CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog

Panic in Christian America

Leaders of Christian Churches around the world, but especially in American, are frightened and perplexed. They are concerned that Christianity has been shrinking for some time. While growth in the spread of the Christian faith has increased in Africa, parts of Latin America and some parts of Asia, Christianity has been shrinking in the developed countries. Many Western European countries have grown increasingly secular since the end of WWII. That has been happening in most of the rest of the Commonwealth nations, as well. Australia, New Zealand and Canada have seen the decline of Christian affiliation and identity during the past several decades.

Leaders of American Christian Churches have seen a significant loss of membership during the past three decades. There has been a precipitous rise in the number of religiously unaffiliated people in the United States. America seems to some of them to have become more secular.  

Christian leaders have been struggling with what to do. The only segment of American Christians that has seen growth, during this time, has been among Charismatic Christian churches. The pandemic decreased that growth, though.

Charismatic Christian leaders have been trying to solve the problem and feel urgency about it their mission. Among independent Neo-Charismatic churches several movements have arisen. One thing that distinguishes and unites them is that they have come to believe that power must be taken to change America and the world – political power. They believe that God wants them to grasp political power to take dominion over America and through it, eventually, the world.

Vessels of Change

Let me mention a few of those movements.

The New Apostolic Reformation was named by one of its founders, Richard Wagner. It has been the fastest growing segment of Christianity for more than a decade. The movement has sought to replace ordination for ministry, based on education, training and screening, with anointing for ministry, based on evidence of the gifts of the Spirit. And so, there aren’t bishops, priests or presbyters and deacons, but apostles, prophets, healers, exorcists, teachers, pastors, etc. Many of those apostles and prophets, for example, are self-appointed and confirmed by other self-appointed people in that role. They are not educated, trained or examined, but intuited for their roles. They are not accountable. As Wagner wrote, “In the apostolic network the person in charge of maintaining the DNA of the network is an apostle, who consults with those he or she chooses, and no one else.”

The New Apostolic Reformation is also distinguished by its major emphasis on “spiritual warfare.” They believe that hierarchies of demons possess, oppress or dominate people, places and organizations. In Supernatural Forces in Spiritual Warfare: Wrestling with Dark Angels, Peter Wagner has written, “Satan delegates high-ranking members of the hierarchy of evil spirits to control nations, regions, cities, tribes, people groups, neighborhoods and other significant social networks of human beings throughout the world. Their major assignment is to prevent God from being glorified in their territory, which they do through directing the activity of lower-ranking demons.”

Like Wagner, the members of the New Apostolic Reformation believe that the problem causing the decline of Christianity in America and the rest of Western Civilization is demonic activity. They believe that demonic forces have taken over the people, institutions and organizations of the West. It’s a compelling vision for those who see demonic activity as the root of secularism in America.

This is their strategy. They believe that Charismatic Christian leaders and influencers must take control over the people, places and organizations in America. When they do, then they can take authority over them. That authority will take the form of exorcising demons from individuals, dominating satanic powers in geographical areas, tearing down secular institutions, organizations and government structures and then replacing them with conservative Christian authorities and policies.

The “Dominion” movement has a similar vision. It doesn’t emphasize spiritual warfare with demons, but it does envision a different kind of warfare. Dominionists believe that secular Humanism is at fault. The Catholic Church has blamed Humanism for the Reformation, the French Revolution, the rise of Democracy and Communism, since the 1500’s. Different Protestant sects have only identified it as the enemy since the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversies of the late 19^th and early 20^th century.

They believe that the idiosyncrasies of American democracy can be used to empower a minority of citizens to change the country. They believe that the right American president, supported by a critical mass of congress and judges, can be used to position “right thinking Christians” in positions of power to change the nation into a Christian country. The strategy presupposes that most Americans are Humanists, but that the culture wars can convince just the right number of states to enable the minority to “take dominion” over the nation.

The “Seven Mountains Mandate” is another, parallel, school of Christian thought. It also agrees that America has been taken over by secular humanism. It also believes, with the others, that right minded Christians must take control and reverse the trend. What it contributes to the mix of contemporary American Christian thought is that there are seven “mountains” or centers of American culture and society that serve as the power base of the nation.

Their strategy is to replace the leadership of the seven centers of American culture with right thinking Christian leaders. The seven mountains include the following: government, family, religion, education, science and medicine, arts and entertainment and the media. Once the leadership of those realms of American society are under control, over time, people will become conditioned to think differently.

The aforementioned are just a few of the most well-organized Charismatic, Evangelical and Calvinist movements. There are others. There is a remarkable degree of synchronicity among them.

Another movement involved in the vision of solving the problem of the decline of Christianity in America is Roman Catholic. It’s called the “post-liberal Catholic” movement. By liberal, they mean individual liberty, the Catholic post individual liberty movement. They also believe that America must be made a Christian nation.

Adherents to this movement are convinced that the problem with America is its bedrock commitment to individualism and to individual liberties. Thay see the current state of what they consider to be corrupt morality in America as the natural outcome of individual liberty. Post-liberal Catholics believe that democracy must be replaced with more authoritarian government. Individual freedom should be replaced by the collective good. They believe that America should be governed less by the Bill of Rights and more by Catholic doctrine and moral law.

Quid Pro Quo: The Power to Make America Christian

All of those Christian movements have largely given up on democracy. They believe that totally depraved sinners must be led by strong Christian leaders. The natural outcome is the vision of an authoritarian state that will impose Christian beliefs and moral values – a Christian nation.

The leaders of these American Christian movements all realize that they represent a minority of Americans. They recognize the need for a willing leader, whom they can use to accomplish the goals of their vision. Their strategy is to use and be used by an aspiring strong-man, who will position them to institute the reforms they envision God wills.

America is not the only country in which some impassioned Christians have used a dictator and been used by him to gain control. This same strategy has been used successfully in contemporary Bolivia, Brazil, Hungary, Poland and Russia, as well as previous iterations of Spain and Italy. Strong-minded Christians elect autocrats to do their bidding and those autocrats use those Christian voters to gain and keep power. It’s a quid pro quo religiously political covenant.

The question is this: Is that God’s will and how can Christians discern it?