Onward Christian Supremacists

I've long suspected that white supremacy is linked with some of the overt evangelizing of military members by fundamentalist Christian chaplains, so this story by Chris Rodda is no suprise. Mikey Weinstein spoke at CFI-West about two years ago. In the question and answer session, I asked him if MRFF had received any reports of this type of activity. He gave me a rather vague reply, indicating that either he did not know or could not talk about the matter. In continuing to investigate Gordon Klingenschmitt, Chris Rodda ran across his chaplain endorsing agency while he served in the Navy.

The other was to post a very strange disclaimer on his website, in which he called Lynn and Weinstein "bone-heads," and defended his right to call himself "Chaplain," stating that he has a current endorsement as a "Chaplain and Evangelist to America" from the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC). It was this statement that led MRFF to take a closer look at the CFGC, a chaplain endorsing agency headed by retired Army colonel and chaplain Jim Ammerman, and authorized by the Department of Defense to provide the ecclesiastical endorsement required by the military for all military chaplains, with several hundred of its chaplains currently serving in all branches of the military.

Right off the bat, MRFF found the expected stuff -- which alone provides ample reason to demand that the DoD to revoke the chaplain endorsing authority of Jim Ammerman and the CFGC.

CFGC should be disqualified as an endorsing agency because of its repeated denigration of all other religions and Christian denominations that aren't Charismatic or Pentecostal, which is completely contrary to Department of Defense Instruction Number 1304.28.

The CFGC is the endorser for approximately two hundred chaplains. This endorser openly denigrates other Christians, Jews, Muslims, and the non-religious. The CFGC also advocates crazy conspiracy theories and the armed overthrow of the United States government. There is even a current chaplain, Army Major James F. Linzey, who is a member of something called the Prophecy Club. This website seems to be some sort of money making site, consisting mainly of ads for videos and their magazine.

Maj. Linzey has made several videos in the past for the Prophecy Club and Jim Ammerman, his endorser. One video is called "Imminent Military Takeover of the U.S.A." showed by militia groups in the 1990's, and another is a radio interview for a show called The Edge.

Maj. Linzey also went into all the conspiracy theory stuff about the "masonic, Illuminati wackos" who have gotten into government office by deception, and the 9-11 conspiracy theory stuff, but it's his statements inciting the taking up of arms against the government that are most disturbing.

Linzey first talked about his "friend, Jim Gilcrest, who's heading up the Minuteman Project," promoting the group with statements like this:

"I'm trying to avoid saying we need to take up arms and go take care of it ourselves, but it appears that we might be needing to head this way."

He also promoted militias in general because there will be "blood bath" when the "invasion from the south" and battle with foreign U.N. forces and the Chinese in the U.S. commences.

"I suggest that Americans get their arms to be ready to defend themselves and their own homes when they come knocking on your door, demanding your food, demanding your money, and raping your wives. The U.N. troops will be here to start patrolling the cities, the streets, the highways, and we will be under, basically, European rule."

Among his other fear-mongering claims are that there are detention camps already set up by the U.S. government for "patriots" who won't go along with the government's agenda, that these detention camps are equipped with facilities to kill the detainees by gassing the "patriots," and that the government already has a list of the "patriots."

This radio show is also one where Maj. Linzey directly stated that his military chaplain endorser Jim Ammerman knows exactly what he's out there doing.

When the interviewer asked Linzey:

"If what you are saying is true, wouldn't the government -- if the government is any way culpable to some of these events -- wouldn't they want to not have you, say go on a speaking tour or anywhere else, or even be on this show?

Linzey responded:

"Would they not want me to? Well, you know, probably not. Now -- but that doesn't matter. As long as I'm abiding within the law, I can say that I'm speaking as Jim Linzey, not in my official capacity as an officer or military chaplain, then I prefaced it right, and I can proceed. And Col. Jim Ammerman -- he's my endorser -- and he knows exactly what I'm doing, and, so, that's it."

But, of course, Jim Ammerman would approve of what Maj. Linzey is spewing. Ammerman's own "Imminent Military Takeover of the U.S.A." video contains the same kind of seditious incitement, which, no doubt, accounts for its popularity among militia groups.

The Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches should be removed as an endorser for the United Stated military forces. How can an association which advocates sedition and crazy conspiracy theories and associates with the militia groups associated with violence be allowed to place chaplains within the US military? These chaplains obviously support these ideas since they are endorsed by this agency.

I'm not surprised by the link between fundamentalist, usually Pentecostal churches and militia groups. I grew up in Louisiana, in the Deep South, where these links have historically been much more overt. Growing up in a small town, I learned which families were usually members of the Klan and milita groups. Not surprisingly, these families were usually involved in very fundamentalist, Christian churches, usually Baptist and Pentecostal (usually all-white Assemblies of God churches). Nowadays, non-denominational churches have joined the fun. I don't think that his has changed much in the 25 years I have been away.

Update:

Not surprisingly Ammerman is a part of the New Apostolic Reformation.

Colonel "Jim" Ammerman was listed as being an apostle in C. Peter Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles [see ICA prospectus] from the organization's inception in 2001 through to December 2008. The ICA is one of the main entities in Wagner's New Apostolic Reformation, a movement rapidly coalescing out of the Apostolic networks that have arisen in Third Wave Christianity.

This type of Christianity is highly emotional and irrational.