Foreword by Dr. Alexander Timothy
A good book or a good teacher can change the course of a person’s life for good. About 20 years ago, I had an encounter with the author, Iniobong that made me say that if I had had a teacher with his gift when I was a student, I would have been a great mathematician or scientist. Mathematics is about logic and I have always been at ease with logical reasoning even at an early age. Curiously, Maths, especially that aspect where you have more letters than numbers, was always a nightmare to me until I met Iniobong.
During one fateful summer holidy, he and I had volunteered to coach some secondary school students ,particularly, in order to remedy their deficiencies in mathematics and sciences , using his office complex. I taught English Language while he taught Maths and Physics. Before commencing his maths lesson, he gave a benchmark test. The test was quite straightforward. One of the problems was even cheap: 2x + 3y =? So, I volunteered to attempt that one because I didn't have problems with simple addition. In a jiffy, I produced and submitted the answer: 2x+3y =5xy. QED! To my shock, Iniobong marked it wrong. I thought he was being mischievous. So, seething with anger, I sought explanations. Patiently, he said, "Two goats plus three sheep?” Flippantly, I responded, " Two goats, three sheep! " With a broad smile, he said, "Replace goats with x and sheep with y.” It was an epiphany! I am certain many will also have epiphany moments while reading this book. That's the gift Iniobong has: the power of analogy. The moment he translated the problem from the realm of mathematical jargons to the everyday life realm, my mathematical chains which kept me bound for many years were broken. I was free. I wish I could wind back the clock but it was too late. I am only left to rue what might have been.
That is the power Iniobong brings to The Spirit Transplant. The same challenge I had in my mathematics is the same problem most people have in their understanding of spirituality. Generally the way spirituality has been presented by others makes it appear very abstract. God is assumed to be so mysterious that He cannot be understood; thus, the word “by faith” has been used as an explanation for every religious pattern that is not clear. Some religions have very low tolerance for intellectual scrutiny. Karl Max observed this unfortunate tendency and described religion as “the opium of the masses” - in other words people have to consciously blind the eyes of their minds in order to open the eyes of their faith.
However, God himself does not exclude the engagement of critical thinking. Afterall, he invited His devotees, "Come, now, let us reason together. " (Isaiah 1:18 KJV) The Spirit Transplant is a fitting extension to that invitation. The underlying theory of The Spirit Transplant is that everyone is born with a dead spirit. The reader should note carefully that the theory did not say or imply that people are born with a dead mind neither are they required to become narrow minded or blind before their spiritual eyes can be opened. Rather it engages the mind in order for it to understand the defective spiritual component. It translates the problem from the realm of spirituality and its associated jargons to the realm of natural reason. This is the main innovation in this book and what sets it apart from others. Once a problem is defined in the realm of reason no eyes of faith are required to understand or evaluate it. No faith is required to understand the conceptual models contained in the book. They are visible to the natural eye. The models provided help all lovers of truth to know what they are accepting or rejecting.
This is an era when science and technology are developing at an incredible pace. In such an era, spirituality and narratives bothering on the spiritual are sometimes viewed with scepticism, suspicion, apathy and sometimes antagonism. Some even view spirituality as non-scientific, if not antiscientific. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron drew outrage from 50 public figures for referring to the UK as a “Christian country”, insisting that Britain was “nonreligious." People have committed atrocities and heinous crimes in the name of religion and as such such antagonism may be justified in some cases.
Such antagonism against spiritual discourse, especially the Christian perspective, makes Iniobong’s Holy Spirit Transplant a courageous stance. Yet Iniobong isn’t alone. There are many in western societies who, though scientifically inclined, still give credence to spiritual phenomenon. Notable scientists like Bernard d'Espagnat (Physicist), Dr Francisco J. Ayala (Biologist), and Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Cosmologist and astrophysicist have won the prestigious Templeton Prize for works that demonstrate a nexus between Science and spirituality. One of such notable scientists, Charles Hard Townes, is even a Nobel laureate and physicists. One of the latest recipients of Templeton’s Prize, a self-claimed agnostic, a Brazillian astronomer and physicist Marcelo Gleiser has described science as “…a flirtation with mystery" (Folha de S.Paulo, March 20, 2019). Iniobong is, therefore, in good company, and is by no means a lone voice in trying to approach a spiritual phenomenon via the scientific lens. Nevertheless, The Spirit Transplant is unique because it provides the mechanism which provides the answer as to how spiritual occurrences takes place. Others view spirituality as what engineers call the black box whereby the inputs and the outputs are known but what is inside the black box is unknown. Such approach is susceptible to deception. In The Spirit Transplant, Iniobong lay bares the contents of the “black box”.
However, it would be unfair to science and the scientific process to limit science to what could only be manipulated in laboratories. Science is a way of thinking and doing. It is a culture of reasoning, whether inductively or deductively. Therefore, if we concede that science is not always empirical, if we concede that science often grows from the theoretical to the empirical, then, we should appreciate that spirituality may not be susceptible to the same empirical validation parameters as the physical sciences. There are valid human experiences like love and hatred which, for now, are not inclined to laboratory manipulation or verification, but which are undeniably real with their influences on humanity observable and palpable.
This is not to say that empiricism cannot validate spiritual phenomena. Several studies have investigated the efficacy of prayer. A triple-blind clinical investigation of the power of prayer found that women who were prayed for remotely had 50 per cent more pregnancies than those who were not prayed for (Cha &, Wirt, 200 ) One of such studies even demonstrated the healing effect of prayer on primates ( Lesniak, 2009)
To explain spiritual matters to a population that is not only largely aspiritual but also actively antispiritual is a challenging task which demands a carefully scripted dialogue. The book Holy Spirit Transplant provides such a dialogue. It situates a spiritual phenomenon in the context of everyday experiences of everyday people in an everyday world. Iniobong, in the Holy Spirit Transplant, brings the logical scientific approach to expound on a matter that millions of persons globally already consider extremely important. He has drawn from the concepts of electricity, magnetism, auto-mechanics and biology to illustrate and explain the phenomenon of the Holy Spirit Transplant.
In the face of desperate solutions offered to social problems, such as suggesting a modification of kitchen knife design as a mean of curbing knife crimes (Telegraph, 23rd September 2019), Iniobong redirects attention to the spiritual realm indicating that some of those who comit heinous crimes are under the influence of “intelligent” viruses. Iniobong sees in The Spirit Transplant keys to the seemingly intractable problems plaguing humanity such as crime, terrorism, trauma, fear, disaffection, suicides, alienation and similar psychosocial challenges. The author tries to create a bridge through the power of analogy between those who already are conversant with the experience and those who are less familiar with it.
Fortunately, as someone who straddles both the scientific and the spiritual worlds, Iniobong uses the analogy of organ transplant to articulate the phenomenon of the Holy Spirit baptism, which is a core New Testament evidence of spiritual rebirth. True to the scientific approach, Iniobong proposes a conceptual model, which draws from literature and the lived experiences of persons across a wide spectrum of professions and epistemologies, to validate the concept and experience of the Holy Spirit Transplant. Perhaps, the book fits into the Nobel Prize search for discoveries capable of causing a “scientific paradigm” shift.
However, the Holy Spirit Transplant is not merely a scientific exposition of a spiritual reality, it is also a spiritual treatise about temporal realities. It is a book whose spiritual depth is profound enough for persons in the Christian spiritual tradition. And it is analytical enough for those of the scientific community. It provides a confluence for readers in the physical, biological, psychological, social and spiritual sciences. The book courts the careful and sober considerations of all.
I am, therefore, confident that an encounter with this book will not only restore confidence to those who already have experienced their Holy Spirit Transplant but will also create a desire in those who are yet to have such leverage to desire the Holy Spirit Transplant.
Alexander E. Timothy, PhD. University of Calabar, Nigeria.
Footnotes
Cha KY, Wirth DP. (2001). Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized trial. J Reprod Med. 2001 Sep; 46(9):781-7.
Lesniak KT (2006). The effect of intercessory prayer on wound healing in nonhuman primates. Altern Ther Health Med. 2006 Nov-Dec; 12(6):42-8.
Subscribe
The Spirit Transplant, referred to as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, is a life time journey. Apart from the book we are happy to share any other resources that will help you on your journey. By subscribing to this page, you will also get to know about a special offer, a limited time promotion, or important updates.
Subscribe now for a free chapter of the book
