(Warning: I do know that the title is quite possibly inflammatory, but I don't know of a good way of wording what I am about to write--and give educated speculation on--in a non-inflammatory manner. As such, I leave this in the hands of the community and the mods. Recent discoveries, in part from a commentary to Bruce Wilson's recent posts on research he and MRFF have done on dominionism in the military, have spurred me to make this a dedicated post.)

One of the big questions is why Bush isn't attending church so often for being supposedly very devout (he and Hillary Rodham Clinton are actually both (officially) members of the United Methodist Church; the UMC is in fact a moderate Christian church which has been targeted by IRD-linked steeplejackers over the past few years).

In a previous post on Dark Christianity in regards to dominionist-friendly politicians (including George W. Bush) not attending church, I noticed that there was one possibility that had not been mentioned (until I brought it up).

Namely, there is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that the very President of the United States is Methodist In Name Only, and may have been explicitly recruited--and molded as a dominionist Manchurian Candidate--by none other than the Assemblies of God.

I know I am making one hell of a statement with this--there are folks who are going to scream "tinfoil-hatter!" at this. IMHO, though, there is an awful lot of smoke to indicate possible fire here--I'm hoping, in fact, that the readers of this community can give additional info in regards to whether or not something stinks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If I am right in this, though, this would explain a great deal with the president's policy.

It's a fairly well documented fact at this point that George W. Bush seems to have had essentially a religious conversion experience decades before he became president (some sources have, controversially, claimed that Shrub was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972 and may have done community service to clear the record; there are indications that Shrub *may* have had his initial recruitment to dominionism during this period, including taped discussions with Doug Wead (more on him in a bit) and many of the "Bush did cocaine" stories have noted that Shrub was "dried out" at a "faith-based rehab").

Bush himself has claimed to had a conversion experience around 1984-1985; around this time he used Doug Wead as his initial political coach--a relationship he maintained until the early 2000s.

Doug Wead, of note, is among one of the real lynchpins here (in fact, quite possibly the kingpin of any potential conversion and grooming of Shrub as a Dominionist President). Wead is an Assemblies pastor and largely coached Bush on how to speak "dominionist-ese"; Wead also is known for helping Shrub establish his present links to the dominionist lobbying groups at large. Wead eventually dropped his relationship with Bush in 1999 and revealed some of the tapes he had secretly recorded whilst acting as his primary political advisor in 2005--and ended up being pilloried for showing the man behind the curtain by dominionist groups.

Wead has quite the political history outside of the Bush family as well. He has explicitly partnered with Phoenix First Assembly of God (Ted Haggard's present congregation and the largest Assemblies church in the US) on political electioneering and actually ran for office in the early 90s. He is also a member of the a group of very prominent Assemblies of God members who are also "Diamonds" in AmWay, in particular in the Dexter Yager upline (the subject of the book Merchants of Deception); almost all of the "Assemblies Diamonds" or have been, extremely influential in the "marriage of coercive groups" of AmWay (in particular, AmWay IBOs) and the Assemblies (in particular, the use of AmWay and the Assemblies as co-recruitment for each other).

Anyways, back to Wead and Bush. Wead, almost from the time he met Bush (during Bush the Elder's campaign; Wead was an advisor on George Bush's campaign, though the latter did not take dominionism to heart nearly to the extent that his kid did), groomed Shrub to be a good dominionist AND a dominionist president--one thing very rarely noted in writings on Wead is that he has connections with Assemblies frontgroup Youth With A Mission (in fact, being founder of Mercy Corps, a YWAM frontgroup--yes, he's literally founder of an Assemblies frontgroup within an Assemblies frontgroup).

Bush's favouritism towards dominionists--and explicitly, to the Assemblies of God in particular--begins to be explicitly apparent by the time he was governor of Texas. One of his most infamous bits of dominionist pandering during his term as governor was an explicit act of favouritism towards the Assemblies' own "faith based rehab" group Teen Challenge--he literally removed all state regulation of "Bible boot camps" in Texas after Teen Challenge was threatened with shutdown due to abuse and poor educational standards. (Shrub has also partnered with Mel Sembler, founder of Straight, Inc.; most of Straight, Inc.'s "daughters" have been "Bible boot camp" facilities. One better-known "Straight-daughter" is none other than Love In Action/Refuge, the infamous "degaying" center in Memphis, TN.)

Eventually, things got so bad there that the state re-regulated; however, the legacy of horror is still all too apparent (even with re-regulation, Texas still has bad problems with "Bible-based boot camps" in the state--partly because during Dubya's term as governor, Texas, Florida and Missouri were the three easiest states in the US to set up dominionist "behaviour modification centers" with almost no regulation and Texas became a haven; Florida still has a law (put in place by dominionists and signed into law by Dubya's brother Jeb) that is explicitly modeled after Texas' failed "alternative licensing" for "Bible-based boot camps" and there is evidence of the same sorts of systematic abuse in the Florida program).

At this same time Wead started promoting Bush as a potential political candidate--including to the Moonies, who have often partnered with the Assemblies on politics. (The partnership isn't based on theology--Paul Yonggi Cho and Sun Myung Moon are direct competitors in South Korea--but more based on the practical end of having similar goals of theocratising the country and eventually the world; it's for much the same reason that there are partnerships between neopente dominionist, Christian Reconstructionists and ultramontaine Catholics.)

It is not just Bush's involvement with Wead that gives smoke--a great deal of the "smoke" here is in fact *after* Bush ceased to use Wead as an advisor.

The pattern of explicit favouritism for Assemblies causes and candidates has continued throughout the entire term of Bush's presidency. Bush started writing explicitly dominionist screeds in 1999, indicating that even then he felt he was literally "God's appointed president" (in part due to explicit encouragement by Wead)--a role that was, and is, quite explicitly promoted in Assemblies churches.

It is, in fact, in this book (A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House) that gives in and of itself some damning evidence to the effect that Dubya may be a stealth neopentecostal. Firstly, he uses an explicit bit of terminology in regards to describing his claimed conversion at a Billy Graham revival:

Deliberately vague in its chronology, the book describes a man who drifted until middle age, when Billy Graham "planted a mustard seed" in his soul and helped turn his life around.

For those unfamiliar, the term "faith of a mustard seed" and "planting a mustard seed" are explicitly related to Assemblies terminology regarding word-faith and "Prosperity Gospel" theology (themselves subsets of dominion theology as taught in the Assemblies). Specifically, it is explicitly taught that "if you have even the faith of a mustard seed you can do anything", and the term "seed faith offerings" (for tithing above ten percent; often approaching fifty percent of pre-tax income) and "planting seeds of faith" ultimately stems from misuse of the parable of the mustard seed (which was telling people to have faith in God that they would endure, not that one could essentially pray one's way into the Oval Office or towards a Mercedes-Benz). It has only been in the "Assemblies family" of neopente churches that I've seen this terminology used in this manner, and the heavy use of "mustard seed analogies" in this fashion.

Another indication that Bush may be a stealth neopente is his reaction to a sermon at the UMC church he attended in Texas:

he last is a sermon he heard in January 1999 as he began his second term as governor of Texas. Taking as his text Exodus 3-4, the familiar story of how God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to free Israel, Pastor Mark Craig emphasized the way Moses initially hesitated to respond to God's call, feeling himself unworthy. Connecting this critical moment in sacred history to concerns of the present, Pastor Craig observed that America was hungry for leadership, moral courage and faith. Good men, when called, could not hesitate. This prompted Barbara Bush to inform her son: "He's talking to you."

Bush's response was attractively modest: "The pastor was, of course, talking to us all, challenging each of us to make the most of our lives."

As I had noted, Doug Wead had worked with both Bush the Elder and Bush the Younger; it's often felt in neopentecostal churches that specific sermons can be seen to be directed at specific people (which in fact they aren't)--the theology taught is that God essentially "twinges the conscience" and "moves" in regards to those people whom the sermon was "meant for" (and in fact it is felt God literally speaks through pastors to essentially chasten people who aren't "flying right"), and this is even explicitly incorporated in altar calls in Assemblies churches. (The particular UMC church is apparently a megachurch which includes traditionalist, contemporary, and "Anglican" style services; I have no idea if it is under attack by steeplejackers, but the possibility can't be denied. I've still not heard of Assemblies-style commentary of "God is talking to you, boy" as described here.)

After he was elected (or, more properly, voted in by the Supreme Court) Bush started packing in Assemblies men all around--including John Ashcroft (another "Amway Assemblies" man who was literally "annointed" in a parody of King David's coronation when appointed Attorney-General; in the senate election he lost to a dead man, the Assemblies of God is known to have contributed nearly $20,000 to his reelection campaign, and Ashcroft's father is founder of the Assemblies frontgroup Chi Alpha); Gen. William Boykin (connected with the Abu Ghraib scandal, a major leader of the invasion of the military by Assemblies-men in general, and also an Assemblies-man himself; at least one head of the Office of Faith-Based Issues; a head of the Advisory Community on Drug-Free Communities; and many others.

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, multiple charities promoted on FEMA's website were linked to the Assemblies of God, including Convoy of Hope (the Assemblies' in-house alternative to the Salvation Army and Red Cross), Dream Center of Los Angeles (an Assemblies frontgroup ultimately connected to Phoenix First Assembly), Mercy Ships, and others (a full list is included in the "Bad Guys" section of the Big List). Many of these groups are rather obscure, and in fact probably more Assemblies-linked charities were promoted than any other charity group linked to one single denomination.

Packing of the executive--and the judiciary--with Assemblies men (and women) and partnering with the Assemblies did *not* stop there. Harriet Miers was a nominee Bush presented as a potential Supreme Court justice--and Miers had extensive links with Assemblies "faith-based" groups in Texas. The pastor of the National Communities Church (a large Assemblies congregation in Washington, DC) had John Ashcroft as an attendee and also had other links to the Executive--and somehow was able to gain access to the Senate chambers and "annoint" the seats with Wesson oil in an attempt to hex the entire Senate into voting for Samuel Alito's confirmation as Supreme Court justice. At least one regional director of the Assemblies of God is also known to have not only supported Bush and Cheney's campaign in 2004 as a state RNC director but also has issued statements on CNN to the effect that non-dominionists should be considered "illegal aliens".

Not only is there a pattern of explicit favouritism towards the Assemblies, but there is extensive use of code phrases--including stuff Bush has uttered "off the record"--that indicate he may in fact actually be a neopente. In 2001, Bush used rather explicit Assemblies codewords in regards to the events of 11 September, and later in 2003 again used explicit Assemblies terminology to claim that the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan were divinely ordained; this was, notably, after Doug Wead was no longer an advisor. This is by far not the only example of Bush's extensive use of dominionist code-phrases; his second inagural speech is in fact chock full of specific terminology that has meanings ultimately tracable to Assemblies scripture-twisting. (Of note, this was after Doug Wead was no longer an advisor to the President; this was also subtantial enough in my own case to be severely triggering.)

It is apparently not just Democrats and independents who are worried--the consistent use of dominionist codewords, and very specifically codewords with origins in the "Assemblies family" of neopente churches, is enough that even some of Nixon's advisors have openly asked if the president believes in neopente theology re Armageddon. And, as it turns out, there may be very good reason to worry.

In some of Wead's tapes, it's revealed that Wead actively had to coach Bush how to moderate his already-hardline positions when talking to non-dominionists:

As eager as Mr. Bush was to cultivate the support of Christian conservatives, he did not want to do it too publicly for fear of driving away more secular voters. When Mr. Wead warned Mr. Bush to avoid big meetings with evangelical leaders, Mr. Bush said, "I'm just going to have one," and, "This is not meant to be public."
. . .
During the primary contest, Mr. Bush often sized up his dozen Republican rivals, assessing their appeal to conservative Christian voters, their treatment of him and their prospects of serving in a future Bush administration. He paid particular attention to Senator John Ashcroft. "I like Ashcroft a lot," he told Mr. Wead in November 1998. "He is a competent man. He would be a good Supreme Court pick. He would be a good attorney general. He would be a good vice president."

When Mr. Wead predicted an uproar if Mr. Ashcroft were appointed to the court because of his conservative religious views, Mr. Bush replied, "Well, tough."

(The article continues on how George W. Bush originally wanted John Ashcroft as a vice president--yes, Virginia, he could have gone even worse than Cheney.)

Even more disturbingly--and quite possibly one of the most damning bits available pointing to Dubya possibly being a stealth neopentecostal--is an off-the-record discussion with French prime minister Jacques Chirac wherein he explicitly invoked an Assemblies belief that the Antichrist was behind Saddam Hussein:

In 2003, University of Lausanne theology professor Thomas Römer received a telephone call from the Elysée. Jacques Chirac's advisers wanted to know more about Gog and Magog ... two mysterious names pronounced by George W. Bush while he was attempting to convince France to enter the war in Iraq at his side. In its September edition, the University of Lausanne's review, Allez savoir, reveals this story that could seem fantastic did it not, as Allez savoir's Editor-in-Chief Jocelyn Rochat emphasizes, reveal the religious underpinnings of Bush's policy.

Apocalyptic prophecy: Bush would have declared to Chirac that Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and that the Biblical prophecies were in the process of being fulfilled. That was several weeks before the intervention in Iraq. The French president, to whom the names of Gog and Magog meant nothing, was stupefied.

In Allez savoir, Thomas Römer details: Gog and Magog are two creatures who appear in Genesis, and especially in the most arcane chapters of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel. An apocalyptic prophecy of a global army giving final battle in Israel.

"This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins," continues Thomas Römer.

This is amazingly, amazingly damning. The particular flavour of premillenial dispensationalism popular in the Assemblies (and fictionalised in the Left Behind novels) in fact claims that Gog and Magog may be equated to Russia, and in the Assemblies variants Iran and Iraq have both been specifically mentioned as "proxies for the Antichrist" through which the armies of Satan are supposed to descend on Israel (usually via Russia in Assemblies conspiracy theory). In fact, during both Gulf War I and Gulf War II several Assemblies churches openly speculated whether Saddam Hussein was in fact the Antichrist or merely being assisted by the Antichrist.

It is also very damning evidence that Shrub is in fact a Methodist In Name Only; this particular iteration of premillenial dispensationalism has a lineage ultimately attributable to two modern sources--Hal Lindsay's "The Late, Great Planet Earth" (which was later the basis for much of Tim LaHaye's writing) and ultimately to the Scofield Reference Bibles of 1909 and 1917. (The dates are extremely important here--these were published after the basis of what would be pentecostalism, and in particular the Assemblies of God, were kicked out of the Methodist church for not "testing the fruits of the Spirit" in regards to claims of faith healings and "speaking in tongues". (There are Methodist churches that do accept speaking in tongues--but strictly in the context of someone translating and it being identifiable as an earthly tongue, as a horrified Methodist friend of mine noted when I told him of how my mom used to try to curse me in the name of Christ by smearing Wesson oil on my head and ranting in tongues.))

Many (non-steeplejacked) Methodist churches were, and still are, very much DO NOT WANT in regards to the Assemblies or anything resembling their theology--and the whole bits of "Gog and Magog marching through Iraq" is as close to core Assemblies theology as you can get. Notably, it is also an aspect that the Methodist church as a whole did not pick up.

Bush has also made some decidedly more bizarre commentary that fits in with Assemblies theology. Among other things, in a recent book titled Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush it is claimed that Bush has seen ghosts in the White House (many Assemblies members will tell you very much that they believe in ghosts--or more properly feel that they see ghosts and poltergeists but believe they are in fact evidence of Satanic influence and recommend "naming and claiming" the entire house in a neopentecostal "Wesson oil exorcism"; an evidence of the general worldview here was given in rather dramatic fashion by "Catholic Charismatic" Marguerite Perrin on "Trading Spouses" in regards to her tantrums on "gargoyles" and "slykicks"). The book also notes other things that point strongly to Bush being a Methodist In Name Only, including discussions of "crying on God's shoulder" (reportedly Bush is remarkably candid regarding his faith in the book).

I am in general a believer in the concept of "where there's smoke, there is fire, at least smoldering cinders that can catch things on fire". I do not think his claim of attendance at UMC churches is an "out", for several reasons--one of these being steeplejacking. In fact, the fact that he is not attending is more suspicious--and this is in part because of the way neopente churches, especially the Assemblies, use "cell church" and "home church" networks.

One thing to note is that the Assemblies does *not* strictly consider "church" to be, well, going to church each Sunday (or Wednesday, or whatever). Ever since the late 50's/early 60's, there has been a steadily increasing emphasis on coercive "cell church" groups--a practice now known to have been invented in the Assemblies and which has been promoted since its invention as a tactic for steeplejacking of mainstream Christian churches and for hijack of the Republican Party. A non-negligible number of Assemblies members do not attend a formal church, but instead participate via the extensive "cell church" network--and often "cell churches" are a primary method of recruitment in the Assemblies as well as maintaining control.

In fact, increasingly, Assemblies churches are actually seeing the "cell church" as the primary organisational level, with the main church body being largely an organisational level--promotional literature increasingly emphasizes the cell church over almost any other formal church body. (In other words, to an Assemblies member, "going to church" often puts the "cell church" meetings on multiple days a week--which are often very informal affairs resembling a bizarre Big Brother Tea Party--ahead of attending on Sundays.)

One particular thing that IS promoted in Assemblies churches--in particular cell-church groups linked with the FGBMFI--is encouraging people to remain as members within mainstream Christian churches (that are targets of steeplejacks) and to essentially recruit from within that church--but to keep the cell church *as the actual main body of worship*. They have also promoted cell-church tactics of this sort within business environments, etc.; the Alpha Courses are an actual course on how to set up a de facto "cell church" for purposes of recruitment (which was designed by a pastor of a steeplejacked Church of England congregation that has in fact been essentially converted into a "Brownsville Revival" church and which has very close connections with "Joel's Army" folks in the "Assemblies family" of churches (including the Assemblies itself as well as Vineyard); the explicit targeting of Episcopalian/Anglican churches by the Assemblies is becoming a serious problem in some areas, but has so far been little reported compared to IRD steeplejacks of Anglican/Episcopalian churches and FGBMFI steeplejacks of Baptist and "Catholic Charismatic" groups) in informal environments like businesses, etc.

This has, at times, also included instructions to missionaries--especially those targeting already Christian groups or in areas where it'd be politically dicey or socially dicey to do so--to *not* set up formal churches, to set up cell-churches *first*, and when the cell-church network forms a critical mass to form a church de facto. (This has been especially important in the growth of the monstrous Yoido Full Gospel church in South Korea.) They have also encouraged politically important leaders to not reveal their links straightaway, and have taken great pains at times to hide involvement in politics (The Assemblies is not stupid; I think even they realise that even a lot of Baptist dominionists are *not* going to vote for a "holy roller" president; they caught enough stuff between Ashcroft's various failed runs and James Watt's policies as EPA head to know that if there were to be an "Assemblies man" as President, they'd have to have him basically as an "Assemblies man" in a cell church in a much more mainstream congregation). This "stealthing" is not restricted to the US; Family First is well known to use the tactic in Oz (no matter that you, I, and children raised by dingos in the wildest bits of the Outback all know that Family First is a de facto political wing of the Assemblies and particularly Hillsong A/G--which is also the de facto "home church" of the Assemblies in that country) and even in Guatemala (the one country with a far more severe dominionist problem than the US), dominionist candidates (including during both dominionist coups de etat) tried to at least minimally stealth their dominionist connections until they were safely in office.

My personal two pence re Bush (based on what I've seen, and coming from this as an Assemblies walkaway)--Bush is "Methodist in name only", may well have been recruited into Assemblies stuff as early as the mid-80s, and *may* be a member of an Assemblies "cell church" within the administration itself (it'd be DAMNED hard to prove without someone squealing, but Doug Wead's tapes indicate strongly that he was acting in the general role of an Assemblies "shepherd" to Shrub from the 80's through the 90's, and Bush has shown such a favoritism to Assemblies of God stuff in particular and has used terminology that is pretty much restricted to "Assemblies family" neopente churches in such a manner that I can't help but think he is involved in either a cell group or is being "shepherded" by Assemblies folks in the administration or in dominionist groups he's partnered with).