Renaming Dominion

“It is better that we avoid the word dominion in our culture today due to the connotations that comes with this word of control and manipulation of others.”
—Os Hillman, Change Agent[1]

“Kingdom solutions sometimes need stealth solutions so that the secular world can accept them.”
—Os Hillman, Change Agent[2]

“This whole idea of taking over, and that language of take over, it doesn’t actually help – it’s good for preaching to the choir, and it’s shorthand if we interpret it right, but it’s very bad for media.”
—Lance Wallnau[3]

A recent video posted online reveals that the Doyens of Dominion are feeling a bit discomfited now that their agenda is in the national spotlight. Now they have to find another word that isn’t quite so controversial but means essentially the same thing. They are seeking to come up with a new vocabulary to identify their strategic objectives to build a kingdom here on earth.

The video, which can be accessed HERE, shows a conversation facilitated by Os Hillman, who set up the “Reclaiming The Seven Mountain” website and who initiated the Seven Mountain Mandate a few years ago as a strategic maneuver of the New Apostolic Reformation. In the video Hillman is discussing the problems inherent with the term “dominion” with two of his key change agents: Lance Wallnau and Johnny Enlow. All three of these men have been deep into Dominionism, and their rhetoric and theology have been extreme. In fact, so much so that in the process of trying to deny dominion on this video, they are actually admitting it!

Their record speaks for itself, despite the denials. Even if they change their terminology, they are obviously supporting the theology that undergirds their global ambitions.

Os Hillman is a professional change agent who is now training other leaders to be change agents.[4] In fact, he published a book about it year titled Change Agent: Engaging Your Passion to be the One Who Makes A Difference (Charisma House, 2011). His book is endorsed by C. Peter Wagner, Kent Humphries, Graham Power, Paul Cedar, and Paul Cuny, among others, and the Foreword is written by Lance Wallnau, who reveals that he “first met Os while speaking in Connecticut about the seven mountains in the year 2000,” and, “It was C. Peter Wagner who extended to me his platform and circles of friends and introduced me to Os.”[5] Furthermore, Wallnau confirms that there is a secondary gospel that is now supplementing and replacing salvation—a gospel of a corporate salvation of societal institutions, nations and cultures:

In his Foreword to Hillman’s book, Lance Wallnau indicates that the main theological issue has to do with eschatology. He writes that

Always ask a change agent how they are defining their terms. What is “militating against the advance of God’s kingdom” mean? And who or what is going to be doing the “shaking”? And how? The answer, which Lance gives in his closing statement, is quite disconcerting. He misapplies an Old Testament prophecy to the Dominion Mandate in an ominous way:

In the Introduction to his Change Agent book, Os Hillman describes “the dynamics of believers positioned at the top of each sphere of influence that defines culture” and “who become problem solvers in that culture, thereby giving godly influence over it.” As was stated on the video, “influence” is a key term to describe the activities of Dominionist change agents. Again, one must ask: define “influence.” How is it done? To whom? Where? How? Hillman defines a change agent in his book as “men and women who solve societal problems.”[9] If this were a mere matter of influence, there would be no controversy; many Christians have exerted positive influence in positions of leadership in the church’s 2000 year history. But this “influence” is equated with a “Christian worldview” which means, in fact, a dominion worldview with a mandate to change culture. Hillman states:

As a matter of background information, change agentry is a form of wizardry in that it is a secretive, highly specialized training that involves how to manipulate people through powerful hidden psychological and sociological mechanics. These are subtle methods that are not recognized by those acted upon; they are therefore very vulnerable to the power that an elite trained change agent can exercise over them. Change agentry employs highly skilled techniques, including such controversial methods as the Delphi Technique (a deceptive and intimidating method of orchestrating group consensus), which are designed to shift a person from Point A to Point B in their worldview, beliefs, opinions, values, attitudes and behaviors. Change agents have a pre-determined outcome, a measurable goal to shift a paradigm. They are not necessarily the top leaders, but must be identified as key community influencers in a culture, community, village, or nation. An existing paradigm is most often easily shifted by various methods of peer pressure (especially in small groups), but in cases where that is not effective, penalties, force and coercion may be applied.[11] It is therefore in this overall context that Os Hillman’s book Change Agent must be viewed.

The theology articulated by these three men is summed up by Johnny Enlow, who is Os Hillman’s pastor,[12] in his book The Seven Mountain Prophecy: Unveiling the Coming Elijah Revolution,[13] as “‘restoration of a true theocracy.’” He claims that “Jesus is retained in heaven until Elijah’s Revolution…[which] will prepare for His final return.” This “revolution,” says Enlow “clearly entails the crushing of Satan here on Earth before He returns for His bride.”[14] Enlow’s militant church is supposedly told by God that

Hard core language for someone who is now engaging in semantic gymnastics on the issue!

Os Hillman, characteristic of most all Dominionists, re-casts the Fall in early Genesis into a “Dominion Mandate” which was corrupted and now needs to be rectified by the church. The emphasis is not placed on man’s sin and the sacrifice of Christ’s shed blood at the cross of Calvary as the atonement for our sins. Rather, the emphasis is placed on man (the church) undoing what went wrong in Paradise and fixing it. Hillman believes that in the Lord’s Prayer “Jesus was wanting to restore all that had been lost. His desire for His people has been for them to be at the top of every sphere of society.”[16]

Amending the supposedly insufficient Gospel of Salvation to include the gospel of the kingdom (Dominion) is the name of the game. Note Hillman’s corrupted gospel of Dominion:

Going a step further into the doctrinal abyss, Hillman asserts that Jesus has given “His representatives power of attorney to represent and enforce His interests on the earth. That is our role.”[22] (This extreme view may account for the strange antics of the NAR in attempting to “divorce Baal.”)[23] One should ask what Hillman’s oft-used term “enforce” means and how it will be applied to citizenry. Hillman also believes that the bride of Christ is maturing to a “preparatory dominion, as in the earth being prepared for the return of the King. When Jesus prayed the Lord’s Prayer, He prayed that what was in heaven would be manifested on the earth through His representatives.”[24] Hillman states that Jesus will “come back for a mature bride in order to reclaim the earth” and that do accomplish this “God needs His change agents” to “start this reclamation process.”[25]

Interestingly, according to Dominionists God can’t seem to do it on His own, but in needing man’s help to build this kingdom, He actually seems to need man’s machinations. Hillman says that there must be “quantifiable transformation” and that the “defining characteristic of a community that is being transformed is that the socioeconomic traits are being positively affected.”[26] As an example of “Kingdom solutions” for the HIV crisis in Uganda, Hillman does not cite the Gospel of Salvation. Rather, he employs the humanistic criteria of “promote sexual abstinence,” “stress the importance of monogamy,” and “place a high priority on instructions in preventative hygiene to the people.”[27] These global goals of “societal transformation”[28] bear little resemblance to the goals of a changed heart and changed lives through repentance from sins, forgiveness, sanctification and holiness. This all about changing external behavior, attitudes, beliefs, opinions and values – i.e., worldview – not about changing the heart.

As an aside, a familiar feature of Hillman’s book is his belief that a change agent needs to undergo six stages of progression to fulfill this “call.” These stages bear some resemblance to those articulated by Robert Hicks in the book The Masculine Journey, which was used during the Promise Keepers era as an experiential men’s study.[29] These six stages include crises, isolation and discovering “secret things.”[30]

By this time it should be abundantly clear that the “change agent” matrix from which these men operate is based on pure, unadulterated Dominion—no matter what else they try to call it. As they merge their agenda more and more into the evangelical mainstream via their connections with Emergent and Reformergent leaders, the language may become more sophisticated. But the agenda will stay the same. And the hard questions about what it means to “enforce” the kingdom of God on earth need to be asked.

“When he speaketh fair, believe him not:
For there are seven abominations in his heart.”
(Proverbs 26:25)

Endnotes:

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