MRFF Demands Investigation of 3-Star Pentagon General’s Disturbing Ties to New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014
Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Publication: Freethought Newswire
Original Link: research@militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Publication Date: September 13, 2024
Organization: Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Organization Description: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Over 89,000 active duty, veteran, and civilian personnel of the United States Armed Forces, including individuals involved in High School JROTC around the nation, have come to our foundation for redress and assistance in resolving or alerting the public to their civil rights grievances, with hundreds more contacting MRFF each day. 95% of them are Christians themselves.
| Friday Evening, September 13, 2024 |
| MRFF DEMANDS INVESTIGATION OF 3-STAR PENTAGON GENERAL’S DISTURBING TIES TO NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION (NAR)AND ITS GOAL OF SUBVERTING DEMOCRACY On the weekend of August 29-31, 2024, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Brian Eifler, who recently got his third star and a new position as Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel of the United States Army, was photographed giving a presentation – in uniform – at New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s annual Reformation Prayer Network gathering in D.C. During the Eiflers’ three years in Alaska, from 2021 until this past summer, Lt. General Eifler’s wife, Sherry, became a member of “Alaska’s War Council,” part of the extensive network of prophets, apostles, and kingdom warriors known as the New Apostolic Reformation — a politically influential Christian dominionist movement that seeks to end democracy as we know it. |
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| U.S. Army Lt. General Brian Eifler speaking in uniform at New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s annual Reformation Prayer Network gathering, held in Washington, D.C., from August 29-31, 2024 |
| MRFF OP-ED ONDAILY KOS Trending story on Daily Kos MRFF demands investigation of 3-Star Pentagon general’s disturbing ties to New Apostolic Reformation By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda Friday, September 13, 2024 |
 On a September 4 Zoom call of “Alaska’s War Council,” Eleanor Roehl, co-founder of Kingdom Warriors Alaska, Kingdom Alliance Network and Alaskan Representative on Cindy Jacobs’s Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, opened the call by welcoming her fellow “War Council” members: |
“Good evening. Greetings to you from Anchorage, Alaska. We want to welcome of course the War Council on tonight. … And of course we have Sherry Eifler, living in Washington, D.C., who we just saw – her and of course her husband Brian in D.C. last weekend. … It is so great to have Sherry Eifler stationed in D.C. as a part of our War Council.” |
| And who is Sherry Eifler’s husband Brian, referred to so familiarly by Eleanor Roehl? Well, that would be U.S. Army Lieutenant General Brian Eifler, who recently got his third star and a new position as Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel of the United States Army, moving to D.C. after three years in Alaska as Commanding General, 11th Airborne Division. During the Eiflers’ three years in Alaska, Lt. General Eifler’s wife, Sherry Eifler, became a member of “Alaska’s War Council,” part of the extensive network of prophets and apostles and prayer warriors known as the New Apostolic Reformation. And what was the event in D.C. that Eleanor Roehl had just seen Sherry Eifler and her 3-star general husband Brian at? That would be the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s annual Reformation Prayer Network gathering, held less than a month ago, from August 29-31, 2024. And it wasn’t as if Lt. General Eifler was just tagging along with his “Alaska’s War Council” wife and her New Apostolic Reformation pals to this NAR event. Oh no! This 3-star general was an active participant, giving a presentation (that, for some reason, involved a map of the Asia-Pacific region) to an audience that included Apostle Cindy Jacobs herself! And he even put on his 3-star Army general uniform for the occasion, as photos on the Indiana Canopy of Prayer’s Facebook page show. |
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| H/T to NAR researcher Kira Resistance for spotting the above photos and NAR expert Frederick Clarkson, a Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates, for passing them on to MRFF. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), as anybody who follows us knows, routinely goes after military personnel, especially high-ranking officers, who blatantly violate the Department of Defense and service branch regulations that strictly prohibit the wearing of military uniforms while participating in religious events. There’s no question that Lt. General Eifler violated these regulations when giving his presentation at NAR Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s Reformation Prayer Network gathering in uniform. But this is infinitely more serious than that, given that the NAR isn’t just a religious movement but also a powerful, dangerous, and growing political movement that seeks to end democracy as we know it. Apostle Cindy Jacobs, whose big NAR gathering Lt. General Eifler just participated in, was one of the Trump-supporting prayer leaders outside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, saying at the beginning of the video in the tweet below, as the breach of the Capitol was getting underway, “And we’re right in front of the Capitol and the lord had given me a vision and he showed me that they would break through and go all the way to the top.” |
| At the time of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Lt. General Eifler, then a 1-star general, was stationed at the Pentagon as the Army’s Chief Legislative Liaison. Don’t know much about the NAR? You’re not alone. But if you’re familiar with the now-iconic White House photo of people laying their hands on Trump, who they believe was anointed president by God, that’s as good as any place to start. |
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| The blond woman next to Trump is Apostle Paula White (now Paula White-Cain since she married her third husband, Jonathan Cain of the band Journey), Trump’s spiritual advisor. And here is a must-watch video, preserved for posterity by PFAW’s Right Wing Watch, of Paula White on November 4, 2020, leading a prayer service to secure Trump’s reelection. (I have no idea what the guy nonchalantly walking back and forth behind her reading something is doing.) |
| Now, I probably know a bit more about the NAR than most people because of the kind of work I do, but I’m the first to admit that what I know barely scratches the surface of this seemingly endless web of prophets and apostles and networks and churches. Fortunately for us, there are people who have been closely following and reporting on the NAR for decades, among them Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates Frederick Clarkson and Rachel Tabachnick, a former associate fellow at Political Research Associates and now an independent researcher, writer, and speaker. So, before getting back to Lt. General Eifler, his “Alaska’s War Council” wife, and his participation in uniform at NAR Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s annual Reformation Prayer Network gathering in D.C. in August, let’s take a few minutes to turn to the experts and become better acquainted with this nefarious network. A November 17, 2020, Religion Dispatches article by Frederick Clarkson titled “Beneath the ‘Wacky’ Paula White Video is a Dark and Deeply Undemocratic World Propping Up the President” included the following quotes from Rachel Tabachnick, that do a good job of concisely conveying the growth and dominionist ambitions of the NAR (emphasis added): |
“The apostolic and prophetic networks that now dominate organized Christian Zionism have transitioned from more passive narratives of events to take place in the afterlife toward narratives requiring dominion over the world in this life. The political implications of this transcend the role of the U.S. alone, and engages many “nationalisms” around the world, as millions are taught an increasingly politicized interpretation of the prerequisites required for the return of Jesus and the end of the natural world.” |
| and … |
“White and many other prosperity doctrine evangelists have adopted the church governance models of the New Apostolic Reformation. White began 2012 with a sermon titled ‘Season of Apostolic Reformation,’ telling her congregation that they must align with this new order. ‘God is a theocracy, not a democracy,’ White stated, and warned congregants to ‘get in, get out, or get run over.’” |
| Similarly, in the second part of his “Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation,” titled “When it Comes to Societal Dominion, the Details Matter: A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation, Part II,” Frederick Clarkson writes (emphasis added): |
“The NAR doesn’t merit our considered attention because some of the leaders may sound nutty to those outside the movement, but because it’s driven by theocratic notions of total societal dominion, including the end of democracy as we’ve known it; and it deserves our attention because it’s developed the political capacities to make these ambitions a lot less of a pipe dream than they seemed even five years ago.” |
| For those who really want to learn all about the NAR, an excellent resource, already mentioned, is Frederick Clarkson’s “A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation,” co-authored by Canadian scholar André Gagné, whose recent book American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times is featured in the Salon article “Meet the New Apostolic Reformation, cutting edge of the Christian right” by Paul Rosenberg. The NAR are Christian dominionists, meaning, for those unfamiliar with the term, they believe that fulfilling the “7 Mountains Mandate” — conquering the seven spheres of influence, or “mountains,” (family, religion, government, education, business, arts/entertainment, and media) — is a prerequisite for Jesus to return. On the “Alaska’s War Council” September 19, 2023, Zoom call, Lt. General Eifler’s wife shared a “vision” the lord had given her about the seven mountains: |
“The lord gave me a concept that was so much bigger than I was able to fully describe so I began to draw it out and it started with mountains. And then the question I asked God was, ‘What is creative ministry?’ And I had a strong impression it was ministry that’s aligned with our unique identity in Christ lived out in our authority in Christ in the seven mountains of influence. And those seven mountains of influence, if you’re not familiar, are family – everybody’s in the family mountain, right? – religion – everyone’s in the religion mountain – government, because at least in the United States we all have a right to vote – business, education, entertainment, media arts. Those are our mountains. All of these mountains have been established by God for his people to be ministers in. Yes, ministers. Using our God-designed and purposed gifts in all of the mountains that we are in. He has placed us each uniquely in these mountains. Then I saw rivers and streams going down the mountains into the sea, followed by a flash of the throne room of God. The lord is releasing new kingdom creativity to align and partner with bringing his kingdom from heaven to earth. He is calling us to minister in the seven mountains of influence in a new way, remembering that his power, authority, creativity, and purpose flow from his throne room to us, his people. It flows to us and through us. So, in this release of this new creativity, he is calling his children to align with and stand in the authority of their kingdom identity, as royal sons and daughters of the king of kings and as the royal priesthood that he has called us to.” |
| Yes, visions. NAR people have visions, like this one that the founder of the Indiana Canopy of Prayer, the group that posted the photos of Lt. General Eifler at Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s event, had: |
“As I was driving into Indianapolis on I-70E, I had an open vision. The Capitol building in Washington D.C. was picked up and set down in the middle of our capitol [sic] city, Indianapolis. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘This isn’t a natural governing building, it is a spiritual governing building, but I wanted you to see the importance and the power that I was setting down.’ Next, I saw lines like ribbons going from the top of the building in all directions. They went up and then curved down in all different directions. They went up and then curved down to the ground in many locations. Where they landed, there were big golden stars. The Lord said, ‘These stars represent 24/7 Houses of Prayer that I will raise up.’ Then He said, ‘I want a CANOPY of Prayer over the State of Indiana.’” |
| Now, setting aside the danger of having visions while driving, the above is very typical of the kind of visions these people reportedly have. Then there are the “declarations” and “decrees,” which are defined in the very useful “A Glossary of New Apostolic Reformation Terms” as follows: |
19. Decree & Declare – this is a fruit of word of faith (WoF) theology, the idea being that our words carry some form of inherent power, and are causative. So instead of obeying scripture – “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6) NARites believe they need to exercise their faith, speak to their mountain, and enforce their dominion in a given situation. They attempt to “speak life” into the dead, dispel hurricanes, quench fires, and restore finances with their decrees and declarations. This “little god” behavior fails every time, because only God can decree or declare. Another form of this is called “speaking into a situation.” |
| On the February 28, 2024, Zoom call of “Alaska’s War Council,” Sherry Eifler “released” this declaration: |
“We declare the military will be God’s righteous warriors of the kingdom of God in partnership with the Lord’s angel army.” |
| Well, ain’t that special. The wife of a 3-star general — a 3-star general who gave a presentation at a major NAR event — “declaring” that the military will partner with the “Lord’s angel army.” Needless to say, this is extremely troubling, particularly since some NAR leaders teach that believers can command angels, “activating” or “releasing” them for a particular assignment. You might be thinking that this is Lt. General Eifler’s wife saying these things and not Eifler himself, but don’t forget that he himself was at Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s big NAR event in August giving a presentation. Even if Lt. General Eifler isn’t as deeply immersed in NAR theology as his wife clearly is — and we have no way of knowing whether he is or not since, like many high-ranking military officers that MRFF has encountered, he plays it safe by confining his social media presence to military-related posts. He does describe himself on Twitter as “Man of Faith, Servant Leader, Sheep Dog,” and a few of his tweets promote evangelical speakers coming to his base, like Victor Marx, whose website says he “explains what manhood and Christianity should look like in our day,” and whose latest book’s foreword is written by Charlie Kirk, who has called the separation of church and state a “fabrication” and whose Turning Point USA organization bused Trump-supporters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. |
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| He also tweeted a photo of himself with retired General Vince Brooks, calling Brooks “a great leader and a mentor” of his. While most people won’t recognize the name Vince Brook, We at MRFF certainly did. Brooks was one of the seven Pentagon officers found guilty by the Department of Defense Inspector General, in an investigation demanded by MRFF, of violating military regulations by appearing in uniform in a 2006 video filmed in the Pentagon promoting Campus Crusade for Christ’s Christian Embassy. |
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| Whether or not Lt. General Eifler believes everything his wife believes, the fact remains that he appeared at and gave a presentation in uniform at NAR Apostle Cindy Jacobs’s annual Reformation Prayer Network gathering, indicating that he supports and condones the objectives of this movement – a movement that seeks to destroy democracy as we know it. That really doesn’t “align,” to use a word from Sherry Eifler’s seven mountains vision, with the oath taken by Lt. General Eifler to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, now does it? And this is why MRFF is demanding an investigation of Lt. General Eifler, as you can read in MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein’s letter to United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks below. To wrap things up, I leave you with a few words from Lt. General Eifler’s friends and wife. |
| MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein’s letter to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks demanding an investigation and punishment of NAR-connected U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Brian Eifler |
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September 13, 2024 The Honorable Kathleen H. HicksUnited States Deputy Secretary of Defense1010 Defense PentagonWashington D.C., 20301-1010 Madam Deputy Secretary Hicks, It is my sad, yet critically urgent, duty to bring to you today a truly heinous matter of shockingly abject, alleged treasonous malfeasance and misfeasance by none other than the U.S. Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Lt. General Brain S. Eifler. My name is Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein and I am the Founder and President of a large, First Amendment civil rights advocacy organization called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF: mrff.org). In its nearly 20 years of hard-fought civil rights battles, MRFF has represented over 90,000 active duty, reserve and national guard members of the American armed forces and veterans as well as individuals at all 18 national security agencies, the Department of Homeland Security (U.S. Coast Guard) and the Department of Transportation (U.S. Maritime Service). MRFF’s central mission is to vigorously protect the Constitutionally-mandated separation of church and state in the aforementioned Federal agencies. Nearly 1,100 courageous individuals work here at MRFF, both paid and volunteers. In this regard, there are MRFF representatives on most DoD installations in the Continental United States (CONUS) and overseas as well as even on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers et al. I won’t belabor the tragic point here other than to direct your immediate and complete attention to the breaking news story immediately below. This stunningly revelatory article is authored by MRFF’s Senior Research Director, Ms. Chris Rodda, and is concomitantly being publicly released contemporaneously with this demand letter from MRFF to you, ma’am. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/13/2269887/-MRFF-demands-investigation-of-3-Star-Pentagon-general-s-disturbing-ties-to-New-Apostolic-Reformation From the incontrovertible information assiduously researched and now publicly released by MRFF with this breaking news story, it appears as though the United States Army Lt. General in charge of ALL its personnel, Lt. General Brian Eifler and his spouse, are apparently inextricably intertwined with one of the most, if not THE most, pernicious and radically extremist Christian nationalist organization on planet Earth; to wit, The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Lt. General Eifler’s alleged despicable and outrageously shameful actions of criminally eviscerating the solemn oath he swore to preserve, protect and defend the United States Constitution (vice his favorite flavor of extremist Christian nationalism) have been boldly and brazenly perpetrated whilst attired in his full United Staes Army uniform where he has officially briefed the Christian extremist attendees at an unknown number of NAR events. MRFF has photos and videos (see breaking news article supra) to substantiate these claims of alleged treason. Indeed, his alleged, indefensible, abhorrent actions of seethingly sectarian fundamentalist Christian nationalism, bigotry, exceptionalism, primacy, exclusivity, supremacy and triumphalism have savagely ripped asunder the vast array of inter alia DoD and U.S. Army Directives, Instructions and Regulations, Army Core Values and Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Articles deliberately designed to prevent his alleged, monstrously noxious, and illicit actions. When your boss, DoD Secretary Lloyd Austin, assumed his current position in January of 2021, he promised ON THE RECORD to America and to Congress that he would proudly serve as a lodestar for religious and racial equality at DoD. He also swore to eradicate racial and religious extremism in the U.S. military ranks. So, Madame Deputy Secretary, how the HELL do you explain these rancid, alleged actions of exactly THAT by YOUR U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Lt. General Eifler?! Fix this unmitigated, disgraceful disaster NOW, Madame Deputy Secretary! MRFF DEMANDS, IN THIS SPECIFIC REGARD MADAME DEPUTY SECRETARY, THAT YOU TAKE THE REQUISITE, EXPEDITIOUS AND AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS TO HAVE THE U.S. ARMY’S CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION (CID) THOROUGHLY AND AGGRESSIVELY INVESTIGATE LT. GENERAL EIFLER’S ALLEGED TREASONOUS ACTIONS AND PROSECUTE HIM, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO HAVE AIDED AND ABETTED HIM EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO THE FULL EXTENT OF MILITARY AND RELATED FEDERAL LAW AT A PUBLIC TRIAL BY GENERAL COURTS MARTIAL. Lt. General Brian Eifler (and perhaps an unknown number of colleagues of his throughout DoD?) has allegedly comprehensively disgraced this uniform and the oath he swore to our nation’s Constitution. His alleged actions of support, succor, and advancement of the extremist, Christian nationalist NAR lay to utter waste the good order, morale, discipline, and unit cohesion necessitated to ensure an effective American fighting force. His alleged radicalized support of the vicious Christian nationalist NAR is a nefarious, metastasizing cancer on our honorable United States military and its nonpareil national security mission. SO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Madame Deputy Secretary, profoundly and swiftly investigate Lt. General Eifler, and any and all enablers at DoD, and, if his actions of treason to the United States are found to be substantiated as MRFF believes they will be, publicly and visibly prosecute him and any others at general courts-martial proceedings IMMEDIATELY! Your solemn and official duty to the American people and our beloved Constitution requires nothing less. Respectfully submitted, Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.Founder and PresidentMilitary Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF)505-250-7727 |
| Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (JWV) hails MRFF’s victory in pressuring the U.S. Air Force Academy to release committed donor funds to send Jewish cadets to Jewish Warrior Weekend at West Point |
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| NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: 1811 R ST. NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009WWW.JWV.ORGPETER J. NICKITAS, NATIONAL JUDGE ADVOCATE 11 September 2024 Jewish War Veterans of the United StatesHails Mikey Weinstein, Founder and PresidentOf the Military Religious Freedom Foundation for HisFearless Advocacy and Victory for Jewish Cadets of the U.S. Air Force AcademyThe Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (JWV), founded in 1896, the oldest veterans’ service organization (VSO) in the United States, and the only VSO committed from its founding to the explicit opposition to all forms of bigotry, hails Mikey Weinstein, U.S. Air Force Academy Graduate of the Class of 1977, Founder and President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), and member of JWV Post 354, for the victory of the MRFF in pressuring the U.S. Air Force Academy to release committed donor funding to send Jewish cadets to the Jewish Warrior Weekend at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Less than one hour after MRFF demanded that the Air Force Academy leadership release of the committed donor funding for the Jewish cadets’ trip to the Jewish Warrior Weekend, the Office of the Superintendent announced the release of the previously committed donor funds. Incoming JWV National Commander Gary Ginsburg of Rochester, New York will attend the Jewish Warrior Weekend in support of Jewish cadets and midshipmen from West Point, the Air Force Academy, and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The JWV praises Mikey Weinstein and the MRFF for their fulfillment of their unique purpose and the JWV mission: to oppose all forms of bigotry, to protect the good name of the Jew wherever unjustly assailed, and to ensure that all Jewish-American service members fulfill their obligations to the United States and their faith without fear or favor, and with equal fervor. Respectfully Peter J. Nickitas, National Judge Advocate, for:Barry Lischinsky, Col., U.S. Army (Ret.),National Commander, Jewish War Veterans of the United States cc: Barry Lischinsky, Col., U.S. Army (Ret.),National Commander, Jewish War Veterans of the United StatesGary Ginsburg, National Vice Commander, Jewish War Veterans of the United States |
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