Who is Rick Joyner? Pastor who called Biden a 'Marxist' denounced by 5 children: 'His followers could pick up guns'
Famous evangelical leader, Rev Rick Joyner, has called on Christians to arm themselves for an inevitable civil war against the left-wing, whom he addresses as the allies of the devil. The latest report suggests that all his five children are liberals.
Joyner, 71, who established MorningStar Ministries and has written a series of bestselling books, believes that "liberals are in league with Satan and Democrats are plotting to criminalize Christianity". But the staunch conservative's five children identify themselves as left-wing and have pursued careers as artists and activists.
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His children Anna Jane, Aaryn, Amber Grace, Ben, and Sam spoke with The New York Times on Saturday, March 27, slamming their father's fundamentalism while simultaneously describing the relationship with their dad as "complicated".
“He talks about Democrats being evil, forgetting that all five of his kids vote Democratic,” said his eldest, Anna Jane Joyner, 36, a climate change activist and podcast host (her father has suggested that climate change is a Communist conspiracy). “Who is he asking his followers to take up arms against? Liberal activists? That’s me.”
She said, “I think it’s completely possible that some of my dad’s followers could pick up guns and cause violence because they think they’re defending the country.” She adds that she is particularly perturbed by her father's recent assertion that Joe Biden is a "Marxist who stole the election".
Sam Joyner, 26, a ceramic artist and the youngest of the siblings, was also opened up about their father: “He’s causing harm in my view, and he’s being incredibly irresponsible.”
“I think what he does is morally wrong, but I love him,” added Ben Joyner, 28, a filmmaker. “I don’t want to hurt him, but when he’s spreading dangerous ideas, it gets complicated.”
Joyner said that in the civil war which he expects to break out soon, “we would be on opposite sides.” But he hastened to add that he doesn’t plan on exchanging rifle shots with his children. “I hope my kids don’t get involved in the violence, but it’s coming,” he said.
Who is Rick Joyner?
Joyner was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1949 and grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He served in the Navy until 1970 and then moved back to Raleigh. He is reported to have worked part-time in a Raleigh jazz club after leaving the Navy, quitting when, as he put it, he "found out there is a God".
He subsequently moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and founded a charter air company. Rick Joyner along with his wife, Julie, founded MorningStar Ministries in Jackson in 1983. In 2004 he purchased part of the Heritage USA complex (originally established by Bakker and PTL in Fort Mill, South Carolina) for $1.6 million. The complex has been renamed Heritage International Ministries Conference Center.
He has been a part of the Apostolic-Prophetic Movement and an advocate for the Fivefold ministry and has been recognized as a leader in this movement after he published 'The Harvest' in 1989, in the book he predicted that there would soon be a Prophetic Movement and a separate Apostolic Movement. Joyner is also the founder and president of the Oak Initiative. This NGO is specifically for the Christians who desire "to Unite, Mobilize, Equip, and Activate Christians to be the salt and light they are called to be by engaging in the great issues of our time from a sound biblical worldview".