Palin Pastor's Re-education Scheme "May Seem Like Totalitarianism"

Posted by Bruce Wilson at 6:19 AM on September 11, 2009.

Pol Pot With a Fish Emblem on His Car ?

While Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has recently raised the specter of totalitarian government by warning about "death panels" she claims are part of the Obama Administration's health care plan, Palin herself has ties to a prominent Christian pastor who publicly advocates the establishment of a government regime that, in his own words, "may seem like totalitarianism" and would re-educate citizens in 'correct' decision making - an approach reminiscent of re-education campaigns during the Chinese communist Cultural Revolution or in Cambodia under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.

Last March, Sarah Palin enjoyed an extended telephone consultation and pep talk with Morningstar Ministries Founder and head Rick Joyner, who has contacts among Republicans in Congress and whose ministry is closely tied to Palin's most important Alaska church, the Wasilla Assembly of God.

Even some of Sarah Palin's most dedicated fans might be taken aback by Joyner's enthusiastic advocacy for an authoritarian religious state. In a "prophecy" published June 19, 2007, Rick Joyner wrote, "The kingdom of God will not be socialism, but a freedom even greater than anyone on earth knows at this time. At first it may seem like totalitarianism.... Instead of taking away liberties and becoming more domineering, the kingdom will move from a point of necessary control while people are learning truth, integrity, honor, and how to make decisions, to increasing liberty so that they can."

Joyner's dream is reminiscent of the visions of 20th Century communist revolutionary leaders who expected that centralized authoritarian government would initially be necessary but anticipated a period of greater freedom after capitalism was successfully vanquished.

In a video segment released March 25, 2009, Rick Joyner described an extended phone chat with Palin during which he discussed meeting with members of Congress such as Michelle Bachmann, complained that media overage of the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Palin had been unfair, and declared "I believe there is a spiritual authority and a calling on Governor Palin that is extraordinary.... I believe she has a national calling on her life. I felt that when I first saw her on the television.... I felt, right away, 'I am listening to the President of the United States."



As described in the extended version of this story, Rick Joyner's Morningstar Ministries is closely tied to Sarah Palin's key church, the Wasilla Assembly of God.

But Rick Joyner is not the only potentially controversial cleric close to Palin; Sarah Palin's personal prayer-group leader Mary Glazier has declared that unbelievers, non-Christians, should be driven from "the land" and both Glazier and Thomas Muthee, who blessed and anointed Palin in an October 2005 ceremony at her Wasilla church, claim to have successfully fought witches. Muthee is an international celebrity for his role in a series of documentary videos, seen by millions worldwide, that claim Christians can reduce crime, murder, traffic accidents, addiction, and environmental degradation by driving out, from cities and towns, accused witches and demon spirits.

[extended version of story]

Tagged as: sarah palin

Bruce Wilson writes for Talk To Action, a blog specializing in faith and politics.