Communicating and Ministering the Power of the Gospel Cross-culturally: The Power of God for Christians Who Ride Two Horses

 

There are consequences to a powerless Gospel, yet there is a way forward.

 

Communicating and Ministering the Power of the Gospel Cross-culturally: The Power of God for Christians Who Ride Two Horses

By Charles and Marguerite Kraft

“Man of God, we will beat you,” the demon said, “because your people ride two horses.” This statement was made to Tanzanian Christian priest Felician Nkwere as he was breaking the power of a demon. The two horses referred to are the “horse” of allegiance to Jesus and the “horse” of a continued dependence on the power of Satan to fill in gaps not provided for by the Christianity brought to Tanzania by western missionaries.

What these Tanzanians had experienced was a Christianity without the Bible’s full vision of God’s power working in and through His people, strong on the need for a commitment to Christ for salvation and strong on truth as understood intellectually. That Christianity was and is weak, however, in the area of greatest concern to peoples like these—the ability to deal with the evil powers that are continually pummeling them with misfortune, disease, infertility and other ills. Since no answers are provided in these areas by most of the traditional brands of western Christianity, Tanzanians and a majority of the rest of the peoples of the world who have been converted to such powerless Christianity continue to make use of their traditional power sources. In doing so, they inadvertently are trying to ride a second “horse,” a satanic horse, at the same time that they seek to follow Christ.

The Scriptures are clear that we are not to worship any God but the true God for, God says, “I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals” (Exo. 20:3, 5 GNB). For most of the world, however, including the western world, traditional Christianity has presented an incomplete God, a God who created and redeemed but whose current activity is difficult to validate. We have a Christianity with a wonderful past and an exciting future, but the present is for many very disappointing. Though large numbers of westerners seem relatively satisfied with this God, who is less than the God we see in Scripture, most of the rest of the world is not. They, like biblical peoples, expect God to be a God of the here and now, a God who provides enough spiritual power for daily living, power to ward off the evil powers that torment them.

Perhaps Christianity wouldn’t be so disappointing for nonwesterners if a God of present power weren’t promised in the Christian Scriptures. If all they saw in the Bible was a God as puzzled about and unable to deal with spirit things as we Westerners, this area wouldn’t be such a problem. But in the Bible they see a God of miracles, One who stands up to Satan and defeats him, not One who ignores the evil powers. Nonwestern peoples know about these powers and spend lots of their time, energy and resources appeasing the spirits to avoid or repair the damage they bring. And biblical Christianity promises, but usually is hindered by Westerners from delivering to such peoples, a superior power to enable them to be more successful in their attempts.

When Jesus came to earth, He came to people whose expectations were very much like those of the majority of nonwestern peoples today. First century Jews were people who looked for power demonstrations, not simply intellectual arguments, to prove God’s presence. Knowing this, Jesus provided power proof (e.g., Mat. 9:6-8; Mk. 2:10-12; Lk. 5:24-26). And He did this in spite of the risks involved—risks that people would be more interested in power than in the relationship with God He advocated and demonstrated. He was not swayed by the armchair theologians and biblical scholars of His day who, because they refused to believe that God was still doing miracles, even went to the extent of trying to talk a former blind man out of his healing (Jn. 9:13-34)! They, like their successors today, believed that God had worked in the past but that somehow He had changed and no longer did things like that today. So they asserted to the very person who had been healed:

We know that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow, however, we do not even know where he comes from! (Jn. 9:29, GNB).

Jesus presented a whole Gospel. This involved good news concerning salvation from sin. And through salvation from sin it also involved good news concerning God’s ability and willingness to release people from present problems (cf. Mat. 9:2, 6; Mk. 2:5, 10-11; Lk. 5:20, 24; Jas. 5:15-16; see Peter H. David’s chapter in this book). Prominent among these problems are the need for physical and emotional healing plus the need to be released from demons. Much of the world is still looking for a God who is concerned about all of these needs, a God who keeps Jesus’ promise to set captives completely free (Lk. 4:18).

 

Our Testimony

We went to Nigeria as missionaries 35 years ago with all the good news an evangelical background could provide. And many Nigerians responded to the Lord. But, except for recommending the cursory kind of praying over current needs that we practiced ourselves, we and our colleagues could only offer secular means to deal with their physical ills. The people we worked with could read the Scriptures about a wonderful Miracle Worker who used to live and used to do powerful things under the anointing of God. But that was all in the past. We, and presumably He, offered nothing like that now. If they needed healing, they had two choices: the medicine man/woman or the western clinic/hospital.

Ten years ago, though, God used John Wimber to challenge us to try claiming the power of God to do the same things God used to do through Jesus. In a very unemotional, unweird way, then, we learned to do what Jesus did. As Jesus promised, we discovered that we could learn new truth via experience: Jn. 8:32 (cf. 3:21)¹ “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We got out of our armchairs, stopped debating whether or not healing was for today and discovered that when we did what Jesus did, God frequently (not always) healed.

Now, when we go back to Nigeria or to the dozens of other places we go to around the world, the Christianity we present has a new kind of credibility because it is more like what Jesus demonstrated. We have not left the commitment to the scriptural Christianity we carefully learned as evangelicals. Our message has simply come to make more sense (and be more attractive) because Christ is seen and experienced in a biblical way as being relevant to daily needs in a world full of evil supernatural powers.

 

“Two Horses” Christianity

To illustrate what we mean by “two horses” Christianity, let’s look at a few typical expressions of Christian faith in various parts of the world. In Taiwan a Christian mother has a baby. The nonchristian grandparents carefully write down the exact date and time of the baby’s birth and take the information to a priest at a Buddhist temple to seek protection against evil spirits and the blessing of good spirits in the life of the child. The parents, faithful members of an evangelical church, aren’t really sure whether as Christians they should allow this, but every child needs all the protection and blessing possible. So they go along with it.

In Nigeria a Christian man develops severe swelling and pain in his right leg. He goes to the medicine man who diagnoses the problem as the result of retaliation by his deceased father for not burying him properly, according to custom. To appease his father’s angry spirit, the man must conduct an elaborate ceremony in which he sacrifices five goats to his father’s spirit. The Christian man believes the medicine man and carries out the ceremony.

Among the Navaho it is common to see Christians carrying packets of sacred corn pollen in their pickup trucks to protect them against accidents. Again, the view is that people need as much power as possible. So why not use this traditional technique as well as Christian prayer?

In the United States, sizable numbers of Christians regularly consult horoscopes, go to fortune tellers, belong to occult organizations such as Freemasonry and even dabble in New Age or Eastern Mysticism. We have even heard of openly New Age Christian churches. Even Americans are becoming aware of the fact that there is more to life than the physical universe and are experimenting with supernatural power sources.

In southern Mexico a woman brings her sick daughter to the Roman Catholic cathedral to be treated by a curandero. She regularly attends mass at that cathedral and is considered a good Catholic. But the ritual her daughter undergoes is not Christian, not even Roman Catholic. It comes from the pre-Catholic substratum of Indian society and demonstrates a belief in spirits, powers, magic and ritual not endorsed by the Bible or any other Catholic literature or tradition. Since the Christianity this woman’s ancestors embraced provided no effective way to deal with illness, they simply continued their centuries old practices, though they now perform their rituals in the Catholic cathedral.

As evangelicals, we are rightly quite critical of Roman Catholic Christianity in Latin America (and elsewhere) for allowing such syncretism. As we travel the world, however, we are disturbed to find the same kind of thing in abundance (though often less blatantly) among evangelical Protestants as well.

In these and countless other ways, Christians the world over demonstrate that, though they have pledged allegiance to Jesus, they still maintain an allegiance to other powers. This powerless Christianity they are experiencing has not, however, come from liberals. It has come from committed, born-again, Bible-believing Christians who have most of the Christian message right but have, because of worldview blindness,² missed the spiritual power dimension of biblical Christianity.

As we travel around the world, talking to Christian leaders, we have come to believe that the most serious problem in worldwide Christianity is what we call “dual allegiance” or “bifurcated Christianity.” It happens either:

1. When people come to Jesus but continue to depend on other spiritual powers for protection, healing and guidance (e.g. the continuance of dependence on shamans and pagan, Buddhist or Hindu priests, amulets, sacrifices and pagan, Buddhist or Hindu rituals), or
2. When people add to their Christian commitment a dependence on occult powers (e.g. Freemasonry, New Age, Eastern Martial Arts, fortune telling, astrology, horoscopes, psychic healing).

Many who have left nonchristian allegiances to embrace Christianity have found themselves without the power to handle life crises. Christianity has been presented as the answer to the quest for eternal life but offers little to provide protection, healing and guidance for the present. This contrasts with the great concern for such things in the people’s prechristian faith, leaving voids in areas of great importance to them.

The need for spiritual power to handle events and problems deemed beyond human control is common to mankind. Most of the world perceives a variety of spiritual beings affecting everyday life. And this perception is affirmed by the Bible (see discussion in appendix 5 in this book: “Spiritual Warfare”). Marriage problems, barrenness, sickness, business or crop failure, accidents, broken relationships are all seen as involving spirit activity. In addition, success, health, fertility of fields, animals and people, protection from danger and the like are seen as requiring supernatural activity.³ In such societies, Christianity to be relevant must deal with all aspects of life. Often great voids have been left when western forms of Christianity have been adopted.

Many of the independent varieties of Christianity in Africa and other places have arisen in reaction to the contrast between what they see in the Bible concerning dealing with spiritual reality and what they have received from the western advocates of Christianity.⁴ Christian preachers talk a lot about a wonderful Miracle Worker who lived long ago. But they usually show little or none of that miracle-working power themselves. The promise of Christianity has not been fulfilled for them and they have become disillusioned.

Many who have been brought up in Christian churches have, likewise, become disillusioned because of the lack of power in the churches. They, therefore, have become vulnerable to contemporary movements (e.g. New Age) that promise and demonstrate spiritual power. A Christianity that talks about and promises spiritual power but leaves out the experiencing in this area that Jesus demonstrated and promised His followers (Mat. 10:1, 7-8; 28:20; Lk. 9:1,2; 10:1, 9; Jn. 14:12; Acts 1:8) is a great disappointment to many. Such Christianity leaves itself open to the problem of dual allegiance.

 

The History

Historically, evangelical Christianity has committed enormous resources to the task of evangelizing the world. Countless missionaries have gone out, supported by countless hours of prayer and countless dollars, pounds and other currencies.

The vast majority of these missionaries came from the western world. And they came at a time in history after the western world had largely ceased to believe in spiritual beings and powers. Even within the church, then, the intellectualism of Reformation Christianity combined with the anti-supernaturalism of secular society to produce a brand of Christianity that found more power in reason than in prayer. Medical advances came to be depended on more than prayer for healing, psychology more than deliverance for emotional problems, what humans do in the visible world more than what God does in the invisible. Church meetings came to be centered around sermonizing rather than worship.

From these kinds of churches, then, came the missionaries. In preparation, the missionaries were sent to seminaries and Bible schools where they received more training in rational approaches to theology than in learning the kind of faith-centered behavior of the early Christians (e.g. the Book of Acts). Furthermore, they usually received no training to enable them to understand such things as the cultures of the peoples to whom they went or the way these peoples understand reality or the needs that motivate them to act.

Enduring incredible hardships, these missionaries brought with them what, in comparison to the Christianity of the Bible looks distressingly unsupernaturalistic. They brought this western brand of Christianity, then, to peoples who, by and large, lived with a very high consciousness of the spirit world. Indeed, those to whom the missionaries came often spent considerable amounts of time and money tending to their relationships with the unseen world of spirits—a world that was strange and incomprehensible to the missionaries. There was little in the missionaries’ background that prepared them to even accept, much less deal with the reality of the spirit world.

Many missionaries did, however, take pagan practices relating to the spirit world seriously enough that they were either (or both) frightened by them or committed to reasoning people out of them. Many saw nonchristian societies as so infested with such beliefs and practices that they waged an all-out war against their cultures, on the assumption that Satan was so in control of these cultures that virtually nothing was rescuable.

The amazing drive of many missionaries to replace traditional cultures with western ways was often rooted in this belief that their customs, but not ours, are the product of satanic influence. Fear that satanic customs would come into the church, then, provided strong motivation to condemn what the missionaries considered strange, infected and dangerous. In its place, they advocated what to them was familiar, and “Christian”—rationalistic Christianity in league with secular approaches to most of life.

Largely through western schools, then, evangelical missionary organizations secularized sizable segments of nonwestern societies (as they had done in western societies) in the process of introducing them to Christ. Though large numbers came to genuine faith in Christ, their traditional supernaturalistic view of life was condemned and taught against. In spite of this, however, many Christians retained their belief in spirit beings and powers and went underground with at least certain of their traditional practices related to them.

The fact that missionized peoples learned to read the Bible and to see the contrasts in this area between biblical Christianity and western Christianity led many to split off into independent forms of Christianity in which they could openly express their supernaturalism. These forms of Christianity, divorced as they usually were from the guidance and training provided by the missionary churches, often moved into seriously unbiblical practices. Even had they been able to receive guidance from missionary sources, though, they probably would not have been much helped with regard to spiritual power. For the western advocates of Christianity and those whom they trained were seriously deficient in this area and, usually, fearful of getting into it.

From early in the twentieth century, western Pentecostal Christianity began to be introduced. This approach to Christianity was much more intelligible to many of the peoples of the world, since it assumed a good bit of what they assumed with regard to spirit beings and powers. Furthermore, Pentecostals demonstrated that the power of God is greater than the power of evil spirit beings and offered Christian answers that work in the crises of life.

Pentecostal missionaries were, however, still westerners. Though they made more sense to most of the peoples of the world than traditional evangelical missionaries did, their supernaturalism was often not as developed as that of the people to whom they came. Nor was it as well integrated with biblical supernaturalism as it ought to be. For example, Pentecostals often were nearly as fearful of evil spirits as were the people they came to. In dealing with them, therefore, some Pentecostals tended to give the impression that the satanic kingdom is more powerful than it really is and that only those with special knowledge and gifting can deal with it. Contributing to this aura, others were given to unnecessary loudness and emotionalism in dealing with demons.

Worse, Pentecostals, like other western missionaries generally held an anti-culture bias and a very western approach to such things as church organization, music and communication (largely preaching and a rationalistic approach to witness). Their clergy-centered leadership style often appealed to nonwestern peoples but promoted (as it has in the West) the splitting off of groups following different leaders. This often disrupted both church and community life and gave a wrong impression of Christianity.

Nevertheless, the much greater success of Pentecostal missions speaks eloquently for the fact that they have been much more on the wavelength of traditional peoples than have evangelicals. Furthermore, it is likely that converts to Pentecostal Christianity have less of a problem with dual allegiance than do those converted to other brands of Christianity.

 

The Answer

As Westerners we have a lot to learn about Christianity. We have done well with understanding and promoting Christian allegiance. Salvation by grace through faith has, since the Reformation, been in clear focus. Though we have often intellectualized faith too much and often missed the fact that biblical faith included faithfulness, we have done quite well on this aspect of Christianity.

We have also done fairly well with the truth dimension of biblical Christianity. Though, in keeping with our cultural biases, we have tended to overemphasize intellectual truth to the detriment of experiential truth—learning the truth by practicing it—we have been solidly concerned with true understandings of biblical doctrine. We have largely conformed our teaching to what can easily be done in the classroom, the conveying of information. We have, therefore, tended to ignore the considerable body of truth that only comes through launching out in faith-dependence on God, truth that cannot be reduced to information (Jn. 3:21). We fail to see that it is experiential truth that is in focus in verses like Jn. 3:21 and 8:32: “You will know [=experience] the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32 GNB); “The one who practices the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen that what he has done has been done through God” (Jn. 3:21).

Had we not narrowed our understanding of truth to the informational and intellectual aspects of it, we might well have gone farther in understanding and participating in the more supernaturalistic dimensions of our relationship with God.⁵ For experiencing a life of faith (fullness) gets one well beyond that which can be rationally understood and explained.

What we have lacked, however, is the experience and understanding of spiritual power that fill the pages of the Bible. We often could talk about how the people of God lived by faith and in the authority God gave them over the invisible powers of evil. But, with the exception of Pentecostals and charismatics (comparative latecomers in the missionary enterprise), most evangelicals either ignored or explained away the possibility of our living that way today. Thus, the part of the Christian message most attractive to nonwestern peoples, and increasingly to Westerners, was not a part of the experience of most of the western missionaries who carried the gospel to them.

Now, however, many of us are a part of a movement within non-charismatic evangelicalism into the spiritual power dimension of biblical Christianity. This is, of course, a threat to the traditionalists who have theologized God (and, often, Satan as well) out of His ability to do today what he did in New Testament times. How like the Pharisees who also believed that God is only a God of the past and the future (Jn. 9:29)! Beyond the worldview blockage, traditional evangelicals have good reason to fear the emotionalism, experience-orientation and, in some cases, wierdness both of practice and theology that characterize some high visibility Pentecostals and charismatics. Wimber and others have, however, pioneered for us a way of moving in spiritual power without such extremes. They are teaching us that this dimension of Christianity is a dimension that Jesus expected to be normal for us.

There is, therefore, the possibility for things to change today among evangelicals such as the two of us who were once just as skeptical as many of our detractors. Though an incredible amount of damage has already been done, resulting in large numbers of Christians worldwide riding two horses by practicing dual allegiance and nominal Christianity, we could mount a strategy to correct the situation. Elements of the strategy might be as follows:

1. Many of us former missionaries who presented a deficient (powerless) Christianity but have now experienced the missing dimension can do seminars leading people into that missing dimension in nonwestern areas, including the places we once served. We can repent and return to a fully biblical view of ministry in God’s power. We can teach, demonstrate and lead our people out of the need for dual allegiance into a powerful, biblical Christianity.

We need to instruct both national and expatriate leaders in biblical models of healing and power encounter in a culturally sensitive way. In doing this, we need to resist any tendency to simply export another western approach to Christian experience and doctrine. If the problem of dual allegiance is to be counteracted, the understanding and practice of spiritual power by such leaders needs to be firmly rooted in both the Bible and their own cultural foundations.

In most places this will not be difficult with the nationals, since many of them have simply submerged their traditional supernaturalism. They often are immediately opened up to deal with these issues as soon as they receive our permission to do so. We’ve experienced this in doing seminars on spiritual power in places like Nigeria, Kenya, Chuuk, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan among the nationals of these countries. We found, in fact, that many of the pastors in these areas have been practicing healing and deliverance surreptitiously, in spite of the fact that such activities were condemned by church leaders. As we teach the biblical validity of such ministry and demonstrate the willingness of God to move in healing power today, then, they often gain new freedom to practice these things openly.

Such retraining is often not difficult among missionaries either, since many of them have come to realize the difficulties we have been outlining here. Though some have hardened their traditional categories, those closest to the people usually are searching for ways to use indigenous power consciousness as a bridge to Christianity.

2. We can introduce both leaders from nonwestern churches studying in this country and missionaries to a sound, balanced biblical approach to this aspect of Christianity. We are seeing leaders and missionaries who have moved through this “paradigm shift”⁶ return to much more effective ministry. In one case, the people who had noted the difference between the missionaries’ approach and what Jesus had promised remarked, “At last you’ve become real Christians!”

3. Bridges need to be built between non-charismatic and charismatic church leaders worldwide. We have much more in common than we have differences. We evangelicals need to learn more from what charismatics have learned. And they need to learn some things from us. This learning is happening in exciting ways in many parts of the world (e.g. Singapore, U.S.A.) but needs to be encouraged elsewhere (e.g. Japan, Germany).

4. One of the things that will be very important to non-charismatics in dealing with spiritual power will be what they perceive as biblical balance and freedom from excesses. They will probably not open themselves up to approaches that encourage the following: a lot of emotion, either in worship or in receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit, shouting, elitism (e.g. with regard to gifting), an emphasis on tongues as more important than other gifts, “name it, claim it” approaches to healing, mysticism (e.g. “what I understand of God and his works comes directly from him, not indirectly through others or the Bible”), prophecy (e.g. “God spoke directly to me and told me to tell you … “) and the like. Evangelicals need to be taught by those who know and guard against what evangelicals regard as the excesses of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity—even when being taught to practice some of those things.

5. Pentecostals and charismatics have a golden opportunity to teach and influence non-charismatics if they will learn to tone down some practices and ministry styles that may be perceived as unnecessarily extreme. Are the Scriptures as strong as many charismatics on such things as tongues, high emotion (e.g. in worship and receiving the Holy Spirit), shouting in prayer, and dogmatically (and, often, unlovingly) stated prophecies and words of knowledge? A reconsideration and modification of excesses in such areas could contribute greatly to bridge-building between charismatics and non-charismatics. And we non-charismatics need all the help we can get from charismatics in overcoming those deficiencies in our Christianity that contribute to the dual allegiance problem.

 

Conclusion

Jesus gave all Christians the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; I Cor. 12:13) and with him power and authority over all demons and all diseases (Mat. 10:1; Lk. 9:1; 10:17-19). He promised, furthermore, that we would do all that he did and more (Jn. 14:12). The greatest spiritual power in the universe is available to Christians through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, large numbers of Christians worldwide have not entered into this aspect of Christianity—an aspect that speaks strongly to socially inculcated felt needs. Most of the world’s peoples are keenly aware of the spiritual world. And for most of the peoples of the world, the quest for enough spiritual power to live their lives with a minimum of disruption is one of their top priorities.

Failing to find Christianity providing the answers they seek in the area of spiritual power, many Christians have either retained their previous allegiance to powers other than the Holy Spirit or sought new power outside of Christianity to meet their felt needs in this area. This ought not to be. And it need continue no further if we develop biblical strategies to deal with it. May God enable us to do so.

 

PR 

 

Notes

¹The truth is to be done not just intellectually known according to Jn. 3:21, “The one who practices [poieō “do, practice”] the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen that what he has done has been done through God.”

²Charles H. Kraft, Christianity With Power, Ann Arbor: Vine (Servant Publications), 1989; cf. Marguerite G. Kraft, Worldview and the Communication of the Gospel, Pasadena, CA: Wm Carey, 1978.

³Marguerite G. Kraft, Reaching Out for Spiritual Power (Ph.D. dissertation), Pasadena, CA: Fuller Seminary, 1990; id., Worldview and the Communication of the Gospel, Pasadena, CA: Wm Carey, 1978.

⁴David Barrett, Schism and Renewal, London: Oxford University Press, 1968.

⁵ See Kraft, Christianity With Power.

⁶ See Ibid.

 

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NIV®.

This chapter is from Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer, eds., The Kingdom and the Power: Are Healing and the Spiritual Gifts Used by Jesus and the Early Church Meant for the Church Today? A Biblical Look at How to Bring the Gospel to the World with Power (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993). Used with permission.