Over the past week or so, I've written a lot about Bill Gothard's various frontgroups--originally inspired by reports of Mike Huckabee's involvement and spurred on by an ongoing investigation in Cincinnati regarding that city's recruitment into Gothard's "bible-based" cult.
A figure that keeps coming up re this sort of recruitment is Police Dynamics Institute--a particular frontgroup founded by Ray Nash meant to target police departments and cities for recruitment (in roughly the same way "Dianetics" is used to recruit for Scientology).
And in today's installment, we learn how PDI's efforts--and the "Character Cities" program in general--are used as a powerful backdoor for implementing neopentecostal dominionist theocracies (including at least one hardline neo-Confederate secessionist group).
Gaining disturbing "footholds" for hardline dominionists
I had mentioned yesterday that PDI has been known to promote "Joel's Army" theology directly. One aspect that has gotten little press (outside of anti-dominionist forums such as Talk to Action), however, is how PDI and the Gothard programs are used as tools of steeplejacking--not only of city governments, but also of churches.
One area where the group has gotten a frightening amount of support--a disturbing sign indeed for those of us watching the continuing steeplejack of the Southern Baptist Convention--has been among SBC-sponsored conferences. Among these are an officially sponsored conference at Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center in 2004 that was advertised as "Bible becomes standard procedure for Christian officers" (Lifeway is the official publishing arm and media wing of the SBC); a second article from Baptist News Service on the conference also referred to PDI explicitly as "Biblical law enforcement".
This may be particularly relevant to Huckabee's recruitment--as the steeplejacking of the SBC (which was originally aided and abbeted by--and in some cases, even led by--neopentes affiliated with the "discipling and shepherding" movement who were trying to establish "footholds" in mainstream churches) has progressed, promotion of things like Gothard's groups (and abusive "discipling and shepherding" in general, and neopente theologies not traditionally associated with the Southern Baptists) have spread in an almost directly-mappable fashion to the solidification of the steeplejack. Huckabee is in fact an SBC preacher and in fact his involvement with Gothardism may be a barometer as to how far the rot has gotten in the SBC in general.
Unfortunately, it's not just the steeplejack of the largest Protestant church in America we have to worry about. Dominionists themselves see groups like PDI as a golden opportunity for "backdoor steeplejacking" of the nation--control the cops, you pretty much control the country.
Renew America--a dominionist group that was founded by known dominionist Alan Keyes, who has run on a Constitution Party ticket before--has republished an article originally appearing in the American Family Association's official newswire on how not only dominionist groups support them but also noting some of the eventual plans for "Gothardising" America, right down to explicit portions of "scripture twisting" used:
Although Nash's training program is relatively new, he is the first to tell you the principles taught in it are essentially age-old concepts. "Really what Police Dynamics is, in a nutshell, is biblical wisdom that's been packaged into a law enforcement message," he says.
. . .
This is why Nash believes its imperative officers are taught principles of authority. In his training, Nash refers to various passages of Scripture such as Matthew chapter 8 and its reference to the Centurion acting as an authority, but still remaining under authority. His program stresses the need for law enforcement officials to realize that though they are authorities, they are not to act on their own, but they're to represent the authorities above them. "This is a message we have to drive home to officers; that you represent something more than yourself, and that in your official capacity you do not represent yourself," Nash says.
In addition to conducting his training program across the U.S., Nash has also presented it to officers around the globe, including police in Romania, the Moscow Police College, and Guatemala. Some of the 22 countries that have had officers attend Nash's training are suffering from serious corruption within their departments, he said. "These principles are universal," says Nash. "And the reason they are is because they are biblical principals God has instituted. All we have to do is learn the dynamics of them and bring our lives and our organizations into harmony with them. Then we can begin to reap the benefits."
. . .
"It's all about God," says Nash. "This training program belongs to Him, it doesn't belong to me. It works because it's something God led me to do. He has blessed it beyond my wildest imagination. I never thought I would be traveling all over the place teaching other cops, or that I would have anything to say they would be interested in. But, God has given me the ability to take these principles and communicate them in a way that resonates within the heart of a cop."
A bit of backgrounder here on several things not immediately apparent as relevant:
The first is that the article is originally from the AFA newswire (Agape Press); AFA has endorsed Huckabee, endorses Gothard (as will be seen below), and AFA has a history of being seen as particularly "neopentecostal-dominionist friendly" along with Concerned Women for America (a LaHaye front).
Secondly, the writer is with a Carolinas-area dominionist group called Christian Action League (and the author himself is apparently an SBC preacher); their links section, much less the content of the site, makes that apparent. (This is also yet another sign of how deep the SBC steeplejack has gone.)
There is also a particularly damning bit of "scripture twisting" going on. The section of Matthew 8 referred to above is probably Matthew 8:5-10 and in particular Matthew 8:9 (which tends to be heavily used in circles promoting "discipling and shepherding" as a specific reason for targeting authority figures for conversion):
[5] As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him
[6] and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress."
[7] And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."
[8] But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
[9] For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes, and to another, `Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it."
(Text from RSV version of Bible. The full context of Matthew 8 is in general describing Christ healing the ill and disabled.)
Gothard is in fact well-documented as abusing this particular section of Matthew 8 (enough so, in fact, that it's a fairly reliable stamp of "Gothardism" in and of itself). Midwest Outreach in the second section of a particularly damning expose of Gothard's tactics notes in detail:
In order to justify his statement that submission to authority is necessary to "receive clear direction for life decisions," Gothard writes:
Correct decisions are based on faith; that is, visualizing what God intends to do. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Romans 14:23) One of the most basic aspects of faith is to realize how God gets His directions to us through those He has placed over us.
[Ibid.]
Here again we are confronted with two questionable statements, and a Bible verse that proves neither of them sandwiched in between. How did Gothard come up with his definition of faith as "visualizing?" He doesn’t say. Where does the Bible say that following those "over us" is "one of the most basic aspects of faith?" Gothard doesn’t help us out here, either. But he goes on:
After the centurion asked Jesus to come and heal his servant, it occurred to him that just as his life was structured around a "chain of responsibility," so the kingdom in which God operates must have a similar structure of authority.
[Ibid.]
The account Gothard is referring to is found in Matthew 8:5-10:
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ..."
Is the point of this story that God’s kingdom is structured around a "chain of responsibility" (or "umbrellas of authority") similar to that of the Roman Empire? No. The point of this story is that the centurion had such great faith in Who Jesus was, that he knew that Jesus did not need to come to his house in order to heal his servant. Jesus was God. He could heal long-distance.
. . .
But Gothard is relentless. He interprets Matthew 8:5ff. as yet another passage that corroborates his view that submitting to a "chain of authority" will help us "to receive clear direction for life decisions." But again: when we look for a connection between Gothard’s thesis ("receiving clear directions") and Gothard’s text (Matt. 8:5-10), we come up empty. If anything, here we have a story where the centurion was telling Jesus what to do, instead of "receiving clear direction" by submitting to His authority! It soon becomes apparent that Gothard cites Matthew 8 primarily to support his underlying premise (since it does not support his immediate point), which is that Christians must get under one of his all-important "umbrellas of authority."
In his book Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible (InterVarsity Press, 1980), James W. Sire refers to this method of proof-texting as "The Biblical Hook":
When Scripture is quoted, especially at the beginning of an argument which turns out to promote a cult doctrine or point of view, it may be that it is being used primarily as a hook to grasp the attention of readers or listeners. "The Bible says" gets the attention, but what follows the quotation may be far from traditional Christian teaching and far from the intention of the Bible itself.
[pp. 41-42.]
We do not mean to imply that Gothard is a cult leader. On the other hand, nor is this the only way found in Sire’s book in which Gothard misuses Scriptures. The examples we have provided so far are simply consistent with Sire’s description of "The Biblical Hook."
(Frankly, I'm going to call a coercive group what it is, but I can also understand Midwest Outreach's reluctance to use the "c" word.)
For that matter, it turns out that the "Basic Seminar" also quite explicitly ncludes this bit of "scripture twisting"--right down to the same verses; yes, the very same "Basic Seminar" that Mike Huckabee brags about having attended:
Here we have what amounts to a contemporary textbook on the error of reading something foreign into a text (eisegesis) as opposed to extracting the author's meaning from the text (exegesis). Though many movement leaders fall into this trap, it's alarming how consistently Gothard reads texts through an authoritarian lens.
For example, Gothard's Basic Seminar Textbook treats Matthew 8:5-10 this way: "After the centurion asked Jesus to come and heal his servant, it occurred to him that just as his life was structured around a 'chain of responsibility,' so the kingdom in which God operates must have a similar structure of authority."
For that matter, this isn't the only time the AFA has promoted Gothardism. If anything, this particular dominionist group has acted as a semi-official platform for promoting Gothardism:
AgapePress) - An evangelical Christian leader says too many churches today overlook the power of sincere, heartfelt prayer to God.
In his book The Power of Crying Out: When Prayer Becomes Mighty, Bill Gothard says throughout the Bible when God's people cried out with intensity and commitment, God not only heard their cries but also shook their worlds.
Gothard says churches which encourage members to cry out to God are making a big impact on those outside church walls.
(Yes, you're reading that right. The American Family Association--which is at the more extreme end of political dominionist groups, in that they've promoted Scott Lively's Holocaust-revisionist trash against LGBT people that is inspiring actual progroms in eastern Europe and the western US against gay people--is literally pimping Gothard's books and encouraging churches that haven't done so already to "Gothardise".)
It also would appear that the AFA is not the only dominionist group to get some co-endorsement from Gothardite groups. The recent Charleston Post & Courier article on Nash's official retirement annoucement (in which he has confirmed he is essentially leaving to run PDI fulltime) notes that prisoners were subjected to Rick Warren sermons--leading in at least one case to escape:
Nash met with some of his officers and staff at the monthly in-service training session to make the announcement. Nash says that he plans to do more training with his private consulting business, Police Dynamics, and explore other options as well.
"I believe that God is freeing me to pursue other interests at this time in my life and I am excited about what the future holds," the former Summerville police chief said. "We still have a year to accomplish other objectives and meet the additional challenges that we will certainly encounter."
. . .
In November, a Dorchester County jail inmate escaped after a Bible study on "The Purpose Driven Life" and spent a month on the run before his capture in the Florence area.
...and no, we weren't joking about the "hardline dominionist" bit
Even worse, it would appear Nash has had support from--and may even be a "stealth" member of--a bona fide Christian Reconstructionist secessionist group.
An anonymous tipper sent the following link from a website associated with the Constitution Party of South Carolina in regards to Ray Nash's apparent support by the group Christian Exodus--including the group actually soliciting donations for his campaign and how to keep the donations from being traced back to specific donors:
I've been meaning to alert y'all about Sheriff Nash's re-election campaign. He's embattled in a primary fight in Dorchester County. He is quite frankly the BEST friend of the US and South Carolina constitutions of all the sheriffs in the state - he's likely the best sheriff in the nation in this regard.
His friendship with CE over the past couple years makes it hard for us to publicly promote him because the media will be quick to write controversial nonsense should any connection with CE be thought to exist. So I'm asking you to do whatever you can in a personal capacity to help his campaign. Please spread the word about his campaign far and wide. Another thought is to give to his campaign financially if you're too far from Dorchester County to volunteer. Keep in mind that the media will likely latch onto out of state contributions in a negative way. To avoid this possibility, keep your total contribution to LESS than $100 per person and it will not have to be reported. For those of you in South Carolina, there is no such concern of course. Should you be out of state and desire to give more, consider having friends or family members write a check to the Nash campaign.
Checks can be made to Nash for Sheriff and mailed to PO Box 52384, Summerville, SC 29485.
Lastly, the email below is his campaign newsletter. You can sign up to receive it and stay abreast of the campaign at his campaign website: http://www.nashforsheriff.com/...
Yours in the Cause,
Cory
--
Cory R. Burnell
President
ChristianExodus.org
Phn: (877) 727-3578
Fax: (815) 572-8086
For those who've never heard of "Christian Exodus"...well, they're a nasty bunch indeed. They're one of the few groups out there that make the gallery of rogues at the Constitution Party seem moderate in comparison.
Specifically, Christian Exodus is a bona fide neo-Confederate secessionist group that wants to establish a real life Republic of Gilead in the Palmetto State (no matter that South Carolina's last attempt at secession went rather poorly). Even more specifically, they have an explicit plan to steeplejack the South Carolina legislature and force a Christian Reconstructionist government, by hook or by crook:
Beginning in 2006, evangelical Christians will load up their mini-vans and hightail it to the Palmetto State, 12,000 at a time. Each wave of incoming fundamentalists will sort into groups of 1,000 and settle in legislative districts already loaded with Christian Right voters. Subsequent groups of 12,000 will scatter across the state until "the General Assembly is squarely in the hands of Christian Constitutionalists."
The federal government will then have until 2016 to restore states' rights. Short of that, South Carolina will secede and declare itself a "Godly republic."
Of note, Christian Exodus has gotten so much bad publicity in South Carolina that they are now talking about moving to Idaho--which has (sadly) been a sort of mecca for far-right groups in general.
Christian Exodus also has ties to the racist League of the South:
I thought y'all might be interested to know that this is happening very soon http://www.cas.sc.edu/... Will any of you be able to attend the event? It'd be great know how the issue of secession is discussed and handled by these folks. Wouldn't it be interesting if the North American Secession Conventions held the past two years, and all the media coverage the issue has received the past several years resulting from the League of the South, the Second Vermont Republic, the Free State Project, the Hawaiians, Christian Exodus, et. al., have now caused academics to hold conferences on the subject? Hmmmmm, certainly interesting. Please let me know if any of you will be in attendance.
Thanks,
Cory
--
Cory R. Burnell
President
ChristianExodus.org
Phn: (877) 727-3578
Fax: (815) 572-8086
For those unfamiliar with League of the South, they are the group that not only essentially steeplejacked the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but also have engaged in rather aggressive steeplejacking of PCA churches (PCA is a conservative Presbyterian denomination). LoS is considered a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center (and LoS has targeted SPLC for some rather vicious "dead-agenting" as a result).
Next post--a focus on the cities PDI is known to be active in, and the beginning of documentation on problems in "Gothardised" cities--a series that even now will likely be a multi-parter. (This will be a few days coming--I apologise. I am getting a lot of good info to investigate. :3)