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Fidelity to God in the Context of Globalization

(Recovering our Prophetic Heritage in Mission) Dr. Victor R. Aguilan Divinity School Silliman University Dumaguete, Philippines March 2012

Introduction The Philippines is composed of some 7,109 islands and islets that lies southeast of mainland Asia. The archipelago has a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers, and a growing population of 95 million.1 Basically an agricultural country, much of the Philippines' farmland is devoted to rice, corn, coconut products, bananas, abaca and timber. Copper, iron, chrome and gold are among the most important minerals exploited. The country has a long history of oppression. Filipinos have endured foreign oppression through colonization: for three and a half centuries under Spain, for 40 years under the United States, and for 3 years under Japan. After the Second World War, the Philippines has acquired political independence from the United States and established a liberal democratic State, but had to endure neo-colonial oppression. In 1972 "democracy" in the country was interrupted when Mr. Marcos imposed martial law and the people had to endure a 20-year conjugal dictatorship. Roughly 85% of the people are Roman Catholics, 7% are Protestants (including the Philippine Independent Church), and less than 4% are Muslims.2 Christianity enjoys a dominant position among the various living religions in the country today. Ninety percent of the current population considers themselves Christians and eighty percent of them claim to be Catholics. Filipinos even feel proud of being the only Christian nation in Asia. It seems that being a Christian and being a Filipino is one and the same. Christianity is accepted uncritically as a constitutive part of the Filipino national identity. But we know Christianity is not indigenous to the land. In fact there are Filipinos who belong to other beliefs such as Islam and indigenous Pre-Christian religion. The current dominant position of Christianity especially its catholic form indicates the success of evangelization done by the missionaries both Catholic and Protestants. Evangelization and Domination: A Contradiction in Christian Mission However, Christianity seems to be ineffective in helping solve the problems of social injustice, poverty, graft and corruptions in Philippine society. There is a perception that Christianity has tolerated or even supported the status quo. And that Christianity is on the side of domination. This perception has a historical basis. It could not be denied that the conquest of the Philippines was due primarily through the admixture of the sword of the conquistadors and of the cross of the missionary. Thus it would be proper to conclude as other historians and chroniclers have told us that it was the missionaries zeal that brought the Filipinos into the fold of the Church and Spanish sovereignty. The militarys presence in the Philippines during her stay of more than 300 years played an auxiliary role. That is why a viceroy of Mexico could write soon after the conquest of the Philippines, In every friar the king of Spain had in the Philippines a captain general and

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National Statistics Office (NSO Press Release Number: 2011-30 Date Released: April 20, 2010) Manila: National Statistics Office, 1992 p. 22.

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an entire army.3 The history of Christianity in the Philippines cannot evade the issue of conquest and evangelization. Dr. T.V. Sitoy in his book The Initial Encounter, has provided us a fair assessment on how both soldiers and missionaries contributed to the initial evangelization of the Philippines. The commingling of political and religious objectives in Spanish conquest was both a boon and a bane to the evangelization of the Philippines. The secular arm did use its resources in promoting evangelization, in the sense, that initially the conquistador enabled the friar to labor among the subjugated people, affording the former protection in patently hostile areas or exerting the threat of force in districts of doubtful persuasion. Yet the same admixture was a handicap from the very start, for to the Filipinos it seemed as if the Spaniard wielded the cross in one hand and the arquebus in the other. No less than the friars themselves, some of whom were former military men, deplored this unfortunate juxtaposition of objectives, though typical and inescapable at the time.4 When the American came and disrupted our legitimate claim to freedom the Protestant missionaries came with them. The Americans came because they were at war with Spain. They did not come to assist the Filipinos in their struggles for independence. They came to wage war against the Spanish forces in the Philippines. When they enlisted the support of the Filipino forces in the war against the Spaniards in the Philippines it was for a tactical advantage. Confronted with the issue as to whether or not the United States should colonize the Philippines, the American Protestants enthusiastically argued for the occupation of the Philippines as an opportunity to spread Protestantism in the country. Kenton J. Clymer, author of the book Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898-1916, writes that "most Protestant churches encouraged an expansionist outlook. They supported the war against Spain, then lobbied for the acquisition of the Philippine Islands."5 To many religious men, America's course of action had the "approval of Divine Providence" as confirmed by the swift and complete triumphs of American arms. It was then felt that to reject this American calling would be unfaithful and unpatriotic.6 The common dominant religious sentiment was in favour of the retention and occupation of the Philippine Islands. More Protestant clergymen justified the occupation of the Philippines as God's own intervention. Rev. John Henry Barrows, President of Oberlin College said that it was a divine mission for America to acquire the Philippines. The war itself was "righteous and necessary and that we must accept this destiny. God himself has brought us to the position we are in."7 The Filipino people resisted the "benevolent assimilation" of the United States after they have won the struggle against the Spaniards. Historians report that the U.S. sent 130,000 soldiers to fight the Filipino guerillas in 2,811 battles, spent $500-million to kill roughly half a million Filipinos and put themselves in a better position to uplift and civilize

Blair, Emma & Robertson, James, ed., The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 (55 vols.: Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1903-1909)E.G. Bourne, BRPI, 1, 42. 4 T.V. Sitoy, The Initial Encounter, p. 270 5 Kenton Clymer, Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898-1916: An Inquiry into the American Colonial Mentality. 1986. 6 Gerard Anderson, "Providence and Politics Behind Protestant Missionary Beginnings in the Philippines," Studies in Philippine Church History, p. 284. 7 World Wide Mission 6 (June, 1899); cited in Anderson, p. 293.

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and Christianize the Filipino Catholics.8 This was an unjustifiable process of evangelizing a predominantly Catholic country and educating a nation whose universities were older than Harvard. Christianity in both Catholic and Protestant forms came with the oppressors and colonizers. It was the religion of the dominating class. It was an intrument of power and domination. But despite its identification with the ruling class and colonizers, Christianity became the faith of the ordinary Filipinos. The people accepted and appropriated Christianity as their own faith. The Filipinos saw something in Christianity that resonated with their needs, longings, dreams and visions. Eventually today Christianity is the religion of the majority of the Filipino people. Prophetic Dimension of Christianity Though Christianity came with the colonizers, not all of those who professed the faith agree with the perspectives and actions of the dominant class. There were prophets. There were dissenting voices from the missionaries. They spoke against the ruling class in the name of Christianity. They were faithful the biblical prophetic tradition. This tradition is based on the understanding that one of the offices of Jesus Christ is the prophetic office. Jesus continues and fulfills the Hebraic prophetic tradition.9 A prophet according to the Hebrew tradition is one who is called by God to be Gods spokesperson. They were men of God. They were not seers or fortune tellers. They proclaim Gods demands and judgment. They remind the people of God about their fidelity to the covenant. This covenant with God was based on the Exodus event. "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.10 Hence, the Israelites were expected to live according to the Commandments of the covenant. God cares about the righteousness of his people; it matters to God whether the rich and powerful oppress the poor and the vulnerable, it matters whether they are faithful to the God who liberated them. God will not just stand by and watch. As He rescued his people from Egypt and made a nation of them, so He will listen to the cry of the oppressed today. God sends prophets to tell them of the demands of the covenants, He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?11 The prophets showed that there should be no separation between faith and ethics. Walter Rauschenbusch, for the liberation theology, wrote, The prophets were the heralds of the fundamental truth that religion and ethics are inseparable, and that ethical conduct is the supreme and sufficient religious act.12 Rauschenbusch claimed that for the prophets morality was not merely a prerequisite of effective ceremonial worship. They Luzviminda Francisco, "The First Vietnam: The US-Philippine War of 1899," in L.B. Francisco and J.S. Fast, Conspiracy for Empire (Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1985) p. 324-325. 9 Jose M. De Mesa and Lode L. Wostyn, Doing Christology: The Re-appropriation of a Tradition (Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 1989); see also Jean-Pierre Prevost, What is a Prophet? in Michael A. Hayes and Liam Gearon, Contemporary Catholic Theology: A Reader (New York: Continuum Publishing Co. 1999) pp. 87-108, and John Yoder, Preface to Theology: Christology and Theological Method (Michigan: Brazos Press, 2002) pp. 328-376 10 Exodus 19 11 Micah 6:8 12 Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (New York. Macmillan, 1910) p. 7
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brushed sacrificial ritual aside altogehter as trifling compared with righteousness, nay; as a harmful substitute and a hindrance for ethical religion.13 And since the prophets were concerned with matters of justice and injustice it is not suprising that they took sides in matters state. During the era of colonization and evangelization there were voices who spoke against the injustices and abuses committed against the natives. They were the prophets of their period. This may have provided the Filipinos an alternative view of Christianity which was different from the one professed by the dominant class. As early as 1573, the Augustinian friars had written the King describing the abuses done by the encomenderos on the Filipinos. Bishop Domingo de Salazar, the first Bishop of Manila, complaint about the continuing harsh treatment of the native especially in connection with the collection of the tribute. Bishop Salazar has been called as the "Las Casas of the Philippines" and "Protector of the Filipinos" for his defense of Filipino rights against the abuses of the colonizers. Bishop Salazar and the likes of him were a minority.14 The Spanish friars as a whole supported the colonial government. But in the late 19th century, Filipino clergy began to speak out in protest. The first protest of Filipino priest has to do with the issue of the parishes. The standard bearers of the protest were the diocesan priests Pedro Pelaez and Jose Burgos. Not only were the native priests not given new parishes; those they previously had, were removed from them. The Filipino priests were demoted to assistants of the Spanish friars. The native priests, especially Burgos, saw the injustice of it all. They ultimately saw they were being discriminated against, not because they were priests, but because they were Filipinos and brown-skinned. They were racially discriminated. The Spanish government cut the protests of the native priests violently by executing Fr. Jose Burgos, Fr. Mariano Gomez, and Jacinto Zamora.15 During the 1896 Philippine revolution the native priests joined the revolution. The historian John Schumacher,S.J.,speaks of the native priests of Cavite as among those very supportive of the armed rebellion. The Philippine revolution also gave birth to an independent Catholic church: the Philippine Independent Church (PIC, 1902) under the leadership of Father Gregorio Aglipay and Isabelo de los Reyes.16 Under the American occupations, Protestant Missionaries were not that critical of the colonial policies of their government. But they have real concern for uplifting the Filipinos from impoverishment and ignorance. Most of them initiated charitable works more as a form of service to the people, who were mostly non-Protestants such as health care and educational institutions.17 They also insisted in the separation of Church and State. They saw a non-separation of Church and State as a source of corruption and threatened religious freedom and democracy.18 We are not denying the fact that the churches supported and legitimized colonization and pacification of the Philippines. However, we failed to see the whole picture if we do not acknowledge the dissenting voices within the Churches. There were always prophets ready to speak out when called by God to remind the Church of her real

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Ibid. p. 5 Peter Gowing, Islands under the Cross, (Quezon City: NCCP 1967) 15 Schumacher, John S.J., Revolutionary Clergy: The Filipino Clergy and the Nationalist Movement, 1850-1903, (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1981). 16 Ibid. 17 Kwantes, Anne C. Presbyterian Missionaries in the Philippines: Conduits of Social Change (1899-1901) (New Day Publishers, Quezon City: 1989); Clymer, op. cit. 18 Clymer, Ibid

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calling and mission. This kind of prophetic ministry and fidelity is demanded of the Churches today for the Churches have been seduced by a new idol called Globalization.

GLOBALIZATION AND THE CHALLENGE TO CHURCHES TODAY Today God demands fidelity. The Bible warns against unfaithfulness. This unfaithfulness is associated with idolatry. The Bible says You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.19 The first commandment emphasizes the prohibition against worshipping false gods. False gods are idols which are human constructions (man made) but are worshipped as absolute. Any ideology, system, or nation made absolute is an idol. This is the kind of faith which obeys the Lord. Like Peter who said Obey God rather than men. The two midwives who refused the command of the Pharaoh to kill all newly born male Hebrew. You have Daniel refusing Nebucadnezzer. The Bible has many stories to offer about fidelity to God which we utterly lack today. We live in a time where there are many idols. These idols are competing with God. We should say NO to these idols. We should say "no" to those who destroy and kill life. Those who arrogate upon themselves the power which belongs only to God become idols of death. Some of these idols have put on a new garb in keeping with the times the time of rapid advances in science and technology as well as in human organization. Today the most pernicious idol is Capitalists globalization.20 This is a new idol taking the form of an economic ideology, with corresponding structures, policies and programs, which regards the unimpeded flow and continuous growth of private capital as the absolute condition to economic development. Profit or accumulation of money capital is the sole motive. To invest is to make profit. To make profit is to invest. Freedom is to do business. It is free competition. Milton Friedmen said it well, There is one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud. (Capitalism and Freedom). Agents of globalization also emphasize the modern technology we enjoy today which make life comfortable, like the television and radio. We have the advancement in telecommunication, like the fax messages. You can send whole pages in a few minutes. But the fax has also been outmoded. With e-mail we can converse through the computer and it is even cheaper than fax. We used to communicate by landline telephones. Long distance calls were very expensive. Now almost every other person uses a mobile phone that can communicate worldwide. Knowledge is power they say. Now through the internet you can access knowledge from anywhere in the globe. This is beneficial to all of us even in the churches. You can get all information you want through the internet: theology, biblical studies, ethics, even sermons. You can order books through the internet. Or just download the materials you need. That certainly is progress, isn't it? Technology has invaded all aspects of life: communications, medicine, education, commerce, banking, business, politics. The Church has not been spared. Modern
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Exodus 19:3-4 Victor Aguilan, Globalization: A New Name for an Old Evil Silliman Ministry Magazine 66 December 2000

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technology is staggering to the mind. And globalization is bringing all of these to us with the promise of the benefits of progress. But is it really progress? Is it really human development? These are all lies. And we have been seduced by this new idol called globalization. We have accepted its lies and myths. When the system is absolutized it captivates our imaginations. In turn, public opinion is bombarded in the media with glowing images of global growth and prosperity. Globalization is actually a new religion hiding in a secular facade. It promotes the worship of a renewed god called globalization with its own promise of abundant life symbolized by the ever flowing industrial products displayed in the mega-malls. It has its own high priests, the financiers, the super-executives and economic planners of the conglomerates. It has its own theologians, the market economic ideologs; its own temples, the mega-malls, the industrial sweatshops, high rise modern offices and executive apartments. It has its own sacrifice on the altar of consumerism and individualism, the poor of the land. A German pastor, speaking at the last General Assembly of the United Evangelical Mission held in Namibia, expressed the same idea in this words: globalized capitalism has its own hidden religious implications: the promise of happiness at any time, of eternal youthfulness and health (biotechnology), of old age without trouble, of lustful choices in the temples of consumerism, of new event-worlds in tourism, shows and sexual entertainment. Even information is infotainment. The centers of financial management resemble former cathedrals and the leading stock indices are gazed at like the eucharistic hosts in the medieval era.21 People succumb to the seduction of instant happiness and deceptive self satisfaction. Just like the wandering people after the Exodus from Egypt, the people are willing to contribute from their hard-earned wages to create a golden calf they can worship. The well advertised products of globalization we find in the mega-malls, in the words of Dr. Levi Oracion, are very likable, alluring, absolutely desirable and you feel miserable without them. They can be little things that you so passionately desire and you do everything to be able to acquire and enjoy them --- a pair of Nike shoes, a Honda Dream motorcycle, a diamond ring with complementary earrings, an IBM computer. --[You] dream about them and [you] work hard to get them. As Dr. Oracion, rightly observes, these little idols give you a very short period of satisfaction for as soon as you acquire them, another idol will lay claim on your desire and devotion. The little idols we possess are of course tied up to bigger one --- Power, Riches, Success.22 Gobalization can re-make human beings after its own image creatures who insatiably pursue power and profit at any cost. For example, globalization tells us that we are citizens of the world. And so our education must be gird towards the new global culture. Prof. Bob Goudzwaard calls this colonization of the consciousness. Aside from the exploitation of our natural resources, our minds and culture are also exploited.23 The late nationalist historian Renato Constatino spoke of the mis-education of the Filipinos. Globalization in the Philippines is the renewed mis-education of the Filipino towards modern technology and global economy. Philippine education is now catering to
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Rev. Wilfred Neusel: At the Turn of the Millenium Let us Keep Firm in the Hope We profess: Theological Presentation on Missionary Perspectives of UEM (One of the papers delivered on the theme of the Assembly of the United Evangelical Mission, Namibia, October, 2000. 22 From a lecture delivered at the 39th Divinity School Church Workers Convocation, Aug. 29-31, 2000 entitled: The New Millenium: Confronting New Idiols and Intensifying our Prophetic Witness, Proceedings of the 39th Church Workers Convocation, pp. 5-6. 23 Prof. Bob Goudzwaard, Concept Paper About the Processus Confessionis, WARC Processus Confessionis Background Papers No. 1, p. 38.

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the visions and propaganda of globalization. School administrators are placing more emphasis on business, science and technology which eventually marginalizes the humanities. Globalization is re-educating people towards a mono-culture of uncritical mass of hyper-consumerists, individualists, and robots, who are losing the sense of family and community spirit. This kind of thinking have condition ordinary people accept without question and debate the so called sound macro-economic policies such as budgetary austerity, deregulation, downsizing and privatization, higher taxes, currency devaluation as sacred words which ensure our economy salvation. Any criticism of these sound macroeconomic policies is considered blasphemous. Even if these policies are causing untold human tragedy or not meeting human needs. In human terms, the following sectors are victimized and marginalized by the process of globalization: 1) The displaced workers, who are victims of factory closures and various downsizing programs taking place across industries in response to the requirements of survival and competition; 2) The small income earners (small family businesses, farmers, fisherfolks, etc) whose real income or purchasing power has been eroded by price increases. 3) The growing army of unemployed and underemployed; 4) The informal sector in the urban center (urban poor) 5) The landless rural poor 6) The indigenous people and cultural minorities; 7) The returning migrant workers such as those coming from Hong Kong and the other crisis-ridden NICs in Asia, and 8) The women workers who have to attend to the requirements of work, home, and family. Some of the worst hit by the crisis are the home workers doing sewing and embroidery under subcontracting. 9) The youth and students whose future, are bleak because of unemployment and deteriorating earth environment. The plain truth is that globalization is monopoly capitalism in disguise. The use of the name, globalization, is meant to: (1) disguise the actual national character of monopoly capital embodied in nationally-based MNCs; (2) cover up imperialisms instrumentalization of Governments; (3) downplay the fierce competition among the centers of monopoly capitalism U.S. Japan, European -- and (4) deodorize an intensified imperialist exploitation of the neo-colonies. Globalization, therefore, is a mythical name by which the present crisis of monopoly capitalism may appear to its victims as the promise of a glorious future. The problem with theses myths is that they dont tell the whole truth, that the goods created by globalization also reproduced human misery. Economic myths distort perception of reality and come to replace the sense of history with a passive submission to some impersonal forces that govern the universe like the invisible hand of the free market. Under the sway of myths people are disposed to live in a false world rather than in the real world. Because our minds and hearts have been blinded human suffering is ignore for the sake of profit through deregulation, downsizing, inter-locking directorate, insider-trading, cronyism, stock market manipulation, and foreign exchange speculation. This situation raises the question of justice. When profit maximization comes into conflict with the value of human life and dignity, economists, technocrats, business leaders, government and labor must choose which value should be given priority- profit or human dignity.

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But does the free market have absolute power over humanity? Is profit-seeking part of the natural order of things? Or is the free market a human construct which can be modified or reconstructed? Or is the market under a higher authority? These are ethical questions! As a theologian Ill draw my answer from the Holy Bible. Seeing how the people, particularly the poor, have suffered the church hears the Lord calling Christians to take a stand on the side of the victims of imperialist globalization. But first, it must remind those who are within the church that betray the truth of the gospel according to the Scriptures and Christian tradition. Some Churches and church leaders have counseled accommodation to globalization. They try to justify it by citing its good side, such as the advantages of technology, medical science, etc. as though these are equal in weight to its bad side. This position may be considered a new heresy for teaching half-truths. Others favor collaboration with agents of globalization, calling it a manifestation of the unfolding of Gods kingdom on earth. This is a new form of idolatry in as much as it comprises the standards of Gods kingdom to make them fit a human enterprise. We need to be reminded that God demands absolute loyalty. Christians cannot be lukewarm. The bible has many stories to tell on the failuire of Gods people to remain faithful. They especially the leaders and priests succumbed to the idolatry of power and money. And globalization is about power and money, the accumulation of wealth. The Biblical faith is deeply suspicious of wealth. According to Ecclesiastes 5:10, He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain; and 1 Timothy 6:10 warns, The love of money is the root of all evils. Money is not regarded as a gift from God or a sign of Gods blessing. Rather, its possession is seen as a great spiritual risk. The Scriptures treat money harshly because its accumulation seems to be an attempt to make oneself independent of God. So serious is the threat money poses that Jesus regarded it not mere passive instrument but as a demonic power. In mammon, money is personalized and competes with God for our absolute loyalty and commitment. Thus Jesus dire warning, You cannot serve God and mammon(Luke 16:13). The biblical concern, of course, is not with currency itself. Currency as an instrument of exchange is neither evil nor demonic. It is accepted that goods be bought and sold, paid for in silver, gold and coin of the realm. Yet the reality is that money loses tie to exchange, to consumption, and becomes a value in itself because it gives the possessor power over the output, and therefore the lives, of others. Money becomes an end in itself. Money becomes more valuable that its user (human beings). Instead of serving people and society, money begins to subjugate and enslaved people and society. Money becomes a false god, an idol. It is the worst temptation of a monetized society like the Philippines. A false god does not liberate humans from the bondage of slavery like the living God in the Exodus who said. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Any system which does not liberate nor meet human needs must be either transformed or abandoned. Therefore, the need for regulation of the market becomes unavoidable in that it clearly does not function equitably. This means, in ethical terms, that it creates injustice. And this unjust character points to the perversity of the mechanism, which needs constantly to be corrected. Of course, those who benefit from the injustice it creates think that the market should be neither controlled nor regulated. They insist that the market should be free. Government interventions to protect the vulnerable sectors are summarily ruled out because they go against the principles of free enterprise. Globalization has become an idol, a false god.

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But to enforce its rules and to protect its interests globalization has a junior partner the State. The State is an instrument ordained by God to serve Gods purpose which is to execute justice, protect the innocent and vulnerable.24 However, today the State or the government authorities demand supremacy and primacy over civilians wellbeing and human rights. This is the ideology of national security. This is evident when matters of justice are sacrificed in order to suppress peoples democratic rights who are considered a threat to the security and integrity of the state. The so-called war on terrorism is an example. In the New Testament, the early Christian confession, Christ is Lord, was at the same time a denial that Caesar Augustus was Lord, hence divine. The first Christians were persecuted precisely because they refused to attribute divinity to the emperor. Only Jesus, the messiah of God was given the glory and honor that belong to God. To the people of the New Testament, no human being had the right to make claims that pertain only to God. The authorities of the Roman Empire regarded them subversive and dangerous because they exposed and resisted the ideology and religion of a divine emperor. Of course, we know as Christians, that the world does not share our faith, that the world cannot be expected to live as Christians should live, but that does not mean there is some line drawn in the sand that determines what Christians cannot ask of the society in which they find themselves. To be prophetic in Philippine society is to be a light to a society covered by the darknest of globalization. Hence, we need the courage and conviction of the early Christians. Today we must have the courage to expose pretentious claim of government that they know everything, what is best for the people and the people should only listen and obey. It is the conviction of the church that no human institution or human being can arrogate to himself that unconditional loyalty and obedience which is consonant only to one's relationship with God. The future of our churches will depend on our capacity to say "no" to these false gods. Today Church pastors and lay leaders must exercise critical judgment on the current policy of the Arroyo government especially her pro-USA policy and pro-IMF-WBWTO stance. Churches must remain vigilant. Churches should neither to be deceived nor seduced by propaganda, promises and fear. God demands fidelity. At the same time, this prophetic stance urges churches to challenge the logic of globalization and to resist the unilateral domination of economic and cultural globalization. World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) 25 calls upon member churches to confess the faith and make their witness in ways that (1) affirm Gods sovereignty over all spheres of life, including the economy; (2) oppose the exclusion of some people, groups or nations from the economy; (3) lead people to care for the natural environment; and finally (4) point to the true function of the economy to serve the wellbeing of all creation. CONCLUSION In conclusion, unmasking by exposing the myths of globalization is the first step towards resisting the evils of capitalist globalization. The struggle against Globalizations is a struggle between truth and lies. Unless and until its unwitting victims are able to see its evil reality, globalization will continue to hunt the innocent and vulnerable like wolves in sheeps clothing. The demystification of the Filipino consciousness is the task of a prophetic Christian theology in the Philippines today. We cannot ignore globalization as a world phenomenon. It uses the God-given
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Victor Aguilan, Political Authority and the Church: The Challenge of the Reformed Political Tradition. SILLIMAN JOURNAL Vol 41. No. 1 January-June 2000 25 WARCs Background Papers, No. 1

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technology for its benefits. With its claim for uniting the peoples of the world, it actually brings about fragmentation, impoverishment and war. As a Christian Community who proclaims the reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ, we must expose its deceptions and lies

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Aguilan, Victor, Globalization: A New Name for an Old Evil Silliman Ministry Magazine no. 66 December 2000 2. _______________, Political Authority and the Church: The Challenge of the Reformed Political Tradition. SILLIMAN JOURNAL Vol 41. No. 1 January-June 2000 3. Anderson, Gerald. "Providence and Politics Behind Protestant Missionary Beginnings in the Philippines," Studies in Philippine Church History, in Anderson, Gerald H., ed., Studies in Philippine Church History (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1969), 4. Blair, Emma & Robertson, James, ed., The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 (55 vols.: Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1903-1909) 5. Clymer, Kenton, Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898-1916: An Inquiry into the American Colonial Mentality. 1986. 6. De Mesa , Jose M. and Lode L. Wostyn, Doing Christology: The Re-appropriation of a Tradition (Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 1989) 7. Francisco, Luzviminda, "The First Vietnam: The US Philippine War of 1899," in L.B. Francisco and J.S. Fast, Conspiracy for Empire (Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1985) . 8. Goudzwaard, Bob, Concept Paper About the Processus Confessionis, WARC Processus Confessionis Background Papers No. 1, 9. Gowing, Peter, Islands under the Cross, (Quezon City: NCCP 1967) 10. John Yoder, Preface to Theology: Christology and Theological Method (Michigan: Brazos Press, 2002) 11. Kwantes, Anne C. Presbyterian Missionaries in the Philippines: Conduits of Social Change (1899-1901) (New Day Publishers, Quezon City: 1989); 12. National Statistics Office (NSO Press Release Number: 2001-30 Date Released: April 20, 2001) 13. National Statistics Office, 1992 14. Neusel, Wilfred: At the Turn of the Millenium Let us Keep Firm in the Hope We profess: Theological Presentation on Missionary Perspectives of UEM a paper delivered on the theme of the Assembly of the United Evangelical Mission, Namibia, October, 2000. 15. Oracion, Levi, : The New Millenium: Confronting New Idiols and Intensifying our Prophetic Witness, Proceedings of the 39th Church Workers Convocation, Divinity School Silliman University Aug. 29-31, 2000 16. Prevost, Jean-Pierre. What is a Prophet? in Michael A. Hayes and Liam Gearon, Contemporary Catholic Theology: A Reader (New York: Continuum Publishing Co. 1999) 17. Rauschenbusch, Walter. Christianity and the Social Crisis (New York. Macmillan, 1910) 18. Schumacher, John S.J., Revolutionary Clergy: The Filipino Clergy and the Nationalist Movement, 1850-1903, (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1981). 19. Sitoy, T.Valentino, The Initial Encounter, (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1985)

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