Liberating Planet Earth
by Gary DeMar by Gary DeMar
The Enemies of Liberation 41 Three Religious Worldviews There are three major outlooks regarding power that prevail today. Two of them oppose liberation; one favors it. Of the two systems that oppose it, one comes in the name of power, and the other in the name of escaping power. These religious worldviews are ancient rivals. They have been at war with each other, yet making temporary alliances with each other, as far back as we have historical records. I call them the power religion, the escapist religion, and the dominion religion. Consider the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. They wanted an escape from bondage, for they groaned. God heard their groaning (Exodus 2:24; 6:5). Yet when He sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them, what was the response of the rulers of Israel? To try to get Moses to stop confronting Pharaoh. Then, as they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them. And they said to them, “Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Exodus 5:20-21). They feared the sword of Pharaoh more than they feared bondage to Pharaoh. But this also meant that they feared the gods of Egypt more than they feared the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God had to demonstrate His power over the gods of Egypt with the ten plagues. Still, the Israelites feared Pharaoh. So God delivered them from Pharaoh and drowned the Egyptians in the sea. Then they started fearing the far weaker Canaanites. They lived in terms of fear because they worshipped power more than they worshiped God. They wanted escape from their Godgiven responsibilities, and this meant worshipping the power of Satan’s kingdoms. Their escapist religion made them allies of Satan’s power religion. The history of man can be understood in terms of the increasing religious self-consciousness of man. Therefore, in our day these two issues– power vs. escape–have become sharper and less easily deferred. We need to consider the three viewpoints in detail.
42 Liberating Planet Eatih 1. Power l?eli~”on This is a religious viewpoint which afFirms that the most important goal for a man, group, or species, is the capture and maintenance of power. Power is seen as the chief attribute of God, or if the religion is officially atheistic, then the chief attribute of man. This perspective is a satanic perversion of God’s command to man to exercise dominion over all the creation (Gen. 1:26-28). 1 It is the attempt to exercise dominion apart from covenantal subordination to the true Creator God. What distinguishes Biblical abminion reli~”on from satanic Pow& religion is ethics. Is the person who seeks power doing so for the glory of God, and for himself secondarily, and only to the extent that he is God’s lawful and covenantally faithful representative? If so, he will act in terms of God’s ethical standards and in terms of a profession of faith in God. The church has recognized this twofold requirement historically, and has established a dual requirement for membership: profession of faith and a godly life. In contrast, power religion is a religion of autonomy. It affirms that “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17). It seeks power or wealth in order to make credible this very claim. Wealth and power are aspects of both religions. Wealth and power are covenantal manifestations of the success of rival religious views. This is why God warns His people not to believe that their autonomous actions gained them their blessings: “And you shall remember the Lord your God: for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18). It must be recognized that God’s opponents also want visible confirmation of the validity of their covenant with death, but God warns them that “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Proverbs 13 :22 b). The ent~ of the Hebrews into Canaan was supposed to remind them of this fact: the Canaanites had 1. Gary North, Tlu Dominion Couenant: Cewsis (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1982).
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42 <strong>Liberating</strong> <strong>Planet</strong> Eatih<br />
1. Power l?eli~”on<br />
This is a religious viewpoint which afFirms that the most important<br />
goal for a man, group, or species, is the capture and<br />
maintenance of power. Power is seen as the chief attribute of God,<br />
or if the religion is officially atheistic, then the chief attribute of<br />
man. This perspective is a satanic perversion of God’s command<br />
to man to exercise dominion over all the creation (Gen. 1:26-28). 1<br />
It is the attempt to exercise dominion apart from covenantal subordination<br />
to the true Creator God.<br />
What distinguishes Biblical abminion reli~”on from satanic Pow&<br />
religion is ethics. Is the person who seeks power doing so for the<br />
glory of God, and for himself secondarily, and only to the extent<br />
that he is God’s lawful and covenantally faithful representative? If<br />
so, he will act in terms of God’s ethical standards and in terms of a<br />
profession of faith in God. The church has recognized this twofold<br />
requirement historically, and has established a dual requirement<br />
for membership: profession of faith and a godly life.<br />
In contrast, power religion is a religion of autonomy. It affirms<br />
that “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this<br />
wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17). It seeks power or wealth in order to<br />
make credible this very claim.<br />
Wealth and power are aspects of both religions. Wealth and<br />
power are covenantal manifestations of the success of rival religious<br />
views. This is why God warns His people not to believe that<br />
their autonomous actions gained them their blessings: “And you<br />
shall remember the Lord your God: for it is He who gives you<br />
power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which<br />
He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18). It<br />
must be recognized that God’s opponents also want visible confirmation<br />
of the validity of their covenant with death, but God<br />
warns them that “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous”<br />
(Proverbs 13 :22 b). The ent~ of the Hebrews into Canaan<br />
was supposed to remind them of this fact: the Canaanites had<br />
1. Gary North, Tlu Dominion Couenant: Cewsis (Tyler, Texas: Institute for<br />
Christian Economics, 1982).