Remarkable Path to Lebanon

By Kathie Lichtenwalter

Volunteer teacher Ruan Oliveira struggled to listen to the speaker at a “I Will Go!” mission training event at Middle East University in Beirut, Lebanon. “Where have I seen that guy before?” he wondered.

Image © Pacific Press

Ruan had arrived from Brazil to serve as a volunteer teacher at the Adventist Learning Center, which teaches Syrian refugee children in grades 1-8. He was listening to university teacher Brian Manley describe the work of “tentmakers,” Seventh-day Adventists who follow apostle Paul’s example of using their profession to work in non-Christian countries.

Ruan pulled out his cellphone and began to scroll through years of photos.

Mission was in Ruan’s blood. Born in Brazil, he had grown up in a family that talked and lived mission. As a high school student, he accompanied his parents to Argentina for an “I Will Go!” mission conference in 2017. His heart was deeply touched as he heard about the needs of the Middle East.

During his first year of university studies, he accepted an invitation to teach English in a non-Christian country in Asia. Soon after he arrived, however, the language school closed. He stayed to study the local language, but he was forbidden from mentioning God to anyone. Returning to Brazil for his second year of university, Ruan felt a strong desire to go abroad again. He filled out several applications for openings in the Middle East, the region that had captured his imagination at the 2017 conference in Argentina.

“God, it’s up to You,” he prayed as he sent off the applications on VividFaith.com, the Adventist Church’s official website for volunteers. “I will accept the first response that I get.”

Seven minutes later, a message popped up on his phone. It was from the Adventist Learning Center in Beirut. Ruan arrived at the school six weeks later. After Asia, he had an appreciation for the religious freedom in Lebanon. “I can even tell them I am a Christian!” he said.

After a year in Lebanon, Ruan intends to finish his studies and become a full-time missionary. His conviction that God has called him was reaffirmed when he remembered where he had seen Brian Manley previously.

After Manley finished speaking at the conference, Ruan approached him, phone in hand.

“I know where I’ve seen you before!” he said, scrolling back five years to show a photo of him and his parents with Manley at the conference in Argentina in 2017. It was Manley’s presentation about tentmakers at the conference that had stirred Ruan’s heart to serve God in the Middle East.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

 Does Ephesians 1:3-14 teach that God predetermines the futures of human beings, predestining some to everlasting life and others to everlasting death?

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Many people, unfortunately, believe this. Consider, however, these ideas:

1. In the passage, the role of Christ is determinative, since the divine choice to adopt us occurs “through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5, ESV) or “in him” (Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:11). This suggests that God’s election and predetermination are exercised toward all who choose faith in Christ rather than selecting who will be saved or lost on a case-by-case basis even before people were born. God’s decision is the studied, predetermined, divine response to those who exercise faith in Christ.
2. Ephesians 1:3-14 also contains vivid relational language about God’s work of salvation. God is “Father,” and we are His “adopted” children (Ephesians 1:3-5), who receive His blessings in bountiful measure (Ephesians 1:8). We must understand the language about God’s choice and predetermination in the light of this rich, relational language. God is not a distant, unfeeling judge who makes decrees from afar but the caring Father of all His children (see Ephesians 3:15).
3. That God honors human choice is reflected in Ephesians 1:3-14 (especially Ephesians 1:13, where “hearing” and “believing” are judged to be important), elsewhere in the letter (Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 3:17, Ephesians 4:1-6:20, all of which emphasize or presume the exercise of choice and the response of faith), and in other passages in the New Testament (e.g., 1 Timothy 2:4, Acts 17:22-31). Or, as Ellen G. White expressed it: “In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.” — Steps to Christ, p. 68.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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