Living as Wheat Among Weeds: Africa, the West, and the Woman of Revelation 12

By Marilyn O. Flower

This book, a rebirth of Flower’s master’s thesis “The Woman Clothed with the Sun with the Moon under Her Feet: A Postcolonial African/Western Contextual Discussion of Revelation 12” published in 2010, employs an interdisciplinary approach to contrast African and Western Christianity. African and Western beliefs and practices, compared using Revelation 12, vary significantly in some areas. The study of these differences illuminates the hope found in Christianity which radiates from the grace of God and Christ’s command for Christians everywhere to love one another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664272262

Marilyn O. Flower

Marilyn Flower credits her Christian faith empowered by the Holy Spirit as the strength behind her commitment to family, ordained ministry, and promoting God’s truth. Her interest in history, culture, and Christian demographics, enhanced through Bible study and world travel, is the impetus for and continues to inform her writing.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-7227-9 (sc)

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WestBow Press rev. date: 07/25/2022

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To biblically orthodox Christians worldwide

who love and trust God first

before loving and serving others

CONTENTS

Preface

PART I: SETTING THE WORLD STAGE

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Background Essentials

The Majority World, Postcolonialism, and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism

Liberation Theology

Africa—An Example of Present Christian Majority-World Reality

Chapter 3: Revelation 12: An Exegesis

Methodology, Genre, Author, Timeline, and Organization

Examining the Text

Good and Evil—Worldviews Make the Difference

PART II: MAJORITY WORLD—AFRICA

Chapter 4: African Christian Theology

African Christianity Is Dynamic

Postcolonial Biblical Criticism and Inculturation

African Theology’s Influence

Chapter 5: Revelation in Africa

Faith and Identity

Theological Perspective of Revelation

Grounded in the Bible

PART III: AFRICA, THE WEST, AND REVELAT ION

Chapter 6: Comparing Western Christianity to African Christianity

The View from the West

Revelation’s Relevance in the West

Whom to Trust

Chapter 7: A Global Reality

The Significance of a Biblical Worldview

Thirty Minutes until Death

God’s Plan Is Perfect

PART IV: WHEAT AMONG WEEDS

Chapter 8: The Woman Clothed with the Sun

Jesus Is the Only Hope

The Woman of Revelation 12

Being in and of Christ

Chapter 9: Living as Wheat among Weeds

Reconciling African and Western Theologies

Reaching the Ends of the Earth Together

Christians—Wheat among Weeds

PREFACE

The Bible is the fountain of all knowledge about God, His character, and the meaning of life. If we are in Christ, we want a personal relationship with God and we want to know Him. My understanding of the Bible has given me complete trust in Jesus as Lord of my life. It has equipped me to live fearlessly for God and in His power. No person can ever fully understand another, but God, who fully understands us and our circumstances, is a constant companion to those who choose Him.

The only words that Jesus directed anyone to write are in Revelation, a book that is dismissed by some but one which holds others spellbound. Revelation is often poorly understood and misinterpreted. The powerful metaphor of the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12 summarizes the Bible’s message. While the Revelation 12 woman may mean different things to different people, she is a godly creation who is clearly pursued by something that is anti-God. John’s vivid imagery captivates the attention of everyone who believes God is sovereign and the beginning and end of everything. In this book, generalizations allow me to consider how African Christians understand Revelation 12 and the Bible differently than Western Christians do.

It is difficult to find a term to refer to those who know God through Jesus and who honor His Word (the Bible). I use the word Christian to refer to them, the saints of the church, those whom Jesus will tell His Father that He knows when they appear before His judgment seat. But everyone calling themselves Christian may not be Christian. True Christians study the Bible because they want to know the God revealed in its pages. Reading the Bible is not popular today. Being a Bible-believing Christian is even less so, but in a culture where millions of books, magazines, and articles are being published, the Bible, the basis of Western society, including government, science, and education, should be read by everyone.

The more difficult my life became, the more I depended on God. God could have stopped the evil, sickness, and death of loved ones. He alone knows why He allowed them. Eventually, I fully trusted God in His all-sufficient provision, which includes the Old and New Testaments (the Hebrew scriptures Jesus knew, and the New Testament written after His resurrection). Everything that anyone thinks, says, and does is known by God before it happens. Christians are assured in this knowledge, living their lives like prayers, with every conversation known to God (Mal. 3:16). There is great comfort in knowing that God knows how and when your life will end.

All people have a finite number of days for which they will be held accountable, and every life has purpose and meaning, no matter its length. Each individual must accept or reject the solace and strength for daily living that God provides. This is the biggest decision that anyone will ever make. Christians first pray for others, that they may have faith and their needs met, and then for themselves—for guidance, strength, and God’s love—so that they might be His instruments to spread the good news that is Jesus Christ.

I am grateful to everyone with whom I fellowship, in life and ministry—especially to those faithfully preaching and living out God’s Word. Believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit to stand firm on the Bible in the redeeming love of the Word made flesh, Jesus, who fully knows our humanity. They believe the Bible is true as Jesus teaches. I thank God for Christians involved in the worldwide battle for God, His truth, and love. In my writing ministry, I am exceptionally grateful to Iona Bulgin for her patience, editing skills, and firm but gentle nudges so that Living as Wheat among Weeds shines clearer and more brightly than did my 2007 theological thesis.

This book is a rewriting of that thesis, The Woman Clothed with the Sun with the Moon under Her Feet: A Postcolonial African/Western Contextual Discussion of Revelation 12. That work helped me realize the significance of Jesus’s revelation to John, especially the woman of Revelation 12. The book of Revelation is not a bookend to prop up the rest of the Bible. On the contrary, Revelation, with Genesis, holds the Bible together as one. My thesis compared African Christian biblical interpretation with Western biblical interpretation. I was intrigued by this topic because African Anglicans, the majority of whom stand firmly on the Bible, were becoming increasingly vocal against the growing liberality of Western Anglicans.

My hope is that this book will give readers much to think and pray about, because thinking and praying Christians find it much easier to be faithful to God. This earth is not our home. Safety policies that are often developed in wartime admonish people not to get attached to worldly things because little can be taken when fleeing for one’s life. Similarly, yet far more consequentially, nothing will be taken with us when we die—except our faith.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31–32 ESV)

Part I

SETTING THE

WORLD STAGE

1

INTRODUCTION

F or almost two thousand years, Christians have endeavored to understand and follow the Bible so that they might know God better and be well equipped to serve Him faithfully. Being true to the Bible today is as much a struggle of the body, heart, mind, and soul as it was for first-century apostles, early church fathers, and disciples in every century. Except for the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Christians could never remain faithful to God.

The presence of the Holy Spirit within a person is the essence of being Christian, yet this gift is not well understood and is rejected by some. Luke, Matthew, John, and Paul, describe the Holy Spirit’s work in Christ’s followers.¹ Paul explained how grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit destroys faith (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). Like our physical bodies, our spirits must be nourished, but spiritually.

If we feed our spirits well, they flourish. If we starve them, they wither and die. The advent of the printing press, coupled with people being able to own Bibles, allowed many to feed their spirits biblically. Increasingly, however, the Bible is under attack, sometimes especially by Christians. It is no longer deemed the nourishment it once was. Instead, some feed their spirits with human wisdom and emotionalism.

This book confirms that nothing outside of the Bible nourishes the Christian spirit like God’s Word does. For those familiar with the Bible, it may motivate a revisit. For someone who has never opened a Bible, hopefully it will prompt a first-time visit. It is only through the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and prayer that Christian spirits are nourished and enabled to remain true to God.

Religious tensions over faith issues have always been present among people professing to be Christian from the time of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Today, these tensions garner increasingly more attention because of their extreme and violent nature, people’s appetite for strife, and the speed of communication. Some Christians, although strengthened by adhering to the Bible as God’s inspired word, seem to constantly debate doctrine with others who call themselves Christians but who do not believe that the entire Bible is God’s Word.²

Profound changes in beliefs and the way that Christians have practiced their faith over the centuries are inconsequential compared to the rapid and monumental doctrinal shifts in today’s dying Western church. In contrast, Christianity in the majority world continues to grow, with ever-increasing numbers of converts and independent churches. Additionally, the numbers of African and other majority-world scholars³ increase as their biblical worldview⁴ solidifies. As majority-world theology receives greater exposure and global dissemination, it will encourage others to stand strong biblically.

The changing face of Christianity has traditionally interested theologians, philosophers, and anthropologists. But recently more people are taking interest in this global movement. David B. Barrett, whose research resulted in the publication of the World Christian Encyclopedia in 1982, greatly impacted the study of Christian demographics worldwide, especially in Africa. Barrett together with George T. Kurian and Todd M. Johnson produced a second edition in 2001. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo wrote and edited a third edition in 2019. These works encourage Christians to be hopeful about the spread of the gospel because of what is happening on the continent of Africa and elsewhere in the world.

Philip Jenkins presents insightful but challenging information and predictions about this paradigm shift in The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (2002) and The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (2006). His books drew attention because of the shift in global Christianity generally from the Western minority to the majority world. This shift fostered dissension among Christians worldwide.

Divergent biblical interpretations by minority- and majority-world leaders (especially African bishops) fanned the flames of schism in at least one denomination, the Anglican Communion.⁵ Controversy over what it means to be Christian and the Bible’s place within Christianity continues, as more Christians worldwide take up the fight against an ever-widening and -deepening compromise of traditional biblical values.

While much of the majority world professes to be Christian, the numbers of those who proclaim to be Christian in most Western countries are steadily declining.⁶ Some Westerners strive to find meaning and grow spiritually, but often their newfound knowledge runs contrary to orthodox Christianity. These new spiritualities often push boundaries that are almost devoid of traditional biblical faith. Some Christian institutions (sometimes in a struggle to remain relevant and operational) have welcomed an emerging belief system that is counter-Christian. Western church statistics continue to grow increasingly dismal in light of church abuse and scandal, Western progressive Christianity, and secular post-Christian thinking. Popular progressive thinking continues to distort facts and the truth, especially concerning color, race, human sexuality, and gender.

Conversely, the numbers of Christians in the majority world are increasing. The majority world’s financially poorer countries are industrially developing at varying rates, but generally, their Christian faith remains strong. Aboriginal groups in many of these nations openly proclaim their faith in Jesus and work to spread Christian love and freedom to neighboring tribes.

A body of literature about the phenomenon of majority-world Christian domination, its global influence, and what this means for the future of Christianity continues to be published.⁷ As modern Western life collided with traditional faith, majority-world Christianity gained greater global attention because some majority-world Christians refused to capitulate to minority-world thinking. Socialist/Marxist agendas, however, increasingly threaten all of Christendom.

This brings us to the crux of the matter: the battle for the truth of the Bible. Most majority-world Christians interpret the Bible differently from minority-world Christians. In the past, this had little impact on the minority world, as majority-world scholarship was largely ignored and considered inferior to enlightened, scientific Western scholarship.⁸ Liberation theology, which began in the 1960s, attracted the West’s attention and resulted in some majority-world liberation theologians being given the respect and recognition that they deserved.⁹

Several generations of majority-world liberation-theology scholars ignited coalitions of groups fighting injustice and striving for equality and fair treatment. Their alliances brought recognition and power to the poor and oppressed worldwide. They also drew the attention of influential groups such as Black Power and Black Nationalism. According to Brandon Paradise, these groups tore and marginalized the deep Christian faith of the nearly eighty-four percent of African Americans who made up black America.¹⁰

Liberation theology’s influence on Christianity is still evident but sometimes its original intent has morphed into something counter-Christian (i.e., critical race theory and being woke). Some are courageously countering these false narratives.¹¹

As the number of majority-world Christians, including those who publish books and present academic papers, continues to rise, they motivate their home communities to become educated, especially biblically, and spread their faith. But the push by minority-world publishers is for majority-world theologians to give the West what the West wants.¹² Some African countries are increasingly being targeted by false teachers and heresy. This not only threatens biblical orthodoxy but compromises the spiritual well-being of many African Christians.

The majority-world’s influence on Western culture is subtle, through dress, food choices in stores and restaurants, movies, documentaries, and new television series.¹³ Or it is overt, through majority-world immigrants (e.g., students, professors, physicians, priests, and other professionals) participating at conferences and meetings, such as the World Council of Churches and the Anglican Communion. Some majority-world immigrants find Western Christianity so unacceptable that they start their own churches. These often grow in contrast to local, well-established yet dying churches around them. As the world continues to become homogenized, globalization increasingly highlights disparity,¹⁴ not merely economically and industrially but especially in faith. It is in terms of faith, though, that the majority world is increasingly making itself known.

Jenkins’s The Next Christendom spurred some Western academics to reflect seriously on the proposed global shift in Christianity and what this holds for Christianity’s future. Majority-world scholars and theologians who publish through minority-world publishing houses and teach in minority-world universities prompt the West to notice global cultures and theologies because their numbers demand attention.

By educating itself and valuing its own education to be on par with that of the West, the majority world has opened itself to criticism and subtle pressure to submit to those who often wield financial power. While some majority-world Christians have submitted to the West politically and financially, others are strong disciples with a powerful Christian witness and an increasingly more powerful voice.

Until recently, the majority world relied on minority-world scholarship for theological teaching, training, and preaching.¹⁵ A move of the Holy Spirit has empowered the majority world to boldly awaken and affirm their theology. African Christians broke the stranglehold that the West had on them for so long. As its theological scholarship is acknowledged and published by Western Christians, African theology no longer depends on liberal Western theology.

This academic acceptance, however, has spawned an exodus of the best educated from the majority to the minority world. While many immigrants send money home to their families, majority-world emigration to the West continues to affect the hope for the future and the rate of progress for those who are left behind in underdeveloped majority-world countries. Because of this exodus, many of their brightest and best are now in the West.¹⁶ Working alongside their Western colleagues, majority-world immigrants may influence Western thinking when they are strong enough to reject the secular cultures that have embraced them and fund their new prosperous lifestyles.

Theological history was made when the Africa Bible Commentary,¹⁷ the first one-volume commentary on all sixty-six books of the Bible, written by Africans for Africans, was launched on July 5, 2006, in Nairobi, Kenya. It had contributions from seventy African scholars from fifteen African countries representing ten Christian traditions.¹⁸ It was a resource for preachers and lay leaders, not an academic endeavor. Although this text is of historical significance, it is only one resource, and a few important topics were not addressed (e.g., forgiveness and reconciliation), but the book holds to the traditional interpretation of the Bible. A second edition, published on September 18, 2010, added one contributing scholar and deleted another. Most, if not all, changes occur in the commentary on Psalms.

Living as Wheat among Weeds: Africa, the West, and the Woman of Revelation 12 focuses on minority-majority-world theological differences that translate basically into two Christianities: true Christianity and false or heretical Christianity. I consider how African Christians (representing majority-world Christianity) might understand Revelation 12 differently from Western Christians. Majority-world Christian beliefs and practices eclipse minority-world beliefs because most Christians live in the majority world. I analyze the similarities and differences between the two world’s interpretations, specifically of the woman clothed with the sun, using biblical commentaries and articles from both minority- and majority-worldviews. I link the Bible to daily life in Africa, especially to suffering and persecution and show how it provides a theology of hope for the poor, the suffering, and the dying. This comparison reveals that the Bible has greater relevance for African Christians than it does for Western Christians.

Although African Christianity has impacted and will continue to impact the worldwide Anglican Communion and other Christian denominations, the focus here is not on specific denominations. The focus is on Jesus, His life and death, the scriptures He knew and taught from, the New Testament, and all that He left those who believe in Him as hope in an ever-darkening and dying world. Western Christians increasingly suffer more hostility because of their faith, but they receive increasingly more encouragement from their African Christian brothers and sisters who remain biblically faithful.

Our Lives Have Consequences

Christians pursue truth. For them, studying the Bible is more important than any other study because it is a record of God and absolute truth. They know that every person’s life, personally and corporately, has consequences for life on earth and for the future.

Every person is accountable to God for the work they do. With every right comes more responsibility. Future generations rise or fall on the heels of their leaders: family, government, institutions, and journalism. People are not only a part of all that they have