Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 10/14/2011 1:10 pm
During a Spiritual Warfare conference at Rick Joyner’s MorningStar Ministries, Pastor Ryan Wyatt of Abiding Glory Church preached on “Governmental Dominion.” Wyatt explained that Jesus is not going to come back until God sees that there is a “mature, overcoming bride” is “operating at the same level” as Jesus, at which point Christ will return and Christians “will work with Jesus to rule and reign.” Later, Wyatt said that “we are to rule, reign, govern, expand, advance and establish the government of God on the earth” since “this is about world domination.” He called on followers to “infiltrate” the seven mountains of influence, especially the government mountain, to attain “preparatory dominion.”
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 9/16/2011 10:45 am
While right now Janet Porter is focused on using spiritual warfare to persuade the Ohio State Senate to pass her anti-choice ‘Heartbeat bill,’ she continues to lead the Christian Zionist group ‘Israel: You’re Not Alone.’ Porter was able to bring together an impressive list of supporters including well known conservative leaders Mike Huckabee, James Dobson, Mat Staver, and Tim Wildmon, and during the group’s introductory press conference accused President Obama of carrying out “ethnic cleansing.”
On September 11th the organization released a statement calling for “repentance of the sin pervading the Earth and its inhabitants” and a plea for “media outlets to consider the material presented in a 10-minute video and to present this to their viewers, listeners, or readers in some format.”
The graphic video Porter’s group advertises was made by preacher Carl Gallups and depicts the September 11th attacks as a “biblical sign of judgment” and calls out politicians for the “arrogance of defiance” which is “the highest insult against the Most High God”:
“The eight harbingers of judgment pronounced on Israel,” Gallups claims, “are identically pronounced on the United States of America and have been acted out by our own nation’s leaders.” Gallups concludes:
It was in New York City where America began as a nation, it was where this nation was started, and it was there that the warning of the judgment of God was given on September 11, 2001. America on its day of birth of a nation was dedicated to God at the corner of a plot of land now known by a more ominous name, now known as Ground Zero. Ground Zero is the mystery place of American history; it was right there at the corner of Ground Zero that our nation’s first government knelt and prayed and it was there on September 11th where God spoke again. What happens to America, and probably soon, will depend upon whether America is willing to repent and turn back to God, or not.
Along with Huckabee, other Religious Right activists that signed onto her coalition include James Robison, Lou Sheldon, Jerry Boykin, Rick Scarborough, Rob Schenck, Paul Blair, Don Feder, Bill Federer, Gordon Klingenschmitt, and E.W. Jackson, and New Apostolic Reformation figures Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, Che Ahn, Don Finto, Robert Stearns and Chuck Pierce. The signatories also included the Messianic Jewish Alliance and Toward Jerusalem Council II, which both work to convert Jews to Christianity.
While partnering with an extremist like Porter should’ve been alarming enough, do Mike Huckabee and the countless other conservative leaders want to continue their partnership with a group that endorses the claim that the September 11th attacks were a “biblical sign of judgment”?
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 9/9/2011 11:22 am
As we have been noting over the last few weeks, all of these people who have spent the last several years calling on Christians to take dominion over the Seven Mountains have suddenly started downplaying their Dominionist agenda.
New Apostolic Reformation guru C. Peter Wagner has been especially active in trying to downplay the Dominionist aspect of his movement and just yesterday spent twenty minutes telling Voice of America that they were merely seeking to "influence" society and have no interest in establishing any sort of theocratic society.
The problem for Wagner is that there are all sorts of writings and videos of him openly advocating such things produced back before he became so cautious about his choice of language.
For instance, there is this letter he wrote in 2007 in which he cited Lance Wallnau's teachings on the Seven Mountains as the foundation for his work and declared that Christians were mandated by God to "do whatever is necessary" to institute their Dominion Theology:
Lance's trademark teaching relates to what he calls the seven "mind molders" or the "seven mountains." These have now become a permanent fixture in my personal teaching on taking dominion, and I have referenced Wallnau in The Church in the Workplace as well as in my forthcoming book Dominion! In my view it is not possible to get an operational handle on how to initiate corporate action toward social transformation without taking into account the seven mountains or what I like to call "molders of culture." The seven are religion, family, business, arts & entertainment, government, education, and media.
...
Our theological bedrock is what has been known as Dominion Theology. This means that our divine mandate is to do whatever is necessary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to retake the dominion of God's creation which Adam forfeited to Satan in the Garden of Eden. It is nothing less than seeing God's kingdom coming and His will being done here on earth as it is in heaven. This includes the need to govern apolitically, as well as to embrace spiritual warfare techniques that neutralize the control of our adversary within the functional and territorial spheres of authority to which we have been assigned. To do this, we know that we must be in communion, we must receive revelation, and we must apostolically and prophetically proclaim that revelation.
Wagner insisted that they have no interest in gaining "control" over the Seven Mountains, nor in establishing any sort of theocracy. As he explained it, they are simply seeking to see God's prophets and apostles "rise in terms of influence in all of the Seven Mountains and in society as a whole" in order to bring around the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Wagner was also asked about the prevalence of NAR associates on stage and in organizing Gov. Perry's prayer rally and admitted that it was a sign of the NAR's growing influence and asserted that there is nothing wrong with being a part of the NAR or associating with it:
VOA: You've had a lot of attention since The Response prayer rally that was headlined by Rick Perry last month. Do you think the attention you've gotten is warranted? There are a lot of people, especially on the left, who are very worried about this movement. Do you think that they're right that your influence is growing?
Wagner: I think they're right that the influence is growing and the influence was very strong in The Response meeting. But what I see in the media is that critics of conservative candidates like Rick Perry are accusing him of doing something bad by his friendship with people in the NAR. I don't know if Rick Perry would consider himself as a part of the NAR but he had some people on the platform and in the audience who were part of the NAR. But I don't think there is anything worse about being part of the NAR then being part of the Southern Baptists or being part of the Catholic Church or being part of any other segment of Christianity.
The entire interview is interesting and informative and well worth a listen.
David Barton, the right-wing pseudo-historian who has counseled leading Republicans like Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee, similarly believes that demonic principalities are literally controlling parts of government and that Christians must engaged in spiritual warfare to combat them. Barton is an advocate of Seven Mountains Dominionism, which as Lance Wallnau explains, requires spiritual warfare against the demons that control the seven mountains of society.
In last year’s “In God We Trust” series, televangelist Kenneth Copeland asked Barton why politicians “change when they moved to Washington.” Citing Ephesians 6:12, Barton claimed that politics is a “spiritual battle” because demonic principalities literally “sit over” and control areas in the Capitol. These principalities, Barton says, prevent prayers from working because they are “fighting in the Heavenlies” and make politicians “think really goofy.”
I’ll tell you one of the things too we’ll never get right until we understand this, it is a spiritual battle. We’re told in Ephesians, it’s not flesh in blood, we’re dealing with spirits. And I’ll tell you out of Daniel, praying, why did that answer get delayed for twenty-one days? Because the Prince of Persia fought against it. There are principalities that sit over certain areas.
And I can tell this in the U.S. Capitol. When I walk from the House side to the Senate side, I cross the middle line of the Capitol, I can feel a different principality because they have jurisdictions over different things. And there are principalities that sit over different government entities that cause them to think really goofy and you can’t get prayers through, they get delayed twenty-one days because the principalities are up there fighting in the Heavenlies.
Because we’re not fighting flesh and blood. And if you don’t understand this is a spiritual battle, and if you don’t understand there are really big principalities and powers sitting over places of power, whether it be banking, or education. There’s principalities that sit over schools to keep those kids from getting knowledge, there’s principalities that sit over financial institutions. They sit over households. That’s why you have principalities in powers, that gradation, you have the corporals, and you have the sergeants, and you have the lieutenants, the captains and the generals, and the generals have a bigger principality and those little corporals may have control over the house but it’s a spiritual battle.
It’s a spiritual battle and we’ll never win until we understand that.
Engle and Joyner are hosting the 'Mobilization Conference for The Call Detroit' on September 9-10, where the two “will be sharing a message that evening on the seasons of time we are in and the importance of the upcoming gathering at Ford Field in Detroit.”
The Call has previously won endorsements from Republican and Religious Right leaders including Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Tim Wildmon, Harry Jackson and Mat Staver. The rally is intended to use “spiritual warfare” to make abortion illegal and ban same-sex marriage. Engle has said that The Call: Detroit will also focus on converting Muslims to Christianity along with the usual anti-choice and anti-gay efforts. Engle also released a new video publicizing the prayer rally:
Another figure running the ‘Mobilizaiton Conference for The Call’ with Engle and Joyner is self-proclaimed apostle Barbara Yoder. Yoder says she is a follower of Peter Wagner, who is seen as the architect of the New Apostolic Reformation, and her biography lists her as a: “Member of Eagles’ Vision Apostolic Team led by Drs. Peter and Doris Wagner; Michigan State Coordinator Global Apostolic Prayer Network under Dr. Peter Wagner and Dr. Chuck Pierce; Member of the core faculty for Wagner Leadership Institute; Member of the International Coalition of Apostles under the direction of Dr. Peter Wagner.”
In terms of spiritual beliefs, pluralism means that there is no single path to God. Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age, or whatever someone thinks is ‘the way’ will work as long as we end up with ‘god’—and ill-defined god at that. Pluralism rejects the Bible as the source of absolute truth. Many Americans prefer pluralism as the most plausible belief system.
In terms of human cultural mix, American culture is increasingly formed from multiple cultures. Hispanics or Latinos have emerged as the leading minority group, Latinizing the national culture. The Caucasian majority, who came from European roots, is aging and cannot compete with the fertility rates of the minorities. Asian and Middle Eastern nations are sending a flood of immigrants to American shores. This has a noticeable effect on the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of our national character.
…
It seems as if there are no boundaries anymore. Adultery and fornication are rampant, not only in the society at large but in the church as well. Television and Internet ads are sexualized. Previous taboos have been eliminated, and television programs include sex acts.
It is now ‘normal’ to be homosexual or bisexual. When Madonna and Britney Spears were photographed kissing each other, a forbidden boundary was removed. Now it is the rage among junior high and high school girls to take pictures of themselves kissing each other and post them on their Myspace.com pages. Anything goes.
Yoder’s warning of the deleterious consequences of Madonna and Britney Spears kissing has already been addressed at The Call, when self-proclaimed Prophet Cindy Jacobs preached against it at The Call: Sacramento last year:
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 8/23/2011 4:35 pm
Thanks to the presidential campaigns of Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, there has been a lot of attention focused lately on dominion theology and its role within the Religious Right political movement.
This, in turn, has led to a number of pieces asserting that there is no such thing as "dominionism" and claiming that it is nothing more than a conspiracy-theory/scare-tactic dreamed up by the Left.
Our colleague Peter Montgomery addressed this effort to downplay dominionism in an excellent piece he wrote for Religion Dispatches yesterday, but Religious Right activists continue to claim that there is no cause for alarm whatsoever.
Today, John Aman, Director of Communications at Truth in Action Ministries, went a step further, writing a piece for the Christian Post claiming that dominionism doesn't even exist:
I had never even heard the term until 2005 when a Christian Science Monitor reporter asked me about it in connection with our Reclaiming America for Christ conference.
The reason I was so clueless is because, as Joe Carter explains in First Things, it’s a label used exclusively on the left. Berkeley-educated sociologist Sara Diamond, the author of several critiques of Christian civic engagement, including Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right, invented the term in the 1980s.
Dominionism, Carter explains, is a term “never used outside liberal blogs and websites. No reputable scholars use the term for it is a meaningless neologism that Diamond concocted for her dissertation.”
It is, however, a handy way to smear evangelicals like Bachmann and Perry who bring biblically informed moral convictions into public debate.
...
The truth is that dominionism is a sham charge-one reserved for Christians on the right.
Really? Maybe someone ought to tell that to all the dominionists who have suddenly started downplaying their dominionism.
As it happens, Porter was once the National Director for the Center for Reclaiming America, the sister organization to Coral Ridge Ministries ... which just so happens to be the former name of Truth in Action Ministries, where none other than John Aman serves as the Director of Communications.
Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Tuesday, 8/9/2011 12:13 pm
Casual viewers of “The Response,” including some political reporters who don’t pay a lot of attention to the Religious Right, may have watched Texas Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally on Saturday and wondered what all the fuss was about. Most of the time was taken up with prayer and praise music. Few of the speakers seemed overtly political. Nobody used the occasion to endorse Perry’s pending presidential bid.
But context is everything, and the context for this event was remarkable: a governor launching a presidential bid by teaming up with some of the nation’s most divisive extremists to hold a Christians-only prayer rally that suggested Americans are helpless to solve the country’s problems without divine intervention. Some media coverage is missing the boat: the issue wasn’t whether it was ok for a politician to pray, or the size of the audience, but the purposes of the event’s planners and their disturbing vision for America.
Organizers argued (unconvincingly) that “The Response” was about prayer, not politics. But groups like the American Family Association (AFA), which paid for the rally and its webcast, and organizations like the Family Research Council, whose president was among the speakers, are not designed to win souls but to change American law and culture through grassroots organizing and political power-building. They have a corrosive effect on our political culture by promoting religious bigotry and anti-gay extremism, by claiming that the United States was meant to be a Christian nation, and by fostering resentment among conservative evangelicals with repeated false assertions that liberal elites are out to destroy religious liberty and silence conservative religious voices.
By calling for this rally, and partnering with the far right of the evangelical world, Perry aligned himself with all these troubling strategies. When he drew criticism for the event and the extremism of its sponsors, Perry suggested his critics were intolerant of Christians. Speakers returned to the theme, with one of them declaring that “there is an attack on the name of Jesus.” Such claims of anti-Christian persecution are a tried-and-true strategy of the Religious Right for rousing conservative Christians to political activism. And for those who actually believe that Christianity is on the verge of being criminalized in America, Perry’s event defined him as a defiant and courageous defender of the faith.
As journalist Dave Weigel writes, “That's the brilliance of what Perry has done here…He doesn't need to talk about politics, or do anything besides be here and understand this event. The religion is the politics. These worshippers understand that if they can bring ‘the kingdom of God’ to Earth, economic problems, even macroeconomic problems, will sort themselves out.”
A major chunk of the day was given over to Mike Bickle, who runs the International House of Prayer (IHOP) movement, which recruits young people into “radical” devotion to prayer and fasting. Yes, he’s the guy who said that Oprah is paving the way for the Antichrist. Bickle’s associate Lou Engle has organized a series of stadium events pushing prayer, fasting, and politics under the banner of “The Call,” which provided the model for “The Response.” Bickle and Engle are hard-core dominionists who believe they are ushering in a new Christian church which will take its rightful place of dominion over every aspect of government and society. But in spite of their well-documented extremism, they are embraced by Republican leaders. Engle, for example, took part in a Family Research Council prayer-a-thon against health care reform, at which he introduced Rep. Michele Bachmann.
The Christian-nation crowd, like Response speaker David Barton and AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer, who says the First Amendment protects only Christians’ religious liberty, shares a certain vision for America’s future. Some of the political goals of “The Response” sponsors were brutally clear at the rally; a series of speakers prayed for an end to legal abortion. While rhetorical gay-bashing was surprisingly absent at an event whose sponsors include the most vehemently anti-gay groups in America (including the AFA, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center), it is clear that in the America envisioned by “The Response” planners, same-sex couples would have no chance at legal recognition or protection for their families. Shortly before the event, Perry himself was forced to walk back from his very brief flirtation with a states’ rights defense of New Yorkers’ decision to extend marriage equality to same-sex couples -- and to vow his support for a federal constitutional amendment that would strip married same-sex couples of their rights and make sure that in the future gay couples could not get married anywhere in the U.S.
And lest anyone think that Perry’s religious agenda is limited to social issues, he made clear that a rigid conservative economic agenda was central to his spiritual mission. Just days before the rally, on “The 700 Club,” Perry said he’d be praying for “our country’s economic prosperity. There just so many people that can’t take care of their family because government’s over-taxed, over-regulated, over-litigated, it caused roadblocks to economic prosperity.” Those words echo the theology of activists like Barton, who have preached that the Bible condemns progressive taxation, the minimum wage and collective bargaining.
Perry is clearly positioning himself to enter the Republican presidential primary as a political savior to right-wing activists who are underwhelmed with their choices so far. Yet, oddly for someone who wants to be president, he insists that America’s problems are beyond human ability to fix. (Sadly, that may only be true to the extent that enough legislators believe that God, like Grover Norquist, is opposed to any tax increases.)
Perry’s worldview and that of “The Response” organizers seems to see no useful role for non-Christian Americans, whose religious beliefs were denigrated at “The Response.” When Perry told Americans on Saturday that we, “as a nation,” must return to God, it’s clear he meant God as understood by the event’s organizers. Jim Garlow, who organized anti-marriage equality pastors in California before being hired by Newt Gingrich to run one of his political groups, told journalist Sarah Posner on Saturday that “The Response” was “not about whether Perry becomes president, it’s about making Jesus king.” Perry used the event to let right-wing religious voters and churches nationwide know that for those who see politics as spiritual warfare, he is the warrior they have been waiting for.
Submitted by Miranda Blue on Friday, 8/5/2011 7:14 pm
Updated 8/5/2011
On August 6, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will host The Response, a “prayer rally” in Houston, along with the extremist American Family Association and a cohort of Religious Right leaders with far-right political ties. While the rally’s leaders label it a "a non-denominational, apolitical Christian prayer meeting," the history of the groups behind it suggests otherwise. The Response is powered by politically active Religious Right individuals and groups who are dedicated to bringing far-right religious view, including degrading views of gays and lesbians and non-Christians, into American politics.
In fact, a spokesman for The Response has said that while non-Christians will be welcomed at the rally, they will be urged to “seek out the living Christ.” Allan Parker, a right-wing activist who participated in an organizing conference call for the event, declared in an email bearing the official Response logo that including non-Christians in the event "would be idolatry of the worst sort."
Perry told James Dobson that the rally was necessary because Americans have “turned away from God.”
The following is an introduction to the groups and individuals who Gov. Perry has allied himself with in planning this event.
The American Family Association
The American Family Association is the driving force behind The Response. Founded by the Rev. Don Wildmon in 1977, the organization is based is best known for its various boycott campaigns, promotion of art censorship, and political advocacy against women’s rights and LGBT equality. The organization also controls the vast American Family Radio and an online news service, in addition to sponsoring various conferences frequented by Republican leaders, including the Values Voter Summit and Rediscovering God in America. The AFA today is led by Tim Wildmon, Don’s son, and its chief spokesperson is Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis for Government and Public Policy and host of its flagship radio show Focal Point.
Fischer routinely expresses support for some of the most bigoted and shocking ideas found in the Religious Right today. He has:
said that the anti-Muslim manifesto of the right-wing Christian terrorist who killed dozens in Norway was “accurate.”
Other AFA leaders and activists are just as radical:
AFA President Tim Wildmon claims that by repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell President Obama shows he “doesn’t give a rip about the Marines or the Army” and “just wants to force homosexuality into every place that he can.”
AFA Vice President Buddy Smith, who is on the leadership council of The Response, said that gays and lesbians are “in the clasp of Satan.”
The Response’s leadership team includes five senior staff members of the International House of Prayer (IHOP), a large, highly political Pentecostal organization built on preparing participants for the return of Jesus Christ. In a recent video, IHOP encouraged supporters to pray for Jews to convert to Christianity in order to bring about the Second Coming. IHOP is closely associated with Lou Engle, a Religious Right leader whose anti-gay, anti-choice extremism hasn’t stopped him from hobnobbing with Republican leaders including Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee. Engle is the founder of The Call, day-long rallies against abortion rights and gay marriage, which Engle says are meant to break Satan’s control over the U.S. government. One recent Call event featured “prophet” Cindy Jacobs calling for repentance for the “girl-on-girl kissing” of Britney Spears and Madonna. Perry's The Response event is clearly built upon Engle's The Call model.
Engle has a long history of pushing extreme right-wing views and advocating for a conservative theocracy in America. Engle:
IHOP’s founder and executive director, Mike Bickle, who is an official endorser of The Response, like Engle pushes radical End Times prophesies. In one sermon, he declared that Oprah Winfrey is a precursor to the Antichrist.
The International House of Prayer, incidentally, remains locked in a copyright infringement lawsuit with the International House of Pancakes.
Tony Perkins
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is a co-chairman of The Response. At the FRC, Perkins has been a vocal opponent of LGBT equality, often relying on false claims about gay people to push his agenda. He:
denied that there was a correlation between anti-gay bullying and depression and suicide, saying instead that gay and lesbian teens know they are “abnormal” and “have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict";
One of the most prominent members of The Response’s leadership team is pastor Jim Garlow. The pastor for a San Diego megachurch, Garlow has been intimately involved in political battles, especially the campaign to pass Proposition 8. Garlow invited and housed Lou Engle to lead The Call rallies around California for six months to sway voters to support Proposition 8, which would repeal the right of gay and lesbian couples to get married. He claims Satan is behind the “attack on marriage” and credits the prayer rallies for the passage of Prop 8. He said that during a massive The Call rally in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium “something had snapped in the Heavenlies” and “God had moved” to deliver Prop 8 to victory.
Most importantly, Garlow is a close spiritual adviser to presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and leads Gingrich’s Renewing American Leadership (ReAL). Garlow is a principal advocate of Seven Mountains Dominionism, and wants to “bring armies of people” to bring Religious Right leaders into public office and defeat their political opponents.
likened homosexuality to bestiality, saying that if marriage equality is upheld “the next court case could conceivably say that if three people wanted to marry or four people or five people or if someone wanted to marry their dog or their horse”;
While Senator John McCain rejected John Hagee’s endorsement during the 2008 presidential campaign for his “deeply offensive and indefensible” remarks, Perry invited Hagee to join The Response. Hagee leads a megachurch in San Antonio, Texas, and is a purveyor of End Times prophesies. Like members of the International House of Prayer, Hagee utilizes language of spiritual warfare and says he is part of “the army of the living God.” He runs the prominent group Christians United For Israel, which believes that eventually a cataclysmic war in the Middle East will bring about the Rapture.
John McCain was forced to disavow Hagee for a reason as the Texas pastor:
claimed that God sent Hitler to be a “hunter” of Jews to usher in the establishment of Israel and “do God’s work,” lamenting that Jews are no longer “spiritually alive.”
referred to the Catholic Church as ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’
said that God won’t allow the United States to win wars anymore because “we have allowed the worship of Satanism in the U.S. military.”
James Dobson
James Dobson, an official endorser of The Response, is one of the most prominent figures in the Religious Right. Founder of both Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council , Dobson has been instrumental in bringing the priorities of the Religious Right to Republican politics, including campaigning hard for President George W. Bush. But many of the views that Dobson pushes are hardly mainstream. Dobson:
insists that the Religious Right’s fight against Planned Parenthood is “very similar” to that of abolitionists who fought against the slave trade.
Asked if God had withdrawn his hand from America after 9/11, Dobson responded: “Christians have made arguments on both sides of this question. I certainly believe that God is displeased with America for its pride and arrogance, for killing 40 million unborn babies, for the universality of profanity and for other forms of immorality. However, rather than trying to forge a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the terrorist attacks and America's abandonment of biblical principles, which I think is wrong, we need to accept the truth that this nation will suffer in many ways for departing from the principles of righteousness. "The wages of sin is death," as it says in Romans 6, both for individuals and for entire cultures.”
David Barton
David Barton, an official endorser of The Response, is a self-proclaimed historian known for his twisting of American History and the Bible to justify right-wing political positions. Barton’s strategy is twofold: he first works to find Biblical bases for right-wing policy initiatives, and then argues that the Founding Fathers wanted the United States to be a Christian nation, so obviously wanted whatever policy he has just found a flimsy Biblical basis for. Barton, “documenting” the divine origins of his interpretations of the Constitution gives him and his political allies a potent weapon. Opponents who disagree about tax policy or the powers of Congress are not only wrong, they are un-American and anti-religious, enemies of America and of God.
Barton uses his shoddy historical and biblical scholarship to push a right-wing political agenda, including:
Biblical Capitalism: Barton’s “scholarship” helps to form the basis for far-right economic policies. He claims that “Jesus was against the minimum wage,” that the Bible “absolutely condemned” the estate tax,” and opposed the progressive income tax.
Revising Racial History: Barton has traveled the country peddling a documentary he made blaming the Democratic Party for slavery, lynching and Jim Crow…while ignoring more recent history.
Opposing Gay Rights: Barton believes the government should regulate gay sex and maintains that countries which “rejected sexual regulation” inevitably collapse.
Other Allies
Among the other far-right figures who have signed on to work with Gov. Perry on The Response are:
Rob Schenk, an anti-choice extremist who was once arrested for throwing a fetus in the face of President Clinton, and who allegedly had ties with the murderer of abortion provider Dr. Barnett Slepian.
Loren Cunningham, who is working to mobilize support for the rally is a co-founder of the radical “Seven Mountains Dominionist” ideology. Cunningham says that he received the “seven mountains” idea, which holds that evangelical Christians must take hold of all aspects of society in order to pave the way for the Second Coming, in a message directly from God.
Doug Stringer, The Response's National Church and Ministry Mobilization Coordinator, who blamed American secularism and the increased acceptance of homosexuality for the 9/11 attacks, saying “It was our choice to ask God not to be in our every day lives and not to be present in our land.”
Cindy Jacobs, self-proclaimed “prophet” and endorser of The Response, who famously insisted that birds were dying in Arkansas earlier this year because of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
C. Peter Wagner, an official endorser of The Response, is one of the most prominent leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation, a controversial movement whose followers believe they are prophets and apostles on par with Christ himself (other adherents include Engle, Jacobs and Anh). Wagner has advocated burning Catholic, Mormon and non-Christian religious objects. He blamed the Japanese stock market crash and later the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the country on a traditional ritual in which the emperor supposedly has “sexual intercourse” with the pagan Sun Goddess.
Che Ahn, a mentor of John Hagee and official endorser of The Response, who endorses “Seven Mountains” dominionism and compares the fight against gay rights to the fight against slavery.
John Benefiel, a self-proclaimed "apostle" and official endorser of The Response, who claims the Statue of Liberty is a "demonic idol" and that homosexuality is a plot cooked up by the Illuminati to control the world's population, and that he renamed the District of Columbia the “District of Christ” because he has “more authority than the U.S. Congress does.”
James “Jay” Swallow, official endorser of the rally, who calls himself a “spiritual warrior” and hosts “Strategic Warriors At Training (SWAT): A Christian Military Training Camp for the purpose of dealing with the occult and territorial enemy strong holds in America.”
Alice Smith, who advocates "spiritual housecleaning" because demons "sneak into" homes through everyday objects.
Willie Wooten, a self-proclaimed “apostle” who claims that God is punishing the African American community for supporting gay rights, reproductive freedom and the Democratic Party.
Pastor Stephen Broden – Broden, an endorser of The Response, has repeatedly insisted that a violent overthrow of the U.S. government must remain “on the table.”
Timothy F. Johnson – Johnson, a former vice-chairman of the North Carolina GOP, was elected to that post despite two domestic violence convictions and still unresolved questions about his military service and educational record.
Alice Patterson – Patterson, a member of The Response's leadership team, insists that the Democratic Party is controlled by a "demonic structure."
Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 7/20/2011 10:26 am
Last week we posted a video John Benefiel, head of the Heartland Apostolic Reformation Network, explaining how he had gone to Washington, DC in order to exercise his "spiritual authority" to "divorce Baal" and rename the city "the District of Christ."
Now it looks like Benefiel, Cindy Jacobs, and others will be returning to DC this fall for forty days of prayer through something called "DC 40: Forty Days of Light Over D.C" through which they will lay spiritual "seige" to the city and the nation in general:
The purpose of this siege is to change the atmosphere over the city of Washington D.C. through our worship, preparing the way for our legislators to function on a different playing field as we release 40 days of light over the city.
WHEN
October 3 through November 11
THREE DAYS
CAPITALS TO CAPITAL
Reformation Prayer Network - led by Cindy Jacobs
Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network - led by John Benefiel are united with us in this initiative.
These networks will have teams in the capital cities of ALL 50 states praying through this strategic timeframe linking state capitals to the nation’s capital.
OCTOBER 31 - REFORMATION DAY
NOVEMBER 1 - ALL SAINTS DAY
NOVEMBER 2 - THE DAY OF THE DEAD
40 DAY PRAYER FOCUS FOR THE NATION:
A COMBINED THRUST!
We are asking every praying person born again through the Blood of the Lamb to join us and releasing 40 days of light!
The event is actually scheduled to last for fifty one days, with participants spending the first eleven day in Philadelphia before heading to DC for forty days of spiritual warfare:
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 7/12/2011 12:49 pm
After Lou Engle claimed that the devastating tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri was God’s punishment for legal abortion, Engle’s youth group Bound4Life now says that God is getting ready to punish America for reproductive freedom. Bound4Life is based in JHOP, the International House of Prayer’s Washington D.C. affiliate, and seeks to end “the holocaust of abortion” through spiritual warfare. Bound4Life’s Susan Tyrrell writes that judges who defend abortion rights will compel God to punish America:
Make no mistake, God will hold accountable those who rule with tyranny without fearing Him—they are those who take power into their own hands, and pound it with their gavel as if they are representing a people instead of a few.
Tyranny, you say? Indeed. Tyranny is defined as “arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.” To be a lone twister of justice of a law that’s gone through the proper channels of government and bow the knee to the evil entities that drive the abortion industry is perhaps one of the best visuals for tyranny that exists in modern day America.
Often we think because there is no immediate consequence, on a people or a nation, God has somehow closed His eyes, but in actuality what we are seeing from the throne room of heaven is a great outpouring of mercy; however, the Bible is clear that mercy will end:
Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecc. 8:11)
Clearly, the sentence is coming—this window is the nation’s opportunity for repentance, not a condoning of our national sin or excuse of our national culpability.
…
Abortion has caused us to acquiesce our justice system, but it’s not too late. It’s time to stand up for those who can’t (proverbs 31:8) and defend the unborn. If we don’t fight for justice in the courtroom of heaven, we will continue to lose our battles in the courtroom of earth, opening the path wider to the coming judgment for sucking life from 54 million innocent babies in the womb.
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 7/11/2011 12:28 pm
Willie Wooten of is one of the latest official endorsers of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally. Wooten, of the New Orleans-based Gideon International Christian Fellowship, is a self-proclaimed Apostle who claims to have “had a positive influence in the governmental arena and has been instrumental in preventing ungodly laws from being enacted within the state of Louisiana and also throughout our nation.”
A critic of gay rights, Wooten has compared being gay to polygamy and incest and argued that “homosexual marriage is not a civil rights issue; it’s a moral issue. It is a deviant type of behavior and lifestyle. How do they do it? It’s too nasty.” Wooten feverishly works against legislation in Louisiana that would grant gay and lesbian couples legal rights and protect gays and lesbians from employment discrimination and school bullying. Wooten claims that because black legislators have oftentimes proposed such legislation, the black community faces a curse from God. According to an article from the Louisiana newspaper The Advocate:
"We call on our lawmakers -- and especially the Black Caucus members -- to be strong and courageous as you give priority to this matter and do all that is in your power to protect historic marriage," Wooten said.
Disasters "heaped upon" Louisiana's black community occur because "a lot of our legislators are not on the side of God and His moral laws,"
In fact, Wooten wrote an entire book about how the African American community is under a curse from God because black leaders have promoted liberalism and the Democratic Party. In Breaking The Curse Off Black America, Wooten blames African American political and religious leaders for crossing God through “immorality,” making God punish African Americans, which in turn leads to the curses of “adultery, incest, children from incestuous union, children born out-of-wedlock, destroyed virginity, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism.” Wooten says that African Americans beget God’s punishment by voting for Democratic candidates and tolerating homosexuality, and only through Wooten’s brand of ultraconservative politics and spiritual warfare can Black America be redeemed:
Increased numbers of young people were embracing homosexuality (the “Down Low” bisexual lifestyle), prostitution, and all sorts of perversion. How could this be, knowing that we were raised in different environments? Now it is becoming clear. There is a curse on Black America. As I could see this truth being realized, God began pouring an abundance of revelations into my heart (p. 19).
…
The result of a curse brings regret, mourning, and grief. For example, if the sin is sexual, it could bring adultery, incest, children from incestuous union, children born out-of-wedlock, destroyed virginity, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism, and sodomy. Other curses can be activated through rebellion against God and His words; parents, pastors, rulers and authorities, turning away from God, idolatry, pride, fleshly practices, and touching and harming God’s anointed (p. 64).
…
A dark cloud appears to hover over Black America, even with our measure of achievements, we are engulfed in a culture of sin. Our leadership has led people to agree with sin, leading them into a political party and boldly chiding them if they attempt to go any another way. That party, the Democratic party, is consistently on the wrong side of moral issues. The party led the way for proabortion and homosexuality legislation. Ninety percent of voting Black America have been steadfast in voting democrat. They have not voted issues, they have voted the party and the party has used them. Blacks have been crying out for the same issues and problems to be addressed. Still the masses have voted for ungodly laws. Blacks are on the wrong side of moral issues nationwide (p. 82).
…
The man of God could not have his testicles damaged or defective. This speaks of his inability to procreate. There is an inability by far too many black leaders to produce sons of God who are truly spiritual people. Consequently, there is a great lack of discipleship, and also, there is an out-of-control sexual appetite among too many pastors and church leaders. God does not and never will accept the black leaders’ mantra of “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” or “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” or “touch not mine anointed.” There is too much immorality in the Black Church, namely greed, pedophilia, homosexuality, lesbianism, adultery, and fornication (p. 107).
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 7/11/2011 10:33 am
On Friday, Rachel Maddow looked into the extreme political activists and pastors that Texas Governor Rick Perry is working with to put on his The Response prayer rally. In the segment, Maddow discusses Mike Bickle, the founder and executive director of the International House of Prayer and an endorser of The Response. Maddow cites research from Right Wing Watch on Bickle and his claim that Oprah Winfrey is the precursor to the Antichrist. Bickle’s IHOP ministry is closely involved in organizing Perry’s prayer rally, modeling it after the IHOP-linked The Call prayer rally which preaches the use of spiritual warfare against legalized abortion and gay rights.
Following the deadly earthquake in Japan earlier this year, Peter Wagner argued that the disaster was punishment from God because Japan “invited national demonization” and the pagan Sun Goddess had “sexual intercourse with the Emperor” of Japan. He similarly blamed Japan’s economic problems on the Emperor’s supernatural sex life: “Since the night that the present emperor slept with the sun Goddess, the stock market in Japan has gone down - never come up since.”
In his book, Hard-Core Idolatry-Facing the Facts, Wagner praised the burning of Roman Catholic, Mormon, Native American, and other non-Protestant religious objects: “The leaders explained how important it would be to do spiritual housecleaning in their homes before they came to the meeting. They began mentioning the kinds of material things that might be bringing honor to the spirits of darkness; pictures, statues, Catholic saints, Books of Mormon, pictures of former lovers, pornographic material, fetishes, drugs, Ouija boards, zodiac charms, good luck symbols, crystals for healing, amulets, talismans, tarot cards, witch dolls, voodoo items, love potions, books of magic, totem poles, certain pieces of jewelry, objects of Freemasonry, horoscopes gargoyles, native art, foreign souvenirs, and what have you.”
But in Rick Perry’s Christians-only, proselytizing prayer rally, endorsements from extremists like Wagner should come as no surprise as the Religious Right continue their embrace of Dominionism and the New Apostolic Reformation.
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 6/23/2011 1:10 pm
When Texas governor and potential presidential candidate Rick Perry announced that he was holding a prayer rally called The Response, co-hosted by the American Family Association, Right Wing Watch flagged the immense influence of another group, the International House of Prayer (IHOP), in organizing the event. Members of the IHOP leadership hold high-ranking positions in The Response’s leadership team, including Director of The Response Luis Cataldo, National Student Mobilization coordinator Dave Sliker, and program coordinators Jill Cataldo and Randy and Kelsey Bohlender. Mike Bickle, the director of IHOP, is also an official endorser of the event. IHOP is closely tied to a similar prayer rally known as The Call, whose head Lou Engle has used The Call to strongly denounce reproductive rights and homosexuality, support Uganda’s “kill-the-gays” bill among other anti-gay legislation, and engage in “spiritual warfare” against the Supreme Court.
IHOP also propagates an extreme but common view held in many Religious Right circles: that the Jewish people must convert to Christianity in order to bring about the return of Jesus Christ to Earth and the End Times. Many Religious Right groups and activists, including John Hagee, another endorser of The Response, believe that the End Times will only be fulfilled once enough Jews leave their faith and become Christians.
In fact, IHOP made a video that asked people to prayer for Jews to convert to Christianity, because “He will return only when Israel is ready and willing to receive Him as their savior and king. When He returns, the entire nation of Israel will be saved.” Much like the spokesman for The Response who said that he wants members of all faiths to “seek out the living Christ” at Perry’s rally, IHOP urges members to pray for Jews to accept the Gospel:
The nation of Israel – God’s chosen people. Believers are commanded in the Bible to pray for this nation, but why? It’s true that God wants to bring forth a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, neither Jew nor Gentile to worship before his throne, but when it comes to Israel, is there something more? Yes. God has not finished with Israel. The eternal covenant promises of God to Israel still stand.
It is through Israel that God will establish His kingdom on the Earth in fullness, and through whom, He will bring blessing to every nation. Jesus is returning to the Earth to rule as the Jewish king from Jerusalem on the throne of David.
He will return only when Israel is ready and willing to receive Him as their savior and king. When He returns, the entire nation of Israel will be saved.
The attack against Israel will escalate as we approach the End Times, with an increase in global anti-Semitism, culminating in a united political and military assault against the city of Jerusalem. For this reason, it is critical that the people of God come into agreement with God’s purpose for Israel, and take their stand in the place of prayer.
So, how should we pray? Scripture tells us to pray for two cities: our own city, and for the peace of Jerusalem. We must pray, first and foremost, for spiritual peace, that the Gospel would go forth with power among the Jewish people both globally and in the land.
We must pray for the Lord to raise up anointed, prophetic witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it will be through the Gentiles, Paul says, that Israel will be provoked to jealousy. We must also join our prayers with those of believers in the land, praying that God would raise up an anointed witness to Yeshua in the land of Israel. We must pray for social peace in the land of Israel, both relationally and economically.
Finally, we must pray for political peace. There can be no true political peace until Jesus rules as king from Jerusalem, but until that time, we must pray for the safety of believers, the safety of the land from every demonic attack, that the Gospel might go forth with power.
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Tuesday, 6/21/2011 11:57 am
When Texas governor and potential presidential candidate Rick Perry decided to host a prayer rally, The Response, with the bigoted American Family Association and the radical International House of Prayer, Right Wing Watch noted the two groups’ bigoted and extreme beliefs along with the rally’s goal of proselytizing to non-Christians.
Another The Response endorser is “spiritual warfare” leader James ‘Jay’ Swallow, a Native American “apostle” who founded the Two Rivers Native American Training Center. Like Jacobs, Swallow has spoken at The Call rallies including one in which he accepted on behalf of all Native Americans Brownback’s apology for the federal government’s mistreatment of indigenous people. According to his biography, “God has given Dr. Swallow extraordinary insight into ‘healing the land’ through prayer and spiritual warfare.” The Center is built around the “Strategic Warriors At Training (SWAT): A Christian Military Training Camp for the purpose of dealing with the occult and territorial enemy strong holds in America.” Seminars include “Demonic Spirits,” “Spiritual Warfare,” “Identifying the Strongman,” and “Freemasonry.” The training is apparently so intense that Swallow asks participants sign a “release of liability” form to waive their right to sue.
In the last decade great leaders have been given the revelation of ingredients that have instituted the desire of God to recover from the enemy the promises of our nation, America, and to compact the many divisions into an expression of Biblical Christianity.
The enemy has fortified his temporary property by placing strongholds of resistance to the coming invasion. He knows he is to be removed from authority over areas that we, the divided church, have given him permission to rule.
…
The next two weeks will make warriors out of you. I don’t mean armchair warriors, but a SPECIALIZED COMMANDO group that will engage and set the order of discipline and order to tear down the first line of defense against the enemy.
Our job will be to establish a beachhead and occupy until the main forces can mobilize to secure the territory in Jesus’ Name.
Again, these are just a few of the people who Rick Perry is working with to put on his prayer rally.
Marvin Olasky doesn't seem to be a particularly big fan of Glenn Beck.
Peter LaBarbera's gay-hating "Truth Academy" starts tomorrow.
Why is Newt Gingrich's Renewing American Leadership trying to sell me term life coverage?
FRC's latest prayer update asks God to prevent the gays from shutting them down: "May God defeat those who seek to hinder free speech and undermine legitimate, open discourse by using dirty tricks. May God's people prevail in prayer in the spiritual warfare behind today's unseemly debates. May the Truth be made manifest!"
Planned Parenthood's activities are an affront to our faith, our understanding of what is right and wrong, the dignity of every human being -- born and unborn, Biblical morality as it applies to human sexuality, our God-given parental rights and the sacred jurisdiction and integrity of every family and its God-given responsibility to protect its young, and much, much more. Moreover they are an affront to our Heavenly Father who has conferred on each of us the right to life from the moment of our conception in the womb, especially since we are made in His image and likeness.
Planned Parenthood's lies have been embraced by many decent Americans, including leaders in our federal government. They have an army of dedicated activists who support them, who march, make calls to Congress, and who support candidates who advocate abortion.
This is not just a matter of philosophical, religious, moral education. Spiritual strongholds prevent many hearts from being moved by plain truth regarding abortion and its impact upon the unborn, individuals, families and society.
Only prayer can tear down the spiritual strongholds that have made Planned Parenthood's deadly achievements possible and their acceptance by large numbers of the American people. Only prayer can pull down the strongholds that motivated once pro-life politicians to compromise their faith in God and moral truth, and to abandon any tender compassion for human life -- all for the sake of political ambition.
Tony is asking pro-life churches, prayer groups, and individuals to help turn the tide by extraordinary prayer over the next few days during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He is asking pro-life Christians across America to take just one hour to pray outside their Congressman or one of their Senators' state offices this Friday. Tony asks that you simply go onsite and to stand vigil in unobtrusive prayer from Noon until 1 PM. Go in a group or go pray alone but go! Help us make sure that there is prayer outside every Representative and Senator's office this Friday. No protest, no signs, no controversy -- just heartfelt prayer.
Raise up an army of praying believers through whom You can pull down the spiritual strongholds and end taxpayer subsidies for this death-dealing industry. May believers gather at the workplaces of our Representatives and Senators in all 50 states. Turn our Senators' hearts and cause them to vote aright. Orchestrate a Concert of Prayer through that Friday noon hour that will please your heart and undo the dark spiritual forces that have prevailed until now. In Jesus name we pray, Amen
Peter Montgomery @ Religion Dispatches: Jeffress is Both Right and Wrong on Religion & Politics.
Rachel Tabachnick @ Dome: Spiritual Warfare.
Ashley Lopez @ Florida Independent: Hasner ally says Muslim Brotherhood is behind Occupy Orlando.
Towleroad: Right-Wing Group Airs Gay Marriage Attack Ad in Iowa.
Zack Ford @ Think Progress LGBT: Herman Cain Doubles Down That Being Gay Is A Choice, ‘Washes Off.’
Michael E. Miller @ Miami New Times: Ave Maria University: A Catholic project gone wrong... MORE
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 10/14/2011, 1:10pm
During a Spiritual Warfare conference at Rick Joyner’s MorningStar Ministries, Pastor Ryan Wyatt of Abiding Glory Church preached on “Governmental Dominion.” Wyatt explained that Jesus is not going to come back until God sees that there is a “mature, overcoming bride” is “operating at the same level” as Jesus, at which point Christ will return and Christians “will work with Jesus to rule and reign.” Later, Wyatt said that “we are to rule, reign, govern, expand, advance and establish the government of God on the earth” since... MORE
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 09/16/2011, 10:45am
While right now Janet Porter is focused on using spiritual warfare to persuade the Ohio State Senate to pass her anti-choice ‘Heartbeat bill,’ she continues to lead the Christian Zionist group ‘Israel: You’re Not Alone.’ Porter was able to bring together an impressive list of supporters including well known conservative leaders Mike Huckabee, James Dobson, Mat Staver, and Tim Wildmon, and during the group’s introductory press conference accused President Obama of carrying out “ethnic cleansing.”
On September 11th the organization released a... MORE
As we have been noting over the last few weeks, all of these people who have spent the last several years calling on Christians to take dominion over the Seven Mountains have suddenly started downplaying their Dominionist agenda.
New Apostolic Reformation guru C. Peter Wagner has been especially active in trying to downplay the Dominionist aspect of his movement and just yesterday spent twenty minutes telling Voice of America that they were merely seeking to "influence" society and have no interest in establishing any sort of theocratic society.
The problem for Wagner is that... MORE
During our coverage of the massive prayer rally organized by Gov. Rick Perry last month, one of the things we noticed was the large number of people associated with the New Apostolic Reformation who were involved in organizing, endorsing, or speaking at the event, including prominent NAR leader C. Peter Wagner.
Today, Voice of America posted a wide-ranging twenty minute interview with Wagner in which he discussed everything from Seven Mountains theology to spiritual warfare to the role of NAR in Perry's prayer rally.
Wagner insisted that they have no interest in gaining "control... MORE
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 09/08/2011, 3:43pm
Prior to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally, we posted video of one of the rally’s official endorsers, John Benefiel, claiming that demonic spirits ruling Washington, D.C. were literally warping the minds of politicians and elected officials. Benefiel, who leads the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, is not alone in this view.
David Barton, the right-wing pseudo-historian who has counseled leading Republicans like Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee, similarly believes that demonic principalities are literally controlling parts of... MORE
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 08/29/2011, 10:55am
Lou Engle and Rick Joyner will be working together in September to promote The Call: Detroit, Engle’s prayer rally on November 11. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since both are closely involved in the New Apostolic Reformation, or the movement which believes that God is ordaining a new generation of prophets and apostles. Both have prophesied that America is turning into Nazi Germany and have claimed to know the reasons behind natural disasters, with Joyner calling Hurricane Katrina God’s judgment for homosexuality and Engle asserting that the Joplin, Missouri tornado... MORE
