28 Sept 2013 by Natasha Kim CM-
Sreedhar Subramaniam (President & CEO of Asian Broadcasting Network) was one of the special topics speaker at the 23rd Pentecostal World Conference where he touched on the topic of Communicating to the Post-Modern world.
Everything that is pre-modern started with faith (absolute truth). People at that era used to take what the king, leader of the community or pastor said as the absolute truth. When the world moved on into the modern world, everything said then needed to be at least proven and deemed rational (objective truth), before anyone would listen. Sreedhar shared however, that when it comes to “now” (the post-modern world), he likes to term it as irrational where everyone believes in the relative truth. “To a large extent, it comes back to the concept of truth being relative to you. Many think that, 'If I you think it’s true, then it’s true,'" he said. It is now whatever society accepts as the truth.
“If we go back to the biblical truth, those truth are absolute, and there is no such thing as relative truth,” he said. There is no doubt that the media has played a significant role in trying to create relative truth, where many now believe is the absolute truth.
“If you repeat a lie long enough it becomes truth e.g. evolution vs creation. Evolution as we all know is still a theory where facts are being gathered,” he said. How do we communicate the absolute truth without compromise?
Be Transformational
Nowadays, if what you say isn’t relevant, people will not ponder about what you have to say. “At the same time, you cannot compromise the absolute truth because if you do then, that truth becomes nothing,” he said. Sreedhar suggested that we tell the truth more and more now so that it becomes 'The Truth', and that’s sad and ridiculous but it’s a challenge for the body of Christ today.
Do you tell the truth when you are with your colleagues, or when you’re on your social media websites? One of the main reasons people get conned is because they allow the lies of the world to be repeated in front of them. How do we tell the truth enough times so that the truth becomes the truth?
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be establishedas the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills,and all nations will stream to it.
(Isaiah 2:2)
Joshua and the 7 Enemies
So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.
(Joshua 1:10-11)
We can derive two things from the Bible verse above:-
- We are physically going to conquer lands.
- We are able to conquer the value system, belief system and attributes of what people value most in our world today.
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
(Deuteronomy 28:13)
In the Bible verse above, the prophecy that Joseph had in the dream of how others would fall in front of him was continuously extended. “When you become the head and not the tail, you will have significant places of influence,” said Sreedhar. Jesus will place us where he wants us to be and he will give us the words to speak; words that will show tremendous understanding.
Reclaiming the Seven Mountains
There are seven molders of culture also known as the seven world kingdoms. He who can take those kingdoms can take the harvest of nations. All of the seven mountains represent the forces that shape society namely, education, religion, government, media, family, arts and entertainment, and business. These fields of influence are so powerful that the one who occupies the top of those mountains can shape the agenda that forms nations.
Jesus spent a lot of time talking about the kingdom to the disciples. However, the church at times spends so much of their time and focus on the church mountain that they may have forsaken the responsibility to the rest of the world that they are called to influence.
In a quantitative aspect, the church is focused on the harvest of souls. However, there is also a qualitative aspect where the church has a duty to fulfill, and that is to transform nations by making disciples of nations. In order to achieve freedom in any of those mountains, you have to honour God. The reason why democracies are failing is because of corruption, anyone can tell you that. The foundation and the value then needs to be the teaching of Jesus.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 28: 19)
“God has entrusted our children to us so that we can start modelling discipleship within our own family. That is why I spend a lot of time with my sons, I go camping and hiking and do what they like to do, not what I like to do,” he shared. Through those moments, families get to share the hardships of life and that give you the opportunity to disciple as well, e.g. about trusting God and more. The world is searching for all kinds of models, e.g. model family, teachers, leaders, businessmen and etc.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
(1 Corinthians 10: 31-33)
At the end of the day, the truth isn’t easy to handle. “We have jewels that need to be cleaned, brushed and shown to the world. Let us not hide it. Be relevant without compromising the message, we need to be ready to be exposed, it is counter cultural and you will be ridiculed and persecuted for the sake of Jesus’s name. You need to be ready!” Sreedhar said as he came to a close.
Picture References
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