Did You Know??

THAT PAUL WAS AN APOSTLE EXTRAORDINARY?
Many scholars tie the New Testament of the Holy Bible into two neat bundles: the four Gospel narratives of the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the history of the churches that emerged after His death, burial and glorious resurrection. Beautifully connecting these two sections is the book of ACTS, a record of the early church of His apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. ACTS is a most graphic account of the transition of a “sect of the Nazarenesinto a global movement.

The first seven chapters of ACTS mirrored the life of the young church in Jerusalem, while its existence in Judea and Samaria is x-rayed in the next five chapters. The miracle that the gospel became in the Roman Empire is laid bare in the other pages of ACTS, fulfilling the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that “I will build my church” and “you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” – MT. 16:18; ACTS 1:8 [NIV}.

Respected Christian writer J.B. Phillips after 14 years translating the New Testament agreed that “the early church lived dangerously, but never before has such a handful of people exerted such worldwide influence …. To put it shortly, the lasting excitement which follows the reading of the book is this: the thing works!” The Holy Spirit is seen in 57 events in this marvelous book, which is the window into epistles like Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. By the hand of Paul the Apostle, the Holy Spirit authored these 14 books.

In the life of the church of Jesus Christ, unbelievable but astonishing conversions have been recorded and will yet be seen. The Good News transforms murderers, rapists, terrorists, homosexuals, liars, drunkards, smokers, thieves, prostitutes, armed robbers, racists, chauvinists, atheists, haters of parents, molesters of children, purveyors of indecency, cultists, Satanists, rebels against righteous authorities, gangsters, insolent, slanderous God haters, the fearful and doubtful, false but zealous religionists and other sinners. The growth and re-branding of the church partly rests on these transformed saints of the living God. The most miraculous all-time conversion concerns Saul of Tarsus, a former Pharisee cum persecutor par excellence later renamed Paul. First announced supervising the murder of Stephen {ACTS 8:1; 22:3-21}, he waged a huge gruesome war against the young faith until he was miraculously arrested by the Lord Jesus in about A.D. 34 – ACTS 9:1-9. Hardened, committed Christians who suffered greatly under his killing ministry couldn’t believe his conversion at first – ACTS 9:21.Gloriously, Paul later became the most effective missionary for the Lord Jesus. Born of Jewish parents who were Roman citizens in Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia, the name Paul means “little.” Of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the 8th day, he was a great doctor of the Law of Moses.

Paul’s astonishing career explains how a nondescript Jewish sect is today, the world’s largest Gentile faith and still proud of its Jewish heritage – ACTS 13:46; 18:6; 19:9; ROM. 9:1-5. Christianity and Christians owe a lot to the doggedness of this amazing servant of God. The first 12 chapters of ACTS focused on Apostle Peter, but the spotlight fell on Paul the Apostle from chapter 13. A very brilliant lawyer and multi-linguist with Roman citizenship, Paul used these benefits to win the world for Jesus Christ. These assets enabled him to reach Jews in every Diaspora, gain official recognition and escape some threatening legal entanglements {ACTS 18:15; 19:35-41; 21:30; 26:32}, speak Aramaic with the brethren in Jerusalem and discuss with philosophers and thinkers in fluent Greek at Athens, a university town and the centre of Greek learning and thinking. Regarded as the most thoroughly converted man on earth, from A.D. 41 Paul began three notable missionary journeys along the shores of northeastern Mediterranean packed with hunger, cold, fasting, shipwrecks, false accusations, Jewish conspiracies, Roman roadblocks, pirate attacks, barbarian assaults, inhospitable border patrols, fights with wild beasts, riots, stoning, beatings, perverted trials and imprisonments – ROM. 15:19.

The Holy Spirit directed Paul’s journeys – ACTS 13:4; 16:6. In the midst of preaching and establishing churches, this most notable apostle visited Jerusalem to discuss the Jewish-Gentile question about A.D. 49. Against a violent Jewish murderous mob in A.D. 57, 470 Roman soldiers were assigned to protect him – ACTS 23:12-35. Despite these restrictions, he wrote half of the books of the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ beginning with 1 Thessalonians around A. D. 49. The bulk of Christian theology was laid by the erudite Paul in these writings. The book of Romans is considered the greatest of Paul’s Epistles. Equally deemed to be the greatest book of the New Testament, it is hailed as the “constitution” of Christianity. The greatness of this Epistle is seen in the importance of its subject matter, the comprehensiveness of its grasp, the acuteness of its reasoning, the breath of its outlook and the vigour of its style. The book of Galatians has been called the “Magna Charta” of Christian liberty. As the capital of the world in the early days of the church, “all roads lead to Rome” was a notable truth and God used the travails of His indefatigable servant Paul to entrench His Gospel in Rome – ACTS 28:17-31; ROM. 1:14. Taken captive, he spent about two years as a prisoner in Caesarea and then in Rome around A. D. 61. He was released from Rome, freely preached the Good News to many people for a period of time, and then taken prisoner again. It is believed that the indomitable Apostle Paul was beheaded around A. D. 64 or 67 in Rome.

Amazed at the everlasting exploits of Paul who singlehandedly manifested the five ministries {apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher}, a man of God in our contemporary times wailed: “Whenever and wherever Apostle Paul landed, demons stirred up people to riots and fights out of fear, but whenever I show up, I am served tea!” Because Pastor Dan was commissioned to preach God’s word of power, Starplace Bible Church is a Pauline ministry by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Praise God.

DID YOU KNOW {2}
THAT FATHER MAXIMILIAN KOLBE WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL FRANCISCAN FRIAR? Nothing in his background prepared Father Maximilian Kolbe to be a hero of the Christian faith, but God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise – 1 COR. 1:27. Father Kolbe began his earthly pilgrimage on January 8, 1894, at Zdunska Wola, a city of Lodz, Poland. His ethnic German father Julius Kolbe and Polish mother Maria Dabrowska baptized him with the name Rajmund. The second of five sons, their poor home was a deeply religious family. Lean finances, however made Julius Kolbe to send only his first son Francis to school, leaving Rajmund to be homeschooled by a kind priest. A pharmacist attracted by his brilliance chipped in with private lessons. Succour came the way of the family again when Rajmund and his elder brother Francis enrolled at the Franciscan Junior Seminary in Lwow. Later, Joseph was to follow his elder brothers into the priestly order. Rajmund had a passion for mathematics and was considered a kind of genius in the subject. A very capable student, he fantasized about rockets and space flights and filled his student papers with strange space ships designed to reach the moon. Deeply at home in the seminary, Rajmund began his novitiate year in 1910 and took his first vows in 1911. In line with the Franciscan tradition, he renounced his worldly name and took on the name Maximilian. Tragedy befell the family when his father was hung by the Russian forces in 1907 for opposing their occupation of his beloved Poland.

Kolbe’s mother, Maria Dabrowska was a most remarkable Christian who followed all her sons in religious life by becoming a Tertiary Franciscan and worked as a midwife, often giving her services free. She also operated a grocery and general goods store. And as he grew older, Maximilian became more absorbed with spiritual things than mathematics. Even before his priestly ordination, the Catholic Church sent him to Rome where he specialized in Philosophy at the Gregorian University and in Theology at the Seraphicum. On April 28, 1918, Maximilian Kolbe was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church. On a visit to Rome in 1917 before his ordination, Kolbe saw a manifestation of Freemasons. By Saint Peter’s Square under the Pope’s window, some Masonic persons waved a black flag with the inscription: “Satan will rule the Vatican and the Pope will serve him like a Swiss guard.” The abominable flag had an effigy of Saint Michael the Archangel under Lucifer’s feet! Maximilian Kolbe was horrified that Freemasonry could be so bold while the church remained in slumber. After sleeping over the offence and discussing it with fellow friars, Kolbe founded the Militia Immaculata as an army of spiritual knights in the fashion of Saint Francis, to do battle with Freemasonry and other enemies of the Catholic Church. Today, Mlilitia Immaculata is on ground in more than twenty countries in three continents.

During WW 11, Nazi German forces invaded and occupied his beloved Poland. Father Kolbe hated the Nazis for their racism, genocide and heartlessness. He gave shelter to refugees from Greater Poland including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from the vicious Nazis in his friary in Niepokalanow. On February 17, 1941, Father Kolbe was arrested by the Gestapo, the Nazi police and imprisoned in the Pawiak facility. He was transferred to the infamous Auschwitz prison as prisoner #16670 on May 28, 1941. First assigned to transfer dead bodies to the crematorium, he was sent to field brigade of Block 14 at the end of July. That month end, three prisoners escaped from the camp and SS-Hauptsurmfuhrer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander picked ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker in order to prevent further escape attempts. In fright, one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, wailed uncontrollably, “My wife! My children!”

Promptly, Kolbe volunteered and took his place in the starvation bunker. The merciless German murderers then had the ten men locked up in the starvation cell without food and water. As usual, Father Kolbe calmed their desperation into faith-filled acceptance of God’s will. The men prayed and sang during the nights until complete silence fell on the death chamber on the second week. On August 14, 1941, some guards opened the starvation cell and met four prisoners still alive, exhausted but peaceful, among them Father Kolbe. The guards then administered a shot of carbolic acid on the prisoners to end their misery and the next day, the body of Father Maximilian Kolbe was sent to the ovens of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland.

Rev. Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar of absolute integrity, outstanding pastoral care, and astonishing cerebral height who manifested God’s agape love for humanity is an unknown, but most luminous example of the spirit of Jesus Christ and a great hero of the Christian faith.

DID YOU KNOW {3}
THAT THERE’S MEANING IN JEWISH/CHRISTIAN NAME? The dictionary has it that a “name” is “any word” or“title” which identifies a person or thing. Truly, a Jewish/Biblical name have a definite significance at once noted when the name is heard. Most importantly, the word “name” often signifies the nature of the being named – EXO. 34:5; JN. 17:16 or his authority – MT. 28:19; ACTS 3:6. When the Holy Scriptures urge Christians to “go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:…..”, it is understood that it’s not just any name, but the Father of Jesus Christ, and the Son of the Father, and the Holy Ghost respectively, the three Persons of the Divine Trinity - MT. 28:19 {KJV}. The most elementary Bible student easily relates these three Persons with these names. Adam, the first human being on earth did the first naming ceremony when he “called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living” - GEN. 3:20 {NIV}. The Bible is definite and final that Mary “shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” - MT. 1:21; LK. 1:31 {KJV}. Personal names might suggest plants or animals, such as Tamar [palm}, Susanna {lily} or Rachel {ewe}.Names have followed the character of the bearer, such as Jacob {supplanter}, and Peter, {a fragment of a rock}.

They might reflect family relationships, vocations, some circumstance of birth, etc. Often, names of prophet’s children bore a message – ISA. 8:3; HOS. 1:4, 6, 9. Children were generally named by their parents, but sometimes kinsmen or friends would suggest names – RUTH 4:7; LK. 1:59. Not seldom, the name given at birth was changed after some momentous crisis, as was the case with Abram, Peter and Paul – GEN. 17:5; 39:9-13; MT. 16:17-19; ACTS 13:9. Very many names contained in them mention of God, such as Jezreel, Nathaneel or Abijah. Population increase brought surnames, such as compounds with “bar” {son of} or second names like Mark in John Mark. Place names actually derived from names of gods or physical features. El {God}, Beth {house}, Beer {well}, Abel {meadow}, Jearim {woods} and Gibeah, Ramah or Ramoth{hill} in names are well known examples.

A most notable, but often ignored instance happened when God actively took a hand in naming a child. David the king had a son and named him Solomon {peace or peaceable} and “because the Lord loved him, He sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah” {beloved of Jehovah} – 2 SAM. 12:24-25. The most regal king ever, the world’s wisest man, the earth’s richest man, an eminent historian, song writer, biologist, geologist, architect, shipbuilder, builder of the most renowned place of worship, and the greatest giver of offering to God, it’s not surprising that King Solomon was a wonder on earth, in more ways than one! Solomon demonstrated that wealth “if consumed upon lusts” {JAS. 4:3}and turned into “provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” {ROM. 13:14}, it becomes a curse with his 700 wives and 300 concubines! These women turned his heart from God in old age – 1 KGS. 11:3-4. But King Solomom in repentance, bounced back into God’s heart and favour fully – ECCL. 12:13-14. In Song of Songs, one of the three books God wrote through him, Solomon’s restoration was complete as he celebrated monogamous marriage instead of polygamy – SOS 4:7-16; 6:1. The $2.1 billion Dasukigate arms scandal in Nigeria was revealed to Solomon when he noted that “because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men {or Nigerian politicians} is fully set in them to do evil” – ECCL. 8:11.

Today, I know two persons named Solomon. The first is a maternal nephew, a very shrewd, highly intelligent and wonderful 11-year old. The second is my in-law, an eminent gynaecologist, the husband of one wife whom he loves unreservedly and shows the highest fidelity, and a very, very wise Christian. Truly, today, the name Solomon still stands for righteousness. God be praised forever in Jesus name.

NOTE: Please see my note, What Is In A Name, for an expanded review.

A Pastor, historian, and writer, Joseph CHUKWUEmeka Anumbor is the author of THE INTERCOURSE OF TROUBLED THOUGHTS, a critically acclaimed discourse on homosexuality published by AuthorHouse Inc, Indiana, USA.

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Articles by Emeka Anumbor