Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI200463B
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00:01 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:03 Thanks for staying with us 00:04 and let's continue with Amireh Al Haddad. 00:08 This discussion of the, one of the hottest issues going 00:11 even though it seems to have slid past 00:13 the radar in the US pretty easy, 00:15 I think because of the impeachment sideshow, 00:18 or it was a sideshow to the impeachment. 00:19 Maybe there's a better way of putting it. 00:22 But there's an antecedent to the president's designation 00:26 first of Jerusalem as the capital, 00:28 and then the sudden revelation of this final and last 00:32 take it or leave it peace treaty. 00:35 As you've said, 00:36 this come from an evangelical faction, 00:41 the strong base of the president 00:43 and this is part of their theology. 00:46 But you mentioned 00:47 during the break the word dominionist? 00:49 Yes. Tell me more? 00:51 So I'm giving you a probably a very brief summary 00:55 of who a dominionist is, 00:58 But a dominionist is described as someone 01:00 who is working towards 01:04 creating God's dominion on earth. 01:08 They generally believe that this nation, 01:12 the United States should be a Christian nation. 01:15 They generally believe, and not generally, 01:18 they do specifically believe 01:20 that this country needs to return 01:24 its constitution to a more scriptural way. 01:27 I'm glad you said that 01:28 because it isn't just changing society. 01:30 It's changing the structure of the government itself. 01:32 It's changing the very essence 01:35 of what this country 01:37 is foundationally as where we started from, 01:43 and there, there has been a very consistent move 01:48 within dominionist to kind of re-educate 01:52 the young evangelicals in America today. 01:56 And they do so mainly by saying, 02:00 "This nation was founded on the Bible. 02:04 Our laws are founded on the Bible." 02:09 What's wrong with this country today 02:12 is that, we're not doing the biblical way. 02:15 There's a song I remember. 02:17 I'm sure I got the words are on 02:18 but it says wishing to make it so. 02:20 Right. 02:21 And you know these are people 02:23 I think by and large of good inclination, 02:25 and they wish that it was a Christian country. 02:28 They wish that it was a moral community. 02:31 We all do. Yes. 02:32 It's right. It's a good wish. 02:34 But they sort of projecting it on history 02:36 and history doesn't support 02:38 that the facts of the establishment 02:41 of this government and the Constitution itself 02:44 just doesn't bear up this mythical godly nation. 02:48 In essence, you know, God's people 02:50 like the Old Testament in the new Promised Land. 02:54 It's a fantasy, 02:56 but it's a dangerous fantasy I think. 02:57 Yes. 02:59 And it's a dangerous fantasy to religious liberty. 03:01 Right. 03:02 Well, of course, that's why we talk about it here. 03:04 For the most part, we can say, oh, we're Christians too. 03:07 Hey, we're Protestants. 03:09 We live in Protestant America. 03:11 But when you start breaking it down, 03:14 and if you're coming from the side of religious freedom 03:17 that we're coming from, 03:19 which is religious freedom 03:20 should be available for everyone 03:22 the way God gives it to us. 03:25 God gives everyone religious freedom. 03:27 Not the country, not the state. 03:29 Not the state. 03:30 The state recognized the inherent 03:33 but it didn't establish the right 03:35 and then, you know, didn't have the authority, 03:38 especially not in the US, because in theory, 03:40 the very power of the government 03:42 comes from the people, it's not giving to us, 03:45 we give to the government. 03:46 We give to the government, exactly. 03:48 And so, for this to come through 03:52 within dominionism, obviously, dominion, 03:56 the word dominionism comes from dominating, 03:59 to give dominion over all. 04:01 And so, you have to kind of ask yourselves, 04:04 well, if you believe in dominionism, 04:06 and you're going to be the person 04:08 that controls everything, 04:09 and you believe that only Christianity 04:12 is what this country is about, 04:13 well, where is religious liberty in that? 04:17 But again, the evangelical base 04:20 that is pushing this move in the Middle East, 04:25 also comes back to the US and like I said before, 04:31 you've got the tribe of Ishmael 04:32 and the tribe of Isaac always fighting, 04:35 but you have this third, 04:38 third leg that factors in which is evangelicals, 04:43 dominionists here in the US affecting US policy 04:47 overseas in order 04:50 to prepare Jerusalem 04:54 for Christ's second coming. 04:55 Right, it isn't just a matter of sympathy. 04:57 There's a direct agenda. 04:59 There's a direct agenda 05:00 that is focused on their religious beliefs. 05:02 And it's out of fringes, it gets quite bizarre, 05:05 you know, it involves 05:08 perhaps offending Islam there 05:11 with the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount, Temple Mount, 05:15 it involves tearing that down or removing it in some way, 05:18 reestablishing the temple worship, 05:21 the red heifer, 05:22 the ideal sacrifice and on we go again. 05:25 I mean, you couldn't create religious conflict 05:29 more directly if you tried than that scenario 05:32 and they're clearly pushing, pushing, pushing. 05:35 And so, it's one thing to have a religious view, 05:37 fine, we're all entitled to that 05:39 as right or wrong as those views may be. 05:41 If we're removed from political power 05:43 and forcing our views on other people, 05:45 no great harm done. 05:47 But to put this in tandem with US policy, 05:51 I think we're entering into a, at the very least, 05:55 a very fraught time. 05:57 But I want to take it a little bit further. 06:00 You brought up dominionism 06:01 which is a term most people know. 06:04 Actually, I found 06:05 that most people don't know that term. 06:07 Well, okay, maybe it's the wrong way 06:09 to put it, but it's commonly used. 06:11 It is commonly used. 06:12 It's not a secret term. 06:14 Right, yeah. 06:15 And I listen to a lot of the people representing it, 06:19 and of course, their spectrum 06:20 and not all of the quite the same mind. 06:22 And it ranges from people 06:24 who are very close to the root origin of dominionism, 06:30 which is Christian reconstructionism. 06:32 And others are just wanting 06:33 sort of to model in this continent. 06:37 You know, the godly nation sort of approach 06:40 and it's more aspirational than anything. 06:42 But one thing that unites them all 06:44 and you got onto it. 06:46 It's in the word, 06:47 it's not custody or stewardship. 06:50 Dominion's control, take, tell, 06:56 and I've seen it expressed in so many words. 06:58 This is the world is ours. 06:59 We can take us much oil out of the ground. 07:01 We don't have to be involved with the conservation. 07:06 That's God gave it to us. 07:08 We can do it with that as we want. 07:10 It's been said, 07:12 but it route the Christian reconstructionism 07:15 which I came across, 07:16 and I've mentioned it on this program 07:17 a number of times, 07:19 but I think it's a clear and present danger 07:21 to clear thinking in the United States. 07:24 It was established by Rushdoony, 07:26 I forget the year, 07:27 but it's been around many, many decades. 07:29 His son-in-law, Gary North carries it on 07:33 and I see him mentioned a lot over the years 07:36 in these gatherings often at the White House. 07:40 And I know that... 07:41 And Gary North has a very... 07:43 He has a very military, militant stance, 07:46 and he talks very militant, when he talks about, 07:50 you know, establishing and dominating 07:52 the world in truth. 07:54 In a nutshell they want an America modeled 07:57 after the Old Testament theocracy. 07:58 Yes. 07:59 Rule by, well, I don't know who the prophet 08:01 or the Shekinah Glory would be, 08:03 but probably the president 08:06 speaking ex cathedra on religious matters, 08:09 and you do what you're told, 08:10 and one of the clear parameters 08:14 of this new nation, 08:16 they've said that the penalties would be mandatory death 08:19 for adultery, 08:21 homosexuality and service breaking. 08:23 I mean, no, I can't think of an easy way 08:26 to explain the totalitarian vision 08:29 that they have done that and, but I would, 08:31 but I say there is good news, about a year and a half ago, 08:34 I'd say one of their representatives 08:35 was on TV. 08:37 And he must have been in a very charitable mood, 08:39 because he said they'd rethought their attitude 08:42 toward gays when they gain control, 08:45 that they would not apply the death penalty 08:47 if people kept quiet about it. 08:50 So there is charity even in such a hardness system. 08:54 But you know, 08:55 I don't myself think in any scenario, 08:58 or even the end of the world scenarios in Revelation, 09:01 I don't think this group 09:03 will ever gain power in their own right. 09:05 But already they've shown an ability 09:07 to bleed across and influence, 09:10 you know, their ideas to bleed across and influence 09:12 the larger Christian community in quite a toxic way I think. 09:17 It is toxic, and it bleeds in a different way too, 09:22 not just into the Christian community, 09:25 but it bleeds outside the Christian community, 09:27 because it hinders our ability 09:32 to show love to other people 09:34 who differ from us. 09:35 Yes, because it isn't true Christianity. 09:37 Great. 09:39 And it gives a false impression 09:42 of what Christians are about. 09:44 And why would anybody want to be friends 09:46 or why would anybody want to seek Christianity, 09:50 if that's what Christianity is about? 09:53 Yeah, it's not attractive to an outsider. 09:55 Right, it bleeds two ways. 09:57 To the insider it gives them and who many of whom 10:00 are from different spreads of life 10:02 and say in the Bible Belt, 10:04 it appeals more to middle or lower class. 10:08 You know, well, people that need the support of religion, 10:11 that's where religion gets its greatest strength 10:13 when people are desperate and needy. 10:15 Well, this empowers them in a great way, 10:17 you know, we're on the winning side, 10:19 we're on the move, we were, 10:21 you know, we've got might on our side. 10:23 I think the dynamic is quite frightening 10:25 if you think it through. 10:27 And when you think it through far enough, 10:30 what scares me is a version of the Christian Taliban, 10:35 where you really and truly 10:38 don't want the US 10:41 maintaining what people's religion will be. 10:44 You don't want laws 10:46 that are going to affect the country 10:50 to be based on Christianity alone. 10:54 We live in a secular society where we can all engage 10:58 despite the fact 11:00 that we may be different religiously. 11:02 And that's really what religious freedom is about 11:04 and what we try to maintain, 11:06 especially with religious liberty 11:08 here in America. 11:13 Many ago I watched 11:14 a rather historic movie called Khartoum 11:17 was some classic British actors. 11:21 And in one scene 11:22 Laurence Olivier playing the Mad Mahdi, 11:25 leading an avenging band of Muslim vigilantes 11:31 was sweeping down the Nile and toward Khartoum. 11:36 And he was talking 11:37 by night to the commander, Lord Gordon, 11:41 who eventually killed 11:42 and he says, you know, the Allah has shown me 11:47 that I will take Khartoum 11:49 and that I will move on to Egypt, 11:52 down to Cairo, it will all be mine, 11:55 it's told to me that this is my destiny. 11:58 Made a good film. 12:00 And of course it was based on history 12:02 and yet those not of that fanatical stance look askance. 12:07 But if we're not careful, even in the United States, 12:10 even in a land as educated and advanced as ours, 12:15 we can fall into that same thought. 12:19 American exceptionalism should not exist, cannot exist 12:23 while there is divine exceptionalism 12:26 and a God that rules on High. 12:30 For liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2020-06-11