Another Look at the "Seven Mountains" (A "Quaker-type solution?)

My apologies in advance for the length of this letter but I would like to share some thoughts about the "Seven Mountains Mandate” and some associated issues … and there is much that could be said about this!
Let me say that in one sense I am encouraged by it; in the sense that it takes Christianity out of the church building and into society. I fear that too many Christians are content to concentrate on the "spiritual” and to leave the social and political realm to others, even justifying this approach by quoting Jesus’ words re rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, without noting the context in which Jesus made this statement.
Yet, in another sense, it frightens the wits out of me! While I believe that Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright really did receive a word from God in the mid-1970s, I fear that the insight given them has been subsequently distorted by both preachers and politicians with far-Right agendas, as well as being interpreted within the eschatological framework of theonomic Christian Reconstructionism and dominion theology. (With respect to the latter, I fail to see how their use of Genesis 1:26 ”“ which clearly gives humanity dominion over non-human creation ”“ can be used to justify a belief in the dominion of one section of the human race ”“ the redeemed ”“ over the rest of humanity. I think that this verse implies a balanced environmentalism, but not social reconstructionism.) The underlying problem is, I believe, the belief that "Christian morality” can be successfully imposed from the top. A society may be made superficially "Christian” in this way, but it leaves the heart of the people unchanged and, therefore, the "Christian morality” must rest upon a regime of punishment and threat. It is not for nothing that Reconstrctionism has been called "Christian Fascism” or that at least two writers have drawn comparisons between the Seven Mountains movement and the Taliban!
The question is, for those of us who believe in the Christian transformation of society, is there another way of leavening the "mountains” (or "spheres of influence”) within society with the Christian presence?
I believe that there is. I believe that Christians within the spheres of influence (such as business, politics, media etc.) can present themselves as God-directed agents of change by adopting a method long practised by traditional Quakers in their dealing with the practical ("business”) issues of their congregations. The Quaker founder, George Fox, taught that Christ indwells all true Christians through the Holy Spirit. That, of course, is a regular Christian belief, but for Fox it was not just a doctrine but a life-changing experience. He taught that Christ is truly with us at all times and (if we are open to his presence) will be our guide and teacher in a very literal sense. When Fox’s followers met for worship, they simply gathered in silence, sans clergy, with this silence being broken only if a member of the congregation felt moved by the Holy Spirit to publicly pray or give a word of prophecy, testimony etc. This was seen as Christ himself directing the meeting, moving those chosen to "minister” to the congregation as he willed. This method was also applied to the business meetings where practical issues concerning the congregation were discussed. Unlike most church business meetings, decisions were not reached by voting, but only as all participants in the meeting agreed upon the correct discernment of God’s will regarding any particular issue. This has sometimes been called "consensus”, but it was really more than that term implies in the secular sense. It is nothing less that the corporate Body of Christ gathered together yielding to the Mind of Christ present within all the members of that Body. The individual minds of each member must be surrendered to the Mind of the Body.
What is being suggested here is an extension of this approach to Christian fellowships with business, government and so forth. Christians within, say, a business corporation could meet together for a time of quiet contemplative prayer seeking God’s will for the policies of that business. Preferably, these meetings would include members of both management and staff. Similarly, Christian fellowships within government could likewise meet seeking spiritual enlightenment as to what policies Christ desires to be adopted. Membership of such meetings will, hopefully, cross the political spectrum, but each participant should see himself/herself as an organ of the corporate Body of Christ and not primarily as an individual with personal ideological prejudices. It may be hard to surrender one’s own political ideology, but that is part of carrying one’s cross ”“ putting to death one’s ego-mind that the Mind of Christ rules within. God is not tied to a single political position and it may be that one decision would please Donald Trump while the next would make Bernie Sanders cheer!
If this is God’s will, these meetings (though starting of small) will grow in influence and importance. It will be a slow process, but one that will gradually replace the kingdom of Caesar with the Kingdom of God: the rock uncut by human hands that becomes the mountain to which all other mountains yield!
I appeal to all who are reading this to seriously and prayerfully consider these words. I would humbly ask that you read the paper by Eden Grace to the World Council of Churches at;
oikoumene.org/resources/document/eden-grace-on-quaker-business-practice
and the short FREE ebook at;
https://www.christianityoasis.com/puritypublications/5145/HolySpiritGuidedConsensus.htm
As this is about the discernment of God’s will by a group of Christians meeting as the Body of Christ, I would humbly ask that small groups of interested Christians (even if only two or three people) gather to, first of all read, then commit to silent meditative prayer the suggestions made in these documents, seeking the discernment of God’s will concerning them and (for those in a position to so act) how they may be practically applied ”“ if, indeed, they really do express God’s will.
Blessings!

Brother with respect to your Quaker worldview,
I'd love to give a balanced assessment after studying for over 12 or 13 years charismatic theology when it comes to the Third wave, neo pentecostalism, and the apostolic and the prophetic movement within that stream or movement and also those that are considered the new apostolic reformation camp. Your view has not represented a majority of the charismatic and the apostolic prophetic movements view on the seven mountains mandate. The two main proponents of this view which would be Johnny enlow and Lance walnau, these two probably have influenced much of the modern day understanding of that type of dominionism. Lance wallnau got the idea from Bill bright and Johnny enlow claims to have received it through a revelation, both of their ideas move towards the idea of a great awakening greater than the last 2 major awakenings that we historically call the first and second great awakening it will penetrate into every sphere of influence and through doing that, conversions and influence will eventually transform the hearts of many people and effect every sphere of influence including education politics and business and become the main form of mainstream Christianity, Johnny enlow idea is a combination of what John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards Charles Finney believed which is a a type of post millennial belief system and if you study John Wesley's eschatology you will see that he also believed in this same type of concept though he didn't call it the seven mountain mandate. We as westerners from Australia, America and the United kingdom and Europe are blessed because of that 7 mountain mandate was affective and it began to be affective with Martin Luther and then the first and second great awakenings penetrated most of those spheres of influence and we lived under the laws and the blessings of countries that actually were influenced greatly by the scripture so we are reaping the blessings of the seven mountains mandate through men like John Wesley and George Whitfield, Charles Finney. This so-called 7 mountain mandate is just a continuation of what those men of the first and second great awakening believed was going to happen it was going to usher in a time of christianisation of the world and bring peace and blessing to mankind and many people would be converted before Christ's coming it's a victorious Outlook upon the principalities and the powers, Paul said that we wrestle with also, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age against the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, this theology teaches that we will get victory from this wrestle because Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth and the church will rise up as the perfect bride in the last days and she will perform the works of Christ on the earth gaining authority over demons and principalities which she is entitled to because it's christ who lives in her and she is the body of Christ it's extremely biblical way of looking at endtime eschatology and this is the reason why it was the common Protestant view it started to disappear after and around the time of World war One and a bit before that because we suffered some tribulation in that time people started to get a pessimistic view and then the pre-tribulation rapture view become common and and it was a very pessimistic Outlook of the end times the Antichrist system become a common mindset people lost the the victory mindset but this revelation is designed to bring the victory mindset back to the church and for Her to believe for a great awakening that's actually gonna make a difference like the first two but this will be the best wine kept for the end of the feast. And in reality this was the orthodox Protestant view, so it's because some people have not understood this properly and there has been from other movements a dominionist type of carnal view and promotion of this but it's not common at Among the charismatic or the Pentecostals its In pretty small stream of cessationist that believe in a top-down ruling of the Earth through Christian values a bit like a theocracy this is nothing to do with true dominionism and the 7 mountain mandate that our forefathers believed like Wesley and Whitfield and Jonathan Edward believed this is a refiring of that revelation, and in hindsight this revelation will be accepted because it will be accompanied with the great revival and the revival mindset, when one is filled with the holy spirit and the revival is taking hold of ones mind and spirit one starts to believe that Christ will get the victory. This view does take a very allegorical approach to revelations and Daniels and the prophetic books which is still extremely biblical and is not as literal as the premillennial view of the prophetic books. It's about the fulfilment of Jesus words when he said go make disciples of all the nation's preach the gospel to every creature and when we look at history we see how much the gospel and revival can change the world, we watched it happen in the western world and it hasn't been gods intention for Satan and the religious spirits and the demonic realm to overcome revival it's always been our fault that we could never maintain the fire and we could never disciple people properly but the time is ending where the revival and the awakening that we had begun to step into will continue to burn and people will be discipled in a great power, the power that Jesus Christ spoke about the Unity will become common because God is going to save the best wine and his best work for the end. We've seen the Antichrist the beast system rule for 1500 years in the Dark ages and that system is coming under judgement we've seen great tribulation happen for many years during that Dark ages upon the Jews and upon the Christians the Saints were given into the hand of the Antichrist but the time has come for the great awakening to wake up the sleeping Giant and the bride of Christ will come into her full maturity and make herself ready God is not slack concerning his promise as some count him slack but his long-suffering and patient towards us desiring that all become saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, the revelation of the perfect bride, in full matureity walking in the power of Christ will turn the world upside down and the five fold ministry as Paul said having done it's work to build up the body of Christ to the perfect man to the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ, she will walk in obedience in the last days Christ will receive the highest and the most reward for his sufferings because for 1500 years he didn't get a lot of reward and now is the time for the blood to buy back all that Satan had taken through the dark ages since Constantine institutionalised the church and judgement came upon the church it is now the time for the great Awakening. Take Hold of what the Spirit says to church.

I would like to suggest that international Christian organizations such as The Fellowship (the one that holds Presidential prayer breakfasts etc.) and the Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship International would be good movements to encourage the types of meetings suggested here. I might also ad that "consensus meetings" have in recent years been introduced into other churches &, apparently, some Christian charities. We must be careful however that we do not stop at "mere" consensus. As Eden Grace pointed out, what we might call the traditional Quaker method is not MERE consensus, but a consensus discernment of God's will re a certain proposal or idea. In this circumstance, if a Christian group within (say) a business or a government discerns God's will over a business or governmental policy, this group is then bound to present this discernment to the director of the business or government leader. If the director or government leader accepts this, God will surely bless that business of country. If they reject it, they cannot expect God's blessing. Such meetings would become Christian advisory groups - in fact, more than this. They would be the means through which the mountains of influence open themselves to the direct influence of Christ!

I had never heard of this term before and asked him to explain. He said that to bring about the second coming of Christ, Christians must dominate seven social mountains and list a few: government, education, media, business, and so on.
He says the idea is pretty far-fetched. I made a note to look it up and did, but I almost dismissed it as it was too unlikely to take seriously. But about six months later, I was watching a documentary called "Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed.” It's a gripping series about an international evangelical superchurch that has attracted members of the rich and famous, most notably Justin Bieber.
Near the end, the Seven Mountains Quest came in, making me rethink my tendency to take this concept too seriously. So I began researching and found that this idea had interested Christian nationalists in recent years.
Source: https://asmallworldcup.com

An article from a nar leader johny enlow june 6 2023 INFLUENCE VS. DOMINIONISM on the Seven Mountains In our excitement over this new seven mountain paradigm and assignment, we may sometimes get a little carried away in how we express it. We have noticed that Christians tend to like to use language such as "I’m going to ‘take’ the Mountain of ______________.” Likewise, I have heard of a lot of aggressive conversation about how we Christians are "taking over”””and we also seem to have a significant fascination with the word dominion. So, before we embark on bringing reformation into the mountains of society, we will really have to exercise wisdom as we describe our missional narrative. Society is listening in, and we need to be aware that the attention they pay to us will only increase as we move forward. Humanity’s dominion mandate from God is clear from the book of Genesis, but we must understand that none of the descriptions of dominion ever talk about it in regard to dominating our fellow human beings.

"God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth...Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:26, 28

Dominion is clearly laid out as a partnership between God and man over all other forms of life or existence, including the demonic realm. Therefore, whenever we use the language of dominion, if we don’t immediately follow up with an explanation about what that means exactly, then we leave a huge open door for controversy, criticism, and a backlash of fear. "Having dominion” is not about Christians ruling over non-Christians, and we should always be aware of that fact. The dominion mandate was about the sons and daughters of God”” all of humanity””having dominion over fish, cattle, birds, and all the earth, including every creeping thing and every living thing. Those last two categories would qualify as potential descriptions of demonic forces and they must be the focus of the domination.

"We do not wrestle against flesh and blood [people], but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age [Satan and his demons] ....” Ephesians 6:12

The purpose of "wrestling” is to gain domination over the demonic realm and the lies it promotes about God. The targets of our domination are Satan and demons, and we must make sure that we always understand that narrative and represent it correctly. The history of the world is rife with examples of attempted Christian domination over all other religions. For many, many centuries, there was a pervasive atmosphere of religious imposition, and most of us would not have done well living in that reality. One needs only to read about the period of the Holy Inquisition to understand how a dominion mandate can get way out of hand. The true dominion mandate is stewardship over the planet, and it is to be seen as an extension of our carrying the image of the One who created us. It is a mandate to express His heart of love through every area of culture””and when that is done His way, the earth will rejoice!

Influence, versus imposition, happens in an atmosphere of freedom. The great value of influence is that it occurs under free will. Luke 2:52 says, "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Influence is the by-product of having favor. Favor is an irresistibility factor that often defies logic. True godly favor is that which comes by carrying a high measure of love. That high measure of love will manifest in actions that are attractive to people of goodwill and unattractive to people of devious intent. This must be our goal for how we desire to advance the kingdom of God: We must resist any and all impulses to impose upon the masses that which should be only a matter of conscience between man and God. May what we write, what we say, and how we say it begin to catch up with that important understanding. There is a beauty of freedom that outweighs the beauty of order. Again, the kingdom of God comes in freedom, and the order it brings is an inside-out order, not an outside-in order. We must watch how we use dominion terminology and make sure that we are at no time shifting toward order by means of imposition, nor even a hidden agenda or motive to impose. God has always had the power to do in a mere instant what He desires to accomplish. Yet He has chosen to endure the arduous process of winning over hearts and minds through love. As He is, so must we be in this world.

Dear Brother,

I could not agree more about the misuse of "dominion". I agree that the "dominion mandate" does NOT include the domination of non-Christians by Christians. The point of the suggested "Quaker-style" meetings within the spheres of influence is for Christians within these spheres to act as a sort of prophetic voice; a voice based upon the revealed will of God on various specific issues,revealed through the consensus of a group and not by a single "prophet" (as one person may accidentally misunderstand or distort the message) but by a group gathered with the purpose of seeking God's will.

This is not a biblical doctrine

John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Luke 16:15
New King James Version

15 And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

1 John 2:15-17
New King James Version
Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world””the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life””is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.