Last week I wrote a few posts continuing our on-going look at the rise of the New Apostolic Reformation and self-proclaimed prophets and apostles like Lou Engle, Cindy Jacobs, and the like within the traditional Religious Right movement.
Today, I want to call attention to this really great post by Bruce Wilson at Talk To Action about Duke Aiona, the Republican candidate for Governor in Hawaii, and his ties to Jacobs, Ed Silvoso, and various other NAR leaders ... and I especially want to highlight Wilson's excerpts from books in which both Jacobs and Peter Wagner lay out the importance of the practice of burning and destroying items associated with witchcraft, the occult, or any other religion:
During a worship service that evangelist Cindy Jacobs held on October 7, 2008, at Ed Silvoso's 18th International Institute on Nation Transformation, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Jacobs called on assembled local area pastors at the conference,
"Pastors, sanctify your people! You go and you tell 'em, if you have any idols in their homes we're gonna to burn 'em! If you have any witchcraft items in your homes, you bring 'em Sunday and we're gonna burn 'em! We're not gonna have witchcraft in this church!"
Jacobs was not merely referring to objects associated with contemporary interpretations of Wiccan practice, or with Satanic ritual. Cindy Jacobs and her colleagues, Peter Wagner, Ed Silvoso, and others in the New Apostolic movement cast their net of purported "witchcraft" and "idolatry" over objects associated with major world religious traditions such as Catholicism, Mormonism, and all Eastern religions, and also many native art objects.
As Cindy Jacobs wrote in her book Deliver Us from Evil (Regal Books, from Gospel Light, 2001),
"There are certain occult items were are not to possess. If we own any of the following objects we need to get rid of them. If the object was at any time worshiped as a god or used in the worship of a false god, then we should burn it or otherwise destroy it.
It is not unusual for tourists to bring home keepsakes from faraway lands that have demonic attachments or are idols. What we often do not realize is that these objects can curse us. For instance, many people purchase African masks that have been used in worship ceremonies. Others buy native art such as Kachina dolls, statues of Hindu gods and statues of Buddha. Back home, havoc starts to reign in the form of sickness, tragedy, depression of marriage break-ups. Usually the person does not know why these things have happened."
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As Peter Wagner wrote in his book Hard-Core Idolatry - Facing the Facts,
Doris was preparing to travel to Argentina with Cindy Jacobs for the climactic evangelistic campaign. As she was reading scripture the morning she was to leave, the Holy Spirit told her that in Resistencia they must burn the idols, like the magicians did in Ephesus. Ed Silvoso, Cindy Jacob and the Resistencia pastors agreed. So the evening before the evangelistic crusade, all the city's believers came together for prayer. The leaders explained how important it would be to do spiritual housecleaning in their homes before they came to the meeting. They began mentioning the kinds of material things that might be bringing honor to the spirits of darkness; pictures, statues, Catholic saints, Books of Mormon, pictures of former lovers, pornographic material, fetishes, drugs, Ouija boards, zodiac charms, good luck symbols, crystals for healing, amulets, talismans, tarot cards, witch dolls, voodoo items, love potions, books of magic, totem poles, certain pieces of jewelry, objects of Freemasonry, horoscopes gargoyles, native art, foreign souvenirs, and what have you.
The believers agreed to obey God and to cleanse their homes, even if it meant giving up what might have been expensive items. They were to wrap each item in newspaper to protect privacy, and then cast the objects into a 55-gallon drum set before the platform the following night. The drum was heaped to overflowing! They poured gasoline on it and set it on fire."
On a related note, last month I wrote that various leaders would be gathering in Washington DC before the election as part of an effort called "The Shift" which is intent on "electing a new leadership for the United States of America" and now it looks like Chuck Pierce, Bob Jones, Rick Joyner, and Dutch Sheets will all be participating as well:
Clearly, this is an Esther moment for the Church of Jesus Christ to step in and reverse the wicked plot of the enemy who is determined to destroy our nation. So we must ACT NOW!
Come as we gather together leading apostles, prophets and intercessors to pray and decree a supernatural shifting of America back to Godly values. Link arms with us as we let the Holy Spirit birth through us the third great awakening that will cause radical reformation across the land. As the elections are upon us, let us seize the moment to affirm God’s new chosen leaders who are humble yet whose hearts are uncompromisingly set on the values of Heaven—those who love life and justice, compassion and truth more than their own reputation or gain.
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The nation is methodically being pushed to abort her assignment of being a beacon of freedom, hope for the struggling nations, publisher of the Gospel and supporter of Israel.
The Shift is a call to the Bride of Christ who solely contains the power of God to rescue the nation from the spirit of greed that is destroying our nation, and realign our country with her destiny course.
For this history-making event, we are gathering around apostles, prophets and intercessors in the spirit of worship and prayer to declare our utter dependency on Christ to heal our land. Join us as we partner with thousands across the nation and activate this dramatic shift. God is not just changing the fiber of our government; He is also causing reformation across all seven mountains that shape our culture and society.
History has witnessed the Ancient of Days who used His prophets to change entire nations overnight and turn captivity into triumph time and time again. That same Spirit who was upon Haggai, Ezra and Nehemiah and the joy that strengthens the people to finish the rebuilding of the temple is upon us now.
The finished work of Christ on the Cross has provided us with an out-of-all-proportion solution to every human dilemma, including today's complexities. There are supernatural solutions waiting to be released into the fiber of our families, our economy, and the laws governing the land. Join as we corporately honor Christ by embracing what His blood paid for in full.
Extraordinary economic miracles are ready to explode upon our nation as we gather around the Throne of God in holy assembly. New signs and wonders of unprecedented proportion will become the clear guideposts on the road to recovery.
As we gather together with faith-filled joy and expectancy for the manifestation of His Kingdom reign thundering here on earth as it is in Heaven.
