Corruption

(My brother, Dave, and a coworker are currently in Indonesia. The following two blog posts are edited emails. They are lengthy but need to be read and understood by Christians who want to think and act as would Jesus Christ. Highlighting is mine).


If you live in the west, you might think you have to deal with corruption. But you ain't seen nothin’ till you travel to other parts of the world. Here are some real instances to give you an idea of the immensity of the spiritual darkness that has engulfed just one nation – the nation of Indonesia:

 ·     Imagine that you have a serious crime problem. You call the police, unless you live in Indonesia. Even if a murder has occurred, the police will favor the person who offers the biggest bribe.

·       Imagine that you are pulled over in traffic by a cop. You must have been speeding or committed some other infraction . . . unless you live where darkness reigns. It would almost always be because the police officer is low on finances and needs to "fine" you so he can pay a bill or have some extra cash.

·       Imagine that you have to go to court and stand before a judge. You expect justice to be done. But not where it is always winter and never Christmas, because when Satan makes the rules, the person with the biggest bribe always wins.

·       Imagine that you are a college student. You enroll in a course, do assignments, take exams, and get a grade. But not in a land where every vestige of good is in the process of being squelched. Here you cannot pass a course without bribing the professor repeatedly for each exam and for a final grade (even though the professor habitually either doesn't show up for class, or shows up unprepared, or dismisses class after a brief discussion about something unrelated to the content of the course).

·       Imagine that you have completed all of your college course work. You naturally expect to graduate. Not in a land where the malevolent tyrant has been eradicating hope. After completing your college course work, you still cannot graduate unless you pay a bribe to the dean.

.·       Imagine that you are a college graduate, are sincerely motivated, and want to teach school in a needy area to help the students. You will surely find a job and the government will bend over backwards to help you . . . unless you live where despicable wickedness is the rule. Here you cannot get a teaching position without bribing the local principal. One well-meaning teacher wanted to work in a school in a poor, remote area. But first she had to pay the principal $25,000 (US dollars) just to get the job. She borrowed the money from family and friends and, on her low salary, will spend the rest of her life paying it back.

·       Imagine that you rent a house, sign a lease, and even make improvements with the owner's guarantee in writing that when the lease is up you have the first right to rent the house for another period of time. Sounds secure . . . unless you live where the father of lies has written the rules. Here no document is backed by the courts (remember the judges take bribes).

·       Imagine that you are stopped at a traffic light and a motorcycle crashes into the side of your car. The cyclist is clearly guilty and must pay his own hospital bills and your car repair bills . . . unless you find yourself at the mercy of the master deceiver. Here the person with the most expensive vehicle is assumed to have the most money and must pay all of the hospital and repair bills, regardless of guilt. If you refuse to pay, a mob will assemble and will attack you.

·       Imagine that you are a pastor and your church obtains a legal building permit and construction on your church building begins. The government would never come back to you 2 years later and revoke your permit and forbid you to worship in your facility . . . unless your church is in Indonesia where, if enough neighbors complain, the government will withdraw your building permit and mobs can come and disrupt your service and beat up the pastor.

·       Imagine that there are "Christians" in Florida who are burning Korans and you, a western missionary, are appalled at such an act and think it is utterly stupid. People around you would never automatically associate you with such insanity . . . unless you live in almost any Muslim context. There every westerner is believed to be a "Christian" who walks in lockstep with the most idiotic actions that other westerners may take against Islam. For safety, you must hide in your house and wait for days for everyone to calm down before you can reappear.

·       Imagine traffic laws . . . Oh, forget that one. The only traffic law in many parts of the world is that the first vehicle to land on a piece of pavement has the right to that spot.

This is the world that Roscoe and I have been in for only 3 days and it absolutely drives us crazy. Imagine what a God of beauty, truth, and order thinks of such a place! Imagine missionaries who have intentionally moved here to devote their lives to bringing the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus to people crippled by darkness. Some bring wives, many bring children, and they will often spend 10, 20 or even their whole ministry lives here.

The next time you need justice and it is properly meted out . . . the next time you are promised something and the promise is made good . . . the next time a government official functions with integrity . . . the next time you are rewarded fairly for your labors . . . remember a nation of 240,000,000 people who never get to have such an experience.

And remember thousands of followers of Jesus who, for centuries, have devoted their entire lives to living in such a corrupt and difficult environment because they are passionate that representatives from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people will worship the Lamb throughout eternity.

Burning Muslim Holy Books - A Missionary Update from Indonesia

(The following is a slightly edited copy of an email received from my brother who  is currently in Indonesia doing some training of pastors).

This update goes primarily to Americans who have mainly known a world and culture that is western and formed by a Judeo-Christian worldview. Though not perfect, to us our world is orderly, just, clean, and pure. That is not the world of Indonesia. I will try to give a taste of but nothing short of visiting this country will really tell the story.

Roscoe and I find ourselves in the largest Muslim nation in the world during Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. We are learning a lot about Islam by being here, but how can I share those things sensitively, graciously, and yet truthfully?

Let me then say a word about the presence of Islam as a majority religion. In the west, there is a lot of confusion about Islam and the church seems to struggle with a healthy attitude towards Muslims. Much of the concern seems to come from confusion as to where our loyalties lie: are we loyal Americans or are we devoted soldiers of the cross of Christ sent on a mission to bless all the families of the earth?

It's amazing how those two thought systems get mixed in together, producing a sad theology that is effete and is incapable robust Christian discipleship.

Let me be clear: I am proud to be an American and I love my country. This is not Jane Fonda in Viet Nam denouncing the USA.

An illustration of our problem is seen in the fact that many evangelical Americans are ideologically (and even theologically) "pro-Israel" and "anti-Arab" or "anti-Palestinian". In all of that it seems to me that we have given short shrift to the theme of the Bible – that is that God intends to bless ALL of the families of the earth. We seem to have forgotten that our priority as evangelical Americans is not to advance the American flag to the four corners of the earth but to penetrate every ethnic group with the liberating truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Therfore, as Americans we may rejoice when Israel wins a war, or when America invades Iraq or Afghanistan. We may even be able to justify our feelings patriotically, theologically, or geo-politically. But what we may fail to take into consideration is that these military initiatives have huge ramifications among those national Christians and missionaries – especially if they are American - who are making great sacrifices for the spread of the Gospel.

American military initiatives are generally perceived by the Muslim world as Christians on a Crusade (with a lot of the historical baggage that carries). The result is that the work of foreign mssnries is set back. The local missionary here  told me yesterday that every time America makes a military move against an Islamic nation, Indonesian mobs roam the streets looking for foreigners to beat up. He has to stay home behind locked doors for a week or more until emotions subside.

Again, I am not taking a position here on American military initiatives; I am merely encouraging us to remember that for the Christian with a heart and mind for Christ’s global purposes there is a lot more to this than patriotic jingoism. We must thoughtfully  consider the implications of such initiatives for the more important issue of carrying out Jesus' mission.

An isolated situation like a so-called church in Florida having a day to burn the Quran may seem to many of us as some blip on the screen that is annoying but not something to be given serious thought. But the rioting this week here in the capital, Jakarta, where Molotov cocktails are being thrown at the US embassy to protest the Quran burning, should convince us that the Muslim world is watching this situation and is assuming that this incident reflects the deep animus of ALL Americans toward Muslims as people.

These days in Indonesia has told me that there is a more significant issue confronting our world than planes being flown into towers, road bombs killing innocent bystanders, human bombs walking into restaurants and killing people, and Al-Qaeda spawning terrorism around the globe. All of those are very important being also terribly wrong, but there is something that trumps all of that.

What could be more important? It is the deconstructing of the evil system of religion and worldview that has spiritually paralyzed a huge percentage of our world's population. That is the real concern, and there is a loathsome spiritual being named Satan who gloats over his conquest of so many creatures created in God's image. He is our enemy, infinitely more so than even Osama bin Laden.

Satan has shrewdly engineered a religious system that is so evil, so despicable, that it can completely corrupt every part of a culture where it prevails and can totally immobilize the capacity of the people to think clearly or to respond to truly Good News. This is truly worthy of our concern, sadness, indignation, and yes, anger.

But make sure that your anger is not misplaced or misdirected. Transform it into prayer and action that can be translated into a direct assault of the Kingdom of God against this vile kingdom of darkness that holds people in its disgusting grip.