The Family (2019) s01e05 Episode Script
Wolf King
1 Have you ever asked God for forgiveness? That's a tough question.
I I don't think in terms of I have I'm a religious person.
But have you ever asked God for forgiveness? I'm not sure I have.
I just go and try and do a better job from there.
I don't think so.
I think I If I If I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right.
I don't bring God into that picture.
I don't.
In 2016, Doug Coe and his son, Tim Coe, and I were to go and meet with President Elect Trump at Trump Tower, to introduce the idea of the National Prayer Breakfast to the next President of the United States.
Doug comes into the room and he said, "I've met with every president since Eisenhower.
And And they called The first one I met with Ike, and he wasn't from Washington, and he wasn't a politician, and you remind me of him.
I would encourage you to use the Prayer Breakfast the same way Ike did.
" In this day of fear and hysteria, the United States is truly trying to follow in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace.
And he challenged him to do that.
The world is in trouble, but we're gonna straighten it out, okay? That's what I do.
I fix things.
We're gonna straighten it out.
We prayed.
Everybody in the room had their hands on this President-Elect.
- Let's pray together, may we? - Yes.
Doug commanded enormous respect because of his longevity of commitment.
Decades and decades that he had been the guy, the central figure.
And this was literally one of the last trips he got to take.
Maybe three months before he left the earth.
For this movement that's united, through small groups of men, an invisible organization, with their ambitions completely embodied in this one man And if that one man's not there anymore, what happens next? Come.
All worry will be left behind.
All disappointment, too, will be gone forever.
We adopted a program for a worldwide spiritual offensive.
I know, as never before, that we are all God's children.
There is only one thing we can take with us through that door: those whom we have led to the savior.
"Fear him.
Love him.
Submit yourself completely.
Then you will be His disciple.
" What we have begun we will finish.
"The activities in the nation's capital are of central importance to all of us.
The spiritual pulse of these groups has become increasingly strong, and a few men have been born into the Kingdom.
Weekly meetings are held by members of the Congress of the United States, departments of the US government, state, and municipal governments.
These men who so faithfully represent us deserve our ardent support.
The idea spread across the continent and soon, breakfast groups sprang up in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington.
As the idea caught fire, leaders in many walks of life came together, searching for the answer to their problems.
" Through your involvement, have you come to participate in a small group? Mm-hmm.
Yep.
How How did you find your way to that? Was that Was it by design or Like, how do I join this Fellowship? Uh, the way you do is you, you know, find somebody in in your neighborhood, and there will be somebody there.
I mean, there are people all over the place.
Let's say you live in Greensboro, North Carolina.
You know, if somebody asked me, I'd say, "I don't know, let me let me see if there's somebody in Greensboro.
" You'll get hooked up in a small group and that's it.
You know, the rest is up to you.
One of the things that emerges when you look at what becomes this really enduring and global social movement is, on the one hand, you know, the real vastness of the undertaking, and, on the other hand, the focus on these little groups.
These groups are recruitment tools.
You're encouraged to share really intimate thoughts and feelings, and then this intimacy binds you to the Family and their way of thinking.
And, depending on how connected your group is, you may get invited to the National Prayer Breakfast.
That's how the Family thrives.
Doing good.
Jesse Moss.
How are you? Thank you so much for having us here in the seminar.
- I want you to know something.
- Yeah.
Is It would be very easy for you to feel stiff-armed - by us.
- Yeah.
We're not trying to do that.
But we do our best work invisibly, okay? Good, come on in.
Your name, sir.
Where are you from? It's Ayric Payton, from Portland, Oregon.
What do you say to the person who says that you don't want to say that there's leadership, because to do that would mean you'd have to take ownership of what we're actually doing? Um, so, we're sinners.
We'll sure admit to that.
But a lot of the other things, talking about how we were involved in these conspiracies around the world and so on, they're giving us a lot of credit we don't deserve.
Okay? Thanks for coming, everybody.
God bless you.
Hope you have a great time.
- What What's your name? - Ayric.
- Ayric, I'm Jesse.
- Jesse? Nice to meet you, Jesse.
Just an interesting question you asked.
How did you first come here? I belong to a group, - Friday Morning Men's group - Okay.
where we don't pull any punches, - we don't exchange the niceties.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
Where is that? - Uh, Portland.
No, no.
I'm leaving.
No, bro, hold it.
You're clean inside, right? But you're dirty from walking in the world.
- You're dirty - I need to be pursued by God.
Even if I feel like it's painful, because it is painful.
For me, who has struggled in pornography and sexual morality most of my life, it's everywhere, right? We see this every day in our culture.
We see great men who have done great things come crashing down over some affair that gets exposed.
We're talking David, the greatest man of war.
Bathsheba, with a look, brings him down to his knees.
Where that no conquering army could defeat him, but he ran from his own family.
Whoo! What really struck me about meeting some members of this group at the National Prayer Breakfast, you stood out to me, um, in your honest questions and and, you know, your your honest conversation drew me in.
One of the reasons that we have, uh I think existed for so long is because that we don't expose ourself to media.
They just see what they appears to be, a big old surface argument with men berating one another.
And they think that's all that this is about.
You know, fools down there, black dudes hollering at the white dudes, the white dudes trying to justify themselves to the black dudes.
They think that's what's happening here, and, of course, if you come here initially and see one of those, um, that is what's happening, but underneath that is is a powerful work that God is doing that's actually changing men's lives.
What I would ask you something to think about while you're sitting here is, uh, what are the lies that you have been telling yourself? And which one of those lies have you come to believe? Well, I can tell you one big lie that I Recognizing that I I can't hide behind the camera.
So, why is your crew all white? - Yeah.
That's a great question.
- Well, why is it? - Yeah, well, I think - Answer it.
I think that because we're we're not doing enough to make sure that there's diverse representation in our industry.
And And I think that leadership has to start from the top, - doesn't it? - There's more to it than that.
I mean, I can say that it's it's both structural and personal.
The answer, it's personal, and it's - You picked the guys who are here.
- That's right.
I picked some of them.
Yeah.
And I you know, I'll say, you know, we we try We hire women.
There's a You know, it's a a male-dominated industry.
Documentary less so than other aspects of filmmaking.
- So - I didn't ask you about women.
I asked you about black people.
So, you see how you struggled? See how hard of a struggle it was to answer that question? - Yeah.
Well, I'm defensive.
- But you see how you struggled - to answer the question? - Yeah.
Because we see the we see the results.
All the time.
You This is this what we deal with all the time here.
In this group, this is this is this is how you get stripped down.
This is what you hear.
And nobody goes, "Oh, thank you for telling me that, I'm gonna change my ways now and do that.
" No, it hurts.
Actually, we're actually kind of taking it easy on you because normally, uh, especially guys who come and especially guys like you who bring out this stuff, man, I work you over.
And often men, especially, who are confronted with themselves, they don't like what they see.
And they don't like it being put in their face and spoken to what it actually is.
And it's ugly.
It's debased.
But my point is is the shame keeps us locked in our circumstances.
And then if we don't deal with shame right, we start blaming.
We blame our wives, we blame white folk, we blame black folk, we blame the economy, we blame doctrine.
Everybody! There ain't nothing scarier in this country than a free black man speaking.
Why? 'Cause we been through some shit here.
Uh, excuse us, these two white guys got scared.
Hey, white people! Excuse me, white people! That's you, Bill.
Bring your little white butt right up in here.
So, you've seen exceptional, at least based on my understanding of your voice at the National Prayer Breakfast and what you're saying here today, saying there's not honest conversation about race relations.
It's not even honest.
Authentic.
- Yes.
- Authentic.
We're connected to Washington, D.
C.
, because one of the founders, Doug Coe, is from Salem, Oregon.
Doug Coe, when I first met him, said asked me if I was the next revolutionary.
And so he opened the door and allowed people unlike himself, people very different than himself in all manners, to be included in the process and have a place at the table.
Doug, we talk about that we need a revolution.
Yes? Jesus is the greatest revolutionary leader in history, and transcends white, red, yellow, black.
That's just a fact.
- Love it.
- The point is, God is love.
Love is a person.
And that person, he's the most revolutionary leader in the history of the planet.
If they talk Jesus and they say the right things, and they mutually support and comfort one another, does that move them to change their behavior? Does that move them to act in ways that seek justice? Being a person of faith, I wanted a clear understanding of their theology.
The Fellowship is kind of a pre-church organization, is what it feels like.
Back to that first generation who actually walked and talked and remembered Jesus firsthand.
And there was no church then.
It was a bunch of Jews and gentiles and people who got interested in this person Jesus, and they were so drawn and so taken that they started coming together and sharing their stories.
So, it's about small gatherings.
And for the Family, it becomes a cult of following.
Jesus is this charismatic, powerful person.
So, this organization has created a small group process of raising up this charismatic figure.
But my take is they really cherry-picked who this Jesus was and what this Jesus did.
I think they use Jesus.
I hate to say this, almost kind of a mascot.
Good morning.
At first glance, you may think that Robert Aderholt, a conservative Republican, very conservative from Northern Alabama and a progressive Democrat from Southern California have nothing in common, and yet we find commonalities through our shared belief in hope, prayer, and Jesus.
We bring before you now the hearts and the minds and the bodies of the leaders of this nation and this world.
Lord, I believe you created the institution of leadership to make the most of this challenging world.
We need our leaders to make decisions, to organize common effort, to inspire us and to overcome all the forces that drive us apart.
Lord, you taught us that in the economy of your kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
May our hearts be broken by the things that break your heart, oh, Lord.
And, as a result, may we pursue personal action and policies that create peace, equality, and justice.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We had tremendous success on The Apprentice.
And when I ran for president, I had to leave the show.
That's when I knew for sure I was doing it.
What do you think, Lil Jon? Is she a leader, or just a stressed-out bitch? Oh! And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place.
I'm back.
And we know how that turned out.
The ratings went right down the tubes.
It's been a total disaster.
Never, ever bet against Trump again.
And I wanna just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, okay? That was how Donald Trump opened his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this morning, what is typically a somber event before an audience of devout religious leaders.
The reaction from his critics, some shock, ridicule, outrage that he'd say it.
At Trump's first Prayer Breakfast, he talks about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
How petty can that be? A whole lot of reporters say, "Ha, can you believe this idiot," you know? They make the same mistake that they made when Trump went to Liberty University.
Two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ball game.
And gave a bizarre, deeply unorthodox reading of the Bible.
Is that the one? Is that the one you like? I think that's the one you like, 'cause I loved it.
They say that clearly he wasn't a pious man, right? They think, a little bit like I did when I bought this this King James Bible in the beginning of my reporting, to go to Ivanwald and I still thought this scripture mattered.
I hadn't learned the lesson of the Family.
We don't need this book.
Trump understands that, too.
If you're scripturally literate, it doesn't matter.
The shallowness of your faith, it doesn't matter.
You know, when we go in church and and when I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and have my little cracker, I guess that's a form of asking for forgiveness.
And I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed, okay? Sometimes, it's the most unlikely figure who is God's tool.
Trump doesn't know anything in the Bible.
Well, of course it's not It's just just in his heart.
Donald Trump's Presbyterian.
One of their main teachings is predestination.
So, young Donald must have just eaten that up.
That he was predestined to greatness, to do great things, to be a great leader.
There's a preponderance of folks like that involved in the Fellowship.
He's got these three mentors in his life.
This is his holy trinity.
His father, Fred, from whom he learned strength.
Roy Cohn, a fixer, from whom he learns cunning.
And Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking.
Norman Vincent Peale.
The great Norman Vincent Peale was my pastor.
The Power of Positive Thinking.
Everybody's heard of Norman Vincent Peale? He was so great.
He would give a sermon, you never wanted to leave.
Sometimes we have sermons and every once in a while we think about leaving a little early, right? Even though we're Christian.
That connection goes back to the founder of the Family, Abraham Vereide.
Norman Vincent Peale, good friend of Abraham's.
Together they wanted to turn Christianity into a businessman's religion.
That Family theology, it has infected fundamentalism writ large.
Positive thinking works wonders.
Inevitably.
Indubitably.
So, what do you wanna be? Ask yourself that question.
I would go so far as to say that if you are a complete, dedicated follower of Jesus Christ, you can do anything you really wanna do with your life.
I think Jesus is the answer, but it's a lot different than the Christianity that you see today in America.
It is not prosperity.
It is not name it and claim it.
It is not great jobs, great this, great that.
It's really a personal sacrifice, a decision to follow a king today that doesn't have a kingdom here, and a way that's very different than the way of life now.
This gathering is a testament to the power of faith, and is one of the great customs of our nation.
And I hope to be here seven more times with you.
You might assume that this guy has dishonored the Prayer Breakfast.
No, he's not.
He's just performed a merger.
This is a business merger on stage.
This is those two forms of spectacle coming together.
Trump is not their tool.
It's like, "I've got my spectacle.
You've got your spectacle.
" Let's work together.
Let's spectacle together.
Now to this president, some of this is the evangelical base that is his base.
He enjoys it and he may see some of it as that.
What we're trying to share with him is, it's way beyond that.
Because the evangelical base, the political base, is not what this is about.
This this thought of Jesus is what this is about.
If you're a member of the Fellowship, the word "Jesus" takes on a number of different it takes on a number of functions, - more than meanings.
- Like a talisman.
It's like a talisman.
That's a very good word.
To hold the people who participate together in an ideology.
But there's a shared understanding that what we're really about here is power.
We haven't had a president in our lifetime that was so pro-evangelical and has spoken for the for the issues that evangelicals care about.
This is what the Family's been waiting for.
He's God's man.
The evangelicals who surrounded him and embraced him and would end up voting for him in higher percentages than any president in history, including George W.
Bush, including Ronald Reagan some of them would go so far as to call him "God's chaos candidate.
" Often married, casino operator Art of the Deal, amazing, unbelievable.
Just remember that God always uses imperfect vessels to do his perfect work, 'cause I am an imperfect vessel.
President Trump's an imperfect vessel.
We all are, really.
I mean, do you remember that sound bite, that horrendous moment when he was arguing with the Pope? Who gets in a dust-up with the Pope on the campaign trail? And he's yelling, "I'm a Christian and I'm proud of it.
" - I thought, "That's gotta be God's man.
" - Yeah.
I am fascinated by the rhetorical self-empretzelment that's necessary to justify an allegiance to Donald Trump on the part of faith leaders in the religious right.
Despite the fact that he was messy and chaotic, that was further evidence of God using this man.
The Cabinet that he assembled is the most fundamentalist cabinet in US history.
Pompeo.
DeVos.
Jeff Sessions, a longtime associate of the Family, that says, "We have to separate families at the border because of Romans 13.
" I would cite Romans 13: "Obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government.
" Other figures that we don't pay as much attention to, that's where you really start to see folks pouring in.
And, of course, for vice president, he chose Mike Pence.
The secular press notices this.
This is big news.
The Christian Conservative press? This is hallelujah.
We now know his preferred running mate was Chris Christie.
Chris Christie is the guy he wanted to hang out with.
Mike Pence was the deal.
Mike Pence was the transaction.
Well, I think President Trump has a heart of gratitude for evangelical Christians in this country.
With President Donald Trump in this White House and with God's help, we will restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.
Pence is not exactly a member of the Family, but he is his own power center.
And for the Trump administration, the power centers of the Christian right are working toward common ground.
Hey, hey, ho, ho! Roe v.
Wade has got to go! Let me be clear.
President Trump is a believer.
And so am I.
And we understand, uh, the role of faith in the life of this nation.
Does it look to me like the Trump administration is favoring or wanting to privilege Christianity? There are signs of that.
I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.
I will do that.
Remember.
The Johnson Amendment prevents churches from doing overt politicking.
It could mean that there's a de facto religious test.
To be involved in the government, you have to adhere to Christianity.
What's really at stake is the fundamental division between church and state.
History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations.
We pray this prayer, and if all of you agree with that, say amen.
Amen.
Let us pray.
What Jesus struggled with he struggled with religious leaders more than anybody else.
Leaders who are trying to hang on.
They want to maintain their status in their community, they want to maintain their way of life.
There's lots of examples in the gospels of people collaborating with the powerful, to the cost and to the demise of the less fortunate and less powerful.
Doug Coe preaches a parable of the Wolf King.
How do you get the Wolf King? You show him that you have a great power and you offer that power to him.
The Wolf King will come alongside you.
They're not thinking that Trump is gonna get religion and turn sweet and mild.
Just the opposite.
The reason we work with Trump is because he's not a sheep.
He's the Wolf King.
We're not Christians.
We're followers of Jesus.
And we just serve.
"Two or three friends agree and pray.
They can do anything.
" That voice of doubt in your stomach How does that make you feel? - Joining us now is Jeff Sharlet.
- Jeff Sharlet The nation's eyes turn to Jeff Sharlet, the only person to have done extensive journalism about the Family.
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.
When you left Ivanwald, you wrote your book.
Had you thought to yourself maybe, like, "I got it wrong.
" Or, "I" You know, did you ever think, like I mean, I'm sure people accused you of being a conspiracy theorist.
- Yeah.
- Did you ever think like Like, did you ever question yourself? Um, you know, it's funny, 'cause I wrote two books about them and I tried to give them both happy endings.
Uh, they weren't happy experiences reporting these books.
You know, to encounter a power that is much greater than you understood.
Um Really maybe the darkest expression of religious life that I have encountered in 20 years of of writing.
Um the subtitle of Jeff's book is The Secret Threat, Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy.
- Mmm.
Yes.
- The Fellowship, the Family, is a secret secretive threat, fundamentalist threat - to American democracy.
- Yeah.
I'm not a good example of that.
I'm a liberal.
I like Jeff.
I mean, I met with him a few times.
We had a little war going on, but I liked him.
I mean, I was praying for him a lot.
I still do.
You know, let let's just, uh address the 600-pound gorilla right on the front end.
Um I've never seen any conspiratorial motives.
I've never seen any bad actors inside that weren't If they if they showed up, they're pushed out.
So, you can shoot at it or poke holes at it or develop conspiracy theories, um, but, uh, they're not justified, honestly.
People come with their own agendas and their preconceived ideas, and then they look for information they think that will, uh, ratify those ideas.
Eh, people are not used to other people who don't have an agenda, who humble themselves, who appeal to an authority higher than Washington.
And who live in a world and with a worldview that is so opposite what everybody else lives in.
And that's why they think there's a cover-up, there's a conspiracy, there's something secretive going on.
You know, handshakes and code rings and things like that.
You know, it's just not true.
I remember when I used to first think about Washington, D.
C.
, when I first went.
I thought like most people think.
"There ain't no good thing happening in Washington, D.
C.
It's just a bunch of backbiting, conniving" Forget those people! It's straight-up Christian Mafia.
That's where the Mafia got their pattern from.
- They got it from - You can't say that.
They got it from the Christian structure.
What, we can't say it on Netflix? Are you kidding me? What, you muffling me now? It's the Mafia, dude.
When God says, "You know You do know that I love those people, right?" I When I first used to hear that, I didn't believe it.
So, I would travel, me and Wendell used to travel.
We started in the state and then we That's how we got to the Prayer Breakfast 25 years ago.
Wendell coerced me into going to the Prayer Breakfast.
I said, "I don't wanna go to the Prayer I already know what that's about.
" So, we went.
Guess what? It was exactly what I thought I was.
- Which is what? - A bunch of old, white men justifying themselves in the name of religion and reaching out on behalf of their position to assist other people in the country.
They think they got all the answers, all the knowledge.
They know nothing.
Now, that's hard to hear when you're rich.
That spiritually and morally, you're bankrupt.
And the fact that they used to look at me in their stereotypical view that I was someone who needed to be helped or changed by them.
I didn't need to be helped or changed by them.
I was not poor.
I was not ignorant.
I did not fit into the paradigm that they're used to dealing with in their inappropriate missionary attitude.
And I said, "My problem is you.
" People always want to bring in and talk about the underprivileged and the downtrodden.
They don't want to talk about the overprivileged and the lonely-hearts, uh, at the top.
And in fact, I was like that.
I was like, "I don't need to talk to no rich white dudes.
" You know, God changed my heart mind about that real fast.
'Cause God says, "If you love me, then you should love everybody in this town.
You should care about what I care about.
If you only care about what you care about, then you don't love me.
" That was the beginning of my Washington, D.
C.
experience.
Why do I go back? 'Cause God love those people.
And if I say I love God, then I have to learn to love what God loves.
The Jesus of the Gospels is universal.
I'm trying to learn about that Jesus.
That particular one.
Jesus said "If you're my follower, if you're my disciple, if you're going to follow me, you will become a fountain.
" People come to the fountain.
The fountain doesn't go to the people.
Evangelism isn't outreach.
Evangelism for Jesus is inreach.
Reaching yourself, so you become a fountain.
Spiritual mentor Doug Coe died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack and a stroke.
The 88-year-old quietly reached into the halls of power with the gospel.
There's no way to give, um to give tribute to Dad for all the years and years of commitment, of patience, of forgiveness, and kindness to all of us.
In fact, this is the family right here that is going to live for eternity.
That we're all going to be brothers and sisters for eternity, and Jesus is gonna be our brother and our husband, and God is gonna be our father.
So I can't wait.
Oh, Lord 'Cause whenever you have a figure like Doug Coe pass away, a central figure on so many fronts of a of a global ministry, if you wanna call it that, there's almost a vacuum created.
There's a way in which Coe embodied not just the spiritual ambition of the organization, but also the invisibility of the organization.
Not just in the way that he was under the radar, but in the way that he's sort of ethereal and nothing sticks to him.
No one held Coe accountable.
In a sense, the 21st century has caused a new era of openness.
We're trying to be more transparent to people.
Obviously, we may have made some mistakes in the past, part of which may have been just not talking.
Are we too private? Perhaps.
Or too secret? Yeah.
I've I've said so publicly that I think we can be more open, and then we we did open a little bit.
I don't mind talking about it.
And are there other problems? Sure, there are problems.
You're in Christ, Deter's in Christ, we're in Christ, we're all imperfect.
So, for temporarily, we're not gonna work visibly and physically But when you look at the changing nature of the Christian right, the Family goes a long way toward explaining how it endures.
They're in it for the long term.
They understand: "This struggle we're in is a marathon.
It is not a sprint for the evening news.
" A lot of people around the world think that it was Washington, and Doug was sort of at the center of it.
But it's very atomized.
Each group is going on without Doug pretty much the same way it went on before, with Doug.
No one's gonna replace Doug Coe, but in a way, a group of people can team together and maintain the continuity because the work, I think, is significant.
This morning, our hearts are full of gratitude as we come together for the 66th Annual National Prayer Breakfast.
But our hearts are also saddened by the absence of the co-founder of this wonderful breakfast who passed away last year, Doug Coe, who everybody loved.
We are blessed to be joined by Doug's wife, Jan, and two of their sons, David and Tim.
You are indeed carrying on his great legacy.
An offshoot of this work is the next generation.
You know, and how can they be brought into this.
We want young people to come on, we want women to come on, we want diversity to emerge.
We want, frankly, multicultural involvement.
Um, I think you're gonna see in the future multi-languages spoken.
That everyone is welcome.
This is about Jesus of Nazareth.
This is about a humble example of leadership that the world has never seen.
And it is transformative and anyone that's interested in it is welcome.
Questions of hypocrisy and betrayal.
And the guy who took on the dirty jobs and got them done.
What is repentance? It's a change of heart and a renunciation on a daily basis.
Excuse me, Senator Ensign? You can't just repent and then run off - and never have to deal with it again.
- Will you resign as governor? A repentance is an indication that you have changed! So, when you are confronted by those circumstances, you have to renounce how you behaved previously.
Just like if you was a Ku Klux Klan member, you gotta renounce that daily.
You can't just say, "Well, I'm gonna do it once for all, then I ain't gotta talk about it no more.
" That ain't repentance.
Repentance is is you renounce the old nature daily.
That's when you renounce it! Father, I ain't like that no more! Well, let me help you understand something today, just in case you don't know it.
You keep your mouth shut, you deny the faith.
We have to talk.
And we have to talk righteously.
If we remain quiet and silent and cower and don't wanna disturb the peace, God's kingdom is not brought forward.
You really wanna know what's going on? You should let me show you how you can talk to the right dude.
That's gonna require a little knee-work.
Get on your knees.
So, young brothers what a work, Father, that you have, uh, given us.
I'm always impressed.
We We think we come to the end and, man, you just push the perimeters out.
We think that we're finally gonna see a conclusion, we realize that it's just the beginning.
And ultimately, Father, we wanna give all praise and authority to you.
We wanna recognize that it is you who has enabled us to exist.
Because you exist, we live.
Bless these that have come to visit us today.
Be with them in a real way.
Make yourself known to them in a way that shows love and kindness, favor.
And we ask these things in your son Jesus's name.
Amen.
Amen.
Live the experience.
The whole experience, not part of the experience.
The whole experience.
How should I do that? Surrender.
Surrender.
You know how you surrender? Ask God to defeat you.
And we'll pray and be in agreement about that.
We'll say, "God, we hear Jesse's prayer.
And we want you to absolutely, totally defeat him.
Bring him to his knees.
Create a desperation for him that only you can meet.
" There's no other way.
To submit feels like the most intimate thing.
That someone understands your pain, right? So, what does the Family offer them? The eradication of the self.
That's the promise that they give.
We are the sheep, the flock.
There's a deep, deep potential within Christianity that we're all part of this flock, we're all sheep.
We've all been there.
We've all been down in the mud.
We're always there to pull you back up.
But the Family's first innovation was to say, "No, that's wrong.
" "Our mission is to find God's men.
Christians become leaders and help make leaders Christian.
" They say that democracy itself is a form of rebelliousness.
It's second to this bland, empty Christ.
The goal is to work toward Ivanwald on a massive scale.
This suburban kind of almost 1950s cul-de-sac where kids are free to play outside and they're not worried about anything, and it's bright and sunny.
And if you have a problem, you just turn to your brother and you share it, and he'll pray with you.
It's the brightest, most brightly lit room there is.
This is the world they're trying to build.
It's a world that is deeply shaped by privilege.
"God chose to give us power.
And if we were not to use this power, then we would be rebelling against God.
" God cares most about the elites.
Everything else will follow.
So, let's export the idea to Nigeria or Romania or Lebanon, and let's use the agents of empire to do it.
This is a battle between good and evil.
But evil is nothing so simple as a supervillain and it doesn't always even understand itself as sinister.
But evil is the idea that a few key men, a few elites, have special access to truth and the power that comes with it.
And that gives them the right to rule over the rest of us.
Father, I thank you.
Now, you have given us a gift: President Donald Trump.
- Amen.
- Amen.
So, the end of all of this is to be with Jesus Christ, bound together by this covenant.
It was a taste of Heaven and we won't see each other for a long time, but we will feel each other's presence, together bound in him until we meet each other again.
I I don't think in terms of I have I'm a religious person.
But have you ever asked God for forgiveness? I'm not sure I have.
I just go and try and do a better job from there.
I don't think so.
I think I If I If I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right.
I don't bring God into that picture.
I don't.
In 2016, Doug Coe and his son, Tim Coe, and I were to go and meet with President Elect Trump at Trump Tower, to introduce the idea of the National Prayer Breakfast to the next President of the United States.
Doug comes into the room and he said, "I've met with every president since Eisenhower.
And And they called The first one I met with Ike, and he wasn't from Washington, and he wasn't a politician, and you remind me of him.
I would encourage you to use the Prayer Breakfast the same way Ike did.
" In this day of fear and hysteria, the United States is truly trying to follow in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace.
And he challenged him to do that.
The world is in trouble, but we're gonna straighten it out, okay? That's what I do.
I fix things.
We're gonna straighten it out.
We prayed.
Everybody in the room had their hands on this President-Elect.
- Let's pray together, may we? - Yes.
Doug commanded enormous respect because of his longevity of commitment.
Decades and decades that he had been the guy, the central figure.
And this was literally one of the last trips he got to take.
Maybe three months before he left the earth.
For this movement that's united, through small groups of men, an invisible organization, with their ambitions completely embodied in this one man And if that one man's not there anymore, what happens next? Come.
All worry will be left behind.
All disappointment, too, will be gone forever.
We adopted a program for a worldwide spiritual offensive.
I know, as never before, that we are all God's children.
There is only one thing we can take with us through that door: those whom we have led to the savior.
"Fear him.
Love him.
Submit yourself completely.
Then you will be His disciple.
" What we have begun we will finish.
"The activities in the nation's capital are of central importance to all of us.
The spiritual pulse of these groups has become increasingly strong, and a few men have been born into the Kingdom.
Weekly meetings are held by members of the Congress of the United States, departments of the US government, state, and municipal governments.
These men who so faithfully represent us deserve our ardent support.
The idea spread across the continent and soon, breakfast groups sprang up in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington.
As the idea caught fire, leaders in many walks of life came together, searching for the answer to their problems.
" Through your involvement, have you come to participate in a small group? Mm-hmm.
Yep.
How How did you find your way to that? Was that Was it by design or Like, how do I join this Fellowship? Uh, the way you do is you, you know, find somebody in in your neighborhood, and there will be somebody there.
I mean, there are people all over the place.
Let's say you live in Greensboro, North Carolina.
You know, if somebody asked me, I'd say, "I don't know, let me let me see if there's somebody in Greensboro.
" You'll get hooked up in a small group and that's it.
You know, the rest is up to you.
One of the things that emerges when you look at what becomes this really enduring and global social movement is, on the one hand, you know, the real vastness of the undertaking, and, on the other hand, the focus on these little groups.
These groups are recruitment tools.
You're encouraged to share really intimate thoughts and feelings, and then this intimacy binds you to the Family and their way of thinking.
And, depending on how connected your group is, you may get invited to the National Prayer Breakfast.
That's how the Family thrives.
Doing good.
Jesse Moss.
How are you? Thank you so much for having us here in the seminar.
- I want you to know something.
- Yeah.
Is It would be very easy for you to feel stiff-armed - by us.
- Yeah.
We're not trying to do that.
But we do our best work invisibly, okay? Good, come on in.
Your name, sir.
Where are you from? It's Ayric Payton, from Portland, Oregon.
What do you say to the person who says that you don't want to say that there's leadership, because to do that would mean you'd have to take ownership of what we're actually doing? Um, so, we're sinners.
We'll sure admit to that.
But a lot of the other things, talking about how we were involved in these conspiracies around the world and so on, they're giving us a lot of credit we don't deserve.
Okay? Thanks for coming, everybody.
God bless you.
Hope you have a great time.
- What What's your name? - Ayric.
- Ayric, I'm Jesse.
- Jesse? Nice to meet you, Jesse.
Just an interesting question you asked.
How did you first come here? I belong to a group, - Friday Morning Men's group - Okay.
where we don't pull any punches, - we don't exchange the niceties.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
Where is that? - Uh, Portland.
No, no.
I'm leaving.
No, bro, hold it.
You're clean inside, right? But you're dirty from walking in the world.
- You're dirty - I need to be pursued by God.
Even if I feel like it's painful, because it is painful.
For me, who has struggled in pornography and sexual morality most of my life, it's everywhere, right? We see this every day in our culture.
We see great men who have done great things come crashing down over some affair that gets exposed.
We're talking David, the greatest man of war.
Bathsheba, with a look, brings him down to his knees.
Where that no conquering army could defeat him, but he ran from his own family.
Whoo! What really struck me about meeting some members of this group at the National Prayer Breakfast, you stood out to me, um, in your honest questions and and, you know, your your honest conversation drew me in.
One of the reasons that we have, uh I think existed for so long is because that we don't expose ourself to media.
They just see what they appears to be, a big old surface argument with men berating one another.
And they think that's all that this is about.
You know, fools down there, black dudes hollering at the white dudes, the white dudes trying to justify themselves to the black dudes.
They think that's what's happening here, and, of course, if you come here initially and see one of those, um, that is what's happening, but underneath that is is a powerful work that God is doing that's actually changing men's lives.
What I would ask you something to think about while you're sitting here is, uh, what are the lies that you have been telling yourself? And which one of those lies have you come to believe? Well, I can tell you one big lie that I Recognizing that I I can't hide behind the camera.
So, why is your crew all white? - Yeah.
That's a great question.
- Well, why is it? - Yeah, well, I think - Answer it.
I think that because we're we're not doing enough to make sure that there's diverse representation in our industry.
And And I think that leadership has to start from the top, - doesn't it? - There's more to it than that.
I mean, I can say that it's it's both structural and personal.
The answer, it's personal, and it's - You picked the guys who are here.
- That's right.
I picked some of them.
Yeah.
And I you know, I'll say, you know, we we try We hire women.
There's a You know, it's a a male-dominated industry.
Documentary less so than other aspects of filmmaking.
- So - I didn't ask you about women.
I asked you about black people.
So, you see how you struggled? See how hard of a struggle it was to answer that question? - Yeah.
Well, I'm defensive.
- But you see how you struggled - to answer the question? - Yeah.
Because we see the we see the results.
All the time.
You This is this what we deal with all the time here.
In this group, this is this is this is how you get stripped down.
This is what you hear.
And nobody goes, "Oh, thank you for telling me that, I'm gonna change my ways now and do that.
" No, it hurts.
Actually, we're actually kind of taking it easy on you because normally, uh, especially guys who come and especially guys like you who bring out this stuff, man, I work you over.
And often men, especially, who are confronted with themselves, they don't like what they see.
And they don't like it being put in their face and spoken to what it actually is.
And it's ugly.
It's debased.
But my point is is the shame keeps us locked in our circumstances.
And then if we don't deal with shame right, we start blaming.
We blame our wives, we blame white folk, we blame black folk, we blame the economy, we blame doctrine.
Everybody! There ain't nothing scarier in this country than a free black man speaking.
Why? 'Cause we been through some shit here.
Uh, excuse us, these two white guys got scared.
Hey, white people! Excuse me, white people! That's you, Bill.
Bring your little white butt right up in here.
So, you've seen exceptional, at least based on my understanding of your voice at the National Prayer Breakfast and what you're saying here today, saying there's not honest conversation about race relations.
It's not even honest.
Authentic.
- Yes.
- Authentic.
We're connected to Washington, D.
C.
, because one of the founders, Doug Coe, is from Salem, Oregon.
Doug Coe, when I first met him, said asked me if I was the next revolutionary.
And so he opened the door and allowed people unlike himself, people very different than himself in all manners, to be included in the process and have a place at the table.
Doug, we talk about that we need a revolution.
Yes? Jesus is the greatest revolutionary leader in history, and transcends white, red, yellow, black.
That's just a fact.
- Love it.
- The point is, God is love.
Love is a person.
And that person, he's the most revolutionary leader in the history of the planet.
If they talk Jesus and they say the right things, and they mutually support and comfort one another, does that move them to change their behavior? Does that move them to act in ways that seek justice? Being a person of faith, I wanted a clear understanding of their theology.
The Fellowship is kind of a pre-church organization, is what it feels like.
Back to that first generation who actually walked and talked and remembered Jesus firsthand.
And there was no church then.
It was a bunch of Jews and gentiles and people who got interested in this person Jesus, and they were so drawn and so taken that they started coming together and sharing their stories.
So, it's about small gatherings.
And for the Family, it becomes a cult of following.
Jesus is this charismatic, powerful person.
So, this organization has created a small group process of raising up this charismatic figure.
But my take is they really cherry-picked who this Jesus was and what this Jesus did.
I think they use Jesus.
I hate to say this, almost kind of a mascot.
Good morning.
At first glance, you may think that Robert Aderholt, a conservative Republican, very conservative from Northern Alabama and a progressive Democrat from Southern California have nothing in common, and yet we find commonalities through our shared belief in hope, prayer, and Jesus.
We bring before you now the hearts and the minds and the bodies of the leaders of this nation and this world.
Lord, I believe you created the institution of leadership to make the most of this challenging world.
We need our leaders to make decisions, to organize common effort, to inspire us and to overcome all the forces that drive us apart.
Lord, you taught us that in the economy of your kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
May our hearts be broken by the things that break your heart, oh, Lord.
And, as a result, may we pursue personal action and policies that create peace, equality, and justice.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We had tremendous success on The Apprentice.
And when I ran for president, I had to leave the show.
That's when I knew for sure I was doing it.
What do you think, Lil Jon? Is she a leader, or just a stressed-out bitch? Oh! And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place.
I'm back.
And we know how that turned out.
The ratings went right down the tubes.
It's been a total disaster.
Never, ever bet against Trump again.
And I wanna just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, okay? That was how Donald Trump opened his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this morning, what is typically a somber event before an audience of devout religious leaders.
The reaction from his critics, some shock, ridicule, outrage that he'd say it.
At Trump's first Prayer Breakfast, he talks about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
How petty can that be? A whole lot of reporters say, "Ha, can you believe this idiot," you know? They make the same mistake that they made when Trump went to Liberty University.
Two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ball game.
And gave a bizarre, deeply unorthodox reading of the Bible.
Is that the one? Is that the one you like? I think that's the one you like, 'cause I loved it.
They say that clearly he wasn't a pious man, right? They think, a little bit like I did when I bought this this King James Bible in the beginning of my reporting, to go to Ivanwald and I still thought this scripture mattered.
I hadn't learned the lesson of the Family.
We don't need this book.
Trump understands that, too.
If you're scripturally literate, it doesn't matter.
The shallowness of your faith, it doesn't matter.
You know, when we go in church and and when I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and have my little cracker, I guess that's a form of asking for forgiveness.
And I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed, okay? Sometimes, it's the most unlikely figure who is God's tool.
Trump doesn't know anything in the Bible.
Well, of course it's not It's just just in his heart.
Donald Trump's Presbyterian.
One of their main teachings is predestination.
So, young Donald must have just eaten that up.
That he was predestined to greatness, to do great things, to be a great leader.
There's a preponderance of folks like that involved in the Fellowship.
He's got these three mentors in his life.
This is his holy trinity.
His father, Fred, from whom he learned strength.
Roy Cohn, a fixer, from whom he learns cunning.
And Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking.
Norman Vincent Peale.
The great Norman Vincent Peale was my pastor.
The Power of Positive Thinking.
Everybody's heard of Norman Vincent Peale? He was so great.
He would give a sermon, you never wanted to leave.
Sometimes we have sermons and every once in a while we think about leaving a little early, right? Even though we're Christian.
That connection goes back to the founder of the Family, Abraham Vereide.
Norman Vincent Peale, good friend of Abraham's.
Together they wanted to turn Christianity into a businessman's religion.
That Family theology, it has infected fundamentalism writ large.
Positive thinking works wonders.
Inevitably.
Indubitably.
So, what do you wanna be? Ask yourself that question.
I would go so far as to say that if you are a complete, dedicated follower of Jesus Christ, you can do anything you really wanna do with your life.
I think Jesus is the answer, but it's a lot different than the Christianity that you see today in America.
It is not prosperity.
It is not name it and claim it.
It is not great jobs, great this, great that.
It's really a personal sacrifice, a decision to follow a king today that doesn't have a kingdom here, and a way that's very different than the way of life now.
This gathering is a testament to the power of faith, and is one of the great customs of our nation.
And I hope to be here seven more times with you.
You might assume that this guy has dishonored the Prayer Breakfast.
No, he's not.
He's just performed a merger.
This is a business merger on stage.
This is those two forms of spectacle coming together.
Trump is not their tool.
It's like, "I've got my spectacle.
You've got your spectacle.
" Let's work together.
Let's spectacle together.
Now to this president, some of this is the evangelical base that is his base.
He enjoys it and he may see some of it as that.
What we're trying to share with him is, it's way beyond that.
Because the evangelical base, the political base, is not what this is about.
This this thought of Jesus is what this is about.
If you're a member of the Fellowship, the word "Jesus" takes on a number of different it takes on a number of functions, - more than meanings.
- Like a talisman.
It's like a talisman.
That's a very good word.
To hold the people who participate together in an ideology.
But there's a shared understanding that what we're really about here is power.
We haven't had a president in our lifetime that was so pro-evangelical and has spoken for the for the issues that evangelicals care about.
This is what the Family's been waiting for.
He's God's man.
The evangelicals who surrounded him and embraced him and would end up voting for him in higher percentages than any president in history, including George W.
Bush, including Ronald Reagan some of them would go so far as to call him "God's chaos candidate.
" Often married, casino operator Art of the Deal, amazing, unbelievable.
Just remember that God always uses imperfect vessels to do his perfect work, 'cause I am an imperfect vessel.
President Trump's an imperfect vessel.
We all are, really.
I mean, do you remember that sound bite, that horrendous moment when he was arguing with the Pope? Who gets in a dust-up with the Pope on the campaign trail? And he's yelling, "I'm a Christian and I'm proud of it.
" - I thought, "That's gotta be God's man.
" - Yeah.
I am fascinated by the rhetorical self-empretzelment that's necessary to justify an allegiance to Donald Trump on the part of faith leaders in the religious right.
Despite the fact that he was messy and chaotic, that was further evidence of God using this man.
The Cabinet that he assembled is the most fundamentalist cabinet in US history.
Pompeo.
DeVos.
Jeff Sessions, a longtime associate of the Family, that says, "We have to separate families at the border because of Romans 13.
" I would cite Romans 13: "Obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government.
" Other figures that we don't pay as much attention to, that's where you really start to see folks pouring in.
And, of course, for vice president, he chose Mike Pence.
The secular press notices this.
This is big news.
The Christian Conservative press? This is hallelujah.
We now know his preferred running mate was Chris Christie.
Chris Christie is the guy he wanted to hang out with.
Mike Pence was the deal.
Mike Pence was the transaction.
Well, I think President Trump has a heart of gratitude for evangelical Christians in this country.
With President Donald Trump in this White House and with God's help, we will restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.
Pence is not exactly a member of the Family, but he is his own power center.
And for the Trump administration, the power centers of the Christian right are working toward common ground.
Hey, hey, ho, ho! Roe v.
Wade has got to go! Let me be clear.
President Trump is a believer.
And so am I.
And we understand, uh, the role of faith in the life of this nation.
Does it look to me like the Trump administration is favoring or wanting to privilege Christianity? There are signs of that.
I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.
I will do that.
Remember.
The Johnson Amendment prevents churches from doing overt politicking.
It could mean that there's a de facto religious test.
To be involved in the government, you have to adhere to Christianity.
What's really at stake is the fundamental division between church and state.
History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations.
We pray this prayer, and if all of you agree with that, say amen.
Amen.
Let us pray.
What Jesus struggled with he struggled with religious leaders more than anybody else.
Leaders who are trying to hang on.
They want to maintain their status in their community, they want to maintain their way of life.
There's lots of examples in the gospels of people collaborating with the powerful, to the cost and to the demise of the less fortunate and less powerful.
Doug Coe preaches a parable of the Wolf King.
How do you get the Wolf King? You show him that you have a great power and you offer that power to him.
The Wolf King will come alongside you.
They're not thinking that Trump is gonna get religion and turn sweet and mild.
Just the opposite.
The reason we work with Trump is because he's not a sheep.
He's the Wolf King.
We're not Christians.
We're followers of Jesus.
And we just serve.
"Two or three friends agree and pray.
They can do anything.
" That voice of doubt in your stomach How does that make you feel? - Joining us now is Jeff Sharlet.
- Jeff Sharlet The nation's eyes turn to Jeff Sharlet, the only person to have done extensive journalism about the Family.
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.
When you left Ivanwald, you wrote your book.
Had you thought to yourself maybe, like, "I got it wrong.
" Or, "I" You know, did you ever think, like I mean, I'm sure people accused you of being a conspiracy theorist.
- Yeah.
- Did you ever think like Like, did you ever question yourself? Um, you know, it's funny, 'cause I wrote two books about them and I tried to give them both happy endings.
Uh, they weren't happy experiences reporting these books.
You know, to encounter a power that is much greater than you understood.
Um Really maybe the darkest expression of religious life that I have encountered in 20 years of of writing.
Um the subtitle of Jeff's book is The Secret Threat, Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy.
- Mmm.
Yes.
- The Fellowship, the Family, is a secret secretive threat, fundamentalist threat - to American democracy.
- Yeah.
I'm not a good example of that.
I'm a liberal.
I like Jeff.
I mean, I met with him a few times.
We had a little war going on, but I liked him.
I mean, I was praying for him a lot.
I still do.
You know, let let's just, uh address the 600-pound gorilla right on the front end.
Um I've never seen any conspiratorial motives.
I've never seen any bad actors inside that weren't If they if they showed up, they're pushed out.
So, you can shoot at it or poke holes at it or develop conspiracy theories, um, but, uh, they're not justified, honestly.
People come with their own agendas and their preconceived ideas, and then they look for information they think that will, uh, ratify those ideas.
Eh, people are not used to other people who don't have an agenda, who humble themselves, who appeal to an authority higher than Washington.
And who live in a world and with a worldview that is so opposite what everybody else lives in.
And that's why they think there's a cover-up, there's a conspiracy, there's something secretive going on.
You know, handshakes and code rings and things like that.
You know, it's just not true.
I remember when I used to first think about Washington, D.
C.
, when I first went.
I thought like most people think.
"There ain't no good thing happening in Washington, D.
C.
It's just a bunch of backbiting, conniving" Forget those people! It's straight-up Christian Mafia.
That's where the Mafia got their pattern from.
- They got it from - You can't say that.
They got it from the Christian structure.
What, we can't say it on Netflix? Are you kidding me? What, you muffling me now? It's the Mafia, dude.
When God says, "You know You do know that I love those people, right?" I When I first used to hear that, I didn't believe it.
So, I would travel, me and Wendell used to travel.
We started in the state and then we That's how we got to the Prayer Breakfast 25 years ago.
Wendell coerced me into going to the Prayer Breakfast.
I said, "I don't wanna go to the Prayer I already know what that's about.
" So, we went.
Guess what? It was exactly what I thought I was.
- Which is what? - A bunch of old, white men justifying themselves in the name of religion and reaching out on behalf of their position to assist other people in the country.
They think they got all the answers, all the knowledge.
They know nothing.
Now, that's hard to hear when you're rich.
That spiritually and morally, you're bankrupt.
And the fact that they used to look at me in their stereotypical view that I was someone who needed to be helped or changed by them.
I didn't need to be helped or changed by them.
I was not poor.
I was not ignorant.
I did not fit into the paradigm that they're used to dealing with in their inappropriate missionary attitude.
And I said, "My problem is you.
" People always want to bring in and talk about the underprivileged and the downtrodden.
They don't want to talk about the overprivileged and the lonely-hearts, uh, at the top.
And in fact, I was like that.
I was like, "I don't need to talk to no rich white dudes.
" You know, God changed my heart mind about that real fast.
'Cause God says, "If you love me, then you should love everybody in this town.
You should care about what I care about.
If you only care about what you care about, then you don't love me.
" That was the beginning of my Washington, D.
C.
experience.
Why do I go back? 'Cause God love those people.
And if I say I love God, then I have to learn to love what God loves.
The Jesus of the Gospels is universal.
I'm trying to learn about that Jesus.
That particular one.
Jesus said "If you're my follower, if you're my disciple, if you're going to follow me, you will become a fountain.
" People come to the fountain.
The fountain doesn't go to the people.
Evangelism isn't outreach.
Evangelism for Jesus is inreach.
Reaching yourself, so you become a fountain.
Spiritual mentor Doug Coe died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack and a stroke.
The 88-year-old quietly reached into the halls of power with the gospel.
There's no way to give, um to give tribute to Dad for all the years and years of commitment, of patience, of forgiveness, and kindness to all of us.
In fact, this is the family right here that is going to live for eternity.
That we're all going to be brothers and sisters for eternity, and Jesus is gonna be our brother and our husband, and God is gonna be our father.
So I can't wait.
Oh, Lord 'Cause whenever you have a figure like Doug Coe pass away, a central figure on so many fronts of a of a global ministry, if you wanna call it that, there's almost a vacuum created.
There's a way in which Coe embodied not just the spiritual ambition of the organization, but also the invisibility of the organization.
Not just in the way that he was under the radar, but in the way that he's sort of ethereal and nothing sticks to him.
No one held Coe accountable.
In a sense, the 21st century has caused a new era of openness.
We're trying to be more transparent to people.
Obviously, we may have made some mistakes in the past, part of which may have been just not talking.
Are we too private? Perhaps.
Or too secret? Yeah.
I've I've said so publicly that I think we can be more open, and then we we did open a little bit.
I don't mind talking about it.
And are there other problems? Sure, there are problems.
You're in Christ, Deter's in Christ, we're in Christ, we're all imperfect.
So, for temporarily, we're not gonna work visibly and physically But when you look at the changing nature of the Christian right, the Family goes a long way toward explaining how it endures.
They're in it for the long term.
They understand: "This struggle we're in is a marathon.
It is not a sprint for the evening news.
" A lot of people around the world think that it was Washington, and Doug was sort of at the center of it.
But it's very atomized.
Each group is going on without Doug pretty much the same way it went on before, with Doug.
No one's gonna replace Doug Coe, but in a way, a group of people can team together and maintain the continuity because the work, I think, is significant.
This morning, our hearts are full of gratitude as we come together for the 66th Annual National Prayer Breakfast.
But our hearts are also saddened by the absence of the co-founder of this wonderful breakfast who passed away last year, Doug Coe, who everybody loved.
We are blessed to be joined by Doug's wife, Jan, and two of their sons, David and Tim.
You are indeed carrying on his great legacy.
An offshoot of this work is the next generation.
You know, and how can they be brought into this.
We want young people to come on, we want women to come on, we want diversity to emerge.
We want, frankly, multicultural involvement.
Um, I think you're gonna see in the future multi-languages spoken.
That everyone is welcome.
This is about Jesus of Nazareth.
This is about a humble example of leadership that the world has never seen.
And it is transformative and anyone that's interested in it is welcome.
Questions of hypocrisy and betrayal.
And the guy who took on the dirty jobs and got them done.
What is repentance? It's a change of heart and a renunciation on a daily basis.
Excuse me, Senator Ensign? You can't just repent and then run off - and never have to deal with it again.
- Will you resign as governor? A repentance is an indication that you have changed! So, when you are confronted by those circumstances, you have to renounce how you behaved previously.
Just like if you was a Ku Klux Klan member, you gotta renounce that daily.
You can't just say, "Well, I'm gonna do it once for all, then I ain't gotta talk about it no more.
" That ain't repentance.
Repentance is is you renounce the old nature daily.
That's when you renounce it! Father, I ain't like that no more! Well, let me help you understand something today, just in case you don't know it.
You keep your mouth shut, you deny the faith.
We have to talk.
And we have to talk righteously.
If we remain quiet and silent and cower and don't wanna disturb the peace, God's kingdom is not brought forward.
You really wanna know what's going on? You should let me show you how you can talk to the right dude.
That's gonna require a little knee-work.
Get on your knees.
So, young brothers what a work, Father, that you have, uh, given us.
I'm always impressed.
We We think we come to the end and, man, you just push the perimeters out.
We think that we're finally gonna see a conclusion, we realize that it's just the beginning.
And ultimately, Father, we wanna give all praise and authority to you.
We wanna recognize that it is you who has enabled us to exist.
Because you exist, we live.
Bless these that have come to visit us today.
Be with them in a real way.
Make yourself known to them in a way that shows love and kindness, favor.
And we ask these things in your son Jesus's name.
Amen.
Amen.
Live the experience.
The whole experience, not part of the experience.
The whole experience.
How should I do that? Surrender.
Surrender.
You know how you surrender? Ask God to defeat you.
And we'll pray and be in agreement about that.
We'll say, "God, we hear Jesse's prayer.
And we want you to absolutely, totally defeat him.
Bring him to his knees.
Create a desperation for him that only you can meet.
" There's no other way.
To submit feels like the most intimate thing.
That someone understands your pain, right? So, what does the Family offer them? The eradication of the self.
That's the promise that they give.
We are the sheep, the flock.
There's a deep, deep potential within Christianity that we're all part of this flock, we're all sheep.
We've all been there.
We've all been down in the mud.
We're always there to pull you back up.
But the Family's first innovation was to say, "No, that's wrong.
" "Our mission is to find God's men.
Christians become leaders and help make leaders Christian.
" They say that democracy itself is a form of rebelliousness.
It's second to this bland, empty Christ.
The goal is to work toward Ivanwald on a massive scale.
This suburban kind of almost 1950s cul-de-sac where kids are free to play outside and they're not worried about anything, and it's bright and sunny.
And if you have a problem, you just turn to your brother and you share it, and he'll pray with you.
It's the brightest, most brightly lit room there is.
This is the world they're trying to build.
It's a world that is deeply shaped by privilege.
"God chose to give us power.
And if we were not to use this power, then we would be rebelling against God.
" God cares most about the elites.
Everything else will follow.
So, let's export the idea to Nigeria or Romania or Lebanon, and let's use the agents of empire to do it.
This is a battle between good and evil.
But evil is nothing so simple as a supervillain and it doesn't always even understand itself as sinister.
But evil is the idea that a few key men, a few elites, have special access to truth and the power that comes with it.
And that gives them the right to rule over the rest of us.
Father, I thank you.
Now, you have given us a gift: President Donald Trump.
- Amen.
- Amen.
So, the end of all of this is to be with Jesus Christ, bound together by this covenant.
It was a taste of Heaven and we won't see each other for a long time, but we will feel each other's presence, together bound in him until we meet each other again.