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Originally Posted by Evangelical
I believe that is correct. Satan usurped by deceiving man, rather than "God transferred ownership because man sinned". I am not sure other interpretations are possible.
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"Usurp" means to take by force. The purpose of using this specific word by these movements (Witness Lee also chose to use this term) is to provoke an emotional response as a type of rally cry.
Satan didn't force Eve to take the fruit, she willfully sinned just as Esau willfully gave up his inheritance. He didn't take dominion, it was lost through sin.
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Romans 16:20 says
"And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly." , proving that Satan still has to be crushed ("will crush") and the church ("your feet") plays some part in that.
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The "God of peace" will defeat Satan after his coming and after the millennial reign (Revelation 20), and not a pre-tribulation pre-raptured global church formed by MOTA'S or any other man. The LC looks to restore and organize Christianity in a one church per city model before Christ's coming. This won't happen because it's not scripture. If it does happen, it's not Jesus Christ's church. It's Anti-Christ's.
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"That is fundamental to the role of the church on the Earth as a tool God uses to bring about change on the Earth. It is related to Jesus's statement about us doing "greater things than these" (John 14:12), and "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph 4:12).
The building up of the church on the Earth is analogous to the defeat of Satan. If every person on the Earth was a Christian then Satan would be defeated completely. During the revivals of old, churches were full, crime ceased to exist, and police had nothing to do. This is a practical example of the church crushing Satan in a town or city. Who else but the church can do this?
The Bible says certain things have to be done by the church before Christ will return, such as:
Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
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This is not written so why even consider this hypothetical? This scripturally unsupported mentality is where dominionism comes from. A need to dominate society absolutely through Christian ideology.
The commission given to God's people is to spread the gospel. Good works flow from that but a systematic organization of the church is not one of those works given to the Christians in scripture and it is not a work of ours that will defeat the works of Satan, that is a job for Christ's alone. (1 John 3:8).