"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. - Matthew 25:31-34 (ESV)
As a former American History teacher and a former pastor, I always find the NAR dominionist understanding of the bible and history to be extraordinarily, and horrifically, bad. Now, I assume some just do not realize because if there is one thing Christian leaders love doing, it is stepping out of their lane. We saw this during the pandemic when they all thought they were experts now on epidemiology and virology. Others are more deliberate, knowing full well they are spewing lies to accomplish their goals. You see, dominionism has a central problem and that is it is idolatry based upon falsehoods. They have to pretend that America was once a Utopia for evangelical Christians, founded by the direct descendants of Charisma News contributors, all seeking that Shangri-La of Christian fundamentalist nationalism, like God allegedly demands. This fantasy land of puppies and rainbows is absurdly inaccurate as any casual reader of history understands. What they do is prey on the fact that America has relatively been a "good" country and turn it into righteousness they never earned nor sought. One of the most egregious dominionists who writes all the time about this nonsense is Eddie Hyatt. What I like about Eddie is he is about as transparently bad at this as Kris Vallotton is at exegesis. It makes it far easier to debunk. The above linked article is Hyatt again trying to reframe reality into a heavenly battle between historical noble Christianity and the godless heathens he adoringly refers to as secularists. Or leftists. Or Democrats. That is because at its heart, dominionist Christianity is nothing more than an offshoot of the Republican Party, slandering the gospel to achieve carnal, political ends. Hallelujer. Let us reason once more beloved.
'Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years in a Soviet labor camp and observed how the Marxists sought to erase Russia's Christian past, said, "To destroy a people you must first sever their roots." Secularists have known that America's history stands in the way of her being transformed into a socialist, godless state. This is why, for several decades, there has been all-out effort to purge America of her Christian past and reframe her as a racist, evil nation in need of "fundamental transformation."' - Eddie Hyatt
This is the war Eddie and the nutcases like to set up to make Christians feel like they have to defend something. This despite the fact that the United States is already 65% Christian! Eddie wants you to believe that there is a secret band of forces that are trying to transform America into a socialist, godless state. The idiotic socialism charge stems from anyone who has the temerity to believe that nearly 40 million people should not be living in poverty in the richest country in the world. The godless charge is even more idiotic, and it stems from anyone who does not bow down to the theocratic maneuvers of those that Hyatt supports. So, why the focus on American history? Because Eddie knows his version is ridiculous! Projection is a powerful weapon beloved. Hyatt is accusing his perceived enemies of doing exactly what he is doing. It is not racist for example to admit that this nation was built on the backs of slaves. Yes, we eventually got around to making that right, but we were far from the forerunners of that correction. Sure you can point to some who at the time where on the side of ending the slave trade but the reality is we didn't and fought a Civil War over it!
"The truth is that America was founded by people with a deep sense of Divine destiny. They envisioned a land of individual and religious liberty from which the gospel would be taken to the ends of the earth. This is obvious from many historical documents. Consider the following.
In the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims stated that they had come to this land for two purposes: (1) for the glory of God and (2) for the advancement of the Christian faith. Twenty-three years later, in 1643, thousands of new immigrants had arrived and many new towns had sprung up. The United Colonies of New England was formed, and the opening statement of their Constitution reflected the same vision. It reads: "Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 31). A Great Awakening, beginning in 1726, revitalized the faith of the descendants of those earliest immigrants. Even Benjamin Franklin described how his hometown of Philadelphia was transformed by this awakening, and how houses on every street were filled prayer and the singing of praises to God (Hyatt, "1726:The Year that Defined America," 79)." - Eddie Hyatt
The reason Eddie has to go back to 1726 is that 1776 doesn't support his warped view of history. So, he pretends instead that the Puritans started America. Spoiler alert! They didn't. What they did however is engage in genocide against the natives that already owned the land they wanted. Not so ironically, they viewed the natives as savages and inferior to the while Christian culture they enjoyed so perhaps Eddie would have fit right in. Look, when you examine history it is fair to conclude that no country has done more collective good in this world than America but to pretend that it has done no wrong is just silly. Now as to the references here, Hyatt does this all the time. He quotes distortions he has already written and uses them as sources! Ben Franklin was a deist! How do we know? Because he told us so in his autobiography! He was raised Puritan but ended up far far away from what we profess today. America was founded after 1776, not 50 years earlier. The revolution was economic, not religious. The Boston Tea Party was actually about tea.
