A grainy YouTube video has surfaced showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft" as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Ms Palin, John McCain's surprise pick as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft”.

“Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Bishop Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Ms Palin’s shoulders.

“Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. ... Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

Ms Palin filed campaign papers a few months later, in October 2005, and was elected governor the next year. She does not say anything on the video and keeps her head bowed throughout the blessing.

The Republican vice-presidential candidate was baptised at the church but stopped attending regularly in 2002. A spokesman for the McCain campaign declined to comment although the Associated Press reported that a person who answered the phone at the Wasilla church confirmed the video was from May 2005.

Pentecostals are conservative in their reading of the Bible and unlike most other Christians - including most evangelicals - they believe in “baptism in the Holy Spirit”. That can manifest itself through speaking in tongues, modern-day prophesy and faith healing, which includes the laying on of hands.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, has said that Ms Palin, who was baptised as a Roman Catholic as a newborn, attends different churches and does not consider herself Pentecostal.

On a visit to the church in June 2008, Ms Palin spoke fondly of the Kenyan pastor and told a group of young missionaries that Bishop Muthee’s prayers had helped her to become governor.

“Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold,” she said. “And he was praying ’Lord make a way, Lord make a way’ ... He said, ’Lord make a way and let her do this next step.’ And that’s exactly what happened."

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