On June 5, Pope Francis met in private with Doug Coe, one of the most influential evangelicals in the US and head of the Family, tea-party ally Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and former U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne who served under Bush 43 amid unprecedented scandal.
“Their goal is a worldwide invisible organization….The core issue is capitalism and power.”The Family has connections with businessmen in the oil and aerospace industries, the CIA, Pentagon and Department of Defense according to Jeff Sharlet, investigative journalist and author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Their “friends” include:
• Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury for the torture of thousands.
• Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, a minister also linked to the CIA and death squads
• Omar al-Bashir, the president of oil-rich Sudan, who has been indicted for genocide in the International Criminal Court
• Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, which recently enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Bill mandating the death penalty for some homosexual acts.
• General Sani Abacha, dictator of Nigeria, the US’s fourth-largest supplier of petroleum. “Abacha was known for two qualities: the greed that led him to steal $3 billion from his country, and the ruthlessness that made that theft possible. His execution of dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 made international headlines.”
“Sen. Mike Lee was Sen. Ted Cruz’s right-hand man throughout the 16-day government shutdown.”
In February, Lee and Cruz introduced S. 2024, the State Marriage Defense Act “which respects the definition of marriage held by the people of each state and protects states from the federal government’s efforts to force any other definition upon them.”
Lee joined Cruz and Palin at a “Liberty Rally” on April 24 and agreed to raise money together with Cruz “through a new joint fundraising account” with Cruz.
When 46 Senate Democrats cosponsored legislation to reverse the Supreme Court’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision, on July 16 Cruz accused Democrats of “declaring war against the Catholic Church.”
Under Dirk Kempthorne’s supervision, “something akin to a secret society residing within the Interior Department was colluding to undermine the protection of endangered wildlife and covering for one another’s misdeeds,” Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, chairman of the House Natural Resources stated.
In September 2008, Inspector General Earl Devaney reported wrongdoing by current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, an agency under Kempthorne’s administration which collected about $10 billion in oil and gas royalties annually, and one of the government’s largest sources of revenue other than taxes. According to the New York Times, “Eight officials in the royalty program accepted gifts from energy companies whose value exceeded limits set by ethics rules – including golf, ski and paintball outings; meals and drinks. [There was also] frequent consumption of alcohol at industry functions, use of cocaine and marijuana, and sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.”….
On December 16, 2008, the Center for Biological Diversity announced intent to sue the Interior Department under Kempthorne for introducing “regulations… that would eviscerate our nation’s most successful wildlife law by exempting thousands of federal activities, including those that generate greenhouse gases, from review under the Endangered Species Act.” …..
The meeting with Pope Francis was partially funded by the Vatican Foundation andparticipants were selected by Coe. Other attendees were:Tim Timmons, a pastor based in Newport Beach, Calif. Timmons gave his support to a meeting of U4RF (United For Religious Freedom). The group was founded by Catholic CEOs to oppose the Obamacare “mandate regarding abortion pills, contraception, and sterilization.” The ubiquitous Catholic theocon, George Weigel, was also present.
Gayle Beebe, president of the evangelical Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Joel Osteen, the pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church, said to be the largest in this country. With a vibrant community and a weekly collection totaling $600,000, the pope could have been asking Osteen for advice.
In addition to the pope, the group was scheduled to meet with various cardinals. The purpose of the meetings was “to promote ecumenical prayer and interfaith understanding.”
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On June 24, a delegation of evangelical leaders met privately with Pope Francis for almost three hours and then had a private luncheon with him.
Like Osteen, Kenneth Copeland preaches the “gospel of prosperity,” the belief that faith can increase one’s wealth. He is founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas, Eagle Mountain International Church and co-host of Believer’s Voice of Victory.
Copeland was one of several televangelists targeted by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in 2007 for their lavish lifestyles. Calling Copeland the “Godfather of Prosperity,” CBS News released a detailed report in 2008 on Kenneth Copeland Ministries, saying an investigation “raises serious questions about the Copeland’s religious empire.” “In my viewpoint,” one of the Copelands’ former employees told CBS News, “I believe that they were using a lot of the ministry’s assets for personal businesses.”
Copeland and his wife “live in a 20,000-square-foot lake-front mansion near Fort Worth, Texas. They regularly fly one of their two expensive jets around the world, including regular trips to their multi-million dollar mansion in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. In 2008, Mr. Copeland even boasted that he had collected over $1billion in donor funds during his career.”
James Robison of Life Outreach International is an “apostolic elder” at Gateway Church and co-hosts the Life Today TV program. “Property records show that James and Betty Robison live in a ‘modest’ Texas home appraised by tax-assessors at $742,800. They also own one or more multi-million-dollar homes in Silverthorne, Colorado and their large Robison ministry ranch and lodge in East Texas, likewise built with donor money.” “Robison said he and Pope Francis found common ground in caring for the poor.”
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Coercion Code - "Dark Times are upon us" 