What you don't know about Sarah Palin's belief structure and background can hurt you...real good.
Palin's religious acculturation and commitment have everything to do with her probity for national public office and leadership. She comes from the same Assemblies of God mold as Bush's Attorney General John Ashcroft and Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt.
Palin’s enemies will poke around for the next two months to find her weak spots, but I have a feeling the tough-talking hockey mom from Wasilla will hold up just fine under scrutiny. They are underestimating this woman’s Christian faith, which has shaped her anti-corruption policies, her pro-life convictions and her refreshingly humble servant-leadership style.
More below the fold...
There’s a lot to like about Palin—including the fact that she has been a courageous whistle-blower in Alaskan politics and that she has creative ideas about energy policy. But what excites me most is the fact that she is a working mom with solid Christian values. We are way overdue for a conservative mother’s touch in the White House.
-- Statement by Julia Lee Grady, promoter of Joel’s Army—a
paramilitary Pentecostalist movement
OUTLINE OF ISSUES AND PROBLEMS IN PALIN'S GOSPEL
1. Christian Dominionism Leadership and movement elements in
connection to Sarah Palin: (Organized Excerpts from
dogemperor’s Kos Diaries and other sources as noted):
A.)The Family (Chip Berlet has also noted on
Talk to Action a further endorsement from Eagle Forum--the
oldest dominionist political group aside from "The Family" and
the Assemblies-linked FGBMFI.)
From: Palin Domionist stalking horse
@ http://www.dailykos.com/...
B.) The "Third Wave Movement and connections
to Mike Rose
Sources:
1) http://www.pastornet.net.au/...
(Mike Rose,Sarah Palin’s Pastor at the Juneau Christian
Center--Palin'scurrent church)
2)Palin's Pastors
http://harpers.org/...
Rose is noted to be connected with the "Third Wave Movement"--a
movement in neopente dominionist circles that is the major
theological home of "Joel's Army".
In fact, Rose’s quite closely connected with
Rodney Howard-Browne, a major (in fact, for some years, the
major promoter) of "Third Wave" neopente dominionism, and
actively promotes this insanity in his church.
* Revival video from Rodney Howard-Browne's
Revival Ministry
http://www.revival.com/...
* CNN footage of Rodney Howard-Browne interview
aired July, 2006 http://www.youtube.com/...
=related
* Rodney Howard-Browne ministry promotion video
http://www.youtube.com/...
*** Additional Videos of Rodney Howard-Browne
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
C.) The influence of Rodney Howard-Browne
Mike Rose had Rodney Howard-Browne minister in his church four
years ago. At that time, they had a congregation of 200, but
over the last 4 years, they have seen it grow to 600 in a
community of 35,000.
The format that Mike Rose uses is one which gives a balanced
approach to church life, allowing for worship and the Word,
ministry to the unsaved as well as impartation of the Holy
Spirit.
To do this, he has followed a fairly traditional Sunday morning
worship service with worship, communion and preaching of the
Word, as well as all the other activities which occur in our
morning services, such as dedications and so on.
If there are two or three people who are perhaps crying or
laughing uncontrollably, the ushers will gently lead them into
the prayer room where they can continue to enjoy the presence of
Jesus without affecting those around them.
However, he is also open to the possible occasions when the Holy
Spirit will just sweep over the service and the majority of the
people will be either laughing, crying or worshipping at one
time.
His Sunday evening service generally lasts for three to four
hours, compared to the morning one of around two hours. At the
conclusion of the evening evangelistic endeavor, people are
invited to open up their hearts and hunger for a fresh touch of
the Spirit. It was during these times that the powerful
manifestations will take place and, having observed what has
been happening in our Adelaide meetings over the last few weeks,
these times have a great similarity to the old time Pentecostal
camp meeting or tarrying services where people received a fresh
touch of God.
Mike Rose encourages his people to hunger and has taught them
along that line. He helped them to understand and develop a new
sensitivity to the ways of the Holy Spirit. His observations
were:
* You cannot sustain a move of the Spirit without hunger.
* Corrections need to be made from time to time.
* Don't just get fascinated by the move of God, but rather
keep youreyes on Jesus.
* Mission giving and outreach evangelism should be a
prominent part of this move and the churches which don't
reach out soon dry up.
Rose encourages (his congregants) not to hype it up and that
there needs to be a continual emphasis on holiness and that only
qualified people should lay hands on those who have come for
prayer.
Mike (Rose) is also an adviser on Rodney Howard-Browne's Revival
Ministries committee, along with three or four other AOG pastors
in the USA. He (stated) that he had sat in over 110 of Rodney's
meetings and been impressed by the lack of pressure and hype,
but by the powerful anointing of the Spirit which accompanies
this young man.
As to why Howard-Browne's involvement is distressing--well, this
previous article should give some pointers, but suffice it to
say that another notable church he's had close connections with
is the very church I (dogemperor) am a walkaway from--hence how
I know some of this up close and personal.
Some of the fun includes literal imprecatory prayers and
curses against critics and literally accusing critics even within
Pentecostal circles of literal blasphemy against the Holy Spirit:
Rodney Howard-Browne gave this 'prophesy' last year at New Life
Center: 'Do not compromise. For if you compromise, you shall
not only lose the anointing that I placed upon you, you shall
lose your life.'" [T.A. McMahon, "Experience-Driven
Spirituality," The Berean Call, May 1995, page 4]
D.) Palin and "Christian nationalism"
Is Sarah Palin a Gothardite? Bill Gothard's Dominionist fronts:
A network of groups includes the International Association of
Character Cities (IACC) modeled on Institute in Basic Life
Principles (IBLP) very nasty "Bible-based cult".
An article in Salon gives more details.
April 2000, under the direction of then-Mayor Sarah Palin, the
Wasilla City Council passed a resolution declaring itself a "City
of Character." Adopted unanimously, the resolution pledged that
the city would "do all in its power" to promote "positive and
constructive character qualities which distinguish between right
and wrong," which the resolution predicted could work a range of
wonders, from reducing juvenile delinquency to increasing
corporate profits.
Thanks to Palin's efforts, Wasilla is now among roughly 200
cities nationwide (and others in 27 countries around the world)
that have committed themselves -- in name, at least -- to
following the teachings of the International Association of
Character Cities (IACC), an organization that purports to be
secular but is modeled on the evangelical teachings of the
Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP).
See: Developing Dominionist Cities
E.) Joel’s Army (a militia-type group) and Sarah
Palin: Palin is seen as the prophetess Deborah (OT) by
J. Lee Grady--a Joel's Army promoter who is editor of the site
"Fire In My Bones" and who has hailed fellow Joel's Army promoter
Todd Bentley (See very an important article from the Southern
Poverty Law Center on Bentley and Joel’s Army
(http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=964)
as a modern-day prophet--literally compares Sarah Palin to the
Biblical prophetess Deborah Also see this posting detailing
several more links between Palin and particularly disturbing
elements of the "Joel's Army" movement.
The concept of a "Deborah Anointing" includes essentially a
"women's corps of Joel's Army".
F.)ALERT Teams: See: The head of the US Air
Force's Cyberspace Command is a major supporter of ALERT Teams.
G.) Police Dynamics Institute, promotes
Gothardism to police, firefighters and EMTs.
H.) Bill Gothard is big on promoting is the concept of coercive
"Bible-based" boot camps--in fact, one facility in Indianapolis
was so horrific it was shut down by the state of Indiana
Bill Gothard's coercive "discipling and shepherding" system: in
part based on enforcing a particularly extreme version of the
coercive "discipling and shepherding" model common in abusive
neopente dominionist churches--the same "cell church" model in use
in John Hagee's church in Texas, in Palin’s Wasilla Assemblies of
God, and others.
I.) Palin’s connection to David Barton of
Wallbuilders: Barton is a major promoter of a form of
historical revisionism popular in "Christian Nationalist" circles
claiming that the US was established as primarily a dominionist
nation. Palin, apparently,learned how Wasilla could become a City
of Character at an IACC conference held at IBLP's International
Training Center in Indianapolis in April 2000. A conference
brochure shows Bill Gothard (and other speakers affiliated with
IBLP) taught several of the sessions. The conference included a
videotape presentation on the separation of church and state by
David Barton, a regular on the Christian right speaking circuit
who argues that the separation of church and state is a "myth."
J.) Sarah Palin and the "deliverance ministry":
"Deliverance ministry", boiled down, claims that literally
anything can be "demonised" or "open doorways for Satan" and
cause one to be "oppressed" or even frankly possessed by the
Devil; in practice, it strongly resembles some of the worst
practices in Scientology regarding "body thetans", "engrams",and
"suppressive persons".
Casting out demons or demon proofing has been documented at some of
Palin's churches, Bill Gothard promotes the idea that illnesses are
caused by "generational curses"--or even by things as innocuous as
Cabbage Patch Kids or "Troll" dolls.
Source: the Ex-Pentecostals archive ("Delivered" is an online
magazine published by Ex-Pentecostals, an association of
survivors..)
AG CHURCH SUED OVER EXORCISM
In Tarrant County, Texas, a judge has awarded one Laura Schubert
$300,000 in a civil case that charged the pastor and several members
of Colleyvilles's Pleasant Glade Assembly of God with abuse and false
imprisonment. Ms. Schubert successfully claimed in court that on two
occasions, members of this church attempted to "exorcise" her after
anointing the church with holy oil, and propping up a cross against
the door to keep demonic forces out, according to a report by the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. These attempts were particularly abusive
to Ms. Schubert, spurring this lawsuit; however the church claims in
a statement that "We are a Bible-believing, Pentecostal church. For
this we make no apologies."
K. Sarah Palin, Russia and Joel’s Army: There is a
major role that Russia and Iran play in "Joel's Army" end-time
theology—the different way "Joel's Army" has targeted the former USSR
(http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=964)
Another paper on the subject has noted explicitly how the Assemblies
steeplejacked a large number of Reform Baptist congregations
throughout Russia (steeplejacking) (Note, this is from a source
largely sympathetic)
ISSUES HAVING TO DO WITH PALIN'S PERSONAL RELIGIOUS MIND-SET
1. Palin and connections to the Neopente dominionist
hate-group "Watchmen At The Walls"
2. Sarah Palin Personal Experience with Demons and "real
evil"
a.) Thomas Muthee is a rising star in "Joel's Army"
circles--especially being promoted as being a God Warrior in
Darkest Africa.
b.) What is the "method" of purification?
c.) The term 'transformation' has become a buzz word for change
based on supernatural instead of human efforts.
d.) "Joel's Army" practice of "spiritual mapping"--that is,
systematically mapping out which areas are supposedly "demonised"
and targeting them for "spiritual warfare"--goes into more detail
on Muthee's purge and the targeting of Mamma Jane.
e.) Muthee’s Kenyan group, The Prayer Cave: "the demonic influence
- the 'principality' over Kiambu - was broken," "The dark cloud
we had seen covering the town drifted away, and we felt
supernatural joy inside. We knew things were going to change,"
stated Evangelist Thomas Muthee.
f.) Thomas Muthee challenged Momma Jane to a power encounter, much
as Elijah challenged the priests of Baal.
g.) Muthee conducts a special prayer/anointing of Palin to boaster
her chances to be elected and protected from witches at the
Assemblies of God church where she has spent most of her life.
3. Sarah Palin & Unusual Manifestations
a.)Some Pentecostal and Assemblies demon removal rites include the
victims vomiting. Chunderfest at John Hagee's (Assemblies of God
trained preacher) Pentecostal church is documented by Matt
Taibbi in his book "The Great Derangement".
b.)Powerful manifestations (labeled "holy rollers" last century)
"Like other leaders I tried to push past my uneasiness with the
showmanship, the "bams," the head butts and kneeing, along with
certain experiences and doctrines, all in order to embrace the good.
Like many of my friends I tried to be—and believe I was—gracious,
accepting, ready to think "out of the box", etc. But try as I may,
the uneasiness in my spirit just wouldn’t leave."
Source: A STATEMENT and APPEAL REGARDING LAKELAND -Dutch Sheets.
(Aug 21, 2008) @ http://www.christian-faith.com/...
The special case of Laura Shubert’s Manifestations
Laura brought suit over alleged injuries at an Assemblies of God
Church. Laura won at trial. A jury awarded her damages of $300,000
for pain and suffering and other losses. The Court of Appeals in
Texas affirmed most of the decision, but the Texas Supreme Court
reversed it all. 17 year old Laura Shubert attended the Pleasant
Glade Assembly of God Church. In fact, her own father was an Assembly
of God pastor and missionary. The Assemblies of God is a Pentecostal
denomination. It "believes in the literal teachings of the Bible with
respect to spirits, demons, demon possession and the ‘casting out’ of
demons." It also believes that people can be "slain in the spirit,"
which, according to the church, "is a positive experience in which
the holy spirit comes over a person and influences them." The Bible
refers to this as being "filled with the spirit" and believers are
encouraged to be filled with the spirit again and again.
Laura Shubert had such an experience. In fact, she had it twice in a
matter of days. While slain in the spirit the second time, however,
Laura’s physical reaction was so significant that the senior pastor
was summoned. He laid hands on Laura and prayed for her. Because of
the animated way Laura was reacting, she suffered carpet burns, a
scrape on her back and minor bruises.
Laura’s experience led to a meeting between her father, Pastor
Shubert, and Pastor McCutchen, the one who had laid hands on Laura. A
theological discussion ensued and both agreed that Christians cannot
be demon possessed (there was apparently a question whether Laura was
manifesting the Holy Spirit or was being tormented by an evil
spirit).
As a result of that meeting, the church agreed to teach more on the
subject so its young members would better understand what the Bible
says about being filled with the spirit and what it says about demons.
Notwithstanding the theological explanations given, Laura subsequently
became depressed, dropped out of school and abandoned her plan to
attend Bible College. She was finally diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder, and she and her parents blamed the church and sued
Pleasant Glade for the injuries and emotional distress she suffered.
Source:
http://www.newyorkinjuryattorneyblog...
c.)'Holy Laughter': Video: Palin's Churches and the Holy Laughter Anointing
Sources for Video clips
http://www.youtube.com/...
Sarah Palin's Churches and
The Third Wave... in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical
by the Assemblies of God in 1949. ... 'slain in the spirit,' and
congregations laughing, jerking, ...
"One of the growing crazes in the church today is the phenomenon of
being "slain in the spirit." It is something that needs to be discussed
because of its continued growth in the Charismatic and Pentecostal
movements. This occurrence is so closely connected with the ‘laughing
revival’ it is becoming quite commonplace."
Source: Rev. Larry Thomas,
@ http://www.biblical-pentecostals.org...
d.) Speaking in Unkown tongues: GLOSSOLALIA AS FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
Speaking in tongues is considered the gateway to the supernatural.
Source:
http://wesley.nnu.edu/...
Also: "Unknown tongues is the doorway to the supernatural," said Rev.
William Wilson, president of the Center for Spiritual Renewal and
executive director of the Azusa Street Centennial held in April. "If we
forsake that ... I think we will move away from what possibly could
help us stay vibrant in the world in which we live."
"Vinson Synan notes that, historically, churches that embrace tongues
have grown larger than those that rejected it. The AG has 10 times as
many members as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which in the
early 1900s took a "seek not, forbid not" position on tongues."
Source: http://www.columbiaseminary.edu/...
f.) Swooning & Shaking Video: Sarah Palin's Churches
and The Third Wave ... in a resurgent movement that was declared
heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. ... 'slain in the spirit,'
and congregations laughing, jerking, ...
d.)"Slain in the spirit" See:
http://www.ag.org/...
"In recent years, this phenomenon (slain in the spirit)
has become a sign of the spirituality (or anointing) of the minister or
of the person being "slain." It is a much sought-after experience,
particularly in Charismatic circles. Several current ministries have
developed quite a reputation for such experiences happening during
their services. These include Charles and Frances Hunter, John Jacobs
and Kenneth Hagin. The most widely known today for this phenomenon is
Benny Hinn. But Rodney Howard-Browne, (connected in this diary to Mike
Rose, Palin’s Pastor) the latest star on the Charismatic stage, is
gaining ground."
Another Source among many:
>snip<</p>
"Alan Morrison, of Diakrisis Publications in England, discusses this
phenomenon. Concerning the origin of the "slain in the spirit"
manifestation...
>Snip<</p>
"Morrison drew the following conclusion from his research:
"Just as the Western psychologists are proffering ancient shamanistic
practices in a guise which is more palatable to the uninitiated
Westerners, so the professing Christian churches which peddle
'religious fainting' have simply made the Possession-Trance state of
shamanism more readily acceptable to the undiscerning sheep who
attend their heated meetings. These are the true origins of the
strange phenomena which are being so widely reported today and which
are bringing the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ into so much
disrepute."
Source: Rev. Larry Thomas @
http://www.biblical-pentecostals.org...
4. Pacifist Pentecostals turned Warrior Crusaders: Palin Sees God’s
Approval of America’s Current Wars:
a.)Assemblies of God has been historically opposed to war. Pacifism:
The Assemblies of God, along with the majority of other Pentecostal
denominations, was officially opposed to Christian participation in
war...
b.) See: Historical and Theological Origins of Assemblies of God
Pacifism, here Paul Alexander notes that in 1914, American’s leading
Pentecostal denomination officially resolved that its members
"cannot conscientiously participate in war."
5. Assemblies of God: Non-Participants – in major ecumenical
national/global movements:
Our Position (AoG) in Christian World
The Assemblies of God is a member of four national and international
Christian organizations. The church's leadership also participates in
many sub-groups of these organizations. These organizations include
the...
* National Association of Evangelicals (NAE)
* Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA)
* Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF)
* World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF)
The Assemblies of God is not affiliated with either the World
Council of Churches or the National Council of Churches.
Source: http://ag.org/...
6. Censorship vs. Free Speech
7. Strict Moral Codes
8. No Alcohol or Tobacco
9. Anti-ERA
10. Anti-Abortionist
A.) http://www.feministsforlife.org/ Palin may be a
member {REFUSE TO CHOOSE® WOMEN DESERVE BETTER® THAN
ABORTION}}
B.) Private adoption industry in the dominionist community-
C.) Palin's links to "Feminists" For Life, a deceptive
anti-abortion group: As if the Assemblies links weren't
enough (and between this diary and the stuff that has been
reported re: John Ashcroft--much less George W. Bush's
consistent support for Assemblies front groups...there's
still more to indicate Sarah Palin may have been put in as a
"stealth dominionist".
@ http://www.dailykos.com/...
It also appears that Sarah Palin is a member of a misnamed group
called Feminists for Life. FFL in fact engages in "cultural
appropriation" of women's suffrage icons to promote a very
woman-unfriendly agenda that--despite attempts to sound "not like
those crazies in Operation Rescue"--would not only criminalise
abortion but the IUD and hormonal birth control methods, and
potentially everything outside the rhythm method (the term
"abortifacient birth control" is a codephrase in the dominionist
"pro-life" community for hormonal birth control--partly due to a
unique urban legend claiming "the pill" and other hormonal birth
control causes abortion and partly because of a unique definition of
pregnancy beginning at conception rather than at implantation (the
latter is what most mainstream OB/GYNs use) and thus making anything
preventing implantation potentially "abortifacient").
FFL promotes such fun bogosities as "post-abortion syndrome" (the
idea that having an abortion will inevitably lead to PTSD and
insanity), and promotes mandatory waiting periods and misinformation
guidelines that can be insurmountable for poor or rural women--even
those forced to make the most heartbreaking choice because of a
nonviable pregnancy. In fact, one of their biggest causes isn't
feminist at all--they actively promote the idea that the best choice
for women is to stay home as fulltime mothers, and it can be well
argued that the only traditionally feminist viewpoint they really
support is women's suffrage!
One of the big things FFL promotes is deceptive "pregnancy
counseling centers"--where pregnant teens are forced to essentially
listen to an altar call on how "abortionists want to murder their
children" whilst a pee-stick test clears--and if she tests "yes",
she gets a hard-sell to keep the child or to check herself into a
dominionist-run "halfway house for teenage moms" where she will
ultimately be forced to sign her kid over. (Yes, there is an entire
private adoption industry in the dominionist community--mostly
focusing on adopting out the infants of poor teenage mothers who
have been forced to give their kids up and who have been either
scared into it or checked into such facilities by their parents.)
- Anti-Union inclinations: So-called Right to Work
a.) "Ohio’s cities,manufacturing industries, and unions have been
on life support ever since. The old interlocking forms of New
Deal social democracy—urban machine/social safety net/unionized
mass-production industry—are on a terminal slide to extinction.
As all over America, they are gradually being replaced by a new
comprehensive social organization—nonunion Wal-Mart
jobs/antisocial exurban sprawl/hyper-individualist
consumerism—whose value system is as oriented towards the
Republican right as the old New Deal was to FDR Democrats.
"In this equation, the role of ideological prime movers has
switched: just as left-wing CIO unions used to be the instigators
and organizers of the discontent that created the rest of the
social structure, now it is the equally (but
oppositely) ideological evangelical churches that stoke the fires
of blue-collar anger in Ohio. Wal-Mart has replaced
the steel companies as the state’s largest employer; the
sprawling exurbs of Columbus and Cincinnati have replaced
Cleveland as its fastest growing areas; and the
Assemblies of God and Church of the Nazarene are the new
Steelworkers and Autoworkers."
Source: http://www.monthlyreview.org/...
- Anti-Homosexual
a.) "Joel's Army" in Eastern Europe--and a wave of anti-LGBT
hatecrimes
b.) The Annotated Pink Swastika has been compiled, largely
debunking the claims presented in the book; Lively's publisher,
Abiding Truth Ministries, also has the entire text online
(warning: material may constitute hate speech in certain
jurisdictions).
Kos' Dogemperor master blogger states:
I am afraid that I do have a fair amount of familiarity with this
work and its promotion in Assemblies congregations--among other
things, it was regularly promoted in the church I escaped from, and
a deacon from the Assemblies church I left and whom is the head of
the state affiliate of the American Family Association--and who is
incredibly virulent against LGBT people--regularly promoted it as
well with church support.
It is also not exaggeration to call The Pink Swastika bona fide
Holocaust revisionism (as in a variant of the same crap that
Stormfront et al excrete on the Internet)--the Nizkor Project, which
dedicates itself to debunking Holocaust revisionist claims and
noting primary promoters of Holocaust revisionism online, has
multiple references to the book and Southern Poverty Law Center has
also discussed this particular work of revisionism--a work which
claims that LGBT people not only did not die en masse in the
Holocaust but were its primary architects, were the ones shoveling
Jewish people into the ovens, are inherently criminal, and are in a
plot with the entire Moslem population of the world to exterminate
neopentes and Jewish people.
(Yes, you're reading this right. This stuff is being taught in large
megachurches in the Assemblies with explicit approval.)
And Lively's works--The Pink Swastika as well as another fun bit of
historical revisionism called The Poisoned Stream which is also
promoted by Abiding Truth--are being actively promoted in the very
churches linked to these hate crimes: (from the Los Angeles Times
article, courtesy Jews on First
C.) Many of them are members of an international extremist anti-gay
movement whose adherents call themselves the Watchmen on the Walls. In
Latvia, the Watchmen are popular among Christian fundamentalists and
ethnic Russians, and are known for presiding over anti-gay rallies
where gays and lesbians are pelted with bags of excrement. In the
Western U.S., the Watchmen have a following among Russian-speaking
evangelicals from the former Soviet Union. Members are increasingly
active in several cities long known as gay-friendly enclaves,
including Sacramento,Seattle and Portland, Ore.
Even worse, the "Watchmen on the Walls" seem to be embracing books on
Holocaust revisionism popular in neopentecostal circles...
12. Anti-contraceptives as seen in the far rightists' Fullquiver
Movement
13. Anti-worldliness: opposition to modernity:
"The crisis of the church ... is not the crisis of the
church in the world, but of the world in the church." So
said H. Richard Niebuhr in his 1935 book, The Church Against the
World. Though this statement was made 65 years ago, it
rings true today. Since the beginning of the Church, one of the
most difficult challenges for Christians has been to live in the
world without being of the world."
Source: Pentecostal Evangel, house organ, AoG,
http://www.ag.org/...
14. Anti-United Nations
15. Anti-Communist
16. Anti-Federal Reserve
17. Anti-any form of gun control
18. Biblical Literalism
19. Christian Zionistism
20. Pro-Multi-level Marketing;
(MLM) AmWay's founder, Richard DeVos, is probably the largest
corporate funder of dominionism in the United States.
Funding of dominionist groups occurs through the Richard and Helen
DeVos Foundation as well as the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation;
Media Transparency has written on several of the groups funded.
A partial list of groups known to be specifically funded include the
Coalition for National Policy,Focus on the Family, Traditional
Values Coalition, Foundation for Traditional Values, Campus Crusade
for Christ, Prison Fellowship Ministries, Gospel Communications (in
fact, DeVos is co-owner along with Salem Communications), Assemblies
of God televangelist Luis Palau, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health
Services (a dominionist-run "mental health" facility), Ave Maria
School of Law (a dominionist law school founded by the former
Domino's CEO Tom Monaghan), and Coral Ridge Ministries
Media sources have noted that the DeVos Foundation is probably one
of the top two corporate funders of Focus on the Family (along with
Truett Cathy of Chick-Fil-A); Rolling Stone has noted that the DeVos
foundations contributed over (US) $5 million annually to dominionist
groups as of 2005.
According to multiple media reports, Richard DeVos himself is a
member of the Coalition for National Policy; the
CNP is a group that is invitation-only and largely operates as a
"five year planning committee" between dominionist and purely
political neoconservative groups. Multiple sources have stated that
the DeVos foundations are one of the primary funding sources for the
CNP.
Richard DeVos has close links in particular with Coral Ridge
Ministries, a virulently dominionist group run by James Kennedy
(including grants of $5 million annually in similar fashion to Focus
on the Family funding). Many Focus on the Family affiliated groups
tend to get heavy funding--possibly due to Elsa Prince's position in
Focus.
As noted, DeVos himself also has very close links with dominionist
groups due to the "co-promoting" of AmWay and dominionist (and
specifically Assemblies(of God) churches with each other; several
(Amway Leadership) Diamonds are very politically influential or have
been in past, and Dick DeVos recently attempted an unsuccessful
gubernatorial bid in Michigan running on a dominionist platform.
(Dick) DeVos was a major funder of efforts to fight Michael Schiavo
in court(in Mr. Schiavo's efforts to discontinue life support for
Terri Schiavo) per bioethics.net.
Richard DeVos is in fact surprisingly influential in regards to
political dominionism; an ACLU Washington article largely attributes
organisation of the modern dominionist movement to DeVos and to Bill
Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ (this dating back to the early
70's, the beginnings of the modern dominionist movement outside of
the Assemblies(of God.
Reportedly, Dexter Yager (operator of one of the four major
"downlines" of AmWay) is a major contributor towards dominionist
causes including Liberty University. In addition to known links with
Assemblies (of God) and AmWay-affiliated leaders John Ashcroft and
Doug Wead (Assemblies of God minister and GW Bush promoter to
Evangelicals in 2000), there is evidence that the Dexter Yager
downline was explicitly used for electioneering to promote the
candidacy of George W. Bush. AmWay is known to have contributed at
least $1.3 million to Republican presidential campaigns in the 2000
election, with an additional $760,000 donated by Dexter Yager.
Source: http://dark-christian.clanxanadu.org...
21. Entrepreneurial mavens
22. Historically Anti-Catholic
23. Apocalyptic Teachings
a.) major role that Russia and Iran play in "Joel's Army"
end-time theology
24. Armageddonist Expectations:
a.) From a Mike Rose,July 28, 2007 sermon: "Do you believe we’re
in the last days? After listening to Newt Gingrich and the prime
minister of Israel and a number of others at our gathering, I
became convinced, and I have been convinced for some time. We
are living in the last days. These are incredible times to live
in."
Source: Palin's Pastors, @
http://harpers.org/...
25. Refuge State and Secessionist Associations
26. Promotion of Creationism or Intelligent Design:
Anti-evolution