Earlier this month, it was announced that right-wing pastor Jim Garlow would be stepping down from his position as pastor at Skyline Church in California in order to focus his attention on "the realm of the governmental," by which he means establishing Religious Right groups designed to inject his brand of religious conservationism into various governmental organizations.
Last year, Garlow created a ministry designed to target the United Nations and tapped former Rep. Michele Bachmann to lead it. Bachmann was initially reluctant to take the position because, as she said, "I don’t know a darker, more deceived place on earth than the U.N.," but she was eventually was persuaded to accept in order to prepare the U.N. and the world for the End Times:
Earlier this year, Garlow established another organization in Washington, DC called The Jefferson Gathering that seeks to indoctrinate "not merely Members of the US Congress, but persons in the various agencies such as the State Department and the Department of Justice." To head that effort, Garlow chose Rick Scarborough, a truly radical and bigoted Religious Right pastor known for his virulent opposition to and attacks on “sodomites.”
Scarborough has declared that AIDS, “a homosexual disease,” is God’s “judgment as a result of an immoral act," and repeatedly stated his belief that it is “God’s judgment on a sinful generation," adding that “God would probably give us the cure for AIDS today” if the U.S. stopped supporting gay rights:
Scarborough is so opposed to gay people that, back in 2013, he floated the idea of filing a “class action lawsuit” against homosexuality, much like actions taken against the tobacco industry. He even once agreed with Islamic fundamentalists who call America the “Great Satan,” saying that God would be perfectly justified in sending a nuclear bomb to destroy the country because of such sins as President Obama’s appointments of a handful of gay ambassadors. Scarborough has repeatedly claimed that the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling has made it illegal for Christians to hold elected office or serve as judges, and predicted that pedophilia will soon be legalized and that ministers who refuse to perform same-sex weddings will be jailed.
Garlow, who has been among President Trump's most loyal supporters, holds similarly radical views, such as having claimed that his prayers helped secure the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which "saved us from the bondage and enslavement that would come upon us if gay marriage actually passed in a state"; described the "radical homosexual agenda" as a tool of Satan and "almost like an Antichrist spirit"; and warned that marriage equality will lead to America’s destruction, widespread persecution and even death.
Garlow recently told the Christian Post that he is stepping down from the pulpit in order to focus on the government because "we don't buy into the notion that biblical principles must be kept from the governmental sphere. We recognized that God and government should not be separated because He is the One who first thought of government."
Garlow's latest effort will be called Well Versed Nations and has reportedly already established regular Bible studies in several federal agencies:
Through the Capitol Hill-based ministry, Well Versed Nations seeks to help members of Congress "make biblical application to governmental life."
Garlow told CP that Well Versed Nations most recently launched a Bible study within a federal agency. The study began late last month and will, for the time being, meet on a monthly basis.
Though he wouldn't disclose which federal agency the ministry is operating in, Garlow explained that his ministry has also received approval to hold Bible studies once per month in a second federal agency. He added that Well Versed Nations is also looking to get permission to launch another Bible study in a third federal agency.
"We are just starting Bible studies now in some of the departments or agencies here in Washington, D.C.," he said. "There you have career bureaucrats who are lifelong and not elected officials and we want to see the truth of God's word applied in life there."
