Monday, September 16, 2013

The Importance of Research and Revelation



The Importance of Research and Revelation

Rabbi Yehudah "Tochukwu" ben Shomeyr

It’s not that God can’t use evolution, for God is Omnipotent. It is simply that He didn’t. I’m not speaking of micro-evolution, or adaptation, this is clearly evident in creation. For example, how goats who lived on the savannah over time and generations have adapted their hooves to live on and traverse the mountains. I am speaking of macro-evolution, where one species literally evolves or turns into another. My image is that of God’s, not the apes. This is about as ridiculous as a frog turning in to a prince. All we see is not the result of a grand explosion, that would be like me detonating a bomb in a junk yard and fully formed and functional vehicles be the result of that explosion. I do not look at a watch on someone’s wrist and wonder, “Gee, how many billions of years did that take to evolve!?” No, I see it and due to its complexity, function and purpose I see there was a designer and I ask myself, “I wonder who made that?” Because we are so fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa. 139:14), I see the intricacy of humans, animals, the ecosystem and the solar system and think, there is exactitudes and precisions therefore there must be a Grand Designer and Maker and that could be no ne but Almighty God.

Likewise with history, I see it through the eyes of a Creator with a Master Plan who gave us certain promises and prophetic clues on how things are going to unfold. How He is ultimately behind and has orchestrated major world powers and events to its ends. With this being said, God has promised a man named Jacob who had twelve sons who became twelve tribes that they would be so numerous and uncountable as stars and grains of sand (Gen. 22:17) and yet we can identify and number the sons of Judah and Levi; which, due to Assyrian exile leaves ten sons and their descendants “lost.” They could not have just disappeared and or died out. This would make God a liar and a covenant breaker, which He is not (Gen. 17:7, Titus 1:2). The only logical conclusion is that they were dispersed throughout the world. Some knowing who they are regardless of who believes their claim and others have lost their identity and have assimilated into the lands, peoples and cultures around them. For these reasons I confidently assert that the Igbos are Hebrews. For these reasons I know the humanistic, secular researchers, scientists, anthropologists and archeologists does not know it all. For these reasons I put little stock in their work that is a result of their world view which I reject. The evidences lay equally before us both. Do they have all the answers? Do I? Equally, NO. We both still have unanswered questions and more findings generate more questions and so there is more research to be done, but I have something they lack; FAITH and REVELATION which is like the component that causes concrete to solidify. It is the ribbon which holds the bundle together. FAITH and REVELATION further backs up the Research. Research without FAITH and REVELATION is like flying a plane or driving a car on instrumentations alone, without instinct, without “feeling” the plane or car beneath them.

The Igbos, being a portion of Gad as well as other Israeli Tribes were a part of the Assyrian captivity.; vomited out from the land of Israel mostly due to their idolatry. For a time on and off throughout their history in Nigeria they ended up deifying their ancestors and worshipping and adopting pagan deities and worshipping them alongside Chukwu Abiama (The God of Abraham). So European scholars as well as Igbo scholars who have done extensive research and study on these “gods” try to discredit or make light of the clear connection between Israel and Ndi Igbo through Igbo Omenana and the Hebrew Torah; completely ignoring Biblical and religious history in favor of honing in on the paganistic idolatry of the people. That is like a blind man examining an elephant’s leg and thinking it to be some sort of strange tree trunk; failing to see the bigger picture of the huge palm leaf like ears, its twig like tail and its serpentine like trunk. That is like trying to interpret a photo by a few puzzle pieces. Who am I going to trust? The elders who despite oral history has been consistent or European outsiders looking with a Western eye or Igbo scholars who wants to win favor in Western Academia? I’m going to go with the Elders and Scriptures backed by research and evidence.