During the 2008 presidential campaign, video surfaces of a 2005 ceremony at Wasilla Assembly of God in which Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee — who gained fame in NAR circles for claiming to have driven a "witch" out of his Kenyan town — lays hands on Sarah Palin and prays for her protection from "every form of witchcraft" as she prepares to run for governor of Alaska. The video, widely circulated after John McCain selects Palin as his vice presidential running mate, introduces millions of Americans to New Apostolic Reformation theology for the first time.
Further reporting reveals Palin's extensive connections to NAR networks. Mary Glazier, a self-described "apostle" and leader of the Spiritual Warfare Network in Alaska, claims Palin has been part of her prayer network since she was a teenager. Glazier operates within C. Peter Wagner's network of self-appointed "apostles" and "prophets" who claim direct revelation from God and authority over geographic territories through "spiritual warfare" — the practice of identifying and combating demonic spirits believed to control institutions, cities, and nations.
The Palin-NAR connection matters not because Palin wins — the McCain-Palin ticket loses — but because it normalizes NAR theology within Republican politics. Before 2008, NAR's claims of prophetic authority, territorial spiritual warfare, and apostolic governance were confined to charismatic Christian subcultures. Palin's vice presidential candidacy brings these ideas to a mass audience and establishes that NAR-connected figures can operate at the highest levels of Republican politics without disqualification. Rick Perry's 2011 prayer rally, Mike Johnson's speakership (2023), and the border church theology validating CBP agents (2025-2026) all operate within the space Palin's candidacy opened.