It's In You.

Jeremy Smith is talkin' 'bout this new thing called Seven Hills Theology. I get a bit freaked out anytime someone develops some new religious idea out of some obscure verse reference out of Revelation, but that's just me. It's what I would call--using Jeremy's parlance--a bad hack.

Anyway, this seven hills theology works like this.

To establish The Kingdom of God on the earth, we must claim and possess The Seven Mountains of Culture, namely: Business, Government, Religion, Family, Media, Education and Entertainment. - Jeremy Smith quoting a seven-mountaineer.

Now, I can see if you were one of those folks who thinks that God predestines some to be saved and others to be damned that this would make sense (those folks would be called Calvinists). The Kingdom of God would obviously need to be advanced by acquisition of power to subject the damned to the laws of the Kingdom of God. That way all the saved Christian people don't have to put up with the fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,drunkenness, and carousing of those poor saps to whom God didn't hand out a free ticket to heaven.

If you can't tell, I don't like this perspective. At all.

Now, according to Wesley's sermon, "The Way to the Kingdom," the Kingdom of God exists within those who Christ indwells by the Holy Spirit. This goes back to the old notion that wherever the king is, there is his kingdom. Wesley believes both that God desires everyone to be saved by coming into a loving relationship with him through Jesus AND that free will has been restored to all people (by God) to call on Jesus for salvation or not. So rather than Christians forcefully taking control of the so-called Seven Mountains and imposing the Kingdom, God grows the kingdom person by person. And the Kingdom is wherever you see people living out the love of God exemplified by joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

I hesitate to use a consumerist-based analogy, but its a bit like the difference between a hard sell by a pushy salesman and viral marketing where the consumers advertise the product themselves because they truly believe in it. But The Kingdom is much more than a product. It's a relationship with Jesus that changes people from the inside out, 'cause if the Spirit of the King dwells inside of me, wherever I go, the Kingdom is literally at hand. Its not about taking control of the existing systems by force of will, and making it into the Kingdom of God, its about building a new Kingdom, person by person...relationship by relationship. And all are invited to be a living part of that Kingdom through their friendship with the King, not harshly ruled over by the tyranny of God's subjects.