Loren Cunningham's mocking of the Bible

There is something else about the part I transcribed from this video that bugs me.

The Bible is clear to say that all of the earth and the fullness thereof is mine, saith the Lord. He says also that the silver and the gold is mine, saith the Lord. But how does it end up in the devil's pocket? There's gotta be a reason. It's because we as Christians are not ruling in the power of Christ as we are intended to do. Now I would like to make a very clear application on this in practical terms. The Lord said “Occupy until I come”. When an occupation army comes in, what do they do? They don't run up in the hills and hide out. They take over! They take over, if necessary, in the schools, so that no philosophy will be taught that is counter to their particular position. They also take over the banks and the wealth of the nation. They take over the, if necessary, even the churches, to make sure nothing is said that will not go against what they are trying to do. They take over, of course, the military, and all the other aspects of life that they need to control. They take over. Now Jesus said “Occupy until...” And there is certainly a view that says that we, the body of Christ, are really under the hand of Satan in this world and we're going to squeak out and maybe slip out in such a way that nobody will notice because we're so weak when it happens. But I don't believe that. I believe God is wanting a glorious church, a strong church, to go out and triumph. And I like to put it in a way that maybe even in the exaggeration you'll get the impact a little better, that if we work hard enough, sure, there will be an Antichrist, because the Bible says so, but he can hold his international convention in a phone booth. You see, instead of trying to picture the greatness of the Antichrist and what Satan is going to do, let's see the greatness of Jesus through His church according to what we do in faith ruling and reigning with Christ.

It's where he's talking about the Antichrist. "And I like to put it in a way that maybe even in the exaggeration you'll get the impact a little better, that if we work hard enough, sure, there will be an Antichrist, because the Bible says so, but he can hold his international convention in a phone booth.  You see, instead of trying to picture the greatness of the Antichrist and what Satan is going to do, let's see the greatness of Jesus through His church according to what we do in faith ruling and reigning with Christ."

He claims this is some kind of exaggeration to make a point, but it's simply mocking.

The truth is, God is the one who has told us things in the Bible about the end times, how difficult those times will be, how evil mankind will be in the last days, and the nature and power of this last ruler. To mock those things, as Cunningham mocks the idea of the Antichrist here, is at best unwise.

This kind of mocking is a common thing I've seen in the writings and speakings of dominionists. Johnny Enlow is extreme in his denunciations of anyone who has a "defeatist" view of the end times, saying they are part of a Leah church that is saved but only tolerated by God, while he and people like himself who want to take over the world are a part of a Rachel church that God is infatuated with. Outside of being extremely creepy, his use of Rachel and Leah is both problematic as a metaphor, and is also a metaphor without any biblical support.

"Defeatist" is the kind of word often used by these dominionists to label and dismiss others, and while Cunningham doesn't use that word in this video, he brings up the idea, "And there is certainly a view that says that we, the body of Christ, are really under the hand of Satan in this world and we're going to squeak out and maybe slip out in such a way that nobody will notice because we're so weak when it happens".

The Gospels record an interesting exchange between Peter and Jesus, for example here in Matthew 16

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

I don't think even Cunningham would have the gall to call Jesus "defeatist", but it wouldn't be too difficult to see him in Peter's sandles.

Victory for Christians often doesn't look like what the world would call victory.

Romans 831 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The phrase "...we are more than conquerors..." cannot be rightly understood except in the context of "...in all these things...", and "these things" are tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. And we are more than conquerors when those things happen to us because nothing can "separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord", so even us being more than conquerors is a gift that God gives to us.

Nowhere does the Bible tell the church to go out and conquer the world, to take over nations and societies and impose its will on the whole world. Few visions should be more terrifying to all right-thinking Christians than of a cabal of religious people disguising their ambitions for power behind a cheap facade of christianese ideas and rhetoric. In fact, look at Paul's description in the Romans 8 verses above, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

The day will come when Christ will return, and by all that I've seen in the Bible, it will be a day of conflict. The world didn't welcome Christ at his first coming, and they will greet his second with open rebellion that He will quash. But until then, we are as sheep among wolves, the world will regard us as sheep to be slaughtered, and even in this day many fellow believers are being slaughtered. Remember the words of Jesus recorded in John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you."

So, the Bible treats the Antichrist in a serious manner, and even Cunningham acknowledges that the Bible says that there will be an Antichrist, but then he mocks and dismisses what the Bible says about it, trying to substitute it for his own made-up dominionist ideas. Not good, YWAM, not good at all.