It is my intention in this article to show the relationship between theological formation in the church, particular cultures, and contemporary movements. By culture I mean the language, arts, habits, values, currency, and aspirations of a people group, community, city or nation.

As a new Christian I thought the church preached only what was plainly taught in Scripture. But in 1995, through my reading of church history, I was shocked to find that theologians and Evangelical Christian leaders in America abandoned societal reformation and changed their eschatological views from more of a post-millennial view to a hyper-dispensational, premillennial view that emphasizes the imminent return of Christ and the rapture.

The pre-, mid- and post-tribulation rapture theories were unknown in church history prior to the 1820’s when introduced by Edward Irving, a teacher with a dubious reputation and known for extreme views based on visions and revelations. He received his view on the pre-tribulation rapture through a vision and revelation by Margaret MacDonald, who was attending his meetings. (Read The Rapture Plot by David MacPherson, chapter one).

To simplify what happened: Preachers like Charles Finney preached and worked for societal reform (abolition, temperance, women’s suffrage, etc.) so that the Kingdom of God would be manifest on the earth as it is in heaven (Luke 11:2). But, after the horrors of the Civil War, when 600,000 men were killed, the church became discouraged and lost hope to bring the Kingdom of God on earth in America. This opened the church to this hyper-dispensational, premillennial view which emphasized the imminent return of Christ and the rapture. Thus, this shift in theology seemed to coincide with the Civil War; this shift wasn’t primarily the result of Bible study but changes in society and culture which influenced the belief system of the church and paved the way for the present dispensational nature of much of Evangelicalism during the last 135 years.

Of course, this shift has been primarily responsible for the church abandoning culture and explains how we presently see church attendance in America at an all-time high but morality and culture at an all-time low! Furthermore, this dispensational thinking has separated the cross from culture—the creator from redeemer—resulting in a false dichotomy between the spiritual and material in which the church only tries to win souls for heaven and leaves the stewardship of the earth to secularists!

This teaching is also responsible for peripheral movements and teachings like the current false teaching from Harold Camping of Family Radio, who said that Christ would return on May 21, 2011. Of course, on May 22 when this doesn’t happen these false prophets will say they made a mistake in their calculations and will propose another date! I hope this second false prediction by Family Radio and Harold Camping will result in Camping’s resignation. But this won’t happen because he owns the radio station!

The church is called to incarnate the teachings of Scripture by our participation in culture; biblical application is a combination of theological exegesis and cultural engagement. But the primary doctrines and truths of Scripture are universal in nature and should not shift with a changing culture. For example, the deity of Christ; salvation by the vicarious death, burial and resurrection of Christ; heaven for believers; condemnation for the damned; and even gender roles within families as shown in Ephesians 5:22-33 which are grounded in the created order, not in culture.

According to 1 Corinthians 10:8 the teaching that the husband is the head of the family is grounded in the created order, not culture. In spite of this, today more Evangelical leaders are calling for an egalitarian view of family and church as related to spiritual headship. But this change is driven more by culture than the Bible, especially as it relates to the charge that Paul’s epistles are not relevant today because Paul was a sexist speaking from the context of a patriarchal culture (a charge he refutes in 1 Corinthians 10:8 and 1 Timothy 2:12-14). Also note: the egalitarian use of Galatians 3:28 in regards to there being no “male or female” has to do with each genders’ equal, legal standing in Christ. But, exegetically, this does nothing to override other passages regarding male headship in the home and church, although female leadership is absolutely biblical and necessary to reflect God’s image according to Genesis 1:27 for His dominion according to Genesis 1:28.

Furthermore, process theology has invaded the church in many forms with its inherent teaching that the gospel and biblical teaching are always evolving with the progress of culture, even as God is always learning with the unfolding of time. Thus, process theology is a form of cosmic evolution and is the kissing cousin of open theism which teaches that God doesn’t even know some aspects of the “unknowable” future.

Although we need to stick to the core message of Scripture in spite of our cultural context, we also must relate the gospel to our particular culture in order for people to understand it and receive it. Much of the time people are not rejecting the core gospel but the cultural accoutrements we attach to the gospel.

For example, I know a historian who has said Christianity lost North Africa to Islam because Western culture, language, values, and methods were forced upon African churches. But when Islam arrived in Africa the Muslims adopted their message and methods to the African cultures, making Islam more amenable for new converts. We even see much legalism attached to the gospel especially among ethic Pentecostal groups in which a woman is not allowed to wear pants, earrings or makeup, and is not allowed to cut her hair. This has hindered these groups in passing down the faith to the next generation because young people do not connect these rules and regulations with authentic Christianity. Also, they do not want to be ostracized by their peers for their weird dress code and austere lifestyle!

We also must distinguish between certain aspects of a culture that are not harmful to biblical belief and can be assimilated into Christian faith. Cultural aspects like food, modest dress, language, monetary currency, and mode of work can be easily assimilated with a gospel presentation without compromising the gospel message.

But other aspects of a culture may be a challenge to biblical norms and values. For example, tribal people in Papua New Guinea were shocked to find that Christian missionaries taught against cannibalism since the indigenous people thought it much better to eat the bodies of their dead loved ones than to allow worms to eat them in the ground! (Read The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin, page 185.) Also, people in India who practiced the ancient ritual of sati (when a wife is burned alive next to her dead husband’s body) thought this practice demonstrated a woman’s devotion to her husband better than anything in other cultures!

Presently churches in parts of Africa are grappling with the issue of polygamy with members of their congregation because, they say, what’s more ungodly: separating a woman and her children from their husband/father and leaving them on their own, or allowing a family to stay together? If a woman marries in good faith, should she be sent away and have no other way to make a living but turn to prostitution? These Africans could also say they have a more biblical culture than Westerners because at least they are honoring lifelong covenants and partnerships. But we in the West who believe in monogamy think nothing of breaking marriage covenants through divorce and may even remarry, thus destroying families—even though it is done one spouse at a time!

(First Timothy 3:2 says a church elder is to be a husband of one wife. This shows the biblical standard changed from Old Testament times, in which kings and patriarchs often had polygamous relationships. But is this a standard that should be enforced for everyone who attends church or only those who aspire to eldership?)

It takes much biblical and cultural exegesis as well as prayer to know how to proceed in such situations! The easy way would be for churches to allow a form of syncretism, in which there is a combination of Christianity, tribal religions and cultural traditions. This is similar to what the Catholic Church has done in some places in Haiti, where some of the native peoples attend Catholic mass while continuing to practice voodoo, or as in some Latino cultures where some practice both Roman Catholicism and magic arts called Santeria.

However, God is against any form of syncretism and will have no other gods beside Himself! (Read 2 Kings 17:32-45 and 1 Corinthians 10:20-22.) We cannot worship the Lord and serve idols or demons!

We experienced a certain form of syncretism in America when minority communities equated the Christian-led civil rights movement with the Democratic Party, while those who are a part of the Christian Right have married their faith to a nationalistic dedication to America and the Republican Party. During World War I churches in Europe were so caught up in nationalism they all sided against each other based on who their nation was at war against! Also, many German churches joined the National Socialistic party of Adolf Hitler even though he was advocating the genocide of non-Germans! In the 2008 presidential election Barack Obama received almost 90% of the Black vote, even from among many Evangelical conservative leaders who knew Obama was a left-leaning progressive who espouses values totally against the Bible.

What’s the reason for this compromise? Not the Bible but culture! Truly, culture trumps vision, mission and even the anointing! Even Jesus said the traditions of men nullify the word of God (Mark 7:13).

In conclusion: If the church is going to be an effective witness for Christ we must exalt the universal truth of Scripture and exalt Christ as Lord of all, even over our ethnic and national cultures. While it is very difficult to take ourselves out of our culture to critique it (because even our minds, values and languages have been shaped by it, and it creates the lens by which we read and interpret Scripture), we must trust in the teaching of the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds. Through the teaching of the Spirit we can receive God’s perspective on public policy and theology so we are not captivated and led by the sinful and selfish torrents of culture and humanity. Instead, we should be led by the One who made us and saved us to be His witnesses to the world. We may not be able to separate religion from culture or culture from religion but we can separate ourselves to God in holiness and be His mouthpieces to the nations of the world, even as He called the prophet Jeremiah to accurately deliver what he had seen from God (read Jeremiah 1).

Finally, we must trust that the gates of hell will not overcome the church (the “gates of hell” represent the pinnacle and power base of a culture, e.g. the White House). Following the Scriptures and the leading of the Lord, we must trust in Jesus who is the One True Light that gives light to every man, a light that transcends culture because He is the One who created the humanity that frames culture (John 1:9-10).

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