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Pt.2 Time for Action! “Now that we have social transformation on our evangelical agendas, it is time for action. I regard “social transformation” as the concept term. However, the action term that will best set us on the road toward that goal is “taking dominion.” Regrettably, a number of church leaders today have developed a negative reaction to the term “Dominion Theology.” The root of this goes back to that period of time following World War II that I discussed in the last chapter, when several pioneering movements attempted to resurrect the offices of apostle and prophet. Some leaders of those movements began to advocate “Dominion Theology,” using that very term. A related movement taught what they called Kingdom Now Theology. Some strong critics of these movements did their best to discredit their innovative leaders, and part of their procedure became an attack on Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology. The critics were certainly right in pointing out a number of the errors of these pioneers both in theory and in practice, but in my opinion some of the critics opened doors for their own set of damaging extremes. Rejecting Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology was one of them.
”While we are on the subject, allow me to be more specific about what I brought up at the beginning of this chapter concerning the Left Behind series. For most of the twentieth century, the prevailing eschatology (doctrine of the end times) of evangelicals was premillenialism. We expected the kingdom of God to come after Jesus returned to the earth. Therefore, we were not called to attempt to usher in God’s kingdom. God would do that in His own time. Whole denominations have elevated premillenialism to an absolute doctrinal principle alongside doctrines such as the deity of Christ and justification by faith. This explains why some would reject Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology. A paradigm shift toward social transformation would force them to leave their eschatological comfort zone.”(underline mine) Why wouldn’t the true church be repelled at the concept and practice of dominionism, its not biblical. It doesn’t matter what you label it- but what it means. We are told by Jesus that this world is not our home, Jesus said my kingdom is NOT of this world or my followers would fight. We are to wait for him to come back physically so that we can co- rule and reign UNDER Him. Premillenialism is the biblical viewpoint. It is here we find WAGNERS APOSTOLIC TAKEOVER OF THE CHURCH AND WORLD AS THE MOST CONCERNING aspect of his scheme. The Bible speaks of a social transformation in the Millennium, which is the period when Jesus the Messiah is present and king over the nations. Only then can this take place. Noticeably, Wagner’s explanations lacks scripture to prove his position on all of this and according to his leadership it does not matter, only his agenda matters, only what it may produce. He is a pragmatist and does not regard the Scripture as the final word on these matters but the new words he and other so called prophets receive regularly.This is no different then the social action of humanists, or the agenda of a spiritual world government by the New Age Movement and its adherents from times past. Yes, this is exactly why the church rejects dominion theology because it is Christ who brings the kingdom. Wagner has taken on a view much like the Preterists or Ammilenialists; neglecting what the Bible is very specific on, the fact of who will usher in the kingdom. Notice what he said - transformation” as the concept term. However, the action term that will best set us on the road toward that goal is “taking dominion.” Each concept brings its own paradigm and leads the participant further into another paradigm until one has arrived at the goal these men are planning. One gets wrapped in a cocoon of false theology. Isn’t it assuring to know that they have plans for us instead of promoting God’s plan that is from the foundation of the world (Eph.2:10).They “attempted to resurrect the offices of apostle and prophet. Some leaders of those movements began to advocate “Dominion Theology,” using that very term” Is this not what Wagner has done with his “new” Apostolic /Prophetic Reformation and his Apostolic Council!Consider Bill Hamon an apostle/prophet under Wagners leadership, he says--"This movement [Restoration] started in the late 1940's and infiltrated into every Pentecostal group in the 1950's. During this time it was known as the "Latter Rain" and "Revival" movement. By the early 1960's very few Christians were knowledgeable of the movement, except the Pentecostal churches which had been affected by it. However, in the mid 1960's, the Holy Spirit had spread the truths and spiritual experiences of the restoration doctrine into every church group within Christendom. This move of the Holy Spirit...became known as the charismatic movement" ("The Eternal Church" 1981 p. 238) Wagner ”some of the critics opened doors for their own set of damaging extremes. Rejecting Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology was one of them.” The damaging extreme is Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now concepts, call it what you will its still the same heresy. Here is why- the Bible says it happens differently. Of course when one upholds this other eschatology and rejects premillenialism they reject God’s word on how the end will take place. Wagner points out, “the prevailing eschatology (doctrine of the end times) of evangelicals was premillenialism. We expected the kingdom of God to come after Jesus returned to the earth. Therefore, we were not called to attempt to usher in God’s kingdom. God would do that in His own time. Whole denominations have elevated premillenialism to an absolute doctrinal principle alongside doctrines such as the deity of Christ and justification by faith. This explains why some would reject Dominion Theology and Kingdom Now Theology. A paradigm shift toward social transformation would force them to leave their eschatological comfort zone.”No, we expect the kingdom to be here with Jesus when He returns just as the Scripture says, he seems to misrepresent what pre-millennialists believe. For one to believe in pre-millennialism they need the Bible and the Holy Spirit to teach them. In its place Wagner offers a paradigm shift that is coming from his prophets and a new word of the spirit. One is free to believe what they want, but for your own souls sakes check it with the Bible.Acts 3:18-22 “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” This is the restoration the Bible speaks of, anything else is a counterfeit. Bill Hamon like Wagner believes we need the “prophets” and “apostles” to “restore” the Church…. “We are being positioned to lay new foundations for a new era all together, foundations for the dawning of a new kingdom age. “ WE ARE IN THE THROW’S OF THE BIRTHING OF A WHOLE NEW ORDER - A WHOLE NEW DISPENSATION! ("International Gathering of Apostles and Prophets" in October 1999)“At that time the sons of God will be fully manifested on the earth. Widespread spiritual warfare will result with the sons of God doing battle with Satan and company, the non-Christian nations of this world will also be defeated. Once the earth has been subdued, Jesus will come back to earth and be given the Kingdom that has been won for Him by this "manchild company." The Manifested Sons of God doctrine teaches that these sons will be equal to Jesus Christ: immortal, sinless, perfected sons who have partaken of the divine nature. They will have every right to be called gods and will be called gods." (Prophets and the Prophetic Movement Bill Hamon).Where is this cited in the Bible? When one begins to remove themselves from the Scripture and its unfolding of prophecy they begin to justify their own teachings to the point that none of it means what it originally did when it was written. The question is--how far away does one have to get before those who follow them will admit they are wrong? In every instance cited of the church in the Scripture we are told to wait for the Lord to return and set things in order. Unless Wagner can prove the Lord has had some secret return, he cannot validate his end time view. Revelation 2:25-27: “But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations-- As far as an eschatological comfort zone, it is those who want to rule over the world and not be taken out that are seeking to be comfortable. Those who are pilgrims are not attached to anything here. John 15:19 “you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world , therefore the world hates you.” We chosen out because our citizenship is in heaven not earth. (James 4:4, James 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17). In Luke 4:5 Jesus is shown in a vision all the kingdoms of the world and rejects receiving them. Why, he deserved them? Besides Satan offering him a short cut that would eliminate the cross-- it is the Father who has promised to give it to his Son- in his timing. The Danger of Transformation Fatigue “The question now arises, How effective have our efforts been since the cultural mandate joined the evangelistic mandate on our agendas? We have wonderful results to report concerning the implementation of the evangelistic mandate. For example, we began the decade of the 1990s with 1,735 significant unreached people groups, and by 2000 all except fewer than 500 had initial church planting movements in them. Unprecedented evangelistic harvests are being reaped in global hot spots such as China, Nigeria, Indonesia, India and Brazil. Some nations like Uganda and Guatemala are now over 50 percent born-again evangelical believers. But how about the cultural mandate? Since 1990, as I have explained, city transformation has been high on our priority lists. That, as I write this, was 15 years ago. Our best top-level Christian leadership has been involved with this in city after city across America. God has been providing incredible new tools for getting the job done —tools such as identificational repentance; spiritual mapping; strategic prophetic prayer; massive all-night, stadium prayer events; strategic-level spiritual warfare; prayer journeys; pastoral unity; and the concept of the church of the city. In addition, Bill Bright, Elmer Towns and others made fasting popular, and I would guess that somewhere around half of American evangelical pastors have now experienced 40-day fasts.However, we cannot point to a single city in America that has been transformed in all of those 15 years! I foresee a danger—the danger of transformation fatigue! We must not become weary of well-doing. Satan would love to quench this move of the Holy Spirit by bringing a cloud of despair and hopelessness. Let’s bind that wicked spirit of fatigue and move forward with faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6).” Finally some honesty- it hasn’t worked, after 15 years. So how can we think that anything will work? Is this like evolution… given enough time it will produce change? It will never work, because God is not behind man’s plans and ways. A mouthful of words that mean nothing – the Bible tells us different. The Bible never speaks of Satan quenching the spirit, he can’t, he is not able. of course when one has a humanistic point of view they use their own authority that they claim from Christ and any obstacle is gone. This is a mystics view. God moves in people and only those who resist God’s promptings can quench the spirit. What Is Our Goal? “With Christian leaders on all continents now tuning in to what the Spirit is saying to the churches about social transformation, it is important that, as much as possible, we all get on the same page concerning essential parts of the social-transformation equation. One of these essential parts, obviously, is the goal. Eddie Long, pastor of the 25,000-strong New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, has a passion for social transformation. His goal is clear. It is reflected in the title of his powerful book on the subject: Taking Over. Long writes, “Jesus took away Satan’s keys and power at Calvary, and it is up to us to come along behind and subdue and have dominion over every evil work and every servant of evil.” Yes everyone get in line with their goals and ways and leave your Bible at home because what their prophets speak is far more important for our day then what the prophets spoke (as a warning about this very move). What the spirit says to the churches is not the same as what Jesus said to the churches to John in his book of Revelation, you couldn’t get a more different message. It is different in structure, in content, and in its goals. Eddie Long is a most manipulative word faith teacher, he teaches he is a little god and Watch this. Watch this... There is power in your words . This is what Wagner approves of! Longs social transformation is to get people to believe that through him they will become wealthy and powerful. Long believes Like Creflo that Jesus was very rich. Too bad they are bankrupt in discernment.Is Satan Powerless? If so why does Peter warn us he is looking for people to devour? Is it up to us! Where does the Bible teach to have dominion over every evil work and every servant of evil? This is all Spiritual fantasia. These men talk much about Satan ripping them off, how does he do that when he is so powerless?The Measure for Success If we agree that we need to move with God for taking over a certain city, how will we know if and when we have succeeded? I think that a biblically rooted measure for success would be the birth of a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). If this is what the Bible expects of individuals who are transformed, why should we expect less of a city? If individuals can be born again, why can’t cities, made up of many individuals, be born again? We need to move with God for taking over a certain city, where does the Bible say to take over cities? Can they point to any apostle taking over a city? Again it does not matter what the Bible says on this (there are no taking over cities but preaching the gospel to save souls and see personal transformation in peoples lives.) That they may have Christ in them. Jesus said the meek will inherit the earth. Our Biblical Mandate “At the beginning of this chapter, I quoted Genesis 1:28, where God explicitly indicates that His original design was for human beings to take dominion over all of creation. However, Adam and Eve, tempted by Satan, proceeded to turn history upside down. By disobeying God and breaking his relationship with the Creator, Adam lost his integrity, his rulership and his personal destiny. He became a sinner and was no longer in the pure image of God. And worse yet, he has passed his fallen nature down genetically through every human generation since. Meanwhile, Satan was accomplishing his own purpose in the Garden of Eden. To understand this in depth, think of the difference between power and authority. If, for example, I own a .338 Winchester Magnum rifle, I have power. However, I cannot discharge that rifle in the city of Colorado Springs because I do not have the authority to do so. On the other hand, if I happened to be a Colorado Springs police officer with the same rifle, I would then have not only the power but also the authority to use that power. When Lucifer was in heaven, he had both power and authority. However, when Satan was cast from heaven, he retained his power, but he lost his authority. Adam was given authority to take dominion over creation, but he fell and created a vacuum of authority over God’s creation. Satan then stepped in, usurped Adam’s authority and became “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2) and “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30). John went so far as to affirm that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19).
I s it God’s original design for human beings to take dominion over all of creation- as Wagner teaches. Adams fall did allow Satan to have authority and become “the god of this age” “the ruler of this world.” In the next chapter, Wagner says that Jesus came to “take it away from him (dominion). The church using aggressive techniques of non biblical teachings in spiritual warfare with the ingenious plans of installing a new government in the name of Jesus does not relinquish Satan from his continual position and rule or authority.Wagner says Satan retained his power, but he lost his authority, but prior to this he quotes Long who said “Jesus took away Satan’s keys and power “(Keys are a symbol of authority). Which is it? It says that the Devil will still have authority over the nations especially during the tribulation period, which is still future. Therefore Wagner’s plans fail. Revelation 13:2: “The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” V:4 “So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast” V.7-8 “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb” Sobering thought in light of the new apostolic government Wagner is installing. Once again, Wagner is wrong, Satan has both power and authority, it is not taken away—until Jesus returns. We are warned in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” It all depends on what kind of authority one is speaking of. Authority is exousían in Greek, Rev.13:2 the dragon gave authority to the beast. When referring to Satan’s authority -- power and authority can be the same word exousian (Mt.9:6-7:29) the distinction is made when there is power to cause miracles, Gr. dunamis such as in 2 Thess.2:9. So how does one explain Satan being removed when the Bible says he is not until Jesus sends an angel? Revelation 20:1-3: “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan , and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.” Wagner’s humanistic government of spiritual authoritarians think that they will accomplish this. Clearly, God sends an angel from heaven to accomplish this; he does not have man on earth to do it. Lets look at the Scripture itself and see EXACTLY what God said and did for mans dominionism. Genesis 1:26-31 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." If we go to the next chapter we find that this was first implemented in a small area, Genesis 2:15-16 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. If we go by the Bible man was farmer Genesis 3:23-24 Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. a valley that was surrounded by some kind of hills or mountains so man could not return into except through the one entrance- and it was blocked. Jesus, the Second Adam While Jesus never questioned Satan’s dominion, He came to earth expressly to take it away from him. Jesus came as the second, or last, Adam (see 1 Cor. 15:45-47). The first Adam lost dominion; the second Adam will regain it. This was a new beginning of history. It is part of the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant. Jesus brought a new kingdom, namely, the kingdom of God. The first to announce the Kingdom was John the Baptist. He preached in the wilderness and said, “Repent, for the kingdom of [God] is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). This was the D-day of the invasion of the kingdom of Satan. During World War II, when the Allies established a beachhead in France on D-day, everyone knew that the war in the European theater was over. However, many more battles still needed to be fought until Hitler was finally defeated. Similarly, Jesus’ coming as the second Adam marked the beginning of the end of Satan’s defeat. It is now up to us, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to fight the battles needed to finish it. Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom; the apostles preached the gospel of the Kingdom; and He expects us to preach the gospel of the Kingdom (see Matt. 24:14). What is the gospel of the Kingdom? After the temptation, Jesus went to the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth and announced His agenda. We can surmise that this would be the basic content of the gospel of the Kingdom. It included preaching good news to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, bringing deliverance to the captives, giving sight to the blind, freeing the oppressed and preaching the acceptable year of the Lord (see Luke 4:18-19). The Bible says nothing of a second Adam (which Wagner wants to relate to Adam in the garden with authority to justify our regaining the dominion lost to rule over). Only Jesus is called the last Adam; not mankind. 1 Corinthians 15:45: “The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” In other words, he regenerates our dead spirit to life for our having a relationship to God. Wagner overlooks that - Jesus did not bring the kingdom in a physical sense but in a spiritual sense. It is not regained YET, and any argument to foster this idea is moot. Though the kingdom was offered to Israel in Jesus’ first coming, it was not delivered because of their rejection of him. The Bible says He came to destroy the works of Satan in us, not the whole world. Sin and evil are still present and the church cannot remove its influence on others unless they submit to Jesus. It is about our individual lives now, to prepare us for the future, when the earth will be changed and we will rule the nations under Jesus’ leadership. It is not about appointing apostles and prophets to do this today. lets take dominion |
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