Dominion
Theology
By Rev. Keith
Gibson
For
the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing
of the
sons of God. Romans 1:19
Apologetics and discernment ministries have a wide
range of responsibilities. It is our aim to assist
the church in equipping Christians to enter the marketplace
of religious ideologies within our culture and present
a credible case for the truth claims of Christianity.
This is a joyful task.
But passion for the truth of Christ also calls us,
as faithful stewards of the grace of God, to confront
errors arising within the body that have the potential
to discredit the church in the eyes of the world and
distort the gospel. This task is far less enjoyable
but it is essential. We, as believers, cannot allow
the message of the church to be diluted and distorted
without sounding a cry of warning.
One such error that continues to trouble the church
is dominion theology. If you are paying attention at
all to the modern prophetic movement, you are aware
that dominion theology, also known as kingdom now theology
or the manifest sons of God teaching has permeated
this branch of Christendom.
Dominion theology is not
new. Its roots go back to William Branham in the
late 1940’s. The teaching
was essentially dormant for a time but began to be
resurrected in the 1980’s and now influences
a major segment of the Christian population through
teachers like Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain,
Francis Frangipane, Jill Austin, Kim Clement and literally
a host of others.
Essentially, dominion theology
arises from a distorted interpretation of Romans
8:19 and a few other passages.
It teaches that a perfected, glorified church will
usher in the kingdom of God by taking dominion over
the world. To this end, the church must be placed in
order by coming under the authority of present-day
apostles and prophets. Many of these prophets are foretelling
a great civil war that will take place within the church
between the “grays”, associated with the
brain or gray matter who focus on the scripture, and
the “blues”, those associated with the
sky who are open to new revelation. This is a gross
oversimplification and not all dominionists would accept
all that was just said but these are many of the central
tenants of the movement.
Associated with this major teaching are a host of
other doctrines and practices necessary to facilitate
the rise of this perfected body of Christ. These can
be found interspersed throughout the writings and messages
of those in the movement.
It is taught that Christ
must be incarnated within the church before He can
return. The church will literally
become the fullness of Christ. Francis Frangipane states, “When
the Spirit of Christ comes into the physical world,
He must enter through a physical body…When Christ
first entered our world as a child, it was Mary whom
God chose to give Christ birth….God is preparing
us as He did Mary to give birth to the ministry of
His Son. Even now, in the spiritual womb of the virgin
church, the holy purpose of Christ is growing, awaiting
maturity; ready to be born in power in the timing of
God….the virgin Church is “in labor and
in pain to give birth” (Rev. 12:1-2)…I
say to you, once again, the virgin is with child. Before
Jesus Himself returns, the last virgin Church shall
become pregnant with the promise of God. Out of her
travail, the Body of Christ shall come forth, raised
to the full stature of its Head, the Lord Jesus. Corporately
manifested in holiness, power and love, the Bride of
Christ shall arise.” (Francis Frangipane, “In
the Presence of God”, 1994 emphasis mine) But
it must be noted that, in context, the manifestation
of the sons of God spoken of in Romans 8 does not occur
until the redemption of the body at the resurrection.
The scriptures are clear that it is Christ who brings
the kingdom not the church.
Much, though not all, of
the modern emphasis on spiritual warfare has its
root in dominion theology. In order
for God to move, the heavens must be cleared and opened.
It is therefore necessary for believers to discern
the territorial demons over their cities, engage in
spiritual mapping, claim the gates of their cities,
bind these demonic forces, etc, etc. The list is endless.
One of the newest versions of this is a teaching by
Jill Austin, Mike Bickle and others that the church
must pray for a “breaker anointing” defined
as a “catalytic deposit of the Holy Spirit where
eternity breaks through into the natural realm. It
is a holy invasion where the gates of heaven are opened!” (Jill
Austin, “The Breaker Anointing-A Holy Invasion
where Eternity Breaks Through” found at www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=2083)
This teaching is based on a bizarre interpretation
of Micah 2:13. One also wonders how it is possible
to have a “catalytic deposit” of a person
such as the Holy Spirit.
Space will not allow for a discussion of other doctrines
such as the restoration of the tabernacle of David,
prophetic worship, the Zadok priesthood, judicial
intercession and so on.
I am grateful to those in the movement for a renewed
call to the church for prayer, worship and ministry
to the poor. However, there are several causes for
deep concern. Including:
- Neglect
of the word. The church is woefully illiterate
when it comes to the scripture. The modern
prophetic movement, instead of calling people
to the scriptures, distracts them from the sure
foundation
into supposed revelations God is giving today.
But Paul said that it is by the scriptures that “the
man of God is perfected, thoroughly equipped
for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
- Misuse
of the Word. Modern prophetic teachers are poor
handlers of the bible playing fast and loose
with the text in order to justify their doctrines.
- Misguided activity.
Instead of involving Christians in praying and
laboring
along in biblical means
that God can truly bless, Christians are being led into
a host of non-biblical activity. Jim Goll
tells Christians that they must discern the demonic
enemies opposing
them, then they are to bring them to the
courtroom of heaven and lay out a reasoned case
against
these thieves. They are then to petition God for “the
appropriate amount of compensation that is
due to the same degree as the offense.” Then God punishes
this demonic entity and blessings flow. (Jim
Goll, “A
New Intercessory Assignment: Judicial Intercession” 5/2/04
at www.elijahlist.com) Even if one assumes
that the book of Daniel teaches the concept
of territorial demons,
which is dubious, where does the scripture
teach by precept or example that we are to
do any of the things
advocated by warfare teachers like Goll in
order to deal with them?
- Exaltation
of man. For all the talk about the need for humility,
there is a tremendous elevation
of men within the movement. These are the true super apostles.
They will do exploits greater than those
in the book of Acts. God waits for man before He can act.
- Frustration.
What happens when the prophets are wrong? On January
13, 2004, Kim Clement prophesied
that Osama Ben Laden would be uncovered within 35 days. Both the
prophecy and Clements attempt at an explanation
can be found at elijahlist.com. Chuck Pierce said that
when he was in Washington for the national
day of prayer, God told him to ask for hailstones as a confirmation
of the prophetic word. He claims that
by
the end of the day, the city was covered with hail. The only problem
is, that on the day in question, May
4, 2004, D.C. reported no precipitation. At some
point, many of these
people will grow tired of being misled.
What will happen to them then? How does the church appear in the eyes
of the world?
- Neglect of
Christ. For all of the talk about Jesus and love
for Him within
this movement,
the real longing that comes across in the writings and messages is a
desire for power and signs. Jesus does
not appear to be sought for who He is as God and Savior but for the
power He can bring to the church. This
is the most tragic loss of all.
Rev.
Keith Gibson
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