I found this nice little video of Sarah Palin addressing a church event (with Trig and Piper) in June 2008. I don't know if I heard it correctly, but @2:43 and 2:56 did she chromo-zone? Watch out for her sense of humour. Enjoy!
The video was shot on June 8, 2008. The One Lord Sunday was an event held at The Wasilla Sports Complex. Twenty churches from the Mat-Su valley cancelled their normal Sunday services and met at the sports complex, where Rev Ed Kalnins gave a blessing to Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell and Lisa Murkowski.
One Lord Sunday event, Wasilla Sports Complex, June 8, 2008
Religiongate is taking shape... Sarah Palin's behaviour regarding church and state is not only unethical, it's unconstitutional as well.
Let's have a look at what has been uncovered so far:
$639.50 to address the "Master's Commission" at the Wasilla Assembly of God. This is just one instance of travel and per diem claimed from the state to attend a religious event.
$13,000 in taxpayer funds for the Governor and the First Family to attend at least 10 religious events and meetings with Christian pastors, including Franklin Graham, the son of evangelical preacher Billy Graham.
$25,000 in state money given to the Assemblies of God Juneau Christian Center.
Exerpt from the History of the Master's Commission:
Master's Commission was born in the heart of Larry Kerychuk. He began the Master's Commission program in 1984 in Phoenix, Arizona along with Pastor Carmen Balsamo as director. Students pledged one year of their lives to scripture memory, the study of the word, and ministry.
God has poured his blessing on Master's Commission and given opportunity for many other MC programs to develop in churches across the country and around the world. As the program spread from church to church the need arose for a network to be established to preserve the integrity and purity of heart with which this intense discipleship training program was created.
Master's Commission Wasilla Alaska (MC:WA) was started in September 2005. Pastor Ed Kalnins, our senior pastor, was part of the first Master's Commission class in 1984. His testimony and experiences from the program are a big part of why Master's Commission exists here in Wasilla. MC:WA was affiliated with MCIN in September 2006. We were recognized as an established and grounded program within the network at the 2007 Master's Commission Conference, joining with hundreds of other affiliated MC programs around the world.
Juneau Christian Center, which received $25,000 from the state for their program The Hub:
Our Purpose: To win souls and make disciples! Our Passion: To Love God and Love People! Our Path: Win, Connect, Disciple, and Send.
1. WIN: New believers are added to the church through relational evangelism, church services and outreaches. 2. CONNECT: Both new believers and new church members are "plugged in" to Juneau Christian Center. Life Group Leaders help these individuals become a part of the Life Groups that meet weekly in homes. (Please see Life Groups for more details.) 3. DISCIPLE: Individuals enter the School of Destiny which consists of five seven-week levels of study. The School of Destiny will equip believers. 4. SEND: As each believer progresses through the School of Destiny, he/she will branch out into a ministry.
The Hub, a youth program at JCC, was opened by Sarah Palin and can be found under the tab "Building for Destiny":
"Destiny has begun! The new youth center for children through high school youth is taking shape.
The purpose of The Hub is reach out to youth and parents in Juneau, giving kids a positive place: to grow in safety, build strong relationships, be encouraged to learn in surroundings that match their interests, acquire confidence and prepare for fantastic futures.
The Hub and Kid's Church will provide staff and activities for the "critical hours" after school for youth from 7th grade through high school.
The Hub is designed encourage kids to enjoy learning in academics, sports, music, art, finances, computers, health, and life skills. From IPOD/study stations and video game terminals to a pool tables and plasma screen TV's there is something of interest for everyone. Oh yes, The Hub also provides a cafe that serve smoothies, drinks and light food to encourage fellowship."
If Sarah Palin had donated $25,000 out of her own pocket, it would have been acceptable. What she does with her own money is her own business. I suppose these funds would have been approved by the Alaska Legislature? If that's the case, did they approve it thinking it was to fund a valuable youth project for the benefit of the community as a whole? Did they know it was a recruitment project for the School of Destiny?
How could addressing the Master's Commission of the Wasilla Assembly of God, which has the purpose of networking across the state to spread their own particular beliefs, be considered state business and expenses paid accordingly?
Sarah Palin has been known to worship at both these churches and if she wishes to promote their teachings she should do it with her own money, in her own time. Exactly the same principle should apply to other religious events attended by the Governor and the First Family. Why should the state foot the bill for events that under the Constitution are separate from the state?
The first amendment gives Sarah Palin the freedom to worship as she wishes. It also gives her the obligation to keep her religious preferences separate from the business of the state.
UPDATE: I have added this video and some new links. (March 24, 11:20)
Sarah Palin started out as a Catholic, then she was baptized in a lake and became a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, which she left to join Wasilla Bible Church.
In 2005, she was back at the Assemblies of God in Wasilla to be prayed upon by a witch hunter.
When she's in Wasilla she attends the Bible Church, in Juneau she attends the Assemblies of God Juneau Christian Center.
Jews for Jesus are very supportive of Sarah Palin and have been to the Wasilla Bible Church to preach to the converted.
Now she's being advised by John Coale, Greta Van Susteren's husband and a top Scientologist.
What next? Is she going to start palling around with Muslims, perhaps?
It doesn't matter, as long as it advances her political career... or their religious agenda, who knows?
Sarah, beware of Buddhists though, they have something bad waiting for you.
Man always felt the need to find explanations for what he did not understand. It is in human nature to fear the unknown. God became the explanation and the source of fear. In earlier civilizations there were multiple gods, with their own departments; promises were made and broken, offerings and sacrifices were made to appease angered gods. The early gods had counterparts in Nature, the Sun being the most important among the deities, as the giver of life.
As man evolved, so did the gods, who acquired distinct personalities. Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome had gods that ranged from all powerful and vengeful to playful and mischievous. The most important exception comes from the Jewish faith, where only one god exists. Christianism and Islam later followed on the same lines, and the three are the most widespread of the monotheistic religions in the modern world.
Today there are still many polytheistic religions, in Africa, India and many eastern countries.
What links the majority of religions is the people's fear of their gods and the bargaining that goes on in various forms. People may fear their gods but also turn to them to ask for favours, offering prayer, self-sacrifice and in many religions actual physical offerings are made, such as food, animals and wealth.
In the western world there seems to be a tendency to further sub-divide the same basic faith. Christians are not content to fear and bargain with the same god. Protestants and Catholics have fought and killed each other for centuries even though they have the same god and follow the teachings of the same Christ.
Protestants have split into many denominations: Adventists, Anabaptists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Reformed churches, and possibly others, depending on who is organizing the scheme. Each defending their own interpretation of the bible, each claiming that heaven will be their own reward and nobody else's. Anybody who does not follow the teachings of a particular church is going to hell.
Pentecostalism is an umbrella term which includes a wide range of different theological and organizational perspectives. As a result, there is no central organization or church which directs the movement. Most Pentecostals consider themselves part of broader Christian groups. For example, Pentecostals often identify as Evangelicals. Furthermore, many embrace the term Protestant, while others the term Restorationist.
Within Pentecostalism there are three major groups, Wesleyan Holiness, Higher Life, and Oneness. Examples of Wesleyan-Holiness denominations include the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. The Assemblies of God and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel are of the Higher Life branch, while some Oneness denominations include the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) and Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW).
The Assemblies of God adopted a set of core beliefs for the Fellowship, which remain virtually unchanged. These are known as “The 16 Fundamental Truths.” The Assemblies' doctrines are summarized in its Statement of Fundamental Truths.
Of these sixteen, four are considered “core beliefs of the Fellowship”, or “Cardinal Doctrines.” These are:
* Salvation Through Jesus Christ * Baptism in the Holy Spirit * Divine Healing * The Second Coming of Christ
Pentecostalism can be best understood as a branch within evangelical Protestantism, characterized by a focus on the Holy Spirit and a belief in spiritual gifts, such as healing and speaking in tongues.
Sarah Palin's most consistent religious home has been the Pentecostal church, although she has tried to distance herself from it: "I don't have a church, I'm not a member of any church. I get to visit a couple of churches in Alaska when I'm home, including one, Wasilla Bible Church."
Though her family left the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2002, just before she launched her campaign for lieutenant governor, Sarah Palin has continued to return. The now famous prayer to protect her from witchcraft took place during a visit in 2005, three years after Palin's official departure. She returned again as recently as June 2008, making reference to that earlier service and crediting the African pastor's prayer with leading her to gubernatorial victory. And when she works from the state capital, Sarah Palin attends the Juneau Christian Center, an Assemblies of God congregation.
As she attends the Wasilla Bible Church regularly, let us focus on some events promoted there.
David Brickner, the leader of Jews for Jesus, was invited to speak to the faithful at the Wasilla Bible Church, Sarah Palin's fundamentalist congregation. In his talk at Wasilla on August 17, 2008, with Palin in the audience, Brickner described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" on Jews who have not converted to Christianity.
In September the church held a Focus on the Family’s ‘Love Won Out’ conference, the aim of which is to “to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality”. By that they mean turning homosexuals into more "acceptable" heterosexuals.
Asked how she felt about the second coming and the end times, she responded that she fully believed that the signs of Jesus returning soon "during MY lifetime," were obvious. "I can see that, maybe you can't - but it guides me every day."
The churches Sarah Palin associates with seem to have a wider agenda, away from the spiritual wellbeing and the salvation of their followers' souls.
D. James Kennedy, the evangelical pastor who blessed Bush before his run for president summed up the essence of the teachings behind the Assemblies of God, its missions and its associates in this quote:
"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."
More recently, the Liberty Legal Institute became involved in the Troopergate affair. Liberty is the legal arm of the Free Market Foundation, which is associated with evangelical leader James Dobson's Focus on the Family.
Millions of Evangelicals have accepted Sarah Palin because of her membership in a Bible church. But there is no denying that mainstream Evangelicals and Pentecostals, while political allies on many social issues, have historically had significant tensions over theological differences. The Evangelicals' swoon for Sarah Palin might fade if it turns out that she continues to hold fast to Pentecostal practices and beliefs.
I personally believe in the separation of state and church. When mixed, they may become one powerful and destructive entity, specially if the church in question is inherently intolerant and divisive.
As for Sarah Palin, is the church using her to gain wider influence and control over public institutions, or is Sarah Palin using the church to further her own ambitions?
One Lord Sunday event, Wasilla Sports Complex, June 8, 2008
