Epiphanies: Muslim Sees Jesus

Pls allow me to share with you this testimony of a former muslim who is now a tireless worker in Christ together with his wife. This was forwarded to us by a dear friend, a retired engineer, who had migrated to Canada. Both my friend and his wife, a pastor’s daughter, are themselves sweet Christians who have dedicated their lives to the Lord – though they remain childless.

Epiphanies, or “God’s earthly appearances,” as they are technically-known, are increasingly happening in these last days. The ‘last days’ refer of course to the end-times, although I personally do not want to predict when it will end because Jesus taught that “only the Father knows” – unlike some misguided Christians who claim to have secret knowledge of this!

But back to our muslim brother, Nazir Siddiki, who had an epiphany. Let Nazir tell his story in his own words, below.

-Ptr Nene
=================
Muslim sees Jesus in Toronto, Canada

by Geoff Waugh on Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 8:34pm

1. Nasir Siddiki, in “Left to Die.”

By age 34, Nasir Siddiki, a successful businessman, had made his first million, but money meant nothing to him on his deathbed. Diagnosed with the worst case of shingles ever admitted to Toronto General Hospital , his immune system shut down and doctors left him to die.

The next morning I woke in a sterile room on the eighth floor of the hospital, my skin burning as though someone had doused me in gasoline and lit a match. I felt on fire from the inside out.

My doctor arrived and looked at me in wonder. “The blisters are multiplying so fast I can literally watch them grow,” he said. ‘”Your body isn’t fighting back.”

The next morning, in addition to shingles, I had chicken pox from head to toe. I was put in strict isolation. That evening my temperature soared to 107.6 degrees — hot enough to leave my brain permanently scrambled.

For days I continued to deteriorate. My nerve endings became so inflamed that a hair drifting across my skin sent shock waves of fire rippling through my body. By week’s end, I was listed in critical condition.

My Last Hope

In life, I’d been bold, self-confident, a risk taker. But facing death, I was terrified. I had no idea what might await me on the other side. I’d been raised as a Moslem in London , England , and I understood Allah was not a god who heals.

My only hope was in medicine.

I eventually slipped so close to death that the doctors didn’t know I could hear them when they examined me. “His immune system has simply shut down,” one of them said.

“He’s dying,” the other confirmed. “His immune system must be compromised by AIDS.”

I don’t have AIDS! I wanted to shout, but I couldn’t form the words. Then it hit me. He said I’m dying!

The doctors spoke quietly to my co-worker, Anita. “In a few hours he’ll be dead,” they said. “If by some miracle he lives, he’ll probably be blind in his right eye, deaf in his right ear, paralyzed on his right side and he may be severely brain damaged from the high fever.”

Then they left.

They left me here to die! I felt like a drowning man going down for the third time. Gathering my strength I whispered a prayer. “God, if you’re real, don’t let me die!”

In His Presence

During the darkest hour of the night, I woke and saw a man at the foot of my bed. Rays of light emanated from him, allowing me to see his outline. I couldn’t see his face, it was too bright. No one had to tell me, I knew it was Jesus.

The Koran mentions Jesus; Moslems believe He existed, not as the son of God, but as a good man and a prophet. I knew this wasn’t Mohammed. I knew it wasn’t Allah. Jesus was in my room. There was no fear, only peace.

“Why would You come to a Moslem when everyone else has left me to die?” I wondered.
Without words, he spoke to me. “I Am the God of the Christians. I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

That’s all He said. He didn’t mention my illness. He didn’t mention my impending death. As suddenly as He appeared, He was gone.

The next morning, the same two doctors arrived to examine me. “The blisters have stopped growing!”

“We don’t know what happened, but the shingles virus has gone into remission!”

The following day, still in pain and covered with blisters, I was discharged from the hospital with a suitcase full of drugs. “Don’t leave home,” the doctor cautioned. “It will be months before the blisters go away, and when they do you’ll be left with white patches of skin and scars. The pain could last for years.”

Stepping outside into the morning sun, I looked like a cross between a leper and the Elephant Man. When people saw me, they crossed to the other side of the street. However, my mind was not on my looks; my thoughts were on Jesus. There was no doubt in my mind that Jesus’ presence in my room had stopped the shingles virus. Whatever else Jesus may be, I realized that in His presence miracles happened.

That fact left me with one consuming question: Is Jesus the Son of God as the Christians claim, or is He just a prophet as I was taught?

At home that evening, in spite of the drugs, the pain and itching was so severe I almost had to tie my hands. Even so, I fell into a restless sleep wondering about Jesus.

Learning to Live

The next morning, I woke early and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, I froze when I saw the following words across the screen: Is Jesus the Son of God?

I listened intently as two men spent the entire program discussing this topic — answering all of my questions. Before the show went off the air, one of the men led the television audience in a prayer. My body was aflame with pain but I knelt on my living room floor anyway. Tears streaming down my face, I repeated the prayer and invited Jesus into my heart.

Immediately a voracious spiritual hunger sprang up within me. I had to know more about Jesus. In spite of my doctor’s orders to stay inside, the next day I went out and bought a Bible. First I read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Still ravenous, I started in Genesis and read through the Bible during my sleepless nights.

Meanwhile, Anita brought me books and teaching tapes explaining the Gospel. I devoured them while continuing to study the Word of God. As my understanding of faith began to grow, I dug out a picture of how I looked before shingles. I prayed and asked God to make me look that way again.

2. Nasir and Anita Siddiki, in “Jesus, My Healer.”

One week after my discharge from the hospital, I woke and found my pillow covered in blisters. I must have clawed them in my sleep, I thought. I crawled out of bed and stepped into the shower. What had started on my pillow was finished in the shower: Every blister fell off my body!

Instead of being covered with patches of white and scar tissue, my skin was simply red and raw. It slowly healed, returning to its pre-shingles condition. When it did, I not only looked human, I looked like I did before I got sick, except for the scars that I still carry on my chest.

None of the doctor’s dire predictions came true. My eyesight was 20/20. My hearing was normal. My speech was unimpaired. I suffered no brain damage.

My healing was miraculous, swift and complete. I never suffered from lingering pain or any other complication. Not only did I have the worst case of shingles ever admitted to Toronto General Hospital , I also had the most miraculous recovery.

Jesus, the God of the Christians, showed up in the hospital room of a dying Moslem and healed me. But that wasn’t the greatest miracle He performed. The transformation that occurred in my heart was even more dramatic than the one that occurred in my body.

An international teacher and evangelist, Dr. Nasir Siddiki is the founder of Wisdom Ministries (WisdomMinistries.org). He lives in Tulsa , OK with his wife Anita and their two sons.

Google search: nasir siddiki testimony

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nasir-Siddiki/109873459038994?sk=wall

Rightly Acknowledging our Fathers

Rightly Acknowledging our Fathers_S436
By Ildefonso ”Nene” J. Rubrico
23 June 2011

Last Sunday, 19 June 2011, the nation observed the 150th birth anniversary of Dr Jose Rizal, our national hero. This is usually done, as in the past, with our high government officials laying a wreath at the Rizal Monument in the Luneta and at his birthplace in Calamba, Laguna. We also celebrated Father’s Day with the rest of the world, where fathers, grandfathers, and fathers-to-be, were duly-recognized in magazine articles and shopping malls. Some of us were asked to stand up to be acknowledged in our respective churches, and a few were even given token gifts by the children. Pastor John Piper, whose father died in 2006, wrote about his late father in his column “Desiring God,” in July 18, 2007 which Christianity Today reprinted last week.

I now quote from that article entitled 15 Things I Have Learned from My Father, by John Piper. Since my father died on March 6 of last year, I have been looking through his papers. I found a small sheet with the following fifteen counsels, titled “Things I Have Learned.” He didn’t make most of these up. Some of them go back to his college days when he was absorbing the pithy wisdom of Bob Jones Senior. They have again confirmed the obvious: I owe my father more than I can ever remember. The comment after each one is mine.

Things I Have Learned:

1. The right road always leads to the right place; therefore, get on the right road and go as far as you can on it. My father was totally persuaded that wrong means do not lead to right ends. Or, more positively, he was persuaded that living in the right way — that is, doing the right things — are means that inevitably lead to where God wants us to be. This is why he told me, when I asked about God’s leading in my life, “Son, keep the room clean where you are, and in God’s time, the door to the next room will open.”

2. There is only one thing to do about anything; that is the right thing. Do right. This is what one might say to a person perplexed by a difficult situation whose outcome is unknown. The person might say, “I just don’t know what to do about this.” It is not useless to be told: Do the right thing. That may not tell you exactly which good thing to do, but it does clear the air and rule out a few dozen bad ideas.

3. Happiness is not found by looking for it. You stumble over happiness on the road to duty. My, my, my. How was John Piper born from this? I would never say this. The main reason is that the Bible commands us to pursue our joy repeatedly. “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice.” “Delight yourself in the Lord.” I think what he meant was: first, joy is always in something. Joy itself is not the something. So we seek joy in Christ. Not just joy in general. And, second, when duty is hard and we do not feel joy in doing it, we should still do it, and pray that in the doing it the joy would be given. But what we need to make plain is that duty cannot be contrasted with joy, because joy is a biblical duty.
4. The door to success swings on the hinges of opposition. Remarkably, this saying implies that opposition is not just a natural accompaniment or antecedent of success, but that it is a means by which the door opens. One can think of many biblical examples. The opposition of Joseph’s brothers opened the door to his leadership in Egypt. The taxing of the empire opened the door to getting the Messiah born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth, and thus fulfilling prophecy. The betrayal of Judas opened the door to the salvation of the world.
5. God in the right place in my life fixes every other relationship of life (Matthew 6:33). I wonder if this was tucked away in my mind so that unknown to me it controlled my analogy of the solar system to our many-faceted lives. If God is the blazing center of the solar system of our lives, then all the planets will be held in their proper orbit. But if not, everything goes awry.
6. It is never right to get the right thing in the wrong way — like good grades, wealth, power, position. Don’t sacrifice your principles. Again, he hammers away at don’t use bad means for good ends. Be a principled, not a pragmatic, person. O how we need to hear this today. Churches need to be principled, not endlessly adapting to culture. Persons need to make a promise and keep it no matter how much it hurts.
7. It is a sin to do less than your best. It is wrong to do [merely] well. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). But be careful. Sometimes the “best” is a B+ sermon and spending time with your child. In other words, “best” always involves more decisions than the one you are making at the moment. That one means many other things are being left undone. So “best” is always the whole thing, not just the detail of the moment.
8. It is wrong to be yoked to one who refuses the yoke of Christ. Don’t marry an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 7:39). Not all relationships with unbelievers are ruled out. Otherwise we could not obey Jesus’ command to love them and bless them. But “yoke” implies a connectedness that either governs where we go or constrains where they go. And you cannot constrain faith in Jesus. It is free.
9. The part of your character that is deficient is the part that needs attention. This is the counterpoint to the advice: Go with your strengths. There is truth in both. Yes, be encouraged by every evidence of God’s grace in your life, and use your gifts and graces for his glory. But you will become smug and vain if you do not keep your deficiencies before you and work on them.
10. Don’t quit. Finish the job. God can’t use a quitter. Warning: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). Promise: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
11. Anything you do that hinders your progress for God is wrong. O how thankful I am that this was the dominant way my father pressed me to pursue my sanctification. He did not mainly impose lists of don’ts on me, though we had them. And they were clear. Mainly he said: Maximize your progress in knowing and serving God. That ruled out a hundred foolish behaviors, some bad and some uselessly innocent.
12. Beware of any society in which you feel compelled to put a bushel over your testimony. This implies that you can go into a group of people who are evil if you are willing to open your mouth and take a stand for Jesus and righteousness. Nevertheless, 1 Corinthians 15:33 stands: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’”
13. It isn’t enough to be good. Be good for something. The essence of Christianity is not a passionless purity. This is what I have meant in talking about a merely avoidance ethic. Don’t just think of righteousness or holiness in terms of what you avoid, but what you do. As my father said in another place: Don’t be a don’ter; be a doer.
14. Positive living produces negative effect[s]. This is wise counsel that affirmation of the good always implies negation of the bad. If you think you can live your life without negating anything, you have lost touch with reality. “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). You cannot love without hating what hurts the beloved.
15. Learn to be sweetly firm. This was what he said to my mother over the phone when she was exasperated with her one disobedient son: Be sweet and firm. I think she succeeded.
With abiding and deep thankfulness for my father’s wisdom, Pastor John.
We now go to Dr Ray Pritchard, with his A Dad who Did It Right article in CT. Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, in Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 27 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain, Credo, The Healing Power of Forgiveness, An Anchor for the Soul and Why Did This Happen to Me? (http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-ray-pritchard/a-dad-who-did-it- right.html). The assignment seemed simple. Find a biblical father who did it right. Sounds simple but it isn’t because the Bible doesn’t tell us everything we’d like to know. For most of the men of the Bible we’d have to say, “We don’t know whether they were good fathers or not.” But if one criteria of good fatherhood is whether or not your son follows in your footsteps, then I would nominate Asa, King of Judah, as one father who did it right. To begin with, Asa did not grow up in a godly home. His father was a man named Abijah, about whom the Bible says, “he committed all the sins his father had done before him” (1 Kings 15:3). That takes us back to Rehoboam who introduced idolatry into Judah. His father was Solomon, a wise man with a divided heart. So when Asa came onto the scene, he entered as the third generation after his great-grandfather. His father and grandfather had brought evil into the land. Here’s the line so far: Solomon–Divided; Rehoboam–Bad; Abijah–Bad. What will Asa do? Will he follow his father and grandfather or will he be a man with a divide heart like his gread-grandfather Solomon? The answer is neither. The Bible says that he “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done” (1 Kings 15:11). That takes us back four generations to his great-great-grandfather. So here’s the line: David–Good; Solomon–Divided; Rehoboam–Bad; Abijah-Bad; Asa–Good. 1 Kings 15 tells us that Asa cleared out idolatry from Judah because he was fully committed to God. His great legacy to the world was a son named Jehoshaphat. Which way would he go? According to 2 Chronicles 20:32, “He walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them.” I cannot imagine a better compliment. No wonder the last part of the verse says, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” So here’s the line, which now covers six generations: David–Good; Solomon–Divided; Rehoboam–Bad; Abijah-Bad; Asa–Good; Jehoshaphat–Good. The Bible tells us that Jehoshaphat picked up where his father left off. He set up a system of religious instruction throughout the towns and villages of Judah. He commanded the judges to serve “faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.” And when attacked by three different armies, he prayed a magnificent prayer and then sent his army into battle with the male singers at the front. As the men began to sing, the Lord “set ambushes” among the enemy armies causing them to attack each other, leading to a dramatic victory for the men of Judah (2 Chronicles 20). No wonder even the pagan nations began to fear God. And no wonder that Jehoshaphat is remembered as one of the best kings Judah ever had. Perhaps you are the first Christian in your family or the first one in several generations. Are you worried about whether your children will follow you? The best thing a godly father can do for his sons or daughters is to give them an example worth following. By God’s grace, the pattern of sin can be broken and a godly heritage established. Asa did, and so can you.
God bless you. – nr.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish!”Prov 29:18

Isaiah 36-39: Summary and Application

Summary and Application
Isaiah 36-39

The book of Isaiah, Chaps. 36-39 may be outlined as follows:

A. Isaiah 36 – Assyrian Invasion and Peril to Jerusalem
B. Isaiah 37 – Prayer of Hezekiah and God’s Powerful Deliverance
C. Isaiah 38 – Hezekiah Pleads for his Life; God’s Provision
D. Isaiah 39 – Pride of Hezekiah and God’s Prophecy

Introduction

Chapters 39-39 link chapters 1-35 with 40-66. God has fulfilled the various prophecies of Isaiah against Assyria (36-37) and introduces Babylon, the new world power (38-39). The middle chapters 36-39 may be thought of as the “transitional section” of the book which prepares the reader for a shift in world powers. Some scholars think chaps 38-39 should be placed before 36-37 but this is not really crucial. Isaiah’s book points out the fact of Assyria’s decline and the rise of Babylon as the new enemy of Israel.

Chaps 1-39 is addressed primarily to Isaiah’s own generation and mainly focused on God’s defense of Israel and defeat of the Assyrians and the surrounding nations. Ironically, Isaiah devotes these chapters to the failure of God’s people to obey Him, and of His discipline to bring about their obedience. Now, by Chap 40, the people are ready for a word of comfort from God. Why? Because, after persistently sinning against God, Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and exile its people for 70 yrs (586-516 BC) until the temple was rebuilt. So now, beginning in Chap 40, Isaiah comforts the people as he looks into the future as though the exile is almost over. This will be discussed later.

A. Assyrian Invasion and Peril to Jerusalem

In Chap 1-35, God had warned Judah that God was using Assyria to punish Judah for its sins in the same way that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was punished by God for its sins by the self-same Assyria in 721BC, barely 6 yrs into the reign of Hezekiah, by destroying its capital Samaria and exiling the remaining people into Medes (now Southern Iran; see 2Kgs 18:10-12).

Eight yrs later, in 713 BC, it was the turn of Judah. King Sennacherib – fresh from his victories against the Phoenicians, Edomites, Moabites and Philistines – attacked Judah’s 46 fortified cities and took along a huge number of prisoners (about 200,000). Hezekiah quickly stripped off the gold and silver from the temple and offered it to the approaching Assyrians, but Sennacherib would not be mollified: he wanted nothing less than the total surrender of Jerusalem, the capital. Recall that Isaiah had predicted to King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, that rather than delivering Judah from Aram (Syria) and Ephraim ( Northern Israel), it would be Assyria to discipline Judah (Is 7:3-9; 8:7-8); but it itself would be destroyed in turn (10:24-25).

The dialogue between the field commander sent by Sennacherib to negotiate Jerusalem’s surrender and Hezekiah’s representatives is interesting for its secular logic that we modern Christians all too often use in times of crises, like:

- do you think mere words, though you believe they are God’s words, are equal to our military power?(v 4); [ strong secular argument, isn’t it?];

- the nations who rebelled against Assyria had counted on support from Egypt to no avail; no one can help you! (v 6); [local example: will the US come to our rescue in case of a shooting war against China over the Spratlys?];

- Hezekiah’s removal of the pagan “high places” and decreeing that worship of God must only be done in Jerusalem was apparently known to the Assyrians, and they are now using this as an argument that God is punishing Judah for it (v 7); [will Judah fall for this clever “reverse theology” of the Assyrians?];

- if we donate 2,000 horses to you, do you still have enough military power to defeat us?(v 8); [obviously not, but what about the Lord’s power?];

- don’t you know that we have been sent by Yahweh himself to punish you?(v 10); [to the Israelites, this was too close to the truth: God had really sent Assyria to punish them, Isiash 29:1-4! But this is only half-true – the whole truth is that God is ready to rescue them, if they ask for it!!];

- don’t you know that Hezekiah is just deceiving you by allowing you to think Yahweh will rescue you? (v 14-15); [in a crisis, it’s easy to doubt the word of your leader; how can we avoid this? what about God’s word?];

- can you believe us when we say you will be treated well if you surrender? That there will be plenty of bread and wine where we are going to resettle you? (vv 16-17); [“the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” or, in other words, how were they actually treating those nations that they had conquered? If the Israelites can believe the sweet words of Assyria, is there any reason why they can’t believe the word of their prophet Isaiah and godly king Hezekiah? Where do we put our priorities?]; and finally….

- if the gods of the other nations were not able to help them, can Yahweh fare any better? (vv18-20); [what do you think, honestly?].

We end this section by saying that, in life, we meet many insolent and godless people like that Assyrian commander. The bible says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7).

B. Prayer of Hezekiah and God’s Powerful Deliverance

In humility, Hezekiah seeks Isaiah’s spiritual counsel. He was a “nabi,” God’s spokesman, who could reveal God’s word for direction, self-examination, and transformation through a crisis. Are there still “nabis” today? I believe there are, as long as one humbly seeks them out.

Back to Hezekiah, who demonstrates an extreme example of humility by tearing his clothes and putting on a sackcloth (‘sako’), going into the divine presence of God in the temple and offering sacrifice of atonement. Isaiah’s counsel was not to be afraid because the Assyrian blasphemy came from “underlings” (meaning, not worth it!). Nevertheless, God’s help came in sudden waves: first He caused Libnah to fight again, plus a rumor that the Egypt was moving to aid Judah, distracting Sennacherib further. He sends Hezekiah a threatening letter which Hezekiah spreads out before the Lord at the temple and saying a model prayer, thus: praise and adoration to the Lord Almighty, followed by the specifics by which Sennacherib insulted God, and finally petitioning Him to deliver Judah from Sennacherib so that “they may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (37:20).

How are we to pray in times of great distress?Do we spread out our distress to the Lord?

Although God’s reply to Hezekiah is similar to Isaiah 13-23, the repetition is now historically located in 37, and it was also important for Hezekiah to pray. God carries out his great purpose upon the instance of people in prayer. God’s assurance to Hezekiah is given in a poetic song wherein the “Virgin Daughter of Zion” and “Daughter of Jerusalem” mocks the King of Assyria for his pride against “the Holy One of Israel.” Because of his rage and insolence, God will put a hook in his nose..a bit in his mouth.. and make him return the way he came (v 29)!

The offshoot of Hezekiah’s prayer and Isaiah’s song was that the Angel of the Lord came into the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 of them in a single night! Sennacherib became pretty much discouraged after that and returned to Nineveh, never to venture out again. Later we are told his two sons assassinated him while he was praying to his god in the temple. Truly, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord!”

Isaiah likens Sennacherib and his army to grass that has shallow roots and dies when the sun is up (v 27). In v 30, Hezekiah gets a 3-yr sign that Assyria’s days are over, with the preservation of a “remnant” (vv 4, 32) which would repopulate the land once more.

C. Hezekiah Pleads for his Life; God’s Provision

In this chapter, Hezekiah faces certain death from an unknown illness, as warned about by Isaiah. He greets this news with bitterness and despair: he had instituted religious reforms in the land; he built the 46 fortified cities and the famous Hezekiah’s Well which archaeologists have recently discovered; what’s more, he had no heir to the throne, since his son Manasseh would not born until after 3 yrs later (2Kgs 21:1). After reminding the Lord of what he had done, the Lord relents and promises through Isaiah to grant him an additional 15 yrs of life (v 5). And the Lord also promises future deliverance from the king of Assyria (v 6), indicating that this incident happened before the invasion of Sennacherib in Chap 36.

In any case, the Lord changes His mind and allows Hezekiah to live and to save Jerusalem. When we are sincere in our pleas before God, we may – like Hezekiah (with tears, even) – bargain with God. He is a merciful God. Hezekiah’s thanksgiving song contains many images of death (taking down a tent, etc) and talks about its suddenness. He acknowledges the benefits of the experience with a vow for further reform (2Chron 29:30).
How do we react when God shows us great favour – like extending our life?

D. Pride of Hezekiah and God’s Prophecy

Following Hezekiah’s recovery, Babylon’s king sends a delegation to congratulate him. Puffed up with pride (alas!) Hezekiah overreacts and shows everything he had in his kingdom – intelligence information that they could later use against Judah (2Chron 32:27-29). About a 128 yrs later, Babylon did invade Judah in 605BC and carried off Daniel and others, the first wave of 3 invasions. When chided by Isaiah for his indiscretion, Hezekiah replies that it was “good” because by then, he would die in peace. Scholars have debated his answer but in the end it is only God who knows his heart.
In the next chapter that we will take up next, chap 40, Isaiah is addressing it to a future people of Judah who will be carried off into captivity and who will need to be comforted during that long and difficult period.

Conclusion

Here are some more life applications/questions to ponder about in Isaiah 36-36:

1. Are you hearing insults from the secular world against God’s sovereignty and power? How should you respond?

2. We should praise and thank God for his faithfulness and answers to our prayers. Is this on option for believers?

3. Hezekiah’s prayer for God’s intervention versus the Assyrian threat is said to be a model. Are we using this for our own prayers? Why? Why not?

4. Do we believe that God can (and does) answer prayers? Should we ask him to heal us (or our loved ones) of our sickness? Do we dare ask God for an extension of our life? Can we do a “trade-off” as Hezekiah can claim? What about asking for a sign from God (like the shadow moving backwards)? Has anything like this ever happened to you?

5. We are to depend always on God’s provisions. Are we being distracted by our desires, ambitions, or admiration for others, that we are drawn away from God’s wisdom and grace?

Prepared by:

Ptr. Nene Rubrico
10 Sept. 2011

Part 2: Is There a Historical Adam?

From: Fundamentalist. June 11, 2011 9:23pm.
To: nene rubrico, the Adam issue is irrelevant if you don’t mind your faith being totally irrational. The incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ make no sense unless God created man good. That requires mankind to be without sin. Death is a result of sin. If god evolved man from animals using massive death, then mankind was not without sin. God created man as a sinner; God becomes the author of sin, not man. And as Paul makes clear, one man can atone for the whole race only if the whole race descended from one man. Many Christians prefer their theology to be irrational; somehow they think greater irrationality equates to greater spirituality. But some of us like our theology to be rational because God is rational. Rational theology requires that Adam be a single person and the first human and that he be created without sin and death. Otherwise, Christ’s coming is irrational.

Reply to Fundamentalist June 13, 2011:
Pls don’t jump to the conclusion that I’m one of those “irrational Christians” you labelled , just because I explored the four “evolutionary” theories to their logical (but, yes, irrational) conclusion. Remember, I offered a “Fifth theory,” the Genesis account of man’s creation? Did you miss that?

There is no “theological irrationality” here, not even an attempt to be of “greater spirituality” than others – except as one is able “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1Pet 3:15a) of course, with gentleness, respect and with a clear conscience (v. 15b) – which we are trying to do. If it is your unshakeable belief that Adam was a single person, you and others (like myself) are biblically correct. But, precisely, the CT article has sounded the alarum that science is forcing a reinterpretation of Scriptures, using – mind you – secular findings. How do we meet that challenge, and any other in the near future? Now, use your logic!

Is There A Historical Adam?

Is there a Historical Adam?

by nene rubrico, 10 June 2011

Note: There is now an ongoing debate in scientific and religious circles about the existence of Adam, the biblical first man whom the Lord God created on the 6th Day of Creation. Adam’s presumed historicity is being questioned in the light of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Others,while believing in Adam per se, nevertheless ask why there is so much genetic diversity among people today (eg. between Asians, Africans and Caucasians, etc) IF – as the Bible teaches – we all descended originally from just two people, viz, Adam and Eve. In the heat of the debate, some have forgotten that the origins of mankind (history-wise) actually started – not with Adam, but with Noah and his family who survived the Flood: 8 people in all. This is my position in the debate (sponsored by christianitytoday.com). The following are my posts thereat which I have reproduced for Navigators, and some relevant replies from other readers, to wit:

1. Nenerubrico, June 10, 2011: As I see it, mankind’s genetic clock should necessarily begin with Noah’s post-deluge time, not Adam’s. The closest narrative of the Flood is still the Bible, and science – lacking any hard evidence to the contrary – must hew along scriptural lines. Noah had 3 sons whom he begat when he was 500 yrs old, and afterwards after the Flood he lived 450 more yrs and had more children. It was his sons, in fact – long-lived like Noah – who founded the table of nations that we know today (see Gen 10), especially as they were forcibly dispersed after building the Babel Tower when their tongues were confused (Gen 11). So, regardless of which theory is adopted – young earth, old earth, intelligent design and theistic evolution – Noah (not Adam) becomes the paramount historical figure to deal with.

2. From Clarke Coleman: nene rubrico: At the time of Noah, his sons’ wives were not descended from him and had genetic diversity from who knows what lineage over the generations. So, tracing human diversity backwards would not stop at the time of Noah. Noah is not like Adam in this respect.

3. Nenerubrico (reply in 5 parts): Clark coleman: Speculating on the genetic makeup of Noah’s three daughters-in-law would appear to be a lost cause, since (again, hewing on scriptural lines) their lineage would have been wiped clean by the Flood, right? I can agree with you on the question: “Where did they come from?”The only clear lineage we have to start with is Noah himself and his three sons, since they are only ten and eleven generations directly removed respectively from the “historical” Adam – however one defines ‘Adam,’ a single individual or corporate persona. And, carrying the argument further, we should not even include Adam himself in this secular (scientific?) debate because he is an “indeterminate” person. Of course, to those who believe in the literal, biblical Adam in the first instance, this poses no problem. But the whole idea of a ‘lost, historical Adam’ was started by Venema and Company in the first place, so let’s start from there.

4. Nenerubrico, reply#1: (1) the “Young Earth” theory of 6000 years will definitely favour a single Adam or a single Noah, so there’s no debate there. Kindly work out the mathematical permutations and see if you can arrive at 6 billion people today. Throw in weather, diet, human adaptability for genetic diversity.
5. NR#2: Let’s move on to, (2) “Intelligent Design” theory. Now, a super-intelligent Being (God) will not even attempt to complicate his work: why make several ‘Adams’ if one ‘Adam’ will do? Why create several Noahs when one will do? That’s a no-brainer for Intelligent Designer.

6. NR#3:Okay, theory number 3 is (3) “Old Earth.” Aha! The traditional, long evolutionary path of the earth and mankind’s late appearance some 200,000 years ago will certainly give rise to several, contradicting scenarios. Was man originally a hominid and gradually evolved into a human being? How does the genetic makeup of man differ from that of a chimpanzee, its closest genome relative? Is man still evolving? At what rate? In which direction? Now, in this theory, since we are dealing with large numbers and Darwinian evolution speaks of almost unlimited eons to time, we can very well say the chances that Adam was a single person has the same probability as if there were several of him/them, right? If there were several Adams, there would be several Noahs, right? But which one?

7. NR#4:We now go to Theory No. 4, (4) “Theistic Evolution.” When I was in high school a long time ago, my Jesuit biology teacher declared that God was in control of the evolutionary process, so not to worry. How was Adam created? Simple. Just endow him with a soul but let him work through the evolutionary, natural process. Thus a Cro-Magnum hominid could very well become a human being by God’s power. What nature can’t do, God may do!

8. NR#5: (5) Finally, there’s Theory No. 5, the “Genesis Account of Adam.” But then that’s too obvious and well-known, isn’t it?

At this point, can you agree with me that the issue of a single Adam or multiple Adams is irrelevant? Can you agree with me that we should let Vemena and Co. work on their pet theories first before challenging the Bible account of Adam and Eve?

Peace!!

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