Rev Hendrik du Plessis January 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cult or Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A false statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A false problem statement is, as\nwe all know, a problem that stems from a false perception. The origin is false\nbut the problem becomes a reality. In the mission field, one often struggles\nwith such problem statements. After years of ministering, it can so easily flare\nup again depending on the right questions at the right time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I will give a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a visit from a certain\nanthropologist, I held a Bible study one evening. Afterwards she asked the Naro\nspeaking San people from our village, a few questions, which caught them off\nguard. “You have your own religion,” she said. Why do you still need\nthe religion of the European people? You have served the Lord, prayed and\ndanced to Him for centuries – or to whom else have you done this? Was it the\ndevil?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later another anthropologist visited\nus at D\u2019kar with a group of San people from South Africa who could no longer\nspeak their own language. They only spoke Afrikaans. With them was their\nleader, whom everyone called Uncle Jan, with a bunch of bones and other things\nhanging around his neck. The purpose of their visit was to catch up on their\n\u201cspiritual backlog\u201d from our \u201cBushmen\u201d. This specifically refers to the trance\ndances during which the dancers go into a trance – often so bad that they\nliterally go crazy, want to climb trees, fall into the fire and make the most\nhorrible unearthly sounds. Some of them just head off in a direction and then other\npeople have to run after them to stop them from crashing into trees or fences.\nDuring this trance, the hands are laid on the sick and they are apparently\nhealed. I have not yet seen the evidence of that, but this is what they claim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One evening such a trance dance\nwas arranged for the visitors so that they could see first-hand and experience\nhow it should be done. Spontaneously, the dance began with the women’s whining songs\nand the men dancing around the fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Uncle Jan (the leader and a man\nof mixed race) sat next to me – he knew his Bible surprisingly well, but unfortunately\nmixed it syncretisticly with all kinds of dreams, omens and cultural practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, as the music progressed,\nthe men began to go into a trance. One of them then started to make howling\nsounds and jerks. I drew Uncle Jan’s attention to this. He answered me:\n“He is now going into the depths of the Holy Spirit.” I immediately\nresponded and said: “I do not believe this is of the Holy Spirit.” He\nwas aggravated by my reaction and went to bed shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day I was requested to\napologize to him for my statement. The anthropologist who was with them was furious\nwith me and lit one cigarette after another and constantly verbally attacked\nme, “. . . how dare you. . . this and that \u2026\u201d. The lady in charge of our\ndance group, a Dutch speaking Roman Catholic lady, was all too eager to put the\nblame on me, because not seeing the trance dances as divine was for her a sacred\nsin. My response was: \u201cI did not mean or try to hurt anyone, nor to insult\nanyone. On the contrary, I only spoke to the leader and did not use my position\nto offend anyone. But I cannot be silent about my beliefs. He had the right to\nsay what he believes, so have I. I certainly cannot live with my conscience and\npretend to believe what I do not. After all, I would then be hypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the trance dancers started\nto attend church services regularly and was determined to make a confession of\nfaith, which he did. This resulted in him losing interest in trance dancing\naltogether. He was one of Kuru’s dancers who occasionally danced for tourists. When\nhe mentioned to our cultural centre that he no longer wants to dance and that\nhe now comes to church regularly, the Roman Catholic lady was furious over\nthis. She blamed me for influencing him. Unfortunately, he eventually surrendered\nto their influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, an Indian\nanthropologist made an appointment with me. She wanted to know more about our\nchurch’s history. Very carefully she formulated her question but I soon\nrealized where she was heading. When she asked where we as a church stand to\nthe San people\u2019s culture? I answered that as far as I was concerned there is a distinction\nbetween culture and cult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Culture is a man-made arrangement\nin which different peoples maintain and live in different ways, which in itself\nis not wrong, but a cult is a way of worship that is contrary to what Scripture\nteaches us. Along with that, there are a large majority of superstitions that\nare not at all reconcilable with Scripture.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I gave her a\nfew examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are just a few of the many\nproblems we face when it comes to culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there are questions that\ncome genuinely and sincerely from the San people themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounds like weighty questions\nand it evokes great sympathy until one shines the light of the Bible on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This brings us to the big question in the mission field: What does the\nBible say about this?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a question that many\npeople in Africa ask: \u201cBefore we came into contact with Christianity, we were\nreligious. When we prayed, we did not pray to the devil, but to God. If we\nasked him something, he gave it to us. Surely it was not the devil who gave it\nto us?\u201d Therefore, for many African religions, it does not feel wrong to\nincorporate some syncretistic mixture into their Christian faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Zulu once said to me: \u201cI pray\nto my ancestors who then convey the message to Christ and Christ then to God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does the Bible say about these false statements?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Acts 14, Paul and his company\nhad to flee. They had to leave Iconium in a hurry because a movement arose\namong the Gentiles and also among the Jews with their rulers to harm and stone\nPaul. When they realized this, they fled to Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe. In\nLystra there sat a man who was paralyzed at his feet, crippled from birth, he\nnever walked. While Paul was speaking, he kept listening. Paul looked at him\nand saw that this man had faith to be healed. With a loud voice Paul said to\nhim, \u201cStand up straight on your feet!\u201d And he leaped and walked.” The\ncrowd was amazed and said to one another in Lycaonia: \u201cThe gods have come down\nto us in the likeness of men!\u201d 12<\/sup>And Barnabas they called Zeus, and\nPaul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13<\/sup>Then the priest of\nZeus, whose temple was just outside their city, brought oxen and garlands to\nthe gates, intending to sacrifice with the crowds. 14<\/sup>But when the\napostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran into the\ncrowd, crying out 15<\/sup>and saying, \u2018Men, why are you doing these things?\nWe also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should\nturn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the\nearth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16<\/sup>who in bygone\ngenerations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17<\/sup>Nevertheless\nHe did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain\nfrom heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.\u2019 18<\/sup>And\nwith these sayings they could scarcely restrain the crowds from sacrificing to\nthem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this section we notice some\nimportant things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first place, Paul did not\ntry to compromise between Christ and their religions, and yet Paul was not\nunsympathetic to them. “We also are men with the same nature as you,”\nhe says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, he does not condemn\nthem, but the senseless gods and calls on them to repent without compromising\nbetween their so-called gods and the God of the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the third place, he introduces\nHim (God) to them: “the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the\nsea, and all things that are in them”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourthly, he wants to free them\nfrom misunderstanding and includes all nations under one umbrella when he says,\n\u201c16<\/sup>who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their\nown ways.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Own ways” then means by the nature of the matter the\nopposite of “God’s ways”. <\/strong>Therefore, they must repent. To someone\nwho could say, “Yes, Paul, I hear what you are saying, but in the past we\nhave prayed our way to God or to the gods or consulted our ancestors in our own\nway and we were answered.”, his clear and unequivocal answer is: \u201c17<\/sup>Nevertheless\nHe did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain\nfrom heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though God allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, to set\ntheir own ways, God was not in the least absent as far as His general mercy was\nconcerned. If the San people danced around the fire in the Kalahari in their\nignorance and distress and the Eskimos in Antarctica and the Indians in South\nAmerica, God was not absent in His general grace at all. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The distorted image of God that\nevery nation has had or has, does not at all make God apathetic to their\npersonal need of every day, but when the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is\npreached, it comes with the drastic call: \u201cWe bring you the good news that you\nmust put an end to these senseless gods and turn to the living God.\u201d Paul could\nnot put it more clearly. There was a time\nwhen God in his tolerance allowed each nation to set its own course, but there\nis also a time when each nation is faced with the drastic choice: Either Christ\nor my own course to eternal damnation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes down to the fact that in the past God has heard people in\ntheir need with his general grace by way of rain from heaven that he gave,\nregular harvests, plenty of food and even made them happy. It was not the devil\nwho heard them, but God, who was merciful to them, even though in their\nignorance they sought the face of God in a diabolical way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It further means that there must\nbe a drastic reversal and that there must be no systematic transition or\nreconciliation between Christ and one’s own course at all.If sacrifices were ever made on the altar of the unknown god in\nActs 17, it could no longer be done after that, because Christ is the only\nsacrifice for our sins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the ancestors had been consulted in the past, it would then be\nintentional devil worship to go on with it, for Christ is the way and the truth\nand the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the question of cult or\nculture. In culture, not everything is necessarily bad or evil. God in his\ngeneral grace also shone his light there that a thief is punished accordingly\nand that the youth learn to respect the old people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In English culture we have\n“ladies first”, while in the African culture the man should rather\nlead the way to protect the woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every culture has its music,\nrhythms and dances that in themselves are not necessarily wrong. How many\nbeautiful proverbs are simply not locked up in own language, which testifies to\nthe fact that God in His general grace also let His light shine there by way of\nbeautiful proverbs and insights to maintain order and authority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even of the most anti-Christian\ngovernment that ever existed, Paul writes in Romans 13: \u201c1<\/sup>Let every\nsoul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except\nfrom God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Culturally there are many\nbeautiful things that one can appreciate from every nation, but unfortunately\nbetween these culturally beautiful things also lay hidden occult practices of\nwhich every nation must repent before God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some also ask the question: \u201cWhat\nabout the Sangomas with their roots digging and the drinking of their\nconcoctions you very often get healed. Is there something wrong with that?\u201d Of\ncourse not, there is anything wrong with that per se. Very often one find the\ncontents of the roots in a more refined form in the pharmacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Christians, we believe that\nGod in His grace made the plant material available to us, not only as our food\nbut also as our medicine, but as soon as I use the same plant that God has\ngiven me to treat my headaches against God’s intention and then hang it around\nmy neck or bury it at my doorpost to protect me from evil spirits or evils, I\nmove from culture to cult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where these witchdoctors\nare so dangerous, because in this natural medicine that God has given us, they\nhave in many cases added an occult dimension to rely outside of God on created\nthings in the place of the Creator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cult then always accompanies\nfear. If you do not strictly follow certain rituals, certain evils can strike\nyou. Thus, many cult leaders have a spiritual hold on people around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The San people has a beautiful culture, but unfortunately also many\ncultic superstitions that have a restrictive or stifling influence on them,\nwhich makes it impossible to live out their culture fully to the glory of\nChrist. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many anthropologists have a\nromantic idea of \u200b\u200bthe San and do not want to make any distinction between cult\nand culture. For them, it is one pretty beautiful heritage. To the anthropologist\nwho came to visit us, I said that day: \u201cWhile you are sitting there behind your\ndesk writing the most beautiful books, I bury people with tears in my eyes\nbecause of superstitions you want to preserve to their downfall. While you are\ntaking beautiful pictures of the “healing dance” around the fire, we have\nto deal with the harsh reality that the “healing dance” cannot cure\ntuberculosis, malaria, AIDS and so on. Many of them were buried because they\nrefused medical treatment and only relied on the dances.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Had they received healing by means of these dances before the coming of\nthe Gospel, it was none other than the Lord who had mercy on them by way of his\ngeneral grace, not because the dances were anything but because the Lord\nthrough his general mercy pardoned them in their difficult circumstances.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is our daily struggle as\nmissionaries, to separate culture and cult from each other so that each in his\nown culture can bow the knee before Christ and acknowledge that He alone is\nLord and God. May God give us the insight and wisdom to do so. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your brother in Christ, <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hendrik du Plessis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rev Hendrik du Plessis January 2021 Cult or Culture A false statement A false problem statement is, as we all know, a problem that stems from a false perception. 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