To whom or to what might we compare Jesus, the “son of God” (Mark 1:1)? In the hunt to discern the meaning and range of early Christian identifications of Jesus as divine, scholars have long compared Jesus with other ancient figures or deities. If, as Deuteronomy 6:4 memorably declares, God is “one,” then how, in a Jewish theological framework, can Jesus also be God? In mathematical terms, one plus one cannot also equal one. Certainly, Jesus is divine in the New Testament (see Phil 2:6; Col 2:9; 1 John 5:20), but in the Jewish and Greco-Roman environs does Jesus’ divinity put him on the same, ontological level as the God of Israel? These are a few of the weighty questions Michael F. Bird sets out to answer in Jesus among the Gods: Early Christology in the Greco-Roman World. In its simplest formulation, Bird argues that “Jesus is a Jewish deity of the Greco-Roman world” (p. 407). While there are sundry ancient comparanda to which one might compare Jesus, the Christian formulation of Jesus’ divinity remains “distinctive and characteristic” (p. 411). Quite impressively, Bird has catalogued and commented upon the principal intermediary figures with whom Jesus is often compared—from the Gnostic demiurge, to angel Christology, to Roman imperial cults.

Bird’s project is built on a careful distinction between functional and ontological divinity. If Jesus is God, then what kind or quality of God is he? “In what sense is Jesus divine and how closely is his divinity related to the divinity of God the Father” (p. 407)? Scholars have repeatedly noted that other intermediary figures in Second Temple Judaism display divine characteristics. In Exodus 7:1, Moses is made “like God to Pharoah.” From an array of evidence, it is plausible to argue that Moses is “a figure possessing divine power and exercising divine agency” (p. 35). The reception history of Moses as an exalted figure confirms such a claim (T. Mos. 1:14; 4Q374 II, 2.6; Philo, Mos. 1.27; Ezek. Trag. 68–82). In some comparative readings, Jesus is like God—just as Moses is like God—in a functional or tiered sense. Jesus is “among the gods” to borrow from the book’s title. Bird, instead, wants to recalibrate the claim that Jesus is God in an ontological sense. While early Christian articulations of Jesus’ divinity are quite varied and diverse (Bird is careful to note this on p. 83), “Christian authors in some instances begin to identify Jesus with the characteristics of absolute deity” (p. 82). According to Bird, Jesus and the God of Israel possess “ontic sameness” in important ways, such as the eternal, unbegotten, or immortal descriptions of absolute divinity one finds in early Christian writings (pp. 82–83).

Reviewed by J. P. O’Connor

Publisher’s page: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481316750/jesus-among-the-gods/

Three years ago, I was cutting across the campus when a zealous African-American freshman named Lena Marlowe stopped me. We had never met, but she asked if she could pray for me. Lena is now a senior, and she was one of the members of the gospel choir singing when the Spirit fell on February 8.

People in our community had prayed for another outpouring since the last one here, fifty years ago. Asbury experienced significant outpourings of the Spirit in 1905, 1908, 1950, and 1970. Anna Gulick, a French professor at the university in 1970, assured me that during that outpouring one could feel the presence of God from blocks away. Robert Coleman, a professor at the seminary in 1970, told me just enough professors at the seminary were on board with shutting down classes that the seminary joined in.

Hughes Auditorium, February 8, 2023

The university normally has chapel at 10 am three days a week for 45 or 50 minutes. Chapel on Wednesday Feb. 8, 2023, started like chapel any other day. Zach Meerkreebs preached a very ordinary message. The gospel choir closed the service with a song. It was not unusual for a few students to stick around to sing an extra song or two, but this day the gospel choir was so caught up in worship that they didn’t stop. And soon others wouldn’t stop either.

Student Zeke Atha continued to worship in his seat, and then went to class. After class, however, he heard singing still continuing in the chapel. As he entered, he recognized that God had begun pouring out the Spirit and he joined others in spreading word. Eventually hundreds were worshiping God. Some students began to openly confess their sins, weeping and dedicating their lives to Christ.

That evening after small group in our house some friends texted my wife Médine. “You’ve been praying for this!” she called, interrupting my commentary writing. “Why aren’t you there?” It was her way of announcing that an outpouring had begun. We donned our shoes and headed over to Hughes Auditorium.

While I didn’t “feel” much that night, something shifted over the next few days—especially as I moved from trying to feel something to seeking to serve. As worship continued, the sense of God’s presence in a special way became palpable. Walking even beside the chapel or across the street at the seminary, I could now feel God’s presence in an extraordinary way. The university was making no effort to publicize what was happening, but word spread. Soon so many people were visiting from outside that I quit trying to get into the auditorium myself. But even as I served as a doorkeeper at one of the exits, I was caught up in the Spirit of worship. As I joined in the singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” I pondered how sad it was that some Christians today object if you sing a song too many times. Yet the glorious living creatures before God’s throne do not rest from crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” What a foretaste of heaven we enjoy in the beauty of God’s presence during worship.

Radical humility

The focus on the Lord himself and his holiness pervaded most of the worship I experienced and witnessed there. It was the sense of his holy presence that led so many—first students and then others—to consecrate their lives more deeply to God.

Although famous preachers and singers visited and worshiped as part of the congregation, they did not lead. The campus leaders maintained the ethos with which it began. Lena and other students continued to lead worship. Zach and others regularly involved at the university periodically preached, including messages about the gospel and holiness (which continued to be needed as new people continued to visit). When they did invite anyone new to help in leading worship, they first succinctly explained the worship “culture” to them: radical humility and racial unity.

No names, no introductions; the focus belonged on King Jesus alone. The outpouring surrounded God’s own manifest presence, and the leaders were careful not to quench his gracious Spirit. Recognizing who God is puts everything else, including ourselves, in perspective: in the presence of a holy God, no flesh can boast. Zach insisted, “Jesus is the only celebrity here” (See further: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/asbury-revival-outpouring-protect-work-admin-volunteers.html).

Worship continued seamlessly as worship teams rotated day and night. The worship was low-tech and without human fanfare, promoting neither those on the platform nor Asbury itself. For journalistic and historical purposes, I would share more names of those who displayed sacrificial devotion, but they insist that the honor should go only to Jesus.

I was not one of those secret-identity professors she mentioned, but my seminary colleagues Tom McCall (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/february-web-only/asbury-revival-1970-2023-methodist-christian-holy-spirit.html) and Jessica LaGrone certainly were among those at the front line, as were even more professors from the university. Médine was often up front praying for people one on one, but I stayed more in the intercessor room, engaging the many visitors outside, or (when the chapel began closing at night) praying with students and visitors in the student union.

Eventually I shifted more of my attention to trying to field interviews and calls. As a seminary professor, I was not at the heart of it the way many others were, but those at its heart were tied up on the front line, and I finally realized that I could be of greater service trying to write and speak and counter misinformation. I nevertheless shared a concern that one of the campuses’ ministers expressed to me: pouring out continually to serve during this time, she did not want to miss out on what the Lord had for her as well as for others. Me neither; as the old hymn pleaded, “While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by!”

Radical unity

While the university is in the Wesleyan tradition, it welcomed all traditions hospitably, occasioning a few complaints from some outside critics (Those don’t like charismatics, for example, have sometimes complained that charismatics attended. But everybody else attended too).

The spirit of unity transcended denomination. One participant who has worshiped in several denominations over her life shared her appreciation for how believers from all denominations were worshiping in one accord. There was nothing there to divide us because it was all about Jesus, the one we adore. Michael McClymond, the St. Louis University revival historian who came to report on the outpouring for Christianity Today, shared that what he experienced in the auditorium was what Acts 1:14 calls homothumadon—a unity of heart with others worshiping in the same place. Believers who had never met before and would never meet again in this life experienced a common heart.

This was often evident outside the auditorium as well, as many of those crowded on the lawn outside the auditorium worshiped and prayed together. Some Korean friends from another evangelical seminary came to visit and we worshiped together on the lawn before moving to one of the overflow destinations. I had more fortuitous, Spirit-led encounters, including with visitors from various nations, than there is space or need to describe.

A Back Story

In 2010, Asbury Seminary interviewed me for a position. Being a night person, I don’t remember what I said at the morning interview and have no idea why they hired me. But afterward I stopped at the university’s Hughes Auditorium, already vaguely familiar with the 1970 Asbury Revival. As I peered in, I was struck by the words “Holiness Unto the Lord” emblazoned above the altar, and I felt the wind of the Spirit sweep through me. I felt there were embers still there, ready to be fanned into flame when God would move in such a way again.

Since then, my wife and I have prayed for revival, all the more so once our son and daughter were students there. But as mentioned earlier, we were far from the only ones. Indeed, Anna Gulick noted that before the 1970 outpouring, various students around the campus had been praying together.

What we call revival is a collective experience of God’s presence that transforms us (cf. Acts 2:4; 4:31; 8:15-17; 10:44; 13:52; and 19:6). In Matthew 7:11, Jesus promises that the Father will give us the good gifts we request, but the parallel passage in Luke 11:13 focuses on the best gift of all: God’s own presence by the Holy Spirit. That insight struck me deeply. One night when I was teaching in Indonesia, I dreamed that the most important insight from the decade of work on my four-volume Acts commentary was how often the outpouring of the Spirit follows prayer.

Scripture offers many prayers for empowerment by or revelation from the Holy Spirit (Ps 143:10; Rom 15:13; Eph 1:17; 3:16), but in Luke’s second volume he develops at greater length this theme of the Spirit coming after prayer (cf. also Luke 3:21-22). After believers spend some days praying together (Acts 1:14), Jesus pours out the Spirit (2:4, 17-18, 33); they pray again with the same effect in 4:31 and 8:15. Although God can pour out the Spirit whenever he wills, often (and in Acts, especially when the outpouring involves those who are already believers) he first moves his people to pray for this. Concerts of prayer also preceded many outpourings in the history of the U.S.

A few years ago, many students at the seminary, especially international students, were meeting together in small groups for prayer. One of the most ardent advocates of revival on campus was Malaysian visiting scholar Hong Leow. He had one time not given much stock to dreams or spiritual experiences, but after a dramatic dream in which he saw God pouring out revival on the campus, Hong insisted that revival was coming and we should be ready.

One big encouragement of this outpouring was that God does hear our prayers. For the first week or two I was walking around disoriented. Something I was used to praying for, I was now seeing, and at a level beyond what I had imagined. I had prayed for an outpouring of the Spirit in our community; I hadn’t expected it to connect so closely and quickly to what he was also doing elsewhere.

But while years of prayer preceded this experience at Asbury, the timing and manner took us all by surprise. Actually, I will confess a secret here (so don’t tell anybody!): in my arrogance, I had sometimes hoped that maybe revival would happen when I preached in chapel or taught my New Testament class at the seminary. But God in his gracious wisdom did it in a way that nobody else could even try to take credit for. The outpouring was God’s action, his initiative. His Spirit fell as students were caught up in worship.

Divine Coordination

Within the first week of the outpouring we heard that the Spirit was now also stirring worship on Christian campuses such as Lee University and Samford University. We also heard that on a nearby secular campus students stirred by the Spirit were sharing their faith boldly and baptizing new believers in public fountains.

Of course, this can happen here or there at any time, but it seemed like it was happening in a special way right now. In fact, it looked coordinated—by the only One who could have coordinated it.

Long before this outpouring began at Asbury’s campus, representatives from a range of campus ministries united to reignite the historic Collegiate Day of Prayer in 2023. Because Asbury University already had a history of campus revivals, the last being in 1970, they settled on Asbury as their host campus for the 2023 event, scheduled for February 23. At that time, campuses and prayer partners around the country would band together through a simulcast to pray that God would stir this new generation of students with his heart. Francis Chan narrated the announcement days before the outpouring began.

Gabe, a freshmen on the university’s planning committee for the event, says that he started praying that God would get the campus ready. God surprised Gabe, along with everybody else, with an answer that began a couple weeks before the human schedule. Most of the students who just kept worshiping on February 8 probably had no thought about the Feb. 23 event. (There are lots of events on campuses, and though I had heard about the planned event from a friend months earlier, I didn’t remember when it would be.)

Nobody humanly planned for more than fifteen days of mostly nonstop prayer before the prayer meeting, and nobody humanly could have recruited most of the participants to engage in such intense prayer. But the inaugural February 23 event now became the closing event of the outpouring’s public phase. Students from other campuses joined those from Asbury, sharing testimonies, reading Scripture, and banding together in worship. Meanwhile, the closing service was simulcast far beyond the walls of Hughes Auditorium (I had planned to watch the simulcast, but got to attend this one in person. A friend snuck me a seat. That’s a secret, though, so don’t tell anybody I was there).

This was not, as originally planned, a prayer for revival to start. It was gratitude for what God had already begun, and a commissioning service for those beyond Asbury to continue the call elsewhere to recognize God’s holy presence. What happened at Asbury was not meant to be simply perpetuated on Asbury’s campus for “revival’s” sake. Nor was it meant to be kept at Asbury as if it was the location that made the difference. The simulcast spread this final service around the country—though the outpouring had already been spreading to other campuses long before this.

God had been getting things ready. Zach Meerkreebs, the humble and low-key preacher from February 8, felt he bombed his sermon that day. But he told me that for a year before he had been feeling that revival was coming.

Nor was Hong the only person at the seminary to feel confidence that God was sending revival. A few years ago, some new students at the seminary insisted that God told them that revival was coming, and they wanted to be here when it happened. One even said God showed him this in a vision. Donna Covington, the seminary’s vice president of formation at the time, told Médine and me about a prophecy that revival would come in Kentucky; she felt that it would begin at the university campus first.

Not unlike Hong, I had dreams in which revival fell. In one, it came during worship, and I just came in the back and joyfully sang in tongues (and somersaulted through the air, which I can do with great agility—in dreams). In another, revival started in Hughes Auditorium, and we were going out into the community to welcome people. As I knocked on one door, an older African-American man asked if he would be welcome. “That,” I answered in the dream, “will be how we know if it’s a true revival.” But happily God fixed that from the beginning, since many of the members of the gospel choir where the outpouring started are Black. Racial unity was one of the outpouring’s central foundations.

Divine coordination also happened on an individual level. To give one example, although Riely Mikrut had led worship at her old church for years, she was not doing it at her new church. On February 5, she journaled, “Lord, I don’t want to be a ‘good’ worship leader; I want to be an anointed one.” Without God’s anointing, she resolved, she didn’t ever need to get on a stage again. On February 10 she was with her former worship colleagues at her old church and insisted, “The Lord would have to force a microphone in my hand right now for me to get up and lead again.”

The next evening she and some friends traveled to Wilmore to experience what was happening at Asbury. Médine and I had just slipped out of the balcony before she arrived. The Lord spoke to her heart that he had made her for leading worship. The next day, as she was kneeling at the altar, one of the worship leaders approached her and declared, “You’re a worship leader, aren’t you?” How could she have known that? Riely wondered. Then the leader shoved a microphone in Riely’s hand. Riely had led hundreds of hours of worship over the previous decade, but she had never felt the fear of the Lord and his presence like she did for the next two hours. God had reconfirmed his calling in her life.

Some piercing observations for a young generation

Madison Pierce, a seminarian from the same generation as the university students, has allowed me to share here some of his experience and insight.

I come from a spiritual background that has left me weary of hype in a culture of spectacle. I’ve grown tired of disingenuous representations of divine work but it is clear God is moving in a surprising and transformative way.

The movements of the spirit in western evangelicalism always exist in the middle of a cultural moment. A generous interpretation of these movements reveals unique traits for each one. For example, fervor for the great commission at the Mt. Hermon Conference, overwhelming joy in Toronto Outpouring, zeal for the lost in Brownsville Revival, acts of healing at the Kansas City awakening, and manifestation of tongues at the Azusa Street revival. In each move of the Spirit, God clearly manifests in a specific way for that generation. I find it interesting that God would mark this [present] outpouring with:

• A tangible sense of peace for a generation with unprecedented anxiety.
• A restorative sense of belonging for a generation amidst an epidemic of loneliness.
• An authentic hope for a generation marked by depression.
• A leadership emphasizing protective humility in relationship with power for a generation deeply hurt by the abuse of religious power.
• A focus on participatory adoration for an age of digital distraction.

It feels as if God is personally meeting young adults in ways meaningful to them. My generation was formed differently than previous generations and so the traits of this revival are different than revivals of old. The new outpouring is not the signs and wonders nor zealous intercession nor spontaneous tongues nor charismatic physicality nor the visceral travail. It is marked by a tangible feeling of holistic peace, a restorative sense of belonging, a non-anxious presence through felt safety, repentance driven by experienced kindness, humble stewardship of power, and holiness through treasuring adoration.

I too witnessed brokenness when I prayed with people, for example, a young man broken by being abused as a child, but now finally able to feel God’s pure love for him. Others struggled with fear or need for direction.

You don’t need to be at Asbury

The university and community labored to receive hospitably the tens of thousands of visitors who came. But the university also wanted everyone to be clear that this wasn’t about Asbury. It was about Jesus. You don’t need to come to Asbury to experience humble adoration of the Lord.

The new movie, Jesus Revolution, brought back old memories of my early Christian experiences at High Mill Christian Center in northern Ohio, a movement that in the 1970s brought some of the fruit of the Jesus movement to our community. The Spirit moved in remarkable ways, with the pastor, Chuck Schumacher, regularly calling out issues by the Spirit and people being converted in virtually every meeting.

Likewise, there was a brother named Ernie at the Assemblies of God Seminary when I was there, who was just so full of the Spirit that it didn’t take much extra for him to spill over. One of us would say something about the Lord; the other would say, “Thank you, Lord!” and within a few moments we would both be worshiping in tongues and prophesying, even there in the seminary corridor (Yes, the Spirit can be expressed that way; note tongues in Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6; prophesying in e.g., 2:17-18; 19:6; Num 11:25-29; 1 Sam 10:5, 10; 19:20-25).

When I was teaching at a predominantly African-American seminary attached to Livingstone College, our undergraduate campus ministry joined up with New Generation, an African-American campus ministry. One year, the moment we entered NGM’s conference, the Spirit was so strong I heard God’s voice immediately. When we returned from the NGM conference, we planned to pray together for half an hour each evening at 5 pm. Instead, the praying and prophesying went on for a couple hours each time; it was just too hard to stop. On Sunday, at the end of that prayer-filled week, the campus minister got up to preach in the campus church. She was also my seminary student, and I was feeling worthless as a professor as I listened to what I thought was a horrible sermon. Then she gave the altar call and one-third of the congregation came forward to give their lives to Christ. I may have underestimated the sermon, but too often we all underestimate prayer.

God is available and even eager to touch us by his Spirit everywhere. Again Luke 11:13: “So if you, even though you’re evil, know how to give your children good gifts, how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

But is it “revival”?

One cannot readily identify long-term effects when we are still the short term. What we can say for sure is that the Holy Spirit met us. I am grateful to the leaders for their openness to the Holy Spirit. This time around it was accomplished without canceling classes (except when individual teachers chose to do so). That is fine; God is at work in the ordinary too. When you combine the ordinary and the extraordinary, though, you are doing double duty. Many of us were exhausted after the most labor-intensive period of hospitality and ministry, so the opportunity to rest felt timely.

Sometimes people have preconceptions of what revivals should look like. Some say they have to include healings, or conversions, people falling down and shaking, or massive cultural transformation. But different revivals in history have taken different forms, and part of the problem is that we have lumped a range of different expressions of God’s work under the label “revival.” During the First and Second Great Awakenings in the U.S., many people did fall to the ground, shake, and do other things that Christian descendants of those converted in those awakenings criticize when they happen today. But as Jonathan Edwards pointed out, it’s not such “manifestations” that prove or disprove revival. It is changed lives.

“Revivals” come in different shapes and sizes. The First Great Awakening spanned decades in the eighteenth century, was most prominently Calvinist (on this side of the Atlantic) and especially impacted churchgoers. The Second Great Awakening lasted for half a century (about 1790 to 1840); it was more Wesleyan-Arminian, evangelized the unevangelized, and mobilized Christians against slavery. It included revivals such as the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky for nearly a week in 1801, a revival that involved Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. God has sent revivals among Calvinists (such as the Hebrides and West Timor Revivals) and Wesleyans (such as the Azusa Street Revival). Some events called revivals last for years; some (such as most college revivals, including past Asbury revivals) only for a week or weeks.

The Bible doesn’t use “revival” the way we’ve used it historically, so nobody can, on biblical grounds, claim that something must or must not be defined as a revival. But outpourings of the Spirit are certainly biblical (Acts 2:33; 10:45). As in historic revivals, so in the Bible not everybody showed up for the right reasons (cf. 5:1-2; 8:18-19), but that did not stop God from changing the lives of many others in ways that ultimately shifted their direction and often the course of history. This was often called an “Asbury revival” because that’s the nomenclature used for the earlier outpourings at Asbury, but as I asked in an earlier article (https://julieroys.com/opinion-what-revival-happening-asbury/): “Who cares what we call it?” Let’s not miss out on what God is doing in many people’s lives.

But the key purpose of outpourings of the Spirit in Acts was to empower God’s people for mission (Acts 1:8), and that has characterized all the Asbury outpourings so far. In this one, many, touched by God’s holiness, consecrated their lives to his service (Meanwhile, those who want to make Acts 2 the only template are often the same people who complain about speaking in tongues [2:4] or onlookers thinking disciples are drunk [2:13]. And imagine the uproar if we get so radical as share many of our possessions, 2:44-45!).

Weeping characterized many past revivals, but some worried in the 1990s when cathartic laughter occurred—even though Acts does not describe weeping during outpourings yet once describes being “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” God does not always do things the same way and does not fit our boxes. Yet early in the outpouring at Asbury many were weeping in repentance for sin, before forgiveness turned their sorrow into joy.

In the final analysis, people met Jesus deeply here. We thank God for the obedience of Lena and the gospel choir, who, overwhelmed by the Spirit, just kept worshiping. By the time they were done, tens of thousands of other people had joined in worshiping the same Lord.

PR

Further Reading

Craig S. Keener, “The outpouring at Asbury University: Responding to a critic” CraigKeener.com (February 19, 2023)

Asbury Outpouring Documentary

Lora Timenia, “Reflections on the 2023 Asbury Revival and its Implications for Pentecostal Christians“

In a fundamentalist Muslim city known for its high number of honor killings, you can never take too many precautions.

Women in drab colored hijabs quickly entered from a side door.

War wasn’t on the way. Neither was a suspected terrorist attack. Just a women’s weekly Bible study for former Muslims.

“I watched intently as one by one the women trickled in, gleefully greeting each other with enthusiastic hugs and cheek kisses. When they settled into their chairs Miriam, the leader asked them to introduce themselves to the smiling, eager Americans. When my turn came, I asked them if they felt comfortable removing their hijabs. We tried not to allow our jaws to drop as we saw their beauty unveiled before our eyes, their smiles widening as they were fully seen for who they were.”

JoAnn recounts, “I asked them if we could hear their stories, for I knew each one had endured more than we could ever imagine. I listened to more firsthand accounts of Jesus’ miracles in one place than I’ve ever heard in my life! Jamilla went first, Miriam translating for us.”

The Death Sentence

Jamilla’s Story

My fate was announced. It was too late. I was set to die and there was nothing I could do about it. Even if I could move… it was no use.

My life was over, and I was going to depart this world from Deir ez-Zor, Syria like so many others in this miserable war.

It wasn’t the Islamic State that read my death sentence.

It was Dr. Basil Hussein, one of the most respected neurologists in Syria who told my family the inevitable.

“I’m sorry to tell the Darwish family this news… But a blood vessel ruptured and Jamilla had a massive stroke. If she only could’ve had her blood pressure medicine. I know medical supplies and prescriptions are scarce and too expensive for most people. But this was preventable. Maybe today it is not in preventable in Deir ez-Zor. I’m sad to say.

“Jamilla is paralyzed on her right side and I just don’t see how she can come out of this coma… Her vitals are very erratic. My best guess is she probably has a day or two.

“Unless Allah intervenes, that is, … I apologize for saying this, it is time to plan her funeral.”

This excerpt is from Tom and JoAnn Doyle with Greg Webster, Women Who Risk: Secret Agents For Jesus In The Muslim World (W Publishing Group, 2021).

But I heard Dr. Basil’s words clearly.

My mother and sisters who were there at my bedside burst into tears.

I was unable to talk, unable to move. In my mind, I cried at my hopeless, helpless, situation.

I was alone. So alone.

But then I was not.

Suddenly, I was not alone, the room dazzled in brightness.

He came to me and stood at the foot of my bed. He smiled and called my name.

“Jamilla, I am here with you.”

I could not imagine this in my wildest dreams, but Jesus was in my room. Even though I was a practicing Muslim I knew who Jesus was. He’s spoken about in the Koran. I’d also heard how Jesus was appearing to people in the Syrian War. I heard stories.

I remember thinking one day when life was so hard in my country, that I wished Jesus would come visit me. There was so much hate all around me. But Jesus was about love, so I had heard. Did we ever need some of that in Syria!

“Jamila, I know your longing for Me to visit you. I have heard your cries. Here I am!

“I’ve come to heal you for My glory.”

Was this really happening or was it the medication, or a just a crazy dream?

Jesus then touched me on my hand, my paralyzed hand, as heat instantly radiated through my body.

“Dr. Basil! Jamilla’s hand just moved! Did you see it?”

I could hear my mother yell and jump out of the chair she was in right next to my bed at the same time.

Dr. Basil came to stand over me with my family, looking for signs of movement. He was skeptical.

“I didn’t see her move. Are you sure Mrs. Darwish? I don’t think so.”

I could hear machines being checked for readings. Dr. Basil was in the middle of telling my family that the vitals were not showing anything that indicated any improvement, when I felt like reaching out to Jesus.

My right hand lifted up high in worship and Jesus smiled lovingly at me.

There were screams in the room and the thud on the floor as my mother passed out cold!

“Is she trying to grab someone’s hand?”  Dr. Basil yelled in the chaos.

I was! I so desperately wanted to touch Jesus. Like the woman with the issue of blood that touched the hem of His garment.

Jesus could have healed me instantly. He has the power to do that you know. But it’s possible that my family might’ve thought I just snapped out of the coma and Dr. Basil was just plain wrong on the paralysis diagnosis.

Over the next few days I was progressively healed. Each time it was because Jesus touched that area of my body.

My right leg was next. Jesus came in a vision in the morning and the paralysis was gone as soon as he touched my knee with just one finger.

The next day I had full range of motion with my neck and shoulders and my face functions worked except my eyes would not open and I still could not speak.

But then in the morning my eyes and my mouth opened while my whole family was there.

I looked straight up with my eyes staring towards the ceiling as Jesus began to depart the room.

The first words I heard my father say were Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!

But my first words were “Jesus, Jesus, don’t leave me! I love you.”

Well I must say, that certainly quieted the room!

My family was shocked and not able to comprehend the words. They hung in the air.

Boom! Suddenly, we were interrupted by a massive explosion that shook Deir ez-Zor.

In my city, peace is short lived. Even after a great miracle like I experienced, reality set in.

Oil fields are in Deir ez-Zor on the ancient Euphrates River. In eastern Syria, there is no city that is more coveted by the international powers and people groups. Iran, Russia, and America are there. The large Conoco Oil facility is as well.

The Armenians were slaughtered in Deir ez-Zor in 1915 by the Turks to show that Islam “triumphed over Christianity.”

The Islamic State had a strong presence in my city also to prove that they were the new “champions of the Muslim faith.” Chaos, carnage, and confusion were normal in Deir ez-Zor.

After Jesus healed me, the war got worse and my family had to flee Syria. We could either go north to Turkey or south to Jordan.

The border in Northern Syria was too hard to get through with Turkey’s battle against the Kurds, so we went south.

The streets in Jerash, Jordan didn’t look much different from the streets in Deir ez-Zor. So many men were not working during the day. Refugees have nothing to do. But I had an assignment because I was on a mission.

I wanted to find Jesus. But how? Where could I go to ask questions about the man who healed me? Of course, I could not talk to anyone with my family present. They often talked about the healing in my life, but they gave the credit to Allah, not Jesus. I knew the truth.

One day in the outdoor market, I saw a woman who was wearing a cross necklace. In Deir ez-Zor, you could get killed for wearing one. But this was Jordan.

I started following her hoping I would have the courage to ask her a question. I had my chance as she was selecting cucumbers.

I must’ve startled her in my burqa by asking the question I blurted out.

“Jesus healed me of paralysis when I was in a coma. Do you know how I can find out more information about Him? I’m Muslim, so I think I have a lot to learn!

“Marhaba, my name is Jamilla, what’s your name?”

Though I startled Maria, she gathered her thoughts and responded with such kindness to my attention getting, awkward question.”

Did Jesus ever lead me to the right person! Maria was so warm and gracious, and we became good friends. Over tea the next couple of weeks I asked her every question I had about Jesus. Of course, I was convinced that Jesus had all power and was the Savior of the world, but I had to know what it would be like to become a believer in a radical Muslim family.

Maria told me that I was the one sent by God to reach my family.

After she said those words, I was ready. I gave my life to Jesus; it is the day I will never forget!

Maria was right! Over time, all of my family, including my father, came to faith in Christ. This is rare that a family who all practice fundamentalist Islam all became believers. I am privileged and blessed beyond all that I could’ve imagined. Jesus used the miracle of my healing to open the hearts of my family.

It was a long process, full of spiritual warfare, but all of them are in the family of God now. Can you imagine that? A Muslim family from Deir ez-Zor despite our sordid history, now loves Jesus!

But my family was there and saw the miracle of my healing. How could they deny it? And, how could they deny the transformation of my life? I used to be negative and caustic. Now I am filled with the love of God.

JoAnn: “After that incredible miracle, how could we go on? But there were more stories to hear. So, we worshipped Jesus, encouraged the group with reading special passages in Scripture, then all gathered around Jamilla and prayed for her. Lost in all of this is that she and her family are refugees in Jordan. After several years of Syrians streaming into the country, the refugees are now despised and rejected. But you would never know that by looking at Jamilla’s joy-filled face.”

“Heba, would you share your story?”

Running to the Light

Heba’s Story

It all started with my tenderhearted son.

“Mommy, why is that building glowing? Can we go in and see?”

My little Ali was just six years old and I didn’t want to answer his question. Go near a church?  No way!

The church was in the area we lived as refugees and on a main thoroughfare. I could not avoid going by it. Ali saw the bright light every single time we walked by the church. But I didn’t. He would say it was glowing from the inside, and so beautiful. He continually begged me to let him go inside to see it up close.

“Ali, we are Muslims, that building is a Christian church, we don’t ever go into a church. It’s haram! I would not be caught dead in a church. Don’t ask me again!” I thought what my husband Hassan would think if he knew I was even having this conversation with his little pride and joy.

Ali meant everything to his father. As a fervent Sunni Muslim, his dream was for Ali to become a respected imam. My husband was a fanatic Muslim. That’s why we had to flee Syria in the first place. He opposed the government and if we stayed, I would have surely been a widow.

At times, that didn’t seem like such a bad thing. My husband was incredibly harsh and cruel to me more often than not.

But my objections about visiting the church with the light coming out of it did not stop my dear, sweet little son. His begging went on for a least a month.

One day we walked down the street and Ali abruptly let go of my hand. He started running. I knew where he was going. I couldn’t catch him.

When I reached the front door of the church, the Christians were singing. I scanned the worshippers for Ali, but he had gone in, sat down, his tiny body blended in with the crowd. I couldn’t find him.

After a few minutes, I stopped looking as the words of the music washed over me and drew my heart like moths to a flame. The sound was something from heaven. That is the only way I can describe it. My feet rooted at the door, my mouth gapping in shock.

Finally, a woman came over and said: “Please join me!”

So, I did, and I sat there…

I just sat there…

After a few songs, I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder, it was Ali. What an ear to ear smile he had brightening his darling face. I hugged him and told him I was glad he ran into this place so filled with love.

I could’ve stayed all day. But after about 30 minutes a pastor stood up and opened the Bible. I certainly wasn’t ready to listen to that. With all I’d been told about the Bible being corrupted and changed, I hesitated and got scared.

I scooped Ali under my arm and told him it was time to go. I thanked the nice lady who invited me to sit next to her. She kissed me on both cheeks, then we dashed out the door.

The singing I experienced that day moved me in my heart. It did something to me, it gave me a longing to know God and love him like these Christians did. The words echoed over and over again in my mind:

Jesus, Name above all Names, Beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word.

On the way home from the church, Ali said: “‘Um, I can’t wait to tell baba all about the singing! I have not seen you smile so much al’umu.”

This was exactly the reason I didn’t even want to peek into the building! If Ali even breathed a word of this to his father, I would pay a heavy price!

My mind was racing at the horror of what would happen to me and Ali if Hassan heard about our visit to the Jerash church.

“Ali, we’ll tell baba later. But for now, let’s keep it our special secret ok?”

The next Sunday night, I could not stop thinking about how much I wanted to be at the church. Living in Jerash was a real problem since the church was right next to a mosque. What if I were spotted?

Ali and I went for a walk and we barely got out of our of apartment and he asked about going to the church. I thought what if I just went in for a couple of minutes this time. It was dark outside and the two of us could sneak in and then go on to the market just down the block and Hassan would never know.

“‘Um, the light is so bright from the church tonight! You see it now, don’t you?”

Ali said loudly, right as we were walking by the mosque!

“Habibi, I do not see the light. I wish I did see what you see but maybe God has given you special eyes to see this… well… miracle. This must be supernatural!

“Ali, we’re going to slip in and out quietly, but you must keep our special secret. We can’t tell baba about this. Promise?”

“I promise ‘um! I don’t think baba is ready for a church visit. I think he might get angry.”

Ali’s response caught me off guard. Did he understand more than I thought he did?

He went on and explained.

“I heard baba talking about Christians and he said he hates them.  He was with some men and they were saying all the problems in the Middle East are because of Christians. Is that true ‘um? Because the people in the shiny building seemed nicer than the people in the mosque!

In the church nobody was cranky or angry. Did you notice that?”

“Oh, Ali I did notice that. They were all smiling, weren’t they? But we must be careful when talking about this. Shhh!!!”

I was sad that they weren’t singing when we walked in. But a man named Osama was speaking from the Isaiah book and the John book. I did not know that there were many books in the Christian Holy Scriptures. Within a few minutes, all the things I’d been told about the Bible faded away. The words that Osama spoke were like nothing I’d ever heard before. I felt my heart melt like honey, the expression on my face must have been noticeable to others around me.

JoAnn: “Heba was still telling her story when Pastor Osama actually walked into the room from his office and joined the conversation. I wondered if the women would quickly wind their hijabs around their heads, hiding themselves from this man. But they didn’t. Interestingly enough, they all smiled and welcomed Osama into the circle.”

Osama continued the telling of Heba’s story, reminiscing of the day several years before. “Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Heba enter the service. My wife raised her eyebrows and tilted her head toward the door when you walked in Heba. I got her signal! You were not hard to notice in your black abaya and tightly wound hijab. I immediately shifted from my sermon in the book of Revelation to a Gospel presentation. I sensed you and your son truly wanted to be there. I remember seeing you sit on the edge of your seat. Ali was looking right at me listening intently.”

He has come to bring good news to the poor. He has come to bind up the brokenhearted. He has come to set the captives free. He has come to comfort all who mourn. He has come to give you a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning. He has come to give you a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. He has come to set you free.

He has come to give you life! Come to Jesus and everything will change! You will start your life over and be born again…

“For 30 minutes I preached to you, Heba, and little Ali. Everyone else there were already believers. I can still see you shaking your head in agreement with everything I said. There was a sense of excitement in the auditorium because here among us sat this veiled woman who was obviously close to salvation. We could see on your face the Word of God was deeply touching you, drawing your heart to His.

“People often say that Muslims need to hear the Gospel several times before they are ready to receive Christ. How can we say that? For God’s Word is divinely powerful. It’s living, active and able to pierce the soul! Just the very Name of Jesus can unlock someone’s heart. I had been a Muslim myself, but the first time I heard the Bible preached, I knew it was the Truth. The Spirit of God convinced me.

“Then I closed the message.”

Let’s pray, but before we do; are there any of you who feel like you’re held captive as Isaiah described. Do you want to be set free? Jesus wants to forgive your sins. Settle all of this with Jesus tonight at the Cross. Who wants forgiveness and freedom?

“‘I do!’ Heba said audibly, shocked she spoke aloud.

“Then do you remember what happened next Heba?” Pastor Osama smiled as he recalled.

“Do I? I’ll never forget! First of all, I could not believe that I answered out loud. Did those words come out of my mouth?

“Then the quiet reflective moment was shattered by the loudspeaker and the Muslim call to prayer!”

“Did they have spies in the church tipping them off when the prayer of salvation started? This was not a coincidence. Tonight, the mussein was over the top loud! I started to get concerned. Had they discovered that two Muslims were in the church?”

“But that did not stop the Spirit of God.” Heba said with glee. “Nor my longing to receive Jesus! And I did that night.

Heba’s story continues

I knew my fundamentalist husband would eventually find out about my new life in Christ. I was convinced I could hide it from him. So, when the call to prayer came each day, I would get down and pray, but to Jesus not Allah. I am ashamed that I did this for at least a month.

One day at Bible Study, Miriam read us the verse from Paul that says: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

I cried as my heart was pierced with shame. Was I afraid of my husband or was I ashamed of the gospel? Or both? For I wasn’t being truthful with Hassan. I was faking it like I was still Muslim. What would Jesus think? I let Him down! What about my son Ali? That was a terrible example.

The next time the call to prayer came I refused to bow down. Hassan yelled at me. But I stood strong in spite of the beatings. I recall the one time little Ali tried to defend me. That was a mistake never to be repeated, for Hassan turned his wrath on tiny Ali. I shudder when I think of how bruised and puffy his face was where his own father punched him. It’s by the grace of God his cheek and nose were not broken.

My sisters in Christ were a gift from God to me in those early days when the beatings came 5 times every day with each call to prayer. They consoled me when I would arrive with black and blue marks. We stood together because they were in difficult, life-threatening situations too. Hassan’s beatings continued, but no longer with every call of the muezzin.

Dalia is married to an imam and she survived. The threats and beatings she received were horrible. But she never lost her joy.

Rima’s own son took the house that belonged to her family and threw her out in the cold, yet she too remained faithful to Jesus, trusting Him to provide.

This was a test of my faith. Was Jesus going to protect me or not?

The bond we had as sisters in Jesus was stronger than anything, I had experienced. We prayed together, studied the Holy Scriptures, and shared our deepest fears and struggles with one another. We also held each other accountable to live as Christ Jesus and follow His teachings. James taught us to be women who are doers of the Word, not merely hearers of the Word. It is hard to live out your faith in Jesus Christ in a Muslim home, but not impossible in the strength of the Lord.

Some of my friends were able to hide their Bibles in their homes enabling them to read the precious Words of Life when the coast was clear of their abusive husbands or the watching eyes of their sons or other male relatives. But for a few of us, having a Bible in our possession was not an option. My home consisted of one room that served as both living room and sleeping room, with one of the walls making up our cooking area. There wasn’t a safe place to hide anything of value, especially a sacred and treasured possession, albeit a forbidden copy of the Bible.

This drove me to memorize as many passages and verses of the Bible as I possibly could. It was my mission. If I could not hide God’s Word in my home, I would hide it in my heart! What a gift it was, for I could carry it with me everywhere I went, sharing the truth of Jesus to anyone in need. It was if the Holy Spirit birthed in me a supernatural ability to memorize. I could easily remember whole chapters of the Bible without much effort. Memorizing the Word of God became more important to me than the food I ate. My second passion was teaching God’s word to Ali. He was like a sponge soaking up all he was learning of Jesus. He too could quote many Bible verses at appropriate times to encourage others. My greatest prayer is for Hassan to come to know Jesus as Savior.

Exhortations from JoAnn

Each of the women finished sharing their remarkable stories, all with passionate pleas for prayer.

There were huge requests with life and death consequences. Literally! The city they reside in is known for the vast number of honor killings preformed. The government turns a blind eye, seeing these brutal murders as a religious right. How could I, a believer from America, a free country, encourage these dear sisters in the faith? What could I say to renew their hope?

With my cheeks wet with tears, I told my sisters that I would never forget them, nor their life stories. I promised I would take them in my heart and share their journey’s in Christ with others, giving them a voice in places they would physically never visit. In so doing, countless followers of Jesus would join me in praying for them. The ripple effect of prayer would grow and expand until each one of their prayers were answered in astounding ways. For nothing is impossible with God.

In the meantime, I shared a verse the Lord used in my life to sustain me, time and again while waiting for His answers.

Micah 7:6-8 are beautiful verses full of hope God’s intends especially for you rest on.

“For a son dishonors his father, and a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.”

Though coming to faith in Jesus is not dishonoring to your Muslim family members in God’s eyes, it feels as it is to them before they come to believe in Jesus as Savior. In turn, because of your new birthed faith, your family sees you as the enemy. Thus, you suffer much at their hands; abuse, verbally and physically, persecution, and possibly even death.

He hears every single prayer you pray!

Every time you cry out to Him, He’s listening.

Every. Single. Time!

What a beautiful promise from the Word of God.

The question is, how do we “watch” and “wait” for God to answer our prayers at the same time?

I call Micah 7:7 the rocking chair verse.

Picture yourself sitting in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth as you talk to the Father about the concerns of your heart. You rock forward, gazing right to left, asking yourself and the Lord, “Is this day of Your answer?” Watching for His divine provision. You don’t see the answer coming, so you rock back, waiting for His perfect timing, your hope firmly established on His promise that He hears you. You continue rocking forward and backward, hope continually renewed in His Presence, as you watch expectantly for His answer, then rest again in waiting while He works. One day, as you watch in hope, Jesus will fulfill the desire of your heart in ways that your mind cannot conceive. (1Cor 2:9) For His ways are higher. (Isaiah 55:8-9) His love intimate as He gives good gifts to His children. (Matt 7:11)

Two hours of scripture and stories flew by. Then we prayed. Did we ever pray! Heaven seemed closer and the presence of the Lord stunned us into silence, and then into praise. It was an hour of the intense prayer I will never recover from.

After long, tender hugs, there was only one thing left to do…

The hijabs went back on. The bolted door was opened. And the women of God walked outside into a fanatical fundamentalist Islamic city to spread the Good News of Jesus. A few of them looked back and smiled.

They had unshakeable faith in Christ. They had boldness. They had a slew of answered prayers. They had the Holy Spirit all over them. They had joy. They had each other.

And they were sent by Jesus on a mission that was extreme, unwavering, high risk … because every soul matters.

Takeaway from the Underground Women’s Prayer Meeting

So, what happens when women pray? Heaven and earth are moved in response!

The same thing happens when men pray – He answers our prayers. Matthew 7:7-11 promises us so.

Every. Single. Time!

Will you, dear reader, pause right now and pray for the women whose stories you’ve just read. He knows every one of their needs and desires. Will you join the chorus of prayer for your beloved sisters-in-Christ? Just think, you’ll meet all of them in heaven one day, and spend eternity together, where you can hear the rest of their stories.

PR

This excerpt is from Tom and JoAnn Doyle with Greg Webster, Women Who Risk: Secret Agents For Jesus In The Muslim World (W Publishing Group, 2021). “Hopeless─Then Jesus Arrived,” has been adapted for online publication. Used with permission.

Further Reading:

Reach the Unreached and Stand with the Persecuted: an Interview with Tom and JoAnn Doyle

John Lathrop reviews: Tom and JoAnn Doyle with Greg Webster, Women Who Risk: Secret Agents For Jesus In The Muslim World

I was so blessed to hear this story, quite by chance—or more accurately, by providence—a few months after I retired from the United States Army as a chaplain. I was in Branson, Missouri, where I had been invited to sing at the Branson Gospel Music Convention during the week of July 14-17, 2009.

I arrived on Sunday, July 12, at the airport in Springfield, Missouri, rented a car, and began driving south to Branson. All along the way, I kept seeing pictures of Bill Medley on billboards. He was performing for the entire summer at the Moon River Theater in Branson, filling in for Andy Williams who was on vacation. Andy owned the theater, but Bill was the only entertainer whom Andy let fill in for him.

Hours later I arrived in Branson and checked into my hotel room at the Hilton at the convention center. I found out that day that soundtracks had to be on CD, not tape. I immediately phoned recording studios and made reservations to have mine transferred to a CD the next morning. So, Monday morning about 9:00 I drove through downtown Branson on the main street to the other side of town and into the countryside to the recording studio, had both songs transferred from tape to CD, and then headed back to the convention center.

Left to right: Bill Medley, McKenna Medley (daughter), Jim Linzey, Darren Medley (lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders), and Paul Revere at the Moon River Theatre (July 16, 2009).

When I got to the corner of the main street to begin my trek through all the traffic, I noticed an IHOP on the corner and thought, “This is my opportunity to easily get to the restroom.” So, I pulled into the parking lot, opened the door to IHOP, and walked in, and there, first booth on the right sat Bill Medley. His back was toward me, but I could see the side of his face. I thought, “This can’t be happening.” I walked down the aisle and went right by him and kept going. I thought, “When I leave, I’ll walk back the same way, then I can see his face to make sure that it’s Bill,” even though I knew it was him.

When I came out of the restroom, I was determined to greet him. I walked down the same aisle, and about eight feet from his booth our eyes met. There was no escaping! So, I boldly walked to the side of his table, crouched down at eye level, and asked, “Are you Bill Medley?”

“Yes,” he said.

“You and I have someone in common,” I said.

“Who?” he asked.

“Jack Colman.” Bill’s heart melted as an expression of love came over his face. “I know he was your vocal coach. He was mine, too,” I said, “and Jack used to tell me all about you.”

Bill was visibly stirred by memories, and then he shared wonderful stories about the spirituality of Jack and Jack’s wife, Sarah Jepson Coleman, who had co-written Portraits of Vision with Tommy Barnett. I was well acquainted with Sarah as well. When I was a student at Fuller Theological Seminary, where Sarah’s brother, Dr. Al Jepson, taught, I house sat for Jack and Sarah, and I sure enjoyed the tray of peanut butter cookies with Hershey’s chocolate kisses that she left for me.

Then I said to Bill, “You and I have someone else in common.”

“Who?” he asked.

“John Wimber,” I replied.

Again, Bill’s face melted with love as he spoke of John and Carol Wimber with great compassion, and shared how John was his and Bobby Hatfield’s producer and performed with them in concert on the keyboard.

After I told Bill that I studied Signs and Wonders under John at Fuller Theological Seminary and was on John’s large ministry team at the Anaheim Vineyard, Bill said, “Do you know how John came to know God?”

“No,” I answered.

“One day, John asked me, ‘What can you tell me about God?’ and I humorously replied, ‘You mean, Ray Charles?’

“Then John pointed to the sky and said, ‘No, the Great One!’”

Bill then witnessed to John about the Lord. While John did not receive Christ immediately, this prompted him to continue thinking about God until he received Him.

We can lead someone to the water, as Bill in this sense led John to God, but it does not mean that person will receive and drink of the water at that time.

I was in utter amazement that after hearing about Bill from Jack and Sarah decades earlier, and studying and ministering under John, here I was, crouched beside Bill at his table at IHOP learning how my former pastor and mentor came to Christ.

I told Bill that I was in town to perform at the Branson Gospel Music Convention that week, and he asked me if I would like to come to his concert at the Moon River Theater. I replied that I would, and he said, “The tickets are $50.” I replied that I would be happy to come, and he gave me the phone number to his road manager, whom I phoned as soon as I returned to the Hilton. The road manager was also a born again Christian, and we fellowshipped for about an hour on the phone. Then he said, “Your ticket will be waiting for you at the box office window, free of charge.” I profusely thanked him for the blessing.

After my performance at the Branson Gospel Music Convention, I went to Bill’s performance a few nights later. During Bill’s performance, he pointed at me several times and told the audience how he and I both knew some of the same people. He also promoted his Gospel CD that night and sold it at the table after his performance.

I was so blessed to have this encounter with Bill Medley and learn how he was instrumental in leading John Wimber to Jesus.

James F. Linzey studied Signs and Wonders under John Wimber at Fuller Theological Seminary and ministered under John on the Anaheim Vineyard’s Large Ministry Team. He studied voice and performance under Jack Coleman and is the chief editor of the Modern English Version Bible.

Pentecostals are well acquainted with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the argument that it is Jesus who baptizes the church at Pentecost. But if Jesus is the Spirit baptizer, what does this act mean for our understanding of Jesus himself, for Jesus’ own history, and for the way he imparts the Spirit at Pentecost? These are the main questions Frank Macchia pursues in his book, Jesus the Spirit Baptizer. Macchia has been relentless in his focus on Spirit baptism as an organizing principle or the “crown jewel” of Pentecostal theology, as he calls it in his earlier work. For much of his career, he has provided a pathway to envision and revise what is arguably at the center of Pentecostal history by pointing to the wider ecumenical and theological implications of Pentecostal thought for the Christian world. This volume continues on the same path with a refreshing and inspiring analysis of the person and work of Christ by arguing that it is Pentecost, not Easter, that is the climax of the Incarnation.

The argument unfolds in three parts, each comprised of two chapters. Part 1 explains the task of Christology in the terms of traditional Christological method (chapter 1) and the challenges to Christology in the light of Pentecost (chapter 2). Part 2 focuses on Christ’s Incarnation (chapter 3) and his baptism and anointing (chapter 4). The final part addresses the death and resurrection (chapter 5) and Christ’s act of baptizing with the Spirit (chapter 6). With these significant discussions, Macchia hopes to address the chief questions of Christology: Who is Jesus in relation to God? Is Jesus truly divine? Who is Christ in relation to humanity? Is he truly human? And how do we understand his work and its ongoing significance?

Dr. Michael Brown speaks with Pneuma Review about his new book, Jezebel’s War With America. He urges believers to remember who we are in Jesus and take a stand against the spirit of the age.

PneumaReview.com: Please explain to our readers what you mean by Jezebel being at war with America when the historical figure, Jezebel, has been dead for thousands of years.

Michael Brown: We know that in the Bible there was a wicked Queen Jezebel, and she was incredibly powerful. She led the nation into idolatry. She emasculated her husband who was a strong King. She was associated with sexual immorality and with sorcery. She was a murderer, and she was obviously demonically empowered. Jesus called a woman “Jezebel” in the New Testament a thousand years later. This woman also was a false prophet; this false spirituality led people into idolatry and sexual immorality. The same demonic forces that worked through this queen 3,000 years ago and through this false prophet 2,000 years ago are working together in America today.

PneumaReview.com: What do you see as the primary signs that the spirit of Jezebel is at work in America?

Michael Brown: When we look at the state of the nation today, we see the rise of radical feminism and the emasculating of men. We see the rise of idolatry turning away from God, the rise of sexual immorality through porn and the Internet, the intense baby-killing fueling a militant abortion spirit. There are reports that we even have more witches today in America than Presbyterians. The same demonic power that works through Jezebel paralyzes people by fear. All these are clear signs that Jezebel is clearly at work in America.

PneumaReview.com: What are the main tactics that this spirit employs in order to accomplish its purposes?

Jesus the Lord according to Paul the Apostle will both educate and resonate well with its intended audience. One who has heard Gordon Fee preach can hear him preaching in this book, passionately communicating the fruits of his exegesis in language that can profit nonscholars as well as academicians. As I noted in my comments to the publisher, the book is “intertextually rich and theologically provocative,” inviting readers “to rethink traditional academic constructions of Paul’s theology in light of the primary data provided more conspicuously by Paul’s own letters.” While not ignorant of wider scholarly opinions, in this book Fee plunges the reader into more immediate contact with Paul’s own words.

Fee’s extensive Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Hendrickson, 2007; Baker, 2013), which treats all the present work’s questions in far greater detail, is not on a level accessible to the average reader (sort of like my four-volume Acts commentary). By contrast, Jesus the Lord offers a more accessible introduction, in the way that his Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God (1996) complemented Fee’s larger academic tome on Pauline pneumatology, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (1994).

Jesus the Lord according to Paul the Apostle is certainly accessible. The foreword also is a touching tribute from Fee’s daughter Cherith Fee Nordling, a theologian in her own right.

As an exegete who has written commentaries on 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, the Thessalonian correspondence and the Pastorals, Fee systematizes some elements of Pauline Christology only after inductive study of the biblical text. Granted, he displays unabashed theological commitments, but they are commitments ably articulated and defended, reflecting carefully considered convictions. For example, although he sees Jesus as divine, he rejects application of the title “God” to Jesus in Rom 9:5 (124n1).

Some of the convictions that he articulates are less widely shared than others. As defended in his Pastorals commentary, Fee accepts a thirteen-letter Pauline canon (albeit with a different amanuensis and thus different vocabulary in the Pastorals; cf. Jesus the Lord, 125n1). Nevertheless, Fee establishes his central case for divine Christology more than adequately from the undisputed letters. (Given their distinctive content, the Pastorals do not figure as heavily in this work as do the earlier letters in any case.) For those of us who do accept the more disputed letters as Pauline at any level, however, Fee’s treatment of ideas there, alongside those in the undisputed epistles, may prove very enlightening for interpretation.

Although a more popular work includes much less documentation than the academic work on which it is based, it can sometimes also provide a more mature synthesis of the issues, highlighting the issues that further reflection deems most central. In Jesus the Lord, Fee develops the central elements of his case clearly.

Unapologetically Pentecostal, Atkinson, an ordained minister, presents Jesus through the eyes of a Pentecostal believer as well as through the eyes of a scholar (Edinburgh)—that is, as a theological historian he views Jesus in the “then and there,” while as a Pentecostal, he views Jesus in the “here and now” (1).

I have watched over a seven-year span (four books) as Atkinson has fine-tuned his writing skills. As I read Jesus Before Pentecost, though certainly scholarly, at times it was as if I was reading a devotional (as space permits, I will include such passages).

This latest book looks at the well-known Pentecostal pillars of Jesus as savior, healer, baptizer in the Spirit, and soon-coming King. He acknowledges the five-fold pattern which includes Jesus as sanctifier, but chooses to examine the four-square “rubric,” as that is the pattern of his own tradition (UK-based Elim Pentecostal Church). He accurately notes that this four-square gospel foundation of Pentecostalism exposes the “inaccurate criticism” that Pentecostals are Spirit-centered and give short shrift to Jesus.

It is Atkinson’s contention that “someone who looks at Jesus through Pentecostal eyes thereby gains helpful insight by means of that perspective” (7). If, as he believes, “what you see depends on where you are looking from” (40), this brings certain things to the foreground, such as the miraculous healing ministry of Jesus and his anointing of God’s Spirit.

Before delving into the attributes of Jesus under the four-square pattern, Atkinson defends the use of the Gospel of John as the primary source of truth about the historical Jesus. Atkinson wishes to draw his picture of Jesus from ancient eyes, so eyewitness testimony is paramount, especially what the witnesses say that Jesus said about himself.

William P. Atkinson

Atkinson carefully builds a case that supports the use of John. Given the evidence from John (19:25–26; 20:2–5), he concludes “It is a deep irony … that the fourth gospel appears as little more than a footnote in major studies of Jesus’ history” (16). In addition to the gospels and Paul, Atkinson also considers non-biblical sources such as Josephus, Quadratus, the Gospel of Thomas, and Q (as a body of oral tradition) (12ff., 34).

Savior. According to Atkinson, Pentecostalism directly assaults “pie in the sky” (my words) theology. “Salvation will not be presented in Pentecostal communities as only a hope for the life to come.” He follows with a discussion of enjoying “the benefits of God’s kingdom in their present lives” (47). Jesus is savior in many ways, for example, he saved people from the immediate threat of being drowned, he saved people from social estrangement, he saved people from physical hunger, and he saved people from God’s silence and from God’s absence (48–50). On a lighter note, “Jesus’ teaching effectively ‘saved’ listeners from the frustrations of listening to other teachers whose input seems to have smacked of hypercritical superficiality (Mark 1:22)” (50). More important, Jesus saved from Satanic bondage and divine judgment.

Are the red letters of Jesus really that different than the black letters of the rest of the Bible? Why are there diverse font colors, and what is the significance? Red letter Bibles were first published in 1899 by an influential Christian leader named Louis Klopsch, editor of Christian Herald magazine.[1] He was a devout man who deeply desired all people to read, understand, and value the Bible. Although Klopsch’s motivations were sincere and beneficial, the presence of red letter Bibles may actually confuse rather than clarify the reading of Scripture in a couple of important aspects.

Image: Bethany Laird

Matthew uses Jesus’ phrase the “kingdom of heaven” 32 times, whereas Luke, Mark, and John give us “kingdom of God” or “eternal life.”[3] There are a few reasons why the Gospel writers choose different words or phrases to attribute to Jesus depending on the literary and theological intention that the writer has for his audience. Matthew’s Jesus prefers “kingdom of heaven” because this kingdom is opposed to and will be victorious over the kingdoms of earth, especially the Jewish and Roman anti-messiah kingdoms. On the other hand, “kingdom of God” is over and against the strong Greco-roman pantheon structures and worship of the audiences for Mark’s and Luke’s Jesus. John’s Jesus has a strong focus on “eternal life” since his gospel is a post-resurrection reflection on what Jesus has actually provided anyone who follows his teachings.