I thought evangelicals were getting less in number, then I find out that the one sect that is most dangerous is not only growing but is growing in our military because they are being recruited by top brass, from commanding officers to the Pentagon. In fact recruiting films were made for this sect by men in uniform at the Pentagon. And there is a Palin tie in. I give the links at the end of the piece.
For years I have followed the goings on of evangelicals from a distance. And there was one thing that Palin said today that frightened me to death. I must say I'm very tired of being afraid, even as I've read stories of how different branches "evolved" I really just wanted to forget about it... but I couldn't.
I was very close to a family member as a child and when she grew up I lost her to an evangelical cult. If it wasn't a cult she sure spent a lot of time telling me that if I didn't believe in the rapture than I would be left here in hell. It got to be all she would talk about for hours and now we might speak once or twice a year. But she always manages to get a more threatening thing to me even though I won't listen for long.
Then today Palin said something that just made me feel sick.. and more frightened....
The piece I came across was a link to a You Tube video. The man's name is Lou Engle and he is the founder of something called "The Call". The call is for people to martyr themselves for God. Right. It's an honor to die for God as long as you kill an infidel in the process. First there was an intro of a teen listening, then it cut to this man "blessing" Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. Then it went on to show him preaching to these teens and near the end one had on a T shirt that said "IF I DIE, I DIE". I had to stop the frame to read it... last line on a black T shirt. (Link below).
I read a little about this particular sect. They are extreme racists. You can imagine who they want harmed (I can't even say it) and Lou Engle draws 40 to 80 thousand kids to an "event" where he calls for them to murder for God.
Then Sarah Palin resigned and I know that her church is part of this sect. So when she said she wanted to work "outside of government to do more" (not exact quote) I was more like, ugh, I refuse to think about this. It always makes me feel bad.
Then today I see a headline above a picture of her face on CNN. (The headline was on Politico I think). The headline said "IF I DIE, I DIE, SO BE IT". I was shocked that she used the exact quote that is the "mantra" of this sect that calls for murder. I hope it was a shout out to her followers and nothing more.
But from what I've read this sect has evolved basically along a timeline that led from the Rapture to now, them deciding that all the "signs" are in place (that the end times are near) and they should do as much damage as they can because the world is about to end anyway.
Then, for the first time this week I read about a man named Mikey Weinstein who has written a book and sued (with others) the federal government so that they could have freedom of religion in the military. From the Pentagon on down, and especially to many in the Air Force, this particular sect of evangeicals were recruiting from inside the military. Many chaplains from this sect were approved to work in the military and people who practiced any other faith were beginning to be made to feel very uncomfortable about it.
So the very people we think of as protecting us from harm are the ones who belong to a cult that believes that their God is more important than protecting the infidels in our own government. They are taught that their first loyalty is to God and not to the military. Some recruiting videos were made from the Pentagon. It is illegal to endorse any single church while in uniform and certainly while in the Pentagon.
So, just when I've started to convince myself that this church is on the way down I find that George W. Bush left us another legacy. This SOB just keeps on giving. This time he left us with an Air Force that believes it might be best to overthrow the government and Generals in the Pentagon making films for this sect. I have links below.
This link is to the original article where I found the link to Huckabee and Palin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The brave man, Mikey Weinstein who has fought for religious freedom in the military, and had a big victory recently and this is a great article about him. I will put his website link below... but first a quote from his "bio"....
A registered Republican, he also spent over three years in the West Wing of the Reagan Administration as legal counsel in the White House. In his final position there, Mikey was named the Committee Management Officer of the much-publicized Iran-Contra Investigation in his capacity as Assistant General Counsel of The White House Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President of the United States. Mikey has held numerous positions in corporate America as a senior executive businessman and attorney.
After stints at prominent law firms in both New York City and Washington D.C., he served as the first General Counsel to Texas billionaire and two-time Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation and left Mr. Perot's employ in 2006 to focus his fulltime attention on the nonprofit foundation he founded to directly battle the evangelical, fundamentalist religious right; The Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
This link shows pentagon film "recruiting" for this evangelical sect. Scroll down the left until you see the picture in Washington and the Christian Embassy video.
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom....
This link is to the website of Military Religious Freedom Foundation. This is Mikey Weinstein's website and as you click around you can see all that he has accomplished in fighting separation of church and state... because this is really what it is all about. Our country and our military should not be run by any single church.
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom....
All of this worry because Palin resigned. The wingnut right may be losing members but it doesn't help that our own military is full of them... and so I'm still frightened and I just want George W. Bush never to have been President. What are the chances?
At the end of this diary someone chooses a few paragraphs from "The call" to try to tell me that this is wrong. Notice in the video where Engle says that one of God's name is "avenger of blood" and asks if they have ever worshiped that God. Yeah, right, he's leading up to something really healthy there. These are kids. Their minds are not even developed yet. (The people in the first video, not the military). I do not believe that one of God's names would ever be avenger of blood and my humble, brilliant, studious minister agrees. In the beginning of the video he talks about the blood of the slaves and asks what if God calls for that kind of blood again (or similar garbage). Do you have any idea how many hundreds of sites and blogs talk about what you truly do? I've followed this for years.