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The Five-Fold Clique needs a foundation repair. Stat. Prophets, teachers, apostles, evangelists, and pastors, but a mountain without a foundation cannot stand.
Look, I am not too proud to admit the first time I heard of the “Seven Mountains Mandate,” it made sense to my educated self. You see, the way I understood it, back in the glory days of my naïveté, was this: Christians should not exist in a bubble but be leaders in all aspects of society. We need Christians in public schools, in hospitals, in Fortune 500 companies, and so on. See? Logical. It turns out, I understood right, and the bad side of the prophetic movement twisted it all out of proportion.
But back in the happy days of my faith (which are, sadly, long gone, and have been since 2018 when I realized I’d grown up in a Church—big C—had lied to me all my life…) But prior to that, I suppose for a time I was surrounded by people who were neither liars nor lunatics. And perhaps they believed like I did about this “mandates,” so it never seemed bound for the next spaceship.
For years, I wanted to be a public school teacher. And let me be clear: I have zero issues with people homeschooling, private-schooling, or even unschooling—assuming their children get genuine educations in the sense that if they wanted to suddenly put their children in public school, or apply for college scholarships, or anything else they need, that they would on a level (or better) playing field to do whatever was appealing,—from a mechanic via trade school or a doctor via med school—if the parents are making a reasonable pathway for their children, lots of paths arrive where children need to be. And considering I barely attended school (that’s a story for another time), I just knew I needed to be in public schools.
My background of ascent up my “mountain”
My calling to be a middle school English teacher appeared in the newsroom of the Los Angeles Valley Star offices one afternoon as we sat producing the next issue of the Star, which no doubt, Thea and Tony, the photo and editorial advisers, would rake us over the clichéd coals after they saw the issue:
Thea- “This cutline doesn’t identify the people in the picture!”
Tony- “This column is crooked! Did you use the ruler and T-square? Did you use the Exacto blade?”
Both of them- “Every headline needs to have an action verb! Do not put to be verbs in headlines!”
Us- “We were here until 1 a.m. Let us go home and sleep!”
The truth was, I loved working on the paper. And thanks to the Internet Archive, I have been reading those back issues. Here, as you can see, they got their action verb!
Then one day the textbooks arrived. I think someone thought the bungalows which housed the Star offices and newsroom were where to take old books. Two banker’s boxes of middle school textbooks appeared outside the offices.
Maybe I’d just put my column to bed. Maybe my crush on my English professor was at its peak (true story, good old “One R”), or maybe it was always meant to be.
Someone asked us to take them to donate somewhere. “NO! No, I want them! I’ll take them,” I exclaimed. Never mind that my transportation was the RTD (Rapidly “Tardy” District bus); someone took me home.
Those books delighted me. I looked through them and saw my future; it was a bad movie before their eyes. Hallmark met Disney in the journalism bungalow. Love at first sight.
“I’m going to be a middle school English teacher!”
Yes, the books would help me. I would teach 7th grade because in my 7th grade year, kids beat me up and tortured me (really); they ruined my existence before that level of bullying was illegal. I, Dr. Dénouement, was going to teach 7th grade, and protect all the 7th graders.
The Seven Mountain Mandate (a 21st century story)
When I heard about this “Seven Mountain thing,” it wasn’t crazy to me because it made sense. Since I was going to teach public school, I would be a refuge for kids. But, also, I was going to teach them well, with excellence!
They would write real papers, not stupid 5-paragraph essays on why we should or shouldn’t have uniforms in school! (Can you fathom if this Substack were a series of 5PEs? “In this post I am going to tell you three reasons why Mike Bickle’s sexual assault allegations should be taken seriously… My first reason… etc. In conclusion, I have now shown you why.” YAWN! Oh my gosh! NO!).
My students would write authentic documents. Together, we would read poetry and essays, short stories and novels. We were not going to do silly test-prep assignments that didn’t teach them to integrate real reading and writing skills. No boring grammar worksheets in “Miss T’s” room.
My mountain was education. Excitedly, I climbed.
Spheres of influence become mountains of mandate
The original idea of what grew into the “Seven Mountain Mandate” doesn’t sound nearly as “whack” as it does today. In true charismania form, it appears multiple descendants of the era hopped on the train to the mountains, and now everyone is buying tickets on the Whackadoodle Express (and make no mistake: the tickets cost because these prophets charge for them).
From all accounts, the seven mountains ideology today (known as anything from the “7 Mountains of Culture,” “Seven Mountains of Influence,” or multiple other variations, seems to emanate as the “Seven Spheres of Influence” and was born independently, at about the same time, from YWAM’s Loren Cunningham and Campus Crusade for Christ’s Bill Bright. I am aware my readers might have problems with both of these men and their organizations, and YWAM especially has received criticism since the IHOPKC scandal; however, it’s important to note here that YWAM is a massive decentralized organization that it’s hard to generalize to one way or type. (I.e. saying “YWAM is a cult” would not in itself be accurate unless one were to understand the workings of all bases since many actually deviate from the way that YWAM was even set up. But saying “Some YWAM leaders practice cult tactics, or run their bases abusively, etc.” is completely fair. Frankly, I recently learned of a cult group within a large and popular YWAM base, so I certainly know they exist. I also know there are really great and healthy bases and leaders. Source: My own personal knowledge and interactions with multiple YWAMers, bases, and structures within.)
Back to Cunningham and Bright, Cunningham’s 1988 book, explains the origin, which is described as the seven “spheres” of influence.1 :
“In 1975 I was praying and thinking about how we could turn the world around for Jesus. A list came to my mind: Seven areas . We were to focus on these categories to turn around nations to God. I wrote them down, and stuck the paper in my pocket:
1. the home
2. the church
3. the schools
4. government and politics
5. the media
6. arts, entertainment, and sports
7. commerce, science, and technology
“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. Amazing coincidences like this happen all the time when Christians listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.
“These seven spheres of influence will help us shape societies for Christ. God gave us these handles to use in carrying out Matthew 28 and discipling the nations for Him.”
The way Cunningham narrates this 1975 discussion with Bright, following their individual prayer times is hardly a prophetic warfare overtaking of society that mandates conferences teaching people how to take authority over demons and principalities so they can rule a mountain. In fact, the language is humble; it lines up with a simple gospel. Described as “handles to carry out Matthew 28,” the spheres of these areas make logical sense. The idea of believers finding their individual strengths, not in a religious bubble, but in the world in which they live, is just plain smart.
I read the book before making this post, focusing closely read the chapter which discusses this seven spheres area). I wanted to understand the origins of this “movement” because lately that’s exactly what it’s been: a movement of spiritual warfare focusing on dominionism. But it was not created to be that. It was created as a “handle,’ as Cunningham says, so that people like me, who would spend our lives in a classroom (or executive office or film studio—or whatever doesn’t immediately “sound” spiritual) would realize that our work is not “just a secular job” but is as meaningful as the job of the missionary in Thailand and can be a powerful tool for the gospel.
Cunningham relays a story of a missionary family in a culture where speaking of religion is forbidden entirely, and the only tool they have is their lifestyle. The family work regular jobs and live in this culture. Yet locals see the way they live and love. That, that is what this whole seven spheres deal was meant to be like. And, my friends, that sounds a whole lot more like Jesus than ramrodding through everything we see as different so we can conform it to what we think is an image of the warring Jesus that is going to destroy the world at the end of the age.
Cunningham writes:
I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to end time prophecies. Like any other Christian, I read my Bible and try to discern what is going on around me. But one thing I do believe very clearly: Jesus told us to occupy until He came (Luke 19:13 KJV). It isn’t occupying if we hole up in a religious enclave and let everything outside our church walls rot away. (132)
But Cunningham and Bright’s peer, C. Peter Wagner, did have a spin on this idea, and even a small plunge in shallow water reveals the deeper motivations—Dominionism. If you have been reading this newsletter since it began, you also know I spent the month of November participating in National Novel Writing Month (#NaNoWriMo). I came to this Substack with a backlog of material, though that hadn’t been my intent. On one side of my world, I was hearing only hateful words spoken about the core of my race and ethnic people group—by Christians (this is still nonstop—and spoiler; it hurts and it doesn’t make anyone want to love Jesus). On the other side, I was learning that the place I had loved and my “heart’s home” was a lie. Thus, I spent a lot of time also researching. I learned terribly disturbing things about the core beliefs of the eschatology we’d had drilled into our noggins like children.
Worse, as I dug into these relics, I began to see that I did not even belong in the “church” if this was the reality they embraced. Not too many years ago, I was involved with a group that claimed to be “apostolic.” (Because obviously one must announce such things, isn’t that right Apostle Billy Bob?) I am not proud of this, but that time brought me into contact with a lot of leaders. If I had not met them via my IHOPKC connections, then I met them via my alleged apostolic connections. What this means is that in some cases I have stood on the same stage with some of these people, received correspondence that was supposed to be only for “us,” and other junk that has no place in Christianity.
My point in sharing this is to establish that I am not only a bystander looking in, but I was inside, and I don’t like it. Many of these people are nice. But when I was teaching and supervising student teachers, we would often talk of how some of the poor educators—regarding pedagogy—were really nice people. Being a nice human doesn’t make one a credible professional.
Hijacked Christianity: a thesis for our era
I don’t hate real Christianity, and I don’t hate any of the people I got to know in these times. Some were genuinely doing things such as holding prayer meetings for governmental leaders—for some to be elected, to have wisdom, etc. But it veered for many, and I miss real Christianity, but I won’t take this substitute.
In the early part of the 2010s, it was not lunacy yet (in my world). But by the end of the decade, there was no moderation left.
I had planned a summative post here, but that cannot happen. I am barely scratching the alleged prophetic surface. And I have no illusions this post will make me friends. But I lost most of them when I refused to be quiet. (And for the record, I never signed an NDA for any place or person with whom I was affiliated. As I have shared before, NDAs are for proprietary information, not ministries).
What shifted for me and for many around me—by many, I mean many; I mean, people you may be looking at on social media, asking “what happened? I thought they used to love Jesus. Now…?”—this is what happened.
Between the idolatry of a man many want to anoint a “Cyrus,”2 Donald Trump, to the “othering” of entire people groups, I now walk around hoping people don’t think I am anything party to this junk. We will face an ugly irony in November when a man accused of—and actually with judgements against him—the same things as Bickle—and worse—appears on our ballots and many of the most vocal against Bickle, demanding justice, will check the box for Trump because “he’s the lesser of two evils.” Once upon a time, Lou Engle beamed at me like a proud dad when he asked me about voting for someone iffy. My response was that choosing the lesser of two evils was still choosing evil. A week later, even Engle—whose heart was right, but action was wrong—sent a letter out to his whole mailing list endorsing the lesser evil. It broke my trusting, admiring heart. I still have the letter.
Back at IHOPKC when I spent a summer working for Engle, I was still in awe and admiration land. When Engle and I were finished working, his ride would arrive and he would leave me to keep working in his office. He would close the door for me to have privacy (with me alone in the office, not with him, to be clear!) and I always immediately opened it. At the time I was hoping Bickle would walk by, or I would end up chatting with others. Having access to back rooms and offices felt so cool back then. If only I’d known that having a door code meant nothing.
One day, I listened to a discussion of senior leaders. Look, Engle’s office was right by the conference room, and Bickle and company did not close the door; I did not eavesdrop on purpose. Bad press coming out, regarding eschatology, dominionism theology, etc. Bickle instructed them: “Don’t answer,” he said. “We don’t need to defend ourselves. Just let them talk. We just bless them.” In that case, Bickle’s direction to leaders to be kind and not fight back sounded good since it was only about theology, not sexual abuse.
“Seven-Mountain Dominionism”?
Much has changed since that time. Back during NaNoWriMo, as I was inhaling war and exhaling sex abuse, I discovered a work that I have already seen cited in other works. In a lengthy and detailed analysis for his master’s thesis from Georgia State University, David Sharp writes his work based on this research question 3:
Do recent evolutions to Christian Eschatology (Premillennialism/ Postmillennialism) give exigence to the radicalization of mainstream American Evangelicalism via a Dominionist ideology? -David Sharp, Georgia State U
Sharp looks at Bickle in specific detail, as well as Bill Johnson, Ché Ahn, and aligned doctrines. I stumbled on Sharp in my work to seek out more on Charles Nelson Darby (Bickle claims half of Darby’s dogma, rejects the other half, and seemingly has never been called into account for this forked tongue philosophy). I stayed, however, because of the insight on the “movement” that has driven so many of my friends from wanting to ever see a church again.
Sharp notes:
The end goal of Dominionism is undeniable, to overturn secular democracy in favor of Christian theocracy. Budiselić (2015) attributes the popularity of Dominionism to C. Peter Wagner (1930-2016), who in the 1980s used the term Kingdom Now Theology (KN) “proponents of KN theology cite as their goal the ‘seven mountains [mandate]’ which are to be overcome and brought under God's power, and these include religion, family, education, media, government, art, entertainment and business” (p. 147). Regardless of the term used, be it Kingdom Now, Dominionism, or the Seven Mountain Mandate, the end goal of these synonyms is the same, a cultural and political worldwide hegemonic theocratic domination by Evangelicals (Garrard-Burnett, 2020, p. 4-5). The Seven-Mountain Mandate is more of a strategy that falls within the Kingdom Now/Dominionist theology, and these extra-biblical ideologies are the intellectual product of C. Peter Wagner. (Sharp. pp. 29-30)
Remember how it was really the seven spheres of influence back with Cunningham and Bright? Wagner added layers.
Spoiler: The Global Harvest website has a message from Wagner handing over his ministry in 2010, on Wagner’s 80th birthday, to Chuck Pierce of Global Spheres, Inc., moving the mountains to rugged roads. Pierce, whom I have met on multiple occasions (and who definitely qualifies as “nice,” despite my vehement disagreement), cannot possibly be covered in this post, but I want to trace the mountain train.
One of Pierce’s BFFs is Cindy Jacobs. Jacobs, who leads “Generals” (You, too, can be a General of Prayer because we must have titles—maybe a six-fold ministry? After all, she promotes the Seven Mountains also), has been promoting her upcoming event at Pierce’s place lately. But in between that, she has been doing this:
And clearly, the “haters” must be Hamas—because it’s much easier to forget the millions of Palestinian Christians who actually share the same basic tenets of her purported faith. This from a “general.”
No college student would ever protest a war, right? Ironically, as I looked through my old college newspapers, I found Desert Storm protests with college students being dragged away by police, and protests over the “philosophy” of going to war. This is not new. Jacobs, alive during Vietnam, was certainly here for the Gulf War. War protests by college students are hardly unique. Her posts mixed between hatred and prayer meetings is everything wrong with the modern mountain movement.
The response from people with this aberrant theology is simple: We must address this “wokeism” in our culture. Hijacked Christianity? “That’s woke,” they posit. The problem is that most who posit everyone different from them is simply promoting a doctrine of demons (that’s what wokeism is, by the way), wouldn’t know what is actually occurring, who the players are, or what elements of something might be true or good vs false and bad. Most of life is a bit of both.
Jacobs’ posts are not the posts of a prophet. But if you want to sign up for her upcoming prophetic gathering, that’ll be $69. No food, transportation, or lodging is included.
Curiously, as I was working on an IHOPKC post and tax-exempt rules, I found this gem which may explain why so many leaders charge fees but provide nothing for the fee but an “audience” with them.
Don’t worry though. If Deborah isn’t for you, there is a gathering of Esthers in October. And probably you can find a conference where you can be Elijah, David, or Moses. Hang on! Bickle may have the handle on Moses (end-time church will release the judgements of God like Moses) and David, (Psalm 18, David repents and is immediately restored; “there’s no waiting period.” Spoiler, Mike: REPENTANCE.)
Psychic or Prophet—or maybe a good guesser
Listen, if you really, seriously, truly, absolutely (like really!) want to master the mountains, then you must take it past all these people. You see, Brother Lance over here, he offers the new and improved seven mountains. In fact, his book, Invading Babylon: The Seven Mountain Mandate (2013) 4, includes this excerpt, crediting Cunningham and Bright, but moving forward. Bill Johnson from Bethel writes this portion:
Wallnau, is a wonder of his own—please do not mistake that for awe. While newly-minted Dr. Dénouement was indeed in awe of working with Engle over a decade ago, now-experienced Dr. Dénouement has not ever bought into the Wallnau Wonderworks.
I hate giving him attention. After all, his expensive, glitzy website toots his horn. He claims to be “Dr. Wallnau” by virtue of his “Doctorate in Ministry with a specialization in Marketplace from Phoenix University of Theology,” Rolling Stone notes. A quick peek at this school’s accreditation is missing a key element—regional accreditation. When you look at a real theology school at Dallas Theological Seminary, right in Wallnau’s own back yard, or even private schools like Asbury, where many IHOPers have gone on to get theological degrees, look what you see, but Wallnau’s school just shines with seals, all missing the gold one:
But often in the world of prophets and mountains, the need to acquire a quick doctorate is less about serious academics and more about image. Wallnau rose to an odd sort of fame—thanks to the church—because of Donald Trump and his “prophecy”:
He needs to continue his work as a divine wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness that has been like witchcraft muzzling and intimidating the Christian community.
Mr. Trump is not as evangelical as the other candidates, but I've been with him twice. He fears God as best he knows Him and he is the only Cyrus I see fulfilling Isaiah 45 for the 45th President.
There will be great warfare over this election and over this man in particular. A full tilt $100 million media campaign is about to be unleashed to slander him. I want to see the #Trumptrain on track with God's plan.
Will you join me in the warfare to establish a Cyrus in office for the sake of God's people and purposes? (Wallnau’s FB Oct 2015)
As you can see, Wallnau and his dime make that thousand-dollar store predictions became enough for him to market himself—on his personal site—half “prophet”-half psychic.
Is this really what we do now? Predict winners? I mean, I could have done that. If you are a prophet, you repeat what God told you. Period. This is his own website, not a media version secularizing speech.
This was embarrassing and cost the church more people that most will know. But hey, look at that success! Be sure to grab your own press kit and download the “high res image” of Lance and Donald T. If you take his courses, you also may be able to predict “God’s Chaos Candidate.” But maybe reconsider a donation. Charity Navigator gives the business guru prophet a 62% (yes, out of 100), rating. And his publicly filed Form 990s are shameful. Note that ProPublica prominently discloses that the “charity” both paid for either first class or charter flights and also reported conflict of interest transactions..
The problem with Wallnau and people philosophically aligned with him—peep Dutch Sheets and Cindy Jacobs, for example—the Christian nationalism (which Wallnau himself lauds proudly) comes with toxic doses of racism, elitism, and other-isms. For example, as Rolling Stone points out: 5
“For Wallnau, success looks the rule of Hungary under Viktor Orban. Wallnau praises the authoritarian for refusing to ‘bend our knee’ to Muslim immigration.” - Rolling Stone Magazine
Christian nationalism, end-time wars released by believers, making anyone else an “other” for our spiritual elevation (Sharp analyzes Steven Futrick,Jr. too, by the way, speaking of “Elevation”) are all dangerous signs of lots of things. None of those things is the sign of a prophet.
I did meet a real prophet—I believe from my limited interaction—at IHOPKC. You would likely not know his name. It turned out not long after I encountered him, he had an affair. It wasn’t longstanding, but he did it. You know what’s weird? He repented. He confessed to his wife. He cried real tears of sorrow and repentance. He told the leaders at IHOPKC. Having an affair is wrong. Obviously. After doing wrong, the question then becomes what do we do that’s right?
This man did everything he could, within human and spiritual power, to atone for his wrong. He stepped back and didn’t try to lead, and submitted to everything IHOPKC leaders asked him to do—willingly.
He still lost his job.
That’s right. Brad Tebbutt remained, a confessed abuser of a teen girl, subject of an entire investigation, yet a leader who attempted to do everything right was booted out.
The good news here: He did get out. He kept his wife; he kept his children.
And he kept his soul.
Prophets aren’t perfect, but a prophet who spends all day judging, predicting, revising words from God, and charging people money… my friends, you do not need a gift of discernment to know that is not the mark of a prophet.
-30-
Cunningham, L. (1988). Making Jesus lord: The dynamic power of laying down your rights. YWAM Publishing.
Barrett-Fox, R. (2018). A King Cyrus President: How Donald Trump’s Presidency Reasserts Conservative Christians’ Right to Hegemony. Humanity & Society, 42(4), 502-522. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160597618802644
Sharp, David, "Hijacked Christianity: How An Aberrant Eschatology Enables A Grievance Culture That Supplants Christian Grace For An Extremist Meritocracy." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/28912982
Johnson, B., & Wallnau, L. (2013). Invading Babylon : the 7 mountain mandate. Destiny Image, Inc. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=F3F02325-B32B-4376-9C35-1AE0318CDEA9
I highly recommend the full article from Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/lance-wallnau-doug-mastriano-christian-dominion-1234602214/