WCGIP
Report & Analysis
Kiruna & Davao
by Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination Team,
October 2006
INTRODUCTION
I
urge anyone reading this chapter to also read the other articles in the WCGIP section
of the DITC web site. It will help you understand the width and breadth
of false teaching in this movement.
This
chapter contains quotes from the last two WCGIP events. What is amazing to
me is that the word “Gospel” and “evangelism” (or “evangelization” ... two
different terms) are being used freely by the leadership and participants of
this movement when it is clear they have little or no understanding of those
terms from a Biblical standpoint. You cannot claim you are reaching people
with the Gospel while, at the same time, teaching that God has been redeeming
the Gentile pagan nations (such as we all were) through the stars, their
cultures, their customs and their religions long before the Gospel ever was
preached. That is a clear denial of the Biblical statements that Gentiles
did not know God. Gentiles did not have salvation, they were not
worshipping God, nor did they have hope before they heard the message of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter what Terry LeBlanc, Richard Twiss, Daniel Kikawa
and his friends claim.
Eph. 2:11-13 Therefore, remember that formerly
you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call
themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of
men)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the
promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
There
is no way to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to know the mystery of the
reconciliation available through the cross, without it being preached.
Rom. 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on
the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom
they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And
how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are
the feet of those who bring good news!”
The
Bible states over and over that the Gentiles did not know God.
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the
world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the
foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Ga 4:8 But then, indeed, when you (speaking to the Galatian
Gentiles) did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
1Th 4:5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know
God;
1Jo 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that
we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us,
because it did not know Him.
2 Thes. 1:8-9 He will punish those who do not know God and do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of
his power.
The
very premise of the WCGIP is fatally flawed on this count alone. But
there are many other teachings that prove that those who lead this movement are
false teachers and that this movement needs to be avoided by true believers,
whether Jew or Gentile. Christian organizations that have endorsed and
cooperated with this movement need to reassess their involvement.
QUOTES
The
next two quotes are from the 2005 WCGIP in Kiruna.
Terry LeBlanc, who’s native American himself,
stressed that if we don’t create indigenous theology, indigenous
people have to make an impossible choice, they have to choose between
Christianity and their own cultural identity.1
First
of all Christians are not to create theology. We follow the teachings of
Jesus Christ, the Apostles and prophets (Tit. 1:9, 2 Pet. 3:2, Eph. 2:20) as
they have been taught. There is no difference between theology for any
people group, Jew or Gentile. It is all the same. We are to remain in the
unity of the Faith (Eph. 4:13) and theology comes from the same source, the
Bible. It’s called sound doctrine (Tit. 1:9; 2:1). That is our
guide. Those who make up new doctrines are soundly rebuked in Scripture (1
Tim. 1:3, 6:3-4) and we are to stay away from those who make up myths (2 Tim.
4:3). If you study the quotes in this book about the new mythologies from
this movement you will know what I am talking about.
Gavriel Gefen in his teaching added that if you ask
a person to deny his culture when becoming a Christian, you're asking him to
deny the people and to give up the weapons God has given him in his culture to
testify to God and express His glory through all that is good in the culture.
Thus the person becomes marginalized in his own culture instead of becoming a
“missionary” in his culture. This way he might even prevent his own people from
coming to know Christ, whom they ultimately long to see expressed in ways that
they can identify with.2
I
can only assume Gavriel has not read the New Testament lately. Paul, a
Jewish Pharisee, gave up everything for the cause of Christ (Phil
3:4-11). Perhaps Gavriel and his “Messianic” Jews who are back in the
synagogues should take this into consideration. How can a Jewish Christian
be a witness to unconverted Jews when they are practicing Judaism which does
not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah? Jewish Christians are not to go
back to the “weak and miserable principles” that “enslaved” them
(Gal. 4:9). That is what the Bible calls being a Judaizer (Gal. 2:4-5).
God
IS asking us to “deny” ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Luke
9:23). If we follow Jesus Christ we will be rejected of men as He was (1
Pet. 2:4), and hated by the world (John 15:18). The world consists of
every people group and culture. Christians are not here to win a
popularity contest or gain followers by shmoozing people. We are here to
be light and salt (Matt. 5:13-16) and tell the truth (1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John
4:6). The “weapons” we have been given are (1) the Gospel (Rom.
1:16) and then, after we become believers, our weapons against the enemy are
(2) the armor of God which we are to put on (Eph. 6:10-18). There is
nothing in the Bible about weapons we use as believers having anything to do with
culture.
Christians
DID become “marginalized” in their cultures! How much more
marginalized could the Christians be under the Roman Empire who gave their
lives so that the Gospel message would not die but live on into our generation?
Would that more Christians would risk marginalization to reach, for instance,
the Muslims. They need to hear that their false god Allah, their false
Scriptures, and their false prophet are leading them to hell. But then
that message can get you marginalized right into an early grave! I have
never seen anything in Scripture or in church history where the Gospel has been
presented and it “prevented” people from knowing Christ. People either
accept the fact that they are sinners in need of a Savior, or they do
not. No amount of complimenting their cultures, allowing them to continue
to perform pagan rituals, or standing up for past injustices will do anything
to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
If
the Gospel has been reduced to only presenting it in ways “that they can
identify with” then no one would have ever been saved. The Gospel is a
message NOBODY can identify with. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and
foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23), those who do not believe and accept
it.
In
the Press Release for the 2006 WCGIP in Davao, Philippines it stated the
following:
The purpose of the 2006 WCGIP is (1) to present the
unique role of the Indigenous People in the Body of Christ in fulfilling
God’s revival and destiny for the nations. (2) to discover
together how redeemed indigenous culture can be utilized as an expression of
worship and vehicle for evangelism. (3) to identify the hindrances affecting
the active participation of Indigenous Peoples in the Body of Christ. (4)
to provide a forum to discuss the appropriate Christian response to the issues
concerning the Indigenous People. ... Organized by Tribal Mission Foundation
International ... the 2006 WCGIP is in partnership with the Intercessors for
the Philippines, Wycliffe Asia, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, and Alliance of
Christian Development Agencies.3
First
of all, God is not causing there to be a great end times revival. This is
Latter Rain false theology, as the Bible clearly teaches that the end times will
see a time of apostasy, a falling away from the faith (2 Thes. 2:3).
God
hoped to use Israel to redeem people from all nations, yet they were often
disobedient and did not invite the Gentiles to know and accept God. In the
New Testament there is no mention of cultures redeeming people or
cultures. He has always used individuals, part of the body of Christ, to
preach the Gospel and disciple converts from all nations (Mark 16:15, Matt.
28:19).
There
have never been “hindrances” to ANYONE becoming part of the body of
Christ from the true body of Christ, only from the world. There are
examples of hindrances from outside of orthodoxy, inside and outside of the
Church, but the Gospel has always been a message of freedom that frees the
prisoners (Ps. 146:7). This tactic of vilifying God's people and
missionaries is all part of the diaprax, the brainwashing, of indigenous
people into this unbiblical movement.
Notice
the organizations that now sponsor the WCGIP. It is sad to see heretofore
Biblical agencies fall into this apostasy. They have been sent material
exposing the false doctrines of this movement from other and me, but they have
chosen to be in league with these false teachers. As I have detailed in
the chapter Blasphemizeing the Bible, Wycliffe and other Bible
translators are now aiding this movement by seeking out the names of the local
“supreme being” deities and using those names in place of YHWH or God in new
translations of the Bible.
The
same WCGIP Press Release goes on to say:
The Role of Indigenous Peoples ...We believe that
Indigenous people have a key role to the revival of a nation. As the
original inhabitants of the land, they have a spiritual authority over the land
that is uniquely different from other peoples. Yet, most of them have been
reduced to “minorities” often neglected and found in the most
desolate areas of the world where the poorest of the poor now live. ... One of
the hopes for these gatherings is for the whole Body of Christ to recognize
that culture plays a significant role in the church movement.4
God
has not given any special “spiritual authority” to the people who live
in a particular area, and there is no Biblical justification for this
teaching. In fact, they brought with them worship of false gods all the
way back to Babel and they did not know God (1 Cor. 1:2, Gal. 4:8, 1 Thes. 4:5,
1 John 3:1, 2 Thes. 1:8-9). Though some mission fields have been neglected
for lack of resources, manpower, or lack of will, there has been no plot to
neglect “minorities”. These people apparently know very little of
recent church history or the great missionary movements and the spread of
evangelism around the world in the 18th through 20th centuries.
Culture
does not play a “significant role” in church development, unless you are
talking about mission work among many cultures. Cultural issues often play
a hindering role. The Bible calls us to become citizens of another place
(Phil. 3:20). It brings us into another culture, that of how Jesus Christ
wants us to live. It causes us to bring ourselves into line with His Will
and His Word, not the ways of our cultures. Where cultural, religious
practices and teachings in a people group conflict with the Word of God, we
discard those things (Mark 7:8-9). That is how it has been up until these
new false teachers arrived on the scene with new revelation that goes beyond
what is written.
Pio
Gabad-Arce goes on in the WCGIP Press release:
WCGIP 2006 Philippine Objectives: 2. To discover together
how redeemed indigenous culture can be utilized as an expression of worship and
a vehicle for evangelism. ... A transformation with a national scale
is not possible without the love for God, country and its people. ...
To set aside our indigenous roots will befall us to become a people of loss
identity thus losing our destiny as a nation. ... The World Christian
Gathering on Indigenous People will make us look back to our indigenous roots
and reclaim our identity and true virtues as Filipinos.5
This
idea of “transformation” is a New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)
agenda. This movement is endorsed by and composed of the ideas of people
like C. Peter Wagner, Chuck Kraft, John Dawson, Don Richardson, Cindy Jacobs,
Ed Silvoso, Dutch Sheets, Richard Twiss, YWAM and a whole host of other NAR
adherents.
Christians
are not telling indigenous people to “set aside (their) indigenous roots”. They
are preaching the Gospel to them, then the Gospel, the Holy Spirit, and God's
Word will dictate what God wants. Missionaries, by in large, did not come
to make the indigenous peoples lose their roots or national identity. What
they did was preach the Gospel and assist them in finding ways to serve the
Lord. But many of these WCGIP leaders have not listened to what the
indigenous people were saying about old religious traditions that are not in
line with the Word of God. One example is coming up.
The
Filipinos have never lost their “identity”. Their identity is fluid
as in all other cultures of the world. Things change. Change is
almost always by the will of the people, unless you are talking about
repressive societies. We live in the modern world, for better and, many
times, for worse. No use crying over spilt milk. It is time to get
past the beauty we have traded away in certain practices of necessity in the
past. We can still teach our children how to be self-sufficient and learn about
their area of the world as we used to do, but our first and highest focus needs
to be on serving the Lord. We are to look forward, not back. Looking
back is a waste of precious time. Looking forward causes us to view the
world in transitory terms and await the coming of Jesus Christ in His
Millennial Kingdom and the final new heaven and new earth. Let us not lay
up our treasure here, but in heaven (1 Tim. 6:19).
Ray
Minniecon said this on the 2006 WCGIP Day 1:
In January 2000, Rev. Ray Minniecon, chairman for
the 3rd World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People in Sydney, Australia
spoke of his dream for all indigenous people. ... I have a dream: that our
apostles will run throughout this whole world and build strong leaders in all
of our communities, based on God's Word. ... I have a dream: that our prophets
and our prophetesses will challenge the world around us so that its systems and
structures will bless us, without oppression. ... God created us and gave
us our own identity. God put within us His own identity for us in our own
country and our own place. And God has given us the chance to get it
back to the way God created life to be. It was no mistake when He took
people and put them in their own places with their own understandings. But
we've got some new understandings through the Gospel, which we also need to
include.6
Again
we see the NAR ties to this WCGIP. They do indeed have “apostles” running
all over the world, but they are false apostles. True apostles would be
preaching the Gospel and discipling the nations according to God’s Word.
Instead we find them teaching cultures to write new theologies, to assume that
they have always been serving God and have been children of God worshiping God
by other names. These are traditions of men.
Systems
and structures of this world may sometimes bless us, but they more often curse
us (Rom. 5:12, Eph. 6:12, 1 Cor. 3:19). Any “prophet” who says otherwise
is not being honest. The goal of salvation is not for whole cultures to be
redeemed. It is for individuals to be saved from sin and, subsequently, be
light and salt in their cultures. They are to be in the world but not of
the world (Col. 2:20, John 15:19). The cultures of this world are not here to
bless us but are rather the traditions of men that are often in opposition to
the Word of God (Mark 7:8-9). We are to shine as lights among
men. The cultures of this world are destined for oblivion. When God talks
about those around His throne He is talking about individuals from every
nation, tribe and tongue (Rev. 5:9). He is not talking about redeemed
cultures around the throne. This is one of the false teachings of this
movement that seemingly no one in it has bothered to check against what the
Bible actually teaches.
God
did not give people cultural “identities”. He confused their
tongues at Babel and sent them away to populate the earth in judgment for their
disobedience, whereupon people of each separate language group began to develop
their culture. Read about this in the article on Babel. They did not
leave Babel worshipping God, they left worshipping Nimrod and the stars, and
from there developed further false religions.
God
did, in a sense, lead people away from Babel so that they would not stay together and do
everything they imagined in their evil hearts to do. He confused their
languages so they would go out to various places on the earth so that, in the
fullness of time, they might be in proximity to where God was sending Israel
when He scattered them. Later the whole world would have the Gentile church to
share the Good News with them. The WCGIP leaders often use Acts 17:27 to
try to prove the true God was worshipped by pagan cultures. I have already
shown this is not true.
God
was setting the boundaries for the nations according to the children of Israel
so that the Gentile nations would end up close to Jews and thus possibly come
to know the God of Israel. God did send the Jews in among the Gentile
nations in the Promised Land and later dispersed the Jews all over the world.
It was not that God was creating nations and giving them “promised lands”. He
was going to spread Israel out among the nations as a witness from the establishment
of Israel till the incarnation of Jesus Christ. After Jesus Christ the
message of the Gospel would be spread through Jews and Gentiles who had come to
understand and believe in the mystery of the Gospel.
But
the facts from Romans 1 are that men did not seek God. They, instead, traded
the general revelation they had of God for worship of created things (Rom.
1:25). God is never far from anyone as He is omnipresent, and He is never
far from those who cry out to Him in faith. But how are they to know how
to be saved without the Gospel and one to preach it (Rom. 10:14)?
Pio
Gabad-Arce addressed the WCGIP on Day 1 with the following statement:
He added the gathering would also discover
the redemption of their culture as a tool to worship God.7
There
is no call to redeem whole cultures in the Bible with the exception of God
redeeming Israel as a nation at the end of the Tribulation, so it also could
not be “a tool to worship God”. We need no “tools” to
worship God. What we need to do is worship Him in spirit and in truth
(John 4:23), acceptably with reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28), but most
importantly as born again children of God (Rom. 12:1).
Terry
LaBlanc was also in attendance at the 2006 WCGIP.
Terry Le Blanc, another WCGIP vision keeper added
that Christianity is not only a “whiteman’s belief ”. He said IPs could
become Christians without any conflict in their identity.8
That
someone this ignorant of the facts of history should be representing, what used
to be (before they became a prime mover for the NAR) a respected mission agency
like World Vision is astounding to me. Christianity has NEVER been
primarily or exclusively a “whiteman's belief”. It started with the
Jews (who are not Caucasians), then spread to what is now Turkey, Macedonia,
Greece, Africa and Rome—not exactly populated by “white men”. It took a
long time to get to where “white men” lived in upper Europe. This kind of
statement doesn’t heal, it hurts. It is a statement made out of ignorance
based on some injustices of the past. LeBlanc and his friends in the WCGIP
are trying to blame everything that has gone wrong in the Two-Thirds World on
CHRISTIANS! Though some “Christians” in the past have participated in
racially motivated oppression, that was NEVER the case as a
whole. Christian missionaries are those with beautiful Gospel feet (Rom.
10:15) who brought the Good News to those who had NEVER heard it before, and in
many cases gave their lives to do so. Shame on LeBlanc, Twiss and others
for their continued attack on “white men”. No First Nations person would
be a Christian today if it were not for many “white men” (along with other
variously colored people from the human race—there is only ONE race!) who
brought the Gospel message to the “First Nations”. But far more damaging is the
fact that LeBlanc is spreading this racial bigotry all over the world.
Terry LeBlanc: And you know just picking up on the
notion of that myth I mean one of the things that has been sort of an
irritant in the hearts of many indigenous people around that world is that the
Western cultures seem to acceptable as they are, as cultures within which we
express our faith commitment to Christ, whereas indigenous cultures are almost
uniquely denigrated and set aside as culture unacceptable in any way, shape or
form within which we can express our faith in Christ and so indigenous
peoples have not seen themselves in Christ many times because they have to
see themselves in white skin in Christ and white culture in Christ and
rejecting, in essence the very identity that God created them in and so it's
kind of like how would feel to be told that you were discovered by someone who
was lost, that kind of thing.9
From
the quote above it appears IPM leaders like LeBlanc feel a need to put
Westerners down in order to lift themselves up. (1) I don't know any Western
Christians or First World people who consider Western culture “acceptable as
they are”. This is a ridiculous straw man argument. (2) I don't
know any missionaries, at least Bible-believing ones, who “denigrate” other
cultures in our day and age and who only speak highly of their own
culture. Most missionaries I know are quick to point out the sinfulness of
the West. Denigration of other cultures may have been done in the past in
some cases, but it has not been done for decades, and certainly not by true
believers in Christ. (3) I don't know any First Nation’s people who can't “see
themselves in Christ” because they don't have white skin. What is
LeBlanc talking about? Ironically, LeBlanc's name means “white”. Does
this make him any less Native American? On the same radio program Richard Twiss
stated:
Richard Twiss: Well people always ask you, you
know, what do you like to be called? American Indian or, so I always say
well you know it's sort of a problem for people of color, cause we don't
know what to call white people, are they white people, Caucasians or haoulies
or Pale Faces or and you know I always say and if we get it right this week
I'm sure it'll change next month and then we'll have to learn a whole new on so
it isn't just what do we call whatever.10
What
kind of an attitude is this? Is this some kind of pay back for past
perceived and/or real injustices? Why would a “Christian” be using these
terms? Two of those terms, “haoulies” and “pale faces” are
derogatory. Are the terms “American Indian” or “Native American”
derogatory? This use of epithets proves these people are not following
Christ because they are holding a grudge. We are to forgive past wrongs
done to us, particularly if those who wronged our cultures are now dead and
gone! As Christians we forgive and move on (Luke 6:37, Matt.
18:35). World Vision needs to have a talk with LeBlanc on these issues.
Monte
Ohia, Co-Founder of the WCGIP, stated at the 2006 Gathering:
God created all people in his own image (Genesis
1:27) and so he did not make a mistake when he created each of the
ethnic peoples of the world as a unique part of his image. Each of the ethnic
groups has a particular part of God's character and the WCGIP encourages
all of the indigenous groups to present their unique identity to those present.
Please come and partake of God's indigenous spectrum.11
God
created man in the image of Himself, namely His Triune nature (Father/Son/Holy
Spirit ... body/mind/spirit). This refers to all people because we are all
one race. But to state that ethnic groups have “a particular part of
God’s character” is not true because, just as we reflect the image of God
as His creatures, we also reflect the sin of Adam and Eve. When God created Adam and
Eve he did not create ethnic groups. Therefore we are not a true reflection of
God in our unsaved state. We are a reflection of the evil one because we
followed him into sin. We are not all part of God, but in fact we are
separated from God by sin (Eph. 4:18). We are unholy and on our way to
hell without a Savior because the wages of sin is death. We have no part
in God the Father without being saved by God the Son.
Ohia
continued:
Monte Ohia, WCGIP co-founder, said that before the
Gathering in Davao he prayed Joshua 1:3. He said that the Gathering is to
glorify Jesus Christ. He also claimed that this is not to glorify ourselves,
our songs, or instruments.12
This
is a real misrepresentation of what actually goes on at these events. Lip
service is given to God but the regalia and show is actually what it is all
about, and this brings glory to culture and human beings. Just go look at
the pictures on the WCGIP site to see what they are glorifying. Putting on
cultural shows does not bring glory to God. Preaching the Gospel does! I
see little or no evidence of the real Gospel message in these events.
When you tell people to worship the “Jesus” who is the son of their past
“supreme being”, you are presenting another Jesus. God does not want to be
worshipped by methods, songs, customs, chants and other activities formerly
tied to false religion and human traditions of men. God doesn't want the
dirty offscourings of culture. He wants worship that is pure and unadorned,
free of worldly attachments, and in line with His Word.
At
the 2006 WCGIP Parade of Nations the following took place with Richard Twiss
also in attendance:
Prayers of blessings followed immediately as one by
one, the Keepers of the Vision took their turns. First, it was Alex
Gater, an Aborigine from Australia, followed by Arild Miso, a Sami from Sweden.
Gavrel Geffen from Israel spoke the Abrahamic blessing while Richard Twiss
of Lakota/Sioux tribe sung a prayer song.13
Apparently
now the WCGIP leadership considers itself to be the “Keepers of the Vision”. Sounds
like Gnosticism to me—secret revelation stuff. Richard Twiss sang a prayer song
but no mention was made who he sang this to or what the words were. It is
important to know what they are actually saying because Twiss was present at
another ceremony where this was the invocation given:
“May the Father, Adadoda, who is the Creator,
Adanehilahusgi, and His Son, Tsisa, bless you with perfect peace and favor by
the power of the Holy Spirit, Yohewa (Great Spirit).”14
The
above message is no longer on that site, but this new one on the same site
under the heading “First Nations Monday” uses a similar invocation. “First
Nations Day” is a day instituted by the NAR apostolic leadership to try to diaprax
all the churches with false WCGIP teachings):
First Nations Monday is a First Nations/ Native
American prayer mobilization effort of All Nations Fellowship and Running Brook
Ministries International. This weekly digest is a prayer alert with relevant
Scriptures sending a call to pray for First Nations people and those serving in
Native Ministry. May our Father, Asgidoda, His Son, Tsisa, and the Holy
Spirit, Galvquodiyu Adanvdo, bless you with perfect peace and favor in the days
ahead.15
Apparently
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have decided to go by names of false gods as
opposed to what the Scripture teaches. This is why I am never sure what is
being said or sung or what “god” is actually being addressed at these
conferences. The names in the above invocation are not YHWH, the “I AM” which
is what God called Himself (Ex. 3:14).
Richard
Twiss taught these precepts at the 2006 WCGIP:
5. It rescues mission from the church and puts it
back into the hands of God, repositioning the Church as an invited
participant with God in His plans and activities for redeeming creation back
into right relationship with Himself. ... 6. The role of women
is reexamined in scripture in light of non-western worldview perspectives that
provide a biblical critique of the Anglo male dominated world of theology
and mission, seeing them as co-equals in fulfilling the Father's heart for
redemption. ... 7. The place of narrative theology or “story” finds equal
footing with the western notion of systematic theology as “the correct” way of
viewing scripture.16
“Rescues
mission from the Church”? The main purpose and mission of the Church is to evangelize the
world! The Church is the body of Christ, so it is ALWAYS in God’s hands
(John 10:29). To people like Twiss, the Church has apparently been doing a
terrible job of preaching the Gospel, so Twiss wants to give it back to
God. But Jesus already gave us the Great Commission when He left and it is
our job to preach and disciple all nations. This is another example of
using the diaprax.
There
are no plans for redeeming culture in the Bible, again with the exception of
many in Israel finally believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah during the
Tribulation. God is redeeming people (Gal. 3:13-14). We are redeemed
by Christ from the empty way of life of our forefathers (1 Pet. 1:18)!
The way to redeem a person is not through culture, but by hearing and believing
in the Gospel message. PERIOD. There is no other way. Cultures
will not be redeemed, in fact they are sinful and reject Christ. Some people,
the few who find the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13), will believe and be saved out of
their sinful cultures and traditions handed down from their forefathers. God
will “redeem creation”, but it will not be by the Church. It will be
“redeemed” when Jesus Christ returns to reign in the Millennial Kingdom, and
then the old things will pass away by fire and God will create a new heaven and
earth.
The
“world of theology” is not “Anglo male dominated”. Christian
theology is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and prophets.
Therefore it transcends culture or ethnos. The Holy Spirit can teach
anyone anywhere from the written Word of God. The commands of Scripture
for the Church, for instance, are to be based on the same principles of
marriage—that the man should be the head of the wife as Christ is the head of
the church (Eph. 5:23). This goes all the way back to what God instituted in
the Garden of Eden. That Gentiles would not understand this is not
surprising since cultures of the world are worldly, not godly. Twiss also
has no clue about missions, that is clear. Missions have been made up of
people from every tribe and tongue in the world, and continue till
today. The fact that Anglo-Americans sent out a whole slue of missionaries
during the 19th century should be a challenge to the Two-Thirds World instead
of causing jealousy and racism.
The
last statement is the worst. The concept of “narrative theology” is a
staple of the Emerging Church. It is a way around understanding the Bible
in context. Instead almost any interpretation and analogy can be drawn
from any part of the Bible. Stories are told based tightly or loosely on
the Bible with additions of cultural “redemptive analogies” thrown in. It makes
the Bible into some kind of New Age ouija board, convenient for those who want
to write new theologies to supplant the old biblical ones. Here is a
definition of “narrative theology”:
Narrative theology was a 20th-century theological development
which supported the idea that the Church's use of the Bible should focus on a
narrative presentation of the faith, rather than on the exclusive development
of a systematic theology. Also referred to as postliberal theology,
narrative theology was inspired by a group of theologians at Yale Divinity
School, many influenced theologically by Karl Barth and to some
extent, the nouvelle theologie of French Catholics such as Henri de Lubac.
The clear philosophical influence, however, was Ludwig Wittgenstein's
philosophy of language, the moral philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre, and the
sociological insights of Clifford Geertz and Peter Berger on the nature of
communities. Beginning as a reaction to individualist and romantic theological
liberalism, important narrative thinkers included George Lindbeck, Hans Wilhelm
Frei, Stanley Hauerwas, and William Willimon. This movement has provided
much of the foundation for other movements, such as Radical orthodoxy,
Scriptural Reasoning, paleo-orthodoxy, the emerging church movement, and
postliberal versions of evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism. In contrast
to liberal individualism, postliberalism tends to be communitarian and
committed to tradition-constituted reasoning. The postliberals argue that
the Christian faith be equated with neither religious feelings nor
propositions, but refers to the whole shape of the Christian life as it is
lived in communal worship over time. Thus, in addition to an emphasis upon the
narratives of scripture, there is also a performative emphasis, which often
orients postliberal theologies around liturgies and descriptions of Christian
practice as resources for critical inquiry.17
This
is a popular teaching that comes from the Catholics. If the Bible is not
studied in a systematic way, anyone can assign any value to any sentence in the
Bible and turn it into a postmodern subjectivist tutorial. The classic
example is that if you wanted to start a suicide cult you could combine two
verses (out of context) where Judas “went and hanged himself” (Matt.
27:5) with “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37) and create a suicide
cult. You may laugh at this example, but this is exactly what the
leadership of this movement is doing. They continually quote Rom. 1:20 and
Acts 17:27 out of context, for instance, and have formed a worldwide cult out
of the mishandling of these verses and others. To see what the Bible says
about those two passages, in context, read the chapter called “An Endrun …”.
Norquiza
S. Alih Lumad stated on Day 4 of the 2006 WCGIP:
In his journey on restoring the culture of his
people there are those who oppose him. These people believe that embracing a
Christian faith means turning back on their culture. Even up to the point where
they don't like to use their own tribal musical instruments anymore. They
said it is bad and to make a sound out of it is like offering music to evil
spirits. They're convinced never to come back to using those
instruments. With it, Joshua Mayyam becomes all the more prompted to work hard
in sharing the love of God to the Ifugaos. Believing it is the only way to
make them love and preserve their culture as much as God is delighted of their
own unique music. Joshua saw a deep sense of worship in the mountain of
Cordillera. “Only if this tribe would realize how beautiful is their culture
and music, they would not have a complicated lifestyle—never conforming but
having a sense of security on their identity,” he said. Joshua believes that
WCGIP will expand his knowledge of his own culture and culture of other tribes.
He expects to be loving the IP's all the more after the conference.18
This
is an example of where these new ideas are leading. It is clear to me from
this account that missionaries to this tribe talked to the tribal leadership
about what the Bible requires. The tribal converts there came to
understand that their old religion was demonic, and anything tied to that
religion had to go. This is the same understanding the early Church
Christians came to. Then this Johnny-come-lately comes along and ruins the
understanding the missionaries and tribal leadership had come to in obedience
to the Bible by saying that the instruments and music that were dedicated to
false gods are now okay. What cultural background or understanding did
this Joshua have that superceded the missionaries who were likely there
long-term, had learned the language, and understood the customs of the
people? The false assumption is that there was no other way to preserve
the culture than to go back to doing things dedicated to demons. What
about food preparation, clan dynamics, hunting, fishing, craft making, cooking
and any other host of cultural practices? Are they not just as important
and probably do not violate living in obedience to God's Word? What this
Joshua did, in one fell swoop, was to destroy the good things the Lord was
doing to deliver them from their cultural religion. Now they are free to
go back to their old ways, where they were summoning and invoking demonic
spirits in the name of “God”.
Ian
V. Calo stated the following at the 2006 WCGIP:
I believe every ethnos is formed by God, with a
particular combination of traits and characteristics and placed in a particular
location (Ac 17:26). The purpose is that each ethnos should seek and find God
(Acts 17:27) and glorify Him through this unique combination of cultural traits
and characteristics (Ps 86:9). The redemption of these cultural traits and
characteristics can only happen through Jesus Christ (Rev. 5:9) and will find
its best expression in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21:24, 26; 22:2) ... After
reading books like Don Richardson's Eternity in Their Hearts, John Sanford's
Healing of the Nations and those of Richard Twiss, and having gone
through three 'Native Spirituality' Workshops led by TMFI staff, my desire to
see cultural redemption in Christian life has increased even
more. ... In ending, I hope that what I have shared here will encourage every
person and especially 'First Nations People' to search for and embrace their
cultural roots, no matter how vague or distant these roots may seem. You may
not find all the information you want, but I believe God will help you find the
necessary information needed to help bring cultural redemption for God's glory.
I still dream of redeeming specific ancient Butuanon material culture and
customs no longer used today. ... May you grow in the journey of embracing
and living out your ethnicity today in service and submission to our Lord and
for His glory. Madyaw na pagpanaw kaniyo hurot diyan Sawg hong Magbabaya!
(May you all have a good journey in the River of God!).19
Again,
every culture was not “formed by God”. The main books of this movement
are the books by Don Richardson, Richard Twiss, John Sanford and Daniel
Kikawa. They are all fundamentally misguided and Biblically incorrect. Read
more about these books in our articles in the WCGIP section on the DITC web
site.20
“Find
the necessary information” is talking about writing up a new mythology for your culture to fool
people into thinking they have always been worshipping God in their own
way. Or you can even go further, like Daniel Kikawa, and try to claim
that your people are directly descended from the Jews. This is one of the
main reasons for this push around the world. While everyone is dancing the
night away, there are sessions by people like Richard Twiss and Terry LeBlanc
on how to write a new theology for your particular culture. We now have
people all over the world busily researching their libraries, like Daniel
Kikawa did, talking to old people in the culture, and constructing a
hodge-podge of ideas to try to prove that the true God has always been
worshipped in their cultures. They are trying to give some stamp of approval
from God for their cultural/religious activities.
Lastly,
we can also see another tie to the NAR in the statement about the “river of
God”. This refers to the “River” movement, the “Third Wave” of the
Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival, Benny Hinn, and slain in the spirit
stuff that is passed off as true revival around the world. Unfortunately, the
Philippines has been deluged with this Latter Rain heresy to the point where
there are few solid churches left there.
(Gavriel) Gefen further explained that in their
(Jewish) tradition they don't think that salvation is only a one time
experience. “We are honoring the many salvation of the Lord in our lives,”
he said.21
Salvation
IS a “one time experience” according to the Bible, according to the
foreknowledge of God (Acts 16:31). They were told to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and salvation would be given. Of course the word for
“believe” is “commit” to the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into a covenant
relationship with Him. The Bible does teach that those who hold on to faith
till the end will be saved (Matt. 24:13, Heb. 3:14). But to state that
salvation is an ongoing experience sounds like what Judiazers teach. Judaizers
expect the whole Law to be observed, or part of it, in order to be
saved. They confused sanctification with justification. When a person is
saved the Holy Spirit immediately makes a new self in that person. They
are sealed. They are freed from the Law and the Law of Christ is written
on their hearts. That sounds like a one-time deal to me, especially from
God's perspective, because those He foreknew He also predestined, called,
justified and glorified (Rom. 8:28-30).
Quing
Alih quoted Ray Minniecon in making this startling statement about the
Aborigines:
“We will fight for God's justice in our land, people
and for all the indigenous people in the world!” —Ray Minniecon ... “Ginoo,
tabangi ang akong mga igsoon magmalampuson sa ilahang paglakaw dinha kanimo.” These
is a declaration of VICTORY for the aborigines as they continue to walk in the
light with the Father who made them beautiful, valuable, unique and are being
loved with an everlasting love and there's nothing that can separate them from
the love of the Father. These is the prayer of declaration been given by a
lumad who prayed for the aborigines after the presentations. “the only
reason that keeps us going is the understanding that we have been made
according to the image of God.—Ray Minniecon”22
This
statement would be fine if it were being applied to Aborigines who have been
saved. It is not correct if it is applied to all Aborigines because they
(1) do not have “victory”, (2) cannot call God “Father”, only
Creator, (3) do not have the “everlasting love” of God if they are dead
in their sins because they will have the everlasting judgment of God, and (4)
they are already separate from the love of the Father because they are sinners
who have not believed. It is very disingenuous to use verses like Rom.
8:35 & 39 this way. These Scripture verses are promises to Christians,
not unregenerate Gentiles. But this is a good example of what these WCGIP people
are teaching in reality. Yes, the Aborigines were made in the image of
God, but they, like anyone else, will go to hell if they don't come to know His
Son.
Gavriel
Gefen described his brand of “Messianic Judaism”.
Our family is a bit unusual since we go to an
Orthodox synagogue. As followers of Yeshua, we live out our faith within Jewish
tradition and community. Two years ago, we started weekly meetings for other
Messianic Jews who are also going to traditional synagogues. On Saturday, we
each go to our respective synagogues. ... I have both listened and
spoken at a Many Nations One Voice (MN1V) celebration. Most recently, I had the
privilege of participating in a theological forum hosted by the North American
Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS) at Asbury Seminary. Through
a relationship started at WCGIP 2002 in Hawaii, Mark Charles of the Dine
(Navajo Nation) ... In 2008, we are scheduled to host the 7th WCGIP
in Jerusalem. Co-hosting the gathering together with us will be congregational leaders
from all over Israel, both Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians.23
Gefen
and his group go back to the synagogues, not to witness and get thrown out like
Paul, but to worship in the same way and keep the same Law as the
Jews. This does not sound like the witness of a New Testament believer. In
fact it is exactly the opposite of what a true believer would be doing.
Notice
that Asbury Seminary gives their green light to all these things, and the next
2008 WCGIP will be in Israel. What a mess!
In
the end, Monte Ohia made this declaration:
I feel that in God's heart we did everything right. We opened with protocol - a
traditional indigenous welcome, a march down the city, and a civil reception.
God is a God of protocol because it is all about honouring the authorities and
people of the land - the host nation - and bringing people closer together. It
also gave the different nations opportunities to bring their gifts, to speak
their languages of greeting, and to display the array of regalia the Lord
has blessed the nations with. This indeed is the right way to begin the WCGIP,
and we have done this since the first time in 1996.24
I “felt” like this was a good quote to end with, especially since this was from the “thank you messages”. So many Christians today “feel” that in their heart they are doing “everything right”. They can justify almost anything they are doing as long as it “felt” right and they got good vibes. You cannot feel truth, Truth is found in God’s Word and we have no examples of any of this. The sad part of this is that the WCGIP is full of false teaching that is ruining indigenous churches all over the world. If the WCGIP agenda takes hold of the world I think we can safely kiss Biblical Christianity good-bye in our generation. If this is their approach to the “right” way to do things, then I don't want to be right.
Endnotes
1—Terry
LeBlanc, "Indigenous Theology", Source: WCGIP Gathering in
Kiruna, Faith Arise! Blog, August 09, 2005,
http://faitharise.typepad.com/faith_arise/2005/08/indigenous_theo.html
2—Gavriel
Gefen, "Indigenous Theology", Source: WCGIP Gathering in
Kiruna, Faith Arise! Blog, August 09, 2005,
http://faitharise.typepad.com/faith_arise/2005/08/indigenous_theo.html)
3—Press
Releases, The Philippines hosts the 6th WCGIP,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=1
4—Ibid.,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=3
5—PIO
GABAD ARCE, Rhair of the 6th World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People in
the Philippines as part of the leadership team of Tribal Mission Foundation
International Inc., Press Releases, The 6th World Christian Gathering on
Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=3
6—Rev.
Ray Minniecon, Life in its fullest in Australia, Day 1, The 6th World
Christian Gathering on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=12)
7—Pio
Gabad-Arce, chair of the WCGIP, Day 1, The 6th World Christian Gathering on
Indigenous People, http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=11
8—Terry
LeBlanc, World Vision Canada, Day 1, The 6th World Christian Gathering on
Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=11
9—Terry
LeBlanc, Word to the World with Danny Lehmann, KLHT, #541
10—Richard
Twiss, Ibid.
11—Monte
Ohia, WCGIP Co-Founder, Day 1, The 6th World Christian Gathering on Indigenous
People, http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=9
12—Monte
Ohia, Tapestry: The Parade of Nations, Day 2, The 6th World Christian Gathering
on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=13
13—Tapestry:
The Parade of Nations, Day 2, The 6th World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=13
14—Source:
http://www.injesus.com/Groups/ViewMessage.cfm?MessageId=YA006JT4&GroupID=SA006ILX&UCD=hjn
15—Source:
(http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module=group&task=details&GroupID=SA006ILX)
16—Richard
Twiss, IP's in Mission, Day 4, The 6th World Christian Gathering on
Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=18
17—Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_theology
18—Norquiza
S. Alih, Lumad on duty, Day 4, The 6th World Christian Gathering on Indigenous
People, http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=17
19—Ian
V. Calo, Indigenous Cultural Redemption in a Different Dimension: An Example
From an "Eclectic" People, Day 4, The 6th World Christian
Gathering on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=16
20—Apologetics
Coordination Team, Deception In The Church web site,
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/wcgip.html
21—Rizalene
P. Acac, WCGIP observes Shabat, Day 5, The 6th World Christian Gathering
on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=21
22—Quing
Alih, Called To Be Victorious, Day 6, The 6th World Christian Gathering on
Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=26
23—Gavriel
Gefen, Israel invites: Come Grow With Us, Day 7, The 6th World Christian
Gathering on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=30
24—Monte
Ohia, Thank You Message From Monte Ohia, The 6th World Christian
Gathering on Indigenous People,
http://iquadrant.biz/wcgip/resources/index.cfm?Handler=View&ID=32
