I listened intently to Terry Gross' interview with C. Peter Wagner of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), stunned at her remarkable ability to discuss his view that Japan suffers from demons because their emperor had sex with the sun goddess. But "spiritual warfare" is a topic for another day.
In the 1980s, the early years of the NAR, there was significant cross-fertilization between Reconstructionists and Pentecostalism. Notable Pentecostals were reading Reconstructionists and Gary North was in conversation with several leaders, hoping that the energy and vitality of those movements made them a more promising vehicle for spreading Christian Reconstruction than the "frozen-chosen" Orthodox Presbyterian Church. North dedicated Unholy Spirits to Bob Mumford and 75 Bible Questions to Bob and Rose Weiner.
For Reconstructionists, Postmillennialism and dominion theology are inextricably linked, but Pentecostals blended dominion theology with their Premillennialism. Though, when Gross asked Wagner if he believes in the "rapture and all that," Wagner said he used to but not anymore, and surprised me by embracing Postmillennialism:
"the Gospel will be preached to all nations... I believe the world is going to get better... we believe God has sent us out to restore things... when that has happened enough, Jesus will return to a very strong world, reflecting the Kingdom of God."
In an essay last month, Director of Research and Reconstructionist American Vision (and son-in-law of Gary North)
Joel McDurmon drew lines between "traditional dominion theology" and that which the NAR embraces, basically arguing that Reconstructionists' view of dominion is a "bottom-up" transformation preceded by a postmillennial transformation of the world through evangelism.
"(O)ur blueprint is about the rollback of tyranny, not the replacement of it... We favor privatization, local control of civil and criminal law, hard and sound money, and private charity for cases of poverty, all led by families, businesses, and churches."
Wagner took the very same position on
Fresh Air saying, "Dominion is not theocracy it's 'kingdom minded people' in government" making the world a better place for everyone. Gross, to her credit, tried to ask Wagner what his views on homosexuality would mean in the world he outlined and he wouldn't say more than that it didn't make his list of important issues.
But the argument made by both McDurmon and Wagner that their "Kingdom" wouldn't be imposed on the rest of us can't be taken at face value. As McDurmon points out, that the NAR Apostles seek "top-down control of society... is explicit in their literature in many places. The exception to this is when they are in PR mode."
But the coercive quality of the Reconstructionist vision is also evident in
their literature. For example, in the
Biblical Blueprint Series George Grant argues that no charity should be available to anyone not under the protection of the Biblical Covenant; charity is the responsibility of families and churches so any other version of it is tyrannical. In another example,
Ray Sutton writes about ending public education (also considered tyranny) in his book in the same
Biblical Blueprint Series:
if you run for the public school board, do it with one intention only: to create an orderly transition to exclusively private education. If you can't be elected on this platform (as seems likely), then become the candidate who wants to reduce waste. (The Biblical definition of wasteful public schools: "public schools.")
While it is true that Reconstructionists have always maintained that theirs is a long term strategy for a decentralized transformation of culture, it is also true that they have advocated coercion (and as you saw above deception) too. As McDurmon even says in his essay:
"Yes, we would properly re-criminalize sodomy, adultery, and abortion, but in a decentralized world like we want, you could leave easily if you didn't like that."
Rebranding as criminals people who have sex outside the parameters of "biblical law" (this includes divorced people who remarry or have sex outside of marriage) to make them leave their homes is hardly voluntary. Moreover, it's not clear that there would really be anywhere to go, once the whole world "submits" to the "lordship of Christ." Sutton, again, on running for public office: "The goal is to subdue the whole earth. No loopholes, no escape hatches."
There are differences between these two movements that embrace dominion theology (and now, at least for Wagner, apparently postmillennialism) but those differences is not over whether their view of dominion amounts to a decentralized, voluntary vision for governing a society of free people.
Here's my analysis: There is no such thing as demons. Or a sun goddess. Earthquakes are explained by geology. And charlatans who prey on ignorant, childish people, scaring them with grim fairy tales need to be called out for what they are—the charlatans and the ignoramuses.
But in future, audiences at HuffPost will benefit if you write a more conventional essay that defines your terms. Early on in your essay.
You should assume that your readers do not know what the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is, and you need to define it for us. Early on. Similarly, do not assume that your readers know what Reconstructionists and Pentecostalism are, and how they relate to one another or to the NAR. It's your job to define those and delineate their relationships.
Similarly, assume that we do not know who C. Peter Wagner or Gary North are, and don't know why they might be relevant to anything, and it is your job to tell us.
If one of your students had submitted this essay, I hope you'd have returned it ungraded, with a demand that it be rewritten.
the kingdom of God is internal, the "thing" that causes the words and action outwardly, from their conversation, they are missing love (spiritual birth) and viewing the kingdom as physical righteousness (moral behavior) whether from themselves or nationally
lets take King Solomon for an example, he had a heart changing experience by God, and is well favored by God, but his heart changed again making him unfavorable to God, it was not that he had so many wives, the foundational "righteousness" is what is "fair and just and right" and it was not righteous to take (tax) from the many to provide luxury, pleasure and comfort for the few, leaving many suffering, going without and miserable
I'm guessing you just didn't understand any of them.