While I support the right of people to assemble together and pray to the God of their understanding, it concerns me some of the folks are endorsing and participating in Texas Governor Perry's prayer rally this weekend, called The Response.
I met many of these endorsers and participants between 1996 and 2003 when I was invited into their circles. I learned a lot about prayer and the ways of the Spirit. It was an important season in my life, and I would do it again. I use many of the principles I learned there in my spiritual work and ministry today.
However, I left their movements for exactly the kind of rhetoric that is now being made public on many web sites and You Tube. I sat behind closed door meetings where they plotted how they will take over cultural and governmental institutions with people who share their ideology of what a radical, conservative, Christian nation must be.
For them, responsible politics equals religion and vice-verse. This is only problematic for them and you when you do not share their view of religion.
For the record, I believe in God. I believe in the supernatural. I believe that the Spirit moves in mysterious ways. But I don't check my brain at the door when I have spiritual experiences either. There is always a balancing of intellect, spirit, soul, mind, body, and emotions. We cannot subjugate our intellect and common sense to conform to ridiculous beliefs and invisible occurrences in the spirit realm which we cannot prove, especially when such beliefs cause us to stop embracing our sisters, brothers, and neighbors.
In one meeting years ago, people were called to the front to repent if they had ever voted for a Democrat, even in local elections. Another time, people were called to come to the front and manipulated into publicly confessing their sexual affairs. One man did so and his wife found out along with 5000 other people in the conference. You could see the devastation on her face.
I witnessed instances like this many times and was deeply disturbed in my spirit.
I think it's important that people are aware of the radical ideology being espoused in parts of the Christian Prayer, Prophetic, and Apostolic movements. Their goal is a take-over of America by people who view the Christian God exactly in the manner that they do. They preach intolerance and hate usually masked in the deceptive idea of "love the sinner, hate the sin."
Even if you believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, but do not ascribe to their view on politics and cultural "revival", you will find out from them that you are deceived by the devil, under bondage, and probably need some form of demon cast out of you in order to change your beliefs and ways. They pray publicly against people who do not agree with their agenda. They often do this by invoking violent, metaphors in prayer against the demons and principalities that control people with whom they do not agree. I witnessed this many, many times.
Let me be clear, I support the right of people to gather in peaceful prayer. I recognized at least one endorser on The Response website who has told me in private that he does not endorse all the extremist ideology but maintains relationship with them for the benefit his organization receives.
The problem is that the rhetoric and agenda of many people in the "prayer warfare", "apostolic" and "house of prayer" movements is anything but peaceful. They are intolerant of people who do not read the Bible in just the manner they do.
When you disagree with them, you must be silent or find another venue. There is no openness to dialogue, seeking to understand, or even sharing in the Lord's table together. There is shame, guilt, fear, anger and judgment.
For example, when my home congregation was destroyed by a hurricane in 2004, I was told by many followers of these movements that my home congregation was being "judged by God" for sin. Of course, they could never tell me what the sin was and only a very few extended a helping hand in our two-year rebuilding endeavor.
I know many people have been disassociating themselves from these movements because the rhetoric violates the basic teachings of Jesus as found in the Gospels. How can you truly love your neighbor when you aren't willing to hear another perspective, when you pray against your enemies instead of for them?
I will be praying tomorrow. But I will be praying from a different place--and hopefully a different spirit. One that embraces people with unconditional love, mercy, and grace. One that I hope will more closely reflect the Life and Spirit of Jesus.
A full article documenting quotes and ideology from participants and affiliates can be found on this Mother Jones article. While this website has a decidedly liberal bias with which I don't always agee, I can tell you that many of the reports documented there I heard and read while on the inside of these groups. Watch the following videos for some of the more radical and even ridiculous teachings coming from leaders of these movements.
