There is nothing more that I can add to this…please just READ & REPEAT!  (provided to me by an informed supporter in Los Angeles, California)…

October 29, 2008 12:00:00 PM

An open letter to Sarah Palin:

Dear Sarah,

As a former fundamentalist, I’d like to call you on what you are doing.

This is not about disrespecting your private beliefs. But you have a huge conflict of interest here by running for office and you can’t have it both ways (see Jesus’ words in John 2:15).

You have not been honest about the most important thing about you: the fact that you are a born-again, literal Bible-believing, evangelical Christian. Most people who have never been entrenched in the subculture of fundamentalist Christianity may not understand what this really means, but I do. Like you, I was raised in the Assemblies of God and I was a zealous part of the Jesus Movement. Like you, my life was consumed with seeking God’s will for my life and awaiting the imminent return of Jesus. It’s clear to me that you want to do the Lord’s will, and that is what concerns me. You’ve said and done things like a true believer would. You are on a mission from God. If that is not true, then I challenge you to deny it.

Former fundamentalists like me know that your worldview is so encompassing, authoritarian, and powerful that it defines who you think you are, the way you view the world, history, other people, the future, and your place in the world. It defines you far more than hockey mom, wife, woman, hunter, governor, or VP candidate.

You believe that every bit of the Bible is God’s perfect word. You have a supernatural view of reality where Satan is a real entity. You believe that alongside our material plane of existence, there is a more important spiritual plane where good and evil beings are engaged in “spiritualwarfare” (Ephesians 6:12). As a leader in the war against evil, you believe that God has “called” you and “anointed” you to do his will. This is why you have accepted blessing for office through the “laying on of hands” and prayer to protect you from witchcraft.

So what does this mean for governing? What could Americans expect with you at the helm?

You cannot affirm basic human decency or capability, because according to your dogma, we are sinful, weak, and dependent on God. And so, your decisions would not be based on expert advice or even your own reasoning, but on your gut-level, intuitive interpretation of God’s will. This would allow you to do anything and claim you were led by God.

Your thinking necessarily is black or white. People and policies are either good or bad. After all, Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me” (Matt. 12:30). Under your leadership, diplomacy and cultural nuance would be less important than not blinking. In a spiritual war, you don’t negotiate with the devil.

Regarding social policy, as a believer in individual salvation, you would have an individual approach emphasizing morality and responsibility, not a community approach emphasizing structural solutions. You would be judgmental and controlling of personal behavior like sex, reproductive choice, and books borrowed from the library instead of addressing global warming, torture, poverty, and world peace. Your belief in eternal hell-fire, your deference to a literally perfect Bible despite its cruelties, and your indoctrination to disbelieve your own compassionate instincts, may leave your moral core numb. You might recall the verse, “If a man will not work he shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). However, faith-based initiatives would be OK because they would use caring to evangelize.

How about science? As it has in your governorship, your interpretation of the Bible would trump scientific scholarship and findings. You would deny the human role in global warming because God is in control. More importantly, you would not make the environment a priority because you do not expect the earth to last.

International affairs? Since your subculture has identified the establishment of Israel in 1948 as the beginning of the end, you would see war, epidemics, climate change, natural disasters, and water shortage, all as hopeful signs of Jesus’ return. You would be a staunch supporter of Israel and deeply suspicious of countries like Russia identified with the antichrist in the end times literature. (You have publicly said that you expect Jesus to return in your lifetime and that it guides you every day.)

The Christian fundamentalism that has shaped your thinking teaches that working for peace is unbiblical and wrong because peace is not humanly possible without the return of Jesus (1 Thess. 5:2,3). Conflict, even outright war is inevitable, for Jesus came not to bring peace but a sword (Matt: 10:34-37). Like millions of fundamentalist Christians, you may actually find joy in global crises because these things portend His return (Luke 21:28).

But all of this certainty and fantasy in today’s complex world is dangerous, Sarah. There was a time when all of humanity thought the world was flat. Today, the stakes for such massive error are much higher.

My message for you, Warrior Princess for God, is from all of us who know what you are about. How dare you presume to take responsibility for our country and our planet when you, in your own mind, do not consider this home? I mean home for the long haul, not just until your rescue arrives from space. How dare you look forward to Christ’s return, leaving your public office empty like a scene from the movie, “Left Behind”?

What if you are completely wrong and you wreak havoc instead with your policies? If you deny global warming, brand people and countries “evil,” support war, and neglect global issues, you can create the apocalypse you are expecting. And as it gets worse and worse, with worldwide crisis all around you, and you look up for redemption, you just may not see it. What then? In that moment, you and all who have shared your delusion may have the most horrifying realization imaginable. And it will be too late. Too late to avoid destruction and too late to apologize to all the people who tried to turn the tide and needed you on board.

And you, John McCain, how dare you endanger all of us for the sake of your politics? How dare you choose a partner who is all symbol and no substance, preying on the fears of millions of Americans. Shame on both of you.

Leave this beautiful, fragile earth to us, the unbelievers in your fantasy. It’s the only heaven we have and you have no right to make it a hell.

Sincerely,

Marlene

Marlene Winell, Ph.D., is a Bay Area psychologist who specializes in recovery from fundamentalist religion. She is author of “Leaving the Fold: A guide for former fundamentalists and others leaving their religion.” She is the daughter of Assemblies of God missionaries.A longer article about Sarah Palin’s religion, “Sarah Palin, Warrior Princess for God,” is on Winell’s Web site: http://www.marlenewinell.net.

I am an Obama supporter – hands down!  But this is a stellar opportunity for our new President to say, “I YEILD to the sentiments of the people and change my choice.”  

This is one of the reasons I voted for Obama…among many others.  What I do not get is that this is not simply an offensive move against the LGBT community, it is much deeper!  Dominionism!

Definition:  Dominionists seek influence and control over secular civil government,  through political action and spiritual warfare with a theocratic mandate to forcefully impose ”biblical law” as the ONLY law of the land, and that the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.

“World conquest. That’s what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less…Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land — of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ.” (From The Changing of the Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action by George Grant, published in 1987 by Dominion Press)

Obama! Please…this is why I actually got to support a candidate for the first time in my life (at 51) rather than voting “against” the worst choice.  Please don’t fail us….

As you can see I abandoned my posts here in mid-November to go back to the drawing board and re-write my book.  I hastily released it in an effort to make it available prior to the election so it deserved my undivided attention.  The outcome is more than I had hoped for in light of my ongoing research for the second book.

What is coming into the light has enabled me to begin seeing through the “nonsense” fog that exemplified Palin in her breif, but seemingly inocuous, interviews.  Where at first, I along with most of the audience, also mistook her ramblings as pure nonsense.  

Don’t misunderstand…I am not suggesting that the woman has a command of the english language, Journalism degree or not! But I have learned that some of her nonsense has origins that scare the hell out of me!  Specifically?  Her religious beliefs.  Here are some terms that I will be discussing in great length for some time to come that are important for us all to acquaint ourselves with:

- Dominionism

- Joel’s Army

- End Times

- New Apostolic Reformation

I will add more over time.  It is extraordinarily important for each and every one of us to learn what we can about these and take them dead seriously!  This is not a fiction novel in the making, it is a reality that noone of us want to see in a position of power and control in our government – and hoo boy! did we come close!