Part A
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed grabbing the attention of church congregations, conferences, retreats, my classes at Lakeland Christian Academy, etc. with this opening:
“I want to begin by asking you two questions. Please don’t answer or respond out loud, just quietly in your own mind.
#1. Why did Jesus come from heaven to the earth?
#2. Why did Jesus die on the cross?”
I then continue, “Okay, now let’s break the silence. If you had one or more of the following words in your answers, please raise your hand: sin, sins, substitute, take away, pay, world, people-kind, me, my, mine.”
At that moment every hand is up. It was so much fun to tell them they are wrong and to put their hands down. Now I have their attention. Even the guy dozing is awake.
I ask them to turn to 1 John 3:8 and read it to themselves. I then continue, “Are any of the words I asked about in the verse? Not one! So, according to 1 John 3:8, Jesus did not come to the earth to die for your sins.” I then ask, “Look at the word ‘reason,’ is it plural or singular? So, according to 1 John 3:8, the singular reason Jesus came to the earth had to do with the devil, and not you.”
I then ask them to read 1 John 3:5. The NIV reads, “But you know… that he appeared so that he might take away our sins” One person once exclaimed, “There I am, I’m in verse 5!” I continue by sharing that if they have been around the church for any length of time, they know that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. That is the Western version of the cross story. It’s the only perspective preached in U.S. churches.
I then ask them to once again look at verses 5 and 8 and identify what word appears in both verses. Yes! “Appeared” appears in both verses! Yikes! Did Jesus appear twice? Should we celebrate Christmas twice a year? Or, did Jesus appear for two reasons. I then explain that the vertical piece of the cross could stand for the number 1… straight up and down. Therefore, one appearance. And the two sides of the crossbeam could stand for the two reasons Jesus appeared. Two simultaneous transactions when he died spiritually… one FOR the world (1 John 3:5), and the second AGAINST Satan and his demons (1 John 3:8).
Okay, I will stop here for now. What you just read is the reason I am returning to Cambodia December 27-January 15, 2024. Cambodians are animists! From the moment of birth until death their lives are lived in fear of evil spirits. In order not to get slammed by evil spirits with “sights, sounds, smells, sensations, sickness,” millions of Cambodians (also Vietnamese, Thai, Laotians, etc.) begin the day with offerings to the spirits. In front of homes, huts, and inside businesses, is a shrine where the offerings are presented. The shrines are called “spirit houses.” Cambodians have NEVER… EVER… contemplated that there might be a solution to their fears. Cambodians have never once entertained a thought along the lines of 1 John 3:8.
I will continue the story in another email. It gets gooder and gooder!
Part B
You’re going back to Cambodia? Why?
I have been on a multi-year biblical and theological journey about the AGAINST transaction of the cross recorded in 1 John 3:8 as a way of sharing the gospel with animists. My main mentor is Dr. Clinton Arnold, chairman of New Testament at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in Southern California.
His book The Powers of Darkness in the Letters of Paul is worth its weight in gold. And it’s very readable! In the opening five chapters he reconstructs the first century Mediterranean- Roman-Empire-world and demonstrates that everybody was an animist… a spirit worshiper. In other words, when Paul entered a Roman city, everybody he engaged with the gospel was an animist. The same is true in Cambodia! Every non-Christian Cambodian is an animist.
Many responded to Paul’s message and he gathered them into spiritual families called churches. And then Paul followed-up by writing letters to these churches. Here is the brilliance of Arnold’s research: The churches were comprised of new Christians who had just come out of animism. Animism defined as the worship of spirits/gods through offerings, sacrifices, ceremonies and rituals. Stated another way, Arnold unpacks verses/passages as to their meaning to those who had just come to Jesus from superstitious, pagan, idolatrous, fearful spirit worship. Obviously, we miss so much in Paul’s letters when we read them with Western eyes… from our Western non-spiritual worldview.
The first-century Roman world of Paul and present-day Cambodia are the same! Animistic! Every morning in Cambodia millions of offerings are presented to the spirits (food, beverage, burning incense, flowers, and gifts). And this worship is driven by fear. The goal is to please/appease the spirits in order not to inflict “sights, sounds, smells, sensations, sickness”
On the June/July, 2023 trip, 1 John 3:8, Colossians 2:15 and Ephesians 2:4-6 (especially co-seated in verse 6) were presented. They were exposed to the first of the three stages of the learning curve: 1) hearing, 2) understanding, and 3) implementing. We are asking God to help our Cambodian brothers and sisters to not only understand the AGAINST transaction of the cross, but to step out in faith and “experiment” with sharing the AGAINST message of the cross.
And what is that message? When Jesus died on the cross, he transacted something AGAINST Satan. The work of Satan and his evil angels was destroyed (1 John 3:8)! Therefore, Cambodians no longer have to be afraid of them, nor present offerings to them. As I shared in the conclusion of Part A, Cambodians have NEVER… EVER… contemplated that there might be a solution to their fears. Cambodians have never once entertained a thought along the lines of 1 John 3:8.
More to follow in Part C.
Part C
For all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In other words, everybody is born into spiritual debt. And the debt must be paid… will be paid!
Prior to the death of Jesus, Satan had “death-penalty authority” over the world. Stated another way, the world was under the authority of Satan because of the debt of sin. Picture it this way: Prior to the death of Jesus, Satan, in a sense, held a gun to the head of every person. And a gun in the hand of a thief pressed against the head of a victim gives the thief authority.
Then God threw Satan a curveball when he came from heaven to the earth to pay the wage (1 John 3:8). The moment the debt was paid, Satan and his demons were “disarmed” (Colossians 2:15). Their weapon… the penalty of death… was stripped from them. Satan no longer could use the death penalty as leverage because the debt had been paid. As the hymn sings, Jesus Paid It All!
This is a message of hope for fear-driven spirit worshipers in Cambodia! The authority of evil angels was destroyed when they were disarmed at Calvary. That’s what I call “D & D.” Cambodians have never entertained the thought that there could be a solution to their fears. The good news is that they no longer have to be afraid of evil spirits and can stop the offerings, sacrifices, ceremonies and rituals.
To be continued in Part D
Part D
One last ring from the Mission Bell.
God did not open a door for a return trip to Cambodia, he kicked the door clean off the hinges and doorjamb. Actually, he kicked down the wall that the door was a part of.
Here is the conclusion of the AGAINST transaction of the gospel story. It incorporates the FOR transaction of 1 John 3:5 introduced in Part A. When Jesus died to pay the sins FOR the world, he accomplished something AGAINST Satan/demons: D & D… Disarmed and Destroyed.
But, not only can animists be set free from their fears of evil spirits, they can be elevated to a position of authority over them. Talking about role reversal! Their lives were spent appeasing them and now they can resist them. And when resisted, the evil spirits must flee! That is the good news of James 4:7.
But how? Why? On what basis do demonic angels have to flee when resisted by someone who was offering fear-driven sacrifices just the day before? (See Powers of Darkness, Arnold, page 95). That is the good news of Ephesians 2.
When one acknowledges their sin (Ephesians 2:1) and receives the free gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), three things happen according to Ephesians 2:4-6: 1) they are made alive spiritually (born again), 2) they are raised up from the dead and 3) they are raised up to be seated with Jesus who is sitting at the right-hand of the Father. Theologically 3) it’s called co-seated.
Matthew recorded Jesus saying ALL AUTHORITHY (Matthew 28:18) was given to him when he disarmed and destroyed the work of Satan/demons. Forty day later (Acts 1:3) he ascended back to heaven and sat down on the “Universal… Supreme Court… of Authority.”
The moment someone chooses to accept the free gift of salvation and become a follower of Christ, they are lifted up to be co-seated with Jesus in terms of their spiritual identity. And when they resist the devil (James 4:7), he is obligated to flee because their declaration is being issued from the highest realm of authority in the universe. In other words, being co-seated with Jesus means former animists now outrank Satan and his entire host of evil angels.
The message of the cross is incomplete if restricted to 1 John 3:5… the FOR transaction. To bring balance to the beam, the AGAINST transaction of 1 John 3:8 must be included in a gospel presentation. And it terms of animists, the starting point of sharing the gospel is D & D, 1 John 3:8, Colossians 2:15 and Ephesians 2:4-6.
Kevin Kane (12 years “boots on the ground” as a missionary in Battambang, Cambodia) and I depart December 27, two days after we celebrate the event that launched the concluding transactions of Calvary and Easter. We land back in Chicago on January 15, 2024.
My last email.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, this graphic summarizes Part A-D. This picture was introduced to our Cambodian leaders on the June/July trip. On our up-coming trip Kevin and I want to drill down deep into what this picture says to animistic Cambodians.
About the cross in the lower left. As you can see, the crossbeam is lopsided because it only focusses on the FOR portion of the cross narrative… 1 John 3:5.
About the Certificate of Debt in the lower right. This demonstrates the Colossians 2:14 “record of debt with its legal demands.” Once the demands were met, Satan lost!
In my opinion some Christians (perhaps many) don’t experience daily spiritual victory because they don’t understand that Satan was on the receiving end of D & D 2,000+ years ago. They know they’re saved, but on-going victory may elude them. When Christians understand that they can do James 4:7 from their co-seated-with-Jesus-position-of-authority, that can lead to daily victory.
