Topics Menu
We are a Christian Fellowship meeting in North London with a strong interest in teaching the Bible and understanding our time in
the light of Bible prophecy
The changing face of Christianity
In 1900, 80% of people identifying as Christians worldwide were either
Europeans or North Americans. Today 60% are citizens of Africa, Asia or
Latin America. The implication of this shift was the subject of an article
in 'Newsweek' (16/4/01). Europe is seen as a 'post Christian' society, while
'the events which are shaping 21st century Christianity are taking place in
Africa and Asia.' 'Christianity is no longer a white man's religion,' says
Larry Eskridge of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals.
'It's been claimed by others.'
The article makes some interesting observations: 'To millions of Christians
in Africa and Asia words like 'Protestant' and 'Catholic' inspire little or
no sense of identification. According to David R Barrett, co-author of the
World Christian Encyclopaedia, there are now 33,800 different Christian
denominations. 'And the fastest growing are the independents, who have no
ties whatsoever to historic Christianity.'
The article shows how Christianity has been adapted to meet the spiritual
needs of different cultures. 'In India the growth is mainly amongst outcasts
who find in Christianity hope and dignity denied them by the rigid caste
system. In China Christianity answers the problems of meaning that Marxism
fails to address. … Africans are embracing Christianity in the face of
massive political, social and economic chaos. Plagued by corrupt regimes,
crushing poverty, pandemic AIDS and genocidal wars, Africans find the church
is the one place they can go to for healing, hope and material assistance
from more fortunate Christians in the West.'
The article paints a picture of Christianity, which is less concerned with
doctrine and more concerned with relating faith to the culture of the
countries it is being planted in. This often involves a mixture of
Christianity with the religions of those countries.
'In many Indian churches, priests have adopted the dress and rituals of the
Hindu majority. The mass may begin with 'Om,' the sacred sound of the
Vedas. … Vandana Mataji, a Catholic nun, sings bhajans (devotional songs) in
praise of Jesus and of Krishna four times a day, eats strictly vegetarian
and meditates in silence.'
'Africans have always recognised a spiritual world within the empirical, and
there is much in tribal religions that makes adaptation to Christianity
easy. But the traditional African worldview also includes witches and
spirits of every kind - especially those of tribal ancestors. All these
presences have power to work good or evil on the living and so must be
placated or warded off through fetishes.'
According to 'Newsweek' the fastest growing form of Christianity, especially
in Africa, is Pentecostal faith healing, imported directly from the West.
'When Africans read the Bible or hear it preached, they see that Jesus was a
healer and an exorcist, and controlling evil spirits has always been a
primary function of tribal shamans.' Nearly 6 million Nigerians jammed a
park in Lagos for a healing service conducted by German evangelist Reinhard
Bonkke. 'Every night in cities like Accra, Ghana, thousands of Africans seek
out evening Pentecostal 'prayer camps'. Most are women who can't find
husbands or wives suffering from infertility, but others come because
they've found no job. The diagnosis in every case is associated with tribal
witchcraft. One by one, victims are sent rolling on the floor as freelance
Pentecostal preachers 'deliver' them from evil spirits in the name of
Jesus.'
'Africans also embrace Pentecostalism because - again like tribal
religions - it promises material abundance in this life. The best attended
African churches are supported by relatively well off, educated Africans who
do not wish to lose their precarious prosperity.' Michael Okonkwo, founder
and self appointed bishop of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission in Lagos,
says, 'In Africa if I want a car I have to pray to God to give me the money
to pay cash.'
What are we to make of this?
Firstly to be positive we agree that Christianity is not a white man's
religion - in fact it originated in the Middle East through Jesus, the
Jewish Messiah, and his Jewish disciples. Also the spread of Christianity
world wide is in itself a major sign of fulfilled prophecy, since Jesus told
his disciples to 'go into all the world and preach the Gospel' and said that
the completion of this project would be a sign of his second coming (Matthew
24.14) (NB It needs to be stated that there are large parts of the world -
especially the Islamic countries - where the Christian message is unknown or
very little known).
On the other hand we note that Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the
tares (Matthew 13.24-43) in which the good seed sown by God grows alongside
the tares (weeds) sown by his enemy (Satan). Both grow together until the
harvest when they are separated with the wheat being gathered into barns and
the weeds thrown into the fire to be burnt. It is interesting that there is
a form of weed, which grows in Israel, and looks almost identical to wheat,
but contains no nourishment and so is useless for food. Jesus also warned
that 'false prophets and false Messiahs will appear and perform great signs
and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible.' (Matthew
24.24 - see also Matthew 7.15-23).
There are three main aspects of this article, which are worth drawing
attention to.
1: History / doctrine does not matter
Christianity may not be a white man's religion, but it is a faith, which has
an important doctrinal content, based on the Bible. The major issues of that
doctrinal content were fought out in the European Reformation. Today it is
fashionable amongst Christians all over the world to say that the
Reformation does not matter or even was a mistake, because basically all
Christians believe the same thing. This is simply not true.
The Reformers were not perfect, but we owe them an enormous debt of
gratitude, because they rediscovered the essential truths of the message
taught by Jesus and the Apostles, based on the teaching of the Bible, not
the traditions of men: that we are sinners who need to be saved from the
judgment of God by repentance and faith in the sacrificial death and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one Mediator between God
and humanity and the blood he shed at the cross was sufficient to bring
forgiveness of sin and eternal life to all who turn in faith to him. This
basic message is denied by Roman Catholicism, which requires the continual
sacrifice of the Mass performed by priests who thereby mediate God to the
people.
2: Mixing Christianity with other cultures
Accepting that Christianity is not a white man's religion, it is obvious
that Christians from other backgrounds do not have to accept the culture of
white Europeans or Americans. At the same time the Bible clearly teaches
that culture is not a neutral thing spiritually, especially when it is
related to religion. Therefore it is dangerous for Christians to embrace
Hindu worship forms and combine them with Christian ones, or for to seek to
appease ancestral spirits through fetishes.
On this subject it needs also to be said that the spiritual decline of the
church in Europe came about through mixing Christianity with pagan religions
in order to make it attractive to the masses (for example the cult of the
Madonna in which Mary replaced the mother goddess of pagan religions as an
object of worship). Despite the gains made by the Reformers in rediscovering
biblical truths, referred to above, many of them failed to liberate the
faith from the shackles of Rome by preserving aspects of compromised
Christianity (for example infant baptism).
In the Old Testament the God of Israel constantly distances himself from the
gods of the nations, which are always described as a corrupting influence on
the people of God (see Psalm 115, Isaiah 45.18-25, Jeremiah 2). Jesus said
'I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father
except by me' (John 14.6), thereby ruling out any possibility that the
salvation he came to bring could be mingled with other religions. The
Apostles confronted Roman paganism and called people to be separate from its
influences: 'What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are
the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will dwell in them and
walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people.' Therefore
'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what
is unclean, and I will receive you.' (2 Corinthians 6.14-7.1. See also Acts
14.8-18, 19.23-41).
It can be shown from history and contemporary practice that wherever
Christianity is mixed with other religious influences, the other influence
will become stronger and eventually eliminate the Christian content. This is
not because the power behind the other influence is stronger than the power
behind Christianity, but because the God of the Bible is unique and says, 'I
am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another, nor
my praise to graven images.' (Isaiah 42.8). If there is an attempt to mingle
the worship of the Lord with the worship of other gods or to use other
religious practices (especially anything remotely connected to witchcraft),
the Holy Spirit simply departs and evil spirits take over.
The prophetic scriptures indicate that in the end times there will be a
coming together of world religions under the authority of the 'Whore of
Babylon' (Revelation 17.1-6), which will persecute true Christians. It is
most likely that Roman Catholicism allied to apostate Protestantism will
lead this union of world religions. The kind of 'touchy-feely' Christianity
which is being promoted worldwide today and which has little time for the
essential doctrines on which the faith is founded, is a push over in terms
of falling for the spiritual deception behind this movement.
It is interesting that the 'Newsweek' article draws attention to the
conflict within Roman Catholicism today between traditionalists who believe
'in the necessity of conversion to Jesus Christ' and those who believe that
'The church cannot disregard the Spirit of God working in other people in
all cultures and religions.' It is likely that the latter view will win out
in this conflict and that the next pope will be chosen because of his
willingness to work for the religious unity of the world.
3. The health and wealth bandwagon
Recently ITV screened a programme called 'A Question of Miracles' featuring
healing evangelists Benny Hinn and Reinhard Bonnke in action. The programme,
first made in USA and being shown in a number of countries around the world,
made disturbing viewing. I accept that the makers of the programme were
clearly prejudiced against the evangelists and selected their material to
give a negative image of them. However the fact is that despite making
massive claims for their healing powers, they could give no evidence for
verifiable or lasting miraculous cures taking place.
The programme showed a rally where Benny Hinn was rebuking cancers, tumours
and lameness in the name of Jesus. However, one woman was seen trying to get
out of her wheelchair for thirty minutes, only to join the rest of the wheel
chair bound who came to the rally and left in the same condition they came
in. 76 miracles were claimed on stage, but 13 weeks later, his team could
only provide 5 names of people who went forward for healing. When these
claims were investigated no medical evidence for healing was found. In fact
one woman died months later of cancer she was supposed to have been healed
from. A number of people who were proclaimed healed in the name of Jesus at
the rally stopped taking their medication and became very ill later. A poor
immigrant couple whose son was dying of a brain tumour gave thousands of
dollars they could not afford to the evangelist on the basis of his claim to
be able to bring healing to their son. The son died and Hinn kept the money.
All of this is a far cry from the miracles of the New Testament. When Jesus
and the Apostles performed miracles there was no question that the person
concerned was completely healed. This could not be denied even by their
opponents. After the healing of the lame man in the Temple in Acts 3, the
Apostles were arrested by the Temple guard, but the Sanhedrin were compelled
to let them go by the evidence of the miracle:
'Seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say
nothing against it' (Acts 3.14).
Miraculous signs followed the preaching of Jesus and the Apostles (Mark
16.17-18), but they were not the point of attraction. In fact Jesus
discouraged crowds from following him to look for signs. Far from seeking a
mass of people who would tag along with his movement for what they could get
out of it, Jesus put off would be followers with a radical call to
commitment even to the point of being willing to lose their lives for his
sake: 'If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it' (Matthew 16.24-5). (See
also Matthew 10.16-42, Luke 9.57-62, John 6.60-71). He told his disciples to
give freely as they had received freely (Matthew 10.8). Interestingly in the
Didache, an early Christian manual, it was considered a sign of a false
prophet to ask for money. Also it has to be said that Jesus' miracles
recorded in the New Testament were selective. He did not heal every sick
person in Israel (although everyone who came to him seeking healing was
completely healed). There was a multitude of sick people at the pool of
Bethesda, but Jesus only healed one lame man there (John 5.1-15).
Today's healing evangelists appeal to the needs of people offering the sick
a chance to get well through the miraculous powers which are supposed to be
present at their rallies, and promising wealth as a reward from God to those
who donate to their ministries. Since almost everyone in the world would
like to have better health and better living conditions, it is a powerful
appeal. The question however is whether they deliver on their promises.
Clearly something does happen at these rallies, as people respond to the
evangelists by falling on the floor and displaying a variety of physical
manifestations, some of which do appear to bring relief (mostly temporary)
from pains they have previously suffered.
The TV programme attributed this to hypnotic suggestion in the lives of
people who have been psychologically prepared to respond in this way before
attending the rallies. This may be so, but Jesus also spoke about wonders
being done in his name by people to whom he will say 'I never knew you;
depart from me, you who practise lawlessness' (Matthew 7.23). He said that
false prophets doing signs and wonders would be a feature of the last days
before his second coming (Matthew 24.24). This will prepare the way for the
man of sin or the Antichrist whose coming will be 'according to the working
of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with unrighteous
deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of
the truth, that they might be saved' (2 Thessalonians 2.9-10).
What is certain is that all this brings Christianity into disrepute. The
lavish life style of Benny Hinn compared to the poverty of people who give
him money for healings, which do not take place, causes revulsion. Many of
those who are persuaded to part with their money end up disillusioned when
the miracles fail to occur and reject the whole Christian message. It is
also clear that anti Christian forces are using the abuses of these
preachers to attack Christianity in general and as an excuse to propose laws
restricting the freedom of all Christians. On a recent trip to Ukraine I met
a believing Christian from Minsk in Belarus who told me how the freedom of
religion, which had been won after the fall of the Soviet Union, is now
being gradually lost through new laws the government has brought in under
pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church. The main reason for these laws
coming in is a reaction against the multitude of Christian groups,
especially hyper charismatic groups from the USA, which flooded the country
after the restrictions of Communism were lifted. He told me how the police
attended a meeting held by a 'prosperity preacher', then called him to the
police station to tell him that what he was teaching was not in the Bible.
Apparently the successors of the KGB are more knowledgeable of the Christian
message than the preachers! (I have produced a tape about this subject
available for £3 including postage).
Conclusion
Jesus told his followers to 'Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in
by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to
life and there are few who find it' (Matthew 7.13-14). Despite all the
claims of worldwide revival and the statistics of huge growth in the
'Newsweek' article, the authentic message of Jesus is not much heard,
especially in the public places of our world. He is calling us to repentance
and faith in the one final sacrifice he made for our sins. To those who
respond he offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life, with difficulties
and persecutions along the way, but with the assurance of his presence and
help to guide us.
For the record I do accept that genuine miracles do happen today, generally
within the context of a believing congregation (James 5.13-18) and as a sign
following the preaching of the Gospel (Mark 16.15-18). However in my
experience they are much less frequent than most charismatic Christians
claim they are! Most Christians I know who have had serious illnesses do not
recover from them or if they do recover it is as a result of medical
treatment. In fact all of us are going to die one day unless the Lord comes
first. To say as some healing evangelists that sickness is the result of
unbelief is to add false guilt to the burden the sick carry because of their
illness. The obsession with healing and miracles in many Christian circles
today is in my opinion a diversion from the clear call in the Gospel to
preach the message of salvation and forgiveness of sin through the death and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus and to leave the results to God.
For further information on Benny Hinn, write in for the booklet 'Benny
Hinn - unmasked'.
