Vance Boelter, who allegedly shot Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state consultant, and her husband, Mark Hortman, on June 14, 2025, studied at Christ for the Countries Institute in Dallas. The crowd is a Bible faculty connected to the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.
The NAR is a loosely arranged however influential charismatic Christian motion that stocks similarities with Pentecostalism, particularly in its trust that God actively communicates with believers in the course of the Holy Spirit. In contrast to conventional Pentecostalism, alternatively, the group emphasizes modern day apostles and prophets as authoritative leaders tasked with reworking society and ushering in God’s kingdom on Earth. Prayer, prophecy and worship are outlined now not simplest as acts of devotion however as strategic gear for advancing believers’ imaginative and prescient of presidency and society.
After the taking pictures, the Christ for the Countries Institute issued a remark “unequivocally” denouncing “any and all forms of violence and extremism.” It said: “Our organization’s mission is to educate and equip students to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through compassion, love, prayer, service, worship, and value for human life.”
However the taking pictures has drawn consideration to the varsity and the bigger Christian motion it belongs to. One of the vital necessary facets of NAR teachings these days is what is named “the Seven Mountain Mandate.”
The Seven Mountain Mandate calls on Christians to achieve affect, or “take dominion,” over seven key spaces of tradition: faith, circle of relatives, training, govt, media, industry and the humanities.
With over 3 a long time of enjoy learning extremism, I be offering a temporary review of the historical past and core ideals of the Seven Mountains Mandate.
‘Dominion of Christians’
The Seven Mountains idea was once firstly proposed in 1975 by way of evangelical chief Invoice Vibrant, the founding father of Campus Campaign for Christ. Now referred to as “Cru,” the Campus Campaign for Christ was once based as a world ministry in 1951 to advertise Christian evangelism, particularly on faculty campuses.
United by way of a shared imaginative and prescient to steer society thru Christian values, Vibrant partnered with Loren Cunningham, the founding father of Adolescence With A Challenge, a significant world missionary coaching and outreach group, within the Seventies.
The Seven Mountains Mandate was once popularized by way of theologian Francis Schaeffer, who connected it to a bigger critique of secularism and liberal tradition. Over the years, it developed.
C. Peter Wagner, a former seminary professor who helped arrange and identify the New Apostolic Reformation, is regularly thought to be the theological architect of the gang. He evolved it into a decision for dominion. In his 2008 guide “Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World,” he prompt Christians to take authoritative regulate of cultural establishments.
For Wagner, “dominion theology” – the concept that Christians must have regulate over all facets of society – was once a decision to religious war, in order that God’s kingdom can be “manifested here on earth as it is in heaven.”
Invoice Johnson.
Doctorg by way of Wikimedia Commons
Since 1996, Invoice Johnson, a senior chief of Bethel Church, and Johnny Enlow, a self-described prophet and Seven Mountains suggest, amongst others, have taken the unique thought of the Seven Mountains Mandate and reshaped it right into a extra competitive, political and spiritually militant way. Non secular militancy displays an competitive, us-vs.-them mindset that blurs the road between religion and authoritarianism, selling dominion over society within the identify of religious war.
Their model doesn’t simply intention to steer tradition; it frames the hassle as a non secular combat to reclaim and reshape the country in line with their imaginative and prescient of God’s will.
Lance Wallnau, any other Christian evangelical preacher, televangelist, speaker and creator, has promoted dominion theology for the reason that early 2000s. Throughout the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Wallnau, together with a number of outstanding NAR figures, described Donald Trump as anointed by way of God to reclaim the “mountain” of presidency from demonic regulate.
Of their guide “Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountains Mandate,” Wallnau and Johnson explicitly name for Christian management as the one antidote to perceived ethical decay and non secular darkness.
The ideals
Infrequently known as Seven Mountains of Affect or Seven Mountains of Tradition, the seven mountains aren’t impartial domain names however observed as battlegrounds between divine reality and demonic deception.
Adherents consider that Christians are known as to reclaim those spaces thru affect, management or even, if vital, the usage of drive and to confront demonic political forces, as faith student Matthew Taylor demonstrates in his guide “The Violent Take It By Force.”
Various views and interpretations encompass the rhetoric and movements related to the New Apostolic Reformation. Some analysts have identified how the NAR is coaching its fans for an energetic disagreement. Different commentators have stated that the rhetoric calling for bodily violence is anti-biblical and must be denounced.
NAR-aligned leaders have framed electoral contests as struggles between “godly” applicants and the ones underneath the sway of “satanic” affect.
In a similar way, NAR prophet Cindy Jacobs has time and again emphasised the desire for “spiritual warfare” in colleges to fight what she characterizes as “demonic ideologies” equivalent to intercourse training, LGBTQ+ inclusion or discussions of systemic racism.
Within the NAR worldview, cultural exchange isn’t simply political or social however thought to be a supernatural venture; combatants aren’t merely unsuitable however in all probability underneath the sway of demonic affect. Elections turn into religious battles.
This trust device perspectives pluralism as weak point, compromise as betrayal, and coexistence as capitulation. Frederick Clarkson, a senior analysis analyst at Political Analysis Pals, a innovative assume tank primarily based in Somerville, Massachusetts, defines the Seven Mountains Mandate as “the theocratic idea that Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.”
The decision to “take back” the tradition isn’t metaphorical however literal, and believers are inspired to peer themselves as infantrymen in a holy conflict to dominate society. Some critics argue that NAR’s name to “take back” tradition is ready literal domination, however this interpretation is contested.
Many throughout the motion see the language of war as spiritually desirous about prayer, evangelism and influencing hearts and minds. Nonetheless, the road between metaphor and mandate can blur, particularly when rhetoric about “dominion” intersects with political and cultural motion. That stress is a part of an ongoing debate each inside and outdoor the motion.
Networks that unfold the ideals
This trust device is not confined to the margins. It’s unfold broadly thru evangelical church buildings, podcasts, YouTube movies and political networks.
It’s arduous to understand precisely what number of church buildings are a part of the New Apostolic Reformation, however estimates counsel that about 3 million other folks within the U.S. attend church buildings that overtly practice NAR leaders.
On the similar time, the Seven Mountains Mandate doesn’t rely on centralized management or formal establishments. It spreads organically thru social networks, social media – significantly podcasts and livestreams – and revivalist conferences and workshops.
André Gagné, a theologian and creator of “American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times,” writes concerning the techniques through which the mandate spreads by way of empowering native leaders and believers. People are approved – regularly thru teachings on religious war, prophetic gifting, and apostolic management – to peer themselves as brokers of divine transformation in society, known as to reclaim the “mountains,” equivalent to govt, media and training, for God’s kingdom.
This way, Gagné explains, permits other communities to evolve the motion mandate to their distinctive cultural, political and social contexts. It encourages folks to peer themselves as religious warriors and leaders of their domain names – whether or not in industry, training, govt, media or the humanities.
Small teams and even folks can get started actions or tasks with out looking ahead to top-down directives. The one identified government are the apostles and prophets operating the church or church community the believers attend.
The framing of the Seven Mountains Mandate as a divinely impressed venture, mixed with the motion’s emphasis on direct religious studies and a particular interpretation of scripture, can create an atmosphere the place wondering the mandate is perceived as difficult God’s authority.
Slippery slope
Those ideals have increasingly more fused with nationalist rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flags represent the realization that individuals have the suitable to attraction at once to God’s authority after they assume the federal government has failed.
Paul Becker/Becker1999 by way of Flickr, CC BY
A formidable instance of NAR political rhetoric in motion is the upward push and affect of the “Appeal to Heaven” flags. For the ones within the New Apostolic Reformation, those flags represent the realization that after all earthly authority fails, other folks have the suitable to attraction at once to God’s authority to justify resistance.
This was once obvious all the way through the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rebellion, when those flags had been prominently displayed.
To be transparent, its leaders aren’t calling for violence however relatively for direct political engagement and protest. For some believers, alternatively, the requires “spiritual warfare” would possibly turn into a slippery slope into justification for violence, as relating to the alleged Minnesota shooter.
Figuring out the Seven Mountains Mandate is very important for greedy the dynamics of recent efforts to align govt and tradition with a specific imaginative and prescient of Christian authority and affect.
