Monumental Theonomic Revisionism

Monumental Theonomic Revisionism

I have serious issues with Kirk Cameron's movie, Monumental (Fathom Events, 2012)[1].  However, before spelling out the issues that I have with this movie "event" by way of questions that it raises, certain definitions need to be understood.

Definitions:

1.  Historical Revisionism -

"In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event."[2]

2.  Theonomy -

"Since the mid-1970s, the term Theonomy has been most often used in Protestant circles to specifically label the ethical perspective of Christian Reconstructionism, a perspective that claims to be a faithful revival of the historic Protestant view of the Old Testament law as espoused by many European Reformers and Puritans. Some in the modern Reformed churches are critical of this understanding, while other Calvinists affirm Theonomy."[3]

3.  Dominion Theology -

"Dominion Theology is a grouping of theological systems with the common belief that society should be governed exclusively by the law of God as codified in the Bible, to the exclusion of secular law. The two main streams of Dominion Theology are Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now Theology. Though these two differ greatly in their general theological orientation (the first is strongly Reformed and Neo-Calvinistic, the second is Charismatic), they share a postmillennial vision in which the Kingdom of God will be established on Earth through political and (in some cases) even military means."[4]

4.  Christian Reconstructionism -

"Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Evangelical Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life, within the private sphere of life and the public and political sphere as well. The primary beliefs characteristic of Christian Reconstructionism include:

Calvinist Protestantism (particularly Neo-Calvinism), for its description of individual spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit that is required to change people on a personal level before any positive cultural changes can occur,

Theonomy: applying the general principles of Old Testament Law and New Testament Law to the corresponding family, church and civil governments (compare with theocracy); while in favor of separation of church and state at the national level, theonomists believe the state is under God and is therefore commanded to enforce God's Law.

Postmillennialism, the Christian eschatological belief that God's kingdom began at the first coming of Jesus Christ, and will advance progressively throughout history until it fills the whole earth through conversion to the Christian faith and worldview,

The presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til which holds there is no neutral philosophical ground between the regenerate elect person and the unregenerate person, that the Bible reveals a self-authenticating worldview and system of truth, and that non-Christian, non-Reformed belief systems self-destruct when they become more consistent with their fundamentally trinitarian Christian presuppositions (or the presuppositionalism of Van Til's fiercest critic Gordon Clark), and Decentralized political order resulting in laissez-faire capitalism and minimal state power, but only with respect to economics."[5]

Issues:

An old commercial jingle went:  "You wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!"[6]  After viewing Kirk Cameron's movie I have no doubt that a similar "jingle" is called for in response to:

1) its selective reading of history,

2) its subtle and not so subtle proselytizing for Dominion Theology,

3) its revisionist propagandizing concerning the founding of the American nation and the character of its Founders,

4) and its implicit call for a "Christian Sharia" based on Old Covenant Law. 

Now for the jingle: "You wonder where the truth about the founding of America went when you fill your mind with Monument!"

In my opinion, at least the following twelve questions need to be asked and answered for an objective assessment of this movie to take place.

1.  Where did the other 12 Colonies disappear to in the propaganda of Monumental?  If you are left wondering why I mention the five colonies below, then you need to study their character from their "nonrevisionist" history.  If you do that, then you may understand why they were left out in Dominion Theology's revisionist approach to the founding of America!

For example:

• Rhode Island?
• Pennsylvania?
• Maryland?
• Virginia?
• Georgia?

2.  Where did the non-Puritans disappear to in the propaganda of Monumental?  As you may suspect, there are connections in these questions to the colonies in the questions above.  However, there is more here than meets the eye.  When the smoke and mirrors of Dominion Theology's revisions are cleared away, how non-Puritans were treated in the Massachusetts Bay Colony needs to be taken out, dusted off, and shown the light of day!

For example:

• Where did the Baptists go?
• Where did the Quakers go?
• Where did the Roman Catholics go?
• Where did the Anglicans go?
• Where did the prisoners go?
• Oh, and by the way, where did the Jews go? 

3.  What is Glen Beck doing there?  How would this Mormon have fared in the Plymouth Plantation or the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

4.  What is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s daughter doing there?  Is King's Gandhiism part of the heritage to be found in the Plymouth Plantation?

5.  Why is the issue of the "Great Compromise" legalizing slavery swept under the carpet?

6.  Why are the deism, the anti-Biblical teachings, and the profligate behavior of many of the Founders swept off the table?

7.  Is the notion presented here of "America the Christian Nation" any safer for those who disagree with the theonomy of these revisionists for independents, dissidents, and "free churches" than it was for them in the Plymouth Plantation and the Massachusetts Bay Colony?  Were they not guilty of precisely the same intolerance and persecution as was done to them in "jolly old" England (and in some cases, worse)?  How is their "New" England, any better for independents, dissidents and free churches than it was for them in "Old" England?

8.  Throughout the movie Kirk Cameron pounds nails into the map and then wraps wires around these nails connecting them.  Why are the dots connected in a straght line progression for the Puritan Separatists as if that is the "be all and end all" for the foundation of America?

9.  D. James Kennedy, the great popularizer of Theonomic Reconstructionism, is dead.  Are we looking at his heir apparent in Kirk Cameron?  Is he the new "Golden Boy" for the Theonomic Reconstructionists, the Dominion Theologians, and their brand of historical revisionism?

10.  On what basis can attempts to impose the Sharia of radical Muslims based on the Koran be opposed, while at the same time insisting on the "Christian Sharia" of these Theonomists?

11.  Were the Ten Commandments focused on in Monumental with the subtle suggestion that they should be made the "law of the land"?  Did this include the Fourth Commandment?  And, what, pray tell, would be the fate of non-Sabbatarians and Sabbath breakers under such a system?

12.  Can anyone buy into Kirk Cameron's and David Barton's[7] vision of "Christian American" without embracing a "Galatian America" that implicitly denies the Gospel of the New Covenant while explicitly bringing Old Covenant Law in the back door?

John T. Jeffery

Pastor, Wayside Gospel Chapel

Greentown, PA

Monumental Theonomic Revisionism

by John T. Jeffery

Copyright 2012 by John T. Jeffery.

All rights reserved.

The use of excerpts or reproduction of this material is prohibited

without written permission from the author.

Contact the author at:

722 South Main Ave.

Scranton, PA 18504

Home phone:  (570) 342-5787

Email:  johntjeff@verizon.net

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[1] "MONUMENTAL: In Search of America’s National Treasure LIVE", on Fathom Events at http://www.fathomevents.com/originals/event/monumental.aspx?utm_source=MonumentalMovie&utm_medium=WebSite&utm_campaign=Monumental [accessed 28 MAR 2012].

[2] "Historical Revisionism", on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism [accessed 28 MAR 2012]. 

[3] "Theonomy" on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theonomy [accessed 28 MAR 2012].  See also Theonomy: A Reformed Critique, eds. William S. Barker and W. Robert Godfrey (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1990), pp. 9-10, 13.

[4] "Dominion Theology", on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Theology [accessed 28 MAR 2012].

[5] "Christian Reconstructionism", on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reconstructionism [accessed 28 MAR 2012].

[6] Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsodent [accessed 21 APR 2010].  Video at Ad Classix at http://adclassix.com/classictvcommercials/1948pepsodenttoothpaste.htm [accessed 21 APR 2010].

[7] "Child star turned fundamentalist Christian activist Kirk Cameron's pseudo-documentary Monumental is coming to over 500 theaters across the country on March 27, and from the clips available online, it's clear that Cameron's movie promises to be packed with the same Christian nationalist historical revisionism that David Barton is so well known for. In fact, Barton himself appears in Cameron's film. One of the clips available online shows Cameron visiting Barton's personal museum in Texas, and hearing a few of Barton's lies about the early Congress and Thomas Jefferson printing Bibles to spread the word of God to all American families."

Source:  Chris Rodda, "Monumental" Lies - Kirk Cameron Visits David Barton" (22 MAR 2012), Talk To Action at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2012/3/22/134734/092 [accessed 28 MAR 2012].

Note:  Further research on who David Barton is and what he really believes is encouraged, and is enlightening!