The Call

At the end of September, Religious Right leaders will once again partner with the "prophets" and "apostles" of the New Apostolic Reformation for a pre-election "American For Jesus" rally on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall.

But apparently that won't quite be enough, so just a few days later, many of these same leaders and activists are hosting another prayer rally called "The Summons 2012" in Washington, DC that is being organized by National Day of Prayer Task Force, which is chaired by Shirely Dobson, the wife of James Dobson:

With each generation seeming to drift away from the God of our Fathers, now more than ever, it seems that we are truly at the precipice of a societal migration away from our Judeo-Christian foundation. With this in mind, the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force has called a Solemn Assembly in Washington D.C. for such a time as this. The urgency of the moment, and the prompting of God, has paved the way for The Summons (October 3-7, 2012) to be a moment in time for God’s people to stand in the gap on behalf of all Americans – perhaps as Moses did for Israel (Exodus 32, Psalm 106). Based on Psalm 50:1-6, this special prayer gathering will focus on all institutions of government within Washington D.C. and include outdoor, corporate worship near the steps of the Capitol building, as well as the base of the Washington Monument. Groups will meet with various congressional leaders, travel to the Pentagon, the Supreme Court, and many other key locations to PRAY. This is not an assignment for the faint of heart. You will need walking shoes and clothing suitable for being on location and ‘hitting the streets’, regardless of weather. We invite you to join with us, and several hundred other like-minded believers, for this unique time of prayer and worship in our nation’s capital.

Speakers include the likes of Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and Rep. Randy Forbes along with NAR leaders like Negiel Bigpond and Luis Cataldo, who played a key role in organizing Gov. Rick Perry's NAR-infused "The Response" prayer rally.

Interestingly, the Congressional Prayer Caucus is listed among the "partner ministries" along side Lou Engle's TheCall, Mike Bickle's International House of Prayer, Intercessors for America and various others.

For those who don't recall, Bickle is the one who thinks that Oprah is a forerunner of that Antichrist:

According to the schedule, the event lasts for four days, during which participants will "meet with designated elected officials" and receive a "Private Capitol Tour Led by Congressman Louie Gohmert."

And you will not be surprised to learn that the entire event is rooted in Seven Mountains theology:

As we move toward The Summons in Washington D.C., please pray specifically, focusing on the seven points of prayer for each state. As we pray, day by day, and state by state, let’s pray for the Spirit of God to sweep through our nation like a ‘mighty, rushing wind’!

Seven Point of Prayer for each State

1) Government – Pray for local and state leaders asking God to grant them wisdom, discernment, and hearts that are open to His leading.

2) Church – Pray for the Churches and Church Leaders throughout that state. Ask God to preserve and protect them, as He inspires and empowers His ‘Saints’ for the work of ministry, for the building up of the Church, and for the spreading of the Gospel.

3) Military – Pray for our Military, Guard, and Reserve units and their leadership. Pray for God to grant courage, protection, and strength for our service men and women, and their families, as they serve our country.

4) Family – Pray for families in your community and across the state. Ask Him for protection, and to strengthen marriages, encourage parents toward His priorities, heal relationships, and secure traditional values in each home.

5) Education – Pray for God’s presence in our schools, colleges, and universities. Ask Him to select teachers and administrators who honor His statutes, protect our children, and inspire them to discover their God-given calling.

6) Media – Pray for Christian influence in the media industry, from local television and radio stations, to newspaper and magazine publishers. Ask for the Lord to provide Godly men and women to work in and influence the media throughout the state and in every city.

7) Business – Pray for divine intervention in the state and local economies. Ask that God raise up Godly business leaders and provide industry to provide honest employment and generous provision for individuals and families in each community.

Preaching at The Call: Virginia last month, Lou Engle insisted that “the homosexual agenda can be broken.” If not, he warned, America may be doomed. Engle, who promoted the prayer rally by calling on attendees to channel Confederate generals to “restrain” the demonic powers behind the “homosexual agenda,” said that they can succeed “not because of our boastfulness or our greatness, but because of our repentance, because of a great revival and maybe even a great shaking and judgment that brings us to rubble so we finally get desperate enough to return to the Lord.”

Watch:

Like his fellow Proposition 8 supporters Che Ahn and Jim Garlow, Lou Engle maintains that their prayers led to the reversal of marriage equality in California in 2008 and a “sovereign appointment” with former San Francisco mayor (and current Lt. Gov.) Gavin Newsom “to call him to accountability to what he was going to do in that city concerning the homosexual agenda.” While speaking today with Pat Robertson on the 700 Club to publicize the upcoming The Call: Virginia, which Robertson has endorsed, Engle said his September, 2010 prayer rally in Sacramento “removed” the state’s governor from office. However, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had already made the decision not to run for re-election in November, 2009, and Democrat Jerry Brown won the gubernatorial race later that year.

Watch:

Robertson: Tell me one example where prayer that you know of—I know many—changed things in a nation?

Engle: I look at my own story and my prayer history in California, on a forty day season of fasting and prayer, God spoke to me that I needed to contend with those heavenly powers through humility and fasting. We believe, two stadium gatherings, a forty day fast across California, the governor of California, right after The Call in Sacramento, was removed from office, also put me in front of Gavin Newsom in a sovereign appointment to call him to accountability to what he was going to do in that city concerning the homosexual agenda. It’s actually changed so much, in my life and with the journey that I’m in, let alone many, many, stories of prayer changing history.

Robertson: One more time, Fredericksburg, Virginia, a linchpin state, there’s people coming all around the nation to join The Call.

Lou Engle has said that God is sending tornados, including the storm that struck Joplin, Missouri, as punishment to America for legalizing abortion. But apparently a march of women from Houston to Dallas as part of The Esther Call, which focused on overturning Roe v. Wade, prevented tornados in Texas from causing any fatalities, Engle told attendees:

"We didn't gather here to have a nice little worship service!" he informed the crowd. "We're actually creating a throne," he explained, to contain God and the "angelic hosts by the thousands" who would be attending the rally. Many of them, he said, had come with 39 women, part of an organization called Back To Life, who had just walked from Houston to Dallas to protest legal abortion's roots in Texas.

"Who would have guessed that when they crossed over the county line of Dallas, 12 tornadoes exploded," Engle cried. "And no deaths!" The tornadoes, the hail, the grounded planes at the airport -- all of this, he told the women and girls and more than a few men in the crowd -- were a sign that God would hear the prayers of those assembled, and use them to influence worldly affairs.

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"Thank God for the Texas Legislature," added another woman, part of a long parade of speakers who came onstage, said a few words, and disappeared without introduction. "And thank God for Rick Perry. I want you to know that you put them in office," she told the crowd, who cheered wildly. "And they are moving heaven and Earth."

Maybe Virginia will be just as “lucky” as Texas, as Engle now is taking his The Call prayer rally to Fredericksburg, with a special shout out to Confederate soldiers: “Virginia has always been a state that was instrumental in the great shifts of American history,” Engle said, “even during the Civil War, God began to pour out his spirit in the South in the soldiers in the Army camps of the South, the spirit of God was being poured out and we believe once again God will visit us in the days of great crisis”:

Many of the charismatic preachers, particularly those involved in the New Apostolic Reformation, claim that they are in the midst of taking control of the Seven Mountains of society: arts and entertainment, business, the church, education, the family, government and the media, through a mix of political advocacy and spiritual warfare. As Kyle has noted, we have already seen large prayer rallies with “the purpose of swinging elections, ending abortion, fighting marriage equality, converting Muslims, and even launching a presidential campaign,” and there is even a brand new effort to take dominion over Hollywood.

Now, there is a new spiritual warfare effort targeting public schools to bring about the return of government-organized school prayer.

Many Republican politicians and right-wing activists regularly and quite falsely assert that prayer has been outlawed in schools. As K. Hollyn Hollman, General Counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee writes: “Students, too, are free to pray voluntarily at various times of the school day, absent school involvement or disruption to others. There is simply nothing constructive to be gained from official prayer that advances or harms a particular religion. On the contrary, such prayers threaten individual freedom of conscience and violate the First Amendment’s promise of religious liberty for all.”

With the help of Lou Engle of The Call, one Religious Right activist is set to lead a prayer rally in Sacramento, California, on March 31 to bring government organized prayer back to public schools.

Brian Barcelona said he started a group called “the Christian Club” in a California public school that grew to hundreds of members and that thanks to his club “teachers have been healed of incurable diseases” and “students no longer have to turn to the counselors for advice.” He calls for students of all faiths to come together under Christianity:

This is a movement that is not about a denomination or a church, but a DEMONSTRATION of the Kingdom of God. Signs, wonders, and miracles have broken out amongst students and teachers alike. Teachers have been healed of incurable diseases, and students no longer turn to the counselors for advice, but the Christian Club for prayer and support.

A movement that doesn’t care if a student is a Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Wiccan, Atheist, or anything in between, all are invited to encounter the Love of Jesus and what He has to offer.

He goes on to say that a series of Supreme Court decisions have resulted “in the effective banning of prayer and Bible verse recitation in public schools” and dramatic increases in teen pregnancy, STDs, divorce, cohabitation, out-of-wedlock births, violent crimes, abortion rate and a decline in SAT scores.

Of course, if this were true his “Christian Club” and thousands of other clubs in the U.S. would have been shut down. But it’s not and that’s why students are allowed to pray as they choose to, rather than have the government dictate and lead students in organized prayer.

As. Dr. W. Kenneth Williams of the Baptist Joint Committee points out, government-compelled prayer “violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and offends the consciences of those would not choose to participate in the prayers” due to their faith or lack of faith” and “many believers consider watered-downed, generic prayers to be deeply offensive.”

Most of all, Barcelona’s own example proves that students are not prevented from engaging in voluntary prayer, and surely he or others involved in his version of charismatic prayer may find vapid, government-written prayers offensive just as many students may not want to participate in a government-sponsored charismatic prayer.

Transformation Michigan, the state affiliate of Rick Joyner’s The Oak Initiative that organized The Call: Detroit, sent a message to its members yesterday attacking Right Wing Watch, insisting that this blog “put out statements that were picked out of conference calls we posted that were twisted and turned and took what we were doing out of context.” Of course, Transformation Michigan doesn’t note which statements they found so controversial, and it appears the group is merely upset that they faced intense media scrutiny over claims made by The Call’s leadership that Muslims are demonic and should not be protected by the First Amendment.

Even more pathetic was Transformation Michigan’s assertion that The Call founder Lou Engle “did not” succumb to the pressure “to back down on his message.” In fact, Transformation Michigan pulled down their video, “Impacting Islam Through Prayer,” and Engle removed the reference to “the rising tide of the Islamic movement” from his website. One pastor who was involved in rallying support for The Call even said that organizers were “not visiting” mosques, although organizers, in conference calls posted by Rachel Tabachnick, had bragged about visiting mosques to dispel their supposed demonic influences.

In The Call's "Dearborn Awakening" section, fake “ex-terrorist” Kamal Saleem, whose fictitious backstory was exposed well before the rally, urged attendees to pray for Muslims to convert to Christianity. “Love and freedom were convenient catchphrases justifying the identification of nearly one-quarter of humanity with the demonic,” writes Haroon Moghul, a Muslim journalist who attended the prayer rally for Religion Dispatches. “Conflicts in the past could be safely broached, but when it came to today’s war on terror, the disingenuousness and ill-spiritedness of choosing a former Muslim with the worst possible perspective on Islam revealed Engle’s agenda and its overlap with fearmongering Islamophobes.” Rachel Tabachnick also points out that Saleem “has been producing anti-Islamic videos for the Oak Initiative.”

Another major feature of The Call: Detroit was its emphasis on recruiting African Americans to join Religious Right campaigns to outlaw abortion, combat gay rights and elect right-wing politicians.

Transformation Michigan emphasized in its message that not only will they continue to “tackle the threat of Islam” by starting a house of prayer in Dearborn but will also continue efforts to bring black voters into the conservative fold by building an “818 team” to “bring Biblical Worldview awareness to urban areas in Michigan” and distributing the discredited film Maafa 21, which claims that abortion is a plot to exterminate African Americans, to black churches. In addition, Transformation Michigan said they will work with anti-gay activist Frank Turek:

We all must realize that we just collided with Racism, Abortion, Islam, disunity in the church, false accusations, bowing to political pressures, seeker friendly attitudes, power and position in cities, lack of understanding regarding repentance and prayer, liberal theology - as well as doubt. What happened behind the scenes as TheCall at Ford Field on 11.11.11 was being organized over the months prior was very revealing.

I experienced the church accusing its own body as well as pressures for Lou Engle to back down on his message (he did not). I saw false accusations in the press that were swallowed by gullible people. One Black leader indicated to me that the seculaur media is Gospel to many in the city of Detroit. Right Wing Watch put out statements that were picked out of conference calls we posted that were twisted and turned and took what we were doing out of context. CAIR a terrorist organization (according to the Holy Land Foundation trial) made statements that were so false and almost amusing. When these things happen it makes us dig in and run harder. I give thanks for all things because [sic] we know they will work together for the good of God's eternal purpose.
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10,000 Intercessors in Michigan...and we will work on a statewide and national basis to facilitate them.

Breast Plate Prayer...Bishop Larry Jackson will be partnering with Transformation Michigan to help build the prayer movement in Michigan and see the goal of having every unsaved person being prayed for in Michigan.

Oak Intiative...and Transformation Michigan will partner in a greater way as we tackle the threat of Islam, the economy, and issues of the day.
Return to Conference Call Series...as we will have many guests and national leaders on to define, encourage, and exhort members of the body of Christ.

Maafa 21 (View Trailer on You Tube)... will be distributed in every city in Michigan as Transformation Michigan will work with national Black Pro-Life leaders. We will turn abortion in the cities and put an end to Planned Parenthood. Can we impact the next election? Yes!
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818 Team...will return and work with Transformation Michigan to bring Biblical Worldview awareness to urban areas in Michigan.
Dearborn House of Prayer...will continue to grow as Transformation Michigan will encourage participation to pray that the love of Christ will impact the Muslim communities in Michigan.
Establishing Truth on our Universities...will continue as we work with Dr. Frank Turek - Crossexamined.org - in establishing the truth of Gods Word and the existence of God.
 

An interfaith group of Detroit clergy have made tremendous headway in their work exposing the radical anti-Muslim and anti-gay agenda of Lou Engle and The Call: Detroit. However, it looks like Engle has misrepresented his prayer rally to many of the local pastors who have signed up to participate in his Ford Field prayer rally on Friday and Saturday.

Engle and other leaders of The Call, such as Rick Joyner and Jerry Boykin, have repeatedly discussed their plans to use the rally to convert Muslims. In the past, Engle has claimed that Muslims have been “fueling the demonic realm” and are beholden to “spiritual dark powers,” and has pledged “to expose the dark under-belly of Islam.”

Now that their vicious anti-Muslim views are under scrutiny by the media, organizers of The Call pulled from their website a video entitled “impacting Islam through prayer,” clips from which can still be seen here. They have also edited their website to remove Engle’s warning of “the rising tide of the Islamic movement,” reports the Dearborn Press & Guide (you can still find Engle’s original letter here):

Billed as a 24-hour gathering to “fast, pray and cry out to God,” TheCall organizers chose Detroit for specific reasons. According to the event’s Website, Detroit “has become a microcosm of our national crisis, economic collapse, racial tension, the rising tide of the Islamic movement and the shedding of blood of our children in the streets and of the unborn.”

“Christians of all denominations will be praying for the city of Detroit,” Weinzierl said.

But the reference to the “rising tide of the Islamic movement” caught the attention of the southeastern Michigan Muslim community. Although the phrase has been removed from the Website, local Muslim leaders are concerned the event is a thinly disguised rally against Islam.

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“It has nothing to do with any individual group whatsoever,” the Sterling Heights pastor said. “It’s not a prayer against anybody. It’s to pray for our area … It certainly isn’t an anti-Muslim thing.”

While Weinzierl says The Call: Detroit  “certainly isn’t an anti-Muslim thing,” someone apparently forgot to tell Engle, the founder and principal organizer of The Call, who said that the main reason he is in Detroit is to combat the “rising tide of the Islamic movement” and to pray for Muslim conversions.

Weinzierl is not the only pastor who seems to be mistaken:

Pastor Marvin Winans of Perfecting Church in Detroit, said he will be supporting Engle and TheCall. He said the summit is open to everyone.

"Jews can come, Islamics can come, Buddhists can come, but we're only going to be praying to Jesus," he said. "It is not anti-Islam."

Despite Winan’s claim that The Call is “not anti-Islam,” the chief organizers of the prayer rally have asserted that they are using The Call to “to pull down the spirit of Islam over our nation” and “bring down that strongman behind Islam.”

Another one of Engle’s allies appears to be misinformed about the works of The Call organizers:

Fears of TheCall taking on an anti-Muslim tone are uncalled for, said Apostle Ellis Smith, of Detroit's Jubilee City Church in Detroit, which is promoting the event on its website.

"Our focus will be on Ford Field, not visiting a mosque," Smith told The Associated Press Wednesday. "We're not praying against Muslims. We are going to be praying against terrorism that has its roots in Islam. We're dealing with extremism. We're against extremism when it comes to Christians."

Actually, visiting mosques and praying against Muslims is exactly what leaders of The Call have been doing throughout Michigan. Organizers of The Call have admitted to going to mosques in order to cast out demons:

The question must be asked, is Lou Engle hiding or misrepresenting his radical views to Detroit pastors?

In our reporting on Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally, we highlighted the work of John Benefiel of the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, who gained notoriety for his claims that the Statue of Liberty is a “demonic idol” and that the District of Columbia is under a curse because of its name, which Benefiel says honors the goddess Columbia. He claimed that his group succeeded in divorcing the city from the control of the pagan god Baal and renamed it the District of Christ.

Benefiel uses what he calls the “Baal Decree of Divorce” [PDF] to cast out the demonic structures that he believes control and corrupt geographic areas. He claims that the divorce decrees are a vital part of spiritual warfare that will reduce a locality’s social, environmental, economic and spiritual ills by ending Baal’s jurisdiction over that area and inviting in God to rule instead. Now, Benefiel has taken his Baal divorce decrees to Michigan in preparation for The Call: Detroit.

Rachel Tabachnick and Bruce Wilson of Talk to Action posted audio clips today of organizers from The Call and Transformation Michigan, the state affiliate of the Oak Initiative, talking about how they are using spiritual warfare to combat the supposed demonic powers over the state. Organizer Anita Christopher discussed how she works on casting demons out of mosques, saying, “We do believe as do many of the prophetic and apostolic people that Baal is the strongman over our country and directly the strongman over Islam and freemasonry.” She added that we need to “set free ourselves from freemasonry and from Islamic influence.”

Benefiel and Christopher discussed with Transformation Michigan leader Rich Warzywak their efforts to “divorce Baal” from mosques, Masonic temples and even the Michigan Senate. Benefiel said, “We are for Free Masons and Mormons and Muslims getting free from the bondage that they’ve been under to know the Lord Jesus Christ.” “In your state in the Dearborn area in particular, that’s probably the biggest stronghold of Islam in our nation, well, in going to the Masonic lodges I believe that we are earning authority from God,” claimed Benefiel. He went on to say, “I believe we are earning authority to pull down the spirit of Islam over our nation.”

Our compilation video highlights the anti-Muslim of Engle, along with the other The Call and Oak Initiative leaders Rick Joyner and Jerry Boykin:

Last week, Brian noted that several of the leaders involved in Lou Engle's upcoming "The Call" rally in Detroit have been pleading ignorance about the anti-Islam agenda that is driving the event.

"The Call" founder Lou Engle has made it abundantly clear that he chose to hold the event in Detroit in order to target the state's Muslim population for conversion, especially in the nearby city of Dearborn.  

But Engle is not alone in organizing this event and several of the other organizers of the prayer rally are professional anti-Muslim activists. 

In fact, Rick Warzywak of Transformation Michigan was tasked by Lou Engle to take the lead in organizing the Detroit event and, as part of that process, Warzywak put together a leadership team that featured Rick Joyner and Gen. Jerry Boykin, both of The Oak Initiative:

Joyner is an anti-Muslim activist who declares that Muslims are enslaved by Islam and the only reason he doesn't want to see the Quran burned is so that people will read it just to see how bizarre it is:

Boykin, for his part, was the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under Donald Rumsfeld until he resigned after video emerged of him proclaiming that that US was engaged in a spiritual war against Islam.

Since then, he has become a full-time anti-Islam activist, serving as team leader for the "Shariah: The Threat To America" report while constantly attacking Islam and telling anyone who will listen to Islam does not deserve First Amendment protections and Muslims should be prohibited from building mosques in America, while warning that the Muslim Brotherhood is on the verge of taking over the United States, so much so that he fears that his granddaughters will be forced to wear burkas.

As Boykin sees it, there can be no interfaith dialogue among Christians and Muslims because the two faiths are at war ... and, as Boykin explained to Transformation Michigan, it is time for Christians to "go on the offensive" and take the fight to the enemy by claiming vacant lots in the name of Jesus so that Muslims cannot use them to build mosques: