Witchcraft again - Aiona, Hawaii Candidate For Gov., Tied to Witch-Fighting Evangelicals
As the AP describes,
"The video was produced by Bruce Wilson, who co-founded a blog about religion and politics. It includes clips of Aiona at a 2009 meeting in Hawaii of the International Transformation Network, an evangelical Christian group, and its local arm, Transformation Hawaii. Here's the video in question:
So Hawaii is being "transformed" - to what? And why? In April I wrote an extended two-part series describing Aiona's many ties to Transformation Hawaii, the International Transformation Network, and the right-wing evangelical campaign to remake the Aloha State, into a place free from witchcraft, idolatry, gay marriage, and other alleged scourges of all that's said to be good and wholesome. Transformation Hawai'i is a local chapter of an entity called the International Transformation Network, whose leaders appear fixated on fighting gay marriage and burning "idols", "witchcraft items", Books of Mormon, statues of Catholic saints, and native art. Both Duke Aiona, his campaign, and allied media such as Hawaii's KITV, have decried the video and claimed it is "false", "misleading", deceitful (on and on) without describing the actual content of the video itself. As KITV's Daryl Huff writes,
"Governor candidate Duke Aiona on Wednesday said Neil Abercrombie's campaign is using social networking to spread false information about his relationship with a controversial religious group. The video clips in question, however, are presented with no characterization at all. Readers can judge for themselves. As Huff quotes Duke Aiona's response, "This politically motivated attack video takes quotes out of context" - "It splices videos together and it manufactures patently false statements as it relates to a faith-based organization." But what else can Aiona say given that he's starred in Transformation Hawai'i ads and infommercials, attended (and led) multiple Transformation Hawai'i events, contributed a chapter to a book detailing Transformation Hawaii's efforts, accepted cash gifts of over $7,000 to finance a junket to an Argentina conference of Transformation Hawaii's parent ministry, publicly dedicated Hawaii to Jesus in the name of Transformation Hawai'i, stated his intent of "discipling" Hawaii for Transformation Hawai'i and it's parent ministry, the International Transformation Network, and been prayed over, at a 2009 ITN Hawai'i conference, at a religious ceremony reminiscent of a coronation? Footage from the last link above, from the 2009 ITN conference Aiona attended at the Hilton Hawaiian village near Honolulu, shows Duke Aiona praising ITN CEO Ed Silvoso and declaring his intent to "disciple" Hawaii. In his 2007 book Transformation: Change the Marketplace and You Change the World, on page 42, Ed Slivoso gave examples of "discipled" nations: communist Russia under Lenin, communist China under Mao, and Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini. The reason Daryl Huff, KITV, and other Hawaii media can't address specifics is quite simple - 1) the evidence connecting Duke Aiona to Transformation Hawaii is overwhelming, and 2) ITN members say extremely disturbing things. This goes far beyond the bounds of polite discourse, or the pretense of polite discourse as it were. For example, here are video clips of Cindy Jacobs casting out "gay demons" and claiming to magically heal HIV/AIDS and give women with no wombs new ones, from God. Here's Ed Silvoso and another ITN member, at a 2008 ITN conference, comparing their political opponents to rats to be exterminated - 1, 2 (see time signatures, under both videos, for exact times of "rats" statements). Here's how I introduced the matter, in my recent story, Hawaii Candidate For Governor Claimed Membership in Group That Burns Native Art:
Running against former Democratic Congressional Representative Neal Abercrombie to be Hawaii's next governor, Republican Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona has disavowed his relationship with an international evangelical ministry called the International Transformation Network, whose leaders advocate burning religious artifacts and native art. But in newly discovered video footage from 2008, Aiona enthusiastically stated that he was indeed a member of the ITN's Hawaii chapter, Transformation Hawaii. ITN leaders claim to fight "witchcraft" and burn native art, depict non-charismatic Catholics as damned, try to cure HIV and AIDS with faith healing, and allege homosexuals are possessed by demon spirits. [video, below: "The coronation of Duke Aiona"]
Witchcraft again - Aiona, Hawaii Candidate For Gov., Tied to Witch-Fighting Evangelicals | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Witchcraft again - Aiona, Hawaii Candidate For Gov., Tied to Witch-Fighting Evangelicals | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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