USING OLD TESTAMENT ANALOGIES IN CROSS-CULTURAL EVANGELISMIntroduction -
Everyone tends to learn best when they are taught in ways that they are accustomed to. After ten years of teaching in an African seminary, this truth is becoming more evident daily. When I first brought out the book of Romans to my students to discuss the "Principles of Church Leadership" they seemed confused. One courageous student raised his hand and said, "Sir, the things you are teaching us is the theory of leadership, we want examples of leadership. After years of training and teaching in a western seminary, the rug of my suppositions had been suddenly pulled out from under me. Quickly, I started to give examples of leadership learned during my seven years of working as an associate Pastor. Still, another student raised his hand and said, "Those examples are just western examples, we want models that relate to our needs!"
For months I agonized on how to communicate models to the students that would be Biblical, contextual, and relate to their world views. Then I began to see the secret - use the Old Testament in a problem-solution manner of teaching. Formerly, I resisted using the Old Testament for several reasons. First, most of my western emphasis saw the New Testament as superior to the Old Testament. It seemed logical enough to emphasize the New Testament allowing the students to interpret the Old Testament in light of latter revelation. However, this belied some rather subtle prejudices on my part as a western teacher in an African seminary. It unconsciously portrayed to Nigerian students that western linear logical approaches to Biblical issues were better approached from the New Testament than the Old Testament - which is not necessarily true.
Furthermore, there was an underlying progressive bias that since the western world had progressed farther in its development than Africa, the western theoretical approach must be superior to the African practical - trial and error approach to learning, similar to some of the learning in the Old Testament stories.
Thirdly, the exclusion of the Old Testament in my teaching on church leadership, minimized the importance of precedent setting people, events, and ideals found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deut. and I and II Samuel etc.
Fourthly, it presupposed that information for its own sake was enough to motivate the students to want to learn about better ways of leading the church of God.
Thinking back over those ten, years, I wish more emphasis would have been laid for using the Old Testament in all aspects of teaching my 64 different subjects at the seminary.
The real superior teaching came through Jesus Christ as communicated from a Hebrew perspective largely to a Jewish audience.
Fifthly, I figured that with the short amount of time we had to cover the essentials of church leadership that we should go straight to the highlights in the New Testament. This concern for efficiency in the use of time, effort, and resources seemed good to my western oriented mind, but not to many of my students. They were content to allow the lessons of the Old Testament peculate through debates, discussions, and interactions with real problems they were facing in their Pastorates.
They were much happier to exhaustively discuss one point than go over 10 essential characteristics of a New Testament leader from Romans and the Pastoral epistles. In my eagerness to see my students grasp the key ingredients, I forgot who I was teaching and what ways they preferred to learn about leadership. To me what appeared to just be historical was viewed by my students as foundational. They were far more interested in the unity, harmony, and wholeness of the Biblical view of leadership than learning about the principles and theories.
In fact, I had to learn how to integrate the principles of New Testament leadership into problem-solution scenarios of the Old Testament. When I saw philosophical and cognitive approaches to a problem, they saw people’s personalities, genealogies, and analogies.
They were much more apt to learn when they could vicariously participate with the struggles with Philistines, Egyptians, and Jezebels oppressors. Packaging the principles of New Testament leadership into Old Testament situations seemed like a challenge no one had really prepared me to do. The importance of using similar contextual factors must be plugged into the equation of teaching for it to really be effective. It all boiled down to the fact that my student thought more like studying the messages of leadership through Hebrew-like eyes than through Greek-Western perspectives.
Many Africans prefer learning through comparisons of things they are familiar with. The generous use of metaphors are seen in African proverbs, family instructions, dramatic portrayals of conflict, and every day expressions. Noticing comparisons make learning and teaching enjoyable in Africa. Yesterday, I took two ears of maize into class, one was full the other was dwarfed and diseased. By comparing the two with Mr. Spirit-filled Christian producing loads of fruit to the healthy looking ear, the students could see the benefits of proper nurturing conditions. When I asked them for their impressions of the diseased ear they said things like, "It appears to be struck by demons. It reminds me of some Christians I know in my church, sick and unfruitful. It looks like it was unprotected from predators. One old man said, "It reminds me of an elder in my former church who tried to poison the other men’s minds!" This use of a simple object lesson could have gone on for over an hour by using the tool of analogies.
African life and the message of the Old Testament have many parallels which need exploring, amplifying, and correlating. African life and ways of thinking share many similarities with those of the early Hebrew people. For many cross-cultural ministers this can serve as a catalyst for communicating God’s message from a source that is near and dear to the values of most Africans.
The Old Testament is a treasure chest of analogies in the form of metaphors, similes, and the generous use of figurative language. Joseph is a comparative type of Christ. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar parallels God’s own offering us His son Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. Melchizedek is a comparison to our great high priest. The crossing into the promised land is a parallel to attaining salvation through faith. The sacrifices on the altar are human attempts to atone for the sins of men. The marriage of Hosea to an adulterous woman is a comparison of God’s unceasing love to His people. David’s defeat of Goliath is a picture of Christ defeating the devil. The temptations of living around the Canaanites fertility festivals is a picture of Christians who are to be in the world but not of the world. Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea is a symbol of how God delivers us through the trouble waters of impossibilities and simultaneously defeats of our enemies. These and many more comparisons find their parallels in African cultures.
Even the story form of presentations find similarity in the ways of learning in Africa. Through a generous form of inductive teaching, telling, and illustrating the Old Testament is powerful bridge to communicating in an African context. Naturally there are errors to avoid in relying on the Old Testament to communicate across cultures in Africa. Allegorical methods of interpretation can lead one to a syncretistic set of beliefs that resemble Old Testament ritualism. Through a reliance on the law at the exclusion of grace, men can use the Old Testament like a club to authoritatively manipulate people.
Using the patriarchal system of leadership can lead some to fall into the temptation of hero worship as "President and Founder" of their own organizations. Yet, by correctly using the parallels, analogies, and metaphors of the Old Testament, cross-cultural ministers can provide bridges for African understanding into the message of God and the gospel. Using the Old Testament analogies may seem easy at first glance. However, analogies often have their limits and can do as much to confuse and to clarify. For example, many of the African Independent Churches have taken on such a ritualistic style of worship that idolatrous practices are confusing thousands. One colleague mentioned that some of the African Independent churches resemble the practices of the Old Testament laws of sacrifices outwardly with an inward core of African Traditional Religions.
By over stressing the analogies from the Old Testament to African culture can lead one to believing that there is nothing wrong with one’s culture. There can be a subtle implication that if one’s culture is simply modified through certain adjustments to the law of the Old Testament that people can become righteous before God. Every culture contains bad and good elements that need cleansing, purifying, and sanctifying through Christ, His message, and His will. Byang Kato, the former General Secretary of E.C.W.A./S.I.M. understood the proper link between the Old Testament and African cultures when he said, "If a theology is based on human experience, rather than human experience seeking answers from the absolute Word of God, that theology is no more helpful than a sailboat without sails... The absolute Word of God must be the measuring rod of the varying fleeting situations of life." (Theological Issues in Africa, Bibliotheca Sacra 133) April 1976: 143-52. For example the problems of economic suffering plagues most Africans. Today, everyone of the students in my prayer group shared the hardships they are having financially in feeding, tuition fees, and providing for their families. Immediately, I shared how God supplied manna in the wilderness for His people when they cried out to Him for help. Everyone immediately clicked their tongue in affirmation of the relevance of the story to their lives.
When a reader discovers that the root of many of Israel’s poverty came from their disobedience it would be unfair to compare all of the money problems in Africa with disobedience. Therefore we need some guidelines in using comparisons from the Old Testament to African culture.
Here are several criteria that could be used to filter out the preferable from the less preferable analogies to African needs:
1. Encourage the correct interpretation of all Old Testament truth in the light of New Testament revelation. God’s word is a progressive revelation that shows us the will of God, the nature of God unfolded through time. To isolate the Old Testament from the New Testament is dangerous for all concerned.
a. Metaphors are comparisons which the cross-cultural communicator can describe one thing in terms of something else. For example, Joseph is a type of Christ since he came to his own and his own rejected him. He was sold into slavery by his own people, but became their source of redemption from destruction etc.
b. Metaphors are common in the O.T. as they describe God, His purposes, His messages, His activities, and His people. For example, in Jer. 2:13 it says, "My people have committed two sins: "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." God is describing His people as those who have forsaken His resources for those of idols who fail to deliver what they really need.
God’s provisions are everlasting, powerful, pure, healthy, and sustaining. In contrast, the idols promises are empty, powerless, deceitful, and disappointing.c. Metaphors also appear in the forms of similes. Similes are comparisons that use words such as like and as. Seek to understand how the two things are compared. For example. Jer. 23:29 says, "Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"
Take your time in extracting the rich comparisons between the word of God and a rock that is enduring, stable, supportive, and unchanging.d. Metaphors bring out vivid meaning of people, events, objects, and patterns that show similarities between the O.T. and African life. For example, there are rich similarities between the importance of the patriarchs’ (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) requests to have their bones buried in the homeland.
Burial rites are extremely important in African identification with their roots.e. Metaphors use a rich reservoir of imagery. By using figures of speech we can express a great deal of meaning with only a few words. I often hear Africans use phrases like, "More grease to your elbows." This means that someone is wishing you ease, facility, and progress in one’s work.
Symbolic language is found throughout the O.T. as it is in African life and conversations.f. The O.T. uses personifications of things, qualities, or ideas by representing them as persons. The Psalmist might identify a barrier like the Red Sea, the Jordan river, or the mountains as obstacles for the believer. This is seen in some of the phrases like, "The Jordan is driven back." In effect the river is treated like a person with human like qualities.
Africans enjoyed this comparative technique as it brings the abstract to a level of the concrete. For example, this morning I was talking with a coordinator of 30 missionaries from the Evangelical Missionary Society in Borno State. While we were talking about the problem of laziness and idleness he shared an astute Hausa proverb that reflected this kind of personification thinking. He said the Hausa proverb says, "It is better to dig a hole for a snake than to sit doing nothing." He explained that the personifications have a dual value in this proverb, both for the man and for the snake. The man who dig a hole for the snake can at least say he did something useful. While the digging of the hole for the snake forces the snake to overcome his own laziness. When he sees the man digging a hole for him, he will run away and dig another hole for himself thinking that the man is preparing a house for his own family.
Personifications are rich ways of communicating truths through the O.T., gospels, and African life.g. Rites and rituals are used to explain deeper meanings in the O.T.. For example, Paul explains how Abraham demonstrated faith even without circumcision- a sign of his Jewish identity. In Rom. 4:9-10 Paul says, "Is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness."
Paul shows that rituals, like circumcision, although significant for some purposes, are only outward-superficial efforts to portray what has been done internally by faith.
In Africa, rituals are important for many reasons. Yet, we must learn to look below the surface meanings to understand the beliefs that are guiding rituals and rites. Cross-cultural ministers can show how to correctly align the internal with the external symbolic meanings through Christ.g. The O.T. and African life is filled with metaphors in ironic expressions. An irony is used to explain words that can mean just the opposite of what is said. Jesus refers to the Pharisees as erecting the tombs of the prophets by rejecting Him. He said to them, "You fill up the measure of your fathers." (Matt. 23:32) Jesus is giving them over to their own deprave thinking and living through these words.
Words have great power in Africa - especially as they are communicated orally. Jesus, in effect in saying, "Just go ahead and complete the job that your fathers started in persecuting the prophets who were before me and rejecting their messages."
The use of irony in comparisons is popular throughout African culture and conversations. One student told me, "Sir, you have muddle the waters today, so that the cattle cannot drink." In an ironic way he was telling me that I had made the lesson so complicated that the students did not want or could not understand what was being taught.h.
Types are patterns, images, or symbols of a person, place, or thing. For example, Adam was type of Christ, baptism corresponds to deliverance experienced by Noah and his family in the flood. Joseph was a type of Christ. As Moses lifted up the serpent on his staff in the wilderness, the people were delivered from death by looking to a type of Christ for their redemption.i. Types can help us see O.T. truths in N.T. thinking. For example, Paul uses Christ as redeemer both coming and going to Zion. This means that while Paul quotes from Isa.27:9 which says, "A redeemer comes out of Zion." Paul uses it to tell the future, "The redeemer will turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Jesus will help Israel to be saved. Christ remains the same both in the O.T. and in the future. (Rom.11:26)
Types can be seen in quotations in the N.T. from the O.T.. For example, Paul contrasts believers and non-christians in 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1. He quotes from Isa. 52:11 when he says, "Be separate and touch not the unclean thing." He is referring to the unclean idols, practices, marrying with pagan women, and the environment surrounding the Jewish nation. He parallels this to the Romans’ temptation to become involved with idolatry, lawlessness, the polluting influence of politics, and the conformity to the evil world.
Cross-cultural ministers can reflect quotations from African life to those in O.T. for similar exhortations.
Types can be seen in people. For example, Solomon, David, and Melchizedek are seen as types of Christ. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, earlier named Jerusalem. He also gave bread and wine. He was a priest of God. He blessed Abraham on behalf of God. Abraham gave to him a tenth of what he owned. Then the writer of Hebrews said, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The writer used this type to compare and contrast the Levitical priesthood and the heavenly priesthood. Here is a wonderful example of how a cross-cultural minister can relate the O.T. priesthood to both that of the African priesthood tying in the priestly roles of Jesus Christ.
Through further reflection one can show how the priesthood roles, identities, and responsibilities have changed in N.T. era. Now all believers are royal priests through Christ. (I Pet. 2:11)l. A type can also show similarities in events. For example, the calling of the Israelites out of Egypt is a type of the Christians’ deliverance from his old nature, environment, and dependencies in the world. Matthew takes this from Hosea 11:1 and applies it to Jesus when he says, "From Egypt I have called my son." (Matt. 2:15)
As Jesus was called out as an individual, God is calling people out of their hardships, lifestyles, and predicaments today. Cross-cultural teachers can show how many O.T. events relate to the events in African life and ways of thinking. The historical emphasis of the O.T. is a key to relating to the African world view of valuing traditions.
Types can also be found in things of the O.T.. This is where it can be shown that types are useful only to a certain point, as the revelation of the Bible progresses from the O.T. to the N.T.. For example, as the temple was the central place of worship for the Jews so in African life there is a special area set aside particularly for the worship of the ancestors and idols.
In the N.T. era, the temple is the believers body. (I Cor. 3:16) Even Jesus switches the emphasis from worship at a place to worshipping God in spirit. (John 4:24) We are to relate the similarities to a point in worship from O.T. times, but show that in N.T. times worship becomes something done primarily in the heart of every believer - as the temple of God.
Types may contain symbols that serve as bridges of understanding from the O.T. to African life. For example, the O.T. tabernacle became the symbol of where God met with His people. Or the cloud that led them by day and by night became a symbol of his presence. So in African life there are symbols of God’s presence in numerous symbols of creation. It is through the understanding of these symbols that we can explain the redemptive ministries of Christ. For example, now we may enter into the Holy of Holies of God’s tabernacle through Christ. (Heb. 4:15)Symbols may use figurative language to explain the broader meanings of a truth as well. For example, the word of God is described as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psa. 119:110)
Although symbols in African life tend to change, the symbolic language of the scriptures are enduring. We need to practice discriminating discernment in determining which symbols to regard as having eternal meanings and which are temporal.
Compare the O.T. context with the N.T. context and message. Many errors in interpretation and contextualization have been made because people read the O.T. in the light of their OWN context and perspectives. For example, if you claim that all the promises of Abraham belong to every Christian you are failing to grasp the context in which the Gen.15:9-21 promise was given. The Abrahamic covenant given in Gen. 17 was made with Abraham in respect to the conditional pledge to God through faith. The condition was that he would give God total consecration to the Lord as symbolized by circumcision. Paul uses this in contrast with those who tried to gain God’s acceptance by observing the laws for he said to the Galatians, "The righteous will live by faith." By understanding the context, the conditions of the promises, and the purposed of each author you can then rightly interpret the real meaning of the passage and relate it to the culture.
Inductive reasoning from the scripture should supersede deductive comparisons from culture. Let the whole Bible teach with authority rather than allowing culture to determine what questions are to be asked, thereby influencing the answers.
Remember that all truth is God’s truth. People should not be afraid of making healthy comparisons to sacrifices, people, and events of the Old Testament with their culture. We are constantly discovering new truth in creation, nature, and people’s experiences. Yesterday, I heard that a man in Britain has discovered how to create energy through fusion. If he succeeds in making it affordable for the common man, we will have a limitless supply of energy for our cars, houses, and industrial uses as long as there is water molecules around.
Our comparisons to culture should reflect the Bible’s emphasis and not vice-versa. It is easy to allow the cultural emphasis to determine the kinds of analogies we draw from the pages of the Old Testament. Yesterday, a student explained that the workers on Nehemiah’s wall had a trawl in one hand and a weapon in the other. He suggested that in the light of the Muslim uprising in Kano over the Reinhart Bonke’s crusade; that we should arm the members of our churches in the event of an attack. This is an improper kind of comparisons that reflects a situational ethical system.
We need to understand the similarities of the world views between the Old Testament characters and those of African cultures. For example, Let us look at parallels between the realities (Experiences, allegiances, traditions, and metaphysical perceptions) Criteria for truth, (Sources of authority, credibility, as well as moral and ethical standards) beliefs, (His source of faith, trust, and dependence as well as the manner in which that is expressed) values, (What is important, his priorities, his goals, as well as how these are organized and most normally expressed) behaviors, (His typical actions verbally and non-verbally, patterns of relating to people of all types of social classes) emotions, (How one’s passions are expressed or inhibited) etc. By looking below the surface to the deeper levels of perspectives one’s comparisons take on richer meanings.
When it comes to interpreting miracles one’s presuppositions of reality, knowledge, values, and God play a major role in drawing comparisons between the Old Testament and Africa. Sometimes my students sing, "He’s a Miracle Working God... as if God is bound to do miracles as the normal part of their lives. Instead, miracles were done to show the supernatural power of God in overcoming the natural laws. However, acts of God happen daily for all of us. The act of God in allowing our bodies to stay healthy is a gift from Him, but it is not a miracle as such. The miracles that God performed in the parting of the Red Sea were extraordinary interventions of God for special purposes. Africans must be careful that their desire to see miracles in everyday life does not obscure their view of God, His message, or His will.
Make distinctions between true prophets and false prophets in the O.T. as well as in African cultural context. In Israel’s history there were false prophets who called for immediate solutions to the problems at hand. Consistently, God appointed true prophets whose message represented the essential elements that was unvarying from one situation to another. False prophets tended to speak about political renewal, social revival, or economic improvements. They put the fruits before concerning themselves with the roots of the problems. In contrast the true prophets spoke of the covenantal responsibilities of the people. God attached to the Sinaitic covenant conditions of obedience. The false prophets rejected all efforts to deal with the primary truths preferring to deal with social emergencies. For example Jeremiah preached the truth about God when nobody seemed interested in listening. Ezekiel laid on his right side for a year in order to demonstrate the stubbornness of the people. Both of these prophets were true to the word of God, the will of God, and the person of God. The false prophets focused on ulterior motives for change.
Parallel the relationship between sickness and sin in the O.T. and that of African culture. Some African cultures understand perfectly the relationship between sickness and sin. Similarly the O.T. is filled with this attitude as reflected in the Psalms. Sin in the O.T. cannot be understood apart from knowing how serious it was to break the covenantal relationship with God. Any form of dysfunctional behavior in Israel in O.T. times threatened the entire community. Any offense against the community would have deeply hurt God. For example, the sin against the community is seen in the selling of Joseph by his brothers. In Gen. 42:22 we are told, "And Reuben answered them, ’Did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood!" Because of the sins against one, the entire community - even nation would suffer. Sin often resulted in sickness or loss of vitality in the O.T. as it does in African cultural perceptions. In Psalms 6:1-7 David says: "O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow and they fail because of all my foes." David’s sin led to suffering, sickness, and estrangement from God and men. Africans understand the connections between impurity and the consequences of their actions. Today, I talked with a custom’s agent at the Post Office about the universal principle from Gal. 6:6 while several other officials listened closely. I said, "Whatever a man sows that will he also reap!" He took this seriously as he understood the gravity of God’s warning for acting wickedly in his job in handling the mail. He seemed to be genuinely grateful that I would spare him the awful consequences of sin, sickness, and suffering that could result from malpractice in carrying out his duties. This parallel of sin and sickness is a clear example of how the O.T. shows the relationship between the effects and the causes of human suffering. Most Nigerians that I know are genuinely open to any solution to have the curse of sin taken from them.
Africans fear curses for they know this means a loss of power, protection, and possessions. It is for this reason that prayer and fasting for cleansing is so important both in the O.T. and in Africa. Most Africans are eager to find relief from their difficulties. Especially if there is a mediator ready to stand in their place to accept their punishment for them. They can find it first through the one who will take all of their sin on His shoulders - Jesus - the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 9. Parallel the curses of elders with those of the imprecator Psalms.
Case Study:William Reyburn in an article on Sickness, Sin, and The Curse: The Old Testament and the African Church on p age 108 of Smalley Reader in Missionary Anthropology, tells about the parallels from his own observations in Cameroon:"A Kaka father who wishes to curse his disobedient son will go to the center of the village and in a loud voice call out the name of his son. ’You are no longer my son. You shall not dwell among your fathers and your ancestors. You will wander about looking for friends and you will find none. May everything which your hand touches come to naught. May you beget no sons and any wealth you find in this world, my you lose it. May your body be sick and your soul without strength. May you go without sleep and may the food you eat cause you to vomit and in the end may the vultures eat your body." This sounds very similar to David’s curse on his enemies in Psa. 109:6-15 when he says: "Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May no-one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth."
Africans understand the similarities between the power of the curses in the O.T. and that in their own culture. This is true in secret societies as well as in African traditional religions. It affords the cross-cultural minister with a superb opportunities to teach the serious consequences of the curse of death because of sin through Adam. (Rom. 5:12) Without a mediator everyone stands to suffer endlessly for the curse of sin, individually and corporately. Only Jesus delivers us from the curse and its terrible consequences.10. Parallel the similarities of African and O.T. marriages. For example, the Levirate marriage procedures for reestablishing the father’s name through remarriage to the dead brother’s widow in Deut. 25:5-10 is one parallel: "If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husbands’ brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel."Similar practices are carried out throughout Africa in order to insure continuance of the family line. This concern for the families’ preservation, unity, and security is uppermost in the minds of many Africans.
Although a Westerner would not understand the necessity of such practices, Africans can draw analogies to this and the benefits of belonging to the family of God through Jesus Christ. (John 1:12) In similar fashion, many African tribe offer payment for bride prices as did those in the O.T.. In Gen. 24 we learn how Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac. When the servant arrived at the well outside the city of Nahor, he asked for a sign that he might make the proper choice. When Rebekah came with her pitcher, she offered to draw water for him and his camels. He took this as the requested sign. Her response indicated that she was generous, hard-working (Those camels needed lots of water), and hospitable. He then gave her expensive presents that he had brought from Abraham. When he asked for lodging, he refused to stay until he met with the father to explain his mission. When Rebekah’s father and brother heard the request, they allowed her the choice if she would accept. This indicated that she came from a wealthy family of an upper class background. She left her home and became Isaac’s wife . All of this without ever laying eyes on Isaac.
In like fashion, African regard anyone who fails to get married under normal circumstances as one who has rejected society and society will reject him in return. Marriage is an institution that brings the best and worst of economic, social, political, and religious aspects together. Also without procreation, marriage is incomplete. Without children the marriage is not perpetuating the family line. It is for this reason that the father will go to great lengths to see that his sons are married and have children. I have heard many Africans say, "Without children no one will be able to remember you. To die without getting married is to become disconnected. It is to become an outcast and lost all links with one’s family."
A cross-cultural minister can use this comparisons to show the importance of marriage to Christ through faith in Him. Not only by showing the ideals of a spiritual life in ones’ own family life, but also through the spiritual analogy of becoming united with Christ through the marriage of faith for admittance into His family. Without membership in his family we are cut off from our links of power, salvation, and security. A person who stands alone is one who is vulnerable to all sorts of evil. It is for this reason that Paul emphasizes devotion to the Lord even before marriage in I Cor.
By emphasizing the preparation for marriage, the importance of family posterity, even the price that had to be paid for the union to be possible through Christ’s sacrifice comparisons can be great teaching tools. By comparing the strengths of unity through one’s earthly family and that of God’s family, greater understanding can be achieved.
Compare and contrast some of the African conceptions of God with those of the men of the O.T.. Granted, many Africans view God as an impersonal force like that of the Kaka tribe of Cameroon. William Reyburn says, "Historically, the Kaka conceptualizes God in the symbol of the spider. There is obviously a great gap between the spider God who silently busies itself weaving its web upon which the stars delicately hang in the heavens. The Old Testament provides a vital bridge from man impersonal force, a spider, to the personalized God of Israel. This is made possible since the Yahweh is concerned with the people of Israel and the smallest details of their lives." (Reyburn, p. 101)
Focus on the Creator God’s attributes while comparing and contrasting them with those of African perceptions. God is a Lord who is known through His creation, His power, His people, and His word. The following is a typical example of how a cross-cultural ministers might portray the attributes of God through His dealings with His people.II.
Case Study:An Example of One Parallel Lesson From the O.T. to an African Audience Today, I asked my students to look at Deut. 1:26-46 to see if we could find insights by comparing the similarities and differences of the decisions made by:
1). The 10 spies - Representing our peer groups
2). Moses - Representing a powerful spiritual leader they know
3). The People of Israel - Representing the masses of non-christians
4). Caleb and Joshua - Representing the believers who are expanding the kingdom qualitatively and quantitatively by faith. Within minutes several students caught the parallels from the pages of the Old Testament story to the causes, effects, errors to avoid, and lessons to learn in decision-making in doing cross-cultural ministries. This kind of teaching left the students with loads of insights on cross-cultural decision-making processes, but more importantly it gave them a teaching technique of using the Old Testament stories to compare and contrast with the 500 different tribal cultures that they will soon be exposed to in a plural ethnic culture like Nigeria.
Let me give you an example of using Old Testament analogies for cross-cultural evangelism that assures God’s blessings, power, and supracultural instruction from His Spirit. In Deut. 1 we learned how to approach people from diverse backgrounds, with different perceptions, and different levels of maturity. 1. First, God commanded the spiritual leaders to take possession of the promised land (Gaining our salvation through Christ). (Deut. 1:8, "See I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers - to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - and to their descendants after them." Cross-cultural ministers need to obey God today with His commands to believe in Christ for salvation. We need to emphasize the vital ministry of helping others enter the promised land of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Second, we need to appoint special ministers to accomplish the work of bringing people into the promised land of salvation. Realize that we need to research where the most responsive areas will be for the gospel. Those who we send out for the scouting out of the land must be men of a pioneering faith. Chances are there will be those who will be found deficient in their faith, courage, and abilities as the ten spies were. We need to prepare ourselves for those who will offer excuses for not involving ourselves in cross-cultural ministries. They will warn us that there are many "giants", obstacles, and enemies who will seek to destroy us. Refuse to allow your ministers to operate by faith, but be fully assured that there will be enough Calebs and Joshuas who can take the people into the realm of salvation. Surely, God is able to deal with the faithless, conniving, and cynics. Judgment still belongs to the Lord. God is still interested in those who want to expand His kingdom and His righteousness. (Matt. 6:33)3. Anticipate objections from the people as the people of Israel grumbled against Moses saying, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky." (Deut. 1:27,28)
Expect that many people will only be concerned about survival by looking at human hindrances. Distortions of perspectives usually come when people are guided through fear rather than faith. Backward looking people who prefer to live in the "old days" are people who twist the truth. Notice, the majority of the people believed that the Lord actually hated them. They had missed the most important point in life - the loving God never leaves them or forsakes them despite their outward circumstances.
Fourthly, Moses’ anger against God showed his tendency to become reactionary in his leadership. Leaders who act primarily as a reaction to the complaints of people will usually end up in trouble. Leaders need a supernatural ability to stay focused on things above not upon things of the earth. For they find their directions from God before all other sources. Moses failed to trust in God when the pressure became too annoying. Spiritual leaders tend to get distracted when they begin to listen more to people’s complaints than the leading of God’s Spirit and His word.
The ten spies were struck dead with plagues for their unbelief. God has a way of removing people who prove to be disobedient, unfruitful, and cowardly. Do not become upset with elders, church members, or powerful people who are hindering the progress of God’s kingdom. He has plenty of ways of removing the unfruitful to make way for those who want to bear much fruit and so prove to be His disciples. The ten spies were overwhelmed by the human odds against them forgetting that the battle is the Lords and He will defeat the enemy. Through Christ, He has defeated the enemies of sin, death, and eternal judgment. He has freed us from slavery to the law by giving us freely through His grace. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son.
Fifthly, God is an omniscient God who hears all, sees all, and knows all about everyone. In Deut 1:34-36 there is a picture of God’s omniscient justice in the phrase, "When the Lord heard what you said he was angry and swore: Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to your forefathers." People thought they could escape God’s ear by grumbling in their tents, but He knows all. People cannot hide from God’s judgment because they have not had sufficient exposure to the gospel or Biblical teaching. God is a God who wants all men to COME to a knowledge of the truth. Without a seeking heart, no one will enter the kingdom of God. Only through a wholehearted trust and search for God through Jesus Christ can a man be saved. Caleb is singled out for gaining the Lord’s promise to lead the people into the promised land because of his wholehearted faith.
The age of accountability is evident in God sparing the children from judgment. Children are extremely important in Africa. In Deut. 1:39,40 God says, "And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, (Notice - the people tried to use their children to rationalize their sinful ways) your children - they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it." People may try to use their children as an excuse for not believing in Christ today. Still verse 39 is significant for showing how God seems to acknowledge a so-called "age of accountability of children.
Evidently children are not held accountable by God until they are aware of the difference between good and bad. Children are not limited by their parents lack of faith or cowardice. Many great spiritual leaders have come out of broken homes of non-christian parents. Each person must give account of his own life to God.
When God’s judgment was announced to the people they realized the enormity of their sins. Similarly, the serious consequences awaiting those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ must be made abundantly clear. We need to help people move from the tertiary levels of understanding about the gospel to the primary levels. This involves helping people who come to church for social, educational, or family reasons to accept Christ as a Savior for their personal sins with a sincere heart to become the kind of a person He wants them to be. Half-hearted faith is not saving faith.
Seventh, there were at least ten hindrances keeping the people from entering into the promised land. Likewise there are many reasons why many people fail to enter into the kingdom of God today. Here is a brief list of the obstacles for faith:
1). Anger - Deut. 1:37,38 - God’s judgment even extended to spiritual leaders who refuse to come to God with a humble and contrite heart. They are many people who are angry, bitter, and full of resentment. These stand as roadblocks in the way of people who want to come to Christ with a spirit of meekness.
2). Unbelief - The people could not enter the promised land (salvation because they failed to trust God for His promises. Deut. 1:32 says, "You did not trust in the Lord your God who went ahead of you on your journey, in the fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go." Faith is a confident persuasion that God will do as He says He will do and then acting on that conviction. Failure to be persuaded by God’s word and failure to act led to their judgment.
3). Delay - The events of Deut. 1:37 occurred almost 40 years after that of the preceding verses (vv.34-36), but Moses links the procrastination of the people to their failure to complete their journey. Delay tactics are commonly practiced by people who think they can put off the important decisions of their life. It is for this reason that the New Testament emphasizes that "Today is the day of salvation." No one knows what tomorrow may bring.
4). Refusal to Accept the Chastening of God - The writer of Hebrews in chapter 2:1 that the wilderness was strewn with corpses of this generation as a reminder of the consequences of belief and obedience. Failure to take seriously the chastening of God can lead to disaster and final separation from God for an eternity.
5). Arrogance - Deut. 1:43 says, "So I told you, but you would listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah." Their high-minded haughty attitudes falsely led them to think that they could succeed with God’s help. They refused to wait on God for instructions preferring to tackle their problems with their own strength and cunning. People who try to succeed in their ministries, personal lives, or spiritual lives are doomed to defeat. No one comes to the Lord unless the Spirit of God draws him. Our salvation is given to us through His grace - no merit of our own. Our responsibility is to believe.
6). Rebellion - The people of Israel practiced an open resistance to the authority of God in verse 43. This rebellion was against God’s command to go into the promised land (salvation) and then against his commandment not to enter the land (fleshly efforts to gain salvation through good works)
7). Impulsiveness - Deut. 1:41 says, "We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight..." Seeking an instant remedy for a serious breach of trust, the people thought they could quickly get out from under a cloud of judgment by going to war against their enemies. Rash behavior usually results in disaster as it did in this case. Acting on a wave of excitement they did not gain the promised land as they lack reflective thinking. Many fail to enter heaven by acting impulsively with what seems good at the time rather than thinking through the full ramifications of the decisions.
8). Cowardliness - The people formerly refused to fight the Amorites, Hittites, and the Canaanites for fear of their great power. In Revelation we are told that the cowardliness will not enter the kingdom of God. Fearing man more than God is a sure way to be defeated in this life and the next.
9). Rationalizing - The people thought that they could rationalize with God. By offering up the excuse that their children would be captured as prisoners in the promised land. (Deut. 1:39,40) Rationalism is a fruit of unbelief that has led millions astray. Using human reason is fine as long as it is subjected to the filters of Prov.3:5,6 which says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insights. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Failure to acknowledge Him is a certain sign of eternal regret.
10). Insincerity - The insincerity of the people’s confession of their sins became evident to all in their second act of rebellion of going up to do battle with the Amorites. The first rebellion came out of cowardice and unbelief, but the second rebellion was caused by arrogance. Both sides of the same coin are the two extremes that most people struggle with today. It could be hypothesized that more people fail to enter heaven because of unbelief and pride than any other reasons. Trust and humility are the universal solvents of most limitations before God. They are the remedy for our irreconciliations both with men and God.
11). Failure to Know God - The people failed to understand the very nature of God. They supposed that he could be manipulated as their other gods. By cleverness they figured that they could gain God’s favor. However, they put more trust in their works than on their relationship with Him. Millions of Africans are falsely led to believe that by observing certain rituals, rites, and ceremonial practices that they can gain the favor of the ancestral spirits and idolatrous gods. They miss the most important aspect of life - Knowing God. Paul said, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to Him according to His death." (Phil. 3:10) Eternal life is to know God and His son Jesus Christ. (John 17:4)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Eitel, Keith The Transcultural Gospel - Crossing Cultural Barriers, p. 130-137, Evangelical Missionary Quarterly, April, 87.
2. Fritz, Paul How To Successfully Study, Preach, and Communicate the Scriptures, Great Commission, p. 4-38, Jos, Nigeria, 1991
3. Fritz, Paul Steps To Planting and Growing a Church, Great Commission Publisher, pp. 78-109, Jos, Nigeria, 1991.
4. Glasser, Art Old Testament Contextualization: Its Organization and Environment in Dean Gilliland’s The Word Among Us, Word, 1988 p. 32-38, Waco, Texas
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6. Hesselgrave, David Planting Churches Cross Culturally - A Guide For Home and Foreign Missions, pp. p. 36-50, Baker, Grand Rapids, 1980
7. Kato, Byang "Theological Issues In Africa," Bibliotheca Sacra 133 April, 1976:243-52
8. Mbiti, John African Religion and Philosophy, p. 130-158, Heinemann, 1990 Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
9. Reyburn, William Sickness, Sin, and the Curse: The Old Testament and the African Church in Smalley’s Readings in Missionary Anthropology, p.106-109, William Carey Press, 1978, Pasadena
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