Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)
Caution: This is one of those PG-13 entries. But not for the usual reasons...
I recently came across a strange article. The headline read, "Jesus Antichrist: Does Joel’s Army Actually Worship Satan?" Nothing like extremists using extreme language to talk about other extremists.
I seriously heard the term "Dominionism" for the first time less than a year ago. [As I am writing this, I see that the spellchecker on Blogger doesn't even recognize the word yet!] The term was brought to my attention by a friend who's reading of and experience with Christianity has been less than encouraging. After he explained it to me, I actually did not believe that it was real. Or, if it was, it had to be very fringe. I didn't give it another thought.
And then I found this article--which is actually a link to a two-hour documentary. I have thus far only seen the first 45 minutes. It was all I could take. The video shows preachers and ecstatic worship services interwoven with scripture references and occasional commentary. Additionally, the video shows lots of young people in skits, worship experiences and even prophetic utterances. Time and again, the focus of the message is that God is raising up a "new breed" with a "special destiny." The imagery and references are consistently to some kind of Christian army.
It was creepy to watch. It was creepy to see how easily religion can be distorted. It was especially creepy to see that children are apparently an integral part of all this.
It is always a risk for Christians to raise question with what might be going on over there in some other corner of the Church. I readily admit this. And I readily admit that I am not sure what God is (or is not) up to in the various expressions of spirituality that pop up from time to time. However, it does seem appropriate for anyone who is serious about the spiritual life to honestly consider whether or not the message that they are listening to, and potentially acting upon, really matches the faith they are claiming to profess.
In this regard, it is hard for me to look at the Jesus we see in the Gospels and see a militant being. It is hard for me to listen to the Jesus who offers us the Sermon on the Mount or sits with his friends on the eve of his betrayal and imagine that this same figure might one day demand that his followers traipse wildly across the globe like a swarm of runaway locusts.
Like I said, I do not claim to know exactly what God is doing at any given moment. All I know to do is consult the scriptures, consider the historic faith of the church and listen for the voice of the Spirit.
Jesus said, "many are called but few are chosen." I have never been especially happy about this because it suggests that there is an element of the spiritual life that transcends what might otherwise be readily seen. In other words, it is apparently possible to imagine ourselves to be faithful and true, when we are in fact missing the mark.
Paul's words in Philippians 2 are important. Whereas he is often telling people exactly what to think and believe, here he seems to step back and give us all some room. We are here reminded that we are, at least partly, responsible for our discipleship and faithfulness. As we all work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, it is my sincere hope that we be guided by the true and Holy Spirit of God.
2 comments:
Couldn't it be argued that "Dominionism" actually traces its roots back to Theodosius I and the Council of Constantinoiple in AD 381? Wasn't that when Christian theologians decided that logic and reason were too unreliable to be used as tools for conversion to Christianity? Wasn't that when not believing in Nicene Christianity became punishable by death. "Dominionism" isn't new. When Theodosius I converted non-believers and non-Nicene Christians to Nicene Christianity upon pain of death, that was Dominionism. When the Crusaders swept into Jerusalem in 1099 and slaughtered everyone, Muslim, Jew, and Christian alike, until the blood ran up to their horses hocks, that was Dominionism. When the Spanish read the Requerimiento in Latin to the natives of America before slaughtering or enslaving them, that was Dominionism. Jacob Brownowski said it best in the PBS miniseries "The Ascent of Man" when he stood at Auschwitz and said (IIRC), "Into this pond were flushed the ashes of four million people. They were not killed by gas or bullets. They were killed by arrogance. They were killed by the blind belief that the end justifies the means. This is what happens when man dares to believe he understands the mind of God."
This is Brownowski's actual quote, "It's said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That's false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods."
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