The Seven Mountains Mandate
Dominionism or Dominion Theology is a term coined by social scientists and journalists to describe a subset of modern Christianity that is conservative by nature and very politically active. Such commentators describe “soft” dominionism as the belief that America is a Christian nation and that opposing the separation of church and state keeps in accordance with the constitutions. “Hard” dominionism refers to dominion theology and Christian Reconstructionism; a belief that only Christians or those identifying as Christian should hold positions of power within society.
The Seven Mountain Mandate is a political and religious movement that works to establish Christian domination of the world through the implementation of the moral laws—and subsequent punishments—of the Old Testament.
This mandate is the brain child of evangelical leaders Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With A Mission(YWAM) and University of the Nations. The two joined forces in 1975 to conceptualize a neo-christian political movement that would help attain the goal of theocracy, not only in America but across the globe. As the name implies, there are seven sectors, or mountains, of societal influence that must be targeted for infiltration and the inevitable takeover by Christians in order to further the goals of the church.
The seven mountains are CHURCH, FAMILY, EDUCATION, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA, BUSINESS, and GOVERNMENT.
When you examine them up close, you start to see a political pattern. Every issue championed by the far-right fits neatly into one or more of these categories. To proponents of the 7M Mandate, it’s not about having a christian majority taking up all the space, but rather it’s about having the right 8% placed at the top of each mountain, so that Christian voices are the only ones heard.
Seven Mountains Theology says that it is the duty of all Christians to create a worldwide kingdom for the glory of Christ. The Seven Mountains represent seven spheres of societal influence in which Christianity must sit at the top, in order to create a moral and just society.
Those who follow The Seven Mountain Mandate believe that, in order for Christ to return to earth, the church must take control of the seven major spheres of influence in society for the glory of Christ. Once the world has been made subject to the kingdom of God, Jesus will return and rule the world. [wikipedia]
Charismatic pastors like C.Peter Wagoner hold packed-house seminars on the Seven Mountains; often preaching to other preachers. Wagoner is also a board member of The Oak Initiative; a movement to unite, equip and activate Christians to be the “salt & light they are called to be” by engaging in “great issues of our time from a sound biblical worldview”. Raphael Cruz, father of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, is a proponent and outspoken preacher of the Seven Mountains Mandate.
The seven mountains form the basis of the far right-wing agenda and does not represent traditional Christianity:
- Church– Christian cultural dominance, biblical literalism, The Johnson Act, ‘last days’ rhetoric
- Family– anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminism, anti-divorce, anti-abortion, “family values”
- Education– prayer in schools, teaching creationism, anti-science, dismantling public schools
- Arts & Entertainment– Christian persecution complex, demonizing pop-culture, culture isolation
- Media– Fox News, CBN, use of divisive and extreme language, world of tele-evangelism
- Business– corporations denying birth control, gay wedding cakes and Chick-Fil-A, Biblical Capitalism
- Government– Dominionist politicians, religious statues in public square, doomsday survivalists
What is truly alarming, is how few people even know where the far right social agenda originates from. They simply accept it as an example of Christianity, as an example of Republican values, as an example of the teachings of Jesus… what’s wrong with this picture? It is the goal of the filmmakers to explore this question while shining a light on a philosophy that not a lot of people can hang a name on; but many will recognize as politically familiar.
MEET DR. LANCE WALLNAU:
Following The Toronto Blessing of the late 90s that saw churches abandoning scripture-based sermons in favor of signs, wonders, and personal testimony. Out of these ashes rose a fierce new voice for the 7M Mandate. Someone with a background in corporate business with the sensibilities of an SNL cast member. Someone with the charm of Joel Osteen, the biblical knowledge of Oral Roberts, the political leanings of R.J.Rushdoony, but with the pace and delivery of a stand-up comedian. He is the leading advocate for Seven Mountains Theology.
You might recognize Dr. Wallnau from a famous clip that recently emerged online. Here he is selling a President Trump/King Cyrus commemorative coin on the Jim Bakker Show, while he projects his hopes for the future with the current Administration. Wallnau brags, while brandishing one of these coins, “They think we’re crazy but we’re actually the sane ones!”. The best advice I can give anyone, when first discovering Wallnau is not to underestimate him.
Wallnau is one of the guys credited with giving evangelicals a business-sounding/biblically literate account of WHY Trump was chosen by god to become our President. The Cyrus/Trump connection comes from a reference in the book of Isaiah 45. It states that a gentile king named Cyrus was anointed by god to lead his chosen people back to the promised land. The bible refers to Cyrus as a Babylonian King and god’s chosen people as the Jews… but Wallnau has flipped the meaning so that the chosen people are actually Christians and Cyrus is merely a “secular man that god is using for his divine purposes”. And what’s scary is that, people believe it.
Wallnau makes his living offering TED Talk-like speeches about the importance of beleivers becoming more active in politics; not just in the realm of government or family or the church… but across the 7 mountains of societal influence. Wallnau refers to this as “taking nations“. His organization, HUB Nation, is dedicated to re-branding Christianity within the context of an aggressive, white conservative-dominated, capitalistic movement that they call, “New Wineskins“.
I think the biggest misstep in identifying and dealing with the Seven Mountains Mandate is to think of it as merely a religious movement. There is very little religion in the 7MM, which makes it so hard to pin down, because we aren’t talking about ideas derived from holy scriptures or the tenants of a denomination here. We are talking about a modern political agenda, and that is how it must be seen so that it can be properly and adequately fought, through our political process.
