Articles
Report from Sri Lanka - June 2022 (Part 1)
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is going to be a long epistle.
As usual, I will have to start with the country’s situation even though it’s bad news. At the moment the country is facing the highest inflation which is 54.6%. Sri Lanka is not much different from Uganda and Ethiopia. Still, there are long queues for diesel, cooking gas, gasoline, and kerosene oil. Everywhere people are protesting and there are violent clashes with the security forces. Already about ten people have died by waiting in the queues for days and days. Doctors, nurses, attendants, teachers, and the people who are working for essential services are protesting they cannot report to work because there is no fuel for their vehicles and very few buses in operation and those buses are packed like a can of tuna. Besides this, the underground is active again. About a week back when I was going to the market I heard a gun shot firing close to me. I went inside the market and I did not want to see what is happening. After a few minutes later a person came running inside the market and said two people have come in the motorcycle and opened fire with a T-56 at a youth several times. He died on the spot. I waited inside the market until the police arrived because I did not want to be noticed as a witness. There were other incidents like this and the killers were hunting the people who were there at that time and killed two of them. Later in the evening news, I came to know it was a clash between two drug dealers.
After a few days when I was going to get some lesson xerox copies, it started to rain and I got into a shade until the rain ceased. A three-wheeler stopped in front of me and three people were staring at me and I did not take any notice. I pretended that I did not notice them. After sometime two men came to me and showed their Police ID and said that they are from the CID. I was not afraid because I have not done anything wrong but was a bit suspicious of what they will say to me. They want me to show my national ID which mentions my profession as a preacher of Christianity. They asked me many questions about myself. They were comparing me with a photo that was on their cell phone and then let me go.
The work of the Lord is also hindered by this devastating situation. I had to wait in the cooking gas queue for three days, the first day three hours, the second day two hours, and the third day two hours, and came up with nothing. While I was waiting I tried to talk to people about the gospel. They looked at me in a strange way and mocked me saying that they do not listen to any religion because no religion can solve the curse that they are going through. And they said I am out of my mind to talk religion. I felt the power of darkness, how the devil has blinded their minds because of earthly problems. It reminded me of the parable of the sower.
I decided to buy an electric cooker for my wife because I did not want to spend the whole day in the queues neglecting my Zoom and WhatsApp studies. But this will increase my electric bill because the electricity board has increased the cost. According to the units that I use, my bill will be increased by 1,600 extra. So we are trying to use fewer lights at night and turn them off after 9 p.m. I have collected some money so I am able to buy this electric cooker. And with your help, I will be able to pay the extra cost.
I had a study with an educated Roman Catholic. Actually, what he was doing was checking my knowledge. He asked about my religious qualification. I got this connection from FB. I used to comment negatively on their blind faith. He asked if he can talk to me on Zoom. I told him I do not obtain any theological qualification or any certificates from any Bible college. I said I study hard and I have been trained by qualified U.S. preachers all this time. The questions he asked me were “What is Theophany, what is Angelophony, what is Christophany, and what is Christology. Well, When I was preaching in the Philippines in 2013, one man asked me what is Christology and I was flabbergasted and could not answer. I felt shame. I said to myself, “Shame on you Joe, study before you preach.” Then I thank God for showing my weakness. Then I got this strong desire to go into deep studies. After about two years I came to know the meanings of all those complicated words. I was amazed to see how God trains His servant to answer when the time comes. This time my Roman Catholic must have thought that I will get bogged down by his complicated questions. This was my explanation to his questions in brief from by study notes (Please correct me if I am wrong).
Jesus appears as the Angel of Jehovah
- Theophany: An encounter with the divine presence accompanied by extraordinary manifestation or display mediating the presence. (Daniel 3:25/Genesis 18:2/Exodus 3:2-6/Exodus 3:8)
- Christophany: This is explained in Daniel 3:23-26/Genesis 18:1,2,10
- Angelophany: The appearance of angels (Genesis 18:1,2)
- Christology: A theological study of the life of Christ.
I also explained what is Soteriology: This is concerning the life of Jesus (same meaning as Christology but with the details of Jesus’s life, it is how the human and divine co-exist in one person. The terms, Incarnation, The Resurrection, His salvationic work known as “soteriology” (Christology).
Then I plead with him, let’s study the Bible in simple terms about how to be saved. I told him studying those complicated words is good but the most important is to be sure that “are you saved” and “are you in the body of Christ”. This took about three hours. The sad part was he felt he was defeated by this unlearned man who does not have any qualifications in theology. By noticing his feelings were hurt, I told him that my intention was not to “win”. But to give him the understanding to search how to save his soul in heaven. I told him by “winning” an argument is not going to help him or me. He said he will see me on FB again. I told him I am not on FB all the time. But he can write me through email if he wants to study on Zoom (1 Peter 3:15). To be continued
