From: Bruce Wilson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/youtube-censors-documenta_b_126202.html http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/13/81221/8939/814/597200 "Sarah Palin was baptized at Wasilla Assembly of God and attended the church for over two and a half decades, and she has been publicly blessed by a number of pastors and religious leaders employed by and associated with that church. Last Sunday our research team released a video, a ten-minute mini-documentary, focusing on the Wasilla Assemblies of God and the video seemed on the verge of a massive "viral" breakthrough when YouTube pulled it down, citing "inappropriate content". At the point the video was censored by YouTube it had been viewed by almost 160,000 people. The short of it is that YouTube has censored a video documentary that appeared to be close to having an effect on a hard fought and contentious American presidential election. Two days ago I contacted YouTube asking what in the video was deemed "inappropriate" but I haven't received a reply. Meanwhile, YouTube has allowed someone else to post our video in full, but it is no longer in our control and so we no longer are able to update information we had included with our original video, including links to our articles which provide sourcing and documentation on our video. The video was part of a wider effort by our research team, which has written several articles and released two short videos documenting religious beliefs espoused at Sarah Palin's Alaska churches - especially the Wasilla Assemblies of God, the Juneau Christian Center and the Church On The Rock. Our team has over a decade's aggregate experience in researching political and theological beliefs of the American Christian conservative right and has been researching for several years the particular religious movement and doctrines these churches promote. Our video had climbed, the day before YouTube censored it, to the #10 'viral video of the day' spot according to a website that tracks viral videos. Moreover the video, and our attached stories explaining the "Third Wave" theology associated with at least three of four of Palin's Alaska churches, were being posted on web sites associated with conservative Christians. Our research has already impacted the current presidential election, as evidenced by the three-minute and forty second "God Sent Hitler" video that was shown around the world and forced John McCain to renounce the political endorsement of pastor John Hagee (according to according to the New York Times and a wide range of other media including the LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, AP, the Dallas Morning News, CNN and MSNBC). The video featured an excerpt, from a late 2005 sermon, broadcast internationally and sold by Hagee's ministry as a DVD, in which Hagee stated that "God sent a hunter - Hitler was a hunter" and suggested the divinely appointed mission was to drive Europe's Jews to Palestine because that was, according to Hagee, "God's top priority". Hagee's beliefs have also been targeted more frequently by his fellow conservative Christians than by the Roman Catholic and Jewish communities that he attacks in his sermons. If Sarah Palin may hold apocalyptic end-time beliefs or believes that she has a divine mandate to initiate an end-time conflict, American voters have the right to know about the doctrines taught in Palin's Alaska churches. These churches are closely associated with a movement, called the Third Wave or New Apostolic Reformation, which holds views that are highly controversial, particularly among other conservative Christians who are most aware of this fast growing international phenomenon. The activities of the movement have been condemned as heresy by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, to which two of Palin's churches currently belong. Accusations even stronger than 'heresy', decrying the "Third Wave" religious movement, have been launched from Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christian groups. Our focus on Palin's churches does not "bash religion" and has been praised by conservative Christians for its academic rigor. We are examining the religious views promoted at Palin's churches because the Third Wave / New Apostolic Reformation movement rejects pluralism and its followers believe they have been anointed by God to lead a unified superchurch into the final age - both of which have public policy implications. Sarah Palin has every right to hold whatever religious views she chooses but, by the same token, the American people have every right to know what Palin's religious beliefs are - especially to the extent that they may include the view that all other religious and philosophical views but her own are under the influence of demonic powers and that believing Christians must conquer the Earth and cleanse it of evil in this final generation. Our primary focus is not with the hyper-charismatic manifestations, 'outpourings', associated with the "Third Wave" movement in which those 'slain', 'washed' or 'soaking' in the spirit bark, howl and shriek, shake spasmodically, laugh or sob, crawl about on all fours, bang their heads on walls, and fall into stupors - all which the participants seem to enjoy. Neither is our main focus on problematic healing sessions, in which demons are expelled, that sometimes involve patients being kicked or head butted. Our focus is on beliefs behind these manifestations - such as the idea that these outpourings indicate that the participants are part of an "army of God" and comprise the final generation before the end times. Also problematic is that these healings and supernatural works are seen not as "divine intervention" by God but as the result of supernatural gifts imparted to those humans "anointed" to participant in ridding the world of evil. From a standpoint of public policy it is significant that Third Wave doctrine teaches that their leaders are raising a generation of youth who will be imparted with supernatural powers and form a conquering Christian army. These youth, often referred to as Joel's Army and as the generation born after 1973, will purge the earth in preparation for Jesus' return. The movement features special gatherings of believers to use "spiritual warfare" to purge "territorial demons" and end "generational curses" in order to transform the cities of America and the world. Social reform thus takes place through the expulsion of demons. Third Wave doctrine is an example of an extreme religious exceptionalism - not only are all other religious and philosophical belief systems on Earth seen as invalid and under satanic influence, but Third Wave theology sees all competing branches, sects and denominations of Christianity, particularly other conservative Christians who refuse to join "the river" of these outpourings, as an obstacle to God's divine will. Third Wave adherents believe that other Christian churches must drop their competing doctrines, which prevent them from joining this final end-time army, and group together under the new authority of the Apostles and Prophets of this final age. In other words, true believers will join together, in one triumphant end time church, to do battle against evil in the final generation. C. Peter Wagner, a central figure in the organization of the movement, believes that this second Apostolic age began in 2001 and that it is "heralding the most radical change in the way of doing church at least since the Protestant Reformation." He also claims that this international movement under the direction of his Apostles is the only large sector of Christianity growing faster worldwide than Islam. Wagner and his Apostles monitor their progress through the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs, attached to the New Life church formerly led by Ted Haggard. Leading Apostles and Prophets with titles such as "Generals of Intercession" go on spiritual warfare ventures with names like "Operation Ice Castle" - to attack the territorial demons which they believe prevent Muslims and Roman Catholics from embracing the true faith. In one such venture, one of the participants happily testified that she believed their efforts against the demon, "the Queen of Heaven", may have resulted in the death of Mother Theresa. The American public has a right to know that Sarah Palin, Alaska governor and now GOP vice presidential candidate, may hold such views. And YouTube, as an evolving Fourth-Estate media institution, has the responsibility of refraining from censoring efforts at informing the American public about Palin's likely beliefs. On June 8, 2008 in the Wasilla Assembly of God, her church of over 25 years, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin declared United States military forces in Iraq to be "out on a task that is from God." Head Pastor of that church, Ed Kalnins, has also made statements indicating that he views the current conflict in Iraq as part of an apocalyptic end-times struggle. Palin recently stated her enthusiasm, in a widely televised interview, for war with Russia - a country that, along with the United States, possesses vast stockpiles of intercontinental nuclear ballistic missiles. The American public has a right to know if Palin believes, as does the Third Wave movement in which her churches take part, that she has a divine mandate or "anointing" to do battle to purge those she views as evil from the world. Most Americans do not want an American jihad to conquer the world in the name of God let alone a global nuclear war. Judging from the churches Palin attends and from her public statements we have to take very seriously the prospect of having a Vice President, a heartbeat away from the United States presidency, who holds such apocalyptic goals." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. 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