The Kingdom of God and Dominion Theology

The Old Doctrine

The kingdom of Christ is not a kingdom of this world, otherwise would his servants fight! It rests on a spiritual basis and is to be advanced by spiritual means. Yet Christ’s servants gradually slipped down into the notion that His kingdom was of this world and could be upheld by human power.

Charles Spurgeon, “Christ’s Universal Kingdom and How it Comes,”

The New Doctrine

“[T]he time has come when evangelicals are going to have to think about getting organized corporately….I’m for evangelicals running for public office,  winning, and getting control of the Congress, getting control of the bureaucracy, getting control of the executive branch of government.” (Billy Graham, April 29, 1985 appearance on The 700 Club)

“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”  “Zealous men force their way in. That’s what it means.” (Pat Robertson, The Secret Kingdom, Page 82)

“God’s plan is for His people, ladies and gentlemen to take dominion…What is dominion? Well, dominion is Lordship. He wants His people to reign and rule with Him…but He’s waiting for us to extend His dominion…And the Lord says, ‘I’m going to let you redeem society. There’ll be a reformation….We are not going to stand for those coercive utopians in the Supreme Court and in Washington ruling over us any more. We’re not gonna stand for it. We are going to say, ‘we want freedom in this country, and we want power…’ (Pat Robertson, 700 Club, May 1st 1986)

Dominion theology is a Utopian ideal.

It is a belief that this world can, and must, be conquered for Christ by militant action undertaken by the Christian Church. To get a good sense of what is happening in the established Church today see the article Dominionism and the rise of Christian Imperialism by Sarah Leslie.

Dominion Theology incorporates a Crusader mindset. It teaches that it is our Christian duty to take over the world, in a political sense, and if necessary, in a military sense, in order to impose Biblical rule. Christ will not return, (they say), until the church has “risen up” and “taken dominion” over all of the world’s governments and institutions. Dominionists affirm that this is not a matter for us to discuss. As they see it, this is a mandate from God.

Where is the authority for advancing such a notion?

Those who embrace Dominion Theology base it on a passage in Genesis.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth.” – (Genesis 1:26 KJV).

Of course the idea of “dominion” that they have in mind is a strained and unnatural interpretation of this scripture. Most evangelical Bible students believe that a plain reading of this passage shows God setting forth man’s responsibility to exercise faithful husbandry of the earth. God is charging mankind with the responsibility nurturing and caring for the ecosystem He has created. This includes the land and seas with their plants, animals, and fish.

Dominion Theology has it own take on the Great Commission. For them it is more than the preaching of the Gospel and the nurturing of new believers in the Holy Scriptures. It is more than promoting the personal walk with God. Dominionism gives place to an inner human compulsion for pyramid building. Inherent in this is a desire for control over others.

Carnally-minded men seek to increase their power over their fellow man. They want to build their own hierarchies with themselves being installed at the top. Carnal Christians often show themselves quite willing to resort to violence to fulfill their dreams of dominion. They are dead set on achieving “success” in their goals.

Have we seen this in Church history before?

Oh yes, we certainly have.

Historically Dominion Theology emerges whenever the Christian Church enters into covenant with a political power that is either at the apex of international wealth and power or about to make a play for it. The first Church-State deal was seen in the 4th Century. This was the prototype for all the Church-State accords which were made with the European princes in the following 17 centuries. Here is how it happened.

After the sickening persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the late third century the Roman powers faced a fact that was becoming quite obvious. Using their cruel methods of direct persecution they were unable to halt the Christian witness. Diocletian’s successor Caesar Constantine came to power early in the 4th century. He soon saw the writing on the wall. The persecutions against the Christian Church were clearly counterproductive. Accordingly he issued the Edict of Milan in 308 A.D.. This halted the persecution of Christians. What had happened?

As the 3rd century came to an end the Church was spiritually victorious against the powers of Rome. The Roman powers, realized that the direct persecutions of the Church were actually hurting them. Persecution of Christians led to martydom, which is the very same Greek word “witness”. For the early Church “witness” for Christ meant “martyrdom” for Christ. This is the way it is for Christian believers in China and in the Muslim world today.

The facts were quite straightforward. Roman persecution was creating Christian witnesses. All the efforts to stamp out Christianity were a waste of time. They were just adding to the numbers of Christians. So early in the 4th century the Roman powers realized what was going on. And so they decided to take a different approach. They decided to take the advice of Balaam. Their new goal was to get the Church compromised. In short, they had adopted a Fabian approach to conquest.

Under the Emperor Constantine the icy relationship between Imperial Rome and the Christian Church began to thaw. In 325 A.D. it broke out into a veritable love-fest. The invitation was there before them. What to do?

Many of the Church elders saw the opportunity for advancement and seized upon it. They accepted the invitation to “go up” to Niceae to meet with Constantine. Pilgrim Christians did not go. They stayed behind. (And they suffered for it afterwards). But it was right here that the Christian Church began to enter into power politics. Christians were all abuzz with talk of an accord with Rome. For politico-religious opportunists their hour had come. Finally, they had their chance. They packed their bags. Soon they were off to make some lucrative and power garnering deals with Rome, the worldly power of the day. This is how the Christian Church became “established”.

And what was the result of all this of this power play?

History bears witness to the tragic outcome;

• Dalliance with a pagan world system led to corruption of the Church.

• The Christian Church fell from grace into a pit of spiritual debauchery.

• The spiritual collapse of the Church led to grievous consequences.

• Western Civilization went down with the Church.

• This first blush of Dominionism took us into the Dark Ages.

• And there we stayed for a thousand years.

The course of events here is not hard to follow or complicated. Christians are called to a life of holiness before God. Our devotion is to Jesus Christ and to Him alone. Jesus said the “No man can serve two masters”. He went on to say “You cannot serve God and Mammon”.

There is an inherent corruption that comes whenever the Church, the people “called out” to be the Holy Congregation of God, forget the way of the cross. When Christians enter into a blood covenant relationship with the princes of this world it gets worse. There is Hell to pay. The Anabaptists finally realized this important truth. Whenever Christian believers embrace the power of the sword it always corrupts the Christian faith.

Dominion Theology is not Biblical. It is not a doctrinal belief that emerges from a careful study of the Holy Scriptures. Typically it emerges in the heady milieu of a wave of success in a nation’s economic, political, and military successes. Religious enterprises soon follow this. So in this sense Dominionism is really a form of religious populism.

National pride and hubris is a great spiritual danger. The temptation is to assume power and authority over others instead of being a servant before God. This is inclined to happen when a nation comes into great blessings. The prophets of Israel warned God’s covenant people about this danger. Indeed this theme of corruption right in the midst of God’s blessings is a theme that recurs throughout the Old Testament.

The sad reality of Dominionism is that in order to achieve power and control over other men some sort of accord or treaty must be established with the world system. Biblical Christians are fully aware of this danger. They see any bid for power and authority in this world as a very dangerous move. The gathering and the “unity” that is achieved by this means is artificial, cheap, and short-lived.

The reason for this is quite simple,

Any bid for power is based on compromise with the spirit behind that power. Dominionism is achieved by playing games with the systems of this world. And when they use the ways of this world to establish authority the Church that becomes established finally ends up running counter to true Christianity.

History bears this out. The recurring pattern is as follows;

Establishment Christians make deals with the worldly powers. Then they always end up beholden to these worldly powers. Compromised Christians then find themselves, (through fear of their worldly masters), being forced to persecute their uncompromised fellow Christians.

Church history is absolutely full of strange stories based on this corruption.

Sadly, it continues today. Dominion Theology will comes to its peak in the Apocalypse. It will become the future Harlot Church John saw in Rev.17 & 18)

Dominion Theology is not a child of the Bible.

It slips into the Church from the world. Political and economic realities are mixed in with this as well. The church is wowed with special political rallies, loud music, and a drumbeat for concerted political action. The new optimistic politico-religious mindset for (National and) world takeover is presented as the main option.

It is phallic in spirit, energizing the lower carnal nature of man. Dominion Theology brings with it a new aggressiveness and pugnacity. This changes the character of the church. True worship and reverence for the Holy Scriptures takes a back seat to politics. And the Gospel, missions, and the devotion to the true Spirit of Christ suffers.

Dominion Theology can be brutish.

It always was a forceful militant sort of Christianity.

Dominionism embraces the methods of worldly power, including the use of the sword and the gun. It is not new. It is the same sort of “crusader mindset” that was seen 900 years ago. When Pope Urban preached the First Crusade the whole of Christendom began to rise up in Edomite anger.

The crusaders were, in fact, Christian dominionists. Some evangelicals would doubt that they were really ‘Christian’ at all. Most people, unfortunately, do not know the difference. After the crusades, came the Spanish Inquisition, the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France, the Pogroms of eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. Unfortunately they have left a bloody legacy.

Here is the big question. Could this same politico-religious history repeat itself in America?

The risk of this happening is very real.

From, Dominion Theology in Recent History