Today God is First (Right After I Take Dominion)

Normally I don't do this and have actually gone back and removed names from a post dealing with an individual's false teaching. Today though I will name a name or two, but only because they are so subtle and also totally sold into their own theology. They also have a quarter million subscribers to their devotional. A number I likely will never reach nor aspire to. My hope is to help you avoid his teaching by telling you who it is.

I'm really fired fired up about this.

I have a friend at a company I used to work at and this company has a sort of group for Christian employees. I never joined it for several reasons, mainly that I was afraid it would lead to persecution somehow, was too worldly/superficial and I was starting to get back into weird stuff. Well, this group shares a devotional which my friend occasionally sends me.

The devotional is "Today God is First" by Os Hillman.

I read a few and found them kind of churchianity, kind of worldly, but occasionally found some value in them. Not often though. But one day Hillman wrote something that set off a little warning. I googled based on this warning and discovered my suspicions were right.

Os Hillman is a dominionist, and more importantly doesn't hide it aside from the fact that he doesn't like to use the word dominionist and does sort if hide it. He's really good at hiding it in his devotionals (some of which he adapts from C Peter Wagner's writings, another dominionist). He's a good little Ferengi, following the rule "never be afraid to mislabel a product".

What got me fired up is the devotional I received yesterday. Pray for discernment before you read it, as there's some almost true sounding stuff that actually isn't. I'll explain after the dump. The only thing I changed was to remove the date.

"The Queen of Heaven

TGIF Today God is First by Os Hillman

"The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven" (Jer 7:18).

If you want to change the spiritual climate of your city you must address the principalities that rule that city. Such was the case for the apostle Paul when he went to the city of Ephesus. There was a territorial principality that was worshipped by the people of Ephesus named Diana of the Ephesians (also known by her Greek name, Artemis). The people gave money to this false god and it strongly influenced the economy because of this. The city was also the center for magic and the occult.

Her temple in Ephesus was listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - the most outstanding and opulent example of architecture in the whole city. Her followers called her "magnificent," "great goddess," "savior," and "Queen of Heaven."

Paul preached in Asia for two years and had great success confronting this territorial principality. Paul began to neutralize the Queen of Heaven's power so much by the gospel that the common people began to notice. They not only stopped worshipping and sacrificing to her, the silversmith's who were manufacturing idols were going out of business, so they staged a public riot. They filled the huge amphitheater and shouted for two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19:34).

Many who were converted burned all of the idols and magic books. "When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power" (Acts 19:20). Based on the U.S. economy today, the pile of magic paraphernalia that was burned would have been worth four million dollars!*

In order for you to impact your city you must identify and break down the ruling principalities that may be hindering the gospel there. The more common principalities in the western world would include the religious spirit, the spirit of mammon, pride, and freemasonry to name a few.

Ask God for wisdom and discernment as you prepare to deal with your local and regional principalities.

Adapted from Confronting the Queen of Heaven, C. Peter Wagner, Wagner Books, 11005 N. Highway 83, Colorado Springs, CO p. 14-17 2001"

End devotional

Now, I used to be real gung ho "lets cast demons out of everything" and was super into spiritual warfare. I still believe in it of course, and do it, but I've learned alot.

And certainly all mission work is to be undertaken with much prayer, and i suppose a portion of that is asking God to move in a geographic area and asking Him to drive out any spiritual opposition. As i said I am a firm believer in and have experienced spiritual warfare firsthand.

What I take issue with is this:

" In order for YOU to impact your city YOU must identify and break down the ruling principalities that may be hindering the gospel there."

Emphasis added.

Where does the Bible say this? That prior to preaching we must break down territorial spirits? Where is God in this picture? What about the authority of Christ over the demonic? We certainly have no power on our own to do this. If he's encouraging spiritual warfare, at least explain it properly.

He doesn't.

Improper spiritual warfare is dangerous as you will see in the sons of Sceva.

The passage Hillman cites is Acts 19. But in the Bible I read, it doesn't say we're supposed to identify or confront territorial spirits to allow the Gospel to spread, much less do it ourselves. When Paul was on Mars Hill, he didn't confront or cast out the territorial spirits and idols there. He stood there and preached the Gospel. No mention of territorial spirits is made. In fact outside of Ephesians, I don't recall Paul mentioning principalities and powers, and we only see him casting spirits out of possessed people. Not in geographic areas.

An example is Acts 16:16 - 18 when Paul casts the demon out of the fortune teller. He didn't confront her or a spirit of divination before preaching. He only dealt with it after preaching for days and after he was irritated. And when he did attack, he relied on the power and authority of Jesus Christ, not his own.

Dealing with spirits is part of our Christian walk, but I don't see where we're supposed to do it before preaching or in our own power. I certainly don't see where we are to identify and confront them actively.

We're not to run around casting demons out on every street corner, or seeking to dethrone spiritual principalities and powers. I'm not going to run around my city trying to topple whatever evil spirit holds sway there. I don't think the Bible tells us to do that either.

We are to preach the Gospel first, THEN the other stuff comes. In Acts 19, Paul steadily preached the Gospel and telling people idols weren't gods for 2 years. Nowhere in the text do I see him moving against principalities (demons, etc.) directly. Perhaps it was part of his ministry, if he was attacked, but it was not the focus and it doesn't say he had to do it before preaching.

Maybe i missed it.

The only people seeking to confront the prinicpalities and spirits in acts 19 directly were the seven sons of Sceva and they were then beaten by the possessed individual. Of course they were unsaved, and didnt know Jesus, but I think there's a lesson there about looking for trouble.

And recall what Jesus said in Luke 10:20. "However, stop rejoicing because the spirits are submitting to you. Instead, rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

It seems to me that in preaching the Gospel and getting people saved (as the focus), satans forces get hip to us then seek us out for attack. We don't need to seek them out and topple them first. If we do our job to preach, they seek us out. Then they are to be dealt with.

The point I'm trying to make I guess is that the preaching precedes the having to deal with principalities and we shouldn't be going out of our way to seek out engagement.

I can assure you it's not something to play around with.

Moving on, how do I know Hillman is a dominionist and why is dominionism bad? First, Hillman's website has the infamous seven mountains right there on the front of his site, though he may call them spheres or something else this week.

I would refer you to derek gilberts vftb.net and pidradio archives to learn more about basic dominionist whackiness and the seven (insert allusion to a controllable something here). And not only is dominionism false teaching, they also make claims of doing things they don't do like you will see in operation ice castle below.

http://vftb.net/?tag=dominionism&paged=6

http://vftb.net/?tag=dominionism&paged=8

And perhap one of the best.

http://derekpgilbert.com/?p=3703

Brief overview of Dominion theology

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/06/dominion-at-first-it-may-seem-like.html

Onto Hillman. He's close to being right and has enough truth in his writing to sound right, but the best lies have a half truth. What mr. Hillman wrote about is pretty consistent with Dominion theology, though he's really good at hiding it.

This article is a must read if you read nothing else.

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/08/denying-dominionism.html

And here are some good quotes and articles.

"On his website, Hillman posts pieces written by Johnny Enlow, author of "The Seven Mountain Prophecy" which asserts that goal of Christians ought to be to establish a "virtual theocracy" in which government leaders will also be religious leaders so that they can present "the nations of the world to the Lord as His possession" and bring about the return of Christ."

And

"Hillman's website also sells the works of Lance Wallnau, one of the leading Seven Mountains proponents whose work has been central to the mission to "do whatever is necessary" to claim dominion."

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/wallnau-dont-say-dominionism-least-not-front-media

"Also issuing a denial was prominent Dominionist Os Hillman who helped launch the 7 Mountains movement and runs the reclaim7mountains website. Hillman is retrenching. He issued a syrupy brief statement[1] emphasizing that "Dominion, or perhaps a better word to use is influence, is a result of our love and obedience to God, not a goal to be achieved." However, the rest of his statement confirms the basic Dominionism platform of Genesis 1:28, adding in the neo-Kuyperian spheres and the idea of restoring heaven to earth."

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2011/08/denying-dominionism.html

And let's not forget Operation Ice Castle in which some dominionists claim to have climbed mount Everest to fight the queen of heaven. They actually didn't climb to the top. But they did go near it and claim they climbed and fought, as near as I understand this bizarre episode.

The main take away is their thoughts on spiritual warfare which are not Biblical.

This article is a good summary of the article below it.

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/12/spiritual-warfarers-battle-real.html

"The Bible does not speak or instruct us to confront principalities, powers in prayer or travel to where they are supposedly located to do prophetic prayer acts or declarations? According to the spirit warfare model of the new apostolic movement, it is necessary."

http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain64.htm

"Members of Wagner’s Third Wave/New Apostolic Reformation are convinced that their prayers can literally destroy individuals whom they’ve identified as demonic. Among those for whose deaths they claim credit are Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. Wagner taught his followers that a female mega-demon whom he called…“The Great Harlot of Mystery Babylon” lurked near the summit of Mount Everest…One of Wagner’s leading apostles in Mexico was a woman named Ana Mendez, a former witch in a Haitian voodoo cult…she led a team of twenty-six intercessors to Mount Everest in an assault she called, “Operation Ice Castle.” She and her elite force launched highly targeted intercessory prayers directly at the Great Harlot…Apparently, the prayers found their mark, killing the Harlot Queen."

http://www.joemcginniss.net/tag/dominionist

All of this to say, dominionism is bad and weird and grows more strange the deeper you get. It sickens me to learn that 250, 000 brothers and sisters are getting fed and partaking in this man's poison. It's even worse that Christians in a corporate setting are getting it as a quasi-official and reputable source of doctrine.

If you want good doctrinen go to the Bible!