On Earth As It Is in Heaven , livre ebook

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

© 2012 C. Peter Wagner
Published by Chosen Books 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Chosen edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-6896-9
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
GOD’S WORD—Scripture taken from GOD’S WORD. GOD’S WORD is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.
THE MESSAGE —Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
NIV—Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
Preface
1. A New Wine: The Second Apostolic Age
2 A New Horizon: Social Transformation
3. A New Paradigm: Dominion Theology
4. A New Theological Breakthrough: God Has an Open Mind
5. A New Vitality: The Power of the Holy Spirit
6. A New Reality: This Means War!
7. A New Scenario: The Church in the Workplace
8. A New Strategy: Learning from Experience
9. A New Influence: Money Answers Everything!
10. A New Urgency: Let’s Get the Job Done!
Endnotes
Scripture Index
Subject Index
PREFACE
Why did I write this book? Starting in the mid-1990s, I began to examine closely the church’s role in society. When I started my investigation, I did not consider becoming involved with culture, government, education, media and the marketplace a God-given assignment for us as believers. However, once I shifted my outlook, I began my usual modus operandi of researching and teaching the related issues and finally organizing my thoughts in a book.
As I was writing, I was aware that not all of my friends, even those who joined me in the charismatically inclined evangelical stream, would agree with all of the conclusions I was reaching. I expected the book to stimulate some creative tensions and fruitful dialogues that could help us all hear better what God is saying to the churches today. But I wasn’t envisioning the firestorm that ensued.
The book was first published under the title Dominion! with an exclamation point as part of the title. The subtitle was How Kingdom Action Can Change the World. The word “dominion” alone caused a stir of sorts, due both to my actual words about reforming society and even more so to a misrepresentation by some of what dominion means. From the outset, I was associated with people I do not know and a theology I do not accept. To call what followed a radioactive explosion of fear might fairly be an understatement. Some wanted me ousted from Christendom—immediately!
A fair number of observers sat nervously in the middle as naysayers slung out warnings about anything and everything called dominion. A few excitedly caught the vision for transformation, centered on what has come to be called the seven mountains. The silver lining was a media rush to my doorstep wanting me to explain, but not before the original book—this book you hold in your hands—under the original title Dominion! went out of print.
Now that this book is back in print, with a new title, let’s see if we can make some sense out of all this. The underlying premise of this book is that God wills that His people here on earth take dominion of the society in which we live, promoting the values, blessings and prosperity of His kingdom for everyone. The new title of the book, On Earth as It Is in Heaven, is meant to reflect the portion of the Lord’s Prayer that reads, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). You will read about this in considerable detail as you go through the book.
UNDERESTIMATING OPPOSITION
I now see that I severely underestimated the degree of opposition that had already developed in certain circles against what I call the dominion mandate. In fact, I am embarrassed to admit that a network of Christian apologists had been opposing what they called dominionism for some time; and when I wrote this book, I had not yet even heard the term nor read what they were writing. What were they saying? Let me just randomly choose from the Internet some of their descriptive phrases relating to dominionism: a “dangerous political movement,” “religious extremism,” “a betrayal of the political and social mores of our society,” “hate mongering,” “bizarre ideas of a handful of Christian Right players,” “aberration of true Christian theology,” “heresy” and “Christian imperialism,” just for starters.
The more I have read and analyzed this material, the more convinced I have become that fear is one of the principal driving elements underlying the sincere opposition by some to dominionism. While there are many other specific objects of fear pinpointed in the literature, most all of them can be summarized in the fear that dominionism will lead to a theocracy. Oddly enough, I am as apprehensive of a theocracy as the critics of dominionism are.
THE RESURRECTION OF A BOOK
Obviously, my customary publisher, Regal Books, is not susceptible to the fear of biblical dominionism, so the book is now resurrected and re-released with some changes, and with a kinder, gentler title: On Earth as It Is in Heaven.
In the interim, quite a few individuals ended up with copies of the controversial book. A flurry of public interest surfaced in mid-2011 when Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President. Some of his opponents attempted to find ways of associating him with dominionism, and the Internet lit up with animated discussions on the matter for about three months. TIME magazine ran a cover story on Governor Perry, accompanied by an article, “In God We Trust,” that described dominionists as those who believe the Bible should govern society. The article reports, “What is new in the 2012 race is the emergence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which was named by C. Peter Wagner, a Colorado Springs-based minister who writes books with titles like Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World and believes the world is in the grip of evil…. The NAR’s mission: to achieve dominion over the darkness through Christian activism in politics and beyond.” 1 In essence, the article states our purpose quite accurately.
Please allow me to say it in my own words.
A FOUNDATION FOR OUR MANDATE
I have written On Earth as It Is in Heaven to provide a biblical, theological and strategic foundation in order to help undergird the urgent mandate of God for the church to actively engage in transforming society. As I have said, this is a relatively new perspective or paradigm for many of us, both in the nuclear church and in the extended church of the workplace. In order to see the big picture, I will try to pull together many important conceptual threads, such as the biblical government of the church (such as the roles of apostles and prophets), dominion or Kingdom theology, an open view of God, the church in the workplace, the great transfer of wealth, and other related themes.
My basic premise is that God’s kingdom should come and that His will should be done here on earth as it is in heaven. This is clearly a Christian principle because, as I have said, these are the very words that Jesus taught His disciples to pray every day in the Lord’s Prayer. What would this look like? Every segment of the society in which we live would be permeated with the peace, justice, prosperity, health, righteousness, joy, harmony, love and freedom that characterize God’s original design for human life. All earthly societies, including the United States, would be happier and more fulfilled with these qualities of life fully realized than they would be without them. With this, you can see why my book’s title is On Earth as It Is in Heaven.
While committed Christians will embrace these values, Christians are not the only ones who do. Many non-Christians also agree that the societies in which we live should move in the direction of experiencing more peace, justice, prosperity, health, righteousness, joy, harmony, love and freedom, and they also want to participate personally in such a transformation.
Obviously, right now we all find ourselves on earth—not yet in heaven. Consequently, we must follow certain earthly rules if we are going to change our society for the good. A starting point is to recognize what many of us have been calling the seven mountains, which are the supreme molders of culture. These are religion, family, education, media, government, arts and entertainment, and business. For a given society to change, each one of the seven mountains needs to be influenced, or dominated, by persons of goodwill, whether Christians or non-Christians. This is a positive way of looking at dominionism.
My hope is that those who agree with God’s ideal for human life will be those who find themselves, at the end of the day, in positions of influence over society, whether it be within cities, states, nations or other territories or people groups. The biblical ideology underlying this vision is called dominion theology, which I expla