Dominionism originated on the fringes of Reformed Christianity largely through the writing of R.J. Rushdoony and his Christian Reconstruction movement. The new brand of dominionism took the idea of Christian supremacy from such theologians as Rushdoony and rooted it in the soil of independent charismatic and Pentecostal churches, one of the newest and fastest growing branches of Christianity. And while Rushdoony believed the United States would incrementally be reconstructed into a Christian nation, leaders of the new dominionism are not so patient. NAR adherents believe their time is now.

As the Watchman Decree suggests, it is more helpful to understand NAR as a political movement driven by what NAR expert André Gagné refers to as a “political theology of power.” The goal of NAR is not saving souls one at a time. Instead, these extremist leaders state a desire to seize influence over the entire culture and implement their narrow, authoritarian views of the Bible in the form of law, policy and culture. Prophet Lance Wallnau has promoted a meme – the Seven Mountains Mandate — to summarize this goal. Each mountain is a sphere of our society — government, religion, media, business, education, family, and arts and entertainment — and each should be dominated by NAR leaders and followers, according to the meme.

NAR’s goal is to disrupt religion and politics, and in the wake of that disruption, fill the void with Christian supremacy. Just as there has been economic disruption over the past two decades, there has also been political disruption in the form of Trumpian politics and the MAGA movement. NAR, in addition to political disruption, aims to disrupt Christianity itself by getting rid of denominations and checks and balances created to curb abuse. Some NAR pastors have taken over churches with internal democratic practices and turned them into undemocratic “apostolic” centers where only the pastor — or, where there is one, an apostle — has ultimate authority.

Dominionist leaders such as this are often vague about the details of how the future looks in practice, but the antidemocracy and exclusionary implications are clear. Lance Wallnau has argued that dominionists have to “destroy the public education system before it destroys us.” Others have set their sights on local government. City Elders, a new organization that details plans to create guardians over politics, elections and culture in every county, would essentially act as a local shadow government. LGBTQ+ equality is also a frequent target of dominionists. Sean Feucht, a highly influential musician and praise leader, has called trans persons demonic, highlighting the negative impact on the future of LGBTQ+ peoples liberation.

NAR is deeply anti-democratic, both as a movement and in its vision of society. C. Peter Wagner, who came up with the term New Apostolic Reformation, preached: “What dominion means is that we are the head and not the tail of our society. It’s a rulership and we rule as kings.” This is a menacing statement for a country that fought a revolution to overthrow kingship. Their vision, if realized, would mark the end of the American democratic experiment.

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