The NAR holds special animus for Catholicism and claims that a global-level demonic spirit called "The Queen of Heaven" prevents Catholic prayers from reaching Heaven. Top leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation boast of having possibly helped kill Mother Theresa, with their "prayer warfare". Those facts render Tim Graham's attack on Laurie Goostein's article absurd, because the founder of Graham's organization, Brent Bozell III, is a Catholic.

[below: 73 second video documents Palin-endorser Thomas Muthee's anti-Catholic bigotry and claims, by his fellow New Apostolic Reformation leaders, to have possibly helped to kill Mother Theresa with "spiritual warfare ( prayer-warfare)]

Tim Graham chooses to characterize Talk To Action by focusing on a "diary" submission by a Talk To Action site member. As he writes, about Talk To Action, "Its views on Palin are quite clear: an article on her is simply titled "Christian Fascism." In suggesting that Talk To Action "diaries" carry Talk To Action's institutional endorse, as news stories or editorials, Graham has misinformed readers of Newsbusters.

Beyond that, Mr. Graham appears unaware that many Christian conservatives read Talk To Action stories, such as our ongoing coverage of Sarah Palin's association with the New Apostolic Reformation, which as a movement is highly controversial among Christian conservatives because it holds that only its own radically narrow sectarian version of the faith is valid and that all other interpretations of Christianity are "false", in error and not true Christianity. So, by suggesting those Christian conservatives patronize a publication that flails away at "Christian fascism", Tim Graham has insulted Talk To Action's Christian conservative readership and its readership generally.

At Talk To Action, anyone who abides by a relatively limited set of ground rules (abiding by site guidelines, staying on topic and avoiding profanity and character assassination) can, after signing up for a user account at Talk To Action, post "diaries". On Talk To Action there is a clear distinction between front-page stories (called as such) and "diaries" submitted by site members. The distinction is approximately the same as that between news stories and staff editorials, run by mainstream media news outlets, and letters to the editor in their publications. The first carries institutional endorsement. The second does not.

Tim Graham calls the Talk To Action diary submission, which he uses as a propaganda tool for mis-characterizing Talk To Action, an "article" even though Talk To Action does not call user submissions "articles" (though many do merit the label). So, Graham has neglected to inform his readers that at Talk To Action and a number of other community web sites on the Internet "diaries" fulfill the sort of function, roughly, that op-eds and letters to the editor serve in newspapers.

One of the odd aspects of Talk To Action is that, while this web site has a stated ideological bias (see here) that would generally be taken as left-leaning Talk To Action has enjoyed the readership of considerable numbers of Christian conservatives.

The politics of this are quite simple. Talk To Action, with fair regularity, runs stories on subjects which are of deep concern to Christian conservatives, often for the same reason those subjects are of concern to left-leaning Talk To  Action readers.

The single-axis political spectrum measure, on political orientation, of "left", "center" and "right", elides the fact that people widely separated on that spectrum often have huge areas of common agreement. Christian conservatives who pay attention realize that they share quite a bit of common ground with their putative foes on the left, and vice versa.

In a recent case, after New Apostolic Reformation Group researcher "Ruth", who for personal reasons goes under a pseudonym, published Palin's Churches and the Third Wave we discovered that her story was being re-posted in part or in its entirety and discussed on Christian conservative web sites [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ] and in moderate small-town southern paper , on Charismatic Christian conservative web sites [link] and even on Christian conservative K-12 web sites [link]. Not to mention Catholic web forums, the Drudge Report and Free Republic.

[below: 10 minute video explores Sarah Palin's association with internationally prominent "witch hunter" Thomas Muthee]

*******

BACKGROUND

[background for those who are curious and unfamiliar with this story]

The New Apostolic Reformation

From her entrance into local town politics in  Wasilla, Alaska to Palin's successful bid for the Alaska governor's seat, the arc of Sarah Palin's political career has been punctuated by Palin's association, unusual in the 20th Century but which also probably would have raised eyebrows had Palin been a Nineteenth Century politician, with the witch-hunting and demon-expelling obsessed religious movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. That movement is not significant for its promotion of glossolalia or other affectations of charismatic Christianity. As I wrote in a recent op-ed :

Sarah Plain's churches matter : not because people at Plain's churches speak in tongues or for any specific gestural or behavioral expression. These things are deeply felt and not properly mocked or stigmatized, Rather, Plain's churches matter because pastors in those churches espouse an aggressive form of Christian nationalism and also the doctrine that all forms of religious and philosophical beliefs other than their own are invalid and even under demonic influence.

Christians caught up in the Third Wave or New Apostolic Reformation tend to believe that all Christian sects and denominations are invalid and even under demonic influence because their theological substrate holds that when Adam and Eve sinned in The Garden, God withdrew his protective cover from the Earth and demons flooded in. Plain's churches are demon-haunted churches which tend to view the Catholic Church (especially) as well as all Protestant denominations as invalid and as manifestations of a "religious spirit" that's held to be demonic. Things devolve from there - the Third Wave stigmatizes much of Protestant and Catholic Christianity but it vilifies and literally demonizes Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and all non-Christian religions and belief systems as manifestations of "witchcraft", to be driven from the Earth by "spiritual warfare" and by a physical, end-time, purifying last-generation army.

As a Monday, October 20, 2008 report, Killing Mother Theresa With Their Prayers from the New Apostolic Reformation Research Group (of which I am a member) explains,

[the New Apostolic Reformation] is no fringe movement, but a rapidly institutionalizing entity larger than most Protestant denominations. The leadership has forged this movement from several strands of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, often referred to as the Third Wave. ; under the Convening Apostle, C. Peter Wagner, they have formed an international entity encompassing thousands of independent, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches worldwide, as well as hundreds of cross-denominational para-church organizations, their own educational and accreditation systems, conventions, media, and businesses.

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has rapidly grown since the Himalayan venture, largely through a widely successful media campaign conducted by the Sentinel Group. The media group, led by George Otis, Jr., uses a series of videos referred to as the "Transformations" series to promote their ideas of societal transformation through the expulsion of demons. Since the 1999 release of their first video, "Transformations," the combined forces of the NAR and The Sentinel Group have promoted the ultimate faith-based initiative - "transformation" through spiritual warfare and religious, ideological, and social cleansing.

The "documentaries" demonstrate the process through which communities and nations around the world have been transformed through spiritual mapping, and the expulsion of "strategic level territorial demons" and generational curses. ;The portrayed result is the creation of mini-utopias which provide confirmation and glimpses of the coming glories of the "Kingdom" when other religious systems have been defeated. Once the witches and demons are purged and the communities are led by "Spirit-filled" Christians ( some advertised as 92% saved), the videos document the amazing results: empty jails and reduction in crime, repair of environmental degradation and increased crop yields including huge vegetables, bars turned to churches, improved schools, miraculous large-scale healings of AIDs, ; and purging of corruption from government.

The videos are viewed at churches and ministries around the world, recently advertised as having been viewed by 200 million people in 70 languages.

One of the stars of Tranformations is none other than the famous witch hunter - Thomas Muthee. ;Muthee was well known internationally, long before the anointing ceremony of Sarah Palin. Transformations I features his recently debunked story of transforming Kiambu, Kenya from a crime-ridden hellhole to a peaceful oasis, through the expulsion of a witch called Mama Jane.

Muthee has subsequently held leadership roles including serving as a board member of the World Prayer Center International, and currently as a Transformations Associate. ; part of this Transformations "franchise" effort of the combined media, organizations, ministries, and businesses, has been a massive campaign to de-Catholicize Central and South America, glimpses of which can also be seen in the videos. ; other significant international impact has resulted from their promotion of their claimed miraculous healing of AIDS in Uganda. ; they have been particularly successful with their operations in Guatemala, Argentina, and Brazil. Muthee is not just another witch hunter.

But the "Transformations" franchise of evangelism and demon hunting is not just operating in Africa or South America. ;The Transformations movement has impacted American social and governmental policy. ;The idea that social transformation can be achieved through spiritual warfare, and the expulsion of demons and witchcraft, is becoming deeply embedded in social and government policy in the United States including emergency response, physical and mental health, public safety, and juvenile and adult rehabilitation

Documentation:  Supporting Articles and Videos

The following are links to articles and videos that have been posted on Talk2action.org in an ongoing series, documenting the research on Sarah Plain's Churches and the Third Wave.  They are listed in chronological order with the latest articles first. Below the links is a brief overview of the New Apostolic Reformation.

Killing Mother Theresa with their Prayers
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/20/195730/89/

Palin and the Apostles

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/7/54010/1830/

Fishers and Hunters - The Continuing Saga of Christian Zionism

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/10/2/115153/281/

A Heartbeat Away or Why Palin's Churches Matter

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/25/93553/3296/

Buzzflash Interview with the Palin Churches Research Team

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/24/173435/219/

In Video, Pastor Annoints Palin, Urges "Infiltration" of Schools, Government, Business

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/24/13112/0816/

The "Lions in the Pews"

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/24/82239/9750/

Palin, Muthee, and the Witch- Journalists Miss the Major Story


http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/20/171755/145/

YouTube Censors Viral Video Documentary on Plain's Churches

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/13/1538/09770/

Palin's Churches and the Holy Laughter Anointing,
Video, Documentation, and Article

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/11/113733/968/

Sarah Palin's Demon Haunted Churches, Complete Edition
With videos, documentation , and article

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/8/114332/7479/

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part Two

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602/

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part One

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583/

Videos

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, also titled
Palin's Demon Haunted Churches

http://www.vimeo.com/1679097?pg=embed&sec=1679097

Plain's Churches and the Holy Laughter Anointing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_CkZWTvKBc

Palin, Muthee and Killing Mother Theresa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eruPRS4V0SA

Palin Anointer Thomas Muthee Fights Catholics, Witches and Python Spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grrsRKP8L0s

In Short: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Third Wave

The New Apostolic Reformation is a recently institutionalized Protestant sect that emerged from specific Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, sometimes referred to collectively as the Third Wave.  These are revivals of a 1940s and 1950s movement named as a heresy by the Assemblies of God at that time.  The New Apostolic Reformation can now be defined as a distinct movement with a unique theology.  The central figure in the movement, C. Peter Wagner has organized the sect structure and defined its primary theology.  He declared 2001 as the beginning of the new Apostolic Age. Wagner's extensive Apostolic network includes 500 Apostles from the U.S. and 42 other countries, each with their own network of churches and ministries, some with hundreds or even thousands.  This network is interconnected with other Apostolic networks around the world who share media, conferences, schools, and training, and revivals.

The major tenets of the adherents of this sect include the belief that we are living in the final years before the return of Christ.  However, they differ from other Fundamentalist Protestants in their belief that they must defeat evil on the earth and purify the existing churches before Jesus can return. Furthermore, the building of this "Kingdom of God" is not to be delayed until after the Rapture, or to be built in a heavenly sphere.  They believe that they have a mandate to build the Kingdom in the present and in the physical realm. In preparation for this task, this final generation is being "imparted" with special supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit that will allow them to wage spiritual warfare and take control of the earth from the devil and an array of demons.  The mandate for building the Kingdom includes their current Seven Mountains strategy for the taking control over government, arts and entertainment, media, education, family, religion, and business.  

This effort includes extensive mission work around the globe featuring their well developed spiritual warfare strategies which have been published in books and videos.  The goal of these spiritual warfare tactics is to take cities and communities from the territorial demons that control theses geographic areas and that they believe prevent their efforts in planting their own Apostolic churches. Spiritual warfare around the globe includes the goal of taking control of cities through the expulsion of witches and demons, and the conversion of Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and all other religions.  They also believe that there must be a civil war in the Protestant church during this "Third Reformation" in order for them to purify that institution before Jesus can return.  The movement has an extensive focus on youth, with several leaders specifically prophesying that those born after 1973 are to be the trainers and warriors for God's army.