Why I Don't Subscribe to Dominionism

Dominionism or Kingdom Now definitely has many forms. There are more passive expressions such as the prosperity, health-wealth gospel, or the popular Now and Not Yet view. There are also the full-blown dominionistic views such as various forms of 7 mountains or 7 spheres. I would guess that in its passive forms, the majority of the western church probably embraces some form of Kingdom Now. In my opinion, that is not a good thing, although I don’t hold it against them since I was also once swept up by Kingdom Now theology. For now, I’ll just address why I don’t subscribe to Kingdom Now theology. I’ll also be avoiding as best as possible the use of any names or movements.

I don’t subscribe to Kingdom Now because…

- It appeals to the flesh…

o even back in 2^nd temple Judaism, most Jews were “Kingdom Now” because of the vacuum left by having no land, no king, and no glory in the temple. Even Peter was for a time deluded with Kingdom Now (Matthew 16:21-24). Satan even tempted Jesus with a Kingdom before the cross (Matthew 4:8-9). In Luke 24:26, Jesus says, “was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” The Kingdom Now folk would say the Cross inaugurated a spiritualized kingdom, with implications that the Church does not also have to embrace a cross (Matthew 10:38). Yet most of the apostles and early church were severely martyred and persecuted. The cross for them did not imply a Kingdom in this age, but a Kingdom in the age to come, at the return of Jesus. (Colossians 3:3-4) No servant is greater than his master, so a cross for Jesus surely meant a cross (i.e. suffering) for them. The New Testament is rich with a theology of suffering. Matthew 5:10, Matthew 5:39, Matthew 10:25, Acts 7:60, 1 Corinthians 4:8-16, Philippians 1:29-30, Colossians 1:24, 2 Thessalonians 1:5 to just name a few. I believe God is handing over His church for the same reason He handed over His Son. It’s God’s ultimate mercy strategy to reveal His mercy to the wicked, so that they might repent before the Day of the LORD (Romans 2:4, etc.). Suffering is also a litmus test to find the Bride worthy to rule and reign with Him in the age to come (2 Timothy 2:11-12). Leaders in that age will have been found worthy through their humility and meekness in this age (Matthew 5:5, Philippians 2:9, etc.).

- It assumes that the nature of the Kingdom is spiritual…

o Classical/historical pre-millenilaism (Jesus’ 2^nd Coming inaugurating the Millennial Kingdom) was the only view of eschatology for at least the first 200 years of the Church. However, due to Origen’s hermeneutic prevailing by the 4^th century, the door opened for Augustine to spiritualize the coming Kingdom. Therefore, the Church began believing that they were reigning in a spiritual, milliennial Kingdom, and that they would fix the earth and hand it over to Jesus when He returned at 1000AD. When Jesus did not return at 1000AD, instead of going back to pre-millenialism, the Church just discounted the number 1,000 as spiritual numerology. Since then the Kingdom has come to mean any number of things whether the Church, moral ethic, God’s divine reign in the hearts of the believers, signs and wonders, etc.).

- It assumes open-theism

o Full-blown dominionism has to assume open-theism, or the belief that God really does not know the future, and thus the future can be influenced through the prayer, decisions, and actions of the church. While to some extent it’s true God can be influenced, the bible makes clear that the LORD is absolutely sovereign and declared the end from the beginning (Isaiah 40:21, etc.). In prayer, we pray according to His will, which is revealed through the covenants. We can’t pray with a false hope thinking that all the nations will be transformed when we already know that there is coming a great apostasy, and that nations will be handed over to the Anti-Christ. Although, preterism is widely discarded, dominionists must also embrace the idea that the end-time events have already took place for their missiology to make sense.

- It assumes that God at some point lost His sovereignty.

o Some dominionists believe God lost His authority at the Fall, and is now re-establishing His dominion through the agent of the Church. Biblically, it’s clear the LORD is absolutely sovereign, He’s the one who raises and deposes of Kings (Isaiah 40:23, etc.). God’s sovereignty over the heavens and the earth has never been challenged. The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer NOT because God is absent, not-powerful, or not-loving. but because His Kingdom is ruling amnestically (Isaiah 48:9-11). Meaning God loves the wicked (Matthew 5:45). He does not want any to perish in a Lake of Fire (2 Peter 3:9). Therefore, there is a season of mercy opened at the cross for all men everywhere to repent before the Day of the LORD. (Acts 17:30) God is buying time for the wicked to repent, even instructing the righteous to turn the other cheek as a witness to God’s long-suffering and forbearance towards the wicked. (Matthew 5:38-40, 11:12)

- It misinterprets the scriptures about the Kingdom

o There are about 145 instances where kingdom (Gk. Basileia) in the New Testament which relate to God and not man’s. (e.g. Herod’s kingdom) In about 120 of those instances the context is clearly a future Kingdom. In about 25 instances (including repetition) the usage is debatable. Kingdom Now theology is mainly built on 10 of these 25 instances. However, in these passages Jesus is addressing unbelievers (Pharisees), speaking of a bad thing of judgment, addressing them corporately, and speaking of the future. Kingdom Now theology interprets these passages perfectly opposite, aiming these passages at believers, speaking of a blessing, speaking to individuals, and in the present. These passages are actually fearful indictments of the Pharisees and their self-righteousness in light of the future Day of the LORD and the Kingdom of God. (See blog post titled “The Irony of Kingdom Now” at “www.gospelofchristcrucified.com”)

- It Misinterprets the mission of the church and perverts the Cross

o Kingdom Now assumes the mission of the church in this age is to re-establish dominion through pietistic or socio-political means. This leads to the Church having a messianic complex, as though they were God’s anointed agent to reverse the Fall of man. This is just a Christian form of humanism. (Jeremiah 17:5) The church is called to be a witness to the Messiah crucified, to the Day of the LORD and the coming Kingdom. We are called to conform to Jesus (Romans 8:29). In this age, we conform to Jesus’ mission at the first coming (suffering servant). In the age to come, we conform to Jesus’ mission in the second coming (ruling King)(Matthew 5:5, Revelation 5:10, etc.). The church then is to demonstrate the power and wisdom of God by demonstrating the weakness and foolishness of the cross. (1 Cor. 1) However, the cross gets perverted through dominionism, as is clearly spelled out by the history of the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic church is a case study of dominionism perfected, at the height of their power they controlled almost every monarch and owned almost half of all the land. Yet, out of it was bad fruit, whether the political revolutions or the Crusades (conquering in the sign of the cross). They embraced man’s power and wisdom as a means of glorifying God (i.e. cathedrals) and not the foolishness and weakness of the Cross.