Friday, April 29, 2011

Update on Our Financial Needs

Dave and Debbie Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionaries to the Philippines
1515 Blanchard ST SW
Grand Rapids MI 49509
(616) 558-1889

April 29, 2011

Dear Friends,

As we have traveled, many have asked how much we need to raise before completing itineration at the end of August, 2011.  As you look at these numbers, please bear in mind that our vision is to share the gospel with all of the four to five million Filipinos within the Bicol region of the Philippines and plant a church within walking distance of every one of them. Raising up and training Filipinos to accomplish this vision is at the core of our strategy.

Our vision is two pronged.

One, direct evangelism.  Over the last 17 years we have conducted approximately 700 evangelistic crusades in conjunction with local churches.  Many churches have been planted.  Each crusade costs about $350.00, and we conducted about 45-50 per year, each crusade lasting three nights.  Except for Debbie and me, all members of the team are Filipinos, as are all of the pastors with whom we work. While the Filipino churches do partner with us in sharing the expenses of this ministry by shouldering the expenses over the dollar figure given above, the nature of this type of work is finance intensive and more help is needed.

Second, in 2007 God gave Debbie a vision to plant house churches.  Working hand-in-hand with Filipino church leaders in our region and one other missionary couple from another organization, three house church planting schools were started and about 12 house churches were started.  Today, this movement has grown to include 15 house church planting schools and as many as 200 house churches have been started.  The possibilities for expansion are almost limitless.  God’s blessing on this effort is obvious, and we are anxious to see this movement grow. We foresee the need for expanding the level of training and are excited about participating in it.    

Here, then, are the details of what we still need to raise as of April 14, 2011:

Monthly pledges We are still $1,718.12 short of where we need to be by August 31, 2011.  If you are willing to make a commitment to support us over the next four years of our term, you can download a pledge form at http://www.daveanddebbiejohnson.com/. 

Monthly Support                    Amout Needed Pledges Committed       Still Needed
                                                $9,177.00                    $7,458.22                    $1,718.48

Cash
                                                Funds Needed            Amount in Hand         Still Needed
General Cash Budget                $13,974.00                  $10,694.36                    $3,309.64

Evangelistic Crusades               $30,000.00                  $290.00                       $29,710.00

House Church Planting    $5,000.00                  0                                    $5,000.00


If you have any questions, please feel free to call on my cellphone at (616) 558-1889.

Your offering can be sent to AGWM
1445 Boonville Ave. Springfield, MO, 65802
, designated for Dave and Debbie Johnson, Philippines, acct 2256006, or you can donate online at http://www.daveanddebbiejohnson.com/.

Please note: if you are a member of an Assemblies of God church, please support your church’s missions program by channeling your support, designated for us, through your church.

Thanks for partnering with us,


Dave Johnson





The Plagues Continue: Moses and the Gods of Egypt Part IV

The Plagues Continue: Moses and the Gods of Egypt Part IV
By Dr. Dave Johnson

This is the fourth in a series of blogs regarding God’s confrontation with the gods of Egypt.  While the primary purpose was to execute God’s wrath against those that were not gods, what happened in the supernatural was reflected in the natural in order that Pharaoh and the Egyptian people might understand what was happening.  The first four plagues were a nuisance and inconvenience to the Egyptian people, but they suffered no permanent damage.  The fifth plague, however, brought economic havoc when God slaughtered their cattle.

The sixth plague, recorded in Exodus 9:8-21, is the first plague to directly affect the people themselves.  The International Bible Encyclopedia identifies the types of boils that broke out on the people and draws a probably connection to the previous plague:
This plague in the order of its coming, immediately after the murrain [plague on the cattle], and in the description given of it and in the significant warning of the "pestilence" yet to come (Ex 9:15), appears most likely to have been pestis minor, the milder form of bubonic plague. Virulent rinder-pest among cattle in the East is regarded as the precursor of plague among men and is believed to be of the same nature. It may well be, as has been thought by some, that the great aversion of the ancient Egyptians to the contamination of the soil by decaying animals was from the danger thereby of starting an epidemic of plague among men (Dr. Merrins, Biblical Sacra, 1908, 422-23). (www.bible-history.com/isbe/plagues of Egypt, accessed 9 April 2011).

This was significant since not only could the magicians not replicate this plague but they were unable to heal even themselves (IBID).  Even Pharaoh himself was likely afflicted.  But why did the Lord tell Moses to throw soot (or ashes) in the air to begin the plague?  One commentator noted that the use of soot to cause boils overrode the Egyptians perception of nature, as soot was actually used to cure boils. If this is the case, then this is another way that God challenged the Egyptians worldview.  Thoth, the Egyptian god of medicine, was unable to affect a cure (www.mazornet.com/holidays/passover/plagues/boils.htm, accessed 12 April 2011).

In Exodus 9:12 there is a subtle but real shift in the story.  In each of the first five plagues, the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his heart or, to use the passive voice, that his heart became hardened.  Here, for the first time, the text records that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  How could Pharaoh harden his own heart and God also harden his heart?  Is this a contradiction? I will leave the broader discussion on predestination and the Calvinist/Armenian debate to others, but I can state conclusively that there is no contradiction.  I believe that Pharaoh, as a free moral agent had both the ability and responsibility for choosing between good and evil, made the choice to rebel against God’s power and authority. God, then, simply gave him over to the wickedness and deceitfulness of his own heart.  This line of thinking is consistent with Paul’s own teaching about moral choices and God’s judgment in Romans 1:20-25.  Essentially, God caused Pharaoh to live with the moral consequences of the choices he had made.

Then, in Exodus 9:13-21, God proceeds to give Moses a message for Pharaoh. The message contains fourth elements.  One, Pharaoh must let the people go.  This statement would make no sense if Pharaoh did not have the moral capacity to make the choice of liberating the people or not.  Second, in verse 14, God warned Pharaoh that things were going to get worse.  Third, In verses 15-21, God informs Pharaoh that, much to Pharaoh’s surprise and chagrin, he is not a descendent of the sun-god, Re, and he is not the master of the universe. He was a mere mortal that the God of the slaves, who, as it turns out, is the maker and ruler of all things, raised up to suit his purposes!  How ironic and incomprehensible this was to Pharaoh!  That the God of oppressed was greater than the mighty Pharaoh was an outrageous insult to Egypt.  God literally turned the worldview of the Egyptians upside down!

The fourth component of God’s message to Pharaoh was the threat of the seventh plague, recorded in Exodus 9:22-29.  In his mercy, God gave Pharaoh and the Egyptians an opportunity to get the remaining livestock, which had been seriously depleted in the fifth plague, into shelter so as not to be killed by the hail.  Incredibly, some still did not believe and left both servants and livestock in the field.
One Jewish commentator described the scene well:
The biblical text refers to this plague has “all my plagues,” thus equating it to all the others combined. There are differing rabbinical explanations trying to clarify the reason for this. One commentator, the Ohr Hachayim explains that up until this plague the Egyptian magicians believed that Moses and Aaron were magicians who were able to bring forth the plagues utilizing either black magic or demon work. The reason that they were able to create what others couldn’t was due to their superior abilities and advanced knowledge. The plague of Barad convinced both Pharaoh and the magicians that it was God’s hand since the phenomenon could not be achieved by mortal magicians. Since it was the same God who came to him previously, Pharaoh had to accept that all the plagues were God created.

Why hail?
This plague was the most awesome and most devastating to hit Egypt. It also displayed God's power and superiority to any deity worshipped by the Egyptians, one of which was the god of the sky, "Nut." The power of God was magnified given that the hail consisted of fire and ice, a surreal happening, as fire and ice, which normally do no [sic] coexist, worked hand in hand to wreak havoc. (http://www.mazornet.com/holidays/passover/plagues/hail.htm, accessed 14 April 2011)
The broadness of destruction caused by this plague is difficult, if not impossible, to overstate.  People were killed and massive numbers of livestock, as well as crops and vegetation throughout the land of Egypt were destroyed.  Nut, the Egyptian god of the sky, was powerless to stop it.  By far, this was the worse of the plagues to this point.  No one had ever seen anything like this.  Again, nothing in Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was harmed, sending a clear message that the plague was sent by the God of the Hebrews.  Even Pharaoh was unnerved by the hail and called Moses in for another meeting, promising to let the people go. 
The way in which Moses replied to Pharaoh in verse 29 underscores the point God was making to Pharaoh that God, not Nut or any other Egyptian deity, controlled the weather, and he concluded his point with an exclamation point by stopping the hail and lightening at the precise moment that Moses lifted his hands.  There is no reasonable way that Pharaoh could have misunderstood the lesson intended and, therefore, no excuse for his continued arrogance and hardness of heart.  His rebellion was intentional.      
The eighth plague, that of the locusts, followed the hail and the tale is told in Exodus 10:1-20.  Verse two is a reminder that the lessons God intended to teach were not only for the Egyptians but also for the Israelites—specifically the generations that would follow.  The goal was that God’s name might be exalted in all the earth.  In verses 4-6, Moses and Aaron presented God’s ultimatum to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh’s immediate response is not recorded but apparently he was not open to the idea.

Verse seven records a kind of conversation that would not have been common in Pharaoh’s court.  Disagreeing with Pharaoh could have cost them their lives.  That his servants would argue with him suggests that the situation had become desperate.  That they accused him of being out of touch with how the plagues were impacting the people only accentuates how bad the situation must have been.  At this point, Pharaoh became duly alarmed and, again, tried to negotiate without losing control of the Israelites.  His offer to allow the men to go fell short of God’s demand, and the plague came.

A number of Egyptian gods, going by various names, appear to have been the target of this plague.  None were strong enough to withstand the wrath of the one true God.  The result was an unmitigated economic disaster as the locusts, who may not have been known in Egypt, swept in and destroyed the crops that had not been affected by other plagues. 

There are two lessons that reverberate throughout the story of the plagues.  On the one hand, the Hebrews were getting the message of God’s ability to deliver them from slavery.  No one else had been able to save them.  Their God, indeed, was mighty and willing to save them even though they were not worthy.  On the other side of the coin, God’s attitude towards sin should be abundantly clear. It has not changed in the three and a half millennia since that time.  If God would judge Pharaoh and the Egyptian nation, he will surely judge us.  Because of Pharaoh’s arrogance, the entire population now had no food until the end of the next crop growing cycle.  And the worst was yet to come.

PLEASE NOTE: Permission is hereby given to forward, print, and post this blog as long as it is done as a complete blog and its authorship is acknowledged. Thank you for your cooperation.  For automatic notification of future blogs please visit, www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com and click on “follow.”

Copyright 2011 Dr. Dave Johnson 
 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Support Status

Dave and Debbie Johnson
Assemblies of God Missionaries to the Philippines
1515 Blanchard ST SW
Grand Rapids MI 49509
(616) 558-1889

April 14, 2011

Dear Friends,

As we have traveled, many have asked how much we need to raise before completing itineration at the end of August, 2011.  As you look at these numbers, please bear in mind that our vision is to share the gospel with all of the four to five million Filipinos within the Bicol region of the Philippines and plant a church within walking distance of every one of them. Raising up and training Filipinos to accomplish this vision is at the core of our strategy.

Our vision is two pronged.

One, direct evangelism.  Over the last 17 years we have conducted approximately 700 evangelistic crusades in conjunction with local churches.  Many churches have been planted.  Each crusade costs about $350.00, and we conducted about 45-50 per year, each crusade lasting three nights.  Except for Debbie and me, all members of the team are Filipinos, as are all of the pastors with whom we work. While the Filipino churches do partner with us in sharing the expenses of this ministry by shouldering the expenses over the dollar figure given above, the nature of this type of work is finance intensive and more help is needed.

Second, in 2007 God gave Debbie a vision to plant house churches.  Working hand-in-hand with Filipino church leaders in our region and one other missionary couple from another organization, three house church planting schools were started and about 12 house churches were started.  Today, this movement has grown to include 15 house church planting schools and about 200 house churches have been started.  The possibilities for expansion are almost limitless.  God’s blessing on this effort is obvious, and we are anxious to see this movement grow. We foresee the need for expanding the level of training and are excited about participating in it.    

Here, then, are the details of what we still need to raise as of April 14, 2011:







Monthly pledges We are still $1,776.00 short of where we need to be by August 31, 2011.  If you are willing to make a commitment to support us over the next four years of our term, you can download a pledge form at http://www.daveanddebbiejohnson.com/. 

Monthly Support                    Amout Needed Pledges Committed       Still Needed
                                                $9,177.00                    $7,453.22                    $1,723.48

Cash
                                                Funds Needed            Amount in Hand         Still Needed
General Cash Budget                $13,974.00                  $10,694.36                    $3,309.64

Evangelistic Outreaches             $30,000.00                       $290.00                 $29,710.00

House Church Planting    $5,000.00                  0                                    $5,000.00


If you have any questions, please feel free to call on my cellphone at (616) 558-1889.

Your offering can be sent to AGWM
1445 Boonville Ave. Springfield, MO, 65802
, designated for Dave and Debbie Johnson, Philippines, acct 2256006, or you can donate online at http://www.daveanddebbiejohnson.com/.

Please note: if you are a member of an Assemblies of God church, please support your church’s missions program by channeling your support, designated for us, through your church.

Thanks for partnering with us,


Dave Johnson





Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Plagues Turn Serious: Moses and the Gods of Egypt Part III

The Plagues Turn Serious: Moses and the Gods of Egypt Part III

In the first two blogs, I discussed some of the basic tenets of animism in order that we might understand the ten plagues as Moses, Pharaoh, and the peoples they led would have understood them.  At its core, animism is a religion of power—and the ten plagues, along with the resultant exodus from Egypt, are the most powerful example of, and most referred to, power encounter in the entire Old Testament. That Moses should devote so much narrative to them is indicative of their importance.


We pick up the story again in Exodus 8:22-23, the description of the fourth plague.  Here, Moses records a significant change in the way God sent the plagues.  From this point on, the children of Israel would not be affected.  Since the first three plagues impacted everybody, one could make the case that these were general natural disasters that, in the minds of the Egyptians, could have been caused by other deities.  Sparing the Israelites, however, would send a clear message to the Egyptian people that something of a different order was happening, and that God was identifying himself as the God of Israel, giving the Egyptians a crystal clear understanding of who was calling the shots—a message even the hard hearted Pharaoh was able to grasp.

The god of the flies was most likely Beelzebub. One writer contends that these flies were actually scarab beetles rather than flies, but this view does not appear to be common (www.khouse.org/articles/2000/263/).  V24 records an interesting statement that the land “was corrupted” the flies.  The flies fed off animal dung, which may have been the source of defilement, although they would not likely have known then that dung was unsanitary.  This being said, however, the meaning of this phrase remains a bit unclear, at least to me.

Again, the impact of the plague was not serious.  Apparently no one died or even became sick, although flies feeding from the manure piles would have carried terrible germs.  But, no doubt noting the absence of flies among the Hebrews, Pharaoh noticed that this plague was somehow different and, in verse 25, for the first time, he began to negotiate--offering the children of Israel some time off for sacrificing to the Lord—but he wanted them to stay in Egypt where he could control them.  In other words, he wanted to appease the Lord to get him to lay off the plagues and leave Egypt alone.

Why Pharaoh began to negotiate here is admittedly speculative, but there may have been something going on that would not be obvious to Western readers.  Animistic religions are based on getting, controlling, and maintaining supernatural power.  In the Egyptian worldview, Pharaoh, as a descendent of the sun-god, was believed to be very powerful.  In early 1998, Debbie and I made a ministry trip to Indonesia.  One day, as I was teaching on the plagues to a group of villagers living in a remote area near the equator in the Indonesian rain forest, one older man observed that perhaps Pharaoh was negotiating because he sensed that his power was waning, and he wanted to maintain it at all costs.  Therefore, appeasing the God of the Hebrews was called for in order to maintain the supernatural status quo.  I believe the villager was right.  Pharaoh was correct that his power was indeed waning as the God of the Hebrews was making his point that he, not Pharaoh, was the one who controlled the universe.

When Pharaoh offered to let the Israelites go and sacrifice within the land of Egypt, Moses, being very polite, in an indirect manner, told Pharaoh “no deal.” Notice, too, that when Moses said that they would go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, he never promised that they would return.  Moses did not lie or deceive Pharaoh in any way.  He simply felt no obligation to tell him the whole plan.  Although he did not say that they were planning to leave permanently, Pharaoh, who initially agreed to let them go, well understood what was happening and, once again, hardened his heart once the flies were gone and did not keep his promise.

While the first four plagues presented just inconveniences to the Egyptians, the fifth (Exodus 9:1-7) began to have a major economic impact. In verse 3, Moses warned Pharaoh that the consequence of further arrogance would be severe and stated that, once again, the cattle belonging to the children of Israel would not be affected. 

Some of the gods of Egypt were more popular than others.  The gods represented by the animals mentioned here appear to have been of some importance.    
One writer noted:
The fifth plague was against the domestic animals of Egypt, and thus Apis, the bull god, and the cow-headed Hathor, goddess of the deserts. These were so widespread that even the children of Israel had become tainted by their worship, which led to the fiasco of the golden calf in the image of Apis . 7
The plague was a "murrain," a contagious disease among the cattle, and even the sacred bulls in the temple died (www.khouse.org/articles/2000/263/).
The economic impact must have been catastrophic and livelihoods of many Egyptians wiped out…literally overnight.  Even the sacred bulls were killed, so the Egyptians could not sacrifice to these gods to appeal for help.  If they thought that their own gods were doing this to them, they had nothing with witch to appease them.  No outcry from the people was yet recorded, but they must have been getting restless by now.  Surprising, Pharaoh himself is not moved by the impact of this plague, although he did sent someone to check on the herds of the Israelites to see if God had kept Moses’ promise that they would not be affected.

Again, there is clear evidence that the God of the Hebrews is the Lord of the universe.  He was more than willing to disturb the natural order in order to display his power and, in this case, his wrath against Pharaoh and the other gods of Egypt.  Like a piece of wood in a vise grip, God was increasing the pressure he was putting on the Egyptian worldview—both challenging the Egyptians convictions about his sovereignty and establishing the reality of his power and love to the children of Israel.  So far, the impact on bodies of the Egyptians people had been minimal.  This would soon change.  God was upping the ante.

PLEASE NOTE: Permission is hereby given to forward, print, and post this blog as long as it is done as a complete blog, and its authorship is acknowledged. Thank you for your cooperation.  For automatic notification of future blogs please visit, www.drdavejohnson.blogspot.com and click on “follow.”

Copyright 2011 Dr. Dave Johnson