An Inclusive Evangelism

by Mike Oppenheimer
Let Us Reason Ministries

When the book Perpetuated in Righteousness came out in the early 90s we plainly saw a problem with the author Daniel Kikawa claiming that the Hawaiians could have come from Israel – as Israel as they were traveling into the Promised Land another exodus was taking place a s a group was called to Hawaii. He even claimed they had numerous teachings that God gave Israel by looking at the gospel in the stars. P rior to any missionary coming to Hawaii with the Bible they had the teaching of the trinity. He made bold claims like this without any references- Many accounts in Polynesia of the creation of man. Some of them state that the supreme triune God made the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day (p.70 4th ed.) see http://www.letusreason.org/Current67.htm - http://www.letusreason.org/Current68.htm 

Using Hawaiian and ancient Maori legends he made connections and a case for true worship of the one God by the ancient Polynesians. That the supreme God was known by various names in the different cultures, so Hawaiians validly pray to the God Io because he is in fact the same God spoken of in the Bible.

When we went to the primary resources to look into his quotes his theory quickly fell apart as we saw how he misrepresented these authors who interpreted the languages and religions of the Polynesians, Maori and Hawaiians.

Daniel Kikawa has not stopped here with Christianizing the gods in Hawaii . He has expanded his religious theory to include nearly all peoples cultures; and of late, the Japanese. He has recently released a video that lays the groundwork for a new type of evangelism that is becoming more popular- Culture base evangelism.

In the Video Gods Fingerprints in Japan, the narrator says, This is a story of a journey a journey to search for the beauty of a people and their relationship with God. Is there historical evidence of the creator God in Japanese culture? Did God leave his fingerprint within the culture and history of Japan.

This journey is a fulfillment of many years of research and is a search to uncover evidence of the creator God in Japanese history and to look deeper to find how God has revealed himself in Japanese culture (Video Gods FingerPrints in Japan by Aloha Ke Akua Ministries).

Has God revealed himself in their culture, through the religion of Shintoism? His journey shows a religious pursuit to syncretize elements of Shintoism with Christianity. It does not promote a relationship with Christ in a biblical manner but morphs it into something foreign to both religions.

He claims that these people knew the true god. If this were so then they would come to Jesus Christ immediately recognizing whose son he is by the plain gospel being preached to them. Instead Kikawa says our evangelism is hindered because Many of those who claim to be Christians feel they have accepted a foreign God and are torn between being Japanese and being a Christian. They see the God of the Bible as a foreign God who prefers Western people and their culture to Japanese people and their culture. In our experience, this is the largest roadblock to the acceptance of the Gospel among Japanese. This video suggests to the Japanese people that the Creator God is not a foreign God but a Japanese God, and that being a believer in Jesus and being Japanese are not contradictory. (website)

While there are portions of truth in his observation his solution is completely flawed. On a radio broadcast he tells us why people in China and Japan do not accept the gospel, one of the main reasons because this is not their

God, now hes a foreign God come here and uh not using that native name, and this is one of the main things that we have found too, with Hawaiian people… (Word to the World interview with Daniel Kikawa Feb. 16, 2006 #9)

Kikawa believes the names of these gods in other cultures are of the true one and we should not discard them but use them, that we can purify again instead of turning it over to Satan Saying you dirty name of god well throw it away. yknow its a precious legacy for them that says God loves you… (Word to the World interview with Daniel Kikawa Feb.15, 2006, #8)

He believes these names, like Hananim, Shang Ti, Amenominakanushi, etc. are precious to the people of these cultures. Of course this is true, because these are the gods they worshipped before the gospel came to them. But God says have no other Gods before me- and not to even mention their names. Exodus 23:13: Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips .

So how does he present God to the Japanese, Koreans or Chinese, etc. Kikawa – speaking of the Korean culture says, but when the protestant missionaries came in decades later and, and used the name of Hananim, all of a sudden there was great excitement, that our God sent his son for us , Yknow, and so its not a foreign God anymore – our God,(Word to the World interview by Danny Lehmann with Daniel Kikawa Feb.13, 2006, #6).

His message and method is explained in his book Perpetuated in Righteousness, Instead of destroying and ridiculing the native names of the Creator God, we should help preserve them as a legacy for these peoples. ….Christians should cease representing Jesus as the Son of the foreign God of a foreign people… We should instead introduce Jesus as the Son of their creator God (p.27, Perpetuated in Righteousness 4 th ed.)

The Premise -The Creator God of the Bible is not a foreign God of these nations- their God sent his son. That God was involved in forming their culture. Give them the God they already worshipped and they will accept the message that their God is God who had a son (that is Jesus). It should be immediately obvious any student of the Bible what he has done to. If Jesus is the son of their creator God, in their culture-then he is no longer Jewish. Then Gods special revelation to Israel is diminished or removed (Romans 3:1-2) You then have a different Jesus, and certainly a different God. Which produces a different Gospel (Galat.1:6-9; 2 Cor. 11:3-4). This becomes a replacement theology of a different sort.

In his video Gods Fingerprints in Japan he speaks of Three Deities performed the commencement of creation and compares this to the Trinity in Genesis 1:1-2. Amenominakanushi is flanked by the 2 other gods of creation these are three are separate from the other gods or kami of Japan.

Once again as we looked into the primary resources we found that he forgot the next paragraph where there were two other deities, The five Deities in the above list are separate Heavenly Deities(p.15 Kojiki). Despite that the original three deities (3 gods) came into existence he Christianizes the myth to be like the Bible.

Kikawas Mission Statement on his website basically explains his methodology: The Creator God of the Bible is not a foreign God. He loves indigenous people and has been a part of their history and culture from the beginning.

In his video on the Japanese culture he states that it to look deeper to find how God has revealed himself in Japanese culture(Video Gods Fingerprints in Japan by Aloha Ke Akua Ministries).

Notice he says revealed in it, not to it. There is a major difference. This carries the meaning that God has put himself inside their (religious) traditions as stated in the video, for it is in Gods diversity that he gave the Japanese people their culture and it is in the culture they can find their identity in God. Yet the Bible says different, God had not revealed himself to the Gentiles as he did to Israel . They were foreigners, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and to God (Ephesians 2:11 -12).

Yet Kikawa premise (referring to Romans 1) is that The Bible says that all people had a knowledge of the creator. If this is true then we should find a creator God within the history and culture of Japan….

Much of their culture they have today came through Buddhism. If God put it there then we must accept God gave them the religion of Buddhism. If this is the true, God gave the Kojiki on Shintoism, and we must accept this as well as other religions beliefs.

In the Video he makes use of high towers as worship places for the true God. The Japanese tea ceremony as a communion and even shows a Buddha on a cross as being a worship object of Christians (really Catholics).The video is filled with Japanese/ Buddhist symbols, rituals and traditions that would certainly stretch ones credulity.

He lifted quotes from their context in Shintoism and the Bible and has come up with his own unique interpretation. Kikawa is obviously contextualizing a pagan belief system. He is using their religious traditions and symbols, as redemptive analogies to christianize Shintoism. Even the name of God has been changed to that of their deities Amenominakanushi is considered valid! I have rarely seen anyone go this far off in their Bible interpretation and research of other religions. All with the intent to fulfill his agenda of redeeming a culture.

As one person already commented on the articles – Interesting article regarding Daniel Kikawa’s methods regarding evangelism. One point: It sounds as if his methods are to cajole and manipulate other cultures into believing that they already have the “truth” and that they already worship Jesus as Lord without realizing it. Sounds like Kikawa studied heavily at Amway University, where high powered manipulative techniques rule the day.

That alone should make any clear thinking person realize the con job. IF a nation or culture already worships the true god, then why do they “need” someone like Kikawa to point it out? It should be obvious.

Obvious indeed but not to those who do not use the authority of Scripture for their guidance in everyday life and mission work.

The real problem comes in with the endorsements. YWAM fully endorses Kikawas book and his video Gods Fingerprints in Japan (which is presenting Shintoism, polytheism as Christianity).

Loren Cunningham, Founder of YWAM says- thank you for your in depth research that that is giving us keys that I believe will help us teach modern day youth in Japan.

So Kikawa holds the keys, which is an inclusive message. John Dawson, president of YWAM and Reconciliation Coalition international director is on Kikawas board. Kikawa is a member of the International Reconciliation Coalition board of YWAM; this seems to have worked out just fine.

Dawson gives his endorsement on the book Perpetuated In Righteousness: Marvelous!…This is what we need for every people group. If only [they} had the clear picture of the Lords redemptive destiny that the Hawaiians now possess.

On the back cover of the Gods Fingerprints in Japan DVD Dawson’s endorsement states, After seeking to communicate to Japanese people their beauty for so many years. I know that we have the key to open the correct door. Also posted on Aloha ke Akua website, Dawson further comments, We would like to use this video as a central part of our missionary work in Japan and to use it as an example for our missionaries around the world, of how to present the gospel to indigenous peoples.

The local Director of YWAM base here on Oahu Danny Lehmann promoted this teaching on his program, interviewing Kikawa for 2 weeks.

This is going to go to the youth-everywhere. And Im outraged at this. It is one thing to hold a personal view of this, it is another to teach it to the church and claim Gods blessing on it. The spirit of the age is active-moving people to convergence, syncretism and interfaith. And the churches sit quietly in their seats while this takes place in front of their noses. If you cannot find fault with this and be outraged then you might as well call the undertaker, you have no pulse.

You can get your free DVD “God’s Fingerprints In Japan” by Daniel Kikawa to see just how bad this really is – http://www.alohakeakua.org/
http://akaministries.tripod.com/aloha/id23.html

To understand this Inclusive, Universal movement that is adopting the cultural and religious ways of Gentile nations mixing Christianity to form an apostate church- articles written on this subject are found on these websites:

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen1.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen2.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen3.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen4.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen5.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen6.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/ecumen8.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/Apolo26.htm

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/endrun.html

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/reasonstoreject.html

http://www.letusreason.org/current70.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/current71.htm

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/obookiah.html

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/oraltraditions.html

http://www.letusreason.org/BookR15.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/current4%20.htm

http://www.letusreason.org/Current69.htm

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/talkstory.html

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/acalltothenations.html

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/twissquotes.html

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/lehmann2.html