The New Apostolic Fellowship and Politics

[Bikewer]

Yesterday's Fresh Air show, Evangelicals Engaged In Spiritual Warfare:

http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

Profiled the New Apostolic Fellowship. This is an extremely radical Evangelical organization which maintains (among other things) that:

America in particular and the world in general are under the control of demons.
That these demons must be defeated (exorcised) by means of "spiritual warfare" in order to prepare the world for Jesus' return.
That "Dominion" (yes, these guys are Dominionists too) must be established over all aspects of society; politics, media, law, etc.
That Jews must be converted.
That homosexuality is due to demons...
Etc, etc.
Now, this could be dismissed as a bunch of religious nut-jobs spouting nonsense. Save that they are very political, have been very well-organized in terms of their political influence, and have the ear and support of some big players.
For instance, Rick Perry. Also a number of other Republican heavyweights, like Jim DiMint.
They are closely aligned with outfits like The Call and The Family; both politically-active Christian Evangelical organizations based in Washington.
These are the folks primarily responsible for the extreme homophobia being evidenced in Uganda and Kenya currently; they are very active in Africa generally.

They also see Islam as a tool of the Antichrist, along with Freemasonry. Any attempts made toward "tolerance" are seen as the activity of the Antichrist.

The segment painted a picture of a well-organized, politically-active extremist group which has the ear of some big players in American politics.
The only question that was not answered is the actual size/influence of these people.

Is it just a few whackos that certain legislators are using cynically to "pump up the base"?
Or are they a serious movement.....Their rhetoric is rather martial; lots of talk of spiritual "warfare" and confrontation and martyrdom and all.

 

[Brown]

Now, this could be dismissed as a bunch of religious nut-jobs spouting nonsense. Save that they are very political, have been very well-organized in terms of their political influence, and have the ear and support of some big players.

Some of them, who seem to have problems of their own that could be quelled somewhat through political influence, also have quite a bit of spare cash. What they don't have, as far as I can tell, is any evidence of any actual demons, thus calling into question the foundations of the model upon which their public policy would be based.

Much of the model purports to be based upon what Jesus had said, whether he actually said it or not. Which suggests a name for the movement. Take "Jesus had said" and shorten it: "Jee-had." Catchy, no?