TDQ - thediscernerquarterly

The Axe of

The Apostles

-4-

dominionism by decree

we began this series of articles in 2018. parts 3 - 5 were not written. until now.

For decades after The Latter Rain’s star had seemingly waned, word of faith teaching within charismania gained & held a dominant position throughout The Church at large. At the tip of this mythological iceberg was Rhema & in its hot seat was self-proclaimed prophet & teacher, Kenneth E. Hagin. Mr. Hagin had been an associate of William Branham’s Voice of Healing organisation & had preached during the healing revival of 1947 to 1958. He had also been an Assemblies of God Pastor from 1937 to 1949, but surrendered his credentials to concentrate on itinerant ministry. The rest, as they say, is history. We covered some of these elements in our article ‘Betrayal: A Clarion Call to Defending The Faith Once Delivered to The Saints.’. Hagin built up unrivalled influence within the word of faith movement & was once hailed by Kenneth Copeland as the most accurate minister in the United States. Norvel Hayes dubbed him the apostle of faith. High praise indeed, eh?

I am convinced that Hagin et al believed they would usher in a revival for the last days. They believed this. They taught this. They prophesied this. As such, no one of note within their camp challenged Hagin’s teaching or leadership, especially because he claimed Jesus had appeared to him & instructed him personally. Who in their right mind would argue with The Head of The Church? Not me. Unless Kenneth was lying. He recounted a vision he had in September of 1950, in which, among other things, an angelic rider gave him a scroll & commanded him to read it in The Name of Jesus Christ. Hagin wrote:

‘The scroll was written in the first person, and seemed as if Jesus Himself were speaking. I read, "America is receiving her last call. Some nations already have received their last call and never will receive another." Then, in larger print it said, "THE TIME OF THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND This statement was repeated four or five times. Jesus also said this was the last great revival. He went on to say, "All the gifts of the Spirit will be in operation in the Church in these last days, and the Church will do greater things than even the Early Church did. It will have greater power, signs, and wonders than were recorded in the Acts of the Apostles." He said that we have seen and experienced many healings, but we will now behold amazing miracles that have not been seen before. Jesus continued, "More and more miracles will be performed in the last days which are just ahead, for it is time for the gift of the working of miracles to be more in prominence. We now have entered into the era of the miraculous."…"This is the last revival. I am preparing my people for my coming. Judgment is coming, but I will call my people away, even unto Myself, before the worst shall come. But be thou faithful; watch and pray, for the time of the end of all things is at hand."’.

Well there you have it. The last great revival would see more miracles, all of the gifts & a greater outpouring. Bits were chomped. Breath was bated. The edges of seats were worn out. The Charismatic movement would usher in the coming of The Lord. Or so they believed. There were stirrings in other places though. What a pity that The Lord had neglected to inform Hagin about one or two other end-time details.

Perhaps Jesus forgot. Perhaps Jesus was nervous because He didn’t know whether The Cold War would erupt. Afterall, relations between The Soviets & The USA had entered tensions in 1945, solidifying with The Truman Doctrine & The Marshall Plan in 1947. Coincidence? Again, I am convinced that Hagin et al believed they would usher in a revival for the last days. They believed this. They taught this. They prophesied this.

Viewed subjectively, we could all sit around our respective camp-fire, toasting marsh mallows & say that Hagin wasn’t wrong in what he prophesied. He wasn’t told that he would see the last revival. At best, he was heralded as a forerunner. However, the other voices coming to the fore had been told something completely different by The Lord. Remember, dominionism is identified by its mandate & the seeds of that movement had been sown way before Jesus allegedly spoke to Hagin. Let’s look.

Charles Fuller had become an associate of William Branham after their meeting in 1947; the same year that Fuller had established the Seminary named after him. Initially, Fuller held the healing movement somewhat at arm’s length, but eventually he acquiesced in recognition of Branham’s healing movement. The two were certainly ministering together in Long Beach, California at one point & Branham supported Fuller’s Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio broadcast. That said, it would seem that Fuller maintained an intellectual & theological distance from Branham’s more extreme beliefs. These would include The Manifest Sons, Serpent Seed & of course Branham’s Message doctrine. Despite all of this, Fuller Theological Seminary was to play a pivotal role in the launch of the New Apostolic Reformation.

Branhamism, as I call it, had unfinished business. The restrictive collar of word of faith dogma & Hagin’s dominance within the same, forced the Charismatic movement to adhere to his biblical interpretations. They cast a long shadow. Yes, apostles would be back. Yes, prophets would re-appear. Yes, there would be signs, wonder & the gifts. But all of that frilly 1950s window dressing had to go. Like every drive before it, the nar would take the functioning components of the word of faith movement & reconstitute them as something fresh. Almost overnight, high level spiritual warfare was resurrected, the believer’s authority was on rabies & the prosperity message was on steroids; Why? Because the new kids on the block said so. They declared it. They decreed it. This was the second apostolic age. This was the third wave. This was biggest attempt to unscramble eggs, ever!

The Manifest Sons turned out John Wimber’s Vineyard. The Vineyard movement produced Mike Bickle’s Kansas City Prophets. After some wriggling & jiggling, out popped the New Apostolic Reformation & the dominionist Seven Mountain Mandate, which had as its chief architect, Charles Peter Wagner. Google him. He looks just like Colonel Sanders! Fitting, because of the Kentucky Fried Christianity the movement has created. For the most part, traditional Pentecostals stayed out of the nar. They were too busy struggling to climb one more mountain, never mind seven. Mind you, they liked the wealth transfer message. I wonder why. In a preamble to a 2011 interview, NPR host Terry Gross summed Wagner et al up thus:

‘In August, Texas Governor Rick Perry held a prayer rally called The Response. Several of that rally's organizers and speakers are part of an emerging movement of charismatic Christians called the New Apostolic Reformation, or the NAR. After the rally, Rachel Tabachnick joined us on FRESH AIR to discuss the NAR, which she has reported on for the website Talk2Action. She said that as part of the NAR's belief in dominionism, they want to take control of the institutions of society and government. She also talked about their belief in demons and their practice of spiritual warfare against demons. After our interview with Tabachnick, we got in touch with C. Peter Wagner. He's one of the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation. He named the movement and has written books about it. Leaders in this movement are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for the role. Wagner is the former presiding apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles. He recently retired as president of Global Harvest Ministries. For 30 years he was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Missions…C. Peter Wagner is a leading apostle in the New Apostolic Reformation.’.

This was a stark departure from classic word of faith rhetoric. The apostles & prophets of the nar were not the super-powered missionaries or demoted diviners that The Church at large was expecting. Oh no. These lions had teeth. These bears had claws. These wolves had sheep. Remember, this dominionist movement is defined by its mandate. What is it:

The Governance of Apostles & Prophets over The Church.

Conquering the Seven Spheres of Influence.

Strategic High Level Spiritual Warfare to Establish Dominion.

Ushering in The Kingdom.

End-time Wealth Transfer.

Specific Prophetic Guidance by Revelation.

Whatever They Think of Next.

This brings us to the meat in the sandwich; what is the trade off between harm & good? This is always the case & more specifically whenever the enemy is attempting to finish what he started. Deer! Headlights! Oops! We are so easily dazzled & distracted by talk of revival, by numbers of souls, by stories about miracles, by promises of wealth & any number of other equally cheap parlour tricks. These too can be traced back to William Branham & beyond. This is also true of the stinking anti-intellectualism that those claiming to be Spirit led, wear so casually on their sleeves.

‘What are we talking about? What is theology anyway? Here is my attempt at a definition: Theology is a human attempt to explain God’s word and God’s works in a reasonable and systematic way. This is not a traditional definition. For one thing it considers God’s works as one valid source of theological information. For another it sees God’s word as both what is written in the Bible (logos) as well as what God is currently revealing (rhema). Admittedly, a downside of seeing theology in this way is possible subjectivity, but the upside is more relevance to what the Spirit is currently saying to the churches on a practical level. Teachers research and expound the logos, prophets bring the rhema, and apostles put it together and point the direction into the future. The practical theology which best builds a foundation under social transformation is dominion theology, sometimes called “kingdom now.”.’.

C. Peter Wagner, Dominion! Kingdom Action Can Change the World (emphasis added).

That’s an interesting definition by Wagner, but it’s only a snippet of the broader work in question. It interests me that although he decries theology proper, he has the unmitigated gall to label his diabolical diatribe with the same word. ‘Theologians are not mentioned, for example, in Ephesians 4:11 alongside of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.’, he writes. Well, neither are pulpits or pens & yet they are utilised. Theologians may not be listed in Ephesians 4, but something else is; every wind of doctrine; the sleight of men; cunning craftiness & deceit. As usual, it is the flock who are caught up in this systematic meat grinder. With every layer of false teaching that is peeled back in this churchified game of pass the parcel, believers are moved steadily from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Well, I too have a working definition. Dominion theology is a structure within which its members can be fooled, manipulated, used, abused, lied to, exploited & robbed blind. Where else would you find congregations doing the hokey cokey, or reenacting scenes from Lord of The Rings? I kid you not. We’ll look at these things in our final meeting on this subject. Although it is a departure from mainstream Charismatic belief, many believers happily occupy both camps. This is a problem if they cannot tell the difference between them. If this is you, please get out of both; dominion theology is nothing more or less than demon theology.

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Monday, 2 February 2026