Dominionism as a coercive religious movement (part 3)

In yesterday's diary entry, I began a comparison of tactics between the "deliverance ministry" movement--the movement behind Ted Haggard's New Life Church, the camp shown in "Jesus Camp", and a surprising amount of the dominionist movement--and the Church of Scientology.  (In many ways, it is truly amazing just how similar their tactics are--even knowing that both are coercive religious groups.)

Today, we continue that comparison, including an in-depth look at one of the scariest aspects of modern dominionism--the "Joel's Army" movement--and the infamous Sea Orgs of Scientology.

Just as important, we get to discuss just how this is important to you.

Even more disturbing than the targeting of kids--and especially disturbing in light of that and the use of literal brainwashing techniques by dominionist "deliverance ministry" groups--are the parallels between the use of martial imagery in Scientology and "deliverance ministry" movements.  

Most of us are, by now, familiar with the movie Jesus Camp--for those who aren't, it's a documentary featuring the "Kids on Fire" neopentecostal group which runs a camp designed to teach children as young as toddlers the finer points of neopentecostal "spiritual warfare".  It is actually a frighteningly accurate description, and most people who've seen it describe it as disturbing at best.

What most people don't know is that "Kids on Fire"--and dominionist training in "spiritual warfare"--is by no means an exception to the rule.  

Another Assemblies frontgroup that promotes itself as a "Christian alternative" to Boy and Girl Scouting--the Royal Rangers and Missionettes--has rather explicitly endorsed "deliverance ministry" and "spiritual warfare" up to and including protests in support of Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps and apparently also runs a center where paramilitary training of its equivalent of "Eagle" scouts occurs.  Bill Gothard, whom we've previously mentioned, also does paramilitary training for "God Warriors":

Gothard operates what appears to be a paramilitary-like training school for teenagers on a 2,200-acre former college campus in Big Sandy, Texas, as part of his ALERT program (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) -- purportedly for domestic missions work via the providing of disaster relief and humanitarian aid (see second paragraph of Endnote #9). Gothard states that "ALERT is an intensive program in which young men [male graduates of ATI] ages sixteen and older are trained in Biblical principles, Godly character, and practical skills. ALERT utilizes military disciplines to train young men to restore life, rather than take it, and to bring peace and encouragement to those in distress. The present program involves the following phases: (1) Discipline: in physical strength, endurance, and self-control; (2) Skills: in a wide range of vocational specialties; and (3) Emergency Services: in response to calls from cities, states, and nations." (Source: IBLP Internet web site, 8/97.) As of July, 2000, the program had 181 enrolled and 600 graduates.

Since the hyper-spiritual warfare motifs of the Latter Rain movement are beginning to take a sinister shift towards actual military, Gothard's involvement in paramilitary-like things causes us to wonder if there is a connection. Don't forget that Joel's Army has a "chosen seed" (the coming generation) to carry out its purpose on earth, which is dominion (both physical and spiritual). In this context, Christians should have some grave concerns about Gothard's activities.

Oh, yeah, that entire "Joel's Army" thing.  "Joel's Army" is a concept that pretty much is restricted to neopentecostal "Third Wave" churches, and is an extension of "spiritual warfare" groups.  In essence, these groups believe that towards the end of days, a literal "God Army" will rise up--and when Christ comes back at the end of the Tribulation, they will slay literally everyone else on the planet and enact a Pax dominionista.  Even scarier, they believe that themselves--and especially the kids being raised in places like the "Kids on Fire" camp depicted in "Jesus Camp"--are in fact that "endtime overcomer army".

Let Us Reason, noted above, goes into a bit more detail:

Joel 2:23 also speaks of a harvest of abundance. But the modern interpreters have given Joel's army new significance. Joel's army will purge the earth (the cleansing) of all wickedness and rebellion and even judge the apostate Church (which is those who do not join their fraternity of miracle workers). They will overcome death itself, they will redeem all creation, and restore the earth. The Church will inherit the earth, and rule the nations all before Christ comes back. When he (Jesus) does come we are to hand the kingdom over to him and he will say job well done, enter into the kingdom. The real Joel's army in Joel 2 does NO miracles and marches strictly through the land of Israel making destruction, there is no blessing from Joel's army marching. If one reads through about Joel's army they find that they will be destroyed in the end.

Because Joels army is called God's army they think that they are his people. they may be doing Gods will but they certainly are not his Church or saints. In the same way Cyrus was called Gods shepherd Isa.44:28 he was given all the kingdoms of the earth Ezra 1:2, 2 chron.36:23,  He was called Gods anointed Isa. 45:1"Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held-- to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut." Sounds familiar? Nebuchadnezzar was also called Gods servant Jer. 43:10"and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them."One must consider the actions of these mens teachings in light of what Joel is actually saying. So despite their new interpretation, the Bibles definition still stands. They may be called Gods army but they are not his people. Joel's army is the raising up of a devouring army of locusts, (destroyers) to bring judgement upon the land. Whether its Israel or the church, its not good.
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Benny Hinn shows his latter Rain ties with "The lord said this , this is where my people will rise up as an army and bring millions into the kingdom of God." (Benny Hinn Honolulu Blaisdale Jan.21 1999)

Jack Deere states "This army is unique...when this army comes , its large and mighty. it's so mighty that there has never been anything like it before. Not even when, Moses not even David, not even Paul . what's going to happen, now will transcend what Paul did, what David did what Moses did...

Rick Joyner teaches ""What is about to come upon the earth is not just a revival, or another awakening; it is a veritable revolution. The vision was given in order to begin to awaken those who are destined to radically change the course, and even the very definition of Christianity. The dismantling of organizations and disbanding of some works will be a positive and exhilarating experience for the Lord's faithful servants...the Lord will raise up a great company of prophets, teachers, pastors and apostles that will be of the spirit of Phinehas ... this "ministry of Phinehas" will save congregations, and at times, even whole nations. ...Nations will tremble at the mention of their name..."(THE HARVEST, Rick Joyner)

Notice Its not the name of Jesus they will tremble at but THEIR NAME. All this from a vision to awaken the destined.

For that matter, the highly controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" game--a game which features a "Tribulation Force" killing non-dominionists who refuse to convert and which are based on Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" books (which are in fact a fictionalisation of the premillenial-dispensationalist idea of the Rapture as held by neopentecostal groups in particular)--could actually be considered in this mindset, too; literally, the books and the game fictionalise much of the ideology behind "Joel's Army".

Another apologetics site goes into more detail:

The entire Evangelical church world is being assaulted with the Kingdom Dominion Theology. It is like mortal combat between those who defend the Biblical doctrines of the End Times (The Rapture of Christ's Bride, the Tribulation followed by the Millennium) and the "New Wave Theology." A book entitled Joel's Army describes this "New Wave Theology" as promoted by one New Wave organization. The author stated that this ministry was "holding conferences overseas and throughout the U.S.A. Churches and denominations are being proselytized and preyed on with a 'gospel' they claim is ordained to bring forth:

1. the greatest revival the Church has ever known;

2. the greatest baptism of the Spirit the Church has ever experienced;

3. the greatest Army (Joel's Army) distinguished by invincibility, immortality and divinity;

4. the greatest purging (inquisition) in the history of the Church;

5. the greatest ministry - the Prize of all Ages; and

6. the greatest miracles, supernatural signs and wonders far exceeding that of the Apostles and Prophets of old." (JOEL'S ARMY, pages 1&2).
...
Let us look at the description of this army from the key leaders promoting the idea. A staff minister with Vineyard Ministries said the following in a message entitled, "Joel's Army."

"....this army is totally unique. This army, there's never been one like it and there never will be one like it in ages to come. ...It's so mighty that there's never been anything like it before. Not even Moses, not even David, not even Paul. What's going to happen now will transcend what Paul did, what David did. . .what Moses did, even though Moses parted the Red Sea. . .there'll be a numerous company. . .Revelation hints at this when it talks about the 144,000 that follow the Lamb wherever He goes and no one, no one can harm that 144,000. See, that's a multiple of 12. What's 12? Twelve is the number of the Apostles, 12 is Apostolic government. And when you take an important number in the Bible and you multiply it, it means you intensify it. So 12,000 times 12,000 = 144,000 [Author's Note: Wrong math]. That is the ultimate in Apostolic government. Revelation talks about that. Well, here Joel is talking about it now in different words, a powerful, a MIGHTY ARMY with many Pauls, many Moses', many Davids." (JOEL'S ARMY, VINEYARD MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL 1990.)

One outspoken leader now deceased called this army Gods' Elijahs. "This end time army will be made of the Elijahs of the Lord God." He even speaks of the temple being built and filled as a spiritual thing, totally ignoring the temple as a Jewish promise with absolutely no reference to the church of Jesus Christ. The same man said the following:

"This army will inspire fear and terror in the hearts of its adversaries. In Joel 2:4-6 it says this: 'They have the appearance of horses, they gallop along like a flame of fire (???) with a noise like the chariots they leap over the mountain tops like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them nations are in anguish, every face turns pale.'

...Bob Jones calls them, 'THE DREAD CHAMPIONS.' Those that will be raised up to champion the cause of God who will bring dread to the hearts of men."

He described their activities as follows:

"They will move into things of the supernatural that no one has ever moved in before. Every miracle, sign and wonder that has ever been in the Bible - they'll move in it consistently. They'll move in the power that Christ did. Every sign and wonder that's ever been will be many times in the last days. They themselves will be that generation that raised up to put death itself underneath their feet and to glorify Christ in every way. . .and the Church that is raising up in the government will be the head and the covering for them. So that that glorious church might be revealed in the last days because the Lord Jesus is worthy to be lifted up by a church that has reached the full maturity of the god-man!" (Visions & Revelations, Fall 1988.)

Mike Bickle also connected with Kansas City Prophets spoke of the anointed men who will represent this New Wave.

"There's Apostles, there's Imminent Apostles and there's MOST IMMINENT APOSTLES. . . . There's various levels of Apostles and the Lord was showing that. . . . out of This Movement there would be 35 apostles. . .that will be of the highest level of apostolic ministry. . .the whole government of this movement in its highest level in all places it goes. . . .the government rests on Apostles and Prophets......Though I believe there will be hundreds of apostles in this movement and every movement will have its apostles and prophets, I believe God, He's merging Apostles in a number of movements now and He's going to add prophets to the prophets that are already there and He's going to bring us to higher statures." (Visions & Revelations, Kansas City Fellowship.)
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Since Joel's Army is supposed to be men and women taking possession of this earth for their King, a second class of warriors becomes necessary. These they call the "Phineas Priesthood." Rick Joyner made mention of those with the "spirit of Phineas" in his book, The Harvest.

"The dismantling of organizations and disbanding of some works will be a positive and exhilarating experience for the Lord's faithful servants.....a great company of prophets, teachers, pastors and apostles will be raised up with the spirit of Phineas..." (THE HARVEST, Rick Joyner).

A book written by Richard Kelly Hoskins entitled, "Vigilantes Of Christendom," describes these warriors. He says of them, "As the Kamikaze is to the Japanese, As the Shiite is to Islam, As the Zionist is to the Jew, So the Phineas priest is to Christendom." It is very clear that they are preparing to slaughter those who resist their authority. Jesus warned that, "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." (St. John 16:2). That sounds exactly like the great inquisitors of the dark ages.

Earlier we quoted from a book entitled Joel's Army. The author, Jewel van der Merwe, describes these vigilantes as following:

"The DAY OF THE LORD as seen through the eyes of the NEW WAVE 'prophets' will be a time when JOEL'S ARMY led by the 'prophets' will pour out God's wrath on the church. Then for the first time in two thousand years the 'pure church' will come forth. In other words, the 'blood of Christ' did not avail, nor will it in the LAST DAYS because JOEL'S ARMY and the 'prophets' will do what the blood could not, i.e., cleanse the Church. If indeed it takes JOEL'S ARMY to purify the church, then all the preaching of the Cross from the early Church to the present was in vain. And rather than the 'cross' being God's final answer to 'walking in newness of life' . . ., we do well to look for another. The JOEL'S ARMY doctrine as it applies to the Church and world is not only in total conflict with the 'Gospel of Christ', but is a radical new rendition of the doctrine of redemption and purification. By all analysis, it is 'another gospel' and poses a real threat to unstable churches in that it is yet another great deception beguiling the Church." (JOEL'S ARMY, page 9.)

(As a related aside, the specific use of the term "Phineas Priest" is interesting--as this shows yet another connection between the "Joel's Army" movement and Christian Identity (which are actually brother movements, both descended from the concept of "Serpent Seed" theology--which we'll get into tomorrow).  The Anti-Defamation League has more info on the Christian Identity version of "Phineas Priests"--specifically their connection to "The Order", one of the most violent Christian Identity groups documented.)

Scientology, too, has its parallels here--as it turns out, there's a group called the "Sea Orgs" (including a literal yacht converted over to a pseudo-navy boat) which essentially acts as Scientology's own private army.  The "Sea Orgs" largely consists of people who cannot afford the ludicrous fees for Scientology training sessions (which can run well over $400,000 US to find out all one's troubles are the result of 75-million-year-old space ghosts)--and sign themselves up in billion-year contracts essentially bonding themselves as indentured servents.  (It should not shock anyone that lot of the most extreme abuse in Scientology occurs in the Sea Orgs.)  In some ways, in fact, the Scientologists are less extreme, or at least far more covert about their militarism, than the "spiritual warfare" crowd in dominionism is!

Both dominionists and Scientology have, in fact, attempted to infiltrate and influence the government.  Usually, it's in the same realm as Focus on the Family does (in potential abuse of tax-exempt status); some could argue that government spying could have to do with this, too.

One of the more distinctly unusual efforts at this on behalf of the "deliverance ministry" crowd involved going into the Senate chambers and "annointing" seats with Wesson oil in a literal attempt to hex the Senate into voting for the confirmation of Alito:

A group of three ministers who have a history of advocating that the Ten Commandments should trump the U.S. Constitution have told the Wall Street Journal that they entered an unlocked Senate hearing room  in order to anoint with oil the chairs that will be used for the confirmation hearing next week of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.

"We did adequately apply oil to all the seats," said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who identified himself as an evangelical Christian and as president of the National Clergy Council in Washington. He was accompanied by Rev. Pat Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, and Grace Nwachukwu, general manager of a group called Faith and Action, of which Rev. Schenck is president and co-founder. Rev. Schenck, Rev. Mahoney, and Rev. Nwachukwu spearhead the National Ten Commandments Project, launched in 1996, and claim to have distributed more than 400 plaques of various sizes that can be seen in offices throughout the Capital.

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(The "annointing" with Wesson-oil, I should note, is not done in the traditional Jewish or Catholic contexts (of explicitly blessing or sanctifying an object); rather, this is yet again bound up in "deliverance ministry" and dominion theology in that they are--to put it very bluntly--doing this as a method of territorial pissing.

Generally, the "spiritual warfare" crowd--quite unlike the priests of Israel--quite literally see annointing an object with oil (and according to their words, it can be olive oil, but if olive oil is unavailable Wesson oil will do--the important thing is the "faith" behind the wielder) as a way to "bind" or "tie" an object--to leave a physical link to "claim the object or person for Jesus".  In other words, they are using it quite literally as a form of territorial pissing (and forgive my minor crudeness in that, but the intent is EXACTLY the same as a dog peeing on a fire hydrant--marking an object or person as theirs).

How do they justify this?  Basically, dominion theology in places like the Assemblies of God (and its "descendant" theologies like word-faith (aka "name it and claim it"), deliverance ministry groups, the whole Third Wave movement, etc.) operates like this:

a) In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are tempted by Satan, this causes all of mankind to fall.

b) Satan thus gains dominion over the earth (as man was supposed to hold dominion by God's command).

c) Jesus is born, preaches, gets crucified, spends three days in hell either being tortured by Satan or wrestling Satan.

d) EVERYONE screws up Jesus and Paul's ministry, especially the Catholics, until the pentecostal movement comes around in the 1900s.

e) The Pentecostals are seen to them as the only ones in nearly 2000 years who "got it right", seeing as the fact that they are yammering in tongues and barking at "demons" is seen as the One True Sign they actually got it right.

f) Earth is still held largely in Satan's dominion, but the "saved" (in AoG terms, those who not only have confessed to Christ being their saviour but who have been "baptised in the Holy Ghost" with the evidence of same being the talking-in-tongues thing) can take dominion back by claiming things in the name of Christ.

One of the most common uses of "annointing with Wesson oil" is marking of literal physical territory that is claimed to be "possessed by territorial spirits" and "claiming it for Christ"; another common use is--and I do not use this term lightly--literal cursing of people in the name of Christ.

Specifically, a common method of cursing someone in the name of Christ is to annoint their personal belongings--bedding, chairs, etc.--surreptitiously, and then have prayer gangs (of two or more) pray that the person will be miserable--to the point of suicide, often--unless and until they do exactly what the group of people praying want.  (Sometimes this is to cease drinking; sometimes this is to convert to the church; in this particular case, it's to vote in a specific way.)

The oil does not have to be specifically sanctified--the word-faith preachers (whom this started with) actually claim that the faith of someone who is "truly Saved" can "sanctify the oil, even Wesson oil" so that it can be used to "mark territory".  (Again, as noted, they quite literally see everything as either the territory of "God's people" or of Satan--including other human beings.  That's right--they literally do not see people outside the church as human.)  As an aside, real annointing oil would be horrendously expensive to make, if the old Biblical recipe were used.

This particular practice seems to have actually originated in the Assemblies of God among word-faith preachers (which is where dominion theology started in that denomination) where they would annoint people with Wesson oil "to annoint them and secure a healing over them" and has been practiced for at least thirty or more years among the group--it's an especially sick form of scripture twisting designed to literally hex people.  The hexing is actually an extension of the use in "word-faith" aka "name it and claim it", which is very very tightly bound with "spiritual warfare" theology in the AoG and other pente groups in particular that are involved in dominionism.  (Ted Haggard's New Life Church is an example of a neo-pentecostal group that, while not directly affiliated with the Assemblies of God, preaches almost identical theology.  Many "charismatic" (actually neo-pentecostal) churches, including the Vineyard churches and churches embracing the Brownsville aka Toronto aka Kansas City Pastors aka Third Wave theology, also have this as an essential part of their theology and also do the Wesson-oil "annointing" thing.)

They, ironically, do not see it as hexing even though there are actual Biblical warnings against cursing people in general and taking of the Lord's name in vain (or in some translations, misuse of the name of the Lord).  They see it as "establishing a stronghold", "driving demons out"...but it is cursing, all the same.  (Yes, this was actually one of the things that led me to become a walkaway--realising that they are cursing people, which I found (along with other practices of theirs) to be highly un-Christian.)

Examples of this in dominionist circles include this page (which shows the original bit of scripture-twisting used by word-faith preachers to do the whole "annointing with oil" thing; the site's links page is explicitly not only dominionist but premillenial-dispensationalist), this site (demonbuster.com is a dominionist "deliverance ministry" site) that uses excerpts from an exorcism manual distributed by Moody Bible Institute; a dominionist "word-faith" healing manual that notes the use of Wesson oil (this church may be affiliated with International Foursquare, a descendent denomination of the Assemblies of God (and the world's first "radio church") or the Evangelical Covenant Church, and is apparently premillenial dispensationalist); and finally another example from a dominionist church noting how the Wesson oil is seen mostly as a "tie" or "representing the Holy Spirit", not explicitly to bless someone. (The last is from a church affiliated with Calvary Chapel, which also operates one of the largest "religiocasting" networks in the US--largely via a multitude of front companies and largely as translator networks.))

More disturbingly, the dominionists behind "deliverance ministry" HAVE directly attempted infiltration of other governments.  I will write much more on this tomorrow, but a particular Assemblies frontgroup called the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International has been the major conduit for both the spread of "Third Wave" and "Joel's Army" type stuff--AND has a history of deliberate interference with governments, including Guatemala (at least twice), Honduras, Nicaragua (in support of the Contras), South Korea (via Paul Yonggi Cho, who we'll be writing on next week), Australia (via the Family First party), Paraguay, Venezuela, and others.  

In the case of Latin America, very often this has involved literal military coups  by dominionists and actively assisted by dominionist churches--both Rios Montt (the last military leader of Guatemala) and Serrano Elias (most well known for attempting a auto-coup to seize total power, necessitating a military coup to get him out) are dominionists--both members of a church (El Shaddai Church) which is linked to the FGBMFI as well as Paul Yonggi Cho and which the present district pastor of Ted Haggard's New Life Church formerly served at.

Whilst Scientology doesn't literally try to curse people in the name of L. Ron Hubbard, they have their own bag of dirty tricks--and, much like dominionists, have attempted to get into governmental places where they don't belong.  Namely, when the IRS started to investigate whether Scientology deserved their tax-exempt status, they snuck into IRS offices to interfere with the investigation which was part of an organised campaign called "Operation Snow White which targeted governments worldwide:

Operation Snow White was a systematic attempt by the Church of Scientology to infiltrate and steal classified files on Scientology from governments all over the world. Its exposure by the FBI in 1977 led to the arrest and imprisonment of the senior leadership of the Church's intelligence agency, the Guardian's Office, in the US and Canada.

The program consisted of a number of sub-programs ("Snow White Operating Targets" or "SWOTs"), each with a different codename, aimed at targets in particular countries or international organisations. The original aim of the program was to expose and legally expunge "all false and secret files of the nations of operating areas" and to enable OTC (the Panamanian-registered front organisation for the Sea Org), the Apollo (the Sea Org flagship) and L. Ron Hubbard himself to "frequent all Western nations without threat." Crucially, the word "legally" was later removed to enable this goal to be met through clandestine (and illegal) operations.

From the LermaNet article:

According to the FBI affidavit, the investigation leading to the raids yesterday began when Meisner and another Scientologist, Gerald Bennett Wolfe, were caught using forged IRS credentials to enter the U.S. Courthouse here in June, 1976.

Wolfe ultimately pleaded guilty to using the fake credentials, and was sentenced last month to two years on probation. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Garey Stark said at the time of the sentence that he was continuing to investigate because, among other reasons, Wolfe had refused to enter a plea to a misdemeanor and co-operate but instead wanted to plead to a felony that could have ended in a five-year prison term for him.

(There is a full timeline here in regards to Operation Snow White.  Among other things, this is part of why the German government doesn't give Scientology tax-exempt status in that country.)

Now, how does this relate to dominionism, you may ask?

Well, it seems a lot of the major parties involved in this are at the very heart of the dominionist movement.  I've already mentioned the role that the Assemblies (the largest pente dominionist group worldwide) plays; here are some others:

Soldiers of Christ (Ted Haggard's church in Colorado Springs--New Life Church is very heavily into both "third wave" teachings and "word-faith"--both of which incorporate elements of "deliverance ministry" heavily)
Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters (National Religious Broadcasters, which is the major association of "godcasting" networks and heavily linked to groups involved in "deliverance ministry")
Mike Warnke [1] (regarding known fraud Mike Warnke (who claimed to be an ex-Satanist but was exposed in Cornerstone Magazine--itself historically friendly to dominionists, which should give you some idea of just how bad it was) and involvement of his co-author and major supporter in the Coalition on Revival, one of two major "think tanks" and planning committees for dominionist groups)
Mike Warnke [2] (more direct links between Warnke and a member of the Coalition on Revival, thus proving dominionist groups into "deliverance ministry" were the major force behind "satanic panic")

The fact that these people--especially the NRB, which is the driving force behind the "parallel media" used by dominionists--are promoting groups that use tactics that are often identical to one of the most infamous coercive religious groups should frighten people.

The fact that these people are also pushing for a national agenda where they would have the power of law to commit someone to "Christian Counseling" and involuntary exorcism should horrify people to the point of action.

This also relates, interestingly, to both the theological basis of dominionism and to the disturbing promotion of "spiritual warfare" groups.  In the groups promoting "deliverance ministry", there's a theology (which we'll get into in far more detail tomorrow) which essentially claims that the US and Israel are the "two chosen nations of God"--but also teaches quite explicitly that "blessings can be stolen" if one "doesn't claim dominion over them".  (Incidentially, this is also the exact same theological basis for "word-faith" teaching--aka "Prosperity Gospel" or "Name it and Claim it"--that somehow "Satan has stolen your blessing" and one must "name and claim" something.)

Essentially, not only are these dominionists terrified that if they do not change the US to a theocracy that the US will somehow lose God's blessing, they are also terrified that the rest of us will in essence "infect" them and cause demons to "oppress and possess" the US.  Hence, they must "claim dominion" over the country, in their minds--not only to secure "God's blessing on the US" but to pretty much begin a planet-wide exorcism.

In this same theology that teaches that people can be "oppressed" and possessed by Satan due to something as simple as wearing a pair of Nike shoes, they also teach that people who are opposed to them are from the "Serpent Seed"--the literal and spiritual children of Satan himself--and that people who leave the group are in fact also sons of the devil in that they have "committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost".

(And yes, Scientology has its parallels here too.  People who are especially critical of Scientology are seen as "SPs"--"suppressive persons"--and can cause people to get new "body thetans"--a process known as "enturbulation" in Scientology-speak.  Scientology, too, has its ultimate goal of "clearing the planet"--including getting rid of those "suppressive persons" by any means necessary.)

Tomorrow--a full history of dominion theology, including the extensive (as in pre-World War II) history of political dirty tricks in the movement.