The Culture Is Strong
Submitted by Ted Mock
September 11, 2024
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Yaovi Kpogno stayed with us for three years while going to Crown College to complete his degrees before returning to his homeland of Togo West Africa. For the last six years, he has been planting a church in Togo, and now he has returned to our home for a furlough and report to the churches.
He is a most unusual young man of faith and has become like a son to Jo and me. He has returned with a bride, and soon, they will have a child. I asked him how they got together, because courtship is culturally different there. We even sent him some funds to pay her dowry, money that was well spent. She is a beautiful young lady.
Knowing things are different in Togo, and that some of their culture does not align with the Bible, I wanted to know how married life was working. He held up his Bible and said, “This is black, but if my parents told me it was white, I would believe them because they are the authority to me as their child. Everything my father told me about culture I accepted.”
Yaovi said, “Culture is strong, everywhere.” He went on to say that he and Gentille agreed when they married that God’s Word would be the authority for them when the culture disagreed with the Bible.
As born again believers, we are children of God, and He is our authority in all things. As Americans, we tend to look down on other cultures, thinking we are more advanced, more sophisticated than others. But we would do well to measure our culture with standards taught in God’s Word.
I have seen other cultures that worship idols made by men and think how foolish they are, while in my country, we are so materialistic and covetous. We are the bigger idolators. We don’t understand arranged marriages, yet commitment in marriage here has been replaced with easy, no-fault divorce. Respect for authority is rapidly disappearing, compared with most places I have traveled.
Culture is strong and can be a barrier to the Gospel, but God’s Word is stronger. All believers, no matter where we live, have the same Father, the same authority, our own unique culture. Our culture is from another land, and it is strong.
Thought – God’s culture will endure when man’s cultures fade into history because our God and His Word will never fade.
