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Golden Calf Worship and Evangelism
I had some time ago a talk to an African Pastor and his religious views. He called himself a Christian pastor, but he held to some of his native customs and beliefs. Among those in Africa who call themselves Christians one find a very intensive belief in what we may term indigenous. It is that they still hold to cultural things, and especially in the way God manifest Himself. What we have today in almost 80% to 90% among our African brothers is a syncretism that has taken up their whole world view. It is that many still hold to their cultural heritage with the difference that the Christian religion, have been added into the equation. This may not be problematic to some but to Biblical revelation it is problematic in many ways, so that most of today’s so called Christianity among Africans are in serious error.
Not everything that goes on in the Name of Christ is to be regarded as from Christ. Many make this mistake and come into deception. Among the masses I dare to say that 90% if not more of today’s Christianity among African indigenous people are in serious error no matter what the church leaders profess. This is serious, I know, but what is more serious is that tens of thousands are being misled and if not warned and ministered to they will end up in hell. Listen, you cannot call everything that goes on in the Name of Christ - Christian, or everyone that uses the Bible in their worship or sing gospel praises or pray prayers in the Name of God and Christ and have a Christian education – you cannot and may not call them “Christian” by any means. If you do you will fall into serious error and heresy. This is where the problem arises. It’s important to notice that it’s not the issue if someone just start “believing” in God and start going to church, etc. This is not the point. Many think as long as one reads the Bible, pray, go to church, stop lying, stealing, etc, then all is ok. It is not. This is not what the gospel is all about. It’s not that at all. Today’s gospel approach is so man centered and humanistic in its approach that it has become a cursed thing.
The true gospel is not man centered. The true gospel is God centered, its Christ centered, it begins with God and it ends with God. Its not about man at all. Man’s biggest problem is not his condition as such or his poverty or racial and political circumstances, or joblessness or even that he grows up poor and poverty stricken. That’s not man’s problem at all. Trying to change these things will not help man’s problem. Man has a problem beyond his own comprehension and recognition, for if he could have recognized the problem he could have come to the solution, but he didn’t. Man’s biggest problem is not crime or even sin! No, hear me out; man’s biggest problem is God! You see there is a view today of “God” that needs to be addressed. Everybody uses “him” or “it” to get along. Today’s “god” is like a “sugar daddy” someone everybody is in love with, a “good force” one that understands them and loves them no matter what. There is the problem. We have a “god” view of one that pleases everybody and offends no one. He is some impersonal identity who just loves to bless man and make them happy. No one like a God who is a Personality. If we see Him as a Person we must face Him.
The Bible tells us that Satan rule this worlds system, it is fallen and under his power. Yet, as believers, we are to carry the message of truth in a world filled with falsehood. This is especially important to understand when it comes to the different cultures in the world that hold to various religious spiritual beliefs. Some of them contain a few similarities on the surface but when more closely examined they are not similar at all. Whatever is not in agreement with the Word of God is not from Jesus Christ, is not truth, and is to be rejected for our spiritual living.
So we find a picture of today’s evangelism and today’s so called “Christianity” in the story of Aaron and the golden calf. It was because of the absence of Moses that the people start pressing the demands of their religious interest. Man is a religious being. While Moses was on the mountain for weeks no one heard of him or from God for that matter. Complete silence. No voice from God, so it seemed.
What is nevertheless important for our consideration is the view (veiled) the people had of God. This is where it can be seen the clearest. This is when you discover the view they held of God. And what view did they portrait? Under pressure from the people Aaron was brought to creating an idol that presented their view of God. He shaped that idol in the shape of one of the gods from Egypt, a calf. Their view of God was totally corrupted. Aaron molded this idol to that which the people was used to! Through Joshua you find this observable fact, that they was “serving” God in a mixture of the old cultural backgrounds and beliefs and superstitions of Egypt:
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:” (Joshua 24:14, 15)
You see the “gods which the fathers” have served was not the True God, even in Africa the “god” mentioned, is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has no comparison or likeness. But what the people did, they had this view that was formed in Egypt and it was mixed and brought into a new kind of belief system. Wherever the nation of Israel came, there were always some mixture with the gods of the nations they were among; they defiled themselves among these other gods. What’s the issue? Well the problem is God! God, the Eternal and Lofty One, is Holy and Righteous. He demands true and pure worship! He not only commands that, He also determined HOW it should be, for He is the HOLY One, SEPERATED FROM everything that are served or named among the gentile nations as gods and their idols. He DETERMINED the Way in which He should be worshipped, He determined HOW He should be approached, and everyone that does not come to Him on His terms is an abomination in His eyes. Listen to Joshua as he explains this to the people:
“ And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.” (Joshua 24:19-27)
The Living God is not served with these other idols and gods which the nations are serving. He cannot be reconciled to any of the customs and practices of the nations, even of the African indigenous people that have mixed their view of spirituality with that of the Christian faith and have adapted some new spiritual entity which they call African spirituality using Christian symbols in their equation of religion. Listen to Joshua: “You cannot serve the Lord (YHVH)” Why Joshua? Why are you standing in their way, in their god-view? Why not encourage them to serve their view of God better, isn’t it after all the same god who revealed Himself to the different nations differently so that everyone is an expression of God’s revelation? “Oh no, you see You cannot serve the Only True God and have this view of Him, because HE IS AN HOLY GOD; HE IS A JEALOUS GOD; HE WILL NOT PARDON OR SHOW HIS MERCY TO YOU IF YOU SERVE OTHER GODS AND IDENTITIES, HE WILL NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU BECAUSE HE HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ANY OF THESE CUSTOMS AND RITES! HE WILL UTTERLY CONSUME AND DESTROY YOU IF YOU GIVE HEED OR SERVE THESE IDOLS IN ANY WAY, EVEN AFTER HE HAS DONE GOOD TO YOU, HE WILL NOT OVERLOOK IT, HE WILL DESTROY YOU!” What is the way Joshua, what must we do? “IF YOU WANT TO SERVE YHVH YOU MUST PUT AWAY THE STRANGE GODS AND THEIR CUSTOMS THAT ARE AMONGST YOU AND INCLINE YOUR WHOLE HEART UNTO YHVH the GOD OF ISRAEL!”
“But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.” (Ezekiel 20:8-10)
It did not change; God is still the same yesterday, today and for ever. Some fancy themselves that God has changed and God’s standards have changed because of Christ. Listen, God’s standards have not changed at all, He is still the same, He cannot change, “For I am the LORD, I change not;” (Mal 3:6 see also Ps 102:27; James 1:17, etc), what have taken place is that His righteousness and His mercy have kissed in Christ, the demands have been met and His holy indignation have been satisfied in the body and offer of Christ, but He is still the same God, what was applicable to Israel is still the same, He still is a Holy and separated God, He did not reconciled Himself to man’s idols and customs, no, He reconciled man, brought him out of his bondage and captivity to serve Him, out of darkness, out of the kingdom and domain of Satan into His kingdom and rule! He did not change. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.
“Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may (be able to) receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” (Acts 26:17-18)
Again,
“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…” (Colossians 1:13-14)
Many think there is nothing wrong with the way in which Christianity are at. It is as if it is how it should be. Some say Christ is to the one people like that but to us, He understands our customs and He is in it, He even instigates it! Now here you have a big problem. The way in which African Christianity is developing is the wrong way. Cultural and indigenous belief systems are still operative and have even replaced or - come in the place off God’s guidance, God’s revelation and God’s voice. Now back to Aaron and the golden calf. There is something we need to see. After Aaron made the golden calf, he then presents the golden calf the title of being their deliverer, the God (elohim) that led the Israelites out of Egypt.
“…This is your god, (elohim) O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Exodus 32:4
They made feast day the next day, sacrificed to it. The celebrated- dancing and rejoicing around this visible representation of their “God”, attributing to him all that was done thus far. This idol that was not God was accepted as God for the sake of the people. And the Lords response? They have corrupted themselves:
“They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:8).
The relevance - we can call something God, when he is in fact not. Secondly we can SUBSTITUTE God for something else. We find this being done today with what is called an inclusive evangelism- referring to national gods as the true God.
Among the indigenous people of Africa there arose a people whose offers and worship are not acceptable to God. Do not fancy yourselves that the blood of Christ will cover all these abominations that it doesn’t matter to God. It is impossible to serve God and Mammon, God and Baal, God and the ancestors, etc. What fellowship has light with darkness or Christ with Belial, or for that matter with the customs of the peoples? We have on our hands a mixture so great that the whole gospel message have be altered, the Holy Spirit of God will and are already been replaced by this African spirituality. What you find among many, is the belief in dreams and visions, wherein they belief the Holy Spirit is communicating to them and reveal to them the things of God. This can be anything, from rain to political things to personal issues. The Christian Pastor becomes the prophet and the medium and the ancestor spirit (which is according to the revelation of God’s Word a familiar spirit - a demon) becomes the “holy spirit” and the dream or vision becomes the “word of God.” Not all believe in this any longer. However, their view of God is defiled. They hold not to the true revelation of God. Their “god” is not bothered with lying and stealing and certain abominations, in fact, he even gives them “beer” whereby they can get drunk and “enjoy life.” But they call themselves at the same time “Christians.”
What is interesting is that when the first missionaries to Africa preach the gospel, they adopted the view the indigenous peoples had of this “creator.” Unlike Paul, they didn’t present God to them as an “unknown God.” They used the already traditional view they had and using that identity, they sketch him as the one they came to present and the Name of Christ was joined to a strange god as if He was now send from him, or coming from him to bring redemption. For many the light has come, but for thousands it lead them into deception and untold bondage, insomuch that what we have today can be traced back in some roots to this error on the part of those who preached the gospel before us, laying “another foundation.” Livingstone, Moffat, these were people that although they endured much, have led many away from God’s Holiness and revelation.
Today there are many new alternatives for evangelism. People are experimenting with “new” ways to get the message of Christ to those who have never heard. There is nothing wrong with being flexible in how a message can be communicated to a people group that has never heard about Jesus Christ or the gospel. As good intentioned as some may be, we must be careful to stay within Biblical parameters. Sincerity and good objectives are not enough to justify some of these new methods. What we are seeing is the same idea Aaron used summarize in the new evangelism model of the paradigm shifters. Some will do just about anything to call someone a Christian. Using the least amount of truth from the Bible, they diminish the gospel and present it using their own cultural setting. This has become extremely problematic missiology that is being promoted by the New Apostolic Reformation, YWAM and other missionary organizations, and it is getting much worse.”
Some like YWAM portraits today that”The Creator God of the Bible is not a foreign God. He loves indigenous people and has been a part of their history and culture from the beginning.”
“While I agree that God does love the people, the Bible says something very different. God was not involved in all the nations culture; especially when they worshipped other gods. All one needs to do is look at what these gods required in worship and how these cultures lived to know how hopeless these people were as they groped to please him by their religion. God was not involved in forming cultures but one, the nation of Israel.
Their evangelism is: “to facilitate the reconciliation of indigenous peoples with Jesus Christ:”Jesus Christ is the Son of the Creator of all people and He loves all people equally. To let indigenous people know that any atrocities that have been perpetrated by the church, “Christian” nations, or Christians were wrong and did not come from Jesus.”
One of them said: “Instead of destroying and ridiculing the native names of the Creator God, we should help preserve them as a legacy for these peoples. … Christians should cease representing Jesus as the Son of the foreign God of a foreign people, especially if these foreigners had never shown concern for nor had any involvement in the lives or culture of the natives. We should instead introduce Jesus as the Son of their creator God” (Kikawa’s teaching in his book Perpetuated in Righteousness. p27).
Kikawa writes- “To facilitate the reconciliation of indigenous peoples with whom they are in Christ: “To let indigenous people know that God lovingly created them exactly as He wanted them; that He has been with them and loved them throughout their history, that He left many treasures and worthy traditions within their culture, and that He desires they freely worship Him with, and celebrate, the beautiful and unique cultural expressions that flow from them.”
Did God give them these ways to worship other gods?” Some say God gave or was involved in giving customs and traditions to the different cultures of the world. Some use Paul’s words in Acts 17:26-27:
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings," so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
Paul is referring back to Deuteronomy 32:8-9:
“When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.”
From the time of Noah and his sons, in the days of Peleg, (whose name that is division Gen. 10:25) God gave the nations their place (land) and ordained how far each should reach, east, west, north and south. He put boundaries in relation to the Jews whom he brought salvation by. Nowhere does this teach that God gave them their customs, traditions or beliefs as He did to Israel. The Bible is very clear on this matter, Psalm 147:19-20:
“He declares His word to Jacob, his statutes and His judgments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His judgments, they have not known them.”
Jacob is a synonym of Israel (the 12 tribes). In other words no other nation was given a revelation of God like Israel. This record becomes our Old Testament.
Here is what the Bible says about the ancient cultures and nations- Gen. 10:5:
“From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.”
Genesis 10:20, mentions the sons of Ham also Shem- Gen. 10:31-32:”These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations. V.32 “from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.” Nowhere does the Bible say or imply that God, “left many treasures and worthy traditions within their culture,” as if He himself put them in these cultures. There is no proof that God “has been a part of their history and culture from the beginning,” NONE whatsoever.
When the flood occurred in Noah’s day there was no one left (no culture or nation) obeying God but ONLY Noah’s family- God said: “I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Gen. 7:1). One can go as far back as the Tower of Babel, when the people united and built a temple (Ziggurat) for worship not of God, but the host of heaven. God intentionally scattered people who united over the face of the earth where they themselves created nations (Gen. 11:6-9).
Abraham was removed at God’s request from the pagan land he was in. Why? God found no nation, no people group worshipping him acceptably, they were all in darkness. So He took Abraham and formed a people, Israel, whom He personally gave His commandments and instructions to. When we come to the time of Moses, God gave Israel the land of Canaan He promised to Abraham, and it says in Exodus 34:24:
“For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders.”
If God was so involved in forming these nations, putting treasures in them, he certainly would not have to destroy them. Numbers 33:51-53:
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 'then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; 'you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess.”
In Deut. 7:1-2 the Lord names 7 greater nations that the Israelites were surrounded by , “the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, “and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them” (also Deut 31:3; Deut 20:16-20).
Why would the Lord tell Israel to do this if they had redeeming traditions the Lord had put in them? Or if they were worshipping him? The reason is”
“For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods” (Deut 7:4).
OTHER Gods were involved, not the True creator God. In fact he made it clear to Israel (who is the ONLY nation He formed) in Lev. 18:24:
“Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you.”
He warned Israel not to adopt other cultures ways to worship or to live. Deut. 18:9-14:
“you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.”
Israel became an pattern that we must be separate as well as an example in dealing with the idolatry of the nations. God did not tell Israel nor did He EVER tell the church to redeem cultures but people.
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12)
There is the warning. They were examples for us! It was for our edifying and for our warning in black and white! We ought to give heed to their circumstances and the way in which God dealt with them. Listen, “with many of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” They shared in a common salvation. This we may give heed to. It is not a mere matter of saying to Jesus “Lord, Lord” of merely confessing that you are a Christian. Jesus said many will call Me Lord, Lord but will be cast away from Him. “With many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness…” Think about that for a moment. A redeemed people not obtaining their inheritance because of their divided hearts. They wanted what God could give them, but they still cling to their old ways and their customs.
When the early missionaries brought the Name of Christ to Africa, there was some way in which the gospel became polluted. In Sotho (South and Northern) and Tswana (Western), languages you find for example the noun use for “god” as “Modimo.” This word is translated in all the various Bibles as one to donate the living God. What happened was that the name the indigenous peoples held for their view of God was taken to now present the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not my purpose to go into detail but I want to show how and where the roots lie in this mixture we have today which we call Christianity among the African peoples. Livingstone and Moffat translated “modimo” to present the God and Creator of all men.
This is very realistic. Some don’t understand what is involved. To use a already established god and deity of a people and present it as the True and Living one is problematic. Let me explain. If you would reach the Muslim peoples of the world today and you would tell them about the True God what will you do? Well let me give you some options. You can proclaim, like Paul did, that He is totally unknown and foreign to their concepts of what they have – an Unknown God” to them, or you can and what is mostly presented today is that their already established view of God, “Allah” is use to present God to them. Relate to them the term and view they already have of “God” and just throw Jesus into the equation. Will that do honor to God? Just tell them, “Allah is God, we have the same God, and what you need to acknowledge is that He had a Son…” This is what I’m talking about. You see the perception that a Muslim hold about Allah is totally irreconcilable with that of God. They differ in every aspect. But what is happening today and have happened some 150 years ago was that there was a platform established where the Biblical message and revelation of God was brought into the indigenous peoples of Africa so that what we have today and will have in other nations some short time in the future - a polluted Christian people.
To say to the Muslim that the Christians God and the Muslims god is the same god is doing dishonor to God and is again making a golden calf, one that will please everybody except God. So what was happening with the translating of God, the view the people had of God in their African customs was portrait to them by some other Aarons of the later centuries. There was “hewn out” a system of religion, to which the peoples becomes attracted to. It was not something totally “foreign”, it was known to them, and so they took great delight in it. Sadly this golden calf worship is still operative today. It still needs to be overthrown by men of God who will stand up against it and who will “grind it to power.” Let me say something about the word that is used for God in the Sotho’s Bible – “Modimo.” In the Sotho language you have different “classes.” Everything or almost everything in the language has its concords, etc, derived from these “classes.” You have the “mo”, “ba” class, which is mostly assigned for people. Then you have the “mo”, “me”, the “se”, “di” classes etc. What is problematic is the word that is use for God, namely; “modimo.” Few acknowledge this reality.
What was being laid in the African peoples hearts like in that of Israel, while they were still in Egypt was a concept that the True and Living God was the same as what they have believed in for all their life’s. And the way “he” or “it” revealed “itself” or “himself” was still acknowledge even to this day. In the classes already mentioned the one refers to the singular term and the other to its plural form. For example: “motho”, is a person and “batho” is people, the plural of motho. The common “stem” on which both these words derive from is “tho.” You find it all through the language. Another example is “mosadi” – woman, female, and “basadi” – more than one woman – females. So here’s the thing: “modimo” has also its plural form, namely “badimo.” And there’s the problem! “Badimo” are use for the ancestral spirits – plural! That’s problematic. Why? “Modimo” refers in actuality to “ancestral spirit” – singular, which some dictionaries also asserts! Which means that it is one like them that has gone before them? If “modimo” is “god” then the “badimo” must be “gods”.
But who is these “gods?” They are the spirits of the ancestors! Maybe it was ignorance, maybe something else, but what has gone through as God to the African indigenous people is not God but one to which the people were accustomed to and which have replaced the Eternal God in the mind and hearts of the people. That is nothing else than “golden calf” worship. What is further noteworthy is that in the 1990’s there was Sotho Bibles in which the Holy Spirit was actually translated with the word “badimo!” At the time the Bible society took notice of this error, some copies have already been sold! Now, I am not trying to revise everything. What I’m saying should be clear! We need to address this “golden calf” issue. We will not be able to change the words many use today as “modimo” but we can say like Paul to many,
“I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:23-31)
Acts 17 tells us while Paul was in Athens; he saw that the city was given over to idols. V.17 “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers...” V18.
“Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.”
This is why they took him to the Areopagus, for him to explain this new doctrine (Acts 17:19-20) of another God. What God was Paul going to tell them about, one they did not know, not one they did! The God of Israel- the true creator.
Paul using the Greek word for God theos is inconsequential. Because Paul spoke to them in Greek (the Bible was also written in Greek). Of course he used the word for God in their language. What he did NOT use is a Greek god’s name. Theos is general word for God, a god they did not know.
What God would he be bringing to them? Why not the God of the Hebrews? Because their position is that the cultures own national gods names are acceptable. Again, this was not the Greeks God; he was an UNKNOWN God to them.
YHVH is not Allah- they are different in nature no matter what name one uses for them. It is insulting not to tell Muslims that Allah is NOT YHVH. Instead, some has no problem with Muslims continuing to use Allah, the same name they have always used. Muslims believe their God Allah is the creator, the almighty, and there is no other. They borrow concepts from the Bible to prove this and will, when it is to their advantage, claim that Allah is the God of the Bible. When they take this position they are not agreeing with us but saying that we are wrong about God, that we have a corrupted belief.
Not everyone has the same definition of the words God, Jesus, revelation, inspiration, or the events and history surrounding these subjects. “The Allah of Islam” is certainly not the God found in the Bible because of the immense differences. We know this God whom Mohammed had a revelation of hates Israel, God is not called Father, does not have a Son because this one God is not triune in nature. Neither is Isa (Jesus) the same Jesus of the Bible but is only a name the Muslims have assigned him as a prophet; their Isa (Jesus) is not God the Son who died on the cross for our sins, therefore Allah cannot be equivalent to or used as the Father. John says:
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. “ (2 John 9) and “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:22-23, see also John 5:23)
The Arabic word Allah literally it means “The God.” If one asks a Muslim about Allah being equal to the other names of God, they would get a unanimous no.
How can anyone say the name Allah is the same God? We are not just using names; the name identifies who is behind the name. One has to be without knowledge on this subject or be dishonest to present them as the same God. However, Muslims know their god is different than the Christian's, how come some men don’t?
Are they (the gods of the nations) all true Gods with different names? To say all of these are no more than the names of God in different languages is to intentionally not look at the God behind the name. There are distinctions in these gods. If you do not make distinctions of whom these names represent you will end up believing that all religions are basically about the same God. This is what Bahai’s and Rosicrucian’s teach; that is what universalism is all about. This is no small issue and it takes time to answer what is being presented.
“Furthermore, whether its Allah, Gott, Vued, or Hananim (dieu or dios), Modimo, Unkulunkulu, Mudzimu, etc, all of these names mean god but the question is, are they the same God? Take for example the name Allah. It came from al-ilah and although there are those who look at the name as a generic name for God, the fact is, it is not. Historians have proven that Allah was one of 360 gods worshipped at the Kaaba before Mohammed made him monotheistic.”
In our reaching the lost for Christ, we ought to not only deal with superficial things, we need to go down to the roots of all this. What Paul said in Romans 15 is the starting point of what is laid today.
“That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:” (Romans 15:16-20)
Now what is evident is what Paul states here. Why would he have a problem building upon another man’s foundation? You see that foundation may be in error, it may consist not in the right materials. There may be the danger to have false foundations, men building upon the sand, upon traditions and customs, Jesus spoke of this in Mark 7 and Matthew 7. The foundational things may be in error! If the foundation is in error then the whole building will collapse, it will be build and be decorated in vain. The question that arises is, will everything that goes on in the Name of Christ be acceptable to God? Did God accept the golden calf worship of the peoples? Foundations must be shaken, it must come under inspection, it must be uprooted. There is no other foundation that must be build upon that will be acceptable in God’s eyes.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19)
The question is not do you know God, but in what manner God knows you! The seal of approval is written on the foundation laid in man’s heart, it states: “a New name, “in Christ,” a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!” So that every plant – custom, tradition, etc, God have not planted, may be uprooted and be cast out! (Matthew 15:13 see the context!) God bless, grace be to you all, may the good Shepherd of the sheep, equip you for doing His will and to be fully furnish for every good work fully furnished, by working in you what is pleasing to Him in all things so that you may be to His glory, a planting of righteousness through Jesus Christ Our Lord, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.