John Benefiel

Pastor Takes Credit for 2011 DC Earthquake

In 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry partnered with pastor John Benefiel, a self-proclaimed Apostle who leads the Heartland Apostolic Reformation Network, for his The Response prayer rally. Like many of the other pastors promoting The Response, Benefiel has some rather curious views. For example, he claims the Statue of Liberty is a “demonic idol” and that the District of Columbia is under the control of demonic powers. While appearing on Sid Roth’s show It’s Supernatural!, Benefiel argued that the Statue of Freedom on top of the Capitol and the Washington Monument are demonic symbols.

He told Roth that his group went to Washington in 2011 to issue a Baal divorce decree [PDF], which he maintains frees places from control of the demonic god Baal, and that God responded with the August 23rd earthquake which was felt along the east coast. He said the earthquake’s damage to the Washington Monument, the Scottish Rite Temple and the National Cathedral is no coincidence but divine punishment for masonry. “God continues to amaze us all the time,” Benefiel said, “We just did what God says to do and he follows up with this great act.”

Benefiel, who earlier maintained that homosexuality was an Illuminati plot to depopulate the earth, told Roth—after asserting that watching pornography is an act of “Baal worship”—that homosexuality is a result of paganism and Baal’s attempt to “infiltrate our Christianity.”

Brian Tashman's blog

FRC's Deepening Embrace of the New Apostolic Reformation

Over the last year or so, we have been noting how the Family Research Council was slowly becoming more and more intertwined with various leaders within the New Apostolic Reformation movement, the collection of modern-day "prophets" and "apostles" who believe they posses the same miracle working abilities as Jesus. 

NAR's public political activism has cooled since leaders had their coming-out at Rick Perry's massive prayer rally last summer, but obviously efforts to work its way into the larger Religious Right political movement continue. 

Case in point, today we received an email from the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, the organization run by John Benefiel, who thinks that Statue of Liberty is a demonic idol, revealing that leaders from the organization. along with "50 other intercessors," had been gathered at FRC's headquarters earlier this week, just the day before the recent shooting: 

HAPN was represented at this meeting, according to the email, by Jon Hamill, who runs an organization called Lamplighter Ministries and which has deep ties to wide variety of NAR leaders, including Cindy Jacobs and Mike Bickel:

Ordained by James Goll, they are aligned apostolically with Global Spheres International ... In addition to work with Lamplighter, Jon and Jolene serve as MD coordinators and Mid-Atlantic coordinators of the Reformation Prayer Network, founded by Dr. Cindy Jacobs, and the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, founded by Dr. John Benefiel.

Jon and Jolene are also honored to be among the “emerging leaders” of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders. For more than a decade, the ACPE has been convened by Dr. C. Peter Wagner and Cindy Jacobs to seek the Lord and share corporate insights for times ahead.

Jon and Jolene reside in metro Washington DC. Jon was formerly on staff with Generals International, founded by Cindy Jacobs, and the International House of Prayer, founded by Mike Bickle. Jolene served for many years in the mortgage industry.

Kyle Mantyla's blog

Jacobs, Benefiel Meet with the Family Research Council to Plan for November Elections

Earlier this month at A Gathering of Eagles, Cindy Jacobs, Harry Jackson, Dutch Sheets and Pierre Bynum of the Family Research Council led attendees in spiritual warfare against the purported demonic powers behind homosexuality and marriage equality, the media and secular government. Today, Jacobs’ organization Generals International told members about the event, including a meeting before the prayer rally at the Family Research Council including Jackson, Sheets and John Benefiel of the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network as part of Jacobs’ new election initiative to elect right-wing politicians.

Like Jackson, Jacobs and Sheets, Benefiel is closely involved with the New Apostolic Reformation. Benefiel believes that the Illuminati is behind homosexuality and along with Jacobs, worked on a campaign to “take dominion” over the U.S. government. According to Benefiel, demons control Islam and the Statue of Liberty, which he called a “demonic idol.”

Just as Jackson said that the Queen of Heaven was the “principality” with control over Washington D.C. and Maryland, Benefiel too claims that the demonic Queen of Heaven controls the nation’s capital because it is “atop [the] U.S. Capitol.”

The Family Research Council, which works on outreach with Roman Catholics, apparently has no problem working with “prophets” and “apostles” like Jacobs, Jackson and Benefiel who claim that Roman Catholics worship a demon by venerating Mary. Benefiel may also have problems with the FRC, since it includes the Capitol Dome and the “Queen of Heaven” in its logo.

We felt very strongly about the importance of launching USRPN.org and FastForward - two major national prayer and action initiatives from our nation's Capitol - Washington, DC.

January 2-3, 2012 a strong team of USRPN leaders from across the nation converged at The Family Research Council in Washington, DC. We were joined by FRC's Prayer Director, Pierre Bynum as well asDutch Sheets, Harry Jackson, John Benefiel, and intercessory leaders from the Washington, DC and surrounding areas for times of reformation intercession and strategizing on how we can work together to save the nation through prayer and righteous civic action.

We ended our time together in DC with a citywide meeting at Chevy Chase Baptist Church where Dutch Sheets spoke on the ekklesia. This was a very powerful and important message for the body of Christ. The meeting continued with many answering the prophetic call to move from just being the oikas - "family" of God, to being the ekklesia - "legislative, governing body".

The evening concluded with with Cindy Jacobs and others leading in a time of prophetic decrees and intercession for the nation.

Several new strategic prayer and activism initiatives have already been birthed out of our meetings in Washington, DC, and we will soon announce some new and exciting strategic partnerships that the USRPN has entered into.
Brian Tashman's blog
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