Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent
movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in
1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was
featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus
Camp,"
which showed
young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least
three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major
organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to
as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic
Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to
take dominion over the United States and the world.
Posted -
08/09/08
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Along with her entire family,
Sarah Palin was re-baptized at twelve at the Wasilla Assembly of
God in Wasilla, Alaska and she attended the church from the time
she was ten until 2002: over two and 1/2 decades. Sarah Palin's
extensive pattern of association with the Wasilla Assembly of
God has continued nearly up to the day she was picked by Senator
John McCain as a vice-presidential running mate. Palin's
dedication to the Wasilla church is indicated by a Saturday,
September 7, 2008, McClatchy news service story detailing
possibly improper use of state travel funds by Palin for a trip
she made to Wasilla, Alaska to attend, on June 8, 2008, both a
Wasilla Assembly of God "Masters Commission" graduation ceremony
and also a multi-church Wasilla area event known as "One Lord
Sunday." At the latter event, Palin and Alaska LT Governor Scott
Parnell were publicly blessed, onstage before an estimated crowd
of 6,000, through the "laying on of hands" by Wasilla Assembly
of God's Head Pastor Ed Kalnins whose sermons espouse such
theological concepts as the possession of geographic territories
by demonic spirits and the inter-generational transmission of
family "curses". Palin has also been blessed, or "anointed," by
an African cleric, prominent in the Third Wave movement, who has
repeatedly visited the Wasilla Assembly of God and claims to
have effected positive, dramatic social change in a Kenyan town
by driving out a "spirit of witchcraft."
The Wasilla Assembly of God
church is deeply involved with both Third Wave activities and
theology. Their Master's Commission program is part of an three
year post-high school international training program with
studies in prophecy, intercessory prayer, Biblical exegesis,
authority and leadership. The pastor, Ed Kalnins, and Masters
Commission students have traveled to South Carolina to
participate in a "prophetic conference" at Morningstar
Ministries, one of the major ministries of the Third Wave
movement. Becky Fischer was a pastor at Morningstar prior to
being featured in the movie "Jesus Camp." The head of prophecy
at Morningstar, Steve Thompson, is currently scheduled to do a
prophecy seminar at the Wasilla Assembly of God. Other major
leaders in the movement have also traveled to Wasilla to visit
and speak at the church.
The Third Wave is a revival of
the theology of the Latter Rain tent revivals of the 1950s and
1960s led by William Branham and others. It is based on the
idea that in the end times there will be an outpouring of
supernatural powers on a group of Christians that will take
authority over the existing church and the world. The believing
Christians of the world will be reorganized under the Fivefold
Ministry and the church restructured under the authority of
Prophets and Apostles and others anointed by God. The young
generation will form "Joel's Army" to rise up and battle evil
and retake the earth for God.
While segments of this belief
system have been a part of Pentecostalism and charismatic
beliefs for decades, the excesses of this movement were declared
a heresy in 1949 by the General Council of the Assemblies of
God, and again condemned through Resolution 16 in 2000. The
beliefs and manifestations of the movement include the use of
'strategic level spiritual warfare' to expel territorial demons
from American and world cities. Worship includes excessive
charismatic manifestations such as hundreds of people falling,
'slain in the spirit,' and congregations laughing, jerking, and
shrieking uncontrollably.
In early 2008 an outbreak of
those phenomena commenced at the palatial former ministry estate
of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, recently bought up and restored by
prominent Third Wave author and leader Rick Joyner's Morningstar
Ministries. The (spiritual) "breakout" lasted for many weeks and
was publicized in an extensive collection of video footage
available on YouTube. Healing services in the Third Wave
movement claim to heal the sick and injured through methods that
in some cases can appear bizarre - including, as in recent cases
involving Todd Bentley, the patient being head butted or kicked
by the anointed healer. Recipients of such "spiritual" or
miraculous healing make a wide range of astonishing claims - to
have been cured of life-threatening illnesses, had joints
repaired or replaced, been given gold teeth or gold fillings,
regrown stunted limbs and even had deformed skeletal structures
straightened and reshaped. Worldwide mission efforts of the
movement are built around the idea of combating witches,
warlocks, and generational curses, which prevent churches from
being able to take root.
Thomas Muthee visited Wasilla
Assembly of God and gave 10 consecutive sermons at the church,
from October 11-16 2005. As both Palin and Wasilla AoG Head
Pastor Ed Kalnins have attested, Thomas Muthee 'prayed over'
Sarah Palin and entreated God to "make a way" prior to Palin's
successful bid for the Alaska governorship. Muthee made a return
visit to the Wasilla Assembly of God in late 2008. Thomas
Muthee's Word of Faith Church is featured in the
"Transformations" video which details an account on how Muthee
drove "the spirit of witchcraft" out of Kiambu, Kenya,
liberating the town from its territorial demonic possession and
enabling a miraculous societal transformation. The
"Transformations" video set is used as an argument for social
improvement through spiritual instead of human means, and as
the best method for fighting corruption, crime, drugs and even
environmental degradation.
In the video, producer George
Otis declares that after Thomas Muthee and his followers
banished the "spirit of witchcraft" from the town, the crime
rate in Kiambu dropped almost to zero, along with the rate of
alcoholism, and according to Otis most of the residents of the
town joined churches. The "Transformations" video has helped
spark a network of 'Transformation' ministries and mission
organizations and 'transformation' has become a buzz word for
change based on supernatural instead of human efforts.
The Third Wave, also known as
the New Apostolic Reformation, is a network of Apostles, many of
them grouped around C. Peter Wagner, founder of the World Prayer
Center. This center, which was built in coordination with Ted
Haggard and his New Life Church in Colorado Springs, was
featured in an article by Jeff Sharlet in Harpers, May 2005,
"Soldiers of Christ." Sharlet was one of the first to write in
the secular press about the World Prayer Center which is often
referred to by those familiar with the Third Wave as the
'Pentagon for Spiritual Warfare.' It features computer systems
that store the data of communities around the world, mapping out
unsaved peoples' groups and spiritual mapping information for
spiritual warfare. Wagner has his own group of about 500
Apostles in his council and each of these Apostles has
ministries under their authority, sometimes hundreds or
thousands. Recently various networks of Apostles came together
to form the Revival Alliance. Leaders of the Revival Alliance
including Rick Joyner of Morningstar anointed Todd Bentley whose
Lakeland Healing Revival has recently been a controversial topic
in the Evangelical world.
Wagner's top leaders often
conduct spiritual warfare campaigns against the demons that
block the acceptance of their brand of Christian belief, such as
'Operation Ice Castle' in the Himalayas in 1997. Several of
their top prophets and generals of intercession spent weeks in
intensive prayer to "confront the Queen of Heaven." This queen
is considered by them to be one of the most powerful demons over
the earth and is the Great Harlot of Mystery Babylon in
Revelation. (The "Great Harlot [or 'whore'] of Mystery Babylon"
theme also figures prominently in the sermons of Texas
megachurch pastor and Christians United For Israel founder John
Hagee, former endorser of John McCain's 2008 presidential bid.)
Wagner and his group also claim that the Queen of Heaven is
Diana, the pagan god of the biblical book Ephesians and the god
of Mary veneration in the Roman Catholic Church. Following the
'Operation Ice Castle' prayer excursion which included planting
a flag for Jesus on Mt. Everest, one of the lead prayer
intercessors from the excursion, Ana Mendez, reported that there
had been dramatic results including, "millions have come to
faith in Asia... and other things happened which I believe are
also connected...an earthquake had destroyed the basilica of
Assisi, where the Pope had called a meeting of all world
religions; a hurricane destroyed the infamous temple
'Baal-Christ' in Acapulco, Mexico; the Princes Diana died...
and Mother Theresa died in India, one of the most famous
advocates of Mary as Co-Redeemer."
Mike Rose, senior pastor of
Juneau Christian Center has a long relationship with Rodney
Howard -Browne, credited with being the instigator of the
outbreak of 'Holy Laughter' around the world, including the
Toronto Airport Revival.
Church of the Rock, led by
Senior Pastor David Pepper, has taken their youth to participate
in 'The Call, Nashville.' This event is held at various
locations around the country under the leadership of Lou Engle,
also featured in the movie "Jesus Camp." At these events youth
are worked into a frenzy of anger and consternation at supposed
national moral corruption. Engle, who shuffles while he
preaches in imitation of Jewish prayer, is featured toward the
end of the "Jesus Camp" video documentary.
The Third Wave movement is
cross-denomination and is not synonymous with any specific
denomination, nor is it synonymous with Evangelical or
Fundamentalist. Although the movement emerged from
Pentecostalism, it draws its support from a variety of
denominations and religious streams. They believe they are
forming a post-denominational church to take the world for the
end times. To date, all of the writing and objections to this
movement have emerged from other Evangelicals and
Fundamentalists who believe the movement to be unbiblical.
Also, it is other conservative churches that refuse to embrace
the 'outpouring of the Spirit' that are targets of much of the
anger of the movement.
You can find more information on
the Third Wave movement and additional links to the activities
of Palin's churches on www.Talk2action.org in the following
articles:
Morningstar Ministries clips
including cellphone anointing, portal to Jesus
http://www.prophetic.tv/morningstar/
Holy Spirit Breakout Day # 1 and 2, Day #9, and Week #15
On Prophetic TV, Morningstar Ministries full Breakout series
Wasilla Master's Commission
http://www.mcwasillaalaska.com/
Main website with links to Master's Commission, Master's
Commission videos and photos
Wasilla AoG bulletin graphics,
Wasilla AoG sermons, Wasilla AoG videos http://www.wasillaag.org/
Wasilla Assembly of God main site clips used:
Music repeated in video and
sermon with chants of `Jesus, Jesus'
Wasilla AoG sermon by Pastor Todd Stafford, "In Desperate
Times", January 15, 2007.
Master's Commission Graduation
Ceremony, June 8, 2008
Sarah Palin giving Master's Commission speech
Posted on the Wasilla AoG site on June 8, 2008
Lou Engle, Rick Joyner from
Underground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sSZ7Ux3Hg
Underground by www.underthethreshold
Production of Brian Wages, Music/Art Director, Oakleaf Christian
Fellowship
Supplemental Documentation
(Hundreds of sources have been used in this research. Following
is list of websites of featured organizations and a selection of
previously published articles and books used as sources.)
"C. Peter Wagner, head of Global
Harvest Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colo., is in the
vanguard of the movement. He defines three levels of spiritual
warfare: "Ground-level" involves casting demons out of
individuals; "occult-level warfare" involves more organized
"powers of darkness" [They target here New Age thought, Tibetan
Buddhism, Freemasonry, etc.]; and "strategic-level warfare"
directly "confronts 'territorial spirits' assigned by Satan to
coordinate activities over a geographical area."
Transformations Videos, George
Otis, Sentinel Group
http://www.globalharvest.org/index.asp?action=newapostolic
C. Peter Wagner's Global Harvest Ministry, ministry website
archive
Summary of book Churchquake explaining the purpose of New
Apostolic Reformation
Wagner describes how he named the movement and how they will
change the church.
"The majority of the new
apostolic churches not only believe in the work of the Holy
Spirit, but they also regularly invite Him to come into their
midst to bring supernatural power. It is commonplace, therefore,
to observe active ministries of healing, demonic deliverance,
spiritual warfare, prophecy, falling in the Spirit, spiritual
mapping, prophetic acts, fervent intercession and travail, and
so on in new apostolic churches".
http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1997i/Hart.html
The Gospel and Spiritual Warfare: A Review of Peter Wagner's
"Confronting the Powers"Journal of the Grace Evangelical
Society, Spring 1997 -- Volume 10:18
http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2008-0710-20070
6/holvast.pdf
Spiritual Mapping: The Turbulent Career of a Contested American
Missionary Paradigm, 1989 - 2005
De Turbulente Carriere van een Omstreden Americkaans
Zendingsparadigma, 1989 - 2005
Rene Holvast
Universeit Utrecht
Doctoral Thesis , July 11, 1008
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