Northbay Fascism - Dominionism

Vallejo Faith Organization is a Christian Fascist political group.

This is shown by their works and deeds:

* They are a "hate group" in that their political ideology calls for demonization (called "love" by their practitioners) against non-Christians and Gay/Lesbian/Trans folks.

* Many of their members are materialistic and allow their greed for material wealth to supersede their religion's codes of morality. (1 Timothy 6:10) "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil". For example, many members openly profess to uphold modern capitalism as "God's plan" even though this system is predatory, buy jewelry rather than use the money for the needy, and drive gas-guzzling vehicles which ruin the air for their neighbors.

* Vallejo Faith Organization convinces their members to remain woefully ignorant of science and political concepts such as ecological protection and human rights.

2011-11-03 "Vallejo Faith Organization - Anti-Gay Agenda?" from Jonathan Gordon (Vallejo Community Activist)
[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/03/1032952/-Vallejo-Faith-Organization-Anti-Gay-Agenda]
Politics is personal. I know Pastor Matthias Esoimeme featured in these video clips. In fact, I exchange pleasantries with Matthias every Saturday at the Vallejo Farmers Market and at community meetings we both attend. And, over the last few years I have had a number of conversations with him. Last week I told him I was not voting for him, and in this diary I will explain why.
Matthias is featured in this interview conducted by Marc Garman. The letter beyond the fold is an analysis of the video by a local Vallejo  rights activist, David Crumrine. The letter was submitted to the local newspaper, the Vallejo Times Herald.
Matthias Esoimeme's Anti-Gay Agenda, Member of the homophobic Vallejo Faith Organization Marc Garman (left) - Matthias Esoimeme (right)

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Dear Editor,
A recent interview with the Vallejo Faith Organization’s candidate for Vallejo City Council, Pastor Matthias Esoimeme has yielded some interesting information on this candidate and his views about the gay community. He freely admits his role as part of the Vallejo Faith Organization as well as their ties with Ed Silvoso, and his Dominionist group of homophobic religious fanatics who have been preying on the citizenry of Vallejo for the past few years. He still uses that tired old cliche about loving the sinner but hating the sin. But after watching a clip of the interview on YouTube, some other very problematic issues come to light.
1. He thinks that gay people having children is a bad thing.
2. He says that being gay is a choice and can be changed.
3. He insinuates that gay people are recruiting others to become gay and says that it risks a human population collapse and that our country risks being “overthrown” by other nations.
4. He says that the reason individuals become gay is to take advantage of “a protected status” such that they can “not be touched" by employers for committing wrongful acts.
5. He says that since transgenderism is not mentioned in the Bible, that it does not actually exist.
Lastly, he talks about gays having a "lower mentality" in comparison to heterosexuals. Isn’t this the same type of discriminatory rhetoric that racial bigots profess?
This is an example of certifiable hate speech. Esoimeme should issue a retraction immediately for his homophobic and discriminatory comments in an attempt to find a way to heal the wounds he has caused. He should also undertake some sensitivity training to learn the truth about homosexuality, transexuality, discrimination, bigotry and the danger it poses to our youth in our schools.
We are fighting an epidemic of “bullycide” where youths are killing themselves due to hate speech like this and due to bullying on campuses. A candidate for public office making these kind of extremist and ignorant comments is not right for Vallejo.
We do not need more division within our city, we need to find ways to bring our community together. The Bible should not be used as a weapon to harm people, nor as a shield from behind which to hide hateful rhetoric and label it as religious freedom.
[signed] David Crumrine
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Pastor Matthias Esoimeme is best understood as a natural outgrowth of the of the Vallejo Faith Organization [http://www.streetprophets.com/storyonly/2011/10/8/02721/6287], also known as VFO. The VFO has been engaging in Memetic Warfare on Vallejo for years using the LBGT community as its target.
Sidenote - Deployment of memetic weapons: Fundamentalists, notably those supporting the neoconservative agenda, place considerable emphasis on the challenge of sin -- in justifying their support for faith-based governance. Their focus is on very tangible manifestations of sin as understood in religious terms. Seven Deadly Sins of Fundamentalism - assessing memetic weapons capability of neoconservatism [http://www.laetusinpraesens.org/musings/sins.php#depl]
The VFO is large enough and active enough in our community to influence the social norms and change the understanding of language in Vallejo. The 20 or so churches supporting VFO have used their "bully pulpit" to create an environment where it is normal to consider LBGT individuals sinful.
Excerpt from How to Detect Evil: Book Review of People Of The Lie by M Scott, Peck, M.D.
[begin excerpt]
There is today in America a disease, a sickness of hatred. It’s very existence is a universal form of group narcissism. Peck calls it, “enemy creation,” or “hatred of the ‘out-group.’” If a group does not have an enemy, “it will most likely create one in short order.” Peck wrote, “The groups become cliques. Those who do not belong to the group are despised as being inferior or evil or both.”
Jerry Falwell was fond of telling the story of how he learned the secret of being a successful pastor. As a young man he went to an older minister and asked, “What do I have to do to be a success?” The old pastor put his arm on Jerry’s shoulder and said, “Son, if you want to be a success, keep a good fight going all the time!”
[end excerpt]
Matthias learned his political skills on the job in Vallejo. Here is a 2008 video of Matthias speaking out in support of "YES on 8", the California Marriage Protection Act. As the viewer can see Matthias has not changed his views on the LBGT community.

I would like to mention the Prop 8 campaign in Vallejo because of the unusual vote outcome in our county. The Vallejo Faith Organization with the help of the local Mormon and Catholic community were able to mobilize the their faithful to create this outcome: "On Nov. 4, 2008, Solano County voted 55.9% for Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. It was the only Bay Area county to approve the initiative." From Wikipedia: Solano County Politics
A month ago at a political meeting where I was talking about the influence of the Vallejo Faith Organization on Vallejo politics Matthias was present. After the meeting Matthias engaged me in an extended conversation. I knew about his views on the LBGT issues, but I did not know much about his humanities breadth. So, I found myself framing our conversation in terms of the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on the Constitution and American institutions rather than talking about LBGT issues.
He immediately took exception and stated the source for the U.S. Constitution was the Bible. I mentioned Descartes, Newton, Spinoza, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson and these were not recognized. But all he said was that I was wrong ... the source is the bible.
And no conversation would be complete without mention of Sodom. And, of course I disagreed with his interpretation. I offered to sit down with him and show him what I believed based on using Strong’s Concordance. Surprisingly for a Pastor he was unfamiliar with Strong's and it’s use.
He changed tactics, again, and questioned my personal beliefs by asking me what church I was affiliated with. I said that I felt comfortable calling myself a Deist and believed in the Jefferson Bible. However, Matthias was not familiar with these.
I went back to defending the founding documents of the United States as being, in part, inspired by the Enlightenment. And, the conversation did not get much further than that.
From Wikipedia: Age of Enlightenment: " .... The new intellectual forces spread to urban centers across Europe, notably England, Scotland, the German states, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Austria, and Spain, then jumped the Atlantic into the European colonies, where it influenced Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, among many others, and played a major role in the American Revolution. The political ideals influenced the American Declaration of Independence, the United States Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the Polish–Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, 1791."
As David said above, "A candidate for public office making these kind of extremist and ignorant comments is not right for Vallejo." I agree with David: Matthias is not right for Vallejo.
Specifically, I reject Matthias as a canideate for Vallejo City Councel because he holds misguided and simplistic ideas about the LBGT community. Second, I think he should have a better understanding American history, American civics, and of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Third, I reject his ideology of category simplifications that supports memetic warfare against Progressive values in the Vallejo community.
Lastly, I think Matthias is being used by the Vallejo Faith Organization to make their regular slate of candidates look more normal and main stream. The other Vallejo Faith Organization candidates are much more polished than Matthias, and I hope to mention them in a future diary.
And on that note, I will end this diary on pledge to keep talking to Matthias. I'm  hoping I'm able to show him some examples of the tragic outcomes for children who are targeted by those that categorize LBGT individuals as sinners, e.g., see Daily Kos diaries like Chrislove's  CA Christian Coalition: Anti-gay bullying simply "part of maturing," "not a real problem" [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/19/1018406/-CA-Christian-Coalition:-Anti-gay-bullying-simply-part-of-maturing,-not-a-real-problem?via=hotlist].


2011-10-23 "Vallejo Faith Organization - Dominionism Proxy?"
[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/23/1029159/-Vallejo-Faith-Organization-Dominionism-Proxy?]
The Vallejo Faith Organization (VFO) is an influential political force in my community. So much so, that all the candidates running for office have had to factor them into their campaign considerations. I would normally take "City of God" as a "metaphor" for the VFO's approach to governance and chalk it up to colorful language ... In other words, just ignore it.
Screen capture from video about VFO - (YouTube access set to private on September 2, 2011.)

But, the more I have looked into the operation of VFO, the more I realized they had a more long term goal. And, from what I can surmise this goal is to "transform" the city of Vallejo into a "City of God". Beyond the fold let me share some of what I discovered.

What is the Vallejo Faith Organization?
 Pictured below is the Vallejo Faith Organization's website splash page announcing the formation of the organization in 2007 and outlining it's goals and beliefs.  Click here for a large version of the screen shot below.

 Over the last few years the VFO has backed a number of candidates for local City Council and School Board offices. The VFO has held numerous prayer breakfasts, public prayer rallies, political forums, and voter registration drives. They have conducted legal seminars educating pastors, and initiated an adopt a school program. Their campaign to pray  over city streets, businesses, and government institutions is an ongoing group activity. In 2008 VFO played a significant roll in Solano county delivering the YES vote on Prop 8.
Consider this key establishment passage from the VFO mission statement:
"God wants to unify business, education, government, and the faith community - all working together in the transformation of our beautiful city." From the VFO Website:Our Mission [http://vallejofaith.org/]
To understand the significance of the above establishment statement, one must consider it literally, not metaphorically.If you only remember one thing from this diary remember to take the statements from organizations like VFO literally.
Who is behind VFO? "(name) was one of the very first in the Vallejo area to attend a seminar with Ed Silvoso and quickly brought the concept of marketplace ministry to his pastor Danny Jefferson." From the Harvest Evangelism Website: Vallejo City of God [http://www.harvestevan.org/vallejo-city-of-god.html]
Ed Silvoso and Pastor Danny Jefferson (L to R) - Screen capture from a video by Marc Garman: Vallejo's Faith Community Gather in Prayer:

"One defining aspect of transformationalism is its focus on what are called marketplace ministers. In this context, as in many Christian circles, the term 'marketplace' is used to represent business, education, and government—i.e., everything outside the church and family." From Wikipedia, Christian Transformationalism: Marketplace Ministers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Transformationalism#Marketplace_ministers]
The unifying philosophy behind VFO can be found in the doctrines of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). For additional information and references on NAR see Rachel Tabachnick's Resource Directory for the New Apostolic Reformation on the Talk to Action website [http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/1/20/131544/037].
For the practical implementation of this vision of a "City of God" VFO enlisted the professional services of Harvest Evangelism, one of the leading international suppliers social transformation technology. Harvest Evangelism, owned by CEO & NAR Apostle Ed Silvoso, practices a variation on Dominionism called Christian Transformationalism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Transformationalism].
Screen capture from Harvest Evangelism: Vallejo City of God:

Ed Silvoso's International Transformation Network is active in over 300 cities on 6 continents [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/International_Transformation_Network]. It originates, publishes, and markets a complete line of educational materials and tools for transforming communities.
Ed Silvoso's global Adopt Your Street tool is tracked by a Google Maps Application. This sophisticated collaboration tool is one of the many technologies developed by Harvest Evangelism. Below some quotes from the instructions on using this Adopt Your Street application.
"Plot the street address you wish to "adopt."* It could be your home, at your school, at your place of work – or all of them! Or it could be a street you adopt simply because you feel led to pray for it. —Involve each member of the family in the process!"
"Comment on the street address you have adopted.* Who are you praying about? What are the needs of your neighborhood, your workplace, your school? What are you asking God for? What changes are taking place?
"Communicate with each other.* "Follow" others' comments and let them "follow" yours."
California Canopy of Prayer [http://www.transformourworld.org/en/blogs/1875-california-canopy-of-prayer]
If you go to the Harvest Evangelism's Transform Our World Adopt Your Street website and "drill down" you can see if your street or home is being watched and prayed over [http://www.transformourworld.org/en/adopt].
Below is a screen capture representing the whole world from Harvest Evangelism's Transform Our World website. I had to spend a lot of time to get this screen capture. I had to "drill down" in each state in North America and each nation on each continent to get all the markers across the world.

It should be noted that this Adopt Your Street program can be adapted as a powerful social organizing tool for the New Apostolic Reformation. And it would not surprise me if the tool could be used for political canvasing and voter microtargeting [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtargeting].
Below is a quote from the Vallejo Faith Organization website stating that one of their core values is to elect political candidates and to advance the outcome of a political issues or legislation. This is what would normally be called a political action committee (PAC) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee].
"Participation in the election process and holding Elected Officials accountable." From the VFO Website: Our Core Values.
Who are the potential followers of the movement in Vallejo?
In the "Our Members" section the doctrine of Marketplace Ministry is introduced. "The Vallejo Faith Organization (VFO) is comprised of pastors and Marketplace Ministers (Business persons.) Members are people from many Christian Denominations, ethnicity and political party affiliations." From the VFO Website: Our Members.
The Vallejo Faith Organization is a regional meta-church organization comprised of alliances of churches from different denominational backgrounds. I would estimate there are about 14 local church involved in VFO with perhaps about 2000 members(potential voters).
What is the VFO doing in the Vallejo community?
 Below is a screen shot of a video that illustrates members of VFO "praying" over Vallejo. Part of the transformation process is driving out territorial demons and generational curses.
Screen capture from video about VFO - (YouTube access set to private on September 2, 2011.)

Below is a screen  capture from Harvest Evangelism's Transform Our World website: Adopt Your Street

Screen capture from video about VFO - (YouTube access set to private on September 2, 2011.)





The video mentioned above has been re-posted here: Vallejo Faith Organization on the Move in our city!! [http://youtu.be/OMCKcSkVlcM] (No guarantee this will stay up)
Clearly VFO is doing much more in the Vallejo community than is reported in this diary, so consider this diary an introduction. My next diary will take a close look at some of the local VFO backed candidates running for office.