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A sure sign of religious authoritarianism
is a zealousness to rid the world of opposition to its peculiar tenets.
In the minds of many dominion teachers the authority of the apostles
and prophets must not be questioned. The Kingdom of God (as they understand
it) must be free from dissension. Therefore it will be necessary that
those who challenge their authority be removed.
There are differences of opinion among dominion teachers as to how
those dissenters will be removed, but there are essentially five ways
in which that may occur:
- God will supernaturally strike dead those
who oppose His apostles and prophets;
- God will send, or allow satanic forces to
send, plagues upon those opposers;
- The Church (or certain "overcomers")
will pronounce God's judgment upon their enemies, thus moving God
to destroy them;
- The Church will, out of "necessity,"
use physical force by which it will judge, sentence, and execute
penalties (including death) upon the opposers;
- All or any combination of the above may
take place.
According to some dominion teachers, in order to effect this purging
of the earth the overcomers must attain immortalization, thus becoming
immune to any physical resistance to their program. Becoming immortal,
and thus impervious to death and injury, will result from having attained
spiritual perfection through obedience to the apostles and prophets.
We will deal with the teachings on immortalization
in the next chapter. The subject matter at hand is the purging by
the overcomers of not only the earth, but of the Church as well.
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