Indeed, evangelical conservatives are among it's bitterest and most dedicated critics. Sarah Palin is in this tendency, and in the Fall of 2008 when my colleague Rachel Tabachnick and I were writing extensively on Palin's ties to the New Apostolic movement, evangelicals and fundamentalists opposed to the movement were lifting and re-posting entire articles we had written.

Point being: many religious conservatives view the religious tendency that the Republican Party is now heavily courting as a dangerous, even satanic, heresy. Some think the New Apostolic Reformation is the "beast" described in the Book of Revelations.

That's part of the reason Lou Engle is relevant to immediate electoral politics. Here's another reason he's relevant :

In early May the Kansas Democratic Party issued a press release calling on Sam Brownback to "denounce close advisor and former roommate for supporting execution of gays."

Now the KDP has released a new 1 and 1/2 minute video, featuring footage I've posted over the past several months, concerning US Senator Sam Brownback's alleged friendship with evangelist Lou Engle, who claims he and Senator Brownback lived together in a rented Washington DC condo for seven months.

The video calls on Brownback to denounce Engle. But this isn't just about Engle and Brownback. As detailed below, based on the frequency with which he can be found in public appearances with leading Republican Party politicians, Lou Engle is the GOP's new religious and prayer leader.

According to Lou Engle, "one of the names of God is 'the avenger of blood.'" In the Kansas Democratic Party video Engle can be seen be seen at a December 2007 rally in Kansas City asking teens and young adults, "have you ever worshiped that aspect of God anytime lately?" A year and a half, Kansas late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was assassinated. Tiller's wife said he considered himself a Christian martyr. Lou Engle's TheCall events have featured calls for acts of Christian martyrdom to stop gay marriage and abortion.

On May 2nd, 2010, Lou Engle staged a rally in Kampala, Uganda, apparently in support of a bill in that country that would execute many gay Ugandans and impose an Orwellian anti-gay police surveillance state.

Meet the GOP's new prayer leader

Lou Engle is not just any evangelist. He's the Republican Party's new unofficial prayer leader who could be found over the past year onstage with numerous nationally prominent GOP politicians. But, why ? The likely reason is that Engle is a prophet in a fast-rising new right of the Christian right that's been almost wholly unnoticed by reporters and journalists purporting to cover politicized religion in America. But as detailed below, fellow leaders in Engle's movement are already playing a significant role in American electoral politics. They claim to be both transforming entire African nations, whole US states such as Hawaii, and significant East Coast cities, including Newark, New Jersey.

Last December 2009 Engle led the Family Research Council's Prayercast on Health Care Reform, a telecast event attended by GOP Senators Sam Brownback and Jim DeMint and Republican Congress members Michelle Bachmann and Randy Forbes. Lou Engle claims he was Kansas Senator Sam Brownback's roommate for seven months, and his association with GOP politicians doesn't stop there. During summer 2009 Engle blessed and anointed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

More recently, Engle led a session on "prayer and revival" at the April 2010 Freedom Federation 'Awakening 2010' conference at former Moral Majority head Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Attending the event were Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Congressman Randy Forbes, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Reagan Administration Undersecretary of Education Gary Bauer.

Media coverage of Lou Engle's religious tendency has been almost nonexistent, and that's striking given there's evidence the movement has already fielded a vice presidential candidate and is now fielding one (and, adding Brownback, maybe even two) GOP gubernatorial candidates.

***

You can read the rest of this story here at Alternet.org