Study – Grow – Know

Christian Belligerency in Political Arena Stems from Dominion Theology

January 27, 2015 at 9:10 AM 2 comments

I’ll say it again – for those who may have missed it – I’m writing these articles as a way of speaking aloud to myself. I’m not looking to change your opinion about anything. I have become aware of things that if I address, I will remember. Nothing more and nothing less.

I wrote about what Dr. John MacArthur thinks regarding the Christian’s involvement in politics or even having opinions on political issues in another article. I noted what he stated and I’ll reprint it here so that you don’t have to go digging for it.

Dr. John MacArthur addresses the issue of being involved in politics. He believes that “effective politics requires co-belligerency to promote a common cause or resist a common enemy. When disparate groups take a similar position on an issue like abortion, it’s in their political interest to rally together and unite their voices for greater influence. By its nature, co-belligerency involves compromises that dull the contrasts and accentuate the common ground. The spirit of co-belligerency is the opposite of what the Bible requires a pastor to be—a man of deep biblical conviction (Tit. 1:9). Men like that are disruptive to common political causes, especially among those who pervert or are indifferent to the gospel.“

His main point is that it is difficult to be involved in even offering an opinion about political issues without belligerency. In fact, I’ve seen far too much of this within so-called Christian circles where one Christian is pitted against another in what appears to be an emotional argument where love, patience, and forgiveness has been firmly placed to the side.

Society has become a nation of belligerent co-dependents. We believe that cutting our “opponents” down to size is what needs to happen. After all, Jesus cut to the quick with harsh words for the Pharisees and other religious leaders, didn’t He? Yes, He did, but that’s up to Him and if anyone could do it with the perfect balance of love, patience, and godly chastisement, it would be God the Son, Jesus. While I can be sarcastic easily enough, it is usually devoid of compassion, love, patience, and all the other attributes that Paul rams home repeatedly in his 13 letters of the New Testament.

Here is a perfect example of what I’m talking about in the tweet below.

As you can see, I was pointing out the hypocrisy that is laden within the political arena on both the right and the left. In other words, both groups use similar tactics to demean, castigate, denigrate the other group. Each also justifies the use of it. You can see that Grandmanista uses sarcasm (“News flash…”) with insult (“douche”), but in her mind believes it to be okay because we are in an ideological fight to “take back America” and all is fair in love and war, right?

When I pointed out the insult, she responded with flippancy.

This is an interesting tweet. She excuses her words with a general reference to Scripture (turn the other cheek) and then excuses that with her belief that all pretense should be done away with by calling things what they are. She then adds that “Christians cuss.” Yes, I’m aware of that. They also do other things that the Bible considers sin, like adultery, cheating on taxes, and the rest because they find ways to use the Bible to support their wrongful actions (or words).

I could post a number of passages from Scripture that would show that she is wrong about what should come out of a Christian’s mouth, but it wouldn’t matter. She believes she is correct and that’s all that matters.

I admit that I have been guilty of the same thing. I’m not proud of it. It is one thing to be firm in your convictions, but shouldn’t we always express them with a charitable attitude and demeanor?

But most importantly – with respect to this brief back-and-forth with Grandmanista – where is the concern for a person’s salvation? For her, the biggest issue on her plate is calling a “spade a space” and winning America back for the Lord, ostensibly.

If we look at Grandmanista’s profile, it tells us what we need to know about her world view. She says she’s a “conservative Christian w/attitude.” Yep, I’ve seen the attitude. She won’t turn the other cheek and her biggest issue seems to be taking back America from Socialists. She also warns that some of her tweets will include cursing.

You know what? I’ve been there. I’ve used a bit of “cussing” or denigrating language now and then to make my point. Sadly, my points were always connected to the state of America and those opposed to the Constitution, rather than concern with a person’s salvation. It’s not that we cannot do both, but do I need to ask myself what should come first?

It seems too many of us conservative Christians see ourselves as fighting in God’s army to make this world a better place (starting spiritually) for Christ. As I’ve noted before, that’s Dominion Theology.

Dominion Theology is the “idea that Christians should work toward either a nation governed by Christians or one governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law. At least under this name, it exists primarily among non-mainstream Protestants in the United States. It is a form of theocracy and is related to theonomy, though it does not necessarily advocate Mosaic law as the basis of government. Prominent adherents of Dominion Theology are otherwise theologically diverse, including the Calvinist Christian Reconstructionism and the charismatic/Pentecostal Kingdom Now theology and New Apostolic Reformation.”

I would bet the average conservative Christian is not even aware that Dominion Theology is what they are promoting either. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case, especially if we consider what the Bible teaches about life on earth as we move to the end of this age. It just seems right, doesn’t it? This is what Christians should do, right?

No, Christians are to resist the devil, that much is certain, but our emphasis should always be on the spiritual, not the physical. How will our light shine as Christians if we are attacking those with whom we disagree? How will that light be a beacon to people living in darkness?

Next time, I want to zero in on Dominion Theology. We’ll talk more about it specifically, what it means and how Christians wind up promoting it whether they think so or not.

Entry filed under: Life in America, Politics, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation.