Three, Big Fat Assumptions pt 3

Now for the last of those three, big fat assumptions. And I do believe it is the biggest and fattest of the three. The atheist or humanist assumes that God cannot reveal Himself personally to an individual. This goes beyond both having the moral law written on the conscience or knowing basic Biblical facts. Yet, if I may say so, if there is a God, particularly One like the Christians claim, then it is indeed a big stretch to assume that He doesn't reveal Himself to people. This is the weakest argument in Charles Templeton's hypothesis.

There are so many stories to corroborate the fact that God does reveal Himself, that I scarcely know where to begin. But there are two that stand out foremost in my mind. One of which I will tell, one of which I will let technology tell for me.

The first tale is about a man named Jimmy, a coal miner in Yorkshire. Now, I grant you that Yorkshire isn't exactly pagan, nor or the Yorkshire folk ignorant heathen, but just the same it does make an interesting point. During my teens, I had a marvelous pastor, Pastor Brian, himself a Yorkshireman. Pastor Brian had a friend, who I will call Tommy for the simple reason I have forgotten the dear man's name, though I saw Tommy on two separate occasions and heard him tell this story with my own ears. I must go on record to say that both Pastor Brian and Tommy are still alive, if you really would like to verify this story, and I assure you, furthermore, that these fine men are anything but flakes..., or liars.

Tommy was a coal miner before he too joined his friend, Brian, as a pastor. He became a Christian as a teenager, and was full of zeal to tell people all about the wonderful Jesus he had found. Of course, most of the people whom Tommy knew were his coal mining workmates. He began to witness to all of them with great enthusiasm, including his boss, Jim. Jim wasn't impressed. And Jim, who was a rough, hard-living, hard-drinking man, promptly proceeded to mock and belittle Tommy every chance he got. In fact, he made Tommy's life downright miserable. Naturally, Tommy being young in the faith didn't always have a brilliant, theological come-back for Jim's smart remarks.

Finally, one day, when Jim was being particularly difficult, Tommy, as a last resort, said to Jim, "Jim, if you just knew how much Jesus loves you!"

To his amazement, tears came to Jim's eyes, "I know, Tommy, I know."

"How do you know?!" was Tommy's shocked response.

And Jim told Tommy how, when he had been a teenager himself, he had become very ill. So ill, in fact, that all the village biddies (old women) had gathered at the cottage with Jim's mother and were waiting for Jim to snuff it. (pronounced "snoof" it, in good, broad Yorkshire) When Jim was at his lowest point, Jesus came and stood at the foot of Jim's bed.

"And He loved me so much, Tommy," Jim said, with tears rolling down his cheeks, "I've never forgotten it."

Jesus healed Jim then and there, and Jim walked out of his room fit as fiddle to the consternation of the old biddies who were waiting for him to snuff it. I'm also happy to say that Tommy did have the incredible privilege of leading Jim back the Jesus he had left behind.

What strikes me as singular about that story is who would ever suspect that old rascal of a coal miner would have had such an experience? Certainly not Charles Templeton or his ilk.

You may recall that in the first of these three installments, I mentioned that Mr. Templeton had theorized that if you were born in an Arabic country it was likely that you would be a Muslim, and that a Muslim can't be blamed for what he is because of his culture. Very well. But don't assume that Jesus doesn't reveal Himself to Muslims. In fact, some have speculated, and not without good reason, that Muslims might be providing the most converts to Christianity. Wikiislam has actually stated that the number of converts from Islam to Christianity is so high and so large and so frequent that it is impossible to tabulate proper statistics. What is more curious about this phenomenon is that it is guesstimated that roughly 90% of these conversions are the direct result of dreams and visions of Jesus. A perusal of the 'net will turn up dozens of these stories. I strongly urge you to check out youtube for just such testimonies. To conclude this series of blogs, I am going to leave you with two links to the amazing, wonderful and glorious story of an Iranian man named Afshin. I trust it will bless you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYgLFm0CQGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMZDO22sfs

'Til next time. Peace out.
Pastor Chelle