Assembly of God pastor arrested for rape, rape by instrument and forcible sodomy of three children

KOCO 5 News - Oklahoma City April 4, 2011

Okla. Pastor Arrested, Accused Of 70 Sex Assault Charges

Tommy Pitts Arrested On April 1

FAIRVIEW, Okla. -- A pastor at a church in Fairview is accused of rape, police said.

Tommy Pitts, the pastor at the Midway Assembly of God Church, was arrested on April 1 on a slew of rape and sex abuse charges against three children.

KOCO does not identify victims of rape and therefore is not offering any further information that could lead to the identity of the victims.

Police said Pitts was arrested on 15 counts of first-degree rape, 15 counts of rape by instrumentation, 20 counts of lewd or indecent acts with children under 16 and 20 counts of forcible sodomy. He is on suicide watch, police said.

Investigators said the abuse went on for months.

"I would say that everyone is in shock," Major County District Attorney's Office Investigator Robert Banks said.

Banks said the pastor's wife noticed some unusual behavior in her husband and decided to launch her own investigation.

"She then confronted the husband. The husband confirmed some of her suspicions," Banks said. "Any abuse of a child, any sexual assault of a child is a travesty, which is just unacceptable."

Banks said Pitts' wife then called the authorities, leading to his arrest.

During the call, Major County Sheriff Steven Randolph said Pitts' wife told deputies Pitts was threatening to commit suicide.

The sheriff said Pitts tried unsuccessfully to shoot himself then crashed his vehicle into a semi in traffic. He refused treatment.

Randolph said Pitts doesn't have an attorney yet. Pitts will make his first court appearance later this week.

The investigation has been turned over to the Major County district attorney.

This article was found at:

http://www.koco.com/news/27424190/detail.html

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Christian dominionists target children between 4 and 14 as the most vulnerable to spiritual manipulation

God Discussion - March 23, 2011

Christian Dominionists Plan to Transform the World During "4/14 Window" by Focusing Prayers on Children

By God Discussion Reporter


A sect of Christian prayer warriors believe that there is a unique window to create a Christly kingdom on earth this coming April by focusing their efforts on children. According to the "4/14 Window Global Initiative" website, this "4-14 Window refers to the demographic group from age four to fourteen years old, which is the most open and receptive to every form of spiritual and developmental input."

Christian Domination of the Seven Mountains.

In its effort to raise up young followers of Christ, the 4/14 Window Global Initiative focuses on the "7 Mountains" ideology associated with what is loosely referred to as "Christian dominionism," a movement by New Apostolic Reformation, dominionist, reconstructionist and other forms of Christianity that believe that seven areas of world culture must be totally dominated and controlled by Christians so that Jesus Christ can return to earth and rule. While the ultimate focus is essentially the same, the exact verbiage of what constitutes the "7 Mountains" differs. The "7 Mountains" advocated by Shirley Dobson's National Day of Prayer Task Force are described as:

1. Government,
2. Military,
3. Media,
4. Business,
5. Education,
6. Church, and
7. Family.

In a chilling video essay about the goals of Christian dominionists and their 7 Mountains agenda, journalist Bruce Wilson observed that Mary Glazier, who leads the Wasilla, Alaska prayer group that Sarah Palin joined, advocates "religious cleansing of entire lands" by believers in her movement. She preaches that people will be "displaced" and "toppled" from various institutions and that the Christians will take over. As to each individual's disposition, she claims their fate lies with God but that they will have an opportunity to "switch allegiances" and join the dominionists.

The 4/14 Window Global Initiative believes that today's cultural mountains are not providing children with godly values. In particular, it takes issue with the media complaining in its newsletter that:

Harry Potter is a major media icon that influences children and adolescents through references to sorcery, witchcraft, spiritualist invocations, and the lack of a Christ centered dimension of life.

In turning children to Christ, the 4/14 Window Global Initiative has an intense focus on organizational hierarchy in order to achieve global transformation, decreeing in its draft covenant that,

Each Christian organization shall include in its plans, programs and budget, provisions for capacity building of regional, national and local churches for the equipping and mobilization of children and their families in the 4/14 window for holistic transformation of their respective communities, nations and regions.

Luis Bush, founder of the 4/14 Window Global Initiative, believes that the focus on the young should be a priority, declaring,

It is a plea to open your heart and mind to the idea of reaching and raising up a new generation from within that vast group—a generation that can experience personal transformation and can be mobilized as agents for transformation throughout the world. Our vision and hope is to maximize their transformational impact while they are young, and to mobilize them for continuing impact for the rest of their lives.

Fasting and Intercessory Prayer.

Generals International, a dominionist group run by Cindy and Mike Jacobs, described in a March 22 email alert what their followers should do on the 4/14 Window:

The key demographic for missions in this century is the 4 to 14 Window in the view of a growing number of God’s people around the world because the four to fourteen year old's are known of their responsiveness to the gospel as compared to other ages and because of the formation of their character in during these years and the especially because of the highest priority given to them by Jesus when He walked on this earth.

This is the time to open the 4/14 Window. Participants came from almost 80 nations in September of last year called to catalyze and facilitate the rescuing, reaching, and raising up of a new generation from the 4/14 Window to transform their nations and beyond.

Join the growing global 4/14 Movement to mobilize focused, fervent, united intercessory prayer of God’s people in every region of the world on April 14th for the Raising up of a New Generation from the 4/14 Window to transform the world.

Steps to take:

1. Set the objective of the fast. There would be a two-fold purpose related to the 4/14ers in the church, city, nation, region and world: First, as The Esther Fast we are fasting for protection of the 4/14ers and deliverance from the Evil One (Esther 4:16). Second, we are praying for the Raising up of a New Generation from the 4/14 Window in the local church, city and nation to transform their nations, regions and the world.

2. Set aside the 14th of April for a day of fasting and prayer. If you need to go to work or serve use the open times to seek God on behalf of the 4/14ers of you church, town or city, country, region and world.

Generals also recommends a 3-day "Esther Fast," proclaiming that, "We are following the example of Esther to the challenge by her Uncle Mordecai to call a three-day fast as an essential part of the 4/14 Window Day to Change the World. The story concludes with a transformed world."

Prayer Focus.

The 4/14 Window Global Initiative prayer guide is a 64-page pdf document that describes objectives that all people having a humanitarian worldview can agree with — the elimination of poverty, abuse, neglect, war and violence for the sake of children. However, the prayer guide departs from humanitarian views when it takes issue with other faiths that are perceived to be evil. For instance, the guide states that:

Eastern religions have created a generation in Asia with a vastly different worldview that the traditional Christian one. With no ideas of Creator-God, Sin and Redemption, Asia’s children and youth represent a challenging mission field.

The prayer guide was issued before Japan's earthquake and tsunami. As to Japan, it stated:

They can’t shame their families by financial failure — suicide seems like an honorable way out — and the fatalism of eastern religion offers no hope. Japan’s next generation is in desperate need.

Prayer points:

Hope. Japan has one of the highest suicide rates of any industrialized nation.

Authentic priorities. Recent economic troubles have threatened Japan’s materialist mindset, and youth are pressured to succeed.

Absolute Truth. Most people in Japan claim to be Buddhists or Shintoists, or both. But in fact, their worldview is very secular.

True success. Failure is viewed as shameful to the family … Japan’s children need to know true success is found in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Innovative strategies. That’s what it will take to breach the barriers of social Shintoism and secularism.

Islam and Hinduism (and the belief in reincarnation) are also a focus of the faith-transforming prayers.

Secular values in American education are to be targeted by prayer:

Schools. Public schools have increasingly become platforms for a values-neutral message that impedes education and denigrates Christianity.

Truth … 65% of young people in the United States don’t know which religion is true. They desperately need the love of the Savior.

The prayer guide discusses "post-modernization and secularism:"

Around the world, the next generation has been secularized by globalization — a global youth culture emphasizes relativism, and even young people in rural areas and traditionally “Christian” areas don’t grasp ideas of absolute truth or the importance of a relationship with God.

The ultimate goal of the 4/14 Window Global Initiative is to create child activists:

Christian children who are grounded in a biblical worldview are, themselves, amazingly equipped to reach their own generation.

Prayer points:

Perception. Believers must recognize the power of children as agents of change.

Families. One believing child in a family can lead the entire family to Christ!

Indoctrinating Children.

More young people are turning away from religion. In America, 72% of the Millennials say that they are spiritual, but not religious. The exodus of young people from the churches has prompted groups such as Child Evangelism Fellowship to target children at public parks, apartment complex common grounds, and schools. This group, like many others, has a huge international outreach program that focuses on children.

While helping children who are the victims of war, poverty, sex trafficking and abuse is a goal of these Christian outreaches, not everyone appreciates the proselytizing and indoctrination that takes place. They believe that teaching science and practical, factual knowledge that will enable children to grow up to be self reliant is a more humane approach to children's education. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins views religious indoctrination of children, with its threats of eternal damnation in hell, as a form of child abuse.

Speaking at Oxford University in 1997, Dr. Nicholas Humphrey asked his Amnesty International audience, "What shall we tell the children?" He noted,

Should we be campaigning for the rights of human beings to be protected from verbal oppression and manipulation? Do we need "word laws", just as all civilised societies have gun laws, licensing who should be allowed to use them in what circumstances? Should there be Geneva protocols establishing what kinds of speech act count as crimes against humanity?
No. The answer, I'm sure, ought in general to be "No, don't even think of it." Freedom of speech is too precious a freedom to be meddled with. And however painful some of its consequences may sometimes be for some people, we should still as a matter of principle resist putting curbs on it. By all means we should try to make up for the harm that other people's words do, but not by censoring the words as such.

And, since I am so sure of this in general, and since I'd expect most of you to be so too, I shall probably shock you when I say it is the purpose of my lecture today to argue in one particular area just the opposite. To argue, in short, in favour of censorship, against freedom of expression, and to do so moreover in an area of life that has traditionally been regarded as sacrosanct.
I am talking about moral and religious education. And especially the education a child receives at home, where parents are allowed — even expected — to determine for their children what counts as truth and falsehood, right and wrong.

Children, I'll argue, have a human right not to have their minds crippled by exposure to other people's bad ideas — no matter who these other people are. Parents, correspondingly, have no god-given licence to enculturate their children in whatever ways they personally choose: no right to limit the horizons of their children's knowledge, to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma and superstition, or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith.
In short, children have a right not to have their minds addled by nonsense. And we as a society have a duty to protect them from it. So we should no more allow parents to teach their children to believe, for example, in the literal truth of the Bible, or that the planets rule their lives, than we should allow parents to knock their children's teeth out or lock them in a dungeon.

That's the negative side of what I want to say. But there will be a positive side as well. If children have a right to be protected from false ideas, they have too a right to be succoured by the truth. And we as a society have a duty to provide it. Therefore we should feel as much obliged to pass on to our children the best scientific and philosophical understanding of the natural world — to teach, for example, the truths of evolution and cosmology, or the methods of rational analysis — as we already feel obliged to feed and shelter them.

This article was found at:

http://www.goddiscussion.com/43551/christian-dominionists-plan-to-transform-the-world-during-414-window-by-focusing-prayers-on-children/

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New Humanist  -  UK Vol. 126, Issue2, March/April 2011

Free to teach creationism?

Under the government's education reforms, 15 per cent of groups applying to open academies are religious. How would those schools handle evolution? James Gray investigates


When the free schools programme was first proposed in 2008 by the then shadow education secretary Michael Gove, it was Sweden that he held up as his inspiration. Mr Gove praised the Swedes for “breaking the bureaucratic stranglehold over educational provision” and introducing friskolor, state-funded yet independent schools run by parents, companies and faith groups.

For Mr Gove, the apparent success of Sweden’s 900 friskolor demonstrated that the state monopoly over English schools needed to be broken. “What has worked in Sweden can work here,” he said. The Conservatives went into the 2010 general election with a pledge to set up “Swedish-style free schools” and shortly after the coalition was formed the Academies Act, the enabling legislation for free schools, was passed.

But by the time the act received royal assent something had changed. The Department for Education (DfE) had quietly dropped references to the “Swedish model” and Mr Gove, now secretary of state, shifted his attention from Scandinavia to America. It was no longer friskolor but US charter schools that were cited as the main inspiration for the flagship education policy.

Some commentators put the change down to new research concluding the Swedish model was not quite as successful as Mr Gove had claimed. But the sudden focus on American charter schools may have been prompted by another development – the introduction of a new education act making Swedish friskolor significantly less free.

The act, which came into force in August last year, binds Swedish free schools to a national curriculum and makes them subject to the same regulations as traditional schools. Significantly, it also requires religious free schools to ensure that teaching is objective and free from religious elements.

The legislation was introduced by the centre-right Alliance coalition after a series of controversies surrounding Sweden’s 60 religious free schools, including allegations of physical abuse and the teaching of creationism. The future of religious friskolor became the subject of fierce national debate.

Per Kornhall taught in a friskola run by the evangelical Livets Ord (“word of life”) church for two years, but is now a vocal critic of free schools and the organisations behind them. His bookSkapelsekonspirationen (“the creationist conspiracy”) alleges that the free schools programme has been exploited by a well-organised creationist lobby.

“Many of these churches are very authoritarian,” Kornhall explains. “They are run by one or a few leaders and without any democratic structure and are of course fundamentalist, with all the problems that brings when it comes to politics, evolution and issues about sexuality.” For Kornhall, the new legislation does not go far enough. He says extremist religious groups are adept at beguiling educational authorities and claims the only way to secure children’s rights is to abolish state-funded faith schools altogether. He has a stark warning for Mr Gove: “Do not be naïve.”

Despite developments in Sweden, the English free school model has remained largely unchanged since it was first proposed. Free schools will receive their funding directly from central government, rather than the local authority. They will be exempt from the national curriculum, although they will have a duty to provide “broad and balanced” teaching. Teachers in free schools will not be required to hold teaching qualifications and local authorities will play no statutory role in providing support. Planning rules have also been relaxed so that the schools can open in any suitable premises such as disused offices or church halls.

Opponents of religious free schools say these freedoms will inevitably lead to the same problems in England that Sweden experienced. When Mr Gove appeared in front of the education select committee last year, he acknowledged concerns about “inappropriate faith groups using this legislation to push their own agenda” but assured MPs that his department had been “working on the regulations to ensure that we don’t have any extremist groups taking over schools.”

But in a written answer to Tom Watson MP, schools minister Nick Gibb subsequently confirmed that no specific guidance has been issued to officials relating to religious free school applications. Critics say this makes the process acutely vulnerable to extremist influences.

It’s a warning that comes not only from expected quarters, such as the National Secular Society, but also from “Cameron’s favourite think-tank”, Policy Exchange. Its Faith Schools We Can Believe Inreport recommends the introduction of a centralised Due Diligence Unit to scrutinise free school applications and calls for legislation outlawing the indoctrination of children. The report’s focus is undoubtedly on political Islam, but it also raises serious concerns about Christian schools and particularly the teaching of creationism.

Rachel Wolf, a former adviser to Mr Gove, heads the New Schools Network (NSN), the government-funded charity that supports groups interested in starting free schools. She says the application process is already robust and points out that many of Policy Exchange’s criticisms also apply to traditional schools. Nevertheless, Wolf insists the NSN’s procedures are constantly under review. “It is incredibly important that the right safeguards are in place and we are continually talking to experts to make sure we understand what those should be,” she says.

Wolf estimates that up to 15 per cent of groups contacting the NSN are religious, but stresses this is much lower than the proportion of faith schools currently in the state sector. Would the NSN ever simply turn away a potential free school provider? “Yes, we would refuse to work with unsuitable groups,” she replies. “We are completely clear – regardless of what the Government decides – that we don’t wish to see creationist or extremist schools.” And what would Wolf say to a group that refused to teach evolution, for example? “Then you can’t become a free school.”

It’s an unambiguous message, but has it got through? The case of Nottinghamshire’s Everyday Champions Church (ECC) seems to suggest not.

The ECC – part of the Assemblies of God fellowship of Pentecostal churches – has expanded rapidly under the leadership of Pastor Gareth Morgan, who took over from his father in 2000. The church has undergone a major rebranding (it was formerly the Emmanuel Christian Centre) and its site on a Newark industrial estate now hosts a café, a nursery, conference rooms and offices – even its own Starbucks.

For Morgan an ECC school is the next logical step in the church’s development. It has already submitted a formal proposal to the DfE, which Morgan says has been well received, and is now collecting evidence of parental support in order to progress to the next stage of the application process.

But the ECC’s bid has not been universally welcomed by the local community, where a debate rages about the church’s stance on evolution. The source of the controversy is the ECC’s programme of “Discovery Nights”, seminars which introduce “the science behind the creation account”. These are facilitated by ECC member John Harris, who also runs creationscience.co.uk.

Harris is affable, obliging and passionate about the project. “Christians have always been the leading force behind education and it’s no different today,” he says. He is clearly affronted by the rumours of creationism. “Assumptions were made about us, and the people who were attacking us were religious evolutionists,” he retaliates. This is how he views proponents of evolution – as religious fundamentalists.

Harris says that the ECC free school will teach evolution, but only alongside the Biblical creation account. “We have no intention of not teaching evolution in the school,” he explains, “but my recommendation would be to not teach it as fact or science. Evolution should not be taught in science lessons – it’s a theory and as religious as any other theory. If you’re going into a classroom and saying, ‘We come from monkeys’ but without any evidence, don’t call it science.”

The ECC has some way to go to persuade officials it can be trusted with its own school, but some religious groups eager to be part of the free school revolution have been running schools for decades. They represent the other side of the free schools policy which enables fee-paying schools to enter the state sector while retaining their independence.

It’s an offer that particularly appeals to private faith schools which, unlike elite public schools, often charge fees through necessity rather than as a method of social selection. They want to educate as many children as possible but have so far resisted entering the state sector for fear it would compromise their religious values. Now these schools have the opportunity to have the best of both worlds – state funding without state control.

One organisation carefully considering free school status is the Christian Schools Trust (CST). It represents around 40 private Christian schools across the UK with the aim of “putting God back in His rightful place in the centre of the process of education.” The CST gained a degree of notoriety in 1999 when it took legal action in the hope of overturning the ban on corporal punishment.

For those involved in the CST, free school status makes perfect sense. “Our schools have been set up by parents and parent groups, who have made great sacrifices to do that, while our taxes still go to the state system” explains Graham Coyle, national team leader for CST schools. “If our money can be directed to our children then there has to be a benefit.” The decision on applying for free school status is up to individual schools, but at least five have already submitted full proposals.

Coyle is aware of the policy’s critics but says there are enough checks and balances to keep out extremists. How would he respond to those who accuse the CST itself of extremism? “Critics don’t go to the schools or look at the curriculum materials,” he says. “They see one aspect and not the whole package.” The “aspect” he’s referring to is creationism.

The founder of the CST is Sylvia Baker, a self-identified creationist who, while studying biology at university, became convinced that the Bible’s account of a six-day creation could be fully trusted. This conviction led Baker to publish Bone of Contention, an introduction to creationism which has sold over 250,000 copies worldwide. Baker is now a member of the CST management committee and advises its schools on the teaching of evolution.

While CST schools are not required to advocate creationism in order to affiliate, many openly reject evolution. “Some schools have a more creationist point of view, others won’t,” says Coyle. “Schools have the freedom to pursue what they feel is right.” Coyle doubts that avowedly creationist schools will progress beyond the first stage of the conversion process, but that’s not to say they won’t try. “If CST schools that have a creationist outlook want to become free schools, that’s a challenge for them to take up,” he says.

The DfE would not comment on individual applications, but in a statement said: “Ministers will want to satisfy themselves that the proposers are suitable people to be involved in setting up a school and that the curriculum is acceptable to them. We would not expect creationism and intelligent design to form part of any science curriculum developed by any state funded school that has the freedom to develop their own curriculum. Similarly, we would expect to see evolution and its foundation topics fully included in any such science curriculum.”

There is clearly no conspiracy. Michael Gove does not want state-funded schools in the hands of extremists – if not for the sake of children’s rights, then to avoid a PR disaster. The question is whether officials have the time and expertise to root such groups out, particularly those that are willing to conceal their true motivations. The irony is – as the Swedish experience has demonstrated – that by making the free school programme so accessible, Mr Gove may actually be putting his treasured policy at risk.


This article was found at:

http://newhumanist.org.uk/2511/free-to-teach-creationism

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Former Baptist youth worker pleads guilty to molestation charge

Associated Baptist Press - January 22, 2009

by Bob Allen


LAKELAND, Fla. (ABP) -- A former volunteer youth worker at a Florida Southern Baptist megachurch pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to molesting three boys, putting his fate in the hands of a judge instead of a jury.

After jury selection and with opening statements set to begin, 41-year-old Marshal Seymour pleaded guilty and no contest to five felony charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled March 12, where he could receive up to 65 years in prison, according to the Lakeland, Fla., Ledger.

Seymour was arrested in November 2007 on charges he molested three teenage boys he met through First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland. At the time Senior Pastor Jay Dennis called the scandal a "Category 5 storm" for the 8,000-member congregation active in the Florida Baptist Convention.

The congregation's unusual name owes to the fact that it meets in a converted shopping mall facility.

"The congregation and staff of FBC at the Mall are grateful that Marshal Seymour has acknowledged his actions and spared his victims from reexamining the events surrounding this prosecution," Steven Davis, the church's executive director, said Jan. 22.

"It is our fervent prayer that the healing process can begin, and we continue to offer our compassion and support to all persons and families affected by Mr. Seymour's actions," Davis said. "Finally, FBC at the Mall commends those victims who were so brave as to step forward to ensure that Mr. Seymour can no longer victimize children, and today's events are an affirmation that justice will be served. We have every confidence that the presiding judge will carefully weigh all of the evidence before pronouncing a just sentence in March."

Leaders at the church said they ran two background checks on Seymour before allowing him to volunteer for the student ministry in 1999, but after his arrest it was discovered he had previously been arrested on charges of sodomy and sexual assault while working as a youth minister at an Assembly of God Church in Mobile, Ala. He eventually got a suspended sentence and probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault.

In June the Southern Baptist Convention rejected a proposal to establish a denomination-wide database of clergy who have admitted or been convicted or credibly accused of sexual abuse. Instead, they referred local churches to the Department of Justice's list of convicted sex offenders.

The SBC Executive Committee added resources for preventing sexual abuse to its website, but in the end said the responsibility for weeding out sexual predators lies with local churches and not the denomination.

The Florida megachurch "has more resources than most Baptist churches," said Christa Brown of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "If a church such as this one couldn't manage to uncover prior allegations and charges against a minister, how likely is it that other churches can?"

"It is delusional for Southern Baptist leaders to keep thinking that local churches can handle the scourge of clergy sex abuse on their own," said Brown, who lobbied unsuccessfully for two years for an SBC abuse database.

"And background checks will never be enough because most active child molesters have never been convicted of anything," Brown said. "For the protection of children in Baptist churches, a strong, cooperative, denomination-wide effort is required."

According to news reports, Seymour's trial was delayed for several months. He turned himself in to police Nov. 2, 2007, and was originally scheduled to stand trial Aug. 11, 2008. The trial was postponed to seek expert advice about whether he was competent to be tried. A new trial date was set for Nov. 10, but that was also postponed when the defense requested a continuance.

This article was found at:

http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3791&Itemid=53

High court declines to hear Texas exorcism case

The Associated Press - January 21, 2009

FORT WORTH, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider the case of a former Colleyville woman who said she was the victim of a forced exorcism.

The high court declined Wednesday to hear the appeal brought by Laura Schubert Pearson, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition.

Pearson alleged some members of the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God held her down and she was hurt during a 1996 forced exorcism, when she was 17.

The Texas Supreme Court last year threw out a jury award Pearson received for her injuries, reasoning that it unconstitutionally drew the court into religious matters.

Lawyers for the church, which has merged with another Colleyville congregation, maintained the case was a personal injury lawsuit and concerned protected religious conduct.

Pearson now lives in Georgia, the newspaper reported.

This article was found at:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6223615.html

Protecting the Akwa Ibom Children of Nigeria From Ritual Abuse

This Day - Africa January 1, 2009

Editorial

Horrendous tales are told daily by news media around the world, but recent stories of unspeakable torture and murder of Akwa Ibom children under the guise of religion are depressing. It is a big paradox that 132 years after Mary Slessor stopped the killing of twins, unwanted babies, so-called baby witches and wizards in Calabar, some people in neighbouring Akwa Ibom would today try to eliminate the world's most vulnerable group.

On November 12, 2008, the British Television Station, Channel 4, aired a blood-chilling documentary on its Despatches programme entitled: Saving Africa's Witch children. The documentary was an expose of the cruelty and murder committed against the innocent children of Akwa Ibom State, branded as witches by some pastors. Featuring in the documentary were Garry Foxcroft, a 29 year Englishman and founder of Stepping Stones, a charitable organization based in Niger Delta, and Sam Ikpe-Itauma, founder of the charity, Child's Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN). The two activists have been combing the nooks and crannies of Akwa Ibom and rescuing babies (including two - month olds) from being tortured or killed.

The grisly evangelical documentary, which has drawn the ire of the civilized world, is replete with numbing footages: A five-year old orphan called Mary abandoned for allegedly causing the death of a local pastor; pastors exploiting the gullibility of desperate parents by charging exorbitant fees to carry out exorcism; a self-styled Bishop admitting killing 110 people and making a fortune from "deliverance ministries". The documentary ends with placard-carrying children protesting their innocence.

We unreservedly condemn the superstitious torture and murder of the Akwa Ibom children under any guise. Society owes the child the best it can give. Although belief in witches holds sway in African cosmology, using it as a paranoid excuse to brutalise children is unacceptable. A few years ago a prophetess was arraigned before the Ikeja High Court, Lagos for chopping off the fingers of two little girls whom she alleged were witches. Recently the brain of a 17 year old girl, who had been denounced as a witch, got damaged after a three-inch nail was driven into her skull.

This is sad. Our Constitution guarantees the exercise of religious freedom. But no freedom is absolute. Urgent steps must be taken to stop the trend nationwide. Happily the Bishop who confessed that he murdered 110 people has been charged to court. Let other culprits be similarly dragged to court.

We commend the speed with which Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State signed the Child Rights Bill into law banning abuse of children in the state. The government is also threatening to close down any religious organisation or revoke the certificate of occupancy of the building of any religious house indulging in child abuse or molestation. Although it is difficult to understand why it took the documentary to prompt the State, which has a good share of the police, into action, the action was better late than never.

It must, however, be noted that there are some cases of such barbarous acts in some other states of the federation, no matter how small. The Federal government must move quickly to stop the exercise of religious freedom mixed with idiotic superstition, animism and sorcery which snuffs out the lives of innocent children.

Only a debased generation would wage war against defenseless children. Children are future of the nation.

This article was found at:

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=132013

Christian Extremism: Witchcraft, Murder and Child Abuse

Huffington Post - January 1, 2009

by Lisa Derrick - Pop Culture Journalist and Editor of the FireDogLake blog La Figa



Christian religious extremism hits the American psyche when a fundamentalist church-- Assemblies of God, which thinks Harry Potter is the gateway to Satanism, while facing charges of child abuse requests a $500,000 earmark from the federal government. Or when Sarah Palin is cleansed of witchcraft by a Kenyan Assemblies of God minister.

This form of religious extremism when exported to Africa kills people and causes rampant child abuse.

For decades, fundamentalist evangelical churches have sprung up throughout Africa. Some are affiliated with American congregations, while others are a bit more free form; all claim belief in Jesus. Many of them of share a common hysterical belief in "witchcraft."

"Witch" gets misinterpreted as anyone who is different, weaker, who can be scapegoated for one's troubles. Heck Sarah Palin and her pals "prayed a witch" out of Alaska. And the prayer group gleefully recounted the results.

In Akwa Ibom State, the center of the Nigerian child witch hysteria, the State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, lamented:

The church will torture children and some of the churches will pretend to use oil to try and remove witchcraft from a child. So far we have we have 165 children some of them are not up to 9 months old who have been thrown away by their parents because the church said those children will bring them misfortune.

The Governor has taken a firm stance, declaring:

The churches are busy deceiving people in many aspects including avoiding deaths. We have to do something to re-strengthen the Child Right Law. We must fight against the abuse of children and ensure proper education for them.

AllAfrica news service reports:

Analysts trace the phenomenon to poverty which drags parents to Churches and other spiritual centres to seek prosperity...Further investigations show that such parents are usually ready to pay anything to the spiritualists to "deliver" their children from the "grip of the devil."...In some cases, all that is needed for parents to begin to suspect their children of witchcraft, is a manifestation of certain "strange" behaviour. Others are "identified" any the presence of an "inexplicable" illness afflicting them.

Strange behaviors for the Assemblies of God?

Smoking
Drinking
Drugs
Homosexual behavior
Staying in room alone
Dressing in black (fingernails, lipstick)
Body piercings
Demonic symbols on jewelry & clothes
Music (Marilyn Manson, Godsmack, Korn)
Books (Majick, Harry Potter)
Unusual scars and burns on right hand

Time to send Trey or Tiffie to Teen Boot Camp.

Or time to crack down on "religious" abuse of children at home and abroad.

Lisa Derrick is La Figa at Firedoglake.com

This article was found at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-derrick/christian-extremism-witch_
b_154685.html

U.S. Supreme Court gets exorcism case of ex-Colleyville woman

Star-Telegram - Texas December 26, 2008 by Max B. Baker

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review the case of a former Colleyville woman who claims a forced traumatic exorcism left her so physically bruised and emotionally scarred that she later attempted to commit suicide.

A sharply divided Texas Supreme Court ruled in June that the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God staff and members are protected by the First Amendment because it involves an ecclesiastical dispute over religious conduct.

Laura Schubert Pearson described a wild night in 1996 that involved casting out demons from the church and two attempts to exorcise demons from her. Only 17 years old, the incident lead Pearson to eventually attempt suicide.

Pearson’s attorneys contend that the Texas Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision "dramatically and dangerously departs" from U.S. Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence, adding that someone’s religious beliefs do not excuse them from being held accountable under valid state laws that prohibit such things as assault and false imprisonment.

"We don’t know what kind of mischief the decision is going to create," because it tries to expand the universe of activities that are protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of religion precepts, said Scott Gant, the Washington D.C. attorney who is representing the Pearson and her family. "The Texas Supreme Court’s majority ignored some of the most relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions and then misapplied others."

Forbidden territory

In briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing the now defunct church _ it has since merged with another Colleyville Church — contend the case is about a personal injury case regarding mental anguish damages that should be left for the state courts to decide.

Arguing that a similar claim has never been made in a United States court, David Pruessner, the church’s attorney, also wrote that "pursuing this tort path would take the courts into forbidden territory: protected religious conduct." He adds the Texas high court’s decision is consistent with the legal doctrine of ecclesiastical autonomy.

"It is fundamental that the Constitution embraces the right to be free from unwarranted governmental intervention," Pruessner’s brief states. The Dallas attorney could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Gant expects the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if it will consider the case by mid to late January.

Pearson is now 29 years old, married and lives in Georgia.

Spread eagle

What happened to Laura Schubert Pearson at the church spanned several days in the summer of 1996.

Pearson and her brother, Joey, were involved in church activities while there parents were out of town. On a Friday evening, the atmosphere at the church became "spiritually charged" when another youth said he saw a demon.

At the youth minister’s direction, the youth frantically anointed everything in the church with holy oil until they were exhausted and finally dismissed early Saturday morning.

At the Sunday evening worship services, Laura Pearson collapsed and church members "laid hands" on her and forcibly held her arms even as she cried, yelled and demanded to be let go. She was finally released after she calmed down and replied with requests to say the name Jesus.

The following Wednesday, during a youth service, Pearson reportedly began acting in the same manner, curling into a fetal position and asked to be left alone. Church members thought she was in distress and held her down in a "spread eagle" position. Pearson suffered carpet burns and scrapes on her back and bruised wrists.

After the exorcism, she dropped out of high school her senior year, began to cut herself as many as 100 times over several years, and refused to leave the house. Pearson slit her wrists with a box cutter.

Spiritual warfare

In his U.S. Supreme Court brief, Pruessner describes the activities at the Pentecostal Pleasant Glade church to cast out demons as "spiritual warfare" that is a controversial activity of the denomination.

To outsiders, while it may appear "weird," he said that tens of millions of Pentecostal followers pursue these beliefs without harm, including Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Her father, Tom Schubert, is a former Assembly of God pastor and missionary. He has since quit the church.

"This was simply normal church life for (Pearson) and her family," Pruessner wrote.

The church’s attorneys told a Tarrant County jury that Pearson’s psychological problems actually were caused by traumatic events she witnessed while her parents were serving in Africa. They also continually argued that the ministers and staff were trying to help Pearson, not hurt her.

But her father questioned what happened and the family eventually sued. They said their daughter had been abused and falsely imprisoned, and the 2002 trial never touched on the religious aspects of the case.

A jury found the church and its members liable and awarded Pearson $300,000 for mental anguish, but the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth cut $122,000 from the verdict for loss of future income.

Dangerous practice

In the church’s appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, it raised the question of whether Pleasant Glades’ First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion do not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by what it described as a "hyper spiritualistic environment."

For the court to impose any legal liability on members would possibly have an unconstitutional 'chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles, Justice David Medina wrote.

In a stinging dissent, Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson said the majority’s opinion is an "overly broad holding" that conflicts with well-settled legal and constitutional principles that could "prove to be dangerous in practice."

This article was found at:

http://www.star-telegram.com/northeast/story/1112895.html

Third Wave 'Spiritual Warfare' movement indoctrinating young children to do battle for the Lord

Alternet - September 8, 2008

Weird Theology in Wasilla: A Look Inside Sarah Palin's Pentecostal Church

Exposing the unusual, highly politicized religious beliefs held at the Wasilla Assembly of God

by Bruce Wilson | Talk To Action


On June 8, 2008 Palin was publicly blessed, with the "laying on of hands" before six thousand Wasilla area church members, by Head Wasilla Assembly of God Pastor Ed Kalnins and on the same day both Kalnins and Palin described, at a "Masters Commission" ceremony at the Wasilla Assembly of God church, how she had been blessed prior to winning the Alaska governorship by an African cleric known for driving the "spirit of witchcraft" out of a town in Kenya, after which town supposedly crime rates dropped "almost to zero."

Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.

Along with her entire family, Sarah Palin was re-baptized at twelve at the Wasilla Assembly of God in Wasilla, Alaska and she attended the church from the time she was ten until 2002: over two and 1/2 decades. Sarah Palin's extensive pattern of association with the Wasilla Assembly of God has continued nearly up to the day she was picked by Senator John McCain as a vice-presidential running mate.

Palin's dedication to the Wasilla church is indicated by a Saturday, September 7, 2008, McClatchy news service story detailing possibly improper use of state travel funds by Palin for a trip she made to Wasilla, Alaska to attend, on June 8, 2008, both a Wasilla Assembly of God "Masters Commission" graduation ceremony and also a multi-church Wasilla area event known as "One Lord Sunday."

At the latter event, Palin and Alaska LT Governor Scott Parnell were publicly blessed, onstage before an estimated crowd of 6,000, through the "laying on of hands" by Wasilla Assembly of God's Head Pastor Ed Kalnins whose sermons espouse such theological concepts as the possession of geographic territories by demonic spirits and the inter-generational transmission of family "curses". Palin has also been blessed, or "anointed", by an African cleric, prominent in the Third Wave movement, who has repeatedly visited the Wasilla Assembly of God and claims to have effected positive, dramatic social change in a Kenyan town by driving out a "spirit of witchcraft."

The Wasilla Assembly of God church is deeply involved with both Third Wave activities and theology. Their Master's Commission program is part of an three year post-high school international training program with studies in prophecy, intercessory prayer, Biblical exegesis, authority and leadership.

Watch Bruce Wilson's video documentary detailing the extreme Religious Right connections to the Wasilla Assembly of God church, "Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave": [removed]


The pastor, Ed Kalnins, and Masters Commission students have traveled to South Carolina to participate in a "prophetic conference" at Morningstar Ministries, one of the major ministries of the Third Wave movement. Becky Fischer was a pastor at Morningstar prior to being featured in the movie "Jesus Camp." The head of prophecy at Morningstar, Steve Thompson, is currently scheduled to do a prophecy seminar at the Wasilla Assembly of God. Other major leaders in the movement have also traveled to Wasilla to visit and speak at the church.

The Third Wave is a revival of the theology of the Latter Rain tent revivals of the 1950s and 1960s led by William Branham and others. It is based on the idea that in the end times there will be an outpouring of supernatural powers on a group of Christians that will take authority over the existing church and the world. The believing Christians of the world will be reorganized under the Fivefold Ministry and the church restructured under the authority of Prophets and Apostles and others anointed by God. The young generation will form "Joel's Army" to rise up and battle evil and retake the earth for God.

While segments of this belief system have been a part of Pentecostalism and charismatic beliefs for decades, the excesses of this movement were declared a heresy in 1949 by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, and again condemned through Resolution 16 in 2000. The beliefs and manifestations of the movement include the use of 'strategic level spiritual warfare' to expel territorial demons from American and world cities. Worship includes excessive charismatic manifestations such as hundreds of people falling, 'slain in the spirit,' and congregations laughing, jerking, and shrieking uncontrollably.

In early 2008 an outbreak of those phenomena commenced at the palatial former ministry estate of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, recently bought up and restored by prominent Third Wave author and leader Rick Joyner's Morningstar Ministries. The (spiritual) "breakout" lasted for many weeks and was publicized in an extensive collection of video footage available on YouTube. Healing services in the Third Wave movement claim to heal the sick and injured through methods that in some cases can appear bizarre - including, as in recent cases involving Todd Bentley, the patient being head butted or kicked by the anointed healer. Recipients of such "spiritual" or miraculous healing make a wide range of astonishing claims - to have been cured of life-threatening illnesses, had joints repaired or replaced, been given gold teeth or gold fillings, regrown stunted limbs and even had deformed skeletal structures straightened and reshaped.

Worldwide mission efforts of the movement are built around the idea of combating witches, warlocks, and generational curses, which prevent churches from being able to take root. Mike Rose, senior pastor of Juneau Christian Center has a long relationship with Rodney Howard-Browne, credited with being the instigator of the outbreak of 'Holy Laughter' around the world, including the Toronto Airport Revival. Thomas Muthee visited Wasilla Assembly of God and gave 10 consecutive sermons at the church, from October 11-16 2005. As both Palin and Wasilla AoG Head Pastor Ed Kalnins have attested, Thomas Muthee 'prayed over' Sarah Palin and entreated God to "make a way" prior to Palin's successful bid for the Alaska governorship. Muthee made a return visit to the Wasilla Assembly of God in late 2008. Thomas Muthee's Word of Faith Church is featured in the "Transformations" video which details an account on how Muthee drove "the spirit of witchcraft" out of Kiambu, Kenya, liberating the town from its territorial demonic possession and enabling a miraculous societal transformation. The "Transformations" video set is used as an argument for social improvement through spiritual instead of human means, and as the best method for fighting corruption, crime, drugs and even environmental degradation.

In the video, producer George Otis declares that after Thomas Muthee and his followers banished the "spirit of witchcraft" from the town, the crime rate in Kiambu dropped almost to zero, along with the rate of alcoholism, and according to Otis most of the residents of the town joined churches. The "Transformations" video has helped spark a network of 'Transformation' ministries and mission organizations and 'transformation' has become a buzz word for change based on supernatural instead of human efforts.

The Third Wave, also known as the New Apostolic Reformation, is a network of Apostles, many of them grouped around C. Peter Wagner, founder of the World Prayer Center. This center, which was built in coordination with Ted Haggard and his New Life Church in Colorado Springs, was featured in an article by Jeff Sharlet in Harpers, May 2005, "Soldiers of Christ." Sharlet was one of the first to write in the secular press about the World Prayer Center which is often referred to by those familiar with the Third Wave as the 'Pentagon for Spiritual Warfare.' It features computer systems that store the data of communities around the world, mapping out unsaved peoples' groups and spiritual mapping information for spiritual warfare. Wagner has his own group of about 500 Apostles in his council and each of these Apostles has ministries under their authority, sometimes hundreds or thousands. Recently various networks of Apostles came together to form the Revival Alliance. Leaders of the Revival Alliance including Rick Joyner of Morningstar anointed Todd Bentley whose Lakeland Healing Revival has recently been a controversial topic in the Evangelical world.

Wagner's top leaders often conduct spiritual warfare campaigns against the demons that block the acceptance of their brand of Christian belief, such as 'Operation Ice Castle' in the Himalayas in 1997. Several of their top prophets and generals of intercession spent weeks in intensive prayer to "confront the Queen of Heaven." This queen is considered by them to be one of the most powerful demons over the earth and is the Great Harlot of Mystery Babylon in Revelation. (The "Great Harlot [or 'whore'] of Mystery Babylon" theme also figures prominently in the sermons of Texas megachurch pastor and Christians United For Israel founder John Hagee, former endorser of John McCain's 2008 presidential bid.) Wagner and his group also claim that the Queen of Heaven is Diana, the pagan god of the biblical book Ephesians and the god of Mary veneration in the Roman Catholic Church. Following the 'Operation Ice Castle' prayer excursion which included planting a flag for Jesus on Mt. Everest, one of the lead prayer intercessors from the excursion, Ana Mendez, reported that there had been dramatic results including, "millions have come to faith in Asia... and other things happened which I believe are also connected...an earthquake had destroyed the basilica of Assisi, where the Pope had called a meeting of all world religions; a hurricane destroyed the infamous temple 'Baal-Christ' in Acapulco, Mexico; the Princes Diana died... and Mother Theresa died in India, one of the most famous advocates of Mary as Co-Redeemer."

Church of the Rock, led by Senior Pastor David Pepper, has taken their youth to participate in 'The Call, Nashville.' This event is held at various locations around the country under the leadership of Lou Engle, also featured in the movie "Jesus Camp." At these events youth are worked into a frenzy of anger and consternation at supposed national moral corruption. Engle, who shuffles while he preaches in imitation of Jewish prayer, is featured toward the end of the "Jesus Camp" video documentary.

The Third Wave movement is cross-denomination and is not synonymous with any specific denomination, nor is it synonymous with Evangelical or Fundamentalist. Although the movement emerged from Pentecostalism, it draws its support from a variety of denominations and religious streams. They believe they are forming a post-denominational church to take the world for the end times. To date, all of the writing and objections to this movement have emerged from other Evangelicals and Fundamentalists who believe the movement to be unbiblical. Also, it is other conservative churches that refuse to embrace the 'outpouring of the Spirit' that are targets of much of the anger of the movement.

You can find more information on the Third Wave movement and additional links to the activities of Palin's churches on www.Talk2action.org in the following articles:

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part One
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583

Sarah Palin's Churches and the Third Wave, Part Two with embedded video: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602

The video is also posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_1Eit0pxM

This article was found at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/97939/?page=entire


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