daniel kikawa's wisdom back to news

topic: cultural relevance / missiology

it is hard to even begin to discuss the knowledge and revelation of uncle daniel's lecture time, but a few concepts are listed below

we need to seriously rethink our approach to spreading the word of God
the Bible says that God has provided evidence of Himself in all nations and all places He has left keys in every people group that will unlock the understanding of the nation and reconcile them to God
we need to take time to understand the culture and history in order to make those connections
we need to go in humility to learn what of God is in the culture you are visiting not in arrogance and ethnocentricity, thinking that you have the complete and only understanding of God but realizing that He is already there and is their God already

for example:

the hawaiian name "ke akua ma'ole" means the true God and prophecies were made by hawaiian native priests about the coming of the gospel to the islands of hawaii that were fulfilled in the coming of the first missionaries

the ancient name "hananim" in korea means "the one God"
the missionaries decision to use this traditional name for God instead of creating a new one resulted in many koreans coming to Christ after decades of unsuccessful mission work because the people could finally understand that God was korean and not a foreign God

the ancient name "amenominakanushi no kami" in japan
means "the uncreated creator who is at the great and glorious centre of heaven"
this name is only known by the highest shinto priests in japan, most japanese do not even know that there is a god higher than the ancestral gods and this may be a major key in the understanding of the japanese

some keys to unlocking understanding in japan:

• culturally relevant Bible translation
• japanese worship / music / instruments
• japanese church architecture
• japanese dress / tradition
• relation to traditional stories / concepts

three cords (deep hurts / lies) binding the japanese people:

1. God is a foreign god, not the God of the japanese
2. God did not make japanese culture and traditions, He does not love these things
3. the injuries of the west done to japanese in the past is irreconcileable

these cords must be broken in order to bring this part of thee body back to the kingdom

"eternity in their hearts" by don richardson
"God's promise to the chinese" by ethel r. nelson, richard e. broadberry, and ginger tong chock
"the peace child" by don richardson
"lords of the earth" by don richardson
"perpetuated in righteousness" by daniel kikawa
site traces of God in Japan