Daniel Mann

Daniel was raised in the NYC Metropolitan area in a cultural Jewish home. While in 1^st and 2^nd grades when prayer was still used in the public school system, Daniel learned the 23^rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer, which he would prayer by himself nightly, clasping his hands, sealing it off in “Jesus’ Name!” Often, his prayers were miraculously answered, but he kept this a secret.

But when Daniel was about eight years, he came to realize that he was Jewish and that his prayer life wasn’t consistent with his ethnicity. His ethnicity won out, and he stopped praying. This same loyalty eventually led him to Israel in 1970 in a pursuit of his identity. He was convinced that his Israel experience would radically alter his life, but disappointment followed and he was just as unhappy as ever. So he began to search for God, but for a God that conformed to his ethnic identity. He rejected the Christian God. Having experienced extensive anti-Semitism in his childhood, he had come to regard Christians as “enemies,” not knowing the difference between true Christian and nominal ones. A Christian was someone who celebrated Christmas and had a tree, while the Jews had a Menorah.

Daniel returned to the USA after three years in Israel with a wife and infant child, determined to live as subsistence farmers, hoping this lifestyle would provide the meaning and purpose his life so painfully lacked. Living in harmony with nature became the supreme “good.” Instead, God interceded through a serious chainsaw injury, where he found himself in a pool of blood with death clawing at his life. But somehow he knew he wasn’t alone, that someone was with him, and he became so overwhelmed with a sense of joy, peace and love that he even laughed at the prospect of death. He felt God’s presence and knew he was loved and was under His protection. In the pool of blood, Daniel’s joy prompted him to cry out, “God, I don’t care if I loose both arms and legs as long as I can have You!”

However, Daniel didn’t know who this God was. After leaving the hospital, his joy had almost come to an end. In desperation, he vowed, “God, I just want You, and I’ll leave no stone unturned until I find out who you are.” The one stone left unturned in his spiritual quest through the occult and New Age, was Christianity. Soon after returning home, the neighbors who had miraculously rescued him, brought some Christian books. They described a God of love who forgives our sins, who would never forsake us, who gives comfort and hope, strangely resembling the God he had encountered in the pool of blood. Daniel began putting out a series of fleeces, some of which God had graciously condescended reveal himself through, sometimes in dramatic ways. But the concept of Jesus Christ continued to be an obstacle. Why would God suddenly love a world, which wasn’t too bad to begin with, because some one individual died on the cross? The concept of forgiveness resulting from a bloody crucifixion was unfathomable.

However, through his studies in Hebrew Scripture, Daniel began to realize that the sacrifice of the Messiah wasn’t a New Testament Gentile invention but it was found throughout the entire Bible, first with animal sacrifice and then with the prophetic promise of Messiah who would make atonement for the sins of the people. Clearly, Christianity wasn’t a Gentile religion but a Jewish one with a Jewish Messiah! But was Jesus the Jewish Messiah? It began to appear that way!

· Isaiah 53:4-8 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

· Jeremiah 31:31-34 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- ³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

· Zech. 12:10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

· Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

As the Biblical evidence was building in favor of Jesus, Daniel remained the chief of doubters, bouncing back and forth with “every wind of doctrine” and doubt. Faith didn’t come easy. Even after he had committed himself to Christ, he continued to be plagued with excruciating doubts about his salvation. God had become precious to him, yet he questioned God’s acceptance of him in light of his continual failures and growing awareness of his own unworthiness. However, these pains served as goads provoking him to learn Scripture.

He now thanks God for his weakness and affliction because through them, God created His strength (2 Cor. 12:9-10.) God’s Word became paramount in Daniel’s life, as King David had proclaimed, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes,” (Psalm 119:71).

Daniel came to understand how God had mercifully allowed him to struggle with doubts in order to confront his demons. This confrontation opened the door to assurance. Through the comfort by which the Lord has comforted Daniel (2 Cor. 1:4), he now has something valuable to pass on to others.

Academic History

Professor, New York School of the Bible, NY, NY (1992—Present); Courses Taught On Regular Basis:

· Theology Courses (6 courses)

· Worldview Apologetics (4 courses)

· Hebrew Poetry

· Hebrew Prophetic Books

· Advanced Principles of Bible Interpretation

· Biblical Principles For Handling Depression and Despair

Author, What I Learned About Depression on Route From the Synagogue to the Church: Confessions of a Sixties Berkeley Radical (Soon to be published)

Outreach and Organizations

Founder: “Washington Square Park Outreach”; an evangelistic outreach at the New York University Campus, NY, NY

Founder: “Knowing Scripture Ministries”; a ministry which brings seminars into the churches to promote the truth and certainty of Scripture.

Education

· Ashland Theological Seminary, MA, Old Testament

· Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Post-Masters Studies

· Westminster Theological Seminary, Post-Masters Studies