Above Rubies Part 1: Dominionist Agendas

Simply because a ministry or leader bears the name “Christian” and claims to be “Bible preaching” and “edifying” does not mean they are. Unfortunately, the mere use of those terms often seems to be effective in disarming our discernment.

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Above Rubies is a nonprofit founded over 35 years ago by Nancy Campbell and her husband, Colin. It is staffed by Nancy, her adult daughters, and young homeschool interns (a la Bill Gothard’s IBLP, anyone?). They estimate that they reach half a million people through their magazines. Despite serious problems with their teachings, their materials continue to be accepted and spread around churches and homeschool groups. The danger is in the deception — there is enough Bible name dropping going on that it takes a reader being intentionally critical to effectively filter out the abundant false teachings and bad advice. What’s left after that is not much. As this series hopefully demonstrates, the very identity of Above Rubies is problematic.

This series will be split into eight different sections. I'm sure there could have been more. I encourage you to read other reviews of this organization and look at their magazines to see if you find the things I mention. If you want to see the quotes I pulled in context, you can copy and paste a full and original (not condensed) sentence into Google with quotations at both ends and the source should come up.

Problem #1: Dominionist Agendas

Dominion theology is the belief that Christians are meant to exercise dominion over, or control, the world by enforcing a moral code (usually one found in the Bible) through a Christian governed nation (the US, naturally). Ideas on how this is achieved vary by groups, as “dominionism” is very general and its offshoots have their own distinctions. An example is The Seven Mountain Mandate, which teaches Christians must have command of seven influences before Christ can initiate his second coming. The seven mountains are Education, Religion, Family, Business, Government/Military, Arts/Entertainment, and Media. Another well known dominionist organization was Vision Forum, which had published Nancy Campbell’s books.

Above Rubies does not disclose some crucial core beliefs in their statement of faith, saying that they “do not get involved in doctrinal issues”. Instead, these beliefs have been hidden under the sheep’s clothing of women’s ministry, but once you know what to look for, it’s easily seen. As stated on their website, their goal is to “encourage women in their high calling as wives, mothers, and homemakers… and to raise the standard of God's truth in the nation”. Above Rubies teaches a dominionist takeover of society through the home (based off a belief that a Christian woman’s calling is to raise as many children as possible for the goal of physically outnumbering non-believers in America). This is also known as Quiverfull ideology.

One pitfall of Above Rubies’ brand of dominionist doctrine is that it assumes God’s will for all Christian women. The Bible clearly teaches that some are called to be single (and thus childless…), and Above Rubies and other similar “ministries” are effectual in excluding, pressuring, and guilting single, widowed, or divorced women; along with those that are infertile or choose not to have children — all of whom serve a unique purpose in the body of believers, whether it involves having children or not. Biblically, the main purpose for any Christian is to proclaim the gospel and love one another, nothing more. Adding more responsibility or making specific claims of necessity for the Christian life leans toward the dangerous ground of legalism.

The following quotes are from Nancy Campbell and they are just a small sample of the Scripture twisting dominionist propaganda that fill Above Rubies' pages:

"He wants us to be fruitful and fill the earth in order to take dominion for God. Together as families we advance God’s kingdom and bring light into the darkness all around us. God invests His power and authority in families."

“Everything you do is sacred because you are housing the presence of God. Dear mother, when you prepare meals for your family, clean up, wash dishes, do laundry, and clean toilets, you are doing sacred tasks. They are as meaningful to God as if you were doing some great ministry in a church.”

“Mother, you are the backbone of the nation! You are the greatest threat to those who want to turn this nation away from God’s ways. As you pour out your life to nurture, train, and educate your children, you determine the course of this nation and even the world.”

“You are CALLED by God to this great career. If you turn away from it, you miss your highest calling.”

“Lift your vision higher today, dear mother. God wants His will to be accomplished in your home just as in His heavenly home.”

“To raise a son who is equal to a hundred men! Or a son who is equal to a thousand other men! Wouldn’t that be amazing? … Raise sons and daughters who ‘know their God’ and who will be ‘strong, and do exploits’ (Daniel 11:32).”

“A Mother’s Creed: I am not languishing. I am not deceived. I have a vision. I know who I am and who God created me to be. I know my purpose. I am walking in the perfect will of God. I know it’s not easy, but I’ve counted the cost. My goal is set. How could my career be easy when I am influencing a nation for God, generations to come—and eternity? How can it be easy when I am destroying the plans of the devil? Such is the power of my God-mandated career, the highest calling ever given to women—motherhood. I have embraced my calling. I am not intimidated by my antagonists. I will not be moved. My heart is fixed. I may be hidden in my home, but look out world! I am sharpening my arrows. I am getting them ready to shoot forth and destroy the adversary. In the power and anointing of God, I am advancing God’s Kingdom.”

Here are some telling words from Nancy’s husband, Colin, published in two posts in the Above Rubies Meat For Men Daily Encouragement Blog. I’ll also link the posts in their entirety here and here.

“Where are the arrows to shoot forth from godly, conservative, righteous upright families to fill all branches of our government?”

“God never intended that so-called Christian America should struggle to have enough votes to win an election that will defeat corruption and bring peace and prosperity. It is high time we stopped limiting godly families.”

“God promises that the children you thought you couldn’t afford will be a blessing. They will help turn the tide in our nation.”

“We did not have enough arrows in our quivers to vote in the conservative candidates needed to hold Congress for the Republican agenda.”

“I will say it again, for the simple answer to sink into our brains as well as our hearts—we desperately need more Christian, conservative moms and dads to bring to birth more children. We need more children to grow up to be sharp arrows, not only to vote in the righteous to rule this great land, but also to be candidates that can rule in the ways of righteousness, peace, and truth.”

“Where do we think we will get voters for our conservative agenda? The answer is not complex. It is simple. We must wake up and shake off whatever hinders us from bringing to birth godly, righteous voters.”

“Election time would not be so stressful if conservatives would simply enlarge their own families. Let the left limit their families and conservatives will laugh on election days because we refuse to be fooled!”

If you’re thinking there is nothing wrong with Christians wanting to be politically active, you may be right, but that’s not all that’s going on here. Governance being a way to live out the Dominion Mandate is unbiblical — we were never given dominion over other humans! The idea that a nation can press morality onto its citizens and end up with a result of holiness is all kinds of off base, and that is the key misstep of Dominionism. Only Christ can change hearts. Outward conformity is not what God desires. The gospel is the means we were given to do good, not political power. God’s wish for his kingdom is something much higher than anything political, national, or worldly, as shown many times in Jesus’ ministry (for example, when he talked about rebuilding the temple). Emphasis is important: turning the Great Commission into a focus on the physical reproduction of “generational Christians” neglects Jesus Christ and devalues his sacrifice.

Colin Campbell comes dangerously close to equating having a family with having faith in God:

"Jesus states in Luke 18:8, 'Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?' When it comes to creating family trees as mandated in Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 9:1-7, we have to ask, Where is our faith?"

I won't read into that one too much, but I think it's important to note the legalistic implication that following a rule equals approval from God. This next quote from Nancy is even more concerning:

"There are some Christian couples who voice that they do not want children at all. This is opposite to God's heartbeat and God's Word. If all couples took this attitude, Christianity would be wiped from our earth. It is our children who carry on God's word from generation to generation."

Genetics do not spread Christianity, the gospel does. Nancy Campbell believes what she said above because she does not make a distinction between the church and Israel (we will go into more detail on this in the next post), and the implications are severe. If being born to Christian parents is the only qualifier needed to be a Christian as the quote clearly states, why then was Christ's death even necessary? Why did the Jews, God's people, need faith in Jesus to be saved? Why even have a Great Commission? Why have missionaries? And why do we know that many children raised in Christian homes leave the faith?

Of course, the answer is that Christians having babies is not the only way to spread Christianity, nor is it even one of the ways. The only way is the good news of Jesus Christ himself.

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Other posts in this series:

Problem #2: Reconstructionist Roots

Problem #3: Spiritual Abuse

Problem #4: Misrepresentations of Biblical Reality

Problem #5: Medical Disinformation

Problem #6: Dogmatic Views on Contraception

Problem #7: The Theology of Child Abuse

Problem #8: Mishandling Scripture