The day has come to move. It was a year ago today that I dropped all other projects and began writing “TheoPalinism – The Face of Failed Extremism”, and it feels very fitting to celebrate that anniversary by moving to my new site – “God’s Own Party?”

I know it has been hard for all of you to have to endure that condescending wink, and I too am ready to now take us beyond that and into the broader world of Political Dominionism. We will not be able to avoid discussion of Palin as she metamorphoses into what ever GOP tool she becomes. But we will also delve into the rest of the cast of characters that slither below the radar throughout our political landscape. And there are many, I am sorry to say.

We will explore just Who these well funded and highly skilled political dominionist salesmen are behind the movement that spawned a candidate such as Palin using the cloak of legitimacy of the Republican Party; What their agenda is for America including the use of Palin and others like her; When the Republican Party became infested with these theocrats; Where they are planning to go with their agenda; How they accomplished transforming a secular party into a Religious Right machine; Why they have been so successful in their takeover and their intentions of “reclaiming” America for Christ through the enormous voter blocs that mega-church congregational members provide.

Wow! Doesn’t this sound like a ball of fun! I will make this as informative as possible without losing touch with humor and sarcasm as a coping mechanism. We have an opportunity to really make a difference. Together we will work toward viral Internet exposure and that is a world I am still learning about. The broader the audience, the more people we jar into the reality of what these wolves in sheep’s clothing are really up to. There is no greater enemy to the Dominionist Movement than exposure!

Follow me over to “godsownparty.com/blog” and we will get started…

And our Lexicon grows!

- Glossolalia –  also known as “xenoglossy” (emphasis on the ‘glossy’) is the required 2nd language of Dominionist Sheeples. We are more familiar with it referred to as “speaking in tongues”. The basis for this “language” doesn’t exist, but you cannot convince them, and they aren’t even the least bit embarrassed by the absurdity of putting it into practice.

Here is an article that discusses this act from a scientific evaluation of ‘glossololia’ -

Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Toronto,

glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly …. Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not language (Nickell, 108).

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is sacred and referred to as “speaking in tongues” or having “the gift of tongues.” In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly, this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood by foreigners from several nations.

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending on the social expectations of their community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful. However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter unchecked leeway in “translating” the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos notes: “Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the religious community” (Spanos, 147).

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers.

“Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Toronto,

glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly …. Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not language (Nickell, 108).

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is sacred and referred to as “speaking in tongues” or having “the gift of tongues.” In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly, this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood by foreigners from several nations.

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending on the social expectations of their community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful. However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter unchecked leeway in “translating” the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos notes: “Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the religious community” (Spanos, 147).

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers.”

They tell a fable from the Book of Acts II: 1-11 to support the notion that such an event really did occur and it was prophesied by Joel that this kind of thing would happen in the last days. There is nothing in Joel, however, that prophesied that, when the last days didn’t come as predicted, plan B would be to wait 1900 years and have a revival and claim that when you speak gibberish it is a sign that God loves you.

Interesting – doncha think? Somehow, I’m thinkin’ they have taken these ancient interpretations and twisted them – and as we have discussed, they are experts at twisting biblical intent. Here is a video of one of their revered ‘church’ leaders speaking this eloquent language…

Gives you the chills doesn’t it? The article goes on to say…

What is the real Truth about Tongue Speaking?

Many Christians believe that speaking in tongues is the fulfilment of the Latter Rain promised in Joel 2:28-29 and that it is the final manifestation of the Holy Spirit before the Second Coming of Christ. It is also commonly taught that you have not received the Holy Spirit and are not saved unless you have demonstrated the gift of speaking in tongues, and tongues seems to be the only sought after gift in the tongue speaking Church today.

And here we bump up against the End Times/End of Times/Armageddon mentality once again. But I have the King James Version of the Christian Bible and when I read Joel 2:28-29…well, ummm, it doesn’t say anything about talking in babble-baby talk.

Isn’t it amazing what men can contrive and sell to the masses? Frightening!

There I go again! Getting all optimistic! I lost my head for a minute…indulge me…

And all the vitriolic volume cranked up by the “true Americans”…you know who I mean, the ‘c’hristian Republicans (‘c’Rs), screaming in the faces of progressives and democratic congressmembers in outraged indignation – that THEY have read the hundreds and hundreds of pages of “the health care bill” (the one that doesn’t even technically exist at this point) so the rest of us had better read it or screw off. And we all know how well-read and studied these folks are…

Then two days ago…one of their own informed members of the ‘c’Rs, and current resident of C Street House, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, had this to say in an article on the Huffington Post about developing an informed opinion on health care out of concern for the American public:

Republicans challenged Democrats to read the whole bill this summer — even though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell later admitted that he hadn’t.

In July, Inhofe said that stalling or blocking health care reform would be a “huge gain” for Republicans in the 2010 election.

At a town hall meeting Wednesday Sen. Jim Inhofe told Chickasha residents he does not need to read the 1,000 page health care reform bill, he will simply vote against it.

“I don’t have to read it, or know what’s in it. I’m going to oppose it anyways,” he said.

Okay!  Add Inhofe to the growing list…and I think they need to take this to the floor of congress and have a “movie-day” with popcorn and pillows. In fact, they could up the ante and offer treats to those who can properly use the following words in proper context in a sentence – fascism; socialism; communism; democracy; republic.

I can guarantee you that the investment in treat handouts would be minimal.

QUICK UPDATE:

A comment from a reader suggests that we all go over to You Tube and vote this UP. In doing so, it is abundantly clear to me that I am just a hopeless optimist! Reading some of the comments under the YouTube video of this over on the YT page…and you will be shaking your head too! What a bunch of…! They’re embarrassing…

In the process of transitioning web sites, I want to start a new series that will be ongoing on the new site.  As I have said, we will be departing the Palin port and moving into broader scopes. This will sometimes require ongoing ties back to Queen Esther – as in today’s post about the antics of Franklin Graham and his neat lil company, “Samaritan’s Purse”. Referring back to her is inevitable because they did actually choose her (as unbelievable as that still remains to my rational mind), one year ago today.

My partner Alex (aka ‘dogemporer’), in the upcoming book has done extensive research and writing over the years on dominionism and religious extremism. A great deal of her “diaries” as she calls them are spread across many web sites in the blogosphere…but I am going to start re-posting portions of them with links to her entire articles on the new blog site, “godsownparty”, in an effort to bring them into one place. Her work is invaluable.

So today I am going to share an article about proselytizing in the military and the parasites that swoop in to “harvest souls” like our friend Franklin Graham – Billy Graham’s spot-on example of a prodigal son – a rich daddy’s-boy who travels the world perpetuating his father’s multi-million dollar “souls-for-money” business. We saw Frank recently shuttling Palin, Parnell and the self-righteous Baptist from Anchorage, Alaska (Jerry Prevo), around to a couple of villages in western Alaska. They stood around the plane and had prayer group hugs on camera, and claimed their acts as altruistic in the name of Jesus.

First of all…there is nothing altruistic about these people. There is always an agenda, and that agenda is that you either convert to their game or get squashed. They need the numbers, for how else will they be able to traverse the globe in private planes, motorcycles, boats, limos – you name it spreading the ‘wurd’? They feed off those in despair like zealot parasites in the name of Jesus.

If it sounds like I am angry today it is because I am. A true American patriot, USAF graduate, former White House counsel in the Reagan Administration and my friend Mikey Weinstein and his family have been horribly harassed, threatened and terrorized because of his work to prevent these parasites from dominating faith in the military through his Military Religious Freedom Foundation. So I am compelled to speak out about these lovely dominionist ‘c’hristians and share the tangled web they weave together, including their act of military proselytizing.

Alex has already written about this connection in June 2008 between Samaritan’s Purse and military proselytizing which is included in  full article here – but below I would like to include portions of it so I can interject a few comments:

The recent incident where a Marine was recently found distributing “Bible coins” promoted by a fundamentalist “Bible church” is, sad to say, far from the first incident of overt proselytizing in Iraq.

The truth is, this sort of thing has been going on literally since Gulf War I, and ramped up in Gulf War II–and, ironically, has directly threatened the future existence of two of the oldest Christian churches in the world–churches that can literally trace their founding to one of the Twelve Apostles. Even more disturbingly, most of the worst proselytizing has been with civilian dominionist groups that target both Iraqi citizens and US military personnel.

Not the first, and not even the worst, example of “invading missionaries”

Whilst the “Bible coin” fiasco has been given considerable press (in part because of military involvement following an incident where a copy of the Quran was used for target practice), it is by no means the first or the worst example of targeting of Iraqis–including other “people of the book”–by dominionist “missionaries”.

It has been little publicized, but dominionist “missionary” groups have been in Iraq since the US government hit the ground in Gulf War II–and their activities may have in fact directly led in part to the bucket of hell that the country is in…and to US military being targeted.

One of the first groups on the ground–and one of the more notorious offenders in regard to the use of “bait and switch” evangelism, especially in regards to relief efforts–was Frank Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse (which made plans as soon as 2003 to enter the country). The SBC, the Assemblies of God, and other groups also moved in quite rapidly after Saddam Hussein’s government fell.

Samaritan’s Purse’s actions have been especially odious. Among other things, the group literally described the attempted genocide of Iraq’s Kurdish population as a “missionary opportunity”; never mind that Kurdish people are already a marginalized people and that one of the more heavily demonized religious minorities in Iraq exists among the Kurdish people (the Yezidi faith, which venerates Malek Taus as a bringer of wisdom–a being normally equated to Shaitan in traditional Islam, which has led to Yezidis being (falsely) accused of being Satanists). As it is, Samaritan’s Purse’s leader stated that Islam was a “wicked and violent” religion in such terms that even George W. Bush didn’t want to touch that statement with a 40-foot barge pole.

Okay…It is not a stretch her to place Franklin Graham and Erik Prince (Mr. Xe formerly known as Blackwater) in the same tree house when they were young and playing army. Frank actually was kown to take an automatic rifle and use it as a chain saw but shooting up the base of trees to the point of toppling them. Picture the vitriol hatred the 2 of them share in their righteous ‘c’hristianity towards Islam. An ugly and dangerous combination. Look at them – they look like twins. ‘c’hristians filled with hate. Wow!

Samaritan’s Purse also has a well-documented history of forcing people to be proselytized to as a condition of disaster aid and especially targeting children to do so–including gift boxes given to children with religious toys.

Starving, homeless, displaced children and families – suffering the horrors of war or other disasters – and here come these “people of God”, swooping in with aid but tell them they can’t have it until they have listen to the sales pitch and are “saved” before they can have food, clothing or trinket dangling before them.

This is saving souls!  This is extortion! Shame on them!

In fact, the “bait and switch” extended to adults as well; Samaritan’s Purse ended up wearing out its welcome with the Red Cross during Gulf War I (by pulling stunts where it required people to watch “The Jesus Film” to receive aid at a Jordanian refugee center) which could have gotten our soldiers in serious trouble with their host country:

Even Franklin Graham used some of these methods. According to Graham’s biography, “Rebel With a Cause,” during the last Gulf War, Samaritan’s Purse went to Jordan under the banner “Operation Desert Save” with food and aid–and showed the Jesus Film at night until the International Red Cross complained. Graham then used the Dear Abby Any Servicemen campaign to send Arabic language Scripture tracts and New Testaments into Saudi Arabia-a country he describes as “wicked”–and smuggled them past censors concerned about cultural sensitivity by using the Dear Abby postmark. The U.S. Postal Service, acting on a complaint by Dear Abby, brought the campaign to an end.

(Of Note: Samaritan’s Purse was among a number of dominionist groups (including the Assemblies front group FGBMFI) known to have funneled aid to the Contras under the guise of “aid” and conducted extensive “bait and switch” evangelism in Nicaragua)

And lest people think Samaritan’s Purse’s behavior in Iraq was an aberration–they’re reported to have targeted survivors of Hurricane Katrina in identical manner. In fact, Frank Graham explicitly saw Katrina as “God’s Judgment” on New Orleans (how many times do we have to tell these folks that Hurricane Katrina is not divine retribution, and if it were, then God must have the worst aim in the world as Bourbon Street was probably the least damaged area that Katrina hit?).

Ironically, the influx of dominionist missionaries may well have been one of the worst things to have happened to the Christian community in Iraq in modern times.

Almost from the time they arrived, dominionist groups started aggressively targeting both Moslem *and* Christian groups for conversion–including the Chaldean Catholic and Iraqi Orthodox churches, two of the longest-lived congregations in all of Christianity. Traditionally, some of the churches in Iraq literally were founded by missionary efforts of no less than St. Thomas. As in the disciple Thomas, as in one of the guys who personally knew Jesus when he was alive in Christian tradition. Yes, these are literally some of the first Christian churches ever set up, where St. Paul would have been visiting as a traveling preacher visiting established churches.

Enough is enough for the Christian community in Iraq. The head of Iraq’s largest Christian community, Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, recently scathingly attacked the evangelical Christians who have taken their crusade to Iraq since the illegal U.S. invasion of March 2003.

According to Delly, the evangelicals attract poor youths with displays of money and then “take them out in cars to have fun. Then, they take photos and send them here, to Germany, to the United States and say ‘look how many Muslims have become Christian.’”

The interesting thing is…before the dominionist missionaries came, relations between the Christian and Moslem communities in Iraq were historically quite good in modern times. There was very much a spirit of “live and let live”–groups kept to their faith, and there was little effort at trying to convert each other.

This pretty much got shot to hell by dominionist missionaries…who, in part because of their actions, are now causing one of the oldest groups in Christendom to flee their country in droves and causing them to be targeted in such numbers that the word “genocide” has been increasingly used to describe the situation.

And increasingly, our soldiers are being associated with having brought the Dominionists to Iraq by its countrymen–and, sadly, with reports of ongoing attempts at steeplejacking of the US military’s chaplaincy system (which has been frighteningly successful in the Army and Air Force; the Navy still seems to be giving a good fight), this is not necessarily inaccurate.

Thank you, Alex.

And that is exactly what Weinstein is fighting, and being persecuted for. Working to keep our military free from these ‘c’hristian cult leaders who have now invaded the chaplaincy and dominated it, leaving subordinates to be pressured into conversion under threat of insubordination and misconduct.

And because of his fight to keep religious choice free in the military, he and his family have come under the most heinous fire. Mr. Weinstein, you sir are a true patriot!

One of the extraordinary people that I have had the pleasure to meet along this path is retired Pastor Howard Bess who resides in Palmer, Alaska…   miles from Wasilla.  Pastor Bess was interviewed by the press last year during the presidential campaign. When Sarah Palin was on the Wasilla city council , she organized an all out effort to censor a book written by Pastor Bess titled, “Pastor I Am Gay”.  Her efforts stirred up the hackles of like-minded extremists in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley (Mat-Su) and they were successful in preventing his book from being sold and promoted in local bookstores. As stated in an article in Salon.com from September 2008…

“Inevitably, his [Pastor Bess] work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. “Things got very intense around here in the ’90s — the culture war was very hot here,” Bess said. “The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to.”

Bess’ first run-in with Palin’s religious forces came when he decided to write his book, “Pastor, I Am Gay.” The book was the result of a theological journey that began in the 1970s when Bess was asked for guidance by a closeted homosexual in his Santa Barbara congregation”…[which became the inspiration for his book].

“She scares me,” said Bess. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

“At this point, people in this country don’t grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology.”

Over the past year I have had the pleasure of consulting and speaking with Pastor Bess, who sends newsletters out on a regular basis.  The one I received this morning I think speaks volumes about the compassionate, caring and kind Jesus Christ that is the basis for mainstream Christians…as opposed to this “Warrior Christ” that the evangelical extremists Dominionist cult of re-invented ‘c’hristianity has created. Please watch the following video with an interview of Pastor Bess by Max Blumenthal:

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I don’t mean this to sound like Bible study, but I think it behooves us all to understand the way the Dominionists have such a violent and dramatically different view from mainstream Christians so that we don’t become intolerant of all people of Christian faith.  I would like to share a few observations from Pastor Bess that are worthy of noting from this mornings’ newsletter with you…

THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION

By Howard Bess

The Bible is a collection of ancient writings.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  Naively I studied Greek and Hebrew thinking that they would be the keys that would unlock the truest meanings of Christianity’s sacred book.  Greek was my undergraduate minor and the study of Hebrew awaited me in my first year of graduate school.  Along the way I ran into some surprises.

For starters, I was introduced to textual criticism.  I learned that there were hundreds of variant texts, and even the oldest of those manuscripts did not even come close to the time of original writings.  Then I faced the reality that Jesus’ every day language was neither Hebrew nor Greek.  It was Aramaic.  If he spoke a second language, it was a pigeon Greek that had minimal resemblance to either classical Greek or koine (common) Greek.  Trying to trace the words of Jesus with some level of accuracy all the way to modern English translations is a detective story not fully understood by the finest of Bible scholars.

My next big surprise came when I realized that an even more challenging translation task lay ahead of me as a pastor.  It is called cultural translation.  Every Sunday I had the responsibility to speak to my congregation about what the Bible messages mean to people of the late 20th century and the early 21st century.  Flawed as the texts of our modern English Bibles might be, clear messages emerge and demand to be translated into modern life.

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, a vigorous movement is afoot to translate Jesus into modern life.  Jesus from Nazareth is being understood as a community activist, who took on the critical issues of economics, race, politics and religion.  He was a vigorous social reformer.   How are we to translate his messages and concerns into the 21st century?

In 2007 the National Council of Churches of Christ published A Social Creed for the 21st Century.  The document is a thoughtful attempt to translate the messages of Jesus into our own culture.  While I have revised, added and subtracted, I acknowledge the instruction of the NCC document.  Even more I acknowledge the stories, sayings and actions that Jesus left for our guidance and instruction.

Jesus has left us at least five mandates.

First, all men and women without regard to race, age, cultural roots, or sexual orientation, are to have full human rights….civil, political, economic, religious.

Jesus’ acceptance and relationships with women and children were outside of the bounds of social norms.  His relationship with women was considered nothing short of scandalous.  He was charged with eating with thieves and those who drank too much. He befriended Samaritans.  Sexual orientation was not an issue in the day of Jesus, but he made it plain that everyone was welcome at the dinner table of God.

Second, priority attention is to be given to the people who are most vulnerable.  The poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the widow, the orphan.  In a modern world universal health care, expansion of the food stamp program, social security for older persons, tax and budget policies that diminish the gap between the rich and the poor, quality education for everyone, and affordable housing, cannot be set aside.

Just as sexual orientation was an unknown issue in Jesus’ day, so also was concern about the unborn.  Awareness has confronted us with reality.  A Jesus ethic in a modern world cannot ignore the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, the unborn child. Third, we all must adopt simpler lifestyles that support and sustain the world in which we live.  We now know that we live in a world of limited resources.  Land, water, and air are all limited resources that are necessary for the survival of the human race.  The world cannot renew itself as fast as we are using its resources.  We must curb our appetites.                                                                                                                               In addition, we are polluting the world’s resources.  Burning fossil fuels has possibly fouled the world’s land, water and air beyond recovery.  We must find different sources of energy.    The rule is simple.  If it’s not clean, we ought not to be using it.   Polluting the world is a sin against the whole human family.  We cannot say we love our neighbor and leave that neighbor with a polluted and inadequate environment.

Fourth, war is an unacceptable way of resolving conflicts between human beings.  Peacemaking is the highest calling of a devout follower of Jesus our Christ from Nazareth.  I cannot even imagine Jesus in an act of violence.  The Christian warrior becomes a tragic oxymoron.

Fifth, we must become people of trust.  We need to be trustworthy, but along with that we must be willing to trust those who appear to be untrustworthy.  Trust produces trust.

I am happy to leave the translating of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English to those who have mastered the languages.  I cannot escape translating the Jesus message into my every day life.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  His email address is hdbss@mtaonlline.net.

THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION  By Howard Bess

The Bible is a collection of ancient writings.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  Naively I studied Greek and Hebrew thinking that they would be the keys that would unlock the truest meanings of Christianity’s sacred book.  Greek was my undergraduate minor and the study of Hebrew awaited me in my first year of graduate school.  Along the way I ran into some surprises.

For starters, I was introduced to textual criticism.  I learned that there were hundreds of variant texts, and even the oldest of those manuscripts did not even come close to the time of original writings.  Then I faced the reality that Jesus’ every day language was neither Hebrew nor Greek.  It was Aramaic.  Trying to trace the words of Jesus with some level of accuracy all the way to modern English translations is a detective story not fully understood by the finest of Bible scholars.

My next big surprise came when I realized that an even more challenging translation task lay ahead of me as a pastor.  It is called cultural translation.

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, a vigorous movement is afoot to translate Jesus into modern life. Jesus from Nazareth is being understood as a community activist, who took on the critical issues of economics, race, politics and religion.  He was a vigorous social reformer. How are we to translate his messages and concerns into the 21st century?

Jesus has left us at least five mandates.

First, all men and women without regard to race, age, cultural roots, or sexual orientation, are to have full human rights….civil, political, economic, religious.

Jesus’ acceptance and relationships with women and children were outside of the bounds of social norms.  His relationship with women was considered nothing short of scandalous.  He was charged with eating with thieves and those who drank too much. He befriended Samaritans.  Sexual orientation was not an issue in the day of Jesus, but he made it plain that everyone was welcome at the dinner table of God.

Second, priority attention is to be given to the people who are most vulnerable.  The poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the widow, the orphan.  In a modern world universal health care, expansion of the food stamp program, social security for older persons, tax and budget policies that diminish the gap between the rich and the poor, quality education for everyone, and affordable housing, cannot be set aside.

Third, we all must adopt simpler lifestyles that support and sustain the world in which we live.  We now know that we live in a world of limited resources.  Land, water, and air are all limited resources that are necessary for the survival of the human race.  The world cannot renew itself as fast as we are using its resources.  We must curb our appetites. In addition, we are polluting the world’s resources.  Burning fossil fuels has possibly fouled the world’s land, water and air beyond recovery.  We must find different sources of energy. The rule is simple.  If it’s not clean, we ought not to be using it.   Polluting the world is a sin against the whole human family.  We cannot say we love our neighbor and leave that neighbor with a polluted and inadequate environment.

Fourth, war is an unacceptable way of resolving conflicts between human beings.  Peacemaking is the highest calling of a devout follower of Jesus our Christ from Nazareth. I cannot even imagine Jesus in an act of violence.  The Christian warrior becomes a tragic oxymoron.

Fifth, we must become people of trust.  We need to be trustworthy, but along with that we must be willing to trust those who appear to be untrustworthy.  Trust produces trust.

THE END

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

If the common perception of Christianity was as Pastor Bess describes it, as opposed to the now popular version of evangelical born-again, “take dominion over all even if you have to round them up and force it on them ‘c’hristianity” or you will suffer unspeakable punishment at the hands of a warlord Christ…maybe, just maybe we would be able to have intelligent conversation and successful debate on how to care for our needs in this country.

If these sanctimonious self-proclaimed masters of the “Great Commission” believed more in Bess’ Christ, and less in being Phalse Prophets for Profit…we could experience kindness rather than the intolerant hateful ‘c’hristians who call for opponents deaths through curses. Or spit on the memory of dead statesmen like the recent passing of Ted Kennedy in ugly juvenile Facebook messages on Sarah Palin’s site.

I have said it before…and I will repeat it often…these people need to quit arrogantly asking, “What Would Jesus Do?”  I don’t think they want to know the answer…

Look at this meeting of money and wonderfully compassionate caring neoconservatives!  This represents millions of dollars and a tremendous amount of organization all aimed at defeating Obama for two primary reasons; 1)  $$$$$$; and 2) they despise him so profoundly that no matter what the issue – they will work tirelessly to defeat him. It is that simple.

Click here to enlarge to read fine print…

The fanatics they rally have no clue that they are so blatantly pawns of these well-organized and wealthy entities!  Even when it is their own premiums paying for the lobbying services of the groups who are inciting their base hate, anger racism.

I had to share this because it is a head shaker to look at this ‘map’ of influence and where it all comes from as well as to give you an idea of how we are going to be mapping the connections linking the politicians, evangelical leaders and $$$ to the Political Dominionist Movement. That will be upcoming in detail in the 2nd book, but we will be giving snapshots of this type of presentation on the new blog coming over on “godsownparty.com/blog”.

Alex (“dogemporer”) and I both know that you will be stunned by the connections of all these people and entities, and we are excited to be able to put together a visual representation of how it all looks.

UPDATE!!  BAILIN’ PALIN BAILS AGAIN! THIS WOMAN IS UNBELIEVABLE…

Link here to Lisa Derrick’s article that was JUST posted to LaFiga Firedoglake.com.

She can’t even commit to something she is committed to!

Below is the article I put together last night before the news that she now claims to have never been invited to this shin-dig.  There ya go Sarah! Step on your own!  Let us know how that will keep working for you…what a piece of work…

She has picked another spotlight to hover under. Parental consent. It is essentially – “Fox joins Change Point and promoted by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council”.  When I say Fox, it is the combination of her appeal to have all her “friends” tune in and act out by being loyal and faithful watchers of Glenn Beck, and her own questionable mental state that urges her to support this very unstable man.

Her appearance at this ‘event’ will get coverage. Adding to the media attraction is that another very active dominionist extremist, Star Parker, will be there sharing the spotlight with her.  Parker is also scheduled to speak at the Family Research Council’s “Value Voters Council Summit in Washington, D.C. next month on September 18-20, 2009, and of course Palin simply can’t decide – although she is on the list as a “maybe”.

Oh boy…here they go!  Winding up to convey their message of take back America by mandating “Family Values” based on biblical origins and shoving them down our throats…

…while simultaneously absolving themselves from any wrongdoings in C Street fashion because they are the “chosen elite” and are therefore forgiven of past and future sins because they are “doing the Lord’s work”.

So getting back to tonight’s show, I guess this opportunity for Palin and Parker to test the mics at Governor Parnell’s church, is a great way to launch their sanctimonious partnership in the name of “pro-life” by pushing for a law that would require all minor females to notify their parents before seeking an abortion in the event a minor girl went in search of one – even when the pregnancy may be a result of rape/incest and put the girl in harm’s way by seeking permission.

P & P are using this for two main political messages: 1)  declare abortion illegal under any circumstance; and 2)  keep the fires stoked that Obama is a proponent of federal tax dollars going to pay for abortion in his health care reform bill…well, and in Parker’s world add that she claims abortion is a direct tool of genocide against African-Americans among other interesting claims.

And of course, the personal pandering and clambering for constant media attention always a primary factor.  While Parker is a regular mouthpiece on Fox news, and Palin is rallying her ‘friends’ in the Internet world to support Glenn Beck, they continue to command audiences whether through the media or congregations and rile up the paranoid extremists.

For those of you who have the interest, I am going to give you a tremendous amount of information below that you will learn so much from with regard to how these seemingly regional appearances link to the bigger picture of national Political Dominionism.  What I am inserting here is the raw research material provided by “dogemporer” on how this righteous duo fit into the puzzle.  You will also notice that the connections are like a spider web and each link reveals another and another and another.  But this is a glimpse of how we are able to bind them all together.   FotF=Focus on the Family; AFC=Alaska Family Council; NARasite=New Apostolic Reformation parasite;

It turns out Palin is connected with Alaskans for Parental Rights
(http://www.alaskansforparentalrights.org/) which is a front of a front
of a front of a front.  (Yes, it’s pretty much a classic “matroshka doll
front”; Alaskans for Parental Rights is a front of Alaska Family Action,
which in turn is a 501(c)4 lobbying front of Alaska Family Council
(http://www.alaskafamilycouncil.org/), which (along with (de facto if
not de jure) Family Research Council) is a Focus on the Family front
(http://www.alaskafamilycouncil.org/about_us/focus_family_assn.html
gives more details–pretty much it’s a FotF state affiliate (and
specifically a front of Citizenlink, itself a front of FotF Action,
itself the 501(c)4 lobbying wing of FotF that it set up after it
“officially” split off Family Research Council under threat of FotF
losing its tax-exempt status)–and http://www.citizenlink.org/fpc/ gives
more info on the networks nationwide).

This is actually pretty interesting, as AFC has apparently had some
disagreements with Palin regarding Supreme Court appointees
(http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/alaska-family-council).
This proves, even more, that Sarah Palin is going into “stealth and
organise” mode–Alaskans for Parental Rights is a frontgroup set up for
the sole purpose of forcing a referendum on passing a strict “parental
notification” law regarding abortions for minors similar to that in
Missouri (http://www.alaskansforparentalrights.org/about)–Missouri’s
law, of note, has only limited judicial bypass options, and it is
legally a felony for even a relative to take a minor across state lines
for purposes of obtaining an abortion in a state with friendlier
judicial bypass options.

Interestingly, another FotF frontgroup–the Alliance Defense Fund, a
group that promotes itself as being a parallel-economy “Christian
Alternative” to legit civil rights legal groups like the ACLU or
Americans United–has been doing quite a bit of damage control and
pimping of Palin
(http://www.alaskansforparentalrights.org/aggregator/sources/4 gives a
large list, almost all links pointing to Alliance Defense Fund news briefs).

Star Parker…oh gods, Star Parker is just all kinds of friggin’
*speshul*.  Parker is an example of, shall we say, a “house slave” of the dominionist movement,
and in particular likes to promote the idea that abortion was meant as a
method of “back-door genocide of African-Americans”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Parker and yes, sadly, this exact
sort of whargarbl is heavily used now as a recruitment tool by NARasite
groups in particular to recruit African-Americans).  In fact, much of
her schtick is in fact essentially the old neopentecostal “I was a
horrid horrid sinner and druggie and I had lots of abortions and then I
found God” narrative (pretty much what one can consider the “involved in
atrocities then converted” dialogue–which has literally been used for
supposed “Satanists” in the 80s during the “Satanic Panic”, is used a
lot nowadays with “former terrorists”, and has even been promoted up to
literal Godwin’s Law-invoking claims of being former Hitler Youth who
converted; yes, it is literally an honest-to-God “conversion
trope”)–her “Saved Ex-Slut” trope-story is at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/1997/julaug/7w4022.html?start=2 for
your perusal.

Parker is especially appealing to neopentes and neocons, in part,
because she claims to essentially be an ex-welfare-queen and ex-Dr.
Feelgood (which plays to a *very* nasty popular myth regarding “black
welfare queens”) and promotes “abstinence only” stuff; she operates a
group called Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education
(http://www.urbancure.org/) that in essence promotes NARasite theories
about why African-Americans are being held down (tl;dr version: they
ain’t got enough God–no matter that African-Americans are in general
some of the most solidly Evangelical Christians in the US–NARasite
neopentecostalism is relatively new in the African-American church
community, however).  Among other things, she essentially claims that
LBJ’s War on Poverty destroyed African-American culture
(http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/3/9/93733/84075), even writing a
book called “Uncle Sam’s Plantation” promoting this.

Parker is rather well documented as having connections with FotF Action
(http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/4/05840/96219) and apparently
has stumped for Palin in past; she’s pretty much one of the “rising
stars” of the political dominionist community
(www.talk2action.org

and in particular http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/10/19/20916/994
and http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/9/13/17438/3915 or the promo
material on her own site at http://www.urbancure.org/starparker.asp).

In particular, Parker does seem to have NARasite linkage; she shared the
stage with David Barton of the NARasite historical-revisionist group
“Wallbuilders” (http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/7/18/142622/634)
along with Rick Scarborough at a “Penetrating America’s Heart
Conference” held Sept. 25-27, 2000 at Encourager Church; Encourager is a
“stealth Assemblies” NARasite church with linkages to C. Peter Wagner’s
network in particular that literally operates nowadays as a de facto
“daughter” church of the infamous NARasite Brownsville A/G in Pensacola
(http://www.encouragerchurch.org/ and in particular
http://www.encouragerchurch.org/staff1.html notes how it’s essentially a
Third Wave/Joel’s Army church DIRECTLY descended from Brownsville).
More NARasite linkage (and “Assemblies NARasite” in particular) comes
from some of her advisory board members–Kenneth Blackwell (connected
with World Harvest Church in Columbus, a NARasite “Assemblies
daughter”), John Ashcroft (yes, as in the Assemblies NARasite who was
“annointed” as Attorney-General, as in the literal son of the founder of
the Assemblies frontgroup Chi Alpha), and the head of the dominionist
“Liberty Counsel” legal-harassment group
(http://www.urbancure.org/advisors.asp).

Parker serves not only as an “Uncle Tom” (or “Auntie Thomasina”) to the
African-American community but also to women; she’s linked with the
Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, a “conservative women” think-tank
(http://www.cblpi.org/index.cfm); she’s a favourite on the whargarbl
sites Townhall (http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/archive.shtml)
and WorldNetDaily (http://www.wnd.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_ID=219).

Her present husband (she is apparently trotted out especially as an
example of “ebony and ivory living in perfect harmony”; her husband is
white) was in seminary at a steeplejacked “Charismatic Episcopalian”
church as of 1997 (http://www.theeffectivetruth.info/testlsip.html notes
her husband is pastor of St. Michael’s Charismatic Episcopal Church.

So, long story short–this is pretty much *precisely* the crowd Palin
would be hanging around with.

Again, I know this is a lot of information, but when you see the linkages and how deep they go, you can see why we are concerned about these seemingly inocuous appearances.  These are planned and intentional to acheive specific outcomes, and IF we hear about them, it is easy to dismiss them as an “so what, she is speaking at a church – big surprise” kind of reaction.  Believe it or not I only provided a third of that email for you, but it gives you a significant amount of reference material to check out as time allows you.

Palin and Parker are both being used by the boys at the top, but their egos allow them to lap up the glory along the way.  And who are the boys at the top who are referenced in this outline by dogemporer?  James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Dave Barton, and C. Peter Wagner – just to name a few – who are all entertwined with each other and groups like Youth with a Mission =YAM who =Loren Cunningham who = The Fellowship who = The Family recently exposed by Jeff Sharlet.

Soooo…anyone in Anchorage going tonight?

UPDATE!!  BAILIN’ PALIN BAILS AGAIN! THIS WOMAN IS UNBELIEVABLE…

Link here to Lisa Derrick’s article that was JUST posted to LaFiga Firedoglake.com.

She can’t even commit to something she is committed to!

While my blog work is in this transition this week, I am frustrated by some of the antics my computer is playing with me, so bare with any hiccups along the way.  But I had the privilege of meeting the only other person brave enough to come forward last April and speak out against Sarah Palin’s choice for the new Attorney General, Wayne Anthony Ross (aka WAR), with regard to his misogynist behaviour.

I will use only the initials PH here out of respect for her ongoing concerns of backlash because she still resides in Anchorage, Alaska where she was born and raised, and where her ex who abused her for many years, still resides.  This woman bravely agreed to come forward with testimony against this overwhelmingly poor choice, bolstering my own testimony.  My heart went out to her as I pleaded with her to have to repeat her testimony one more time during the process.  In tears she agreed.  And we won a history making decision against this monster – and Wayne Anthony Ross!

There is a lot of discussion about the behaviour of the ‘teabagging’ town hall bullies and how we need to face them head on and put a stop to this intimidation.  This is easier said than done.  I agree that we have to stand up to them, but no one relishes having to confront and stand up to an aggressor.

PH spent the night here giving us time to cover a lot of conversational ground.  Speaking out and standing together for what is right is always easier to talk about than actually do.  I had a sense of the trauma that this caused her, but now know the extent of her past and the domestic violence abuse.  I am even more appreciative today than I was in April for her remarkable bravery in speaking out against a such a despicable bully, even at the risk of bringing retribution into her personal life as a result.  I applaud you PH!

We must all dig deep and find that sense of duty to go out and speak up.  It doesn’t have to be a huge time investment, or require deviating into total activism.  I was sent a great article that I will post here outlining 7 ways to fight fascism...think of ways that you can pick a slice of these ideas and put them into action.

We really can make a difference through our individual actions…

I am going to be taking this blog in a new direction in the upcoming days with the help of my web guru, Amy.  If not for her I would be afloat without oars.  I have been anticipating when to make this shift and it has become abundantly clear to me over the past few weeks and days that the time has come to push off from the Palin Lolly-Pop ship and move into a broader discussion of Political Dominionism.

I will continue to tie her into the mix.  It is important, as I have stated numerous times, to keep our eyes on what she is doing and how the Movement is using her to stir the extremist pot.  But she is definitely not a one-woman show, and by focusing too narrowly on her, the others in this quest are getting a free ride into stealthdom.

Amy will be linking this page to the new one so we don’t lose you in the transition.  What will happen is an automatic linking that will re-direct traffic to the new blog site at “godsownparty.com”.  Amy is currently creating a page that she will enhance as time allows, and your input has been very helpful.  I have received emails from readers who have given me great critical advice on the readability and saleability of this message that I am conveying from a visual perspective.  Keep it coming!  I welcome all comments…and listen with interest.

I have to say right up front that my background may give me a strong platform for the research and writing that I am doing…but I am admittedly a neophyte in the blogging world.  So do let me know what you like, don’t like and what you would like to see.  I can’t accommodate every idea, but the most important component of this shift is not my ego…but what makes the research that I am doing, what I have to say as visible as possible to the widest possible audience.

Amy is steering this ship of transition so I am hanging on for the ride and hope you do too.

More to come on this project in progress!

I had a dear friend over for dinner last night.  Time has done its typical relentless march and before we knew it, a year had passed since we last got together.  In our effort to catch up on what was happening in each others lives, as you might well imagine the topic of my research and writing came up (and stayed up) for a fair portion of the evening.

It started out with Palin and what my opinion is as to why she resigned; then on to the GOP and what does it matter seeing as how they lost by a landslide; then my friend said, “I don’t have time to follow all this, and there aren’t that many of them anyway!”  How disheartening… So where was I going to begin without turning our evening into a lecture series?  It is a tough one.  But I had no choice.

One of the biggest problems for us, and a positive for the extremists, is our disbelief and overwhelm.  They rely on us essentially ignoring the information and activities right in front of us for a variety of reasons; 1)  we really don’t want to hear about it because it is too disturbing; 2)  if we were to pay attention to it – just what are we supposed to DO with this information? 3)  our lives are so busy we don’t have time to pay attention to all this nonsense – and as she said – there aren’t that many of them anyway.

I hear her!  As I sit here writing today, it is perfect outside, 70s, sunny and I can think of a hundred other things I would rather be doing than having to write about these extremists.  And granted, my devotion to informing others about these fanatics requires considerably more time than is necessary for the rest of us to be modestly informed and stay aware.  I am really not expecting everyone to become an activist.  I am hoping that people will at minimum recognize the face of Dominionism when it is right in front of them and not dismiss it.

For example, this friend of mine has a main business partner that she works along side everyday that is a born-again, evangelical extremists and attends services faithfully at a local dominionist church.  She avoids conversations with him but doesn’t recognize that he is exactly the type of ‘c’hristian that belongs to these indoctrinated congregations.

I explained to her that he is the embodiment of what I am talking about.  I have met and spent time with her business partner so I am not making a generalized statement based on stereo-types.

She was raised catholic and remembers a conversation not long ago where he had never heard of “lent” and chalked it up to “oh, those Catholics”.  I pointed out that this is typical.  Often times these born-agains have a myopic view of the Bible as taught to them from repeated specific versus – over and over again – without understanding context, NOR having any other concept of how their beliefs fit into a world view of Christianity or (god forbid) other religious ideologies!

It is a faith of rhetoric and rote memorization.  That is an equation for dangerous blind followers and total immersion.  What does this produce?  People like her partner who can’t defend his beliefs other than pointing to the (revised Zondervan Publishing version, NIV) Bible and saying “it’s all in there”, yet lacking the knowledge of what that really even means.  In a word?  Brainwashing!

Their own movement places the numbers at approximately 30-35% of the population and growing.  They go on to proudly claim that the leadership in their movement – who are the only ones truly in “the know” – consist of about 3-5% of THAT population, but they aim to emulate the “jihadists” and grow that to 10% where they will cause a “tipping point” and create a Christian State.  Okey-dokey!

Which brought me to the next point in our conversation last night, which is that many in the congregations aren’t even aware of the fine points of the End Times/Apocalyptic agenda pursued by the leadership/salesmen…yet they are equally as responsible in their contributions and complicity.  The Sheeples…

The population of the United States currently stands at 304 million people.  So when we do the math – they claim a following of any where between 91 – 106 million.  Our numbers are far more conservative and have placed their Sheeple numbers between 50 – 80 million.  Either way, this is a substantial number of people who subscribe to this “faith”!

“There aren’t that many of them” will echo in my head for the rest of the afternoon while I mow my lawn and wonder what can I do differently?  What can WE do differently?  It is not enough to reach one person at a time…

I gave her a signed copy of “TheoPalinism – The Face of Failed Extremism” as she was leaving…and she readily accepted and looks forward to reading it.  It does carry an introductory message to this craziness and I wish I could afford to mail it out randomly and get it in as many hands as possible…but with that idea off the table I am open to others!  I am ALL ears my friends…please share your thoughts.