06 November 2011

Dominionism: Part 6


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?