THIRD WORLD AWAKENING—GREEK ROADBLOCKS OR A HEBRAIC ROAD? [abridged]

The author started out as a young atomic scientist in the early 1950s. In his years of handling radioactive isotopes, he began to hear a higher-level call than the now infamous mushroom clouds of the atomic age. Reading an ad that invited professionals to consider revising their skills to aim for eternal targets, he began anew to pursue the science of analyzing previously unwritten languages. The final goal was Scripture translation and transformation of tribal hearts. In 1961 he entered into the lives and villages of a barely emerging Stone Age Waola tribe in Papua New Guinea. This article tells a unique story of evangelism—including discovery of a hitherto unknown cultural tool—in following the spiritual paths of redemption of the Waola family.

In 1961 I entered the near Stone Age Waola Tribe of about 50,000 speakers in the rugged mountains of Papua New Guinea as linguist, Bible translator and church planter. After some 30 years of ministry we stood in awe of a strong, growing and sometimes renewed church, with their vernacular Bible heading into a 4th printing. But that was only a beginning. After our own personal pilgrimage to Israel in 1988, the Waolas began to hear our story that sparked off a tidal wave of revival that continues to this day.

The fervor of their response was unmistakable. The Scriptures burst open into a magnified dimension. Initially hearing stories of Jericho, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, they postulated that such holy sites could be glimpsed nowhere but heaven itself. Ancient legends of talking crocodiles and magic trees had been otherworldly; though advanced in reliability, how could the new accounts be otherwise? Impetus to see for themselves mushroomed, and within a decade multiplied hundreds of Papua New Guineans across the nation of 5 million had prayed in Jerusalem. But quite beyond holy sites, realization that the prophetic rebirth of Israel had occurred in their generation was of unparalleled impact. Though the global media catches little of the prophetic significance of their reports, Bible-sensitive Melanesians do!

Waola worldview has more than accidental Hebraic overtones. Mass meetings for cultural and religious observations date back into their primitive days, including gala feasting, marching and festive dances. Extended family togetherness, communal sharing, insight into the spirit world and sensitivity to a benevolent God in the heavens was embedded in their mindset long before the westerner ever stumbled onto their scene. The million-plus congregation of the wilderness Tabernacle, the gala 3 times-yearly feasts in Jerusalem or pressing multitudes of Galilee also invoked a connection. Hebraic living-faith orientation appears a tad more popular in Melanesia than say in Minneapolis or Montreal.

So how was it that pagan Greek philosophy weaned the Western world away from Hebraic wisdom? An earthen Aristotle lured Thomas Aquinas well away from the spirit world, as did others of his persuasion to the Sadducees, who believed “neither resurrection, angels nor spirits.” Various Church Fathers invented un-Hebraic celibacy from Hellenistic fantasy; others even more successfully reoriented the saints by sanitizing them from Jewish roots. Polytheism had few scruples against slicing the Almighty into 3 gods, presenting the Hebraic mind with an arduous task to re-present Him as One in 3 forms. Hellenism plunged the West—church and all—into the Age of “Enlightenment” whose utter darkness providentially bypassed Melanesia. Countries that sent Christian teachers to these once animist islands now have a unique opportunity to re-learn their Bibles from a far more Hebraic ordered Christian Pacific!

Sadly much Western biblical scholarship missed a massive amount of Scripture that points to physical Israel reborn, but interwoven with the Great Commission, the final re-gathering of Israel is a most unique last-call tool to the nations. Fortunately this has hardly been lost on Papua New Guinea and their fellow Melanesian islanders. If even the Jews are headed home, it’s high time for everyone else to scramble on board!

Yet, it’s not just Melanesia. One will also find rising Israel-awareness in South American, African and Asian Christians, who prioritize their meager incomes to visit Jerusalem or otherwise focus their lives into Israel-related ministries. This enthusiasm among believers reflects a powerful appeal to those yet on the sidelines. Unfortunately, similar enthusiastic fervor has been slower to ignite in a Hellenistic shrouded mindset.

Thus the paradox of Western heritage: Suffering the brunt of Greek skepticism, humanism, the profane and the secular over the centuries, it has ironically launched immeasurable gospel witness. But now a once-sheltered Third World, having largely skirted Hellenism’s hazards, has grasped the baton of last-call spiritual awakening among her own, with the unforeseen assistance of a Jacob re-gathered. Like many in the Western church who are also discovering added depth in Hebraic foundations of the Gospel—the simplest road to Yeshua just happens to run through Jerusalem!

Victor Schlatter, Bible Translator and Senior Advisor to the Tiliba Christian Church, Nipa, SHP, and current Director of South Pacific Island Ministries, Inc., Cairns, Qld. Australia.