Theology of Palin’s church comes under scrutiny

c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A church that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family called home for more than 20 years has links to a controversial Pentecostal ideology that emphasizes prophesy, miraculous healing and “spiritual warfare” with demons. Several Web sites and blogs _ including Talk2Action, the Huffington Post and The Revealer _ […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A church that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family called home for more than 20 years has links to a controversial Pentecostal ideology that emphasizes prophesy, miraculous healing and “spiritual warfare” with demons.

Several Web sites and blogs _ including Talk2Action, the Huffington Post and The Revealer _ have been busily discussing whether Palin has been influenced by this theology, known alternately as Third Wave, the New Apostolic Reformation, Latter Rain and Kingdom Now.


While some connections may be dubious at best, Palin nonetheless sought the advice of at least one of her pastors on the eve of becoming governor, and that has raised questions about how Third Wave ideology might influence her thinking if she were vice president.

“What are the political implications if you say problems are demonic and we are going to address them through spiritual warfare?” asked Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family: The Secret of Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,” an examination of Third Wave theology.

“Are you also going to address them with the tools of worldly government, or are you going to ignore it? That is a legitimate question.”

In some ways, the attention on Palin’s church bears echoes of the scrutiny of Sen. Barack Obama’s Chicago church and the fiery rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that critics called racist and anti-American.

When Wright’s controversial sermons surfaced last spring, many asked if Obama shared those sentiments. Now, similar questions are being asked of Palin, and to what degree she absorbed, agreed or disagreed with the edgier elements of Pentecostal beliefs after decades in the pew.

The Wasilla Assembly of God, which Palin joined as a child and left in 2002, has the strongest link to Third Wave ideology through its relationship with MorningStar Ministries, a South Carolina-based parachurch organization founded by pastor Rick Joyner.

Joyner frequently prophesizes, describing demonic forces and preaching a readiness for the imminent end of the world. Reached by phone, Joyner said he was not aware of the recent blogosphere buzz surrounding him and MorningStar, but confirmed some of their allegations.


“We are probably described as Third Wave,” he said by phone. “We have had a lot of influence from movements that I think are identified as Third Wave. … To some degree we have been influenced by many different movements and I think it has been a good influence.”

Asked about any links between Palin and MorningStar, he replied, “I would be honored to be connected, but we are not that I know of. It is very likely that her church has read our stuff and I think some of our folks have been up and spoken to her church. It would be a very loose, distant association. We deeply appreciate her and what she is standing up for. I wish I could claim more.”

Phone and e-mail messages to the McCain-Palin campaign were not returned.

Palin spoke at the Wasilla church in June to address teenagers who had attended a conference at the MorningStar campus in February. Stephen Thompson, Morningstar’s director of prophetic ministries, has been a guest at the Alaska church at least once, and is scheduled to appear there again for three days in early October.

The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal Christian denomination with about 3 million members in the U.S., has never officially sanctioned MorningStar Ministries. But in 2000, church officials issued a non-binding paper that warned against “revival ministries” that heavily emphasize “gifts of the spirit,” such as prophesy and healing.

The warning was issued after Joyner prophesized in 1997 that a major earthquake would strike Southern California and put much of the state under water. He later apologized.

MorningStar’s two-year training program, MorningStar University, describes itself as “releasing a supernatural army to transform the world,” according to its Web site. Some religion scholars trace it to the idea of “Joel’s Army,” an effort to raise a band of young Christians who will battle to enact Christian ideals in government and society in preparation for the end times.


Joyner, however, disavowed any teachings aligned with idea of Joel’s Army.

“But we believe there is a tremendous harvest coming at the end of the age, the greatest ingathering of souls ever,” he said. “And we do believe the body of Christ is entering its finest hour and most fruitful time and it is going to come like an army in many ways. In some ways it will be the opposite of an army _ we go not to take lives but to save souls.”

J. Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma magazine, which covers Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, cautioned against linking Palin too closely to any one ideology.

“Just because someone sits in a church that has a MorningStar pastor does not mean they believe everything” associated with it or its founder, he said.

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Few Christians are familiar with Third Wave ideology, and scholars seem unsure how significant it is.

“I would guess that it isn’t real widespread, but there is no way of knowing,” said Gary McGee, a professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. “There are undoubtedly churches that are connected with it, and I would guess it is only a small number affiliated with MorningStar.”

Edith Blumhofer, director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, says Third Wave ideology has its niche.


“What MorningStar does will make no difference to the preaching in perhaps 99 percent of American congregations,” she said. “It’s marginal in the big picture, but front and center in certain charismatic networks.”

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The term Third Wave was fashioned by C. Peter Wagner, a pioneer preacher in the movement, to describe an outbreak of religious revival in the 1980s.

Some scholars trace Third Wave’s roots to the 1940s “Latter Rain” revival, a term referring to Bible’s promised “latter rain” of spiritual gifts that will be bestowed before Jesus’ promised return.

By the end of the 1940s, Latter Rain included teachings that many Christians found objectionable, including the belief that “overcomers” _ men with the power to perform miracles _ would lead churches into the end times. The Assemblies of God banned Latter Rain theology as heresy in 1949.

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Those who study religion in public life are divided on what Palin’s association with these churches might mean to her candidacy.

“I expect that the Wasilla (Assembly of God) church is not so different from lots of other churches,” said R. Marie Griffith, a professor at Princeton University who studies Pentecostal churches. “That’s not to say that Palin’s religious worldview isn’t or is politically dangerous, but I would not see her as an extreme outlier just on the basis of the Wasilla Church’s connection to this stuff.”


Bruce Wilson of the religious right watchdog group Talk2Action, however, disagreed.

“You can’t say anything certain about Palin’s beliefs,” Wilson said. “But in terms of the religious ideology of this movement it comes freighted with one of the most aggressive and militant ideologies I am aware of.”

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