Pete Peters

But hope springs eternal. After years of denouncing "Satanic" Jews, Martin Luther King Jr., homosexuals and any other number of enemies, Peters -- who has hosted a collection of Klansmen, neo-Nazis and assorted other Jew-bashers at his Laporte Church of Christ -- thinks he may finally have the upper hand.

He figured out the secret weapon.

During a three-day "Scriptures for America Christian Weekend" held in late October in The Dalles, Ore., Peters sounded more militant than he has in years. Good Christians, he told the assembled, were created to build, but reborn to destroy. There are "serpents" among us, he warned darkly, bent on wiping out the white man (he illustrated this by reminding his listeners of The Ventures' 1960s hit "Wipeout"). The end-times are coming (this preceded by a recording of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan, who, as Peters explained, had cut a deal with Satan).

But there's a way out: "Anointing and Un-Anointing Oil."

It turns out that "Satanic, demonic, destroying, unjust spirits" -- Masons, to speak plainly -- have performed evil rituals over the cornerstones of just about every major public building in America. Once you know that, it's not hard to understand the wicked decisions coming out of the American court system, not to mention the horrors emanating from a multitude of other government facilities.

Enter Peters' oil. Take a vial of the "sacred oil," travel to a government building near you, read the prescribed "Prayer for the Anointing and Un-Anointing Oil," and before long the whole legal apparatus will come crashing down.

"Anoint the courthouse first!" Peters shouted, saying that the judicial system is at the heart of the evil. "But there are plenty of secondary targets!"

It wasn't just talk. Peters has a new section on his Web site devoted to a tally of courthouses and government buildings, saved and unsaved. For every state, a total number of such buildings is listed, along with the percentage of them that have been reclaimed with the holy oil. If you believe the list, hundreds of buildings in 44 states have been anointed and prayed over by Peters' oily followers.

"Salvation for us," Peters explained, "is destruction for them!"

Still, Peters seemed fairly paranoid for a man who has finally figured out how to destroy his enemies. Returning to the "serpents" among his audience ("You know who you are!"), Peters offered communion to his followers that Sunday, but with a twist. He and his colleagues, he warned, had said a prayer earlier over the wafer and wine that ensured that they would turn to poison in any enemy's mouth.

That wasn't all. Peters told his followers -- who numbered between 65 and 90, depending on the day -- of a recent incident in his church. A man and a woman he didn't know appeared one day. Suddenly, Peters had trouble preaching. He couldn't remember the name of a man sitting in front of him whom he'd known for 40 years. With a start, Peters realized the two strangers were actually "witches."

Generally speaking, the weekend displayed Peters in some of his most violent moments in years. "This is WAR!" he screamed at one point. "I hate Edom [read: the Jews]. ... And if there are any Edomites here, I hate YOU!"

"We all have different callings," he added. "And I am called to teach you to be destroyers." It is time, Peters exhorted his followers, to "call in the artillery. The gooks are in the wire! Don't pray to make them Christian. Kill 'em all! Let God sort 'em out! They want to kill all of you! We must DECAPITATE them!"

Then, crying and shouting all at once as the conference came to a close, he told of a dream with white horses, eyes glowing and nostrils flaring, and men going down in battle. "And they were crying," Peters roared, '"AVENGE!!!"'