Micah 4:5 All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods;
we will walk in the name of the LORD
our God for ever and ever.

On one level this is a beautiful declaration of commitment, and I would dare say virtually every American reads it that way, whether they have personal faith to agree with it or not. However, that’s because American culture is essentially monotheistic, however many non-Christians there are. Americans think in terms of different religions, rather than different gods. Japan, on the other hand, is traditionally polytheistic, calling itself “the land of 8 million gods.” Actually, it is debatable whether the Japanese word kami is properly translated “god” at all. A good case can be made for translating it “spirit,” leaving the language without any distinctive word for the Creator. That greatly complicates evangelism in Japan, because even though current usage of kami equates it with “God” (or god) that hasn’t really changed the thinking of the average Japanese. In any case, American evangelistic assumptions and techniques generally speaking don’t work in Japan. Actually, the situation in Japan isn’t so different from that in the world at the time of the Bible. From Genesis through Acts we see references to “foreign gods,” because each people group (which in English Bibles is generally rendered “nation”) had its own god or gods. To everyone but the Jews, Jesus was just another such “foreign god.” (Acts 17:18) In the record of Paul’s preaching in Acts, (since he was “the apostle to the Gentiles”) we see him making references to God as Creator, (Acts 17:24) and that specific phrase crops up in his letters, and in Peter’s as well. (1 Peter 4:19) Micah’s statement in this verse is not evangelistic, because it implies that different people groups have different gods, period. You have to go up to verse 2 to get the understanding that God is more than just the God of the Jews.

This is something I deal with all the time. Just the day before yesterday I was talking with a man I visit at the prefectural mental hospital. He has at times been very open to the Gospel, and has said that he wanted to follow Jesus, but in the month since my previous visit he decided he needed to “go back to his family’s religion.” In that conversation he said, “After all, there are 7 or 8 Gods, aren’t there?” I gently but firmly told him that wasn’t the case, trying to help him understand the difference between religions and gods, but he didn’t accept that. I am not to give up, with him or with anyone else, but I certainly understand Paul’s statement to the Corinthians that “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” He had been reminded in Athens that logic and rhetoric do not really penetrate: it has to be the Holy Spirit. I am not to discard my mind or my knowledge, but I must remember at every turn that they won’t get the job done. My job is to be a carrier of the Holy Spirit.

Father, thank You for this reminder. You’d think I’d have learned this fully by now! Help me be more consistent in declaring “Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” so that I won’t get in the way of the work of Your Spirit. May I be increasingly effective by Your grace in drawing people into intimate fellowship with You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!