Shaping the Society Christianity and Culture: Special Reference to the African Culture of Baganda Volume Ii

Shaping The Society Christianity

And Culture

Special Reference to the African Culture of Baganda

Volume II

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

AuthorHouse™

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© 2012 Pastor Stephen Kyeyune. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 4/30/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7995-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7994-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012906614

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Contents

Introduction To Christianity:

The Biblical Culture Of Man:

The World, Culture, Religion, Economics And The Society:

The Scramble For The Dark Continent Of Africa:

African Culture: Special Reference To The Culture Of The Baganda Tribe From Uganda:

The Ancient Royal Cults:

The Traditional Worshipping Of Baganda:

African Divination (Special Reference To Ganda Culture):

African Witchcraft/Sorcery:

Superstition Among Baganda Tribesmen:

The Symbolic Significance Of Numbers In The Scriptures:

The Spirits Of The Ancestors, The Demons And The Angels:

The Soul Of The Dead (The Afterlife):

The Traditional Foods Of Baganda:

The Bible And Healthy Eating:

Ganda Social Structures Part I:

Spiritualism Vs. Spirituality/Morality:

The Social Life Of Baganda Part Ii:

Values Within The Families Of Baganda:

The Proverbs And Tales Of Wisdom Of The Baganda

The secondary totem (Akabbiro kaabwe) is Kkunguvvu. The clan motto is (Omubala gwabwe guvuga nti) - ‘Akonkomadde ku kyoto, Yeerabidde bye yasse; Si mwana kijjolooto …… Bw’ali wa Nnyonyi abuuse.’

Pastor Stephen is married to Elizabeth Kyeyune. He is a father to Allan Semanda, Allen Naziwa, Ivan Senyonga, Joan Nambowe, Agnes Babirye Nanyonga, Nakato Jenifer Nakazibwe, Liz Namayega, Ester Nantume and Derrick Muyanja; also Elysa Usher / Jarren Wright.

Pastor Stephen has advanced degrees in ministry administration and theology. He is the senior pastor of the Multicultural Family Fellowship Church. He enjoys reading books and current news. He is the author of the following books: The New Generation of Worshippers; The Crown of the Heart; The Acts of the Apostles; The Miracle at Prairie Avenue; When God Calls a Man. You can order copies of these books at

www.Amazon.com or Contact me at

From My Desk: According to the anthropologists view, culture is people’s whole way of life. Having lived in the variety of cultures I can confess that the concept of culture shock is not a myth but a definite reality regardless of one’s faith. Certainly even the strongest of the strong in faith are unable to fend off the strong traditional beliefs. Yet they are still committed believers in Christ.

God called the Israelites to separate from the rest of the world and transformed their cultures into the Judeo culture that reflected the morality of the holiness of God. Christianity has its roots in the Judeo culture. The Judeo-Christian (sometimes written as Judaeo-Christianity) refers to a set of beliefs and ethics held in common by both Judaism and Christianity.

In spite of the critics’ malicious destructive stunts, the influence of Christianity on our communities and cultures is undeniable. Whereas the moral aspect of Christianity is undisputable, the question with grey hairs is whether Christianity is a culture that should be globally embraced at the expense of the rest of the cultures of the world. The followings are legitimate questions: Did Jesus usher in a one world culture? Does the kingdom of heaven on earth replace the culture of man on earth? Does a Christian cease to have any culture?

This book will provide not just good answers but biblical facts to the above questions. The contemporary culture out of ignorance label Christianity as a Western civilization that has no place among the conservative native people of Africa. Before coming to such vague conclusion, it is necessary to dig for definite answers from valid sources. I have blended some social moral values and biblical facts to project contemporary socio-economic, political, cultural, moral and religious issues of concern. Again, the Word of God (Bible) is the standard of morality and the yardstick to measure the acceptable values to God. The corrupt worldly views are never going to be on the same page with Christianity. We must evaluate the crucial human issues with this principle in mind: Earthly life is not the end but a key to eternal life.

Because God created man in His image, there is that tendency in mankind to lean towards the morality of God but because of the corruption of the flesh and the world, mankind cannot reach the morality of God on his own. Our efforts to be moral are often frustrated. That is why for every godly value there are counterfeit values. We need the help of God in order to reach the morality of God.

Most social behaviors of the people are influenced by the circumstances surrounding them regardless of the logic and morality of the same behaviors. The reason why we have conflicts in the world is because people have contradictory ideas regarding what is right. God instructs us through the scriptures to do the right things which we do not necessary want to do by our natural minds.

Reading various articles written by columnists from different cultural backgrounds helps me to get acquainted with the behaviors of other people in the global village. It allows me to enter other people’s world that is quite different from my world and evaluate the situation from the biblical prospective.

I have written this book not with the judgmental attitude but with the rational judgment objectively to inspire you to think. I do not intend to indoctrinate anybody. I appeal to my readers to examine my manuscripts without prejudice but to judge everything written from the biblical prospective. The Bible instructs us to be discerning and also to examine our lives. Socrates said that life unexamined is not worthy living.

This book has been written at such a time as this when Buganda is seeking to restore her lost glory. Unfortunately, the people of the central religion who are struggling to regain their lost glory have been mistaken, singled out and ridiculed for being secretariats.

The plain truth is that the people of the central region have been used and misused by outsiders with selfish interests. Buganda being in central region, all of the devastating past political wars have been fought here resulting into heinous crimes against humanity that surely no person with sanity should be gloating about today.

After staying away from my country (overseas) for a very long period of time, I prayed to God regarding how I can contribute morally to my country. God gave to me an answer to write down something that will benefit the people today and many generations to come. Unlike a disc, a book is written to all generations. I believe that this book is written in accordance to the divine purpose, will and timing.

This book is produced in the series of manuscripts so as to benefit different groups of people universally because all people on this universe are within a certain cultural setting and many people out there are seeking to excel morally.

According to my experience, I can say without doubt that ignoring the cultural factor can have a serious impact on the spiritual growth of the people. That is why it is important to understand the cultural backgrounds of the people of the biblical times in order to understand the scriptures. Remember that Jesus did not forsake His Jewish culture. He observed all of the Jewish feasts and festivals as a Jewish man. Paul said that he became a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles for the sake of winning them to Christ. Paul’s statement is a tip to alert us concerning the influence of culture on his ministry.

Ugandans should appreciate the fact that we are a heterogeneous nation with one of the richest cultural and ethnic diversities in the great lakes region. This calls for an effort to harness a culture of a people that live with these diversities in harmony and tranquility. It is important to be open to other cultures because extraordinarily conservative mindset that narrows life to the confined perspective of tribal and ethnic inclinations gives breeding ground for a citizenry that thinks and acts along tribal lines.

The prominent worldview spheres are ethics, culture, politics, relationship and religion. How we engage the world view makes a difference. Worldliness is the corrupt system upon which the world operates. Intriguingly, the world has found its way into the Church. Jerry Solomon warned against the encroachment of worldliness into the Church in this way: At the close of the twentieth century American evangelicals find themselves in a diverse, pluralistic culture. Many ideas vie for attention and allegiance. These ideas, philosophies, or world views are the products of philosophical and cultural changes. Such changes have come to define our culture. For example, pluralism can mean that all world views are correct and that it is intolerable to state otherwise; secularism reigns; absolutes have ceased to exist; facts can only be stated in the realm of science, not religion; evangelical Christianity has become nothing more than a troublesome oddity amidst diversity.

Culture dictates the way people behave and conduct themselves. An anthropologist, E. Adamson Hoebel, believes that culture is the integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance.

Without respect to God, the contemporary culture leads to a routine of emptiness. A culture that has no respect to God is compared to foods without nutrient values. Junk foods can sustain your life for a moment of time but will not allow you to enjoy the span of life that God intended you to live. Christianity provides the filtering mechanism to regulate the cultures for the benefit of mankind.

Donald Bloesch, a theologian, says that, culture is the task appointed to humans to realize their destiny in the world in service to the glory of God.

The cultures of the world are pregnant with illegitimate purposes. After the fall of man the cultures of the fallen man were mastered by the alien entities. The cultures of the world work against God and prevent mankind to worship one true God, the creator of the universe.

Embracing Christianity is the right way of resisting the disorientation and a decadent culture. The regenerated man adjusts from the culture defiling God to the culture pleasing to God. When you change your purpose and find the greater purpose of God for your living you increase your value. You cannot discover your purpose until God becomes your reference point. You must first find the character of God in order to find the purpose of God for your life. Anything we do apart from the divine driven purpose is considered to be adultery.

This book answers the tough question like this one: What is a moral culture? The broad connotations and various possible interpretations of the moral culture are often very difficult for human minds to grasp. This is neither an aspect of Oriental Philosophy which pervades the lives of Oriental people nor is it an endeavor and process of becoming an exemplary person such as Confucius (552-479 AD).

One of the respected philosophers called Confucius taught that, To promote the sense of morality one must treat others with faithfulness and sincerity based on righteousness, and to eliminate completely vicious thinking. Before we embrace his words, it is legitimate to ask ourselves such questions: Who can determine what is right? Who has integrity to dictate what is right to others? This book will provide answers to such complicated questions.

The kind of morality propagated by the secular world is legalistic in nature that cannot go deep enough to save. That is why even the most respected moralists have been found lacking in some areas.

Have you ever wondered why our political rulers lose touch with the people they lead? Our political leaders have flaws and their decisions cannot be hailed as impeccable. Our social structures are politically legalistic in nature with rulers deprived of moral authority; they resort to various laws to govern their people, who in turn obey because they fear the retribution that the violation of these laws will bring. People obey because they have to rather than because they love to obey. Certainly, there can be no fundamental change and transformation.

Politics has influenced the belief of many religious people. A political or rhetorical concept of the liberal doctrines merges with modernistic liberal civic culture to have a name and an identity on every brand. The doctrines of the liberals are regulated by the cultures of the world with the aim of accommodating all. They consider the truth of the scriptures to be discriminative (not inclusive) that is not worthy implicating.

God cannot be separated from His Word. In the same manner morality cannot be separated from the moral God. If morality is anything we want it to be, if it serves only our passions and personal autonomy, we’re doomed as a culture.

The nucleus of any society is the family. Different families make up different communities, which make up a nation. The structures of the families are within the Christian values. Families were God’s idea. God ordained the families to operate within his own values. The first institution to be ordained by God in the Garden of Eden was the institution of marriage. God created a man (male/female) and He separated a woman (Eva) from a man. Then God united a man and a woman forever. God created families within His own values. Any assault on the values of the families is an assault against the eternal God. It is therefore important for our cultural norms and laws not to contradict the character of God the Creator. Politicians and cultural leaders have no mandate to redefine the values of marriage.

There are many people out there who have a negative attitude towards Christianity. There are some fanatic people in the Middle East and across Africa who maliciously criticize the African converts to Christianity for betraying their culture and embracing what they consider to be the Western culture. To them Christianity is a white man’s culture. When I was ministering in USA I was often confronted by people with the same mentality. Some African Americans brothers accused me of betraying African values by embracing the White man’s culture. This book portrays Christianity to be a faith connecting humanity to the divine as opposed to a biased tradition belonging to only one specific group of people. The term ‘Whosoever’ is used several times in the New Testament pertaining to the salvation of all kinds of people regardless of their ethical groupings or gender.

Christianity is about the transformation of man and securing the essential values of his culture as ordained by God. Christianity does not leave man cultureless but transforms the culture of man to be pleasing to God. Christianity brings about the unity and unit of purpose in accordance to the divine plan with respect to the varieties of social structures and personalities.

I want to talk directly to the natives of Africa who consider Christianity to be a Western religion, Christianity is more African than Western. I will guide you into the culture of the Bible and our culture for clarification purposes. After reading this book you will have no doubt that without Christ any culture is hostage to Satanic powers.

The United States of America is the only country in history to have defined itself as Judeo-Christian. Judeo-Christianity (in British English, Judæo-Christian) is used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics held in common by Judaism and Christianity. The term is also used in a historical sense to refer to the close early connections between Christianity and Judaism. The Judeo-Christian is a belief in the biblical God of Israel, in His Ten Commandments and His biblical moral laws. It is a belief in universal, not relative, morality. It is a belief that America must answer morally to this God, not to the mortal, usually venal, governments of the world.

While the Western world has consisted of many Christian countries and consists today of many secular countries, only America has called itself Judeo-Christian. For example, Thomas Jefferson wanted the design of the seal of the United States to depict the Jews leaving Egypt. Just as the Hebrews left Egypt and its values, Americans left Europe and its values (if only those who admire Jefferson would continue to take his advice).

Judeo-Christian values are what distinguish America from all other countries. That is why American coins feature these two messages: In God we trust and Liberty. The words on the Liberty Bell, Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land . . . , are from the Torah. Vast numbers of Americans took Hebrew names — like Benjamin Franklin and Cotton Mather (kattan in Hebrew means little one or younger). The consequences included a strong Hebrew Bible view of the world — meaning, in part, a strong sense of fighting for earthly justice, an emphasis on laws, a belief in a judging, as well as a loving and forgiving, G-d, and a belief in the chosenness of the Jews which America identified with.

All cultures are built on beliefs and values. Values are principles or qualities which a person, group, or society considers desirable and around which life is oriented, for example, loyalty, beauty, or comfort. The question is whose values? Are they values projecting the holiness of God or the wisdom of man? America was established on a unique foundation in that it has always combined secular government with a society based on religious values. Beliefs include, for example, the assertions that Jesus is Lord and that there is life after death. The liberty of man depends in his spiritual freedom from sin.

God calls the believers into His kingdom and gives them the responsibility to extend His kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world. The kingdom of God is where God rules. It is where everything is done from the prospective of God’s will.

The world is divided into two parts: The first part involves those who have been exposed to the light. The second part involves those who are in darkness. The ends of the world are places in darkness where the gospel has not reached. Jesus calls His followers from this world but sends them into the world to minister to the real people and to transform them and their cultures. The Christians obey the Great Commission because of their affection for their Master. The sense of mission is why more Christians have died for the liberty of others than any other nation’s soldiers.

A fallen man is cut off from God unless he or she is redeemed by God. The truth is what connects man to God. Christianity is not true because it works but it works because it is true. God reconciled the universe to Himself through Jesus Christ. He revealed Himself to us by Jesus Christ. He reveals Himself to the world by the transformed lives of the believers. The gospel proclaims the lifestyle that God intended for mankind to live at creation. The Christians ought to walk a distinctively Christian life that reflects the life of Christ. The Christians are neither sent into the world to compete with the cultures of the world nor to conform to the cultures of the world but to transform the world by changing one person at a time. The kingdom of God starts in a small manner with capability of growing into greater things.

The Christians are not sent into the world to introduce a new culture into the world but to restore the God-fearing culture into the world. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Christianity is relevant to all communities because Christianity is relevant to humanity with respect to the human values.

We must admit that God created a moral human being with awareness of the righteousness of God. Man is moral creature because man can differentiate right from wrong. When Adam fall from the grace of God and was expelled from the Garden of Eden, he lost his moral compass and the guidance of God, however, he did not lose the concept of the moral values. We have fragments of morality that have been passed on to us since creation. That is why some of the commandments that were given to Moses were in the form of reminding him what he already knew. God gave to Moses His laws portraying His holiness and the Israelites made a promise to obey everything in the laws even though none of them had the capability to obey all the laws of God. Moses wrote the laws in the Jewish Pentateuch or the first five books of the Old Testament (Torah).

God called Abraham and separated him from his ancestors’ culture in order to begin a new culture that honors Him. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, known as the Patriarchs, are both the physical and spiritual ancestors of Judaism. They founded the religion now known as Judaism, and their descendants are the Jewish. Of course, technically, it is incorrect to refer to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Jews, because the terms Jew and Judaism were not used generally to refer to this nation until hundreds of years after their time

In one way or another Israel shared the cosmological ideas with the ancient cultures of the Near East. For example the story of creation recorded in Genesis acknowledged that the earth was made of three stories - the heaven above, the earth and the underworld below. The cosmological picture fitted well in the Near-Eastern religions, in which the divinity that was worshipped had to fight for supreme position against the monsters of the sea or other forces of the deep, and had generated the earth in course of this very struggle. Here the divinity was the god of the heaven, yet in the underworld his dominion was still disputed.

Even after the fall, mankind never lost the idea of worshipping. The heathen tribes worshipped their gods (idols) in high places with human sacrifices. God called Abraham to go to sacrifice to Him his son Isaac on the high place (Mount): And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (Genesis 22:2). We can conclude that after the fall, man retained a vague picture regarding worshipping God.

The Moral Law was divided into two parts: The first four laws defined how man related to God the last six defined how man related to his neighbor.

I said that the God of Israel, Yahweh, the creator of the universe redeemed Israel from captivity symbolically of our redemption from the bondage of sin. The major question is how this understanding of God from the Jewish prospective fit into the social and cosmological views of other communities? How is the Judeo-Christian relevant to all irrespective of their cultural backgrounds? Get answers by reading the series of books Shaping the Society I & II.

According to Christianity, the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) illuminates the minds of a regenerated person regarding the right way of worshipping God. Christianity is never against those cultural values that do not contradict the scriptures. Christianity positions man and render to him merits to worship one true God.

We know God by intimately relating to Jesus Christ. God is much bigger than the universe; Christianity goes deeper than our cultures even transforming the soul. The cultures of the lost world readily embrace all forms of religions but hate Christianity. The reason is because a non-regenerated person is hostile to God. The cross is central to Christianity. The Prince of this world (Satan) hates the cross. The message of the cross is not readily acceptable and is not easy to comprehend with the natural minds otherwise if all sinners understood the cross they would have all run to embrace it. The perishing world (non-repented sinners) sees no need of the cross because they do not believe that they are sinners. Even some of the confessing Christians do not understand the cross otherwise they would have lived differently. The cross is not just two pieces of wood. The importance of the cross is the Son of God who hanged on it. The significance of the salvation of man is what motivated the Son of God to hang on the cross.

Sin is our failure to live by the revealed standard of God‘s righteousness. The revealed standard of the righteousness of God (Law) cannot be lowered. The cross is where our debts of sins were paid. The cross represents the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ who died in our place. At the cross Jesus did not just bore our sins but He became sin on our behalf. The truth and love are synonymous. Jesus became the embodiment of sin so that we might become the righteous of God. God made a way for us to pay a debt that we couldn’t have afforded to pay. The cross is a symbol of redemption and judgment. If you die without letting Jesus Christ to pay the bill for your debts (sins), you will have to pay the same bill in full by yourself eternally. Why? Because God is just and holy and He cannot let sin go unpunished.

Introduction To Christianity:

What is Christianity? According to the scriptures, the disciples were for the first time called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). This implies that the original meaning of the word Christian was a disciple of Jesus. Christianity is a faith as opposed to a religion. What is a faith? In the general sense of the word, to have faith is to believe in something or someone, to fully trust, to be so confident that you base your actions on what you believe. To have faith is to be fully convinced of the truthfulness and reliability of that in which you believe.

Spiritually, all people believe in something. Even those who claim to believe in nothing their not believing attitude constitutes to their faith. In fact it takes more faith to believe in nothing than to believe in something. We are all believing animals wired to exercise our faith. In fact most of the things we do in our daily lives involve faith. For example the electricity we use, driving in cars, flying in planes and many other things which we use without knowing exactly how they function but trusting the makers who said that they work. The difference between the faith we use in our daily activities and the saving faith is that the saving faith is invested only in the works of Jesus Christ. A Christian is a person that invests his faith in Christ. It is having the kind of trust and confidence in Christ that leads you to commit your whole soul to Him as Savior (Justifier, Sanctifier and Deliverer) and Lord (Master, King).

The Bible is a story of creation and redemption. In the beginning God created the universe. The universe was corrupted at the will of man. God laid out His eternal plan of redeeming the world before the foundation of this world and revealed His plan to man through the scriptures. The Bible is about the promised deliverer; how God fulfilled His promise to redeem man.

The same God that created redeems. The secularist view of evolution presents a god who cannot create. The same god who cannot create cannot save either. If their theory of evolution was correct, man would have been doomed eternally.

The biblical view of creation begins with God: In the beginning God created all things. In the beginning the unchanging God established the world in its course (creation), today and tomorrow; He is still establishing the world (redemption). God created the universe by His Word. The world will pass away but God never cease to exist. God and His creative Word are identical and one; God and His Word is immutable and He will never expire. God (The Word) became man and became partaker of man’s history (sin) so that man can become a new creature (the very righteousness of God).

When Adam was corrupted by sin, God promised to send a Savior: I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel (Genesis 3:15). Satan successfully brought a curse upon Adam and Eve and all of their offspring. Nevertheless, God promised that from the seed of the woman would come the One who would bring about man’s deliverance and Satan’s destruction. That seed was our Lord Jesus Christ. His death on Calvary defeated Satan and fully accomplished the salvation of all who would believe in the Savior. As recorded in both the Old and New Testament, Israel’s history as a nation bears testimony to the outworking of God’s promise of salvation made first to Adam and Eve.

After the fall of Adam, the history of mankind was divided into two parallel stories: One story involves Satan trying to destroy the promised seed of woman. The other story involves God preserving the promised seed of woman. Noah‘s ark was God’s plan of preserving the seed: You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring [literally, seed] alive on the face of all the earth (Genesis 7:2-3).

God revealed Himself to Abram and the promise of the saving seed was given to him in what is known as the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).

According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was born under the name Abram in the city of Ur in Babylonia in the year 1948 from Creation (circa 1800 BCE. He was the son of Terah, an idol merchant. God separated Abraham from his kinsmen in order to bless him and to use him to bless all nations.

Abraham’s seed will be blessed and will be a blessing (verse 2). God’s covenant with Abraham promised blessings not for just Jews alone, but for both Jews and Gentiles. God’s promise to Abraham includes Abraham’s descendants (you, verse 2) and all the families of the earth (verse 3).

Satan tried to pollute the seed by bringing about an alternative choice. As time continued to pass with no son in sight, Sarai concluded the time for her to bear a child had passed. She suggested to Abram, God meant for him to have a son through some other woman. Sarai gave to Abram Hagar her maid, as his concubine so that through her, Abram could have a son. Hagar did bear a son, Ishmael. The Arab people are descendants of Ishmael. The Arabs have been a thorn in Israel’s side throughout their history and opponents of the gospel.

Fifteen years after God’s covenant was first made with Abram, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham to signify that His promise was not forgotten. Abram means exalted father; Abraham means father of a multitude. Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah (Princess, see 17:15). At this time God introduced the rite of circumcision (17:9-14). Every descendant of Abraham was to be reminded of God’s promise for his seed. Whenever an Israelite man engaged in sexual union, the covenant would be brought to mind by his circumcision.

Ten years passed from the time God instructed the circumcision until the time when the promised seed was born. Nine years passed before God announced the time of the birth of the seed. As the angels paused at Abram’s tent for a meal on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, they informed him that Sarai would bear a son at that same time the following year.

Shortly after, Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom, barely escaping God’s wrath on that wicked city. Because Lot’s wife died in this ordeal, his daughters pragmatically arranged to become pregnant by their drunken father in order to preserve his seed (19:30-38). What tragic irony. The offspring of these unions were also a source of suffering and sorrow to Abraham and his seed.

When Sarai was about to become pregnant with Abram’s seed, Abram went to Gerar with her (Genesis 21:1-18). Once again Abram passed Sarai off as his sister to Abimelech, the king of that land, took her as his wife. Again, God intervened, and the seed was protected. Finally we read in Genesis 21 that at the appointed time the promised seed is born (21:1-7).

Then followed the conflicts between this seed and Abram’s other seed, Ishmael. God instructed Abraham to send Ishmael and his mother away (21:8-21). This left Isaac as Abraham’s only heir.

The greatest test of Abraham’s faith is described in Genesis 22. God instructed Abraham to take his son to Moriah and offer him up as a sacrifice. With great agony of soul, Abraham obeyed, trusting in God to raise his son from the dead (see Hebrews 11:17-19). In response to Abraham’s faith and obedience, God again reiterated his covenant with Abraham (22:15-18).

By the end of the Old Testament period, the promised seed can only be one person--a very unique person--who could possibly fulfill all of the promises. While the Old Testament does narrow the field to a single person, it remains difficult to comprehend how one person could possibly fulfill all of the prophecies about him. The characteristics of God’s promised seed, are embodied in the Jewish Messiah.

The Messiah was sent to redeem all nations. Within the physical line through whom Messiah was to come included Gentiles. Israel was chosen to be a blessing to all nations. The blessings of the Abrahamic covenant included the Gentiles. There are Gentiles within the lineage of Messiah: Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. While Gentile women are included, never is a Gentile man included in the line.

The responsibility of protecting the blessings of Abraham was passed on in form of spiritual heritage to the Patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were known as the Patriarchs being the physical ancestors of Israel. Esau had little regard for the spiritual heritage of his forefathers, and sold his birthright of spiritual leadership to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew. God despised Esau: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (Romans 9:13).

God blessed Jacob and changed his name to Israel. Israel (Yisrael), meaning the one who wrestled with God or the Champion of God. The Jewish people are generally referred to as the Children of Israel, signifying their descent from Jacob. Jacob became the father of the twelve sons consisting the twelve tribes of Israel. Later on, the Israelites became known as Jews. Technically, it is incorrect to refer to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Jews, because the terms Jew and Judaism were not used generally to refer to this nation until hundreds of years after their time.

Moses told the nation Israel that God would rise up a prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:17-19). In Genesis 14:17-20), Melchizedek is introduced, whom the writer to the Hebrews later shows to be a prototype of the promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ (see Psalms 110:4 and Hebrews 7:1-28). Repeatedly, the seed is identified as Israel’s king, who will sit on the throne of His father, David (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 2). The seed was somehow to combine the three offices of prophet, priest, and king, something no earthly man was allowed to do in Old Testament times.

God inspired Isaiah to prophecy concerning the coming Messiah that: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:10-11).

As centuries passed, the descendants of Israel became slaves in Egypt. They suffered greatly under the hand of later Pharaohs. But God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. God led them on a journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. Here, God revealed Himself to the Children of Israel and offered them a great covenant. According to the terms of the covenant, man agreed to keep all the righteousness of God as revealed in the Ten Commandments.

In the book of Genesis at creation God revealed himself as Elohim. This name of God is given in a compound plural. The same God has revealed Himself to the Christians in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The God of the Christians is the same God who revealed Himself to Moses. He is known as Jehovah (Yahweh).

The name of God (Yahweh) according to the Jewish people was revealed to Moses, and thus was special Israelites name for God. The Jews believe that nobody knows the exact spelling of the name. The Israelites believed that no mouth was clean enough to pronounce the name. The name Yahweh (YHWH) is represented in the Hebrew text by the word LORD. It is mentioned in the Bible at least eighty six times. When you ask the Rabbi the name of God, he will reply that, Ehyeh asher ehyeh : I AM WHO I AM is the name. Meaning that God who existed by His own power (self-existence).

Moses said that, I AM sent me: He is the God of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ja’acov (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). --------He is the God of Israel and the God of Abraham, and He instructed me to lead you out of Egypt and into your own land, a land that God Himself will give you, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Jesus used the same name when referring to Himself: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58).

Holiness is the divine attribute pointing to the transcendence of God. This is what reveals His glory. In the Old Testament God manifested Himself to His people of Israel in various ways (Theophany). In biblical texts, Theophanous are either meteorological or anthropological. The God of the Bible can be known by His essence, attributes and will.

The New Testament writers ascribed the glory of God to Jesus. It is a clear indication of His full deity. Glory, in the sense it is used with reference to Jesus, is a divine attribute. It is the glory of God that He refuses to share with any man.

The God of Israel is the Christian God, the Creator and Savior as well: The Bible says that, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else (Isaiah 45:18). Christianity demands that man put his faith (trust) in God alone for his redemption. The same God is one in three persons (trinity). He has revealed Himself in three distinguished personalities (non-separate-able) to save mankind.

The doctrine of divine election: God chose to reveal Himself to the nation of Israel. The most prominent example of national election in the scriptures pertains to the nation of Israel. God chose Israel to be His particular people of covenant privilege. The Bible says that, For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

Israel is often called God’s elect (Isaiah 45:4). God chose Israel and determined that it was through this nation that He would give the law, the prophets, and eventually this was the nation through whom the Savior would come, according to the flesh. In Deuteronomy 7:6-8, God said that the choice of God was not because Israel had any distinctive traits about her which set her apart from the other nations. God chose Israel for His own purposes and glory. His choice was free and sovereign. He did not love her because she was loveable; on the contrary she was stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful. What we see is the unconditional love of God.

The doctrine of election declares that God, before the foundation of the world, chose certain individuals from among the fallen members of Adam’s race to be the objects of His undeserved favor (Ephesians 1:4; II Timothy 1:9). The doctrine of election emphasizes the sovereignty and love of God with respect to the will He gave to mankind to choose.

The Israelites, of all nations had the privilege to worship the true living God and were considered to be blessed. They experienced God’s presence in the temple (holy of holies). The Ark of the Covenant was also known as the Ark of testimony because it contained the two tablets of stones on which, God wrote the Ten Commandments that He handed to Moses, who is the mediator of the old covenant. On one stone God wrote the laws concerning man’s relationship with Him and on the other stone He wrote the laws concerning man relationship with his neighbor. Jesus summarized the Law in two commandments: Loving God with all your heart and minds and loving your neighbor as you love yourself.

God promised to make a new covenant: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

In the New Testament (covenant) the hearts of the believers became the Ark where God writes His commandments. In the new covenant, all believers in Christ (Jews and Gentiles) are called the blessed ones because they know God intimately. In the beatitudes alone Jesus announced the blessedness to His followers eight times. The blessed hope of the Church is the eternal blessing.

The Church (Jews/Gentiles) has a revelation of God through Jesus Christ. In the new covenant, the same God who made the covenant with His people is the mediator of the covenant: God who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1).

Jesus made all believers (Jews/Gentiles) spiritual children of Abraham. The Bible says that: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:28-29).

The Church is the spiritual body of Christ. The Church is made up of saints (dead and alive) rather. The Church institution is organized by the Spirit of Christ (Holy Spirit), giving various spiritual assignments and responsibilities to the believers. God works directly through the Church to transform the world.

According to the secular interpretation, the word ‘ethic’ is known as moral philosophy; attempts to define what is right and what is wrong. Ethical behavior is a natural consequence of social living. The philosophical point of view maintains that because people are rational creatures, they have the capability and are inclined to act morally by reason.

Christianity proclaims that there can be no morality without the existence of a Moral God. God is the origin of morality and He is the only one that can determine what is right and what is wrong. Morality involves godly conducts in accordance to the prescribed divine values and principles. Morality is revealed in our obedience to God’s revealed laws. His ways are always true. Sin is to violate God’s prescribed ways of living. It is rebelliously denying God an opportunity to lead and guide you.

Lewis B. Smedes, an evangelical protestant minister, who served as a chair of the department of philosophy and ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California until retirement 1995, says that belief in God provides the foundation for moral behavior. He urges that without God nothing would be absolutely wrong or right. The Ten Commandments provide guidance for the moral decision. I want to say that believing in God means specifically believing in His revealed Son, Jesus Christ.

According to the Christian faith, God created one human race in His image (His nature (spirit) and character (holiness) to pursue His will). Another race that is purely natural and void of the image of God came into existence after Satan planted the seed of rebellion (disobedience) into Adam and Eva. Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem mankind by restoring him to the original image of God. The faithful ones who obey and receive Jesus Christ manifest the life of Christ. They are called Christian believers because they have the nature and character of Christ; they do the will of God. Their intimate relationship with Christ and their lifestyle constitute their worshipping of God.

The manner of worshipping God is portrayed in the Old Testament. The tabernacle and later the temple were given over entirely to God for His sacred use. The spot where God met with man was called holy because it was separated and used for His purpose and glory alone. The temple symbolized the house of God on the earth. Under the new covenant, God redeemed the believers and prepared for Himself a dwelling place. The apostle Paul taught that, You are the temple of God (I Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in the redeemed. They worship God in spirit (new nature) and truth (sincerity of their hearts).

The Christians worship Jesus who sits at the Highest Throne of God in Heaven. Jesus was exalted to be worshipped by all creations. The Bible says: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10). According to this verse worshipping Jesus is not an optional but it is mandatory to all living creatures: The believers worship Him now. The nonbelievers worship other gods but they will all bow down to worship Him on His day of vengeance; it is a matter of time rather than choice.

The unbelievers have no affection for God. They unfaithfully disobey God by rejecting His only offer of restitution for their sins and restoration to the original glory. Their sins separate them from God. Because they retain their sins, they are in a status of abandonment and they will be eternally abandoned. Hell is a Christian doctrine symbolizing eternal separation and condemnation. In hell the people’s choice to disobey God will be taken away because all unbelievers will eventually believe when they will be condemned to everlasting torment in hell without any possibility of salvation. Hell is a real place of believing for the nonbelievers; there is no unbeliever in hell even though this kind of believing yields not to salvation. The people languishing in hell will acknowledge Jesus as their master and judge but He will not be their Savior. God prepared hell as the permanent place for Satan and the rebellious fallen Angels. Satan’s desire is to lead as many people as possible to his destination by causing them to rebel against God the Creator.

The Biblical Culture Of Man:

Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate,). The word tradition comes from the Latin word traditio which means to hand down or to hand over. The difference between culture and tradition is subtle but a culture is kind of like tradition which is being created now by being cultivated in the pastures which people work and live. That is people are creating their environment which defines the culture.

The word culture stands for the ideas, customs, skills and arts of a given community of people to cope with life at a particular point of time. Culture has to do with the development of the minds of the people and their civilization. An idea is a thought put into practical application. Cultures evolve and disappear as new ideas and modern tools are introduced (modernization).

Generally, the culture of man involves the ideas adopted by man to manipulate the environment for his survival. The culture of any given society is influenced by the social, economic and spiritual aspects. Although the religion of man is intended to reach a higher dimension of life, there is the tendency of the religions of man to find security within the cultures of the people.

The Original Culture of Man (The Story of Creation): The origin of the culture of man is within the story of creation. In order to believe the story of creation one must believe in the existence of the eternal God. Surprisingly, some people falsely believe that this universe is eternal but have a problem to acknowledge the existence of the eternal God. The Christians believe in the eternal God that existed before time and space who created the universe. The Christians believe that regardless of the age of the universe, it is neither eternal nor self-existence but the eternal God created it and sustains it. In the beginning there was nothing but an eternal God who created all things.

Before God created mankind (Adam), there was a battle going on after Satan coveted the glory God. I call it a battle not in a sense of two equally powerful giants wrestling to figure out who is the strongest. God is sovereign and Satan is just an insignificant creature created by God. Satan is a fallen Angel that is not even equal to Gabriel. According to the Christian doctrine, Satan is not absolute and has no absolute power. Satan is a creation that is subject to the sovereignty of God the Creator. Satan was created a perfect being but with potentiality to become evil. Satan willingly became evil: He is the source and embodiment of evil. God appointed a time for Satan’s destruction. As per now Satan is used as a negative entity to test our loyalty to God.

God did not create evil but Satan willingly became evil. After Satan coveted the throne of God, he was thrown out of heaven with one third of the Angels (demons) whom he managed to convince to follow him. Satan went on rampage seeking the same glory that belongs to God on earth. His deceptions lead into sin.

We know that Adam was not created with a corrupt body because according to the scriptures, corruption cannot see God. Death was around in nature like plants but it was not extended to man until Adam sinned. God warned Adam against the deception of Satan. He warned him of the danger of making evil actual.

Satan entered the serpent (the creature of the field not of the Garden Eden) and persuaded Adam and Eva to disobey God with the false promise that they would be like God and they will not need God to boss them. When Adam yielded to the lies of Satan, he surrendered his godly given dominion over the earth to Satan. He became a servant to Satan.

Adam willingly ignored God’s warning and deliberately extended evil to mankind by his disobedience to God. Adam willingly chose to become evil. All humanity are descendants of Adam and all are born with the sinful nature inherited from Adam. This is how the entire human race became infected with sin.

After Adam surrendered his will to Satan, the will of man became the center of contention. Disobedient to God is automatic obedience to Satan. Our loyalty to Satan means disloyalty to God. According to the divine plan, the lesser is supposed to worship the greater but the rebellion against God overturns the same principle. That is why Satan is preoccupied with coveting the glory of God his creator. Man resists Satan by embracing the truth (by receiving the only one that is true even Jesus Christ) and by his godliness.

We have discussed that Satan used craftiness to grab the dominion and power from Adam. However, Satan lost the same powers at Calvary when Jesus (the Second Adam) defeated him by defeating death. Jesus was given all powers and authority to set the captives of Satan free. God became man to claim victory on behalf of man. Man receives the works of Jesus by faith. The victory over sin is the victory over death. The victory of the believer is acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and Savior (1 John 5:1-7). The term Son of God means of the very nature and character with God (John 10:29-33).

Jesus was killed by crucifixion but on the third day He was raised from death. By faith a believer is crucified and raised with Christ. At regeneration (new birth), the DNA of the Savior that never dies is passed on to a believer. There is no gate of grave (hell) that can withhold a believer in Christ. The gate is symbolic of judgment. The believer has passed on from the judgment of death to life (John 11:25-26).

God reconciled the world to Himself through Jesus Christ. The believers in Christ are the ones who have reconciled with God by their loyalty to Jesus Christ. They are given decisive authority over Satan in the name of Jesus Christ. A believer is not in bondage because he has ability to overcome the corrupt world and sin.

The Origin of the Culture of Man: We are going to look at how mankind ended up with certain traditions or habits. So far we have discussed that the culture of Adam started in the Garden of Eden when he had intimacy relationship with God. He was created to be under the direct supervision of God. Adam was in fellowship with God as long as he was obedient to God. Everything he did was pleasing to God because God was the reason and motivation of everything he did. God created Adam a mature man capable of making ration judgment when depending on God. Adam was a custodian of the universe on behalf of God. He named everything; he called Eva woman meaning from man.

Adam had direct communication with God because he was created in the likeness of God. Adam was created without sin but with the freewill to obey or to disobey God. God had the tradition of walking in the cool of the Garden of Eden to supervise, to fellowship and to have communion with Adam.

God gave Adam the responsibility to manage all things on His behalf. As a good steward, he tilled the land. God created the institution of marriage during the period of innocence of man (before sin). God said that it is not good for man to be alone. God made Adam a help-mate of his kind - Homo sapiens (Genesis 2:20). God said for that therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto to his wife (Genesis 2:24). Here we see the separation and joining into permanence (intimacy).

Eva had a tradition of helping Adam to be a good steward. One of the traditions of the helper (Eva) was to feed Adam. When Adam sinned by eating from the forbidden tree he claimed that he was helped (fed) by Eva. In the Garden of Eden we see the culture of human communication and of working (laboring).

In the Garden there was the tradition of obedience. Adam’s obedience to God secured the heavy presence of God and his perfect relationship with God. Before the fall of Adam everything in the Garden was within the glory of God. The supernatural is normal within the eternity of the glory of God. In the glory of God there is no limitation of time. This is most probably the reason why we do not know how long Adam stayed in the Garden of Eden.

Adam crossed the boundaries and trespassed into the enemy’s territory when he disobeyed God’s instructions and did contrary to God’s will. Trespassing is acting wrongly with knowledge. Adam ate from the forbidden tree with prior knowledge that it was wrong to eat. Adam knew exactly what God expected him to do and he did the opposite: The culture of trespassing begun here.

Adam desired to know without depending on God: ------you shall be as gods knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5). Adam decided to eat from the tree of knowledge in order to acquire knowledge without the help of God. The tradition of depending on God for knowledge and guidance was broken.

Before sinning, Adam was ignorant of sin; he had no knowledge of sin because sin never existed in his life. He was not conscious of the sin of nakedness. The Bible says that after partaking of the forbidden tree, Adam discovered that he was naked (Genesis 3:25). He discovered his shame after sinning. The culture of human consciousness of sin stepped in.

Disobedience (sin) brought about the spiritual separation with God. The spiritual communication of Adam with God was cut off. The spiritual separation brought about the physical separation. Disobedience resulted into autonomy with serious consequences - the spiritual and physical death (corruption). Man started to act independent of God. His culture shifted from the tradition of depending and pleasing God to the tradition of depending and pleasing self. The culture of human