Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. - Matthew 12:13-14 (ESV)
As we dive deeper into the end times it becomes clearer day after day that the apostate church in America will continue to use dominionism and the worship of this country to lead people away from Christ. Keep in mind that they may not necessarily realize their own rampant heresy. Jesus warned us about believing our darkness was light. The underlying sin is a violation of the very first commandment. Thee dominionist worships this world. Sure, there is plenty of Jesus-speak to wrap the heresy up but at the end of the day they are far more sold out to reviving what was never alive, than bring the gospel to the lost. The bible never promises us an end times revival but rather an end times apostasy. They do not care because they worship this world. My speculation is they do so because in this world they have position, power, fame and money. There are familiar comparisons to the Pharisees of the days Jesus walked the earth. They had control of religion and as such, they held the most desired positions at the feasts. They had the respect, position, power and fame. Along came this lowly carpenter from Galilee preaching humility and forgiveness and suddenly people started following Him. As we see from the key verses today, the religious powers that be were having none of that. After a very public healing, they did not praise God or thank Jesus. Rather, they conspired from that point forward how to kill Him. The link above is to the latest dominionist effort from Joseph Mattera, entitled - Has America Declared its Independence from God?
I know the answer! Of course not because America never considered itself dependent on God to begin with. America has always been a secular nation founded in bloodshed, rebellion and greed. It remains the best secular experiment for government in history and has done a great deal of worldly good. That does not however make it holy. You see, in order for dominionism to work, America must be considered as having been in covenant with God and is now falling away. Why? Because then the solution is this nebulous notion of a nation "repenting." Nations however do not repent collectively. People do, individually. Do not be confused, God's wrath is coming and America will stand in judgement as all nations but it is the individuals who will stand before Christ and give account. Mattera will answer for all of the loose facts he traffics in. Let us reason once more and be mindful not only of the bible being taken out of context but of the utter mangling of American History.
"Since the original Declaration of Independence, which was written by Thomas Jefferson and made official in 1776, the United States has made an about-face from the values inscribed in that document. Anyone examining the Declaration of Independence is immediately impacted by the new nation's utter dependence upon God, His providence and its Judeo-Christian worldview.
The fact that the Founding Fathers' decision to disassociate the nation from Britain and its political position was based upon "the laws of nature and nature's God," ("the laws of nature and nature's God" is referring to Scriptures like Psalm 19 and Romans 1:19-23, which show how God uses nature to teach humanity of His ways) and underpinned by the phrase: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Hence, Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers believed all civil authority is derivative. As God's representatives, they can either lose or gain the right to lead the people based on conformity to His laws. In other words, civil leaders gain legitimacy to lead based on how adequately they represent God's laws in their principles and policies." - Joseph Mattera
Imagine with me if you would that the quotes here were written by Joseph Smith, widely accepted as a heretic for founding Mormonism. Smith had 34 wives, the youngest of which was 13 years old. He claims that an angel gave him a new gospel written upon golden tablets in the forest behind his upstate New York house in the 1800s. He added to scripture by writing the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price. Why are you bringing up Smith preacher? Is he any better a representative for Christian theology than Jefferson? I am sure both reference "God" and "creator" but to whom are they referring? We dismiss Smith but why are we embracing Jefferson here? Thomas Jefferson not only added to scripture but he took away as well. He rewrote the bible - look it up! The Jefferson Bible removed all references to the deity of Jesus Christ as well as all references to his earthly miracles! On top of that, 95% of the Declaration has no reference to God at all. They listed all of their grievances with England which, were primarily in the realm of governance and taxation. They make reference to "divine providence" in closing and a "creator" in the opening - that's it. Given that Jefferson clearly did not believe that Jesus was Lord, we cannot even be sure what God he is referring to in the declaration at all. There is nothing about a Judeo-Christian worldview. The assertion of this is absurd. Mattera's assumptions regarding Psalm 19 and Romans 1 are simply silly. He has no idea what Jefferson was referring to but even if he was making a similar referent to nature revealing a creator there is no proof that Jefferson ever shared OUR belief in Jesus Christ as God! His Christianity remains as reliable as Joseph Smith's. I am sure Mormons still to this day consider civil authority as being derivative from God but once again the question is which God? Mattera's conclusion about adherence to God's laws is just not in the declaration. Do not be deceived beloved. Read the declaration and outside of two lines in the opening and one reference in the closing this is not even vaguely religious. It reveals a people in rebellion for their perception of being treated poorly by the King of England in matters of governance and money. Do not deify it as even the rebellion breaks from the scriptures found in Romans 13.
"One of the last things mentioned in this amazing Declaration were these words, which prove Thomas Jefferson and the other signers were not deistic in their religion. (Many claim that Jefferson, and most of the Founding Fathers, were not Christians but Deist. Deism is a religion that believes God created the world but has nothing to do with the personal affairs of men. God was like a person who makes a watch, winds it up and leaves it alone. They did not believe God answered prayers, intervened in human affairs, did miracles or died on a cross and rose from the dead.) "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States."
