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Christianity, Columbia, DC40, Energy, Freedom, Pagan, Paganism, Philosophy, Prayer, Rants, Religion, Spiritual Warfare, Spirituality, Superstition
I’m not one to delve much into political or religious discussions. That’s just not me. We all have our opinions and I personally don’t like it when folks spout off (frequently without thinking), let alone those who shove their views (usually stated as fact) in your face.
But this is important. Not just for Pagans, but for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians as well as all other religions.
I’ve been hearing a bit about a neo-Pentecostal Christian movement that refer to themselves as the New Apostolic Reformation. OK, fine, that in and of itself isn’t an issue, call yourself whatever you want it makes no difference to me. But the NAR has stated their intention of conducting a “spiritual war” on the American People and Washington DC in particular. Forty Days of Light Over D.C. (or just “DC40”) is the “Prayer War” (isn’t this an oxymoron?) that these people plan to kick off in a few weeks in an attempt to “lay siege on Washington DC” and bring about their view of how the country should be run. Effectively this means they want to shape the government of this country into an abomination led by extreme fundamentalists. I imagine our Founding Fathers would be pretty pissed about all this.
The more I hear, the more thoroughly disgusted I become … I’d love nothing more than to just ignore these people and hope they go far, far away. But I don’t see that happening so I’m compelled to spread the word (so to speak) just a bit.
Jason Pitzl-Waters of the Wild Hunt (he’s also on the panel of experts for the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section) has written a number of informative posts regarding the NAR but I think this one is the best: What Spiritual Warfare Looks Like Jason has a lot of detail in his blog and lots of links so if you’re interested in learning more, please pop over and give him a read.
Several blogs I occasionally read have also addressed the DC40 initiative:
This Time, It’s Personal
Supporting Columbia, and Lady Liberty
Spiritual Warfare Is Essentially Black Magic
The AntiChrist in the Mirror
Note: I’ve added this last link as Kate didn’t post it until later in the day … it’s well worth the read
John Benefiel and Cindy Jacobs are two of the key players in the NAR and DC40 and they’ve got a lot of ties to Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann and the whole thing seems just as nutty as these three. Nutty or not, they are deadly serious and apparently intent on doing away with any culture or religion that doesn’t agree with them. These are the worst sort of zealots and getting the word out about them is important … they’ve been growing for a number of years and I’ve only recently heard of them.
Those of us who value tolerance and unity among all people need to band together and do whatever we can to stop these people. Writing our senators and representatives, adding our own prayers for tolerance and sanity to prevail in DC and across the country, even spellwork if you’re inclined to do that. And most important of all, tell your friends, family, blog buddies, Facebook friends, what have you about these people and what they stand for. It would be a terrible thing to have said nothing, hoping that the voters in the US have a shred of logic (and use it) only to find that the NAR has gotten their foot in the door (or worse) come November 2012. Hell, if it comes to that I hope the nuts touting the end of the world on 12/21/12 are actually right.
© Copyright dragonfae 2011
TheIdiotSpeaketh said:
Great post Fae. I’m gonna have to look into this group further. Thanks for the heads up on them. I do think the founding fathers are REALLY rolling over in their graves.
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dragonfae said:
Thanks Mark. 🙂
People like this are really scary … but what’s scarier is there are a apparently a good number of folks falling under their spell (pun intended).
Anyone who claims to have a “right” to tell others what to believe needs to be labeled as “bully” and told to go away … loudly.
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John Erickson said:
I have a couple of … emphatic, shall we say … blogging friends who will happily spread the word about these nuts.
And now you know why I’m gonna be cremated. So much easier to roll around without all those bones getting in the way.
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dragonfae said:
I’m with you John … I just don’t see the point of being buried. It’s not like I’m gonna use it once I’m gone. 😉
And thanks for helping spread the word. Between these guys and the Westboro crowd one has to wonder what the heck is going on. Maybe there’s something in the water?
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Thypolar said:
I’m usually not one to comment on political or religious posts because I believe, and teach my children, that everyone has the right to their own beliefs. However, I felt the need to chime in and say that you did a great job on this post. These types of groups are a recipe for disaster (my opinion, of course). Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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dragonfae said:
Thanks Jill. I feel the same as you do, which is why I normally don’t talk (or even join conversations) about political or religious beliefs. 😉
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ryoko861 said:
Sounds like a cult. These people are being lead by someone who has brainwashed them. They do have a right to protest. That’s there American given duty. But don’t start touting right from wrong and how THEY think it should be and take over. I’m having visions of Stalin and Hitler here. If you don’t believe in what they do, well, you get the picture.
Don’t think of it as spreading the word for them, you’re warning others and to be aware.
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dragonfae said:
Cult is right. And yes, I’m good with them exercising their right to protest, lobby politicians, what have you. But to say I don’t have the same right is a load of hogwash.
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afrankangle said:
Oh my … another group who wants to change the US into a theocracy. I don’t think we’ll see any of them wearing this shirt. Great post.
http://www.thechristianleftblog.org/1/post/2011/09/love-thy-neighbor-t-shirts-by-the-christian-left.html
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dragonfae said:
Frank, that is an awesome shirt! I’ll have to send that to my dad, I’m sure he’ll love it too! Thanks for posting the link. 😀
And thanks for the support. 😉
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chlost said:
We’ve got the apostolic bunch around here, too. The ones I’ve dealt with are of the “the government has no authority over me” ilk. I work in the court system, and they recently learned that for at least one family, yes, indeed the court did have authority, at least when it comes to neglecting children.
It is a scary, scary world. And these folks handle it by digging themselves into a hole to be away from those “different” from them, reading the bible, and telling each other that they are the only ones who know what is right. If only they would just stay in the hole…..and not take their children with them.
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dragonfae said:
People who neglect or abuse children should have a special place in Hell just for them. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but I am really glad that there are people like you who help protect those who can’t help themselves. *hugs*
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Robin said:
I’ve given up believing the voters of the U.S. have and will use a shred of logic. 😦
Interesting post and info. I hadn’t heard of them before either.
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dragonfae said:
It’s really sad isn’t it? I pretty much turn off the TV when the commercials start as we go into the “election season”. It’s clear the folks running the campaigns have latched onto the phenomenon of “voting based on how a commercial makes them feel” … the whole thing makes me nuts.
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Sparrow said:
These people with their Dominionist agenda are pretty scarey. I don’t think it was mentioned here, but there is a group in DC who call themselves The Family. Creepy stuff. Thanks for the links…I’m going to check them out!
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dragonfae said:
Ick … that does sound creepy! I’m sure there are many of the smaller groups around and most of us would chalk it up to them being a bit nutty. But most of them haven’t been able to position themselves in such a way as to attempt to change public policy. It’s pretty clear to me that neither the NAR nor some of the current presidential candidate hopefuls understand the first amendment …. or just don’t think it applies to their agendas. 😦
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Kathryn McCullough said:
Gosh, this scares the shit out of me. I grew up with a weird, religiously fanatical mother, so this bothers me A LOT! (I had bizarre mother/father opposites, sort of.)
Thanks for sharing this!
Kathy
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dragonfae said:
I hear you Kathy … we don’t have any fundy types in my family, but I’ve met plenty of them. I mostly ignore them but when we’re talking more than just talking, yeah they scare the shit out of me too. Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. 🙂
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EvilPoet said:
Great post! Unfortunately, this sort of thing has been going on for quite some time. The founding fathers have been spinning so long and fast I think they might be in orbit by now! It’s good to see people concerned about this. These Religionists will not give up – it’s like a virus and should be treated as such. I’m all for freedom to believe (or not to believe) but this is in a class by itself!
Not too long ago I was very active in politics. I used to participate in all sorts of political/religious debates but not anymore. With poor health that was being greatly affected by it I had to scale things back quite a bit. I still keep up but from a distance now.
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dragonfae said:
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. I’ve gotten so disgusted with the political scene I mostly ignore them too but this trend in trying to tie religion to politics is very troublesome.
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brainrants said:
Good post, Fae. This kind of stuff scares the poop outta me too. Where the hell are we going?? For some reason this reading made me think of Rick Perry… hmm.
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dragonfae said:
I have no clue where we’re going. I do hope we change direction soon though. As for Perry? These people are helping to fund he, Bachmann, and Palin in their attempts to “take over”. Kinda makes me want to take a shower. *shudder*
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rumpydog said:
I agree with EvilPoet. This has been brewing for a LONG time. I am sad to see that someone like Rick Perry is the current Republican presidential front-runner. But I’m not surprised.
Personally I don’t think there’s a will to stand up to these folks. And they’re not gonna go away because they have God on their side. So until they’ve made the rest of us miserable enough “in the name of Jesus!” I guess we better get ready for things to get a WHOLE lot worse.
And we better pray Christie decides to jump into the race, because Frankly, I don’t think Obama can beat Perry. At least Christie is the lesser of two evils.
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dragonfae said:
Thanks for swinging by! And sorry I didn’t get around to responding before now … things have been a bit challenging lately.
Since you left your comment, things have apparently changed a bit as Perry is no longer the front runner. At least, I heard that on the news yesterday … I’m doing my best to ignore the whole mess for now.
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auntiecarol69 said:
First time I read your blog was tonight, 10/7/11. I must say your post is quite cogent. Everybody who believes in the importance of religious freedom and for that matter the US Constitution (ie separation of church and state) ought to be disgusted with the D40 aka prayer war initiative.
Being that its toward mid Oct, its pretty clear Rick Perry is not the R. front runner. Christie is not in the presidential race. One of my women friends is Wiccan but hey, virtually everyone who is for persona liberties should be up in arms over this. Bachman and Palin are out too. Bachman was darling of the Tea party. Yeah T for terrible. As Sarah would say Betcha the Tea Party is if not behind it , definitely for D40.
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dragonfae said:
Thanks for visiting! I do hope word is getting out to everyone who understands that our personal freedoms are so very important. At least the DC40 crowd isn’t getting much press time … not here in Southern California anyway. 😉
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