Today we take a look at another Dominionist creation – one they mysteriously call “The 300″. Kyle at Right Wing Watch dot com does a stellar job of keeping up with the seemingly endless entities of Dominionist theocracy and I encourage you to go to his site and check out his work. We will be revisiting these snake-oil salesmen and women again and again, and if you have been following Susan’s articles you are beginning to see the thread of commonality woven throughout these events and organizations. There are more to share…please read on and stay tuned.

The Dominionist Spartan Army ~ The ’300′

by Susan Cardoza

The New Apostolic Reformation or the group commonly known as Dominionist/7 Mountains Christians has yet another new iniative called “The Oak Initiative” and they have a plan they call the 300. A couple weeks ago we had a column on this group but today we will give you information into a plan to add to the group’s goals. For this initiative, Tony Perkins has joined forces with Jerry Boykin and Rick Joyner. They have devised this group based loosely on the movie of the same name and they plan to form some Spartan-like army of activists called 300 that is going to rise up and save America from the forces of evil bent on its destruction.

If you did not see the movie 300, it is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The plot revolves around King Leonidas, who leads 300 Spartans into battle against Persian “god-King” Xerxes and his army of more than one million soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support in Sparta for her husband. The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios. Concluding his tale before an audience of Spartans on the edge of the battlefield a year after Thermopylae, Dilios relates how the Persian army has suffered desertions, out of fear and the heavy casualties they suffered at the hands of a mere 300 Spartans. Word of their valiant resistance spread across Greece, inspiring the different city-states to unite against the Persians. Now, the Persians face 10,000 Spartans leading 30,000 free Greeks. Although still outnumbered three to one, Dilios declares that the Greeks shall be victorious and praises the sacrifice of the 300. He then leads the Greeks in a charge against the Persian army, beginning the Battle of Plataea.

There was criticism of the violence and negative portrayal of Iran (Persia) in the movie and the movie writer Frank Miller stated:

“The Spartans were a paradoxical people. They were the biggest slave owners in Greece. But at the same time, Spartan women had an unusual level of rights. It’s a paradox that they were a bunch of people who in many ways were fascist, but they were the bulwark against the fall of democracy. The closest comparison you can draw in terms of our own military today is to think of the red-caped Spartans as being like our special-ops forces. They’re these almost superhuman characters with a tremendous warrior ethic, who were unquestionably the best fighters in Greece. I didn’t want to render Sparta in overly accurate terms, because ultimately I do want you to root for the Spartans. I couldn’t show them being quite as cruel as they were. I made them as cruel as I thought a modern audience could stand.”

So you might ask yourself why Dominionists would choose such a group to name themselves after and I really do not know because historically they appear to be a ruthless cruel people. The only thing I could come close to is the term “the bulwark against the fall of democracy”. If you are familiar with Dominionists you know they plan to conquer the world for Jesus and they appear to be willing to do most anything to achieve their goal. Perhaps these 300 will be their special OPS who will be allowed to step outside the bounds of society and do what Christians do not want to do or perhaps they will be their “CIA” as has been mentioned more than once by Rick Joyner.

It is hard to tell because they have been fairly cagey about their purpose. At one point Rick Joyner said they were to be agents who seek public office to take control for the Dominionists. In a conversation between Joyner, Boykin, Perkins and Frank Turek they discussed the importance of Christians getting deeply involved in politics.

Perkins explained the absolute necessity of getting Christians into all levels of government while Boykin compared Christians today to the Spartan army and quoted King Leonidas by declaring “molon labe” ["come and get them"] when he and his army were told to lay down their weapons.

Likewise, Boykin declared “molon labe,” stating that he will not be silenced and challenged those in Washington who are out to take his liberties, rob his grandchildren, and destroy America to just try to take them from him.

Finally, Joyner announced that Christians have more than enough people to take control, but they need to bind together and, as such, would soon be unveiling coalition called “300″ which they did on February 3, 2011 to members of the Oak Initiative as follows:

Feb 03, 2011

Dear Oak Member,

This is an update on The Oak Initiative. No doubt 2011 is going to be one of the most exciting years yet. I have a lot of exciting news about how OAK is positioned for an increasing impact on our times. A number of the Oak Board members have spent a great deal of time meeting and planning throughout the month of January. There was an extraordinary grace on these meetings for increased clarity, strategy, and result whole new initiatives have been born. As members I want to give you more in-depth and behind the scenes information about these, but first I want to lay out the basics, and then I will share more information on each one.

New Initiatives:

300 Defenders: Seeking 300 leaders to run for public office at all levels.

Christian Information Service: Information Gathering; vetting and processing; and distribution as ‘force multipliers’.

The Order of Esther: Mobilize the church to combat the present slavery of women

A Presidential Campaign: Preparing the way now.

This was born out of several days of meetings with Gen. Boykin, Tony Perkins, Frank Turek, Mike DelRosso and myself. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has been one of the main point men in the culture wars raging in Washington. While working closely with Sen. John McCain on the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” issue for the military, the senator asked Tony, “Where is the church?” This started a resounding echo in us and was the same question that gave birth to The Oak Initiative. It is our resolve that this question does not have to be asked again.

I shared the dream I had a few months ago about how the foundations of our nation are burning, and the whole house is about to go up in flames if the church does
Unfortunately I did not pay $100.00 dollars to obtain access to the entire letter so I do not know what the rest of the letter said. What I do know, thanks to an excellent researcher is that:

“The Spartans–particularly as depicted in the movie and comic, much less in real life–did a number of things that even NARasites would frown on, like abandoning babies with birth defects or who were otherwise “imperfect” to die (this is actually depicted in the movie “300″, with a hideously deformed hunchback eventually defecting to the side of the Persians as a double agent).

Of particular note Rick Joyner’s documented history of borrowing concepts from the racist right (including the adoption of the term ”Phineas Priesthood” from the Christian Identity tome “Vigilantes of Christendom” to denote pro-NAR domestic terrorism)–a specific term
from the Battle of Thermopylae, “Molon labe” has had quite a bit of popularity in “Christian patriot” militias and militia-aligned “second amendment” circles for some years, even predating the release of the film “300″. Literally translated, Molon labe means “Come and get them”, and more loosely/idiomatically means something akin to “You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands - it was a direct response to the Persian army asking the Spartan home guard to drop their weapons. At least one pro-right-wing site even acknowedges the use of “Molon labe”(mentioned above) as a specific dogwhistle in this regard dating to the 1990s.

Of note, the phrase in Greek isn’t used in the movie, but IS used in the original “The 300 Spartans” along with its English (literal) translation.

This is actually part of a fairly long history of “pop culture appropriation” of “warrior images”, starting with Rambo (in the 80s) and more recently with two Mel Gibson movies (“The Patriot” and especially “Braveheart”), with NARasites* being cast in the roles of
the minutemen (in “The Patriot”) and of William Wallace’s army (in ”Braveheart”).

Just to give you an example of a real true-to-life possible member you can take a look at Congressman Jeff Duncan. Jeff Duncan was sworn into Congress in the wave of Teapublicans of 2010. He is a strict “Constitutionalist” and like most of the Teapublican freshman is very much into the idea of cutting the debt but not raising taxes. He was profiled in the book, “Do Not Ask What Harm We Do” by Robert Drake and he was one of many Teapublicans who used the movie “Braveheart” in their declaration of support for John Boehner in the efforts to defeat the payroll tax cut. Some asked if they actually remembered how the film ends? Answer: The hero of “Braveheart,” Scottish rebel William Wallace, dies at the end of the movie.

Viewed as being most conservative by Heritage Action may be alright for Heritage but the truth is Duncan has wasted a lot of time on bills that have no chance of being passed. He seems particularly interested in Islam and the danger they pose to our country. Sound familiar?

Here he is with Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon, brother to Donald who is the founder of the American Family Association on their own AFA radio show. They act like they are barely acquainted but my guess is he could be one of the 300. They are discussing raising the debt ceiling limit and as we all know not addressing the issue could have brought not only our country but the world down financially. What better outcome for the Oak Initiative and all their tales of the end of this country where they emerge victorious over us all.

And here he is at Peter King’s well-publicized Muslim Radicalization hearing on 6/15/11

I will go out on a limb here and assume that more of the Freshman Teapublicans may have been sponsored by the Oak Initiative but have not had the time to research them all. At any rate, you can see how easily they could reach their goal. I probably would never had Jeff Duncan would most likely never hit my radar had I not read the Robert Draper book and known about this action by the Oak Initiative.

It is easy to talk with other people who are informed about this group and people like you who read this blog but I sure wish there was a wider media apparatus/organized group or foundation to spread this information to the masses. That is one area where the religious right has us beat, they have been organizing for years.