#725: David Grisham

David Grisham, a security guard at the nuclear-bomb facility Pantex, is the leader of the quasi-militaristic Christonazi organization Repent Amarillo, a branch of the Texas Taliban whose motto is “Army of God”, a rough translation of “Hizbollah”. The group advocates the “spiritual mapping” and targeting of specific local areas and venues in order to exorcise “demons” from those areas. Of course, they generally target minorities and vulnerable or small groups, something that has earned them the well-deserved epithet “hate group”. Among their more notable actions are their protests against a small, discrete swingers group, LGBT people, abortion clinics, Muslims, Buddhists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Universalists (who “teaches that everyone is going to heaven. This calls Christ a liar. You cannot be a Christian if you call Christ a liar,” according to Repent), Unitarians (“Pagan and witchcraft headquarters for Amarillo; pagan and witchcraft celebrations and rites are performed here”), and other groups deemed “not Christian”, as well as events such as gay pride events, “Earth worship events”, “Pro-abortion events” or places such as Planned Parenthood, breast cancer events such as “Race for the Cure” (they claim that they want more focus on the – thoroughly discredited – alleged link between abortion and breast cancer), opening days of public schools to reach out to students, spring break events, “Demonically based concerts”, Halloween events, and other “events that may arise that the ministry feels called to confront.” “As Christians, we cannot stand by and watch 67,000 of our neighbors walking through the gates of hell,” states the group, and accordingly views it as their mission to forcibly stopeveryone else from doing what Grisham doesn’t think he would like to do if he got the chance. As for the swingers case, Repent set out to destroy the club through harassment after discovering its existence. On New Years eve, they showed up in military fatigues and bullhorns, blaring Christian music at the swingers’ club building, thereafter stalking the members at every following visit to the club, took video of each member, obtained the swingers’ license plates, dug through their trash, and informed neighbors and coworkers of the activities. Their tactics have frequently involved attempting to get people associated with viewpoints they don’t like fired, but since their charges often include accusations of “witchcraft” their success rate is variable. Their attempt to burn the Quran was unsuccessful as well. Their execution of Santa Claus by a firing squad was more, uh, successful, but only given certain particular criteria for success.

Grisham has also tried to run for office on a dominionist platform, asserting that “so as far as I’m concerned there is no separation of church andstate.”

In fairness, quite a few of Amarillo’s inhabitants have grown tired of the group’s antics, and the groups evangelizing outreach campaigns seem to have backlashed.

Repent Amarillo is part of  RAVEN International, headed by one Troy Bohn. Bohn takes credit for the spiritual mapping (i.e. recognizing where the evil demons lay hidden in Amarillo), and it was Bohn and RAVEN leader Alex Hill who initiated the “Adopt-a-Block” program to organize efforts to remove the demons.

Diagnosis: The group and its members resemble the groups one reads about in horror stories from parts of Africa or Afghanistan. In short, there is really absolutely nothing to distinguish this group from the Taliban or Grisham from a zealous, fundie Taliban mullah. Or a raving madman, which he is.

#621: Penna Dexter

When you come across something called the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, you can be pretty sure its purpose is not to promote ethics or religious liberty. Penna Dexter is a member of  the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and she used to be a cohost in the fundamentalist radio talkshow “Point of View” (host: Kerby Anderson). Dexter’s main concern – despite what she might, in fact, think herself – is not liberty.

Instead Dexter is extremely concerned about zeh Gays: “It's not politically correct to say so, but the greatest threat to America … today is the advancing homosexual agenda” (also here). The main problem with that statement is not that it is not politically correct; in any case, to remedy the gay situation, Dexter therefore calls on Americans like herself, who are concerned about “so many attempts to silence God's word,” to pave the way for political action with “fervent prayer,” and I suppose it would be a good thing if people like Dexter restricted themselves to prayer as a strategy but you suspect she won’t. She has also been caught blaming the suicide of homosexual teens on themselves.

Dexter’s other main schticks include the obliteration of the separation of church and state, in line with how she and people of her ilk understand “religious liberty” (i.e. not). After all, the First Amendment, the way Dexter has read it (hardly) just means that everyone has the right to be Christian. Then there is the usual anti-healthcare stuff, her admirably unambiguous position in the ongoing War on Christmas, climate change denialism (“Climate doom and gloom is a ruse to empower a world body and to spread the wealth,” case in point: “Climategate”), and exposing the liberal conspiracies that are the U.S education system, in particular universities (I won’t link to her articles on these issues; you’ll have to seek them out herself).

Diagnosis: Completely typical representative of the mass of batshit crazy nuts who makes up the Taliban alliance against reality. I suppose Dexter is not particularly influential, or particularly extreme; she is still a flailingly insane bigot, and as such dangerous.

#500: Mike Bickle

Mike Bickle, erstwhile member of the Kansas City Prophets (several of whom have later ended up in various adultery and sex-related scandals), is the leader of the International House of Prayer (IHOP-KC), which recruits young people into “radical” devotion to prayer and fasting (i.e. 24 hour praying). As such he oversees several ministries and at least one Bible school, has written a number of books, and has served as the pastor of multiple churches. He’s absolutely insane, but I guess you saw that coming.

Bickle is a hardcore dominionist who believe he is ushering in a new Christian church that will take its rightful place of dominion over every aspect of government and society, and claims to have had several encounters with God, including talking to him on a personal level on several occasions. One assumes that these conversations was what lead him to preach his premillenialism (imminent return of Jesus – but after some unfortunate incidents involving his colleagues Bickle seems to be careful to avoid setting specific dates) and pray for the spiritual salvation of the Jews of Israel. Though he is reluctant to be specific about that one (but he has claimed that the Holocaust was sent by God because the Jews refused Christ), he has been very specific about other things. In a GOD TV video about the End Times, he claimed that Oprah Winfrey will be one of the principal “pastors” of the “Harlot Babylon” (the precursor to the coming of the Antichrist), and although Winfrey is certainly responsible for much shit, this one is kinda taking the criticism in the wrong direction. Bickle predicts that progressive Christians and humanitarian activists will work with Winfrey to create a unified one-world religion based on tolerance (i.e. true tyranny, since tolerance is the same as persecuting Christians), which will ultimately be used by the Antichrist to take global power and introduce demon-worship. Bickle goes on to argue that the End Times will see marriage outlawed due to the legalization of same-sex marriage (a contradiction, but never mind): “Marriage as an institution will be forbidden in parts of the earth, as one of the signs of the times, the gay marriage agenda, which is rooted in the depths of hell, this is not about love, this is deception.” Indeed, “sexual immorality,” according to Bickle, “grants Satan legalized entry to affect our life at various levels,” and homosexuality “opens the door to the demonic realm”  – hence gays and lesbians who don’t “declare war” against their sexual orientation will face “flaming missiles of the Evil One” (like a 1st level wizard, apparently).

Bickle’s – and especially Lou Engle’s – involvement in attempts to murder homosexuals for their sexual orientation is investigated here.

Bickle is famous for being one of the main guys in Rick Perry’s prayer rally, and Perry has refused to denounce him. Cindy Jacobs credits Bickle with prophesizing 9/11.

Diagnosis: An appallingly shitty human being Bickle does his best to make the world a bad place for as many people as possible, and since relatively powerful people lend him a lot of help he has had some success.

#215: Gordon Klingenschmitt

Gordon Klingenschmitt is a former navy chaplain (removed by the Pentagon, but refuses to admit to having being thrown out), occasional columnist for WorldNetDaily, and vehemently insane. He is fanatically anti-gay and a fan of imprecatory prayer. He applied it, for instance, against Mikey Weinstein, leader of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The tone is fascinatingly old Testament: “Let their days be few, and replace them with Godly people. Plunder their fields, and seize their assets. Cut off their descendants, and remember their sins, in Jesus' name. Amen” (his second attempt is discussed here). Charming fellow, in other words.

Klingenschmitt is in fact a champion of religious freedom, but only if it is understood his way – i.e. as observing God’s first commandment. I am not sure he is a liar for Jesus as much as an ignorant moron and willful misunderstander for Jesus. He is, unsurprisingly, also a DeMar style revisionist and theocrat.

Klingenschmitt may have been thrown out of the military (as was Jim Ammerman), but people like James Linzey remain. And that is indeed cause for concern.

Diagnosis: Batshit crazy raging fundamentalist and nutjob (and Liar for Jesus). Probably too insane to be any real danger, but one never knows.

#161: Marc Grizzard

Marc Grizzard’s Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina, is renowned for their Halloween celebrations. Grizzard and his charming fellows make a big fire and burn books for Halloween (and roast chicken, apparently). But not just any books. Evil books. So they are burning Darwin and Nietzsche and SciFi and Dawkins, then? No. Grizzard and co. are burning bibles. Evil bibles: “We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect. These are perversions of God's Word, the King James Bible.” I am confident that Grizzard's mastery of Greek has been deployed to verify that the King James version is the most accurate translation.

But to create a really roaring flame they’ll not confine themselves to Bibles. They also burn “Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort, Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham Rick Warren Bill Hybels , John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, The Pope, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, etc.” Several familiar names there (the erratic punctuation is from the original).

Not content with that, they “will also be burning Satan's music such as country , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, contemporary Christian, jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.”

A good old-fashioned book-burning in other words. Charming. Grizzard is discussed here and here.

Diagnosis: Loon, but as long as he insists on shooting at the vanguard of his own lunacy movement, I won’t complain. He is completely without influence, unfortunately.

#156: Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham is Billy Graham’s son, and a loon. Now, I was a little torn about whether to include Billy himself – Billy Graham is definitely one of the more influential forces in 20th century America (though he is currently rather elderly and frail, suffering from prostate cancer and Parkinson’s, and has retired from evangelical proselytizing), and one of the very main reasons why fundamentalist, conservative bible-thumping is so widespread in the US (rather than the liberal theology common in Europe). Billy has, for instance, claimed that America’s turning away from religion and God has been one of the main reason for the current surge of violence and crime (when, of course, all research shows that crime rates have dropped markedly). Partially, of course, the fundamentalist turn was due to the need to mark the distance to the godless communists during the Cold War (a point Graham repeatedly emphasized).

But Billy is sometimes viewed as a moderate evangelist (although ‘moderate’ as used of evangelicals seems to be a category mistake by definition – Graham does accept the Bible as the infallible word of God), and has been spiritual counselor to several U.S. presidents (from Harry Truman and onwards). He has a reputation for being apolitical, but has apparently always been a registered Democrat. And his general lunacy is somewhat offset by his admittedly valiant fight for civil rights in the 50s and 60s, his fight against apartheid, and other matters. He also refused to join Falwell’s Moral Majority (though can legitimately be blamed for being responsible for the resurgence of this kind of fundamentalism), and has in general avoided speaking out on matters concerning sexual orientation and suchlike. He also apologized for his meetings with Nixon where they discussed a Jewish "stranglehold" on the media, and I have frankly no reason to think the apology was insincere.

Oh, he is delusional – the extent of his delusions is well illustrated by this one – and he must be held partially responsible for harm (his unerrant fighting for evangelicism is one thing; the upshot of unarguably mad Southern Bapitst characters – Chuck Colson springs to mind – another).

Even if we suspend judgment on Billy, however, his son, Franklin Graham, is obviously a true loon. For instance he claims that Obama is (somewhat) Muslim since his forefathers were (apparently it is a hereditary trait). In fact, all religion is inherited, according to Franklin, apart from Christianity, which you have to choose. And of course, he received some flak for his demon-possession explanation of the VA Tech, uhm, incident.

Franklin has also claimed that God sent Hurricane Katrina to destroy New Orleans because we took God out of schools, and is in general much better aligned with creatures such as Falwell or Pat Robertson.

He also claims that Islam “is a religion of hatred. It's a religion of war.” (which is admittedly plausible in the same manner as it is plausible to claim that Christianity is). Building the cultural center near Ground Zero, he says, means Muslims "will claim now that the World Trade Center property ... is Islamic land." It may be true to the same degree that Graham would probably claim that Baghdad was Christian land if they built a church there. It is still a loony argument to make.

He is also the leader of the Samaritan’s purse, a non-profit proselytizing, evangelical organization posing as a humanitarian aid organization. Franklin also possesses a healthy dose of fringe-loon persecution complex.

Alan Borass associates Franklin (but explicitly not Billy) with Christian nationalism.

Diagnosis: While the jury may be out on Billy (he’s done a lot of good, but is also at least partially to blame for the resurgence of fundamentalism), Franklin’s case is more clear cut. He is, quite simply, a wingnut and a loon. Thereby he also illustrates how easily Billy’s position ends up in bigotry and crankery.

#155.5: Bill Gothard

William W. Gothard stands to Pat Robertson roughly as Ray Comfort stands to Bill Dembski. He is a minister, writer, and speaker, and the founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBPL).

A staunch defender of homeschooling (to avoid having kids exposed to, you know, such satanic values as tolerance, truth, dignity, rationality, reason, sanity, evidence-based justification, sympathy, humanism and reality), Gothard and his organization publishes homeschooling material (such as “Men’s Manual” and “Our Jealous God”). Gothard’s teachings prohibit dating and rock music (including Christian rock, which is a redeeming feature, I guess, but hardly sufficient to take his name off the loon list). On the other hand, women working outside the home are characterized as “evil”. He also has a slightly curious obsession with certain toys (Cabbage Patch dolls can cause “strange, destructive behavior"). Matthew Murray was raised using Gothard’s curriculum, and he got famous. Other people who have been associated with his organization are “Taliban Dan” Webster and Sarah Palin, though the latter’s connection is admittedly a little tenuous.

To top it, Gothard claims that diseases have spiritual roots, and modern medicine is Satan’s work. You can read more about Gothard’s teachings here.

Diagnosis: The cartoon version of Pat Robertson, cultmaster Bill Gothard is so irredeemably insane that it is hard to believe he is real. Yet he is, and he continues to ensure that people’s lives are ruined at a frighteningly rapid pace. A real threat to sanity and civilization.

#121: Joe Ellison

Another minor and eminently forgettable figure, Ellison is the vice president of the Council on Spiritual Principles, Richmond VA, whose main claim to fame is his endorsement of Pat Robertson’s explanation for the Haiti earthquake (he claimed to speak as “an emissary of the black community): "I know his comments angered a lot of the so-called, in my opinion, liberals […]. From a spiritual standpoint, we think the Dr. Robertson was on target about Haiti, in the past, with voodoo. And we believe in the Bible that the practice of voodoo is a sin, and what caused the nation to suffer. Those who read the Bible and study the history know that what Dr. Robertson said was the truth." As far as I can see, there are some hidden premises in that inference that remain, shall we say, unsubstantiated.

Ellison is also “declaring war against Planned Parenthood,” pointing out that “[w]e’re asking pastors to shut them down in the community. We’re asking pastors to pray them out. And we’re asking Planned Parenthood to leave our children alone”.

Diagnosis: Completely unhinged, of course, in a very predictable way. His influence is probably limited, but he seems pretty zealous.

#101: Randy Demain

Randy Demain is seemingly one of ordinary daily life’s amiable, calm and nice guys (well, I imagine that he is). But when he dons his True Christian™ suit he obeys the word of God and … raises the dead. That’s what he claims, literally. He just walks up to a corpse, tells it to get up, and – woosh – up it pops and starts walking around. Apparently Randy does this all the time. To some it seems baffling for some reason, but the whole thing is apparently really easy.

So can he back up his claims? Oh yes. You see, he can tell at least two stories – curiously both took place in Africa –when he raised a woman and a baby from the dead. He admits that it is harder to do it in the West, presumably because westernized Christians have adjusted themselves to a demystified worldview or something, but he encourages all true Christians to give it a try.

The utterly insane bloggers at endtimespropheticwords think Demain is a false prophet. However, I am not sure they count as the voice of reason even in this matter.

His website is here. Demain has also written (at least) the book “Dominion Surges", which, according to the product description “is an equipping manual for mobilizing the body of Christ into an offensive posture, restoring in us a sense of dominion and power over the enemy.”

Diagnosis: Utterly, irrevocably, completely insane; the kind of person you may encounter in an asylum who appears jovial and sane until he opens his mouth. He’s probably harmless, though.

#95: Kimberly Daniels

In a previous post we mentioned Daniel Cameroon and his campaign against Easter eggs. Cameroon was a spoof, however. Christian Broadcasting network’s Kimberly Daniels is not, and though her selected target is Halloween rather than Easter her screed is frighteningly redolent of Cameroon’s. CBN took down the original article after public responses made the responsible people dimly aware that it was perceived as kinda silly – it can still be found here, though.

Daniels asserts that "most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches" and informs us that she does “not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store.” Apparently what goes on behind the scenes of the Halloween celebrations includes (but is not limited to):
- Sex with demons
- Orgies between animals and humans
- Animal and human sacrifices
- Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
- Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
- Revel nights
- Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
- Release of "time-released" curses against the innocent and the ignorant.

Daniels’s official website is here.

Daniels tours the country in a 30-foot Winnebago dubbed "The Demon Buster" as she teaches others about deliverance ministry and performs Christian rap music to bring deliverance to homosexuals, HIV/AIDS victims, drug addicts and convicted felons (she has also written a slew of books, including ”Delivered to Destiny” and ” Clean House, Strong House: A practical guide to understanding spiritual warfare, demonic strongholds and deliverance”); a biography can be found here. A more objective assessment is here.

She is viciously anti-gay and points out that Obama, by supporting equal rights, is clearly not a Christian

Diagnosis: As unhinged as it is possible to become; utterly, irrevocably lost to sanity and reason. More entertaining than dangerous, though.

She operates with her husband, Ardell Daniels, who isn’t a single notch better than she is.

#88: John Crowder

Crowder is the leader of The New Mystics, who believe that people should be "drunk on the holy spirit" and therefore basically act like morons all the time. Here’s a brief introduction.

For a more thorough introduction, you can suffer through the whole ecstasy of God series.

Their website is here. Among Crowder’s associates are his wife (I think) Lily, and the incorrigibly idiotic Benjamin & Stephanie Dunn (“junkies for the word of God”), and Dave Vaughan (of the New Ecstatics). The equally insane people at Deceptionbytes (C. Peter Wagner and Chuck Pierce?) think it is blasphemous, of course.

Diagnosis: Back slowly away. By following these links you’ll enter an almost endless maze of worm-pits of delusion and insanity. These people are scary, and influential enough (I assume) to be considered dangerous. This one sums it up nicely.

#40: Caleb Lee Brundidge

Caleb Lee Brundidge is a self-professed former gay man who conducts sessions to “heal homosexuality”, and an associate of the slightly weird ex-gay guru Richard Cohen. He is also involved in the gay treatment organization Exodus (also here).

In fact, he is also involved in the ministry Extreme Prophetic (lead by one Patricia King), which even among the most extreme fanatics is considered “fringe”. According to their website:

“Raising the dead has always been a mandate of the church. Jesus commissioned us to go in His name and preach the good news of the Kingdom. He then went on to explain, that includes healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Our evangelism teams, led by Caleb Brundidge and Melissa Fisher recently grabbed hold of this and went out to practice raising the dead.”

I guess evidence that curing homosexuality tends to fail and is morally problematic would not necessarily make much of an impact on Brundidge’s brain.

His most egregious crime against humanity must presumably be his involvement with monster Scott Lively in the events leading up to the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill. He claimed that he felt duped, but there is little doubt that the group was using rhetoric implying that criminalizing homosexuality would be exactly what they want (though given Brundidge tenuous hold on reality his grasp of cause and effect may be relatively poor as well).

Diagnosis: That this guy has any influence whatsoever is quite simply appalling. He’s your standard high-ranking cult member with virtually no connection to reality whatsoever. Completely mad.

#6: Steven Anderson

Our sixth loon, Steven Anderson, is a rather frightening one.

An Arizona-based pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church, Anderson is famous for sermons where he fervently prays (and asks his congregation to pray) for the death and eternal torment of people who disagree with him (mostly president Obama, democrats and gays), including urging his congregation to murder his enemies (i.e. gays and liberals). Strong advocate of Old Testament morality (“God didn’t change his mind”) but oblivious to the cognitive dissonance it brings with it. No qualms about lying about his opponents. Convinced that gays are currently bringing an end to America (and that liberals are really disguised gays – Anderson has several ad hominem arguments of the kind ‘x says p; x is a liberal; hence x is gay, hence p is false, a lie and part of a scheme to bring down America’).

Discussed here, for instance:
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2009/08/gospel-of-hate-arizona-pastor-steve.html

and here: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/08/fred_phelps_jr_steven_anderson.php

Diagnosis: Deranged, vile and very possibly clinically insane. Fred Phelps wannabe. Very dangerous to the extent that some of his (presumably relatively small) congregation might actually do what he tells them to do.