Torah, Prophets, and Jesus have very little to say without the Poor

Jesus reveals to all of us, the potential in each of us, to exhibit what it means to be human. Jesus is the full expression of humanity in his life and teachings. Jesus was a great man. The incarnation is both the coming of God into the world and the fulfillment of humanness. Jesus is our model for living and both Lord and Christ. He experiences being human without exception, yet his origin is ‘from God’ and his essence is God.

When God enters the world to walk among us he positions himself alongside the poor. Like the prophets before him, social justice is a matter of urgency and not merely a utopian dream. Jesus and the Torah direct our faith towards God as an object of love, and then our love for God is displayed via a faith that is centered on the liberation of all human beings and particularly the poor. The prophet Micah presents acceptable worship as relational acts between human beings where doing justice and loving kindness produces a walk before God that is bereft of all pride in self. In three verses Micah has abolished any form of sacramental worship as necessary for proper living before God (Micah 6: 6-8).

In Genesis, God stops short of ending the life of Adam and Eve by 900 plus years, because he desires to walk with them and teach them how to live. Their poverty of spirit leaves them with a murdered son and a murdering son. The mythic nature of the story divides humanity into two distinct groups, those whose lives are of no value and those that wish to dominate the earth via the city and violence. Before God speaks to Cain the murderer he hears the voice of innocent blood crying from the ground. Abel’s loss has reached the heart of God, but God also loves Cain and forgives the first murderer.

The poor of the world are the oppressed victims of global wars and global economics and political powers reigning from cities around the world. They are humanities Abels. In Exodus God hears the cry of slaves suffering under the empire building of an earthly king.

In the prophets, the nation which God knew like no other, has failed to be the people of God and they have developed a dominating system of social stratification that divides humanity into the powerful and the powerless (the violent and the victim). In Amos the poor are left destitute while the rich relish in silver and will not even provide shoes for the feet of the poor (Amos 2:6). In Jeremiah the rich are guilty of setting traps to ensnare human beings by taking away their right to the goods of the land (Jeremiah 5: 26-28).

When Jesus begins his ministry in Luke four, it is with the words of Isaiah (ch. 61). Jesus proclaims ‘good news’ which is based upon the Torah’s teaching concerning the complete alleviation of debt. The acceptable year of the Lord is a reference to the practice of Jubilee. If, we understand that the teaching of the law and of Jesus as pedagogy for something far greater, then the law or teaching is only a starting point from which to begin practicing justice. It is the prophetic hope pieces of the prophets that envision the utopian reality of the reign of God. The law or teaching, and Jesus teaching are not the end result; they are the path to the end, which is the reign of God in every human heart.

The Torah and the life and teachings of Jesus are both corrective efforts to establish the reign of God. When we understand this truth then we can see that the reign of God is accomplished when the present systems of this world are abandoned for a life of faith.

A Non Violent God

The utopian vision of the prophets (e.g. Isaiah 2:4) is only possible if God is non-violent. We are capable of non violence only if God is non-violent, this is so because we are created in his image and the best we can do is live according to his image. Once we understand our own responsibility for creation as creatures, then we can grasp the concept of God as non-violent and kind and benevolent.

The concept of a non-violent God is the principle component to the reign of God. The reign of God cannot exist with any type of violence. The essential component for the reign of God is ‘spirit’. To be spiritual is to image God in the world, so that others will see God in you. At this point it is important to remember that God came into the world and was not recognized because of his position alongside the poor and oppressed. He was not recognized because he proposed an ideology for living that the world would not accept. Jesus concept of the reign of God was so radical that the religious authorities condemned him for blasphemy and the political powers considered him a threat to the Pax Romana.

Although the prophets portray utopia, Jesus teaching was not so idealistic as to be unachievable. Utopia is on the other side of our willingness to follow Jesus in the now. Some fear such a challenge as a ‘Kingdom Now’ teaching. The problem is that fearing the presence of practicing the reign of God in the now is to reject the reign of God. I am not saying humanity is to establish the reign of God, I am saying that we should do as much as we can to live according to the teachings of the Tanak and Jesus. This is our calling, it is our vocation, it is being a Christian. Who can say how much good might come of the willingness of some or many to actually live out the teachings of the bible?

In Harms Way

When the ‘church’ takes its place alongside the poor, then it has put itself in harms way. The church that lives alongside the poor will find itself with two opponents. The first opponent is the church that justifies the use of violence and accepts violence as an unalterable reality for the present age. The second opponent is the political powers of government.

The church that takes its position alongside the poor is now placed between the poor and the powerful. The powerful include the church that accepts the use of violence. This is an interesting distinction within the church and is worthy of some analysis.

God desires to rule by winning human beings over to him, by having them submit to his spirit willingly. Men rule over men with unjust systems that are supported by violence. The church that supports or actively argues for the justification of violence is on the side of the temporary powers of the political systems of the world. The difference between a non-violent person and a violent person is one will kill and the other will not. One is a child of the murderer Cain and the other is a victim like Abel the righteous.

The poor are not active participants in organized violence. Rather the poor are victims of violence. The wealthy and powerful justify the use of violence to maintain the order that keeps them wealthy and powerful. The poor do not practice organized violence. The only exception is when poor young men are indoctrinated with an ideology and given a gun. The ideology can be democracy, or communism, or socialism, or a dictator or an aristocracy or a monarchy. The poor youth only desire a better life and if some wealthy politician or aristocrat had not indoctrinated them with an ideology that promised justice, and armed them with weapons, they would not have participated in organized violence.

The violent church does not want to take up the vocation of God and live alongside the poor. God is first introduced in Exodus as a God of slaves, they are his people and he longs to be their God. The violent church establishes a kingdom of this world and enforces its rule with acts of violence. The violent church aligns itself with political powers (like Assyria). The violent church trusts in the strength of their nation’s military to ensure peace (horses or the modern equivalent of tanks). The violent church prides itself on the work of its hands (self sufficiency based upon economic wealth). The violent church is orphaned and without God in the world(except for mercy). Hosea records this trilogy of idolatry and violence in his final hope piece.

Hosea 14: 2, 3
2 Take words with you and return to the LORD; say to him,
“Take away all guilt; accept that which is good,
and we will offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”

The violent church is formatively immature in its expression of Christ in the world. The violent church is intellectually bound by mythical / literal interpretive methods and unwilling to lose their life in order that they might gain it.

The poor will let their children suffer and die when they cannot obtain medicine worth two dollars, whereas the powerful would commit crimes and acts of violence in order to obtain the two dollars. The mindset of the poor is aware of the cyclic power of violence practiced by the powerful. They know that only when the retaliation of the powerful against the poor becomes horrific will the violence cease. They also know that the halting of violence by the powerful is only temporary. So, they do not practice violence to obtain their needs because they know that the violence they will ignite in the powerful will pale in comparison to their present suffering. Often the poor accept their poverty as their lot in life and do not attempt to overcome it. The reason for this is found in the oppressive nature of poverty. Poverty kills the spirit of hope and lack of education renders intellectual challenges by the poor to silent suffering. The task of the church in positioning itself alongside the poor is to give them the voice that they have lost amidst their suffering. We are to articulate that which is lost to their silence.

The church that does not see the poor as the lost treasure which a man sold all that he had to purchase the field which contained it, does not understand the value God places on human beings. We human beings are the apex of creation, God’s crowning achievement. The irreplaceable uniqueness of every individual human being is a reflection of God and his creative power. The inestimable value of every human being is weighed against the sacrifice of God himself upon a barbaric instrument of torturous death. We must not be caught selling them for a closet full of clothes or a jewelry box full of gold or a Lexus or a summer home. The person that images God loves people, all kinds of people. The person that loves God loves those that are caught in sin that is a product of society’s injustices.

The second opponent of the church is the political powers of the state. The political powers of the state will rise up against the church that positions itself alongside the poor, when that church begins to bring the liberation to the poor that the state in all of its brazen power could not. When the church demonstrates a manner of life for the governing of people that surpasses the state’s power the church will find itself suffering the wrath of the state. The church is recognized as a revolutionary power because it liberates the voice of the poor to be heard in the public arena. When the poor learn to articulate their suffering the violent powers of the world cannot bare the guilt and seek to silence their voice.

Crucified to History

Oscar Romero and Ignacio Ellacuria spoke of the poor as the people crucified in history. Jesus was an innocent sufferer, as are the poor. The poor are simply born poor or made poor through war and natural disaster. In this sense they have not committed a crime for which poverty is their punishment. The only difference between the powerful and the poor is the situation into which the poor are born or plummeted into. Poverty is in effect a sign of the inhuman powers of government that fail to allow the poor to live. They are treated like excess humanity for which the world has no room. The poor are crucified to the greed of the wealthy. They are crucified to the expansionist powers of empire’s insatiable need for controlling the land until there is no room for anyone else.

Isaiah 5:8
8 Ah, you who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land!

God’s affinity for the poor is found in the practice of non-violence, in innocent suffering, and in his openly shaming the powers and displaying their true nature as they crucified the Lord of glory. The glory of the Lord that is to fill the earth is human beings that live according to his image. The poor are the glory of the Lord cast aside and crucified to human history’s pursuit of progress. We cannot progress for we are on the wrong path. It is the path of the crucified that leads to life; it is the path of God’s love that gives itself for the world.

Personal Reflections from Visits to a Dumpsite in the Philippines

They are like wounded animals abandoned to man-eaters. They are human prey and unless we help them we are either animals quickly running by trying to preserve our own lives or we are predators that exploit their poverty. They are often without record; no birth certificate to confirm their existence. So poor that even a wedding is an impossible expense. Their little hovels display the cruelty of their existence while revealing their humanity at the same time. With aesthetic creativity they decorate with some bamboo carefully laid out to in an elaborate design to beautify a shelf on which a few flowers can be placed in broken pots. They are called scavengers by the locals. The title itself is degrading and implies inferiority. They are not lazy for they work everyday. With a piece of re-bar bent into a hook and sharpened on one end they pull apart trash bags and search for some refuse that they can sell for a few cents to buy some rice. They are the people of the Lapu Lapu City dumpsite in Cebu Philippines.

I and my students have learned their names, went to their homes, bandaged their wounds, given them school supplies and worked alongside them digging in the trash. My students have endured the heat, the filth, the flies and the stench to be able to work alongside the people at the dumpsite. They have sang songs and taught from the Bible while working alongside the people at the dumpsite.

My students and I are learning that Christianity cannot be a regionalized expression limited to the cultural practices and realities of a single area. Christianity by its nature is a global cause. We are to be our brother’s keeper. We as a ministry are sending some of the children from the dumpsite to school. It is not enough! The cycle of oppression and poverty must be broken. Justice must find a way to exist and overcome the fear and greed that drive the faithless to self protection. We must not store up goods and neglect the dying.

When people are treated like garbage they often feel as though they are garbage. Each day their only hope is that they might find some valuable trash as they scavenge through the heaping pile of decomposing human waste.

I am happy to have watched my students break into tears uncontrollably after they dug through the garbage to help a scavenger. These poor souls are human beings created in the image of God. Each one of them is of inestimable worth. But we sell their help for a gold chain, or a chrome rim, or a plaque to honor ourselves for doing what was our duty in the first place! How can anyone preach or teach or write books about your best life now! This world is a violent lost place where God is rejected and people behave without faith and only look out for themselves because they are afraid. Jesus said if we will find our lives we must lose them! All great human beings were people that cared about others more than themselves. Such persons like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Ignacio Ellacuria, Oscar Romero, Ghandi, and a multitude of nameless persons that love others more than their own lives.

In the darkness of poverty when human beings are reduced to being nothing more than excess humanity cast aside like waste, evil proliferates like a greedy man in pursuit of money. Children are raped, women are sold, boys are sold and often the buyers are Caucasian males from the U.S. or Germany or Australia.

Everybody wants to be a hero but nobody wants to pay the price. Heroes are not over paid celebrity singers, actors, or athletes. Heroes, real heroes do not even care if you know their name, they do what they do because they are constrained by love and can do nothing else.

The Power of the Christian Martyr

In America martyrdom is a mysterious plight assigned to those exceptional human beings that are not like the rest of us. It is an unfortunate occurrence that ends a promising life. It is to be avoided at all costs. In part this is so because the church no longer understands the power of martyrdom, nor the love that constrains a person to identify with a suffering people to the point of an incarnational experience that will not abandon the poor in times of conflict or disaster.

The power of martyrdom is limited to the ‘spirit’ exhibited in the world by the martyr. As I said previously ‘spirit’ is imaging God. When the church comes alongside the poor and is positioned between them and the powerful, the person that represents the church through presence and word is viewed as powerful. The church will always be powerful because it (he/she) is liberated by God’s word. A Christian martyr is always one of the powerful known by the poor, the church and the political power. The Christian martyr embodies hope for a better humanity and a better world. The Christian martyr that has exemplified ‘spirit’ by imaging God in word and deed dies as one for many. The horrific death of a non-violent person that fully embodies the humanity of Christ has the power to halt the cyclic power of violence for a period of time. The remembrance of the work of the Christian martyr keeps fresh the challenges put forth by their life.

The power of the Christian martyr as an individual lies in two arenas; firstly the love that constrains their service to the poor or the oppressed, secondly in their own certainty and faith that believes God even when their lives are to be sacrificed like the poor or like their Lord. The martyr believes that redemptive power lies in innocent suffering that is received as a choice by the powerful. The martyr believes that the life they lose is not really lost but gained. The martyr exhibits the power of faith that challenges the power of death with faith in a life that cannot be lost. This is the cost of coming alongside the poor and living Christ.

As the trend of rural-urban migration continues to be pushed by developers who believe rural-urban migration may reduce poverty in the LDC’s (Less Developed Countries primarily throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America), there are definite factors that must be taken into consideration when analyzing the effects of this trend. Although initially it appears that there is a positive association between urbanization and per capita income, it is difficult to determine if incomes are actually increasing due to urbanization. Since urbanization seems to be occurring everywhere, whether economic growth is positive or negative, it seems that other factors must be considered.

One significant issue with urbanization in the developing world is that the number of migrants exceeds the number of available jobs. This not only causes a rural-urban structural imbalance, as the majority of the educated people flock to the cities in search of jobs, but it also leads to high levels of unemployment, since the great majority of migrants cannot find jobs. It is estimated that for every 100 jobs created in these LDC cities, 300 migrants will come to the city in search of jobs. Thus for every 100 job placements, 200 migrants will remain unemployed.

With the rapid spread of urbanization in development strategies, the growth of huge slums and shantytowns has proliferated. These developing world megacities do not have the infrastructure, or capacity, to house and care for the rapidly increasing number of migrants. While a few lucky migrants find jobs, the majority become slum-dwellers who walk the streets looking for work. The unemployed are then not only unable to provide for their families back home, but they themselves lack the basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and access to health care.
Lastly, due to the high number of men and young educated people leaving their villages, and because most LDC governments favor the urban sector in the development policies, there still seems to be a widening gap between urban and rural economies. So while it is true that cities do offer economic advantages in these LDCs, the social costs are undeniable. The progressive overloading of housing and social services, rural-urban structural imbalances, increased unemployment levels, increased crime, pollution, and congestion outweigh the perceived urban advantages.

With that, because here at G.O.D. Int’l we desire to bring about holistic development in the lives of our friends overseas, we must combat the myth that moving to the city is the answer to our friends needs in the third world. We have seen too many women and children struggling in rural villages due to the absence of their job-seeking husbands to believe that the city is a viable option. Instead, as a ministry we desire to teach, empower, and provide opportunities for our international friends right where they are in order to bring life and holistic development to the rural communities in which they live.

A Brief History

The Philippine Islands will ever be a land of beautiful beaches, sunsets, and people. The Filipino culture is admirably accepting of others and filled with smiles and laughter. At one time, they were an Island peoples living in communal settings and experiencing the paradise of a fruitful land. This tranquil life was disrupted by the gradual effects of empire and globalization.

The first expansionist power to grasp at controlling the resources of the Philippines was the Spanish. From 1565 – 1898 the Philippines was a Spanish Colony. When the USS Maine was sunk and 260 men died, America’s war with Spain began. Initially, the U.S. war effort against the Spanish was to remove them from Cuba. Due to the presence of the Spanish fleet in Manila bay the U.S. sent our newly constructed steel ships to weaken the Spanish naval power. On August 13th 1898, 12,000 American troops had arrived in Manila and the Spanish governor, Fermin Jaudenes surrendered the Philippines. The first attack on the Spanish fleet in the Philippines had brought an end to the Spanish rule in the Philippines. However, America exhibited little interest in obtaining the Spanish empire’s holding of the Philippines. The defeat of the Spanish left the Philippines open to other nations like Britain, France, Japan and Germany. The U.S. feared the loss of trade in the Asian region to these other contending powers. Each of these countries had acquired naval base concessions and business interests with China.

The United States and Spain negotiated a peace treaty in Paris on December 10th, 1898. The U.S. purchased the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico from the Spanish government for $20,000,000. A segment of Philippine society sought independence from foreign power and the ensuing conflict with the U.S. military was the beginning of the Philippine American war. This war effort marked America’s movement towards becoming an empire. The Philippine American war began around the 23rd of January 1899 when Philippine leader Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence. The U.S. military rule of the Philippines was declared ‘over’ on July 4th 1901.

Whenever the military of any nation has stationed troops in a developing nation or conquered peoples, the systemic abuse of women has quickly followed. The unnatural world of males and violence lends to the acceptance of systemic prostitution as a right of ownership over a people. After all we had ‘bought’ the Philippines from Spain. We were supposed to be civilized and Christian, whereas they were poor natives and uncivilized. If warring constitutes civilization then I am sure being civilized is simply a way of justifying violence on a massive scale.

In 1900, U.S. President McKinley condoned the practice of sending troops to the Philippines for ‘R & R’ (rest and relaxation) under regulatory guidelines. This practice led to the development of the sex industry in the Philippines. The Philippines as an R & R destination was considered to be the cheapest place for a soldier to go and spend his money. The decimation of much of the Philippines accomplished during the Philippine American War (1899 – 1902) contributed to the oppressive conditions that facilitated the phenomenon of mass prostitution in the Philippines. Instead of bringing ‘Christianity’ and ‘Civilization’ as President McKinley had claimed, we brought oppression and injustice on a massive scale.

An American Legacy

When the U.S. Military withdrew from the Philippines in 1992 there were 55,000 registered and unregistered ‘hostesses’. There were more than 2,182 entertainment businesses servicing the areas of Olongapo and Angeles City where Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base were located. The U.S. military left and so did the 40,000 jobs they provided and the 83,000,000 dollars a year in salaries for Filipino workers. Also upon the departure of the U.S. military from the Philippines, over 50,000 American/Filipino children were left behind. Over 10,000 of these children lived on the street. It is estimated that for some period of time there were as many as 30,000 children a year born to American military troops and Filipino women.

I have met these forgotten children all over the Philippines. I have been meeting them for years. In 1976 I met a young man named Steven. He was twenty one years old, his mother had died of cancer and he had lived on the street by his wits since he was twelve.

In 1985 I was on the Island of Biliran and saw a young mother that had just returned from Olongapo holding her newborn Filipino American baby. The same day I was showering outside in my shorts, like everyone else, when I felt someone staring at me. I turned to see a fifteen year old boy with curly hair and blue eyes. I knew he was wondering if I might be his father.

In 1986 I was in So. Leyte walking through the jungle and I spotted an African man. I assumed him to be an American and spoke with him. He told me he was a souvenir of World War II and that he was 40 years old. He had never known or heard from the man who fathered him.

I also brought home to play with my children a little girl named Jean from Siren in Tacloban City. She looked like one of my kids with her curly brown hair and lighter skin. Jean lived with her grandmother in a small shanty over some black water on the edge of a mountain. She was lucky her mother married an African American who adopted her. At around 12 Jean left to live with her mom and adopted father in California.

In 2007 there are still children being born to American sex tourists. I have seen them also. The American military presence made way for the new phenomenon of international sex tourism.

The Plight of the Filipina Hostess

In 1976, Ferdinand Marcos was the ruling dictator of the Philippines. Marcos had declared martial law and no one was allowed on the street after midnight. I was twenty years old and handing out Bibles on the streets of Olongapo. At midnight the dash back to the base by U.S. soldiers was accomplished by pushing past literally thousands of girls. The bars closed at 11:30 and the masses of people filled the street and the sidewalks. At 4:00 in the morning the curfew was lifted and young soldiers ran down the street and across the bridge to catch an early morning bus and make ‘muster’. These soldiers often wore no shirt and had no shoes because they had left them as payment for their night with a young Filipina.

The girls of Olongapo and Barrio Barreto came from poor families and from all over the Philippines. Some had come with the dream of marrying an American and never intended to live the life that captured them in Olongapo or Barreto or Angeles City. Some had gone to government agencies to seek employment and were sent to Olongapo to be held there in fear. They were threatened with both debt and imprisonment. Some were raped and pacified into cooperating with the sex industry that serviced the American Military. Most of these girls had not gone beyond the sixth grade in an educational system that had inadequate resources.

The first bars to line the streets of Philippine cities were placed near the U.S. military bases. This practice dates back to the Philippine American war as early as 1900. The practice was governed by military officials that sought to keep subservient and disease free women through a process of elimination. The complicity of the U.S. military involved the practice of R & R. The military needed a way to maintain moral and the Filipina was the agent of choice. In 1976 I was told by a military chaplain that no one could live a Christian life in Olongapo. His advice to us was “Do not get any girls pregnant or get too drunk.”

There are entire villages where some of the women once abused by the American Military all live together in poverty. One such place where the former ‘Magsaysay Girls’ live is at the end of Water Dam Road block 27 of Gordon Heights. Magsaysay Dr. is the name of the street in Olongapo that was lined with bars and girls.

A Moment of Hope

I remember when the bases in Subic Bay and Clark Air Force base shut down. My personal feelings were that the Philippines might become free of the abuse and oppression of their youth by the presence of empire. Unfortunately I was somewhat naïve to the blossoming sex industry brought about by the ease of travel via the airline industry. I was surprised to find that sex tourism is an entrepreneurial effort by retired American males seeking to make money. The Internet has provided the ability for these types of people to gather in locked, members-only sites and plan their abuse of young uneducated poverty-ridden girls. Retired U.S. military men living on their pensions are still fathering children with Filipinas in Olongapo and Angeles City and Barrio Barreto.

Most of the men that go on sex tours to the Philippines are old and fat and exhibit their youthful memories with old tattoos. Some are younger and are part of the new sex tourist phenomenon born of global travel and excessive wealth.

For the past three years I have spent the summer in the Philippines. Each year I have witnessed the resurgence of the sex industry. The participants are now older and the girls are still young. The men are American, Irish, German, Australian, Japanese, and Korean. Some of the girls I witnessed to be working in the bars looked to be as young as fifteen. We entered the bars and bought the girls’ time in order to talk with them and share with them our faith in Christ. This type of activity is fine as a starting point, but we must do more. It is my plan to combat the sex industry in the Philippines and to establish recovery programs and educational facilities for the girls captured in this industry. For over a century American complicity has contributed to this evil of bars and sex slavery. It is an industry that is a result of American military practices and the continuing realities of injustice due to global economics.

A word concerning the biblical illiteracy amongst the people of God is a drum I will continue to beat until “…all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” It’s amazing to me how so many can claim an allegiance to Christ, but are either unaware of his desires, or have such a second hand, pedantic version of his desires that they are no longer connected to his will.

When faith is automatic, either by habit due to heritage or in association with others who share a culture of thought, it is no longer faith. Faith is on the other end of a weighted, contemplative moment in which a decision toward action is made. A decision based upon hope in that which is beyond our ability to understand independent of revelation. For the people of God, this revelation comes through his word. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.”

As our faith is exercised, our understanding is expanded and we are connected to the Creator’s intention for the progression of creation. We call this the will of God. The will of God cannot be disconnected from a practice of faith. Nor can the object of this faith be found in a system of ritual and ceremony, or in a cultural milieu of accepted ethic. Faith’s object must be in a very real, often unpredictable, holy being whom we believe to be good as revealed by his own words.

Despite history’s one-sided interpretive commentary on God’s will, which has left humanity complacent and waiting for a better answer, we reject the temporary solutions of science, technology and conventional wisdom for a faith endeavor that is proved by obedience over time, within history itself. The God of creation wants to prove his ideal through a community of faith that is educated on his desires and willing to risk by venturing out onto ‘unstable waters’ that he himself is not afraid to walk on.

The 5th verse of Deut. 4 states that Moses was charged with teaching the expectations of God to the community of faith called Israel; how they should behave in the land they were to inhabit. The 6th verse states that their obedience to God’s desire would bring about a display of wisdom and discernment to surrounding peoples who would in turn desire the same ethic – which the bible will teach is called holiness. The revelation of God would be revealed through a community who by faith practiced an ethic that originated outside of man’s ability to determine right or wrong.

For Israel, adherence to the word of God started with Moses ‘teaching’ of the word of God. As the people of God we would have a lot less friction if we charged our community leaders to ‘teach’ the holiness of God according to his word. We don’t need 12 steps to success, or 7 ways to become accepted, nor do we need motivational epics on how we can find our true selves. We need Genesis through Revelation. We don’t need conclusions, or answers to life’s complexities, we need connection to our creator through fellowship at his table by dining on his words.

Our world is in need of a people who will learn this law and display an ethic which far exceeds that of patriots and decent citizens. This holiness finds its root in biblical literacy and the world will never know what God has intended for humanity unless the people of God subject themselves to this word and by faith live out the will of God to demonstrate that what seems impossible, is possible with God. This type of obedience will bring about a mass exodus of nominal Christianity and produce the people of God.

Background for Proper Interpretation

On Cities: Like today, the city was the center of economic and legislative activity for the surrounding region. The city gave opportunity for the non-farmer to develop a livelihood independent of direct agrarian activity. They were often over-populated and made up of a diverse group of educated, non-educated, rich, poor, healthy and disabled individuals who migrated from the surrounding regions for employment and a ‘better life.’ Those who were ill would have been cut off from the communal activity of the city.

On Leprosy and Biblical Illness: In the bible, leprosy is a term to denote many types of skin diseases. For the modern reader, it should be understood that such a disease not only made the person sick, but it cut them off from all social ties and possible networking that gave them a sense of interpersonal/relational health. In turn, the suffering individual experienced isolation, loneliness and marginalization.

The OT & Leprosy: In the Torah (see Leviticus 13), leprous people were to be quarantined because they were ‘unclean’ and their condition could contaminate the community. It was the job of the Priesthood, at the tabernacle, to change the social status of such individuals. The Priests could declare lepers clean and by doing so they could participate in social functions as a healthy individual.

Interpreting the Passage

At the sight of Jesus, the leprous man assumed the desperate, helpless posture of a beggar and made a profound claim, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean!” (vs.12) This lowly position (both literally and socially) gives insight to the reader on the perspective of a marginalized individual. First, institutional, legislative or religious approval is not pre-requisite for their restorative source. Second, the advanced aspect of their illness (as indicated by ‘covered with leprosy’) can cause everyone else to surrender to their alienated state and they have to advocate for their own healing.

Jesus was not a Levite, Priest or government sanctioned medical professional. Rather he was a travelling preacher, in his early 30’s, uneducated, from the rural areas and the son of a carpenter who was disconnected from the power structures of the city.

The leprous man believed Jesus had the authority to act outside of the sanctions of his society. This courageous soul had not accepted the fate of his illness; rather he sought after an unauthorized alternative in the restorative power of the very human Jesus.

The text reads that Jesus responded with both a touch and a word. His touch is expressed with the phrase, ‘he stretched out his hand.’ (vs. 13) The same phrase used in the Exodus to speak of God’s power through the man Moses, unauthorized by Egypt, to deliver his people from their marginalized status as slaves in the city.

The word he speaks is a direct response to the leprous man’s statement. “I do choose, be made clean.” Jesus, without priestly authority, away from the Temple, makes the declaration that will restore this man to healthy social interaction within his community. The text reads that the ‘leprosy left him immediately.’

Touch and word; action and education. Suffering from a disease does more to an individual than solely cause them pain. It cuts them off from the healthy social relationships that give them purpose and a sense of belonging. Healing in the bible is always a socially restorative activity.

Living it Out

When I think of all who are sick, I know God can heal them. However, I’m also aware of my part in the process. As the people of God, human beings can with a touch and a word, action and education, practice the restorative activity of Jesus to resurrect life into these individuals. We can demonstrate the love and care which embraces their most difficult situation and with compassion and patience hold their hand. We can educate on God’s desire for them to continue embracing their everyday with hope – to choose life. We can advocate their desire to not yet be cut off from the life giving activity of social interaction and make the world acknowledge their plight and accommodate their presence.

Though unauthorized by the world we are supported by a loving God who gives us the power to love as well. Medicine does not restore people! It can stop the onslaught of disease and even prevent it from progressing in the body, but it can never perform the healing activity of a human being who values those marginalized by society and left to the fate of their disease. Human touch and a word of acceptance have the power to heal illness.

Though science and medicine have become the priesthood of the 21st century, able to declare the beginning and ending of life, those in need of healing must not lose hope! Be courageous and believe that Jesus has the authority to restore, the power to heal and the desire to do it for you! “I do choose, be made clean!”

In 2006 and 2007 we visited PREDA and Father Shay to gain information about the sex slave industry and PREDA’s involvement. Since that time, Dean of the Institute for G.O.D. Int’l, Mike Garner, and Father Shay are in frequent contact. They have built a good relationship in effort to empower the people of the Philippines. Recently, one of Mike Garner’s articles “(In Human) Predators and Prey” was published on PREDAs website and published in Father Shay’s internationally read newsletter. The article was read by Philippine government officials and was a subject of a meeting in London on Philippine Culture.

Below is an article written by Father Shay about his experience in Calcutta where Mother Theresa served for many years. As our ministry continues to serve in the Philippines we will work with Father Shay. Our hope is to change the unjust and inhuman structures that oppress children and women.

Following in the Footsteps of Mother Theresa by Father Shay Cullen

When I first went to Calcutta to work in the dying houses of Mother Theresa, among the lepers and with the hungry street kids that populated the railway stations I was a temporary chaplain to the brothers of charity founded by Mother Theresa.

We lived a life of simplicity and deprivation. No cooling air fans, no soft beds or tasty meals. A slim mat on a hard concrete floor was our resting place in a large room that doubled as a meeting and prayer room. We awoke before dawn rolled up our mats and washed in small cubicles from a bucket. The day began with morning prayer, sitting on the floor in a circle reading and meditating on the scripture and then we shared the Eucharist.

There was a shared spirit of unity, dedication and a vision of purpose which we needed to strengthen our resolve to face whatever human degradation the day would bring. Working in pairs we were set off to the streets to find the sick and the dying and do whatever we could to ease their suffering. We were like ants on a mountain insignificant and I wondered what good can we do to change this affront to human dignity.

I went with the portable clinic, a converted van that had all the necessities to treat the lepers that hid themselves behind in the slaughter houses of the city where only the untouchables would dare venture and ourselves. The lepers were banished and excluded. How happy they were to see us stretched out their decaying hands and feet to be cleaned and treated and parts to be amputated by the medically trained brothers. My work was to unwind the filthy bandages and wash the putrid wounds. A daunting task at first. They eagerly took their medicine in the vain hope that they would be cured.

What a shocking reality of such sadness, human suffering and the pain of being unwanted, outcast and living worst than hungry dogs. In a world of inequality where the rich give not even the waste and crumbs from their sumptuous banquets to feed the poor I asked where was the loving compassionate healing God in all of this. No wonder Mother Theresa doubted if there was a God at all. And yet she carried on serving the poor in her spiritual desolation and inner loneliness crying out for a God whose presence she could not see or feel – that was heroic virtue indeed, truly saintly.

On other days I was in the dying house, a converted Hindu temple. Here we brought the dying whose skeletal bodies were like the dead of Auschwitz. They were snatched from the gnawing rats on garbage heaps or in the gutters and with dozens of the sisters, who lived in voluntary poverty themselves, we treated the dying as the precious children of God. They received respect, reverence and love. Did a loving God allow it to be like this? Could God not intervene with a mighty hand to bring down the mighty from their thrones, lift up the downtrodden and establish a kingdom of justice and peace with food and dignity for all as Jesus wanted?

Down in the railway station where trains came roaring in every twenty minutes dozens of children, mostly boys swarmed all over the carriages of arriving trains devouring the left over food scraps and collecting rags and any bit of junk that could be sold.

There are millions of abandoned street kids around the world. They are exploited as child workers, sexually abused and thousands illegally imprisoned. They are deprived of a childhood and a life of value and today in the Philippines it is the same, a rich nation with millions of poor. Injustice and greed are the roots of social evil and it thrives because the rich refuse to put aside their greed and build a just society.

Yet Mother Theresa saw the injustice and poverty everyday for over 60 years and yet she never gave up being one with the poor and the abandoned. Although the joy of experiencing God throughout her life was unattainable God was with the poor through her and through them, God was with her.

Below, is a journal entry from our student, Brett Madron, who was an immersion member to the Philippines in 2007. His entry articulates well a unique moment for him with the local dumpsite church.

By Brett Madron

“The room was dimly lit as we walked through the door of the archway above fittingly reading ‘Dumpsite People’s Church’. We were warmly greeted by a growing crowd of Filipinos including Pastor Ray Nemenzo as he juggled between two languages, doing his best to project through a scratchy microphone.

Tuesday nights at the DPC have become a place of refuge and exhortation to what appeared to be about 200 squatters who find their home only a sniff away from the Lapu Lapu City Dumpsite. As we walked in the church, our American status got us pushed to the front by the Filipinos as they shift to the rear as a gesture of hospitality. Walking through the crowd one couldn’t help but observe the toll life had taken on these men and women.

The majority of those we observed, in addition to the dozens more not at the church that night, all find their daily provision – many providing for multiple children – working sunrise to sunset sorting through trash. These so-called scavengers sort through rotten fish heads, soiled diapers and endless other items of utter filth in search of plastic and glass that they can redeem for 100 pesos a day – an equivalent of about two American dollars.

My observations of these people – made no less in the image of God than me or you – showed results of the kind of life they are unjustly subjected to everyday. Sun-crisped skin, permanently stained clothing, flies swarming about them, multiple infectious cuts – these people, though breathing in and out of their lungs were hardly experiencing the kind of life God desires for any person.

After only enough time to sit down on a small, plastic stool in the church, something very rare happened. Pastor Ray, a man very aware that he is a caretaker to the poorest of the poor, instructed all the Americans to move to the rear of the building and reminded the Filipinos that the evening’s service existed for their opportunity to gather together to learn and be encouraged, not for the Americans.

After taking our place standing in the corridor in the rear of the building, something very beautiful happened as I peered through the holes in the dividing wall. My Filipino friends, all subjected to most abject poverty, erupted in worship. No matter the sub-par speaker system or the out of tune guitar – none of that mattered once these people began to lift their voices.

As if the sound of their voices weren’t enough, I leaned over to Mrs. Garner and asked her to translate the words they were singing. “God you are my refuge…”, “You are our sustainer…”, these were two of the phrases that stayed with me. These common phrases, sung in one way or another in many worship songs, suddenly struck me with new meaning. In that moment, life slowed down as if God were allowing me to pause, eliminate all possible distractions and appreciate what was before me.

Knowing the lives of people, when I learned that these phrases were being sung with passion, I could not think of a more fitting context for these words to reach the deepest sincerity. I was reminded that our theology of ‘salvation’ extends well beyond saving a soul from hell, and into the very life of a person who can, after a long day working in the dump, raise their hands and give thanks to God for strengthening them for another day of life.”

My students and the interns have learned their names, went to their homes, bandaged their wounds, given them school supplies and worked alongside them digging in the trash. Our interns and immersion team members have endured the heat, the filth, the flies and the stench to be able to work alongside the people at the dumpsite. They have sang songs and taught from the Bible while working alongside the people at the dumpsite.

Our students and interns are learning that Christianity cannot be a regionalized expression limited to the cultural practices and realities of a single area. Christianity by its nature is a global cause. We are to be our brother’s keeper. We as a ministry are sending some of the children from the dumpsite to school. It is not enough! The cycle of oppression and poverty must be broken. Justice must find a way to exist and overcome the fear and greed that drive us all to self protection while we store up goods and neglect the dying.

When people are treated like garbage they often feel as though they are garbage. Each day their only hope is that they might find some valuable trash as they scavenge through the heaping pile of decomposing human waste.

I am happy to have watched Alison, Kaly, Rachel and others break into tears uncontrollably after they dug through the garbage to help a scavenger. These poor souls are human beings created in the image of God. Each one of them is of inestimable worth. But we sell their help for a gold chain, or a chrome rim, or a plaque to honor ourselves for doing what was our duty in the first place! Damn the prosperity preachers that talk about your best life now! This world is a violent lost place where God is rejected and people behave without faith and only look out for themselves because they are afraid. Jesus said if we will find our lives we must lose them! All great human beings were people that cared about others more than themselves. Such persons like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Dietrich Bonhoefer, Ghandi, Father Shay Cullen, and hopefully a bunch of young people from G.O.D. international will join this list, a list on which Jesus name is also found.

In the darkness of poverty when human beings are reduced to being nothing more than surplus humanity cast aside like waste, evil proliferates like a greedy man in pursuit of money. Children are raped, women are sold, boys are sold and often the buyers are Caucasian males from the U.S. or Germany or Australia.

Everybody wants to be a hero but nobody wants to pay the price. Heroes are not over paid celebrity singers, actors, or athletes. Heroes, real heroes do not even care if you know their name, they do what they do because they are constrained by love and can do nothing else. You can save a life today, you can help us save a life today…will you help us help my friends at the Lapu Lapu dumpsite? They cannot wait because they are dying.

The day began with masses of people filling the compound; most of them were women holding crying babies and lethargic toddlers waiting to see the one doctor for some sort of help or hope. A section of the clinic was devoted to pre-natal and post-natal care. I spent the majority of my day there, checking in the long line of patients, getting medical histories and family information, taking blood pressure with an ancient apparatus, giving polio vaccines to babies, weighing babies, and examining the pregnant women.

I loved getting to know the women, hearing their stories, and holding their beautiful children. I felt a love for all of these women after hearing their stories. I got especially attached to one woman named Josephine, who came to the clinic for the first time accompanied by her three-year-old son who sat patiently holding his mother’s hand. During our broken Swahili-English conversation I learned that she was a mother of three children, now expecting her fourth. She had delivered the first three at home with no assistance. I immediately admired her strength and connected with her sense of humor.

As the day progressed, the nurse who had so graciously invited me that day informed me that, as a part of standard procedure, all pregnant women who had come to the clinic for the first time must be tested for HIV. I joined the two nurses and eleven women in a small room used specifically for this purpose. They were educated on the procedure and registered in a large log book. Then samples of their blood were taken and given to me to perform the simple test. I really can’t explain my emotions as I felt the gravity of that one moment and saw the combination of fear and strength in the women’s eyes. While waiting for the test results to develop, I went to lunch with the staff. It must have felt like an eternity for the women, and thinking about it made it hard for me to swallow each bite of the food they gave me. When we returned and checked the results, my heart sank—four of the eleven women tested HIV+. One of them was Josephine. None of them came in suspecting that they were sick, but now they knew. My mind raced with thoughts of all the things that these women would now have to face. How would they tell their husbands? How were they infected? What about their children? I choked back tears. Josephine was called in to hear the results and I’ll never forget the look in her eyes of sheer hopelessness that seemed to ask the question “what now?”

All the statistics I had known prior to that day became faces of women. Numbers like 36.4% and 4 out of 11 suddenly transformed into Jennifer, Millicent, Alice, and, of course, Josephine. Their problem became my problem and I now felt a burden and urgency like never before. For me, experience has been a teacher and also a motivator. I know now much more strongly what I must do and the kind of help and support these women need so desperately. Not only do I know it, I feel it and I wonder where my next experience will lead.

It was during my high school days when I started seeking for the truth. I joined religious and traditional activities in our community, to satisfy myself and the emptiness inside of me. Until one day, a relative came to our house and offered a bible study in our home. At first, I didn’t like it. I would even hide in a little room in our house, just to avoid it. I thought I knew already what satisfies me and I thought I’m right in what I do. But God made a way for me to be saved and to come to know him deeper. My uncle gave us a Bible. I tried to read it but never understood it. However, a hunger for understanding and for His words grew in my heart. Finally, I joined the bible study one day and there I received Jesus in my heart as my Savior and Lord. I was baptized in water and was introduced to a church called Tacloban Full Gospel Assembly (Assemblies of God) where I came to know the one true living God. God really blessed my life despite of many persecutions, trials, challenges, and storms in life that I have encountered. My God is very faithful and He’s my Comforter in every storm in life. I even went to school by faith! Since my family cannot afford to send me to college. But God provided for me.

I became active in the church. I began with just accompanying the other young people in the outreaches and other ministries in the church. Then I found myself being more familiar with what they do. I enjoyed learning and set a time for God. It is a great thing that we accomplish something for God’s Kingdom.

One of my big inspiration in the ministry is our Pastor, Rev. Vaden Matiga. I enjoyed missions and outreaches because of the heart of our senior pastor. He has a very big heart for the lost, that’s why I really thank God for his life, and that I encountered a man of God that is very much willing to go to missions for God’s sake. He encourages young people to be more active, more in love with the Lord, and be more responsible in the ministry. In Tacloban Full Gospel Assembly, I learned how to teach and be more useful in the children ministry, youth cell-groups and fellowship, house to house bible studies and outreaches. To God be the glory! He continues using young people here in the Philippines for His Kingdom. I thank God for every opportunity and for the freedom that He is giving to us, opportunity to share the gospel to the other people who don’t know Him yet.

God is calling young people in the Philippines, and I know it is not only here but all youth in this world who are willing to get involved in missions. I praise God that now, I can observe that the young people in our church are doing their very best to be involved in the ministry and be part of the changes of this world. Same thing with the other youth, from different churches here in the Philippines. We have youth cell groups, fellowships, youth overnight prayer meetings, crusades, youth sport feast and other exclusive youth activities. It is weekly and monthly doing of the youth here. And I love it! Because it is the time, we can establish strong relationship with other Christians. Every weekend, the young people have already a target place where they can have house to house bible studies. Others are involved in Campus Ministries, Jail Ministries, and Hospital Ministries.

“Hawak-kamay Tacloban 2007” in Tacloban Astrodome, really gave a big impact in the hearts of the young people here in our city. It is a call to pray for the city, region, and nation. For forty (40) days, churches, mission agencies, and campus ministries pray for the city, region and nation. Each organization was assigned to a certain government agency to pray for. And to God be the glory! The astrodome was filled with people, most of them were young people.

Every summer, there is also one big event that always happens. It’s the SOS month. Students, young professionals, young or young at heart set their time to attend and join this “Summer of Service”. Almost all attendants are youth Christians nationwide. They spend one month of going to other town sharing the gospel and establish new core group or church so that the Gospel will be preached to all parts of the Philippines. This is a very exciting event every summer time, to move and obey God’s call for us to be part of the mission and be a changer of this world.

As a youth Christian I am privileged to be in a country where I am free to express my beliefs and share it to my fellow young people. This is a challenge for us young believers here in the Philippines: to give our best for God and maximize the time and the freedom we have by putting to our hearts and minds that our fellow believers in other countries are really fighting hard for their faith even if their lives are at risk.