Oak Initiative

Last weekend, Rick Joyner delivered an election sermon that is so "vitally important" that he felt compelled to post it on YouTube so that everyone can watch as he tells his congregation that they cannot vote for President Obama because America is on the verge of heading into "the worst, most terrible form of tyranny there has ever been seen on this earth" and that "an Obama re-election could be the end of our republic as we know it."  

After proclaiming that Obama was engaging in tyranny and was either grossly incompetent or treasonous, Joyner declared that no Christian could ever support the Democratic Party, much less support Obama because he is "the most anti-Christian office we have ever had in office" and that anyone who believes Obama is really a Christian is "deluded" and "seriously deceived": 

Charisma Magazine has posted Rick Joyner’s weekly update where he claims that anti-Christian persecution in America has greatly accelerated under the Obama administration. Of course Joyner doesn’t have any real evidence to make such a specious claim besides arguing that the Shepard-Byrd hate crimes law “specifically targets Christians,” still insisting that the government is just itching to use the 2009 law to arrest pastors, ban the Bible and censor speech. He also warned that “serious persecution against Christians in America “will come from the U.S. officials who are committing acts of “treason” by trying to “subject Americans to international laws and the U.N. resolutions”; naturally, Joyner did not name specific international codes that will soon be imposed on America.

There are many ways that our federal government has overreached and has brazenly done what the Constitution forbids. In most of these, you can see an obvious agenda of suppressing Christianity. The same Constitution that forbids Congress from establishing religion also prohibits it from hindering its free exercise. I’m often asked if I think Christians in America will suffer persecution, and my response is that it has been happening for a long time. If our present trajectory is not changed, we can expect it to soon become official state policy. Right now it is unofficial state policy.

Under the present administration, there have been a number of ways that the ground is being laid for a far more serious persecution against Christians in America. Some of this is coming through legislation such as the “hate crimes” legislation that specifically targets Christians. Some is coming through attempts to subject Americans to international laws and the U.N. resolutions, another very blatant violation of the Constitution. Article 6 declares that the Constitution will be “the supreme law of the land.” To subject Americans to any law other than our Constitution would therefore be a basic attack on the Constitution.

Because every elected or appointed official of our government has to take a vow to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic, those who are promoting these agendas are leading us to a very serious constitutional crisis and could even be considered treason.

His fellow Oak Initiative board member Janet Porter also released a new video warning of anti-Christian persecution due to President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality and, Porter suggests, support for Sharia law. “Sure it’s possible you can have freedom in a second Obama administration, but seeing as how they’re already arresting Americans for unpopular YouTube videos, I wouldn’t count on it,” Porter says, “If he’s allowed to do much more, we won’t have a country left.” If Obama is re-elected, “you can expect the internet to be regulated, the dollar to be worthless, the Constitution to be shredded and for the civilian military to show up on your door for speech violations.”

In 2008, Porter warned that Obama would appoint Bill Ayers to head the Department of Homeland Security, play the Muslim call to prayer from the Capitol and hold friendly meetings with Osama bin Laden.

Religious Right leaders love to proclaim that they are nonpartisan. Rick Scarborough insists he is not a Republican or a Democrat, but a Christocrat.  Samuel Rodriguez repeatedly claims that he is not pushing the agenda of the Elephant or the Donkey, but the Lamb. And yet they are actively involved in attempts to convince Christians that loyalty to biblical values requires a vote against Barack Obama and for Mitt Romney, even though many evangelicals do not consider Mormons to be Christians.  The latest example comes via Rick Joyner’s dominionist Oak Initiative. Joyner sent Oak supporters a long essay by Dr. James Richards of Impact Ministries, which denounces partisanship and says, “This is not about Democrats and Republicans; it is about being a believer, committed to the Lordship of Jesus.”  Richards’ essay concludes with a charge to elect Romney, the “least damaging” option on the ballot, in order to “buy time” to hold off socialism and get the right kind of people in office.

To my knowledge, there has never been a President that could satisfy all the interests of the church. So our only choice is to choose what we will overlook and what we will over emphasize. It is time for us to see the bigger picture. WE ARE ALWAYS VOTING FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS. We must realize that in many instances, not voting means putting someone into office by default who may be a much greater risk to our beliefs and freedoms.

Many will not vote for Obama because he is in favor of gay marriage and abortion. However, those same people oppose Romney on the basis of his Mormon background. Many Christians will feel they have no choice and not vote. But we must remember, in 2008 the 30 million Christian evangelicals that didn’t vote decided the election by default.

We are not attempting to get a perfect man in office. We are attempting the get the least damaging man in office. As such we have peace, something the early church could only pray for, but we can vote for. If we can get a man in office who is not a socialist committed to the reduction of America and extreme leftist agendas, we will buy the time to make changes in Congress, and eventually at the State level. But most importantly, we can get people in office who will uphold God’s values and the Constitution. Based on the words and the track record of the extreme left, in four more years we may be too far gone to make a difference. YOU ARE NOT VOTING FOR THE MAN, YOU ARE VOTING FOR THE TIME TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE!

Last week, Rick Joyner dedicated his daily "Prophetic Perspective on Current Events" programs to recounting many of the countless miracles and prophecies he has witnessed during his years in the ministry in order to deliver the message that "the miracles that Rick has seen take place are just a foretaste of the things to come in the last days."

In fact, Joyner reported, there have been extended periods when the miracles and prophecies were so great and so prevalent that they put those recorded in the Book of Acts to shame, like the time when a friend of his had his amputated finger almost completely regrown ... until those praying unfortunately got distracted just before it could be fully restored: 

Earlier this month, the flu-stopping, casserole-multiplying Rick Joyner hosted a "Freedom Congress" conference that featured speakers like Oliver North and Jerry Boykin, as well as Republican South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.

DeMint used his address to urge the audience to get involved in politics because, at the moment, Washington reflects the fact that our culture has become increasingly secular, and so if parents want to teach their children right and wrong they "are likely to be persecuted in some way by the government" for doing so. 

And the reason society and government is becoming so secular, DeMint said, is because parents have been sending their children to public schools where they are no longer taught that "God created this earth" even though "we know He did" because science is proving more and more that "it could not have happened by accident."  As such, Christians must stand up because God "has put us in charge of this vineyard we call America": 

One of the central components of the work we do here at Right Wing Watch is listening to various radio programs and watching videos produced by an ever-growing army of Religious Right activists.  And among the most unpleasant chores in this process is the regularly viewing of Rick Joyner's daily "Prophetic Perspective on Current Events" broadcast, since Joyner generally spends the entire program mostly talking in circles without ever actually saying anything while simultaneously insisting that what he is talking about is vitally important.

Joyner fancies himself to be something of an expert on history, despite the fact that he doesn't really know what he is talking about, and he is convinced, based on a two-day long vision he had several decades ago, that the demonic forces responsible for Nazism in Germany are now trying to take over America.  Thus, we end up with clips like this from yesterday's program where he declares that liberals and gays are "useful idiots" being used by the Devil to bring America down and who, once they succeed, will immediately be wiped out by the very forces they helped to bring to power:

We should probably point out that it was not Marx, but rather Lenin to whom the phrase "useful idiot" is generally attributed.

In addition to being a militant anti-Islam activist, Jerry Boykin has focused his efforts on warning of the Marxist insurgency that President Obama is leading in America.

The warning about creeping Marxism in America was the theme of remarks he delivered at a recent Oak Initiative Summit, where he declared that Marxist utopia was impossible to achieve because all one has to do is look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to see what happens when man has no God or government in place and falls under the influence of Satan:

After an outcry from veterans, cadets and progressive groups, Jerry Boykin has withdrawn from West Point’s National Prayer Breakfast. Boykin, who was formally reprimanded by President George W. Bush for describing military efforts as a holy war against Islam while in uniform, became a fulltime anti-Muslim activist since leaving the military. People For the American Way president Michael Keegan criticized Boykin’s “hate-filled conspiracy theories,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations knocked Boykin’s promotion of “a host of false and misleading 'facts' about Islam” and VoteVets maintained that Boykin’s views are “inconsistent with current Army doctrine” and “disrespect the services of thousands of Muslim-Americans” who serve in the ilitary. Erick Eckholm of the New York Times reports:

Lt. Gen William G. Boykin “has decided to withdraw speaking at West Point’s National Prayer Breakfast” on Feb. 8, said a statement issued Monday by the academy’s office of public affairs. “In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the United States Military Academy will feature another speaker for the event.”

…

A similar controversy erupted last week, in the days before General Boykin spoke at the mayor’s annual prayer breakfast in Ocean City, Md. The general made no inflammatory statements about Islam, instead describing how prayer had helped him through dangerous military operations.

But Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow at People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group, said the West Point invitation was a mistake. West Point, Mr. Montgomery said, would have given “a platform to someone who is publicly identified with offensive comments about Muslims and about the commander in chief.”

Right Wing Watch has documented Boykin’s long history of making inflammatory statements. Boykin has claimed that Islam “should not be protected under the First Amendment” and said that Muslims are “under an obligation to destroy our Constitution”:

He has also said that mosques should be banned in America and dubbed Islam “a totalitarian way of life” during an interview with far-right talk show host Bryan Fischer:

Moreover, Boykin has urged Christians should not engage in interfaith dialogue with Muslims and should instead “go on the offensive” against Islam. He has even directed his vitriol at President Obama, comparing him to Adolf Hitler and warning that he is using the health care reforms law to create a personal Brownshirt army:

With his extremist comments now receiving national attention, Boykin is now trying to disguise his views, calling Muslims a “precious people” and insisting that he respects “their right to worship.” But Boykin may have trouble walking back from his past incendiary statements as he once proudly proclaimed: “I am intolerant!”