Blog re Riverside Vineyard 2010 Thailand Trip

http://riversidethailand10.blogspot.com/2010_04_05_archive.html

Burma and Forced Migration

Last night I went to hear Douglas Alexander MP, the Secretary of State for International Development, speak about the work of DFID (Department for International Development) for the UK Government. Whilst not answering my question quite so directly as I'd hoped, he assured the voters present that he understood something of the Thai/ Burma border situation, having visited Burma (http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR30/6.pdf)

The situation I raised was regarding the Shan, a people (amongst others) who have lacked the public profile maybe afforded to the Karen and Karenni peoples, and yet, like many minority groups in Burma, filtering into Thailand, without identity papers, surviving through prostitution, fuelling the trade in human trafficking that haunts the border of Thailand and Burma. I heard a while back of someone going, credit card in hand, to buy children (they then set up an orphanage).

When children are a commodity like a bag of groceries, we realise (one hopes we do) that there is something deeply disturbing with the devaluation of human life. Or do we? After all, we fail to address this dilemna in the family planning clinic when advising on abortion, or in the elderly care home when considering the dignity of a client in the final phases of death who might be considered for euthanasia one day.

Is there a space in us that needs to review our 'compassion fatigue'as it was once coined so cruelly? Perhaps there is something that needs to happen to us that took hold of Wilberforce - a deep and unrelenting passion for people in God's image that fuels our lives to fight for them to the last. I mean not just feel mildly pitying but profoundly, life-capsizing, political-corridors-storming, Church-and-Society alarm-clocking compassion that weeps and sweeps change.

Contextualization - an Asian and European perspective

This is an essay I recently wrote regarding the issue of contextualization -an issue vital to missions today.


In this essay I have sought to highlight both the concept of contextualization and explain its broader significance and current issues that I have encountered in missiology. Communicating to a diversity of culture and context is a challenge. For example, one hundred separate ethnic groups were recognised in North Vietnam in 1958 , Martin Saunders of Youthwork Magazine talks of a complexity of youth culture in the UK that can only be reached in broad brushstrokes by a local church. Enlarge that worldwide and the task of addressing each one seems overwhelming.

Contextualization is a concept facing Christians in every situation. Contextualization addresses the question: how does the gospel and Christian faith ‘translate’ successfully from one culture to another, without losing its integrity? The origin of such a need is rooted in the fact that God has a message to bring into the context of humanity (Philippians 2:7-8).But for us, we may not so readily let go of (what are assumed) superiorities or priorities.

Biblical pioneers were faced with bringing the gospel to a different context, and the ensuing challenges (e.g. Acts 14:8-18 the sacrificial response in Lystra and Derbe or Acts15:5-6 and Galatians 2:11-14, with questions regarding following Jewish customs). Sometimes cited as an early approach to contextualization, Count Zinzendorf, on preparing Moravians for work in Greenland (begun in 1733), advised them not to use terms regarding sacrifice, as this was not understood by autochthonous shamanism. Zinzendorf emphasised the point of greatest need as providing the key reference in the understanding of the need for a saviour.

Newbiggin highlights the danger of an assumption that we are delivering a gospel untainted by our own culture. Likewise, a recipient culture may value issues that are less than central, even quite contrary to gospel values. The interaction between Modern Christian culture, Biblical culture and Target culture, (a Three-Culture Model) gives us a picture of an ongoing conversation. This is significantly different to ‘Indigenization’, ‘Adaptation’ or ‘Accommodation’, Newbiggin argues, in that the culture with a message and the culture receiving it are both dynamic.

Hiebert demonstrates a process of evaluating existing Muslim customs, gathering information on them and reflecting theologically in order to put them in the light of biblical teaching. This can create a new contextual practice. When existing customs are accepted uncritically or rejected and customs are still practiced despite Christian faith, syncretism can develop. If the gospel cannot address existing customs, the gospel can be seen as foreign and rejected.


Lingenfelter describes contextualization as an appropriate framing of the gospel – making it applicable in terms of ‘language and communication forms’. It has to do with the gospel being meaningful, connecting to what matters most in the culture. Contextualization is about the gospel ‘making sense’ and ‘coming alive’ as Newbiggin describes, in the context of the culture to which it is being received. But this necessitates some critical acknowledgement – not all cultural approaches to the Christian message will be the same, and a theological analysis is required by the missiologist. Newbiggin exemplifies this within a pluralist society (both India and, as he argues, such is true increasingly in European culture). The ‘domestication’ of the gospel, as he terms it, can change its core identity.

Contextualization, in the view of Hesselgrave and Rommen, is necessary for world evangelization to be successful . Kirk states that contextualization is something that acknowledges the reciprocal influences involved when the gospel interacts with a cultural context.

The first widespread use of the word ‘contextualization’ seems to have originated in the 1970’s largely as a realization that a shift was developing. The Two-Thirds World had a growing Church, and with it, new approaches to theology were being considered. The term ‘contextualization’, surfaced amongst the circles of the Theological Education Fund (TEF) in the issue of educating and forming people for the church’s ministry. As Hesselgrave and Rommem outline, the developing first (“advance”) and second (“re-think”) mandates of the TEF and discussions within the World Council of Churches (WCC) led to questions that the new committee of the TEF sought to implement in a third (“reform”) mandate. Some of the dispute around contextualization is immediately apparent: the TEF committee sought to address a ‘crisis of faith’, development and social justice issues and the debates between local contexts and ‘a universal technological civilization’ .

Bosch outlines various aspects of contextualization: both indigenization models and socio-economic ones, and suggests the concept of part of the process of a new paradigm – a major shift towards an ecumenical missionary paradigm. This is a far cry from the persecution of sects considered quickly as heterodoxy or heresy , and often suffering for what we might consider less syncretic or denominational differences in faith or practice today as the Waldensians did .

Nicholls cites that concerns developed regarding the WCC approach to theological matters as the authority and role of scripture came under discussion in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. This had a huge impact on approaches to the issue. The widespread debate over contextualization soon becomes apparent, in that discussions regarding the gospel and its interactions with culture were evident at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974 and prompted the Lausanne Committee’s Theology and Education Group to explore these further in a consultation at Willowbank in 1978, resulting in LOP2 ‘The Willowbank Report: Gospel and Culture’. This was later followed by a consultation in Haslev, Denmark in 1997 called Gospel Contextualization Revisited sponsored by Theology and Strategy Working Group of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity.

As a need, the contextualization of the gospel is essential as a process for translating the scriptures, communicating core dogmas, and enabling the culture to receive the gospel clearly. An issue as crucial as the nature of God’s very being, requires careful thought in bible translation. A recent dispute arose in Malaysia over the use of the word Allah as being a name for God amongst Christians. Traditionally, in many Islamic countries, including Indonesia nearby, this has been acceptable (e.g.in Arabic translations of the scriptures). A similar conflict has arisen in Mongolia between different translation groups over the concept of God as Burhan: a word more familiar to Buddhists. The complexities of the Mongolian context were highlighted further by Gibbens this January in writing about the Church’s response to a culture heavily influenced by Shamanism .

In a Skype conversation recently (25 January 2010), a missionary friend in Thailand struggled to make sense of cultural passivity: young believers passively accept the views of those who are older. What are cultural styles of communication that are effective? What about the lack of commitment, or difficulties in decision-making or the way people cannot seem to act disloyally to their elders, even when told to engage in sexual activity to provide for a parent’s new business premises? Where is the line between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to others you should respect? To what extent is ‘missionary paternalism’ a failure in a culture where paternalism is expected? Ubolwan Mejudhon suggests colonization, modernization and the Vietnam War have caused enormous damage to relationships between Christians and the Thai. Mejudhon argues reconciliation is a vital part of Thai relational culture and is a necessary focus to heal relationships between Western missionary workers and the Thai people .

Contextualization is a critical issue for the Church in Europe too. In an interview on Premier Radio, Martin Saunders, editor of Youthwork Magazine spelled out the challenges of a highly digitally-networked generation, and the so-called ‘missing generation’ in many churches of 18-30 year olds . Has the Church missed many of them through irrelevant models and approaches? It was recently announced that the average age of Church attendees in the UK is 61 years of age (the general population being 48 on average) , but the same article noted that other institutions are losing membership, as inherent distrust in institutions deepens. In reference to the Scottish Church, Ross points out the difficulties now faced by a younger Church (from continents with vibrant growth) revisiting Europe, only to find an aged parent apparently confused and somewhat embarrassing to be associated with . The growing ethnic churches , especially in London, may also need to consider how to cross-culturally reach the white British population, or at least to more effectively partner with them.

In conclusion, contextualization is necessary for worldwide situations, such as those mentioned, including in a secular climate in the UK or Europe. It is vital in connecting mission and culture globally. There has been considerable concern at times that it might ‘muddy the waters’ of mission although at the same time bring relevance to the message. The necessity of aligning a contextual process with a biblical analysis of such is, in my mind, as essential as sensitivity to culture. Much can be gained from reflecting on past endeavours at contextual approaches – both successful and those that have ended as syncretism or unsuccessful. In doing this, alongside conversation with indigenous believers wherever possible, lessons can be gained. A wider discussion, as has occurred through initiatives such as those by the WCC and LCWE, are important to assess and reassess methodologies, especially in a world where all cultures are dynamic and practitioners are constantly learning by the application of contextual mission.

Bibliography

Hesselgrave, D.J. & Rommen, E. Contextualization: Meanings, Methods and Models (Leicester: Apollos,1989)
Heibert, P.G. Anthropological Insights for Missionaries (Grand Rapids:Baker,1985) cited in Encountering the World of Islam Edited by Swartley, K.E. (Milton Keynes: Authentic Publishing, 2008)
Kirk, A.J. What is Mission? Theological Explorations (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1999)
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization The Manilla Manifesto an elaboration of The Lausanne Covenant fifteen years later (Pasedena: The Castle Press, 1989)
Lingenfelter,S. Transforming Culture : A Challenge to Christian Mission 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids:Baker Book House Company, 1998)
Newbiggin,L. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (London: SPCK, 1989)
Nicholls, B Contextualization: A Theology of Gospel and Culture (Exeter: Paternoster,1979)
Van, D.N Ethnological and Religious Problems in Vietnam (Hanoi:Social Sciences Publishing House, 1988) cited in Asian Minorities Outreach The Peoples of Vietnam (Bradenton,FL: Asia Harvest,1998)


Reports and Articles

LOP 2: The Willowbank Report: Consultation on Gospel and
Culture Lausanne Occasional Paper 2 (Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1978)
http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-2.html [accessed 27 January 2010]

Mejudhon, U. ‘The Thai Way of Meekness’ p.277-286 in Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Guide Hattaway,P. (Carlisle: Piquant Editions,2004)

Ministry in Context: The Third Mandate Programme of the Theological Education Fund (1970-77) (Bromley, England: Theological Education Fund, 1972)

‘Old Church and New Evangelism – A Scottish Perspective on Christian Mission in Today’s Europe’ in Missiology: An International Review, Vol.XXXVII, no.4, October 2009


Web articles and blogs

Beckford, M & Bloxham, A. ‘Average age churchgoers now 61, Church of England report finds’ Daily Telegraph 22.1.2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7054097/Average-age-of-churchgoers-now-61-Church-of-England-report-finds.html [accessed:31.1.2010]

Blake,D. ‘English Church Census 2005 Reveals Hope Amid Further Decline’ Christian Today 22.9.2006 [accessed: 31.1.2010] http://www.christiantoday.com/article/english.church.census.2005.reveals.hope.amid.further.decline/7709.htm [accessed: 31.1.2010]


Gibbens,J. ‘Mongolia: A lesson to learn’ in Evangelicals Now, Aug.2007
http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-3923-Mongolia-a-lesson-to-learn.htm [accessed: 31 January 2010]


Peck,A. ‘The Leadership File’ Interview with Martin Saunders, editor of Youthwork Magazine 31.1.2010 (online podcast will be downloadable on:
http://ondemand.premier.org.uk/leadershipfile/AudioFeed.aspx
[accessed: 31.1.2010]

Tiplady,R. ‘From Spirituality and Community into Mission-the Moravian Model’
http://www.tiplady.org.uk/pdfs/Moravians.pdf [accessed: 31 January 2010]

Unspun ‘The Allah Issue: the difference in Malaysia and Indonesia’
http://theunspunblog.com/2010/01/13/the-allah-issue-the-difference-in-malaysia-and-indonesia/ [accessed: 31 January 2010]

Watt,I. ‘News from Mongolia- John and Altaa Gibbens’ Asia Update, 24.1.2010
http://illustatedlife.blogspot.com/ [accessed: 31 January 2010]

News From Mongolia - John and Altaa Gibbens

My good friends John and Altaa Gibbens have been involved in Bible translation and later humanitarian work, in Mongolia since the early 1970's. Altaa (Altaanchimeg) was possibly the first Christian convert in Mongolia in the twentieth century - in 1970's and early 1980's you could probably count the number of Mongolia believers on one hand, spread across a country of about 3 million, but the size of western Europe.

After alot of initial interest in Christianity and a revival of Buddhism, many Mongolians have now returned to Shamanistic beliefs -below gives a bit of insight about what this means in Mongolian society.

QUICK PRAYER POINTS No. 73
========================

Thursday 21st January 2010


Some people have requested some matters for prayer. These are:

• Please give thanks to God for the continued work on the translation.
Now a good proportion of the Bible text has been edited after the
second read-through. Editing started in September 2009. Following
completion of that, the whole will need a quick read through, to
ensure the changes made read correctly and well. After that it can be
typeset. Work on compiling the glossary is going along steadily. That
and the introduction will both need to be translated.
• Since the early 1990s Mongolia received very many international
loans amounting to many billions of dollars. It was widely alleged
that the main of this money disappeared into the pockets of people
through corruption. These loans now have to be repaid.
• In recent years, there has been a decline of Buddhism and
“Christianity” yet the very strong and very widespread rise of a far
more natural Mongolian religion. This is shamanism, the religion which
Genghis Khan followed, the name in whose power he conquered Euro-Asia
to be the world’s largest empire. Mongolians do not question the
strength of the supernatural power that is being talked about here. It
is deeply revered as very strong and people are very much afraid of
it. No one jokes about it or plays with it. Mongolians believe they
are connecting with the power in space, the “eternal sky ruler”.
Nowadays most families have one of their members as a practising
shaman.

Professor, Dr Bum-Ochir, who studied anthropology at Cambridge
University appeared on Mongolian TV channel 8 03/01/2009 and stated,
“many people are becoming shamans”. This is mainly people aged 18-25.
He said, “any of them are well off and well educated and have been
abroad to live or to study”. Some are giving up well paid careers to
do that. “It is not a backward, blind faith”, he said, “Many have had
visions and spiritual experiences”. Tuva is a province in Russia, to
the north of the Mongolian border. He said, “A man who became a shaman
had no knowledge at all of the Tuvinian language, yet under the power
of the spirit possessing him, he could speak the language perfectly
and intelligibly”. Bum-Ochir said “society is suitable for that now as
for the 70 years under Socialism shamanism was illegal”. He stated,
“it is not a religion, as it lacks any monastery, books or structure,
but depends on supernatural power falling on people who become
shamans”. “No one can volunteer to become that”. Only the “eternal sky
ruler” can send a spirit on a person and they have to receive it.
“Most of shamans are completely genuine. People do not desire to
become shamans. At first they refuse it. They then face getting ill or
dying unless they do become shamans. Many people come to me and say
they cannot live unless they become a shaman”.

There is no human mediator, it is a direct relationship between
“eternal sky ruler” and the person themselves.

The period under Socialism merely meant that these kind of beliefs
went underground, but they did not at all disappear. Thus, in
Mongolia, proof for the resurrection is never asked for, nor is an
argument for creation as against Darwinism. The reason is simple.
Mongolians have within their society a very strong belief in spirit
powers. For them, the question about the resurrection is not whether
the resurrection occurred, but whether or not it was a material body
as against a purely spiritual event and result. Mongolians believe in
supernatural and thus are very different from the materialistic West.
Evangelistic materials developed for the West do not work in Mongolia.

On 03/01/2009 three Mongolian girl students were overheard talking
with each other on a bus in Ulaanbaatar. They talked of a person they
knew who hade received the spirit of a hunting dog. That spirit helped
them get into college and have success. One of the girls had two
relatives who became ill. One became a shaman and the other a
Christian. The girls mocked the one who had become a Christian as they
knew shamanism is more powerful. The person whao had gone to a
Christian church later gave up the church. The 3 girls very obviously
strongly believed in shamanism.

It is true the era of 70 years of Socialism left a “spiritual vacuum”
but these people were not searching for God. There was no desire to be
set free from sin before the perfection and sinlessness of God. What
has excited them is the resurrection of the sort of faith that
genuinely is Mongolian. Shamanism has many seeming advantages over
either Buddhism or Christianity. These are:

o it is completely Mongolian, not foreign
o it requires no training but a spiritual experience from above
o no foreign language study is ever needed
o no big change to Mongolian life is needed
o it helps everyday life as it deals with curses
o it feels imminent
o a woman has complete equal rights, unlike Buddhism and Christianity
which have men at the top
o becoming a shaman is quick
o not the slightest risk of any persecution
o plenty of money as people pay them to place curses on others, have
curses placed om them by others removed, and all sorts of spiritual
things such as telling of a dead relative. Like the witch of Endor in
the Bible, they get the voice and all the rest of the dead person. It
is completely convincing as the person for whom this is done knows the
shaman has never met the dead relative and knows nothing at all about
them. People do not dare to refuse money, as they may be cursed, and a
shaman curse wrecks a family and brings death
o in Christianity the minister is seen as only a volunteer and in
Mongolia they are seen as merely getting money to live on. No shaman
will ever do that. They become shamans due to a spirit call.

Christianity has therefore spread in direct relation not only to the
amount of money a “church” has, but to the extent to which that form
of Christianity is alike to shamanism. Mongolians expect blessings
from the supernatural world. Thus talk of anything supernatural
attracts them. They are certainly not interested in sin and repentance
and the work of Christ on the cross, but in blessing. Many Mongolians
and missionaries frequently comment on this. Thus, without repentance,
the big interest has ben in talk about the Holy Spirit to give spirit
power and blessings, it is said. The missionary has not realised this
Mongolian desire for magic and the supernatural. They are used to the
West, where there is skepticism and materialistic concepts and the
idea of science having disproved the supernatural. In Mongolia,
existence of the supernatural is not doubted. Thus, new age teaching
and so on is extremely popular. Mongolians pretending to be “pastors”
realise this and use that sort of interest to attract more people,
talking much about the family and blessing. In this way they hope to
attract more foreign money. Mongolians do not have the concept of the
family and do not concentrate on it. This is a foreign, Western idea.



• Very recently International Support Service (ISS) needed to render
accounts to the Mongolian tax authority. The tax officer, a woman in
her 40s said she once went to a church, and said it was full of
screaming, crying women. She quickly escaped from it. She said people
tell each other to “go and get free coal” from this or that “church”.
(They attract people by giving out aid goods.) She sat in the office
reading the New Testament in Mongolian. She said it sounds OK. She
asked why people go to Gandan to the Buddhist monastery to donate, but
go to Christian groups to get. Underneath she seems interested. She
asked why though people connected with Christianity commit suicide. He
husband refuses to let children to read anything about Christianity.
He hates the way people from religious groups come and knock the door.
This is due to the suicides. Some say this is due to the demonic
activity from mixing shamanism (tenger) and Buddhism (burhan) with the
Bible. It was seen that the dislike she spoke of is due to the
suicides.
• There are major problems with ISS taxation. Most people in Mongolia
evade taxation. They do all in cash only. A new law has been produced
that if an organisation pays for something to some who does not pay
tax, the organisation buying the goods has to pay 10% tax on all such
to the tax authority. In Mongolia, many provide receipts. Many are
given by people who are not registered for tax. One can never get a
receipt from such as a market trader or a taxi driver. This new law is
not known by people. ISS then did not pay realise it had to pay taxes
in this way. ISS bought goods and obtained receipts, not realising
they were false and not printed as for tax. The tax inspection is over
the years 2007-2009. ISS is then being fined for not paying, and has
to pay over $1600 for this. This looks like it is a real tightening on
religious organisations in Mongolia. Christianity has created due to
giving aid and the suicides and the halls full of screaming women is
even more creating a very real hatred of even the word “Jesus”, or
“Christian”.

Another problem is in relation to another new tax law. I, John get
support from UK, etc., so tax is an issue that end. Of course I do not
get paid from ISS, etc. However, the new tax law is that if a person
is connected to an organisation, but not paid by it, the whole of the
money they have brought into Mongolia is taxed at 10% on all. We had
no idea of that new law. That means we could be fined to pay 20% of
all the money we have brought to Mongolia to live on 2007-2009. They
are no concessions nor are they any “tax-free” allowances at all.

We have been hit hard by the recession in two ways:

- our income has dropped by 25% in a year
- this end has become now more costly than ever

This all means we need your prayers for all this.


We have an enemy:

NIV Ephesians 6.12 …our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.

The Bible does NOT say such do not exist. It does very much exist. It
should be noted that these things concerning shamanism are not made
up. The curses and so forth really do work.

NIV Ephesians 2.1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this
world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is
now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath.

The Mongolians have who they think is a friend, named, “the ruler of
the kingdom of the air”. That is where their power comes from.

That is why Paul writes:

NIV Ephesians 6.19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth,
words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery
of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I
may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

We need you to pray FERVENTLY for God's work here and much for us.


John and Altaa in Mongolia

QUICK PRAYER POINTS No. 74
========================

Friday 22nd January 2010

There is a question arising from “Quick prayer points 73” which I sent
out yesterday. I need to answer it.

How do we, as believers, see the shaman? Are we also afraid of his
powers and curses?

Yesterday afternoon, just before I started to write that letter, a man
in his late twenties Uuraa was visiting us in the office. He runs a
stall in the market from which we buy mutton. Some months ago he had a
serious car crash so one of us went to see him in hospital. Yesterday
afternoon he came to say “thank you”. Whilst he was here, a Bible
Society employee talked to him about God. I left her to it and started
writing the letter. She told him who God is and that due to the
salvation she has in Christ, she is not afraid of any shaman. Uuraa
was absolutely astonished at that. No Mongolian ever says such a
dangerous thing. He left with a copy of the translation of Brownlow
North’s book on the rich man and Lazarus to read.

The shamans maintain they are in touch with the very greatest power of
the sky. That is why no Mongolian will ever say they do not fear them.
They advertise on TV, to come and offer sacrifices, to heal, to deal
with curses and so on. Everyone knows they are not pretending, but
really do such things. That is why they boldly advertise their
services. They know it really does work.

In 1980 a plumber in Ulaanbaatar wanted help. He told how one day he
was drunk and fought with a man who then cursed him and his family. In
a short time after that, his wife and children all fell ill and died.
Then the man started getting visits at night which woke him up. It was
some evil being which was ripping at his stomach. He could do nothing
about it. He was so scared that he became a night worker so as to try
to avoid going to sleep. This man was delivered by God entirely from
that.

We know first hand these things are real. It is nothing to do with
deception using strings and mirrors and so on. Exodus states the
magicians in Egypt could turn a stick into a snake (7.11-12); turn
water into blood (7.22); produce frogs (8.7). It was not pretence, but
real. When the witch of Endor called up the Samuel for king Saul, that
was not pretence. Every sinner in the world is in fact following satan
so being in touch with him is nothing exceptional or interesting. It
is the normal human condition, due to disobedience to God.

ESV Ephesians 2.1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in
the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the
passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Seeing the reality, the fear of all Mongolians, how is it that the 30
year old single mother Bible Society employee can look a Mongolian man
straight in the eye and say with complete conviction she has no fear
of that which every single Mongolian is terrified? It is because she
knows that God has saved her and that she will never be condemned by
him for sin. (Romans 8.1) She knows that God has not merely saved her,
but that she and all of God’s children are seated with Christ in God’s
presence:

ESV Ephesians 2.4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great
love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been
saved—6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus…

She knows that passage and is certain it applies to her. Where is that
place? It is God’s throne! That is what Christ did for her. He sent
God in the flesh, Jesus, who was punished instead of her on the cross
and she, the 30 year old single mother, by faith is united with him,
her sins are forgiven, she is married to Christ, as are all believers,
and as they all are, one with him are seated there. That is where
Christ is:

ESV Ephesians 1.15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not
cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a
spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having
the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious
inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness
of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his
great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far
above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every
name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

That is important, as Christ, and she seated with him, are far above
satan and anything else. Satan is a mere creation of God. He has no
more power and authority than he received from God.

ESV Genesis 3.1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast
of the field that the LORD God had made.

Jesus came and destroyed what satan did:

ESV 1 John 3.8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son
of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

How? There is an important difference between God and satan. Satan is
proud. The mark of someone who is genuinely called by God to serve him
is:

ESV Numbers 12.3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people
who were on the face of the earth.

One attribute of God is that of boundless and utter humility. That is
why anyone he has sent must be humble. This applied to the King of
Kings:

ESV Philippians 2.5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross.

You see what Christ made himself? God of Gods, gave himself into the
hands of his wicked creation, to be tortured, humiliated and hung
naked as a common criminal on a cross. It was no rapid death. He was
abandoned by God the Father himself, accounted as guilty of all sin.
That is the ultimate in humility. Only God could be that humble. That
then resulted in:

ESV Philippians 2.9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed
on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

All, whether the devil or man is below Christ. Seated with Christ
above all and very power and authority, the Mongolian single mother
has not any fear of the shaman. She knows the position God has placed
every believer in Christ. God alone did that.

Yesterday evening, when reading the Bible with Tegshee (Tiki for
short) about Sodom, he commented, “It sounds better than Ulaanbaatar”.


Let us praise and give thanks to God for what he did for us through
Christ, for his unfathomable humility and meekness, for his grace and
favour on us, that has seated us with him, far above all.


John and Altaa in Mongolia

IRIN Asia | NEPAL: Why are so many women killing themselves? | Asia | Nepal | Gender Issues Health & Nutrition | News Item

IRIN Asia | NEPAL: Why are so many women killing themselves? | Asia | Nepal | Gender Issues Health & Nutrition | News Item

Commodity Crises and Capturing the Moment

There is much talk of the commodity crisis these days. I just noticed in the papers yesterday, the position of China in terms of rare earth elements [1].

The role of Mongolia also, seems to be coming to the fore in recent news this autumn that vast mineral resources may open up to the wider world.[2]

In a country of around 3 million, the least densely populated nation (excluding only the Antartican continent) the spread of a significantly nomadic and pastoral people is vast. Will the development of mining opportunities bring into Mongolia and it's economy a broader range of skilled expertise that will benefit the nation? In the communist era, Russian influence moulded architecture, medicine, politics and faith (or atheism at least).What benefits economically, culturally or spiritually could this bring - or not?

The increasing veneer of Western Capitalism has had some impact, and yet investors have been slow to see it as an open door with the control government policy still has, state ownership within operations, not to mention the level of siphoned resources that seem to be so mismanaged, some would strongly protest.

In this instance, there is the typical blessing and curse of the 'colony by default' - not a geographical territory exactly as in the mode of 19th Century Africa, but in the form of increasing economic influence. Maybe for this reason, the loss of the culture, identity and religious foundations that have re-emerged post-Russia are not going to be relinquished easily.

Meanwhile,from that corner of the world, an influence and resources of a different mine are being dug out. The treasures of wisdom sold and distrubuted on the open world market are not simply copper or rare earth elements (Job 28:2,12, Colossians 2:3). The Dalai Lama (the 'Ocean of wisdom') is on a drive to influence the West, just as much (perhaps more than) we seem intent on influencing the East. Germans, for one, in their spiritual seeking, rated the Dalai Lama more highly as a figure of wisdom in a 2002 poll in 'Geo Wissen' magazine than Pope John Paul II.[3]

It is time perhaps for us to rise to the occasion to pray once more for the Buddhist World. For it is a world who's economic and religious influence is unsurprisingly more than we would like to admit. The Dalai Lama's message to Canadians in 2007 'Global Citizenship through Universal Responsibility' to mark his visit there, appeals to a generation looking for worldwide inclusive solutions to peaceful co-existence.

His popularity in Austrailia, Canada, Germany and many other places in the West, require Christians to address the spiritual needs of this generation again. At a time when Islam is seeking to win the West, by fair means or often foul from our perspective, the same is true of Buddhism: but in a gentle and non-violent manner which is far more subtle at times. It is time to win hearts with the love of God afresh in the Buddhist world (both in traditionally Buddhist countries and in the Western Buddhist population too), and to do it by prayer, with grace and wisdom and the in the power of the Holy Spirit.



Footnotes:

1 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6374603.ece

2
http://seekingalpha.com/article/165235-what-mongolia-s-mines-mean-for-metal-etfs

3
http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/archive/old?y=2002&m=5&p=19_1
http://www.geo.de/GEO/fotografie/portfolio-des-monats/54055.html

4
http://www.tibet.ca/_media/PDF/commemorative_book.pdf