Transforming Mission

How do you transform Jesus Christ’s original missionary command to go into all the world, to make disciples of all the nations and to teach them to observe everything He commanded us? (Matthew 28:18-20). Its as easy as eating candy floss. The first thing you need to do is to search for Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole and deliberately fall into it and then, while you’re tumbling uncontrollably ever deeper into the darkest recesses of the hole, to realize that the world will never be the same again. Everything is caught up in a whirlpool of change. Even our theology, i.e. our perception of the world, of ourselves, of God and eternity, is in a constant flux of change (Thus spake the Zarathustrian Emergents). Now, let’s see how the world has changed. Perhaps you can help me identify some of the paradigm shifts that have irreversibly changed the world. Here goes.

1. Electricity changed our world when it began to illuminate great cities.
2. The wheel and the aeroplane have given man greater mobility.
3. The telephone gave mankind greater connectivity.
4. The computer, the internet and mobile phones enlarged this connectivity to an even greater extent.
5. Man sets foot on the moon for the very first time and since then has explored many other planets in the universe.
6. Major breakthroughs in medicine are said to have enhanced man’s longevity.
7. Quantum physics has had enormous success in explaining many of the features of our world.

If the emergent and contemplative conversationalists, who are tumbling down the “Wonderland rabbit hole” are really and truly honest with themselves, they must admit that none of the abovementioned phenomenal inventions that brought about paradigm changes in our society were able to change the moral fibre of mankind as a whole. Improved environments have never changed man’s inborn depraved moral disposition, and neither does the maxim “from rags to riches.” (Jeremiah 17:9). And yet they persist in their folly to believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be contextualized and that mission ought be transformed to accommodate these changes and to meet the people where they are at this present moment. They perceive our modern-day society as a very complex one, as if societies in the past were more congenial and simpler. Men in antiquity who road on donkeys were no less sinful and depraved than today’s jet-setters who effortlessly fly between countries in modern planes and vice versa, the reason being that both inherited the same problem — the old Adam nature. The latter portentous and ominous part of man’s psyche clings to him like the smelly odour of a dead body (Romans 7:24).

The ill-founded notion that our society is too complex to be dealt with sufficiently and efficiently by a set of simple answers has its roots in the abdominal crusade against the Word of God and its solutions to man’s problems, so much so that the Bible narratives must be changed, refurbished, re-invented and moulded into something new that can address the needs of today’s complex souls. This is what one of our more distinguished contemplatives has to say about the complexities of our society.

Theology never should be a simple set of answers to lifes complex questions.

I’m rather intrigued by by his phrase “never should” which implies that theology (the science of studying and commenting on God and how He relates to our world) should always remain detached from or aloof of life’s complex questions. Dangling the proverbial carrot is certainly one way of keeping complex souls from finding solutions for their complex problems. It should never supply concrete answers, because as soon as it does the journey the contemplatives have embarked on will have reached a destination (“we have arrived” kinda concept) which, in turn of course, would derail and crash Brian McLaren’s and other emergents’ need for a “new quest.”  If Christian theology should never be a simple set of answers to life’s complex questions, to what else should complex souls take their refuge to find answers to life’s complexities – psychology, contemplative mysticism, other religions, new norms and values, a global ethic, a transformed missiology? What does God say?

2 Peter 1:2, 3 May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). (From the Amplified Bible)

The full, personal, precise and correct knowledge of God and Jesus Christ (which is not merely a head-knowledge but knowledge that pertains to eternal salvation – John 17: 3) produces a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). It leads to perfect spiritual well-being, good and spiritual prosperity (please note: not financial prosperity to make the poor rich as some would want you to believe), and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts. Indeed, God has bestowed on us all things through His Son Jesus Christ which enables us to live a life of godliness. Moreover, God has blessed his children with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). What more do they want; what more do they need? Notwithstanding king David’s life that was inundated with severe complexities, he could sing from the depths of his heart “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” Jesus Christ was all he needed to calm the tempestuous sea in his life, so much so that “he laid him down and slept; and awaked; for the LORD sustained him“ (psalm 3:5). This is not so with the unbeliever of whom the prophet Isaiah said” “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” A theology that never should be a simple set of answers to life’s complex questions is a theology of an incompetent God whose hands are tied and cannot solve repentant sinners complex needs and problems. Such a God is no more and no less than a statue of an idol in your living room picking up dust and dirt. Who is the liar? The one who says that “theology never should be a simple set of answers to life’s complex questions” or the One who promised that He has bestowed on us all things that are suited to a life of godliness, perfect peace free from perplexing fears, agitations and inner conflicts?

Who is this God of the emergent church who sprains, stumbles and gives way under the pressures of the complexities of this life? Cobus van Wyngaard describes this God as someone whose suffering on the cross was not unique here. He says amongst other heretic statements:

It’s as if Christians have this extreme fear of finding out that Jesus was just another human like me and you. Just a plain crusifixion would have been extremely bad, just as bad as it would have been for any other human. You know that it was an early Christian heresy to downplay the humanity of Christ? But by amplifying the uniqueness of his suffering, ain’t we downplaying his humanity? As if the normal suffering that a human would undergo isn’t enough, it had to be worse than anything you could imagine.

I don’t doubt the uniqueness of Christ. But I believe that much of what Jesus did was not unique to him. The Bible doesn’t have a problem with this. It talks about sharing in the suffering of Christ (Rom 8:17; Phil 3:10), about following Paul like he follows Jesus (1 Cor 11:1), about disciples doing the same things that Jesus did (Matt 10). Jesus was imitated, followed. Others have done similar things. In many respects what Jesus broughts was not supposed to be unique, but rather point to something that is common! Maybe his suffering is not supposed to be unique either.

For anything to be unique it must be something that has never occurred before and never shall occur again in the entire history of humankind. A Commonalty, on the other hand, is something that can occur again and again. Cobus van Wyngaard tries very hard to prove that Jesus Christ’s crucifixion was not unique because it was a common occurrence in Roman antiquity. No one can deny that crucifixion was the means of execution in the most horrendous and cruel way during the Roman Empire and that many experienced this ill-fated death. It was this very form of execution that may be associated with the “fullness of time” of which Paul wrote in Galatians 4 because it was only first introduced and used between 6 BC and 4 AD when Emperor Constantine abolished it. Many ask the question why God waited so long to send his Son into the world and why the Roman Empire played such a major role in die “fullness of time” There are several reasons but the most obvious one is that execution by crucifixion was the means God decreed for His Son to die long before it even existed as an instrument of execution. The “fullness of time” was the time when all the Old Testament prophecies in regard to Christ’s death and resurrection were fulfilled in Him so that there could be no doubt about their fulfillment. It was important that such an event as Jesus Christ’s crucifixion in the fullness of time should be predicted in order that there might be full evidence that He came from heaven and not from the earth like all the others who died a similar death (John 8:23); and yet, in order that prophecy may be seen to have been uttered by God, it must be so far before the event as to make it impossible to have been the result of mere human conjecture. There are several Old Testament prophecies in regard to Christ’s crucifixion that can never be associated with any other person who died on a cross during the Roman Empire, making His death on the cross absolutely unique. Let’s take a look at these prophecies and their fulfillment.

Prophecies	Fulfillment
Isaiah 53: 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.	Matthew 26: 62, 63 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Isaiah 50: 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.	Mark 14: 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
Psalm 69: 4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.	John 15:23-25 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Isaiah 53: 4, 5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.	Matthew 8:16, 17 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.	Matthew 17: 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
Psalm 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.	John 20: 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Psalm 22:6-8 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.	Matthew 27: 39, 40 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Psalm 69: 21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.	John 19: 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Psalm 22:8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.	Matthew 27: 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
Psalm 109: 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.	Luke 23: 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Zechariah 12: 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.	John 19: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
Psalm 22: 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.	Mark 15: 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
Psalm 34: 20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.	John 19: 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
Isaiah 53: 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.	Matthew 27: 57-60 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

All the above prophecies refer uniquely to Jesus Christ and Him alone, unless our very reverend Cobus van Wyngaard can prove that they also talk about all the criminals who were crucified in the time of the Roman Empire. To lay claim that “Jesus was just another human like me and you” portrays not only a gross ignorance of what God teaches us about the uniqueness of His Son in his Word, but a dangerous susceptibility to heresies that inevitably lead onto the road of destruction (Pr 14:12).

What exactly does Cobus mean when he says that Jesus was just another human like you and I? Does he mean that He was also born in sin? Was He also shackled to the old Adam nature? Was He a sinful man or without sin? If the Roman soldiers’ scourging and whipping of Jesus, the placing of the crown of thorns on his head, the nails in his hands and feet and all the other agonizing sufferings He experienced on the cross were able to bring about reconciliation between man and God, then anyone could have done it. It was not his physical suffering that was/is able to redeem man from his sin and fallen nature. It was/is the fact that his Father laid on Him who was without sin all the sins of every single human being since Adam and Eve right up to the very last person ever to be born into this world. It was/is the fact that Jesus cried out in agony “Eloi, Eloi lama sabactani (My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”). His sweat did not turn into blood in the Garden of Gethsemane because He feared his impending physical suffering on the cross but because He knew that His Father was going to lay all the sins of humanity (which was the kenosis of his bitter cup) on Him and that His Father was going to forsake Him during the time He had to pay the ransom for our sins.

Indeed, Jesus suffered the pangs of hell (His Father’s turned back on Him) while He bore our sins on the cross. Cobus tries his level best to generalize Christ’s crucifixion by saying “I don’t doubt the uniqueness of Christ. But I believe that much of what Jesus did was not unique to him. The Bible doesn’t have a problem with this. It talks about sharing in the suffering of Christ (Rom 8:17; Phil 3:10), about following Paul like he follows Jesus (1 Cor 11:1), about disciples doing the same things that Jesus did (Matt 10).” No man can ever suffer the way Jesus suffered on the cross when His Father forsook Him in our behalf. God can never lay the sins of the whole of humanity on anyone else. No man can or will ever be able to bear the sins of the whole of humankind. “Sharing the suffering of Jesus” can therefore never ever refer to these particular sufferings Jesus had to bear on our behalf. Romans 8:17 and Philippians 23:10 refer to the suffering of humiliation, rejection, persecution and even martyrdom but never the suffering of being forsaken by God. Yes! of course, those who refuse to accept by faith Jesus Christ’s vicarious death on the cross for their sins will eventually have to pay for their own sins in hell when God is going to forsake them (turn his back on them) for all eternity. In fact, God the Father forsook his Son on the cross so that He needn’t forsake us for all eternity. Following Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1) definitely does not mean that we should follow Him in his vicarious death for our sins. Once again no one else is able to do that. It simply means that we should deny ourselves and die to our old Adamic nature (Luke 9:23). Matthew 10 does not mean that we should do the same things Jesus did for us on the cross.

Let’s look at some other unique features of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.

• We learn from Isaiah 53:10 that it pleased his Father to bruise Him and that his vicarious death would produce a spiritual offspring. Who else’s death on a cross could produce a spiritual offspring whose sins had been forgiven?
• Neither the Roman soldiers nor his suffering on the cross killed Jesus. He Himself laid down his life and took it again at his resurrection (John 10: 17, 18). The criminals who died on the cross had no jurisdiction or authority over their deaths. Only Jesus, the Son of God, was able to lay down his life without having been put to death by human hands.
• The moment Jesus died many graves in Jerusalem opened up when an earthquake struck and many saints were resurrected. Now you tell me, Cobus, who else’s crucifixion accomplished such a thing? (Matthew 27: 51-52).
• He remained in the grave for three days after which He rose triumphantly from without the dead.

This is the kind of transformed mission Cobus van Wyngaard and many of our pastors who follow a Jesus whose crucifixion was not unique proclaim from their pulpits. But this is nothing new. Kenneth Copeland and the Faith teachers spread the same heresies. Here’s what Kenneth Copeland said about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, “Son, realize this. Now follow me in this and don’t let your tradition trip you up.” He said, “Think this way—a twice- born man whipped Satan in his own domain.” And I threw my Bible down.. . like that. I said, “What?” He said, “A born-again man defeated Satan, the firstborn of many brethren defeated him. “He said, “You are the very image, the very copy of that one.” I said, “Goodness, gracious sakes alive! ” And I began to see what had gone on in there, and I said, “Well now you don’t mean, you couldn’t dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?” He said, “Oh yeah, if you’d had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could’ve done the same thing, ’cause you’re a reborn man too.” (Kenneth Copeland: :”Substitution and Identification” Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989; tape #00-0202)

Do the honourable thing. Step down from your pulpits and never venture to stand and preach from there ever again because you are heaping up unto yourselves wrath and indignation against the Day of Wrath. Repent! and begin to follow the real Jesus of the Bible.

Romans 2: 4, 5 Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long- suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)? But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.