By Mark Kelly
One of the most frustrating aspects of the “post-modern” age is that people seem to think beliefs are true simply because they believe them. No need to do any research. No need to actually document your case. No need for any logical connection between your assertions. Just regurgitate whatever pops into your head and plop it onto the Internet.
Call it a “blahg” site.
For example, we recently came across a site that in one short posting labeled Rick Warren as a liberal, a postmillennialist, and a Dominionist.
The first of those could have been laid to rest with a simple visit to Saddleback’s Web site, where the confession of faith clearly places the church in the mainstream of historic biblical Christianity. The second assertion might actually have required contacting the church to ask a question. (Answer: He's a premillennialist.) Yes, that is a lot of trouble for someone who’s in a hurry to get an opinion out of his system.
The third assertion, however, is ridiculous. Dominionism is generally understood to be a political version of Christianity that urges its followers to gain control of the country and impose a religious dictatorship on the “infidels.”
According to Al Dager, author of an exposé book, Vengeance Is Ours: The Church in Dominion, this belief system is based on three tenets: (1) Satan usurped man’s dominion over the earth through the temptation of Adam and Eve; (2) The Church is God’s instrument to take dominion back from Satan; (3) Jesus cannot or will not return until the Church has taken dominion by gaining control of the earth’s governmental and social institutions.
One site that does “discernment research” claims Dominionism is a vast conspiracy that involves collaborators across the entire political spectrum, from Far Left to Far Right. The author divines a spider web of connections between what appear to be unrelated groups in the Church: the “spiritual warfare prayer movement,” the “mission as transformation movement,” and the “patriotic American movement.” The writer claims Rick Warren “has single-handedly accomplished more to bring about a public convergence between the three sects of dominionism than any other individual.”
That is utter nonsense.
Examine the written and spoken record of Rick Warren, and you will find exhortations for Christians to live up to their civic duties, but not a word about establishing a Christian dictatorship. You will find him advocating partnership with public and private sectors to achieve shared objectives, but only in a way that leaves the Church free to pursue its God-given mission.
Rick Warren believes the Bible teaches that hearts, not institutions, are what need to be changed. Where the Gospel is proclaimed, individual lives are transformed; and where lives are changed, cultures, societies, and even governments may be changed as well.
Rick Warren has never taught that Jesus’ return is predicated on the Church taking over the institutions of society. Instead, he teaches that Jesus will return when the conditions set by Scripture are met – including Matthew 24:14, which records Jesus saying, “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Rick Warren teaches that it is the Church’s responsibility, given to us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), to make sure that everyone hears the Gospel.
Rick Warren believes Jesus expects us to help spiritually empty people, to address the problem of corrupt, self-serving politicians, to help people who subsist in extreme poverty, to care for the sick, and to educate children for a brighter future. But he never even implies that P.E.A.C.E. is about setting up God’s kingdom here and now. He believes the earthly Kingdom awaits the day when Jesus Christ “will return again to earth to reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords,” as Saddleback’s confession of faith says.
Yes, radical Dominionism is real. There are a handful of people out there who believe that Christians ought to be at the top of every powerful or influential organization in society. No, we don’t believe Dominionism is a biblical theology.
But spinning a web of conspiracy that requires the collaboration of both New Age Theosophists and Christian Reconstructionists – and the entire range of evangelical Christianity in between – is a stretch for even the most active post-modern imagination.
If only all that time and passion was being invested in making disciples of the nations, instead of grinding out interminable essays that distract people from obeying the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
