Comments on: McCain-Palin, 2008

By: Eddy

Eddy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:48:49 +0000

I found the link to Church on the Rock website. LOL. I searched with “AK” rather than “Alaska”.
http://www.churchontherockak.org/

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:30:53 +0000

Well I had a nice long post but it had too many links in it and the Throckmorton blog-system bear ate it…. ;~)
There was a SPLC article on Joel’s Army recently.
Theocratic Sect Prays for Real Armageddon -SPLC
Members of Joel’s Army are fighting to bring about the millennial reign of Christ.
http://www.alternet.org/story/96945/theocratic_sect_prays_for_real_armageddon/?page=entire
And this is a good article from more mainline, evangelical people.
Joel’s Army: Discernment~Ministries Inc.
http://www.discernment-ministries.org/JoelsArmy1.htm
There was a Daily Kos article on whether Palin was a associated with the Pentacostal sects but I don’t give it much shrift. But she did speak at a meeting of the Assemblies of God, Alaska “chapter” while she was governor and spoke highly of them (could she do otherwise?). The website of the Juneau Christian Center has this one ministry or such to kids with “Destiny” in its name. But that is conjecture.

By: Eddy

Eddy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:21:32 +0000

LOL…sorry about the weird spacing in my last comment. It was a copy and paste on my sister-in-laws computer and I don’t know what happened….

By: Eddy

Eddy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:20:25 +0000

I got my info from an Associated Press article. It tends to concur with the Juneau Empire story.
“The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla
Assembly of God Church, where she and her family were very active, according to
her then-pastor, Paul Riley.
She now sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination’s Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the
Rock, an independent congregation, Riley said.”
I really don’t know anything about The Church on the Rock–but, in Dallas, the
church by that name is huge and is most definitely ‘Charismatic/Pentecostal’.
Graduates of Christ for the Nations, my alma mater and featured in that thread
where we discussed the I-35 prophecies, often moved on to The Church on the
Rock. I’m also pretty sure that the Dallas area Church on the Rock was started
as a split-off from Beverly Hills Church of Dallas, who later changed their name
to “Church of the King”. Beverly Hills Church was a Baptist congregation that
experienced a notable ‘move of the Holy Spirit’ back in the 70’s and remains
Charismatic to this day.
I realize that the Alaska Church on the Rock may not have any affiliation
whatsoever with the Dallas area version…but it may be worth looking into. To
appeal to mainstream Evangelicals, I’m sure they would play down any
Charismatic/Pentecostal connections and hype the more traditional Baptist roots.
If the Assemblies of God connection is true, this doesn’t seem like much of a
stretch.
Lynn David: do you anything more about the groups that you wondered about her affiliation with? Dominion, Destiny, Joel’s Army, etc.?

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:26:16 +0000

http://juneauempire.com/stories/090108/sta_326213655.shtml
That article more or less explains it…

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:34:01 +0000

According to this guy, who quotes an Alaska Assemblies of God [http://www.alaskaag.org/] newsletter, the Juneau Christian Center [http://www.jccalaska.com/] is an AoG congregation. He goes on to report:

“The opening night banquet of the 2008 Alaska District Council [of the AoG?] was honored to have Governor Sarah Palin address the delegates and guests. Governor Palin spoke of her appreciation for the Assemblies of God and requested that the Council pray for both her and the State of Alaska.
Superintendent Ted Boatsman, who was Palin’s junior high pastor at Wasilla Assembly of God, along with Pastor Mike Rose of Juneau Christian Center, where Palin presently attends church when in Juneau, laid hands on the Governor and led the Council in prayer.”

And according to the Juneau Empire [http://juneauempire.com/stories/090108/sta_326213655.shtml]:

The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church [http://www.wasillaag.org/], where she and her family were very active, according to her then-pastor, Paul Riley.
She now sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination’s Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the Rock [http://www.churchontherockak.org/about.html // http://churchontherockak.org/pdf/Doctrinal_Statement.pdf%5D, an independent congregation, Riley said.

The Church on the Rock does not show up on the Assemblies of God directory search as an affiliate. But for some reason when you Google up “Church on the Rock” and Alaska you get a link to the Alaska Assemblies of God homepage, but I cannot find that wording on the homepage. Hmmm…..

By: Warren

Warren — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:37:01 +0000

Eddy – Where did you get your info on Pailn? My understanding is that the family attends an independent Bible church in the Anchorage area. This is kind of like Baptist. This info comes from a preacher who shared the platform with them in Dayton and spoke to her and her husband.

By: Eddy

Eddy — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:01:13 +0000

Ms Palin’s strongest church affiliation appears to be with the Assembly of God Church, which I believe is the largest Pentecostal denomination. Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) still moves and speaks in the lives of individuals. Beyond that, though, there are many subsets and groups who focus on different beliefs and experiences. I believe that Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God are Pentecostal groups but I’m not sure whether they are in any way connected to the Assemblies of God; I never heard of Destiny, Joel’s Army or Dominionist.
LOL. I know that’s not much of an answer but thought it might be helpful to let you know that there are various factions of Pentecostalism. Hopefully it will help you to dissect what you hear. I was hoping that her specific beliefs would be discussed more on the Sunday morning political news programs–and perhaps they were–but I’m vacationing with my family and am off my normal Sunday morning routine.
(I live in Minneapolis/St Paul and decided this was an excellent week to be out of town.)

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:57:30 +0000

Is Ms Palin a member of a Dominionist church in Alaska with ties to Destiny/Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God/Joel’s Army?

By: Drowssap

Drowssap — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:26:25 +0000

Where is Ron Paul when you need him? 😎
I like Ron but voted for Romney and now I’ve settled on McCain.