-1-

change the world with the manifold richness

of a fully-blown gospel, it first needs to allow
the gospel to change her, at all levels. As
Stevens suggests
As far as possible Christians should
bring God’s kingdom peace to the
powers through involvement in
creational tasks: subjecting the
resources of the world in education,
politics and culture to serve man as
defined by God’s intention. . . . [The

Prophetic church] is appointed and equipped to be

a public exponent of grace and unity.3

Evangelism Second, the task is to be embodied and

outworked in a multiplicity of ways by whole
towards a confrontative and communities in all their God-given diversity:
redemptive each member exercising their own gifts, yet
announcement of the gospel of Jesus united in mind, in spirit, and in purpose.4
Third, following a synthesis on Peter
O’Brien’s discussion on the powers, I share
Famous evangelist Billy Graham once said that the weariness of reducing the analysis of evil
he was a “New Testament evangelist [and] not to mere psychological and sociological
an Old Testament prophet.”1 Does such terms, leaving spiritual realities behind.5 In a
perspective draw a false dichotomy as the critique of the Enlightenment’s worldview,
Christian community meets those outside the Stevens argues that “[s]ome of these powers
church’s walls? More specifically, what are some have taken on a life of their own, making
roads to be travelled by the Christian idolatrous claims of human beings:
community as it seeks, in the power of God’s government, religion, culture, isms, being
Spirit, to confront the earthly powers opposing symbolized by names and titles that
God’s reign exercised in Jesus Christ? Aiming to dominate the news.”6 Bluntly, it is my
address this issue, this essay will argue for that conviction that many seemingly autonomous
the way forward is that of prophetic evangelism: powers can be colonized by Satan and his
a confrontative yet redeeming and hopeful hordes. This carries the corollary that ‘the
announcement of the gospel of Jesus. powerful’ and ‘the oppressors’ are
themselves oppressed: idolatry being the
* * * nature of the game.7
Space forbidding it, I will only sketch the
bedrock assumptions this essay is built upon. 3
R. Paul Stevens, “Resistance - Grappling with the
First, "The church influences the world most Powers,” in The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and
when it seeks to be truly church, and not Ministry in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, Mich:
Eerdmans, 2000), 228.
[merely] a political or evangelistic 4
cf. 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:1-5; Eph. 4:1-6.
organization."2 This essay is built upon such 5
See Stevens, “Resistance - Grappling with the
conviction—that is, if the church pretends to Powers,” Ch. 9.; This view is similarly sustained by
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
1 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 198-
As quoted in Mortimer Arias, Announcing the Reign of
God: Evangelization and the Subversive Memory of Jesus 210.
6
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), N. Stevens, “Resistance - Grappling with the
2 Powers,” 227.
Vinoth Ramachandra, Faiths in Conflict?: Christian
7
Integrity in a Multicultural World (Downers Grove, Ill: Here I am indebted to Christopher J. H Wright,
InterVarsity Press, 1999), 171. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand
 -2-

Having said that, let us return to our opening the prophetic figures have been presented in
question—which will be dealt with in two main the mature form of the witness.”11 As R.E.
sections. The first one outlines my Clements puts it, “it is abundantly clear . . .
hermeneutical approach; the second one [t]hat the literary form of prophecy in the Old
focuses on the importance of addressing Testament establishes not simply a medium
idolatry when confronting those in power. of preservation, but also a medium of
interpretation.”12
* Furthermore, the texts’ final editorial
I. Wider meanings: progressive revelation and perspective embodies a historical distance
canonical reading. Before writing this essay, I which—when recognized—allows for the
held the view that in highlighting the prophetic possibility of grasping “the penetrating
oracles against the nations one could find a insight offered through the canonical witness
justification for preaching an impending doom . . . [and] that which had gone unheeded or
upon the powerful.8 However, proof-texting is was only partially comprehended in the days
always a risky venture. How are we to handle of [the oracles’] first delivery.”13 For these
these oracles? and other reasons,14 one is to be mindful that
Certainly not by treating them as isolated the “canonical shaping helps us see that
speeches. Not even their literary contexts within even the individual prophets belong to a
each prophetic book provide a sufficient larger history and sweep that they as
interpretative framework. By questioning individuals were not able to recognize at the
atomizing assumptions that uphold historical time.”15
meaning as the highest hermeneutical aim,
Hence, for instance, “it is the
Christopher Seitz and others have appealed to
theologically expansive witness of Hosea
the canonical shape of the whole body of
that serves to illuminate the more partial
prophetic literature.9 While prophetic
accounts of Amos.”16 Similarly, Obadiah’s
consciousness and authorial intention play an
condemnation of Edom cannot be read apart
important part, for Seitz, a model that
from Jonah, or from Hosea as the first of the
recognizes that the Book of the Twelve—to use
Twelve. The editorial notes present
an example—is “greater than the sum of its
throughout make it clear that
parts” is to be welcomed. For him, “[t]he the unilateral judgment of Edom . . . is
presentation of the Major and Minor Prophets is not seen as the only means by which
its own kind of theological and historical the God of Israel relates to the nations.
statement.”10 In editing and reordering of the The nations are also created by God,
oracles, the editors are trying to say something. and he cares for them in accordance
Thus the interest lays on interpreting “the way 11
Ibid., 95. Emphasis added.
12
Narrative (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2006), 177ff. Clements, Old Testament Prophecy, 219 Italics
See also 'Spiritual Powers' in George Eldon Ladd, A added.
13
Theology of the New Testament, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics, 126.
Mich: Eerdmans, 1993), 440ff. 14
cf. Bartholomew and Thiselton, Canon and
8
Chiefly, Isa. 13—23; Jer. 46—51; Ezek. 25—32, 35; Biblical Interpretation, 167-235; and very significantly,
Amos 1—2; Obadiah. see 'How the Scriptures Were Formed' and 'Nature of
9 Biblical Content' in Paul J. Achtemeier, Inspiration and
Standing on the postulates of Brevard Childs,
advocates include R. E Clements, Old Testament Prophecy: Authority: Nature and Function of Christian Scripture
From Oracles to Canon, 1st ed. (Louisville, Ky: Westminster (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 64-80,
John Knox Press, 1996), 191-203; Craig G Bartholomew and 132-143.
15
Anthony C. Thiselton, eds., Canon and Biblical Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics, 242; cf. N. T.
Interpretation (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006), 294- Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 1st
325; Willem VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 121f; ‘Wider
(Grand Rapids, Mich: Academie Books, 1990), 79-85. Meanings beyond the Literal,’ in Raymond E. Brown, An
10 Introduction to the New Testament, 1st ed. (New York:
Christopher R Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics:
Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets (Grand Rapids, Doubleday, 1997), 41-6.
16
Mich: Baker Academic, 2007), 90. Emphasis added. Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics, 132.
 -3-

with his character as compassionate and even with him and see through the
merciful, slow to anger (Jon. 4:2).17 judgments of our day into the eternity of
his purposes.21
In this way, Jonah is a reminder that God can
treat the nations with the same patience and Therefore, as Willem VanGemeren has
kindness he has lavished upon his own people. noted, in “the new revelation of God in Jesus
The prophetic canon provides a “frame of Christ, the prophetic canon underwent
reference” by which each prophetic book has another challenge.”22 Jesus functions as the
been affected: the framework being one where prism through which God’s judgment and
salvation outgrows God’s threats, mercy are to be newly understood.
denunciations, and warnings of the coming Accordingly, Luke interprets Jesus’ life and
judgment upon godless people.18 Salvation looks death as the fulfilment of all the prophetic
beyond doom. hopes: ‘And beginning with Moses and all the
Interestingly, nonetheless, “Micah Prophets, he explained to them what was
establishes the limits of God's patience, now said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’
toward the preserved remnant of Judah, (Lk. 24:27). Here we find an understanding
strikingly at the exact middle point of the based on a unity of the prophetic
Twelve as a whole (Mic. 3:12).”19 Judgment and message, a unity which is often not
mercy, condemnation and patience stand at the visible to an atomistic, historical
heart of God’s purposes for Israel and the world analysis. But when entire range of the
—the remnant being their focal point! Thus Seitz literature is seen, patterns of judgment
concludes that: and restoration emerge clearly. . . . this
Israel's history as depicted in the Twelve is represents an understanding of
a type or figure of a larger history, and a prophecy that surveys the Law and the
story that takes two testaments to tell. Prophets panoramically.23
Amos is a man among Twelve, and the
Twelve are men related to one man—Jesus Jesus is the climax of what the law and
Christ.20 the prophets pointed to. “I have not come to
abolish, but to fulfil” (Mt. 5:17). Not
To this, he adds that we are to surprisingly, in the mount of transfiguration
enclose the prophets in a history larger only Jesus remains after Moses and Elijah
than themselves, and then reach out and have vanished: he is the goal of the Torah,
locate us in its grand sweep—in judgment the goal of the prophets, the goal of the
and in mercy—before that same holy God.
He makes known those two great
dispensations of his character—final
judgment and final mercy—in his only Son,
that we might at last by his grace identify 21
Ibid., 245. For an insightful study of God's wrath
17
and mercy, see Abraham Joshua Heschel, The
Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics, 120-1. In regards Prophets, 1st ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1962),
to God's wrath and mercy, Abraham Heschel comments 187-194, 283-297, where he argues that divine anger
that "it would be easier if God's anger became effective does not exists for its own sake, but "to bring about
automatically: once wickedness had reached its full repentance. Its purpose and consummation is its own
measure, punishment would destroy it. . . . God does not disappearance" (287).
delight in unleashing anger. In what, then, does God 22
VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word,
delight? ‘I am the Lord who practices kindness, justice, and 85.
righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, 23
Stephen G. Dempster, in Bartholomew and
says the Lord’ (Jer. 9:24)." The Prophets, 1st ed. (New York:
Thiselton, Canon and Biblical Interpretation, 311; In
Harper & Row, 1962), 287.
18 this line Seitz argues that "the New Testament relates
cf. Clements, Old Testament Prophecy, 200-1. to the Old Testament not in terms of a reconstructed
19
Seitz, Prophecy and Hermeneutics, 237. Emphasis tradition-history, but in something like the character of
added. its present canonical shaping . . .", in Prophecy and
20
Ibid., 242. Hermeneutics, 111.
 -4-

canon, the Alpha, the Omega.24 To Jesus and his is a far more costly one. Besides, he is our
Gospel we now turn. hope; the new creation through the power of
God is our hope. Thus, in this train of thought
* René Padilla invites us to acknowledge that
no human reform can build the kingdom of
II. Confronting idolatry, freeing idolaters. As
God. A theology of revolution, he says,
mentioned above, the reality of the demonic has
“idealizes man and consequently converts
infected this world, both on personal and
the gospel into a utopian ideology that
structural levels. We must bear this in mind in
employs theological terminology but has
confronting the powerful: there is a greater evil
little relation to the eschatological message
behind them. In Jesus and Politics, Alan Storkey
reminds us that “Our basic problems are not just of the Bible.”29
or mainly political, but human. Through greed, This urges us to avoid would-be Christian
power, justice, and pride, human sin plays into ideologies committed to placing some
politics, but the problem is bigger and deeper agenda other than Christ himself as the only
than politics in itself.”25 Thus, to quote true liberator.30 Justice and liberation of the
Bonhoeffer, poor and oppressed are praiseworthy
Neither the triumph of the successful nor endeavours, yet not enough in themselves
the bitter hatred which the successful given that the poor are also sinners.
arouse in the hearts of the unsuccessful Similarly, the rich and powerful will remain
can ultimately overcome the world. Jesus sinners—and unless their worship of
is certainly no apologist for the successful Mammon is dealt with—such idolatrous
men in history, but neither does he head adoration will continually lead to the
the insurrection of shipwrecked oppression of others. Both the problem of sin
existences against their successful and the social structures need to be dealt
rivals.26 with.31 “For out of the heart come evil
thought, murder…” (Mt. 15:19). Human sin
The solution for revolution is not revolution, and estrangement are the problem.
nor hatred. Ramachandra is succinct: Yet those of us set free by Jesus from sin,
If, on the other hand, we challenge the death, and the power of the devil, live in the
power-structures of society on any other tension of the ‘already, not yet’
foundation than that of the glorious characteristic of an inaugurated eschatology.
proclamation of the crucified and risen “Divine infection, not divine perfection, has
Jesus, and by evading the vulnerability of set in,” to quote from Gordon Fee’s short, yet
the way of the cross, we shall, likewise, be powerful book.32 We are broken healers who
confronting idolatry with idolatry.27 —for all we are still subject to fall and to live
We are not to fight evil on its own terms. As 446-66. In a more ambiguous treatment addressing
Tom Wright has put it, he was a ‘revolutionary non-violence, see 'Final War or Final Banquet' in John
Dominic Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against
against the revolutionaries’.28 The way of Jesus Rome, Then and Now, 1st ed. (San Francisco:
24
HarperSanFrancisco, 2007), 83-95.
cf. 2 Cor. 1:20, and see 'The Glory of God in the Face 29
“Revolution and Revelation,” in Is Revolution
of Christ' in Francis Watson, Text and Truth: Redefining Change?, ed. Brian Griffiths (London: Inter-Varsity
Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1997), Press, 1972), 81.
esp. 84ff. 30
25 See Ibid., 70-83 for some of the pitfalls of a
Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers (Grand limited engagement only at the level either of social
Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 262. structures or of personal sin.
26
As quoted in Vinoth Ramachandra, Gods That Fail: 31
In these respects, see 'Exodus and Mission' in
Modern Idolatry and Christian Mission (Carlisle, U.K: Wright, The Mission of God, 275-288; Arias,
Paternoster Press, 1996), 209. Announcing the Reign of God, xiv ff; 'Building for the
27
Ibid., 222-3. Kingdom' in N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope:
28
See 'What's Wrong' in N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission
Victory of God, 1st ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), of the Church (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 207-232.
 -5-

hypocritically—are called to partake in God’s (Amos 1:2). Certainly the bloody history of
“Great Divine Cleanup.”33 Christianity (both past and present) is to
Simultaneously, we are also to be mindful of humble us from taking the sword of arrogant
our ‘totalitolerant’ age’s great sin: that of triumphalism on one hand while holding the
indifference. We remain neutral, impartial, and cross on the other.36 Yet in that humility, in
not easily moved by the wrongs of other recognizing our weakness and sinfulness we
peoples. Heschel contrasts our conformist and are also faced with the need for boldness.
coward response to inequality with the vulgar After all, “we don’t preach ourselves, but
scandal it represents for God: Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your
Indifference to evil is more insidious than slaves for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4.5).
evil itself; it is more universal, more Thus, in my judgment, a way forward out
contagious, more dangerous. A silent of this muddled post-modern mess the
justification, it makes possible an evil church has sold herself to is to recover the
erupting as an exception becoming the rule sense of the prophetic as we simultaneously
and being in turn accepted.34 uphold (not the option) but the imperative of
proclaiming the full-blown evangel. In Arias’
Therefore, in collaborating in God’s terms, we ought to pursue a “prophetic
confrontative and restoritative Cleanup, how evangelization.”37 We ought to free ourselves
should individuals and Christian communities— from the lie that we have to get it all strait
still prone to the worship of idols—come to up before we can proclaim the Gospel to
terms with the fact that we are subject to the challenge the world in the power of the
very same evil we are called to confront? Spirit. “There is no evangelism without
First and foremost, we need to remind prophecy,” Arias affirms. Such truncation
ourselves that this is not our business. This is turns evangelism into “evangelical publicity,
nothing we do on or for our own merits, nor to or religious propaganda, but it is not
prove our value, nor to indulge the prophetic evangelization. Our silence may be
propagandistic ego of those who see themselves the countersign of the good news, the
as the ‘evangelizing’ elite. The Gospel is not negation of hope.”38
ours, but God’s. Nor did we send ourselves, but Tom Wright argues for putting works of
God sent us (Rom. 1:1, 5). Second, the gospel
justice and of beauty ahead of evangelism.39
itself is powerful in itself (Rom. 1:16). It calls us
Presumably he is weary of the church’s bad
not to confuse being arrogant, with being overt,
testimony stemming from an escapist
blunt, and brave.35 It calls us not to confuse a eschatology narrowly understood as only
would-be neutral, tolerant political correctness ‘saving souls.’ By all means we are to avoid
with the call to meekly be willing to be nailed to the spiritual gospel. Yet I still wonder why
a cross. Neutrality is never neutral. We are dichotomize justice and evangelism. Should
called to take sides. In a world of comfortable we not, instead, understand social justice as
both/ands, we are faced with the scandal of the evangelism and evangelism as social justice
either/or of the Gospel: either we stand for —both reinforcing one another in a sharply
Jesus, or we stand against him. And we all know explosive perichoresis? The proclamation of
which side Satan advocates. Jesus as Lord, if received in repentance and
We must also acknowledge that the tame faith, should lead the powerful to modify the
Lion is the Lamb, yet always being mindful that structures that trample the frail. The powers
the Lamb never ceases to be the roaring Lion
36
cf. Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God,
32
Gordon D Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God 140.
(Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 1996), 137. 37
See 'Prophetic Evangelization: Announcing the
33
A praiseworthy term employed by Crossan, God and Kingdom as hope' in Arias, Announcing the Reign of
Empire, 110. God, 83-99.
34 38
The Prophets, 284. Ibid., 93.
35 39
Cf. Acts 4:29; 19:8; 1 Cor. 16:13; Eph. 6:20; Tit. 2:15 cf. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 207ff.
 -6-

that oppress the weak will not succumb unless interplay of wrath and mercy. He personified
they are unmasked and naked before the One the divine mystery that without judgment,
Lord, summoned to surrender to him in trusting there is no restoration; nor without death,
obedience. Padilla is correct in this regard. resurrection.
If Jesus Christ is Lord, men must be The invisible yet embodied beastly
confronted with his authority over the powers need to be faced, and looked at the
totality of life. Evangelism is not, and eye. In doing so, however, we are to be
cannot be, a mere offer of benefits mindful, first, that the church needs an
achieved by Jesus Christ. Christ’s work is appropriate posture for living in exile;44 and
inseparable from his person, the Jesus who second, that “denunciation is not merely
died for our sins is the Lord of the whole political agitation but a genuine expression
universe, and the announcement of
of the proclamation of hope in the reign of
forgiveness in his name is inseparable from
the call to repentance, the call to turn from God.”45 We are not agents of God’s wrath;
'the rulers of the world' to the Lord of God alone is.46 And even more urgently, we
glory.40 must remember that he himself has endured
his wrath on behalf of his enemies—that is,
He proceeds by emphasising that in its on behalf of all of us: rich, poor, weak, and
prophetic ministry the church “lays open the strong. Surely God resists the powerful and
evils that frustrate the purpose of God in the arrogant, yet he loves them (us) to the
society, in its evangelization it seeks to point of dying for them. This is why as we
integrate men into the purpose of God the full address those in power we should offer, as
realization of which is to take place in the Arias puts it best, bread of hope instead of
Kingdom to come.”41 According to Arias, this the “stones of the impending doom of
takes the shape of prophetic denunciation Armageddon”. Neither should we substitute
of personal and public sin; of confrontation the gospel with “the anti-gospel of nihilism,
of powers and institutions; of unmasking cynicism, or the sinister sadism of the
ideologies and traditions; of challenge to prophets of doomsday.”47
unbelief, prejudice, and hostility; and of On the contrary, we are servants, heralds
challenge also to triumphalistic belief. that stand at the feet of the cross as we
Finally, it takes the form of repentance, witness to “light of the knowledge of the
conversion, and radical discipleship.42 glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2
Cor. 4:6; cf. Acts 1:8). “To evangelize is to
Exposing idolatry is crucial to our task. And proclaim the good news as good news,” Arias
we cannot shrink back. exhorts us.48 After exposing the cancers of
In the limited knowledge stemming from my idolatry and after urging those in power to
short eighteen months living in post-everything renounce their allegiance to the idols
Vancouver, I have been repeatedly startled by themselves, we proclaim forgiveness as
the silence of the church in our city. I wonder if sheer grace, and invite them to accept that
we have forgotten that “[f]rom the start, Jesus’ we have been accepted.
proclamation of God’s kingdom was fighting
talk.”43 He embodied the grand sweep of the
prophetic tradition, characterized by the
44
Basic nuances of life in exile are well captured by
40 Walter Brueggemann, Cadences of Home: Preaching
C. René Padilla, Mission Between the Times: Essays
(Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1985), 21. Emphasis Among Exiles, 1st ed. (Westminster John Knox Press,
added. 1997), 3ff; The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering
41
Ibid., 31. Word (Fortress Press, 2008), 147ff. See below.
45
42
Arias, Announcing the Reign of God, 53. Arias, Announcing the Reign of God, 96.
46
43
N. T. Wright, “God and Caesar, Then and Now,” Cf. Rom. 12:19-21
47
2003, 5, Arias, Announcing the Reign of God, 85.
48
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_God_Caesar.pdf. Ibid., 72.
 -7-

After studying Paul’s mode of interaction

with the Gentiles in the Book of Acts,49 in ‘The Acknowledging alongside the Preacher that
Living God Confronts Idolatry,’ Chris Wright “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl.
highlights that which the apostle considered 1:9), at this point I would like offer what I see
appropriate in addressing an ignorant and as a way forward: a recovery of what many
pagan audience: God’s providence, kindness, of us have lost.
and patience. Interestingly, however, one of The need for compassion cannot be
Paul’s speeches does insist on God’s judgment50 overstressed. Judgment alone does not
—and that being his most ineffective one. change anyone, and—lest we forget—we are
Wright continues by urging us to no more worthy than the ‘the sinning
acknowledge that our “battle is fought with love, powerful’. Furthermore, if we ignore that
not triumphalism. . . . Our primary aim is not to spiritual forces of darkness are also
‘win’ but to serve.” We do so because “[f]alse compliant behind all this, we will distort the
gods destroy and devour lives, health and nature of this “struggle,” and end up fighting
resources; they distort and diminish our “flesh and blood” instead of standing against
humanity; they preside over injustice, greed, “the cosmic powers of this present darkness”
perversion, cruelty, lust and violence.”51 From (Eph. 6:12). Thus our impending obligation of
this we may rightly assume that little is gained preaching Jesus the Nazarene, and him
in setting standards and condemning people’s crucified, for it is him who has bound them in
failure in up with them. Paul and the prophets his cross.
may have something to remind us in that Oracles of doom? Is the cleansing of the
respect. I quote at length Wright’s masterful temple a viable model to follow? In my
conclusion on the issue of idolatry, as I think he current understanding I cannot answer such
clearly grasps this caveat. question. All I can say is ‘perhaps,’ when all
Only the gospel exposes the cancer of other avenues are exhausted.53 Yet we are to
idolatry. Only the gospel is good for people. be mindful that Jesus is Jesus, and we are
Our missional motivation, therefore, needs not. He cleansed the Temple and went to the
to be carefully examined. Spiritual warfare . Cross as a one-off, unrepeatable prophetic
. . is a matter of deep compassion for those action, never claiming nor exercising self-
oppressed by the forces of evil and idolatry serving power. He enacted a statement, and
—with all their attendant social, economic, through subversive parables, questions, and
political, spiritual and personal effects. We riddles, he exposed the evil of the powerful.
battle with idolatry because, like God whose Interestingly, though, he did not persecute
mission we thereby share, we know that in the blind and corrupt leaders. It was them
doing so we seek the best interest of those who sought him after his public denunciation
we are called to serve in his name. We which perfectly embodied God’s zeal for his
combat idolatry not only to glorify God but house—God’s “righteous indignation,” as
also to bless humanity. Spiritual warfare,
Heschel would put it.54
like all forms of biblical mission, is to be
motivated and exercised with profound
We should also be mindful that the
love, humility and compassion—as Herods and Caesars of our age are trapped
by a still regnant modern consciousness: that
modelled in Jesus himself.52
of Darwin, Adam Smith, Marx, Nietzsche,
* * * Freud, Jefferson, etc. Our society has
strongly inbuilt Christian antibodies. The
49
Acts 14:8-20; 17:16-34; 19:23-41. narcissism that marks our day complicates
50
cf. Wright, The Mission of God, 182. things even further. In light of that, it seems
51
Wright, The Mission of God, 178. Similarly, Stevens to me, the way forward for the gospel of
highlights how "Our duty is not to bring the powers to our
knees: this is Christ's task." See Stevens, “Resistance -
53
Grappling with the Powers,” 230. I owe this insight to Professor R. Paul Stevens.
52 54
Wright, The Mission of God, 179. Emphasis added. Heschel, The Prophets, 283.
 -8-

judgment and restoration is not an in-your-face been reversed in Christ’s death and
confrontation from the outset. resurrection: the good news have been
What we need is a subversive confrontation: brought to the forefront.
one which introduces a new way of seeing the As we proclaim this, we must ever by
world as it simultaneously ‘turns the tables’ of mindful that Jesus is ‘the hope of glory’.
the intellect and casts out demonic spirits. In a Christians-in-the-making are not given glory;
way, we are to enter through the back door and only power—and that to proclaim, to hope, to
drop time-bombs to undermine underlying love, and yes, to suffer. We herald God’s
presuppositions. As Paul suggested to the providence and patience; not ours. We don’t
Corinthians, ‘catch the wise in their craftiness’ defame the idols; but point out the
and destroy ‘strongholds’ ‘raised up against the dehumanizing effect and the deadly cost of
knowledge of God’.55 Brueggemann is helpful: worshiping them. And then we call people to
“Preaching is never the dominant version . . . repent and ‘throw themselves into Jesus’—
[but] is always a sub-version: always a version, for it is in Jesus that the tension between
a rendering of reality that lives under the judgment and restoration is uniquely and
dominant version.”56 fully discharged. In preaching him as Lord,
On the other, we ought to avoid any phoney, we allow those who believe to be ‘in Christ,’
hidden, insincere, or propagandistic mysteriously judged, yet gloriously
connotations; and instead, in Spirit-filled wisdom acquitted.
and self-emptying power be clear and upfront as Prophetic evangelism? Subversive
to Who it is that we stand for. Rodney Clapp is Gospel? Certainly so. ‘There is no one
clear as he considers that which makes righteous, not one’… but One. Next to the
Christians useless: Father’s embrace, the outpouring of the
there is a place [the Christians church] in a Spirit, and the fellowship of the Christian
post-modern world, not as typically decent community, it is no other thing but the name
human beings but as unapologetic followers of Jesus which has been given to us (Acts
of the Way . . . not as a sponsorial 4:12). It is all about Jesus. The Jesus who—in
propaganda for nation-states, but as a the love of the Father through the Living
community called by the God explicitly Spirit—is very much all about people. As for
named Father, Son and Holy Spirit.57 us, however, the only way of standing for the
people Jesus stands for is by standing
Hopefully, once the bombs are planted and ourselves and inviting others to stand, first
the ground shaken, once underlying and foremost, for Jesus. For he is He, the I
presuppositions are undermined and AM in whom all things are made new.
overthrown, like Jeremiah we will build up that
which has been torn down (cf. Jer. 1:10). With
the costly, confrontational, ever glorious Gospel Bring forth the people who are blind, yet
of Jesus, we passionately herald the righteous have eyes,
God who saves. Judgment and restoration have who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
55 and let the peoples assemble.
1 Cor. 3:20; 2 Cor. 10:5.
56 Who among them declared this,
Brueggemann, The Word Militant, 151-2; cf. also
and foretold to us the former things?
Brian Walsh and Bud Olson, “From Colossae to Vancouver,”
in Scripture, Poetry & a Liberated Imagination (presented Let them bring their witnesses to justify
at the Evening Public Lectures, Regent College, Vancouver, them,
2005). and let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’
57
Rodney Clapp, A Peculiar People: The Church as You are my witnesses, says YHWH,
Culture in a Post-Christian Society (Downers Grove, Ill: and my servant whom I have chosen,
InterVarsity Press, 1996), 32. Mike Booker rightfully that you may know and believe me
remarks that 'telling it as it is' is “more honest than a self-
and understand that I am He.
conscious reticence” in Evangelism: Which Way Now?, 2nd
ed. (London: Church House publishing, 2005), 96. Before me no god was formed,
 -9-

nor shall there be any after me. Exiles. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press,
I, I am YHWH, 1997.
and besides me there is no savior. ———. “From Exodus to Sinai: The Journey to
I declared and saved and proclaimed, the Common Good.” In The Church in
when there was no strange god among Joyous Obedience: Biblical Expositions.
you; Regent College, Vancouver, 2008.
and you are my witnesses, says YHWH. ———. The Word Militant: Preaching a
I am God, and also henceforth I am He; Decentering Word. Fortress Press, 2008.
there is no one who can deliver from my Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church
hand; as Culture in a Post-Christian Society.
I work and who can hinder it? Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
(Isaiah 43:8-13) Clements, R. E. Old Testament Prophecy: From
Oracles to Canon. 1st ed. Louisville, Ky:
Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
Crossan, John Dominic. God and Empire: Jesus
Against Rome, Then and Now. 1st ed. San
Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007.
Fee, Gordon D. Paul, the Spirit, and the People
of God. Peabody, Massachussets:
Hendrickson, 1996.
Hauerwas, Stanley. The Hauerwas Reader.
Durham, North Carolina: Duke University
Press, 2001.
General Bibliography
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Prophets. 1st
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Besides thosel referenced above, listed below are
Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New
other works alluded in some way or another.
Testament. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich:
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———. Cadences of Home: Preaching Among
 - 10 -

Storkey, Alan. Jesus and Politics: Confronting the

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