In our reporting on Rick Perry’s The Response prayer rally, we highlighted the work of John Benefiel of the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, who gained notoriety for his claims that the Statue of Liberty is a “demonic idol” and that the District of Columbia is under a curse because of its name, which Benefiel says honors the goddess Columbia. He claimed that his group succeeded in divorcing the city from the control of the pagan god Baal and renamed it the District of Christ.

Benefiel uses what he calls the “Baal Decree of Divorce” [PDF] to cast out the demonic structures that he believes control and corrupt geographic areas. He claims that the divorce decrees are a vital part of spiritual warfare that will reduce a locality’s social, environmental, economic and spiritual ills by ending Baal’s jurisdiction over that area and inviting in God to rule instead. Now, Benefiel has taken his Baal divorce decrees to Michigan in preparation for The Call: Detroit.

Rachel Tabachnick and Bruce Wilson of Talk to Action posted audio clips today of organizers from The Call and Transformation Michigan, the state affiliate of the Oak Initiative, talking about how they are using spiritual warfare to combat the supposed demonic powers over the state. Organizer Anita Christopher discussed how she works on casting demons out of mosques, saying, “We do believe as do many of the prophetic and apostolic people that Baal is the strongman over our country and directly the strongman over Islam and freemasonry.” She added that we need to “set free ourselves from freemasonry and from Islamic influence.”

Benefiel and Christopher discussed with Transformation Michigan leader Rich Warzywak their efforts to “divorce Baal” from mosques, Masonic temples and even the Michigan Senate. Benefiel said, “We are for Free Masons and Mormons and Muslims getting free from the bondage that they’ve been under to know the Lord Jesus Christ.” “In your state in the Dearborn area in particular, that’s probably the biggest stronghold of Islam in our nation, well, in going to the Masonic lodges I believe that we are earning authority from God,” claimed Benefiel. He went on to say, “I believe we are earning authority to pull down the spirit of Islam over our nation.”

Our compilation video highlights the anti-Muslim of Engle, along with the other The Call and Oak Initiative leaders Rick Joyner and Jerry Boykin: