Three decades ago, two well-known Christian leaders, Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With A Mission, and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade For Christ, were given a simultaneous supernatural message for each other. They both saw 7 strategic mountains, or "mind molders", that shape the culture of every nation. God told each of them to inform the other that if they could capture these strategic places, they would reap the harvest of nations. These 7 mountains of societal influence are...
Religion – this includes Christianity, Mormonism, Buddhism, Taoism, Muslim, Hindu, etc.
About 6% of Muslims are radical jihadists, but they have much power
Successful Muslim businessmen are expected to finance the building of mosques and training centers for young Muslim minds and hearts. All mountains in the Muslim world are under the control of the Kingdom of Mohammed. They are able to move in unison and therefore have a far reaching influence.
Family – what an attack the enemy has launched against this once godly stronghold
Education – The American educational system, once based upon biblical principles, has
thrown God out of the system and replaced Him with the religion of secular humanism.
Government – The founding fathers were predominantly Christian and based our form of government on a biblical foundation: Example: our Separation of Powers concept referring to the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches of our government is derived from Isaiah 33:22 which says, “for the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, He will save us.
Media – the values of the media heavily control the values of a society
The Arts & Entertainment – Hollywood has desensitized American culture to perverted sex, violence and vulgarity, but a righteous remnant is rising up. There are about 8,000 Christian actors, producers and directors in Hollywood right now.
Business – this mountain has been labeled by most believers as “Ichabod”, citing
1 Timothy 6:10, “the love of money is the root of all evil”
God spoke volumes concerning wealth in the New Testament. Not because wealth is evil, but so that the redeemed would know how to righteously handle wealth for the building and the betterment of the Kingdom of God. The love of money can and does happen at every economic level, The righteous handling of money only comes with the revelation from God that money is a tool that produces great power and therefore must be handled with great responsibility. Scripture declares in Proverbs 13:22, “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” Not for the churchgoers or the members or even the believers, but for the righteous. Those who will rightly use the resources God provides.
The Church has, for the most part, abandoned 6 of the 7 mountains of societal influence and the result can be seen in the wake of this unkingdomlike activity.
Example: Africa is the most evangelized and the most Christian continent on earth. It also has the worst poverty, the worst epidemics and the worst combined economy of any continent on earth. All of which dramatically accelerated following the evangelical invasion. Why? Because only the mountain of religion was taken, the rest were left to flounder without righteous leadership.
On December 19, 2007, Lee Myung-bak was elected the next President of South Korea. Lee will take office on February 25, 2008. He is a devout Christian that will be positioned to establish Kingdom principles across the seven mountains. Shawn Bolz prophesied to Lee that he would be the next president of South Korea.
Joseph and Daniel did not impact Egypt and Babylon by convincing people to become Hebrews. They spoke the heavenly Kingdom into the lives of heathen kings and their kingdoms and shaped the future of those nations.
We put more energy into making converts than taking converts into the high places
When God’s people take what God has given them and go into a situation, they create solutions to problems. This is how we can build a platform to speak into culture and disciple a nation
Presidents of countries with epidemics are not looking for a Christian solution, they are looking for a solution and if a Christian becomes the solution then their Christian values have a platform of credibility that can touch an entire nation.
Here’s the questions, do we have supernatural answers to problems, can we press into heaven to get economic and social solutions. Can we become a force that can literally transform culture?
Whatever the values of the gatekeepers are, they will have the ability to “tip” the culture toward or away from God’s purposes.
“The tipping point is that magical moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire” – Malcolm Gladwell
3-5% of the population moving in the same direction will create a tipping point.
A minority occupying the high places is stronger than a majority that is irrelevant.
Example: 30% of America is evangelical, but a 5% unbelieving minority is controlling how the agenda of our nation works.
The Kingdom of God is a tangible quality of life – a state of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Before you try changing culture on the outside, be sure to carry the culture of the Kingdom on the inside.
Culture is the collective values and ideals embraced and projected from the gatekeepers of the high places (the mountaintops). This is actually a form or worship. When culture is aligned with heaven, it’s easy for goodness to prevail. When culture is aligned with hell, it’s easy for evil to prevail.
Both realms have to have agreement to function. Therefore, man has the ability and authority to agree or disagree with the agenda of either.
Isaiah 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
The Gospel of Salvation focuses on reconciliation alone. This is not to be minimized, but the church has taken this mountain by itself, made disciples and occupied this territory. We have defended this occupation by building a fortress around the mountain to protect it from invasion. The problem is that nobody is trying to invade this mountain This has produced a lack of purpose, caused restlessness and resulted in the occupiers battling among themselves.
The Gospel of the Kingdom dissolves these false lines of battle and brings into focus the greater vision. It is salvation AND transformation of the systems of this world (the other mountains) woven together to establish the house of the Lord in the mountain of God, rather than in the mountain of religion.
The Kingdom is relevant to every sphere of life. Believers are called to go into ALL the world – ALL the systems as a positive, influential and dominant element. There should be many with “Kingdom of God” values that serve as gatekeepers of the high places or mountaintop of these arenas.
Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounds, grace overabounds.”
What is God doing today? What is He inviting you to join Him in doing?
