The recent assault of some “innocent Christians” by an angry gay mob (late at night) was written about and talked about much recently in blogs and in the MSM. Newt Gingrich referred to gays as fascists. Here is a link to Shea’s post on the angry gay mob. Now one of those innocents has turned up at rally for Joel’s Army. What is Joel’s Army you ask? Follow the link for the whole story but here are some key quotes…..
“LAKELAND, Fla. — Todd Bentley has a long night ahead of him, resurrecting the dead, healing the blind, and exploding cancerous tumors. Since April 3, the 32-year-old, heavily tattooed, body-pierced, shaved-head Canadian preacher has been leading a continuous “supernatural healing revival” in central Florida. To contain the 10,000-plus crowds flocking from around the globe, Bentley has rented baseball stadiums, arenas and airport hangars at a cost of up to $15,000 a day. Many in attendance are church pastors themselves who believe Bentley to be a prophet and don’t bat an eye when he tells them he’s seen King David and spoken with the Apostle Paul in heaven. “He was looking very Jewish,” Bentley notes.
Tattooed across his sternum are military dog tags that read “Joel’s Army.” They’re evidence of Bentley’s generalship in a rapidly growing apocalyptic movement that’s gone largely unnoticed by watchdogs of the theocratic right. According to Bentley and a handful of other “hyper-charismatic” preachers advancing the same agenda, Joel’s Army is prophesied to become an Armageddon-ready military force of young people with a divine mandate to physically impose Christian “dominion” on non-believers.
“Joel’s Army believers are hard-core Christian dominionists, meaning they believe that America, along with the rest of the world, should be governed by conservative Christians and a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law. There is no room in their doctrine for democracy or pluralism.
Dominionism’s original branch is Christian Reconstructionism, a grim, Calvinist call to theocracy that, as Reconstructionist writer Gary North describes, wants to “get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.”
Notorious for endorsing the public execution by stoning of homosexuals and adulterers, the Christian Reconstructionist movement is far better known in secular America than Joel’s Army. That’s largely because Reconstructionists have made several serious forays into mainstream politics and received a fair amount of negative publicity as a result. Joel’s Army followers eschew the political system, believing the path to world domination lies in taking over churches, not election to public office.
Another key difference between the two branches of dominionism, which maintain a testy, arms-length relationship with one another, is Christian Reconstructionism’s buttoned-down image and heavy emphasis on Bible study, which contrasts sharply with Joel’s Army anti-intellectual distrust of biblical scholars and its unruly style.
“Some people snort cocaine, others snort religions,” Joel’s Army Pastor Roy said while ministering a morning program at Todd Bentley’s Lakeland, Fla., revival in late May.
As this article went to press, Bentley’s “Florida Outpouring” had been running for more than 100 days straight. Many attendees came in search of spontaneous physical healing and a desire to be part of a mystical community marked by dancing, shouting, gyrating, speaking in tongues and other forms of ecstatic release.”
Innocent Christians or provocateurs? However, the worst claims of contact somehow did not make it on film (to my knowledge). Do we have a backwards B here? Regardless, you still cannot assault people. I would hope that if any broke the law, they will be given appropriate punishment.
The larger issue here, IMO, has been the response to this mob. There were hundreds of peaceful demonstrations. This one event, and we are told gays are in the midst of a national agenda to make us all sodomites or, even worse, homosocialists. A small minority of a small minority will somehow force us to watch Broadway musicals and take up interior decorating. Is it then fair to assume that evangelical Christians are really engaged in ridding us of the Constitution and turning us into a theocracy? If fearmongering is to be the chosen tactic, shouldn’t we be more concerned by the larger, better financed group? The group that nearly put one of its own into the office of V.P.?
These things have a way of burning themselves out…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Bentley
On 9 July 2008 ABC News’ Nightline broadcast an investigative report on Bentley focusing on his faith healing claims, finances, and criminal past.[27] Following the report, Bentley took time off from the revival but returned on 18 July 2008.[27] Five days later, Bentley and Strader announced that Bentley would be leaving the revival permanently and that his last day would be 23 August 2008.[28]
Bentley announced his separation from his wife, Shonnah, in August 2008.[31][32] Bentley has now resigned from the Board of Fresh Fire. A statement released by the remaining Board members says that ‘Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff’. Bentley will now ‘refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life’. [33]
It’s an unfortunate fact of life that the nut job ultra right Christians get so much air time. Much larger groups can’t seem to get a word in edgewise. Why? Because the wingnut Christians are organized. They’ve had a few thousand years worth of Sunday meetings to practice technique and shake out the bugs. The good news is that some forms of communications are relatively new and we’re on a more even playing field. Let’s use mass communication to our advantage!
One of our local Dallas pundits out for a pension has tried to make hay out of grass stuble with a video of the alleged mob of gays persecuting innocent Christians.
I would like to point out here what I’ve pointed out on his beliefnet blog along with the DMN blog where he’s posted the video.
If you listen to what the horrible gays are chanting you hear the most Christian of words.
“Shame on you.”
Using his criteria of persecution we could completely redefine some of those who’ve protested at gay pride events.
This topic is dear to my heart. I love a gay man. He’s our son.
John- I am shocked. Another man of God with sex issues.
Steve
steve2 – yeah, who would have thought? I left out the more unsavory bits in my early post.
from the same Wikipedia article I linked to above:
In 2001 the now-defunct Report Newsmagazine, a secular conservative publication,[6] ran a profile on Bentley. In the article, they reported that his criminal activities as a teenager included more than one instance of sexual molestation. The article was graphic in details, summarizing Bentley’s behavior as “heinous”.[7] In Canada, the criminal records of juvenile offenders are protected from public disclosure,[8] however Bentley later admitted to Charisma Magazine that the Report Newsmagazine article was, in substance, true.[9] This led to heated debate in the Christian press and websites about whether Report NewsMagazine had acted correctly in publicizing Bentley’s crimes — and whether this impeached Bentley’s position as an evangelist.[10][11] Bentley comments: “I was involved in a sexual assault ring [...] I turned around and did what had happened to me. I was assaulted too.”[3]