In 2011, C. Peter Wagner listed “dominionism” as a defining characteristic of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Dominionism, also called “dominion theology” or “kingdom now theology,” remains a bedrock principle for NAR believers. Some Catholics have embraced it too. What is it, and is it compatible with Catholic teaching?
Dominionism came from E.W. Kenyon (1867-1948), also the father of the “prosperity gospel.” Kenyon took the 19th-century “New Thought” belief that diseases could be cured by “mind power” and mixed it with his own eccentric version of Christianity to make a combination of mind-cure and faith-healing.
Kenyon went back to Genesis and interpreted the story of the Fall in terms of dominion and authority. Adam and Eve were God’s creation, and also his sons and daughters, who had legal authority to rule all creation, including Satan and angels. When Adam disobeyed God, committing “the crime of high treason,” he lost that dominion and it was handed over to Satan, who now had “universal dominion.” Adam’s sin not only gave him and his descendants a “sin nature” but also introduced disease into the world. Kenyon taught that “sickness and sin have the same origin.” Even God was bound to recognize Satan’s “legal rights” as ruler of creation. The only solution was for God to send his Son to suffer the punishment Adam had earned.
For Kenyon, because Jesus was virginally conceived, he did not have the “sin-nature” of fallen Adam, and had the same authority and dominion Adam had lost. This is why he could work miracles. When Jesus rose from the dead, Satan lost his absolute dominion over creation and Jesus handed it over to his followers. Christians now have the same authority that Jesus had, and the legal right to exercise it. Healing the sick is like cashing a check in a bank where you have sufficient funds. Instead of praying for the sick, Christians should heal them. Kenyon wrote, “You have a right to freedom from pain or sickness. In that Name you command it to leave. You are not demanding it of the Father, because the Father has given you authority over these demoniacal forces.”
Wagner and other NAR leaders repackaged Kenyon’s ideas into talk about “advancing the kingdom.” Wagner wrote, “Jesus brought the kingdom of God, and He expects His kingdom-minded people to take whatever action is needed to push back the long-standing kingdom of Satan and bring the peace and prosperity of His kingdom on earth.” Today, the NAR tells Christians to operate out of their “royal identity” as “royal sons and daughters.” They say, “God is in control, but he is not in charge. He has left us in charge.”
People in the New Apostolic Reformation believe they can make “declarations” or “verbal statements spoken in faith that change reality.” One Catholic influenced by the NAR has written that “Through your words, you are prophetically declaring what God the Father wants to bring about. You are boldly speaking into existence a particular way God wants to bring about His kingdom here and now. … Whenever you make a proclamation of faith, you release God’s power into the world.”
Dawna De Silva worked for many years at the NAR Bethel Church in Redding, California. She teaches that believers can use their dominion to “shift atmospheres,” engaging in spiritual warfare. People influenced by her teaching speak of “releasing” or “unleashing” the power of heaven into “places and situations under the influence of evil.” They tell other Christians to be “thermostats, not thermometers,” using their authority to change the spiritual environment.
When you hear Christians, including some Catholics, using this kind of language, it’s highly likely that they follow NAR teachers. For example, the Encounter School of Ministry, founded by Catholics, says this: “The release of worship into our world unleashes joy, peace, freedom and love, but this shift in atmosphere isn’t just supernatural or internal, but also changes our physical world. Through worship, God brings healing, signs, and wonders. Even your personal worship in your home, car, or shower changes your environment.”
How should Catholics think about these things?
First, let’s review Catholic teaching about the devil and his power. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The power of Satan is … not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries — of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature – to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which … guides human and cosmic history.” In other words, God is in charge, and Christ’s kingdom cannot fail.
Second, we need to understand our royal identity correctly. In baptism, we share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Christ. We demonstrate our royal identity primarily in acts of loving service, not through the exercise of “power and authority” over creation.
Pope St. John Paul II wrote that the lay faithful “exercise their kingship as Christians, above all in the spiritual combat in which they seek to overcome in themselves the kingdom of sin (cf. Rom 6:12), and then to make a gift of themselves so as to serve, in justice and in charity, Jesus who is himself present in all his brothers and sisters, above all in the very least (cf. Mt 25:40).” The Catechism says, “For the Christian, ‘to reign is to serve Him,’ … The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.”