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YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin’s Faith
... What is known, however, is that Ms. Palin has had long associations with religious leaders who practice a particularly assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism known as “spiritual warfare.”

Its adherents believe that demonic forces can colonize specific geographic areas and individuals, and that “spiritual warriors” must “battle” them to assert God’s control, using prayer and evangelism. The movement’s fixation on demons, its aggressiveness and its leaders’ claims to exalted spiritual authority have troubled even some Pentecostal Christians. ...

...Critics say the goal of the spiritual warfare movement is to create a theocracy. Bruce Wilson, a researcher for Talk2Action, a Web site that tracks religious groups, said: “One of the imperatives of the movement is to achieve worldly power, including political control. Then you can more effectively drive out the demons. The ultimate goal is to purify the earth.”

Ms. Palin referred to “prayer warriors” in a radio interview Wednesday with Dr. James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian multimedia ministry. Dr. Dobson told Ms. Palin that he and his wife, Shirley, were praying for her, and that they had convened 430 people last weekend to pray for “God’s perfect will to be done on Nov. 4.”...