Media Gives Palin's Strange New Global Christianity a Pass
At least one mainstream media journalist did get it: Laurie Goodstein. In her October 25, 2008 NYT story titled October 25, 2008. YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin's Faith, Goodstein quoted me, 'Bruce Wilson, a researcher for Talk2Action, a Web site that tracks religious groups, said: "One of the imperatives of the movement is to achieve worldly power, including political control. Then you can more effectively drive out the demons. The ultimate goal is to purify the earth." '
In her piece Laurie Goodstein accurately pegged the nature of Palin's religious associations:
"Ms. Palin has had long associations with religious leaders who practice a particularly assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism known as "spiritual warfare."Its adherents believe that demonic forces can colonize specific geographic areas and individuals, and that "spiritual warriors" must "battle" them to assert God's control, using prayer and evangelism. The movement's fixation on demons, its aggressiveness and its leaders' claims to exalted spiritual authority have troubled even some Pentecostal Christians.
Ms. Palin delivered an enthusiastic graduation speech for a class of young spiritual warriors in June at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the church in which she was raised. "
Miracle healing ? Raising the dead ? - Those are among the practices promoted at Sarah Palin's key church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. And, during the 2008 election, video surfaced showing a late 2005 ceremony from the church in which Kenyan evangelist Bishop Thomas Muthee blessed Sarah Palin against "every form of witchcraft."
Witchcraft ? It sounded a bit weird or perhaps medieval. And, why had the African evangelist traveled to Alaska in the first place ?
Mainstream media didn't think to ask. Over the course of September and October 2008, I was one of a tiny group of writers who correctly identified the highly distinctive nature of Sarah Palin's Third Wave and New Apostolic Christianity. At the web site I co-founded in late 2005 with journalist Frederick Clarkson can be found over 20 unique stories and a score of short video documentaries including a 36 page report (link to PDF of report) concerning Sarah Palin's churches and her religious associations.
In my new story, Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World, published by Religion Dispatches, I describe Sarah Palin's strange new Christianity, which is rapidly becoming the face of the new, globalizing Christian right.
[Below: Thomas Muthee proposes Christian takeover of seven key sectors of society, then anoints Sarah Palin. Meet the New Apostolics. They're coming your way.]
Sarah Palin is in the same radical new stream of Christianity as is Ted Haggard. As I wrote in my Religion Dispatches story,
In 1996 a team from Ted Haggard's New Life Church flew to Mali and began furtively anointing entire towns with cooking oil.
The strangeness of it gripped Dutch missionary René Holvast, who later wrote: "It was confusing and produced a growing uneasiness. It did not seem to fit our current evangelical theological and anthropological textbooks."The team from Haggard's church was a forerunner in a missionary wave that has washed over the world since the early 1990s, bringing what Holvast calls a 'new paradigm.'
René Holvast has theological training, but his perplexed reaction was similar to that of Alix Spiegel, a radio journalist who went to Ted Haggard's New Life Church in 1997 to do a story for This American Life.
As I told Bill Berkowitz, for an interview entitled The New Christianity: What the Mainstream Media Has Missed that's also just appeared in Religion Dispatches,
Sarah Palin is, broadly speaking, in the emerging postdenominational movement, which by 2000 encompassed 385 million Christians and is vastly different from the faith as it has been practiced in recent centuries. We identified Palin as in a majority tendency of postdenominationalism known as the neocharismatic movement, or the "Third Wave."Evangelical missionary reference work World Christian Trends calls the Third Wave "a new and disturbingly different" kind of Christianity whose members "can accurately be called radical Christians with some pentecostal /charismatic parallels" and which has, as one of the distinctive characteristics of Third Wave Christian ministry, a heavy emphasis on healing miracles including raising the dead--an emphasis promoted from the pulpit in sermons at Palin's most central church, the Wasilla Assembly of God.
We also found extensive evidence that Palin is in a religious movement founded in 2001 that has coalesced out of Third Wave Christianity; the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).
The NAR is bent on radically reinventing Christianity, and is fast becoming the vanguard of the global Christian Right.
As I'll be describing in upcoming Religion Dispatches installments, Sarah Palin's novel new Christianity is rapidly moving to achieve dominance in the GOP, but few Democrats appear aware that Palin's rapidly growing new Christianity even exists.
Because of that, there exists the danger that the Democratic Party will be blindsided in the 2012 presidential election, as the New Apostolic Reformation / Third Wave Christianity gambit - of peeling away ethnic constituencies that have traditionally voted for the Democratic Party - comes into play.
****
[ below: early September 2008 depicts exotic style of Palin's Third Wave Christianity ]
Palin's Churches, Thomas Muthee, Witchcraft and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.
[below: another overview of the New Apostolic Reformation]
[video, below: Julie Meyer, a "prophetic" Third Wave Christian, shouts, "The lord tells me 'It's about number TWO. It's about number TWO... Ohio will tip the scales for JUSTICE... OHIO will be given the golden KEY to tip the scale for JUSTICE... It's the year for the DEBORAHS to AWAKE.]
[Below: Rick Warren is a Third Wave Christian who top NAR leaders claim is in their movement]
[below: Sandy Simpson and Mike Oppenheimer talk about Ted Haggard's participation in the NAR]]
[below: Palin's prayer-group leader Mary Glazier proposes forced religious cleansing of "The Land" so that unbelievers who will not convert to NAR Christianity are "displaced".]
[below: Palin's Churches and The Holy Laughter Anointing. As Rodney Howard-Browne declares, "We will not back down... if it means death, then SO BE IT"]
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Historically speaking, this pretty much sums up religion, including (and perhaps particularly )Christianity. Cultural hegemony is, simply put, the essential fabric of all evangelism, not just pentacostal. Religions want to convert or at very least marginalize nonbelievers. It has been fairly typical for 'faiths' to take the convert ot die approach. If you don't know this, your denying basic history. It is a historical truth of all the major world religions.
Norma- I think your confusing your religions.
I'm afraid it is you, True Blue, who's got it wrong. There is a lot of lip service paid to tolerance by Christianity, but there has often been precious little of it in evidence. Ask any of the indigenous people of the western hemisphere how much tolerance and "moving on" they experienced at the hands of Christians. Ask any descendant of Africans who suffered the lash of the good Christians who brought them to these shores, etc... I'm not say that Christianity has been any worse than any other religion in this respect, including Islam, I'm just agreeing with Normathumb that almost ALL religions have and do engage in this activity.
Yes, TBA, heed the advice of the GEICO Caveman and "do a little research":
THEN: http://gbg
NOW: http://www
If you'd like several other examples I'd be happy to post them for you. It seems you're either reading the wrong books (or not enough) or using the wrong key-words in your queries.
Sorry!
These wackadoos are like Africanized honeybees, creeping into existing hives (organizations, governments, entire societies) and taking over completely. Let's hope they never adopt the "fair game" and "swarming" tactics that Scientology uses against its critics.
Oh, I'm pretty sure they already do. They use a lot of intimidation tactics, especially with youth.
If I didn't know better, I could easily be convinced that the above excerpts are from a horror movie.
family video collection of the palins is all...
Thirty Days of Night, maybe?
I may be incorrect, but I'm thinking Jesus would not like the bastardization of His teachings nor would He like misusing His teachings for political purposes.
god said she disapproves too...
The "If there is a God, she's black." forces may still live. Take that Benny.
I agree with you on this ! And the far right really use their religion for political purposes but many do not practice what Jesus taught at all. Not even close.....
Nice photo, MadJeff! He's my favorite..
She does not know Forgien Policy, Economic, Tax Legislation, or Health Care but she can save you from Witches and Vampires ~!
"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices
Exactement!
Whether aware of it or not, each of us humans plays a subliminal game of "free association" every time we watch TV. Obviously, the more aware of it we are, the more we play.
For example, during the 2008 Stanley Kubrick version of The Brady Bunch known as the McCain/Palin Campaign, every time I saw/heard the word "reform" coming out of Sarah's cold, buttered lips the first thought that came to my mind was "Mossberg".
Also: is there any way we can get this documentation out on the airwaves?
Most Americans need something to watch/see on TV before they can "get it", get it? Every now and then the MSNBC trio of Matthews, Maddow & Olberman will allude to the issue, but not nearly with sufficient persistence or intensity. The mere fact that most Americans don't see this type of political approach as a threat to their freedom and liberty indicates that they're not affording themselves of the opportunity to investigate and thinik critically (e.g. if every public official in America at every level of government were just like Sarah Palin, John Ashcroft, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Rick Warren, Bob Jones, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Pastor Muthee...w
The subject deserves a widely publicized, full Koppel-in-
We only got a little taste of it under King George, primarily because he wasn't fully committed to their cause.
Folks like Sarah Palin, Sam Brownback, Rick Santorum, Alan Keyes, Mike Huckabee, Dick DeVos, Erik Prince...t
If you haven't already, check out some of Susan Jacoby's work (e.g. Freethinking: A History of Secularism in America)
I forwarded this article to as many people as I could....i
Thank you for all of your hard work, Bruce. It does not go unnoticed. Persistence pays. Lombardi would've loved ya!
I share more than just a birthday with Thomas Jefferson.
Although my forefathers at the time of Jefferson's birth were probably fishing in the Adriatic or harvesting grapes and raising hogs along the Rhine Valley, I had that fact pounded into me from the time I was 2...from both sides of the dinner table (2nd generation immigrants, i.e. my grandparents came over "on the boat").
So, in spite of our 3rd President's faults (and he had a few, like any other human being) I came to "know" and love the man for his thought and vision for our country, "sweet land of liberty", if not all of his personal principles and proclivities, which, except for owning slaves, weren't very bad at all, in my opinion.
I visit www.talk2a
Keep up the good work and the good fight against fundamentalist theocratic tyranny of all stripes.
A Big Fan!
"What makes you believe she is a witch?"
"Well, she turned me into a NEWT"
Mony Python and the Holy Grail
"Palin annointer Muthee fights Catholics.
Has anybody told Newt Gingrich?
Or Billo? Or the Mannity? Or Jebbers? Or Brownback? Yes. They all know. They do not care. They only care about ratings and getting re-elected. If it takes fanatically extreme right wing Evangelica
All religious beliefs get a "pass" by the media even though they are ridiculous and are all based on Bronze Age thinking---at a time in history where, as Sam Harris states, "the greatest technological advance was a wheelbarrel". There are no rational religious beliefs.
Amen, he said ironically.
Ok, but not all religious beliefs are equal. Many pose little or no threat whatsoever. Beliefs such as these are dangerous and must be exposed. People have a right to know. This woman does NOT belong in the White House.
There is nothing to fear here. If you want to understand true Christianity read the Book of Acts. This is what denominational churches and secularism tried to bury over the past two thousand years.
Believers filled with the Holy Spiirt poured out on the Day of Pentacost is what you are seeing. (Acts Chapter 1 and 2)
Sarah Palin didn't invent this Third Wave as you call it. This is always the power true believers had and you can too if you ask the Lord for it through faith in Jesus Christ. Isn't it amazing!
Love,
John
John, you are creeping me out.
But what if I have my own beliefs and don't want to understand "true" Christianity, as you define it. Am I to get displaced? And if so, displaced from what, and how? My gut feeling is that these "believers" are filled with something alright, but I doubt it's the Holy Spirit.
american liberals should be able to take this a long way. note to the fearful: the increase in african christians has gone from less than 20 million to about 385 million in less than 40 years- at the expense of islam. this is interestingly contemporaneous with the decline of mainstream denomination membership in the US. africa is driving this movement. churches always have third world missions and third world guests. now these guests are capable of formulating their own theologies based on the reality to them of witchcraft. no white mainstreamers have seen fit to argue with these colorful, odd theological amalgams since the third world guests represent churches that would overflow football stadiums here, where a 16,000 member congregation is considered huge.
look, i'm as obsessed with the palins as the next guy. i thought i was a palin fanatic fan until huffpost here jumped aboard and took palin obsession beyond definability. i am humbled now, ashamed to have ever thought that my weak casual curiosity was even a noticable interest in palin compared to huffposts level of continual obsession. but i am an experienced palin fanboy. it really isn't neccessary to associate palin with the taliban, cancer, english food, biblical plagues, or the end of the world to enjoy the matchless beauty's adventures anywhere between wasilla and washington. it's ok to be fascinated with sarah even if she is really not a demiurge bent on destroying the solar system.
"look, i'm as obsessed with the palins as the next guy. i thought i was a palin fanatic fan until huffpost here jumped aboard and took palin obsession beyond definability. i am humbled now, ashamed to have ever thought that my weak casual curiosity was even a noticable interest in palin compared to huffposts level of continual obsession. but i am an experienced palin fanboy. it really isn't neccessary to associate palin with the taliban, cancer, english food, biblical plagues, or the end of the world to enjoy the matchless beauty's adventures anywhere between wasilla and washington. it's ok to be fascinated with sarah even if she is really not a demiurge bent on destroying the solar system."
A very telling admission. People sometimes convince themselves they hate what they love, and vice versa. You seem like a bright fellow and something tells me a more centrist/populist Sarah Palin with a bit of polish might even get your vote. If even 10% of those who profess not to like her turn her way in 2012, she's our next President.
john-
sorry to disappoint. i'm in the area of fidel castro on the political spectrum. usually someone near a perceived extreme is also fanatical- but i'm not. so i'm a far left radical- but it's not always about that all the time- not even most of the time.
i just love the dude & sarah and the kids- and the hockey player. i just love them.
as for sarah- her simplistic charming views are part of her beauty, which extends to every aspect of her being. i vote green party. but sarah and the first dude would delight me in the white house- as do the obamas.
All debates with the Christian Right are useless. We cannot reach this movement. It does not want a dialogue. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. It is not mollified because John Kerry prays or Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School. These naive attempts to reach out to a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to them that we too have "values," would be humorous if the stakes were not so deadly. They hate us. They hate the liberal, enlightened world formed by the Constitution. Our opinions do not count.
This movement will not stop until we are ruled by Biblical Law, an authoritarian church intrudes in every aspect of our life, women stay at home and rear children, gays agree to be cured, abortion is considered murder, the press and the schools promote "positive" Christian values, the federal government is gutted, war becomes our primary form of communication with the rest of the world and recalcitrant non-believers see their flesh eviscerated at the sound of the Messiah's voice.
-- Chris Hedges.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
