The New Apostolic Reformation in Alaska

In Alaska the New Apostolic Reformation or "apostolic and prophetic" movement and the organizing of prayer warriors was spearheaded by Apostle Mary Glazier. Glazier spoke at a national convention about Palin joining her group at the age of 24 and Glazier continued to meet with Palin through the 2008 election, as confirmed by Charisma magazine.

Apostles and prophets throughout the movement celebrated Palin as having been "anointed" by God. This included a prophecy disseminated internationally by Glazier which was supposedly a vision  indicating that Palin would take on the mantle of leadership after a death, presumably John McCain's.

This New Apostolic Reformation has introduced a whole new world of methodologies and lingo as part of its ideology.  The most prominent feature is the teaching of "Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare" which is unique to the movement and accompanied by an array of militaristic terminology.  This includes spiritual mapping, which is considered the "reconnaissance work" or spying required before prayer warfare can be effective.  

Palin attended Wasilla Assembly of God for over two decades and has returned as a speaker. Wasilla AOG embraced the New Apostolic Reformation and its unique brand of spiritual warfare some time ago and is not representative of stated beliefs of Assembly of God, one of the largest Pentecostal denominations. In the worldview of the New Apostolic Reformation there is no stigma attached to the use of militant terminology or the targeting of other people.

Early on (1999), Wasilla AOG expressed interest in the new spiritual warfare techniques being marketed by the movement through a series of movies called The Transformations produced by George Otis, Jr. and Sentinel Group.  Otis is considered one of the movement's experts on spiritual mapping and the movies are training tools on how to use spiritual warfare to "transform" communities.

Spiritual Mapping

Spiritual mapping involves making a map of a community and marking the location of demonic "strongholds" which must be removed. The Transformation movies show proto-types of communities in which spiritual warfare has supposedly resulted in mini-utopias.

The individuals targeted in these movie vignettes are usually witches and warlocks, presented as grotesque and almost semi-human figures whose association with the demonic makes them beyond pity when they flee or die as a result of the spiritual warfare. In the movies, this is always the spontaneous or supernatural product of prayers and leaders do not instigate the damage themselves.  For example, in one vignette a transcendental meditation center supposedly burned after prayer warfare and the burying of a bible nearby.

The movies fail to address what happens to other, more human characters, who might object to the taking of "dominion" over their neighborhoods and communities by these spiritual warriors.   The movies only show the smiles, singing, laughter, and miracles (including miraculous curing of AIDS) which can be expected once the demons are removed from society. The movies have spawned several international Transformation organizations in cities around the world.

They advertise their greatest successes as Uganda - where currently apostles based both in the U.S. and Uganda are promoting the "Kill the Gays" bill.

Wasilla AOG and the local pastors association worked to get one of the stars of The Tranformations, the first movie in the ongoing series, to visit Wasilla.  Thomas Muthee responded and Wasilla AOG began a relationship with him including helping to finance his Kenyan ministry. Wasilla AOG would become a revolving door for major leaders of the apostolic and prophetic movement and, in turn, Wasilla AOG leaders and members traveled for training to locations like Rick Joyner's MorningStar Ministries, south of Charlotte.  Wasilla AOG Senior pastor Ed Kalnins described to his congregation that he was bringing to them an anointing which had been imparted to him by Rick Joyner. Prior to her run for governor, Palin was anointed (imparting of spiritual gifts by laying on of hands) by Muthee during one of his visits to Wasilla and called upon protection for her from witches and all forms of demonic threats.  

The late Diane Buker, a major apostle in Florida and founder of Battle Axe Ministries, taught spiritual mapping around the globe.  She described the process  for creating the map.

The Lord instructed me to get a map. On this map we placed colored pins with each color representing certain categories of unrighteous works. Each colored pin is numbered with a corresponding file. In the file we simply list the name of the place and its address. We have no individual names on the list. Remember, we're not against people.

The last line is the prayer warriors version of "hate the sin but love the sinner."  They claim they are not fighting flesh and blood but demonic principalities.  As Apostle Mary Glazier has declared,

"There is a tipping point, at which, at which time, because of the sin of the land, the people then have to be displaced. But while this measure of wickedness is rising, the measure of faith in the church is rising. God is preparing a people to displace the ones whose sin is rising so that then they tip over and the church goes in - one is removed and the church moves in and takes the territory. Now, that does not mean that the people are removed, because God removes them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. They are given an opportunity to change allegiances."

She leaves out the part about what happens to those who don't choose to accept this brand of evangelical belief.

Buker divided the pins for her spiritual mapping by color:  

-Red for occult churches such as Jehovah's witnesses, Mormon temples, Bahai, Unitarian, Christian Science

-Blue for occult establishments such as astrologers, places that sell Dungeons & Dragons

-Green for places that market sex or pornography

-Orange for freemasonry

-Purple for locations that perform abortions

-Yellow for places owned or operated by homosexuals

-White for places of prostitution

In addition to mapping and prayer warfare, apostles will often anoint the location with oil or plant a bible in the ground.  Most of the spiritual mapping that I've seen also targets other religions including Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic houses of worship.  Tolerance of others, such as homosexuals and those of other religions, is not considered a virtue but a failure to fight evil.  Palin's quote from today's speech "...we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good" is a common refrain which attacks liberals as supporting evil in the guise of tolerance and acceptance.

The methodology of spiritual warfare, including spiritual mapping has now spread far beyond the core leadership of the New Apostolic Reformation. The ideology is growing even faster than the organization. Those adopting these "Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare" techniques, as they have been coined by New Apostolic leadership, range from Charismatic groups in Mainline Protestant churches to small self-taught family ministries. I've written previously about Repent Amarillo, a small group in Texas which has no visible links to major New Apostolic leaders, but which has spiritually mapped their city marking the locations of demonic strongholds.  Leadership of this group has also attempted to burn a Quran on September 11 and held a mock execution of Santa Claus before Christmas.

Repent Amarillo's spiritual map which can be seen above and at this website (now without the sound of gunshots) utilizes the color pins similar to what Buker described.  This Texas vigilante ministry has gone farther than prayer warfare, actually working to drive some of their targets out of business.  If you click on the red Xs on the map, you will see comments such as "Preached to death by Repent Amarillo.  Shut down!! Thank you Jesus." I wrote in December about my concerns that Repent Amarillo spiritual warriors can be seen on the property of some of the houses of worship they are targeting in videos recently posted on their website.

Spiritual mapping is now an international phenomenon, all originally sourced in a small group of leaders who would later form the New Apostolic Reformation.  In October, South Korean press reported that spiritual mapping groups there had posted a video in which they entered and held Christian worship in one of Seoul's most prominent Buddhist temples and spiritually mapped parts of the city.  In the video, the evangelicals claim that the temple is the cause of a subway fire disaster, economic downturns and divorce rates. Other similar videos were reported as having been filmed in Myanmar.

Opposition to other religions is based on the idea that beliefs outside "Spirit-filled" evangelical Christianity are controlled by demonic principalities and that communities can not be transformed until these demonic strongholds are eliminated.  Perhaps because these spiritual warriors are often also Christian Zionists, they do not target synagogues with spiritual mapping. However, Jews are targeted in other ways.  

Spiritual Mapping and New World Order Conspiracy Theories  

One of several apostles on board of The Oak Initiative, described in Part One, is Cindy Jacobs, head of Generals of Intercession.  Jacobs has become a major figure in the Religious Right and is the apostolic authority over a number of state prayer warrior networks.  As Jacobs reported to Christian Broadcast Network, God told her that the "strongman" over the U.S. doesn't live in Washington but on Wall Street.  She subsequently held a service at the site of the bull on Wall Street on October 29, 2008.  As preparation for this encounter with the "strongman," she had spiritual mapping expert Martha Lucia do some research on Bretton Woods which Jacobs posted on her website.  The summary includes excerpts from overt anti-Semitic writer Fritz Springmeier's 13 Bloodlines of the Illuminati, which claims that 13 satanic bloodlines, including the Rothschilds, control the finances and governments of the world.  Lucia's report includes,

"The Fed has been an effective tool of the Illuminati and the Rothschilds, creating crises such as the great depression (which J.P. Morgan, Jr. was very involved in creating). Apparently (according to Congressman Louis McFadden), the depression helped consolidate financial power over the U.S., putting it in the hands of the Rothschild banking alliance between J.P. Morgan's First National Bank Group and Schiff's Kuhn, Loeb-run National City Bank. The great depression also lead to Roosevelt's new deal."

Both Lucia and Jacobs are particularly consumed with mapping and prayer warfare against freemasonry sites.    

Martha Lucia has also done spiritual mapping in Israel and reported on her Watchmen Network site.  The following report is listed underneath an Israeli flag and the verse, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

"On September 15, 2005 we went to the new Supreme Court building which was built by the Rothchilds and contains every Masonic symbol and the illuminati. This place was built as a connection to the mind of Satan as this connects to the Knesset and all the government buildings and is to house the Prime Ministers office next door. We knew we sat in a major axis of evil and made many declarations against the mind of Satan ruling this land and the earth. The Word of the Lord says the Law, the Word, and much more will go forth from Jerusalem, but the enemy is setting his kingdom right in the midst of what God has said will be performed. We commanded all to line up with the Word of the Lord. We declared Jesus sovereign in Israel as there is no sovereign. There is so much in this place you have to read about how this place was built to get the impact of what is sitting here."

The apostolic and prophetic movement is heavily Christian Zionist and they do not view their ideas as anti-Semitic, although the movment also aggressively proselytizes in Israel and promotes and supports Messianic Jewish (Jews who convert but retain Jewish identity) ministries and training.  They see themselves as saving Jews from eternal damnation.  It is not uncommon to see articles that strongly denounce anti-Semitism on the same page with ministry reports of their work in proselytizing Jews.

Following the above paragraph in which Martha Lucia describes Israel as being demonically controlled, she reports,

"On Friday, September 16, we went to the home of our guide and enjoyed a Shabbat meal with him and his family."

Rick Joyner, president of The Oak Initiative, is also a prolific author and nationally known prophet.  Joyner's prophetic vision is not of a secular democracy or religious pluralism.  In his book "Overcoming Evil in the Last Days," which features a hand with a sword on the cover, Joyner states,

"The Jew is the embodiment of the humanistic spirit. They are a barometer of Humanity- embattled within and without. As Paul said, "From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake..." (Rom. 11:28). They were hardened, or made hard to reach, for the sake of the gospel. This is, the Jew represents the "acid test " of our message. Until we have a gospel that will make the Jew jealous, we do no really have it right. This means not only having it right doctrinally, but practically in the way that it changes us and that we reflect it in our preaching of the gospel. Perhaps this is why we are exhorted to preach the gospel to the Jew first, because when we preach to the Jew, we will quickly find out the quality of our message."

Simon Greer of the Jewish Fund for Justice today questioned why Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and others have used Holocaust imagery to present themselves as victims.  These are not isolated incidents or simply a victim mentality.  The Religious Right has rewritten history as a struggle between good and evil - their brand of Christianity against the world.  Nazis have been reinvented as gay liberals with the goal of eradicating Christianity. The Holocaust is widely taught, but the killing of six million Jews is considered as a plot of the devil to obstruct the return of Jesus, but one allowed by God so that Jews would flee and establish the Israeli state.  Jews who refuse to play their assigned role in the end times drama not only fall on the wrong side of this dualistic and cosmic battle, but represent the rebellion against God which spawned the evil cabal they believe they are fighting.  

Sarah Palin's speeches are not incoherent.  They are written for her base and they make perfectly good sense if you know the narratives on which their worldview is founded.  I would like to think that this past weekend's terrible tragedy might result in a change in the political atmosphere for the better.  But the underlying problems behind the violent rhetoric go deeper than incivility.  They are at least partially based on the belief among many in the Religious Right and the Tea Parties that they are, in the most literal sense, fighting demons.