Mormons muy blancos

When I underwent volunteer missionary training in St. Louis, I received as a freebie a shoulder bag emblazoned with "LCMS World Missions" in an attractive style: light blue text on a black background. I never used the bag; Luz Maria liked it, so I gave it to her. Now she carries it everywhere.

The other day we purchased building supplies for the preschool at a hardware store in Barinas. The sales clerk asked Luz Maria what LCMS stood for. She explained that it meant "la Iglesia Luterana, el Sinodo de Missouri." He asked if that was connected with "la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias" (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints).

In Venezuela if you say you are "a missionary," it is not unusual for people to respond something along the lines of, "Oh, so you're a Mormon." The Mormons have mounted an aggressive missionary program in this country. Mormon missionaries are everywhere and they just as distinctive in appearance here as in the United States, if not more so. Although they have recruited some Venezuelan "elders," most of the people in charge look like they were just airlifted in from Utah or Idaho (which is probably pretty much the case). One woman, when she could not think of the terms Mormon or Latter-Day Saint, asked us what we thought of that group that was "muy blanco" (very white).

There are white, black and brown (not to mention Asian) Venezuelans, but people described as "white" here generally are not that pale. Other groups, such as the JehovahÂŽs Witnesses and the Muslims, have representatives that look much more like average Venezuelans. Why this is so, I am not really sure.

Anyway, Luz Maria started to explain that the Lutheran Church has no connection with the Mormons, but started in the 16th Century as a reform movement with the Catholic Church. He cut her off, however, by saying he personally worshiped the most powerful of all gods. When Luz Maria asked what god that would be, he replied, "George Washington." By this he meant the U.S. dollar, a potent symbol of economic power and wealth for the many Venezuelans who do in fact worship those things.

To an extent, one can understand this point of view. Life is easier here for people who have access to U.S. dollars, including myself. Due to the strength of the dollar relative to Venezuelan currency, I am able to not only support myself and my wife, but also help Luz Maria's children support her five grandchildren with a fraction of the income I received from my last job in the United States. But we thank the true and living God for this, who grants power and prosperity to all nations according to His will and judges them according to whether they use their power and wealth justly or unjustly.

A critical moment in my decision to enter the mission field was when my previous employer and I had a disagreement over business ethics and the direction the company was moving. My options were to compromise what I believed to be right or lose my job, but my employer really did not want me to leave. His words to me were, "Principles are fine, but everyone has their price." At that point I understood the nature of the choice with which I was presented and what I had to do.

And I have not had any regrets. God has blessed us with support for our ministry and has blessed me with an invaluable partner in Luz Maria. When I came to Venezuela, I did not expect to find such a world of private happiness, but we will have been married two years in November. So I thank God for her, and for the children in La Caramuca that have greatly enriched our lives.

I also have to give thanks for another person who played a role in my decision to serve in Venezuela. This past week Martin Lieske died at age 94 in a nursing home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, five months after suffering a stroke. The son of a Minnesota farmer, Martin served as the pastor of several rural parishes before being elected president of the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod in 1966, the first to work in that office on a full-time basis. He was reelected district president in 1970.

I came to know him and his wife, Lucille, as members of the home Bible study group that I attended for four or five years before coming to Venezuela. The Lieskes were mainstays of our group, despite Martin's struggle with cancer. One thing that impressed me about Martin the first time I met him was that although he was of an advanced age, when I took his hand I was met with the strong grip of a farmer in his prime.

Martin was a staunch advocate of mission work and strongly encouraged me to answer the call to Venezuela. For that reason, I shall not forget him.

What does the Bible really say?

"But what does the Bible really say?"

She blurted out this plea after we had spent some time discussing the commandment to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. We talked about why most Christians worship on Sunday, but she was still confused because the Seventh-Day Adventists (another group that is active in the Barinas area) insist with all sincerity that Saturday is the proper day of worship.

Our reply: The way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who became incarnate as a man to suffer and die for the sins of the whole world and be raised from the dead on the third day. The Bible testifies to this and we who call ourselves Lutherans consider the Bible to be the inspired Word of God and the final authority for all matters of faith. But we Lutherans have no new revelation from God and no secret key to the Scriptures. Understand first that Jesus died for your sins, study what the Scriptures have to say about Him and judge the teachings of all who claim to have the truth by that standard.

Understanding this woman's question and our reply requires an explanation of the spiritual situation in Venezuela.

The historical relationship between church and state in Venezuela is much different than that in the United States. One thing that fascinates Venezuelans about the U.S. is that there are so many thriving denominations, but none is the nation's official church. Luz Maria commented on this frequently during our visit to my homeland.

She also insisted specifically that I take a picture of a Baptist church. Why? To show her mother, who is a member of the Baptist church in Barinas, that Baptist churches in the U.S. have crosses prominently displayed outside their sanctuaries. Her mother's Baptist church does not have a cross displayed where passers-by can see because that would be too "Papist." That's another aspect of religion in Venezuela that I will explain in more detail.

One of the realities of the Spanish colonial period is that the Spaniards forced many native people to be baptized whether they were convinced of the truth of Christianity or not. One legacy of this period is that people here are baffled by the idea of total separation of church and state. Another legacy is widespread formal acceptance of Catholic Christianity but day-to-day practice of folk religion and witchcraft.

But over the last 100 years or so, Venezuela, much like the United States, has become a more secular society and traditional institutions, including the Catholic Church, have lost influence. Many people now live strictly for the pursuit of money, power and/or pleasure. Of course, these things, even when one is fortunate enough to have them, do not bring lasting joy in life, so there is great spiritual hunger as well. A great many things have moved in to fill this void. Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Age movement - they're all here and aggressively seeking converts.

But the most noteworthy trend has been the rapid rise of "evangelical" Christian churches over the last 20 to 30 years. According to Venezuelan government figures, up to 40 percent of the population in certain districts consider themselves "evangelical." This is not necessarily a positive development.

As I have mentioned before, the term "evangelical" is used as a much broader term here than in the United States. Often Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are often lumped into the category "evangelical" even though their doctrines as far outside Christianity as Islam and Buddhism. But even "evangelical" groups that are not as readily identifiable as non-Christian cults may be just as problematic.

Often developing from disillusionment with "cultural Catholicism," the evangelical churches often reject anything that might smack of Catholicism. Unfortunately, this means some of them throw out parts of Catholic tradition that are good. Most disturbing is when, while disdaining any centralized ecclesiastical authority, these churches will give unquestioned authority to their local pastor, who may be someone without much formal training but feels he has been "anointed by the Spirit" to preach. These preachers often "micro-manage" the lives of their followers, laying down all kinds of rules that they must obey (for examples, absolutely no alcohol or dancing for anyone, and for the ladies, no makeup or skirts cut above the knee).

Some people are attracted to this kind of thing, again out of reaction to the prevailing culture in which sexual immorality and alcohol and drug abuse are common. But many are not attracted to this kind of Christianity, and the message that nearly everyone receives is not the Gospel, but that one earns God's favor by good works.

So what are we trying to accomplish? To witness to what we believe about Jesus, teach those who will listen and point all toward the truth of Scripture.

Two die from electrocution

In my last newsletter I mentioned the problem here with power outages due to the hot, dry conditions and declining water levels in the rivers. The outages themselves were not as bad as the surges when the power returned. Damage to property and injuries resulted from these surges, including two deaths in the neighboring village of La Mula.

The good news is that the power situation has improved. The electricity still may go off at any time, but the blackouts now last only 15 to 30 minutes and only occur two to three days a week. Even better news: No more casualties and we were able to share the Gospel with someone in La Mula. At first I thought this person was a relative of one of those who died, but it turned out that she was just a close friend. She knew Luz Maria and something about our project here in La Caramuca, so she invited us over perhaps to help her find some kind of personal faith to help her cope with situations where people die for apparently no good reason.

Personal faith is something many, if not most people lack here. They have some knowledge of Christianity acquired through Venezuela's long historical and cultural connections to Spain and the Roman Catholic Church, and perhaps also from some experience with the small evangelical/pentecostal churches that have sprung up here like mushrooms in recent years. But usually what they absorb is a distorted, legalistic idea of Christianity. When I asked the children last Sunday why the Bible was written, the first answer I got was "to give us rules for living." So close, yet so far from the truth. You will find rules for living in the Bible, but that is not the main point. I had to read to them again from John 20, verse 31: "But these (things) are written that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

We visited the woman in La Mula on Maundy Thursday. As it turned out, she had a Bible, but only because the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have a Kingdom Hall in La Mula, had visited her once and left her with one of their "New World translation" Bibles. We had to explain that this "translation" alters the meaning of the original text to fit the teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses. For example, unlike all other Bibles, John 1, verse 1, in the "New World" version reads like this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god." This is a clear violation of the Greek text, but the Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity, do not believe that Jesus was the incarnate Son of God who died on the cross for our sins, and so they changed the verse to suit themselves.

Then we explained that although there were different translations, all legitimate versions of the Bible support the idea that there is a Triune God, that the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as Jesus Christ, died and rose from the dead that we may have hope of eternal life. She invited us back to talk more about these things.

Luz Maria is taking courses to obtain the Venezuelan equivalent of a public school teaching degree or certificate. When we are ready to set up our own school, it will be a legal requirement that someone involved have such accreditation. The classes she is taking are free of charge thanks to one of the Venezuelan government's educational initiatives, Misión Sucre.

This week one of her instructors expressed the fear that with the death of John Paul II, the Catholic Church soon might start consecrating avowed homosexuals as bishops as the Episcopal Church in the United States has done. Luz Maria and others in the class thought this was highly unlikely, but I think the incident illustrates something of what John Paul II meant to many people in Latin America and around the world. He was seen as a bulwark against totalitarian governments on the one hand, and the secularist ideology which has undermined the sanctity of human life and marriage, especially in the United States and Europe.

Let us pray that there will continue to be leaders who will use their power and influence to speak out against this "culture of death" no matter what form it takes.