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)

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.

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?

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 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.)

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.