "double donator" of $500 total.

Missouri's funding is equally sketchy; not only is there Trask's known donation but a donation for $500, another for $500, another donation for $250, another for $250, another $250 donation, a relatively lowball donor of $200, and another case of a "double donor" totalling $400.

Even this may be a lowball figure. If frontgroups and divisions of the Assemblies operating under their own d/b/a are taken into account, the full extent of moneys donated to Ashcroft's campaign may have been substantially underestimated: a triple donation of $2500 total from a party associated with the A/G Foundation (which is actually a division of the Assemblies handling the "Bible Quiz" front as well as encouraging people to sign over their possessions to them after they die--in other words, it's where the Assemblies stores a non-negligible part of its funding and also in part where its legal department lives)--the very division, of note, that claimed that Grassley was effectively "picking on pentecostals".

In addition, other donations by Assemblies fronts and subdivisions include a $500 donation by a person employed with one of the Assemblies' "Bible colleges", a second donation from a different individual at said "Bible college" for $500, a donation from the Assemblies General Council for $1000, and three separate donations by a second General Council member for $2000. (So add $6500 to that $19,850 figure--the total is closer to a minimum of over $25,000 dollars donated by the Assemblies via seminary and "Bible college" employees as well as pastors.)

An especially damning sign that this may have been money explicitly funneled from the Assemblies illegally is the presence of not only a redacted donation of $250 by Houlihan, but donations by both him and his wife independently of the Assemblies to the tune of $2500 between the two of them--indicating he was explicitly trying to keep the Assemblies under the radar. (Houlihan is an employee of the Assemblies' seminary and has conducted seminars on bait-and-switch "compassion ministries" as a method of recruitment).

This is also not the only time the Assemblies has pulled this sort of thing. As recently as 2007, the Assemblies is known to have donated $1000 to Mike Huckabee's campaign, a similar donation of $500 was given to Bush's re-election campaign (in another sign of a damning bit of evidence pointing to this being official Assemblies funding, there is a separate donation by an Assemblies minister), as well as donations in 2002 for the election of James Talent for Senator. (Individual Assemblies churches are pretty bad about this, too; Robert Schenck, noted for his attempt to "annoint" the halls of the Senate in a neopentecostal hexing, would appear to be a non-negligible contributor to Sam Brownback's election campaign.)

Needless to say, if the investigation broadens and similar documentation is requested from the Assemblies as a whole..."problematic" would not begin to describe things. This is, to be blunt, the one thing that could pretty much not only shut down the Assemblies' electioneering engine (and also the similar engine that is being established in the SBC), but could also be the one thing to threaten the tax-exempt status of the Assemblies denomination-wide...including all of its frontgroups.

Dominionist attempts to "dead-agent" Grassley

Even though in past Grassley has had a history of supporting some of the same legislation dominionists support, the call for investigations of tax-exempt groups that snared the televangelists in the ORU scandal have caused dominionists to claim "Help, help, we're being oppressed!"

In fact, Copeland and crew have started a website and a new frontgroup for the sole purpose of "dead-agenting" Grassley and the campaign for accountability--claiming he's out to attack neopentecostals and promoters of "name it and claim it". Not only that, but apparently (per the lovely sorts of historical revisionism common in neopente dominionist circles) apparently Grassley is pretty much considered an agent of The Enemy and Trying To Steal Their Country (which was never theirs to begin with--despite "historical revisionism" by dominionists, the Founding Fathers were typically deists)

In truth, Grassley is conducting a very broad investigation--in part because he is in fact chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate and a member of several other Congressional committees in charge of making tax law. Grassley is also investigating a lot of other groups besides neopente dominionist televangelists; not only is he explicitly requesting the IRS to enforce the laws on the books against charitable exemption abuse, but is investigating reports of funding mishandling by The Nature Conservancy, a plethora of nonprofit hospitals (most of which are owned by the Roman Catholic and Baptist healthcare systems, and many others of which are completely secular and operated as training hospitals by universities), the Smithsonian Institution, nonprofits involved in educational loan programs, the Red Cross, and others. In general, it can be said that Grassley's main goal is to increase public transparency re nonprofits--including transparency with nonprofits involved in charitable giving programs for federal employees and efforts to protect charitable groups themselves from potential exploitation. We're by no means saying Chuck Grassley is an angel--but he *does* seem to be pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to investigations.

We would make a humble suggestion to Grassley as to an easy way to fix the problem for future generations--namely, remove the "form 990 loophole" and make all 501(c)3 groups fill out a form 990 if they receive more than $25,000 annually in donations (which is what all non-church 501(c)3 groups have to do anyways).

Over the past few days, we've gone over a history of dominionist prosyletisation efforts during the Gulf War and how they are endangering not only Christians but our own military to boot.

Today, we get into the real heart of why some of us are so worried about the "God Warrior" tendencies in neopentecostal dominionist groups.

Everyone who hasn't been completely isolated from the outside world knows by now about the revelations of torture and human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other facilities used for "extraordinary rendition" (or, more properly, gulags).

Not so well publicised is the fact that the very denomination responsible for the "Teen Challenge" chain of "kiddie gulags" is in fact at the very core of the torture scandals--and that the Assemblies' own chaplains were in fact ringleaders of torture.

Assemblies coercion crosses over from "kiddie gulags" to real gulags

The involvement of Assemblies men in torture scandals--including, as we will see, persons officially listed as Assemblies of God chaplains directly participating in torture--is particularly odious. Katherine Yurica, a researcher on "Christian nationalism" and neopentecostal dominionism in particular, has been particularly studious in documenting the links between the Assemblies' chaplains and torture.

It turns out an Assemblies man was in charge of interrogation at Abu Ghraib...and, little reported, Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was in fact an Assemblies of God chaplain. (Yes, you are reading this right. An Assemblies chaplain was in charge of such fun policies as dragging people around naked with dog collars, shocking them, waterboarding, and the litany of human rights abuses documented at Abu Ghraib.) It should be worth noting just what Lt. Col. Jordan was in charge of approving...and actively participating in:

According to an Army statement, Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, worked as a reservist at the Army's Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Va. He was activated for the express purpose of setting up the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib which did not exist prior to his arrival. As I noted above, the formation of the JIDC was recommended by Gen. Miller. This would appear to link Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan directly with General Boykin, undersecretary Cambone and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

Contradictorily, Jordan was later to claim that he was merely "a civil affairs officer by training and that his assignment was to set up a database at the interrogation center for tracking information gleaned from the prisoners." However, the record clearly shows that Jordan took control of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center on September 17, 2003 and served as the JIDC director until Col. Thomas Pappas assumed the role of commander of the forward operating base on November 19, 2003, and Jordan then became the deputy director of JIDC.

Col. Pappas said in his statement to General Taguba that LTC Jordan repeatedly took part in searches of detainee cells without notifying military police commanders. Searching cells was an activity that fell outside the usual duties of an intelligence officer.

Taguba's report and witnesses place Jordan with officers hiding prisoners from the Red Cross inspection. The prisoners were called "ghost detainees," because they were brought to them by Other Government Agencies (OGAs), without accounting for them, knowing their identities, or even the reason for their detention. An interrogator said he overheard Colonel Jordan and other officers say that the Red Cross inspectors did not need to know about those Iraqi prisoners."

From sworn testimony and interviews, Colonel Jordan emerges as a hands-on commander. According to Capt. Donald J. Reese, "Wing One was supervised mostly by LTC Steve Jordan." Capt. Donald J. Reese, commander of the 372nd Military Police Company told the Washington Post, he "was summoned one night in November to a shower room in a cellblock at the prison where he discovered the body of a bloodied detainee on the floor. A group of intelligence personnel was standing around the body. Col. Pappas was among them." Reese said, "An Army colonel named Jordan sent a soldier to the prison mess hall for ice to preserve the body overnight." The next day, the "body was hooked up to an intravenous drip, as if the detainee was still alive, and taken out of the prison." There apparently is no known record of what happened to the body.

And yes, he did do this as an Assemblies chaplain:

Of all the things we have come to understand about Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, it is most difficult to think of him as a man of the cloth. Max Blumenthal, an excellent web writer, found another significant link to Jordan in an article reprinted on the web site of the Oak Creek Assemblies of God church and on the Assembly's chaplaincy article page. A man with Jordan's name and rank was identified as a Pentecostal chaplain mentoring an Assemblies of God chaplain candidate at Fort Jackson in South Carolina in the summer of 2003. Wait a minute! One's head snaps back. But this is really true.

There are several major possibilities. First, there could be two Lieutenant Colonels with identical names and rank in the Army, in which case the Army can produce both men. Secondly, the Steven L. Jordan of Abu Ghraib could have taken on the identity of a chaplain who subsequently died or retired, in which case the Army can resolve the mystery and explain why a chaplain's identity was assumed. Thirdly, the Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan of Abu Ghraib could actually be a Pentecostal chaplain, who was mentoring John P. Smith Jr., an Assembly of God chaplain candidate, during the six-week chaplain training course at Fort Jackson in South Carolina in the summer of 2003. If this is true, General Boykin's "kingdom warriors" have emerged as a powerful and subversive renegade force in the Army.

The Assemblies of God article offers more than one clue to the puzzle. It reports that Jordan asked Smith to preach the Sunday morning sermon at the base auditorium, which holds over 1,000 seats and preaching wasn't in the Army's training course. The auditorium was full that morning.

An Assemblies chaplain, I'll note, that the Assemblies' own chaplaincy program was heralding as a success story as late as 2007.

Even worse, the head of the military chaplaincy program is in fact an Assemblies man:

On June 1, 2004, Assembly of God Chaplain Cecil R. Richardson was promoted to Brigadier General, to a key position that assists in the overseeing of the quality of the chaplain service. In this position, he also comes in contact with the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Richardson's official title is Deputy Chief, Air Force Chaplain Service.

Richardson's educational background should not be overlooked. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biblical studies at the Assemblies of God, Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri in 1973. He received his Master of Divinity degree in Hebrew studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. in 1976. In 1981 he attended the Squadron Officer School by correspondence and in later years he attended the Air Command and Staff College by correspondence.

He is the first Pentecostal to be promoted to a general officer as a chaplain. His new job places Richardson in a position of control on the department of defense side of the equation: as Deputy Chief of the Chaplain Service, he is directly involved in directing and maintaining a trained, equipped and professional chaplain service. This means he supervises more than 2,350 active duty, Guard and Reserve chaplains. According to information released by the Air Force, "As a member of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, Richardson and other members advise Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on religious, ethical and quality-of-life concerns."

Worse yet, the head of operations at both Abu Ghraib and Gitmo during the torture scandals was former Gen. William Boykin--who has, incidentially, been linked not only to the Assemblies' infiltration of the US Army but has promoted the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan as a literal neopentecostal "God Warriors With Guns" crusade:

Boykin became the focus of media reports when he spoke about his involvement in the war on terrorism at twenty-three Baptist and Pentecostal churches across the country, accompanied by two military aides. According to a 10-month internal investigation conducted by the defense department's deputy inspector general for investigations and reported by the Washington Post, Boykin received reimbursement for his travel costs from one of the sponsoring church groups and failed to report that fact. He wore his uniform and gave the impression that he was representing the military.

The investigation confirmed that Boykin said that the U.S. military is recruiting a spiritual army that will draw strength from a greater power to defeat its enemy. In fact, he told the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Okla. on June 30, 2002, "What I'm here to do today is to recruit you to be warriors of God's kingdom."

(Again, this info can be confirmed by Assemblies literature, particularly in its magazine "Pentecostal Evangel".)

It's also worth noting some of those speeches Boykin would give to churches. At one point (describing military actions in Mogadishu), he literally engages in a "My God can beat up your God" contest with a Somalian insurgent; in another speech he literally links terrorism with opposition to Christian Zionism (of the sort that wants to herd the world's Jewish population to Israel and convert them en masse to "Messianic Jews" so they can set up their own RL Tribulation Force); in the same speech where he invokes Christian Zionism as a reason for terror, he also engages in some very interesting "American historical revisionism".

Abu Ghraib isn't the only case here--the abuse at Gitmo also has Assemblies linkage, specifically with--again--the interrogation department:

On November 4, 2002, Major General Geoffrey Miller was appointed Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo. According to the independent panel's findings, Miller brought Military Police (MP) together with Military Intelligence (MI) and called upon them to work together cooperatively. "Military police were to collect passive intelligence on detainees. They became key players, serving as the eyes and ears of the cellblocks for military intelligence personnel. This collaboration helped set conditions for successful interrogation by providing the interrogator more information about the detainee--his mood, his communications with other detainees, his receptivity to particular incentives, etc. Under the single command, the relationship between MPs and MIs became an effective operating model."

Significantly, there is another branch of the military that was used by General Miller: the U.S. military chaplains.

Assemblies of God (AG) Army Reserve Chaplain (Maj.) Daniel Odean served as chaplain for the Joint Task Force, at Guantanamo. Odean said that his job focused, "Primarily on the Joint Detention Operations Group (JDOG) that consists of service members from all branches."

Odean, explained to his AG interviewer from U.S. Missions, "The JTF conducts operations for detaining, securing, sustaining and worldwide escort operations of suspected terrorists to Camp Delta (the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Global War on Terrorism."

Thus Odean served the men in the unit either directly connected to Donald Rumsfeld's secret "Special Access Program" or one that supports that unit. He was their chaplain at the time of his interview. Guantanamo, according to Hersh, is the final destination of those prisoners "who turned out to not be useful." Hersh told us that the prisoners were kidnapped, put in prison without charges and without a trial and we know that there were eight cases of abuse at Guantanamo that have already been substantiated.

When asked in his interview with his Assembly of God interviewer, what his main responsibilities were, Odean said that he served as a chaplain to about 1,000 troopers. He added, "I serve as an advisor to the commander on religious, moral, ethical and morale issues."

He was then asked, "How do you respond to critics who say you, as a Christian chaplain, cannot meet the needs of Muslim captives?" Odean's response reveals that he has become the eyes and ears for his commander and for the military intelligence units. It reveals a man who is serving two masters; one has been pushed to the background. He responded:

"I am responsible to carry out the Commander's Religious Support Program and intent. At Camp Delta, the Commander is concerned with the Military Police's ability to maintain a high standard of military professionalism and excellence.

"I serve the Commander by advising on issues and concerns [regarding the detainees] that have been communicated to me while I am interacting with the MPs."

The interviewer then asked, "In what ways do the detainees turn to you for help?" Odean responded:

"I help manage detainee religious issues and promote religious sensitivity.

"I do not want to lead anyone to believe I have a counseling type relationship with the detainees. But I assist the Military Police with mission focus and by remaining firm, fair and consistent toward the detainees."

Odean was asked, "What do you say to those who say Guantanamo Bay is just another example of the United States being at war with Islam?"

The chaplain replied by rote,

"U.S. Policy is that we are not at war with the religion of Islam; we are at war with terrorism. We are at war with the enemies of freedom. We are defending freedom here at Guantanamo Bay. America and the world are safer places because of missions such as this one and many others our military are involved in."

Of note, most of the quotes in the article are from an Assemblies of God-written article (which was on the A/G's chaplaincy website as late as 2007) that goes into even more detail on the level of prosyletisation:

The JTF conducts operations for detaining, securing, sustaining and worldwide escort operations of suspected terrorists to Camp Delta (the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Global War on Terrorism.

I also serve as an advisor to the commander on religious, moral, ethical and morale issues.

As the JDOG Chaplain I minister to more than 1,000 troopers, but also ensure that appropriate free exercise of religion is maintained throughout Camp Delta.

This is done through advising command, communicating with the Military Police and ensuring that the detainee population has the religious items they are allowed to have and which are approved.

Finally, I conduct worship services. I pioneered the "Soul Survivor" program, which is a contemporary spirit-filled worship experience. The JTF Command has supported it and the response has been great. God is using "SS" to touch the JTF!

(Yes, let's get this straight. On the one hand, he claims to ensure "free exercise of religion", and yet on the other hand, his primary worship service is an Assemblies of God tent revival. Quite *literally*, in fact, in the early days of Camp X-Ray. Let's continue.)

This isn't the only example of Assemblies men treating the military chaplaincy as just another Assemblies missionary group (like Teen Challenge's "kiddie gulags", or its "bait and switch" evangelism groups like Seven Project, or even its training of its equivalent of Eagle Scouting with live arms fire in the Royal Rangers). No less than the head of the US chaplaincy program, Charles Marvin, stated as much in an interview with the Assemblies' official rag Pentecostal Evangel:

PE: Anything else?

MARVIN: The chaplaincy is as vital a ministry as A/G outreach on any mission field. We like to call the chaplaincy an "incarnational" ministry, or "ministry of presence." A chaplain is right there, with the soldier, living out the demands of military duty as an in-the-flesh representative of God's love.

(As if our soldiers in Iraq didn't have enough to worry about, what with being put through a military meatgrinder!)

Sad to say...in this light, the "Bible coin" controversy is probably among the *milder* of things going on there.

And it is no bloody wonder, in this light, that Moslems in Iraq have a genuine fear of the Tenth Crusade--especially considering that the Assemblies of God is not exactly the friendliest denomination towards Islam in the first place. (In fact, it pretty much explicitly considers Islam as an agent of the devil in its endtime theology--and there's some disturbing evidence to suggest governmental policy is explicitly being directed by this endtime theology.

As amazing as it sounds, dominionists may in fact be fomenting terrorism--not just the domestic terrorism like bombings of women's clinics we normally associate, but the very "Islamist terror bombings" that the GOP loves to use to frighten America into voting a red ticket.

We detailed yesterday on how Christians in Iraq (including communities literally founded by the apostle Thomas) have been targeted due to aggressive prosyletisation by dominionist "missionary" groups; today, we focus on how our soldiers are targeted and *becoming* targets due to the actions of dominionists...and how some of the very folks targeting both our nation's fighting folks and Iraqis are essentially dominionist rogue agents in the US military's chaplaincy.

Soldiers targeted--and soldiers playing "God Warrior"

No less than one of the primary groups responsible for targeting Iraqis for conversion is also strongly linked to military steeplejacking--Campus Crusade has been linked to both, and the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church specifically has called out Campus Crusade as one of the worst offenders in this regard. Many of the persons most intimately involved with the Abu Ghraib torture scandal are linked with the Assemblies of God, which has increasingly gone not only militaristic in its imagery but has increasingly become virulently anti-Moslem (many in the Assemblies have in fact called for an outright ethnic cleansing of Moslems from the US and have even relied on Holocaust revisionism to support these calls)

And increasingly these actions--and the actions of American dominionist "missionaries"--are doing the equivalent of painting concentric circles on the backs of every man and woman in uniform in Iraq.

Campus Crusade and the Assemblies are by far not the only dominionist groups to be simultaneously targeting the Iraqi people and US soldiers in their own metaphysical wargames. The Southern Baptist Convention--itself fairly recently steeplejacked--is rather aggressively targeting both soldiers and Iraqis by its own admission--and SBC churches themselves are increasingly adopting military imagery and other aspects of "Joel's Army" theology, up to and including imprecatory prayers against critics. Interestingly, the SBC and other "fundamentalist Baptist" groups seem to be particularly targeting the USMC in similar manner to how neopentecostal groups have targeted the Army and Air Force.

A article in Salon from 2003 notes the danger:

The announcement by Franklin Graham and Southern Baptist Convention president J