Earlier this week, Rick Joyner, one of the main leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation--an out-and-out fascist offshoot of the religious right that believes it can bring about Jesus' return by taking over the world--called for a military overthrow of the government of the United States.  Joyner declared that since there's no chance the people who can really bring change to this country will ever be elected, nothing short of a military coup can save the nation from oncoming tyranny.  People for the American Way got a clip, but it's been deleted--at least for now--due to a takedown demand from Joyner.  PFAW is working to get it back up, arguing--rightly--that the clip was fair use.  But you can watch the whole thing here.  Joyner's call for a coup comes at roughly the 7:40 mark.

Well, late yesterday, in a bulletin to the members of his dominionist-oriented grassroots group, the Oak Initiative, Joyner--who is reckoned as a "prophet" in dominionist circles--declared that ever since receiving a message from God in 1987, he has believed that this country is going to go through martial law.

In 1987, I began warning about what is now happening. When I was first shown this in the prophetic experience I wrote about in The Harvest, I was as disconcerted and grieving as much as some were when they saw the Prophetic Perspectives program in which I boldly stated these things. For this reason, I fully understand and empathize with their outrage. However, everything I was shown in that vision has either come true or is unfolding now.

I have the benefit of seeing many things unfold the way I was shown, and I surely understand the outrage of those who do not have this benefit. Some infer that this is something I actually want to happen in America, but that could not be further from the truth. I don’t prophesy what I want to see happen, but what I am shown. In fact, I know it is something that the Lord did not want to happen, which I will explain below.

At best, even with the best martial possible, martial law is a very dangerous thing. America is now sailing deeper and deeper into these most treacherous seas. If there was any prophecy that I have made that I hope does not come to pass, this would be one of the highest on that list. However, like it or not, see it or not, this is where we are headed.

Can this be avoided? Until it happens, I do think it can be avoided. However, unless you change your direction you will end up where you are headed, and martial law is where we are headed. In 1987, this was very hard for me to see. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, it was even harder to see, but since then all of the changes in our nation have been more in the direction of this.

When I began to see that this is now almost certainly unavoidable, I did receive encouragement that even if our present government collapsed, if we, as a nation, returned to the Lord, it would be used for good and not evil. It could be a reset, a jubilee, and our Republic could be restored on a solid foundation, one that would not be so easily shaken again. I still hold to that promise. Not only will our Republic be restored, but even more importantly, America will turn back to the Lord and fulfill our destiny and purpose.

That being said, without a soon and very radical turn back to what we were called to be as a nation, we are going to pass through a time of martial law in America. The crucial issue is who the martial is going to be. This could be a very difficult time, much darker than we can probably imagine, or it could be a time when peace and stability is restored, and the Republic is restored to its Constitutional moorings. That choice is up to Americans.

What's important here, though, is what Joyner didn't say.  Nowhere did he repudiate his earlier call for a coup.  Incredibly, he actually claimed that it only sounded that way because "some on the national news edited the video to make it seem what I was not saying."   I invite you to watch for yourself.  If Joyner seriously expects anyone to believe that he was misquoted, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell him.  

Joyner is based only 20 minutes south of me in Fort Mill, South Carolina--at the old Heritage USA complex built by Jim Bakker.  And yet, he's almost unknown here in Charlotte even though his church has existed since 1995.  It's all the more reason to put the hot lights on both him and his other compatriots in a movement that is the closest thing to fascism we've ever seen in this country.