One God in American Culture: From Captain Kirk to Captain America

The 2011 Blockbuster hit, The Avengers, caused a little controversy when Captain America says, “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” This line comes when a character suggests the Captain sit out a fight between Thor and Loki, Nordic gods revealed to be powerful beings from another dimension.

In today’s America, such a statement is indeed scandalous. It is the height of arrogance, it is supposed, to assert any kind of transcendent truth claim about spiritual things, especially concerning God. Yet in Captain America’s 1940s, it was rather unremarkable for someone to make such a claim. Even near the end of the 1960s the rather progressive and somewhat liberal television show Star Trek makes a similar statement: 

Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.

—Captain Kirk, Star Trek Season 2, “Who Mourns for Adonais?”

In that story, Captain Kirk happens upon the god Apollo, revealed to be a powerful space being who visited earth thousands of years ago and was worshipped by the Greeks. When Apollo demands Kirk’s devotion, he rebuffs him with the statement above. It was likely more of a reflection of the 1960s culture than the personal convictions of the network or William Shatner.

Culture changes. The Roman Empire was largely opposed to Christianity until the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. With the fall of Rome came new opposition in some areas where it had been embraced. Times change, but the Church should not change, at least, not where it concerns the gospel. Whether the culture loves us, hates us, or something in between, we should always be prepared to testify of the gospel of God’s grace.

CAFE: Prayer Request for the Newly Persecuted

Café is the Spanish word both for “coffee” and the places that serve it. When I think of a café, I think of a nice, relaxing atmosphere with comfortable seats, saxophone music, and great conversation with friends.

Yet CAFE, is also the name of a team of missionaries working to reach the overlooked people groups within Colombia. One way they do that is through student ministry. And becoming a Christian for those students can lead to a whole host of uncomfortable situations not befitting a café environment.

I sometimes wonder why I don’t suffer more for my faith, and more and more I’m beginning to believe it is because I’m not as actively sharing that faith with the world around me as I should be. The gospel is offensive to our sinful nature, and if people’s eyes aren’t opened to its beauty and truth, rejection, and even persecution, results.

May the boldness of our brothers and sisters in Christ inspire us to be bold in our faith, holding on to the promise from 1 Peter 5:10, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

CAFE (ColombiA’s Forgotten Ethnos) PEOPLES (cah-FAY) - "I am suffering because I am changing the way I live. I believe that God wants to use me. My old friends are not happy that I no longer live the way I lived before. They tell me that Christians are weak because they have to depend on others. They can't think for themselves or do what they want. I told them that God is the Creator. He created me. As Creator, He has control over what He created. I am simply giving control of my life back to the One who had it in the first place. It was never mine to have!" This was the conversation recently with J, who is the newest indigenous believer at the student center. God is definitely changing her worldview! Pray for J as she continues to grow in her identity as a Christian and as God continues to reveal Himself to her through the study of His Word.

CAFE: Forsaking all “for my sake and for the gospel”

For many people around the world, becoming a Christian is not merely praying a prayer or affirming some doctrines, but a guarantee of immediate personal loss and persecution. Missionaries working in Colombia have shared the gospel with a young lady named C who faces strong pressure from her family to conform with her cultural religious practices.

Jesus had some words to say about someone in this situation, both a promise and a warning:

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

(Mark 10:29-30) 

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

(Matt. 10:37-38)

Pray that C would be willing to leave everything for Christ’s sake and for the gospel.

CAFE (ColombiA’s Forgotten Ethnos) Peoples (cah-FAY) - "C enters the door of the student center and heads to the kitchen to greet each staff person with a hug and kiss of greeting. She is warm, and most of the time, her vibrant personality fills the room as she enters. Some days, however, the spiritual and personal struggles that she is living with show in her countenance and on her face. C has been exposed to the Gospel but struggles with the demands of her father to maintain her cultural religious rites. She recently shared with us, 'I want to align myself with Him who is more powerful than the spirit world, but my father has forbidden me to follow the ways of the Christians, and so I continue to follow the spiritual rites of my people.' Pray for C, asking that she will have the strength and courage to follow 'Him who is more powerful.'"

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 6

This is the sixth and last post in a series. Access prior posts below:

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 1 published September 20, 2011

A Forgotten Reformer (sbcIMPACT!) published September 23, 2011

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 2 published September 27, 2011

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 3 published October 6, 2011

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 4 published October 12, 2011

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 5 published October 20, 2011

Here’s a section from the end of the short biography[1] on Cipriano de Valera:

Valera draws a flattering picture when he writes in the Exhortation addressed to the reader of his Bible: “There is no city nor is there, so to speak, any borough or any mansion in Spain that has not had, and has not even now, one or more persons whom God in his infinite mercy has enlightened with the light of his gospel. It has become proverbial in Spain when they speak of a learned man, to say: he is so learned that there is danger of his becoming a Lutheran [Protestant]. Our adversaries have done all that they could, to quench this light of the gospel, and then they have outraged many in Spain by the loss of property, of life and of honour. And it is to be observed that the more they outrage, the more they scourge, expose in sanbenitos, send to the galleys or to perpetual imprisonment and into the flames, so much the more do the evangelicals multiply, for ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’” (157, brackets mine).

Valera truly believed the Reformation could catch on in Spain. He’d seen it in his own life and in the lives of many others he’d known through the years. Even now I’ve read stories of missionaries in Spain praying that believers would make themselves known and join a church. If it occurs in our day, it is likely that there were many believers during Valera’s time who managed to avoid persecution and death, but at the expense of an open gospel proclamation.

Today in most Muslim and some Asian countries the ability to speak openly about the gospel is limited. The danger is real. Yet for those who truly look into the claims of Christianity, there is hope. Just as in Spain, those who take the claims of the Bible for what they are run the risk of becoming a Christian.

The Reformation was not just an exercise in rhetoric and polemics—it cost “property, life, and honor”. Yet, for all the persecution, the church continued to grow. Valera was not alone in his faith. Many Spaniards preceded and followed after him. Today there is a surge of Evangelicalism amongst Hispanics in the U.S. and in former Spanish colonies. Perhaps revival will one day make its way back to Spain, as Valera hoped and prayed it would.

Where Christians are willing to die for their faith God is raising up new believers to take their place. After all, as Tertullian once said, and Valera has repeated, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

---

[1] Boehmer, Edward & Benjamin B. Wiffen. (1904). Bibliotheca Wiffeniana: Spanish Reformers of Two Centuries from 1520. Karl J. Trübner: Strassburg. Google Books. Digitized May 15, 2008.

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 2

This is the second post in a series. Access prior posts below:

Cipriano de Valera: A Spanish Reformer, Part 1 published September 20, 2011

Apart from the Reina-Valera Bible (1602) and his one-volume work Two Treatises on the Pope and on the Mass (1588), it appears his third most popular work was A Treatise to Confirm the Captives of Barbary (1594). The short biography I found on Valera had this to say about it:

In 1594 he printed a treatise addressed to the Spanish prisoners in Berbery, among whom there had been an evangelical revival. Valera, wishing to strengthen their faith against Popery [Roman Catholicism] and Mahometanism [Islam], expounds to them the doctrine of the Bible, and also refers to the three œcumenical symbols. He exhorts them to show a model life to the heathens. And pray for Spain, he says at the end. (153).

During this time Spain was under constant threat both from the Ottoman Empire and from Barbary (or Berbery) Pirates. Some Spaniards had been captured by the Muslims and Valera heard of their plight. He wrote to them to encourage them in the midst of their current suffering at the hands of both the Papists and Islamists.

The three ecumenical symbols Valera refers to are the Apostles’ Creed (called simply “the Creed”), the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. This section of his letter deals with Trinitarian themes and he calls them to appropriate the faith as their own, unlike their enemies who simply state “we believe what the Church believes” without really knowing or holding to such doctrines.

As I looked for the reference about praying for Spain I became enamored with Valera’s writing. It reminds me of the language of Paul’s letters and Peter’s letters—due largely in part because it is dripping with Scripture. His language is both beautiful and surprisingly easy to translate. I’ve not found an English translation, so I translated it myself:

Pray for our Spain and principally for the king and for all those who have [charge over] the government of the republic, that God give them the grace to read and meditate on the Holy Scripture, without knowledge of which it is impossible for them (as by the same Scripture and by the ancient doctors we have already sufficiently covered) to do their duty, nor for their subjects to be well-governed in the true fear of God: pray also for me. …

I truly remember you in my prayers, asking the Father of mercies to add to your faith, give you patience in your afflictions and captivity, make you firm in the confession of His name, and enrich you with His spiritual gifts, so that when the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead He might find you as such, having made you as such, saying: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

To the one who, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns eternally, be glory and honor forever. Amen.

[translation, paragraphing, and minor punctuation mine]

Had the Reformation caught on in Spain I have no doubt that we would be reading his writings just as much as those of Calvin, Luther, and others. It is my hope that as more Hispanics come to faith in Christ they will develop a holy curiosity about their faith heritage. As they study and learn, they will write and share. And who knows? Perhaps in our day we may see the English speaking peoples introduced to these forgotten Reformers who were willing to lose everything for the sake of gaining Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Resources:

I have a longer section of the Valera’s treatise translated into English on sbcIMPACT!

Sources:

Boehmer, Edward & Benjamin B. Wiffen. (1904). Bibliotheca Wiffeniana: Spanish Reformers of Two Centuries from 1520. Karl J. Trübner: Strassburg. Google Books. Digitized May 15, 2008.

Cipriano de Valera. (1854). Tratado para Confirmar en la Fe Cristiana a los Cautivos de Berbería. Reformistas Antiguos Españoles, Tomo VIII. I.R. Baroja. Google Books. Digitized Jul 3, 2008.

Image credit.

Prayer Request: Taking a Stand for Christ

I have a post coming out tomorrow on sbcIMPACT! about Cipriano de Valera and his treatise to believers who were suffering for their faith. Currently, in Colombia, at least one believer is suffering because she won’t submit to pagan practices. Please pray for V and other believers who really do suffer for their faithfulness to Christ.

AR OF COLOMBIA (ahr). V, an Ar believer from the area in which a group began to meet for weekly worship services in August, shared with missionaries that the indigenous leader had ordered a census to be taken. In order for someone to be considered a member of this indigenous community, they must: 1) Be baptized by an indigenous religious leader; 2) If they are married, the marriage must have been officiated according to indigenous religious rituals; 3) Every 15 days they will have to participate in community service according to the leadership of the local witchdoctor; and 4) Every 30 days they will have to present themselves before this witchdoctor for a ritualistic cleansing ceremony. V refused to be subjected to these requirements and was not included in the census. This decision will cause her to lose some of the privileges that the members of this community receive such as food for their children, community support, and possibly health coverage. Thank God for V's faithfulness and for the truth that He will supply all her needs according to His riches in glory. Pray that other Ar Christians will be bold and take a similar stand, and that God's blessing on these Christians will give Him glory before the other members of this people group.

Lighthouse: Persecution in China

The happenings in China surrounding Shouwang (Lighthouse) Church are gaining international media attention. The façade of religious liberty is giving way to the true demon underneath, and that demon is ugly.

It was not long ago that Chinese Christians were placed under house arrest and denied egress at airports during the Lausanne Conference in South Africa. That was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of government pressure and media coverage.

CNN posted an article about a young woman known only as “Water” who has been detained, followed, and harassed by the police for her involvement in the church. Her fears echo the fears of countless others, both in the underground church in China and in the broader context of Christianity past and present.

These fears include continued harassment, longer detention, and even torture. Water and others like her need our prayers to stand strong in the face of opposition, just as Peter did for the believers he wrote to in his New Testament epistles.

The example of the believers in Jerusalem following the detainment and beating of the apostles is one we should remember in this situation:

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 5:41-42, ESV

Persecution in Pakistan

From the News—On Wednesday, March 02, 2011, in Pakistan, the lone Christian on the Pakistani Cabinet was murdered outside his home. Armed men littered Shahbaz Bhatti’s vehicle with bullets as he left for work in the morning. Shortly thereafter the Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing.

Bhatti served on the Cabinet as the Minister of Minority Affairs and was outspoken in his opposition to the blasphemy laws of Pakistan that are frequently used to persecute religious minorities, usually Christians.

Typically those accused of blaspheming the Quran or Mohammed don’t live to see trial, as thugs take matters into their own hands by killing them in transit to the courthouse or at their homes if they post bail. Those who’ve been fortunate to live long enough to receive a pardon or see the charges dropped are still in danger and have to flee the country or face almost certain death at the hands of “vigilantes.”

Pakistan has come under intense international pressure to takes its blasphemy laws off the books, but the nation has yet to make any changes. Those who push for change, like Bhatti, often receive death threats which are then carried out.

We must remember to pray for our brothers and sisters living in Pakistan and other nations where they are persecuted for their faith. Tertullian said that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church, meaning that the gospel goes forth at the cost of believers’ lives. While we pray for peace and safety, our ultimate concern must be the advancement of the gospel

We must also remember to pray for the people of Pakistan and other nations. In addition to the numerous instances in Scripture where we are called to pray for our enemies, we are reminded that it is out of the mass of ungodly that God calls His people. When Paul was suffering persecution and wondered what was going to happen to Him, he had a special encounter with God where he was told, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people,” (Acts 18:9-10, ESV).

Fleeing or Enduring Persecution? (part 3)

This is part two of a three part blog posting on the believer's response to persecution. Read parts one and two.

What the Bible Says
As helpful as Christians from the first few centuries of the church can be, we must ultimately derive our beliefs from the same book they had access to: God’s Word.

Although biblical narratives can present the facts without weighing in on whether the actions of the people described were right or not, the Book of Acts details some narratives we should take into consideration.

For one, when Saul had converted in Damascus and began preaching boldly, his opposition planned to kill him. When Saul’s disciples discovered this, they “took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket” (Acts 9:25).

Saul was still new to the faith, as were his disciples, so it is possible they were wrong to flee persecution. But there are more examples to consider.

A few verses later we find Saul in Jerusalem. He argues with the Hellenists, who may have been part of the same synagogue that he was and that killed Stephen. They in turn plot to kill Saul. The passage then reads, “And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus” (Acts 9:30).
The possibility of the believers being wrong in this action is very slim. First, there is no dissention mentioned. The believers are described as unified in sending Saul off, and both Barnabas and the apostles are mentioned as being present and having met with Saul in verse 27. Their consent is quite likely implied, and after fleeing and abandoning Christ in the garden, it is quite unlikely that they would encourage Saul to flee if they viewed fleeing persecution the same way as abandoning and denying Christ.

But perhaps Jesus’ statement helps shed more light on the actions of Saul and the believers in Acts 9. He says in Matthew 10:23, “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

The greater context shows Jesus speaking to the twelve prior to sending them out. The context also shows that these words were not just specific to that one “mission trip” of the disciples, but referred to the time after the church was established, since He also says,

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matt 10:17-22).

Although the Bible has much to say about persecution and martyrdom, I have to be brief here. I have not argued that fleeing persecution is the only appropriate response. As for those in Egypt, some will stay and some will go. Some may die for the faith. We need not second-guess every missionary’s decision in this matter, but we should pray that they would be submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Fleeing or Enduring Persecution? (part 2)

This is part two of a three part blog posting on the believer's response to persecution. Read part one.

Voices from Church History

Egypt was once saturated with a Christian presence, home to some of the early church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Anthony of Egypt, and, of course, Athanasius. These and other church fathers were not in total agreement on the question of fleeing persecution and escaping to safety.

Tertullian of Carthage, which, incidentally, is where the current unrest began, believed that the Holy Spirit counseled believers to embrace martyrdom saying,

…if you have to lay down your life for God, as the Comforter counsels, it is not in gentle fevers and on soft beds, but in the sharp pains of martyrdom: you must take up the cross and bear it after your Master, as He has Himself instructed you.[1]

and

Well, then, if it is evident from whom persecution proceeds [that is, God], we are able at once to satisfy your doubts, and to decide from these introductory remarks alone, that men should not flee in it.[2]

Cyprian of Carthage, on the other hand, fled the city when faced with martyrdom. His opponents considered this an act of cowardice and disagreed with him when he argued against readmitting those who had denied the faith in the face of persecution.[3]

So it appears that the early church fathers were not unanimous in their beliefs and practices concerning fleeing from persecution.

---

[1] On the Soul 55.5

[2] On Running Away from Persecution 9.4

[3] David F. Wright, “Cyprian and North Africa” in Dowley, ed., History of Christianity, 93.

Fleeing or Enduring Persecution? (part 1)

This is part one of a three part blog posting on the believer's response to persecution.

Should we flee or endure persecution? Is it irresponsible to stay in a dangerous and escalating situation or is it unfaithful to withdraw? I am not the first person to deal with this question, and as long as we wait the return of Christ and the nations rage, we will see the question pop up again and again.

If you’re on the internet reading my blog, it is hard to believe you haven’t heard about the political upheaval in Egypt (preceded by Tunisia and followed by others). A few nations, notably the U.S., Israel, and Turkey, are shipping out their citizens on chartered aircraft while the country unravels. That means American missionaries will most likely be exiting as well.

As missionaries pack up their things and board a plane, both believers and non- take note and form their own opinions. Some may feel abandoned. Others may view the missionaries as cowards or uncommitted. Still more may feel the gravity of the situation, and believe the missionaries’ lack of control over the situation justifies the departure.

Remember that most missionaries go with some kind of organization supporting them that ultimately makes the call on stay or go. I know of a person who currently serves in the Middle East as a missionary and he is in the process of relocating due to perceived dangers in the place where he’s at. As part of a larger mission organization, he didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Most mission agencies weigh in favor of missionary safety in times of revolution and targeted persecution. Additionally, when the nation orders or suggests the departure of all its citizens from a given country, the usual response is compliance.

Yet, submission to the advice of our governing authorities or the world’s conventional wisdom doesn’t always make sense biblically, and we must remember that Satan would love for a country to suffer a great drop in Evangelical presence and witness.