"Witchcraft" video rocks Hawaii GOP gubernatorial campaign~!

[Pirate Smile]

"Witchcraft" video rocks Hawaii GOP gubernatorial campaign~!

by Troutfishing
Thu Oct 21, 2010 at 06:24:46 AM PDT


Witchcraft again? Yes - again, witchcraft.

"If you have any idols in your home, we're gonna burn 'em! If you have any witchcraft items in your home, we're gonna burn 'em!" - It's like something out of the Spanish Inquisition or from the depths of the European Medieval period, mysteriously transported to sunny Hawaii of 2010, at the height of a hotly fought campaign for governor no less.

Troutfishing's diary :: ::

As the Associated Press reported yesterday, on a scandal roiling the Hawaii gubernatorial campaign, Republican candidate for governor James "Duke" Aiona is lashing out at the campaign of his Democratic rival Neal Abercrombie for allegedly promoting a video I've compiled which begins with a clip of Aiona, in July 2008, enthusiastically stating that he was a member of Transformation Hawai'i, which is a local chapter of the International Transformation Network.

As the AP describes,

"The video was produced by Bruce Wilson, who co-founded a blog about religion and politics. It includes clips of Aiona at a 2009 meeting in Hawaii of the International Transformation Network, an evangelical Christian group, and its local arm, Transformation Hawaii.

Other clips are of ITN's 2008 meeting in Argentina in which a pastor calls on followers to collect idolatrous objects to be burned, and of Aiona urging viewers to attend a 2005 ITN meeting in Hawaii...

Wilson said ITN leaders appear to believe gays are possessed by demons and native art should be destroyed.

"It would be hard for Duke Aiona to be more enmeshed in Transformation Hawaii," Wilson said. "I'm just observing, here's Duke Aiona. He's heavily involved with this movement. Here's what the movement believes."

Here's the video in question:


So Hawaii is being "transformed" - to what? And why? In April I wrote an extended two-part series describing Aiona's many ties to Transformation Hawaii, the International Transformation Network, and the right-wing evangelical campaign to remake the Aloha State, into a place free from witchcraft, idolatry, gay marriage, and other alleged scourges of all that's said to be good and wholesome.

Transformation Hawai'i is a local chapter of an entity called the International Transformation Network, whose leaders appear fixated on fighting gay marriage and burning "idols", "witchcraft items", Books of Mormon, statues of Catholic saints, and native art.

Both Duke Aiona, his campaign, and allied media such as Hawaii's KITV, have decried the video and claimed it is "false", "misleading", deceitful (on and on) without describing the actual content of the video itself. As KITV's Daryl Huff writes,

"Governor candidate Duke Aiona on Wednesday said Neil Abercrombie's campaign is using social networking to spread false information about his relationship with a controversial religious group.

The video, which is posted on YouTube accuses Aiona of lying about his ties to an international evangelical group with anti-homosexual views."

The video clips in question, however, are presented with no characterization at all. Readers can judge for themselves.

As Huff quotes Duke Aiona's response, "This politically motivated attack video takes quotes out of context" - "It splices videos together and it manufactures patently false statements as it relates to a faith-based organization."

But what else can Aiona say given that he's starred in Transformation Hawai'i ads and infommercials, attended (and led) multiple Transformation Hawai'i events, contributed a chapter to a book detailing Transformation Hawaii's efforts, accepted cash gifts of over $7,000 to finance a junket to an Argentina conference of Transformation Hawaii's parent ministry, publicly dedicated Hawaii to Jesus in the name of Transformation Hawai'i, stated his intent of "discipling" Hawaii for Transformation Hawai'i and it's parent ministry, the International Transformation Network, and been prayed over, at a 2009 ITN Hawai'i conference, at a religious ceremony reminiscent of a coronation?

Footage from the last link above, from the 2009 ITN conference Aiona attended at the Hilton Hawaiian village near Honolulu, shows Duke Aiona praising ITN CEO Ed Silvoso and declaring his intent to "disciple" Hawaii. In his 2007 book Transformation: Change the Marketplace and You Change the World, on page 42, Ed Slivoso gave examples of "discipled" nations: communist Russia under Lenin, communist China under Mao, and Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The reason Daryl Huff, KITV, and other Hawaii media can't address specifics is quite simple - 1) the evidence connecting Duke Aiona to Transformation Hawaii is overwhelming, and 2) ITN members say extremely disturbing things. This goes far beyond the bounds of polite discourse, or the pretense of polite discourse as it were.

For example, here are video clips of Cindy Jacobs casting out "gay demons" and claiming to magically heal HIV/AIDS and give women with no wombs new ones, from God. Here's Ed Silvoso and another ITN member, at a 2008 ITN conference, comparing their political opponents to rats to be exterminated - 1, 2 (see time signatures, under both videos, for exact times of "rats" statements).

Here's how I introduced the matter, in my recent story, Hawaii Candidate For Governor Claimed Membership in Group That Burns Native Art:

Running against former Democratic Congressional Representative Neal Abercrombie to be Hawaii's next governor, Republican Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona has disavowed his relationship with an international evangelical ministry called the International Transformation Network, whose leaders advocate burning religious artifacts and native art. But in newly discovered video footage from 2008, Aiona enthusiastically stated that he was indeed a member of the ITN's Hawaii chapter, Transformation Hawaii. ITN leaders claim to fight "witchcraft" and burn native art, depict non-charismatic Catholics as damned, try to cure HIV and AIDS with faith healing, and allege homosexuals are possessed by demon spirits.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/10/21/912250/-Witchcraft-video-rocks-Hawaii-GOP-gubernatorial-campaign~!

[Shallah Kali]

1. I was coming to post this.

Glad to see someone beat me to it. These people are in the New Apostolic Reformation which is one of the groups who encouraged the Ugandan Government to consider homosexuals as evil and demon possessed - http://www.vimeo.com/8749833

Lots of GOP have connections with this group like Brownback (who is also in The Family) who roomed with radical cleric Lou Engle
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/17/11135/471/Front_Page/_Lou_Engle_Only_One_of_Many_of_Sen_Brownback_s_NAR_Apostle_Problems


and in case anyone missed it Palin is paling around with witchhunters too:


Sarah Palin's 'Witchcraft Problem' Is Bigger Than Christine O'Donnell's 'Witchcraft Problem'. Palin has been friends with two avowed witch hunters who advocate that charismatic born-again Christians should "infiltrate" government and cleanse "the land" of unbelievers.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/9/21/104431/670

[derby378]

2. Direct link to the main Aiona/ITN video in question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUIkBU27YaU

[JNelson6563]

3. That's fucking lunacy.

And that's about all you can say about that shit.

Julie

[snagglepuss]

4. K & R nt

[Shallah Kali]

5. Kick

this is the same religious movement to which Sarah Palin belongs and Muthee, the preacher who blessed her to protect her from witchcraft and evil spirits. These people are serious and they don't sit out elections.