Miracle in UAE

By Gureni Lukwaro

Pradeep Liyanage hadn’t really thought about Jesus until his son joined a Pathfinder club in the United Arab Emirates. The 13-year-old boy came home filled with joy about the Bible stories that he heard at the club. As Pradeep and his wife saw the boy’s enthusiasm and listened to the stories, a desire grew in them to know more, and they started to study the Bible with Muyi Oyinloye, pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Sharjah.

Image © Pacific Press

The day came when Pradeep’s wife and son gave their hearts to Jesus and were baptized. Pradeep also wanted to join the Adventist Church, but he had a sinful habit that he seemed powerless to break: tobacco.

Around the time of the baptisms, a new health ministries director was settling into her job at the headquarters of the Gulf Field of the Middle East and North Africa Union Mission. As Kathy Coleman examined her new office, she realized that she was lacking the health ministries’ official stamp, which was vital for documents. A call to the former health ministries director yielded both the stamp and several boxes of materials that she had known nothing about. The boxes contained various Adventist health programs, including Breathe Free, a smoking cessation program.

While sorting out the materials, Kathy received a call from pastor Muyi.

“Could you arrange a stop-smoking program for Pradeep?” he asked.

Kathy realized that God had provided everything that she needed to help the man. God had put all the pieces together just in time for the pastor’s phone call. Kathy got in touch with Pradeep and helped him through the nine-week program. He stopped smoking and, two months after completing the program, remained smoke-free and without cravings. With joy, he was baptized on Sabbath, March 13, 2021. “The Lord has been blessing me both physically and spiritually in my life,” he said. “He has improved my health, my family is happier, and even at work I am performing better.”

Now the 47-year-old man is telling everyone about Jesus and inviting them to experience his joy. Through his testimony about how he quit smoking, three new families have sent their children to the Pathfinder club.

Jesus is inviting every one of His followers to shine brightly for Him, said Marc Coleman, president of the Gulf Field. “The Lord is calling all of us to live a transformed life that will let others know of the love of Jesus in us,” he said.

This mission story illustrates Mission Objective No. 2 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan, “To strengthen and diversify Adventist outreach … across the 10/40 Window.” Read more: IWillGo2020[dot]org.

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

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Read Genesis 11:8-9,  and Genesis 9:1; compare with Genesis 1:28. Why is God’s dispersion redemptive?

God’s design and blessing for humans was that they would “multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1, NKJV; compare with Genesis 1:28, NKJV). Against God’s plan, the builders of Babel preferred to stick together as the same people. One reason they said they wanted to build the city was so that they would not “be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4, NKJV). They refused to move elsewhere, perhaps thinking that together they would be more powerful than they would be separated and scattered. And, in one sense, they were right.

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Unfortunately, they sought to use their united power for evil, not good. They wanted to “make a name for ourselves,” a powerful reflection of their own arrogance and pride. Indeed, whenever humans, in open defiance of God, want to “make a name” for themselves, we can be sure it won’t turn out well. It never has.

Hence, in a judgment against their outright defiance, God scattered them across “the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9), exactly what they didn’t want to happen.

Interestingly enough, the name Babel, which means “door of God,” is related to the verb balal, which means “confuse” (Genesis 11:9). It is because they wanted to reach the “door” of God, because they thought of themselves as God, that they ended up confused and much less powerful than before.

“The men of Babel had determined to establish a government that should be independent of God. There were some among them, however, who feared the Lord, but who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly and drawn into their schemes. For the sake of these faithful ones the Lord delayed His judgments and gave the people time to reveal their true character. As this was developed, the sons of God labored to turn them from their purpose; but the people were fully united in their Heaven-daring undertaking. Had they gone on unchecked, they would have demoralized the world in its infancy. Their confederacy was founded in rebellion; a kingdom established for self-exaltation, but in which God was to have no rule or honor.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 123.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Join the Hit the Mark Sabbath School Panel as they have a lively, interactive discussion of the week’s lesson.

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Read Genesis 11:5-7 and Psalm 139:7-12. Why did God come down to the earth here? What was the event that motivated this divine reaction?

Ironically, although the men were going up, God had to come down to them. The descent of God is an affirmation of His supremacy. God will always be beyond our human reach. Any human effort to rise up to Him and to meet Him in heaven is useless and ridiculous. No question, that’s why, in order to save us, Jesus came down to us; there was, indeed, no other way for Him to save us.

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A great irony in the Tower of Babel account is seen in God’s statement: “to see the city and the tower” (Genesis 11:5). God did not have to come down to see (Psalm 139:7-12; compare with Psalm 2:4), but He did so anyway. The concept emphasizes God’s involvement with humanity.

Read Luke 1:26-33. What does this teach us about God’s coming down to us?

The descent of God reminds us also of the principle of righteousness by faith and of the process of God’s grace. Whatever work we may perform for God, He will still have to come down to meet with us. It is not what we do for God that will bring us to Him and to redemption. Instead, it is God’s move toward us that will save us. In fact, twice the text in Genesis talks about God going “down,” which seems to imply how much He cared about what was happening there.

According to the text, the Lord wanted to put an end to the people’s deep-seated unity, which — given their fallen state — could lead only to more and more evil. That’s why He chose to confuse their languages, which would bring an end to their united schemes.

“The schemes of the Babel builders ended in shame and defeat. The monument to their pride became the memorial of their folly. Yet men are continually pursuing the same course — depending upon self, and rejecting God’s law. It is the principle that Satan tried to carry out in heaven; the same that governed Cain in presenting his offering.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 123.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Read Genesis 11:1-4. Why were the people of “the whole earth” so keen to achieve unity?

The phrase “the whole earth” refers to a small number of people, those alive after the Flood. The reason for this gathering is clearly indicated: they want to build a tower to reach the heavens (Genesis 11:4).

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In fact, their real intention is to take the place of God Himself, the Creator. Significantly, the description of the people’s intentions and actions echo God’s intentions and actions in the Creation account: “they said” (Genesis 11:3-4; compare with Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:9, Genesis 1:14, etc.); “let us make” (Genesis 11:3-4; compare with Genesis 1:26). Their intention is explicitly stated: “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4, NKJV), an expression that is exclusively used for God (Isaiah 63:12, Isaiah 63:14).

In short, the builders of Babel entertained the misplaced ambition to replace God, the Creator. (We know who inspired that, don’t we? See Isaiah 14:14.) The memory of the Flood surely must have played a role in their project. They built a high tower in order to survive another flood, were another to come, despite God’s promise. The memory of the Flood has been preserved in Babylonian tradition, albeit distorted, in connection with the construction of the city of Babel (Babylon). This upward effort to reach heaven and usurp God will, indeed, characterize the spirit of Babylon.

This is why the story of the Tower of Babel is such an important motif in the book of Daniel, as well. The reference to Shinar, which introduces the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:2), reappears in the beginning of the book of Daniel, in order to designate the place where Nebuchadnezzar has brought the articles of the temple of Jerusalem (Daniel 1:2). Among many other passages of the book, the episode of Nebuchadnezzar’s erecting the golden statue, probably on the same place in the same “plain,” is the most illustrative of this frame of mind. In his visions of the end, Daniel sees the same scenario of the nations of the earth gathering together to achieve unity against God (Daniel 2:43, Daniel 11:43-45; compare with Revelation 16:14-16), though this attempt fails here, as it did with Babel, as well.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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