Chronological Reflections

The above is a 2018 project. If you would like to assist or inquire about it, please feel free to write to or call Paul G. Humber, Director.

Paul G. Humber taught for 24 years at the Haverford School. Following is a video of an assembly he gave while there: “Two Bible Coins — Haverford School Assembly."

His message, “Archaeology Supports the Bible — Three Kings — Ahaz, Jotham, and Hezekiah”, was preached some years ago. Other “dated” messages include “Was It Not Necessary for the Christ to Suffer? Luke 24:26, Exodus 17:1-6”, “1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Our Hope is in the LORD”, “Resurrection Joy”, “Jesus is the Creator of Sex — and Regulator!”, and “Woman of Canaan, Matthew 15:21-28”.

A Brief Autobiography of Paul G. Humber

About eight years ago, I was going through boxes and came across a small, maroon pad with my mother’s notes in it. The early pages had to do with poetry, but as she was still living here (on earth) and close by, I handed the pad to her. She began reading to me something she had written more than a half-century earlier. It was found near the end of the little booklet. She, who had given me my first birth, was then reading her own account of my second birth. The account was apparently written on January 17, 1950, the day of Boston’s Brinks Robbery. I was 7½ years old at that time and living in Boston. The [bracketed] comments below are provided by me for clarification, but here are Mother’s words and symbols digitized:

Last night – Revival at Boston Garden. Twins eyes glued to Billy Graham – intensely listening throughout Judgment sermon on Noah. Both held up arms and hands when invitation was given to accept Christ. I waited till Paul made first move to go forward (Prisca had gone forward Sunday p.m. Jan. 8 at Mech. Hall) & I asked him why, and he said he (speaker) said so & I wanted to know for sure if he knew what he was doing, & when he got the idea, he tried to get close to my ear & whispered “God”. So he got on coat & was unafraid to step out & up aisle, & am sure he would have gone alone, but Charlie accompanied him. I later followed – thinking I’d be able to help him better, – but his little heart was all too ready to accept X [Greek letter, Chi, first Greek letter in “Christ”] – he listened to Grady Wilson & repeated his prayer after him with others. He signed his name on the card & I told him, what he was signing “I now accept X as Saviour & will witness to someone about Him” He didn’t know what the last meant & when I told him it meant to tell someone else “ – yes, he was ready to do that. Coming back to auditorium, he said “I’m going to tell someone near where we live”- [I remember witnessing to Anthony Adamo, my friend] Miss Burpee, a miss’y [missionary] to Mexico, – spoke to him & asked him to pray for her nephew, Norman, who also is a twin & is 10. So Paul has someone to start praying for. He read a verse from John 1:1 before he went to bed, – said his prayers (wanting everyone quiet & knowing, understanding to thank Jesus) – & this a.m. he walks happily off to school with an assurance that Jesus is His Saviour in a special way now.

Note Mother’s tender care over me–bending an ear to listen to a whisper, trying to help a youngster understand the meaning of witness, and watching her child (children) go off to school. I can remember entering a room in Boston and seeing my Mother on her knees in prayer before the Lord. Many years later, I entered her kitchen (she was living in our home). The lights were out, and I’m confident that on many such occasions, she had been in prayer in her chair for children, grandchildren, etc.

Billy Graham, with all his shortcomings, preached Christ crucified and risen. Praise God for people like Mother and Billy Graham. Praise God also for my father who went to heaven 17 years before my mother. He also was (and still is) a significant influence in my life. Praise most of all to the Lord my Savior, who washed me in His precious blood and covered over my spiritual nakedness with His Perfect Robe of Righteousness.

There is a profound mystery to our lives here on earth. The evidence of the Lord’s skill in creating is everywhere in our bodies. All of our appendages grow in balance with the other. Maturation happens together. Where there is sickness, it is obvious that there is something out of balance. Doctors do surgery to repair and fix. To some extent, they reflect the care of Jesus, the Great Physician.

The Lord was undoubtedly working in my life before Jan. 16-17, 1950, but He was also working in my heart on those days. I can still remember the cleansed feeling I had after opening my heart to “God.” He has since blessed my life to overflowing. I did not deserve His grace, but He is overflowing with it.

If I were to sum up blessing in my life using just one word, it would be hard to find a better one than the one I used, speaking to Mother, “God.” I praise You, God the Father, for loving me and others so much that you sent God the Son here to earth to be the Savior of the world. I praise You, also, both Father and Son, for sending Your Holy Spirit to comfort, correct, and instruct Your people in Your loving and tender ways. I love You, Father. I love You, Lord Jesus. Praise God that the Spirit of God quickened my soul, and I was birthed/adopted into the Family of “God.”

My first birth was in July of 1942. Maybe my twin sister, Priscilla, helped push me out, as she was second born. We lived with our parents and two older siblings, Charlie and Anna, in Canada until we travelled to Boston when I was three (1945).

My schooling was unusual in that I attended the oldest grammar school in America (Mather), the oldest high school in America (Boston Latin), and the oldest “university” in America (University of Pennsylvania). There is dispute about the latter, but the key word may be the one I put in quotation marks. Harvard College may not have become a “university” until after Penn.

In 1955, we moved to West Philadelphia, where most of my local friends were African American. I attended Sayre JH and two years later, Bartram HS. My father, Dr. Charles M. Humber, was the pastor of New Berean Baptist Church, and my twin and I were baptized by him around 1956.

In 1960, Priscilla and I started as undergraduates of the University of Pennsylvania. I was a pole vaulter there all four years, and you can watch a movie taken by my mother of my vintage pole vaulting on YouTube:

I also was active with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) at Penn, serving as treasurer and eventually as vice-president.

In 1962, I met my bride-to-be, Prudence M. String. She also was a student at Penn but was two years my junior. It was in answer to prayer – one when I was 7 years old!

After graduating in 1964, I continued on at Penn to get a Master of Science in Education, specializing in mathematics.

Prudence and I got married in 1966. We were living in Glenside, PA, at the time. I was teaching mathematics at Abington HS; she was nursing at Abington Hospital. The faculty at Abington HS participated in a donkey basketball game. To the right is yours truly on a donkey with a basketball.

In 1969, I resigned as an eleventh-grade math teacher to attend Westminster Seminary, also in Glenside – graduating three years later. In that 1972 year, I accepted a position as Pastor of Spring Mill Baptist Church, Conshohocken. The church had had a horrendous history – including reported orgies in the parsonage and splits. I served for eight years (1972-1980).

There were pleasant aspects of this stint. Our twins were born in 1973, after a very difficult pregnancy. Prudence almost died twice, but the Lord wonderfully answered specific prayers. We bought and I drove a church bus for years. Many families were touched – especially a family of about twelve – boat-people from SE Asia. They now have a good restaurant in Plymouth Meeting, and every time we go to eat and visit, we are treated as VIP’s.

In 1977, when I was still pastor of the church, I received a call in my office from the Chairman of the Mathematics Dept of the Haverford School. For three years (1977-1980), I served the church bi-vocationally, as the church was still struggling. My weekly salary when I began, for example, was $50/week. 1972 was long after The Depression.

My twenty-four years at Haverford (1977-2001) were very interesting. It is considered one of the best private schools in the area, and I had the privilege of teaching two Rhodes Scholars. My favorite subject to teach was three-dimensional calculus. In the picture below, you can see my classroom. Students enjoyed seeing me balance a chair on my chin. I might do this if there were a few minutes at the end of the class.

I also was able to take advantage of the excellent libraries of Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges to prepare articles for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), which, at the time, was in California. When my older sister, Anna, and her hubby visited the ICR museum there, they saw some of these articles being displayed for the taking.

I also put on various assemblies at this secular school. One was given in 2001. Another was given about a decade earlier.

We as a family moved to Roxborough (part of Philadelphia) in 1981, purchasing a stone home built in 1893. It was in this home that my mother read her hand-written account of my second birth. She and Dad both moved in with us about six months after we moved in. They were getting up in years, and we prepared a nice apartment for them. Dad lived with us for about seven years (1981-1988), and Mother, from the same room, went to be with the Lord in 2005. Through the years, we have welcomed a number of guests-in-need into our home – from infants to elders.

While still teaching at Haverford, I became Assistant Pastor of Roxborough Baptist Church, but there was an eventual split between Trustees (holders of the purses and real estate) and the spiritual leaders (Pastor and about nine Deacons). By then, I was serving as a deacon. Many went to various other churches.

As a family, we decided to join Fleischmann Memorial Baptist Church, where our daughter, Ruth, met her eventual husband. We were there for an extended period. I would preach from time to time and help with Sunday School, etc.

That church decided to reconfigure, and our family transitioned to Church of the Living Saviour, where I eventually came to serve as a co-pastor. I also served as Director of a very successful Bible Bee Camp, where four participants actually advanced to the National Contest in Washington.

The church was small, and for a few years I served also as pianist. Some of my sermons (and piano-playing) are on YouTube. For example, you can see and hear:

• “Why Does Evil Exist?”
• A message related to John Wycliffe
• A third message about baptism
• And finally, “Ebed Melech, a Black Man who trusted in the Lord” 

For a decade, 2002-2012, I helped organize and facilitate Christian Released Time opportunities for public school children in Philadelphia. Over 20 schools became involved, and I was interviewed on TV about this.

I also have been involved with the writing of books, the most recent being published in 2012. It is entitled, 400 Prophecies, Appearances or Foreshadowings of Christ in the Tanakh (Old Testament). The Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) is promoting it. You can also order it by going to our CR Bookstore. Other books include Evolution Exposed, and Jehovah Jesus a Reference Handbook and Study Guide on the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Two very interesting debates involving a rabbi (Orthodox Jew) and me occurred in Queens, New York, in 2011. See “NY Debate between Rabbi Tovia Singer and Pastor Paul Humber” at Amazon.com. You can alos order it by going to our CR Bookstore.

In addition to books, I have had the privilege of serving as Editor of significant booklets. Reasons to Affirm a Young Earth was first published in 2007 but was also republished in India and translated into both Spanish and French. ABR is promoting it, and again you can order it by going to our CR Bookstore. 

ABR is also promoting, along with one of my video presentations, another booklet, Reasons To Affirm A Global Flood. Recall that Dr. Graham’s message, when I was seven, dealt with Noah’s flood. In 2010, my wife and I were visiting The Cove in NC and eventually gave a copy to one of Dr. Graham’s assistants there – to be delivered to Dr. Graham. There were 36 contributors to this booklet, most being members of Creation Research Society. See http://www.biblearchaeology.org/bookstore/product.aspx?id=213. You can also order it by going to our CR Bookstore. Just go to the menu at the top-left and click on CR Bookstore.

One of my most “popular YouTube videos is called, “Hypothalamus” and may be seen here:

Later in 2010, I travelled to the Republic of Congo where my son, Paul, serves as a missionary (along with his wife, Kristin, and four children). He is trying to get Bible portions into the native tongue known as Vili, but you can hear a Vili song I titled, “Yezu nandi Lu Zingu,” and sung by me at my son’s request:

I also had the privilege of preaching a sermon in Pointe Noire, in the language of commerce, French. I also preached outdoors at another location and had a translator.

The Lord Jesus Christ alone makes life have meaning. There is no meaning without Him. I look forward to seeing Him – and even my parents during His glorious future. Children, grandchildren, and maybe future great-grandchildren, I want to see you all there. The world system feeds you lies. Turn you back on the world system and face and adore Him, the wonderful Maker and Redeemer.