[Note: this is part of a larger article called “Bethel’s False Gospel and Other Issues.” That article is a followup to “Why Churches Must Avoid Music from Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation.”]
Dominionism and the Seven Mountains Mandate
In the previous point, I mentioned that those of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) believe God commands them to conquer the world. This has historically been known as “Dominionism,” though it has been renamed (likely to remove the negative connotations that sound violent and aggressive). However, Bill Johnson affirms that he and Bethel are pursuing everything it stands for in both a Rediscovering Bethel episode and through his contributions to the book “Invading Babylon: The Seven Mountain Mandate.”
In its purest essence, Bethel believes that part of the “priesthood of the believer” requires us to conquer different “mountains” of society in the name of Jesus. These mountains are controlled by specific demons and are represented by many Old Testament tribes that Israel likewise had to conquer. Once the church has conquered these mountains and Christianity essentially controls the world, Christ’s eternal reign can begin. Put simply, Bethel believes Christianity must conquer the world to usher in Jesus.
What are these mountains, tribes, and associated demons?
| Mountain | Tribe | Demon |
| Media | Hittites | Apollyon |
| Government | Girgashites | Lucifer |
| Education | Amorites | Beelzebub |
| Economy | Canaanites | Babylon |
| Religion | Perizzites | Nameless “religious spirit” |
| Celebration (arts, entertainment, sports, fashion, etc.) | Hivites | Jezebel |
| Family | Jebusites | Baal |
As with other things we’ve discussed about Bethel, it’s easy to look at this and scoff. However, as with other things we’ve discussed about Bethel (defining worship, the prosperity gospel, how we view God’s promises…), we also see this thinking infiltrate biblical Christianity. This is especially prevalent in the United States, where we meld our Christian faith with a political party and think that our party winning means that Christ is winning.
Just consider this quote, and how it’s almost indistinguishable from how mainstream Christians discuss politics:
“It will bring God’s rule and reign to bear in places that have been dominated and devastated by evil powers of darkness.” – Johnny Enlow, The Seven Mountain Prophecy
Explaining the mandate
Here’s a quick rundown of how they defend this idea, as well as some underlying beliefs attached to it.
Mountains, tribes, and demons
Bethel believes that the church has replaced Israel. Thus, we should expect God to make demands of us that are comparable to what we see throughout the Old Testament. And as we see Israel entering into the Promised Land, they are commanded to conquer the various tribes before they can claim ownership of the land and establish their own kingdom.
Today, God likewise commands the “new Israel” to purge established evil from the world we will inherit, just as Israel inherited Canaan. But instead of battling human occupation, we wage spiritual warfare against “territorial spirits” who reign over certain aspects of society, infusing them with wickedness. Refer to the list again, thinking about how we see evil in each “mountain” and how God could be honored in those areas instead.
As for the territorial spirits, this is a mix of the war language we see in Ephesians 6, as well as what they identify as a “territorial spirit” in Daniel 10.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)
[For context, Daniel is speaking to an angelic being who has come to deliver a message in response to Daniel’s prayer from several weeks ago. This messenger is now explaining why it took so long to arrive.] The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
So what are these spiritual forces of evil we’re wrestling against? According to Bethel, it’s territorial spirits like we see in Daniel 10. They are demons with a specific sphere of influence. As for how these particular spirits have been named (or left nameless, in the case of religion), it seems that recent apostles received divine revelation in which God identified these spirits for them.
Conquering through the Prosperity Gospel
One thing that sets the NAR apart from other false teachers is its understanding of the Prosperity Gospel. While the false teaching is still very self-focused, experiential, and unbiblical, it also plays into the Seven Mountains Mandate. Namely, in how we’re to use the blessings God promises to rain on us.
Conquering society isn’t cheap or easy. So when God blesses us with wealth, influence, or power, we are meant to steward those things toward dominating society. Yes, we should expect God to answer our prayers when we have enough faith, but we should also take our calling seriously and channel some of those blessings into ushering in Christ’s kingdom by waging war against the rulers of darkness.
Correctly understanding “conquering”
As I said, “Dominionism” has been rebranded. Yet even still, the language they use can create unease in those outside of Bethel. World history is filled with great acts of horror done in the name of religion. However, we need to evaluate Bethel’s beliefs fairly and see that they aren’t calling for anything violent, nor even unethical.
I think the best way to understand their goal is to think of it as “conquering evil through dilution.” Rather than violently overthrowing the government, education, or the media, they want to transform it from the inside. Victory will come when a Mountain is so filled with Christians that there simply isn’t room for the demon who rules it, squeezing out the demon and their earthly allies from power.
By how Johnson discusses it, we should note that their stated goal isn’t even necessarily for a church entity to control the government. Rather, the goal is twofold. First, for Christianity to be so attractive that people want to come to Jesus. Second, to benefit all of society because it’s better to have a Christian influence than a pagan or atheistic one.
It’s an idealistic goal, and one that assumes Christianity needs to be made attractive for people to come to Christ. Of course, this overlooks the fact that if God has always wanted Christianity to appear appealing from the outside, we should have seen the church operate in this way before the 1970s, when the Seeker Sensitivity movement began to gain momentum. Instead, while this is appealing to a Western (especially American) worldview where we are driven by entertainment and want people to earn our business, it shows a deep flaw in Bethel’s theology.
God isn’t sovereign and needs our help
Influenced by how the seeker-sensitivity movement is man-focused and functionally removes God from the equation, the Seven Mountains Mandate likewise operates as though God isn’t sovereign. Instead, God tells us what He desires (conquering the world) and then leaves it up to us to either succeed or fail. Again, this appeals to us because we love devising innovative strategies and programs that give us control over our success. Even churches filled with true believers too often fall victim to this very American mentality.
But here’s how Bill Johnson exemplifies the fatal flaws of this thinking. In discussing whether God is in control or just in charge, he says the following (emphasis mine:
Not everything that comes at us is God’s will. We have confusion; one of our biggest areas of confusion in the church concerns the sovereignty of God. We know that God is all-powerful; we know that he is in charge of everything, but with that, we make a mistake in thinking he is in control of everything. There’s a difference from being in charge and being in control.
If you think God is in control of everything, then you have to believe that Hitler was His will—that He was just going to work it for His purposes. Why would God raise something up as His will, and then empower you to pray against it? That would be a split personality: the Father working against the Son, the Son working against the Father.
God has created a system where humanity gets to live, and through partnership, we demonstrate and manifest His dominion on the earth. He comes at our invitation because He has released dominion to us. That’s why prayer is essential. Many of the great saints in history believed that God’s hands were, so to speak, ‘handcuffed,’ but released through prayer—released into a situation through partnership with delegated authority on earth, giving Him permission to come.
Now, He’s God of everything, ruler of everything, and He can step onto the stage anytime He wants. But as C.S. Lewis said, when the Author steps on the stage, the play is over. If you want Him to step on the stage, realize that the moment He does, it is over, and everybody’s choice ends where it is.
So, if you believe God is in control of everything, then you have to look at crisis and tragedy and say, ‘Well, He allowed it for a purpose.’ No. He didn’t allow it for a purpose. He put us in a realm where our authority and will have an effect on what happens around us. That doesn’t mean we walk in guilt and shame for tragedy, but it does mean we take responsibility on the earth.
Here’s the question I often ask people: How many storms did Jesus bless? How many life-threatening storms did He redirect and say, ‘Now go destroy that city. It will humble them, it will teach them to pray, they’ll become more like Me’? The church’s response to crisis is often, ‘Well, God worked it for good.’ Yes, He can use anything for good—that’s our trump card—but that doesn’t mean it was His will or His purpose.
If the Lord approves everything, then it’s really difficult to believe Him to change it. There’s an idea that God creates problems just so He can fix them to show us how strong He is. But He’s not an egomaniac. So, if God didn’t orchestrate the storm, why did it happen? My question is: Who did He leave in charge? Who did He give His name to? Who did He give His authority to? Who did He give a model to follow? He gave us, written in Scripture, how the Son of God lives. And He said, ‘As the Father sent Me, so I send you.’”
To avoid making this sub-point an article on its own, I will simply quote the Bible and offer a few comments:
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:5-6)
Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. (Habakkuk 1:5-7)
and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.” (1 Kings 22:20-23)
There is a problematic theme that runs throughout Bethel’s theology: They are so insistent about unbiblical teachings that they would rather forsake God’s word than their preferred beliefs. Now, as far as false teachers go, this doesn’t surprise us when we read Paul’s words:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Despite the demands of Bethel’s beliefs, Scripture is filled with examples of God using evil people and events for His own ends. Unlike what Johnson implies, God doesn’t work all things for good by taking a bad situation and making the most of it. Instead, we see that He specifically raised up people like the Assyrians and Chaldeans to exact His judgment. He ordained that a lying spirit would be His means of making a wicked king fall. God doesn’t pick up the pieces left by evil people – He sovereignly uses evil without ever being the “author of sin.”
To claim that God isn’t sovereign is to bring Him down to our level. It’s what allows false teachers to claim that we give God “permission” to come and act in a situation. He isn’t on a leash that we tighten or loosen based on our will and the power of our prayers.
“Our God is in the Heavens. He does all that He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). Whatever God Bill Johnson worships is clearly not the true God of the Bible. But it is a weak, impotent God that allows the New Apostolic Reformation to promote the Seven Mountains Mandate, because their version of Christ can only come when we’ve done all the work for Him.
Seeing it in action
Consider some of the things Bethel is known for. Their music, which is the focus of this series, is one way they’re living out this supposed mandate from God. They make high-quality, appealing music that stirs up our emotions and makes us want more and more. Unlike charges we can level against much of Christian entertainment, Bethel music isn’t content to be an off-brand version of something better. They have set out to dominate the mountain of music, and the Christian world has participated in this conquest, whether they know it or not.
However, we also see this play out in their services. When I first started researching Bethel, I was flabbergasted to see people painting on stage or performing interpretive dance while others sang. But, again, this is a natural outflow of their belief that we need to conquer all areas of the world. Painting and dancing are just one way they wage war against the demon Jezebel, re-conquering the mountain of “celebration.”
We also see it in business. Bethel Church resides in Redding, California. In a town of 90,000 people, 11,000 of them attend the church. In 2020, it was the 5th largest employer in its county. They aren’t performing hostile takeovers or employing dirty business practices – they’re simply spreading out from the church as they believe God commands.
What’s the issue?
Several underlying issues lead to a teaching that sounds appealing, but at its core is wholly unbiblical.
First, it dangerously blends replacement theology[1] with the Prosperity Gospel’s greed and Pentecostalism’s over-emphasis on demons. It takes its marching orders from misapplying an Old Testament narrative, the result of which is primarily driven by its roots in the New Apostolic Reformation. It appears to use the Bible, but does so in a way that demands interpreting the Bible in a way that serves Bethel’s theology, rather than setting their theology under the authority of God’s word.
Second, it takes Bible verses and places a lot of assumptions on what they mean. They correctly associate Ephesians 6 with Daniel 10, but then filter them through the extra-biblical beliefs of Pentecostalism and how they define territorial spirits. They assume that the war language about the “world’s rulers” means that we must conquer what they rule, rather than understanding that we live in a broken world that they rule until Christ returns as the conquering king (read Zechariah 14, Matthew 25:31-46, or Revelation 19 to see how the world is certainly not conquered before Christ’s return).
Third, it reveals its hand by showing the clear (and unbiblical) influences of the Seeker Sensitivity movement. They argue that God has designed the church to operate in a way that wasn’t seen in the first 1,900+ years of the church. Though the Seven Mountains Mandate isn’t strictly evangelistic, they justify it in the same way they do with the Prosperity Gospel, and it’s the same pragmatic logic used throughout modern churches: If people think our stuff is exciting, they’ll love Jesus. Of course, this ignores the fact that Jesus Himself condemned people who wanted to follow Him to satisfy their material desires (John 6:26-27).
Finally, it’s just plain blasphemous. The belief that underlies all of Dominionism is that God needs us to do what He cannot. This belief doesn’t have us participating in God’s work in the same way that a child “helps” a parent fix their car or cook dinner. Instead, God waits around for us to permit Him to do His work. We release Him to work in specific situations, in entire spheres of influence, and eventually, we’ll do all the work to conquer the world for Him and pave the way for His return. The God of Bethel Church is simply not the God of the Bible.
Above all, this is not an example of “good Christians with bad doctrines.” This is yet another symptom of a much deeper issue that we’re examining. It’s yet another way that those without the Holy Spirit can take God’s word and twist it to such a degree that it completely changes who God is.
These are the sorts of people Paul warns us about when he says:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-8)
This article is part of a discussion specifically about why we cannot invite false teachers into our musical worship of God. However, we must also recognize that this extends beyond music. If we aren’t careful, we’ll let false teachers redefine the mission of Christ’s church, as well as the very nature of God Himself.
[1] While I don’t believe the church has replaced Israel, that specific belief doesn’t make someone a false teacher. The problem is how Bethel adds to it.