The Church of Christ

(Based on the Word of God; dedicated to the promotion of independence, Indianisation, unity, co-operation, and to the removal of corruption and evil in all forms and in all places.)

Christian! Go Ahead

(Hymn - A.M. 392)

1. Forward! Be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; Seek the things before us Not a look behind; Burns the fiery pillar At our army’s head; Who shall dream of shrinking. By our Captain led? Forward through the desert, Through the toil and fight; Jordan flows before us, Zion beams with light.

2. Forward, when in childhood Buds the infant mind; All through youth and manhood, Not a thought behind; Speed through realms of nature, Climb the steps of grace; Faint not, till in glory Gleams our Father’s face. Forward, all the life-time, Climb from height to height; Till the head be hoary; Till the eve be light.

3. Forward, flock of Jesus, Salt of all the earth, Till each yearning purpose Spring to glorious birth; Sick, they ask for healing, Blind, they grope for day; Pour upon the nations Wisdom’s loving ray. Forward, out of error, Leave behind the night Forward through the darkness. Forward into light.

4. To the Eternal Father Loudest anthems raise; To the Son and Spirit Echo songs of praise; To the Lord of Glory, Blessed Three in one, Be by men and Angels Endless honours done. Weak are earthly praises; Dull the song of night; Forward into triumph, Forward into light.

Christianity in the India of Tomorrow¹

RROF. MAHIMOHAN BOSE

(Vice Principal. Scottish Churches College, Calcutta)

'In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly
But westward look the land is bright.'

In the present age of colossal plans and spectacularly massive achievements we are accustomed to judging results in terms of what is striking, but we should not forget that really great things are often accomplished unobtrusively. The early history of Christianity is perhaps the best example of this. A few words to a few common men shook the world and achieved the most profound event of History. It was for a few words that the sun was darkened at noon and the veil of the temple was rent in twain. The next miracle which follows as a corollary for us is to achieve that the Cross which was raised on Calvary might blossom with roses in the last reconciliation between God and Man. This can only be achieved by recapturing the freshness and simplicity of the primal communities or churches which were nursed by the early apostles with loving care and to achieve this Christianity in each place must be a natural growth and not a hothouse plant artificially cultivated and artificially nourished. Unfortunately in India, except in the extreme South, Christianity has been a hot-house plant or at least a plant grown in a flower-pot, which does not have its roots in natural soil. This is chiefly why Christianity has not been able to exert its fullest potential power; for the living waters of vital faith have lost their force in the labyrinth channels of denominations wholly extraneous and therefore artificial so far as India and its hoary spiritual heritage and tradition are concerned.

‘God fulfils Himself in many ways lest one good system should corrupt the earth’, to what is good in one context may not be so in another. Christianity is nothing if not a living stream and loses this quality if it is made to flow through arid regions. This is what has happened to Christianity in India. Instead of fitting it into a setting indigenous and therefore natural and living, tradition and spiritual heritage have often been made to adapt themselves to an alien setting in which Christianity is offered in a form which is not in conformity with the spiritual reality and spiritual contours of India. Probably the historical conditions under which Christianity was introduced in almost all parts of India made this inevitable, but it is time that Indian Christianity attained majority and severed the apron strings to which it is still tied. It is not suggested that when and if that is achieved all denominations within the Indian Church will disappear nor is that necessarily desirable but such denominations will be based on different media of spiritual thought and aspirations indigenous to the nation calculated to liberate the real power of Christianity in India which has so long lain dormant. To achieve this liberation is the great task and also the great privilege of Indian Christians in the changing India of today, and in the changed and I hope still changing India of to-morrow. Although, such a moment of liberation has not manifested itself in any remarkable form as yet the seed of it is already in the ground and the new Christianity in India already stirs in innumerable germinating minds. It is for us to foster the growth of this seed so that it may soon become a vigorous and growing tree taking its rightful place among others of its species.

Spurious Tongues and Subtle Satanic Deceptions Through the Subconscious Self

(Excerpts from “Bethany Tract”)

Human Media That Promote Devil-Worship

Of the many methods used by the devil to communicate with human beings to throw his mantle of deception on them, the commonest is to make and use a medium to demonstrate his power and communicate his doctrine, since disembodied spirits are not in a position to talk directly with human beings. Therefore, by one or two evil spirits taking possession of a person, they make him into a medium who operates as their agent. Only when such an individual is prepared for the evil spirits to dominate him can he receive communication from the devil direct. A medium therefore performs a dual function. He trains others to be deceived or possessed by evil spirits while he himself becomes the devil’a communicant. Thus devil worship spreads in this manner, which the ignorant and unwary accept. They may be in earnest but when “they change the truth of God into a lie and the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man and to birds and four footed beasts and creeping things, their foolish heart becomes darkened” - Romans 1:22,23; and they fall a victim to the deception of Satan and end their lives in disaster.

Therefore, those who dabble in occult science are a source of potential danger to both believers and unbelievers alike. So we find in the scriptures severe penalties imposed on all those who directly or indirectly lead people astray to devil-worship. Deuteronomy 18:10,11; Leviticus 17:7, 19:31; 20:6,7.

Women, Devil’s Chief Target

The Old Serpent made capital out of the desire of innocent Eve for spiritual eminence, for on the pretext of leading her heavenward, he led her and Adam right out of Eden by the terrible fall engineered by him.

The plan and purpose of God is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, so there may not be anything amiss in the aspiration of Eve, but the method employed to achieve it was highly objectionable, as they fostered rebellion against the Commandment of God which led to the ruin of the whole race.

Cain’s idea to offer a sacrifice was praiseworthy, but he offered the wrong sacrifice, the fruit of the cursed earth, when the approach to God was through the sacrificial lamb. He was rejected and became the murderer of his own and only brother and went out from the presence of God a fugitive and a wanderer. The devil has been continuously waging war against woman from the day he deceived Eve in the garden of Eden. Under his dominance the world has trampled woman under foot. In the East, laws were enacted to murder or burn alive a woman when her husband died. Only when Christ was born in the fullness of time of a woman, to redeem mankind was the status of woman restored. Nevertheless, the woman is still the target for Satan as she is easier to deceive. In Christian lands Satan has chosen women to be the promoter of spurious religion and the originator of “ism” through strange dogmas and weird doctrine promulgated by them! The devil makes capital out of the enthusiasm of women, because their enthusiasm borders on fanaticism akin to the disorder of the mind that hinders reason. In that state they imagine themselves to be what they are not, and they are unable to detect the lie of the wicked one, the eyes of the understanding being darkened. Then they are ready to accept everything supernatural as Divine in order to set up their own standards to produce their own dogmas and to create their own religion.

Tongues and Wicked Spirits

A spirit has no flesh and bones. Because spirits, have no material body, they seek entrance into other bodies. Legions of them may possess a man, Luke 8:30. The devil and his demons are not evil emotions and abstract qualities that arise from human beings, but they are actual spiritual substance, which is finite and distinct from human souls. Demons express themselves through the organs of speech of human beings whom they possess and control. These evil spirits have a definite personality, and being spirits, they have vast knowledge and keen intelligence which are unknown in human beings. Though they lost their first estate by rebellion, the fact remains that they were once in the presence of God. Therefore, their knowledge is profound, though perverted by their sin. As wicked spirit-beings, they are more than a match for all the saints of the earth and would have made short work of them had it not been for the mighty equipment of defence of the saints; the Blood of Christ, the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the demons have full knowledge of all the languages of the world and are capable of making those whom they control, speak in any language they choose. These apostate angels are inventors as well as promoters of evil in the world. They are wicked and maliciously wicked and as such nothing good can be expected from them. By subtle possession they can make voluntary and involuntary victims speak in gibberish or any language, but they generally ensure that the language is not easily understood by the audience. In an assembly in London a man broke into Chinese while in another assembly in the same place another spoke in Arabic. It happened that in both the assemblies were present Chinese and Arabic scholars, both believers, and they were shocked to hear both the men speaking utter blasphemy against Jesus Christ, even though the rest of the people present appeared to be greatly impressed. These may be rare cases, but in order to mystify and utter blasphemies unhindered, the evil spirits speak in gibberish through those whom they control. The majority of so-called “tongue speakers” produce stuttering sounds like hiccups due to nervous excitement, at the time when the subliminal self begins to dominate, but from this stage they may develop into gibberish and then into some languages not known to the audience, which prevents them from checking up whether the utterances are in conformity with the Scriptures. Whatever might be the sounds produced, whether gibberish, monosyllables, cryptic utterances or languages, neither those who speak nor those who hear generally have any notion whatsoever of what is spoken. But a meeting begun in earnest as a prayer meeting is soon turned into a bedlam of voices. When the so-called tongues commence, and people produce sounds, they vie with each other, may be unconsciously, to create a terrible din. A meeting may commence quite normally in an orthodox manner. Then one or two women will begin to pray but when a few begin to break into gibberish, a certain eerie, mystic atmosphere is created which is essential for evil spirits to commence their operations. Inhibitions are removed, emotions are released, evil spirits take charge. In such meetings it is women who are invariably used to decoy. Usually women dominate the meetings and are the first to produce strange sounds so that consciously, or unconsciously they decoy people into producing similar or allied sounds. When this commences in earnest, the wicked spirit can so control the meeting in such a subtle manner that neither the person who is conducting the gathering nor those who participate, are able to detect the deception practised on them. For by this time, being under the control of their subconscious self they are deluded in believing that the strange and weird manifestations are from the Holy Spirit.

All those who are truly born again are given the urge to confess by the HOLY SPIRIT that Jesus is Christ, but the enemy will resort to any kind of device to prevent a saint of long or short standing, to make such a confession. He makes the victims believe that the chief excitement caused through the elation of the self-conscious self, utterance through the media under control of evil spirits, or any kind of gibberish produced by voluntary or involuntary victims are from the Holy Spirit. Such poor deluded souls, instead of proclaiming to the lost and needy, develop an unholy craving for more and more of such counterfeit thrills and excitement, under the mistaken notion that such commotions are indicative of filling by the Holy Spirit and pleasing to the Lord.

(to be continued)

A Bachelor and His Family

Every day Major Dudley John Gardiner has his family of 1165 to feed.

John, an ex-British Army major, is a voluntary social worker at the Salvation Army Social Centre South Circular Road, Calcutta. His day starts early. At 6.30 a.m. he is out drawing rations for his proteges. Between 7 and 8 he is issuing dried milk, medicines and food to tubercular patients who call daily at the Centre as part of a regular health programme.

After his own breakfast in the Social Centre Canteen, Major Gardiner dons white overall and retires to a special kitchen he has established in the backyard of the Centre. Surrounded by huge cauldrons and outsize pots and pans, he starts his team of helpers on the preparation of curry, rice, chapati, dal, puree and porridge. At: 11:30, Major Gardiner is ready. He summons the driver of a jeep station-wagon bearing the sign of the Red Shield and the slogan “The Salvation Army Social Services. Meals on Wheels OXFAM sponsored,” into which he loads a proportion of the meal he has prepared. Adding another container into which he has poured skimmed milk prepared from dry powder, he takes the van to a nearby Anglican school where 120 under-privileged children sponsored by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada are the first of his family to be fed.

Back at the Social Centre by 12.30 John feeds another 600 destitute who arrive daily, some taking their meals at the Centre, while others take them back to their families. Each case has been examined and approved by a team of social workers from the Salvation Army. After a short rest and time to reload the van with fresh supplies, Major Gardiner is off again, this time with more than 400 meals aboard.

He has 25 stopping places to call at in the slums of Calcutta to feed those who for one reason or another are unable to call at the Canteen. Some are blind, others are old and infirm, many are sick or with families that cannot be left, and a few have small menial jobs which earn them a few paise but keep them occupied during the lunch hour. Major Gardiner knows the name of each of his proteges and has a kindly word for each one, but there is no time for a lengthy chat, and he is lucky if he gets back to the Centre by five o’clock.

Dudley John Gardiner is 55 and a bachelor. He has, however, adopted nine children whom he supports on his army pension. Four are at Bishop Westcott School, Ranchi and five at Bishop Cotton School, Simla. “I served in the army for 32 years,” said Major Gardiner, “and moving around the world I have seen so much chaos and find that the civilians always get it worse in the neck than anyone else, so I thought I would do a bit of building up instead of knocking down.”

The major’s first social work was in Hong Kong on his retirement in 1955. He was invited by the Salvation Army to help with their programme for the care of the undernourished in Calcutta’s slums in 1959. Soon he had collected 55 destitute, which aroused the interest of the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM). “They provided a lakh of rupees and a jeep so that I could really get going” declared Major Gardiner enthusiastically, “and now they are helping with the cost of putting up a new building at the Social Centre.”. Changing out of his overalls after his “milk-round,” John excused himself. He had another two hours voluntary work ahead of him, coaching boys in English, general knowledge, behaviour and “on how to talk to other people.”

The Salvation Army Social Centre in Calcutta includes a university students hostel for 50, a working men’s hostel with 85 beds and an inmates hostel of 15. The Centre keeps 250 people fairly regularly employed and has set up a waste-paper and salvage collection service which keeps over 1100 people occupied.

The centre has a free clinic at which a doctor attends three times a week and which is staffed by a full-time Health Visitor during the week. Approximately 100 T.B. patients and their families are attended to on a regular continuous programme; medical attention is given to over 10,000 people a year and a first-aid service is given at two points in the midday-meal delivery area on five days a week.

The programme is supported with gift supplies from overseas countries in the form of food, milk, clothing and medicines and through the agency of the Relief Committee of the National Christian Council of India. A professionally trained social worker, Miss Eva Dabya of Kerala who holds a post graduate degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has several years of practical experience, attends to the problems of those who come to the centre in distress and heads the team of visitors who call at their homes.

— INDIAN WITNESS, July 16, 1965.

Rammohan and Image-Worship

By Surath Chakravorti

Misrepresentation of facts regarding the lives of the great men seems to have become a national fad nowadays. Even a cursory glance through the cart loads of huge publication which goes in the name of Ramkrishna and Vivekananda, is sufficient to assert the validity of the above statement.

Recently an interesting controversy is going on under the caption “Rammohan Ray and Image-Worship” in a well-known daily paper started by a gentleman belonging to the conservative section and participated by eminent persons, like Sri Tripura Sankar Sen Shastri and others. We are not going to tax the patience of the readers by entering into a pedantic discussion like the proper difference between idolatry and symbolism, i.e., allegorical representation of abstract divine attributes which appears to have confused the intellect of some of the participants. Our concern is with the misrepresentation of facts regarding Rammohan’s religious views by no less than a venerable person like Sri Shastri. In his letter dated 25-4-63 Sri Shastri has said that Raja Rammohan Ray was not opposed to idolatry (reasserted by his last letter of 11-6-63 published in the same daily) and Rammohan had quoted Hindu Scriptures to show that it is sanctioned for the weak-minded and unintelligent people who are unable to comprehend the spirit of one undivided true God.

Let us examine what Rammohan himself had to say in this matter -

“It will also appear evident that the Vedas, although they tolerate idolatry as the last provision for those who are totally incapable of raising their minds to the contemplation of the invisible God of nature, yet repeatedly urge the relinquishment of the rites of Idol Worship, and the adoption of a purer system of religion, on the express ground that the observance of idolatrous rites can never be productive of eternal beatitude.”

“… that allegorical language or description was very frequently employed to represent the attributes of the Creator, which were sometimes designated as independent existences, and that however suitable this method might be to the refined understanding of men of learning, it had the most mischievous effect when literature and philosophy decayed, producing all those absurdities and idolatrous notions which have checked, or rather destroyed, every mark of reason and darkened every beam of understanding.”

From the above quotation and from the autobiographical letter of the Raja himself (“The last days of England of the Raja Rammohan Roy” - Miss Mary Carpenter) as well as from other authentic biographies of Rammohan we know he was a staunch crusader against all sorts of idolatry since his sixteenth year and this was the fundamental basis of his religious views. He was even persecuted to the Court by his own mother for disinheritance for holding this religious view, yet according to Sri Sen Shastri, Rammohan was not against ‘idolatry’ simply because for argument’s sake he quoted Paranas and Tantras to establish the fact that idolatry is sanctioned in the Hindu Scriptures for the weak-minded people! We are sorry to say that Sri Shastri’s advocacy of Rammohan as a supporter of idolatry is not warranted by historical facts.

We are also sorry to find that the quotations which he has inserted in his letter have neither any bearing on idolatry nor is it from Rammohan’s introduction to the translation of the Isha Upanishad. From page 199 of S.D. Collet’s “Life of Raja Rammohan Ray” (1913 edition) we know that it is a private letter of Raja Rammohan wherein he has alluded to the caste-system of the Hindus and not the idolatry.

It is worthwhile to note that this misquotation by Sri Sen Shastri has readily been utilised by the conservative gentleman who, like an unlearned Pandit, in his letter dated 25-5-63 in the same daily paper has stated that Rammohan was against idolatry because he wanted to please the British Rulers who were also against idolatry, to gain certain political advantages from them!

We wonder how such an insulting remark, regarding the builder of Modern India could find a space in a leading National Daily which poses itself as progressive.

— The Indian Messenger.

[As fellow sufferers we Christians share the feelings of Mr. Sarat Chakracarti in defending the Raja as he really was. Many religious heroes of India have been painted by eminent Hindus of great literary ability with the Christian brush. And in a reverse process of misrepresentation they have touched many Christian characters with the Hindu brush. They have not spared even the Founder of Christianity. They have turned the innocent poor and humble Galilean into a pompous Hindu like Sri Krishna. This is a case of simple intellectual dishonesty. - Editor Church of Christ.]

Union With Rome

The meeting of the World Council of Churches took place on the island of Rhodes in August. One of the questions for discussion was that of the acceptance or rejection by the Protestant churches of the Pope’s invitation to attend the ecumenical council in Rome in 1961. We do feel, however, that we are expressing the opinion of every evangelical Christian when we say the invitation had better be left alone, or if a reply is required it should be a negative one. It cannot be too strongly stated that Rome has not the slightest intention of making any concessions to Protestant convictions, and it would be far, far better to leave things as they are than that any submission or compromise made with Romanism in any shape or form.

We are well aware, of course, that within the World Council there are many who would be quite willing to put the Christian world back to the dark ages when Rome was the dominating force in Christendom. Protestant delegates at the World Council meeting according to a report are saying that Papal infallibility is basically the stumbling block to union with Rome. But they certainly do not speak for the evangelical Protestants of the world by any means. There is far more than that at stake. There is Mariolatry, Transubstantiation, the Invocation of Saints, Purgatory and the authority of the Word of God itself. Would the Protestant Church be willing to countenance such gross errors as these even if the Pope renounces infallibility, which he will never do. The plain fact of the matter is there will never be any complete union with Rome. There may be some partial agreement with the Modernistic element in Protestantism, but God will preserve a faithful remnant even as He did in Israel who will never bow the knee to Baal or to Rome.

This is simply another of the characteristic signs of the times in which we live, when the old ways are being forsaken and lines of demarcation in the social, moral, religious and political spheres are being obliterated by the false cries of unity and one world heard on every hand. What the World Council of Churches does or does not do will not alter in jot or tittle the plan and purpose of God or the stand of Rome. Babylon political and Babylon religious will remain to the end of time and both will disappear in the coming convulsion that will shake all nations. There will be one world then when the Desire of all nations shall come, and only then.

_The Evangelical Christian_.

Pope Sobers Talk of Christian Unity

Naive, sentimental expectations that the organic gap between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism will soon be closed received a rude jolt in a recent Paul VI midweek address in Vatican City. Pope Paul denounced the “Protestant and modernist mentality (which) denies the need and legitimate existence of an intermediate authority between man and God.” In addition to his dismissal of the Protestant belief that Jesus Christ established between man and God a relation which needs no other mediator, Pope Paul VI declared that “before the authority of the church we must feel ourselves before Christ. To refuse it means to reject the love of Christ, for the authority of the church is also an instrument of his love.” The pope’s statement is not surprising but is consistent with Roman Catholic dogma. It should be received by Protestants not in ire but in gratitude, for the pope has shot a clarifying bolt through fuzzy thinking about the Roman Catholic - Protestant rapprochement. Neither Protestants nor Roman Catholics should blink the fact that deep theological voids remain between these two branches of the Christian faith. There are no signs that the pope will relinquish his claim that he is the visible and supreme head of the church and that this church has the prestige and the power of an intermediate authority between man and God. Nor is there any sign that Protestants are relaxing their belief that men who are in Christ need no authority and no mediator between themselves and God. The void is deep and wide and will not in our age be closed. The ecumenical movement must recognise this fundamental chasm and go forward in spite of it.

— Christian Century (Editorial), November 18, 1964.

W.C.C. Leader Comments on Papal Encyclical Letter

(Geneva) -Dr. W.A. Visser’t Hooft, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said here that ‘it is encouraging that the first Encyclical of Pope Paul VI’, ‘emphasises so strongly the necessity of dialogue’ with other Christians, but that its strong stress on the primacy of the Pope shows that we are yet far from the day of full unity for none of the non-Roman churches accepts the view that recognition of the universal jurisdiction of the Papacy is an indispensable criterion for church union.

‘In other words’, the W.C.C. leader said, ‘the appearance of this Encyclical helps to show that what can be done at present is to establish better relationships between the Roman Catholic and other churches rather than to make any considerable advance to the union between the Roman Catholic and other churches.’

Dr. Visser’t Hooft said that ‘the concept of dialogue’ developed in the Encyclical is not quite the same as that we have used and practised for many years in the ecumenical movement.

‘According to the Encyclical, dialogue is mainly a form of communication of the truth which the Roman Catholic Church holds. We understand dialogue above all as a process of sharing in Which all receive and give and in which all are enriched and transformed.’

In the Encyclical, published under the formal title ‘By Which Ways the Catholic Church Must Today Fulfil Its Mandate’, the Pope said that he was distressed that the issues of Papal primacy should be regarded as a stumbling block by the ‘separated brethren’, but observed that ‘without the supreme efficacious, and decisive pastoral office of Peter the unity of the Church of Christ would utterly collapse.’

The Saint of Munipalli

Rao Sahib K. Subba Rao, B.A., B.T., a retired Headmaster the subject of this sketch, who lives at “Prabhu Niketan,” P.O. Munipalli, (Via: Patasalatadiparru), Gutur District, Andhra Pradesh (Munipalle is fourteen miles by bus from Gunlur, or four miles from Nidubrolu Station on the Vijayawada-Madras Branch of the Southern Railway), is a gifted Saint who heals all manner of diseases and casts out evil spirits in the Name and by the Grace of Jesus Christ, a vision of Whom he saw and obtained His Grace twenty years ago. His activities are confined to his home town and neighbouring places where he goes according to his convenience. He, however, conducts regular healing and Prayer Meetings, besides his home town, at Guntur on Saturdays and Vijayawada on Sundays through the kindness of his disciples and devotees who help him to further his Mission of Healing and Compassion. Mr. Subba Rao’s own conviction is that he belongs to Lord Jesus Christ and that Christ belongs to him; this sustains him in his spiritual life and in doing the Will of Christ to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick through Love for God and all mankind. The secret of Mr. Subba Rao’s healing power does not lie in hypnotism, mesmerism, auto-suggestion, Mantra (Secret Formula of Scriptures) or Tantra (a form of Spiritual Practice) but in pure and simple method of Prayer and surrender to Lord Jesus Christ, imploring His Mercy and Compassion to the helpless suffering humanity.

The Service commences when Mr. and Mrs. Subba Rao sing a few melodious songs in Telugu composed by himself in which all the devotees join. Mr. Subba Rao prays to Lord Jesus to be present in their midst to bless and heal those who are sick with various ailments. They are asked to look at the Cross or the picture of Christ and repeat YESHU PRABHU with folded hands. The meaning of the words are well known. As Mr. Subba Rao prays some of the patients become unconscious and fall down and are revived by Mr. Subba Rao by sprinkling Holy Water which he Consecrates with the spirit of Christ and which acquires miraculous powers. While praying and blessing with his hands, Mr. Subba Rao’s hands unconsciously move to the affected part of the patient, though it may not have been revealed before. Mrs. Subba Rao too has healing power, and she assists her husband especially with the healing of female patients and children.

The casting out of evil spirits which is done by Mr. Subba Rao by the Grace of God is astonishing indeed. The possessed patients struggle violently and are often held by Mr. Subba Rao or his assistants. When commanded to depart, in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ, they gradually yield. Sometimes it takes more than one day to effect complete cure. Mr. Subba Rao does not over-do this task. There is no doubt that Mr. Subba Rao is blessed indeed and has great spiritual power to heal. He accepts no gifts whatsoever, on the contrary, offers hospitality to those who go to him for help from afar. He asserts that it is God’s concern to provide for the bodily needs of devotees seeking help.

Though Mr. Subba Rao has uncommon powers of healing and casting out evil spirits, his general bearing is devoid of any pomp, nor does he wear the professional, garb of a Saint, or Priest, but simply lives as an ordinary citizen and moves freely with the poorest and highest of society. He does not recognise any religious communities as such but considers humanity as a whole as the children of God. For the first time in his Christ-ordained Ministry, in September 1963, Mr. Subba Rao was welcomed by the Padre and Members of the Garrison Wesley Church at Trimulgherry, Deccan, when he gave a stirring Message to the assembled audience consisting of Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Catholic and Protestant Christians, among whom were Officers of the Army and Civilians of all ranks. The Christian devotees sang a few Hymns first. Then Mr. and Mrs. Subba Rao sang some of their songs which inspired the congregation. This was followed by a prayer by Mr. and Mrs. Subba Rao to Jesus Christ to Bless the sick as well as the others there in front of the altar in the Church. Many were healed instantaneously, though a few others took a longer time to have a complete recovery.

Mr. Subba Rao blesses the incense and the water brought by the devotees, which lasts in freshness for months and this is taken to their homes to be given to those who are not able to come to Munipalli. He also gives a picture of Jesus blessed by him to the devotees for worship. It is said that the picture when seen at the time of trouble. Whether by day or night, in the office or workshop, or while travelling or going abroad, gives instantaneous relief to the devotees both mental or physical. There are thousands of letters written by the devotees who have expressed thanks to God and to Mr. Subba Rao for the relief they have obtained. Some day, these will be published in a book form. They are extremely interesting and varied and are well worth preserving for posterity; these will help the non-believers and lead them to Faith in God and His Mercy The piety of the people who go to him is also on the increase.

This is probably the first time that an article has been written on this great saint suitable for publication in newspapers and periodicals with suitable illustrations; this humble privilege has been granted to the writer of this article. It is written, though with many shortcomings, with complete devotion to the Guru and is dedicated to suffering humanity all over the world. It is hoped that as many newspapers and periodicals as possible will publish this article, which has NO Copyright whatsoever - any can re-publish this article in part, or in full, or a translation thereof without previous permission, but they are requested to send a copy to Mr. Subba Rao at his address given in the opening paragraph of this article.

May God Bless Mr. and Mrs. Subba Rao with good health and long life and may more and more be benefitted by his Ministry of Healing !

SALUTATIONS TO JESU PRABBU!

Calcutta, 19 November 1965.

H. Srinivasa Iyer, c/o District Grand Lodge, 19, Park Street, Calcutta-16.

In the Fellowship of Faith and Work

1. Our dear Brother and Friend - Henry Rodrigus - Director of the Christ-Nagar Mission, who along with his associates have suffered much in the past for the sake of the love and work of the Lord and who was again lately implicated in a court case, has come out victorious once more. We congratulate him, and thank God for His guidance and mercy. We commend him and his labour of love to our readers. Gifts, however small, will strengthen his hands.
2. On account of internal dissensions, the “House of Prayer and Good News” - a Pentecostal congregation and a gift of the late Brother Neville Chandra - some of its members and office bearers have been impelled to resign and withdraw. There is an actual separation. The pastor and chairman of the Trust Board - David Dutt (son of the late famous evangelist - Nalini Kanta Dutt), his mother Mrs. Bina Dutt (Treasurer of the Deacon Board and leader of women’s meetings), Mr. C.T. Thomas (Secretary to the Trust Board) felt they could no longer remain in fellowship under the present circumstances. They are carrying on the worship of God in their homes for the present and are in search of suitable accommodation. Let us pray for these brethren as well as for those from whom they are separated that these breaches, if it is the will of God, may be healed and underlying causes giving rise to such troubles and quarrels may be controlled and removed by the mighty power of His Holy Spirit.
3. Acharya Das left Varanasi to avoid the extreme cold of U.P. and came to W. Bengal on the 10th December last. He has been conducting group meetings in different centres for Christians and Hindus - Prayers, Bible study, class teaching on Hinduism, discussion on subject touching Evangelism and Christian life as well as preaching in some churches. He spent Christmas in Bolpur, Shantiniketan and Suri. He found the brethren there happy and in good spirits. Besides conducting worship praise services he was able also to attend the famous Paus Mela of Shantiniketan and the annual Convocation of the celebrated Visva Bharati University founded and nurtured by the late poet Tagore. In His absence the work at Varanasi is being maintained by Brother D. Singh.
4. Jamshedpur Khristiya Sangha - another and larger constituent of the Bharat Khrist Sangh - invited for Christmas worship and other services, through its worthy pastor Rev. S.J. Pramanik, Ishananda Sudhir Kumar Paul an independent evangelist who wears Gairik. The congregation led a Vigil and Carols singing party through the city in which Mr. M.N. Biswas M.A. (Principal - Cooperative College) and Mrs. Biswas, also joined and encouraged the young. On the New Year’s Day the Holy Communion was celebrated by the Pastor.
5. Brother Ishananda who has been concentrating on Orissa for the last few years sends very encouraging news of response to his preaching from both Hindus and Muslims. Recently, a Hindu family have received Baptism at his hands and there are other enquirers. A Muslim young man - a B.Sc. graduate - is living with him for instruction and fellowship. Though he has been living like a Sadhu and describes the place where he has his centre as “Emmanuel Ashram”, he has been seriously thinking of starting in Puri an Ashram proper. Let us pray that he may have the necessary guidance and acquire the moral and spiritual qualifications by studies and meditation absolutely necessary for such a serious task.

Notes and Comments

Fate of Originality and Initiatives

In the field of Church development and Evangelism in India and many other parts of Asia and Africa absence of the opportunity for free action and external pressure exerted upon indigenous efforts is the main cause of comparative failure in both these fields during two centuries of Christian enterprise. It is not simply the present troubles in the House of Prayer in Calcutta but all over India in many churches and Christian Institutions there are dissensions, litigation, corruption, absence of imaginative and creative understanding amongst different groups, etc. because of the fundamental cause indicated above.

Hindus and others have deep regard for the personality and teachings of Christ but scant respect for Christianity as it has been preached by Missionaries and their paid and trained Indian agents and almost a contempt for the Church. Neither the Church nor historical Christianity that has come through modern Missions has any appeal to the heart and mind of genuine Indians. The following are some of the major causes: -

1. The Church of the West with its polity, worship and general doctrinal structure and ideology has been imposed and implanted upon Indians without their intelligent consent, mainly due to emotion and gratitude, and with the backing of huge money and sacrificial organised service of Missionaries. No opportunity worth the name has been given up to date to examine whether it is suited to the genius of the people out here - their spiritual insights and moral capabilities. The result of this century long pressure has been the dulling of native talent and creation of an imitative spirit. Mentally and spiritually, culturally and socially a foreign artificial structure - a slave church - is today ineffective, weak, pale and sterilised to perform the functions and realise the objects for which it was created.
2. Independent efforts and indigenous initiative might have effected some radical reforms in the church situation and evangelistic and educational policies. But the foreign missionaries who have created huge vested interests in this country and in some cases, have been integrated, again at their will and according to their genius, into the Indian Church system have been thwarting all over the country the emergence of a truly indigenous body of opinion and endeavour. This is often done nowadays either in an indirect way under cover of spiritual influence and humanitarian service or entirely in a concealed way. The sad history of throttling the bud of native genius and work could be given later covering N. India and Bengal in particular.
3. This intervention by alien forces is, in many individual cases, personal and open. There is some naturalness about it. But whether it is veiled or naked this interference in indigenous initiative and efforts in church building, education and evangelism is based on a sense of authoritarianism and superiority on the part of those who rule. This ruling propensity is to be observed in a poignant form in the recently arrived evangelical groups and in some cases it is working havoc among the masses of Indian Christians. Sheep stealing through tempting and powerful material inducements, artificial separations in congregations, implanting a desire or ambitions for material advancement in young hearts, hankering for luxury and leisure - all resulting in a chaos in the life of the church as a whole. The thoughtlessness, ignorance, and poverty of ordinary run of Christians are being exploited Natural national leaders are being suppressed or ousted from opportunities of service.
4. In all this destructive and harmful work the missionaries are being assisted by paid Indian agents and huge monetary funds at their disposal. As in the pioneering years so now again Christians are being given Churches, schools, dispensaries and other properties such as comfortable living quarters, cars, air passages (mobile but dependable), holidays in foreign countries in the name of education, getting trained and acquiring experience - all through easy foreign money. But there is a difference between the ancient and the modern practices. While the original missionaries did it in innocence out of love for their converted folks, the present day sophisticated missionary does it to maintain power and position over India through a section of its population under the veneer of religiosity and philanthropy in secular independent India. This process of stifling the creative and independent national talent must be stopped by thoughtful lay leaders in the Church and by public leaders in order to save the Church from further deterioration and to lay down lines of its sound development into a witnessing, self-propagating, self-reliant, self-respecting instrument for the service of God and man under the grace of the Lord of the Church - even Jesus Christ.
5. To our shame and to the increase of frustration among genuine missionaries - so-called humanists and humanitarians in the political service of foreign countries - have been found in recent decades in missionary and other Christian associations in India. The N.C.C and the regional Christian Councils and the senior missionary societies (whose agents have grown less and less) have tremendous responsibilities, and power and means too at their disposal, to clean the Augean stables in the Church Mission system and save the true Indian church in its struggle for free and ample life from strangulation into death by the heavy impact of foreign funds and their indiscriminate Indian use as well as by the gratuitous service (or domination?) by unequal foreign partners. Foreign money, and missionaries (this is a grudging way) are wanted by Indian Christian leaders who are directly and materially interested and not by the generality of Christians - the backbone of the Church - as these monetary and personal gifts do not reach them nor benefit them. Continuance of this foreign help has ended in an unhappy, unhealthy, unhelpful and diseased church. Discerning thinkers and observers have come to realise the baneful effect of this game of foreign ecumenical assistance. Our own kith and kin have been playing havoc with huge land and house properties and vast resources without a sense of responsibility and without moral fibre. Corruption in many forms has been injected in big places and sanctuaries, and, Indians are being condemned as unworthy and unfit, and in many places Indianised positions and privileges are being recaptured by missionaries again. God save the struggling indigent church and the genuine believer in India.

Recently - on Dec. 29 and 30, 1965 - The Golden Jubilee of the All India Council of Indian Christians was celebrated in Calcutta. This organisation was founded in Calcutta at a meeting of all India leaders presided over by the late Raja Sir Harnam Singh of the Punjab. Since then, it has been carried on rather haphazardly and in a tame fashion. It has never been formally representative of the church mission bodies though those who joined have been members of different churches all over the country. Delegates have always been self-chosen and hand-picked. The aim has been to organise and unite Christians on a political civic and social platform, Proceedings have always started and ended with religious services which is right.

In the realisation of this objective they have miserably failed all through the half century. Numbers have always been too small to give the organisation an authoritative voice. Very few Christians would stand on such a communal common basis. How can you expect free men to think and act alike (simply because they are Christian) in politics and social affairs? There are honest differences amongst men in these matters and deep convictions would divide them. The natural thing is party unity across religious and caste barriers.

The same fate overtook the Golden Jubilee. There were only 15 delegates from different centres though they came from great distances like Madras, Hyderabad, Poona, Delhi and at their own expense. Calcutta supplied about the same number. Communal overtones were heard in some of the speeches. The whole show was tame and tedious though much and expensive publicity work was done. It is time the body dissolved itself. It has not so far done any useful or consistent work. Instead of chasing a chimera, let them concentrate on vitalising the church by making it indigenous and awakening it to a sense of its mission of bearing the message of Christ’s love and truth to the teeming millions of India.

Edited and Published by:

Rev. R.C. Das, M.A.,
Khristpanthi Ashram,
129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi, India

Printed at:

Evangelical Press,
“CHRIST NAGAR MISSION”,
Badagayedapadavu Post, Mangalore Taluk, S. India