WHO IS Jesus?

WINTER ’09 VOL.37 NO.2 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary WHO IS Jesus? Winter 09 1 BOARD OF TRUSTEES EMERITI MEMBERS Mr. Joel B. Aarsvold Dr. Allan C. Emery, Jr. Dr. Claude R. Alexander Mr. Roland S. Hinz Mrs. Linda Schultz Anderson Rev. Dr. Robert J. Lamont Dr. Richard A. Armstrong Mr. Richard D. Phippen Dr. George F. Bennett Rev. Dr. Paul E. Toms Rev. Dr. Garth T. Bolinder Dr. Robert E. Cooley, Rev. Dr. Richard P. Camp, Jr. President Emeritus Mr. Thomas J. Colatosti, Chair President Mr. Charles W. Colson Dr. Dennis P. Hollinger Rev. Dr. Leighton Ford Mrs. Joyce A. Godwin Vice President of Advancement Dr. William F. Graham Mr. Kurt W. Drescher Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes Mr. Herbert P. Hess, Acting Director of Treasurer Communications and Mr. Ivan C. Hinrichs Marketing Rev. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr. Mr. Michael L. Colaneri Mr. Caleb Loring III Rev. Dr. Christopher A. Lyons Senior Communications Mrs. Joanna S. Mockler Advisor and Editor of Contact Fred L. Potter, Esq. Mrs. Anne B. Doll Shirley A. Redd, M.D. Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr. Graphic Designer David M. Rogers, Esq., Ms. Nicole S. Rim Vice Chairman Mr. John Schoenherr Writer Mrs. Virginia M. Snoddy Mrs. Ruth Hawk Mr. John G. Talcott, Jr. Joseph W. Viola, M.D., Photography Secretary Mr. Tom Kates J. Christy Wilson III, Esq. Ms. Nicole S. Rim Rev. Dr. John H. Womack William C. Wood, M.D. Inquiries regarding CONTACT may be addressed to: Editor, CONTACT Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary 130 Essex Street, S. Hamilton, MA 01982 Tel: 978.468.7111 or by [email protected] www.gordonconwell.edu GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE, GENDER, NATIONAL OR ETHNIC ORIGIN, AGE, HANDICAP OR VETERAN STATUS. 2 Winter 09 contents The Ministry Magazine of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary I Winter ’09 Vol.37 No.2 4 On the Front Lines – The Cost of Following Jesus Anne B. Doll 8 Who Is This Man? 25 Faculty Profile: Tom & Donna Petter Sean McDonough 26 Student Profile: Zachariah Delma 12 Jesus in the Old Testament and Mardochee Nadoumngar Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. 28 Seminary News 14 Is Jesus Really the Only Way to God? Dennis P. Hollinger 29 Focus on Alumni/ae 16 Jesus in the City 30 Opening the Word Alvin Padilla Gary Parrett 19 Deconstructing Jesus: Separating Fact from Fiction Rollin Grams Winter 09 3 4 Winter 09 Editor’s Note: The individual interviewed for this article must remain anonymous to protect his identity and the identities of those with whom he ministers. By Anne B. Doll When a Gordon-Conwell graduate returned to his native Ethiopia after completing his degree in New Testament, he knew full well he would face religious persecution. He had lived in its shadow for most of his life. “If you follow Christ, you should expect suffering,” he the Communist student association. “Because of the comments matter-of-factly. “We are all called to bear our Communist ideology, we were not allowed to declare our cross. If our Lord was persecuted, who won’t be persecuted?” faith, to worship God openly,” he explains. “We were Now the leader of a Christian school in Ethiopia, he not allowed to pray in the cafeteria or in our dormitories. accepted Christ in high school during Communism’s grip on We could not sing, or do anything that was religious, Ethiopia. Throughout those perilous years, all churches were and we were highly followed by the student association.” closed, and government-sponsored persecution prevailed. As a freshman, he faced a defining moment in his faith “For 17 years, the persecution from the Communist regime journey when he and several fellow Christians were called was very, very difficult,” he recalls. “So many people were before the dean of students to face charges by the student tortured, imprisoned and beaten. They were attacked because association that they were “anti-Communism, unpatriotic of their faith so that they would recant and say, ‘There is and had been hired by imperialist America.” The purpose of no God.’” the charges was to have the Christians dismissed from the Those who refused to recant “paid a high price,” he adds. university and even sent to prison. “So many people died during the Communist time.” The night before their meeting with the dean, the students As a university student, he and fellow Christians gathered to pray. Many were frightened, particularly experienced intense persecution first-hand, especially from because some of their friends, facing similar harassment, Winter 09 5 had abandoned their faith. The believers also knew When Communism fell in 1991, millions of Ethiopians that university expulsion would forestall any future came to the Lord—approximately 14 percent of the opportunities for employment. population. But persecution did not end. Today in Ethiopia, “That was scary personally for me,” he says. “At that two religious groups are recognized as official religions: the time, I was a younger man. I trusted in the Lord. I believed 35 percent comprising the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox in the Lord. I knew he was my Savior, and I did not believe Church, and the 35 to 40 percent who are Muslims. in the Communist ideology. But now I was in a situation: Persecution is waged by both groups when their members to follow Jesus or deny my faith.” convert to Christianity. As he says, “The two groups call it The next day, when the group appeared before the dean, ‘sheep stealing.’” she looked at the list of accusations by the Communist Converts from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are student association and finally asked, “What are you going ostracized, threatened, attacked and beaten, and their to say about this?” The students replied, “We will not deny homes are burned, especially in rural areas. Converts from our faith. We will not deny Christ. You can expel us from Islam face even harsher persecution. the university, but we will continue worshipping the Lord.” “The Lord is bringing thousands of Muslim converts “We are all called to bear our cross. If our Lord was persecuted, who won’t be persecuted?” Impressed by the students’ response, she commented, into his Kingdom,” he explains. “When these Muslims “I know that you are very faithful and honest students, become Christians, they experience serious persecution from and they are jealous of you—jealous of your performance. their family members and friends.” So the only thing I would advise you is: please be wise Persecution can include ostracism—a hardship in a in your worship and don’t expose yourself to these country where identity is found in the community. Converts dangers.” may also suffer loss of property such as cattle, destruction The alumnus suffered yet another assault when he of their harvests and the burning of their homes. “If again graduated from the university. Included in a standard they endure,” he says, “the radical Islamic fundamentalists reference letter affirming that he had met all requirements tell the local authorities that the converts are anti- was an addendum: “But we want to mention that he is a government so that they can be imprisoned. All this so that follower of a cult.” Evangelicals were seen as cultists. people will abandon their beliefs.” Looking back, he says that growing up under New believers are cautioned not to expose their faith Communism “was good, because it refined our faith. It and immediately join a local evangelical church, and some purified us. At that time, we were worshipping underground. continue to attend services in their mosques, becoming Many people lost their eyes. Their arms were amputated. part of what he calls an “Insider’s Movement.” But if new Some paid their lives. We have experienced all of this.” believers are identified, they are warned by Christians not to 6 Winter 09 stay in the area because some converts have been poisoned. Others have disappeared and are assumed dead. “Islam is a very, very strong religion,” he comments. “People are like in iron bars. It’s very hard to penetrate. But what is happening in Ethiopia is that some people are coming to the Lord through dreams and visions. Sometimes the Lord himself appears and tells them this is the right way.” He says this happened recently to a young college student. “She was tied with a strong rope and somehow the Lord untied her in the night, and she escaped through a window. She took a bus and came to the city and asked the Christians for shelter.” Eventually, her new Christian friends may be able to send her back to college. “Muslim converts in Ethiopia nowadays are paying a high, high price,” he says. “The most important thing is to help them endure through this persecution. It’s knowing the truth. Once they see the light, it is very hard for them to turn their backs. So when they come out of Islam, our graduates who are ministering to Muslims tell them that following Jesus has a cost. They warn them, ‘You will be persecuted.’ But compared to knowing Jesus and the price they pay, it is nothing.” How do Ethiopian Christians like this Gordon-Conwell graduate hold firm under such persecution? “The Holy Spirit helps you to stand in those difficult circumstances,” he replies. “When you make that decision [to stand], you know that there is nothing above the Lord, that if they take your property, they kill you, absolutely your life is in the hands of the Lord. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, ‘nothing will separate [you] from the love of Christ.’ “So it’s knowing God.

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