Seven Mountain Mandate

The Seven Mountain Mandate, also called Seven Mountain Dominionism, and 7M, is an evangelical religious group that believes God has tasked his followers with installing Christian values in seven key pillars of society. The movement’s founders, Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham, claim God gave them both the same message to begin their crusade in 1975. In that message, God told them to reclaim the “seven spheres of society”—religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business.

Believers in the Seven Mountain Mandate ideal say the basis for the movement comes from the Bible, specifically several passages in Genesis and Revelation. For example, in Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam to “fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” The reference to the seven mountains comes from Revelation, chapter 17, in which the author has a vision of a beast with seven heads. Upon the beast rides a woman representing Babylon. Verse 9 reads, “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.”

Background

The Seven Mountain Mandate is part of an overall religious movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR is a charismatic movement similar to Pentecostalism, a fundamentalist Christian belief that God directly interacts with his followers though the Holy Spirit. Contrary to many Christian denominations, the NAR does not put an emphasis on biblical scripture, but rather focuses on direct power given to followers as apostles of God. They put more emphasis on their spiritual leaders as miracle workers and believe that Satan is actively engaged in a spiritual war for their souls of humanity.

The Seven Mountain Mandate is among a group of NAR denominations that hold to a philosophy known as dominionism. Dominionism, also called dominion theology, Christian reconstructionism, and Christian sharia, is a set of extreme Christian political beliefs that aims to establish a country that would be governed by Christians. Any laws and policies would be based on their interpretation of biblical law.

Overview

The Seven Mountain Mandate was founded in 1975 by two religious leaders, Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham. Cunningham founded the youth ministry group Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in 1960 after claiming to have received a vision from God. Bright was the founder of a similar group called Campus Crusade. The two men claim that when they met for lunch in 1975, they both discovered God had given them the same message. They said God wanted them to evangelize and spread his word within each of the seven spheres of society. According to the men, God inspired them to create a list of these pillars—religion and the church, family, government, education, arts/entertainment/sports, the media, and economics, which would include the sectors of business, science, and technology. Another man, Presbyterian pastor and author Francis Schaeffer, also claimed to receive the purported message from God.

Followers of the Seven Mountain Mandate philosophy believe that infusing Christian values into the seven pillars will bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ. In addition to the biblical verses telling Adam to “subdue” creation, Seven Mountain Mandate followers point to a phrase in the Lord’s Prayer—“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven.”

According to Cunningham, members of YWAM are trained to enter the seven spheres of society where they will work as missionaries. According to the group’s website, YWAM operates in 180 countries and trains about 25,000 people a year. In 1978, Cunningham founded the University of the Nations, an unaccredited Christian institution included under the YWAM umbrella. Being unaccredited, employers or other institutions do not officially recognize their educational offerings. YWAM claims to deepen a person’s relationship with God and to encourage them to live as Christ himself would. It also tutors followers in how to make an impact on the seven spheres of influence, especially when it comes to the government.

Critics have said that the group may be too focused on achieving governmental influence, and worry it could potentially impact legislation to reflect evangelical Christian beliefs. They point to then-President Donald Trump’s 2019 appointment of Pastor Paula White as a spiritual advisor and personal minister. White is a proponent of the Seven Mountain Mandate philosophy and held a prayer rally for Trump supporters prior to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in Washington, DC. Other prominent believers of the philosophy include television evangelist Andrew Wommack, and pastor Johnny Enlow, author of several books endorsing Seven Mountain Mandate beliefs.

Followers of the Seven Mountain Mandate have also drawn criticism from mainstream Christian groups who view their philosophy as opposed to true Christian beliefs. Some have claimed the Seven Mountain Mandate is a cult-like group whose dominionist philosophy is harmful and antithetical to the teachings of Jesus Christ. They even question the basic premise of the group’s philosophy. In the Bible, they note, Jesus did not bring his message of change to the upper echelon of Judean society. Instead, he preached among people at the margins of society—fishermen, tax collectors, thieves, and the poor.

Supporters of Seven Mountain Mandate ideals say they are simply following the command given to them by God in the Bible. They take the promises given by God to the Jewish people in the Bible’s Old Testament and apply them to modern society. They claim their task is not to “take over” the seven spheres of society, but to spread God’s message within those spheres. They believe that because the message comes from God, it is beneficial to the institutions and society as a whole.

Bibliography

Cunningham, Loren. The Book that Transforms Nations. YWAM Publishing, 2007.

“Frequently Asked Questions.” Youth With a Mission, 2022, ywam.org/about-us/faq. Accessed 22 July 2022.

Haynes, Clarence L., Jr. “What Christians Need to Know about the New Apostolic Reformation.” Crosswalk, 30 Mar. 2021, www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/what-christians-need-to-know-about-the-new-apostolic-reformation.html. Accessed 22 July 2022.

“How a Conservative Christian Movement Became an Important Part of Trump’s Political Strategy.” CBC Radio, 15 Jan. 2021, www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/mrna-after-covid-19-blowing-up-trump-plaza-crokicurl-history-of-swear-words-and-more-1.5874120/how-a-conservative-christian-movement-became-an-important-part-of-trump-s-political-strategy-1.5874143. Accessed 22 July 2022.

Slick, Matt. “What Are the Origins of the Seven Mountain Mandate?” CARM, 5 May 2022, carm.org/carm/origins-of-the-seven-mountain-mandate/. Accessed 22 July 2022.

West, Marsha. “Quick Thoughts: What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’?” Berean Research, 27 Apr. 2016, bereanresearch.org/quick-thoughts-seven-mountains-mandate/. Accessed 22 July 2022.

Whitehead, John W. “The Rise of Dominionism and the Christian Right.” Liberty, July/August 2006, www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-rise-of-dominionism-and-the-christian-right. Accessed 22 July 2022.