David French–How a Rising Religious Movement Rationalizes the Christian Grasp for Power: On the dangers of the Seven Mountain Mandate

At one level, this analysis seems less like revelation and more like logic. Each of these men accurately described important arenas of life, and if Christians truly want to be “salt and light” in the world, they should want to comprehensively cultivate true biblical values in American culture.

To put it another way: If God asks mankind to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God,” He does not intend that those virtues be confined to church. The fruits of the spirit—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”—are not mere Sunday School values. They should pervade our interactions with the wider world.

Moreover, if and when those seven key institutions become instruments of injustice, Christians should respond. To take some obvious examples, if the “mountain” of government turns against its citizens, Christians have an obligation to stand with the oppressed. If the mountain of popular culture transforms the beauty of art into the perversion of porn, Christians must resist. And if the mountain of education teaches falsehoods, Christians have an obligation to tell the truth.

The command to “do justice” has real force, and it’s incumbent on Christians to seek justice across the length and breadth of American life.

But there is an immense and important difference between seeking justice and seeking power. In fact, the quest for power can sideline or derail the quest for justice. And that’s where we get to the real problem—the difference between a Seven Mountain concept and a Seven Mountain mandate or Seven Mountain dominionism.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, America/U.S.A., Ethics / Moral Theology, Politics in General, Religion & Culture, Theology

One comment on “David French–How a Rising Religious Movement Rationalizes the Christian Grasp for Power: On the dangers of the Seven Mountain Mandate

  1. Kendall Harmon says:

    From FAISC: “Mr. French writes that Francis Schaeffer claimed to have a direct revelation from God that supports this crackpot approach to governance.

    I spent two months at L’Abri near Boston in 1981, and I heard Schaeffer speak many times, both in person and by tape, usually at L’Abri conferences in Rochester, Minnesota. At no time did he ever claim divine revelation other than what God has revealed in Scripture.

    Francis Schaeffer was a longtime member of the Presbyterian Church of America and did not so much as dip his toes into the oddities and even blasphemies of neo-Pentecostalism. To associate him with Paula White, as David French has, is irresponsible and uninformed.

    I have called this matter to Mr. French’s attention, and asked him to produce evidence for this claim, but have heard nothing in response.”