The Axe of The ‘Apostles’
Part2:
Dominionism as
Divinisation
Now faith is the substrate of things hyped for, the edifice of things obscene
Shall the axe
boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them
that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no
wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones
leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a
fire (Isaiah10:15-16).
When I was a teenager within Pentecostalism, one of
my dear, old pastors told me [that] ‘..whenever the things of God become more
important & worthy of pursuit than The Lord Himself, we are in trouble.’
Well, I was in trouble then & he
knew it. During that early period of my Christian life, I very stupidly set out
to find my anointing & walk in it.
Develop my God-kind-of-faith &
exercise it. Access the key to God’s
power & wield it. Although I didn’t know
it at the time, Dominionism was the bit that I had clenched firmly between my
teeth.
I had been convinced that it was God’s will &
God’s way forward for all believers
to be moving in supernatural, miracle working power, constantly. That had
become my goal. I had swapped reading God’s Word for reading books by authors
who had laid claim to the principles, keys & steps necessary to release the …..blah
blah blah. You know what I’m saying to you. Despite all of my reading, no matter how
many tape series I bought & listened to & regardless of the countless services I attended, there was no talk of submission to Christ or
biblical discipleship. Dominion was THE thing.
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that
there is something oh so appealing
about Dominion theology. I use the term theology loosely here because when
viewed in the light of Scripture, the tenets of Dominionism are thoroughly man
centred. This is nothing new & if you’ll bear with me, you’ll soon see
this.
And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said,
Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;
to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl
of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the
morning were the sixth day (Genesis1:26-31).
Here
we have the first recorded instance in which The Lord speaks of mankind having
any dominion. This concerned the natural world. However, for most Dominionists,
who believe in a restorative rhetoric, these verses from Genesis is where
they’ll begin. By the way, I don’t know any
believers in Dominionism’s systems that are vegetarian. Just sayin’.
This
dominion of the natural world was not
to be the wielding of Divine power, control & influence, but rather, it was
to facilitate man’s role as representative custodian. If Dominionism’s first premise is wrong [at best] & blatantly false [at worst], what does that say about its
progression? This is a rhetorical question.
*If
your doctrine is off, then YOU are off & if you have NO formal &
fundamental doctrine, you’re in freefall. This is where Dominionism & its
many manifestations dwell. Enter the wild Charismatic Geese of circa 1948-1952.
The chase was afoot.
At
least during my heady days as a Pentecostal there were lines NOT to be crossed.
I’d heard of The New Order of The Latter Rain & William Branham as of the
many anecdotes Kenneth Hagin had shared about this man’s apparent prophetic
ministry, but had never really gotten
into Branham’s teachings because his newsletter comprised of his sermons set
out in verses as if they were Scripture. Ding-a-ling-a-ling, alarm bells ring.
Pentecostals were having none of that. No matter how anointed a man was, he was just
a man. Furthermore, because of Branham’s subsequent unbiblical doctrines &
revelations, he was held at arm’s length.
*This New Order of the Latter Rain is
not to be confused with The Latter Rain movement of North Carolina &
Tennessee during the 1880s, under the ministry of R. G. Spurling. This movement
is well worth some study, but sadly, Spurling’s significance to
Pentecostalism’s history has long since been forgotten or ignored. Latterly (no pun intended), the work of George
Warnock -a close friend of Branham’s-
on The Feast of Tabernacles, went some way in cementing the movement’s leanings
towards biblical typology as a means of interpreting their role in the coming
revival & Kingdom restoration to & through them. Theologically however,
this will very well be the undoing of the movement, simply because Jesus has
not fulfilled several Messianic prophecies concerning Himself & won’t do so
until His 2nd coming, including typology within The Feast of
Tabernacles which speaks to The Millennium. Consequently, the core Doctrine of
The Rapture has been both decried & denied by modern Latter Rainers. More
of this in Part 3.
Aspects
of The Holiness movement [which preceded
The Latter Rain] had made inroads
into Pentecostalism though, because Pentecostals LURVE holiness. Dominion, for
Pentecostals, went as far as demons, disease & of course the flesh, but not world domination. This idea came
later.
For
Latter Rainers, their view of Pentecostals & Holiness adherents was that
they were representative of the former
rain, which had [to all intents &
purposes] dried up. The Latter Rain was where it was at now.
Similarly, during this period of time, Charismatics were soaking up Latter Rain’s
experiential offerings & had cultivated a clutch of leaders who would
absorb its teachings & practises seamlessly into the Charismatic wave. Branham’s
shadow straddled both spheres of influence.
He
had been the darling of The Voice of Healing movement during the 1950s &
because of the similarities between Latter Rain & Charismatic expression,
belief & practise, it wasn’t difficult to introduce & assimilate
Branham into the mainstream of Charismania. In the eyes of BOTH movements, God
was restoring, renewing & advancing His agenda in a tangible way. This is one of the ultimate goals of Dominionism.
This is DIVINISATION.
The Latter Rain didn’t stand still & even today it
remains in a state of flux. This movement wasn’t directly defined by its titles,
by its leaders or indeed by its woeful failures. This movement was defined by
its mandate. Whether it’s known as
Joel’s Army, Post Millennialism, The Manifest Sons of God, Restorationism,
Kingdom Now, Reconstructionism or New Apostolic Reformation, the mandate
remains the same. Not only Dominion as Divine Design, but also as Divinisation.
As
I write this, I also consider many, MANY of the folk who are on my back. The
most common question I’m asked is ‘David,
why do you have to attack & attack people who are doing nothing more than
preaching The Gospel, healing, delivering, training and building et cetera?’
My answer is [that] I’m not doing that because it isn’t the case
with the NAR. This movement is dangerous & poisonous. Selah’. I suggest
a regular reading & study of Scripture, because I can guarantee that a low [or no] estimation of Scripture will lead
individuals into the airy-fairy realm of experience.
There
are any number of beliefs & practices that can be pointed to in order to
identify this movement as a train wreck. However, by far the greatest indicator
of the movement’s destination is its supreme lack of adherence to fundamental
Doctrine. Within this movement, experience is prized more highly than anything
else & certainly more highly than the blessed canon of Scripture that we
have. Divinisation occurs when man decides that whatever HE has to say takes
precedence over whatever God has ALREADY said & sadly this is the case in
point.
It
takes a certain amount of daring or stupidity to make some of the bold claims that
the leadership of this movement have, with nothing to show for their audacity. They
write their own narrative. They make their own rules. They twist whatever they
can & discard whatever they can’t. They are by far THE most dangerous
threat to The Gospel right now because they are operating within The Church.
But what I do, that I will do, that I
may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory,
they may be found even as we. For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2ndCorinthians11:12-15).
Their boasting is not good.
This
hasn’t happened overnight & what’s more, we have allowed it to happen. These
men & women have cosied up to us as NEW Apostles & Prophets, often with
more [assumed] apostolic umph than
those who have gone before. They are Super-Apostles, careering through The Body
of Christ like pied pipers, sweeping young & old along with their sweet
tunes, glossy presentations & ‘thus saith
The Lords’. Some of us ought to
know better & some of us DO.
You
can be sure that all of the bells & whistles apportioned to this ‘new’ movement are nothing more than
window dressing that covers a supreme lack of substance throughout. Look at its
pedigree!! This movement is nothing more or less than a Frankenstein’s Monster
comprised of different cherry-picked parts, all thrown together & animated
by a false spirit. The whole thing even has bolts in its head!!
As
we will see, the speed with which this movement has gathered momentum is
indicative of the apathy within The Church. I’m not suggesting that we put on a
show. I’m suggesting that we feed the hungry souls in our fellowships with the
truth we have come to know from the Apostolic Doctrine we’ve received. I was
once there. I was once seduced by the bright lights & candy floss. However,
the glass is always half full.
For
Latter Rainers, God is always ‘about to
do’ something brethren & after they’ve been hypnotised, mesmerised,
anaesthetised, desensitised & pacified, they will be discarded. I say
again, The Latter Rain didn’t stand still & even today it remains in a
state of flux. This movement isn’t directly defined by its titles, by its
leaders or indeed by its woeful failures. This movement is defined by its MANDATE.
It is the extent to which the movement’s theology is emphasised in any
particular church or fellowship, vision or doctrine, statement of faith or core
values that will tell you how far this wasting theodemic disease has spread.
Let’s
take a good look at the who’s who within the current New Order of these folk,
as well as the doctrine they espouse & their progress towards world
domination for Christ. This is going to be interesting.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know
them which labor among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and
admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves (1stThessalonians5:12-13).
Remember them which have the rule over
you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God: whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation…...Obey them
that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your
souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with
grief: for that is unprofitable
for you. (Hebrews13:7&17).
