Revolution in World Missions

Chapter 16, Enemies of the Cross The native missionary movement, the only hope for these unreached nations, is not going unchallenged by either Satan or the world. Revivals of traditional religions such as Islam and Hinduism, the growth of secular materialism including communism, and the traditional cultural and nationalist barriers are all united in opposition to Christian mission activity. I was brought up in a home where we worship many gods, says Masih, who for years sought spiritual peace through self-discipline, yoga, and meditation as required by his caste. I even became the priest in our village, but I couldn't find the peace and joy I wanted. One day I received a gospel track and read about the love of Jesus Christ. I answered the offer on the leaflet and enrolled in a correspondence course to learn more about Jesus. On January 1, 1978, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I was baptized three months later and took the Christian name Masih, which means Christ. In Asia, baptisms and the taking of a Christian name symbolize a complete break with the pagan past. To avoid the censure, which often comes with baptism, some wait years before they are baptized. But Masih didn't wait. The reaction was swift. When his parents realized their son had rejected their gods, they began a campaign of persecution. To escape, Masih went to Kota in Rajasthan to search for a job. For six months, he worked in a factory and meanwhile joined a local group of believers. Through their encouragement, he enrolled in a Bible institute and began to master the scriptures. During his three years of study, he made his first trip home. My father sent a telegram asking me to come home, Masih recalls. He said he was terribly ill. When I arrived, my family and friends asked me to renounce Christ. When I didn't, much persecution followed and my life was in danger. I had to flee. Returning to school, Masih thought God would lead him to minister to some other part of India. He was shocked at the answer to his prayers. As I waited on the Lord, He guided me to go back and work among my own people, he says. He wanted me to share the love of God through Christ with them, like the healed demoniac of Gadara whom he sent back to his own village. Today, Ramkumar Masih, a former priest, is involved in church planting in his home city and surrounding villages, working among both Hindus and Muslims in a basically hostile environment. Although Masih has not had to pay the ultimate price to win his people to Christ, every year a number of Christian missionaries and ordinary believers are killed for their faith throughout Asia. The total in the past century is estimated at 45 million, undoubtedly more than the total killed during the preceding 19 centuries of church history. What are these enemies of the cross that seek to oppose the advance of the gospel in the nations that need so much to hear of its hope and salvation? They are nothing new, just reawakened devices of the enemy, some of his final poise to keep these nations bound, traditional religions. Revivals of traditional religions are occurring all over Asia. Although few countries have gone the route of Iran, where a religious revival of Islam actually toppled the state, religious factionalism is a major problem in many countries. When government, media, and educational institutions are taken over by atheistic materialists, most nations experience a great backlash. As traditional religious leaders are finding out, it is not enough to drive western nations out. Secular humanists are in firm control of most Asian governments, and many traditional religious leaders miss the power they once exercised. At the grassroots level, traditional religion and nationalism often are deliberately confused and exploited by political leaders for short-term gain. In the villages, traditional religions still have a powerful hold on the minds of most people. Almost every village or community has a favorite idol or deity. There are 330 million gods in the Hindu pantheon alone. In addition, various animistic cults, which involve the worship of powerful spirits, are openly practiced alongside Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In many areas, the village temple still is the center of informal education, tourism, and civic pride. Religion is big business, and temples take in vast sums of money annually. Millions of priests and amateur practitioners of the occult arts are also profiteering from the continuation and expansion of traditional religions. Like the silversmiths in Ephesus, they aren't taking the spread of Christianity lightly. Religion, nationalism, and economic gain mix as a volatile explosive that Satan uses to blind the eyes of millions. But God is calling native missionaries to preach the gospel anyway, and many are taking the good news into areas solidly controlled by traditional religions. The Spirit of the Antichrist But the enemies of the cross include more than just traditional religionists. A new force, even more powerful, is now sweeping across Asia. It is what the Bible calls the Spirit of the Antichrist, the new religion of secular materialism, often manifested as some form of communism. It has taken control of governments in a number of states, including Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. But even in those Asian nations with democracies like India and Japan, it has gained some control of the state in various non-communist forms. The temples of this new religion are atomic reactors, oil refineries, hospitals, and shopping malls. The priests are most often the technicians, scientists, and military generals who are impatiently striving to rebuild the nations of Asia in the image of the industrial West. The shift of political power in most of Asia has gone toward these men and women who promise health, peace, and prosperity without a supernatural God. For man himself is their God. In one sense, secular humanism and materialism correctly diagnose traditional religion as a major source of oppression and poverty throughout Asia. Humanism is a natural enemy of theistic religion because it is a worldly and scientific method to solve the problems of mankind without God. As a result of this growing scientific materialism, strong secularistic movements exist in every Asian nation. They unite and seek to eliminate the influence of all religion, including Christianity, from society. Modern Asia, in the great cities and capitals where secular humanism reigns supreme, is controlled by many of the same drives and desires that have dominated the West for the past one hundred years—the anti-Christian pressure of the world, the culture. If traditional Asian religions represent an attack of the devil on Christianity, then secular humanism is an attack of the flesh. That leaves only one enemy to discuss—the anti-Christian pressure of the world. This final barrier to Christ, and still probably the strongest of all, is the culture itself. When Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from years of living in England and South Africa, he quickly realized the Quit India movement was failing because its national leadership was not willing to give up European ways. So even though he was Indian, he had to renounce his Western dress and customs, or he would not have been able to lead his people out from under the British yoke. He spent the rest of his life relearning how to become an Indian again—in dress, food, culture, and lifestyle. Eventually, he gained acceptance by the common people of India. The rest is history. He became the father of my nation—the George Washington of modern India. The same principle holds true of evangelistic and church planning efforts in all of Asia. We must learn to adapt to the culture. This is why the native evangelist, who comes from the native soil, is so effective. When Americans here in the United States are approached by yellow-robed Krishna worshippers with their shaved heads and prayer beads, they reject Hinduism immediately. In the same way, Hindus reject Christianity when it comes in Western forms. Have Asians rejected Christ? Not really. In most cases, they have rejected only the trappings of Western culture that have fastened themselves onto the gospel. This is what the apostle Paul was referring to when he said he was willing to become all things to all men in order that he might win some. When Asians share Christ with other Asians in a culturally acceptable way, the results are startling. One native missionary we support in northwest India, Jaigar, now has evangelized 60 villages and established 30 churches in a difficult area of Punjab. He has led hundreds to Christ. On one trip to India, I went out of my way to visit Jaigar and his wife. I had to see for myself what kind of program he was using. Imagine my surprise when I found Jaigar was not using any special technology at all, unless you want to call the motor scooter and tracks that we supplied technology. He was living just like the people. He had only a one-room house made of dung and mud. The kitchen was outside, also made of mud, the same stuff with which everything else is constructed in that region. To cook the food, his wife squatted in front of an open fire just like the neighboring women. What was so remarkable about this brother was that everything about him and his wife was so truly Indian. There was absolutely nothing foreign. I asked Jaigar what kept him going in the midst of such incredible challenge and suffering. He said, waiting upon the Lord, my brother. I discovered he spent two to three hours daily in prayer, reading, and meditating on the Bible. This is what it takes to win Asia for Christ. This is the kind of missionary for which our nations cry out. Jaigar was won to Christ by another native evangelist who explained the living God to Jaigar while he was still a devout Hindu. He told of a God who hates sin and became a man to die for sinners and set them free. This was the first time the gospel ever was preached in his village, and Jaigar followed the man around for several days. Finally, he received Jesus as his Lord and was disowned by his family. Overjoyed and surprised by his newfound life, he went about distributing tracts from village to village telling about Jesus. In the end, he sold his two shops. With the money he earned, he conducted evangelistic meetings in local villages. This is a man of the culture bringing Christ to his own people in culturally acceptable ways. The support we Asians need from the West if we're to complete the work Christ has left us must go to recruit, equip, and send out an army of native missionary evangelists. Native evangelists are prepared to meet the three big challenges we are now facing in the Orient. One, they often understand the culture, customs, and lifestyles as well as the language. They do not have to spend valuable time in lengthy preparation. Two, the most effective communication occurs between peers. Although there still may be social barriers to overcome, they are much smaller and more easily identified. Three, it is a wise investment of our resources because the native missionary works more economically than foreigners can. One of the most basic laws of creation is that every living thing reproduces after its own kind. This fact applies in evangelism and discipleship just as it does in other areas. If we are going to see a mass people movement to Christ, it will be done only through fielding many more thousands of native missionaries. How many are needed? In India alone, we still have 500,000 villages to reach. Looking at other nations, we realize thousands more remain without a witness. If we are to reach all the other hamlets open to us right now, Gospel for Asia will need additional native missionary evangelists by the tens of thousands. The cost to support this army will run into the millions annually. But this is only a fraction of the $94 billion that the North American church lavished on other needs and desires in the year 2000. And the result will be a revolution of love that will bring millions of Asians to Christ. So, are native missionaries prepared to carry on cross-cultural evangelism? The answer is yes, and with great effectiveness. Most of the native missionaries we support, in fact, are involved in some form of cross-cultural evangelism. Often, GFA evangelists find that they must learn a new language, plus adopt different dress and dietary customs. However, because the cultures are frequently neighbors or share a similar heritage, the transition is much easier than it would be for someone coming from the West. Even though my homeland has 18 major languages and 1,650 dialects, each representing a different culture, it is still relatively easy for an Indian to make a transition from one culture to another. In fact, almost anyone in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka can relatively quickly cross-minister in a neighboring culture. Native workers who seek to learn new languages and plant churches in other cultures face special challenges. In this particular endeavor, Gospel for Asia seeks to work with like-minded agencies that can help the native worker overcome these challenges. The challenge of Asia cries out to us. The enemies of the cross abound, but none of them can stand against us as we move out in the authority and power of the Lord Jesus. The problems we face are indeed great, but they can be overcome through tens of thousands of native missionary evangelists.