I'd always felt that my little corner of the world had mostly avoided colonization by far out religious nutjobs. Turns out not so much. Destiny church had always sounded like a comical made in china knock off of those freaky mega-churches you guys have in the States, but they seem to have upgraded to a much more authentic recipe for lunacy recently.The leader of Destiny Church, Brian Tamaki, who not long ago anointed himself bishop of the church he founded, has now proclaimed himself the church's "spiritual father" and designated the male members of the church as "spiritual sons".
At a special service during the church's annual conference in Auckland at the weekend, about 700 male members of the church swore a "covenant oath" of loyalty and obedience to Mr Tamaki and were given a "covenant ring" to wear on their right hands.
A church document describes the covenant as "a solemn oath of commitment that is binding, enduring and unbreakable. You are bound to covenant ... Covenant is an irrevocable, undissolvable oath of commitment"...
...In the document comes a section entitled "Protocols towards our spiritual father", which takes 1300 words to describe in jaw-dropping detail how the "spiritual sons" shall behave towards their "spiritual father".
Under "Public Conduct", the sons will in all conversation always speak of Mr Tamaki in a favourable and positive light; and in formal and/or public occasions, they will always address him and his wife, Hannah, first in acknowledgments and addresses at meetings "as a sign of respect to the father of the movement".
If any "son" is honoured either by the church or secularly, he is to mention his "mentors and role models" - Mr and Mrs Tamaki - "because Bishop is one of God's best-known representatives in our country".
Under "Conduct Towards Bishop", the "sons" are told that "Bishop is the tangible expression of God", so they need to understand how to properly approach their man of God "to protect the anointing and not transgress this special relationship".
They are always to be respectful and honourable in Mr Tamaki's presence. "Even though he is very sociable and open - remember who he is!" They must never be "in his face" and must protect him from outsiders who attempt to do that.
They must endorse what Mr Tamaki endorses, fully support what he promotes and ensure that what he is involved in is supported and successful.
The "sons" must never openly disagree with Mr Tamaki in front of others and must "be careful not to become familiar (which can lead to contempt)" with him "due to his friendliness and openness".
Under "Etiquette", the "sons" are told that when Mr Tamaki and his wife enter a room, they must stand and acknowledge their presence. They may sit only after the Tamakis are seated.
And if they dine with him they wait until he has started eating before they start eating, unless he indicates otherwise.
This is the same church that, in 2003, launched a political party and Pastor Brian (he may have already appointed himself bishop at that stage) was quoted as saying "We'll be running the country in 5 years"
And a few years after that, someone leaked their plans to set up an exclusive comune of sorts, that may well have been a ploy to concentrate enough of their members in one electorate to try and win a seat in parliament.
And now they seem to be raising their own militia. Tamaki is apparently throwing around euphemisms-that-might-not-actually-be-euphemisms like "training men to fight a war"
The crazy chanting, the brain washing, fleecing the poor and the general money money money attitude displayed isn't really all that new to me, but are evangelical churches in the US quite so overtly militant?
I'm just glad the major media outlets here aren't shy of ridiculing religion and are having a ball of a time with this story. Even the mainstream christian groups here call them a cult.
