Much has been said about Obama’s left wing minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. However, if one was to open up the closets of the GOP a group of active neo-conservative fascist and equally extreme Word of Faith ministers, such as John Hagee, Kenneth Copeland and Rod Parsley would appear. These guys make the political views of Jerry Falwell look liberal.
While voters cringe at the speakings of Jeremiah Wright, the Word of Faith ministers have quietly taken a leading role in the politics of the GOP. Three fundamentals of the Word of Faith ministries should raise everyone’s eyebrows - faith healing, authoritarian leadership and Gospel Prosperity. Faith healing is the rebuking of modern medicine and the reliance on God’s spirit and will usually in the hands of a minister or church appointee - if the minister is too busy making money somewhere else. Gospel Prosperity is the notion that you can’t have financial success unless you tithe – to the Word of Faith church of course. How else could the ministers pay themselves million dollar salaries and have Lear jets as primary means of transportation? Tithing is so important that a good deal of time in every worship service is used to remind worshipers of importance of tithing. The authoritarian role fits in nicely as you do not question the minister - sort of “do as I say, not as I do” - particularly in the areas of healing and fidelity. While these guys are using their hands to heal followers, they all go to traditional doctors for their ailments. When it comes to fidelity - HA! Their preached upon doctrine is if you remarry and engage in sex you’re sinning. Hagee and his wife, Diane regularly preach to this effect. However, they skip over the part about Diane being Hagee’s second wife and two of the children they often refer to as “theirs” were from John’s first marriage. Diane was teenager in Hagee’s first church when they married six months after Hagee’s divorce. I guess ministers get passes on certain slip ups in their doctrine.
Parsley has said he will not rest until every public office and Court is occupied by men like himself. Hagee’s more famous sermons involve God sending Hilter to punish the Jews and God sending Katrina to destroy New Orleans to punish New Orleans for allowing gays to march. Hagee has publicly denounced Catholics on numerous occasions and referred to them as whores. Hagee has been a long time supporter of
Yet Bush and McCain have referred to Hagee and Parsley as good Christians and their spiritual advisers. McCain recently was forced to denounce his sought after endorsement of Hagee when Catholic supporters began raising eyebrows. We all know Bush has a sorry reputation of praising the wrong folks - remember he said Michael Brown did a heck of job during Katrina - so McCain should have known better. The fact is McCain would have most likely gotten their support without his asking since these guys refer to all liberals as evil.
Why does the GOP court these wackos? Several reasons. 1) These guys have churches the size of NBA arenas, 2) TV networks which reach several million viewers, 3) mailing and email list which reach millions of gullible miss guided followers who don’t question their pastor, and 4) these wackos blend into the GOP’s moral agenda - most GOP voters will see the photo opp of the candidate with a reverend and never question the substance of the preacher. The GOP gets the votes and the Word of Faith wackos get political clout.
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