Adrian Bates talks to Graham and Tui Cruickshank about the knowledge of the one true God—preserved for millennia in Polynesian culture.
Since all people groups come from Noah and his family, it should be no surprise that most have memories of the one true Creator God. The Maori people of New Zealand are no exception. Their traditions speak of such a God they call “Io Matua Kore” (Io the Parentless). Graham Cruickshank and his wife Tui, a dynamic couple, have found that this ancient tradition has been most significant in their Christian outreach to the Maori and their Pacific island relatives, much like Paul’s teaching of the “unknown God” to the Athenians on Mars Hill (Acts 17).
New Zealand Maoris retain knowledge of the Creator, Io, Who has the same attributes as the LORD God of the Bible. This knowledge pre-dates any missionary influence.
New Zealand Maoris retain knowledge of the Creator, Io, Who has the same attributes as the LORD God of the Bible. This knowledge pre-dates any missionary influence.
It was from their outreach experience that Graham and Tui came upon the significance of the Io knowledge to the Maori people and the Hebrew Scriptures. This knowledge had travelled with the ancestors of the Maori in their odyssey from the Middle East across the planet all the way to Hawaii and from there to New Zealand—to the ends of the earth.
