Enlow
has had a number of visions and words from the Lord as to how
Christians are to manifest the kingdom of God in the seven primary
spheres of society. He related that information in his earlier books,
The Seven Mountain Prophecy and The Seven Mountain Mantle.
Now he writes what he expects to take place in the next thirty five
years.
He
expects the coming years to be an Era of Renaissance. As the first
Renaissance showcased man's achievements, this one will display God
before the watching world. There will be such a great increase in the
knowledge of God and His ways that life on earth will be changed
forever. (25)
Christians
are usually presented with two options when it comes to society: 1)
fight to go back to our godly roots, or 2) hunker down. Enlow
presents another way: bringing God's solution to our broken lives and
broken society. He sees Christians demonstrating God's goodness and
advancing His kingdom. He sees Christians interacting with people,
helping them realize how much God cares for their hearts.
He
sees this leading to personal and cultural transformation in the
seven primary spheres of society: religion, education, family
government, economy, media, and celebration/arts. I'll highlight a
few of his expectations.
Religion:
Enlow sees a clear trend away from John Calvin and toward George Fox.
There needs to be a recognition that the Spirit is greater than the
Word (Bible). (68) There will be an increasing knowledge of God as
churches find more ways to reveal who He is, how He works, and to
display His love to society. (More on this religion aspect below.)
Government:
“The best is yet to come in American government. By 2020, we will
have a real stronghold of righteousness in play that will
progressively and positively affect government in this nation – and
the world as a whole. By the year 2030, we will be manifesting the
highest level of governance ever known.” (217)
Economy:
“Over the next twenty years, there will be an explosion of kingdom
multimillionaires all over the globe.” (221) Enlow gives a five
step “miracle-grow” formula for financial provision.
Celebration/Arts:
Hollywood is going to become “Holywood.” “This isn't simply
over-the-top, wishful thinking but a future reality.” (260)
Enlows
comments about the future of education are a little troubling. He
writes, “...[W]e were designed by birth and wiring to be right
brain dominant. The left brain was designed to be complementary and
to assist the right brain.” (104) There is no footnote to support
this statement and an Internet search I did provided no supporting
evidence. Right handed people are left brain dominant and that seems
to be somewhere between 84 to 95 percent of humans. Since this right
brain issue is foundational to his expectations in education, I am
leery about his proposed future.
I
was disappointed with his writing about religion. He makes
inflammatory statements an unsubstantiated claims about John Calvin.
For example, “Calvin was responsible for executing at least a
hundred people...” (43) That is just not true. The two footnotes
listed mention the one man executed, Servetus, and mention no others.
Again, “...[Calvin] personally oversaw the execution by drowning of
Anabaptist ministers, as well as the execution of scores of other
believers who disagreed with his views.” (56) That is just not
true. Enlow provides no footnote this time. I did some research and
found that, “Servetus was the only
person put to death
for religious opinions during Calvin’s time in Geneva, even though
executions for heresy were common elsewhere.” (You can find the
source here.)
The
sad part about his writing on Calvin is that it violates Enlow's own
method for showing God's love. He writes, “Finger-pointing
could never be considered a correct portrayal of how Jesus would
respond to people if He were walking the earth today.” (185) Yet
that is what he has done with Calvin.
I
can tell Enlow hates Calvinistic theology. He makes some pretty harsh
statements about it. He calls predestination a “horrendous”
doctrine, “which turns God into a megalomaniacal monster.” (60)
He describes Calvinism as “believing in a God who is not merciful,
or just, or humane but who rather cold-heartedly sticks to an
arbitrary plan, assigning lives of comfort to some and horrible
existence to others.” (65) As a Charismatic Calvinist, that hurts.
In all my reading of books critical of of Calvinism, I have never read
statements so inflammatory and so full of misunderstanding.
Even
though I am Charismatic, I don't like Enlow's elevation of the Spirit
(prophecy today) above the written Word (Bible). I've heard many
“prophets” prophesy many things that did not come true. Enlow
himself says, “Many Christians have wrongly prophesied America's
demise because of the removal of prayer from the public schools.”
(117) There needs to be a standard by which to judge prophecies and
that would be the Word. Enlow shows how important the Bible is when
he says sex must necessarily be inside “His guidelines” and
“God's boundaries.” (143) Those guidelines and boundaries come
from the Bible, not a current prophetic word.
I
have mixed feelings about this book. I like his attitude that the
kingdom of God is advanced by influence and not by imposition. The
problem is whether there are people of influence in each of these
seven areas and whether they will do the influencing work. His
unsubstantiated comments about the right brain dominance will
probably alienate many educators. His inflammatory language about
Calvinism will probably alienate many Christian intellectual, as it
did me. As with any prophetic book, time will tell.
My
rating: 3/5 stars.
Johnny
Enlow is an author, a speaker, a reformer, and a mentor. He is Senior
Apostolic Leader at Harvest International Ministries (H.I.M.), a
large network of over 20,000 churches in fifty–plus nations. He was
born and raised in Peru, South America, where his parents were
missionaries for five decades. Along with his wife, Elizabeth, he
founded Daystar International Christian Fellowship in Atlanta,
Georgia, where he served as senior pastor for over fourteen years.
Johnny and Elizabeth have been married for twenty–six years and
have four daughters and one son–in–law. The Enlows make their
home in California.
Whitaker
House, 288 pages.
I
received a complimentary copy of this book through The Book Club
Network for the purpose of an independent and honest review.
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