What's new
Christian Community Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate fully in the fellowship here, including adding your own topics and posts, as well as connecting with other members through your own private inbox!

Dialectic of Dominion :: By Joe Hawkins

Andy C

Well-known
And he causes all… to be given a mark… and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell…” (Revelation 13:16-17).

When most people imagine the Beast system, they picture something sudden—a dramatic flip of a switch where the Antichrist unveils a fully formed global control grid. Scripture gives a different impression: a system that already has scaffolding, already has “rails,” already has the plumbing installed—so that when the final authority arrives, the mechanism is ready.

That’s why the most important question isn’t, “Has Revelation 13 happened yet?” but rather: Are the enabling systems being built now?

In recent years, the world has accelerated into a new governance paradigm that increasingly treats human autonomy as a problem to be managed, and technology (especially AI) as the tool to manage it. This aligns cleanly with a classic Hegelian dialectic:

  • Thesis (problem): Human autonomy and decentralized life
  • Antithesis (reaction): AI as threat and savior (engineered tension)
  • Synthesis (solution): “Managed AI” + human submission via centralized controls
This isn’t a claim that every technologist is evil or that every innovation is demonic. Many developments have legitimate uses. The issue is the direction of travel—and the way crises and fear are used to normalize a system where participation in society becomes conditional.

Phase 1: Thesis — Human Autonomy and Order

The baseline condition assumes people can live with meaningful freedom:

  • personal responsibility
  • local governance
  • moral accountability
  • organic creativity and commerce
  • the ability to move, speak, and transact without constant permission
The public narrative is, “People are capable, rational, and in control—though flawed.”

But over the last decade, institutions increasingly emphasize the quiet counter-narrative: humans are biased, emotional, misinformed, and dangerous if left unchecked.

That sets up the pivot: if humans can’t be trusted to govern themselves, then governance must be automated, centralized, and enforced—not by persuasion, but by systems.

 
From the OP:

What Should Christians Do (Instead of Panic or Apathy)?

The goal isn’t fear. The goal is discernment.

Refuse the lie that safety requires surrendering conscience.
Build spiritual resilience now—because pressure always comes before compliance.
Teach your family what “convenience trades” really cost.
Support privacy and civil liberty safeguards where possible—because systems can be designed to limit abuse.
Keep the Gospel central. The Beast system will be, at its core, a worship system—allegiance and submission.
 
This isn’t a claim that every technologist is evil or that every innovation is demonic. Many developments have legitimate uses. The issue is the direction of travel—and the way crises and fear are used to normalize a system where participation in society becomes conditional.
100%
 
Back
Top