Seven Babylonian Mountains
The so-called Seven Mountains of Culture are part of Babylon’s domain, but God is summoning His children to come out of her while time remains.
As a
young Christian, I was taught that disciples of Jesus must live “separate from
the world,” not physically, but morally and spiritually. We are “in the
world but not of it.” Their task is to call men and women to “save
themselves from this crooked generation” before Jesus arrives to judge the
world.
This teaching has served me well, and I
have yet to find any reason to question its soundness. Yet today, many voices are
exhorting Christians to infiltrate the “Seven Mountains of Society” so they may
change its ungodly culture and institutions from the inside.
I am not sure how the proponents of this
doctrine came up with “seven” rather than, say, five or ten or twenty “mountains.”
But that is part of the problem. No such doctrine exists in the Bible. Nowhere
do we find Jesus or his apostles telling Christians to take over the “mountains
of society.”
There is no biblical mandate for the church
to fix the world or take control of society and government, and attempting to
do so will corrupt her and distract the saints from the mission assigned to
them by Jesus – to preach the gospel to all nations.
Of course, the Bible does mention “seven
mountains,” but it links them to Babylon, “the Great Whore, the mother
of harlots and the abominations of the earth.” This foul creature not only “sits
on many waters” and the “scarlet-colored beast,” but she also “sits
on the seven mountains.”
IN REVELATION
And in Revelation, the “many
waters” represent “peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” Moreover,
the “scarlet-colored beast” is none other than the “Beast from the
sea” that wages “war against the saints and conquers them.”
His red color connects
him with the “Dragon, the Ancient Serpent, the one who is called ‘Devil’ and
‘Satan’ and the deceiver of the whole habitable earth.” And the “Great Whore”
is sitting comfortably on the whole sorry lot running the show.
The “seven
mountains” do NOT represent the cultural institutions of society
that the church is allegedly called to reform and fix. They symbolize seven “kingdoms,”
five of which had fallen by the time John received his vision, one existed in
his day, and the seventh is yet to come. Each one is an incarnation of the “Beast”
that is ascending from the sea and the “Abyss” to “wage war” on
God’s people.
Moreover, the seventh “mountain” is identified with the “Beast that was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he is going into perdition.” There is nothing positive here, nothing worth fixing or reforming, and its doom is sealed.
And the whole
time the “Great Whore” who is “filled full” of the abominations
of the earth is riding the monster in its mad final dash to the “lake of
fire.”
AN UNHOLY CITY
But the book of Revelation does have something to say about this
unholy city, “Babylon.” After all, she is also
stained red with the “lifeblood of prophets and
of saints,” and all while drunk with the “blood of the martyrs” of Jesus.
Her sins have “reached even to
heaven,” therefore, “in one day shall her plagues
come, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned
with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” And we expect to be able to befriend and coax
her into changing her evil ways? Well, good luck with that!
As for the saints infiltrating the “Great Whore,”
instead of undertaking that dubious venture, God summons His church with the utmost urgency to “Come forth, my people, out of her, that you
have no fellowship with her sins, and that you
receive not of her plagues!!” You
cannot play with fire and not get burned.
As Paul wrote, the forms and institutions
of this age “are passing away,” and disciples of Jesus must live
accordingly. The present fallen age is a rudderless ship that ran aground eons ago.
It is being consumed by unquenchable flames, yet popular preaching is encouraging
Christians to rush headlong into this conflagration and somehow stop it.
There is no compromise with Satan, and the church cannot win the world by emulating its evil ways.
This is not a call to abandon the world,
but for disciples to engage it using the biblical means, including gospel
preaching, Christian witness, faith, prayer, death to self, and
self-sacrificial service for others, activities that are contrary to the values
of the present world order and its “seven mountains.”
In other words, we are called to become “lights
set on a hill.” We must be everything that the fallen world is not, and we
must summon others to leave its darkness behind and follow Jesus.
Alas, many church
leaders are teaching Christians to embrace the Babylonian world system that was
condemned to destruction on Calvary. The very idea is absurd. But, as the
Apostle Paul warned, in the last days, evil men will infiltrate the church, “deceiving
and being deceived.”
