By Forrest Wilder, Texas Observer

On September 28, 2009, at 1:40 p.m., God's messengers visited Rick Perry.On
this day, the Lord's messengers arrived in the form of two Texas pastors, Tom Schlueter of Arlington and Bob Long of San Marcos, who called on Perry in the governor's office inside the state Capitol.
Schlueter and Long both oversee small congregations, but they are more
than just pastors. They consider themselves modern-day apostles and
prophets, blessed with the same gifts as Old Testament prophets or New
Testament apostles.The pastors told Perry
of God's grand plan for Texas. A chain of powerful prophecies had
proclaimed that Texas was "The Prophet State," anointed by God to lead
the United States into revival and Godly government. And the governor
would have a special role.The day before the meeting, Schlueter had received a prophetic message from Chuck Pierce,
an influential prophet from Denton, Texas. God had apparently commanded
Schlueter -- through Pierce -- to "pray by lifting the hand of the one I show
you that is in the place of civil rule."Gov. Perry, it seemed.Schlueter
had prayed before his congregation: "Lord Jesus I bring to you today
Gov. Perry. ... I am just bringing you his hand and I pray Lord that he
will grasp ahold of it. For if he does you will use him mightily."And
grasp ahold the governor did. At the end of their meeting, Perry asked
the two pastors to pray over him. As the pastors would later recount,
the Lord spoke prophetically as Schlueter laid his hands on Perry, their
heads bowed before a painting of the Battle of the Alamo. Schlueter "declared over [Perry] that there was a leadership role beyond Texas and
that Texas had a role beyond what people understand," Long later told
his congregation.So you have to wonder: Is Rick Perry God's man for president?

Schlueter,
Long and other prayer warriors in a little-known but increasingly
influential movement at the periphery of American Christianity seem to
think so. The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation.
Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles. They have
taken Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on ecstatic worship and the
supernatural, and given it an adrenaline shot.The movement's top
prophets and apostles believe they have a direct line to God. Through
them, they say, He communicates specific instructions and warnings. When
mankind fails to heed the prophecies, the results can be catastrophic:
earthquakes in Japan, terrorist attacks in New York, and economic
collapse. On the other hand, they believe their God-given decrees have
ended mad cow disease in Germany and produced rain in drought-stricken
Texas.Their beliefs can tend toward the bizarre. Some consider
Freemasonry a "demonic stronghold" tantamount to witchcraft. The
Democratic Party, one prominent member believes, is controlled by
Jezebel and three lesser demons. Some prophets even claim to have seen
demons at public meetings. They've taken biblical literalism to an
extreme. In Texas, they engage in elaborate ceremonies involving branding irons, plumb lines and stakes inscribed with biblical passages driven into the earth of every Texas county.If
they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn't be
remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so
potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and
government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians -- certain
Christians -- are destined to not just take "dominion" over government, but
stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the "Seven
Mountains" of society, including the media and the arts and
entertainment world. They believe they're intended to lord over it all.
As a first step, they're leading an "army of God" to commandeer civilian
government.In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual. In all the media attention surrounding
Perry's flirtation with a run for the presidency, the governor's
budding relationship with the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation
movement has largely escaped notice. But perhaps not for long. Perry has
given self-proclaimed prophets and apostles leading roles in The Response, a much-publicized Christians-only prayer rally that Perry is organizing at Houston's Reliant Stadium on Aug. 6.The
Response has engendered widespread criticism of its deliberate blurring
of church and state and for the involvement of the American Family
Association, labeled a "hate group"
by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its leadership's homophobic and
anti-Muslim statements. But it's the involvement of New Apostolic
leaders that's more telling about Perry's convictions and campaign
strategy.Eight members of The Response "leadership team" are
affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation movement. They're employed
or associated with groups like TheCall or the International House of
Prayer (IHOP), Kansas City-based organizations at the forefront of the
movement. The long list of The Response's official endorsers -- posted
on the event's website -- reads like a Who's Who of the
apostolic-prophetic crowd, including movement founder C. Peter Wagner.In a recent interview with the Observer,
Schlueter explained that The Response is divinely inspired. "The
government of our nation was basically founded on biblical principles,"
he says. "When you have a governmental leader call a time of fasting and
prayer, I believe that there has been a significant shift in our
understanding as far as who is ultimately in charge of our nation -- which
we believe God is."Perry certainly knows how to speak the
language of the new apostles. The genesis of The Response, Perry says,
comes from the Book of Joel, an obscure slice of the Old Testament
that's popular with the apostolic crowd."With the economy in
trouble, communities in crisis and people adrift in a sea of moral
relativism, we need God's help," Perry says in a video message
on The Response website. "That's why I'm calling on Americans to pray
and fast like Jesus did and as God called the ,Israelites to do in the
Book of Joel."The reference to Joel likely wasn't lost on Perry's
target audience. Prominent movement leaders strike the same note. Lou
Engle, who runs TheCall, told a Dallas-area Assemblies of God congregation in April that "His answer in times of crisis is Joel 2."Mike
Bickle, a jock-turned-pastor who runs the International House of Prayer
in Kansas City, a sort of command headquarters and university for young
End Times enthusiasts, taught a 12-part series on Joel last year. The
Book of Joel describes a crippling drought and economic crisis -- sound
familiar? -- in the land of Judah. The calamities, in Joel's time and ours,
are "sent by God to cause a wicked, oppressive, and rebellious nation
to repent," Bickle told his students.To secure God's blessing, Joel commands the people to gather in "sacred assembly" to pray, fast, and repent.More
ominously, Bickle teaches that Joel is an "instruction manual" for the
imminent End Times. It is "essential to help equip people to be prepared
for the unique dynamics occurring in the years leading up to Jesus'
return," he has said.The views espoused by Bickle, Engle and
other movement leaders occupy the radical fringe of Christian
fundamentalism. Their beliefs may seem bizarre even to many conservative
evangelicals. Yet Perry has a knack for finding the forefront of
conservative grassroots. Prayer warriors, apostles and prophets are
filled with righteous energy and an increasing appetite for power in the
secular political world. Their zeal and affiliation with charismatic
independent churches, the fastest-growing subset of American
Christianity, offers obvious benefits for Perry if he runs for
president.    There are enormous political risks, too. Mainstream
voters may be put off by the movement's extreme views or discomfited by
talk of self-proclaimed prophets "infiltrating" government.Catherine
Frazier, a spokesperson for the governor's office, wouldn't respond to
specific questions but wrote in an email, "The Response event is about
coming together in prayer to seek wisdom and guidance from God to the
challenges that confront our nation. That is where the governor's focus
is, and he welcomes those that wish to join him in this common cause."For
the moment, Perry's relationship with the New Apostles is little known.
Few in Texas GOP circles say they've ever heard of them. "I wish I
could help you," said Steve Munisteri, the state Republican Party chair. "I've never even heard of that movement.""For the most part I
don't know them," said Cathie Adams, former head of the Texas Eagle
Forum and a veteran conservative activist.Nonetheless, Perry may
be counting on apostles and prophets to help propel him to the White
House. And they hope Perry will lead them out of the wilderness into the
promised land.Listen closely to Perry's recent public statements
and you'll occasionally hear him uttering New Apostle code words. In
June, Perry defended himself against Texas critics on Fox News, telling host Neil Cavuto that "a prophet is generally not loved in their hometown."It
seemed an odd comment. It's the rare politician who compares himself to
a prophet, and many viewers likely passed it off as a flub. But to the
members of a radical new Christian movement, the remark made perfect
sense. The phrase "New Apostolic Reformation"
comes from the movement's intellectual godfather, C. Peter Wagner, who
has called it, a bit vaingloriously, "the most radical change in the way
of doing Christianity since the Protestant Reformation."Boasting
aside, Wagner is an important figure in evangelical circles. He helped
formulate the "church growth" model, a blueprint for worship that helped
spawn modern mega-churches and international missions. In the 1990s, he
turned away from the humdrum business of "harvesting souls" in
mega-churches and embarked on a more revolutionary project.He
began promoting the notion that God is raising up modern-day prophets
and apostles vested with extraordinary authority to bring about social
transformation and usher in the Kingdom of God.In 2006, Wagner published Apostles Today: Biblical Government for Biblical Power,
in which he declared a "Second Apostolic Age." The first age had
occurred after Jesus' biblical resurrection, when his apostles traveled
Christendom spreading the gospel. Commissioned by Jesus himself, the 12
apostles acted as His agents. The second apostolic age, Wagner
announced, began "around the year 2001."
"Apostles," he wrote, "are the generals in the army of God."One
of the primary tasks of the new prophets and apostles is to hear God's
will and then act on it. Sometimes this means changing the world
supernaturally. Wagner tells of the time in October 2001 when, at a huge
prayer conference in Germany, he "decreed that mad cow disease would
come to an end in Europe and the UK." As it turned out, the last
reported case of human mad cow disease had occurred the day before. "I
am not implying that I have any inherent supernatural power," Wagner
wrote. "I am implying that when apostles hear the word of God clearly
and when they decree His will, history can change."Claims of such
powers are rife among Wagner's followers. Cindy Jacobs -- a self-described "respected prophet" and Wagner protégée who runs a Dallas-area group
called Generals International -- claims to have predicted the recent
earthquakes in Japan. "God had warned us that shaking was coming," she wrote in Charisma
magazine, an organ for the movement. "This doesn't mean that it was His
desire for it to happen, but more of the biblical fulfillment that He
doesn't do anything without first warning through His servants."There is, of course, a corollary to these predictive abilities: Horrible things happen when advice goes unheeded.Last
year Jacobs warned that if America didn't return to biblical values and
support Israel, God would cause a "tumbling of the economy and dark
days will come," according to Charisma. To drive the point
home, Jacobs and other right-wing allies -- including The Response
organizers Lou Engle and California pastor Jim Garlow -- organized a 40-day "Pray and Act" effort in the lead-up to the 2010 elections.Unlike
other radical religious groups, the New Apostles believe political
activism is part of their divine mission. "Whereas their spiritual
forefathers in the Pentecostal movement would have eschewed involvement
in politics, the New Apostles believe they have a divine mandate to
rescue a decaying American society," said Margaret Poloma, a practicing
Pentecostal and professor of sociology at the University of Akron. "Their apostolic vision is to usher in the Kingdom of God.""Where does God stop and they begin?" she asks. "I don't think they know the difference."Poloma
is one of the few academics who has closely studied the apostolic
movement. It's largely escaped notice, in part, because it lacks the
traditional structures of either politics or religion, says Rachel
Tabachnick, a researcher who has covered the movement extensively for Talk2Action.org, a left-leaning site that covers the religious right."It's
fairly recent and it just doesn't fit into people's pre-conceived
notions," she says. "They can't get their head around something that
isn't denominational."The movement operates through a loose but
interlocking array of churches, ministries, councils and seminaries -- many
of them in Texas. But mostly it holds together through the friendships
and alliances of its prophets and apostles.The Response itself
seems patterned on TheCall, day-long worship and prayer rallies usually
laced with anti-gay and anti-abortion messages.  TheCall -- also the name
of a Kansas City-based organization -- is led by Lou Engle, an apostle who
looks a bit like Mr. Magoo and has the unnerving habit of rocking back
and forth while shouting at his audience in a raspy voice. (Engle is
also closely associated with the International House of Prayer, Mike
Bickle's 24/7 prayer center in Kansas City.) Engle frequently mobilizes
his followers in the service of earthly causes, holding raucous prayer
events in California to help pass Prop 8, the anti-gay marriage
initiative, and making an appearance in Uganda last year to lend aid
to those trying to pass a law that would have imposed the death penalty
on homosexuals. But Engle's larger aim is Christian control of
government."The church's vocation is to rule history with God,"
he has said. "We are called into the very image of the Trinity himself,
that we are to be His friends and partners for world dominion.""It
sounds so fringe but yet it's not fringe," Tabachnick says. "They've
been working with Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Sam
Brownback, and now Rick Perry. ... They are becoming much more
politically noticeable."Some of the fiercest critics of the New
Apostolic Reformation come from within the Pentecostal and charismatic
world. The Assemblies of God Church, the largest organized Pentecostal
denomination, specifically repudiated
self-proclaimed prophets and apostles in 2000, calling their creed a "deviant teaching" that could rapidly "become dictatorial, presumptuous,
and carnal."Assemblies authorities also rejected the notion that
the church is supposed to assume dominion over earthly institutions,
labeling it "unscriptural triumphalism."The New Apostles talk
about taking dominion over American society in pastoral terms. They
refer to the "Seven Mountains" of society: family, religion, arts and
entertainment, media, government, education, and business. These are the
nerve centers of society that God (or his people) must control.Asked
about the meaning of the Seven Mountains, Schlueter says, "God's
kingdom just can't be expressed on Sunday morning for two hours. God's
kingdom has to be expressed in media and government and education. It's
not like our goal is to have a Bible on every child's desk. That's not
the goal. The goal is to hopefully have everyone acknowledge that God's
in charge of us regardless."But climbing those mountains sounds a
little more specific on Sunday mornings. Schlueter has bragged to his
congregation of meetings with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, state Sen. Brian
Birdwell, and the Arlington City Council. He recently told a church in Victoria
that state Rep. Phil King, a conservative Republican from Weatherford,
had allowed him to use King's office at the Capitol to make calls and
organize."We're going to influence it," Schlueter told his
congregation. "We're going to infiltrate it, not run from it. I know why
God's doing what he's doing ... He's just simply saying, 'Tom I've
given you authority in a governmental authority, and I need you to
infiltrate the governmental mountain. Just do it, it's no big deal.' I
was talking with [a member of the congregation] the other day. She's
going to start infiltrating. A very simple process. She's going to join
the Republican Party, start going to all their meetings. Some [members]
are already doing that." Doug Stringer, a relatively low-profile apostle,
is one of the movement's more complex figures -- and one of the few people
associated with The Response who returned my calls. His assignment for
The Response: mobilizing the faithful from around the nation. Though
he's friendly with the governor and spoke
at the state GOP convention, Stringer says he's a political
independent, "morally conservative" but with a "heart for social
justice."Stringer runs Somebody Cares America, a nonprofit
combining evangelism with charitable assistance to the indigent and
victims of natural disasters. In 2009, Perry recognized Stringer in his
State of the State address for his role in providing aid to Texans
devastated by Hurricane Ike.Stringer's message is that The
Response will be apolitical, non-partisan, even ecumenical. The goal, he
says, is to "pray for personal repentance and corporate repentance on
behalf of the church, not against anybody else."I ask him about
his involvement with the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network, which is
overseen by Schlueter. Six of the nine people listed as network "advisors" are involved in The Response, including Stringer, Cindy
Jacobs and Waco pastor Ramiro Peña. The Texas group is part of a larger
50-state network of prophets, apostles and prayer intercessors called
the Heartland Apostolic Network, which itself overlaps with the
Reformation Prayer Network run by Jacobs. The Texas Apostolic Prayer
Network is further subdivided into sixteen regions, each with its own
director.Some of these groups' beliefs and activities will be
startling, even to many conservative evangelicals. For example, in 2010
Texas prayer warriors visited every Masonic lodge in the state
attempting to cast out the demon Baal, whom they believe controls
Freemasonry. At each site, the warriors read a decree -- written in legalese -- divorcing Baal from the "People of God" and recited a lengthy prayer referring to Freemasonry as "witchcraft."Asked
whether he shares these views, Stringer launches into a long treatise
about secrecy during which he manages to lump together Mormonism,
Freemasonry and college fraternities."I think there has been a
lot of damage and polarization over decades because of the influence of
some areas of Freemasonry that have been corrupted," he says. "In fact,
if you look at the original founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith,
he had a huge influence by Masonry. Bottom-line, anything that is so
secretive that has to be hidden in darkness ... is not biblical. The
Bible says that everything needs to be brought to the light. That's why I
would never be part of a fraternity, like on campus." Why would Perry throw in with this crowd?One
possible answer is that he's an opportunistic politician running for
president who's trying to get right, if not with Jesus, with a
particular slice of the GOP base.Perry himself may have the gift
of foresight. He seems preternaturally capable of spotting The Next Big
Thing and positioning himself as an authentic leader of grassroots
movements before they overtake other politicians. Think of the prescient
way he hitched his political future to the Tea Party. In 2009 Perry
spoke at a Tax Day protest and infamously flirted with Texas secession.
At the time it seemed crazy. In retrospect it seems brilliant.Now,
he's made common cause with increasingly influential fundamentalists
from the bleeding fringe of American Christianity at a time when the
political influence of mainstream evangelicals seems to be fading.For
decades evangelicals have been key to Republican presidential
victories, but much has changed since George W. Bush named Jesus as his
favorite philosopher at an Iowa debate during the 2000 presidential
campaign. There is much turbulence among evangelicals. There's no
undisputed leader, a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson, to bring the "tribes" -- to use Stringer's phrase -- together. So you go where the momentum
is. There is palpable excitement in the prayer movement and among the
New Apostles that the nation is on the cusp of a major spiritual and
political revival."On an exciting note, we are in the beginning stages of the Third Great Awakening," Jacobs told
Trinity Church in Cedar Hill earlier this year. (Trinity's pastor, Jim
Hennesy, is also an apostle and endorser of The Response. Trinity is
probably best known for its annual Halloween "Hell House" that tries to
scare teens into accepting Jesus.) "We are seeing revivals pop up all
over the United States. ... Fires are breaking out all over the place.
And we are going to see great things happening."Moreover, various media outlets have documented a possible coalescing of religious-right leaders around Perry's candidacy. Time magazine reported
on a June conference call among major evangelical leaders, including
religious historian David Barton and San Antonio pastor John Hagee, in
which they "agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if
he entered the race," according to the magazine.Journalist
Tabachnick says politicians are attracted to the apostolic movement
because of the valuable organizational structure and databases the
leadership has built."I believe it's because they've built such a
tremendous communication network," she says, pointing to the 50-state
prayer networks plugged into churches and ministries. "They found ways
to work that didn't involve the institutional structures that many
denominations have. They don't have big offices, headquarters. They work
more like a political campaign."But if the apostles present a broad organizing opportunity, the political risks for Perry are equally large.In
2008 GOP nominee John McCain was forced to reject Hagee's endorsement
after media scrutiny of the pastor's anti-Catholic comments. Similarly,
Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign nearly fell apart when voters
saw video of controversial sermons by the candidate's pastor, Jeremiah
Wright. If anything, Perry is venturing even further into the spiritual
wilderness. The faith of the New Apostles will be unfamiliar, strange,
and scary to many Americans.Consider Alice Patterson. She's in
charge of mobilizing churches in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma
for The Response. A field director for the Texas Christian Coalition in
the 1990s, she's now a significant figure in apostolic circles and runs
a San Antonio-based organization called Justice at the Gate.Patterson,
citing teachings by Cindy Jacobs, Chuck Pierce and Lou Engle, has
written that the Democratic Party is controlled by "an invisible network
of evil comprising an unholy structure" unleashed by the biblical
figure Jezebel.Patterson claims to have seen demons with her own
eyes. In 2009, at a prophetic meeting in Houston, Patterson says she saw
the figure of Jezebel and "saw Jezebel's skirt lifted to expose tiny
Baal, Asherah, and a few other spirits. There they were -- small, cowering,
trembling little spirits that were only ankle high on Jezebel's skinny
legs."Those revelations are contained in Patterson's 2010 book Bridging the Racial and Political Divide: How Godly Politics Can Transform a Nation.
Patterson's aim, as she makes clear in her book, is getting black and
brown evangelicals to vote Republican and support conservative causes. A
major emphasis among the New Apostles is racial reconciliation and
recruitment of minorities and women. The apostolic prayer networks often
perform elaborate ceremonies in which participants dress up in
historical garb and repent for racial sins.The formula -- overcoming
racism to achieve multiracial fundamentalism -- has caught on in the
apostolic movement. Some term the approach the "Rainbow Right," and in
fact The Response has a high quotient of African-Americans, Latinos and
Asian-Americans in leadership positions.Lou Engle, for example,
is making a big push to recruit black activists into the anti-abortion
ranks. "We're looking for the new breed of black prophets to arise and
forgive us our baggage," he said at Trinity Assemblies of God, "and then
lead us out of victimization and into the healing of a nation, to stop
the shedding of innocent blood."Rick Perry is a white southern
conservative male who may end up running against a black president. It
doesn't take a prophet to see that he could use friends like these.There's
one other possible reason for Perry's flirtation with the apostles, and
it has nothing to do with politics. He could be a true believer.Perry
has never been shy about proclaiming his faith. He was raised a
Methodist and still occasionally attends Austin's genteel Tarrytown
United Methodist Church. But according to an October 2010 story in the Austin American-Statesman,
he now spends more Sundays at West Austin's Lake Hills Church, a
non-denominational evangelical church that features a rock band and
pop-culture references. The more effusive approach to religion clearly
appealed to Perry. "They dunk," Perry told the American-Statesman. "Methodists sprinkle."Still,
attending an evangelical church is a long way from believing in
modern-day apostles and demons in plain sight. Could Perry actually buy
into this stuff?He's certainly convinced the movement's leaders. "He's a very deep man of faith and I know that sometimes causes problems
for people because they think he's making decisions based on his
faith," Schlueter says. He pauses a beat. "Well, I hope so."But
the danger of associating with extremists is apparent even to Schlueter,
the man who took God's message to Perry in September 2009. "It could be
political suicide to do what he's doing," Schlueter says. "Man, this is
the last thing he'd want to do if it were concerning a presidential
bid. It could be very risky."

(Official state portrait of Perry via Texas governor's website.)