Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." - Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
One of the hallmarks of New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) teaching is dominionism. Many who openly reject the NAR cannot see how they too have fallen for the near cult-like obsession with everything America. This is not be confused with patriotism, which is separate from the church. Dominionism on the other hand mixes the holy with the profane. It takes one of the carnal, evil political parties (or candidates) and confers righteousness upon them as "God's choice." By default, anything against this position is deemed as evil. The dominionist fails to see the inherent evil in all things of this world. They believe that Christians, or the church, are to literally take dominion of the world in advance of Christ's second coming. Many actually believe Christ cannot return until we do so. This is obvious heresy and glorifies the creation, this earth, over the Creator, God. They believe that the dominion of this world is accomplished by conquering seven cultural mountains that they have created, the most prominent of these being government. Hence the unbiblical fixation with politics. The above link is from a recent story by Barry Maracle, a Charismatic personality and outlines the absolutely bonkers theology from this group. Let us discern and learn, reasoning through this screed.
"We have been redeemed, and our dominion over all of creation has been redeemed as well. "Redeemed" means "to purchase back under threat." From the very beginning, God told us to take dominion (see Gen. 1:26). He never rescinded that command. God wants His family to become more fruitful, outweigh the enemy and go forth and take dominion. Biblical dominion doesn't refer to domination of people. Biblical dominion has to do with the liberation of people.
Jesus taught us to pray in Luke 11:2, where He said, "When you pray, say: Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Dominion looks like the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth. The kingdom of God is made up of righteousness, peace, joy, grace and truth, solidly founded on faith, hope and love.' - Barry Maracle
I have included the entire referenced verse from Genesis as the key verse because it is vital to understand how this group goes so wrong from their fundamental beliefs onward. Our redemption has to do with our state as sinners before a holy God. It has absolutely nothing to do with Genesis 1:26 but even still they fail to grasp what that verse even means. We see from the key verses that God gives dominion to man over the fish of the sea, birds of the heavens, livestock, over all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. That is the order. The dominionist plucks out the sole verse fragment that says "over all the earth" and ignores the surrounding context to make it sound as if God wants the believer to subdue modern culture instead of spreading the Gospel to the lost. Genesis 1:26 is also not a command. Read the key verse again. God is stating fact, not uttering command. The liberation of the lost is the result of the Gospel, not taking dominion. We see here the influence of Bethel that routinely preaches the nonsense about bringing the kingdom to earth as the mandate for Christians. The Lord's prayer is our prayer to Him. That we revere His name. That we seek to do His will on earth just as if we were in heaven. It is not a prayer for dominion over the earth; not even close. The object is to preach the Gospel, through which one is saved out from this world.
"The Lord laid it on my heart in late February of 2020 that His ekklesia is about to awaken, arise, advance and abound. According to Matthew 16:18, Jesus says that He is going to build His church--His family, the ekklesia--and the gates of hell will not overcome it. The word ekklesia is the Greek word that means "to be called out to rule and reign." We are to take dominion over our own promised lands, and God is giving us a spirit of dominion this year.
So it's time for you, the ekklesia, to awaken, arise, advance and abound." - Barry Maracle
