7 Cultural Mountains

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I just learned about this thing called 7 Cultural Mountains. It isn’t terribly complicated and I only had to do a little digging to learn enough to tell you about it. I might circle back to this in later posts as well.

What is 7 Cultural Mountains?

Without digging into the history of this “movement”—its originators and early heavy-hitters—I’ll just tell you what I’ve learned about it (what it is, or what I understand it to be).

When I visited http://www.7culturalmountains.org, their home page didn’t exactly have a pithy, quotable explanation of what they stand for. But I did learn that they seem to want to try to turn America (and the world) back around to a Christian (or maybe Judea-Christian) outlook. Maybe “back around” are the wrong words, since much of the world has never really embraced the Christian view. So please feel free to omit those two words.

In any case, they seem driven to make an impact upon society in favor of Christian principles or values. Sounds good, right? I mean, it’s good if you hold to these values. Right?

Well, I might be inclined to approach this subject with caution.

Why? Glad you asked. Let me try to answer this question appropriately.

On the home page referenced above, they quote Isaiah 2:2-3. Here it is for you:

² In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house

    will be the highest of all—

    the most important place on earth.

It will be raised above the other hills,

    and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

³ People from many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

    to the house of Jacob’s God.

There he will teach us his ways,

    and we will walk in his paths.”

For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;

    his word will go out from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:2-3, NLT

Red Flag

Sounds pretty applicable to the 7 Mountains thingy, right? It talks about mountains and the Lord’s house being the most important on earth, so on and so forth….However, this is actually red flag number 1 for me personally. It’s a red flag (not a good thing) because the passage quoted is about a totally different time in earth’s history (well, future, really). It isn’t about the days we are currently in, it’s about the days just after these days. It’s about the millennium, or millennial reign of Christ, which comes after the current End Times. More importantly, the reason why life will be the way these two verses show is because Jesus will make it so – not us. Humanity will not be the ones who bring this utopia into being; it will be a work of God and only God. So, right from the start, they are appearing to attempt to bring something about by the work of mankind that is not the mandate of mankind. That’s never a good thing.

Not All Bad

Before I start sounding like a raving lunatic, let me clarify something for you. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing that societies try to model their constructs after biblical precepts. That would actually be good for society. It brings a whole host of really good guidelines into the laws of the nations that adopt them. It also brings God into the picture, instead of pushing Him out, which is also generally a good thing (so long as we don’t go back to the conquistadores’ methods). And I suppose that if this were a strictly political notion (not a religious one) that would be good too.

However

The problems that I can see taking root here are these (off the top of my pointy head):

1. We (as a Church) would work very hard at alienating just about everyone who is not already in the Church. This is already a huge problem as it is (one of the motivators for this site, actually).
2. We would get out in front of God, Who is already doing His work, and (as already stated) has very specific things that He wants to accomplish on earth before His return (which happens before the events of Isaiah 2:2-3).
3. The potential for all kinds of abuse is staggering (even more so than #1 above). I don’t have a problem with peeps in government being guided by their faith, but I don’t see how imposing that faith onto others will have positive results. Enforcing ,”You shall not commit murder” is entirely different than enforcing “Keep the Sabbath Day holy”, for example.
4. If someone wants to say that it is our “mandate” to force this upon the world, I’m not so sure that they understand what our mandate actually is.
5. Anytime mankind tries to produce some kind of utopian society on earth it tends to go south on us very quickly. After all, mankind is the problem, not the cure.

So what do we do?

Good question. I’m glad I asked it for you.

How about living out our faith in front of others in a very real, humble, and meaningful way? A way that shows them that we actually care about them and do not consider ourselves to be superior to them in any way whatsoever. That’s just a general, easy to understand comment that is not specific at all. It’s like saying, “Treat others the way that you want them to treat you” (Luke 6:31).

This movement is a bit more specific than that though (although the sum total pretty much covers all aspects of society).

Here are the “mountains” (“spheres”, “shapers,” “pillars,” or “molders”) that they are talking about:

1. Arts/Entertainment
2. Business
3. Education
4. Family
5. Government/Military
6. Media
7. Religion

Right away, this reminds me of the Communist Manifesto, and how the communists have been very successful at infiltrating these areas of society, in order to mold the hearts and minds of the populace through social engineering. Indeed, this has been a HUGE problem in the USA for the last hundred years or so. That’s why we’re even looking at this subject. In fact, it is probably the most prevalent today that it has ever been. Look at our schools (K through PhD), look at the list just above and think about how we have been brainwashed for decades into believing whatever they want us to believe:

• homosexuality is normal
• violence is uncontrollable
• abortion is “healthcare”
• adultery is no big deal
• follow your heart (as if it’s a good thing)
• politicians’ lying is for the better good
• the goal outweighs the methods
• the Bible is a collection of myths
• Evolution (“Evil-you-shun”) is a fact; Creation is a myth
• Losing our rights (which they don’t teach are God-given) is acceptable for more security

I could go on for days.

Should we fight these ideologies? YES! Daily! Constantly! Should we be involved in these sectors of society? Big time! But HOW we do it is what (I think) is the question here.

We are called to treat others with integrity, respect, honor and to do it humbly, and with genuine love for them. This idea of forming a “movement” based on a “mandate” is old news—very old. We should have been doing this all along, but we need to do it the biblical way; not this cultish way that scares the stuffing out of folks who see things differently. We need to realize that the Lord will take care of the rebellion of man—we need to just believe in Him and share His good news at every chance we get, with gentleness and respect.

Want to get political in a Christian way? Go vote for someone who represents Christ, or will at least govern in a way that honors Him (like Mr. Trump does). Want to make an impact in society? Do these things with respect to the 7 Mountains:

1. Arts/Entertainment: Only pay for entertainment that honors God and espouses a Christian view.
2. Business: Don’t support businesses that are openly hostile to your faith, or damaging to the health and welfare of our nation. Don’t run a business contrary to your faith.
3. Education: Either homeschool your children or put them in a good school that teaches your values, or get involved in your school’s board of administration. At the very least, keep track of what is going on with your kids in school: the material; the students; the faculty; the facility…and correct the stuff that needs correcting (for your child’s sake).
4. Family: Live out this verse, “But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”. (Joshua 24:15) Or this one, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” (Proverbs 22:6) And about a hundred other verses about how to live.
5. Government/Military: Vote, vote, vote. Join the military and serve with honor. Support the troops. Keep and bear arms. Use your God-given free speech. Get involved directly.
6. Media: Call them out on their “fake news” and propaganda for the left. Pay them no money at all – don’t even support their sponsors (advertisers).
7. Religion: Never, never, ever try to force your beliefs onto someone else. It isn’t your job to “fix” anyone. It is your mandate to make disciples (teach) those around you with gentleness and respect. “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” (James 1:27, NLT) Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29, NLT)

Anything beyond these things is a recipe for failure to be a force for good in this world.

Bottom Line

I get why people feel this way and I can see how they genuinely think that this 7-Mountain thing is the way to go. I do. However, be careful to live your life in a way that honors God; not in a way that will bring shame on yourself or His good name. It is not our mandate to get in front of the Creator. He has a plan that will be carried out. If you want to know what His plan is, you could start by reading my book (I know, shameless plug – but no one else is going to do it) End Times Made Easy. It’s available on Amazon as a paperback ($8.61), or e-book ($1.00).

Fight the good fight in your own heart and mind FIRST, then deal with others. Here’s how Jesus put it:

Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Matthew 7:5, NLT

Let’s be smart, and fight the enemy on our terms, not his.

Gary