Koran-burning preacher/operative Terry Jones' Maranantha connection

[Hannah Bell]

Terry Jones was born & raised in Cape Girardeau, MO, & graduated in the class of 1969 with Rush Limbaugh.

Jones reportedly became involved in Maranantha Ministries in high school. See comment by Renee Shandy on this Girardeau history blog:

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/students/koran-burn-terry-jones-rush-limbaugh/comment-page-1/#comments


Maranantha was founded in the 70s by Bob Weiner & his wife; I remember it being a presence at my alma mater. The wikipedia article below details some of the cult-like practices of Maranantha...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha_Campus_Ministries


But it omits some points of equal interest.

Bob (Robert) Weiner was a member of the Council for National Policy...

The Council for National Policy (CNP), is an umbrella organization and networking group for social conservative activists in the United States. It has been described by The New York Times as a "little-known group of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country," who meet three times yearly behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference.<1> Nation magazine has called it a secretive organization that "networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy."<2> It was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians seeking to strengthen the political right in the United States.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_National_Policy

http://www.seekgod.ca/weiner.htm


Weiner was a Governor of CNP. Maranantha & other organizations he was involved with were highly political, and didn't confine themselves to domestic politics:

" ...Maranatha members describe themselves as "God's Green Berets..." They (Maranantha) organized pro-contra demonstrations on 70 campuses before a crucial vote. They claim to have taken over the student government at the University of Hawaii.(2) They began to work in Costa Rica in July l988. David Fazio, Forerunner campus correspondent in Chapel Hill in l986 and Natl Chair of Students for America, led a group of students to "safe houses" in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to meet with contras and Commander Indalecio Rodriguez.(2,6)...

Weiner is on the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy and the steering committees of the Coalition on Revival and the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit.(2,7)...Ten percent of The Leadership Institute's people are Maranatha. The Leadership Institute is headed by Morton Blackwell, a former Reagan liaison to religious groups. It also has many senators and representatives on the advisory board, and it is designed to train rightist political activists.(5) Students for America is made up of one quarter Maranatha members...Weiner serves on many rightwing committees in the United States including the American Coalition for Traditional Values , Council for National Policy (Board of Governors), International Policy Forum, and the National Federation for Decency.(l,7) Maranatha Campus Ministries is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.(l)...< Maranatha; Sara Diamond, "Shepherding," Covert Action Information Bulletin, #27, Spring l987>

http://www.cephasministry.com/state_of_the_union_cnp_w-z_bios.html


Terry Jones went to Germany as a Maranantha "missionary," though he reportedly has no religious training or pastoral creds. He founded & pastored a church in Cologne (30 minutes from Bonn, the seat of the West German government until after the 1990 reunification. In 1998 the Government was moved to Berlin.)

About the same time (1996) Jones became a part-time pastor of the Dove World Outreach Church in Florida -- a church of 50 members, also a former Maranantha church.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/terry-jones-pastor-burn-koran-day/story?id=11575665

During this dual pastorate he flew back & forth between Germany & Florida:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Qur%27an-burning_controversy#Pastor_Terry_Jones

Jones was reportedly booted from his Cologne pastorate over accusations of fraud & abuse & left permanently in 2008. His daughter was among his accusers. Jones reportedly ran a furniture import business through the church & continues that business in the US, using his church property tax exemption & his parishioners as unpaid labor -- which goes some way to explaining how a 50-member church can keep up a fairly large building & 20 acre grounds decently.

Visits to the church's 20-acre property have confirmed that the sanctuary is partially filled with furniture. The sanctuary also is used twice a week for religious services.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090719/ARTICLES/907191005?p=2&tc=pg


want to buy some furniture from them?

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=tsandcompany

do they skim the donations?

http://events.gainesville.com/gainesville-fl/venues/show/1160454-lisa-jones-house

it's a furniture store/furniture import business...hmmm...



Maranantha supposedly "decentralized" in 1989, making all its former churches independent, but Maranantha-associated folks are still prominent in the religious right & in less publicized places...

http://www.cultnews.com/?cat=89

http://www.rickross.com/reference/maranatha/maranatha14.html

http://www.rickross.com/reference/maranatha/maranatha9.html

http://www.rickross.com/reference/maranatha/maranatha13.html

The Maranantha organization was spun off into Morning Star International (MSI) which then changed its name to Every Nation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Nation

Weiner is still active:

http://www.weinerministries.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=31

In addition to his "ministry", Weiner continued his work in CNP (Board of Governors 1984,1988, member 1996, 1998) and in associated endeavors.

http://www.seekgod.ca/weiner.htm

****

So who the hell *is* Terry Jones and why do he & his dinky fake church get so much press?

I think he's an operative, & I think his job is to stir up hate & conflict.

[cali]

1. an operative under whose directive?

[Hannah Bell]

2. Satan's directive, Cali.

I know, it's soooo unbelievable that preachers could be spies, political operatives, government plants. Things like that never happen, except all through history, all over the world, in every religion.

[cali]

3. I simply asked you an operative of what entity?

you posited that he's an operative, surely, hannah hannah, you have some idea of who or what you think he's an operative for. Do tell.

[Hannah Bell]

6. i think it's fairly clear from the exposition, cali. but i totally understand why

you prefer him to be an independent whacko.

[cali]

7. uh, no it's not clear. nor do I have any preference

I understand that you suffer the delusion that you can actually read minds, hannah dear, but no you can't. I have no idea whether he's an operative or not, but I've seen no evidence from YOU that he is. Just your usual speculation rooted in your pov. that is not evidence. You appear to believe that it actually is, but no, hannah hannah, it is not.

[Hannah Bell]

9. whatever you say, honey.

[Kurmudgeon]

11. Limbaugh, naturally. You'd be hard pressed to find a more malevolent deity. n/m

[SpiralHawk]

4. Ahrimanic (R) or Luciferic (R) ?

Probably both. There you have it. Republicon occultism.

[CJCRANE]

5. Exactly, it was a RW op...

it seems pretty obvious.

It changes the news cycle from muslims fighting for their freedom to the preferred RW narrative of deranged fundamentalists.

Of course, the responsibility lies with the mob itself, but it would be pretty easy for the neocons to pick up the phone and call one of their old mujahideen contacts to stir things up if the story didn't gain traction on its own.

[SpiralHawk]

15. + 1,000

There you have it.

[Aerows]

16. Not to mention...

...he can sob-story on every conservative outlet and get more money and followers.

[sabrina 1]

24. Yes, and anyone who attempts to keep the focus

on only the mob and NOT our new favorite forever enemy, Muslims, will be accused of 'hating America' and 'supporting the murder of U.N. workers'.

[blondeatlast]

39. Spot on. nt

[cali]

8. unrec for speculation with no evidence

[Hannah Bell]

10. a hell of a lot more evidence than you presented for your stupid post about

the bias of people who don't go into screaming fits over muslim atrocities, darling.

3 pastorates with no theological training & 30+ years with maranantha, plus his present prominence as the pastor of a church with 50 members, services twice a week & furniture stored in the sanctuary.

phony church, phony pastor, big big press.


the far right, the neocons & the religious right support this fucked up "intervention" being sold to the gullible as a humanitarian mission.

[Hannah Bell]

12. kicking it for cali

[sabrina 1]

26. "the bias of people who don't go into screaming fits over muslim atrocities"

Some of us just have better instincts and refuse to become useful idiots in this insane world we live in. I don't know who this guy is, but every time he's around, bad things happen. As you say, for a 'small pastor of a 50 member church' he gets an awful lot of press coverage.

I'd like to know more about this mob in Afghanistan also.

[Democracyinkind]

13. In the field of deep politics, there is never apparent causation, only correlation.

Surely, you are not as naive as to deem what Hannah posted "impossible". While I agree that Hannah's post doesn't establish causality in a direct way, that isn't said much. If what she is alluding to in this thread is true, then this is the way you would find it. Of course that's not exactly proving it.

I'll give my two cents and I'll just flatly admit that allot of what was going on the last couple of weeks smacks of psyops; Lybia obviously, and Afghanistan probably. That's not saying that some super-evil cabal is meeting somewhere in a room and giving it's secret ok to everything. But it is quite naive to believe that there is no such thing as psyops and deep politics going on in the world; I think Hannah has raised some valid info that points in that direction.

The thing I don't get about DU is that during the Bush years, the consensus seemed to be that we're up against more than just the Bush admin, that we were fighting, to quote Hillary's words " a vast right wing conspiracy". It's not that far-fetched that the members of said conspiracy are still at it - surely they didn't just give up once Obama was elected. Probability has it that some of those people might even be working for the Obama admin right now...

So yeah, no causation established, but allot of hints that are consistent with intel-psyops in this thread. I was having an eye on this "phony pastor" ever since DU informed me about his German/American business scam. Having extensively written about intel work in the cold war, I can safely say that what Hannah describes in this thread would have been quite the typical set up for an intel-op during that time. As the english say: Some things never change.

It's absolutely asinine to demand "proof" in a scientific way when it comes to deep politics; they are designed not to be proven. As stupid as that sounds. But that is my informed opinion. And no, I am not a "truther" and I don't believe that anything crashed in Rosewell.

[Hannah Bell]

21. not to mention that i never claimed i'd proved anything.

"I think he's an operative, & I think his job is to stir up hate & conflict."

[scarletwoman]

37. What a wonderful post! Very well said.

I sincerely hope that you will consider expanding upon this explication of deep politics and posting it as an OP sometime. (Then pm me so I'll be sure to find it)

Thank you for a great post,
sw

[MineralMan]

14. Anagram for Maranatha: Aha, Rat Man!

Seems appropriate for Jones, somehow...

[starroute]

17. Here's more -- Ralph Reed, Morton Blackwell, Jesse Helmes

This is something I ran across a few years ago when I was googling on former Bush White House policy advisor Claude Allen, who'd just been arrested for fraud. It indicates that Maranatha had really deep roots in that Reagan-era nexus of extreme right-wing politics and politicized religion, even aside from that CNP connection.

It's also interested that Maranatha was headquartered in Gainesville -- might explain why Jones is located there.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/maranatha/maranatha4.html

Wall Street Journal/August 16, 1985

Bob Weiner Jr. says he called some of his "friends" one day in April and suggested that they organize to support President Reagan on aid to the rebel forces in Nicaragua. "I asked them, 'What do you think about a rally?' And they all felt good about it," Mr. Weiner says. . . . Mr. Weiner's friends are leaders of 50 chapters of the Maranatha Christian Church, whose members revere Mr. Weiner as the church's founder, sole "apostle", and chief conduit of revelations that he says come from God. . . . The group, with headquarters in Gainesville, Fla., imposes unusually strong discipline upon its members. But Mr. Weiner insists that his church position was unrelated to the Nicaragua rallies. "I personally got involved as a private citizen," he explains. . . .

Last year, a committee including Baptists, Presbyterians and other evangelical Christian groups finished a yearlong investigation of Maranatha, concluding that Mr. Weiner's religion "has an authoritarian orientation with potential negative consequences for members." The committee added, "We would not recommend this organization to anyone." . . . Others defend the church, "I think that Maranatha has gotten a bum rap," asserts Ralph Reed, a former College Young Republican leader who has formed Students for America to lobby for President Reagan's policies on campuses. The 4000-member group, he says, includes over 1000 members from Maranatha. . . .

In 1982, President Reagan sent Mr. Weiner a congratulatory note saying, "I know the young people whose lives you have enriched with your ministry will become splendid citizens and responsible caretakers of our heritage of liberty." Morton C. Blackwell, a former special assistant to President Reagan, says he suggested that the president write the letter lauding Maranatha. "I've not seen anything in their doctrine which is outside the Christian tradition," he says.

Mr. Blackwell, a longtime conservative activist, currently holds intensive, two-day seminars to teach conservative young people how to become political organizers. So far, he says, about 10% of the 400 people who have gone through the seminars have been members of Maranatha. One of them, Claude Allen, directed young volunteers for the successful 1984 campaign to reelect GOP Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

[starroute]

18. And a little more context -- Bill Casey's off-the-book operations

In the post-Watergate climate of the 1980's, the CIA simply couldn't get away with doing everything it had been used to doing. The result was an explosion of methods for doing the same stuff outside of official channels.

George H.W. Bush had his connections with the Saudis -- both when he was CIA director in 1976 and again as Vice President under Reagan. He also had close ties with the ex-CIA guys of the "Enterprise." But the most extensive development of that sort of thing was developed by Bill Casey as Reagan's CIA director.

Iran-Contra was the one aspect of Casey's off-the-book operations that became generally known, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. I don't have a clear idea of everything that was going on -- just a bunch of messy notes labeled "try to sort this all out some day." But I do know that Casey had an extensive network of NGO's, PR firms, and so forth doing his dirty business.

The numerous right-wing organizations of the period that presented themselves as supporters of the Contras (most of them with "Freedom" in their names and many of them tied to Reverend Moon) were more looosely linked to Casey's network. Oliver North was some sort of liaison figure, and not just for the Contras -- he seems to have mentored a number of young rightists and even had contacts with Jack Abramoff.

During the same period, Abramoff was working with Jesse Helms and others to drum up support for the apartheid regime in South Africa. And Helms himself had an extensive set of Latin American contacts, many of them fascist or quasi-fascist, going back to the 1970's.

These connections may explain why Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and Grover Norquist were part of the CNP from the time they were in their 20's as some sort of cadet members. The pattern of someone like Abramoff, who was appointed to head one of these pro-Reagan front groups when he was not long out of college, is typical of young rightists who are acting on behalf of more senior figures.

The real question in my mind, though, is to what extent the networks set up in the 80's still persist today. Certainly many of the right-wing operatives who are now in their 40's and 50's seem to have started out in these 80's groups. But I don't know if it's just an old-home-week sort of thing or if the connections are still active.

But if Jones is an "agent" of something, it would be of that. Call it Octopus: Take Two and you wouldn't be too far off.

[Hannah Bell]

22. interesting, thanks.

more here as well:

I should've mentioned above that DoveWorld just lost part of their property tax exemption for operating an online furniture sales operation ("TS and Company") from their church property.

Not covered in the linked article, but attested to by a local person who'd attempted to receive some of DWO's "charity" while homeless: they're also operating a food-&-shelter project receiving federal support, with a major share of the subsidies collected allegedly going to church members not in need, and registered claimants said to be kept on the rolls months after moving on. Anybody here know individuals or agencies who might want to look into such stories?

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/8/5/5046/13673


really strange that this guy gets so much press, and so little of it is about the fraudulent nature of his operation. the only folks looking at it are local; the national press is all about the islam.

the national press has articles all the time about welfare cheats, but nothing on this high-profile character?

strange.

[sabrina 1]

34. Like O'Keefe and Breitbart, the media ignores all the available

information on them and covers them as if they were reputable 'conservative activists'. Which means they are being funded by someone the media doesn't want to expose for some reason.

You would think with all the attention they give this guy they would look into his background a little more. Then again, we no longer do investigative journalism here. I don't think we even have investigative journalists left in the country.

[sabrina 1]

30. Interesting. Thanks. I read so much about all this during

the Abramoff affairs. I discovered so many connections it is hard to keep up with them all. But the same names do keep popping up, Norquist, Abramoff, Ralph Reed, all went to college together, although airc, Norquist was older, Karl Rove was another. They were all Young Republicans I think.

I could easily see Jones being a part of this network. The Rev. Moon too, amazing how he has become so powerful in this country. He is a complete lunatic, as are most of those mentioned already. No wonder this country is so screwed up. How did we let these people get so much power?

Abramoff got off easily from all I read about his various crimes.

And Blackwell, I keep hoping O'Keefe will blow his cover one day. O'Keefe/Breitbart/Giles are the next generation of operatives. So far though, they aren't doing so well as their predecessors.

And what a coincidence that Limbaugh and Jones should also be old schoolmates, and poor Rush forgot all about it.

[sabrina 1]

27. Morton Blackwell again. He was financing James O'Keefe

also, but distanced himself, or tried to, during the whole ACORN affair. His non-profit status should be revoked considering his political involvements.

Sounds like this 'Pastor' is another one of the 'army' of 'conservative activists' let loose on this country by these shadowy organizations.

Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Abramoff and Norquist all alumni of Blackwell's 'training progroms'.

[starroute]

28. Morton Blackwell runs all through this stuff

I recently picked up a copy of Thunder on the Right, an expose of Movement Conservatism written in 1980 -- and it's amazing how much of it is still relevant. I've quoted it here with reference to ALEC, and here's some of what it has to say about Blackwell. He's been at this game pretty much nonstop since Watergate, or even a few years earlier, turning out generation upon generation of dirty tricksters.

"A third key element of the right-wing youth movement is the Committee for Responsible Youth Politics, an organization for which Viguerie raises money' it is under the direction of Morton Blackwell, for years a Viguerie employee and editor of The New Right Report. This organization, which conducts seminars to train young activists in campaign management techniques, contributes to political campaigns, and places its graduates on key Senate and congressional campaign staffs. ... The teachers at the sessions 'make it clear enough that they believe some of the dirtier aspects of campaigning are just politics, and to be encouraged on the basis that the other side does it too.' According to the Senate Watergate report, the individual responsible for recommending agent Michael McMinoway to Roger Stone for the Nixon committee's 'dirty tricks' campaign was Morton Blackwell."

[sabrina 1]

29. Yes, he's been around a long time.

He is imo, a very evil man. A real threat to this democracy, undermining the process of people having the right to vote for people based on being able to make an honest assessment of who they are. This business of smearing people, of lying about them, of deceiving the public, being called 'politics' is insane. We should have standards that require the public are given a true picture of the people they are asked to choose as their elected officials without interference from liars and cheats and crooks.

Something has gone very wrong in this country. When we accept this as normal, acceptable in any way, we are truly lost.

[midnight]

19. Very odd..."President Dick Cheney"

In 1999, a speech given to the CNP by Republican candidate George W. Bush is credited with helping him gain the support of conservatives in his successful bid for the United States Presidency in 2000. The content of the speech has never been released by the CNP or by Bush.<7>
As of February 2007, the organization was planning involvement in the 2008 presidential election campaign, and actively looking for a candidate to represent their views. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney<15> and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney<16> spoke at a four day conference they held in Salt Lake City, Utah during the last week of September 2007. The Council for National Policy scheduled a conference in late October 2007. Most Republican presidential candidates pledged to appear, with the exception of Rudy Giuliani.<10>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_National_Policy

[dgibby]

20. More here:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/8/5/5046/13673

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/9/24/6279/95220

[sabrina 1]

23. "I think he's an operative, & I think his job is to stir up hate & conflict."

I think that is a definite possibility. Not much else, other than he needs to be committed, explains his dangerous behavior.

Excellent research and I will bookmark to read all of it.

[sabrina 1]

25. Wow, this is some fascinating information:

So, Jones got involved with this Maranantha org, in high school. Fits in perfectly with how the Conservative 'movement' has infiltrated schools and colleges as part of their goal to influence the next generations.

Maranantha was founded in the 70s by Bob Weiner & his wife;

The Council for National Policy (CNP), is an umbrella organization and networking group for social conservative activists in the United States. It has been described by The New York Times as a "little-known group of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country," who meet three times yearly behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference.

Nation magazine has called it a secretive organization that "networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy."<2> It was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians seeking to strengthen the political right in the United States.

People should really read this information thoroughly. Yes, who is this guy? Just an 'asshole' as we are meant to believe? Have to say I did not subscribe to the 'just an asshole theory'.

Any chance the media might start looking into this guy?

[Karenina]

31. Here's some from Der Spiegel

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,716409,00.html

[sabrina 1]

32. Thank you. So, the guy screaming about freedom

doesn't believe in it at all!

A "climate of fear and control" had previously prevailed in the congregation, says one former member of the church who does not want to be named. Instead of free expression, "blind obedience" was demanded, he says.

And he advocates beating children too. Nice guy. No wonder his daughter wants nothing to do with him.

[warrior1]

33. Yet he's defended on this site

I knew he was responsible for these deaths.

[Karenina]

40. There's a vid up on CNN(Intl)

2010: A look at Pastor Terry Jones' past (3:34) all about his adventures in Cologne. I don't know how to access the direct link. I'm old.

What set my BS meter off was the reference to Maranatha. I remember that shit firsthand.

[Hannah Bell]

41. kick to remind me to watch the video.

[scarletwoman]

35. Excellent OP and thread! Thank you so much!

Great information, I've bookmarked this. I really regret that it's too late to rec this.

I don't have anything trenchent to add, I just want to acknowledge this thread as a meaningful and critical antidote to all the shiny object debates that fill up DU. That's the beauty of psyops -- so many people are so certain that *they* could not possibly be falling for such a thing.

sw

[malaise]

36. Great thread

Kick

[Hannah Bell]

38. i'll kick it again too.

[amborin]

42. bookmarked to digest later

[Turborama]

43. KICK! Because this thread needs to be kept from being archived for a while longer.

It seems.

Thanks for all the info, I'm creating a new special bookmarks folder called "Hannah Bell's Exposé of Jones" and adding all the links to it.