A Word About Bible Reading

Last year, at this time, I preached a sermon at Valley Springs Presbyterian Church about being committed to reading your Bible on a regular basis (you can still listen to the sermon online at www.valleysprings.org/sermons, dated Dec. 27, 2009). Every Christmas, we celebrate the great gift of God the Son coming to dwell with us in human flesh. The incarnation is one of the great miracles upon which our hope of salvation firmly rests. But Christ’s humiliation is not God’s only condescending act for humanity. The fact that God has chosen to speak to us through human language and human grammatical constructs, which we can read and understand, also is a great gift from God. The Bible is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. And it is readable and accessible in our language. And the Bible contains “the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68). We would be fools to ignore such a great gift. In fact, we cut ourselves off from “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3) if we do not deepen our knowledge of the Word. We cut ourselves off from the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, if we do not soak in God’s word (Eph. 5:18 & 6:17 with Col. 3:16).

So the challenge still stands for the new year. Be a person of the Book. This is not necessarily a challenge to read through the Bible in one year or follow one certain plan; it is a challenge to regularly, daily, let the Word of God shape and transform your mind and your heart and your life. Will you step up to the challenge in 2011?

From my personal experience, I have found that it is difficult to be regular in the Word without a plan. The last two years I have used the Bible reading plan found in the ESV Study Bible, with some modifications to fit the high school ministry at Valley Springs. I do not have a modified plan to offer you for 2011, but let me lead you to several options. I do not challenge you to use a plan just to have something to check off, but to have something to help you develop a regular habit of reading God’s Word. With any of these plans, modify them as needed, but let them help you soak in God’s Word.

This ESV Study Bible reading plan that I have used, along with other reading plans, can be found at http://www.esv.org/resources/reading-plans-devotions/. These reading plans come in various formats. You can set the plan of your choice to be your homepage on your web browser, or even subscribe to the RSS feed, if you want to follow it like a blog. Of course, you can do as I do and print the plan and carry the copy in your Bible.

For 2011, I plan to use the M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan. Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a Scottish pastor in the early 19^th century. Although he died at the early age of 29, he has impacted the church greatly, especially through this Bible reading plan. I was introduced to this plan as a teenager by my pastor and used it then. It leads you to read through the Old Testament once and the Psalms and New Testament twice in one year. You can skip the last column and read through the whole Bible once in the year. I look forward to a new year of continuing to be shaped and transformed by God’s Word.

I encourage you to browse through these plans (or do your own Google search for Bible reading plans) and pick one and stick to it. If you miss one or more days, don't give up. Just keep plugging along. The point is not to just "do a plan," but to put yourself in a place where God's Word can shape and influence you. May God richly bless you in 2011 as you feed on his Word.

Christmas in Cameroon

We enjoyed a peaceful Christmas here in Cameroon. It was certainly much different than Christmas in the US. We did not go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but I did do a little marketing with an American friend. I picked up a few relatively dull knives for the boys to use to cut weeds and carve a little into sticks. The man I purchased them from offered to sharpen them, but I thought they would be just fine the way they are. I was able to get four of them for about 80 cents. My understanding is that Cameroonians use them out on their farms and for peeling potatoes. I also found a Cameroonian football jersey and shorts for each of the boys, except Isaiah. Isaiah is fascinated with pushing things around the house, particularly a stool that makes an awful racket. Our cook, Martha, has a nephew who is a carpenter and was able to make a little toy from wood that he could push. Dale created a tire swing for the boys.

We brought along our advent calendar that we purchased several years ago from www.desiringgod.org. This has been one of the highlights of our Christmas season ever since and was a small taste of home throughout the advent season. We also read an advent story together, Bartholomew’s Passage, everyday during lunch. Dale is home each day for lunch, in fact, we eat every meal together except for breakfast a few days each week. The only Christmas songs we heard or sang with a congregation throughout all of advent were at a Sunday evening Vespers service in the chapel here at CBTS. While we enjoyed the familiar choruses, we were hoping to hear some traditional African Christmas songs. Other than our advent calendar and a small Christmas tree candle, we didn’t bring any decorations. I had told the boys that the candle would be our tree this year. Just into December, our gardener asked Dale if he should cut down a tree for us. We were very thankful and surprised the boys with a Christmas tree one Saturday afternoon. Our neighbors even loaned us a few strands of lights, and we made some paper chains and snowflakes. We even used tree clippings to make a few wreaths and to decorate the mantle.

I tried to give our house help the day off on Friday since it was Christmas Eve. However, it was market day, so our cook did some marketing for us. Also, though I had planned leftovers for Friday, she still had to grind the beef which kept her here longer than I had hoped. The student who is helping with general house work over the break insisted on coming to be sure that the floors were clean for our Christmas day. (We sweep and mop floors twice each week with multiple extra sweepings in between, but still they are always covered with red dust.) Our laundress also came for a few hours. I think maybe they were all a bit concerned about our ability to survive an extra day without them.

Throughout Christmas weekend, we enjoyed many familiar things. I made taco salad on Friday night with some Ranch dressing packets brought from home, we had a chocolate chip coffee cake for breakfast on Christmas morning (chips used sparingly as one bag from Costco must last as long as we can make it), we had garlic parmesan chicken on Christmas day (parmesan cheese brought from home), and we brought marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey bars to make s’mores Christmas night. Dale even made chocolate chip pancakes Sunday night with homemade buttermilk. We decided that we ought to enjoy the treats now since there is always a possibility that a mouse will find them. We even had the opportunity to play with a little snow. (Of course, it was instant snow that sticks to your fingers but does not pack well enough to make anything but a wall or mountain.) We did pass some along to our cook and laundress. This is likely the only snow that their children will ever experience.

Though we enjoyed treats from home, we also had a few treats the Cameroonians enjoy. I asked Martha to buy some sugar cane at market for us to try. She returned with two sticks about 5 feet tall and told me they did not have the large sticks. Really??? You peel the outside, bite a chunk off and chew on it to get the sugar out. Then you spit out the remains. Martha also brought us some chin-chin which is the only traditional Cameroonian Christmas treat that I was told about when I asked. I don’t know for sure how to describe chin-chin, but if you visit us next Christmas, maybe we will have some. Other than chin-chin, my understanding is that they just eat and drink A LOT. Christmas is the time when everyone wants to settle their debts, and others probably go into debt in order to prepare a feast. Someone from campus brought an entire cow to store in our deep freezer for the week before Christmas.

We have another week to finish grading from the first semester. Please pray that we finish all that we need to and that Dale also will be able to sleep some. On January 5th, we will travel to Bamenda for a missionary fellowship conference. Please pray for safe travels as the roads are awful and the drive takes approx. 6 hours. Shortly after we return, we will welcome another couple from the US that will be here to teach for the second semester. We would love for you also to be praying for Andrew and Susan’s arrival as well as the friendships that we look forward to with them.

When the Teacher Becomes the Student and the Students Become the Teachers

A couple of weeks ago, in my Systematic Theology class, we came to the topic of the essence of man. This topic asks the question, what is the composition of a human being? This is not a biology question. It’s about the fact that we, as human beings, are more than flesh and blood. There is something immaterial, or spiritual, about us. Our textbook is Systematic Theology (original, huh?) written by Wayne Grudem, a professor of theology at Phoenix Seminary. Grudem argues that man is made up of basically two parts: the physical and the non-physical. He demonstrates from Scripture that the words “soul” and “spirit” are used interchangeably to speak about our non-physical part of who we are. I tend to agree with Grudem.

This is where things get interesting.

I was explaining the Scriptural evidence for soul and spirit to refer to the same non-physical part of us when one of the students in the class raised his hand with a question. This is Maurice, and in every lecture he has some very good, thoughtful questions. Maurice surprised me. He said, “Up until this point, I have agreed with Grudem completely. But on this issue, I disagree. I believe if Grudem was an African, he would teach that the soul and spirit are two different parts of a human.”

I had two initial responses in my mind: 1. Why would this student feel so strongly about this rather mundane and uncontroversial doctrine? and 2. What would Wayne Grudem look like if he were African? Well, I let the student explain what was on his heart, for he truly was passionate about this topic.

Maurice began to explain to me some of the common practices of witchcraft, which are encountered throughout Africa. There are some who are involved with witchcraft that bind their “spirits” to other living creatures for security or protection purposes. They reason that as long as that living creature is alive, their bodies (with their souls) are secure from ultimate harm. And the opposite comes to be true as well. If the living creature is harmed or killed, that person ends up dying themselves, unless they are able to get back to the creature in time to “retrieve” their spirit.

In my western ways, I have never heard of or encountered any such activity. I asked the whole class if the rest of them witnessed these practices and they all responded with a resounding yes. They knew of people who died under these circumstances. Now it was time for the teacher to become the student. I threw out the rest of the lecture plan and just learned from these students about spiritual warfare in Cameroon. On a regular basis, Christians in Africa wrestle with the spiritual forces of evil.

Eventually, we decided that the realities of spiritual warfare in Africa have nothing to do with whether or not the soul and spirit refer to the same immaterial part of humans. But one question has lingered in my mind since we had that class discussion: what about spiritual warfare in the United States? It seems that we do not encounter or talk about spiritual warfare on a regular basis. It’s more of an oddity. And when someone does speak about spiritual warfare, people respond with suspicion. Does this mean there is less spiritual warfare in America?

I have come to two answers for that question. First, perhaps spiritual warfare is a very present reality in America; we just don’t recognize it for what it is. This would prove to be most unfortunate because we are not fighting the good fight. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” When we ignore or don’t recognize our enemy, he has a great advantage against us.

An American missionary here in Cameroon suggested the second answer to me. He said that the gospel has long been established in North America and the spiritual dominion of Satan has been broken. Therefore, spiritual warfare is greatly decreased in America compared to Africa, where the gospel has just begun to be established in the last 100 to 200 years. There are two implications with this answer. One, there is much work still to be done in Africa to establish the church with the true gospel to stand against the spiritual forces of evil. And, two, America is at risk of falling back into the dominion of spiritual darkness if the gospel is not held onto tightly.

Can both answers be correct?

So how do you wrap up the class discussion? I wanted to remind us of our only hope as we left the discussion of spiritual warfare. I quoted Romans 1:16, where Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” The gospel is God’s power made available for us. It is the power to inherit eternal life. It is the power to overcome sin. And it is the power to not live in fear of evil forces, but to gain victory in the ongoing spiritual battle. Let us hope in the gospel of God.

English Grammar

When we left Roseville at the end of October, I was uncertain whether or not I would actually be teaching the English Grammar course here at CBTS. I think I had convinced myself that since we were so late in arriving for the semester, certainly someone else must have already been teaching the course. While I knew this was unlikely, I wanted to believe it would be true.

On that Monday evening when we arrived at CBTS, there were many people outside our home waiting to greet us. Everything from that night is sort of a blur. It was dark, the power went out shortly after we came into the house, we had travelled for 6 hours on a horrible road, and we didn't know anybody. (You know, it is quite exhausting to keep the kids from hitting their heads on the windows in the bush taxi when you have given them Drahmamine to keep their stomachs settled...and even harder when you have taken some yourself.) I don't remember if it was the president of the seminary, who scooped Jonathan into his arms as he climbed out of the taxi, or the academic dean, that said, "And your students are also eager to have you here for the English Grammar course." I have to admit my heart sort of sunk, and still I was slightly curious to take on this new challenge.

The beginning was rough. I was very uncomfortable. Yes, I speak English and I have brought my fourth grader through a few English Grammar texts, but I was a Bible major and most of my English grammar I learned through Greek! I think things would have been easier if nobody ever asked any questions. It's the questions from the students that are really trying to learn the information that often stump me...and then there was the time when the text was actually wrong...and there are differences between British grammar and American English grammar, right? So when most of the class tells me they learned something differently in secondary school, how do I know whether or not I am teaching something that is unique to American English? It also took quite some time to get a feel for how the class interacts with one another and also with the teacher. There is often a good amount of laughing, sometimes I do not understand it and at other times it is clearly at the expense of a student who has asked a question. In one instance, I think this treatment of a fellow student went far enough beyond what had been normal that a gentle rebuke was necessary.

The prep for class and grading are a bit more time consuming than I had thought they might be. After the first few weeks of class, I was certain that this was going to be too much to do while homeschooling and trying to adapt to living in a new culture. I thought that maybe we could at least grade the quizzes together in class and possibly some assignments as well. We attempted this twice, but I found that I couldn't tell which markings were corrections afterwards and which were part of the original students work. The grading would also go faster if I never assigned the exercises in which the students are required to write their own sentences. This, however, would rob me of the joy it is to read the creatively written sentences about how wonderful English grammar is and how delighted they are to be taking the class. Often there is also a sentence, or two, that makes some comment about Madame Erin. Of course, these students receive extra credit...actually, they simply make me laugh since I doubt that any of them prefer English Grammar over Greek, Hebrew, Systematic Theology or New Testament Exegesis.

Things began to change fairly quickly a few weeks into the course. It began on the day when I was able to personally return each student's work to the correct student and also to call them by name when they raised their hands. This is actually much easier than trying to remember not to gesture with my left hand while my right hand is holding a piece of chalk or an eraser. I also think my grammar has gotten better, and I've learned to simply say, "I don't know." I'm no longer concerned about body language and expressions or the fact that on any given day it is not uncommon to see a few students sleeping...or learning with their eyes closed. I really enjoy the class now. I am even a bit sad that the Christmas break will be for several weeks, and I think I will miss being with the students.

What is Jesus doing with Those Pigs?!

While studying the gospels in my New Testament Introduction class, one question has stood out as unusual for my Western ears. In the gospel of Mark we came to chapter 5, where we have the account of Jesus healing the demon-possessed man who dwelled among the tombs. As Jesus interacts with the demons, they request that he send them into a herd of pigs (v. 12). Then we read in verse 13, “he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.”

One of the students asked me in class how this could not be sin for Jesus. Jesus allowed these unclean spirits destroy a huge herd of pig, which equates to a huge economic loss for that community. In all of my ministry, teaching and preaching through the gospels, no one has cared about those pigs. In this culture, however, there is a deep appreciation for the economic prospect of livestock. Perhaps I can be so bold to say that the people of Cameroon understand the culture of the Bible better than us Westerners.

So, how would you answer that question: How is this not sin for Jesus to allow the demons to destroy the pigs? I had two responses: 1. Just because Jesus “allowed” the demons to enter into the pigs does not mean Jesus is responsible for the actions of the demons. The demons caused the pigs to be drowned. Throughout Scripture we see God allow Satan and the demons to work evil and God is never to be blamed for the evil. Consider how God allows Satan to afflict Job in Job 1 and 2. Or consider how God allows Satan to enter into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. Peter makes it clear in Acts 2:23 that it was according to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” that Jesus is betrayed to his death. It is a great comfort to know that evil is not out of the control of God. We believe that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28) and the God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11), and yet, God “cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13) and “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5).

The second thing I said was more speculative. I would need to do more research to affirm this truth (and I admitted that to the class). I said that perhaps this was an act of judgment by Jesus on that community. If this was a Jewish community (this I am unsure of, but suspect strongly; see Mark 7:27 – Jesus was sent to the Jews), they should have no business with pigs. God declared pigs to be unclean for the Jews (see Lev. 11:7). At this point in Jesus’ ministry, he was already being accused of breaking the law, especially the Sabbath laws. And here Jesus comes upon this community that raised unclean animals. I believe this reveals the hypocrisy of the Jews who were against Jesus. And this could be Jesus’ judgment on the hypocrisy of those opposing him.

So what do you think about those pigs? How would you respond?

I have to admit that answering questions from the students has come to be one of my favorite parts of teaching. I enjoy how their questions reveal what is near to their hearts and how they are digesting my teaching. I look forward to next semester when I will have more time in class to receive and address questions. Because of our late arrival and all that we are packing into a short period of time, I constantly have to stop receiving questions in class time. But next semester will be a normal pace schedule (which will be nice just for the sake of keeping up with the class prep time).