Volume 8, Number 1 April 2000
The Kazak class in Almati, Kazakhstan
March 2000
AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
As I read the Scriptures, something stands out in my mind. Look at a few illustrations of what I mean. In Acts chapter seven, you see the beautiful way in which Stephen preached the gospel to people who did not want to hear. Put yourself in the place of the Jews who listened as the words of Stephen slammed into their ears when he said,
"Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; " Acts 7:52
The prophets faithfully proclaimed the strong word of the Lord and suffered severely for their faithfulness. It is interesting to notice that Stephen, as he branded these people betrayers and murderers, exposed himself to the same kind of abuse because he told them a truth they did not want to hear.
Think about Moses for a minute. He didn't want to go to Egypt. He didn't believe he could be a leader of his people. Nevertheless, God prevailed upon him to lead Israel out of Egypt. He faithfully said what God told him to say. For his trouble, Pharaoh threatened him; his people blamed him for all kinds of things he did not do; his brother and sister tried to remove him from leadership of the nation. I suspect there were a number of times when Moses wondered why he was suffering for something he did not want to do and was alienated by family and nation for saying things God commanded him to say.
Put yourself in the place of Joseph. Perhaps he was naive, but he simply reported the dream he had. He did not ask his father to make him the heir of the family, as indicated by the "coat with long sleeves." He did the honorable thing by refusing the invitations of Potiphar's wife and what did it get him besides a dirty jail cell? He helped the butler and baker and they promised to remember him. With friends like this who needs enemies.
Remember Daniel? He did one of the most honorable things a person could do – he prayed each day facing Jerusalem. One can understand the envy that the national lower level politicians felt when a foreigner was placed in a higher position than they were. Daniel was placed in harms way because he did a good thing and served their country well. He was the victim of their selfishness.
O yes! There were three other young Jewish men who took a stand for God. You remember the story. Everyone in Babylon was commanded to worship before the huge statue of the king. This was forbidden to the Jews who were faithful to Jehovah. Faced with the certain punishment of death, just for taking a noble stand, the three young leaders refused to worship before the statue. For their trouble, they were thrown into the fiery furnace that would usually mean instant death.
Saul was a good, religious leader of his people. Most Jewish people held him in high esteem. One day he met Christ and his life was changed forever. He could have "walked softly" when he was confronted by people who had once been his allies. He rather took a bold stand for truth in Christ. It landed him in prison on more than one occasion. He was beaten and left for dead and driven out of one city after another. He took a bold stand and paid the price that this would eventually bring to him.
Jesus took the lonely stand in his hometown. They remembered Him as a little boy. There was no way He could convince them that He was the Messiah. Because He stood for truth when it seemed ridiculous to His hearers, He narrowly escaped being pushed off the cliff to His death. Eventually, His uncompromising stand for truth and compassion for the needy led Him to the cross in order that even His assailants could be forgiven of their sins.
This is not a problem limited to the first century. There are more Christians suffering persecution today than any time in history. Christians in Africa are being sold as slaves and painfully persecuted in a hundred different ways. In Pakistan, a thirteen-year-old girl languishes in prison because she won her playmate to Christ. Some of my students from India dare not use their real name because the Hindu's would find them and kill them. I stayed in the home of a dentist, in the Ukraine, who was also a pastor. The court told him that he must both quit preaching and give up his faith or they would take away his nine sons. He told them, I can not stop you from taking my sons, but I cannot give up my faith in Christ. The president of the seminary in Donetsk, Ukraine spent seven years at hard labor because he dared to witness for Christ. In Indonesia, whole Christian villages were hacked to death because they were Christians.
These were ungodly cultures, but ours is not far behind. Some say their times were more catastrophic, but there is more carnage of Christians than ever in history. Some people say that first century opposition was more radical. That could hardly be true. By comparison, we Americans have never suffered one moment for our faith. AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
In His grace,
Bill Cooper
HOME AGAIN
On April 3, I returned home from a three week teaching assignment in Almati, Kazakhstan. This former capital city of Kazakhstan is located about 50 miles from the China border. It is a lot like Denver- pretty flat, but right at the edge of town the mountains rise abruptly to about 16,000 feet. They are beautiful and snow covered. Because of academic and cultural differences, there are two groups in this seminary – one Russian and the other Kazak. The course I taught was "Survey of the New Testament." I taught one group for two hours in the morning four days a week. The other group met in the afternoon. I taught each group for thirty hours in the three weeks I was there.
Wednesday was an evangelism training day at the seminary. The entire student body went out to witness in the community. Kazakhstan is supposedly a Muslim country. It is nominally so at best. There is more animism worship than Muslim. I never heard a call to prayer coming from the new mosque in the city. There are two or three mosques in Almati, but none are well attended. While the students are out witnessing, the former students return to the seminary to hear a two-hour lecture by one of the visiting professors. On March 29, I gave a two-hour lecture on the impact of culture on the inspiration of Scripture. We focused our attention on Luke chapter 15 – the three parables – the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son.
There is an international congregation that meets in the lower level of the Hyatt hotel. I attended that service one Sunday and found about 150 people. There were several Kazak people in attendance. It is a good opportunity to practice their English. On two of the three Sunday Mornings I was there, I preached in local churches – one Russian and the other Kazak. That was exciting. The sanctuary of the Kazak church was the living room of a house. There was no furniture – no pulpit and no chairs. We sat on mats on the floor and for the first time I preached sitting on the floor. After sitting cross-legged for two hours I had a real time getting to my feet again. I have been invited to return to teach there again next year. The details and dates will be worked out during the summer.
SURPRISE ENCOUNTER
One day, while in Almati, I was approached by a resident faculty member of the seminary. He heard that I had written a book on Inductive Bible Study. He asked if that were true. I said yes. He was jubilant. He had studied inductive method in California and had a copy of an early book written on the subject. I gave him a copy of my book. He read it that night and the next day returned to request permission to translate the book into Russian and Kazak. He teaches a course in Inductive Bible Study, but had no text for the students. I gave the school the rights to the book. It will be translated this summer and when published will become the textbook for that course in both parts of the seminary. That is exciting. It is the reason we publish these books ourselves so that the rights can be given to the church in these countries where I go to teach.
GOING BACK AGAIN
On April 20, I will leave for Donetsk, Ukraine. As you know, I have taught there on ten different occasions and will return for my eleventh trip. I will teach a course called, "Introduction to the New Testament." This course will be done in two parts. One professor will focus his attention on the Gospels and the book of Acts. I will focus my attention on the epistles and the book of Revelation. I will be there for a month to teach this course. The graduating class has requested that I teach them a course in Bible. I will teach the Introduction course in the morning and the Bible course in the afternoon.
MY SCHEDULE SINCE SEPTEMBER
Since September, I have visited five different countries. In September I went to Allahabad, India to teach a course in Minor prophets and an introduction to the Old Testament. In October, I was part of a team visiting a seminary in Cape Haitian, Haiti. We went to observe the curriculum and make recommendations for coming changes in the school and the curriculum. On January 4, I made my first visit to Indonesia where I taught in a seminary on the Island of Java. This was a course in the Pastoral Epistles for graduate students, most of whom were either district superintendents or teachers in several different Bible schools in Indonesia. In early February I was in Moscow. It was my second visit to this seminary and I taught a course in the Pentateuch. In March I was in Almati as described previously. This has been a very busy seven months, but it has also been very exciting to have the opportunity to teach in these seminaries where they do not have enough professors.
WRITING TIME?
The heavy teaching schedule has made it impossible for me to do any writing since last June. Each of the courses has been new so I had to write about thirty lectures for each of these assignments. In every case, I finished them on time, but just barely. Now that I am home I will focus my attention on an inductive study of the Colossian epistle. It will be published in connection with the book of Philemon.
THIS COMING YEAR
As I go from one seminary to another, they have requested that I return to teach again in 2001. At this point, we have invitations from Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moscow and Calcutta, India. Only the time in the Ukraine has been confirmed, but the others should be finalized during the early part of the summer.