Although I do have some problems with Dominionism, this guy says a lot of good stuff......
Men overcome by fear and guilt are unable to fight. The more the church is enslaved, the harder it will be to resist the state's tyrannical invasions. The more we become preoccupied with these fantasy-world sins — these "transgressions" of which the Bible says not a word — the less able we will be to obey God's command to exercise dominion over the earth. Under the vain delusion of false guilt, the church will retreat, leaving already-conquered territory for the devil's illegitimate sway. His emissaries seek to distract God's people from their true mission of world conquest and full development of the earth's resources, by sending us off into vacuous campaigns against illusory windmills. Sadly, many in the church, with a cultivated ignorance of Scripture, are heeding the lies of their enemies.
The captivity of the church is essential to the strategy of the statists. If the church can be persuaded to abandon its calling, nothing on earth can prevent the domination of power-mad government. The people of God have been freed from their slavery to sin — thus, ultimately, from slavery to all but God — and are not easily dominated by men; there is no inherent slavery in the believer as there is in the unbeliever. Moreover, the people of God have been raised up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6); He as our representative is seated on the throne of all power, above the principalities and powers, as supreme Lord over all who have rule and authority (Ephesians 1:20-22). Jesus is the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords (Revelation 19:16); and we rule with Him, waging war and overcoming. No state — none — can successfully lord it over God's people. We are kings, and those who oppose us must be crushed to powder: the nation that will not serve us will perish (Isaiah 60:12).
For the LORD Most High is to be feared,
A great King over all the earth.
He subdues people under us,
And nations under our feet. — (Psalm 47:2-3)
It is thus of crucial importance to Satan's plan that he delude the church into thinking she is powerless. And if the church is bemused by guilt-manipulators and sapped of her vigor, our nation is lost. Christians alone have the power of dominion over the Evil One; we alone can provide the moral force to prevail against the enslaving state, for the principle of liberty in Christ has set us free from the bondage of men; we alone can preserve our land from destruction, for we are the salt of the earth. But if the day comes that we lose our savor, we will be cast out with the heathen.
We would like to tell ourselves that this can never happen to God's people, but that is a devilish lie to keep us secure in the very mouth of destruction. It happened to the churches of France in 1789; of all Europe in 1848; of Russia in 1917; of Germany in 1933. In every case, the churches had been rendered impotent — by guilt, by fear, by benefits; and always because the church departed from the word of God as the only standard for every area of life. Do not say it cannot happen here. That is to say that we can do all things without Christ. Do not say that we will somehow muddle through the crisis of the hour: Christ did not call us to muddling, but to victory. Life is a battle — no, more: it is a war to the death with the forces of evil. We cannot merely hold our ground. If we do not conquer we will be conquered. If we do not gather with the victorious Christ, we are scattering abroad. There is no middle ground, no possible moderation or compromise. If Ronald Sider and his ideological colleagues have their way, my children could be slaves to a ruthless bureaucracy before they reach maturity. Your children will join them.
This is no ivory-tower issue; it is not an airy, inconsequential debate between abstract theologies. Sider states himself somewhat vaguely with respect to the specific political programs he prefers, the means employed to enforce them, and the limits of state power. He is vague about just how much personal wealth constitutes immoral wealth. But he is clear enough: we need more compulsory wealth redistribution. We have too much wealth. Vague standards of righteousness, coupled with emotional generalities, can produce a lot of guilt. That, of course, is the whole point.
Nor is this a political or economic contest alone, as if we may leave the job to the professionals. Dominion is the task of every man and woman in the kingdom. God holds you responsible for the future of your children. You must do the work. If you abandon your calling, you are bringing down God's judgment on your seed. There is no escape. And never, never assume that you will raptured out of the earth before the trouble begins. That is the retreatist's dream, and it blinds us to the truth. It is presumption: why should God do for you what He did not do for others? Were Christians raptured from the Inquisition? Were the 10,000 men, women, and babies who were slain in their beds on St. Bartholomew's Day in Paris raptured? Are Christians who suffer tribulation from statists around the world being raptured daily? Consider Jesus' prayer to His Father:
I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one ( John 17:15).
Our Lord did not pray for us to be raptured away from the problems of life, before God's confrontation with Satan in this world is over. He prayed that we would not be overcome by the devil. And it is to be feared that those who think only of escape have already been overcome. There is no escape except death. We must choose between victory or defeat, conquest or flight, dominion or slavery, in time and on earth.
Men overcome by fear and guilt are unable to fight. The more the church is enslaved, the harder it will be to resist the state's tyrannical invasions. The more we become preoccupied with these fantasy-world sins — these "transgressions" of which the Bible says not a word — the less able we will be to obey God's command to exercise dominion over the earth. Under the vain delusion of false guilt, the church will retreat, leaving already-conquered territory for the devil's illegitimate sway. His emissaries seek to distract God's people from their true mission of world conquest and full development of the earth's resources, by sending us off into vacuous campaigns against illusory windmills. Sadly, many in the church, with a cultivated ignorance of Scripture, are heeding the lies of their enemies.
The captivity of the church is essential to the strategy of the statists. If the church can be persuaded to abandon its calling, nothing on earth can prevent the domination of power-mad government. The people of God have been freed from their slavery to sin — thus, ultimately, from slavery to all but God — and are not easily dominated by men; there is no inherent slavery in the believer as there is in the unbeliever. Moreover, the people of God have been raised up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6); He as our representative is seated on the throne of all power, above the principalities and powers, as supreme Lord over all who have rule and authority (Ephesians 1:20-22). Jesus is the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords (Revelation 19:16); and we rule with Him, waging war and overcoming. No state — none — can successfully lord it over God's people. We are kings, and those who oppose us must be crushed to powder: the nation that will not serve us will perish (Isaiah 60:12).
For the LORD Most High is to be feared,
A great King over all the earth.
He subdues people under us,
And nations under our feet. — (Psalm 47:2-3)
It is thus of crucial importance to Satan's plan that he delude the church into thinking she is powerless. And if the church is bemused by guilt-manipulators and sapped of her vigor, our nation is lost. Christians alone have the power of dominion over the Evil One; we alone can provide the moral force to prevail against the enslaving state, for the principle of liberty in Christ has set us free from the bondage of men; we alone can preserve our land from destruction, for we are the salt of the earth. But if the day comes that we lose our savor, we will be cast out with the heathen.
We would like to tell ourselves that this can never happen to God's people, but that is a devilish lie to keep us secure in the very mouth of destruction. It happened to the churches of France in 1789; of all Europe in 1848; of Russia in 1917; of Germany in 1933. In every case, the churches had been rendered impotent — by guilt, by fear, by benefits; and always because the church departed from the word of God as the only standard for every area of life. Do not say it cannot happen here. That is to say that we can do all things without Christ. Do not say that we will somehow muddle through the crisis of the hour: Christ did not call us to muddling, but to victory. Life is a battle — no, more: it is a war to the death with the forces of evil. We cannot merely hold our ground. If we do not conquer we will be conquered. If we do not gather with the victorious Christ, we are scattering abroad. There is no middle ground, no possible moderation or compromise. If Ronald Sider and his ideological colleagues have their way, my children could be slaves to a ruthless bureaucracy before they reach maturity. Your children will join them.
This is no ivory-tower issue; it is not an airy, inconsequential debate between abstract theologies. Sider states himself somewhat vaguely with respect to the specific political programs he prefers, the means employed to enforce them, and the limits of state power. He is vague about just how much personal wealth constitutes immoral wealth. But he is clear enough: we need more compulsory wealth redistribution. We have too much wealth. Vague standards of righteousness, coupled with emotional generalities, can produce a lot of guilt. That, of course, is the whole point.
Nor is this a political or economic contest alone, as if we may leave the job to the professionals. Dominion is the task of every man and woman in the kingdom. God holds you responsible for the future of your children. You must do the work. If you abandon your calling, you are bringing down God's judgment on your seed. There is no escape. And never, never assume that you will raptured out of the earth before the trouble begins. That is the retreatist's dream, and it blinds us to the truth. It is presumption: why should God do for you what He did not do for others? Were Christians raptured from the Inquisition? Were the 10,000 men, women, and babies who were slain in their beds on St. Bartholomew's Day in Paris raptured? Are Christians who suffer tribulation from statists around the world being raptured daily? Consider Jesus' prayer to His Father:
I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one ( John 17:15).
Our Lord did not pray for us to be raptured away from the problems of life, before God's confrontation with Satan in this world is over. He prayed that we would not be overcome by the devil. And it is to be feared that those who think only of escape have already been overcome. There is no escape except death. We must choose between victory or defeat, conquest or flight, dominion or slavery, in time and on earth.
