Max Blumenthal reveals the frightening secrets of Sarah Palin's bizarre religious beliefs.

To those who knew Palin, she was no ordinary hockey mom, but rather an evangelical foot soldier who spearheaded the [conservative Christian] movement’s takeover of local government. Her power base was the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal mega-church where she was baptized and spent over 20 years as a member.

Most Pentecostal congregations are socially conservative, particularly those that are predominantly white, but Wasilla Assembly of God was in thrall to a radical Pentecostal trend once denounced by church authorities as heresy. Called the Third Wave, it was rooted in an explicitly anti-intellectual creation myth. According to the Third Wave’s founding father, William Branham, a rural Canadian preacher, Satan had sex with Eve and gave birth to Cain—the so-called “Serpent Seed.” “Through Cain came all the smart, educated people down to the antediluvian flood—the intellectuals, bible colleges,” Branham wrote. “They know all their creeds but know nothing about God.”

Despite opposition from inside the Assembly of God’s hierarchy, Third Wave congregations won droves of adherents by emphasizing charismatic displays of ecstatic release, including practices such as holy laughter (hysterical giggling that supposedly represents the spirit of God flowing through the bodies of believers) and drunkenness in the spirit, where worshippers emulate the experience of intoxication so melodramatically that Charles Bukowski would reel in embarrassment. Faith healing is also central to Third Wave theology; Todd Bentley, an influential Florida-based Third Wave pastor known for his tattoos, body piercings, and pseudo-punk attitude, once attempted to “explode” a man’s tumors by drop-kicking him in the chest. He also kicked an old woman in the face because, he said, “The Holy Spirit spoke to me.” One of Bentley’s mottoes is “Some people snort cocaine, others snort religion.”

I have been hearing about the craziness of Palin's Wasilla church for almost a year now. I know that Max actually managed to attend services there a few times before they became overly suspicious of "outsiders" and was able to see some of this first hand.

Blumenthal's book, "Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party", is rapidly proving itself to be a must read for anybody wanting to understand the Evangelical fringe movements that seem to be running the GOP right now and Sarah Palin's role in that movement.

The more I learn the more I am dedicated to getting the truth out there for everybody to see.

I met with one of my sources again yesterday and made some real progress toward finalizing a deal that will blow the lid off of Sarah Palin's secrets and the McCain's campaign's culpability in hiding those secrets from the American people.

If you think you have seen it all, believe me you have only seen the tip of the iceberg.