Good Teaching and Good Culture

How do we prepare the ground for the Gospel? How do we prepare the ground for cults? Obviously, we want one and not the other, but we have to learn the line between the two and plant seed fertile for the good news of Christ.

How do we know when the truth will be perverted into a lie? I do not think we could know. There are many different lies Satan uses to pervert the truth. All we can do is learn the culture, language, and overall worldview as much as possible.

What does culture have to do with cults? Everything! When we understand the culture and its worldview, we can more clearly communicate the Gospel. We know what the Dong will understand and what they will not.

"A spirit possessed the snake and said to Eve..." Something strange there? "Mary, God loves you and is going to make you pregnant." Hold on! That is a pretty liberal translation that can take us down the wrong road entirely. No joking: these are both real life examples from the Dong world.

The spirit possessing the snake is an example of worldview altering what the Word actually says. It is also an excellent opportunity to teach, if we have the ability to do so. The virgin birth problem is more a problem of wording and knowing how to say it clearly in Dong. Again, this is an excellent opportunity to further explain through teaching, that is, if we could hear and understand the problem in the first place and have the language and culture to be able to explain it.

Not that either of these would start a cult, but the opportunities for teaching are the first step to stopping cults before they start. Beyond that, good teaching will help mediocre churches become thriving churches. And that is a primary goal of God's church.

Lord Jesus, we cannot know everything; you do. We may be able to share our heart or share some materials with Dong people, but you speak to a man's heart and change him from within. We ask you to raise up Dong teachers, men and women who strive to learn more from your Word and can clearly explain it to other Dong. We talk about these issues, but it is hard to know what we can do. Lead us Lord; use our prayers; show us what else we can do for your Gospel among the Dong.