WCGIP
Report & Analysis
Kiruna & Davao
by Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination
Team,
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 scaleis 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