The Third World

I realize that I'm blasting into 2011 with a rather boring topic to most people, but my thoughts about people living in the Third World have been kindled more lately as I've been reading "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan, the founder of Gospel for Asia.  It was written nearly 25 years ago, but to my understanding is still a very popular and impacting read.

Rather than do a book review or summarize what the book talks about, I mention it only because it got me thinking more about the lives of the many people of our planet that live in what we call the Third World.  In fact, even before starting this book, 2010 was a year when God spoke to me on many occasions about these people, perhaps triggered by the horrific earthquake in Haiti last January.

So what has God spoken to my heart about those living in the Third World, especially about how we as Christians should view them and respond to their needs?

First of all, I think we in the Developed World or the West - or whatever you want to call it - have this impression that somehow we have it all figured out, that we're the standard that the rest of the world should aspire to.  I've read and watched many stories about people coming to North America, for example, from the Third World because they think it's paradise on earth and that being able to live there means that all their dreams will be fulfilled.

However, aside from having clean drinking water, access to better medical care, and a fairly reliable electrical grid and transportation infrastructure, the moral abyss that the West is sinking into makes it pretty obvious that we don't have it all figured out, and that our standard is based upon the almighty dollar and no longer the Almighty God that allowed us to achieve peace and unparalleled wealth in the first place.  And too many of them eventually get caught up in the emptiness of the consumer lifestyle, buying the Western idea that money and things will be the means to their dreams being fulfilled, even though each new purchase and financial milestone isn't as fulfilling as the last one or as fulfilling as they think the next one will be.

These immigrants, nor many of the people born in the West, don't realize that the incredible blessings our society has received was entirely the result of following biblical principles.  That's not to say that all the founding fathers of Western nations believed in God or the Bible, but even the non-believers had a respect for biblical principles and practiced them to a large degree.  Anyone who disagrees with this assertion needs only listen to an excellent 11-part audio series by Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi entitled "Must The Sun Set On The West?" that addresses the rise of modern Western civilization but also the fall that appears to be coming as it abandons its Judeo-Christian roots.  It's an excellent resource for anyone interested in viewing our society from a non-Western perspective.

Second, many Westerners over the years have had the idea that the only hope for the Third World has been to turn it, country by country, into a clone of us.  Unfortunately, this has largely failed because it hasn't taken local history or culture into account, and imposing a culture founded upon Judeo-Christian values has only caused resentment and even wars and bloodshed.

But what has happened with the abandonment of these values in the West?  Oh, the crusade to create Western clones is still in full swing, but this time its purpose is to create converts of consumerism.  Western corporate interests are fully behind the efforts of Western governments and aid organizations to "develop" the Third World because better lifestyles and more money in the hands of the billions of people considered to be in that part of the world means more potential consumers.  More consumers means more money in corporate coffers.  More places to advertise means more people enslaved to the idea of consumerism meeting the emotional needs in one's life instead of the one thing that will actually fill those needs, namely a personal relationship with God.

So how should Western Christians respond to the ideas that we're the gold standard in the world and that the world needs what we have?

Christians seem to fall into two main camps regarding these ideas.  There is the one camp that seems to ignore the issue of the great gap between rich and poor in this world, and instead focuses on getting all they can for themselves.  These people are referred to as wanting to "name it and claim it", using God as a cosmic bellhop to fill their every need by naming what they want and claiming its arrival in advance in Jesus' name.  If they don't get the material possessions they ask for or the healing they want, their leaders accuse their followers of not having enough "faith".  This "Prosperity Gospel" has been created by those who twist the Bible to justify their desires for wealth and self-gain, and has lived on in different forms under many different leaders for years from the likes of Jim Bakker (who has renounced this perversion of the Gospel) to Benny Hinn.

The other Christian camp seems to have a guilt complex about this great gap and is characterized by people who live on as little as possible so that they can give the rest to others less fortunate.  It's almost as though by doing so they can make up for the guilt they feel - imposed either from within or from Christian leaders - of being financially blessed or by living in a wealthy part of the world.  Never mind the fact that God allowed them to be born where they were and to enjoy the blessings of where they live.  In any case, it's difficult to tell whether those living a deliberately frugal lifestyle are doing it out of sincere love for others or as a way of trying to please God out of guilt or for a potential future payback for their sacrifices.

As with most things in life, I think taking the balanced approach - a middle ground perspective - is the best way to approach our view of people living in the Third World and their needs.  I think any Christian who feels a sincere and lasting burden to help others, whether in a country considered a Third World nation or living in bad conditions right here in the West, needs to get on their knees and ask God for how they should respond in a healthy and balanced manner.

Some Western Christians think they need to forsake the blessings provided by success and give them all up to minister in a Third World setting, when perhaps God was perfectly satisfied with them giving a portion of their income to others less financially blessed but willing to do the same.  Others think they need to get involved in some sort of official ministry instead of ministering to the everyday needs around them outside of a ministry or position with a fancy name or title.

K.P. Yohannan earnestly sought God's will about how he could be used to reach the poor and the lost, and the result was Gospel for Asia, a massive organization that trains native missionaries to reach their very own countrymen with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it goes far beyond preaching and church planting into the realm of providing people with water wells and water purification systems to farm animals that will provide food and/or income to the people that receive them as gifts from Western donors.

What will God speak to your heart if you have a burden for those in the Third World?  Will he give you the means to acquire wealth so that you can give a healthy portion to ministries that will impact those parts of the world?  Or will you be a visionary on fire for God who is led to start an organization on the magnitude of Gospel for Asia that will impact millions for Christ?

Whatever your burden, it all must start with prayer, and my prayer for you is that God will reveal your next step on His terms, in a way that is free from the desires of people who are only looking out for themselves and their own agendas.  May He give you a desire for what burdens Him, and may you respond in a manner that is healthy and balanced unless God reveals otherwise.

Too much church?

When a person reads or hears about the miraculous works and healings in the Bible, particularly in the Gospels and in the book of Acts, there's a misconception that such events are ancient history and that they have no place in this day or age. That God is somehow finished with using miracles to reveal His power in peoples' lives and win them over to belief in His Son, Jesus. Sadly, there are many Christians in the western world who would agree with this point.

But anyone in touch with events in the numerous parts of the world where being a Christian is illegal and/or violently opposed, particularly in Asia, realizes that God is working amazing miracles in these places in ways that make the Bible read as though one is flipping through a current newspaper. (By the way, the body of Christian believers living in these circumstances is said to be part of the "persecuted Church".)

For example, while thumbing through the most recent magazine put out by a Christian organization called Gospel For Asia (GFA), I read of people being freed from the bondage of demonic possession, healed from various illnesses and diseases, liberated from paralysis, and rescued from snake bites. And all of these miracles, according to this magazine, have resulted from GFA native missionaries praying for these people in the name of Jesus.

So why aren't such things happening en masse in the European and North American Church? (And by capital-c Church, I'm referring to the body of believers in Jesus Christ and not a building.) Why aren't we reading of genuine, miraculous healings in the Sunday morning services, Bible study groups, and other gatherings of Christians in the western world?

Before I go on, I wish to briefly address the perception of some in the western Church that healings do in fact regularly take place there. These are typically and pretty much exclusively believed to take place whenever a "healing crusade" or some event with "healing" in the title is held. In other words, where some self-proclaimed healer comes supposedly in the name of Jesus to some huge church, perhaps stadium, and with certain words and gestures causes the paralyzed to rise up out of their wheelchairs and the like.

If anything, these spectacles are a major reason why people mock the God of the Bible in western culture. Unbelievers, and fortunately most believers, have grown wary of these yahoos parading around as if they're God's gift to everyone and everything, accusing the handicapped, crippled, and diseased people in attendance to believe that if they don't get healed then they "don't have enough faith". So never mind the inability of the supposed healer; the true problem is the believer who lacks faith, in their eyes. Many have turned away from God and from the saving power of Jesus when they leave a healing crusade because they witnessed the staged healings (not realizing they weren't for real) and are devastated and angry at God because they themselves weren't healed. If you're a Christian and you believe that healings at these mass events are for real, then you should contact ministries like the Christian Research Institute (CRI) and start to learn about the shady characters behind these sorts of teachings who claim the name of Christ.

In the persecuted Church, none of the claimed healings occur because a time and place was arranged for them to occur. They happen as a missionary comes across a situation where a person is in crisis and then asks God for His intervention. As God chooses in each situation, He either heals or he does not heal. And if these events are rare, then why are there constant reports of such things being reported by the numerous ministries operating in these areas, and with witnesses - believing and non - to back most of them up?

So again - and finally - back to before: why aren't we reading of genuine, miraculous healings in the gatherings of Christians in the western world? Quite simply, I believe it all has to do with how we in the western Church think we need to relate to God.

In the Christian world, there is a wonderful and very accurate phrase that goes something like, 'Christianity is a relationship, not a religion'. In other words, the people with the deepest knowledge and reverence of and relationship with God across the globe are not those who regularly do all the things they think they need to do to please God. These are not the people who think that regular church attendance, regular taking of communion, regular giving of money, etc will draw them closer to God and vice-versa.

Rather, the people who know God best have included Him as a part of their everyday lives. They aren't trying to score 'brownie points'. They aren't putting on an image or a front of spirituality. They aren't doing nice things then making sure everybody else knows about them. They're regularly trusting in and communing with God by praying to Him and thinking about Him (meditating in its intended sense), reading and studying about Him in the Bible, and looking for ways to serve others and not just themselves.

Now what I've discovered to this point in my Christian walk is that the "religious" Christian makes church attendance and the like the focus of their faith. They're so consumed with ritual and putting God in a box that they miss out on what God really wants from them and for them: they miss the opportunities to give of themselves and serve others, plus to be open to new and fresh things that God wants them to learn and experience. They see God as ordered and structured instead of the dynamic, exciting, radical God He actually is. As a result, theirs is often the stale, boring, ritualistic faith so common in the western Church that turns off multitudes of people from realizing who God truly is and causes them to end up lost for eternity.

The "relationship" Christian, on the other hand, makes church a minor part of their overall faith. As I mentioned in another post, church to them is like the icing on the cake of their weekly walk with God and not the cake itself, as in the case of the religious Christian. Church is more a chance to catch up with other believers, and to encourage and practically serve those in attendance who have needs (like praying for them, inviting them over for lunch, helping them with yard work, cooking them a meal, etc). During the rest of the week, they are not the "Sunday Christian" like their religious counterparts. Instead, as mentioned before, their week is consumed with seeking then doing what God wants them to do, and this can only result from being in constant communion (i.e. communication, fellowship) with Him.

In parts of the world where Christians endure hardship much greater than us spoiled Christians in the West could ever imagine, a genuine, real, relational faith in God is much more common than the religious faith that dominates and corrupts the western Church. In these places, the "relationship" Christian seems to predominate, and they have given Jesus the freedom to work through their lives to produce all the miracles that the outside world has a hard time believing. Whenever I've heard of genuine healing occurring in our western culture, it is from relationship Christians praying for others on a one-on-one basis, as needs arise and without the hype of a formalized healing event.

I believe that if western Christians would only get away from the notion that church attendance and formal, pre-arranged church activity is the main way to know and commune with God, then our culture would see the dynamic power of Jesus in peoples' lives that non-believers are currently seeing through the persecuted Church. Instead, once again, all western culture sees for the most part in the western Church is stale, boring, religious ritual.

So am I proposing that us Christians in the western Church decide to stop attending the four-walled building we call "church" and forget about all the activities we do there? I am instead proposing that we not make Sunday mornings the central time of our faith, the overarching focal point or crux of our Christian walk. We need to pray, read our Bibles, get together with other believers, and serve the needs of Christians and non-believers throughout the week and not just during a formal, pre-arranged time and place.

As more Christians in our spiritually messed-up western culture realize these things and put them into practice, I believe that reports of genuine healing and other miracles from God - not the wiles of people - will no longer be stories from ancient history or things that only occur in other parts of the world.