By Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen

I.  Introduction:

Story about Conversion from Kenya

It was my final Sunday in Kenya after serving for thirteen years as God’s minister.  In additional to the prayerful farewell, I remember that a vibrant, thirty-year-old lady, a faithful Christian, responded to the invitation by walking to the front of the meeting with a young girl at her side.  The Christian lady explained her prayer request:

“Today I do not respond out of my own need for forgiveness and cleansing but rather the need of this young lady.  Remember how ancestral spirits once possessed me.  At that time I was just as this young lady–bothered, frightened, and bewildered.  After hearing of the greatness and majesty of God, his sovereignty over the world, and Christ’s defeat of the powers, I responded to God in faith, and you prayed for me.  Because of these prayers, I have been delivered.  After baptism, the church encouraged and instructed me in the way of Lord.  I praise God Jehovah who is the source of my salvation.  This young lady is now possessed by ancestral spirits just as I was.  I have taught her about the kingdom of God, the covering of the blood of Jesus, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  She believes in Christ and has repented of her sins and desires to come under the sovereignty of God.  She wants your prayers and desires to fully come to Christ in baptism.”

The young lady was then asked to confess her belief in Jesus as God’s Son and her Lord and was exhorted to give total allegiance to creator God.  After her confession a number of Christians gathered around her and prayed to God that she might be delivered.  Later that day, after still more exhortations and times of prayer, she was taken to the river and united with Christ through baptism.

Story of the Conversion of the Thessalonians:  The Thessalonians became a “model” to “all believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thess. 1:7) because they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thess. 1:9-10).

In this presentation I will first describe

The human ego as the foremost obstacle to effective ministry and define Christian ministry in the context of these human limitations.

The transformation that occurs at conversion.

The ministry of Jorge Fagundez of Montevideo, Uruguay, as one model of ministry among animistic people.

The Limitations of Human Ability:  We are “Jars of Clay” (2 Cor. 4:7)

Paul provides one of the most extensive descriptions of Christian ministry in 2 Corinthians 2:14-6:2.  A central theme of this passage is that God leads us in his mission (2:14), we are not “equal to such a task” (2:16), our competency comes from God (3:5), “we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord” (4:5), and “we are . . . Christ’s ambassadors” (5:20).

Within this context Paul writes, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (4:7).  An understanding of this passage within its context will enable us to understand the limits of human ability.  The verse connects three significant phrases: “this treasure,” “jars of clay,” and “this all surpassing power.”

The phase “this treasure” has two possible referents.   First, Paul may be speaking of his ministry as a treasure.  He writes, “Since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we do not lose heart” (vs. 1).  Paul encourages Corinthian leaders to continue faithfully, to not “lose heart” (vs. 1, 16), despite persecution (vs. 8-12).   A second possible referent of “this treasure” is “the light of the gospel” (vs. 4, 6).  Paul writes that the gospel is to be presented authentically, not in darkness as if “veiled.”  Christian ministers set “forth the truth plainly . . . not with deception.”  Unlike unbelievers who are blinded by “the god of this age,” Christians are recreated.  God, who first made light shine out of darkness (Gen. 1:2), has “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (vs.6).   Like Moses, who was with God and reflected God’s glory, missionaries must be transformed into God’s likeness as they look upon God (2 Cor. 3:7-18, especially vs. 18). The passage contrasts the spiritual blindness of unbelievers to the light of the gospel, which enables Christian evangelists to become beacons of light.  Because they are being transformed into the image of God (3:18), these Christian servants no longer “preach themselves” but Jesus as Lord (vs. 5).  The term “treasure” infers the value of Christian ministry, the importance of proclaiming to unbelievers the light of the gospel.

This treasure is housed in “jars of clay.” Clay jars were imperative to families in the ancient world because they were used to carry water from the local well.  Although essential, they were common, scarred, and chipped.  Paul did not describe Christian ministers as jars of gold or silver to indicate their beauty or value or as jars of bronze to denote their strength.  Christian servants rather are jars of clay, who minister out of weakness.

This verse climaxes by acknowledging that God uses jars of clay, weak Christian servants, to carry out His mission so that all will know that “this all-surpassing power is from God” and not from innate human ability.

This principle can be seen throughout scripture.  God used men like Moses and Jeremiah, who acknowledged their weakness by asking “Who as I that I should go?”, to carry his mission.

Applications of the “Jars of Clay” Perspective to Deliverance Ministry:

Human ego stands as a formidable obstacle to effective missions.  Christian ministers with immense talent and creativity flounder when they rely only on their own power, and less talented missionaries who look to God to empower their work frequently are used by Him to accomplish His purposes.

Two Cautions:

We think that the power of God is centered in certain human personalities.  They may be called into the country from the outside because of their deliverance ministry to preach healing crusades.

Humans frequently misuse the power of God and contort it for their own selfish, egocentric purposes.

The Willowbank Report says, “Power in human hands is always dangerous.  We have to mind the recurring theme of Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians—that God’s power, seen in the cross of Christ, operates through human weakness (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5; 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9, 10).  Worldly people worship power; Christians who have it know its perils” (Stott and Coote, 1980, 327).

In the first centuries of the church the common Christian had the ability to depend on God and to pray to God to cast out demons.

The final statement of  the Lausanne consultation Deliver Us from Evil(DUFE) in August, 2000, says:  affirms the need and essence of spiritual warfare but says:

“Engaging the Evil One is not the work of heroic individuals..”

“We were saddened by stories of people, emboldened by self-assured certainty and money, who come from outside, overwhelm local Christians and carry out hit-and-run ministries of spiritual conflict that (1) presume superior knowledge of the local reality, (2) treat local Christians as inferior or unaware, (3) claim credit for things that local Christians have been praying and working toward for years and (4) leave uneven results and sometimes, pain, alienation, and even persecution of the local church, while claiming great victory.”  (Moreau 2000, xxiii, xxiv, xxv)

The power of God is power in relationship and should be requested in prayer.  The use of power words should be avoided.

There is power in name of Jesus but it is a phrase of relationship rather than of power.

God is not a magical God who responds to certain coded phrases like “in the blood of Jesus” or “in the name of Jesus.”

The final statement of the DUFE (Deliver Us From Evil) Consultation of the Laussanne Conference describe the use of such formulas:

“We call for discernment concerning magical uses of Christian terms and caution practitioners to avoid making spiritual conflict into Christian magic.  Any suggestion that a particular technique or method or spiritual ministry ensures success is a magical, sub-Christian understanding of God’s workings.”

“We strongly caution against taking ideas, methods or strategies developed in one society and using them uncritically in another.

Scott Moreau’s caution:  “The emphasis on discerning and naming demons before we can have power over them is approaching a form of Christian animism. . . .  The idea of needing the names of to have power over spritis is found in magical thinking around the world.  An Indian friend of mine who has long been involved in spiritual warfare on a personal and corporate level has told me that one of the most difficult problems he faces in sharing the claims of Christ with his Hindu friends has come after they see well-intentioned Christians engaging in what they believe to be simple magical practices. . . .  Prayer is not intended to be a vehicle of violence, but a means of fellowship, growth and strength.  One danger of an attitude of “spiritual violence” is that we may become the very thing we are fighting against” (Moreau 2000, 267).

Juliet Thomas of India asserts that the current generation of Western missionaries in her country superimposes their own models of spiritual warfare over traditional beliefs, thus amplifying already tense religious frictions within the country.  One presenter advocated advocated a militant model of spiritual warfare by defining conversion merely as a change of power.  The result is that Christian activities, such as healing, dedicating and blessing, look very much like those of animists—except that the source of the power is God rather than Satan (Moreau 2000, 295-97).

The Nature of Preaching:

Focused on the Kingdom of God rather than the dominion of Satan.

Scott Moreau says, “Our goal should be to give Satan and demons a selectively appropriate inattention.  Do not let the flaw the excluded middle become the flaw of the expanded middle; major on God and minor on demons, not the other way around” (Moreau 2000, 270).

III.  Defining Conversion

A.  Since ministry should begin theologically rather than anthropologically, one significant beginning point is definingconversion in Scripture.

B.  Definition of Conversion

1.  David Wells defines conversion as “turning to God.”  He writes, “Christianity without conversion is no longer Christian because conversion means turning to God” (19  , 27).  Although conversioninvolves deep and complex psychological and sociological changes, it is primarily the work of God as demonstrated by God saving action in Jesus Christ, the convicting and regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, and God’s revealing of himself to us both naturally (Ps. 19:1-6) and specially (Ps. 19:7-9; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).   Wells writes, “God’s grace is supernatural, in so far as it is quite different from human potential, power, or wisdom” (19  , 23).

2.  The uniqueness of Christ also makes Christian conversion unique.  Wells says, “Christian conversion is as different from other forms of conversion as Christ is from the founders of other faiths” (23).

3.  Paul in his testimony of his conversion and call to apostles uses the words of Christ to define conversion.  It is an opening of eyes, a turning from “darkness to light” and from the “power of Satan to God,” receiving “forgiveness of sins,” and receiving a new home, “a place sanctified by faith” in Christ (Acts 26:18).  Each phase indicates the distinctiveness of the Christian way and the significant paradigm shift that occurs when the unbeliever accepts by faith the sovereignty of God, the covering of the blood of Jesus, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

4.  Thus we might define conversion as “the process whereby we turn from our sins in repentance and turn to God through faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross for us” (Wilson Chow and John Reid in forward of Wells’ Turning to God, p. 11).

5.  It must first become clear that we are not saved by our own methodologies and mechanisms but by the mighty hand of God.

C.  Elements of Conversion

1.  When ministry is divided into various types of encounters (truth encounter, commitment encounter, power encounter) the terminology infers that conversion is a human act.

2.  This type of terminology is much more militant than I feel comfortable.  It infers that human encounter brings about salvation that only God can bring.

3.  Perhaps, at best, we can only call come of these items elements of conversion.

IV.  Three Forces in the World Leading to Brokenness and Sin  (James 4:1-10)

A.  The Desires of the Flesh (vs. 1-3)

B.  The Press of the World (vs. 4-6)

C.  The Shifting of Satan (vs. 7-10)

Preparation for Ministry begins with us–in our hearts–and within our communities of faith (local churches).

V.  The Ministry of Jorge Fagundez

·      Always looking for theologically integrated, culturally appropriate models for nurturing people who are coming out of Spiritism

A.  Background of Jorge Fagundez:  Pastor of the Church of the Word also called “The Covenant of Grace”;  Special Ministry:  to help Spiritists come out of bandage;  three children, aged 5, 13, 14.

B.  Major Tenets of Spiritism:

1. Belief in the continuity of life after death and that the living can communicate with the dead.

For many Spiritism revived after WW II families wanted to contact their sons who died in the war.

Belief that gods can be accessed by guides to help solve immediate problems of life.  During theOrunko ceremony, the gods come down and “ride” the mediums, who ae considered the cavalos(horses) of the gods.

“por las dudus”  –  “just in case” .  People make sacrifices to Imanja “just in case” it might help a very difficult situation.

2.  They say that God is a spirit like the Holy Spirit.  God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are only advanced spirits who are still evolving.  After death there are various stages of the spiritual world.  The spirits go through increasingly purified levels.  Evil spirits have higher weight and thus only reach only Jesus in the 6^th stage of development.  They deny Jesus’ bodily resurrection.

C.   Why did the Bible speak against communicating with the dead? What they really are not speaking to the dead but to demons or fallen spirits that imitate the voices of dead people.  (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37-38; 1 Cor. 10:19-20).

D.  How do people access the dead? They frequently play “Juego de la Copa” (“The Game of the Cup”).   They ask the cup questions and the spirit called responds by moving the cup to the answers on the table.  Many people are spiritually addicted to the game and have to renounce it to be released.  Those who participate in these games develop fear, insecurity, and desire to die themselves.  This is like the ouigi board.  The board was originally created by Spiritists and then became a board game.

E.  Two Ways in which People Become Involved in Spiritism:

1.  Consciously:  When people inquire of the occult or request information from a spiritist to solve problems.  Oppression begins.  It depends on the heritage of the person and how a person is living as his or her moral lives.  The depth of ones oppression of a person will depend on heritage and moral life of a person. We should not look lightly on things like the horoscope, throwing of cards, Taro cards, palm reading,  All these things that seem harmless are things that God forbids and get us in contact with the spiritual world.

2.  Unconsciously: People will participate in parties in Brazil and do not know that they are participating in forms of Umbanda.  When people partakes of the food, a pact is established.  We are making a pact with the spirits and allowing them to come into our lives.  People have brought images or statues of deities from other countries and then come to our congregation asking for spiritual help because things were happening in their lives and they did not know why.  Today this lady destroyed these gods and became healed.

F.         Practices of Spiritists:

1. Telekinesis:  Objects are moved perhaps beyond our reach.

2.  Levitation:  An object or person is lifted into space.

3. Automatic writing:  In a trance a person writes.  Many New Age books have been written in this practice.

4.  Mandola:  what is created when a person, who is in a trance, paints a picture or makes a musical creation under the guidance of the spirits.  Mandola is considered a door to the spiritual world

5. Materialization:  In a session a spirit is appears before a group of people.

G.  The church is seen as the major enemy of the spiritist movement.  Spiritists say that for 1800 years the church has been blocking the spiritual development of humankind.  Spiritism is on a firmer rock.  If the church is alive, Spiritism will die.  If the church die, spiritism will flourish.

H.  Four Steps of Helping a Person Come Out of Spiritism:

1.  Learn about a Person’s Heritage: Teaches from the Ten Commandments about idolatry.  He talks to them to determine if there are any signs/symptoms indicating that a person has been involved in Spiritis

Symptoms:  People will say I am crazy.  People have problems sleeping at night because of premonitions.  (These Premonitions are not sins but signs of spiritual bondage.

A person can see shadows moving.  He begins to hear voices or fears persecution. Many people within one family commit suicide or there are many accidents.  There is tendency to divorce and the family accepts this as normal.  People have paranormal powers.  (Ex:  A person knew what would happen in the Gulf War a month before it occurred). Astro-projections without having studied it or encounters with extra-terrestrials (Ex:  A group, called Rama, they make circles, begin chanting, and have contact with the terrestrials).  These sound like science fiction but people are suffering.

Fagundez told of one woman who said the she knew what would happen in the Gulf War.  She had “seen the outcome.  He asked if anyone in her family had this gift.  She responded, “Yes, her aunt.  Spiritism is like food with poison to someone who loves life.

2.         Learn about Childhood (Family Relationship)

a.  To him this is the most difficult.

b.  He tries to find out traumatic experiences in a person’s life.

c.  One may not remember these experience but the Holy Spirit strengths them to remember what they have suppressed.

d. It is important to find out what peoples’ spiritual fears are (rape, problems with parents, death, etc.)

e. Determining occult influences is only a part.  Perhaps, when young, a person is taken to the curendero.  If a spirit is called into a person, it may remain even when the person is grown.

3.  Learn about Connections with the Occult

a. Has the person gone to acurendero or “healer” or to a spiritist.

b. Have the parents’ participated in the occult?

c. Has the person played play “Juego de la Copa” or some other Spiritist game?

d. A person’s spiritual heritage is like one’s biological heritage.  An occult relationship can be transferred from generation to generation.

4. Lead the Searcher to Receive Pardon and Forgiveness

a. The person first must understand the infinite mercy of God.

b. A person does not just come out of the occult.  He/she cannot just decide to leave.  The person must cut,renounce, the past activity.  This is how we cut the influence.

c. This involves confession.  The person renounces all the spiritual influences that bind him.

d. Confession is very powerful.  I must verbally and consciously reject/renounce that practice.  If I know the names of the gods, I should renounce those names.

e. Then a Christian leader needs to pray for your deliverance.

f. Jesus has all authority over the spiritual realm

I.  Responses to the Fagundez Presentation:

1.  Cynicism:  It is all in peoples’ minds.

2. Curiosity:  I am going to find out about this.

3. Conviction of God’s Power—That only in Christ can we live above the powers of Satan.

4. Repentence:

J. Sarah’s Repentence:

1.  Very interested in the signs of the zodiac (astrology) and tarot cards.

2. Had a friend who was part of a coven.  This friend told her that she had been chosen to be a special part of her religion.

3. She also described many dreams, most of which created great fear.

4. Her grandmother was heavily involved in Spiritism and her other grandmother was somewhat involved.

5. Jorge asked her if she had relatives who had committed suicide or died young, and there were several.

6. Her mother had multiple health and mental problems.

7. She had multiple body piercings, including one on her tongue.

8. She did not want to come to the meeting in which Jorge Fagundez spoke but felt that she could not say “no” since everyone else was going.  She tried not to listen but could not exist.

9. Convicted, acknowledged her occult heritage.  Prayer.

V.  Conclusion:

A. Truth about God in relationship to the animist:  God is creator who is not very far from any one of us, active in human life (Acts. 17:24ff; Deut. 20:4; Ex. 15:11; Deut. 32:5).

B. Truth about Christ in relationship to the animist:  Christ is the liberator who has defeated the principalities and powers putting them in open shame (Col. 2:15).

C. Truth about the Holy Spirit in relationship to the animist:  The Holy Spirit is the one who fills us full so that we cannot be filled with the principalities and powers (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  The Holy Spirit is the emancipator who frees us from sin (Rom. 8:13).

D. Truth about the church in relationship to the animist:  The church is God’s distinctive people who stand together against the principalities and powers (Matt. 16:18-19; Note the plural of Eph. 6:10-20).

By Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen

Their tenseness was apparent as they sipped tea at my house. They were wondering, “Will this missionary understand what we have come to explain?”  After circling the problem for some minutes, they stated, “Two of our children are possessed by spirits. They have been sick for almost two years now.  What shall we do!  What does Christ say about this?”  These questions were asked by Christians of the Kipsigis tribe in western Kenya.  Traditional Kipsigis believe that all spirits are ancestors and that unhappy ancestors frequently inflict harm through illness and even possession.  Ancestors, who at death are separated from physical bodies, become impatient when they are not called back into the realm of the living within a reasonable period of time or if decisions are made that destroy the harmony of the family.  The anger of an impatient spirit is greatly feared.

These beliefs were so foreign that I had no ready answers.  I lacked the theological understandings to comprehend spiritual beings.  The biblical message I taught had little to do with God’s cosmic work in defeating spiritual power.  My only response was, “Let us pray God Almighty to free the children of the spirits.”  This inadequacy led me to search for models rooted in biblical theology which would speak to those coming to Christ from animistic backgrounds.  It was evident that my Western theological framework, which had little to do with spiritual powers, was inadequate for teaching in animistic contexts.

The Inadequacy of Conversion Theology

Western individualism has greatly impacted the church throughout the world.   In this section we must begin with a brief description of this individualism and its impact upon evangelism.  This will lead to a biblical framework for teaching the Gospel.

Western Christianity stresses very strongly the autonomy and dignity of the individual.  The individual is considered more important than the group.  At an early age children learn to distinguish between mythings and your things.  As adults, they differentiate my rights and your rights.  Independent nuclear families mirror the culture as a whole: Each nuclear family does “its own thing” independent of the control of the extended family.  Elective democracy stands as the cultural ideal:  that is, each individual has an equal voice in government regardless of his understanding of the issues involved.  Praise and honor are given to the individual who achieves above his peers; certificates of achievement decorating the walls testify to his success.  Team sports are individualized with detailed statistics kept on each player.

Such intense individualism is foreign to most animistic peoples.  The Hopi Indians, also living in North America, consider all things as ours and seek what is right for the group. Teachers in such a society cannot praise the outstanding accomplishments of an individual student or give individual awards without causing severe cultural disruption. The Kipsigis of Kenya, although more individualistic than the Hopi, are also group-oriented.  They live in a face-to-face society in which relations are worked out within the extended family. The dead are understood as an extension of the family in the world of the spirits.  Within this context a missionary was justly rebuked for creating jealousy by publicly praising individual evangelists.  Severe cultural disruptions frequently occur when Western individualistic perspectives are projected upon group-oriented peoples.

Individualism is based on the belief that a person has within himself the power to succeed.  He needs no other powers or spirits, magic or wizardry to direct his life.  His success or failure depends on his own individual achievement.  If he succeeds, it is due to his human capabilities.  If he fails, it is due to his inadequacies.  An individual must make his way without reliance on social or spiritual resources.

Western individualism has become so intense that it has frequently undermined biblical Christianity.  “Myrights” and “my needs” become more important than God’s sovereignty and his wishes.

For the purpose of our discussion it is extremely important to note that individualism has critically impacted the message communicated in evangelism.  Emphasis is placed upon a person’s individual conversion.  Prospective converts are led to consider individualized questions such as “What must I do to be saved?”  “Are you saved?”  “Have you received Jesus?”  The emphasis upon the individual is shown by the stress placed on the personal pronouns “I” and “you” when asking these questions.  The human response to God is emphasized rather than the sovereign working of God in the world.

This individualized formulation of the gospel, called conversion theology, presents biblical truth about personal transformation.  But the focus is so narrow that it does not portray a holistic picture of God’s working in the world.  The nature of God and his mighty acts, God’s saving work through Jesus Christ, and the degenerative character of sin, which has severed the human/divine relationship, are communicated as pieces of a cosmic picture, not as an integrated worldview. These core theologies often become tangents rather than integral and indispensable parts of the core message.

Although Western Christians typically begin teaching non-Christians about personal salvation, they realize that other teachings are also required.  Consequently, they attach other teachings to their message of conversation.  Since they realize that those converted must be organized into a group, they attach the concept of church.  Frequently, one study brochure is developed to convert the individual and another to integrate him into the church.  Even this appended teaching about the church is understood individualistically: The church is an aggregate of individual Christians brought together to minister to one another and to worship God.

As Christian teachers see the newly converted struggle with sin, they belatedly tack on teachings about overcoming problems.  These sins concern marital fidelity, sexual purity, disciplining and training of children, ethics in the workplace, or achieving success in a stressful world.  Western Christians typically deal with the sovereignty of God when they reach the “overcoming problems” level.  Even at this level, God may be seen as a functional being, a “help-me god” that enables “believers” to solve their human dilemmas.  Such functional Christianity is rootless because it does not begin with the nature and working of God but with an understanding of God as One who meets felt needs.

Unfortunately, Westerners have tended to separate the reign of God from personal salvation.

Individualistic thought forms are diametrically opposed to animistic perspectives.  While individualists believe they can chart their own courses, animists believe that they are living in an interconnected world.  They are intimately related to their families, the spiritual world of gods, spirits, ancestors, and ghosts, with nature, and through mental telepathy to the minds of other human beings.  Thus the animist believes that it is impossible to live as an individual separate and apart from his extended family, spiritual powers, nature, or thoughts of other human beings.  Animists live in an interconnected universe.

The Christian way is also opposed to Western individualism.  The church is to be the family of God encouraging each other on the journey to heaven and encouraging others to join them on that journey.  The church is God’s counter-cultural community, which like the moon reflects God’s distinctiveness in the world.  Roberta Hestenes writes, “The Christian life is not a solitary journey.  It is a pilgrimage made in the company of the committed” (1983, 11).  A recurrent theme of early Christian writings is that spiritual nurturing took place within the context of Christian fellowship.  It was not an individual endeavor:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . .  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

(Acts 2:42, 46-47)

Conversion theology is an inadequate model for converting animists because the focus is too narrowly focused on human decision-making rather than more broadly centered on God’s sovereignty over his world.

Biblical Foundations for Understanding Kingdom Theology

As I studied biblical theology within the Kipsigis context, I grew to believe that the focus must be upon God rather than upon the response of the individual.  I began to study a kingdom perspective–that God in Christ has broken into the world to establish his sovereignty and defeat the powers of Satan.  As a consequence, my preaching began to center on the nature and work of God.  This message had cosmic dimensions far beyond the conversion of individuals.  People were called to conversion on the basis of the mighty working of God in the world and discipled to reflect the nature of holy God.

The kingdom perspective is equally important in secular contexts.  Secularists have developed a way of thinking which has focused on humanity and diminished the role of divinity.  Human reason has replaced dependence on God as the center of cultural beliefs. Secularists, like animists, cannot understand the true reality of the world, e.g., that this world is God’s and all must acknowledge him and subject their lives to him.  They must hear again the narrative of Scripture describing the workings of God throughout history.  Their humanistic realities must then be reinterpreted and brought into line with the ultimate reality of the kingdom of God.

My aim is to show that a kingdom perspective is the “scarlet thread that runs through the biblical testimonies” (Moltmann 1981, 95) and that the goal of evangelism is to “initiate people into the kingdom of God” (Abraham, 1989).

The Meaning of Kingdom

The term kingdom means “a rule or reign, an exercise of authority.”  When applied to the reign of God in the world, the term means “the rule or sovereignty of creator God.” Beasley-Murray thus equates the terms “kingdom” and “sovereignty” throughout his comprehensive text Jesus and the Kingdom of God(1986, 74).  Ladd gives the etymology of the word kingdom from the Hebrew and the Greek.  He says, “The primary meaning of both the Hebrew word malkuth in the Old Testament and of the Greek wordbasileia in the New Testament is the rank, authority and sovereignty exercised by a king. . . .  A kingdom is the authority to rule, the sovereignty of the king” (1959, 19).

The synonymous parallelisms of Ps. 145:11-13 define the nature of the kingdom of God:

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
And speak of your might,
So that all men may know of your mighty acts
And the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And your dominion endures through all generations.

(Italics and underlines are used for emphasis.)

God’s kingdom is one of glory and splendor. The synonymous parallelisms equate the kingdom withpower, mighty acts, and glorious splendor.  The adjective everlasting describes God’s reign as being beyond the bounds of earthly time.  The noun dominion (control, sovereignty) is equated in the passage with the word kingdom.  God, therefore, “does not merely sit on a throne, but he reigns by performing mighty deeds. His rule is not static but is expressed in acts of power” (Ferguson 1989, 7).

The Lord’s Prayer also defines kingdom.  Beasley Murray (1992) writes that each of the first three petitions should be “understood as parallelisms, though with distinctive features:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.”
(Matthew 6;9-10)

The first petition “hallowed be your name” is not a petition for people to cease using God’s name irreverently but that “people should be in awe and acknowledge his holiness” (Beasley-Murray 1992).  The second and third petitions reflect that God’s kingdom “comes” when “his will is done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Kingdom, therefore, is the enactment of God’s sovereignty on “earth as it is in heaven.”   The term is inclusive of all the ministries of God in Jesus:  “preach[ing] good news to the poor[,] . . . proclaim[ing] freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19) as well as “mak[ing] disciples” by baptizing unbelievers and “teaching them to observe all things that God has commanded them” (Mathew 28:18-20).

The Church as God’s Distinct People of the Kingdom

Although the church reflects the rule of God in the world, the kingdom cannot be precisely equated with the church.  First of all, if reliance on God and development of his qualities are not reflected in the church then the church is no more than a human organization or social fraternity.  The church must rather understand itself to be the distinctive community formed by the calling and sending of God and reflecting the redemptive reign of God in Christ.  The church, from a biblical perspective, is a unique community in the world that is missionary by nature, created by God through the Spirit as both holy and human. “Convinced that God is working to create a distinct community to participate in his life for the sake of the world, the church seeks to be a visible community demonstrating God’s reign, inviting people to deny themselves and share in the communal life of God” (Love 2003).  “The church is the offspring of divine reign.  It is its fruit, and therefore its evidence” (Guder 98, 1998).  The function of the church is to “represent the reign of God.”  The word represent passively infers that “one stands for another” and actively indicates “the way a person may be given authority to act on another’s behalf or to care for another’s interests” (Guder 1998, 100).  The church, therefore, “represents the divine reign as its agentand instrument” (Guder 1998, 101).  The goal of church leaders, therefore, is not “to build and to extend” the kingdom; this is the work of God.  The role of Christian leaders is to “receive and enter” the reign of God.  “It is a gift of God’s making, freely given.  It calls for the simple, trusting act of receiving” (Guder 1998, 93-94).

God kingdom rule extends beyond the bounds of the church to the entire world.  He is the sovereign Lord not only over his church but also over all of his creation.  He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, sovereign over all his creation.  Moses said, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?  Who is like you–majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders” (Exodus 15:11).  He is the God who can choose pagan kings as the instruments of his will (Isaiah 45:1).

An understanding of kingdom helps us to understand God as sovereign and the church as God’s community demonstrating and representing God’s reign.

The Roots of Kingdom Theology in the Old Testament

Old Testament kingdom passages confirm that the rule of God existed before the coming of Christ, the ultimate king, and the establishment of the church.

Although the word kingdom is seldom mentioned in the Old Testament, the meaning of the term has its roots there. The theme of “God, the ruling Lord” is a thread running throughout the Old Testament (Beasley-Murray 1986, 17).  Note the kingdom terminology of the following passage:

For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne,
The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.
(Psalm 47:7-9)

God is proclaimed King of the earth, reigning over the nations.  God is praised as “all the kings of the earth” gather to become the “people of the God of Abraham.”

This ruling Lord elected Israel to be his chosen instrument to reflect his kingdom nature to the world.  Abraham was blessed by God to be God’s kingdom blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:3).  God’s covenant with Israel was that they should be his “treasured possession” to serve as a “kingdom of priests” in the midst of the nations (Exodus 19:5-6).  As the Levites were priests of Israel, so Israel was to be a kingdom of priests for the world.  Isaiah pictures Israel as a chosen people to be God’s “light for the Gentiles” (Isaiah 49:6).  The covenant was given to Israel, not merely to bless Israel, but so that the Israelites might be God’s blessing on other nations.

Although Israel was God’s special kingdom of priests, God ruled over all nations.  Not only Israel but all nations were accountable to God for their sins (Amos 1-2; Ezek. 25-32).  God, who freed the Israelites from Egyptian captivity, also delivered the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir (Amos 9:7).  God gave Canaan to the Jews but also allotted the Moabites and Ammonites their lands (Deut. 2:16-19).  God sent the Jewish prophet Jonah to save the great Assyrian city of Ninevah.  The theme of Daniel is “The most high God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men” (Dan. 5:21).  “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Ps. 103:19).

Israel, however, abandoned her priestly role and followed the gods of the nations around her.  By so doing, the Israelites forsook the kingdom of God.  Old Testament history portrays the failure of a chosen people to fully accept the rule of God because they were seduced by animistic practices (2 Kgs. 17:7-23).  Israel’s exile thus became a demonstration to the nations that God, the Holy One of Israel, punishes a disobedient, idolatrous people.

Old Testament prophetic writings also reflect the expectation that God’s reign would come in the person of the Messiah.  He would come announcing “peace” and proclaiming “Your God reigns” (Isaiah 52:7).  Ezekiel expressed the expectation that Israel and Judah would be reunited with God’s “servant David” as their king (Ezekiel. 37:24; cf. Ezekiel. 34:23, 30-31).  Daniel compares the kingdoms of the earth to the coming kingdom of God (Dan. 2, 7, 8).  He prophesies that God’s kingdom will “never be destroyed” but will crush all earthly kingdoms (Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14, 17-18).  The Messiah would be given “dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him” (Dan. 7:14).

These passages are only a brief sampling of the developing kingdom concept in the Old Testament.  The concept grew during the inter-testamental period to the point that that by the time of Christ people, after seeing his miracles and teachings, immediately wondered if he might be the Messiah (John 7:40-43).

The Emerging Kingdom in Jesus’ Ministry

With the coming of Jesus Christ the word kingdom began to designate God’s distinctive reign in his son.  In Christ God established a sovereign rule which would never be destroyed.

Jesus was born during a time of great messianic expectation. The Jews believed that the messianic prophecies would be fulfilled when God sent the Messiah to sweep away the wicked kingdoms of the world and initiate God’s final rule on the earth.  Jesus, however, did not come to destroy wicked human kingdoms.  He came to destroy Satan’s kingdom.  Ladd says, “The kingdom of God is here; but instead of destroying human sovereignty, it has attacked the sovereignty of Satan” (1981, 56).  Although the coming kingdom could not fulfill earthly Jewish expectations because Christ’s kingdom was not “of this world” (John 18:36), messianic anticipations served to draw thousands to hear John and Jesus proclaim the imminence of the kingdom. These expectations were part of God’s timing in preparing the world to receive his message (Gal. 4:4).

God’s rule in Christ was first announced by John the Baptist.  He was the first to proclaim “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:1-2).  Luke 16:16 defines that John is a dividing line between two periods: “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached.”  The term “until” (mechri) is used in an inclusive sense meaning “up to and including” John (Beasley-Murray 1986, 94).  John is the “man who formed the watershed of the ages, who bridged the gap between the period of promise and the period of fulfillment, and who by his proclamation opened a way for the kingdom of God” (Beasley-Murray 1986, 96).  When John was imprisoned, his ministry of introducing the kingdom concluded, and Jesus’ ministry began (Mark 1:14).

Jesus’ message is summarized by the statement “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43).  The phrase “at hand” has connotations of both the present and the future. It means “`drawing near,’ `breaking in,’ `in process of becoming’” (Ferguson 1989, 24).  The synthetic parallelism of Mark 1:15 helps to clarify the meaning of “at hand”: “The time is fulfilled” is synonymous to “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The first phrase “looks backward, while the second looks to the present and future; the first announces the end of the old era, the second proclaims the beginning of the new” (Ambrozic 1972, 21-22).  Beasley-Murray thus interprets this passage to mean, “If the time before the kingdom is finished, the time of the kingdom has begun” (1986, 73).  In Jesus Christ, God initiated a rule that will never be destroyed.  When Christ the king came, the kingdom was both “coming” and “in their midst.

Because it addresses a Jewish audience with messianic expectation, Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes the kingdom.  The book begins with a genealogy designating that Jesus is “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1).  The messianic title “son of David” is used nine times to describe Jesus (Ferguson 1989, 20-21).  He was born “King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2).  He told parables of the kingdom (Capter 13), used kingdom power to cast out demons (12:28), and taught principles of righteousness inherent in the kingdom (5:20).  His triumphal entry was seen as fulfilling the Zechariah 9:9 description of the Messiah’s coming.  Jesus died as “the King of the Jews” (27:11-42).  The concept of the kingdom is so dominant in Matthew that the word kingdom is used 51 times in this Gospel while only 18 times in the Gospel of Mark (Senior 1984, 237).   The concept of the kingdom of God pervades the very fabric of the Gospel of Matthew. The entire organization of the book is organized to explain this theme and appears to have “determined the course of [Jesus'] ministry” (Beasley-Murray 1986, x).

Matthew says that Jesus “went throughout Galilee, . . . preaching the good news of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23).  Proclamation was accompanied by deeds which defeated the powers of Satan:  Demons were cast out by the power of God, and the sick were healed (Matt. 4:23-24).  Mark recounts that those who heard Jesus’ kingdom proclamation were told to “repent and believe the gospel” (1:15).  The Good News of the kingdom of God was now operative among them; it was now time to respond to the mighty acts of God in history!  With such expectations it is no wonder that thousands flocked to hear the proclamation of the kingdom from Jesus of Nazareth, who was acclaimed as the long-awaited Messiah of God.

Two Kingdoms in Opposition

The Gospels picture two kingdoms standing in opposition.  The kingdom of God came with power to defeat the dominions of Satan.  When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man, many Jews began to wonder if Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David.  The Pharisees, becoming jealous,  claimed that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.  Jesus replied by describing two opposing kingdoms.  Beelzebub did not cast out the demons because Satan would not fight against himself (Matthew 12:22-27).  Then Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Matthew 12:28).  Deliverance from demon-possession demonstrated the emancipating power of God, which had entered the world to defeat the power of Satan.

In Matthew 12:29 Jesus gives the analogy of the binding of the strong man in order to carry off his property.  Satan in this context is the strong man; however, Jesus, the implied stronger man, is able to bind him.  When healing the spirit-possessed, Jesus entered the house of Satan, bound him, and took possession of his property.  This defeat of Satan was characteristic of Christ’s ministry.  He was breaking down the authority of Satan by entering his domain–a world controlled by his power (1 John 5:19).

It must be noted that the stronger man “first binds the strong man” before he “plunders his house” (Matt. 12:29).  Before God can take possession of a person, Satan’s power in him must be defeated.  “The plundering of the Strong Man’s house takes place only after he had been defeated” (Beasley-Murray, l986, 109).

The defeat of Satan during Jesus’ ministry was a foretaste of what Jesus did in breaking the chains of death and being raised from the dead (Col. 2:15).  The entire ministry of Jesus was characterized by triumph over Satan.  This has become a testimony to later generations that “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Thus the kingdom was not only proclaimed by word but also by deed.  Jesus proclaimed the message of the kingdom while as he was casting out demons and helping the blind to see and the lame to walk (Matt. 11:5).  The kingdom in the New Testament is seen as the “dynamic activity of God, operative in, with, and through” Jesus Christ (Beasley-Murray 1986, 74).

Kingdom Perspectives in Early Christian Proclamation

The kingdom was also proclaimed in the ministry of the early church.  When Philip went to Samaria and “proclaimed Christ there” (Acts 8:5), his message was “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12).  Paul was said to have gone “about preaching the kingdom” (Acts 20:25).  His ministry was launched by the very nature of his conversion on the road to Damascus.  Christ called him to proclaim the gospel to Gentiles–”to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).  Paul in Rome declared to the Jews the “kingdom of God” (Acts 28:23).  Pauline epistles proclaim deliverance “from the dominion of darkness . . . into the kingdom of the Son” (Col. 1:13).  Apostolic preaching was kingdom proclamation.

This proclamation of the kingdom is especially apropos in animistic contexts.  For example, Simon was a sorcerer in Samaria whose strength was so vast that he was acclaimed “the great power” (Acts 8:9-11).  Philip forcefully preached the mighty acts of God in defeating the powers of Satan–the message of “the good news of the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12).  Simon, most likely drawn by the demonstration of power that accompanied Philip’s message, believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13).  Even as a Christian, Simon could not resist seeking power.  He thought that Peter and John, apostles sent from Jerusalem to impart spiritual gifts to the new Samaritan Christians, were power brokers like the animistic practitioners of his tradition.  Simon, therefore, asking to buy the power of the “laying on of the apostles’ hands” (Acts 8:18).  Although he may have received apostolic gifts by Peter and John laying their hands on him, he also wanted the power to dispense these gifts.  He was equating the power of God with the powers of his animistic heritage.

Inaugurated Eschatology

In biblical writings about the kingdom there is an evident “tension between the `already’ and the `not yet.’ The kingdom has been inaugurated but has not yet been completed” (Osborne 1987). Christians, who have been “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might” in the present age, anticipate “the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Col. 1:11).  They have “tasted the powers of the age to come!” (Heb. 6:5).  The concept that the kingdom is already in the world but has not yet been consummated is termed inaugurated eschatology.  The rule that God has initiated in Jesus Christ actively continues through those who believe in him and will be consummated at the end of the age (Beasley-Murray 1986, 80).

The parables of the kingdom make clear the nature of the rule of God in a world where the powers of Satan continue to exist.  The parable in Matthew 13:24-30 shows the tares and the wheat existing side by side.  The tares represent “the sons of the evil one” and the wheat “the sons of the kingdom” (vs. 38).  Because their roots have become intermingled, removing only the tares would endanger the wheat as well.  The focus of the parable is on the command “Let them grow together until the harvest” (vs. 30).  Jesus teaches that the good and bad are not separated in the present age.  This separation is the final work of God when he consummates his kingdom with judgment: The tares will be separated from the wheat and “righteousness will shine forth . . . in the kingdom of their father” (13:43).  This parable thus gives a reason for the continuance of Satan’s kingdom even though God’s kingdom in Christ is has come into the world.

Even though the kingdom of God has come, the kingdom of Satan continues to exist. Contrary to Jewish expectations, the arrival of the kingdom of God did not eradicate of the kingdom of Satan.

This concept of inaugurated eschatology compels the animist who is overwhelmed by evil forces to wait for God to act.  He knows that evil forces coexist in this world with forces of God.  He must not “consult the mediums and wizards” (Isa. 8:19) but “wait for the Lord” (Isaiah8:17) and turn to “the law and to the testimony” (Isaiah 8:20).  He must not “consult the dead on behalf of the living” (Isaiah 8:19).  A Christian of an animist heritage knows that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan coexist in this present world and is able to differentiate the two.

Kingdom Proclamation in Animistic and Secular Contexts

Kingdom theology is appropriate for Christian proclamation in animistic and secular contexts for a number of reasons.

First, kingdom theology provides an interpretive model for explaining the world that is based on the Word of God.

Those who have come to Christ from an animistic heritage will understand that spirit propitiation and appeasement of both malevolent and ambivalent spirits and gods are of the realm of Satan; the worship of the awesome, majestic Creator is of the realm of God. Spirit possession, black magic, and witchcraft are of the reign of Satan; God protects the Christian from the malevolent use of all such powers in his kingdom. In the kingdom of Satan morality is relative, defined by society and by relations with ambivalent spiritual beings.  In the kingdom of God morality is defined by a holy God who expects his people to reflect his nature.  Kingdom theology, therefore, provides a holistic philosophy to help the animist understand the reality of God in the world.

Those who have come to Christ from a secular heritage have come to believe that the world is not a self-contained universe where humans operate autonomously.  Rather humans have been created in the “image of God,” in his “likeness” (Genesis 1:26-27).  As his creations living in his world, they should be, as John Calvin wrote, a “mirror reflecting God.”  Humans are not merely made “from the dust” but are also inbreathed by God to become “living beings” (Genesis 2:7).  Humans have been created with “consciences” which bear witness to the essence of the law although they may not have had God’s law (Romans 2:15).  The secularist, thus, must be persuaded to look at the world as God’s world.  God is the ultimate King ruling over his creation.  Human attributes and morality should, therefore, be defined by the divine nature:  “God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).  “Be holy in all you do; for it is written:  ‘Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15).  The attributes of God are then formed in those who as secularists lived by their own rationality.

Second, kingdom theology introduces the reign of God.

This perspective equips believers to attack and defeat the powers of Satan.  By the power of Christ fetishes and altars are destroyed, satanic laws overturned, and the spirit-possessed healed.  God in his spirit protects his children so that there is no fear of magic or witchcraft.  A Christian’s relationship to God casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).  Above all, in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness of sins; so harmony with God and with his world is reestablished.  The church, like Jesus, actively confronts Satan’s powers in all their manifestations in order to bring people under the sovereignty of God.  Christians have the assurance that they will overcome because they have a greater power than that which is in the world (1 John 4:4).

This perspective enables believers to challenge secularists who attempt to live by their own might and power with little or no reliance on God.  The Christian teaches, “This is God’s world.  We must learn to trust him for all of our needs and praise him as the one Lord of the world.”  Christians humbly acknowledge that they know little about God’s world.  “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. . . .  Where is the wise man?  Where is the scholar?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ” (1 Corinthians 1:25, 20).

Third, kingdom theology makes no dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural.

Kingdom theology enables those from an animistic heritage to acknowledge that the encounter between God and Satan is actively taking place in this world.  God heals the sick, blesses and protects his children, and casts out spirits as manifestations of the kingdom.  God controls all facets of his world, both physical and spiritual.  No dichotomy should be made between these two realms. The missionary working in an animistic society must believe in the reign of God over all domains of life.

Kingdom theology, for those who have come to Christ from a secular heritage, enables them understand the interconnectedness of the natural and spiritual and to live in a trusting relationship with creator God.  God becomes to them the “I AM THAT I AM,” the ever-present Holy One reigning supreme over His world (Exodus 3:14).  As Christians from an secular heritage come to know God, they perceive God’s nature within his creation. “God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20).  “The heavens declare the glory of God!” (Psalm 19:1).  Human intelligence is not something that has evolved but a created essence belonging to God.

Fourth, while conversion theology is individualistic, kingdom theology is systemic.

It aims to Christianize the entire cultural system. Not only must the individual give allegiance to creator God in Jesus Christ, but the customs, mores, and laws which have been contorted by the influence of Satan must also be Christianized.  Ethics and morality thus become part of the proclamation of the kingdom of God.  For example, rites of passages into different stages of life must be made Christian.  When a child is born, he is blessed before God rather than having an ancestor called into him.  The coming-of-age rite will initiate children into Christian adulthood.  Prayers for God’s blessing upon marriage rites will mirror faith in God rather than having beer spit upon a traditional wedding band asking for ancestral blessings.  Birth, marriage, and coming-of-age rites must all demonstrate the nature of Christ.  During times of drought and famine, God, the giver of rain, is beseeched in prayer. The reign of Christ must be seen in every facet of life.  Those coming to Christ from animistic and secular heritages must declare God’s reign over every aspect of human life.

Conclusion

It is appropriate at this point to say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).  God’s kingdom comes whenever Christ is proclaimed, and people by faith accept God’s grace and become holy, loving communities of faith reflecting his divine nature.

Let us pray:  “O God, may your kingdom come ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’  May we receive and enter your kingdom acknowledging you as King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Sources Used

Abraham, William J. 1989.  The Logic of Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Ambrozic, A. M. 1972.  The Hidden Kingdom: A Redaction Critical Study of the

References to the Kingdom of God in Mark’s Gospel. Catholic Biblical Quarterly-Monograph Series, 2. Washington: Catholic Biblical Quarterly.

Beasley-Murray. G.R. 1986.  Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans.

Bellah, Robert N., Richard Madsen, Wm. M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M.

Tipton. 1985.  Habits of the Heart. New York: Harper and Row.

Ferguson, Everett. 1989.  The Everlasting Kingdom. Abilene, Tex.: A.C.U. Press.

Guder, Darrell L. Ed.  1998.  Missional Church:  A Vision for the Sending of the Church

in North America.  Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans.

Ladd, George E. 1959.  The Gospel of the Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

________. 1981. The Gospel of the Kingdom. In Perspectives on the World Christian

Movement, ed. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 51-69. Pasadena: Wm. Carey Library.

Love, Mark.  2003.  Unpublished Description of the Missional Church.  Academic

Committee of the Graduate School of Theology:  Abilene Christian University

Osborne, Grant. 1987. Classroom Lectures in “Missions in the New Testament,” DMS

321. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Chicago, Ill., July 13-17.

Moltmann, Jurgen. 1981.  The Trinity and the Kingdom. San Francisco: Harper & Row,

Publishers

Senior, Donald and Carroll Stuhlmueller. 1984. The Biblical Foundations for Mission.

Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.

By Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen

What is the nature of spiritual powers in Scripture?  What is the relationship of Satan to these powers?  What is the difference between animistic and Christian understanding of power?  These are some of the lessons that we will investigate in this lecture.

The Nature of the Powers

The Bible describes how God’s people struggled with animistic powers.  In the Old Testament the Israelites, because of proximity, were forced to choose between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations.  Baalism, an agricultural fertility cult of the Canaanites, was especially appealing to the Israelites.  The Gospels describe a struggle between Jesus and the demonic world.  In the Pauline epistles the Christian battle is against principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12) and the elementary principles of the world (Col. 2:8, 20).  The Bible student is forced to develop some rationale for explaining these various terminologies for the powers in Scripture.

The Bible depicts the powers as personal spiritual beings actively impacting the socio-economic and political structures of societies.  These powers have established their own rules and regulations that pull cultures away from God.  The “elementary principles” (stoicheia) of Pauline writings (Gal. 4:3; Col. 2:8, 20) are an example of this.  Stoicheia are literally the rudimentary principles, the ABCs of culture.  These are the directives through which the powers have established control of the customs, laws, and institutions of society.  Thus in Colossians and Galatians the stoicheia are illustrated by legalistic observances of the law, worship of angels, and returning to pre-Christian animistic practices.  Stoicheia within these contexts are the demonic contortions of human society.  The powers have invaded the very fabric of society.  Paradoxically the powers can even invade Christian religion and religious institutions.  Richard Foster writes:

Power can be an extremely destructive thing in any context, but in the service of religion it is downright diabolical.  Religious power can destroy in a way that no other power can.  Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this is especially true of religion . . . .   When we are convinced that what we are doing is identical with the kingdom of God, anyone who opposes us must be wrong.
(Foster 1985, 178)

I contend that that, although they take different forms and manifest themselves in different cultural ways, the essence of these powers is the same in all ages.  They are not merely socio-economic systems that have rebelled against God, but personal spiritual powers opposed to the very being of God.  Although the names of powers who oppose God vary in different biblical contexts, their origin and essence are one.

Powers:  The Colossian Perspective

The book of Colossians describes the powers as created beings (Read Col. 1:15-20).  They were created by Christ to be under his sovereignty: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17).  The purpose of the passage is to show that all powers were created to be in a dependent relationship with Christ.  As things created “by him and for him,” they were to be Christ’s servants–instruments of his sovereignty.  “Fullness, completeness” dwells in Christ alone (Col. 1:19; 2:9).  The passage implies that fullness does not dwell in powers that desire to be independent of their Creator.  The supremacy of Christ is therefore declared in relation to the creation of the powers.

These powers did not originate as foes of God but were created to live under his sovereignty.  In Colossians Paul infers that at some point there was a cosmic rebellion against Christ and his sovereignty.  The powers forsook their allegiance to Christ and became independent.  They broke with God’s sovereignty to establish their own.  Their motivation seems to come from Satan, under whose dominion they had fallen.  As part of Satan’s work, the lawless one seeks to exalt himself over God–to take “his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess. 2:4).  Instead of pointing to God, Satan and his powers accepted the idolatrous worship of humans, “which exalted them to a divine and absolute status” (Caird 1967, 48).  When humans worshipped idols, they were exalting what was “secondary and derivative into a position of absolute worth” (Caird 1967, 9).  The church father Origen wrote,

According to our belief, it is true of all demons that they were not demons originally, but they became so in departing from the true way; so that the name ‘demons’ is given to those beings who have fallen away from God. Accordingly those who worship God must not serve demons.
(Against Celsus VII. 69)

The issue at stake was one of glory.  A created being saw the glory of God and desired to usurp that glory.

Paul in Colossians assumed that the reader understood that the powers have rebelled against God and therefore must be reconciled to Christ.  He emphasized that “all things,” implying all powers, were “held together” in a system with Christ as their head (1:16-17).  But the rebellion of the powers led God to send Christ in order to reconcile “all things to himself” (1:20), as in the beginning, so that all “fullness” dwells in him alone (1:19).  God reconciled “all things” to himself through Jesus on the cross.  In this event Christ disarmed the powers, made a public display of them, and triumphed over them (Col. 2:15).   By defeating the powers in his death and accepting headship over those who believe, Jesus became “head over all rule and authority.”

The powers are now alienated from God and oppose him.  They now desire to estrange believers from the love of God (Rom. 8:38).  They hold the non-believer in bondage (Gal. 4:3).  They bind people to their rules (Col. 2:20).  They control the lives of the ungodly (Eph. 2:2).

Powers:  Aligned with Satan

These powers who oppose God have become part of the dominion of the kingdom of Satan.  O’Brien writes, “Despite the variety in nomenclature, the overall picture is the same: a variety of evil forces under a unified head” (1984, 137; Green 1981, 82).  When demons were cast out, Jesus could say, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:17-18).  The “devil’s schemes” are connected to the Christian’s struggle against the powers (Eph. 6:11-12).  Jesus was accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons (Matt. 12:22-28).  Satan has become the god of this world (1 John 4:4; 5:19) working in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2) with legions of spiritual powers following him.

The Bible assumes that the powers are personal spiritual entities.  They are not merely non-personal, alienated structures of society.  Many biblical names for the powers–lords, gods, princes, demons, devils, unclean spirits, evil spirits–have personal connotations. Names for Satan–the evil one, the accuser, the destroyer, the adversary, the enemy–also infer a personality.

The personal nature of spiritual beings is illustrated by Christ’s delivering those possessed by demons.  When Jesus healed the demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, he was confronting personal spiritual power (Matt. 12:22-29).  The first miracle of Jesus recorded in Luke’s gospel was the cleansing of an unclean man in Capernaum (Read Luke 4:31-37).  This spirit was also personal.  First, the spirit cried out to Jesus, and he responded.  This was not an institutional manifestation of the evils of the world, but a personal spirit speaking to Jesus.  Second, the demon differentiated between himself and one he possessed by using the first person plural pronoun “us” when he cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?”  The terminologies in this account suggest that the demons are evil spiritual beings. According to Ferguson,

[Their] spiritual nature . . . permits them to enter a human person.  Once more we notice that the demon had his own distinct personality. He was different from the person in whom he dwelled and was able to control the person he possessed to the extent of throwing him down.
(1984, 6)

These powers are “beings of intellect and will, which can speak and be spoken to” and are “capable of purposeful activity” (Schlier 1964, 18).

Powers:  Diffused into the Structures of Culture

While these powers are personal in nature they also diffuse into human cultures.  They have the power to invade human beliefs systems, cultural institutions, and governmental structures and to obscure their origin.  Consequently, people of God will fall away not only because of the overt working of “deceitful spirits” but also because of obscure “doctrines of demons” that radiate from their work and become a part of human strictures (1 Tim. 4:1).  For example, when Jesus confronted the traditions of the Pharisees, he was confronting the power of Satan ingrained in Jewish tradition (Matt. 15:1-20).  A most apparent example of this is the great dragon, called the devil and Satan (Rev. 12:9).  This dragon gives authority to the beast, who represents earthly powers who carry out the will of the dragon (Rev. 13:2), for example, Emperor Domitian performing Satan’s desires by persecuting Christians in the Roman Empire.  Even today the beasts of the great dragon perform his work in the world.

The stoicheia, the cultural building blocks of traditional society, were the regulations of the powers which bound those not in Christ (Gal. 4:3; Col. 2:8, 20).  Schlier writes that the powers “conceal themselves in the world and in the everyday life of mankind.  They withdraw from sight into the men, elements, and institutions through which they make their power felt” (1964, 29).  This is the meaning of Paul’s statement “We . . . were held in bondage under the elementary things of the world” (Gal. 4:3).  These rules which bound the non-believer might be those of the Jewish law or pagan beliefs prevalent in their various localities.  The Colossian heresy was similar to that in Galatia.  The Colossians were allowing the “elementary principles of the world” to displace Christ as the mediator between God and man (MacGregor 1954, 22).  The Colossians should have escaped their control.  Paul inquired, “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why do you submit” to their decrees? (Col. 2:8, 20).  The Colossians were still tied to the old demonic system although they considered themselves to be in Christ. Personal spiritual powers had become systemic.

Apocryphal literature speaks of the powers as angels who have fallen away from God (2 Enoch 29:4; Jubilees 10).  Jude likely builds on this tradition when he speaks of angels leaving their “proper abode” (vs. 6), alluding to their proper “domain” under the sovereignty of God. These angels fell away from God when they sinned, and some have already been cast into hell (2 Pet. 2:4).  Thus Jesus could speak of the place “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

Caird does not differentiate between angels and the gods of the nations, which are spoken of throughout the Old Testament.  He believes that they are angelic beings “to whom God had delegated some measure of his own authority” (Caird 1967, 48).  Their worship became the source of idolatry in the Old Testament when the nations and even God’s elect people chose to serve such powers rather than Yahweh.  A variant reading of Deuteronomy 32:8b-9 says that God “set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God, for the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”  According to this interpretation, angels were placed over all the nations, but Israel was God’s special inheritance over which he ruled without any intermediary. These angels were never to be worshipped but only to serve as messengers of God.  The cosmic rebellion against God occurred when these “angels of the nations” desired to be worshipped rather than allow all praises to be directed to God.  This cosmic rebellion is depicted in Daniel.  The angel of God was delayed from coming to Daniel because he was fighting with the angelic prince of Persia and must return to continue the fight and also fight the prince of Greece (Dan.10:20-21).  They are referred to as the “princes of the nations” in Isaiah 41-46 and 48 (Wink 1984, 26-35).  The worship of these beings became the source of idolatry in the Old Testament when the nations and God’s own people chose to serve such powers rather than Creator God.  The powers therefore are beings who forsook the sovereignty of God and accepted the worship of those whom they were sent to serve.  Despite their original state, they have now aligned themselves with Satan and must be resisted by faithful Christians (Eph. 6:12).

Powers that were originally beneficent have become malevolent.  Once they sang the praises of Creator God and existed under his sovereignty; they now desire control and power apart from God without giving him recognition as their Creator.  They once were ministering servants of the people of God; they now desire to be their gods.  Because they forsook the sovereignty of God, they have become participants of the kingdom of Satan.

Affirming Christian Identify in an Animistic Context

How do Christian evangelists respond when people of God revert to pagan ways while also desiring to follow the way of God?   Such split-level allegiance is very common in contexts in which people are coming to God from non-Christian religions.  For instance, children are sick, and mothers fear for their lives.  A wedding is about to occur and parents of the bride and groom desire traditional blessings for the marriage.  People fear because a man dies at an early age and the cause is unknown.  Businessmen become concerned when all of their plans do not proceed as expected.  In such situations Christians are tempted to return to the resources of their traditional religions.

The task of Christian ministers in these contexts is to find theological and ministry models, based upon Scripture yet fitting for these contexts.  Stated differently, the doing of missions leads to the formation of theology.  Some years ago systematic theologian Martin Kahler wrote the often-quoted statement that mission is “the mother of theology.”  Theology, said Kahler, developed as “an accompanying manifestation of the Christian message.”  Christian leaders, like Paul, put pen to paper in order to address tangible, contemporary issues in communities of faith.  “They wrote in the context of an ‘emergency situation’, of a church which, because of its missionary encounter with the world, was forced to theologize” ([1908] 1971, 189-90; cf. Bosch 1991, 16).  In other words, theology was done in missional contexts in response to missional questions as Christian ministers planted new churches and nurtured existing churches to maturity.

One example of such contextual theology is Paul’s writing to the Ephesians.  Paul assumes in his letter that new Christians understand the nature of spiritual powers within their context but have not been completely freed from their control.  Ephesus itself was a center of cultic activity where animistic practices and beliefs were flourishing.  The city was known for the Ephesia Grammata, the “Ephesian letters” thought to be laden with magical power to ward off demons and employed “either as written amulets or spoken charms” (Arnold 1989, 15-16).  Artemis was worshipped as a supreme deity of unsurpassed power–a god who descended directly from heaven (Acts 19:35).  This goddess was called upon to protect followers from malevolent powers and “to raise the dead, heal the sick, and protect the city” (Arnold 1989, 20-22, 39).  Magic was frequently used in the cult of Artemis: “In many instances there seems to be little or no difference between calling upon Artemis to accomplish a certain task and utilizing a `magical’ formula” (Arnold 1989, 24).  Astrology was also intertwined with the worship of Artemis.  In New Testament times the angels were typically associated with the planets and the stars, which were thought to control earthly fate.  However, Artemis was pictured as the master of these astral forces because “the signs of the zodiac were prominently displayed around the neck of the cultic image” (Arnold 1989, 28).  Demons were everywhere thought to exist and were immensely feared.  The book of Ephesians, therefore, describes how Paul responds to converts who have questions and continuing fears about malevolent spiritual forces (Arnold 1989).

The Powers in Pauline Perspective

In the Pauline epistles the principalities and powers are described by terms heaped one upon another in a series.  Paul writes, “Our struggle is . . . against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12; cf. Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16; Rom. 8:38).  These lists should not be regarded as precise descriptions of a hierarchy of spiritual beings but as interchangeable synonyms (Schlier 1964, 14-16).  The series, moreover, indicates that spiritual powers cannot be described by one name.  The powers of Satan have become diffused and appear in various manifestations (Wink 1984, 13-34).

Wink’s comprehensive study of the various terms shows that “75 per cent of the time terms such as archeand archon (organizational power), exousia (authority), dynamis (power), and thronos (thrones) refer to human institutions” (Hiebert 1987, 109).  Such terms as arche and archon are used exclusively for power in human structures while dynamis is typically used in relation to personal spiritual powers.  These powers are described as:

divine but human, not only personified but structural, not only demons and kings but the world atmosphere and power invested in institutions, laws, traditions and rituals as well, for it is the cumulative, totalizing effect of all these taken together that creates the sense of bondage to a “dominion of darkness.”
(Wink 1984, 85)

The purposes of these lists, therefore, is to be comprehensive.  These terminologies are broader than “demons” or “gods” because they include the structural, institutional inroads made by personal spiritual powers as well as personal spiritual beings themselves

In the letters of Paul, as well as in the Gospels, the powers are pictured as functioning under the authority of Satan.  Ephesians 6:11-12 describe the relationship between Satan and the powers: Christians are to “stand against the devil’s schemes” because they struggle against the powers.  Satan is the “prince of the power of the air, the prince that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).  Their purpose is to use the desires of the flesh and mind to alienate man from God (Eph. 2:1-3).  These powers are under Satan and serve him in his realm.

“In the Heavenly Realms”

In Ephesians Paul employs the phrase “in the heavenly realms” (ta epourania) as a theological metaphor to describe the place of Christians in relation to spiritual powers.  The phrase occurs five times in the book (Eph. 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).  It serves as a unique formula for the book and has the same meaning throughout (Lincoln 1973, 469).  While other books of the New Testament mention the heavenly father, the heavenly son, heavenly men and women, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the heavenly kingdom, the distinctive phrase ta epourania (“in the heavenly realms”) appears only in Ephesians (Barth 1974, 78).

Blessings in the Heavenly Realms. The Christians at Ephesus were told that they had been blessed “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Read Eph. 1:3).  This first use of the phrase “in the heavenly realms” (ta epourania) signifies a spiritual realm.  Believers now have all spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms while still living on the earth.  The heavenlies have invaded the earthlies in such a way that “the riches of God’s grace” have been “lavished on” those who believe while they are still in the earthly realm (Eph. 1:7-8).

Christ Exalted into the Heavenly Realms. The second use of the phrase “in the heavenly realms” refers to Christ’s exaltation and enthronement: God has raised Christ “from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Read Eph. 1:20-21).  This exaltation is a central theme of Ephesians.  Christ is shown to be “not only a risen, living Savior, but an exalted, reigning Lord who is sovereign over all” (Penner 1983, 18). During Christ’s life the principalities and powers opposed him, even plotted his death (1 Cor. 2:8).  Christ put himself under their power in order to break their control (Powell 1963, 168; MacGregor 1954, 23).  He became human in order to break the power of death, which Satan had used to hold humanity in his grasp.  He rendered “powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

Christ’s death exalted him to a place of sovereignty in the heavenly realms seated at the right hand of God “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given” (Eph. 1:20-21).  “Far above” (Eph. 1:21) refers to the authority of Christ over the principalities and powers.  Because Christ is seated in the heavenly realms “far above” the powers, the powers have no authority over him or over those “who believe” (1:19).  Christ is sovereign because of his place in the heavenly realms!

The issue is authority.  The exalted Christ is head over “every thing“ (NIV) or “all things” (RSV) for the church, which is “the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph. 1:22-23).  Markus Barth rightly equates “all things” with the enemies of God, i.e., the powers who stand in opposition to him (1974, 179).  Because Christ dwells in the heavenly realms and because these powers were created for him and by him (Col. 1:15-18), he is sovereign over them.  The term “fullness” implies that Christ’s power cannot be assumed by any other power.  Christ is the “fullness of Deity” and therefore must be given our full allegiance (Col. 1:19; 2:9).

The Believers’ Exaltation into the Heavenly Realms.  The third use of the phrase “in the heavenly realms” refers to the believer’s exaltation and enthronement (Read Eph. 2:1-6).  Believers previously subject to the powers (Eph. 2:1-3) have been raised by God and seated “with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6).  Thus Christ’s own exaltation and enthronement into the heavenly realms (Eph. 1:20) is compared to the believer’s exaltation and enthronement (Eph. 2:6).  Psalm 110:1, cited in Ephesians 1:20 regarding Christ’s exaltation to God’s right hand, is used in Ephesians 2:6 in relation to the believer’s exaltation.  The verbs, which are in the past tense in this verse, show that believers now dwell in the heavenly realms because of Christ’s exaltation.  Allen says, “What God, who is the principal actor in both passages, has accomplished in Christ, he has accomplished for believers” (1986, 104).  Because Christians are raised with him, they share in his authority.

Christians must then live in the heavenly realms where homage and praise are given to God and to God alone.  No longer are they to manipulate spirits by magic and ritual. Exalted with Christ into the heavenly realms, they live above the principalities and powers.  By living above the powers, they will walk through life with peace, without fear.  Their position of authority in the heavenly realms protects them from being overwhelmed by spiritual powers.

God’s Wisdom Made Known in the Heavenly Realms. The fourth use of “in the heavenly realms” concerns making known God’s manifold wisdom to the powers (Read Eph. 3:10).  The context of this verse (Eph. 3:10) is concerned with the unity of the church (Eph. 3:4-13).  When the powers saw the unified church, that both Jews and Gentiles were worshipping together, they realized that their dominion had been broken.  The unified church, by being an “example to all creation,” by letting “God’s light shine” (Barth 1974, 365), makes known the wisdom of God to spiritual powers, who are looking on.  The unity of the body of Christ is a “proclamation, a sign, a token to the Powers that their unbroken dominion has come to an end” (Berkhof 1977, 51).  The church actively “preaches” (euangelisasthai) to “the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8), but the wisdom of God is only passively “made known” (gnoristhei) to the principalities and powers (Eph. 3:10).  As created beings the principalities and powers do not have total understanding.  They peer in amazement as they see God’s cosmic design being played out in the church.

Cosmic Warfare in the Heavenly Realms. Paul’s theological framework of spiritual power is completed with the comic warfare passage of Ephesians 6:10-18.  This passage first provides encouragement to the Ephesian Christians to “stand” faithful despite the devil’s designs.  The imperative command “stand” is used three times in the passage.  Christians are told to “put on the full armor of God so that they can take their stand against the devil’s schemes” (v. 11).  The Ephesians were also told to “put on the full armor of God” to that they “may be able to stand [their] ground” when times of immense temptations, or “the day of evil” comes (v. 13).  Finally, Christians were commanded to “Stand firm” by arming themselves for spiritual warfare (v. 14).  In each instance the word “stand” is in the plural and literally means to “stand shoulder to shoulder.”   The term infers that the church as a community of faith must stand together to ward off the onslaughts of Satan and to march forward into battle.

Second, the passage identifies the enemy–Satan.  Christians consequently must stand against ” the devil’s schemes” (v. 11).  Satan’s power, however, is manifested in the principalities and powers (v. 12).  Most of these are personal spiritual powers, Satan’s surrogates who carry on his work.  Other powers represent the forces that have become ingrained in the cultural fabric, i.e., the infiltration of evil into laws, customs, and institutions of culture.  This passage documents Satan’s relationship to the powers, that they were devised by him and are part of his schemes.

Third, the passage prepares Christians for spiritual warfare.  Paul acknowledges the reality of spiritual warfare and calls on servants of God to recognize and prepare for it.  The military metaphor enables contemporary Christians who have never perceived the spiritual realm to open their eyes to spiritual realities.  The passage also encourages Christians from an animistic heritage not to forsake God during times of everyday problems and return to their traditional religions.  Because of the temptations of Satan and struggles with his powers, all Christians must equip themselves for spiritual warfare.  This concept may be troubling for nominal Christians, who possibly come to Christ for reasons of self-promotion or self-benefit and do not recognize the reality of the spiritual struggle.

Paul also lists the armaments needed for spiritual warfare.  These are the belt of truth, the breastplate ofrighteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (vs. 14-16).  Prayer, a communication with God that continually nurtures the soul, is also necessary (vs. 18-20).

These weapons should not be thought of as merely defensive. “Stand” in verses 11 and 14 has “the sense of drawing up a military formation for combat” (Wink 1984, 87).  The words call to mind the Roman army, one of the most vicious killing machines in the history of the world.  The equipment described was not merely for standing defensively in one place but for advancing against the enemy.  Paul was most likely referring to the Roman wedge, “an effective V-shaped formation that made full use of a specially designed, elongated shield with which a soldier covered two-thirds of his own body and one-third of his comrade to the left.  This ingenious arrangement forced soldiers to work together for mutual protection and attack” (Foster 1985, 192-193).  It was “the most efficient and terrifying military formation known up to that time and for some thousand years after” (Wink 1984, 5).

In this offensive battle against the principalities and powers Christians are advised to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with “shields overlapping.”   The plural is used throughout the paragraph because the whole church is called to take up arms and join the battle against spiritual powers aligned with Satan.

Using phrases from this passage, we can define spiritual warfare as “standing with God in prayer against the principalities and power to defeat Satan through truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God.”

The military metaphor of this passage helps us to picture the reality that Satan and his forces are at war with the church.  The church, therefore, is instructed to “put on the full armor of God” to resist the principalities and powers.  The church, who dwells in “the heavenly realms,” has allowed Satan to invade its realm because of sin and reversion.  The church is now called to displace the principalities and powers.  Christ must be declared sovereign because he is “head over all things to the church, . . . the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23).  Christians, then, are called to come under the sovereignty of God and to give homage to him.  Because they sit with Christ “in the heavenly realms”, they no longer use magic and ritual to manipulate spirits and gods.

A Theology of Power

The book of Ephesians also helps us define how we should view power.  Because God is the creator of the world, he is all-powerful.  The world is his, and we are merely sheep of his pasture (Ps. 100:3).  He also listens to our prayers and is concerned about us.  Thus God heard when the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out to him.  God then “looked upon the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Ex. 2:23-25).  Moses praised God by saying, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?  Who is like you–majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).  God’s ultimate power in his world cannot be denied.

Paradoxically, God’s power is frequently manifest in weakness.  For example, God was with Joseph despite the fact that he was sold into Egyptian captivity, was imprisoned unjustly, and was forgotten by those who promised help.  Only in retrospect were God’s purposes and power evident.  Joseph thus testified to his brothers that they “intended to harm” him, but “God intended it for good” (Gen. 45:6-7; 50:20).  Likewise, Paul suffered a “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment [him]” (2 Cor. 12:7).  God allowed this so that Paul would not become overly conceited because of his many revelations (2 Cor. 12:1-7).  Paul prayed that the thorn be removed.  The answer, however, was not healing but the understanding that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).  The ultimate example of strength in weakness is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, his response to Satan’s temptations for earthly power, and his sacrificial death for our sins.

God’s power is not always apparent in a world largely controlled by Satan (1 John 5:19).  Followers of God ask, “Why do you hide your face?” (Ps. 44) or “God, my Rock, why have you forgotten me?” (Ps. 42).  Christians participating in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter. 4:13) cry out in anguish, pleading for God in intervene (Re. 6:9-11).  During these times of suffering, however, Christians must stand in faith, acknowledging God’s ultimate sovereignty.

God’s power is greater than Satan’s in both quantity and quality.  Satan’s power is debasing—contorting the disobedient who follow the cravings of their own sinful nature (Eph. 2:3).  God’s power, based on his great love, raises believers above these earthly cravings into heavenly realms (Eph. 2:4-6).  Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 interweaves God’s power with his great love.  Arnold writes, “Christ… roots and establishes the believer in his own love and strengthens the believer to follow the pattern of that love (3:16-17).”  He succinctly contrasts Christian perspectives of power and love with pagan Ephesian perspectives:  “In magic, many of the recipes and spells were used for the purpose of gaining advantage over people—winning a chariot race, attracting a lover, winning at dice, etc.  God’s power enables the believer to love after the pattern of Christ.  The seemingly impossible demands of this kind of love require divine enablement in order for them to be fulfilled” (1989, 100).

Humans frequently misuse the power of God and contort it for their own selfish, egocentric purposes.  The Willowbank Report says, “Power in human hands is always dangerous.  We have to mind the recurring theme of Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians—that God’s power, seen in the cross of Christ, operates through human weakness (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5; 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9, 10).  Worldly people worship power; Christians who have it know its perils” (Stott and Coote, 1980, 327).  The power of God must never be used to give glory to human personalities or human institutions.  Ultimate power is of God, and its use in defeating Satan must give glory only to God.

Reducing Christianity to power significantly distorts the Christian message.  God’s power must always be seen in a broad eschatological framework:  God, who has already defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of Christ, will consummate his work at the end of time.  Currently believers stand between the times: Christ has come and will return at the end of time.

These theological perspectives on power should guide the Christian’s understanding of both prayer and spiritual warfare.  Prayer should not be viewed as a power tool but as relating to God, the source of all power.  The difference between the two is significant.  If prayer is understood as power, Christians will diligently seek power words or rituals rather than personally relating to a sovereign God and waiting for him to act in his own time.  These understandings also help us comprehend the nature of spiritual warfare.  Spiritual warfare is not about fighting Satan; he has been defeated by the sacrificial death and triumphal resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Spiritual warfare is standing firm in Christ’s mighty power.  It is accepting God’s victory through Christ by faith and allowing God’s redemptive power to work through Christ.

Conclusion

In this presentation I have affirmed the reality of spiritual power.  Cosmic powers have rebelled against God and set up a dominion in opposition to him.  Their spiritual power, although originally personal in nature, has developed systemic roots within the laws, customs, and institutions of our nations.  Thus we continually pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

God’s power is guided by love.  Paul wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19).

Works Cited

Allen, Thomas G. 1986. Exaltation and solidarity with Christ: Ephesians 1:20 and 2:6. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 28 (October): 103-120.

Arnold, Clinton E. 1989. Ephesians: Power and Magic. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Barth, Markus. 1974.  Ephesians – Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 1-3. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., Inc.

Berkhof, Hendrik. 1977. Christ and the Powers. Translated by John H. Yoder. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald
Press.

Bosch, David J.  1991.  Transforming Mission:  Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.  Maryknoll, N.Y.:   Orbis Books.

Caird, G. B. 1967.  Principalities and Powers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ferguson, Everett.  1984.  Demonology of the early Christian world. Symposium Series. Lewiston, N.Y.:   Edwin Mellen Press.

Foster, Richard J.  1985.  The Challenge of the Disciplined Life.  San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco.

Green, Michael.  1981.  I Believe in Satan’s Downfall. Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans.

Hiebert, Paul G.   1987.  Critical contextualization.  International Bulletin of Missionary Research 14 (July): 104-12.

Kahler, Martin. 1971.  Schriften zur Christologie und Mission. Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag.

Lincoln, A. T.  1973.  A re-examination of `the heavenlies’ in Ephesians. New Testament Studies 19: 468-483.

MacGregor, G. H. C.  1954.  Principalities and powers: The cosmic background of Paul’s thought. New Testament Studies 1 (January): 17-28.

O’Brien, P. T.  1984.  Principalities and powers: opponents of the church. In Biblical Interpretation and the Church, ed. D. A. Carson, 110-150. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Origen. Against Celsus VII.

Penner, Erwin. 1983. The enthronement of Christ in Ephesians. Direction 12 (July): 12-19.

Powell, Cyril H.  1963. The Biblical Concept of Power. London: The Epworth Press.

Schlier, Heinrich.  1964.  Principalities and Powers in the New Testament.  New York:  Herder and Herder.

Stott, J.R.W. and R. Coote (eds.).  1980.  Down to Earth:  Studies in Christianity and Culture. Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans.

Wink, Walter.  1984.  Naming the Powers.  Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

________.  1986.  Unmasking the Powers. Philadelphia:  Fortress Press.

By Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen

I begin this description of animistic worldviews with some trepidation.  I acknowledge that views about animism (and the Christian approach to animism) vary greatly.  Some have not been trained to see animistic realities.  They merely conclude it is something that old people do.  Others see animism from a secular perspective and discount it as superstition.  The encounter between Christianity and animism, therefore, takes the form of ridicule.  A few Christian leaders emphasize power so much that they implicitly incorporate animistic elements into Christian thinking and practice.  Their encounter with animism is paradoxically more animistic than Christian.

Many (especially Western missionaries and Westernized Christian leaders) know little of animism and disregard it in the discussion of Christian ministry.  They are oblivious to the dilemmas of animists who are on a journey to come to Christ.  Many others understand the issues to some degree, desire to learn more, but have never had the opportunity.  This presentation will be especially meaningful to them.

The purpose of this lecture is to describe five presuppositions of an animistic worldview, and based upon understanding these presuppositions, define animism.  Understanding animism will then enable us to more effectively minister in animistic contexts.

Presuppositions of an Animistic Worldview

The Seen is Related to the Unseen

First, animists assume that the seen world is related to the unseen world.  An interaction exists between the divine and the human, the sacred and the profane, the holy and the secular.  The influences of God, gods, spirits, and ancestors affect the living.  Humans are thought to be controlled by spiritual forces, whether they are ancestors or ghosts, gods or spirits, witchcraft or sorcery, and curses or the evil eye.  They in turn seek to appease the powers through sacrifices and libations, to access power to cope with evil through ritual, and to protect themselves through charms and amulets.

Christians, shaped by Western education and philosophy, are usually unable to perceive the spiritual world.  They divide reality into two big slices: the natural and the supernatural–the secular and spiritual.  This division can be traced all the back to Thomas Aquinas (1215-1274).  Based upon Aristotelian thought, Aquinas differentiated nature and grace. “Grace” was the higher realm of God, heaven, and the unseen.  “Nature” was the lower realm of the created, the earthly, and the visible.

REALM                                               God
OF GRACE                                         Heaven
The unseen
_____________________________________________________

REALM                                               The created
OF NATURE                                       The earthly
The visible

Figure 1:  Aquinas’ Model of Grace and Nature

Over a period of time the realm of nature became autonomous from the higher realm and began to consume it.  “Enlightenment” thinking amplified this process by emphasizing the superiority of human reason and negating (or in some cases limiting) the influence of the spiritual realm upon life.  Francis Schaeffer writes, “It is destructive when nature is made autonomous.  As soon as one accepts the concept of an autonomous realm, one finds that the lower element begins to eat up the higher” (Schaeffer 1968, 209-214).

Contemporary Western cultures still reflects the two-tiered view of reality that segments the natural and supernatural.  Spiritual beings are relegated to the realm of the supernatural where they can only be perceived by miracles and visions.  Humans are thought to dwell in the natural realm where they have little contact with spiritual beings or forces.  Few, if any, spiritual beings and impersonal forces are thought to exist in the world. This compartmentalization of the natural and the supernatural is diagramed as follows:

SUPERNATURAL                  Angels                          Perceived by miracles
REALM                                   Demons                                    and visions
God                              People act by faith.
____________________________________________________________

NATURAL                              Man                             Perceived by sight and
REALM                                   The Church                              experience
Science                         People act by knowledge.
The World

Figure 2: The Western Compartmentalization of the Natural and Supernatural
(Adapted from Hiebert 1983)

Hiebert, in an insightful article entitled “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle” (1982, 35-47), suggests that Western culture has neglected the realm of this-worldly spiritual beings and forces which exists between the natural and the supernatural.  Belief in this middle realm began to wane during the Age of Enlightenment due to “the secularization of science and the mystification of religion” (Hiebert 1982, 43).  Reflecting their Western heritage, many missionaries have traditionally excluded this middle realm.  They,  consequently, are ill-prepared to communicate the gospel in animistic contexts where this realm is emphasized.  Hiebert testifies, “As a scientist I had been trained to deal with the empirical world in naturalistic terms.  As a theologian, I was taught to answer ultimate questions in theistic terms.  For me the middle zone did not really exist” (1982, 43). When Hiebert entered an Indian context where rakasas(“evil spirits”) and ancestors were known to impact life and had to be manipulated and controlled, he had no answers to questions of the middle realm (1982, 43).  Peter O’Brien recounts a similar experience.  His rethinking of the nature of principalities and powers began as he taught at a theological seminary in Asia.  He found that his students considered Paul’s perception of the powers “perfectly intelligible in their own cultural contexts,” but they critically objected to the Western commentaries which failed “to take seriously the accounts about demons, exorcism, and Christ’s defeat of them” (O’Brien 1984, 130).  Thus while those of an animistic heritage emphasize the excluded middle, missionaries sent to teach them have little conception of this realm.

Animists do not make the typical Western dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural.  This is true even in North American animistic contexts.  For example, a foundational concept of the New Age movement is that the physical world and the spiritual world are “interrelated, interdependent, and interpenetrating” (Groothuis 1986, 18-20).   Tina Lucia, a New Age therapist living in Stone Mountain, Georgia, uses crystals for healing purposes because “physical problems are manifestations of spiritual problems” (Friedrich 1987, 64).  John Taylor, writing about an African context, says, “No distinction can be made between sacred and secular, between natural and supernatural, for Nature, Man and the Unseen are inseparably involved in one another in a total community” (1963, 64).  In animistic contexts no distinction can be made between the natural and the supernatural. “Whatever happens in the physical world has its spiritual coordinates . . . . Everything man is, does, handles, projects, and interacts with is interpenetrated with the spiritual” (Steyne 1989, 39).

Life is Interconnected

Second, animists believe that all of life is interconnected.  People are intimately linked to their families, some of whom are living and some who have already passed into the spiritual realm.  They are also connected to the spiritual world: The ambivalent yearnings of gods and spirits impact the living.  Animists feel a connectedness with nature:  The stars, planets, and moon are thought to affect earthly events.  The natural realm is so related to the human realm that practitioners divine current and future events by analyzing what animals are doing or by sacrificing animals and analyzing their livers, entrails, or stomachs.  Many animists also believe that they are connected with other human beings.  They are able to access the thoughts of other human beings through Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) or some other types of thought transfers.

These interconnections of life appear more overtly during cultural rituals (birth rites, coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, and funerals) than at any other times.  For example, traditional Kipsigis living in Kenya believe that the spirits of the dead will eventually be called back to live in the bodies of another generation. This is not obvious unless the missionary sees and hears what occurs at traditional burial ceremonies.  When a father dies, his eldest son throws crabgrass into the grave as a parting blessing and verbally bids his father farewell. “Go safely,” he says. “We will soon call you to come back to us.”   This calling back of the dead into life is done when a new child is born. Such an explicit statement of a cyclical worldview is seldom heard except at times of death and birth.  The traditional Kipsigis hope is this-worldly–to be reborn into the present world.  These animistic perspectives of life become apparent to the identificational missionary during death and funeral rites.  Without understanding these motifs, the missionary lives in a cultural void.

Power is Sought to Control Life

Third, animists seek power to control the affairs of everyday life. The essence of Animism is power–power of the ancestor to control those of his lineage, power of an evil eye to kill a newborn or ruin a harvest, power of planets to affect earthly destiny, power of the demonic to possess a spiritist, power of magic to control human events, power of impersonal forces to heal a child or make a person wealthy.  Animism’s “foundation is based in power and in power personalities” (Kamps 1986, 5).

This power can be used malevolently to harm one’s enemy or benevolently to enable a barren wife to give birth to a child.  When an individual secretly uses spiritual power, the intent is almost always malevolent–meant to cause suffering.  The public use of spiritual power by recognized leaders of a society is usually benevolent, discovering who has brought evil upon the society.  Power might also be classified as ambivalent–used to either help or hinder depending on the disposition of the possessor.  Whether spiritual power is used negatively, positively, or ambivalently, its existence is never questioned by the animist.

Animists’ relationships with spiritual beings is viewed in terms of power.  Spiritual beings are propitiated, coerced, and placated because they have power.  Magic ritual is employed because of its power to influence impersonal spiritual forces and personal spiritual beings.  Shamans reveal to the living the source of powers which impact their lives. Various methodologies of divination are employed to determine what power is causing misfortune or illness and what other power(s) must be employed to counter such negative power.  Animism is a power religion based upon manipulation and coercion of spiritual powers.

Christians of an animistic heritage must not view God’s power as something to be manipulated and coerced.  They have been called into a loving, covenant relationship with creator God.  Within this covenant relationship Christians perceive that not only is God’s power quantitatively greater than Satan’s, but its quality also has a different nature.   Satan’s power is debasing–contorting the disobedient who follow the cravings of their own sinful nature (Eph. 2:3).  God’s power, rooted in his great love, raises believers above these earthly cravings into heavenly realms (Eph. 2:4-6).  Not only is God’s power quantitatively greater than Satan’s, the quality is also different.

Controlling Powers are Determined by Divination

Four, animists seek to determine by divination what powers and forces are influencing their lives.   Marta, a Bolivian Christian living in La Paz, was frightened.  She was feeling sick and steadily losing weight. Soon after doctors indicated that nothing was wrong, a friend half-jokingly commented, “Somebody must have put a spell on you.”  Marta casually mentioned this to her mother, a Sunday school superintendent and faithful church member, never imagining that her mother would take the comment seriously.  Her mother approached a curandero, a shaman who divines the source of problems, prescribes solutions, and sometimes casts spells.  The curandero divined Marta’s problem by casting coca leaves and analyzing their pattern.  Her illness, the curandero said, was caused by the jealously of her husband’s former girlfriend, who had cast a spell on her.  The curandero prescribed that a live guinea pig be rubbed over Marta’s body to absorb the spell. This pig would then be taken to the girlfriend’s town and burned. This rite would both free Marta from the spell and kill the other woman (Koop 1987, 6).  Even faithful Christians in animistic contexts are tempted to turn to divination during times of crises.

Divination, as illustrated in the story of Marta, is the decision-making process by which animists determine the impact of personal and impersonal powers upon themselves. Divination is a method for “bringing into the open what is hidden or unknown” to make everyday decisions of life (Turner 1981, 29).  This discovery of the unknown is a twofold process.  First, animists seek to discover the source of an immediate, everyday problem. In the case of Marta the casting and reading of coca leaves was the methodology for discovering the cause of her illness.  Second, animists seek to determine an appropriate human response based on the knowledge gained in the initial stage of divination.  In the case of Marta the rubbing of a live guinea pig over her body and burning it in the place where the enemy lived inverted the power, turning it around to kill the one who initiated it.

Diviners use innumerable and varied types of methods to determine the will of spiritual powers. They check omens, use astrology, divine by technique, employ ordeals, rely on guidance from the dead, interpret dreams and visions, and divine while possessed.  These types of divination are based on the conception that the universe functions harmoniously as an organism.  The stars of the heavens, the signs of nature, the dreams of the night, and the wishes of spiritual beings are all interrelated and connected to events which occur in the world. What happens to one part of the organism is reflected in its other parts.  The astrologist reads signs of the heavens to determine the workings of the world.  He believes that these elements work together harmoniously in an interconnected world.

The motivation that leads animists to perform divination is opposed to the very nature of God.  God is love, and this love leads him to personally relate to humanity.  While prayerful supplication affects his working, divination implies a desire to force deity, an impatience to look behind the curtain of time, a disbelief in God’s sovereignty.  It is an attempt to manipulate the spiritual forces of God’s world to learn its secrets and manipulate them for personal benefit.  These motivations, based on greedy self-benefit, are alien to the mind of God. While the Christian way is relational, the animistic way is manipulative.

Sources of Evil are Anxiously Sought

Five, animists are concerned about what powers have or will in the future cause evil in their lives. They consequently live in fear.  They believe that only by use of the powers can they be successful. They desperately search for information to ward off evil and manipulate the powers to do their bidding.  They may appease the spirits before and after harvest, seek the spirit world to insure success before the marriage of their daughter, determine how the planets and stars will be arranged on the day of an important election, or dress their male child like a girl so that he might not be injured by the evil eye of a jealous neighbor.

Animists are never completely confident that all powers are lined up on their side. When confronted with unexpected evil, they typically ask questions like “Who has caused this affliction to come upon us?  Why has it happened to our family at this particular time? What power is troubling us?  Has this been caused by an ancestor?  By some spirit?  By witchcraft?  By the evil eye?  By the stars?  Who can help us discover the cause and source of this evil?”

Benevolent animistic specialists are consulted to determine the cause of the affliction and prescribe remedies.  It might be determined that malevolent practitioners have brought the evil upon those afflicted.  Sometimes malevolent practitioners, despised and feared in every animistic society, are consulted to defeat enemies.

These characteristics will all appear in some form in our definition of animism.

Defining Animism

The term animism originally meant “belief in spiritual beings.”  Edward Tylor, considered the father of the discipline Anthropology, wrote, “Animism, in its full development, includes the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities and subordinate spirits, . . . resulting in some kind of active worship” (1970b, 11).  These spirits include both those of living ancestors who are “capable of continued existence” after death and “other spirits, upward to the rank of powerful deities” (Tylor 1970b, 10). Through his cultural studies in Melanesia R.H. Codrington discovered beliefs in impersonal spiritual forces (1891).  It soon became clear in both anthropological study and missionary ministry that no clear differentiation can be made between personal spiritual beings and impersonal forces.  These powers are thought to exist side by side and interact with each other. For example, in Folk Islam[1] it is often impossible to distinguish between misfortunes attributed to jinn (personal spiritual beings) and to those attributed to the evil eye (an impersonal spiritual force). The jinn are frequently thought to make use of the evil eye for their own purposes (Westermarck 1933, 19).  In many cultures magic, an impersonal spiritual power is used to force spirits to act.  Frequently practitioners of animistic beliefs are possessed by spirits or receive information from spirits to determine what personal or impersonal spiritual powers are causing sickness or catastrophe.

In most world cultures personal spiritual beings exist side by side with impersonal spiritual forces and even interact with each other.  Therefore, a broader definition of Animism is needed—one that acknowledges that impersonal and personal spiritual powers cannot be easily segmented.

Animism then can be defined as “the belief that personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces have power over human affairs and that humans, consequently, must discover what beings and forces are impacting them in order to determine future action and, frequently, to manipulate their power.” We will now discuss the various components of this definition.

Animism is a belief system through which reality is perceived. The seen world is related to the unseen.  Personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces are everywhere thought to be shaping what happens in the animists’ world.  Animists live in continual fear of these powers.

Beings and forces are thought to exist side-by-side in animistic contexts.  Beings are personal spirits that include God, gods, ancestors, ghosts, totemic spirits, nature spirits, angels, demons, and Satan.  Forcesare impersonal powers.  They include the power behind the use of magic, astrology, witchcraft, evil eye, and other related phenomena. Some cultures have broad, descriptive terms for this power, like mana in Melanesia, toh in parts of Indonesia, and baraka in the Muslim world.  Since personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces interact in animistic cultures, they must be studied in relation to one another

Because the essence of animism is power, this word is central to the definition.  Animists believe in the power of the ancestor to control those of his lineage, the power of an evil eye to kill a newborn or ruin a harvest, the power of planets to affect earthly destiny, the power of the demonic to possess a spiritist, the power of magic to control human events, and the power of impersonal forces to heal a child or make a person wealthy.

The phrase “discovering what beings and forces are impacting life“ defines the role of divination in the life of the animist.  The animist lives in fearful of the spiritual powers that might bring evil upon his life. He believes that only by use of the powers can he be successful.  He desperately searches for information to ward off evil and manipulate the powers to do his bidding.

The phrases “to determine future action” and “to manipulate their power” designate the two primary functions of animism.  Animists first determine what spiritual beings and forces are impacting them through some sort of divination and then seek to manipulate these powers by appeasement or ritual to do their will.

Understanding Spiritism in Brazil will help us see these concepts within a specific cultural context.

An Illustration:  Gods and Spirits in Brazil

Although Brazil is officially a Catholic nation, it has been called “the land where spirits thrive” (Maust 1985, 48).  In fact, more Brazilians participate in spiritistic rituals than go to mass (Nielson 1988, 94).  Spiritism is a new religion derived both consciously and unconsciously from the blending of many different heritages of Brazilian thought and culture.  Early Portugese settlers, although nominally Catholic, were animistic. Their worship “centered on a cult of the saints, promises, communications with the dead . . . largely to the exclusion of doctrinal matters and the sacraments” (Bruneau 1982, 24). Religious reforms which touched other parts of the European continent had little influence upon the Christo-pagan Catholicism of Portugal. African slaves added another element to Brazilian spiritism.  These slaves were forced to outwardly embrace Catholicism, but the gods that they from Africa became intertwined with this new religion.  They thought that if their African gods could not help in a certain situation, maybe the other deities could be induced to act.  In time the West African gods became interchangeable with Catholic deities (St. Clair 1971, 62).[2] Brazilian Spiritism was also influenced by the writings of Denizard Rivail, a French doctor who claimed to be the reincarnation of the Druid Allan Kardec. A high class Spiritism, called Kardecism and characterized by “reincarnation, seances, healings, and enough Christian terminology to confuse people” (Maust 1985, 49), developed from this French influence upon Brazil. Finally, Brazilian Spiritism was also influenced by the animistic beliefs of indigenous Indians.

This merging of Catholic, African, French, and Indian heritages of animism has led to new forms of Spiritism in Brazil.  For example, Umbanda, the largest of the Spiritist groups, has effectively syncretized animistic belief in spiritual beings to fit the Brazilian context.  Zelio de Moraes, Umbanda’s founder, divined solutions to people’s problems while possessed by the spirit of a Brazilian half-breed named Caboclo of the Seven Crossroads.  Caboclo was half-Indian and half-African. Because of his mixed breeding, he communicated directly with the local Indian spirits who once inhabited the land and the African spirits of Condomble.  Brazilians understood this mixing of blood.  Caboclo was one of them.  As a half-breed, he could understand their nation and their problems. Caboclo told Zelio that neither Kardecism nor Condomble was right.  He began to dictate a new set of rules incorporating parts of Kardecism, Condomble, and Catholicism with other distinctive elements into a new whole (St. Clair 1971, 136-137).  Like Caboclo and the nation of Brazil, Umbanda seeks to unify a people of many different heritages by integrating animistic beliefs from each tradition.

Spiritism, whatever its distinctive form, is based on the belief that humans can contact spirits and influence them to act on their behalf.  Hundreds of believers come to spiritist centers to seek guidance from spirit-gods. During an orunko ceremony, the spirit-gods come down and “ride” the mediums, who are considered the cavalos (“horses”) of the spirit-gods.  Through the mediums these gods divine solutions to all types of human problems:  A woman estranged from her lover seeks the cause of the disrupted relationship and the course of action to bring reconciliation; the sick yearn to know what has caused the illness and how health can be restored; and the businessman seeks the reason his business has fallen apart and how it might be rejuvenated.

Condomble, Kardecism, and Umbanda are distinct contextualizations of animistic beliefs drawn from various cultural streams.  Christians generally classify these pagan gods as demonic forces dressed up in contemporary garments.

Conclusion

These basic understandings of animism can only help us to more effectively minister in animistic contexts.  The following lectures will continue this discussion:  How should the Gospel be distinctively communicated in animistic contexts? How should Christians define power?  Why are they receptive when the Gospel is distinctively presented?   To what degree has Western cultural baggage hindered us from effectively communicating a distinctive Christian message in animistic contexts?

Works Cited

Bruneau, Thomas C. 1982.  The Church in Brazil –The Politics of Religion.  Austin:
University of Texas Press.

Friedrich, Otto. 1987.  New Age harmonies.  Time, 7 December, 62-72.

Groothuis, Douglas R. 1986.  Unmasking the New Age.  Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity.

Hiebert, Paul.  1982.  The flaw of the excluded middle.  Missiology 10 (January):35-47.

Kamps, Timothy James. 1986.  The biblical forms and elements of power encounter.  Master’s thesis,
Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions, Columbia, S.C.

Maust, John. 1985.  The land where spirits thrive.  Christianity Today (13 December): 48-50.

Nielson, Niels C. 1988.  Umbanda in Brazil.  In Religions of the World, 94-99.  New York:  St. Martin’s.

O’Brien, P.T. 1984.  Principalities and powers:  Opponents of the church.  In Biblical Interpretation and
the Church, ed. D.A. Carson, 110-50.  Nashville:   Thomas Nelson.

St. Clair, David.  1971.  Drum and Candle.  New York:  Bell.

Steyne, Philip M. 1989.  Gods of Power.  Houston:  Touch Publications.

Taylor, John V. 1963.  The Primal Vision.  London:  SCM.

Turner, Victor W.  1981.  The Drums of Affliction.  London:  Hutchinson.

Tylor, Edward.  1970.  Religion in Primitive Culture (Primitive Culture, Part 2).  London:  John Murray,
1958.  Reprint, Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith.

Westermarck, Edward.  1933.  Pagan Survivals in Mahammedan Civilization.  London:  Macmillan.

[2] Olodumare, the supreme Yoruban god, was transformed into Jehovah.  The name of Obatala, Olodumare’s chief subordinate also known as Orixala among the Yorubas, was shortened in Brazil to Oxala and became Jesus Christ. Shango, the Yoruban god of thunder, had the spelling of his name changed to Xango and became the personification of John the Baptist and St. Jerome. Other West African gods also experienced a name change and were merged into the same categories as Catholic deities (St. Clair 1971, 62). This African heritage is reflected in Condomble, the form of Spiritism most prevalent in the Brazilian state of Bahia.  Some animistic practices, which are disappearing on the African continent as people accept Islam and Christianity, have become institutionalized in Condomble. Condomble spiritism has become more African than Africa.

By Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen

I have been honored by the invitation from the coordinating committee to make these presentations on the essence of Christianity and the nature of syncretism.  I wish to thank the organizing committee, the translators of the manuscripts, and each of you as participants.  I appreciate your wonderful hospitality.

I come to you with humility acknowledging that I know little about the ministry context of Mongolia.  My goal is to provide understandings from the Scripture and from worldview analysis, which will enable you to make focused ministry decisions.

My goal in these presentations is to glorify God, to enthrone him as Lord of Lords, and to provide guidance concerning the transformations of people as they turn their lives to follow God.

“Waiting on the Lord”

I would like to begin these lectures with some reflection upon the biblical phrase “wait upon the Lord” in passages such as Isaiah 8:17-20.  This phrase signifies that we must trust in the Lord.  It illustrates that humans have a tendency to become impatient and to look for immediate answers from “mediums and spiritists” rather than “wait upon the Lord.”

In Isaiah 8 the prophet is predicting the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and their deportation into Assyrian captivity.  This captivity was a result of their continual disobedience to God pursuing pagan gods and making sacrifices to them (2 Kings 17:14-18).  Within this context Isaiah testified that he would “wait for the Lord” even though it appeared that God was hiding his face.  Isaiah would “put his trust” in the Lord (vs. 17.  Because of their deep distress, however, the Israelites consulted the traditional practitioners of the pagan religions, “the mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter” (vs. 19).  In response Isaiah emotionally asked, “Should not a people inquire of their God?  Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”  They were to rely on the “law and the testimony,” the Old Testament writings from God, rather than the mediums and spiritists.  Then Isaiah comments that only through this word of God would they have the “light of dawn.”  God’s light can only shine if we rely on the word of God rather than the divinations of traditional practitioners.

The emotion of the passage is indicated by the discontinuity of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 8:19.  He begins by saying “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter . . . .” but does not complete his thought.  He is so emotionally consumed that he is unable to finish his sentence.  Rather he asks, “Should not a people inquire of their God?”

This passage explains the distinctive nature of Christianity.  Christians are called upon to walk personally with God and submit to his will, i.e., to “wait upon the Lord.” Christianity is, therefore, based on a relationship with God, and the Bible is largely a narrative describing how God has worked through history to bring people into relationship with him.

Defining Worldview

As illustrated in Isaiah 8:17-20, the way of the Lord provides a distinctive way of looking at the world.  Throughout the world people who grow up in Christian families accept certain perceptions of reality that are different from non-Christian people.  When Jesus called Paul to be a minister to the Gentiles, he described the transformation that would take place.  Jesus said, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith” (Acts 26:17-18).  These words infer that there is a distinctive worldview change that occurs when one turns to God and follows the way of Jesus Christ.

Worldviews are learned as people grow up and absorb the culture around them.  We call this processenculturation, or “the process by which children become functioning members of their own society.”  Each person is born into a culture and molded and shaped by it.

Over a period of time a worldview is formed in the mind of the child.  This worldview is a distinctive way in which a people define reality which shapes their cultural allegiances and provides interpretations of the world.  This worldview forms basic assumptions about reality which form cultural beliefs and behavior. Michael Kearney says, “The worldview of a people is their way of looking at reality.  It consists of basic assumptions and images which provide a more or less coherent, though not necessarily accurate, way of thinking about the world” (Kearney 1982, 51).  It is their “set of images and assumptions about the world” (Kearney, 1984, 10).

Worldview Types

At least four different worldview types are present in world cultures.  Stated succinctly, a secularworldview divides the world into natural and supernatural realms and focuses almost exclusively on the natural realm.  God is considered to be either non-existent or irrelevant to human affairs.  Secularists tend to be resistant until they realize, usually during times of trauma, that humans are unable to “direct their own steps” (Jere. 10:23), that the divine and the human are interrelated.  An animistic perspective of reality believes that personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces have power over human affairs.  During times of disease, death, and drought, they use divination to discover which beings and forces are impacting them in order to ward them off or to employ their power.  Animists must learn that creator God is approachable and concerned about human life, and unlike the gods, “majestic in holiness” (Ex. 15:11).  Through the death and resurrection of his son God has defeated all the principalities and powers (Col. 2:15).  A pantheistic worldview perceives that an impersonal, all-pervading essence, sometimes defined as “god,” fills the universe.  As droplets of water merge to become a stream, then a river, and finally an ocean, so individuals can become one with the essence of the world through meditation, thus achieving a change of consciousness called enlightenment.  The pantheist, through living illustrations of Christian meditation, must experience God to be living and personal, full of compassion and having a distinctive holiness.  A theistic plausibility system presupposes that God created the heavens and the earth and continues to care for that universe.  Some theists follow God’s distinctive way of salvation through Jesus Christ while others focus on submission to and honoring of Allah.

Based on these typologies, missionaries and ministers can diagram the intertwining influences of secularism, animism, pantheism, and theism within their host culture.  While most cultures emphasize one or two of these types, influences from all four types may be syncretized in various configurations.  Understanding the various influences in the culture enables missionaries and ministers to encode the gospel in theological metaphors appropriate to the culture.

To concretely illustrate these worldview types, let us suppose that a man was recently struck by lightning not once but twice in the same day, yet he lives.  People holding to various worldview will all ask the causal question: “Why?” or “How come he still lives?”   People will interpret this event differently depending on their worldview.   Each interpretation makes sense only when viewed from their particular worldview.   For example, a theist might say, “God spared him for some purpose.”  A secularist would say, “He was always lucky.  The probabilities of being struck by lightning twice are fantastic, and to live through both‑‑well, this is one for the record books!” or “A careful examination of all conditions (weather, location, his clothing, etc.) will probably explain both why he was struck twice and at the same time explain why he was not killed.”  The animist could conclude, “The gods or spirits have empowered him.  He must now be a man of immeasurable spiritual powers.”   Others (animists, theists, even pantheists holding to karma) might conclude, “The man was punished for his sins.”   In other words, our worldview has a great bearing on how we perceive reality.

Defining Syncretism

As we have noted in this presentation, Christians can readily accommodate to the worldviews of its age.  Such accommodation is called syncretism.  What is meant by this word?  What happens within a Christian community which allows syncretism to develop and continue?  What are some scriptural examples of it?

Syncretism is the reshaping of Christian beliefs and practices through cultural accommodation so that they consciously or unconsciously blend with those of the dominant culture.  It is the blending of Christian beliefs and practices with those of the dominant culture so that Christianity looses it distinctive nature and speaks with a voice reflective of its culture.

Syncretism develops because the Christian community attempts to make its message and life attractive, alluring, and appealing to those outside the fellowship.  Over a period of years the accommodations become routinized, integrated into the narrative story of the Christian community and inseparable from its life.  When major worldview changes occur within the dominant culture, the church has difficulty separating the eternals from the temporals.  The church tends to loose her moorings because she has for too long been swept along with the ebb and flow of cultural currents.  Syncretism thus occurs when Christianity opts into the major cultural assumptions of its society (Van Rheenen 1997).

For example, in my home country there have been two vastly different worldview types, theism and secularism, intertwined in the souls of the average Christians and competing for their allegiance.   North American Christians acknowledge God and desire to be faithful to him.  They believe that God sent Jesus to die for them and live with hope that they will ultimately live with God in heaven.  At the same time they have a great belief in human abilities through science to solve all human problems.  They tend to divide the world into two large slices, the natural and the supernatural. Only natural powers, which can be empirically analyzed, are thought to operate in the natural world.  Thus Christians often seek medicine and therapy for illness without relying on the Great Physician.  In other words, prayer and healing are divorced as if God has little to do with life.  Many study the sciences without reflecting on the Creator who sustains the universe. Science and religion are thus disconnected.  This can lead to the belief that humanity, with its scientific understanding, is self-sufficient, able to handle all ob­stacles in life, and does not need God.

I have lived for many years in Africa and have empathized with Christians who also struggled with completing worldviews.  Like their North American brothers and sisters in Christ, they believe that this is God’s world because He is its creator, that by the blood of Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God, and that the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome the sins of the body so that we might live.  However, when a child becomes sick, a family member dies unexpectedly, or there is drought in the land, they tend to seek immediate answers in the spirit realm rather than to wait on the Lord.

While North American Christians tend to merge theism and secularism, African Christians syncretize theism and animism.

Biblical Illustrations of Syncretism

The theme of syncretism occurs so frequently in Scripture that it is like a threat interwoven through the fabric of Scripture’s kingdom narrative.  In a very real sense, the Ten Commandments are injunctions against syncretism.  The first three commandments charge the Israelites to follow Yahweh exclusively–to distinctively stand before God without reliance on any other gods (Read Exod. 20:1-7).  The oft-quoted and memorized Shema likewise exhorts Israel to hear that Yahweh is one and to love Him with all her heart, soul, and strength (Read Deut. 6:4-5).  Moses exhorted the Israelites not to listen to the animistic practitioners prevalent in the land of Canaan but to listen to the prophet like Moses, whom God would raise up (Read Deut. 18:9-15).  In other words, Israel was to live distinctively, not fusing the way of God with that of surrounding nations.

Israel, however, did not always listen to Yahweh.  God’s chosen people incessantly accommodated to the dominant cultures around her and blended their beliefs with hers.  For example Jereboam I, the first king of North Israel, built two golden calves because he feared that his followers might go to the Southern Kingdom and worship Yahweh in the temple.  Ahab and Jezebel introduced the Phoenician cult of Baalism into Israel.  Manasseh of Judah rebuilt the high places torn down by his father Hezekiah, erected altars of Baal, practiced astrology, and burned his son in the fire as a sacrifice to Molech.  Because of this idolatrous syncretism, North Israel was banished into Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17:16-18) and Judah was exiled for 70 years to Babylon (Jer. 11:9-13).

Certain classic statements in the Old Testament describe the nature of syncretism.  The Samaritans were a mixed-breed people who also blended their allegiance: “They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought” (2 Kings 17:33).  The pre-exilic Jews partially followed Yahweh but also created for themselves idols out of wood and stone.  God, through the prophet Jeremiah said, “They have turned their backs to me but not their faces, yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’” (Jer. 2:27).  Zephaniah spoke of the dual allegiance of the people of Judah, who “bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech” (Zeph. 1:5).

Early Christians also came to Christ from animistic heritages and were tempted to borrow from these traditional practices even after becoming Christians.  Paul in writing to the Colossians clearly describes the supremacy of Christ (Read 1:15-20).  By Christ, “all things,” both “visible and invisible” were created.   They were “created by him and for him.”  All of God’s “fullness dwell(s) in him.”  Although the Colossian Christians had received Christ, they were tempted to follow the elementary principles of the powers along with Christ (Col. 2:6-8).  Paul wrote that Christ was to have “all the fullness of the Deity” (Col. 2:9); that is, all things were to be brought under his authority (1:19-20; 2:9) because only he is “the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:10).   As with the Israelites of the Old Testament, some contemporary Christians worship God while paying homage and making sacrifices to propitiate other gods and spirits.

Factors Creating Syncretism

In this brief introduction to worldview and syncretism I think it wise to introduce some factors creating syncretism.

First, the gospel has frequently been presented in segmented, partial ways and has not actively intersected with the dominant themes of the local culture. Using the words of Christ to Paul (Acts 26:18), there has been all too frequently only a partial “opening of eyes” to perceive God’s wondrous work in Jesus Christ.  There has been an incomplete turning “from darkness to light” and “from the power of Satan to God.”   Understandings of “forgiveness” and “sanctified communities” are inadequately grasped.  The full dimensions of the Gospel have inadequately intersected culture.  Evangelists have focused on certain topics of the Christian faith and have not sufficiently taught Christians a thematically integrated narrative of God’s working in history from creation until current times.

Second, following Western modes of thought Christianity is too frequently communicated on the cosmological level without dealing with everyday issues of daily life.  Western Christianity is greatly concerned with questions concerning origins (From where have we come?  How have we become what we are?), destiny (Where are we heading?), and the ultimate meaning of life (What is the ultimate purpose of existing?).   In most of the rest of the world, however, people are more concerned with such practical, everyday issues as illness, death, drought, financial success, and romance.  According to the Seoul Declaration,  “Western theology is by and large nationalistic, molded by Western philosophies, preoccupied with intellectual concerns, especially those having to do with faith and reason. . . . We urgently need an Evangelical Theology which is faithful to Scripture and relevant to the varied situations in the Third World” (Ro and Eshenaur 1984, p. 23).

The end result is too frequently a split-level Christianity.  New Christians follow the way of Christ on the cosmological level but use traditional ways of thinking when dealing with every day problems.  For example, Dal Congdon has found that the nominally Christian Zulu of South Africa are still largely animistic at heart. Fully 69.6 percent of all professing Christians continue to believe that ancestral spirits “protect” them and “bring them good fortune.”  Congdon’s study found that “fewer professing Christians affirmed the deity of Christ than expressed dependence upon the ancestral spirits for problems connected with daily living” (Congdon 1985, 297).   This layered Christianity with a superficial cosmic theology superimposed over animistic assumptions and lifestyles is the reason that David Barrett says that the church in Africa is like a big river, one kilometer in width but only one inch in depth (In “Towards a 21^stCentury Africa,” Global Church Growth Bulletin (Jan.-Feb.-Mar. 1991, p. 2).  As I will discuss in a later lecture, the Gospel must be communicated holistically in such a way that cosmic answers influence everyday life.

Third, syncretism frequently occurs when forms of Christianity are accepted but are given traditional meanings.   People hold to the cross, not as symbolic of the sacrifice of Christ, but as a power design.  They therefore wear crosses or put crosses on their houses to protect themselves and their families from evil influences.  They believe in the Bible but consider it as a power object.

Fourth, syncretism occurs when the assumptions of traditional culture are not adequately critiqued based upon biblical theology.  Of all the missionary tasks, the most significant is that of working with developing national leaders in theological formation.  It is my experience that this theological formation does not take place primarily in the classroom but in local churches when Christians struggle cultural issues.  These deal with foundational issues:  What is Christian marriage within this culture?  What is the relationship between the living and the death?  What is the nature of the church?

Without the ability to reflect theologically the new church will almost always be a replica of the church in the sending culture, a transplanted rather than a contextualized church.  It will be like a potted plant transferred to a new culture. It is expected to grow and reproduce exactly as it did in the original culture. A contextualized church is like planting “God’s seed” in new soil and allowing the seed to grow naturally adapting to the language, thought processes, and rituals of the new culture without losing its eternal meanings. These eternal meanings include a biblical perspective of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, humanity, time and eternity, and salvation.

A transplanted church could be compared to a banana plant in Mongolia. To survive winter, it has to be taken into the house and given special care. Because it is unable to adapt to the new climate, the plant will never be able to reproduce itself.  Contextualized churches, on the other hand, are like banana plants in the Indonesia. They thrive in their environment and produce much fruit.  Many mission churches, like potted plants or banana plants in a cold climate, are unable to reproduce and need special care just to survive.

Finally, syncretism occurs when churches are not equipped to become the nurturing communities.  Nurturing is most effectively done in the context of a loving, caring community of believers.  Roberta Hesetenes writes, “The Christian life is not a solitary journey.  It is a pilgrimage made in the company of the committed” (1983, 11).  A recurrent theme of early Christian writings is that spiritual nurturing took place within the context of Christian fellowship.  It was not an individual endeavor.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . .   Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
(Acts 2:42, 46-47a)

Many tendencies toward syncretism are overcome when Christians study issues of culture with open Bibles in the context of Christian community.

A case study will enable us to understand these principles within a specific cultural context.

Case Study: Marriage Among the Kipsigis

During its initial years, the church among the Kipsigis of Kenya struggled with how Christians marry. According to African traditional religion, marriage was sealed through a ceremony called katunisietab segutiet (“the wedding of the grass band”). In this ceremony the bride and groom stood before an elder of the village dressed in traditional robes make of cow skins. They bound each others hands with a braided band made from crabgrass. The elder would invoke the blessings of the ancestors on the marriage by words of blessing and spitting of traditional beer. Would Christians follow such customs? The African Inland Church introduced katunisietab peteit (“the wedding of the ring”), a Western ceremony introduced into Kipsigis and called “Christian.” Should Kipsigis Christians borrow Western customs and make them their own? The Church of Christ at various times practiced forms of both of the above marriage ceremonies, but after extensive dialogue and reflection, has introduced an innovated form calledkatunisietab kayanet (“the wedding of faith”). This form is both Christian and Kipsigis. Marriage is not based on any physical item, like a grass band or a ring, but on faith in sovereign God. The community is called together to witness a special union of people under God. This ceremony is so powerful that frequently I meet new Christians who testify that they first heard the gospel at a Christian wedding.

The creation of katunisietab kayanet did not occur in one day but in a process of dialogue and discussion over a long period of time.  The first churches requested that missionaries performkatunisietab peteit when their young people were getting married.  We refrained and suggested, according to the missiological fad of the day, that old forms be taken and given new Christian meaning. We did not yet know the most significant strategical question, “How does God desire that we get married within this culture?”  In any case a community of Christian leaders decided, with our urging, to take the traditional segutiet (the “grass band”), subtract the cow-skin apparel and ancestral rites, and substitute prayer in their place. To my surprise no one felt that this adapted wedding functioned to glorify God.  Christians from the African Inland Church heritage considered the wedding “pagan” and the traditionalists felt that traditional items were both openly and inappropriately employed.  Members of these young churches also concluded that they had made a mistake.  They concluded that the rituals were too close to the traditional rite for their comfort and that it would be better to follow the Western tradition ofkatunisietab peteit.   For some time katunisietab petiet and katunisietab segutiet coexisted with the former practiced in more Westernized areas and the latter in more traditional areas.

I remember one particular elders’ meeting about seven years into our work in Kipsigis. After all the topics of the day were concluded, several urgently suggested that we discuss how people of God get married.  It was a joyous yet hilarious evening.  It was a joy to see how a developing community of faith used scripture to determine the will of God.  It was also a joy to see the extensive reflection that various maturing Christians had given to the topic.  The evening was hilarious when a group of men began to spontaneously role-play various ways of getting married with some of the men assuming female roles.  At the end of the meeting a new type of wedding ceremony developed that strives to be both faithful to God and communicative of God’s will within the culture.  The new ceremony was called katunisietab kayanet(“the wedding of faith”) because marriage is a spiritual bond that cannot be illustrated by physical items that wither and corrode.  It is rather a spiritual bond in which husband and wife are tied together in a loving relationship in Christ.  With this form the Christian community presents a radically different kind of marriage in sharp contrast to traditional marriage.  The essence of Christian marriage (love, holiness, relationship) defines the major difference between Christians and non-Christians.

In this situation innovated forms, developed by a community of faith through biblical and cultural reflection over an extended period of time, effectively brought meanings of Christianity into contemporary culture.

Conclusion

Missionaries should not only be master teachers of the word of God but also effective cultural listeners. Instead of making cultural decisions unilaterally because of their life experiences as Christians and training as missionaries, they should serve as partners within the body of Christ and collaboratively work with the developing Christian community to develop church patterns that are both theologically responsible and culturally impactful.

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• Open Doors With Brother Andrew, PO Box 27001, Santa Ana, CA 92799; Telephone:  (949) 752-6442; E-mail: USA@opendoors.org;  Web Site:   www.opendoorsusa.org.

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www.missionarycare.com/index.htm