The NAR Attack Chihuahua

I was reminded of an old Ron Kenoly song, We're Going up to the High Places. It fits into a discussion on "dominionism" that is an ongoing topic at Bene's joint. Bene's sidekick Rick Hiebert asks-

If other conservatives think “domionists” are harmless, if not cuddly and adorable, I’d like to hear the reasons why they think that way.

I'm not sure if they are harmless, but they are a bit like a poodle who is more bark than bite. Here's a spoken-word bridge from the Lift Him Up album version of the song that runs along a dominionist vibe.

The Church today is engaged in spiritual warfare. The battle goes on between the army of darkness and the kingdom of God, and there is no DMZ; you're either on the Lord's side or on the devil's side... Our mission is to enforce and maintain all that Jesus purchased for us at Calvary.

There are a lot of things the devil has stolen away from the Church: health, prosperity, peace in our homes and our communities, righteousness in our government. These are things that the Devil has stole, but as the army of God, we're taking them back, amen!

That recording is almost 20 years old (1994, thank you Amazon, it seemed older). Pre-Obama, pre-Monica, pre-same-sex-marriage. That Army of God of Pentecostal-leaning listeners hasn't been able to quite do the counter-offensive they would have hoped for at the time.

However, that doesn't stop them from trying to make the world a more godly place. That can range from food pantries to children's outreach to supporting issues in the public square.

The rhetoric sounds scary to an outsider, but there are a number of things to make this less nerve-wracking when looked at in context.

(1) Devout Christians don't like to compartmentalize. If God is Lord of all, he's also Lord at work, at school, at play and at the ballot box. Taking that orthopraxy into the public square is a good thing and just needs to be tweaked in such a way that it helps the body politic as well as the Kingdom of God.

(2) If a working definition of "dominionist" is “we have to take over so that Jesus may come back", then that is a minority view within even evangelical thought. That is essentially a post-millennial world-view, where the Church establishes the millennial reign and Jesus just comes back at the end to wrap things up. At present, the Left-Behind style premillennial school of thought has gotten more play in evangelical circles then a postmillennial view.

(3) Sermon rhetoric is often hotter than it actually plays out. Preachers may talk a good game, but getting their flocks to follow through on it is another thing.

(4) Sermon rhetoric is often metaphorical. It is spiritual warfare that the majority of such preachers are talking about, not using actual AK-47s to seize power.

(5) A post-millennial world-view is more open to orthopraxis that liberal Christians would approve of. For example, if we're not short-timers on this planet, then climate change is an open issue of concern.

(6) This is a minorty view in Christian thought and evangelical thought. It might be a plurality in certain charismatic circles, but even in the TBN universe, you have uber-dispensationalist John Hagee holding fort to counter his more post-millennial peers.

Evangelicals are a minority in North America. Charismatic evangelicals are an even smaller minority, probably around 10% or so in the US and less so in Canada; coherently postmillennial charismatic evangelicals are even smaller number, maybe 3%. That 3% gets a lot of airtime, but is (as they'd say in Texas) all hat and no cattle in the political sphere.

You can get closer to 25% of the vote if you include all conservative evangelicals, but true post-millennial activists are about a tenth of that total. Just a loud, proud attack chihuahua in the public square.

Comments

[Rick Hiebert]

Dear Mark...

Thank you for your thoughtful comments on my post. I have given them some thought and have replied in a post of my own at BDBO.

I do thank you, as it has caused me to think "Why do I do this", which is always good.

Although I am passionate in my views, I did try hard to be respectful of you and your point of view. I hope that you will think that I have succeeded in that...

Thanks,
Rick Hiebert