Link to Torp's blog here and translated here.  Scroll down in the translated version to the last posting on the page to see Pastor Torp's blog on his visit with Apostles Peter and Doris Wagner including photograph.

[below, right: 6-minute video contains four audio excerpts, from Mary Glazier's July 13, 2008 1-hour speech, referred to in this story. First excerpt in video contains Glazier's mention of Palin being in her prayer group]

Mary Glazier is one of the Prophets of the inner circle of leadership, the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, in this rapidly growing and recently institutionalized movement. The New Apostolic Reformation is the name that Wagner has given to the structure that he formed in the late 1990s to bring together numerous strands of the "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit."  This past June, Glazier was part of a conference titled Opening the Gate for Heaven on Earth: Receiving the New Prophetic Wind for Increase, held in Everett, Washington, which included participation by Wagner and other top Apostles and Prophets. (Transcript linked here.)

Glazier, a feisty and youthful great grandmother of Haida Alaskan background, is also the Alaska state leader of the U.S. Strategic Prayer Network.  She is a nationally known figure in the movement for her many years of success in Alaska.  At the conference she not only recounts the history of the movement in Alaska but includes in her June 13th speech, "Critical Mass for Harvest," the story of a 24 year old woman from her prayer network who is now, twenty years later, Governor of Alaska.

Palin has been anointed through the laying on of hands in at least four publicized ceremonies. Three of these are captured on existing video or photographs including the photographs posted on the official State of Alaska site.  Currently the most widely published account is the video of the anointing by Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee at the Wasilla Assembly of God church before Palin was elected governor of Alaska. While a number of media outlets have also picked up the stories of Muthee's witch hunting exploits in Kiambu, Bishop Muthee is not just any witch hunter.  He is  internationally known for his starring role in the Transformations I video, produced in 1999, as one of the definitive media tools for the new evangelizing efforts of the Third Wave and the resulting New Apostolic Reformation.  

The New Apostolic Reformation is now a distinct entity with its own theology, apostolic networks, schools, school accreditation system, conferences, and media. The Apostolic structure, as defined by Wagner, provides a network of authority or "apostolic covering." Each of Wagner's approximately 500 Apostles has networks of their own, some claiming hundreds or even thousands of ministries under their authority.  They view themselves as conducting "the most radical restructuring of Christianity since the Reformation."  They believe they are unifying an end time church that will harvest millions of souls before the return of Jesus.  The New Apostolics have developed a unique set of evangelizing tools and terms based on the concept of spiritual mapping and warfare for the expulsion of demons.  This is for the specific purpose of taking conquest of cities that are resisting the gospel due to the presence of territorial demons and generational curses.  These concepts have been marketed through media and videos including the Transformations videos, produced by George Otis, Jr. of the Sentinel Group, which were developed to document the claimed success of transforming communities through use of these new evangelizing technologies.  They also serve to reinforce the ultimate in faith-based social policy arguments - that human improvement of society is not possible without the supernatural intervention of God and that this intervention can only happen when groups of "spirit-filled" Christians unite to chase the demons out of their communities and to take authority away from those who are not "born again" in the Spirit.

The vast amount of data gathered by the movement is kept at the nerve center of the spiritual warfare movement, the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs, jointly developed by C. Peter Wagner and Ted Haggard.  The World Prayer center was advertised at its opening as a way to link 50 million Christians in 120 countries in targeted prayer using this spiritual warfare information.  

A number of movement leaders including Rick Joyner have written about the coming "civil war" within the church. They believe that the rest of Christendom must follow their lead in receiving the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and also the restructuring of the church. This Apostolic movement is not waiting around for the Rapture and they do not plan to watch the battle against evil from grandstand seats in heaven.  They believe that Jesus can not and will not return from heaven until the newly unified church, under the authority of God's anointed, retakes control of the earth from Satan.  For this battle God is provided an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, "a river" of supernatural powers and secret wisdom, as described by Joyner, to the end time warriors. This generation of warriors is often referred to as Joel's Army.  The supernatural powers are to be used to convince others to convert, or to do battle against the evil that resists these efforts.

Wagner declared the beginning of the New Apostolic Age as 2001, but by 1999 the movement was already coalescing around the new spiritual warfare theology presented in the Transformations video and related books.  Thomas Muthee was presented as an example of the success that could be achieved through the expulsion of demons from communities.  This spiritual warfare was not limited to Africa.  The Transformations I video also featured Almolonga, Guatemala; Cali, Colombia; and Hemet, California.  In Hemet, spiritual warriors supposedly succeeded in burning down the Transcendental Meditation center solely through spiritual mapping and prayer. In the video, narrator George Otis and participating local ministers claim that the area was transformed when "Spirit-filled Christians" took control of the government and public schools.  See the article Palin, Muthee, and the Witch- Journalists Miss the Major Story for more on the Transformations video. This and subsequent video productions were shown around the world and the media effort spawned a number of Transformation evangelizing conferences and networks.  Transformation became a buzzword for the faith-based social programs built around the evangelizing of communities.   Linked here is a Christian Broadcast Network "news item" on the miracle of Almolonga.

Transforming Melbourne is a city wide renewal group which now partners with and receives financial support from Apostolic sources and also Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican, Lutheran, and incredibly, some Roman Catholic churches.  Transforming Melbourne prominently publicizes testimony of New Apostolic Prophetess Ana Mendez. Mendez participated with Wagner's wife Doris and other top Apostles and Prophets on a 1997 spiritual warfare mission to the Himalayas named "Operation Ice Castle" to combat the chief of all territorial demons, the "Queen of Heaven." Wagner would later write about this excursion in his books, "Confronting the Queen of Heaven," and "The Queen's Domain," about a demon he believes is responsible for preventing acceptance of the gospel in Roman Catholic Churches as well as Islam.  Mendez's testimony of the event publicized on Transforming Melbourne, as well as other sites, includes her belief that their prayer expedition may have had many successful results including the death of Mother Theresa.  

The New Apostolic Reformation is just one of numerous interconnected Apostolic networks around the globe.  These networks have revived the theology of the Latter Rain movement of the 1940s and 1950s which threatened to overtake the Assemblies of God and several other Pentecostal denominations of that era.  While the Latter Rain movement was then declared a heresy and pushed out of the main body of these denominations, it lived on to emerge again in the evangelical efforts of Oral Roberts, Bill Hamon, Paul Cain, and others who had participated in the original movement as young men.  Now, in a more institutionally developed form, it has swallowed up entire national denominations such as the Australian Assemblies of God.  In the United States the Apostolic networks claim thousands of independent churches, from storefronts to megachurches, as well as a large number of churches that have not left their parent denominations.  Such is the case with many Assembly of God and Foursquare churches in Alaska.  While remaining in the parent denominational structure, these churches have established close ties with New Apostolic leaders, organizations, and activities, and are preaching the theology and using curriculum from New Apostolic Reformation sources.

Palin spent over twenty years at the Wasilla Assembly of God and frequently returns for events there.  She left her membership there in 2002 as she began her efforts to run for state level office.  When in Juneau, Palin attends another Assemblies of God church whose pastor, Mike Rose, has close ties to the Third Wave movement and who has been applauded for his Third Wave efforts by the former head of the Assemblies of God of Australia, Andrew Evans, who supported the denomination's embrace of the movement.  Evans would later found the Australia Family First political party.  See the video and article Palin's Churches and the Holy Laughter Anointing. In all the publicity, photographs, and videos of Palin's anointings, she has hands laid on her by either her Assembly of God ministers, past and present, or major figures of the New Apostolic Reformation such as Thomas Muthee.  

Ed Kalnins, Senior Pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God, traveled to Morningstar Ministries outside Charlotte and to the Lakeland Outpouring Revival in Florida, and then returned to Wasilla to "impart" the anointing that he had received at these events to his congregation on May 25.  The Lakeland Outpouring Revival was in full swing at the time of Kalnins' visit and he reported to his church the participation of pastors from Canada, Latvia, Scotland, Poland and Australia in a week dedicated to senior pastors.  He describes to his congregation in detail in his May 25 sermon the miraculous healings and claims by Bentley of  raisings from the dead attributed to the revival event.  Bentley, who is the subject of great controversy in the Fundamentalist and Evangelical world, was recently featured in a Southern Poverty Law Center report titled "Arming for Armageddon, Militant Joel's Army Followers Seek Theocracy." Sarah Palin's naming as a VP candidate came at an ideal time for New Apostolics as it has diverted attention from a great crisis in the movement.  An international outcry was growing from both inside and outside of the movement against the extreme methods of Bentley's healing services including head butting and even repeatedly kicking extremely ill patients. Link to video here. (Comments on video are not this author's.)  This crisis came to a head when Bentley had to abandon the Lakeland Revival, not because of these complaints but because of his separation from his wife.  

Kalnins also reports in the May 25 sermon the miraculous events he observed when he was anointed at Morningstar Ministries, founded by Rick Joyner and now headquartered in the restored  Heritage USA complex formerly owned by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.  Kalnins imparted his anointing to his members, after requesting that they return to the church later that week to watch DVDs of the events at Morningstar Ministries.  Only a few months before, the Master's Commission youth of Wasilla had also flown from Alaska to participate in a prophecy conference led by a number of major leaders including Rick Joyner at Morningstar Ministries.  When they returned they posted pictures of these leaders on their website.

Sarah Palin returned to Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8th of this year to speak at the Master's Commission graduation ceremony.  This post-high school program cost $8,000. per year and last three years.  It is grounded in New Apostolic Reformation theology including authority and prophecy.  Their curriculum includes texts by author Steve Thompson, Director of Prophecy at Morningstar, who has traveled to Wasilla to lead prophecy conferences including one this past week, October 2-5.  

Despite the small size of the town of Wasilla, the Master's Commission is not the only New Apostolic Reformation based youth program offered there.  The Northwind Global Ministries program features a less expensive version of training in prophecy curriculum as well as travel to conferences. The website introduction to the ministry says it "exists to train an army of end time saints." In 2002, the Northwind Global students, then under the leadership of Patrick Donelson, traveled to Albany, Oregon to attend the Joel's Army conference of Todd Bentley's Fresh Fire ministry. Bentley's prophecy for Alaska is still featured on the Northwind Global website. Donelson, who is also a part-time hunting and fishing guide and owner of iFishAlaska Guide Service, was head of Northwind Global  from 2000 - 2006 and is still listed in the leadership of Northwind Global Ministries along with his partner in iFishAlaska, Howard Riley. Donelson is also the co-founder with Doug Yates of Carry the Cure, Inc.  According to the IRS forms of Carry the Cure, Inc., this is an evangelizing ministry that also does presentations in public schools.  Palin named Patrick Donelson to the State of Alaska Suicide Prevention Council in December 2007.  Palin is also listed on the Advisory Board of Carry the Cure, beginning in 2000, and has officially endorsed the group.

Mary Glazier, Pat Donelson, and Doug Yates, as well others in the movement, have made great progress in bringing the native Alaskan population into the New Apostolic fold through combination charitable and evangelizing efforts.  In February of this year Yates and other New Apostolics including Eleanor Roehl, described by Glazier as one her prayer intercessors, participated in the Indigenous Ministries of Alaska Summit.  Ian Ridpath, head of the Partners in Harvest Apostolic network, attended and reported on the event in one of his ministry websites. He posted several pages of reporting and pictures including the response by First Nation communities to the distribution of Manga Messiah Bibles. Ridpath describes a "prophetic action" conducted by the "white leaders" to protect the native participants from competing churches who might interfere with the Apostolic movement among the First Nations.

"The white leaders present formed a circle, facing outwards with arms crossed.  The native people then entered the circle.  The prophetic significance of this act was that these white Christian leaders were protecting the Christian natives from the rest of those (Christian, Churches, Ministries, etc.) wanting to come in and take over what is happening in Alaska..."

(Words in parenthesis are exactly as posted in Ridpath's article.)

Mary Glazier has an additional title of advisor to the International Reconciliation Council. Reconciliation is one of the major ploys of the New Apostolic Reformation for entry into a target society whether it is Native American, Roman Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim.  In Confronting the Queen of Heaven Wagner talks about the territorial demon that prevents Islam from accepting the gospel but then describes a reconciliation walk that leadership took through Turkey asking forgiveness for the Crusades.  This spiritual warfare excursion was followed by an event that Wagner writes was planned with help of Ted Haggard and Rod Parsley [correction since original posting: Ted Haggard and Ross Parsley of New Life, Colorado Springs, and David Morris of Manna Church, Fayetteville, NC] and that involved getting thousands of Christians to the amphitheater in Ephesus to shout "Great is Jesus of Nazareth for four hours" in order to trump an event Acts 19: 34. Money was raised for Turkish relief for a recent earthquake.  However, these reconciliation events involve no acceptance or even plans for coexistence with the target population but simply a way to befriend these communities which they intend to proselytize.  The Apostles believe that through the repentance of their own generational curses and crimes, such as the Crusades, they remove the barrier and thus open the door for Islamic acceptance of their beliefs.

Glazier's sermon, which featured her comments on Palin, was given at a conference
Opening the Gate of Heaven on Earth that also featured a number of speeches and sermons on the plans of leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation to take control of the seven "kingdoms" of society through their "Seven Mountains Strategy." These efforts to take control of religion, family, education, arts and entertainment, media, government, and business are clearly defined in their publicity and numerous conferences on the topic.  Muthee also explains the need to take over these seven "kingdoms" in his sermon before anointing Sarah Palin.  

Alaska is not the only place where the New Apostolics are waging civil war on other churches and the war is not limited to Pentecostal and Charismatic believers.  Wagner served for many years in the Department of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary.  While there he was influenced through his work with the late John Wimber of the Vineyard Movement who taught "Signs and Wonders."  While at Fuller, Wagner developed and passed on to his students many of his spiritual warfare ideas that would become the backbone of the new movement. Wagner is also a prolific writer with dozens of books published around the world.  As a major leader and writer on church growth his impact can  be seen in the development of spiritual warfare and demon theologies that have become a factor in some of the renewal movements that are ripping apart the Mainline Protestant denominations across the nation.  

An Institute for Democracy report from April 2000 reveals the impact of Wagner on the current division in the Presbyterian Church USA.   The report quotes Tom White as crediting Wagner and his involvement in "AD 2000 and Beyond" for advancing the ideas of spiritual warfare to conservative evangelicals in PCUSA.  The report states that Presbyterian-Reformed Ministries International (PRMI) then "initiated a strategic level warfare campaign against denominational structures supporting the work of women, gays, and lesbians in the church."  The report included spiritual warfare charts distributed by PRMI which mapped the "demonic strongholds" in their church.  The author of the report, Lewis C. Daly, adds that those engaged in spiritual warfare do not just equate the things they see as sinful with demons, but "they believe that their opponents are literally possessed by or are the agents of Satan."  

Wagner's reach also extends to Israel where his Apostles and other New Apostolic warriors are providing support for the Messianic Jewish movement and aggressive proselytizing particularly in the Orthodox community.  The enormous impact of the New Apostolic Reformation on Christian Zionism was mentioned in a previous Talk2action.org article linked here and will be continued in the upcoming Part Two on Christian Zionism and the New Apostolic Reformation.  

A striking feature of the ministries of the New Apostolic Reformation is the use of militant terminology. Diane Buker, the state leader for Florida is head of ministry titled
Battle Axe Brigade.  The website features an animated arm swinging a mace as well as articles claiming that Roman Catholicism and Mormonism are corrupt religious systems and that Roman Catholicism is bound by a religious spirit. Cindy Jacobs, another Prophetic Elder has a ministry titled Generals of Intercession and has authored books such as Possessing the Gates of the Enemy, a Training Manual for Militant Intercession.  Ana Mendez (Ferrell), the Prophetess who believes she may have helped kill Mother Theresa, has a website that lives up to expectations.

George Otis included an entire glossary on new spiritual warfare terms in the back of his book "Informed Intercession." Ed Kalnins of Wasilla Assembly of God and Thomas Muthee, both of whom have anointed Palin, include exhortations of violence in their sermons. Like many others in the movement they prominently feature the biblical quote "the violent take it by force" in their rhetoric on spiritual warfare.  

The New Apostolic Reformation leadership claims that its militant sounding terminology only applies to spiritual warfare and not physical warfare against human beings. Apostle Tim Taylor attended the US Naval War College Strategies and Policy Course and applies this knowledge in his spiritual warfare book, "Operation Rolling Thunder." He includes on some of his Watchman Ministries pages a disclaimer that spiritual warfare must not confuse battle against demonic forces with people.  But there are very real physical actions being taken against other human beings in this spiritual warfare, like the old woman in Thomas Muthee's Nairobi suburb of Kiambu. Mary Glazier has her own witch hunting story that was reported in "Spirit Led Woman" magazine in 2003. Like Muthee, Glazier believes that the removal of the witch from the geographic area allowed the gospel to take root.

In 1995, Mary mobilized a prayer network for Alaska's prisons and began experiencing spiritual warfare as never before. She had received word that a witch had applied for a job as chaplain of the state's prison system...

...Mary recalls, "As we continued to pray against the spirit of witchcraft, her incense altar caught on fire, her car engine blew up, she went blind in her left eye, and she was diagnosed with cancer."

Ultimately, the witch fled to another state for medical treatment. Soon after, revival visited every prison in Alaska.

At the women's correctional facility in Anchorage alone, 55 of 60 inmates found Christ. "Ask largely," Mary says. "Intercessory prayer is making a major difference in North America."

The participants of this movement really do believe that their prayers are the cause of destruction of property and injury, or perhaps even the death, of others like Mother Theresa and Princess Diana.  And they do clearly profess to believe that others will be forced to accept their beliefs or be destroyed.  

One of other striking things about the New Apostolic Reformation is its virtual invisibility to most Americans.  This invisibility is despite the fact that it is a hotly debated topic among many other groups of American Fundamentalists and Evangelicals.  Numerous "discernment ministries" have filled hundreds of internet pages with discussions about Wagner and the New Apostles and the threat they feel this movement presents to their churches. The controversies over the movement's spiritual warfare methods have made it to the top levels of the Lausanne Committee and other major Evangelical leadership. It is, of course, widely covered in Charismatic media sources including Charisma Magazine.  Both Lee Grady, editor of the magazine and the publisher, Steve Strang are Apostles in Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles. Grady and Strang have recently also written of Palin as the biblical Deborah and Esther respectively. The Christian Science monitor has featured some excellent coverage of Wagner's spiritual warfare and the Southern Poverty Law Center recently issued a report on the movement.  But only a few small glimpses of this movement have appeared in mainstream media.  Jeff Sharlet wrote about the World Prayer Center in his May 2005 Harper's article, Soldiers for Christ.  The award winning movie Jesus Camp featured Becky Fisher, a former pastor at Morningstar Ministries, as well as Lou Engle, a Prophetic Elder and founder of "The Call." This link is The Call, Nashville. Both are still active figures in the New Apostolic Reformation and particularly in youth efforts. Recently Salon has featured several articles by writers who have written about the 40 day fast and other efforts of the leadership of the New Apostolic Reformation to impact the election in Palin's favor but the press has failed to piece together the larger story of this worldwide movement and its relationship to Palin.

No researcher or journalist can claim to know the mind of Sarah Palin.  However, she has certainly come from a background steeped in the beliefs and activities of the Third Wave and the New Apostolic Reformation. The American public deserves to know what impact this has had on her worldview and needs to understand the significance of a New Apostolic worldview.  Furthermore, beyond the issue of Sarah Palin's political career, the New Apostolic Reformation is a new and powerful force in American religion and politics.  Knowledge of this movement and its political impact should be a top priority for every researcher and journalist concerned about the growing assault on the separation of church and state.

Meanwhile the Prophets and Apostles are continuing to contact their networks worldwide with urgent Sarah Palin prophecy while most of America remains oblivious to their existence.


Master document with links to the entire series of articles: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/114652/6239