Pastor at Cory Booker's Church Calls for Return to Time When Only Christians Could Vote in Newark
Rachel Tabachnick printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Aug 13, 2013 at 10:17:39 AM EST
Is Cory Booker's church fair game for discussion in an election?  When the senior pastor endorses Booker in a video released by his senate campaign, I would say yes.  David Jefferson, Jr., senior pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark, endorsed Cory Booker's candidacy in a video released by his senate campaign in early August as part of the "Voices for Cory" series.  The evangelistic outreach pastor at Metropolitan Baptist is Apostle Bernard Wilks, who has led and organized municipal events, and is head of Transformation Newark. Wilks has called for the return of the city  to Puritan Newark's guidelines allowing only "Christian believers" to vote or hold leadership roles in the city. The significance of this is not just it's shock value, but in understanding the symbiosis of the school privatization and extreme "free marketers" funding Booker, and the Religious Right leaders who redirect the frustration and anger of those most impacted by our current economic structure. For more on the role of Wilks' Transformation Newark see a previous article. Video after break.
Wilks is discussing "The Nehemiah Plan," a term that is being used to discuss Transformation campaigns around the country. The audio is poor, but it's worth the effort. The transcript is below the video.
Here is the thing.  The city's charter specifically specified - and the expert on this is Lloyd Turner and I guess Joanne has a lot of it too, maybe by studying and some by osmosis -   the charter did specify that Newark was to be a representation as closely as possible to the Kingdom of God, here on earth.  All of the voting citizens of the city, all of them were believers and members of the church.  They allowed others to reside there but they didn't have the same rights and privileges as those who were committed to Christ. Now, the original charter required that, and some how that aspect of our spiritual heritage has been lost, where it was the body of Christ that was the [total?] leadership with governments over the city.  So, we want to see that restored as much as possible and we want to see the residents of this city no longer in great affliction and no longer a reproach.

Wilks is an apostle in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), apostolic covering for Transformation Newark and Pray for Newark. He is also a member of the International Coalition of Apostles. This phenomenon of NAR networks infiltrating existing churches can be seen all over the country.  Communities across the nation are being introduced to the "Transformation" agenda of Ed Silvoso, founder of International Transformation Network and described in more detail in this article.  The Global Day of Prayer is an outgrowth of ITN and its transformation campaign. The city transformation plan calls for merger of church and state and a mandate for control by born-again Christians over society and government.  Newark has become a model for this effort or a "detonator city" as described by Wilks and other Transformation leaders.
urban strategic council photo urbanstrategiccouncil_zps2129200a.jpg

Wilks wears many hats, including leading Transformation Newark, ReMa, the Resident Minister's Alliance, and the Urban Transformation Strategic Operations Council.  In this photo of the latter group, Wilks is meeting with Newark City Council president Mildred Crump and Transformation Newark leaders planning the city's celebration of the Global Day of Prayer and Newark Night Out.

Newark Night Out is part of New Jersey's "National Night Out Against Crime," an event to foster links between law enforcement and the community. Events across the city were hosted by the city, Bernard Wilks, Transformation Newark, and ReMA leaders and affiliated churches.

According to their publicity, ReMA activities also include:

-Host the Clergy Annual Clergy Appreciation Banquet, at Metropolitan Baptist Church  
-Host the Annual National Day of Prayer celebration on City Hall Steps.
-Hosted Political Candidates forum at Newark Symphony Hall
-Founded the Heritage Employment Learning Placement (HELP) Center (ex-offender Employment Agency), 
-Host the Annual (Cherry Blossom) Walk-A-Thon

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ReMA has hosted Transformation Collaboration meetings between pastors and government leaders.  In this meeting at Metropolitan Baptist Church, Wilks, Sr. Pastor David Jefferson, and ReMA leaders report meeting with