Shock and Awe

As I came into my office this morning and gathered my mail I could not believe what I was seeing - a postcard from the North American Division Prayer Ministries advertising a Prayer Conference, headlined by none other than the fundamentalist Christian John Ashcroft, former US Attorney General in the George W. Bush adminstration. Are you kidding me? The question came faster than I could process them.

Why headline an Adventist event with this guy who is the champion of the religious right? Only one reason comes to mind - because the target audience of this Prayer Conference are Adventists who think John Ashcroft is good for Christianity (and presumably, good for America). I also remember the public outcry a few months ago when the cover of the Pacific Union Recorder featured a picture of Hillary Clinton. She was speaking for a Religious Liberty event (just as she has in the past). I wonder if people will be equally upset about this? I'm guessing not.

Then, as if that were not enough, in the same batch of mail I received a large envelope from The Campaign for Children and Families. You can read their description of themselves here. Anyway, this mailing was to encourage me, a pastor, to vote Yes on Prop 90 and to encourage my church to do the same. If you don't live in California, this might be meaningless to you, but Prop. 90 would severely limit future development efforts. Even the conservative Los Angeles Daily News opposes Prop 90.

Anyway, this mailing from this right-wing "family values" group encouraging a Yes vote on Prop. 90 listed "Pastors for Prop. 90." At the top of the list is the well-known Jack Hayford, formerly of Church on the Way in Van Nuys. Second on the list...Doug Batchelor. A truly amazing fact!

Comments

[Johnny]

This is an amazing post!
... good times ;)

[Alexander]

Actually, Ron Osborn has an amazing story about NAD Prayer ministries' long relationship with Ashcroft. He told it to me this summer right after we attended a Sy Hersh lecture and it made me forget all America's troubles.

Drive to LA, pull Ron away from Noam Chomsky, buy him a refreshing beverage and you'll have the perfect Adventist party story of prayer, politics, Tupperware, hymns, and cookies.

[ronald Osborn]

PROLOGUE: The following video clip may offer some insight into how the Adventist church was first seduced by John Ashcroft, a finer crooner than 3ABN ever saw if I do say so myself:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=riKGGWFqnH8

LET THE EAGLE SOAR: My personal close encounter with John Ashcroft--the A.G. as we called him then--occured in the following manner. Ruthie Jacobson, you may recall, was a devout woman with a passion for prayer who a few years back had her own special ministry within the GC--namely, to travel around the country praying with and for whomever she could. Somehow or another Ruthie had met John Aschcroft and actually developed a close personal relationship with the man. Ruthie began to visit Aschcroft on a regular basis at the Justice Department, delivering our lyrical leader home-baked brownies and other delectables, often also joining with him in ernest prayer for our Great Land.

Then came that fateful September morn, at which point a security decision was made: no more visitors would be allowed into the Justice Department for reasons of national security. Providentially (gastronomically?), the word soon came down from the A.G.'s own office that there was to be one exception to this rule: Ruthie would be allowed to continue delivering brownies. The Attorney General is a man with, well, human needs.

Here, then, is how the event unfolded. One day I received a call from my Aunt Nancy (Ted Wilson's wife and a friend of Ruthie's) saying that she was going with Ruthie to visit John Aschcroft and I was invited to come along. I naturally suspended my anarcho-Christian political views and said I would be happy to make the trip. How often, afterall, does one have the opportunity to meet the Attorney General of the United States of America? Well, we arrived at the Justice Department without injury--perhaps because Ruthie had the three of us join hands in prayer on the sidewalk a few times between the Metro center and the A.G.'s office--and were warmly greeted by the guards, all of whom seemed to know Ruthie quite well. In no time at all, we were standing on the sable carpet of the Attorney General's very office--the ATTORNEY GENERAL! The great A.G.!

Alas, Mr. Aschcroft's secretary informed us, the A.G., who had been really looking forward to our visit, was in a meeting and would not be able to break free, although he did send his best regards (or maybe it was blessings; it has been too long). The secretary, speaking with a not unpleasant southern drawl if my memory serves me, then cheerfully confessed to us that the A.G. had taken Ruthies brownies with him on a recent trip to Europe and had somehow forgotten her tuperwares on the plane! Not to worry, however, she beamed; the A.G. had called the FBI as soon as he had returned and they had managed to track down the missing tuperwares, which she then proudly produced from a brown paper bag.

EPILOGUE: a few months later my father bumped into Ruthie in the hall at the GC and she told him that she and her husband had just attended a special meeting downtown on John Aschcroft's personal invitation. After the meeting, the A.G. had invited them to join him in a small room in which there was a piano. The A.G. sat down at the table and began to play hymns. For the next couple hours, Ruthie reported, she, her husband, the A.G. and one of his aides sang hymns together. At last, Ashcroft turned to Ruthie and her husband and said: "You know, I've been talking a lot with Wintley Phips" (at the time the GC's government liason on Capitol Hill) "and I'm really thinking about becoming an Adventist."

Whether it was an answer to prayer or just the brownies talking I leave to you, gentle reader, to decide. LET THE EAGLE SOAR!

[Alexander]

Thanks Ron,

The story again leaves me laughing in pain. So glad that the FBI found those dishes. . .clearly, under Aschcorft, the anti-soaring eagle camp never stood a chance.

[Johnny]

wow what a great story.
Thanks!

[Melvin Bray]

Okay, I was cool until Wintley showed up in the story!

Does it bother anyone else that Adventism (even Wintley's brand which is supposedly "outside the box") would be appealing to John Ashcroft? I'm not mad he wants to get down--by all means, help yourself to happiness--I was just enjoying my delusion that we weren't quite birds of a feather.

Or, better yet, what does it say that the net total of having the ear of the AG is that 'finally he's considering joining our team' and not that he's been convicted to walk in the way of Jesus by coming out against the use of torture as a national defense strategy?