GOD HAS PREPARED PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE GOSPEL

In the early part of the century, many evolutionary scientists said that Gods must have developed from looking at nature and people making gods out of the things they saw around them. They insisted that monotheism developed much later and this proved that religion was just an invention of man.

For example, an Englishman named Edward B. Tylor theorized in a two-volume work called Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art and Custom, that the idea of a human "soul" must have been the natural seed thought from which all other religious concepts evolved. Tylor continued, “It dawned upon them that other entities -- animals, trees, rivers, mountains, the sky, and even forces of -- might be similarly endowed. Thus did spiritism (Tylor called it "animism") come to birth -- the first religion!”

But, as investigations have continued, the amazing truth has developed that in actual fact in hundreds of cultures around the world, a belief in a single divine entity, often a sky-god, created all and sustained all life alone. This was the first religious belief that occurred in most nations and tribes in the world even though it was later lost or corrupted. This monotheistic belief often predated the polytheistic beliefs by centuries or millennia and in some cases there is a mention of God’s book being lost and his Son being sent to the earth to help man and prophecies that someday God would send messengers to share his truth again. Many cultures have retained, since ancient times, some memory of the flood of Noah's time, of the world that existed before the time of the flood, and of the fact that, originally, they only worshipped one God, the true God.

There are startling examples from around the world of God working in the lives of heathen peoples and preparing them, often centuries in advance, for the coming of Christianity.

Don Richardson has written about this amazing fact in his book titled “Eternity in their Hearts” and he describes the eagerness with which many different people of the world have received the Christian Gospel during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, having awaited it for millennia! In an intriguing chapter entitled "Peoples of the Lost Book," he describes how people of many different cultures were expecting the arrival of "a white brother" who would show them a lost book describing to them all they needed to know about the unknown God that their forefathers had known in antiquity, but about Whom they had long since almost forgotten. Traditions of this sort were particularly prevalent among the Karen of Burma, the Kachin, the Lahu, the Wa, the Shan and Palaung Peoples, the Kui of Thailand and Burma, the Lisu of China, the Naga of India, and the Mizo of India.

Here are a few stories excerpted from this book and we highly recommend that beginning missionaries read the whole book.

KAREN PROPHECIES

The story of the part played by such a tradition among the Karen of Burma was also told by Alonzo Bunker, who spent thirty years among these people. Bunker also relates the Karen tradition concerning the temptation and fall of man, which bears a marked similarity to the Biblical account of Adam and Eve.

The Karen tradition with respect to the lost book was that their deliverer was to be a "white foreigner" and was to come across the sea from the west with "white wings," or the sails of ships, and bring "Yuah's white book." Richardson commented on this that "the Karen nation was thus poised like an 800,000- member welcoming party, ready for the first unsuspecting missionary who approached them with a Bible and a message of deliverance from God."

In 1817, the great missionary pioneer, Adoniram Judson, arrived near Rangoon, Burma, where he preached seven years before finding his first convert among the Buddhist Burmese. However, all of this time, unknown to him, Karen people were passing his home daily, often singing, as was their custom, hymns to Yuah, the true God. However, Judson had not learned their language.

During these seven years, Judson had the time to translate the Bible into Burmese--a task that would have been impossible if the Karen people had gotten wind of his message. Then, a Karen man named Ko Thah-byu came to the household where Judson was staying. He began to ask questions about the origin of the gospel and about the "white strangers" who had come from the west to bring this message and the book that contained it. Richardson wrote:

Suddenly everything fell into place for Ko Thah-byu. His spirit received the love of Jesus Christ like dry land absorbing rain!

Around that time a newly recruited missionary couple--George and Sarah Boardman, arrived in Rangoon to assist Judson. . . . To the amazement of Judson and Boardman, Ko-Thah-byu manifested a total preoccupation with the Bible and its message.

For it had already dawned upon Ko Thah-byu that he was the very first among his people to learn that "the lost book" had actually arrived in Burma! Accordingly, he also accepted his own responsibility to proclaim the good news that virtually every Karen was waiting to hear. So when George and Sarah Boardman announced plans to launch a new mission in the city of Tavoy, in the panhandle of southern Burma, Ko Thah-byu said eagerly, "Take me with you!" . . .

Each time he came to a Karen Village, he preached the gospel. And almost every time he preached the gospel, virtually an entire village would respond with faith! . . .

AFRICAN PROPHETS

The Gedeo were a half-million strong Ethiopian tribe who believed in Magano, the benevolent, omnipotent, Creator of everything. And yet few prayed to Magano. They were far more concerned about trying to appease Sheit’an, an evil spirit. They felt they did not know Magano well enough to be free from this evil spirit. One day, however, a Gedeo man, Warrasa, prayed that Magano reveal himself to the Gedeo people. Then followed a vision in which he saw two white-skinned strangers erect temporary shelters under a certain sycamore tree near Warrasa’s hometown, Dilla. Later they built more permanent shiny-roofed structures. Warrasa had never seen either type of dwelling before. A voice told him that these men would bring a message from Magano. During the next eight years other Gedeo soothsayers prophesied that strangers would soon arrive with a message from Magano. At the end of 1948, missionaries Brunt and Cain planned to set up base far from Dilla but the political climate forced them to decide on Dilla. So two white men erected tents under that very sycamore tree Warrasa had seen in his vision. Events continued to unfold in accordance with the vision. Today there are tens of thousands of Gedeo Christians. (54-56)

‘What happened among the Gedeo is by no means an isolated incident,’ writes Don Richardson. ‘Incredible as it seems, literally thousands of Christian missionaries down through history have been startled by exuberant welcome even among some of the earth’s remotest peoples! Folk . . . anticipated the coming of message-bearers for the true God almost as knowledgeably as if they had read about them in the morning news!’ (56) Richardson has documented some of these incidents in a book mentioned below. Several more are included below.

AN AMAZING PONY IN BURMA

Burma was home to about 800,000 Karen people and living in perhaps a thousand of their villages were people they esteemed as prophets of the God they called Y’wa. These special teachers kept reminding the people that the ways of the evil spirits that most of them followed were not the ways of Y’wa and that one day they must fully return to Y’wa’s ways. They rigorously opposed idolatry, and the Karen people refused to succumb to centuries of strong Buddhist influence. This was long before any missionaries reached the country.

Here is one of their hymns:

The omnipotent is Y’wa; him we have not believed.

Y’wa created men anciently;

He has perfect knowledge of all things.

Y’wa created men at the beginning;

He knows all things to the present time.

O my children and grandchildren!

The earth is the treading place of the feet of Y’wa,

And heaven is the place where he sits.

He sees all things, and we are manifest to him.

And another:

Y’wa formed the world originally.

He appointed food and drink.

He appointed the ‘fruit of trial.’

He gave detailed orders.

Mu-kaw-lee deceived two persons.

He caused them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial.

They obeyed not; they believed not Y’wa . . .

When they ate the ‘fruit of trial,’

They became subject to sickness, aging, and death . . . (78)

For countless generations, the Wa people in Burma passed on their ancient tradition that one day a ‘white brother’ would bring them a copy of the book about God that they had lost. In the 1880’s, Pu Chan, one of their tribesmen, persuaded several thousand of his people to abandon headhunting and spirit-appeasement. He said the true God was about to send the long-awaited ‘white brother with a copy of the lost book’ that had been part of their folk-lore from time immemorial. If the brother learnt that the Wa people were doing evil things, he might consider them unworthy of the true God’s book.

One morning Pu Chan readied a Wa pony, and told some of his disciples to follow it. He said that the previous night the true God had told him that at last the white brother was near. God would cause the pony to lead them to him. The pony started walking. Surely it would simply stop at the nearest stream. To the disciples’ amazement it kept going. On and on it went for about 200 miles over mountainous trails and down into the city of Kengtung, then turned into the gate of a mission compound and headed straight for a well. The disciples looked all around. No white man. No book. Hearing sounds in the well, they peered in. From the dry well a white face greeted them. Did he have a book from God? Yes! Before long about 10,000 Wa people had given their lives to Jesus.

CHINESE CHARACTERS AND SHANG-TI (great flash at: )

Chinese experts say many meanings are often hidden in the Chinese characters. Researchers have found some very interesting meanings in Chinese that match some of the stories in the Bible as well. These are found mostly in the ancient Chinese characters. It’s an interesting mystery. Amazingly, through Chinese characters, you can learn some things about the beliefs of many western people.

In the 1930s, a Chinese man was handing out booklets on creation and Genesis in a mission hospital. An intelligent but puzzled Chinese lady confronted him and told him the Bible story of creation might be an interesting fairy tale for children, but that educated people believed in evolution. He was a very humble and kind man and had always believed the creation story by faith. He didn’t know how to answer the woman. Then he suddenly remembered something he had seen in a book. The book said there were many similarities between the Chinese character for (large) boat and the Bible story (see picture at right) In the character for boat, there are 3 parts: a vessel/boat, 8, and mouths/people. Most western people know the story of Noah and the flood of waters that destroyed the earth. In the story there were also 8 people in the boat. The man thought that there might be more similarities. He began writing characters down. The first one he thought of was “create”(below). In create, there were the words for dust, a mouth, life, and able to walk. It matched together perfectly with the creation story. God created the first person from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life. Adam became a living being who was walking and talking.

This was amazing. The first Chinese people also knew about creation and told the same stories as the Bible. But, they never copied from the Bible. In fact, the Chinese characters were made BEFORE the Bible. But, they agree about many things! So, there are 2 independent witnesses for the creation story. If you have 2 independent witnesses who agree, it’s very strong evidence of truth. Researchers have found have found that about 70% of these ancient characters have similarities to stories of the creation in the Bible. What is stranger is that these Chinese characters existed at least 1000 years before the Bible was written.

Here are some more examples of the creation story and Chinese writing matching. In the creation story, God created a beautiful garden for Adam and Eve and often talked with them. He said that everything was good, very good! He wanted people to be happy. Look at the ancient Chinese word for ‘happiness”. There are 4 symbols in this word happiness. What are these symbols? (God, 1st, mouth/person and garden). This character teaches us that God made the first people in the garden and he blessed them and wanted them to be happy.

God had put 2 trees in the garden as a test of loyalty. Some people call this God’s voting booth. God said don’t eat from 1 tree. But, Eve didn’t believe God. She was curious. In English we say “curiosity killed the cat”. Curiosity killed Eve. Eve desired to eat fruit that God had forbidden. Because Eve and later Adam disobeyed and betrayed God, they had to leave the Garden of Eden and they lost their happiness. Many selfish desires also came into human beings. These cause much pain and suffering even today. On the left is the Chinese character for “covet” or “desire”. If you look carefully, you will see the symbol for trees and a woman. The character reminds us that desiring wrong things can make us lose the good things we have.

But, in the story, God gave Adam and Eve a 2nd chance. Look at the word for righteousness. What symbols can you see inside this character? In this character, are the symbols for sheep, hand, knife. “Hand” and “knife” together make the symbol for “me”. In the garden after Adam and Eve sinned, God told them a way to escape from sin and death. For justice, someone would have to die. God promised that His Son would die instead of them. Then they could be part of God’s family again. God told them to kill a lamb with a knife. The lamb was a symbol of Jesus son who would die for humanity. By killing the lamb, they showed faith in God’s promise. This character tells us that righteousness comes from faith in God’s promises.

One last thing is interesting. Many Chinese are Buddhist and Taoist now. But, before 2,000 B.C., the Chinese believed something else. They followed strict moral laws and they worshipped only ONE God and didn’t make idols of Him. His name was Shen or Shang Ti. One Chinese researcher wrote this, “[Shang Ti] was self-existent. He existed before the heaven and the earth and sun. He created them. He rules over them. His years have no end.”[1] This Shang Ti is almost identical to Yahweh in the Bible.

Who changed China’s religion? It was the Emperor Ch’in He is famous for building the Great Wall of China and is buried in a tomb with at least 6,000 Terracota warriors. He hated the Confucianists (he buried 400 Confucian scholars alive and burned many classic books and official records). He was impressed by Taoism and altars were set up. Later Buddhism came in. After Emperor Ch’in, the chief of censors called this treason and foolishness saying, “It is indeed certain, that from the most ancient times, all who have been wise, and deemed masters of the nation, on account of their reputation for distinguished wisdom, have known but one Shang Ti, eminent over all, on whom all things depend, from whom is to be sought whatever is for the advantage of the empire and to whom it is the duty and custom of the emperors to sacrifice.”[2]