Missionary Mishap: Steven Finds the Manuscript that Didn’t Exist

Posted on by Leave a comment

Edit: Steven has apologized for his behaviour.

So…in an earlier post, I gave the name of the manuscript that contained 1 John 2:22. Despite that, Steven Tilley and his colleague insisted in a video shortly thereafter that we had both made up a manuscript and lied about it’s name. However…using the very name I gave them, word for word, they eventually found that not only was the manuscript not made up but that it was known and documented. Surprising, isn’t it!

cc-2017-jm-stevenvladmirinsultsga23-9

You’ll notice that he apologizes for insulting our Br. Yahya, and in some odd way attributes his finding the name of the manuscript to the screenshot of its exact name that I had given. Despite that, he still insists a mistake was made. So to wrap up:

  • Insulted me calling me a liar, idiot, and various other insults.
  • Claimed I made up a manuscript.
  • Claimed I made up the name of a manuscript.
  • I give them the name in a screenshot…
  • They eventually find said manuscript.
  • Manuscript exists.
  • Apologizes to Br. Yahya, but not me.

Brilliant to be honest. Now that they realise it exists, hopefully they will learn to behave like adults and act in a mature way. Insulting people, making fun of them, creating videos mocking them because of their inability to find something is not okay, but this is what they are taught at Jonathan McLatchie’s Apologetics Academy.

and God knows best.

Missionary Mishap: Literacy is a Problem

Posted on by Leave a comment

Edit: Steven has apologized for his behaviour.

Our favourite duo, Steven Tilley and Vladmir Susic made an extremely awkward 8 minute video with a few insults and name calling (something we do not engage in), they should probably read the Gospel where it says to “love your enemy”. At the end of this 8 minute video they had a young missionary “exposing” me (Br. Ijaz), by claiming I had made an error:

cc-2017-jm-stevenvladmirinsultsga23-5

In the video, they premised their claim that we had given them the wrong manuscript name. However, they’ve made quite a simple mistake. They themselves don’t know what the manuscript is called. They first refer to it as “GA zero-two-three” then as, “GA (letter) O 23”. To begin with, the manuscript is not named either. It’s actually entitled, GA Ο23. It’s neither a number (zero) or the letter (o). So, we encourage them to keep trying. Hopefully they’ll figure out the name in the near future. Well, we hope they do before they get the name wrong again.

and God knows best.

Missionary Mishap: Steven and Vladmir

Posted on by Leave a comment

Edit: Steven has apologized for his behaviour.

Recently, following a meeting with a colleague of mines I gave him some manuscript information regarding a passage from 1 John, specifically 1 John 2:22. Following his article, it seems to have caught quite a few internet missionaries off guard, to the point they began to throw insults and mockery, as can be seen here:

cc-2017-jm-stevenvladmirinsultsga23

There’s a couple things to note here.

Firstly, Steven Tilley spent all day searching for the manuscript I mentioned (GA Ο23 – note, Br. Mustafa has corrected a typo in his article), since he was unable to find it, it meant to him that it did not exist. Not very smart reasoning here. His inability to locate something, does not prove its non-existence. His lack of ability is not an argument against the validity of the source being examined. One of the reasons I gave just one alias of the manuscript was to see how well they were educated and skilled. It would therefore seem that without knowing the other aliases for the manuscript that they can’t find any other information about it. Quite embarrassing to say the least.

Secondly, his colleague, then proceeds to call me an idiot and refers to a Wikipedia page that does not mention the other aliases of the manuscript. In his wisdom, he then claims I pulled the source out of…well, he was trying to throw an insult.

Here’s the fun part though. Anyone with access to ECM, will know the proper name of the manuscript and its contents. In fact, using the alternative name of the manuscript, going to the museum’s page, it lists what the manuscript contains:

cc-2017-jm-stevenvladmirinsultsga23-2

So not only were they not smart enough to find the alternate names for the collection, they were unable to locate the museum data about the collection and its contents as it relates to 1 John 2:22. Furthermore, they would have actually gotten a great deal of information if they consulted the NET’s Textual Critical notes on 1 John 2:22-23 which actually comments on the missing words from one of these passages and the textual tradition which omits them.

To make it even more interesting, it seems as if they think the passage only lacks the word “antichrist” as Steven has argued. This is actually incorrect, thus demonstrating their further inability to comprehend basic textual critical issues. 1 John 2:22 is lacunose between the two initial occurrences of, “εστιν”, while completely omitting the rest of the passage (as found elsewhere) following the words, “εστιν  Ις”. Thus completely omitting, “is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist–denying the Father and the Son.”

That’s quite a lot more than just the word, “antichrist”.

There’s two other aliases by which the manuscript goes by, if after searching all day they can’t find it, then it goes to show their limited grasp on New Testament textual criticism and their inability to do simple research. All they really had to do was consult Jones’s work on Amulets.

and God knows best.

Missionary Mishap – Successful Christian Apologist?

Posted on by One comment

Imagine for a moment that you’re a newly rebranded Christian apologist as your last stint as an apologist didn’t go so well. You’ve spent 10’s of thousands of dollars in University fees pursuing a Bacherlor’s, Master’s and then a Doctorate in a field which led you nowhere but to ridicule and mockery by your colleagues and the atheist community you sought to evangelize. 10 years have gone by and the people in your own field sat in a pub chanting “shame” at you. There needed to be a change, an audience you thought might be easier to evangelize. So you spent $144 USD per year to create a website that no one notices. You then spent $579.88 per year in subscription fees for a video conferencing platform.

That platform gets you around the 500 view average (per video) per month on YouTube, sometimes it gets you 292 view average (per video) per month after recording 8 to 10 hours of video footage every month, sometimes it’s more than 11 hours – after a year of promoting it. Maybe you thought you could go to Hyde Park and take over Jay Smith’s role there, only to decide arguing with Muslims is too difficult and in your case “unproductive”, especially since you had to make a 9 hour video response following each visit to the park. Maybe you thought doing that 9 hour video response with a 15 year old might make you seem intelligent, but then no one bothered to watch those response videos.

You branded your platform as an Academy, hoping to teach budding Christians in a field you hadn’t studied or received any qualifications in (Islam). Imagine this is you and then one night, after spending over a decade studying, after spending so much money, so much time and effort, you log in to your Academy’s Facebook group and see an exciting post. Your Christian friends on the Academy platform group you created are talking about Christian Apologists to learn from. After all of the work you’ve done, you look forward to fellow Christians recognizing that you’re a leader, a teacher and an inspiration, you eagerly read the comments after the post has been up for more than 12 hours…and no one has bothered to mention your name.

If that’s you, then you are Jonathan McLatchie! Well done!

cc-2017-jm-bestapologistsnotjonny

He’s quite the success!

and God knows best.

 

 

 

Upcoming Double Debate Weekend

Posted on by One comment

 

This weekend, two debates are happening between Br. Aqil (Radush Shubuhaat) and Mr. Chris Claus. Details are as follows:

YouTube Mirror.

Debate #1: Does the Bible Teach That Jesus is God?
Date and Time: Saturday 18th February, 6 PM EST.

Debate #2: Is Muhammad (ﷺ) Prophesied About in the Torah and Injeel?
Date and Time: Sunday 19th February, 6 PM EST.

Format:

  • 15 minute Opening Statement (each)
  • 7 minute Rebuttals (each)
  • 5 minute Rebuttals (each)
  • 15 minute Cross Examination (each, with 1 minute for the questioner and answerer)
  • 10 minute Cross Examination (each, with 1 minute for the questioner and answerer)
  • 5 minute Closing (each)

Both debates will be held on the MAP Zoom Room, the link will be posted via social media on the MAP Facebook Page and the Calling Christians Facebook Page, 15 minutes before the debates are scheduled to begin. The debates are also intended to be streamed via Facebook Live. You can check your timezone’s correlated time with that of the debate’s EST times here: World Time Buddy.

About Br. Aqil:

Aqil Onque was born and raised in New Jersey and became an avid student of knowledge as a late teenager. He studied and taught beginners Arabic, Tajweed and Islamic beliefs and practises to new Muslims extensively. He has studied with esteemed scholars in California at the Zaytuna Institude where he completed an intensive course on the Arabic language. He also traveled to Mauritania and was privileged to continue his studies under some of the most eminent Islamic scholars of that area. He is currently an active member of the local Masjid, where he conducts seasonal courses on Arabic and Islamic beliefs and practises. He also occasionally lectures at various neighbouring masjids.

About Mr. Claus:

Chris Claus used to be an Atheist and denied God’s existence. He came to Christianity through the miracle of healing. From that day on, he studied the scriptures. He has studied alongside his Pastor for over 8 years and has engaged in 8 formally moderated debates. He further says that, “God has brought this sinner to the place that I am able to defend our scriptures.”

and God knows best.

Shamoun’s Heretic is McLatchie’s Delight

Posted on by 4 comments

Richard Lucas of SOLAS CPC has been declared a heretic by missionary Sam Shamoun, following an article by our esteemed Br. Yahya Snow:

cc-2017-ss-richardheretic

The irony of this, is that Sam’s friend, Jonathan McLatchie is promoting Richard Lucas who Sam deems as a heretic, as an apologist to be learning from in his “Apologetics Academy”:

cc-2017-jm-richardheretic

Jonathan has even put up the listing for Richard on his website:

cc-2017-jm-richardheretic2

Let’s make sense of this. Sam Shamoun and Jonathan McLatchie are friends. Sam Shamoun views Richard Lucas as a heretic, holding false beliefs about the Trinity. Jonathan McLatchie in opposition to Sam, has been promoting Richard Lucas as someone to learn apologetics from, announcing Richard’s appearance on his “Apologetics Academy” some 5 months in advance. Is Jonathan McLatchie promoting a heretic as Sam Shamoun views Richard to be? Is Apologetics Academy endorsing heretical views to gain an audience?

You can view Dr. Ally’s debate with Mr. Lucas here:

and God knows best.

Sam Shamoun Says Paul of Tarsus Preached in Mosques

Posted on by One comment

Maybe it’s due to the lack of sleep since being condemned by a significant portion of the Christian community for attacking Dr. White, or perhaps it’s from the stress of changing core Christian beliefs when it comes to atonement. Needless to say, Sam has a vivid imagination, one can see it in his colourful use of insults and innate pervisity. Today however, we have quite the comment by our friend Sam:

cc-2017-ss-samscomments11paulwenttomosques

He says, “I am all for White going to mosques and preaching the Gospel like Paul did.” The question begs itself, when did Paul ever enter a Mosque?

What should be noted though, is that perhaps Sam may refer to the conjunctive term in the sentence and claim it refers to two distinct subjects, yet he denies this when it comes to the Shahadah mentioning two subjects (God and the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him). He claims the conjunctive term equates the two subjects (he claims the Prophet is  God). So either it is that Sam believes that Paul of Tarsus preached in Mosques, or he accepts that his interpretation of the testimony of faith in Islam (Shahadah) is faulty due to his poor grammatical and comprehension skills.

and God knows best.

Dr. James White Rebukes Sam Shamoun

Posted on by One comment

On the 1st of February 2017, Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries responded to Sam Shamoun’s incessant attacking of him, dating back to March of 2016. Following months of insults, mockery, and taunting by Sam, Dr. White finally responded to him given the fallout after his dialogues with Dr. Yasir Qadhi. As a consequence of the dialogues, Sam Shamoun led a campaign, asking his social media followers to stop Dr. White’s ministry, which included calling event halls, Churches and conferences to request that they cancel his appearances.

In March of 2016, Sam Shamoun began to openly insult and mock Dr. White for associating and debating Br. Yusuf Ismail of South Africa. In November and December of 2016, following Dr. White’s dismissal of Robert Morey’s call to “destroy Islam” by “destroying the Kabah” in Makkah, Sam Shamoun became increasingly infuriated with Dr. White. Finally, in January of 2017, following Dr. White’s dialogue with Dr. Qadhi in a Church, Sam Shamoun openly endorsed statements referring to Dr. White as an apostate:

cc-2017-ss-samscomments1apostate

Comment on Sam’s Facebook Page referring to Dr. White as an apostate.

cc-2017-ss-samscomments2apostate

Sam Shamoun “liked” the comment.

The below video is the summarized version of the 2 hour long Dividing Line episode which aired on the 1st of February, 2017. In this episode, Dr. White responded to Sam’s claims as posted on social media, while also commenting on Sam’s behaviour, trustworthiness (or lack thereof) and anger issues. As acknowledged, Sam cannot control his temper, has anger issues, is openly vitriolic and abusive, and is also referred to as a bully. The summarized version as presented below, includes 40 minutes of Dr. White directly addressing Sam Shamoun:

An earlier Missionary Mishap post covered a timeline of events leading up to the Dividing Line program. We have also produced two short videos based on statements made from the Dividing Line program, one where Dr. White states that Sam views himself as a “Prophet“, as well as another video where Sam’s uncontrolled temper, anger and foulmouthed behaviours are addressed.

and God knows best.

 

« Older Entries Recent Entries »