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I attended Assembly of God churches for some years back in the early to mid 1970s, first in Columbia, Missouri, and then in Springfield, Missouri, where the headquarters of the Assembly of God denomination is located. I even lived for a time on the campus of what was then called Evangel College, an AG institution in Springfield that was actually quite a fascinating place if you had the right attitude about the basis of the curriculum. I was an intriguing and life-influencing experience, and ultimately led to my agnosticism.
Did I experience speaking in tongues? Boy did I, as well as faith healing and some of the most remarkable preaching in all of Christendom. You really haven't experienced Pentacostalism if you haven't attended a number of services where half the congregation is caught up in the raptures of glossolalia whipped up by the preaching of a fiery, hell-for-leather pastor who's just finished a rousing round of faith healing. This crowd, which I readily admit included me, was all for the Rapture, even though they only had Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" to point to in terms of mainstream exposure of the idea at the time. And as for the End Times, they were certain to be on the horizon at the turn of every significant global event, particularly if it involved Israel.
After a while, though, all this sound and fury began to pall. I had to get on with life, and chose a path that led me very much away from all the sound and fury of the Charismatic Movement - for so it was known at the time. (Is it still? I haven't checked lately.) The End Times continue to defy prediction as to when they will occur - just as Jesus himself very pointedly warned would be the case - and the reasonably coherent arguments of Lindsey have been replaced by the laughable fictionalizations of LaHaye and Jenkins. (Oh yes, I've read those things, God bless 'em!)
This, then, is what I see undergirding Sarah Palin's religious perspective. She's more than entitled to it, and I don't know why it should disqualifying her to lead this country as such - a guy with my background could hardly say otherwise - but if that's where her view of the world stops, we could be in big trouble.
