By Mark Kelly
One of the most frustrating aspects of the “post-modern” age is that people seem to think beliefs are true simply because they believe them. No need to do any research. No need to actually document your case. No need for any logical connection between your assertions. Just regurgitate whatever pops into your head and plop it onto the Internet.
Call it a “blahg” site.
For example, I recently came across a site that in one short posting labeled Rick Warren as a liberal, a postmillennialist, and a Dominionist.
The first of those could have been laid to rest with a simple visit to Saddleback’s Web site, where the confession of faith clearly places the church in the mainstream of historic biblical Christianity.
The second assertion might actually have required contacting the church to ask a question. (Answer: He’s a premillennialist.) Yes, that is a lot of trouble for someone who’s in a hurry to get an opinion out of his system.
While the first two labels are simply wrong, the third is ridiculous.
Dominionism is generally understood to be a political version of Christianity that urges its followers to gain control of the country and impose a religious dictatorship on all the “infidels.” According to Al Dager, author of an exposé book, “Vengeance Is Ours: The Church in Dominion,” one of the three tenets on which this belief system is based is that Jesus cannot or will not return until the Church has taken dominion by gaining control of the earth’s governmental and social institutions.
What Dominionism means in practice depends in part on which set of conspiracy theories you might believe.
If you read the Wikipedia entries on “Dominionism” or “Dominion Theology,” you see the viewpoint of fringe secularists who think that any Christian who exercises his rights as a citizen is out to subvert democracy. Some folks are deeply troubled by the fact that Christians believe right and wrong aren’t just a matter of personal opinion. They want a world where each person does what is right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6) Envision a different social order, perhaps one with somewhat more traditional values, and you become part of a dangerous, militant sect that wants to force its beliefs on the rest of society.
On another fringe, a site that does “discernment research” claims Dominionism is a vast conspiracy that involves collaborators across the entire political spectrum, from Far Left to Far Right. The author divines a spider web of connections between what appear to be unrelated groups in the Church: the “spiritual warfare prayer movement,” the “mission as transformation movement,” and the “patriotic American movement.” The writer claims Rick Warren “has single-handedly accomplished more to bring about a public convergence between the three sects of dominionism than any other individual.”
That is utter nonsense.
Examine the written and spoken record of Rick Warren and the other well-known Christian leaders (including Peter Wagner, Bill Bright, Ralph Winter, James Dobson, Bob Buford, Luis Bush, George Otis, Ron Sider, and Jim Wallis) named by the heresy hunters, and you will not find a single place where any of them have advocated establishing a Christian dictatorship.
You will find people who believe Christians ought to vote their convictions. Many of us are under the impression that is why the Founding Fathers recognized the right to vote.
You will find people who believe Christians ought to be “ambassadors for Christ” in the workplace and marketplace. Many of us are under the impression that Jesus expects us to be salt and light in our world.
You will find people who believe the return of Jesus will not occur until certain conditions of Scripture have been met – like the “Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14 NAS) None of them believes Jesus’ return has anything to do with Christian control of human institutions.
You will find people who believe Jesus expects us to help spiritually empty people, to address the problem of corrupt, self-serving politicians, to help people who subsist in extreme poverty, to care for the sick, and to educate children for a brighter future. But we are not setting up God’s kingdom here and now. The earthly Kingdom awaits the day when Jesus Christ returns to earth to reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Yes, radical Dominionism is real. There are a handful of people out there who believe that Christians ought to be at the top of every powerful or influential organization in society. No, we don’t believe Dominionism is a biblical theology.
But spinning a web of conspiracy that requires the collaboration of both New Age Theosophists and Christian Reconstructionists – and the entire range of evangelical Christianity in between – is a stretch for even the most active post-modern imagination. Fabrications like this are not a problem, of course, if you don’t require evidence and aren’t bound by the rules of logic.
Such work is governed only by a Latin dictum, ex nihilo quisquiliae – “out of nothing, garbage.”
If only all that time and passion was being invested in making disciples of the nations, instead of grinding out interminable essays that distract people from obeying the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
