In the particular flavours of dominion theology espoused in the pentecostal community in particular, one of the specific things it's believed that dominionists can "claim dominion and power over" is--quite literally--other people's souls.  The "unsaved" in these groups are quite literally not even looked at as human--they are looked at as, quite frankly, either "Fresh meat" for conversion or as The Enemy.  Not as people.

Especially in those pente sects that embrace "name it and claim it" or word-faith teachings (which are actually descended from dominion theology), this has led to quite the body of what is essentially Christianised hexing.  One of the most common methods of "praying the blood" over someone is to surreptitiously rub the possessions of a target--especially sleeping quarters and the bed of a target--with Wesson oil, and get a group of people to pray together that the person will be forced to do the dominionists' will "in the name of Jesus".  (The very chambers of the Senate were actually recently hexed in this fashion by a couple of Assemblies of God preachers deeply connected with dominionist movements.)   The Wesson oil used is not used for the purpose of blessing an object, but more as a territorial "marking" to "claim" that person "for Jesus".

One of the most common reasons for this "hexing" is to essentially force people to convert to pentecostalism--they quite literally pray that the person will be miserable, physically ill, even suicidal unless they convert and unless they spend all their waking hours in a dominionist church.  

There are variations on the idea of smearing people's possessions with Wesson oil; one of the most popular is writing down of the name of an "unsaved" target and having people pray over them en masse (again, hexing them to be miserable unless they convert).  Disturbingly, this has shown up at "See You At The Pole" events in multiple states where the names of "unsaved" students are nailed to crosses.  (The group sponsoring "See You At The Pole", National Network of Youth Ministries, is almost entirely composed of dominionist groups including multiple AoG front groups and multiple groups listed as spiritually abusive and coercive religious groups.)

So no, you're not exactly being paranoid there, unfortunately.

by dogemperor on Thu Jan 26, 2006 at 01:45:40 PM EST
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the AoG's superintendent (wow, it's the denomination that spawned dominion theology itself, is the biggest practitioner of "name it and claim it" junk, and has a denomination-wide fetish for rubbing things with Wesson oil that predates even Jim Bakker's heyday)

Pastors of multiple large neopentecostal megachurches into "name it and claim it" nonsense (Carlos Belart is a big "name it and claim it" preacher in Hispanic countries) as well as a huge mess of people popular on the "travelling preacher" circuit in Assemblies of God and neopentecostal churches (many of the names you won't have heard of unless one is a walkaway from them)

the head of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) (a church that is widely considered abusive, and which has multiple support forums for walkaways)

the head of Crown Financial (which is actually a supporter of dominionism I have not heard of before, but worth avoiding at any rate)

A mess of well known dominionists including Jerry Falwell, Ted Haggard, Truett Cathy (owner of Chick-Fil-A and a known corporate sponsor of dominionism), etc.

So yes, you've stumbled on QUITE the little hive of scum and villany here (as far as dominionism is concerned) and possibly even one of the major "coordinating committees" within the pentecostal community for such a thing.

No, you're not being one bit paranoid.  I'd say you're being appropriately cautious, to be honest.

by dogemperor on Thu Jan 26, 2006 at 02:04:39 PM EST
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