The radical religious friends of Senator Ted Cruz: Anointed by Dominionists who want to "wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage" - The overlooked religious extremism of the new rising star of the GOP

"We understand that our rights come not from a king or queen, 

not from government, but from the Lord God almighty. 

But if America is going to continue to stand strong, we must first be on our knees." 

-- Senator Ted Cruz, National Day of Prayer statement, May 1, 2013

By Patrick

Ted Cruz is in the spotlight like no other politician these days. Just today, the first excerpts of a new major interview with him, conducted by CNN's Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, were published. In the interview, Ted Cruz cockily declared that he doesn't "work for the party bosses in Washington", and then claimed that he only works "for the people in Texas."

But who does Ted Cruz really work for? In classic fashion, the mainstream media does not even mention that Ted Cruz aligned himself with religious radicals who have no interest in "politics as usual." Maybe the media believes that this has to be regarded as a private matter, as far as Ted Cruz is concerned. But is this true?

There is enough evidence out there already that suggests that Ted Cruz is very closely connected to Dominionist pastors for who there is no separation between religion and politics, and who want to transform the USA into a radical religious society. If you listen closely, it is also not difficult to spot the influence of these people in the words and actions of Ted Cruz himself.

In a previous post, we reported about the extremist religious views of Rafael Cruz, the father of Ted Cruz, who constantly seems to travel around the country right now, giving speeches. In these speeches, he claimed for example that President Obama is a Muslim, that millions of babies have been mass-murdered through abortion and demanded that pastors should become politically active. In addition, he claimed that he politically educated his son Ted, who in his opinion is "destined for greatness."

But what about Ted Cruz himself? The blogger Bruce Wilson, who did excellent work back in 2008 when he exposed the extremist religious connections of Sarah Palin, including the famous revelation that Sarah Palin was connected to African witchhunter Thomas Muthee (informative video about Thomas Muthee and his activities as a witchhunter also here), now published several pieces about Ted Cruz - and a very ugly picture begins to develop.

For example, in May 2013, Ted Cruz was blessed and anointed by Dominionist pastors at the Iowa Renewal Project Pastors' Conference, together with Rand Paul.

Watch the video:

Bruce Wilson writes in Huffington Post:

In the video, Tea Party potentate Ted Cruz is blessed by pastors who claim the Constitution is based on the Old Testament, appear to endorse biblical slavery, depict gay marriage as a socialist plot against the traditional family, and call for a Christian war on secular society.

The first two attributes in that list belong to an evangelical leader David Barton -- who Ted Cruz has warmly endorsed, in a September 2013 statement to Politico in which the Texas senator called Barton "a good man, a courageous leader and a friend" whose "historical research has helped millions rediscover the founding principles of our nation."

In the lead-up to the Iowa pastors' event, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, Ted Cruz suggested that gay marriage would lead to Christian pastors being charged with hate speech. During his address to the hundreds of pastors assembled at the two-day Iowa Renewal Project event, Senator Cruz cited militant Biblical scripture such as Ezekiel 33, depicted opponents of a Texas ban on late-term abortions as Satan worshipers, and claimed Christians in the military can be court-martialed for sharing their faith.

One of the pastors blessing and laying his hands on Cruz's shoulders was head of the sponsoring organization the Iowa Renewal Project -- David Lane, who only a few weeks earlier had written an op-ed that called upon the faithful to "wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage."

Only a few days after blessing Senator Cruz, Lane stated that "car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa" would be merciful punishment from God for legalized abortion and "homosexuals praying at the Inauguration." Without such divine "mercy," suggested Lane, America might "get judgment like Nazi Germany."

The Iowa Renewal Project is part of Lane's American Renewal Project, an effort targeting 12 US states that seeks to register voters, and politically mobilize Christian pastors, in advance of the 2014 election.

Lane's national project is in turn sponsored by the American Family Association, an organization designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group. AFA spokesperson Bryan Fischer has stated that "Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews."

Another pastor laying hands on Senator Cruz was David Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas GOP who has played leading role in creating an entire genre of Christian nationalist revisionist history used to promote the myth that the United States was created as an expressly Christian nation. The genre is used to stoke anger among the faithful - because America's Christian heritage has allegedly been subverted and stolen - and thus fuel Christian right political activism.

Barton maintains that Jesus opposes the minimum wage, and claims the United States Constitution was based in concepts drawn directly from the Old Testament including the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. He also claims there's no such thing as the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.

Ted Cruz himself is not shy when it comes to "preaching" - see for example the published excerpts of his speech to the pastors from the same event, the "Religious Right Summit" in Iowa in July 2013, which was organized by David Lane.

RightWingWatch reports:

Cruz, who told CBN in an interview that gay rights advocates intend to dispose of the First Amendment and pass hate speech laws, won plaudits from the audience of conservative activists for his attacks on gay rights advocates and “judicial activism.”

“On marriage there is no issue in which we need to be more on our knees because the momentum is with the opponents of traditional marriage,” Cruz said. “We’re facing an assault on marriage.”

He scolded “unelected judges” who think “we know better” on marriage, and urged pastors to “to speak to your congregations and to mobilize the people, and mobilize them more than anything to pray.”

Watch the video:

More details about David Lane, the self-described "political operative", can be found in another article on RightWingWatch.

Ted Cruz makes no secret about his view that God stands above all - even above the Government. Such a remark might not seem "dangerous" per se, however, in context with the extremist religious beliefs of his friends, who want to turn the US society into a religious state. Ted Cruz said in his statement for the "National Day of Prayer" on May 1, 2013:

"We understand that our rights come not from a king or queen, not from government, but from the Lord God almighty. But if America is going to continue to stand strong, we must first be on our knees."

Watch the video:

Bruce Wilson posted more clips regarding Rafael and Ted Cruz, for example this appearance by Rafael Cruz (including additional footage) from August 2012 - watch:

Bruce Wilson comments about this speech:

In a sermon last year at an Irving, Texas, megachurch that helped elect Ted Cruz to the United States Senate, Cruz' father Rafael Cruz indicated that his son was among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as "kings" to take control of all sectors of society, an agenda commonly referred to as the "Seven Mountains" mandate, and "bring the spoils of war to the priests", thus helping to bring about a prophesied "great transfer of wealth", from the "wicked" to righteous gentile believers.

Rafael Cruz' dominionist sermon given August 26, 2012, at the New Beginnings Church of pastor Larry Huch, in Irving, Texas has already received considerable scrutiny due to an excellent Huffington Post commentary by Methodist Associate Pastor Morgan Guyton, who noted the explicitly dominionist nature of pastor Cruz' sermon, which concerned the divine mandate for believers, with anointing of "kings" in their respective spheres, to take control over all sectors of society.

Cruz spoke of "Kings who are anointed to go to war, win the war, and bring the spoils of war to the priests."

Discussion of the now-notorious speech by Rafael Cruz has missed the fact that Ted Cruz was subsequently blessed and anointed by prominent dominionist pastors, in effect as a "king" in the political/governmental sphere, at a special blessing ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, at a July 19th-20th 2013 rally designed to draw pastors into politics.

But in a very real, mundane sense Ted Cruz has already helped deliver hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, to the evangelical right. Cruz' past service - as a "king" who brought "spoils to the priests" - is a matter of established record; as I revealed in a prior story, no less than a top adviser to President George W. Bush has stated that in 1999 Ted Cruz played a major role in helping the Bush for President campaign lock down the conservative evangelical vote in the 2000 election.

One can interpret the "great transfer of wealth" -- predicted by Ted Cruz' father Rafael Cruz, and by Pastor Larry Huch, who threw his Texas megachurch's considerable heft behind the 2012 Cruz for Senate campaign -- in magical terms, sure.

But Ted Cruz' apparently notable role in getting George W. Bush into the presidency led in turn to Bush's "Faith Based Initiative" - that continues to this day under two successive Obama administrations and which, during the Bush years, funneled billions of dollars to churches and institutions associated with the religious right.

In other words, the "great transfer of wealth" is about more than wishful thinking. It's about an ongoing effort, by leaders and institutions of the evangelical right, to gradually gobble up the secular sphere of government.

Let's remind voters that Ted Cruz's religious beliefs are very different from the beliefs of "ordinary" people. Also, his religious beliefs should not be "off-limits", as he is very closely connected to groups who believe that there should be no separation between church and state - and there are indications that Ted Cruz actually believes this as well. His outspoken, radical father certainly does believe it, who politically educated Ted Cruz. Voters should know what they are getting, once Ted Cruz will run for President - and there can be little doubt that he will run at some point, possibly already in 2016.

Finally: It was definitely no "coincidence" when Ted Cruz publicly prayed in front of the White House in September 2013 - it was symbolic, and his followers certainly understood this:

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FURTHER READING:


Daily Kos: Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy

Daily Kos: Deep Background on Dominionism

Alternet: Ted Cruz's Father Suggested His Son Is 'Anointed' to Bring About 'End Time Transfer of Wealth'

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BONUS:

Investigating Ted Cruz should also be fun, so I believe we earned ourselves a little reward: The great classic video by "Genesis" - "Jesus He Knows Me" (h/t Enigma).