When Texas governor and potential presidential candidate Rick Perry decided to host a prayer rally, The Response, with the bigoted American Family Association and the radical International House of Prayer, Right Wing Watch noted the two groups’ bigoted and extreme beliefs along with the rally’s goal of proselytizing to non-Christians.
Yesterday we noted that one of the leaders of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s The Response, ‘Apostle’ Doug Stringer, blamed America for the September 11th attacks because of what he saw as the country’s increasing secularism and acceptance of homosexuality, and that the AFA began using other ‘apostles’ to defend Perry as the answer to their prayers. Already, Kansas governor and former senator Sam Brownback has signed up to participate.
One of The Response’s endorsers, Cindy Jacobs, is a self-declared ‘Prophet’ and a well-known advocate of the “spiritual warfare,” writing books such as Deliver Us From Evil and Possessing the Gates of the Enemy: A Training Manual for Militant Intercession. For example, Jacobs used spiritual warfare against Craigslist, non-Christian religions, and gays and lesbians.
Another The Response endorser is “spiritual warfare” leader James ‘Jay’ Swallow, a Native American “apostle” who founded the Two Rivers Native American Training Center. Like Jacobs, Swallow has spoken at The Call rallies including one in which he accepted on behalf of all Native Americans Brownback’s apology for the federal government’s mistreatment of indigenous people. According to his biography, “God has given Dr. Swallow extraordinary insight into ‘healing the land’ through prayer and spiritual warfare.” The Center is built around the “Strategic Warriors At Training (SWAT): A Christian Military Training Camp for the purpose of dealing with the occult and territorial enemy strong holds in America.” Seminars include “Demonic Spirits,” “Spiritual Warfare,” “Identifying the Strongman,” and “Freemasonry.” The training is apparently so intense that Swallow asks participants sign a “release of liability” form to waive their right to sue.
According to the Swallow, the theme of the training is “We have declared war”:
In the last decade great leaders have been given the revelation of ingredients that have instituted the desire of God to recover from the enemy the promises of our nation, America, and to compact the many divisions into an expression of Biblical Christianity.
The enemy has fortified his temporary property by placing strongholds of resistance to the coming invasion. He knows he is to be removed from authority over areas that we, the divided church, have given him permission to rule.
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The next two weeks will make warriors out of you. I don’t mean armchair warriors, but a SPECIALIZED COMMANDO group that will engage and set the order of discipline and order to tear down the first line of defense against the enemy.
Our job will be to establish a beachhead and occupy until the main forces can mobilize to secure the territory in Jesus’ Name.
Again, these are just a few of the people who Rick Perry is working with to put on his prayer rally.
