You just can't make this stuff up. This is not even a "really bad Disney movie", it's more like a scene from an asylum.
EXHIBIT 1: Palin credits her success in the race for Alaska governor to prayer of Pastor Thomas Muthee...
… who, interestingly enough, happens to be a practitioner of “spiritual warfare” and… uh, a witchhunter.
Times Online (UK) describes some of his exploits here:
http://timesonline.typepad.com/uselections/2008/09/palin-linked-el.htmlTo make a long story short, he publicly declared a local town woman a witch, blamed car crashes and the crime rate on her and organized a massive crusade against her. The poor woman got completely ostracized and almost got stoned, and eventually was forced to leave town.
After the spirit was broken, the crime rate dropped to almost zero and there was “explosive church growth” while almost every bar in the town closed down.
Pastor Muthee has frequently referred to this witchhunt in his sermons as an example of the power of “spiritual warfare”. In October 2005, he delivered ten sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the audio of which was available on the church’s website until it was removed around the time Mrs Palin’s candidacy was announced.
It was during that these sermons that Mrs Palin, who was then preparing for her gubernatorial run, was anointed by Pastor Muthee. His intercession, she says, was “awesome”.
In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: “As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold. And he was praying “Lord make a way, Lord make a way.” “And I’m thinking, this guy’s really bold, he doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, he doesn’t know what my plans are. And he’s praying not “oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor,” no, he just prayed for it. He said “Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that’s exactly what happened.”
She then adds: “So, again, very very powerful, coming from this church,” before the presiding pastor comments on the “prophetic power” of the event.
Note that this took place in...
the Wasilla Assembly of God’s Masters’ Commission, which, as Pastor Ed Kalins explains, believes Alaska will be the refuge for American evangelicals upon the coming “End of Days”
... and, as explained in
the Christian Science Monitor article that originally reported on the Muthee story,
Pentecostals approach Scripture literally, so they see the world populated with demons. It is not a far step to start naming them, assigning them territories, devising prayer strategies. For Pentecostals, 'spiritual warfare' is not a metaphor - it's reality.
This is where it gets bad.
EXHIBIT 2:
Baptist minister Howard Bess, who wrote a book Palin wanted banned and who fought her on abortion and gay rights, says the country should fear her election. This is an absolutely chilling article, you should read it all. It describes, among other things, her “anti-abortionist”, “anti-homosexual”, and “pro-creationist” activities, as well as her apocalyptic beliefs/visions.
According to Bess, the 80-year-old retired Baptist Pastor,
"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."
"She scares me," said Bess. "She's Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.
Bess is unnerved by the prospect of Palin -- a woman whose mind is given to dogmatic certitude -- standing one step away from the Oval Office. "It's truly frightening that someone like Sarah has risen to the national level," Bess said. "Like all religious fundamentalists -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- she is a dualist. They view life as an ongoing struggle to the finish between good and evil. Their mind-set is that you do not do business with evil -- you destroy it. Talking with the enemy is not part of their plan. That puts someone like Obama on the side of evil.
"Forget all this chatter about whether or not she knows what the Bush doctrine is. That's trivial. The real disturbing thing about Sarah is her mind-set. It's her underlying belief system that will influence how she responds in an international crisis, if she's ever in that position, and has the full might of the U.S. military in her hands. She gave some indication of that thinking in her ABC interview, when she suggested how willing she would be to go to war with Russia.
Bess said that he and fellow valley residents have long been charmed by the Sarah Palin who is now dazzling the American public. “She's the most charming person you'll ever know."
"But," Bess adds, "this person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world."
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