Rick Perry’s Cult Problem: What Is His Connection to the New Apostolic Reformation, a Powerful End-Times Cult Seeking World Dominion?

Is Mormonism a cult? Earlier this month, Rev. Robert Jeffress, a surrogate for Rick Perry, made headlines when he declared that it was. Pundits on both sides have also said so. Fox News host Mike Huckabee described Mormonism as a “satanic cult” when he ran for president in the 2008 GOP primaries. On the left, Bill Maher endorsed Jeffress’ view during an interview with him on Maher’s HBO show Friday night.

But if the Mormon Church is a cult, what would you call a small but powerful evangelical faction that believes in demons and witches, that performs exorcisms on a regular basis and whose belief that apocalypse is nigh compels them to overthrow national governments worldwide through “spiritual warfare” and replace them all with a single, global Iranian-style theocracy, with themselves in charge?

These are, in fact, the beliefs and objectives of the New Apostolic Reformation, a dominionist, end-times cult to which both Rick Perry and Sarah Palin have very public ties.

Even if the New Apostolic Reformation’s vaguely wonkish-sounding name is unfamiliar to you, you may know the NAR by its acts. In early August, for example, just days before he entered the presidential race, you probably remember that Rick Perry hosted a day-long prayer rally in Houston. What you may not know is that Alice Patterson — a prominent NAR writer and speaker who once called the Democratic Party a “demonic structure” — helped Perry organize the event. The rally was branded as “The Response,” apparently in answer to a series of similar NAR prayer rallies known as “The Call,” and the line up of preachers and prophets on stage that day was over-represented by high-profile NAR speakers.

You may also recall that during the 2008 presidential campaign, a video surfaced showing Sarah Palin, then the Republican vice presidential nominee and governor of Alaska, taking part years earlier in a religious ritual in which a Kenyan preacher prayed for her protection from the powers of witchcraft. The preacher was Thomas Muthee, an NAR leader known in his home country for his work in hunting down witches. (NAR is very active in Africa. In fact, the “kill the gays” movement in Uganda’s government had its genesis in a visit from an NAR evangelist from the United States.)

In the run-up to Perry’s rally, a series of bizarre-sounding quotes from his NAR associates made the rounds. One NAR preacher has claimed that Oprah was inhabited by the demonic spirit of the Whore of Babylon. Another said that a sudden mass death of a flock of birds in Arkansas was a sign of God’s displeasure with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a law that was advocated by Pres. Bill Clinton, a native Arkansan.

Video of the NAR’s founder, C. Peter Wagner, explaining how Japan’s financial woes are a result of a state Shinto ritual in which every newly crowned emperor has sex with the Sun Goddess became a YouTube sensation. (Wagner’s wife, Doris, a leading expert on demons, is the author of “How to Cast Out Demons.”)

Aside from all this silliness, however, NAR’s political ambitions are clear and unambiguously anti-democratic. At its core, it is an end-times cult. Its followers believe it is their mission to pave the way for the return of Jesus by taking down national governments around the world and replacing them with a global theocracy. To accomplish this, they have begun a campaign to claim dominion over the “seven mountains” of society: the home: the church; schools; government and politics; the media; arts, entertainment and sports; and commerce, science and technology.

“Politics and government” is particularly interesting given Rick Perry’s presidential ambitions. So what is his relationship with the NAR?

NAR founder C. Peter Wagner, for one, claims not to have a clue. In an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air” earlier this month, host Terry Gross asked Wagner about Perry’s ties to his cult. Wagner responded, “I wish somebody would ask Rick Perry how much he knew about [the NAR’s quest for dominion over government] before he invited Alice to help organize [The Response].”

Here is a transcript of the exchange between Gross and Wagner about Perry’s connection, or lack thereof, to the NAR. Notice how expertly Wagner deflects any knowledge of the facts, a clear case of plausible deniability, if there ever was one. (You can find additional excerpts from the interview here, at the Fresh Air website.)

Rough Transcript from about 08:15 in the interview:

TERRY GROSS: [Another] thing that has brought you into the news was Rick Perry’s prayer rally, The Response, that was held in August. And, ah, you and your wife Doris had endorsed the prayer rally, and then seemed to maybe withdraw your endorsement, so just clarify this for us — did you endorse it, did you withdraw your endorsement?

C. PETER WAGNER: We, yeah —

GROSS: — Go ahead.

WAGNER: We endorsed it. We did not withdraw our endorsement. We were present in the audience. We did not have any platform position, but we were there for the whole thing.

GROSS; Okay. And Texas Monthly reported that eight members of the rally’s leadership team are affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation, including Alice Patterson, Don Pinto, Mike Bickle and Doug Stringer. Alice Patterson is an apostle in the movement. She was on stage with Rick Perry when he spoke, and she helped mobilize supporters for the rally. She said that the Democratic Party is a “demon structure,” and she figured that out while listening to Chuck Pierce speak. And Chuck Pierce is the person who replaced you after you retired as president of Global Harvest Ministries. Anyway, so Rick Perry was sharing — she was next to Rick Perry when he spoke at his rally. Is Rick Perry’s connection to the apostles an indication that he approves of your work, and is your endorsement of him an indication that endorse him as well as a presidential candidate?

WAGNER: Now that’s a very good question, Terry. I know Alice well. But when Doris and I got — we didn’t know about the prayer rally — we didn’t know about the — who would be on the stage at the Response. But we were there. And I was very surprised that so many of the platform participants would fit under the New Apostolic Reformation template. The names you named would be very correct. This was a surprise to me. But then, to get to Alice’s book — I read Alice’s book, and I think her general thrust is fine. I personally would not endorse each one of her statements, and especially the statement about the Democratic Party being demonized*, uh, anymore than the Republican Party has been — I mean, I believe there’s a lot demonic control over Congress in general that needs to be dispersed. And how she got that from Chuck Pierce I don’t know because Chuck is also a very good friend of mine — Chuck — because he’s a prophet, he speaks in language that different people interpret differently. So, yes, I’ve seen her quote in some of the, ah, writings on the NAR, but I would not endorse that statement.

GROSS: So, um, I can’t presume to speak for Rick Perry or know what he believes or know his relationship to the New Apostolic Reformation, but how do you interpret it that the rally was organized in part by people affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation and that, you know, several of them were represented on stage with him, including standing next to him when he spoke. How do you interpret that in terms of what Rick Perry’s connection is with the New Apostolic Reformation?

WAGNER: Now I — I don’t know Rick Perry personally so I can only surmise because that question kept running through my mind as well. My suspicion is that when Rick Perry arrived at the Response, he had never heard of the New Apostolic Reformation. The only thing is that he is a governor who believes in prayer. And so not only will he call large prayer rallies like the Response, but he will also, from time to time, have people pray for him personally. One of the people who has prayed for Rick Perry personally has been Alice Patterson, and so they bonded to the extent that when Rick said, “Let’s have a prayer rally. Alice, would you mind organizing it?” And she said yes — that was with no previous knowledge that there was any such thing as the New Apostolic Reformation on his part.

GROSS: But at the same time, Alice Patterson is one of the people who — her mission is to bring the views of the New Apostolic Reformation into government. Correct me if I’m wrong.

WAGNER: That’s right. No, you’re right.

GROSS: So it’s interesting that she should be praying with Rick Perry.

WAGNER: It’s very interesting. And what it shows is that Rick Perry is a political figure that strongly believes in prayer — that, well, I can’t say more strongly than others but as strong as some.

GROSS: He strongly believes in prayer and is also connecting himself with somebody who wants to bring the views of the New Apostolic Reformation into government. And he is a government leader who wants to run for president.

WAGNER: I wish somebody would ask Rick Perry how much he knew about what you just said before he invited Alice to help organize it.

GROSS: So, um, in this respect, in terms of making inroads into government, would Rick Perry’s prayer rally from August be considered by people in the New Apostolic Reformation as something of a victory?

WAGNER: Yes.

*The NAR does not use the term “demon possessed” because, they say, it implies humans have no will power over demons. They have appropriated the formulation “demonization” to mean “possessed by demons.”