"The first Transformation film so impressed pastors in Wasilla, Alaska, that they contacted some of the religious leaders featured in the movie including Thomas Muthee, who was shown driving a witch out of Kiambu, Kenya. Wasilla Assembly of God developed an ongoing relationship with Muthee and a 2005 church video shows him anointing Palin. Unfortunately the press picked up on the witch part of the story, and not the more important fact that Palin has ties to top leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation.
"I believe this movement's threat to separation of church and state is greater than some of the more overtly theocratic movements of the religious right. The inclusion of women and all races in leadership roles, and their enthusiastic sponsorship of social services conflicts with a popular notion about religious fundamentalism. Despite their radical strategies, leaders in the movement have been labeled in the press as moderate"a "new evangelical.'[Ibid]
Evangelical once was understood as a stand up call against slavery. The New Apostolic Reformation is a movement within Protestant Christianity that grew out of Pentecostal and Charismatic sensibilities and ascribes to an ideology that asserts God is restoring the lost offices of church governance, specifically offices of Prophet and Apostle.
They determine what being "saved" means for all and also maintain the need for submission to Church leaders. They have faith in leaders and believe that leaders are ordained by God and given power and authority by God to lead as described in the biblical letter of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians.
The grass roots of the NAR is foremost concerned with a process they refer to as the formation of Christ within its members. Apostolic churches tend to be small, consisting of dedicated believers who carry the weight of the church and are looking to do only good out of love for God.
But as Gandhi warned, "Everyone but Christians understands that Jesus was nonviolent."
The first and greatest heresy in the
Christian faith occurred in the third century when Augustine penned the
"Just War Theory" which gave the church's OK to violence perpetuated
by the empire and "our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy,
rotten system."-Dorothy Day Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Clement, Tertillian, Polycarp and every other early Church Father taught that
violence was a contradiction of what Christ was about, but as Gandhi commented,
"Everyone but Christians understands that Jesus was nonviolent."