By Rick Hiebert. All Rights reserved. Used By Permission
You can learn interesting things by keeping an eye on Todd Bentley’s Twitter feed. Such as how the American hard right and the wackier fringes of the charismatic movement are starting to play footsie, for example.
Our Todd is attending the Morningstar New Year’s Conference as I write. (You recall Rick Joyner’s ministry…)
Bentley tweets:
IamToddBentley: Must hear general boykin. Heavy stuff for the USA. I’m listening to him at MS new year prophetic conf. It time for church wake up. 1 day ago from Twitterrific
He’s referring to retired U.S. Army lieutenant-general William Boykin. As the Wikipedia page notes, Boykin quietly retired from the Army after making some very controversial comments in the course of his job to the effect that he had success in combating a terrorist because his God was better than the terrorist’s “God”. (If you agree with Boykin, you should probably also agree that Boykin should have been at least more non-partisan in his comments in order to respect the views of Muslims in the armed services, to start out with.) If the comment from this blog is accurate, Boykin is apparently quite charismatic in his religious views:
…More oddly, he thinks that he has taken photos of the sky above Mogadishu which show “a demonic spirit over the city.†“Ladies and gentleman, that’s not a fake, that’s not a farce,†he has said.
Morningstar’s media page allows you to watch his remarks from earlier this week. Here is how the page describes his talk:
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Play I’ve left the mistake about his first name alone to show that I’ve copied the page exactly.
Since leaving the Army, Boykin has written a book and started to take speaking engagements. One wonders if we are seeing an Edwin Walker 2.0 in some ways.
I do know that my friend Bene D has taken note of Boykin before, writing about his concerns that someone with his views was in such an influential position. Boykin’s visit to Morningstar is an example of very conservative elements in the armed forces and very aberrant factions in the church cross-pollinating, to the detriment of both.
It’s certainly something worth noting and keeping an eye on, whatever your point of view.
Joyner and MorningStar have made no secret of bringing their political activity into the public square and of their allegiance to the 7 mountain dominionist thinking.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has a brief background on Boykin and how he attempted to explain away that infamous remark heard round the world.
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/evil_doers.html
The Walker story is interesting, thanks for that.
CPAC co-sponsors for the 2010 meeting are more upset about the GOProud Republicans co-sponoring their event this year then they are about The John Birch Society.
http://www.cpac.org/
That Todd Bentley would cheer extreme US right wing politics is no surprise given his theology such as it is.
“Heavy stuff for the USA.”
Yeah. Bentley swallows just about anything, doesn’t he?
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Boykin is something of a hero in certain quarters of the theocon right, akin to a military version of Carrie Prejean for saying a politically incorrect thing in public.
However, that comparison with Edwin Walker seems a bit stretched bordering on libelous, unless there is a crazed racist aspect to Boykin that I have yet to see; Walker’s biggest claim to infamy was dissing various Democratic leaders of the past while in uniform and trying to stop Ole Miss from being integrated.
In your defense, Walker’s hookup with Bob Jones U and the joint anti-commie meetings with preacher Billy James Hargis does bare some resemblance to Boykin, especially if you pair Walker’s rabid anti-communism with Boykin’s holy war approach to tackling radical Islam. He might even tough base with Bob Jones … the wayward charismatic “prophet” in Joyner’s circle rather than capital-F Fundamentalist college.
I have been closely watching Morning Star Ministries (machinations and strategies) for quite some time. They have increasingly brought to the pulpit the crys for a war and an army to rise up (and in the process confirm Mr Joyners prophecys) and to ‘take over Americas for Jesus !. At the same time he has ‘bullied’ Obamas presidency from the day he won and made it quite clear that with Ms Palin as a running mate, quite possibly, he will be in the white house by 2012. Not only that but the likes of Bob Jones, etc, of course all agree and confirm each other and Mr Joyners ‘call’ to their less than better ‘judgements’. Now we are getting into place with the so called msm tv to be able to really begin the campaign so to speak in terms of media and of course the ‘brain washing’ that is about to begin on a new and ever more worrying level. When Cindy Jacobs says that she sees an army surrounding MSM then thats not Peace he surrounds himself with but war (as he to all intents and purposes speaks out peace! deception then) She gifted beautifully MSM’s and Mr Joyners EGO and justification to move to a war front and LEAD in that capacity which makes my alarm bells ring big time frankly To call Boykin tells us war, to speak of strategies tells us war, to ‘hear the rally cry’ tells of war,to speak of history in that way of war speaks of war. War always gets more of the same so if he wants a war, then why. Power perhaps, pride perhaps, position perhaps, bored with the day to day bible perhaps, or just being a thorn in the side of Jesus as he tries to tell them that ‘church you are ‘out of order’ big time and if you want a war then be careful who you call for as yet you have only witnessed ‘a part of me’ and not the whole of me and I can be awe – fully horryfying if called to be. They have no idea who they are messing with here, Jesus will always two no trump them when he has to. David come.
I’m wondering how all the war-mongering will develop into calls for world peace at the cost of freedom, and for global religious ecumenicalism. The logo on Rick Joyner’s website gave me a little jolt – at first glance it reminded me of a crescent moon, since the eagle’s shadow blocks out part of it – there is even a little star present in the logo. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like an interesting contradiction of the war-against-Islam rhetoric – a combination of Christian and Islamic symbolism. Unless their plan is to “conquer” Islam by combining it with their version of Christianity.
My comparison to Walker is a bit qualified, thus the question mark. But he is probably the closest comparison in the “military active in politics beyond his station in a michevious way” in history that comes to mind.
As far as I am aware in reading about Walker, he was more famous for being super-conservative than racist, but I could stand to be corrected.
Of course we all know don’t we that toward the end the majority all mocked Jesus and left him to die. Does America really think Sarah Palin for the White House or is it mockery, does Mr Joyner really hope to convince us that Mr Bentley has been redeemed or is it mockery, and does Morning Star and its so called Ministry of the Kingdom it has become really love Jesus or is it mockery and so on. I know that mockery likes to think that he is the opposite to that which he presents to us, it makes him smile, it leaves us however trying to fathom out the conumdrum which is how he likes to ‘keep’ us occupied and ‘dancing’ to his tune not the Lords.
Deception brings delusion and delusion brings confusion.
I think nothing mocks Jesus more than the cheap grace message, which would have us think that He suffered and died so that we could all feel good about ourselves and that no sacrifice, no SELF-denial is required on our part. The delusion is when we think salvation feels good and sin doesn’t. The truth is the opposite – working out our salvation is very painful and costly, and perishing in our sins is the easy and comfortable way to go, so much so that no-one ever knows they are perishing. That’s why the road to destruction is so broad. What Todd Bentley did in marrying the object of his illicit desires was nothing less than in-your-face rebellion – and rebellion has always been what he is all about – he has never “grown” out of it. Rick Joyner is doing what he finds expedient, what seemeth right to him. He is weak. Absolutely right, it’s a spectacle that makes an absolute mockery of the gospel. But the Lord of the Armies of Heaven has the last laugh.
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