Elitist Tendencies
One final point.
There is an Elitist tendency among those who profess
this creed. Focusing on Ivory Tower philosophical issues and matters of theory
these folks end up spending a lot of time on issues that the average person doesn't
really have a lot of time to think about.
The factory worker and the farmer are not terribly
concerned with residential architecture, sociological models, what makes good
art, and so forth. Not to say the aforementioned questions have no value, but
they simply are not that important to people's daily lives and I don't think
they need to be.
I know the arguments...the trickledown effect of what
happens in these circles and that's why they're focused there. They are truly
the architects, the planners of a new culture.
While they pay tremendous lip service to the idea of
vocation and the idea that everyone has a societal value, in reality they often
possess something of an elitist air of superiority. The truth is, the retail
worker, the rubbish collector, the farmer, the guy like me who remodels homes
for a living...what we do is really not that important....from the standpoint
of a Transformationalist.
In the Dutch Reformed population centers of the Upper
Midwest it is common enough to find farmers and plain folk, but most Reformed
churches are filled with white collar professionals. Reformed Theology is often
popular among the learned and educated because of its intellectual tendencies
rather than the emotionalism and common sense approach found in most
Evangelical churches. Their societal position is often affirmed by this
theology, because in truth the doctors, lawyers, scientists, professors, and
politicians are the ones making the difference in pushing the Dominionist
agenda.
Sadly this has placed much of the Reformed community in
something of a segregated state. Again I'm generalizing, there are exceptions
and I can think of some, but often lower class people don't feel very
comfortable or welcome in those circles. I've also mentioned something of a
latent prosperity gospel, not the 'name it and claim it' rubbish, but something
of a...if you're walking right then you're socially successful mentality. If
you're poor and struggling, then you haven't picked up on the Dominionist tools
for success, which seem to start with a college degree and a middle class home.
I'm not alone in detecting this.
Disagree or not, it cannot be denied the entire
Dominionist agenda has created something of an Elitist class and mentality in
the questions it raises and the spheres it wishes to operate in and transform.
The philosophical underpinnings of the movement also
provide a theological basis for literally dismissing any contribution or input
from those who are not in agreement or initiated into their circles.
There's nothing wrong with dealing with complicated
social and cultural issues... but if this becomes the de facto Gospel to the
exclusion of a whole class of people, then something is dreadfully wrong.
This movement continues to grow. Kuyper is not well
known outside of Reformed circles, but several men have taken up his ideas and
expanded them. We've mentioned Francis Schaeffer who has directly influenced such
people as Chuck Colson who even ripped off and marketed on his book
title...instead of 'How Then Shall We Live,' Colson entitled his book 'How Now
Shall We Live.'
And in a more narrow Reformed sphere, RJ Rushdoony
proposed a much more radical and severe analysis and generated the school of
thought known as Theonomy. Pure Theonomy if I can call it that, is not terribly
popular, but softer modified versions of it are growing in popularity and
starting to make the evening news in the words of aspiring Right-wing
politicians. Some have never heard of Rushdoony, some might be newly Reformed or
even just Protestant, but they are echoing his ideas which are really little
more than a crystallization and refinement of the entire Medieval System, the
same which persecuted the True Faith and slaughtered believer and unbeliever by
the thousands all in the name of God.
We are warned repeatedly that false prophets are the
greatest threat to the Covenant community. Those who seek power and to fill
their bellies will always lead the Church astray. We are warned of the Beast,
the deified world empire Babel-tendency which seeks to 'make a name' for
itself. As we know from Scripture it comes in many forms...over and over again.
History has been consistent exemplifying this theology set forth so clearly in
Scripture.
The Apocalypse warns of the horned lamb that speaks
like a dragon seducing and teaching people to worship the Beast system. The
Beast system seeks to create a cultural hegemony, reducing to poverty and
desperation those who refuse to participate in the system and worship the Idea
it presents. The false religious system which looks like the Lamb of God is
presented as a Whore which rides the Beast aiding and abetting its mission and
goals, crushing the faithful and persecuting them. This fusion of Beast and
False Church is Mighty Babylon. It's a hydra. When one head is removed another
grows back. When Papal Christendom was rent asunder, several Protestant
versions replaced it. When the British Empire fell, the American Empire stepped
in.
Dominionism is the theology of Babylon. It's adherents
are deceived and its apologists and promoters are agents of antichrist. They
are the greatest threat to the Church and most be called out and opposed at all
costs.
At this point in time the Church is so wayward even
people who are completely lost and antagonistic to the Gospel are more truthful
and accurate in their analysis of the world. Their solutions will also fail,
but they have more integrity, more of a sense of truth and justice than the American
Church and its leaders.
We are not seeking to transform Babylon. We live in
Babylon as exiles awaiting our return to Zion. While here, we take wives, build
our homes, live our lives, always maintaining our Covenant identity. Babylon's
political and economic models are of little concern to us. Does Babylon have
different values concerning life, marriage, money, and so forth? Of course. We
counter it not with a re-invigorated Contract for Babylon 2011. No, we use the
gospel and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. Much of the frenzy for
societal transformation is simply a lack of faith in the power of the gospel to work the miracle of rebirth.
We are to pray for the peace of the city. This is
something the Church is not doing. The peace they pray for is...our way or
else. It's peace under threat, which is not peace at all. American Christians
are contributing to the destabilization of society and promoting anger and
often violence. It will be no great shock when it all explodes in their faces.
They will cry persecution...yes, social persecution, not persecution for the
gospel. They have their reward and will no doubt find the fruit to be bitter.
For Jews in Babylonian exile, I contend that if a
faction of Jews advocated the overthrow of the Babylonian government and the
building of a new temple on the plain of Shinar...the faithful would have
zealously opposed them. When this Zealot faction tried to force Covenant-law on
Babylonian society, (thus not Sacralizing Babylonian society, but instead
committing sacrilege), the faithful would have opposed them.
For the sake of argument, if a member of this
hypothetical Jewish Zealot party was running for office against a Babylonian
official who maintained Babylonian ideals...what would the faithful have done?
Since it is hypothetical, it's open for debate, but I
contend they would have supported neither, but at the very least opposed
the members of the Zealot party which was promoting a grave error concerning the
nature of the Kingdom...which at that time was temporally present only in the
covenant nation of Israel.
Something to think about. When we are surrounded by
political candidates who abandoned selling pizza for the pastorate and run for
president because 'god' told them to, or when we have Evangelicals and even
Catholics spouting Dominionist ideals... should we support them or oppose them?
What if opposing them means the Babylonian candidate wins?
In light of the Kingdom of God, does it matter? Who is
the greater threat to the Kingdom, the false Israelite or the lost Babylonian?