When we put aside the Truth of the Bible in exchange for the uncertainty of feelings & emotions we are essentially leaving ‘faith in what God said’ over to what our easily deceitful hearts dictate, just like Adam & Eve did in the garden.
Dominion Theology is the believe, that it is Christians’ job to to take control or exercise dominion of the world, imposing a ‘biblical’ rule. They said ‘Christ will not return, until the church had claimed dominion over ALL of the world’s governments and institutions‘, meaning the 7 mountains or spheres: 1. Home, 2. Religion/Church, 3. Education, 4. Government & military, 5. The media, 6. Arts, entertainment & sports, 7. Commerce, science, & technology. They say God gave us the mandate in Genesis 1:28.
Dominion theology (a.k.a. Christian Reconstructionism) was introduced in the Church by William Branham in the late 1940’s & became popular again in 1980’s through his followers (Latter Rain Movement). They changed the biblical advise from ‘looking up‘ (Luke 21:28) to ‘looking around‘ to fix society. But in order to fix society a world government with new rules needs to be implemented, . . . isn’t this what the Antichrist will do?
See video of NAR “Apostle C. Peter Wagner teaching Dominionism:
He states at 0:54: “...it says in Rev 1:6 “that He has made us kings and priests”, and check the rest of that verse. It says “for dominion”. So we are kings for dominion.” But please read that verse for yourself Rev.1:5-6 :
. .and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Rev.1:5-6
-Wagner mixes true “that He has made us kings and priests” followed with his false interpretation, & counts that most people won’t check deeper because they are used to be spoon fed. But nowhere it says ‘we are kings for dominion‘, he is twisting the meaning, the glory & dominion belong to God alone. Wagner is not referring when we reign with Christ at the end, when Jesus establishes His millennium reign, because they don’t even believe in that.
Later he mentions ‘disciple whole nations’ but we cannot disciple (need to be saved first) a whole nation, which according to him it really means ‘transforming societies’, min 1:40. Check Matt. 28:18 Jesus Himself disciple only individuals not the entire nation of Israel! Wagner is twisting the Scripture to reflect his own ideas. Beloved please, be very careful with these kind of teachings, read & study your bibles so you wont be easily deceived!
He gives 4 points to explain Dominion:
1/ Dominion Theology according to Wagner begins in the 1st page of the bible with Adan & Eve. Gen. 1:28. One of the distinctive aspects of Dominion Theology is that they interpreted this as a mandate for Christian dominion in civil affairs & the Church now has the authority to take dominion over the entire society, culture and government.
We Christians interpret Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves (H7430= crawls, creeps) on the earth“, (many translations say animals), meaning that God gave mankind stewardship over the Earth, mainly over the plants & animals, things God had just made before the creation of man. Sadly they don’t even take into account Jesus’ teachings :
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” Matthew 20:25-28, also 1 Peter 5:3
Dominion Theology may sound good at times & some people involved may have the best of intentions, but the kingdom they talk about (with justice, peace, equality, prosperity, no crime, etc.) will never be accomplished by men, but only by our Lord Jesus when He returns & establishes His reign on earth, Isaiah 2:4, 42:1, Psalm 2, etc. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1–3) & the world will live in peace, without sickness. This is the meaning of thy Kingdom come!
But even if Dominion proponents don’t believe in a reign of a literal thousand years, still not excuse to a man made kingdom. According with the Word of God the saints will reign WITH Christ (Rev. 20:4-6), He is the head of the Church.
2/ Wagner says the enemy has attacked the Dominion mandate (that we already know is false) since day one & that was the reason satan entered in the garden as a serpent. But the bible doesn’t say that, he is speculating without any biblical base. Warner also stated satan wanted to take dominion over God (min 4:45). But the Scriptures said he wanted to be like God Isaiah 14:13-14; Ezekiel 28:2, 9. Satan is just a deceiver that takes advantage of men’s ignorance or unbelief of God’s Word, to have control over them, but knows well he’s a created being & can’t rule over the Eternal God that knows everything, and that is the Creator of the entire universe!
3/ His 3rd point is that the second Adam permanently reverse history. Jesus came to save THAT which was lost, meaning the Dominion!! (9:08) & cites Col.1:20. It seems for them everything in the bible, the gospel included, revolves around this doctrine. The gospel of salvation, Jesus dying for our sins is just a pastoral preaching (min 9:24), it seems it takes a second place, but dying on the cross to restore Dominion, is an apostolic preaching!? How can they say that ? when none of the apostles‘ epistles (nor Jesus) ever mentioned this concept or even the word ‘dominion’ regarding us!
Many NAR apostles and prophets teach that there are two gospels being taught, the “gospel of salvation” salvation from sin, taught by most Christians, which is an incomplete gospel according to NAR leaders & the “gospel of the kingdom.” They say “they teach the ‘gospel of the Kingdom’ which not only includes God’s provision for salvation from sin, but also His provision for taking dominion of the earth”. C. Peter Wagner, “Dominion!: How Kingdom Action Can Change the World‘ , p. 67-68. But theirs is in reality a different gospel! The Biblical Gospel is about spiritual salvation, and is not according to man Galatians 1:6-11.
- “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col. 2:8
4/ And last, Wagner & the NAR apostles teach that Jesus delegated establishing His kingdom to us. They claim Acts 1:8 ‘be my witnesses‘ means to speak & act on Jesus behalf. But according to the Scriptures we are only asked to preach the gospel of salvation (saw seeds), have compassion (agape love) & nothing is ever said about taking over the world, Mark 16:15. “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. ” John 18:36. Also in the Word of God we don’t see a world revival or conversion before the coming of Christ, on the contrary we see apostasy in the Church & a wicked world ripe for judgment. This teaching diminishes the need for the return of Christ & everything that the Bible teaches that He will accomplish when He returns. The only time the Church will rule will be together with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom.
They disregard many bible teachings, e.g. Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Wagner also says he is revealing new cutting edge information for this generation, that God is revealing powerful concepts to them & mentions the 7 mountains & his book ‘Dominion’, which is full of doctrines that contradict the Word of God, that exalt man. They make God dependent on man, in order to be able to accomplish His will on earth.
C. Peter Wagner wrote in his book ‘Dominion!: How Kingdom Action Can Change the World’ pg. 59: “The practical theology that best builds a foundation under social transformation is dominion theology, sometimes called ‘Kingdom Now‘. Its history can be traced back through R. J. Rushdoony (Calvinist) and Abraham Kuyper (Hyper-Calvinist) to John Calvin.” – Their goal is social transformation. Interestingly enough, some may recognize that also the goal of the Emergent Church is precisely this same cultural/social change in the Church.
Wagner in another book ‘The Church in the Workplace‘ p. 112, suggested he used a list that is traced back to Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ- cru, who hired Dan Fuller, the only son of Charles Fuller & Billy Graham as his special advisors) & Loren Cunningham (founder of Youth with a Mission) explaining the 7 spheres. Supposedly in 1975 God gave to each of them Bright & Cuningham the same list of 7 spheres. Three weeks later they found Dr. Francis Shaffer (a Calvinist) who also had the same list reveled.
Because these Dominionists today consider the Catholic Church part of the body of Christ, they also promote unity with the Pope, contemplative prayer, books & spiritual exercises of Catholic mystics, etc. In other words the kingdom they are establishing is not biblical but it’s in reality the ‘New World Order’ of the Antichrist.
In next video you will find the comparison between their Dominion or Kingdom Now theology, & what Jesus taught ‘my kingdom come‘.
Relates article:
NAR Earthly Dominion – Video
Spiritual Covering & Shepherding Movement – The five (5) fold ministry at the top of a leadership pyramid