The 7 Mountains of Culture: What It Means to “Close” this Great Commission!

By Rev. David E. Henry
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Among Christians who take Jesus’ words very seriously, it is common to hear the phrase, "closure of the Great Commission".  Any time an important issue is discussed, it is very helpful to define ones terms.  So, what do we mean when we say “closure of the Great Commission?”  How do we measure progress toward this goal?

     
I have given these questions a lot of thought.  I have read numerous books written by friends and acquaintances who are similarly probing the meaning of this concept.  There are two passages in the New Testament that are ground zero.

    
Mark 16:15, “And he said, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”

    
And we find a much fuller expression in Matthew 28: 19-20, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

For a long time, most of my life, I’ve considered that Jesus’ words here mean that we should at least get our foot in the door, so to speak, in each nation.  I thought that we should preach the gospel, get people saved and healed and plant some churches in every ethnic/linguistic group in the world.  That alone is a staggering task.  But is that what Jesus meant?  Let’s take a closer look.  The central phrase in Jesus’ words is, “make disciples of all nations.”  In my former way of thinking, I believed that it would be sufficient for us to have at least made some disciples in each of the 16,000 or so ethnic groups that make up this planet.  You know, ‘Make a few disciples at least out of all nations and many more if possible.’

After much serious consideration and meditation on the Scriptures I now believe that my former model of Great Commission closure is much too modest and small.  We are commanded to make disciples of entire nations.  How many?  All nations.  In case you’re tempted to think I’ve been drinking something strange or smoking dope and got my mind all messed up let me share with you some mind snapping Scriptures:

Revelation 21:23-26, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed;  and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;” NASV

I had never seen this before.  Entire nations would walk in the light of the Lamb of God, Jesus.  I think we need to raise our sights higher and aim for what the Lord is aiming at.  Entire nations.

Revelation 15:11, “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.’” KJV.  These nations are destined to become nations that belong to Jesus.

      

Outside Jesus’ kingdom there will still be the lost, the liars, the fornicators, those who prefer darkness to light, those referred to as the “dogs” in the book of Revelation.  An Argentine evangelist friend of mine, Ed Silvoso, has stated, “We should make it very difficult for people to go to hell from our city.”  Or from our region or nation.  It appears to me that the Spirit of God is speaking something new to the church; it is something old, but it is also something we haven’t heard very well or clearly, so it seems new.

      

A couple years before Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, died, he was to meet with Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), arguably two of the largest evangelistic ministries on earth.  Both of them felt independently led of God to write down a list of strategy changes that needed to be made before we would ever see nations transformed from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God. When Dr. Bright showed Loren Cunningham his list, he said the Lord had shown him that there are seven mountains of culture. Christians must go in and take the reins of leadership if we are to see long-lasting changes in each nation. His list included seven categories: religion, family, media, entertainment, education, government, and business. Loren Cunningham was astounded. He then proceeded to take a list out of his pocket and show it to Dr. Bright. His list contained the same seven categories. God showed them both the same thing at the same time for the same purpose. He, in essence, told them, "I want nations."

Now, if they were the only two, I would be impressed to think seriously about a ‘sea change’ in the way we approach missions and ministry.  But they are not the only two.  Last April, in Austin, Texas, I met a man I would have to call an apostle, named Johnny Enlow.  He has written a book called, The Seven Mountain Prophecy, in which he documents how God spoke to him about the seven mountains of culture that control the corporate mind of a nation.  The list God pointed out to him was precisely the same as that shown to Dr. Bright and Loren Cunningham.  I was so impressed with Johnny Enlow and his book, I read it four times through, cover to cover.  God is up to something.

Here is a question for you to bring this a bit more into focus.  Today is January 19, 2010.  So far this year, this baby beginning of the year, what person has most powerfully preached the gospel of Jesus Christ?  I submit for your consideration a Fox Television news journalist named Britt Hume.  I estimate that several tens of millions of people have heard him comment about Tiger Woods, that he should seek the forgiveness and restoration that is available only in Christianity; it is the only way to put the pieces of his life back together.  It has caused a furor in the media world.  He has subsequently been interviewed on national TV to explain what he meant and he did a very commendable job of graciously advocating even more clearly his faith in Jesus Christ.  He has been lambasted for his audacity.  Other journalists have bitterly attacked him, but he has kept both his job and his cool.  He is very near the top of the media mountain.  He has credibility built up over twenty years in the limelight.

When he gently says that a world class sports star with a shattered life needs Jesus, it carries an authenticity that few if any evangelists or pastors could equal. 

As a result of hearing Britt’s testimony of finding peace and wholeness in Jesus after the suicide of his 28 year old son a few years ago, millions of people are now considering what that might mean for their own broken lives.

This is just a blog and not a book, so I’ll stop here for now.  I would be interested to hear what I have written may mean to you.  I have much more that God has been speaking to me along this line of thinking.

Dave Henry

P.S.  I highly recommend Ed Silvoso’s book, Transformation.