Dominionism- What are its goals, and how does it seek to achieve them?

This is basically a summary of what this project and website are all about. Sorry this is kind of long, but since there are a lot of new readers here as of late I wanted to post this. It's nothing new to longtime visitors, but I've tried to piece together and encapsulate several of the main themes I've written about. Anything that's brought up here has already been written about in more detail in other posts.

I'm critiquing Dominionism and for my other responses and interactions to make sense, you have to know where I'm coming from. There are others out there arguing along lines that are similar, but I'm approaching this a specific way that I've not found anywhere else. So while some of what I'm saying might be familiar to both friend and foe, there are ideas I'm bringing out that will be new to some readers. Not constrained by Reformed Confessionalism and/or Reformed denominational commitments, I'm also able to speak a little more directly to what I think some of the problems are.



As a follow on, a sort of Part 2, I will respond to the critique of this website by DT Maurina. He is offering a broad critique of my ideas, so I provides a unique and excellent opportunity to interact. I already posted his text at the end of the GreenBaggins discussion post. D.V., I'll re-post the text with my comments in the very near future.

A Kingdom discussion at GreenBaggins

Here's a rather extensive record of a good series of exchanges over at Green Baggins. No one changed anyone's mind, but it's yet another good example of the issues at stake and how someone like me pursues them vs. those who hold to what we would call the Christian Right. These interactions/comment threads seem to generate interest and some of you seem to find them helpful. This one has a different tone than the exchange last night on this site.

The conversation was good, a little depressing from my standpoint....but I'm pleased it stayed pretty civil. I'm afraid in the end my theology was pegged as Anabaptist....which if you've read anything here, you'll know that while I have some sympathy with them, there's much of their theology that I don't share. I'm not a Baptist to start with.

The Anabaptists picked up a vital part of the proto-Protestant mantle, but in reaction to the new Constantinianism birthed by the Protestant Reformation, they went too far in some of their theological constructs. Verduin talks about how some of this played out in The Reformers And Their Stepchildren. The whole baptism issue for the Anabaptists was really more about baptism being tied in with state citizenship vs. a theology that allowed children to be part of the Church. The latter they were not totally opposed to from the onset. But over time they moved toward a more hard line Credo-Baptist position....believer's baptism only. Children were in no way part of the visible manifestation of the Body.---That's my interpretation of how things developed. Modern day Anabaptists may differ. Verduin himself seemed to agree with what I'm saying. He seemed to lament the rift that took place in Zurich. The issue wasn't really about Baptism....it was Zwingli's refusal to set aside the Sacralist-Constantinian legacy of the Middle Ages.
The original post can be found here.

One of the commentors posted a critique of me and my website. It's down at the bottom. I'll post that separately at a later time. For those of you who care to wade through it all...enjoy and I hope you'll find some benefit in this conversation.

Holbrooke and Yugoslavia

Anyone that was interested in the Holbrooke piece might find this interesting. It's a republication from 2008, and here's the link over at LewRockwell.

The text follows.

A prime example of Kingdom confusion

Revelation 13.5

Just unbelievable........

This has been floating around some other good sites, but in case you missed it, here's former Constitution Party candidate and 'pastor' Chuck Baldwin on America.

Something of a Diatribe on Tombs, Monuments, Traditions and Authority

Over the past several days I have foolishly perhaps engaged in a little cyber-nudging... something I no longer do. I think things are rapidly degenerating in the Bible-believing Church, and though there's something of a remnant of thinking and discerning people. They are few. With the raging culture wars I like to see every once in a while how tightly people are wound. It's pretty bad out there.

I've visited a few websites and raised a point or two regarding Christmas and the larger principles in play. I have several observations, which stem from these principles.

They will be familiar to the frequent readers of this weblog.

Authority
Where do we go to derive Biblical truth? Christianity is not a get out of jail free card. It's not just about getting our sins forgiven, it's about being reconciled to God, our Creator, our Redeemer. Packer had it right...it's about Knowing God.

To know Him, we communicate, there's a relationship. He speaks to us...how? And we communicate with Him...how?

A note regarding 3 timely pieces

The Nativities, Nestorianism and Redemptive History post was meant to be a companion piece to:

Christmas 2010


which can also be found below. I think some of you may have missed it. Also, right below it, you can find Arthur Pink's Xmas....a very worthwhile read.

If I have time, I hope to squeeze in one more.

Nativities, Nestorianism, and Redemptive-History

or Biblical Christology in the New Covenant and the traps and pitfalls of Idolatry

The Christmas Wars of the Evangelicals are fought on several fronts, one being the conflict over whether or not to shop at stores that say, "Happy Holidays," vs. "Merry Christmas."

Another of course surrounds the public schools and whether or not Christmas programmes can include hymns or be reduced to secular carols.

And just as important to them, there is the battle for the nativity scene.

No Nation Under God

Here's an excellent post from a website I often visit called: Creed Code Cult

The text is below, while the link can be found here.

If you're interested, visit the site and read the comment exchange. Sometimes that can be as interesting as the article itself.

The site promotes Two Kingdom Theology very akin to what is presented here. Though I do have some difference when it comes to Theology, Method, perhaps History, and most certainly Polity...overall the site is very worthwhile. I recommend it. The articles and discussions are always provocative...in a good and productive way.

Pilger: Why Are Wars Not Being Reported Honestly

Excellent. Pilger at his best.

An interesting note. Rageh Omaar is referenced as a reporter for the BBC. Omaar's reporting has always impressed me. He left the BBC to work for an organization that he thought had from more integrity....Al Jazeera English.

Liberal media? Pilger doesn't think so either. Our media is for the most part Patriotic media....and thus more or less a propaganda tool for the state.

Here's the link, with the text below.

Holbrooke's Mirror

Here's a transcript from a short piece that aired the other day on NPR regarding the death of Richard Holbrooke, diplomat extraordinaire. The coverage was nothing remarkable...but you'll pardon me if I find it all to be rather stunning.

Is Kerby Anderson a Christian?

Five days a week our local Constantinian radio station blesses us with the wisdom of Kerby Anderson. Here's a commentary from back in November that I saved. I wanted to comment on it and my words are interspersed in this transcript.


You can find the original here.

A timely follow-up to Days in the Cult

Here's an article by Mark Crovelli.


This guy sums it perfectly. This dovetails nicely with the point I was trying to make in the Cult piece.

It upsets people, but when they say, "Aren't you thankful they're over there defending our freedom?" I reply, "I'm thankful for the freedom I still have IN SPITE OF what they're doing over there."

Increasingly I feel like we're living out Gibbon's Decline and Fall....

I guess it's no surprise the Christians want a new Constantine to remedy the ills of Empire.

Here's the article and the link:

Days in the Cult

I keep chuckling over the comment left on the Speaking of Treason post. That Lee Greenwood song (God  Bless the USA) for me evokes a particular memory...

I remember when I joined this particular group and they took away all my clothes and possessions. They shaved my head, and by shouting threats they tried to break me of all my previous habits and ideas. They deprive you of sleep and try to drive you insane by making you spend hours engaged in meaningless tasks. Everything you do is wrong, and never do you receive a kind word.

Regarding not the day......

We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western Church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. ... Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Savior was born, it is the 25th of December. ... Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.


Charles Spurgeon
24 December 1871

Christmas 2010: Constantine is the reason for the season

Dashing through the snow….a Yuletide ramble.


Yes, I had to write about another holiday I don't keep….

Xmas

XMAS


by A. W. Pink

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen… for the CUSTOMS of the people are vain." (Jer. 10:1-3)

Speaking of treason....

I had to laugh today. Lieberman was on Fox news and the 'reporter' was calling for Assange to be tried for treason.

Poor dear. She didn't seem to realize that as a citizen of Australia, he certainly could not be charged with treason. Espionage? Perhaps.

Of course Lieberman wants certain sectors of the American media to be brought up on charges for publishing the leaked data.

Funny they didn't seem to feel that way when the media helped the Bush administration deceive the country into the Iraq War, and the folks at FOX sure didn't feel that way when Cheney, Armitage, and Libby committed treason by exposing a CIA agent and probably were responsible for the death of several of her assets.

And yet Fox and Lieberman are both championed by so-called Christians in the United States. For people that proclaim to worship the Truth....they seem to have very little interest in it.

Rejecting the Western media paradigm

Paul Craig Roberts as always has a few interesting comments. What I appreciate about him, even when I sometimes disagree with him is the way he takes an issue and looks at it an entirely different way than it is presented in our media. He apparently would agree with me, NPR is hardly some liberal crusading news organization. Actually it's completely pro-American and demonstrates this time and time again. It's better than many of the other American news outlets, but still operates within the American paradigm. Hardly objective, but in no way anti-establishment.

In the Christian community we're supposed to loathe and hate Iran and this all goes back of course to the revolution in 1979. Iran's rulers are evil men, but that doesn't make the rulers in Washington the good guys either. It's a shame Iran is so hostile to Christianity, but I've pointed out repeatedly that we're seeing a repeat of what happened in the 4th century.