Theology of government shutdown..Dominionists are coming.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:21 PM - Edit history (1)

The Theology of Government Shutdown: Christian Dominionism

About the author:

Morgan Guyton is the director of the NOLA Wesley United Methodist campus ministry at Tulane and Loyola University in New Orleans, LA. He contributes to Red Letter Christians, Think Christian, Ministry Matters, and the Huffington Post, among others. Morgan has spent his life trying to figure out what it means that God "desires mercy not sacrifice" (Mt 9:13). Check out his personal blog at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mercynotsacrifice

From 2013 but very relevant with Ted Cruz on the scene.

On the eve of our government shutdown, I wanted to do some research into the theological roots of Senator Ted Cruz, the standard-bearer of the Tea Party Republicans behind the shutdown. I'm interested in understanding what account of Christianity creates the "no compromise" crusade that the Tea Party has become known for. It turns out that Ted's father, Rafael Cruz, is a pastor with Texas charismatic ministry Purifying Fire International who has been campaigning against Obamacare the last several months. He has a distinct theological vision for what America is supposed to look like: Christian dominionism.

A good example comes from a speech at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit on August 12th where Cruz said that the government's "attack on religion" is part of a longer-term plan to establish socialism:

"When you hear this attack on religion, it's not really an attack on religion. The fundamental basis is this. Socialism requires that government becomes your God. That's why they have to destroy your concept of God. They have to destroy all your loyalties except loyalty to the government. That's what's behind homosexual marriage. It's really more about the destruction of the traditional family than about homosexuality, because you need also to destroy loyalty to the family."

Ted Cruz's father says he will be a leader in the "end-time transfer of wealth."

What that means is that it's scary this guy is running for president and for now is leading in Iowa.

But here's the exciting thing... The rabbinical teaching is... that in a few weeks begins that year 2012 and that this will begin what we call the end-time transfer of wealth. And that when these Gentiles begin to receive this blessing, they will never go back financially through the valley again. They will grow and grow and grow. It's said this way: that God is looking at the church and everyone in it and deciding in the next three and a half years who will be his bankers. And the ones that say here I am Lord, you can trust me, we will become so blessed that we will usher in the coming of the messiah.

Guyton says "So it sounds like we're entering into the age where the Christians (who give faithfully) are going to get all the money through the "end-time transfer of wealth."

The whole article is amazing.

Seems many of the Tea Party candidates are actually Christian Dominionists.

From 2014.

The Dominionists are Coming

One group I’ve been interested in is the religious right within the Tea Party. I joined a local Tea Party group in order to learn about them and estimate around 40 percent of the people were serious paranoids talking about black helicopters and the like. (Someone asked me why I went to these meetings and I told them it was the best free show in town.) There is an acknowledged bifurcation of the Ayn Rand Objectivists/Libertarian types and the religious right wing, but it’s obvious that the latter dominates, differing only in that it feels the destruction of government and civic duty is part of God’s plan to put a theocracy in place.

Enter the Dominionist movement, which is beginning to dominate the religious right with its intent to tear down government. One of the movement’s figureheads, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), is an ideological bulldog and, like Falwell, is not to be underestimated.

Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University. In 1992 he was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is dedicated, bright, and I think will be around for a while, determined not to make government work, but to eliminate it. Why? He follows his father, Rafael Cruz, who is reportedly a pastor with Dominionist Purifying Fire Ministries and has preached how Christians should “take dominion” over the earth: “Dominion is over every area—society, education, government, economics…”

The Democratic Party is certainly not immune to this sort of demagoguery, as my district’s congressman, Mike McIntyre (D-NC), scores 8 percent on Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s ratings for upholding secularism. “We know that the true source of power cannot be found here in the halls of Congress or in the Oval Office in the West Wing or in the chambers of the Supreme Court,” McIntyre told his fellow lawmakers, “but only on our knees before the one who is the true source of power!”

More about Ted, Rafael, and Dominionism at this link.

Also keep an eye on Ted Cruz and his connection with a group called 99 Iowa Pastors

[madfloridian]

1. So...there's a religious reason behind all the desire to shutdown the government.

I never thought of it that way. Makes it scarier.

[DirkGently]

25. An excellent point.

Cruz led the shutdown that cost America $24 billion, but somehow has not lost credibility with the supposedly fiscally concerned rightwing.

Maybe any cost is acceptable to the extent it damages secular control of the country?

This is also where the right's creepy style of support for Israel comes from. It's not the country or the people they care about. It's the land. Land Dominionists think Israelis are "holding" for them, until the End Times,™ at which point they will all have to convert to Christianity or be burned away by Holy Fire™ of course.

Gack.

[madfloridian]

32. "Maybe any cost is acceptable to the extent it damages secular control of the country?"

I think you are right. They have their agenda and everything is interpreted in that light.

And to think the GOP is down to having Trump and Cruz as their top candidates.

They have to be squirming.

[LiberalAndProud]

2. K&R

[madfloridian]

3. Appreciated.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. I keep telling people that Cruz is an end-timer.

That world view doesn't mix well with presidential aspirations, imo. It's a recipe for global disaster.

Thanks for this post, Mad.

[jmowreader]

5. Shrub was also an end-timer, as well as much of his cabinet

I remember a Bushism that scared the shit out of anyone who could interpret it...he wrote in a note that Condi Rice told him to go easy on the "Christian scatology." Bush just couldn't spell - that second word should be "eschatology," which means end-times theology.

I'm pretty sure Bush wanted to blow up the Middle East in part because Israel has to be destroyed before Jesus will come back, and the GOP figures if they start enough wars in the Middle East eventually SOMEONE will blow Israel off the map.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. I remember.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/10/religion-george-bush

In the winter of 2003, when George Bush and Tony Blair were frantically gathering support for their planned invasion, Professor Thomas Römer, an Old Testament expert at the university of Lausanne, was rung up by the Protestant Federation of France. They asked him to supply them with a summary of the legends surrounding Gog and Magog and as the conversation progressed, he realised that this had originally come, from the highest reaches of the French government.

President Jacques Chirac wanted to know what the hell President Bush had been on about in their last conversation. Bush had then said that when he looked at the Middle East, he saw "Gog and Magog at work" and the biblical prophecies unfolding. But who the hell were Gog and Magog? Neither Chirac nor his office had any idea. But they knew Bush was an evangelical Christian, so they asked the French Federation of Protestants, who in turn asked Professor Römer.

[madfloridian]

7. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

[haele]

22. The problem with end-timers is the sticking point of a one world religion signalling end times

Well, again - one may say a universal worship of Mammon could meet the Biblical prophesy of the one-world religion that needs to happen before the end-times come about.

But worshipping Jesus and Mammon - that doesn't reflect well for the people who consider themselves "Christian", now, does it?

Can Jesus truly forgive those who put Mammon above "him", just because they ask him for forgiveness even as they pray to Mammon to get rich and powerful? Isn't there something about "Sheep and Goats", "Wolves in Sheep's clothing", and hypocrites who cry "lord, lord" in public who are not welcome at the throne of Jesus and God the creator?

But I'm just a simple country Pagan who has read pretty near every culture's holy books, so what do I know?

Haele

[LiberalAndProud]

24. It seems to me that every religion has aspirations to be the one world religion.

It's interesting that after the end times, those who survive will all be the same flavor of god botherer, according to the varied prophesies, be it Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Scientologic or JW. Their vision of heaven on earth doesn't sound very interesting to me.

[Shandris]

28. More like every religious interpretation, but other than that nitpick I'd agree.

On the other hand, religion will always exist. We still have one, and it still thinks it's going to be the one-world religion, too. It's called Modernism.

It's more likely to win, but it's no less a religion than Christianity (or any other). It just gets a touch more fluid with the concepts.

Interestingly, I consider most religions to be the same (with a couple notable exceptions that, oddly, seem to be inversions). They share an AMAZING amount of similarities worldwide.

[highprincipleswork]

8. Dominionism is something we all need to know about. It's scary, and explains a lot.

Explains, for instance, why so many modern day Christians do not act like what we would expect Christian to do at all!!! In fact, they aren't really taking their cue from Christ, but from other parts of the Bible.

[MisterP]

9. or Central American strongmen!

he had a priest thrown out of a helicopter

[madfloridian]

12. Excellent point...they do not act like we would expect Christians to act.

They sound greedy.

[vlyons]

10. We live in degenerate times

I'm a Buddhist, and I also believe in end-times -- just not the end-times described by Christian Dominionists. Buddhists believe that we go thru cycles over and over, like the waxing and waning of the moon, or the in and out of the tides, or the changes thru the Spring to Winter seasons. Periodically human society degenerates through selfish greed and the corruption of money and power. Eventually reformers show up and create more viable institutions. Think Martin Luther, who reformed the Roman Church, or our founding fathers, who reformed government.

We are now in degenerate times, sure to get worse because of climate change. All our institutions are effected by degeneration, including religious institutions. Personally I think that Dominionist ideology is a manifestation of a degenerate Christianity. It is using religion to gain money and power.

[LuvNewcastle]

15. I'm not a Buddhist, but I believe much

the same thing. I believe in reincarnation, and I think there have been intelligent beings on Earth, in one form or another, for a very long time.

[vlyons]

35. well the good news is, from the Buddhist perspective

is that it's easier to become enlightened as life becomes more and more degenerate. That's because there's more and more opportunity to practice patience, compassion, and love towards ignorant, delusional, and neurotic people.

[hootinholler]

11. Here's a kick for an important subject. n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Whoa - I knew the Cruzs were insane, but didn't realize they were dominionists. That

Just takes their insanity to a different level! That man cannot get anywhere near the WH. He's a true danger to Democracy.

I remember, years ago, learning about Dominionism right here on DU. Some searches should reveal a lot that was posted back then. SCARY STUFF. Now we actually have one running for president!

Bookmarked to read your links later. Another enlightening post, madfloridian!

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[Enthusiast]

14. Kicked and recommended!

I can't have a discussion with these weirdos.

[madfloridian]

16. Iowa pastors bless Cruz and Rand Paul.

http://www.talk2action.org/user/Bruce%20Wilson

Ted Cruz Anointed By Pastor Who Says Jesus Opposed Minimum Wage, and Constitution Based on the Bible
In the video below, from a July 19-20th, 2013 pastor's rally at a Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, Tea Party potentate Ted Cruz is blessed by religious right leader David Barton, who claims that Jesus opposed the minimum wage, says the Constitution is based on the Old Testament, and appears to endorse biblical slavery. Also blessing Cruz is his father Rafael Cruz, who depicts gay marriage as a socialist plot against the traditional family and calls for a Christian war on secular society, and pastor David Lane, who has "called for violent dominionist revolution".

?list=UUIRA8Sry6RDHvFm2_om9nMA

[whatthehey]

17. Yah

We are a lot closer to going full-Scudder than the namby-pamby "sophisticated theology TM" milquetoast types would have us believe. The real power and drive in religion will never come from the damp-handed coffee klatch pretenders but from the wild-eyed fire and brimstone true believers, and they sure as hell don't believe in co-operative ecumenicalism and interfaith bonhomie.

[Kermitt Gribble]

18. The thought of a Cruz presidency

scares me more than the thought of a Trump presidency. Trump is just an imbecile - Cruz has an agenda.

[madfloridian]

20. Yes, an agenda that has a movement behind it.

Not just in our country either.

[niyad]

19. k and r

[hedda_foil]

21. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, madflo!

All of your posts are terrific, but this one tops them all.

[madfloridian]

23. ....

Kind words, hedda_foil. We have a very weird slate of GOP candidates.

[hedda_foil]

26. Weird might be too...

politically correct.

[Blus4u]

29. Great post

This is the scariest thing we face now, that someone like Cruz gets the seat of power.
He already wreaking havoc as a senator. The country needs to be educated about the dominionists.
They pose more danger to us than "radical mooslums"!


Peace

[madfloridian]

33. Yep. Shutting down the government for religious purposes is dangerous.

Ted's daddy says he is a king of the Seven Mountains. They want to control media, arts, politics, religion, everything.

[LongTomH]

27. Cruz is scarier - in many ways - than Trumpenstein!!!!!

I encountered people like this, growing up in a small town in Oklahoma. Thank God, I escaped!!!!!

[FloriTexan]

30. Kick...

I do not like Ted Cruz.

[madfloridian]

31. .....

Neither do I.

I don't think most Texans have a clue what he's like. They have no idea.

[madfloridian]

34. Rise of Religious Right in the Republican Party..Theocracy Watch

http://www.theocracywatch.org/

A nested subset chart looks like this:
---Triumphalism
---------Dominionism
---------------------Dominion Theology or Theocracy
----------------------------------Theonomy
----------------------------------------------Christian Reconstructionism

The specific meanings are different in important ways, although the terms have been used in a variety of conflicting ways in popular articles, especially on the Internet.

In its generic sense, dominionism is a very broad political tendency within the Christian Right. It ranges from soft to hard versions in terms of its theocratic impulse.

Soft Dominionists are Christian nationalists. They believe that Biblically-defined immorality and sin breed chaos and anarchy. They fear that America's greatness as God's chosen land has been undermined by liberal secular humanists, feminists, and homosexuals. Purists want litmus tests for issues of abortion, tolerance of gays and lesbians, and prayer in schools. Their vision has elements of theocracy, but they stop short of calling for supplanting the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Hard Dominionists believe all of this, but they want the United States to be a Christian theocracy. For them the Constitution and Bill of Rights are merely addendums to Old Testament Biblical law. They claim that Christian men with specific theological beliefs are ordained by God to run society. Christians and others who do not accept their theological beliefs would be second-class citizens. This sector includes Christian Reconstructionists, but it has a growing number of adherents in the leadership of the Christian Right.

It makes more sense to reserve the term "dominion theology" to describe specific theological currents, while using the term "dominionism" in a generic sense to discuss a tendency toward aggressive political activism by Christians who claim they are mandated by God to take over society. Even then, we need to locate the subject of our criticisms on a scale that ranges from soft to hard versions of dominionism.

Chip Berlet, Senior Analyst, Political Research Associates

[Lifelong Protester]

36. This is some bad S***

Rafael scares the sh** out of me, and this shows why.

[Punkingal]

37. Great post!

I told my husband last night he was the most dangerous one on the stage...and I only knew some of this!