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The most disturbing presentation at the Last Days Conference in Nashville this past weekend wasn't about sorcery, alien abductions, or satanic ritual abuse. It wasn't even about the prophetic signs pointing toward the Battle of Armageddon.
It was about George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
Coming into the conference, the one speaker on the schedule who looked out of sync with the theme was award-winning documentary filmmaker Chris Pinto. The other seven speakers had prepared a variety of topics related to the countdown to Armageddon, from opening portals to the supernatural realm via mind-altering drugs and magical rituals to the role played by the UFO phenomenon in deceiving the world into following a false god.
But all of that, ominous as it was, paled in comparison to Pinto's analysis of the true faith of America's founding fathers. In a nutshell, history has been rewritten to lure well-meaning Christians into laying the groundwork for the one-world government of the Antichrist.
It's fairly easy to document that Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense is generally considered the spark that touched off the American Revolution, was not a follower of Jesus Christ. Ben Franklin, too, with his membership in the Hellfire Club and letters declaring his disbelief in Jesus, is difficult to portray as a Christian.
But Washington, Adams, and Jefferson are staunchly defended by prominent American Christians on the matter of faith. It's an appealing delusion. If these men were what apologists such as David Barton of Wall Builders claim they were, then Christians can rest in the comfortable belief that our rebellion against King George III was not only justified, but endorsed and blessed by God.
On that premise, a case is easily built that the post-Christian United States of today has slipped off the foundation laid by these godly men. We Christians, then, have a divine obligation to restore America to its Christian roots.
Cue the Blues Brothers theme: We're on a mission from God!
Except, as Pinto demonstrated at the conference, the United States of America never was a Christian nation.
The personal beliefs of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and others integral to the American Revolution were definitely—and in some cases, openly—anti-Christian. Adams and Jefferson denied the divinity of Christ; Washington's pastor of twenty years said he couldn't recall a single thing indicating that the general ever accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
It's a brilliant deception. American Christians are being fed a heartwarming historical fairy tale to lure us into supporting a literal takeover of the planet.
A heretical sect has risen in America, and it's stepping onto the political stage.
Dominionism is the belief that Christians must literally reclaim planet Earth from Satan and hold it like an occupying army until Christ's return. This twisted theology targets seven "mountains", or spheres of influence, that must be taken: Church, Family, Education, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Media, and, of course, Government.
At its most extreme, hardcore Dominionists believe that Jesus either will not nor can not return until Christians complete this task. This is not scriptural, and because it makes God subject to our actions, it is heretical.
The problem is that these "seven mountains" are not identified anywhere in the Bible. The concept was created by Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission, during a lunch meeting in 1975.1 And this is where the rubber begins to meet the road.
Youth With a Mission is connected to a secretive group called The Family, or The Fellowship, which has walked the halls of power around the world for decades. It traces its history back 75 years to a preacher named Abraham Vereide, who'd had a revelation that his mission field was to be men with the means to literally seize the world for God.
In 2009, when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford publicly confessed his marital infidelity, he mentioned that he'd turned to the C Street House for counseling. C Street is owned by Youth With a Mission and operated by The Family2. The four-story red brick townhouse at 133 C Street S.E. provides housing to a number of congressmen and senators in D.C. at rents far below market rates. They hold regular Bible studies and discuss ways to use their power for Christ.
The key word in that sentence is power. Family leader Doug Coe has offered up Hitler, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and the Mafia as examples of men who knew how to use power well.3
The Family isn't some fringe cult group. It has organized the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington every year since the Eisenhower administration. Seats at the breakfast are sold to world leaders in politics and business, offering them invaluable face time with the president of the United States and his closest advisers. Coe has claimed that The Family has access through American embassies that allows his operatives "to move practically anywhere".
And while The Family works behind the scenes, directing politicians in the campaign to retake the 7 Mountains of Influence, a growing movement within evangelical Christianity is building support for the assault among the rank-and-file.
Millions of American Christians have been convinced that our nation's spiritual malaise can be corrected through politics. Just elect the right people and appoint the right justices to the Supreme Court, we're told, and we can stem the moral decay of the last fifty years. The appealing fantasy of returning America to the ways of our saintly founding fathers has blinded us to the fact that Jesus never called us to political action to achieve spiritual goals.
I've written before about May Day 20104, an event this coming Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. It's headlined by prominent, well-respected evangelicals such as Dr. James Dobson, Alan Keyes, Tony Perkins, Tim Wildmon, Dr. Rick Scarborough, Pastor Paul Blair, and, among others, Wall Builders' David Barton.
It was about George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
Coming into the conference, the one speaker on the schedule who looked out of sync with the theme was award-winning documentary filmmaker Chris Pinto. The other seven speakers had prepared a variety of topics related to the countdown to Armageddon, from opening portals to the supernatural realm via mind-altering drugs and magical rituals to the role played by the UFO phenomenon in deceiving the world into following a false god.
But all of that, ominous as it was, paled in comparison to Pinto's analysis of the true faith of America's founding fathers. In a nutshell, history has been rewritten to lure well-meaning Christians into laying the groundwork for the one-world government of the Antichrist.
It's fairly easy to document that Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense is generally considered the spark that touched off the American Revolution, was not a follower of Jesus Christ. Ben Franklin, too, with his membership in the Hellfire Club and letters declaring his disbelief in Jesus, is difficult to portray as a Christian.
But Washington, Adams, and Jefferson are staunchly defended by prominent American Christians on the matter of faith. It's an appealing delusion. If these men were what apologists such as David Barton of Wall Builders claim they were, then Christians can rest in the comfortable belief that our rebellion against King George III was not only justified, but endorsed and blessed by God.
On that premise, a case is easily built that the post-Christian United States of today has slipped off the foundation laid by these godly men. We Christians, then, have a divine obligation to restore America to its Christian roots.
Cue the Blues Brothers theme: We're on a mission from God!
Except, as Pinto demonstrated at the conference, the United States of America never was a Christian nation.
The personal beliefs of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and others integral to the American Revolution were definitely—and in some cases, openly—anti-Christian. Adams and Jefferson denied the divinity of Christ; Washington's pastor of twenty years said he couldn't recall a single thing indicating that the general ever accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
It's a brilliant deception. American Christians are being fed a heartwarming historical fairy tale to lure us into supporting a literal takeover of the planet.
A heretical sect has risen in America, and it's stepping onto the political stage.
Dominionism is the belief that Christians must literally reclaim planet Earth from Satan and hold it like an occupying army until Christ's return. This twisted theology targets seven "mountains", or spheres of influence, that must be taken: Church, Family, Education, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Media, and, of course, Government.
At its most extreme, hardcore Dominionists believe that Jesus either will not nor can not return until Christians complete this task. This is not scriptural, and because it makes God subject to our actions, it is heretical.
The problem is that these "seven mountains" are not identified anywhere in the Bible. The concept was created by Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission, during a lunch meeting in 1975.1 And this is where the rubber begins to meet the road.
Youth With a Mission is connected to a secretive group called The Family, or The Fellowship, which has walked the halls of power around the world for decades. It traces its history back 75 years to a preacher named Abraham Vereide, who'd had a revelation that his mission field was to be men with the means to literally seize the world for God.
In 2009, when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford publicly confessed his marital infidelity, he mentioned that he'd turned to the C Street House for counseling. C Street is owned by Youth With a Mission and operated by The Family2. The four-story red brick townhouse at 133 C Street S.E. provides housing to a number of congressmen and senators in D.C. at rents far below market rates. They hold regular Bible studies and discuss ways to use their power for Christ.
The key word in that sentence is power. Family leader Doug Coe has offered up Hitler, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and the Mafia as examples of men who knew how to use power well.3
The Family isn't some fringe cult group. It has organized the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington every year since the Eisenhower administration. Seats at the breakfast are sold to world leaders in politics and business, offering them invaluable face time with the president of the United States and his closest advisers. Coe has claimed that The Family has access through American embassies that allows his operatives "to move practically anywhere".
And while The Family works behind the scenes, directing politicians in the campaign to retake the 7 Mountains of Influence, a growing movement within evangelical Christianity is building support for the assault among the rank-and-file.
Millions of American Christians have been convinced that our nation's spiritual malaise can be corrected through politics. Just elect the right people and appoint the right justices to the Supreme Court, we're told, and we can stem the moral decay of the last fifty years. The appealing fantasy of returning America to the ways of our saintly founding fathers has blinded us to the fact that Jesus never called us to political action to achieve spiritual goals.
I've written before about May Day 20104, an event this coming Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. It's headlined by prominent, well-respected evangelicals such as Dr. James Dobson, Alan Keyes, Tony Perkins, Tim Wildmon, Dr. Rick Scarborough, Pastor Paul Blair, and, among others, Wall Builders' David Barton.
[Sovereign: One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as a king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch. A nation that governs territory outside its border, having supreme rank or power, paramount; supreme]
The core of the Dominionist heresy is the belief that Christians can somehow create the kingdom of God, essentially heaven on Earth, with our own hands prior to the return of Jesus.
The sad irony is that this mirrors the teachings of the New Age movement. And the lure of winning the planet back from the enemy will leave many gullible and undiscerning Christians vulnerable to the great deception Jesus warned of in Matthew 24: For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
All it will take is a sufficiently charming and charismatic political figure to attract well-intentioned believers who will happily support his campaign to bring freedom, democracy, and the rule of law to the entire world. Even if we have to invade and occupy it until people learn to live right.
Far-fetched? Not in the least. Leading New Apostle Rick Joyner said as much when he described the coming kingdom of God on Earth. "At first," he wrote, "it may seem like totalitarianism."6
American Christians have yet to denounce our leaders for standing with these false prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation. Too many of us are willing to sacrifice the gospel for the ballot box.
And that's why Chris Pinto's presentation was the most disturbing of all at the Last Days Conference. Even baby Christians can see the evil behind, say, ritual abuse, and they're repelled by it.
But calls to restore America to its alleged Christian roots appeal to us. They play to our patriotic pride and our natural desire as Christians to be a force for good in the world. It's a difficult temptation to resist.
Besides, who among us is bold enough to call George Washington an antichrist?
Derek P. Gilbert co-hosts a weekly Internet talk show, P.I.D. Radio, with his wife, author Sharon K. Gilbert, and hosts A View From the Bunker, a weekly interview program. He previously hosted The Drive, the #1-rated afternoon radio talk show in Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri. His published novels are Iron Dragons and The God Conspiracy.
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For more information about this blog and Joe Ortiz’ two recently books, The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation, please click the following:Joe Ortiz
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1 comment:
One thing is for sure: Joe Ortiz's blogs sure can make a person think - and this one on "The Founding Fathers of the Apocalypse by Derek Gilbert" is no exception! If you have already read it, go back and read it again and check out all of the sources. You will come to the conclusion that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The problem comes when we try to determine what is truth and what is fiction. Thanks, Joe, for exposing us to what is really going on and who is writing about it. Patrick
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