The 2012 Republican Presidential primary is shaping up to be a test of which candidate is more 'Christian.' It's all about Christian political domination, though.
Blurring the lines of separation of church and state,
Perry and Bachmann are duking it out. Soon, we may have own own American Taliban.
America's own Taliban
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Until recently a fringe evangelical movement, warned against as deviant, "spiritual warfare" is rapidly positioning itself within America's mainstream political right. It's well past time for political journalists to start covering what this movement is up to.
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The ultimate goal is to replace secular democracy, both in America and around the world, with a Christian theocracy, an ideology known as "dominionism". The supposed purpose is to "purify" the world for Christ's return - again, strikingly similar to what the Taliban believe, but also significantly at odds with more common, long-standing Christian beliefs about the "end times", as well as the nature and purpose of prayer, and the roles of human and divine power.
This description might seem utterly fantastical, but copious evidence for it is hidden in plain sight, scattered across the internet, in books, on YouTube, and tracked by a small community of researchers at sites such as Talk2Action.org and RightWingWatch.org, as well as by evangelical critics. The question is: When will America's mainstream media catch up?
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http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/20117259426336524.html Both
Michele Bachmann and Perry are linked to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and Perry's recent prayer Rally, The Response, had NAR's prayer warriors backing him hard.
Rick Perry's Army of God
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But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.
In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.
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Unlike other radical religious groups, the New Apostles believe political activism is part of their divine mission. ...Engle's larger aim is Christian control of government.
“The church’s vocation is to rule history with God,” he has said. “We are called into the very image of the Trinity himself, that we are to be His friends and partners for world dominion.”
“It sounds so fringe but yet it’s not fringe,” Tabachnick says. “They’ve been working with Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Sam Brownback, and now Rick Perry. ... They are becoming much more politically noticeable.”
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http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-godThis should scare the hell out of any thinking mind, and yet, back in June
Jon Meacham worked hard to 'normalize' Bachmann on MSNBC and
Mark Halperin bent over backwards attempting to normalize her on Charlie Rose.Ryan Lizza has an insightful piece in the New Yorker on Bachmann and how she's being transformed into a serious contender...
The Political Scene
Leap of Faith
The making of a Republican front-runner.
by Ryan Lizza August 15, 2011
The transformation of Michele Bachmann from Tea Party insurgent and cable-news Pasionaria to serious Republican contender in the 2012 Presidential race was nearly complete by late June, when she boarded a Dassault Falcon 900, in Dulles, Virginia, and headed toward the caucus grounds of Iowa. The leased, fourteen-seat corporate jet was to serve as Bachmann’s campaign hub for the next few days, and, before the plane took off, her press secretary, Alice Stewart, announced to the six travelling chroniclers that there was one important rule. “I know everything is on the record these days,” Stewart said, “but please just don’t broadcast images of her in her casual clothes.”
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Bachmann belongs to a generation of Christian conservatives whose views have been shaped by institutions, tracts, and leaders not commonly known to secular Americans, or even to most Christians.
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With the help of the members of the prayer group, she explained in the speech, she became a born-again Christian:
I didn’t know I wasn’t a believer. But they knew I wasn’t a believer, and they started praying for me. And all of a sudden the holy spirit started knocking on my heart’s door and I could hear the Lord tug me and call me to Himself, and I responded on November 1st of 1972, and I knew that I knew that I knew that I had received Jesus Christ as my lord and savior and that my life would never be the same after I made that commitment, because I knew what darkness looked like. I knew it from my home life. I absolutely understood sin, and I wanted no part of it. When Jesus Christ came in and cleaned out this dark heart, that was light. That was rest. That was peace. It was refreshment. Why would I ever want the world? I knew what that had to offer. This was great. That didn’t mean that I woke and all of a sudden I had money, all of a sudden I had position, all of a sudden I had education. It didn’t. But what it meant was that all of a sudden I had a father.
Bachmann told me, “It was very helpful to join the prayer group. That’s when I gave my life over to God, and it was a life-changing experience for me to recognize that I wanted him to be in control of my life rather than me being in control of my life.”
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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=allMeanwhile, other Evangelical Christians sound the alarm, as well...
Why I Believe Christians Should Not Participate in Governor Perry's "The Response"
Why It is NOT Just A Prayer Event
Opinion and Commentary by Brannon S. Howse
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I fear the American church is following in the steps of the "German Christians" that eliminated their denominations and abandoned doctrinal purity in order to unite under the Reich Bishop so they might save their country. Nationalism or ecumenical patriotism, mysticism, and a lack of biblical discernment which leads to tolerance of false teaching are growing in America.
In April of 2011, I wrote an article entitled,
"Christians That Partner with False Teachers and Think They are Defending Liberty for the Sake of the Gospel are Compromising the Gospel for the Sake of Liberty."
I warned then, as I do now, that the mixing of evangelicals with false prophets for the sake of the culture war is really an offense to the Gospel. God is not dependent on us to violate Biblical principles in order to be successful at restoring righteousness. How can we restore righteousness through an unrighteous manner? How can we hope to restore Biblical principles within government when we have willingly violated Biblical principles within the church? The end does not justify the means.
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http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=7372