I am reposting this from the following link. "I" did not write this, but my brother in law emailed it to me & it is one of the best articles I have ever read.
http://americanvision.org/2515/to-do-list-for-dominion/
"Once upon a time Christians knew what they believed. They knew why they believed it. We often shake our heads at what goes on the world. We don’t like the anti-Christian laws being passed, more government control, our freedoms regulated and the general secularized state of our nation. However we have failed to recognize who dropped the ball. Christians have lost something very basic and precious: the ability to articulate the gospel. Most Christians profess to believe in the Great Commission that Jesus commanded, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19)
How do we suppose nations will become discipled if we are unable to give even a reasonable answer for the hope that lies within us? How do we expect to handle confrontations without being blown away by any intelligent worldly answer?
Furthermore, how do we suppose things will change in our society when for the most part, solutions to problems in the world are coming from the heathens? If Christians aren’t actively contributing to expanding the Kingdom and bringing God’s perfect and timeless law into society, we have no right to shake our heads.
On another note, there are many professing Christians who believe eschatology (the study of future things or “end times”) is interesting, but it doesn’t – or shouldn’t impact our everyday lives. They have an “only God knows what’s going to happen” mentality, having no regard for the potential consequence it may have on future generations and society at large.
Your eschatology (as indifferent as it may be) affects your worldview, and thus, your actions. For example, if I believe God is going to rapture me out of the troubles and conflicts of this world, or if the world is predestined to get worse, I won’t bother trying to come up with biblical solutions to a humanistic economic system that my children and grandchildren will have to live with. Why would I think multi-generationally? The heathens understand this and have come up with ways to make money off this type of “now-ism” – see here.
If I don’t think Bible prophecy matters, I also do a disfavor to future generations. How? For one, I am at risk of misinterpreting entire books of the Bible and dozens of passages. That is a problem. If you misinterpret scripture, you are at risk of misinterpreting God’s will and teaching others (including your children) based upon your misunderstanding. Misinterpretation of scripture can lead to serious deviations from orthodox Christianity and lead to cults. Proper understanding of Scripture is a matter of eternity. If you have the wrong Jesus, you are worshiping a false god. The Mormons do this. Their Jesus is supposedly the same Jesus of Christianity, however, when you delve a little deeper you discover that there is a great deviation from the Bible. The Mormon Jesus is the blood-brother of Satan who was conceived by God and Mary having physical relations. Serving that Jesus could cost you dearly. Interpretation matters. Prophecy is not a salvation matter, but it is extremely important because it is part of the Word of God. It relates His will for us. It relates to our obedience. It affects our understanding of the covenants He has made. It also affects how we interpret the times and how we act upon them. It affects your children. It affects your grand children and beyond. Don’t you want to know how your every day decisions and actions will affect the future? I do. I want to know that my theology and eschatology is affecting the Kingdom of God in an exponential way. That was how God designed it.
The bottom line is if your eschatology is anything other than victorious, you are expecting defeat. You ultimately anticipate Christ’s failure in history. What better way to paralyze and neuter the church than to have it believe the world will get worse and eventually be handed over to an “Anti-christ”? Isn’t that a powerful lie? But, you say, the world IS getting worse. That is the thing about self-fulfilling prophecy. If you keep saying things are supposed to get worse, continue to disengage, keep preaching from the pulpit that we are not ”of this world”, keep preaching that the earth is Satan’s domain, and that means keeping our hands out, guess what…….. things will get worse! But mostly because we let it. We allowed it. We endorsed it. Then we said it was prophetic. I call that not prophetic, but pathetic.
One of the recurring themes from Genesis to Revelation is God’s continual calling of man to responsibility. We see in history when Christians took their role seriously and engaged as God willed how Christianity shaped and influenced entire cultures as well as the impact it had on modern science and technology, music and the arts.
Consider the influential men of history who had bold faith and a victorious attitude such as Saint Patrick. Though he endured horrible times and afflictions, God used him to convert an entire island with generations of paganism. That was one man in one life span. What would our nation be like if all God’s people changed their bad attitude and stepped into positive action?
That got me thinking about what I could do as a wife and mother. Like many others, when I want to accomplish something, I need a practical action plan. Men don’t go to war thinking “who cares what the enemy is planning, we’ll just let the cards fall where they may” kind of sissy attitude. They have military strategies. They study the enemy and know their weaponry. They have a plan of action.
Here is my to do list:
#1 Get a biblical worldview. We are secular humanists and we don’t even know it. These days, the only way you haven’t been directly influenced by secular humanism is if you’re Amish – and we could probably learn a few things from them (ie: they’re probably laughing at us in this economic crisis). The Barna Group reports that only 19% of Christians who profess they “have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today” and who “are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior” — hold a biblical worldview. Even if you love the Lord with all your heart– statistically, it’s very likely you do not have a biblical worldview. It is imperative we get one. Get some materials from places like AmericanVision, Strategic Christian Services, and GaryNorth.
#2 Get married and have a family. Atheists can do this too, so it is imperative that we hold a biblical worldview with which we approach every thought, action, decision and idea within the family unit. Why have a family? It is the backbone of society. That is why when you delve into the roots of socialism, you find the strategic intent to destroy Christianity and the family. Do we want a biblical society? Start by having a biblical family. I believe there are very few who have the “gift” of singleness. Find a good mate. Use wisdom. Pop out some kids. Raise up godly, clear-thinking Christians who will take dominion as God commands.
#3 Have children, and if possible, lots of them. The Bible doesn’t suggest that we “be fruitful and multiply”, it commands us to. Having one or two kids is not multiplying; it is not growing the population. That is barely a replacement rate. Meanwhile, the Muslim culture continues to out-populate everyone with an average birth rate of 6 per household. Get busy people.
#4 Bring up my children with a Christian, bible-based education. If we want to expand the Kingdom, do not, I repeat, do not give our kids away to the government. I cannot be so arrogant as to think I can compete with the humanistic brain washing they receive five days a week. They are not “salt” or “light” yet, so I mustn’t be pretentious in thinking my one child is going to evangelize or survive a humanist indoctrination centre. That’s like throwing your kid in a shark-infested pool and thinking he’s a good swimmer, so he should be able to make it to the other side, no problem. There is too much to say on this, but basically, if I am a Christian parent, a Christian education needs to be mandatory. See Voddie Baucham, American Vision Store, Exodus Mandate.
#5 Get educated in:
Basic apologetics (the defense of the Christian faith): The Bible doesn’t require us to be experts. However, 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to have a logical answer for the hope that lies within us. The fact that most of us don’t understand logic and reason is beyond pathetic. It’s apathetic. There are some great resources out there for some basic training and education. There are even audio books, so no one has an excuse to be a dumb Christian anymore.
Basic theology: We have a problem. There are atheists that understand our Christian history and theological background better than we do. It is a skewed and distorted version, but it is sad that they know more than many of us. And because we don’t know our own presuppositions (or what that even means), they are formulating new and absurd arguments daily that we can’t refute. That is not good. Not good at all. So learn about presuppositions and learn some basic orthodox Christian doctrine and theology – and even more importantly, why it is truth.
Basic evangelism: I need to learn how to witness. Not hand out a tract, I mean how to present the gospel in a real conversation with people I meet. We don’t see much street witnessing these days since the seeker-sensitive church movement arrived. Instead of telling people that they’re going to hell if they don’t repent, we give them a cappuccino and sing a Beatles song at “church”. My goal is to learn of the most prevailing religions and cults in my city (where I am it would be atheism, Sikhism, Mormonism, J W’s, etc) and be well read enough that I can carry a conversation with them and understand what it is I am dealing with. I would love to see churches offer classes on the religions in their community and teach their congregations how to talk and witness to their community. Churches ought to teach basic apologetics as it is a good foundation for evangelism.
After I become educated in these things, I need to make sure I’m doing all that I can to raise our kids to understand the points I mentioned.
And finally,
#6 Women, get back in the kitchen! Just kidding. Know your feminine role.
I believe the discipling of the nations will happen quickly when women go back to being women, with joy and celebration. When there is family harmony within a biblical context, and husbands love their wives and are leading as the Bible outlines, societies change. Governments change. Children are back in the hands of their own parents and that affects everything. Yes, sacrifices must be made to make this happen, however, we are in a time that if we want our grand children to live in a nation free of slavery and persecution, it is crucial that we make these sacrifices now.
When we as the church finally have a biblical worldview, a victorious eschatology, a rock-solid family of families, and are coming up with real solutions to problems in the world, the nations will turn their heads and see Christ as the answer for everything, including their own salvation."
