When you think of culture wars, what comes to mind? Years ago I remember hearing about petitions going around demanding that retailers say “Merry Christmas” from November to December 25th, rather than “happy holidays.” The war on Christmas seems silly now in light of the huge issues facing us, but for many Christians back then this war was a huge battle to fight and win.
Today there are serious spiritual and legal battles being waged against Christians because of our devotion to proclaiming Christ. This world seems to be getting darker by the second. Honestly, have you ever seen our society this bad?
But it’s not new: In Genesis 6:5, God looked down on the earth and was grieved by what he saw: that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
All of the sin we see in the world, the depravity, the debauchery. It gets even worse than what we see now. Before Jesus returns, evil and wickedness is going to increase in the world. In Matthew 24, Jesus said: because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
And we want to Do something about it. If ONLY we could fix it, and make people holy. To have Christians dominate our culture, and Take it back for Him (as if He is weak in these matters.)
Are you starting to hear a hint of a lie here, that the Gospel is a cultural battlefield we are called to conquer? To strive to keep all of these wicked things from happening? To keep Christians safe and free from evil regimes? That’s exactly the mindset of 2,000 years ago, when many followers of Jesus thought He should be that conquering king over the Roman government that had mistreated them so terribly. When He didn’t do that for them, many walked away, not realizing that the true conquering King claimed victory for them over sin. They wanted a very different kind of king. And it seems that’s what we want today too.
Seven Mountains
Here’s how this kind of lie manifests in the church today: There are a growing number of leaders who teach that we can win the culture wars – take dominion and take back our laws, our schools, everything about our culture that is so wrong. It’s called Dominion Theology. There is a phrase you may have heard of called the “7 Mountain Mandate,” or the “Seven Spheres of influence.” Dominionists teach that we must conquer these.
Let me explain where this idea came from:
In 1975, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ – now known as CRU – and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), developed what they called a world-changing strategy, given to them by God Himself, to take over these spheres. The seven mountains or spheres are: Government, Education, Media, Family, Religion, Business and Arts and Entertainment. The teaching that these two gentlemen introduced was quickly put into action in one particular movement called the New Apostolic Reformation or NAR. (Please read this White Paper on NAR Dominionism.)
The NAR teaches that it is the duty of all Christians take over these mountains, make things better and create a worldwide kingdom so that Jesus can finally come back. We can’t make Jesus come back, and He has already told us that the world will get darker before He does.
When we believe this lie, we begin to get our priorities out of whack.
- We start to believe in a gospel that makes us grieve the loss of prayer in schools, rather than the lack of prayer at home.
- We start to dread a future in which we are persecuted for sharing our faith in Christ, but we puts no real emphasis on sharing Him now.
- We start to believe that it’s better to silence our opponents rather than minister to them.
How are we to respond?
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying there is anything wrong with speaking truth, and if we happen to have a platform – use it for God’s glory! We need to gently speak truth and not cower from our convictions. But we need to remember: Keep your eyes on things above. Dominionism isn’t the answer. It’s like spraying water on a countertop drenched in ecoli. If we’re busy sprucing up the culture and people are still bound for Hell because we haven’t shared Christ, all that scrubbing and tidying was for nothing.
Let me be clear about what we are called to do in the darkness: We are to be the light of Christ, a beacon of Hope. The armor we are to put on can be found in Ephesians 6:10: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
This ever-increasing darkness we see in our world not only grieves the Lord, and it’s all unfolding exactly the way He said that it would.
The real power of victory has already come to pass. Yes, Satan prowls about like a roaring lion, But as Jesus said in Matthew 16: I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The Lord Jesus Christ gives God’s people two commands:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19–20)
We need to understand that the true Gospel changes people—changes their hearts and minds. And it’s hearts and minds that change a culture.
We need to understand that the Gospel — not Dominionism or taking over this culture — is what changes people—changes their hearts and minds, to God alone be the glory!
Thoughts? Comment below.
