I was intrigued, recently, reading a Travel Leisure magazine article by Aatish Taseer, about his encounter with a man on an airplane to Kigali, Rwanda. Taseer shared how, mid-flight, a Uganda-based pastor from Oklahoma rose and began an unsolicited “lecture” on the love of Jesus.
The pastor had said, “He loved us so much that he died for us… but, he didn’t stay dead!” At that point, the cabin became very silent, and from what Taseer called “the gloom,” a lone voice was heard saying…“How do you know?”
A young woman “with light brown skin and high cheekbones,” Taseer wrote, was staring intently at the pastor, who replied to her, “Oh, I know! I’ve been a pastor for thirty years!” At that point, wrote Taseer, the girl rolled her eyes, and Taseer laughed. It seems they agreed that the pastor was foolish, and didn’t know what he was saying.
What fascinated me, was that Taseer found it humorous that someone would stand up and make such a bold statement, risking humiliation by others. Apparently, neither Taseer, nor the woman, considered whether the statement was actually true. Had the pastor said the plane was on fire, surely Taseer and the woman would have considered that statement; without so much as a grin.
I’m not sure why the color of the woman’s skin seemed important to Taseer’s story, or why he thought the pastor was “lecturing” everyone. He seemed sure the silence on the plane was from “gloom,” when it just might have been, others were considering the truth of the pastor’s so-called “lecture.”
But, let’s CONSIDER the question asked by the light brown-skinned woman in Taseer’s story…
“How do you know?”
Moses from Nigeria, Africa | Evangelist
Several years ago, I came to know an evangelist from Nigeria, named Moses C. Onwubiko, and was on his ministry board for a brief time, when he decided to go full-time with his ministry. Moses had moved from Nigeria, Africa to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue his lifelong ambition of becoming a neurosurgeon.
However, after a few years of school, he felt that God was calling him to a ministry of delivering the Gospel of Jesus to his native country and, in fact, to the entire world. Moses has now written many books and travels the world with the same message as the pastor in Aatish Taseer’s story.
From Witch Doctor to Minister of Jesus
A while back, my wife and I invited Moses and his wife to dinner at our home in Tennessee. My three grown sons were also invited then, as I wanted them to hear Moses’ amazing testimony—from the beginning of his encounter with the Gospel of Jesus, to the present.
Moses C. Onwubiko – His Story
Moses grew up in a small village in Nigeria where his father spent years pressing him to become the Witch Doctor for their tribe. Moses shared with us that, at that time, he was a very angry young man with a lot of issues. He had thirteen siblings, all living in a mud hut with tin roofing, and life was hard.
One day a small group of missionaries came to his village to share the Gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ—with his tribe. The missionaries told the Gospel story in simple terms; about a man Moses had never heard of, dying on a Roman cross in Israel two thousand years ago; to save young Moses and to give him eternal life.
Moses told us, “I KNEW that was the truth!”
“HOW did you know it was the truth?” I asked, thinking, “How did a young boy from the middle of nowhere, with little education at that time, grasp the concept of the Gospel—moreover, INSTANTLY?
Is that possible?”
Personally, I had understood the Gospel at a very early age, as I was taught from infancy about the man name Jesus, the Christ; foretold in ancient Jewish history. In fact, for full disclosure, my father was a Christian evangelist, pastor and teacher, and I had heard the Gospel more often than about anybody.
On the other hand, Moses from Nigeria was never taught about Jesus, although somewhere in his country there was some religious influence. After all, his name is Moses, a name right out of the Bible.
Recognizing Truth
Moses said, “Back then, I couldn’t tell you HOW I knew, but somewhere deep inside, I just knew IT! Regardless of everything I had heard in my life, I just KNEW, what these missionaries were saying was the TRUTH! ‘A man died on a cross to save you from your sins,’ they said, ‘He loved you that much!’”
Moses recounted during dinner that his life had changed after receiving and believing the Gospel; so drastically, that even his father noticed the transformation in Moses’ behavior. During this period, a door opened for Moses to attend a Christian school, which led him to college in America. Another great story!
I asked Moses if the missionaries had spoken in his native language. He said, due to colonialism, everyone in his tribe and all over Nigeria spoke English. Moses contended that colonialism was a good thing for his country, because prior to the English coming, every tribe spoke a different language. In fact, there were thousands of different languages and dialects. So, communicating was hard, leading to tribal misunderstandings and isolation. His people couldn’t understand or really communicate with a tribe very close to his, until both tribes learned English, Moses said. “English opened a new world to us!”
I never knew that. All things really can work together for good!
How Do You Know Without Knowing?
Consider this concept about knowing a truth, when hearing it for the FIRST time…
Imagine building a computer and programming it to respond to human voice. So, when it receives or hears a voice, the computer responds with an action of some kind. In other words, you personally input into your computer’s database an algorithm of CODE. The database is the inward part of the computer that enables it to function according to data input.
When someone speaks a certain predetermined phase, the computer activates, lights up, and says, “Hi, my name is Cecil Computer, I want to be your friend.” In today’s world of technology, programming a computer to respond to a voice is elementary.
Please keep this programmed computer in mind as you continue reading.
Ancient Code | From Here to Eternity
Did you know that in an ancient book titled “Romans,” it says EVERYONE KNOWS there is a God?
The Book of Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 19 through 21 says: “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, for although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
In Romans 2:14-15, Paul wrote, “….for when those who do not HAVE (know) the law, do by nature the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves who show the work of the law WRITTEN IN THEIR HEARTS, their CONSCIENCE [innermost being] also BEARING WITNESS, and between themselves their [own] thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”
I think we can agree that, when we say we have something on our HEART to share, it doesn’t mean the literal heart organ in our body. But, I contend that the CREATOR of humanity wrote CODE (His message, if you will) on our innermost being; and that, therefore, we respond to certain phrases, parables, stories when we hear them. Moreover, no matter the language—or even if a predetermined phrase is poorly stated—we UNDERSTAND, even though we’ve NEVER heard that story before.
Most importantly, we must consider that humans have FREE WILL to reject the coded message, unlike the computer, a non-considering robot of sorts.
Consider Statements in Other Ancient Jewish Books
“Yet God has made everything beautiful [ready] in its own TIME. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” [Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, Verse 11]
“The HEAVENS [the universe] declares the glory of God, and their expanse shows the work of His hands [creation]. Day after day pours forth SPEECH [the things you see]; night after night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard, YET their message has gone out through all the earth [to humanity], and their words to the end of the world.” [Book of Psalm, Chapter 19, Verses 1-4]
The Highly-Educated Reject Fairy-tales
It is a common belief in today’s well-read society that those who are well-educated intellectuals, don’t believe in “Fairytales.” Neither do I.
Therefore, consider the following statements by two well-known, highly-educated men:
“To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, ‘I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge’.”— Ravi Zacharias
“Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.” — C.S. Lewis
The Christ | A Jewish and Christian Fairytale?
I have studied the Bible for more than thirty years, and read many books written by some very knowledgeable Christian professionals on the subject. These writings come from lawyers, doctors, business people, scientists, mathematicians, biologists, and physicists, to mention a few—ALL who believe the biblical account of Jesus the Christ is true.
However, I realize that just because a lot of educated people say something is true, doesn’t make it true. To be sure, there IS indisputable evidence to consider, for those who are open-minded. In fact, the Christian professionals I just mentioned are also aware of this evidence.
A Book for The Future
If I wrote a book that stated, “In 500 years, a male child will be born,” then I give you his name, his lineage, his birthplace, and exactly when and how he is going to die, what would be the odds of this happening?
Moreover, if I predicted how and where he was to be buried—NOW what would the odds be?
BUT, THERE’S MORE! If I wrote four hundred other predictions about this male child, what would be the mathematical odds of them ALL coming true?
Now How About These Crazy Odds?
In Ancient Jewish Books, there are over 400 prophecies pertaining to a future person, that were ALL fulfilled in the life of Jesus the Christ, from a small town called Nazareth. Mind you, these were written 500 to 1,000 years and more, before Jesus was born. Nazareth is still in existence today in Israel.
Science and mathematics professor Peter Stoner estimates a reasonable probability of one person fulfilling just EIGHT of the 400-plus predictions, at ONE-chance-in-10, to the 17th power. The number looks like this: 100,000,000,000,000,000. Remember, that’s if only EIGHT predictions came true.
Stoner stated, “If you took that many silver dollars and covered the state of Texas two feet deep and marked JUST ONE of the coins in the pile—what chance would a blindfolded man have of picking the right coin on his first attempt? It would be the same odds as me or an ancient prophet writing eight exact predictions and having them ALL come true in any one man…” (Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks, Moody Press, p. 107).
Remember, these odds of only eight things coming to pass does NOT account for the other 400-plus prophecies, fulfilled in the person of Jesus the Christ!
Still Don’t Believe It?
This still may not convince someone; however, I believe any thinking person, should at least CONSIDER the enormous odds!
Considering the mathematical statistics—how could any educated person laugh at someone (like the pastor in Taseer’s story or Moses Onwubiko), who believe this man named Jesus died on a Roman cross for those who accept his sacrifice? Moreover, they believe that Jesus will give them an eternal life of peace and unimaginable happiness.
Many people are willing to believe there is life on distant planets, due to the vast number of planets claimed by mathematicians to be in existence, although we have never seen all of them. They say things like, “The odds are too overwhelming for there not to be life out there!”
The Bible | Too Wild to Believe?
After studying the Bible, cover-to-cover, for 30-plus years, I’ve concluded that it would be humanly impossible to make up the story of Jesus the Christ, and have ANYONE believe it—unless this book of mind-boggling accounts is TRUE.
The Bible was written over a period of 1,400 years, some say 2,000 years, by 40 different authors, and yet the story of the Christ threads it together with jaw-dropping accuracy, from beginning to end.
In fact, NOWHERE in History do non-fiction works make these many claims beyond human ability, other than the compiled writings of the Old and New Testaments, known as The Bible.
Think of it—an historical account (c. 33AD) of a man declaring himself to be the Creator of the Universe, who went about performing creation miracles in the presence of more than 5,000 people at a time. The writings claim he raised a man from the dead, as witnessed by hundreds of people, many of whom were very influential in the city of Jerusalem. Multitudes followed him, seeing him heal hundreds of sick and afflicted people at a time, and raising others back to life.
When reading about the fantastic things this man called Jesus the Christ (Messiah) was reported to have done—arguably, it’s totally beyond ANY human reason that it could happen.
It’s that WILD!
The Bible states, in clear and certain terms, that Jesus healed EVERY disease in ENTIRE towns. It really claims that!
Imagine, if I told you I knew someone who went to a hospital and totally healed every person in that hospital. In fact, I would say, “they restored cut-off arms and legs, and even healed the paralyzed.” Would you believe me?
I’m certain I would NOT believe you, if you told me something that fantastic. I would think someone was crazy to tell or believe such a wild story. Even given today’s medical technology, this would still have to be a preposterous “fairy tale.” Right?
Telling a More Believable Story
If I were going to make up a story about a god or fictional character, and expect people to believe me, I certainly wouldn’t claim things that were beyond ANY reasonable belief, that people were able to factually repudiate.
Therefore, MY story would not give specific locations and times for any “miracle” claims, because I would quickly be found a fool and a liar. To make this (made up) story more believable and palatable, I might write about someone, for example, who had a VISION, or who talked to an angel, and the angel told the person he was a prophet with a special mission. I would simply tell vague things you couldn’t check out, or calculate the odds of them happening.
I would certainly NOT spin a yarn, for example; about how “a man named Frank Brown who went to the town of Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1998, visited the local hospital, and healed every person there!” Whereas, people living in Bogalusa or working at the hospital there, could discredit within hours!
Throughout history, there have been MANY charlatans (A fake), charismatic individuals who have convinced whole groups of people to do strange things; getting them to follow cultic or occult practices for years, based on the vaguest account of deity, claiming special powers or revelations.
On the other hand, when eyewitnesses told or wrote about the miracles Jesus performed, hundreds, even thousands of people, corroborated the stories. Those accounts have held true for over 2,000 years.
Who Would Die for an Obvious Lie?
CONSIDER… would ANYONE, much less hundreds of people living in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1998, be willing to LIE, even DIE, to continue a fantastical story told about those Frank Brown “miracles”?
Possibly, you could indoctrinate a child with those stories; or fool others living on the other side of the world, that couldn’t check out the story.
However, you wouldn’t expect any sane person LIVING in Bogalusa at the very time of the John Brown story, to fall for such an outlandish tale; much less, suffer death for the lie to continue.
Known – Places, People, & Times
The truth is, something very different happened, regarding the stories about Jesus. The creation miracles of Jesus were recorded in writing in the SAME ERA they occurred. And most of the witnesses were still alive and living in well-known towns in Isreal, at the very time of the recorded writings.
Everyone would have debunked these miracle stories, had they not actually happened. In addition, these miraculous stories would have ended abruptly, and we would never have heard the stories of Jesus. But, they didn’t end. In fact, it was only the beginning, and the stories spread like wild fire!
From Cowards to Bold Proclaimers | More Evidence
It is written, that certain followers of Jesus fled for their lives and hid, when Jesus was arrested and condemned to die. You see, although many of Jesus’ followers were not willing to die for their belief then, even after seeing thousands of miracles; they and countless others would later testify that something strange occurred to change all that.
When Jesus told his followers, he would rise from the dead after three days, many of them did not believe him. However, WHEN these very close followers, along with over 500 others, saw him alive again—including his mother and brothers—they ALL believed with a new boldness.
In fact, the same followers who ran for their lives earlier, were now willing to die when they saw Jesus the Christ alive after his Roman crucifixion.
Why Die? | Why Not Simply Deny?
The new boldness of Jesus’ followers came after seeing physical evidence of Jesus in the flesh; risen from the dead, just as he foretold he would. They now believed without a shred of doubt that they also would rise from the dead, because Jesus had promised that.
They understood, life on earth is temporary, but the life Jesus told his followers and thousands of others about would be eternal. In fact, the writings record they touched the eternal, post-resurrection body of Christ, and spoke to him face-to-face. Jesus assured them, the Spirit of God would enter them with power, making them BOLD enough to die for things they witnessed.
In conclusion, ALL but one of Jesus’ very close followers were executed (martyred), because they would not deny what they witnessed. The one close follower NOT executed, died at an old age, after his exile by Rome to the island of Patmos, where he wrote about Jesus the Christ for the rest of his life.
Even if you still don’t believe the accounts in the Bible are true, you might respect that many people over the centuries have laid down their lives to keep this ancient book from being destroyed, so you could read and CONSIDER it.
Freedom to Speak and Pursue Happiness
The Bible is the extraordinary book the founders of the United States of America used to model its government, and proclaim freedom endowed by their Creator, to King George of England and others. These freedoms are still in effect today in America. More importantly, this newfound freedom spread around the world for the first time in human history.
Even the freedom of Aatish Taseer to laugh at another’s faith and to fly around the world writing about the beautiful vacation spots he apparently, freely explores!
For all who believe, at least, in freedom of speech—before laughing or rolling the eyes over something so thought-provoking as, “He loved us so much that he died for us… but, He didn’t stay dead!”…
CONSIDER…
Maybe the pastor did know!
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