Montclair Presbyterian Church

Maybe this will be my last post regarding the Occupy movement. It all depends on what else happens. Two events have influenced my thinking since the last time I wrote something. The first event was participating in an “Occupy” simulation game with our youth group. Each person was assigned a character and there were 3 main groups – the occupiers, the government workers, and the 1 percent. Within each group, there were different characters. As we played out the scenario and heard from each group, an interesting thing happened. The youth who were acting as if they were part of a specific group found themselves surprised by what they were feeling and saying. It happened to some extent in each group, but it happened primarily in the group that represented the 1%. What they had been hearing at home and at school and in the media was that the 1% were to blame. When they “became” the 1% for the exercise, they had an entirely different perspective and began to understand how unhelpful it is to blame the 1% for a whole host of problems. The second event that influenced my thinking was an article in the Huffington Post titled “This Thanksgiving, Occupy Yourself” by Dylan Ratigan. He writes eloquently about how the Thanksgiving holiday was originally declared by Abraham Lincoln as an attempt to unify the nation and in the spirit of that unity, Dylan is going to look at himself and his own dark side that can create suffering when it goes unchecked. He claims that the concept of a villain is the real villain. He encourages all of us to look at ourselves, our shadow sides, our dark sides, those places in us that constantly threaten to undo us rather than to look at other people to blame.

After all is said and done, I am having a difficult time with the concepts of the 99% and the 1%. While I understand how it came about and the desire to unify the masses, I think it is missing the boat. At the heart of any and all conflict, if it is to be resolved, is that each part of the conflict honestly asks, “What is my part in this, how did I contribute to what is happening?” One of the aspects of our political scene which disturbs me the most is that we don’t have any adults who are willing to own their parts in what happens. We are creating an entire culture around “passing the buck” and not taking responsibility for our actions. Likewise, with the Occupy movement, aside from the article by Ratigan, I have heard very little encouragement for each person to ask how they contributed to our economic meltdown. Am I any better than the 1% when I wanted to buy a house I couldn’t afford? When I look at my part in what is happening globally, I see it. I, too, am part of the problem. If I am honest with myself and if I am willing to see my shadow side, I will always be able to see how I am contributing to a variety of problems, both in my family and in society.

So now what? Once we have been able to see how we, too, have contributed to a problem what comes next? We have to honestly ask whether we are willing to change our behavior in order to be a part of a solution. Am I willing to rent a house instead of owning a house? Am I willing to live within my means instead of borrowing money? Am I willing to pay more money for gas and groceries and clothing so that workers here in the United States can make products again?

The practice of owning our part in any conflict is one that we can put to use constantly in so many different relationships. If spouses were more willing to do that rather than blame the other, imagine how many more marriages would last. The same has to be true for friendships, working relationships, living in community and, of course, national and international relationships. As we approach our Christmas season, I cannot help but think about the Christ who was referred to as the Prince of Peace. He didn’t get that name because he was nice or tried to please everyone. It seems to me the true Peacemakers are those who see and acknowledge their parts in all that happens rather than blaming everyone else. May we each be living peacemakers.

As the Occupy movement continues in various ways throughout the country, Occupy Oakland continues to be fraught with difficulties. Mayor Jean Quan again issued an order for the occupiers to leave as of last Friday, November 11. The night before, in the middle of rush hour, a man was shot and killed on the street by a man apparently living in the Occupy Oakland encampment. While police do not believe there was a direct connection to the occupiers, it did happen in the area. Oakland Police, identifying themselves as part of the 99%, wrote a letter to the occupiers asking them to leave the plaza peacefully and let the officers go back to protecting the citizens of Oakland rather than protecting the occupiers and the businesses surrounding the plaza. In addition, there has been trouble with power outages due to the power cords being run into the encampment and trouble with one of the water pumps in the area. It seems as if many of the homeless in the city, some of whom are mentally ill, decided to join the occupiers, as have some others who seem bent on destruction of property.

Business owners in downtown Oakland, some of whom claim to be a part of the 99%, are not amused by the movement and, in fact, have lost a tremendous amount of business in the past 30 days as a result of the movement. Some of them have had their businesses vandalized by protestors and marchers who were interested in destruction rather than having a voice. Oakland’s leaders are spending an inordinate amount of time and attention on the safety and health of the occupiers rather than being able to address the root problems of homelessness, poverty, racial divide and poor education. Citizens are hesitant to go downtown due to fears regarding safety.

One has to ask at the end of the day, what is being gained by those who are occupying Oakland? What message is being heard, if any? How is Occupy Oakland different from other Occupy experiences? If Oakland is the 5th most dangerous city in the country, what is happening with the Occupy movements in the first four most dangerous cities? The Huffington Post reported today that 3 deaths in different cities across the country are raising questions about the sustainability of the Occupy movement. Oakland protestors are not the only ones being evicted from their encampments. It appears that in most cities those who are concerned about the issues and who wanted to join in the protest against Wall Street are inevitably joined by those who are homeless and looking for shelter and free food.

Is there anything to be gained by making this an overnight movement? Would anything be lost by occupying the various places during the day and then leaving at night? It would certainly solve the issues related to health and some safety concerns. Are the protest and message somehow lost if people are not camping out overnight? I can’t help but think about the Civil Rights Movement and how much was accomplished without having to spend the night in large groups anywhere. Is there something to be learned from that movement? In the end, aren’t we trying to achieve something that will benefit ALL people and not just a few? Our church is trying to figure out how to help facilitate justice and peace in the Occupy movement. How would you do it?

Several different events have occurred in the past couple of weeks that have been centered around how well or ill prepared we are for our own deaths. Last weekend in worship we remembered the Oakland Hills fire in which many of our members lost their homes and all of their possessions and in which many people in the community lost their lives. Just before the weekend, there were two rather mild but serious enough earthquakes to remind everyone that “the big one” can happen anytime, anywhere. One of our precious members has suffered a rapid decline in health and is losing the ability to interact cognitively. Another of our precious members suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and he ended up in the emergency room this weekend. In church on Sunday our children sang a beautiful song about the circle of the sun and the various life events (birth, walking, talking, marrying, dying, spreading ashes) occur in the circle of the sun.

All of these disconnected but sobering events lead to the question of how prepared we are for dying. In the western culture of the United States, we do not do a good job of talking about and preparing for death, nor do we allow for adequate mourning. In some other cultures, death is a natural part of living and not something to be feared or denied or from which to escape. Don’t you wonder why and how western culture became so death phobic? For many years I have heard about and seen the results of a culture that values youth to such an extreme extent that we marginalize and isolate our elderly in a number of ways. We segregate them and send them to nursing homes, care facilities, retirement homes and institutions at a time when they most need to be with a variety of generations. Rather than value their long lives, wisdom and experience, we would rather not have to see them in any kind of decline so we get them out of sight. Again, western culture is unusual in doing so. Is it the egg or the chicken? Is it that we value youth so much that we marginalize our elderly or is it that watching and caring for our elderly was so difficult that we began valuing youth in an extreme manner?

As a pastor, I am aware of how difficult it is for many people to talk about death. We have a large number of older people in our congregation and we seldom talk about their beliefs about an afterlife, their wishes for dying with dignity, their plans for what will happen if they become incapacitated, or even what they want to have done with their bodies in terms of burial or cremation. Why does it seem so difficult a conversation? Maybe it’s because of the fear of what happens in the dying process. Maybe it’s as simple as people enjoying lives that are full and meaningful and that have consisted of so much social action and working for justice that they want to keep going as long as is possible. Maybe it’s as complicated as not believing in any kind of afterlife and not knowing how to comprehend and process death being the final word. Whatever it is, it seems clear that the more we talk about it together, plan together, express feelings together and normalize it together, the better off we we’ll be in the end.

At the end of the day, I suppose death is a conversation a bit like conversations about the future. You can imagine, talk, dream, fear and wonder all you want and the reality is that no one has been there and come back to give the scoop. I grew up believing in the kind of heaven where the streets were paved of gold and every person had a mansion. At some point, I grew out of the idea of heaven as fantasy island. All I know is this: I cannot ever imagine a moment where I would be separated from God (not the anthropomorphic idea of God but the incarnate God, the God in me to the extent that God is visceral God) so when I think about dying and an afterlife, I know that in some form my spirit will live on with God’s Spirit. We are inseparable. Maybe that’s why I am comfortable talking about death. Just as I am not alone in life, I will not be alone in death and I believe it as though it’s part of my DNA.

Do you remember being a teenager? It seems adults fall into two categories usually. Either we have done our best to try and forget what it was like being a teenager and leaving it all in the past or we spend too much time trying to re-live those days despite being many years past them. I am in the former category. When I left home at age eighteen, I was happy to leave behind my hometown as well as my years as a teenager. Compared to many teenagers, I had a fairly easy time of it. Though I was not part of the cheerleader/football player crowd, I was involved in some fun and exciting things. I played three sports and I was the star in one of the sports, I was heavily involved in youth leadership for the state of California, and I had adult mentors who really cared about me. Despite all that I had going for me, I remember having very few moments where I felt like I was completely in my skin. Do you remember that feeling?

Last evening I spent some time with the youth of our church. They range in age from 12 to 18. As I listened to them talk about what brought them to youth group and why they stay, I was struck again by what a dichotomy youth are in their very nature. They are kids and they are growing up. When they talked about what makes youth group fun, I heard that dichotomy so well articulated. They like to play crazy, wild games where they run around and scream and get to act as silly as they want to act. They also like to have discussions about life and some very serious issues. They love living in the moment and they are also concerned for their futures. They want to be grown up and they love acting like kids! It was interesting to hear their favorite thing about youth group is the retreats. On the retreat they experience a safe, intimate environment in which they have open and honest discussion, they get to know each other really well and they get to play – and all of that happens without their parents around.

Now more than ever I think churches have a unique opportunity to offer youth authentic community and spiritual growth. By spiritual growth I do not mean “learning what the adults believe.” Instead, I mean genuinely cultivating a sense of Spirit in them that will help them navigate through the tricky waters of youth and young adulthood. If we only offer them fun and games, we are letting them down. At the same time, if we try to get them to be more serious than they are, we are also letting them down. Our call is to invite them to a deeper place spiritually and to help them experience that play is an important part of one’s spiritual life.

One of our former youth group members is a freshman on the UC Berkeley volleyball team. My wife and I went to watch a game last Friday night in support of this particular young woman. After just a few minutes, we were completely into the game waving our pom poms and screaming for the bears. We were astounded at how many people our age and older were at the game and doing the same thing! If they are parents of the players, it makes sense. But who were all of the others and why were they there? No matter how grown up we are it seems we all have a need now and then to be like kids or youth again. It felt better than I thought it would to be a part of the cheering crowd and for a minute it did take me back to my old playing days. I remembered what it felt like to go from being a star on my high school team to being a second string player on my college team. That first year was very difficult as I started over trying to live in my skin again.

If you know someone in middle school or high school or college, reach out to them in some way in the coming weeks and let them know you are thinking of them and that you remember it’s not easy being young. As the news reports yet another suicide of a gay teenager, may our churches do more to reach out to youth and let them know they are welcome and provide places of safety and love.

If you were to die suddenly tomorrow, would you be content with how you have lived your life? Are you doing what you want to be doing? Are you loving well and thoroughly the people you want to love and have you made peace with those from whom you are estranged? Are you listening for the rustlings of the Spirit and following in the ways you feel led? Have you been making progress on changing the harmful habits in your life and adding the healthy habits?

One of the ways you can reflect on your life is to imagine what the people closest to you would say if you were to die suddenly. What stories would they tell? What pictures would they show? Would the conversation be about what you had hoped to do but never had the chance to do? Would the stories revolve around how many great ideas you had that never came to fruition? Would people stand up and cry because they never had a chance to reconcile with you?

Yesterday I participated in a Celebration of Life for a remarkable woman. She died when she was only two months shy of her ninetieth birthday. The stories told about her life were funny, touching, and at times, profound. For a woman born in 1921, she was WAY ahead of her time! She made use of every minute she had on this earth. No one who knew her was under any illusion that she was perfect or without fault. Everyone who knew her, though, knew that all of the good in her far outweighed any of what was difficult about her.

The point of life is not to live it so that people will say nice things and tell great stories about you when you die. That was not why Virginia lived the way she lived. She believed the world needed to be changed and she could help move it along. Do you believe the world needs to be changed? Do you believe you can be a part of making that change happen? If so, there is no time like the present. Most of us probably won’t live until we are 89, sending out emails around the world until 2 weeks before we die. So, carpe diem!

When we are willing to partner with God in bringing about a whole new realm, it’s miraculous what God can accomplish with us and through us. If ever there is a day when I feel like giving up or giving in, I will think about dear Virginia and her uncompromising belief and work for a world that is peaceful and just and plentiful for all.

The Wall Street protest has piqued my curiosity. On the one hand, I am relieved to see people finally taking to the streets to say, “Enough is enough.” On the other hand, I am not sure what is being protested other than the bleak state of our country and our economy in general. It would have made sense to me if the protests had begun after Bank of America announced last week that it would initiate charging $5 per month per customer for use of an ATM card. If the masses had taken to the streets at that point and decried the decision and the greed it represents, I would have understood it! Apparently, though, the Wall Street protest was already in its second week when the decision was announced. Surely Bank of America added to the numbers joining in the protests all around the country, but it has taken some time for the protests to spread.

Have you taken to the streets yet in protest? Are you thinking about it? I am still sitting comfortably at home and in my office at the church and reading about the protests with interest. Why am I not out there with the others who are just as outraged as I am about the growing gulf between the rich and the poor, about the continued assault on our planet and ignorance about global warming, about the lack of good and affordable health care, about the complete ineffectiveness of our system of government, about the way money has infiltrated government at every level so governing is no longer about the people but about the money? What will it take to get me to cancel everything I am doing to join those who are outraged? I keep wondering if those who are protesting are primarily people who are unemployed or retired. If not, are people risking their jobs at a time like this to engage in this protest?

My first march was in 1988 when I went to Washington, D.C. for the 25th anniversary of the march on Washington. It was absolutely exhilarating and though the crush of people was a tad overwhelming, I felt as though history and the present were converging in one momentous day. At that moment I understood the power of marches or protests. The second time I participated in a march was when Bush declared war on Iraq. From the Embarcadero to the Civic Center in San Francisco, we marched and sang and held up signs of protest with tens of thousands of others. The third march was in the exact same location with fewer people to protest what was happening with our immigration laws. In each of those marches, I felt strongly about the issue.

Again, I wonder why I am not yet out on the streets. I suppose there is a part of me that thinks some of why people are expressing their outrage is that capitalism is no longer working for them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no longer working for me, either. I am honest enough, though, to admit that I was okay with it when it was working for me. You see, I am in that middle category of people. I am not wealthy or anywhere close to it, but I was able to benefit in some ways from the crazy economy we had going a few years ago. I was not one of those people who refused to play because of the damage it was doing to the poorest of the poor. In retrospect, I wish I had refused. To be clear, I didn’t benefit much although I was able to buy a house way beyond my means. Maybe I feel guilty for participating all along and now being unhappy because it’s no longer working for those of us in the middle. The truth is I still have a job and I still live in my house. What would I be protesting right now? Why didn’t we all take to the streets when the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to elect and defeat candidates? That was an obvious tear to the fabric of democracy and justice. Where we were then? If the people out there protesting are losing their jobs, is it accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish?

As I continue to watch and read with interest, I will continue to do my own self-reflection and confession regarding my part in what is going on in our country. Who knows? Maybe I won’t do my blog next week because I will be out on the streets joining in the protest.

Last July I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days on the Texas coast near Mustang Island. The weather was hot and humid and the Gulf of Mexico was beautifully inviting. Fish were jumping almost constantly out of the water and a variety of birds were happily taking advantage of the active fish! One could almost forget that tragedy had occurred 18 months prior in the form of a well explosion and subsequent spill of nearly 800,000 cubic meters of oil into the Gulf. As we strolled down the beach, however, there were telltale signs of oil blobs on the sand even after so much time and a great deal of supposed clean up.

The ecological impact of that oil disaster will be felt and experienced for years to come. The poisoned fish and wildlife, the leftover oil blobs, the change in the water, and countless other results will not go away with some clean-up efforts. Part of the problem was that when the Deepwater Horizon explosion first happened, BP had no idea how to stem the flow of oil from the well. It took an unreasonable amount of time to get the flow under control.

Some might say it is past history and let’s move on to more pressing issues in the news. While it is past history it is also present news because BP recently applied to the US government for permission to drill new oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently they want to sink four new wells about 300 km off the Louisiana coast.

Don’t you find that a bit cheeky? Have they resolved the issues that were so problematic in the last disaster? My concern about their application is the seeming lack of remorse and accountability. How can a company wreak such havoc on our precious earth and then want to do more of the same only a year and a half later?

If you were a car dealer and employed a 17 year old to wash the cars and then the 17 year old ended up stealing one of your cars and getting caught but ended up on probation, would you let the 17 year old come back to work?

If our government allows BP to begin drilling more for more wells in the Gulf, what does that tell us? Is our country so desperate for money that we will turn a blind eye to irresponsible companies? Are we so dependent on oil that we really don’t care about the environmental impact? We all know that money talks these days and that what appears to be a government is more of a puppet show with the wealthiest working the strings, but when did it become so blatant?

After watching others around the world protest their governments in the past year, I continue to wonder when we, here in the US, will finally decided enough is enough and take to the streets. What if the US government gives BP the green light? Would that be enough to send us running out into the streets? What will be the issue? Immigration? Education? Forced solitary confinement in prisons? Torture? Human Rights abuses? The state of Georgia executing a man who may very well have been innocent and at the very least was surrounded by reasonable doubt? What will it take?

We have been trying to teach our children that one is accountable for one’s actions and behavior. Our children and teenagers are living in the midst of a world where accountability is for some and not for others. They are watching more closely than we realize. What do we want to teach them?

Last week I attended a Presbytery meeting in which a good friend of mine was examined for ordination. He is an exceptional human being and one of the most gifted and called persons in terms of ministry. He has had to wait twice as long as usual to be ordained because he is gay. Fortunately, he was approved with very few people voting no and those who did vote no certainly did not vote no because of any kind of lack. Somehow they believe the fact that he is gay means he should automatically be excluded from being ordained despite his obvious call and gifts.

When a person is being examined for ordination, people can ask questions from the floor. It is an opportunity for the person being examined to demonstrate the depth of their faith and knowledge and call. One of the questions asked of my friend had to do with interfaith dialogue and relationships. The questioner described a situation in which one had a relationship with someone in the community who practiced the Hindu faith. The Hindu person believes there are many paths to God so the questioner wanted to know how the Christian candidate would respond to the Hindu person.

Someone who does not know what is going on in the wider Presbyterian Church (USA), might think it was a fairly simple question. In fact, there is a deep chasm in the Presbyterian Church regarding the issue of salvation and Jesus. There are many who believe being saved by Jesus is the ONLY path to God. They believe it passionately and their ministry stems from this deep belief. The result of this belief in terms of interfaith dialogue is that every person of another faith is someone who needs to be converted. They may be respectful of the other person’s beliefs, but the underlying concern is that of conversion. There are many others in the Presbyterian Church who believe there are many paths to God and they have chosen the path of Jesus. I am one of those people. I have found that I am able to understand God most fully through Jesus and Jesus’ life on earth. My interfaith dialogues, then, are not about conversion but about understanding how people of other faiths experience God and know God most fully. In those dialogues, I have something to learn and something to offer. I am curious about how other people have found their way to God. In any faith, it is extremism that I find troubling and frightening. In a world as diverse as ours, I don’t think God would limit divine love and experience to one path.

My friend knew when the question was asked that it was a theological “test” of sorts. Rather than talk about whether or not there might be many paths to God, he simply stated that it is through Jesus that he most fully knows God and he is able to claim that in interfaith dialogues. What a wise answer! Progressive Christians have often struggled with how to articulate belief about Jesus because of centuries of aggressive conversion tactics that those from other faiths have experienced. Just mentioning Jesus puts some people from other faiths on edge so for a long time progressives used God language instead. Ironically, it seems that our friends from other faith traditions are the ones who are encouraging us to use our Jesus language since that is our truth! How incredible it is when people can gather together to talk about their faith traditions and backgrounds and stories. May we continue to find ways to be in dialogue and worship and service together as people of many faiths.

How many times have you heard it said that we really find out who we are in the midst of a crisis? People you think might be calm, cool and collected become frantic and anxious and absolutely no help whatsoever. Conversely, people who are normally anxious and tightly wound become more calm and rational in the midst of crisis. The point is that sometimes there is no predicting how we will behave until we are in the midst of something terrible.

In the past week the news has been full of stories about how people experienced Sept. 11, 2001. As the various stories flooded the radio waves, I was struck by how touched people in New York were by the gestures of goodwill and solidarity and assistance. In a city that is normally characterized by emotional distance, alienation, a hectic pace, and lack of community, people came together emotionally and physically as a result of the tragedy. All over the country, churches and synagogues and mosques and other religious gatherings were full of people who were not normally present. In a moment when our country and New York City and Washington D. C. and people who lived near a field in Pennsylvania felt vulnerable, the response was to gather in community and to offer and receive emotional, spiritual and physical support.

As I participated yesterday in our Interfaith Memorial Service of Trust, Friendship and Solidarity, I was struck by how fleeting the moment of togetherness was and how quickly we turned as a country to revenge and might and fighting back. In other words, rather than being transformed by the experience, we simply reverted as a country to who we are at the worst of times. In fact, we went further by adding Guantanamo Bay, the abuses at Abu Graib and other prisons, extraordinary rendition and torture. The sadness I feel about our collective response is deep and wide. Fortunately, I was also struck yesterday by how individuals and communities have reached out to each other and found each other in ways that might not have happened had the tragedy not occurred. The Montclair church and Kehilla Community Synagogue and the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California have been gathering in a small group for the past 10 years. The hope is that friendships will continue to develop and that deeper understanding and solidarity will form between all 3 congregations. The work is not always easy as differences are discussed in order to reach understanding. We have so much in common and we have so much that is different.

In place of the sermon that is normally preached at Montclair, Rabbi David Cooper and Imam Dr. Rahim Nobahar and I were to reflect on Lessons Learned and Lessons Yet to Be Learned. One of the things I said in my reflection on Lessons Yet to Be Learned is that anytime we are trying to create change, we have to begin with ourselves. Imagine concentric circles that begin with self, move to family, go on to community, connect with wider community, etc…I told the group gathered (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, Unsures) that I am far more afraid of the Extremists who are Right Wing Christians than I am of any other faith communities. The truth is that no matter what the faith, it is the extremists of any of them that are most dangerous. In Norway, the man who recently massacred so many claimed to be a Christian. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber also claimed to be a Christian. Why don’t people everywhere fear right wing Christians as they did Muslims after Sept. 11?

Any faith tradition becomes dangerous when those in power believe they have the “right” answer and people need to be divided into good and bad, righteous or sinful, saved or damned. As Imam Dr. Nobahar reminded all of yesterday, our call is to open our hearts and our minds.

As much as I try to live without fear of what could happen, there are also times when I think fear is absolutely appropriate if it results in living differently. Sometimes fear is the perfect motivator and the best weapon to use against apathy. If you are not afraid of what is going on in our country, let me give you some reasons to be afraid. My goal is that your perhaps-newfound -fear would spur you into activity and activism.

My disclosure before I begin is that I am not a Republican. As a pastor, because churches are non-profit organizations, I am prohibited from telling people how to vote. Rest assured, I will not tell you how to vote in this article. What I will tell you has to do with waking up and recognizing the potential harm of an entire movement. Think of me as your “Early Warning System” before a storm. While you go on with your daily life, a storm is brewing, the likes of which we have never seen in my lifetime. When Rick Perry joined the race for the Republican nomination for President, the storm blew much closer to home. Rick Perry has made no attempt to hide his connection – the fact that he is the chosen one – to the New Apostolic Reformation movement. What frightens me most about this movement is how many people, particularly liberal and progressive people, do not take it seriously. Trust me, this is a movement to take very seriously and it is a worldwide movement. Below is some information about the movement written by Rachel Tabachnick on Alternet.org.

“Ideology of the New Apostolic Reformation
The leaders of the movement claim this is the most significant change in Protestantism since Martin Luther and the Reformation. NAR’s stated goal is to eradicate denominations and to form a single unified church that will fight and be victorious against “evil” in the end times. Like many American fundamentalists, the apostles teach that the end times are imminent, but unlike most fundamentalists, the apostles see this as a time of great triumph for the church.

Instead of escaping to heaven in the Rapture prior to the battles of the end times, the apostles teach that believers will remain on earth. And instead of watching from the grandstands of heaven as Jesus and his warriors destroy evil, the apostles believe they and their followers will fight and purge the earth of evil themselves.

This includes taking “dominion” over all sectors of society and government, which, in turn, will lead to a “Kingdom” on earth, a Christian utopia ruled from Jerusalem. The end times narrative of the apostles is similar to that of the Latter Rain movement of the late 1940s and 1950s, which was considered heretical by traditional Pentecostal denominations.

Prerequisites to bringing about the Kingdom on earth are: the restructuring of all Charismatic evangelical believers under the authority of their network of apostles and prophets; the eradication or unification of Christian denominations; and the total elimination of competing religions and philosophies. Their mandate to take control over institutions of society and government is similar to the dominionism of Christian Reconstructionism, founded by the late Rousas Rushdoony, but NAR’s version has been wrapped in a much more appealing package and marketed as activism to “transform” communities.

The apostles have a number of sophisticated promotional tools used to market their agenda for taking control over society, including the Transformations movies, Transformation organizations in communities around the country, and the Seven Mountains campaign. The latter is about taking control over the mountains or “power centers” of arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media and religion. The apostles who lead in areas outside of church are called Workplace or Marketplace Apostles.

The apostles teach that the obstacles to their envisioned Kingdom on earth are demonic beings who hold control over geographic territory and specific “people groups.” They claim these demons are the reason why people of other religions refuse to become evangelized. These demons, which the apostles address by name, are also claimed to be the source of crime, corruption, illness, poverty, and homosexuality. The eradication of social ills, as claimed in the Transformations media, can only take place through mass evangelization; not through other human efforts to cure societal ills. This message was repeated throughout Perry’s prayer event, although it may not have been apparent to those unfamiliar with the movement’s lingo and narratives.”

Just in case you are still not sure why it’s a big deal, let me highlight a few points. The “demonic beings” to which they refer are people like me. As an openly lesbian pastor, I would need to be exorcised of my demon or put to death. Rabbis and Imams who would refuse to convert to the apostolic brand of Christianity would also be considered demonic and in need of exorcism. The fact that a candidate for President of the US would align with a movement like this is absolutely terrifying. There are many good people who are Republicans who do not understand the force or the specifics of this movement. Somehow they are very visible to those in the know but people who do not know about the movement are missing the connections (for example those from this movement who have been seen standing next to Rick Perry at his events). A frighteningly large number of people in our country still do not understand the connection between religion and politics. We need to speak out and educate people as to the connection, particularly in relationship to the New Apostolic Reformation movement. If you were appalled by the Ugandan Bill calling for the death penalty for gay people, you can thank the New Apostolic Reformation (commonly called “The Apostles”) for their influence. In fact, the Ugandan politician who introduced the bill is himself an “Apostle.”

Wake up, United States of America. Wake up, churches and synagogues and mosques and meetings. There is an effort underway to nationalize a religion that would catapult us back to the Middle Ages in terms of human rights, women’s rights, and religious and political freedom. I am so tired of the right wing rhetoric against immigrants and muslims. The people we have most to fear are people like Rick Perry who are white, privileged, and ready to take over the world. What are you willing to do about it? Will you help get the word out? The storm is coming…