Remember That Time Up On The Mountain?

More On Charismatics, The New Apostolic Reformation, and the Seven Mountain Mandate

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THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS

“…the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”

Matthew 4:10-11 (New International Version)

A friend of mine recently made an astute observation about the irony of this passage from the New Testament when analyzing the Charismatic-evangelical obsession with the “Seven Mountain Mandate.” (7MM) The irony exposes the real motivation and intent of those who believe that it is their “biblical mandate” to conquer the Seven Mountains of society: family, religion, government, education, media, entertainment, and business.

It is ironic indeed. In fact, let us call it what it is…Satanic.

If the “devil” led Jesus up to the top of a “mountain” (the analogy is hard to miss) and presented him with “all the kingdoms of the world” as a gift, if only he would worship him; can you imagine that offer?

…the kingdoms of Greece, Rome, Persia, Egypt, China, the Mayans, Incas, the African empires of Ghana, Songhai and Mali, the British Empire, the Soviet Empire and even, yes, the American Empire

….all could be his to do with as he pleases. All the power, riches, adoration, praise, not to mention the women, and the millions of adoring brown-nosers.

Oh my, “Make America Great Again!”

Just worship the devil…the embodiment of evil and pride, the metaphor for all that is hateful, deceitful, arrogant, and harmful. Just accept an earthly definition of “winning” and power by domination (aka. Trumpism). Just pursue personal aggrandizement and self-promotion. Be first in line instead of the last, you know, where the losers are. Then you can “own” all the kingdoms of this world, including the libs.

What a heck of a deal!

But….Jesus refused the offer. Jesus did not seem at all interested in political-worldly empires or self-aggrandizement. Jesus had a completely opposite and “other-worldly” definition of success and power. It had something to do with the “kindgom of heaven within you.”

Later in his life near the end, Jesus responded to Pontus Pilate’s question, “Where is your kingdom?” by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus did not even make a bargain with the devil at that last desperate hour when his life was on the line when he faced all that suffering and pain. He accepted Roman crucifixion instead. Jesus relinquished political-earthly political power, for a greater purpose…willingly.

I would not look for the Christian Nationalists to follow that example. Don’t hold your breath.

Tim Alberta, in his book “The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory,” makes an important observation about Jesus’ understanding of kingdoms and power:

“Jesus’s words to Pilate echo throughout all of scripture. True power is not reflected in kingdoms, administrations, or campaigns, because these things are counterfeits of God’s original, supreme authority. The power to raise taxes is not the power to raise Jesus from the dead; the power to seat senators is not the power to seat Jesus at the right hand of the Father. Every biblical reference to power—every prayer, every reflection, every instruction—affirms that God is all-powerful, and that to the extent He vests that power in man, it is to proclaim God’s kingdom, God’s power, and God’s glory.” (pp 255-256)

According to Jesus, true power is the ability to step down…not step up…sacrifice yourself, not promote yourself…put others ahead of yourself instead of putting yourself at the head of the line…and empower the marginalized instead of those who already possess power.

Yet….

The Charismatic Christian Nationalists who extol the military, elevate the arrogant, seek political power, demonize their opponents, and praise an unrepentant President have adopted the devil’s conception of power. Power for them is gained to further promote the powerful, not raise up the powerless and marginalized. Power is a tool to keep the marginalized poor and elites wealthy and well-fed and first in line.

Never mind that Jesus preached that true power lay in being merciful; never mind that Jesus preached that true power lay with those who are meek; never mind that Jesus said the mark of real love is to lay your life down for a friend; never mind that Jesus said the first should be last; and never mind that Jesus admonished his followers that true power lay with those seeking righteousness (justice).

Christian Nationalists are interested in none of those things….they are only interested in domination, privilege, power and control; not meekness, sacrifice, humility, and justice.

Here is an example. The evangelical-Christian Nationalists are all in on the “prolife” movement. They claim their interest is in saving unborn babies. How noble sounding! However, it is disingenuous. If these folks were genuinely interested in the life of unborn babies, they would be just as interested, or more so, in the condition those same “unborn babies” entered life, such as poverty, neglect, abuse, and violence. Instead, they cut programs to aid mothers and children facing such poverty, deprive them of healthcare, and blame them for having a need.

It is cynical and hypocritical to the core.

What they really and more profoundly are interested in is controlling and dominating the sexual lives of women in the model of their own make-believe “purity culture,” a standard by which even they do not live. It is control, domination and power on the foundation of hypocrisy and lies…not care for the unborn. It is power, not sacrifice. It is self-promotion, not unconditional love. They have accepted the devil’s offer on the mountain of earthly power. Constantine would be proud of them.

The likes of Lance Wallnau, Paula White, Cindy Jacobs, Andrew Wommack, Michael Flynn, Dutch Sheets, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and dozens of other Charismatic-evangelical-political leaders took the devil up on his offer. They ignored the Sermon on the Mount memo in the New Testament.

When the devil took them up to that same mountain and showed them the kingdoms of the world, they salivated, they liked what they saw and they wanted it, lusted after it, and begged for it: power, kingdom, self-promotion, money, riches, and dominion! So now they are working hard to exert “dominion” over the Seven Mountains and…unfortunately….are having some success.

But let us clarify a couple of points about this Christian Nationalist project beyond the obvious hypocrisy that it represents in relation to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. These next points are much more practical and operational than they are theological or moral.

First, Christian Nationalism is not just about nationalism per se…it is more about “Christian Supremacy.” Second, Christian Supremacy and gaining control of the Seven Mountains is not something new in terms of ideology, but is related to and mirrors Marxist ideology.

Yes, I am saying that Christian Supremacy bears an uncanny resemblance to Marxism.

Okay, buckle your seatbelt…here we go….

It will be important to highlight that not all people who ascribe to the idea of “Christian Nationalism” would subscribe to the idea of “Christian Supremacy.” For many evangelicals, Christian Nationalism simply means they believe the country to be a Christian nation, and our laws need to comport with Biblical values. They like the motto, “In God We Trust” and like saying, “One Nation Under God.” Their belief is probably more based on sentimentally and not a hard ideology.

Many of them might still uphold the idea of separation of church and state and believe in a pluralistic culture where all religions are treated on equal footing. I call this Christian Nationalism lite. To really sort this out I would recommend the report conducted in 2022 by the Public Religion Research Institute along with the Brookings Institute. You can find it here.

What this report verifies is that Christian Nationalism is not just one or two ideas, but there is a range of commitment and intensity related to a series of ideas. So, for example, in the study, when asked if the United States should be declared a Christian Nation officially through Congressional action, only 10% responded “Completely Agree.” Another 17% responded “Mostly Agree.” What is the difference between completely agree and mostly agree is anyone’s guess but seems related to intensity of commitment to the idea.

With that in mind, we can focus on the most intensely committed Christian Nationalists (a smaller number) and begin to profile a more aggressive Christian Nationalism that really should be renamed, “Christian Supremacy.” This trail takes us back once again to the Independent Charismatic Christians who are closely aligned with Trumpism.

Not only do these folks believe that Christianity should be declared the religion of the United States, but they take it farther. Because of their dominion theology, they also believe only Christians should be in leadership positions in the Seven Mountains of society. This is what Matthew Taylor calls, a “Spiritual Oligarchy.” (The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Threatens Our Democracy, p 137)

Describing the New Apostolic Reformation as “Nationalists” hides the true agenda. They certainly want to see the United States ruled as a Christian Nation by Christians, but the vision is much broader…it is global. What the Charismatic Leaders of the NAR want is Christian Global Supremacy.

Taylor describes it this way:

“Christian supremacy is much more organized and ideological than Christian nationalism, and it is more comprehensive in scope too. Christian supremacists are not just venting their feelings about the United States needing to be more Christian; they have a plan and a program. And they have a global vision that transcends parochial US concerns….A Christian supremacist is someone who thinks that Christians should occupy authoritative and privileged positions in culture, politics, and other domains of public life. In other words, Christian supremacists believe that Christians—by dint of being Christians—are morally elevated above the rest of humanity and are empowered by God to govern civil society….Christian supremacy is a movement whose ambition is a realignment of the global order.” (p 138)

In this sense, what the leaders of the NAR are focused on goes well beyond simple nationalism…it is global domination by Christians, well, their type of Christians.

This brings us to the second point about this movement. If you have not caught the parallel yet, the idea of Christian Supremacy and focus on the Seven Mountain Mandate, are eerily like Marxist ideology.

Ok, do not roll your eyes….stay with me here. I am not suggesting a world-wide conspiracy…yet.

However, Seven Mountain Mandate leaders do suggest that a top-down approach is needed for forming a Christian elite who can dominate society (and countries) in a matter of a few years through a small number of cultural Christian change agents. If this sounds familiar it echoes the “vanguard of the Revolution” spoken of by Karl Marx.

But it was not Marx’s theory of economic revolution that dovetails with the Seven Mountain Mandate so much. A later Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) advocated a view of Marxist cultural hegemony or dominion. Gramsci was extremely interested in discovering how a particular social group (a class) could achieve dominance over an ‘entire national society’ quickly.

Then, it was another Marxist theorist, Louis Althusser (1918-1990) who followed Gramsci’s cultural dominance theory to produce a framework that has uncanny resemblance to the 7MM. Althusser identified what he called “Ideological State Apparatuses” (ISAs) which must be taken over and dominated by a small group of the Marxist vanguard.

Guess what?…the ISAs are identical to the Seven Mountains. Two current historians, Richard Tanksley and Marlin Schaich, published a little known paper in 2018 titled, Marxist Parallels with the Seven Mountain Mandate and pointed out this similarity. It is a fascinating read.

Tanksley and Schaich produced this helpful chart to show the similarities and relationship between the Marxist ISAs and the Charismatic 7MM. The spheres are almost identical:

The question becomes then, “ok so what?” Marxist theories of social-cultural dominance parallel the 7MM of the New Apostolic Reformation. Who cares? What does it mean?

I am not suggesting the Apostles and Evangelists of the NAR are Marxists, but I am suggesting that their theory of cultural dominance mirrors a secular-atheistic or to put it bluntly, a Satanic approach to cultural dominance…the same offer that Jesus rejected on top of his mountain.

I’m also suggesting that the Seven Mountain Mandate was not a “vision from God” as several evangelical leaders claim, but a regurgitation of Marxist cultural dominance theory.

However there is one more parallel just to give you more fodder for nightmares. The leaders of the NAR have not totally ruled out coercion or force to achieve their goals similar to the Marxists. Just like Marxism, there is a need for what Althusser called “Repressive State Apparatuses” (RSAs) or in other words, “state coercion and violence to maintain social control.” The events on January 6, 2021, and the influence of NAR prophets and apostles during that event may be an early example of such a religious RSA in action. Stand by to see an encore.

Once Christians adopt a worldly-secular approach to gaining control, power, and dominance instead of the Jesus model of stepping back from earthly power, you can be sure they have taken the devil’s offer on top of that mountain. And, like all the Christian Nationalist/Supremacist projects in history from Constantine’s Christian War, to the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, and other forms of religious dominance and persecution of those who are not Christian…it never ends well.

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