Like a Superman

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Published: Monday, 20 May 2024 05:54
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LIKE A SUPERMAN

In this world, everyone needs a hero – Peps, April 22, 2024

 

Superhero

With our world falling apart, wars from left to right, the suffering of millions of starving people, countless victims of crimes and injustices, the great disparity between the rich and the poor, and the economic bankruptcy in the aftermath of COVID-19 empowered by the military-like lockdown of 3.5 billion people across the globe, do we need a superhuman leader to save us, like Superman or Wonder Woman? Should you be a superhero, who would you like to be? Why?

I was around 7-8 years old when I often crossed the massive space of the grassy airstrip not far from where I lived in Rosales. There, on the grassy lot laden with countless trees on both sides of the airstrip, I witnessed many of the lowest moments of my life. From there, I would cry or yell out of desperation, and on a few occasions, blame God for my life’s misery. From such a tender age, I dreamt of becoming a Superman (though I hadn’t seen any movie of some sort equal to that screen name of a superhero). My formative years of intuition told me that we need a hero like Superman to fight on behalf of the poor, the weak, and the powerless. And only a Superman of some sort can bring an abrupt change to this corrupt world.

 

Why Superman?

Superman is a word used in the late 19th century, referring to “super- ‘exceptional’” + man, coined in imitation of the German Übermensch (used by Nietzsche, pronounced “new-chug”). Before Clark's adopted father dies, he tells Clark that he must use his powers to become a force for good. Clark's father calls Clark a "Super-Man," inspiring Clark to use the name.

 

Avenida

Avenida and its vicinity were the only places in the 1960s where movie theaters nearly merged in one place like mushrooms all over Asia. “Most of these movie houses were exclusive homes of Hollywood movie production outfits. Ideal theater, for example, carried only MGM movies. Likewise, Avenue showed movies made by Paramount and Lyric, only movies by Warner Bros. Other first-run theaters like Capitol, Ever, Galaxy, Universal, Odeon, State, Roman Super Cinerama, and later Maxim and Miramar in the late 60s were only showing Hollywood movies,” according to video48.blogspot.com/2009/02/.

Avenida then was well-visited by massive numbers of tourists from Japan, Hong Kong, Formosa (now Taiwan), Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, to name a few. I had never been. Not until I was in Grade II or perhaps I was 8 years old when I officially entered a cinema along Avenida.

I remember becoming a movie addict when I grew older during high school until college when at times I would get into 3 different movie houses just in one day. By then, I loved adventures like King Kong or Godzilla, Poseidon, Superman, and some other superhero movies, to name a few.

 

Would you like to be a hero one day? Who is your favorite hero? Jesus Christ! Is He a hero? Or would you like to consider Him? Can He fly like Superman?

 

Jesus, a Hero

Until I came across this article entitled, "Why Jesus Is A Hero To Billions?" by Psychology Today; Ethics and Morality; written by Scott T. Allison, Ph.D.; Posted December 23, 2014.

Here are five reasons for the enduring power of Jesus' heroism:

  1. Jesus was a born hero. He is a rare breed. Every Sunday Service, especially during Christmas and Easter Seasons, Christ’s name is most mentioned and revered. He has a DNA of a hero.
  2. Jesus was a revolutionary. In His time, He violated Jewish customs and Roman law like Socrates to bring change.
  3. Jesus suffered on the cross. His heroic acts are beyond compare.
  4. Jesus died to save others (not just for the righteous but also for the sinners, even those who killed Him).
  5. Jesus transformed society. His transformational charisma has gone beyond the nation of Israel to the whole world. According to the Pew Research Center (2010), there were around 2.38 billion Christians globally by 2021. The Philippines ranks 5th in the whole world with 86,790,000 Christians, next only to the USA, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. Historian and author H. G. Wells wrote, "I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." Meanwhile, Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, had nothing but praise for Jesus, describing Him as "a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world." Referring to Jesus' sacrifice at the cross, Gandhi said, "It was a perfect act.”

Is He, the Christ, a hero? Can He fly like Superman?

 

Secret Identity or Identity Disclosed

In Emmaus, after the death of Christ, two disciples were on the road to Emmaus arguing about what took place. Not long after, Jesus walked side by side with them and spoke in their conversations, yet these disciples had not recognized Christ at all. Jesus had a secret identity that these two disciples never knew. Not until they broke bread did Jesus finally reveal who He was to these disciples (Luke 24:16). Like in Spiderman, no one knew who Peter Parker really was.

 

The Invisible

For witnesses like Mary, who stood her ground that Christ rose from the dead, doubting Thomas remained his ground too, needing proof to believe. While the windows and doors were tightly closed for fear of being caught by the Roman soldiers due to their close affiliation with Christ, suddenly the dear Lord appeared without a trace of where He came from because He made Himself INVISIBLE. Then in John 20:19, “Jesus stood in their midst.”

 

He Flies Like Superman

Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the Spirit to come to empower the remnants after His resurrection. The place of such a spark or moment was in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Later, at that very moment, the remnant saw Him fly like Superman (Acts 1:10).

 

Like Superman

Sometime ago, two angels suddenly appeared while my eyes were closed. I asked the Lord if I could open my eyes. The Spirit of the Lord said, “Do not open your eyes. The moment you open your eyes, these angels will disappear.”

While my eyes were closed in prayer, I told these two angels to be still and never to lift me up elsewhere. Suddenly, these two angels grabbed both parts of my upper arms, lifted me up, and we flew, passing through the cemented ceiling without a single bruise.

Like Superman, we flew as fast as the speed of light. Until I lost sight of the tall rooftop of Rosales Water District and left Earth. Together with these two angels, we navigated the spaceless space like in a Star Trek movie, passing by planets and galaxies with their splendid sights of multi-colored layers of gas, masses, dust, and orbits. The time was indescribably unbelievable. It was like a split-second yet in a thousand years. Or it was like a thousand years in a split second. The time in space cannot simply be quantified. It is endless and boundless. Time is immaterial. I told these angels never to leave me there. As I said that, they instantly disappeared, and I was left alone floating in space with sparkling white clouds under my feet. I saw another much more sparkling cloud approaching my direction with a faint figure in the midst of those clouds. Until, in the middle of those clouds, I saw the Lord sitting on His throne with flashes of lightning behind Him. Then He came closer and closer and closer to me until we were just one meter apart with all the clouds and stars around us suddenly standing still, and the Lord said….

There are times when there are no enough words to describe who God is, out of fear or what? Or in awe and wonder?

Written by the physician disciple, it says in Luke 4:18, Jesus went to a synagogue, took the scrolls of Isaiah, and read aloud these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

Why can Christ be invisible? Why can He fly? It is because of the Spirit of God.

The word “Spirit” in Greek is “pneuma,” meaning “the 3rd person of the Triune God, co-equal, coeternal with the Father and Son, power, breath of God.” “Pneuma” means “a superhuman.”

Like Superman, Christ flies! Can you fly like Superman too?

Why did God call you? Will you be a hero?