What on Earth is the 7 Mountains Mandate?

MattS Jan 2018 Part 14 (heresy and false teachings)

In my last article I discussed Dominionism and how this idea is being used by Christians to take control of the world. This is regarded as an imperative, and deemed necessary by Dominionists to prepare the world for Jesus to return. I speculated that Dominionists may well be serving the purposes of satan, and to a large extent, doing much of his work for him in creating the groundwork for a New World Order.

So! How is Dominionism extending its influence into the world?

Dominionism is spreading with the help of the “7 Mountains Mandate”. This “mandate” is driving individuals and organisations to influence almost every aspect of society and global culture. The idea from Dominionism is, that “man” should be striving to take control of the world, and to lay the groundwork for Jesus and make it “all safe” for him………….. Really!! The “7 Mountains Mandate” or “7-M” is the machinery/theology that enables Dominionists to “enforce” their ideas. I do not use the word “enforce” lightly. Dominionists are “quietly aggressive and persistent” in their need to spread their influence. Some of the views I have encountered have been extreme to the point of considering extermination of those that oppose their views. Rousas J Rushdoony, coined the father of Christian Reconstructionism, (this theology essentially birthed Dominionism) had some extreme views and I am left wondering how many Dominionists quietly harbor these views today. Here is a link to quotes attributed to Rushdoony. There is a bit of reading here but you can cherry pick the sections as the quotes are placed under subject titles. For the most part there are many that are disturbing, extreme and heretical.

By the way, I realised that in my last article, I failed to give enough detail around scripture of Jesus returning. Dominionists are essentially hijacking the work of Jesus. Scripture tells us that Jesus is returning to “Wage War, Rule and Reign” and one of his initial jobs is to wipe out the Antichrist and his beast system. Interestingly Revelation 17:8-13 discusses the “beast” system and 7 mountains are mentioned, I cannot make any strong connection between the NAR/Dominionist theology of 7-M to this scripture, however I find it interesting that it is mentioned. The small possible connection I can make is that they (the rulers of this beast system) will be of “one mind”. This is a strong hallmark of Dominionist/NAR thinking that “all” be united in purpose. I’m not sure that this scripture means this, it may refer to a “technology statement” that they are linked in some way…… In time we will know. Scripture tells us that Jesus is going to take this system out because Revelation 17:14 says so. I also find it fascinating that NAR/Dominionists also choose to ignore Zechariah 14.

Anyway! Back to topic!

What is “7 Mountains Mandate”, and Where Does It Come From?

The “7 Mountains Mandate” or “7-M” (might be easier to call it that) is…… well, why don’t I just give it to you right from the “Horses Mouth” so to speak, that’s not the horses of the apocalypse either, at least I don’t think so anyway!

Here is a transcript right from the “7 Mountains website” history page, in “THEIR” words (yup, NAR even has a website for this stuff).

The History of the 7 Mountains

Loren Cunningham & Bill Bright

God gives Loren Cunningham the 7 Mountain Strategy
In the book Making Jesus Lord by Loren Cunningham (YWAM, 1988, p. 134), Cunningham wrote:

“Sometimes God does something dramatic to get our attention. That’s what happened to me in 1975. My family and I were enjoying the peace and quiet of a borrowed cabin in the Colorado Rockies. I was stretched out on a lounge chair in the midday warmth, praying and thinking. I was considering how we Christians – not just the mission I was part of, but all of us – could turn the world around for Jesus.

A list came to my mind: categories of society which I believed we should focus on in order to turn nations around to God. I wrote them down, and stuck the paper in my pocket.

The next day, I met with a dear brother, the leader of Campus Crusade For Christ, Dr. Bill Bright. He shared with me something God had given him – several areas to concentrate on to turn the nations back to God! They were the same areas, with different wording here and there, that were written on the page in my pocket. I took it out and showed Bill and we shook our heads in amazement.

Here’s a list (refined and clarified a bit over the years) that God gave me that sunny day in Colorado:

1. The home

2. The church

3. Schools

4. Government and politics

5. The media

6. Arts, entertainment, and sports

7. Commerce, science, and technology

“These seven spheres of influence will help us shape societies for Christ.”

So there you have it! But you have to buy the book to get the whole story!!

I was disappointed to find that Loren Cunningham was an initiator of this idea. Loren founded YWAM (Youth With A Mission), I was briefly involved with YWAM in 1980-81 in a somewhat disastrous beach evangelization mission. I believe that Loren is regarded as a nice man, and this concerns me also. There are many “nice” Christian men and women out there. Nice Christian men and women can be under deception too! Nice does not stop them from being deceived. In fact I believe satan likes to use “nice people”, as people in general are much more likely to accept whatever a “nice person” says. I have found that people in general are also less likely to want to offend a “nice person” (these are my perceptions).

I was disappointed to find that YWAM was Loren’s training ground for this idea. I know a lot of people who have been involved with YWAM or still currently are. I have to say that the more I research with the NAR movement, the heavier my heart gets at times. Why? Because I see it in almost every facet of Christendom these days. If I did not understand the times we live in, it would give me deep despair.

We are living in the “last days”!! Israel is now a nation again, 70 years this year. I believe we are beginning to experience the “birth pangs” of Matthew 24. Time is short and getting shorter until Jesus returns. Unfortunately this also means that “one psychotic fallen angel” is on his last gasp, and is pulling out all the stops. Deception and evil are close at hand in a way that the world has never experienced. There is no way out of this one Biblically speaking. God has set the course of these events through His Prophetic Word in the Bible. Anyone who tells you otherwise is under “deception”. This also means that most of us will probably be witness to one of the greatest events in Bible history as the books of Revelation and Daniel unfold before us.

There is a verse in Luke, and I have used it previously in articles. It is my “go to” verse for this time period that we are in. It is my “hope” verse that tells me that we can (if God wills) come through this time of great trouble. It is Luke 21:36. Here it is;

³⁶Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy [may have strength] to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Remember that this verse is to be taken in the context of the time known as the “End Days”. Luke 21, Matthew 24 and Mark 13 are all Gospel chapters that contain a great deal of information about Jesus description of the end times.

Anyway, back to the 7-M!

I found that Francis Schaeffer was also involved in the 7-M inception having had a “revelation” from God around a month after Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright. Francis has been a prominent mover and shaker in parts of Christendom.

One of the things that I have found in relation to 7-M as I read and listen to those responsible for its promotion, is the lack of scripture supporting it, and also the lack of “testing the spirit” associated with inspiration of 7-M. Loren claims that 2 Corinthians 10:13-16 was his inspiration for the use of the word “spheres”. Spheres was the original word used instead of mountains. The word “mountains” came later with inspiration from Joshua 14:12. I’m struggling to equate either of these verses to mean that Christians should extend their influence into every facet of society. In Loren’s interview with Kelle Ortiz and Os Hillman on Nov 19^th 2007, Loren describes a situation where his interpretation of Matthew 28:18-20 “the great commission” given to the 11 disciples.

Loren seems to “corporatise” and “7 mountainise” the great commission …. I’ll let you read this part of the interview for yourself; the whole transcript is here.

“Now the second one is really the first one, which is Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said, “I have all authority, in heaven and on earth, go therefore, and disciple all nations.” “Nations” is not individual, that’s corporate.And that’s where we have to see the seven spheres or the seven mountains, and see them as a corporate change of even the worldview that they are presently having to shift them into a world-view that will allow the nations to receive all that God has for them in salvation and in all the other blessings beyond salvation, and especially in discipling them to disciple the nations. And He said, “baptizing them, in the name of the son, of the father, and the Holy Ghost.” How do you baptise a whole nation? They have to die to the world-view they’re in. If it’s a Buddhist world-view, or a Hindu world-view, and be resurrected to the world-view of the Biblical, and that which is of Jesus’ world-view. And as they’re resurrected how do you do that? By teaching them “all that I taught you with.” And He says, “And lo, I am with you always…”

So, He will be with us to teach them all that he has taught us.And that’s how you change the world-view, both in the individual, and in the world itself.You don’t have to have the majority. All you have to have is the tipping point part, and they have to be strong, and understand, but truly wrapped in love, not in arrogance and banging them over the head with a Bible, but rather in love, and living the message. You first model it, then you teach it, because the people are hungry now, because they’ve seen it in you, and then thirdly you coach it, as they begin to model it, and teach it, and coach it. And that’s how the multiplication goes, so that we can multiply the kingdom of God in every sphere of life.”

So, where is the 7-M idea found in scripture? It’s not! Some of the NAR folk even admit that as per this article, but they do their level best to justify it by adding stuff that is not there, or reinterpreting scripture.

Just as an aside and “just” when I thought it was safe to go back into the water, I stumble across this “little beauty”!! Hands up those who have heard of “Moral Government Theology” (aka Governmental Theory of Atonement), let’s just call if “MGT” for brevities sake………. Just as I thought, very few hands going up there!!……… I did not put up my hand either, he says laughing out loud!! It seems that YWAM also have been including “Moral Government Theology” in their teaching curriculum for a long time. I do not want to get into MGT now as it is worthy of an article by itself, however if you do your own research into MGT you will find how it dovetails in with the 7-M ideas of influence of Nations.

Dominionists and NAR folk have picked up the 7-M idea and run with it. If you look back to when Loren, Bill and Francis started with it back in 1975, we are now 43 years on. What impact has 7-M had? Has it been successful? For the thousands and millions trained in it, what has it done?

Jesus trained up a 12 men to go out into the world and preach the Gospel which they did. They gave up everything they had, and most died horrible deaths as Jesus said they would. But for the time they had on this earth, they did what Jesus asked. They discipled many others, and encouraged and preached and taught and admonished and healed and delivered in the name of Jesus. They did not become business leaders or politicians or financiers or media moguls, or anything other than what the Holy Spirit directed them to do. They did not raise vast sums of money other than what they needed for their journeys and basic needs. Look at the impact that they had. Pagan Rome hated the Christians and tried to wipe them out without success. Rome then tried to assimilate Christianity with Paganism, this was a more successful venture for the pagans, but Christianity and the Gospel survived to become the most powerful belief the world has ever seen. Why? Because it was God’s plan, not man’s plan.

One could argue that many of the Nations of the world have had huge exposure to the Gospel for the last 2000 years. Many of those nations are in decline, as is Christianity in the “Western World”. Christians are now being persecuted as never before, particularly in the Middle East. Islam is either directly or indirectly to some degree behind the national declines and persecution. So what are the 7 –M programs actually doing? Well, I’m not seeing great inroads being made into the world by Christians, with nations turning to Christ. I’m seeing the world become worldlier, there is an increase in paganism, ethnic troubles, race troubles, war troubles, greed troubles, violence troubles. As you may know I have written a great deal about narcissism, I’m certainly seeing this increase in every area of society. Heaven is most definitely not coming to earth…….. Whoops… giving away the topic of one of my next articles…

It seems that Jesus words in Matthew 24 are ringing true. Do I believe that there are people still preaching the Gospel? Absolutely! Just as I believe there are people impacting the world as God has called them to, but they are not doing it politically or through social justice/activism programs, or through influencing Hollywood or business. They are speaking with their neighbour, visiting the sick, or those in prison. They are not writing books that sell by the millions with the latest way to hear God. They are not buying a new 3 million dollar jet to fly them around so they don’t have to “fly commercial airlines in long tubes filled with demons”. Poor dears, perish the thought that they would have to mix it up with all those demon filled ruffians….

Mr. “NAR” himself, C Peter Wagner believed that NAR is making a huge impact in the world and said so here, with huge Church growth etc. My question to Peter (if he were alive) would be, how many of these folk he claims as “growth” are just numbers? How many of those folk have truly understood the Gospel message and have had a real change in their lives? How many are there to warm the seats (make up numbers), or simply there because the message does not offend or challenge them to repentance, acknowledge sin in their lives, with the final outcome of accepting Jesus as a personal saviour? How many are there seeking after a sign or wonder? How many are there because it does not offend their version of the truth, the “all paths lead to God” Oprah Winfrey type of thinking?

I don’t think 7-M is doing so well, why? Because C Peter Wagner changed the rules on 7-M. In this article from Charisma News, Wagner says that it is only necessary to be influential in the “Mountain of Religion”. In the other 6 you don’t need spiritually influential, only successful. What does that actually mean? The article is related to Wagner’s support of Trump in the presidential election. He called Trump successful because he made billions (and we have no idea if Trump is really a Christian). Wagner says that’s not important anyway, it’s the fact that Trump made truckloads of money. Is this an act of desperation or something else? How would Jesus see this one… maybe we could consider the words mammon and two masters to get the answer on that? Does this open up the other 6 “non” religious mountains to successful “non” Christian people? ……… I’m just not getting this Peter……….

In a statement in the “Generals International” website about 7-M (this website was founded by NAR folk, Mike and Cindy Jacobs), the statement says;

“The Christian Church is described in the Greek language as the ecclesia. Literally translated, the word ecclesia means “governing body.” Although we don’t condone theocracies, this translation suggests that the Church should have great influence in all other spheres that make up a society.”

Mike and Cindy have made the word “ecclesia” (which is essentially a gathering of Christians) into a “greatly influential governing body”. Here is the real meaning of ecclesia. Mike and Cindy have in true NAR fashion really stretched the meaning to suit the 7-M/Dominionist Mandate. They say they don’t condone theocracies (religious dictatorships) but you kind of get the impression that what they want would be very close to “theocratic”, LOL!!

In the opening paragraph of this same statement, Mike and Cindy say;

“In 1975, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission(YWAM), developed a God-given, world-changing strategy. Their mandate: Bring Godly change to a nation by reaching its seven spheres, or mountains, of societal influence.”

This statement bothers me a little and raises some questions. How do we know that 7-M was “God given”? Has 7-M been a “world changing strategy”? Why has God decided to “add” to his extremely successful command of the great commission? This seems to be a little fleshly to me!

How far has 7-M extended into Christendom and the world? I would say it has gone a long way. As I have said before, NAR with the planned strategy of 7-M seems to have touched almost every Christian organisation in some way. Most folk involved in this process are completely unaware of how they might be involved with a NAR/7-M organisation. Here is a PDF from the International Coalition of Apostles membership directory 2009. (I am currently unable to find an up to date list). This list is extensive and “a drop in the NAR bucket” of paying memberships to various NAR organisations. I don’t have time to research all the NAR organisations. I just don’t have that much time, but I do see their impact in the Christian book stores and NAR conferences that are soaking up the hard earned cash of many Christian folk, and there are the DVD’s and organizational memberships on top of all that. It kind of looks like a big NAR money hoovering exercise maybe? Was that a bit cynical?

“CON”clusion

This is my speculation that despite 7-M ideas, God is continuing to work in the way He always does. I believe God has maintained a faithful group of Christians despite every effort of satan to destroy Christianity. Jesus gave Christians a command to teach/make disciples of all the nations. That has now been done for the past 2000 years and still continues today in the way that Jesus commanded. I don’t believe that 7-M (wherever it came from) is better than the command Jesus gave. Jesus also said (along with his great commission to us) in the latter part of Matthew 28:20 “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. It means we don’t have to do this under our own steam. It seems to me the NAR/Dominionist folk don’t get this idea that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God (the Trinity) are with us, working this great commission through.

Having looked hard at this NAR theology, I cannot condone 7-M. I believe it is a “manmade plan” at the least, and certainly appears to be under a satanic influence at the worst.

Next time, I will look at the popular NAR belief of “Heaven invading Earth”, until then God bless you, stay safe and alert. Oh, and please read your Bible.

Here is my gmail address, if anyone has a question or a comment they can send it to me. I am not on Face Book; I struggle to keep up with emails at times as I work full time. If you do send me an email I will do my best to respond to you however it may not be quick response. My gmail address is as follows; mattsamtm@gmail.com

RESEARCH. (The author of this article may not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the research material)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC3K2VYkPTo

http://issacharportal.com.au/mountain/

https://outlook.live.com/owa/?path=/mail/inbox

https://www.openbible.info/topics/jesus_ruling_in_jerusalem

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/dominionismexposed.html

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+10%3A13-16

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+14%3A12&version=KJV

http://www.spiritoferror.org/2017/12/listen-to-my-latest-radio-interview/7389

https://www.gotquestions.org/seven-mountain-mandate.html

https://mennoknight.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/quick-thoughts-seven-mountains-mandate/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=loren+cunnigham+describing+the+7+mountains+mandate