Study – Grow – Know

Dominion Theology, Reconstructionism, and America is Great Mantra

January 28, 2015 at 11:31 AM 4 comments

Dominion Theology (aka Reconstructionism, Theonomy, etc.) is what I believe has become a foundational movement within America to restore it to its earlier “biblical value” system.

Dominion theology refers to a line of theological interpretation and thought with regard to the role of the church in contemporary society. Dominion theology is also known as Christian reconstructionism and theonomy. Dominion theology states that biblical Christianity will rule all areas of society, personal and corporate. Christian reconstructionism reasons that society will be reconstructed by the Law of God as preached in the gospel and the Great Commission. Theonomy is a post-millennial view believing that all of the moral laws contained in the Old Testament are yet binding today. Although these might sound somewhat disparate, they have all been closely linked together to the point that people often use the terms interchangeably.

Look at that definition carefully. Dominion Theology is essentially a man-made doctrine that isn’t found in Scripture, yet I am aware that people will use Scripture in piecemeal form to support their belief. We’ve all made that mistake.

The image above right is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Dominion Theology has more in common with aspects of Reformed Theology or Preterism. This idea that if Christians work hard enough at remaking (or taking back) America, America will essentially become a type of theocracy, just as Israel was in the Old Testament.

Note the person self-identified as “Take Back the USA” is calling everyone who claims to be a Christian to start walking the talk. She says judgment is upon us and we need to choose sides. Based on those words and the handle the person uses, we can clearly see that the person is calling everyone to prepare for civil war in America.

Our job then, according to her, is to fight to regain control of America, to wrest it away from those who are destroying this country. We also see this with many people who claim Christianity as their religion (like Grandmanista) who also believe we should take back America from “Socialists.”

Because of this mindset, what is obviously most important to people like this is that America itself – as a nation – be rescued and turned around. Once this is accomplished, all will be well. However, the problem is that the Bible states that Christians are simply passing through this life on the way to eternity. This is a temporary home.

I wrote a book called “Behind Enemy Lines,” in which I detailed this exact problem we are facing. Is it our responsibility to “turn” America around? Was this nation ever really a nation (like Israel) that was started by God, blessed by God, and was essentially a nation that He created for His purposes? My unequivocal answer to that is NO.

While America was certainly founded on biblical principles, the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible has largely been ignored by Founding Fathers who were more often, Deists. By the time the Constitution became the law of the land, there were already plenty of people in America who couldn’t care less about God, who were criminals, who were godless, who were humanists, and who simply wanted what they could get out of life for themselves.

Yet, today, we have untold numbers of people who call themselves “Christian” and “conservative” (the terms are nearly interchangeable for too many), who cry out to restore the American Constitutional Republic. Though I have been part of that crowd, I am needing to remind myself (again) that this is not a biblical position.

The Great Commission of Matthew 28 recorded nothing about saving nations, or bringing nations back to their original moorings. The Great Commission is one of Jesus’ last commands to His disciples. In it, He told them (and us) that we should go into all nations and pull out (make) disciples from those nations, but He never said anything about changing the make-up of the nation as a goal.

Here’s what’s happening today with too many people claiming the label Christian. Instead of being concerned with a person’s salvation, they are concerned with the state of a nation. They believe that if we can simply change the direction of the nation, then everything else will fall into place. That’s not the way it works. They also easily see those as working against America as enemies and treat them as such.

Bringing the gospel to people so that they might understand first of all, what salvation actually means, and secondly, how to receive it. Once a person has salvation, they will change is the most important thing a Christian can do for their “neighbor.”

If that person is going to be changed (for the better we can assume), then won’t that change the street where they live, the neighborhood they live in, and ultimately make things better? That is a secondary effect of the gospel, not the primary one.

Even if personal salvation doesn’t directly make the world a better place, that person now has something eternal that will affect them in the here and now. If they pass along that salvific knowledge to others, will they not also potentially benefit from it because of the change that it potentially brings to their lives? Without equivocation.

But that’s not what Christians are doing in America. Instead, we are see huge divisions created because of governmental policies against which Christians believe they should fight. Whether the issue is race, taxes, eradication of Constitutional rights, or something else entirely, people are being forced to choose. That includes Christians, who are also being made to feel as though we are the “enemy” of the state. Do you think this is by chance?

Christians are being pushed into feeling as though we must resist the tyranny of the government. The Constitution even makes provision for what to do when government becomes so corrupt, it invalidates itself. With this information, people believe they can and should stand against the government, even with arms if necessary.

I simply don’t see that in the Bible at all. The Roman Empire was filled with terrorists and revolutionaries. No one ever really succeeded in overthrowing Rome until it reached a point of abject stagnation and became too big to govern itself. Then, it started falling apart and Germanic tribes merely had to swoop in and start chipping away at things to cause Rome to fall, which took several hundred years.

For all you folks who use the words “conservative” and “Christian” interchangeably, let me ask you one question: Where is your true citizenship? Are you an American first and Christian (or conservative) second, or are you a Christian first, conservative second, and American third?

America is not the new “Israel.” The promises given to Israel throughout Scripture do not now apply to the United States. I think it is high time that we Christians get back on track and understand where our loyalties should lie.

Yes, we should stand against wickedness wherever we see it. We should prayerfully vote for the right person. We should be involved in our communities in order to be a witness to them.

But putting America first, even before we tell someone about salvation for their soul is really a form of idolatry. We need to get our priorities straight and we need to do it now.

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