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.)

Fellowship of Reconciliation

A Christmas Meditation

Members of the Fellowship throughout the world believe that as disciples of Jesus they are forbidden to wage war, and are called instead to a life service for the enthronement of love in personal, social, commercial and national life.

Their programme has only one focus - love as revealed and interpreted in the life and death of Jesus. Nothing less will serve. Nothing more is needed.

May this be our focus this Christmas, and inspire our work throughout 1968.

— Marjorie Sykes.

Available from:

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

Printed by:

Evangelical Press, Christnagar Mission, Badagayedapadavu Post, Mangalore Taluk, S. India.

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail

Matthew 16:18

We are Following A Conquering Christ!

COURAGE IN THE CONFLICT! FAITH - THROUGH EVERY TESTING - OUR GREAT CAPTAIN IS WITH US “EVEN UNTO THE END.”

Matthew 28:18-20

BY HIS SPIRIT, HE LEADS US, QUICKENS US-GIVES US FAITH AND JOY AND STRENGTH “AS THY DAYS, SO SHALL THY STRENGTH BE”

Deuteronomy 33:25

Onward ever! Defeat never! No armour for the back. (Ephesians 6:10-20). Jesus, our Great Commander, leads on in glorious triumph - to world evangelisation!

All Power

Our beloved Saviour has ascended up on high (Ephesians 4:8) for a while, and to us, His blood bought ones, His redeemed people - He has entrusted a tremendous task.

How positive are His words! How sure! What a life changing ministry He had while on earth - and still has!

Hear Him - how directly He speaks - with power to revolutionise human lives! “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.” Mark 1:15.

“Follow Me.” He says. No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ about it - a positive command! “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19.

Our Prince Leader, Jesus, Is Positive, Aggressive, Victorious!

He Looks For People Who Will Believe Him and Obey Him. Our Lord Jesus Is The Forerunner. (Hebrews 6:20). He Is The Great Overcomer. (Revelation 3:21).

His startling statements shattered the artificial, hypocritical formalism of His day. Straight to the point He went - and never was at a loss what to do and what to say.

His searching words uncovered sham on every hand. His searing rebukes cut to the quick, and yet He was - and is - a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, when we honestly come to Him for light and help.

And He is, Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, Who positively states: “I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18.

On every hand, things are crumbling. Confidences are being betrayed. Nations totter and fall. Great men slip into the shadows to be seen and heard no more. But God marches on and on!

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away.” says Jesus. (Mark 13:31).

His piercing eyes see beneath the veneer, penetrate the crust - and search the innermost heart, and He knows what we ARE. He knows our secret motives, our hidden desires, our deepest thoughts.

The pomp and the show of the flesh, the pride of life, the unreal, the false “front” - all these things, so highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:13-15).

God means business - do we? He wants us to stir up ourselves (Isaiah 34:7), and go after - and get - the things He wants us to have! “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent TAKE IT BY FORCE” (Matthew 11:12.)

This halfway business does not get us anywhere with God! Out go the lukewarm - unless they “be zealous … and repent.” (Revelations 3:14-22). Forms, ceremonies, sham, show, pretence, self-righteousness, pride - trying to appear “religious” when our heart is not in it - all these things are nauseating to God. He hates hypocrisy! (read Luke 18:9-14).

With a gun pointing in our face, we do not argue or dilly-dally - we put up our hands! Let us, O let us, as a nation, get down on our knees - before we are crushed down under the cruel heel of an invading oppressor!

“NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2.) I would far, far rather get wholeheartedly in earnest in importunate prayer for Revival NOW - than to cry my heart out from a dismal dungeon as some have done.

I would rather fast and pray NOW - by choice - than to starve by necessity in a Siberian slave camp! Have not thousands in recent years suffered and died in Siberian slave camps?

I had rather stir up myself (Isaiah 64:7) NOW, and take hold of God for Revival, and not let Him go till He answers (Genesis 32:24-28) - than to loiter around, and take things easy, and enjoy myself - while a cunning enemy “takes over” in our beloved land, and sends thousands of us to foreign slave camps - where, without mercy, we will be tortured, mistreated, and worked to death!

Join with me, and with others, in definite and desperate agreement (Matthew 18:19) - that God will speedily (Luke 18:1-8) - send New Testament, Holy Ghost Revival to this Wicked Nation!

The Lord says, “If ye shall ask ANYTHING in My name, I WILL DO IT.” (John 14:14.)

So - with all the faith and determination we have let us set our faces (Isaiah 50:7; Daniel 9:1-23), and plunge into the prayer-battle - for genuine Holy Ghost Revival - and let us prevail in prayer - till the fires of a mighty, heaven-sent Revival are kindling on every hand, and sinners are crying out to God under conviction of sin! (Hosea 10:12).

— Herald Of His Coming.

Seek the Baptism With the Holy Ghost

Christ commanded “that repentance and remission of sins would be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,” Luke 24:17, saying, “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high,” Luke 21:19. This was a command to His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father, because Christ has said, “John truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5).

The waiting period was “not many days” because they obeyed His command. Acts 1:14 tell us that their hearts were prepared through “continual prayer and supplication,” and Acts 2:1-4 declares that “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

Many Christians today are apparently ignoring, or are indifferent to this command, which supplies the most needed essential for Christian service. Without the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, they are helpless, and a hindrance if they attempt to serve God in their own strength, without a call from Him to do so, and without His power to perform the specific tasks He desires. A call from God is a command, and no one will receive this command if he has not sought and received the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost Christ said, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, - and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

So much of the activity of the Body of Christ today is of the flesh, and is not Spirit directed. Therefore, it is outside the will of God, and is a great hindrance to God’s plan. We children of God are only instruments through whom God desires to perform appointed tasks in His vineyard. Should the servant decide that he will direct things in his own way, and not obey the orders of his Lord and Master who is the only One Who knows what He needs to be done, knows how to do it, and supplies the power, and everything else that is necessary to make it fruitful? There is a great spiritual weakness in the Body of Christ, due to a deficiency of power which comes from the Holy Ghost, only. Christ said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me - for without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:4,5).

As long as a child of God feels sufficient in himself, without the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, he will trust in his own ability, and begin to direct his life according to his own preference. The Holy Spirit will not co-operate with such pride and independence. He says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” (James 4:10).

In the general teaching of today, there is very little stress put upon the absolute necessity of being “endued with power from on high.” To try to serve God without this enduement is great disobedience to the specific command of Christ to tarry until we receive, and will only result in failure and loss.

There is some teaching about being filled with the Spirit, perfected in love, or being sanctified, which are all a result of being baptised with the Holy Ghost, but are not the same for this experience. Because the name and the meaning have been misinterpreted, that is no reason why it should not be used. The evil powers would like to stop us from using the scriptural name which Christ gave, because any departure from Scriptural terms is confusing, hinders understanding, and allows the entrance of error.

According to present day teaching there is an impression that being filled with the Spirit is a gradual process, as a child of God dedicates himself, or makes a vow, and places himself on God’s altar, but God will not accept sin. How can we dedicate a sinful old nature? We must first be sanctified by the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire, before we can acceptably dedicate ourselves upon God’s altar of sacrifice. It is self-righteous of us to think that we can do anything in self. We have to humble ourselves, believing that there is no good thing in us to offer God. Some know that they must die to self, but they cannot crucify themselves. Only God can do that. All that they have to do, is be willing to let Him, and believe in faith that He will. Only the power of God can put an old nature into subjection. It is an instantaneous experience, just as on the day of Pentecost.

After receiving the powerful Baptism, there is a continual growth in Christ, if we abide in Him and are obedient unto His will, which is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and His written Word. The evidence of such a Baptism is “prayer without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 6:17), “continual praise” (Hebrews 18:10); “thanksgiving for all things in Christ’s name (Ephesians 6:20);”meditation on God’s Word day and night” (Psalms 1:2); and “rejoicing evermore” (I Thessalonians 5:16).

Jonathan Goforth said, “Our Lord did not permit - His followers to witness a word in His name until endued with power from on high. It is true that before Pentecost, they were,”born again,” and had the witness of the Spirit, but they were not the Lord’s co-workers - until filled with the Holy Spirit, and this divine empowering is for us, as for them. Scripture conveys no other meaning to me, then that the Lord Jesus planned that the Holy Spirit should be with us today, the same as at Pentecost. Pentecost is normal Christianity. Nothing can clothe with victorious might, but the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and with fire, and no one can receive such a Baptism without knowing it.

Many Christians seem to have acquaintance with only water baptism, and this, notwithstanding what John the Baptist said, “I baptise with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I; He shall baptise you with Holy Ghost and fire.” (Matthew 8:11).

The Baptism with Holy Ghost is indispensable. The saints of the past could not have performed one deed of power if they had not been filled with the Holy Spirit, but they would not have been filled had they not sought such a Baptism, waiting With “continual prayer and supplication.” The Lord forbids us to do anything in our own strength, and He commands us to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

Christ, Himself, did not begin His ministry until He had been anointed with the Holy Ghost. God’s Holy Word tells us that “The Holy Ghost descended like a dove upon him” (Luke 3:22), and Acts 10:38 says that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.” He set the example for us, and commanded us to follow Him. He promised that His disciples should be baptised with the same Baptism, saying, “With the baptism that I am baptised with it shall ye be baptised” (Mark 10:39) The Baptism with the Holy Ghost was necessary for him, and so it is for us.

Have you received this precious Baptism? If not you are commanded by Christ to seek until you receive. He promised, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

— Doris Guinup, 261 Longside Street, Winnipeg 1, Manitoba, Canada.

For Meditation

“Jesus cried with a loud voice ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ and he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them ‘Loose him and let him go’” (John 11:43-44).

“Jesus restored life. That no mere man could do. But He left it to His disciples and to the friends that stood about to unbind the grave clothes that still hampered free movement and activity. Those had been placed round the body by human hands and human hands could remove them.

There is a parable here, The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life, the quickener, the source of spiritual renewal. But we men and women must give free play to the renewed life by removing - cutting away if necessary - the things, in ourselves and in our churches (and our S.C.M.) that hinder the new life from being active, vigorous and fruitful … habits and ways of thinking, practices and rules and traditions, which we have inherited from others or have evolved for ourselves. Spiritual renewal is the work and gift of the Holy Spirit, but reformation is our human task.

We are aware of our great need of spiritual renewal and vigour. We have our evangelistic campaigns, revival meetings and retreats. We have our conferences and reports discussing the need for renewal and ways to bring it about (But) they are only helps - helps towards preparing the way of the Lord, removing obstacles we have put in His way, and making His paths straight. It is He who must come to us and through us to the world.

In all such activity we must ever remember our dependence on the Holy Spirit. We cannot create spiritual life, spiritual renewal. That is the work and gift of the Holy Spirit, and He blows where He will, and when and how He wills. We cannot organise Him.

But just as God is ever more ready to hear than we to pray, so the Holy Spirit is ever seeking opportunities, taking the initiative, ever pressing upon us to let Him do His work in us and for us and through us. What we can do - what we must do - is to make the human conditions favourable … by preparing our own hearts by humility, penitence, expectancy and obedience, and by removing from ourselves the things that hamper His free operation.

We all need to hear “what the Spirit saith to the churches” today. We pray for new life; but Christ has given us new life. We pray for renewal; but the Holy Spirit is in our midst. Lazarus has been called out of the grave. The command to us is to lose him and let him go - go out into the world to all men and to all life in Christ’s name, casting off whatever outworn bandages hinder our obedience. Have we the faith to act as well as to talk? Jesus told Martha, by the tomb of Lazarus, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?”

— AIKYA - (Adapted from a Sermon by Bishop A.H. Legg)

Correspondence

From: V.N. SHARMA, Kassels, Mannheim.

To: Rev. R.C. Das, Dashashwamedh, VARANASI,

July 21, 1967

My most revered Brother,

I wanted to write you all these weeks, nay, all these months - but, due to constant movement from one place to another, from one country to another, I had to wait till now. Yet my thoughts are always with you, for I belong to you, and you belong to me - we both belong to our Lord, and strive to utilise His power, His Grace and His leadership for the work, for which we have been called to His lotus feet. Nothing happens by mere chance, or by passing enthusiasm or excitement. Everything is decided by Him - but it lies on us how we can realise this secret, and utilise that to enrich our life, and through this, the life of our kith and kin. This I feel stronger and stronger through life and work in these months among those who are our co religionists. Among these people I discovered our Lord, - at a time when our Lord’s place in the Church and outside had to be protected from the dark forces. That was in the year 1933, an epoch in the history of the German Christian Society when everything was dark and dark. During that year my desire, inner and outer, to become a Christian, and follow the Christian path as my life’s path was very strong. I knew perfectly well the troubles and turmoil a Brahmin - who is so deeply rooted in his time immemorial tradition, had to face. But I accepted with all humility I could command, all these clouds - and requested my revered pastor of the German Reformed Church to baptise me with the holy waters and accept me into his community. Thirty-three years have passed since then - Never I regretted for the path I have chosen. As a matter of fact I have now understood the eternal side of my ancestor’s religion, philosophy and culture - in its right perspective as I understood the religious path that blessed me with a new birth. Theology and all things that go along with it are good and very fascinating. Like my own colleagues and co-converts, I am blessed that I am not caught by the whirlpools of the outer forms of the new stream. I know you will agree when I say so for we feel and in particular, the new converts, that we should not say goodbye, without reservation, to all that belonged to us and enriched us in their own way, and not accept everything that is presented to us by our priests, ministers and pastors. A revaluation of our own position as Christians is an immediate necessity. Chenchiah spoke to us. Parekh opened his heart. Do you have the courage to tell us, the new converts, who we are and why we are here, and whither we should move. That is why I feel my relationship with you and with the members of the Sangh, who strive to live and work like you. You have trusted me and enabled me for several years to uphold the banner of our Sangh with the Christian faith, yes, with the eternal Indian faith - I am proud for this privilege you and your colleagues bestowed on me - I can assure you and your colleagues - and to my successor, in particular, I am always in the service of our Sangh - and through that serve the Christian church of our great country.

Sectarian differences might be fascinating to other countries and to other races - who tell us that they are the custodians of the Christian Flag - or shall I say, the Cross. But these are not for me for our life’s approach, as a race or as a people, from times immemorial ours is to transcend all the limitations of form and names, and merge ourselves in the source itself without fear or favour or without mental and emotional reservation. This I feel very strongly now - as I live, and work among, the Christians here among the Protestants, Catholics and others who do not identify themselves to this side or that side - but love Him.

Through our silent work we should set an example to this approach on the Christian Path. Our loyalty to Him, our Christ and our everything here and there, depends on this stand we take - and I know this is a Himalayan task - yet someone should bell the cat. Why cannot we do this - instead of leaving it in the hands of others - we are enjoying the privilege bestowed on us as Christians? This responsibility is great on the new converts, and in particular on those who have come out from the higher levels of the Hindu society. We are Hindu Christians - and this nectar, we have tasted and through which we have been purified, should find an outlet in the Hindu community itself through our Christian example.

Bless me, my revered brother, so that I can have the courage to live and work for Christ in His life, and in the life through which we both have to pass when we leave aside our physical body. What do we wish other than this in this life?

Your Brother, Johannes Narayan Sharma.

(Yes, Brother. It is all very true, and it is good that you have expressed it nicely, idealism, vision and emotion are very important. But, and it is big ‘But’. These must be concretised into creative forces. They are dynamic indeed - romantic venture of faith and pilgrimage. Yes, but they must be canalised, channelised, adjusted and applied to concrete situations. They must all be applied to, and be absorbed into, our organisations, constitutions, schemes, projects and institutions in the building up of the church and the state - the extension of the kingdom of God on earth. Nothing less than that. If our imagination, instead of being a constructive power, remains in the abstract region, it will disappear with the passing away of the visionary, the idealist. We must work out and walk on. These spiritual and moral dynamics must be built into our own individual lives (hence the “Ashrams”) and also into the body of the church and hence the “Bharat Khrist Sangh.” It is a feeble attempt because of paucity of workers and small numbers. We need to be enlarged in bulk, affiliated to, and reinforced by, other similar groups. It is an attempt in the right direction and worthy of emulation by others. There is no power purer and more effective than the power of real unity in Christ - concrete unity in faith, fellowship and work led by the Holy Spirit.) - Editor.

Dear Acharya Das,

5th December 1967.

This is just to let you know that I am leaving India for furlough and expect to be back but what work I shall be doing is not yet decided.

I have appreciated very much your battling spirit and have echoed warmly many of your ideas. I was very glad to go through your suggested consideration for an indigenous Church. It seems to me to that I heartily agreed with your letter to the Bismajyoti Editor on the subject of the term “non-Christian” - this was perfectly stated, and I hope all will take note. Certainly both non-Christian and Christian are definitely offensive to many Hindus and others I was also very glad that you published Dr. K. Baago’s letter or explanation concerning his resignation. This makes very searching reading, and again, there is so much of it with which I agree.

However, my own position would be that though what Dr. Baago says is right even the Church that we know has the facility for mobility and change if we are only outright and forthright Christians to permit it. I wish more would be encouraged by your example to stand out alone if necessary for the tenets of truth which we have received from God.

The anti-Christ movements and corruption that have been fostered under the wing of the Church are a shame to our Lord. They are such that they have been chiefly instrumental in the resignation of … He, however, does not take Dr. Baago’s position - he states that be really has lost faith, and what he believes to be the truth is so different from what is recognised as Christendom’s Christianity that he can no longer call himself a Christian. This is a very sad thing, and especially sad that it has grown out of the situation in this part of the world. We have a great deal to do to move forward. I pray that God will give you strength and health for many more years of service and trust that we shall meet again on my return.

Yours sincerely …

1. I have come to the conclusion after 60 years of observation and study of the Christian churches in India - their constitutions, organisations, worship systems and methods, hierarchies, economies, politics, activities, outreaches and Missions - that they have hardly any “facility for mobility and change.” They are frozen, effete, neutralised, unproductive and almost lifeless, A revolution has already started. Out of inner and outer mess and havoc a new original force from the Indian soil will rise and destroy what is shallow, exotic, unrelated, powerless and ineffective. Because Christ is living in the soul of Mother India. He with his creative and dynamic energy will reconstruct and reshape everything for the salvation, peace and prosperity of the people.

2. Frustration is defeatism. Loss of faith is nihilism. Your friend and Dr. Baago should both join, not only their hearts and mind, but their hands with creative and patriotic Indians in helping promote the indigenous Church of Christ in India with their full contribution - material and spiritual. - R.C.D. ]

Thyrgodvej 47, Brande, Dentaark,

Dec. 7th, 1967.

Dear Brother in Christ,

I was very happy to get your valued letter of 28/10. The printed matter of your paper and your pamphlet have, of course, not yet arrived as they are coming by sea and not by air mail. So I will answer more fully when I have read their content. As you have been guessing as to my occupation when sojourning in India in the twenties I may inform you that I was a missionary of the Porto Novo Mission of S. India. In Porto Novo the people that supported the Mission had only an Indian National School called Seva Mandir started and so to say initiated by Mahatmaji as he was invited by the leader of the school my mother’s cousin Miss Anne Marie Petersen to inaugurate the school. Chakkarai joined this mission, but stayed as you know in Madras as the leader along with Chenchiah of the Christo Samaj. My work was also conducted in Madras along with my language studies. I passed two examinations in Tamil. So we in Madras called our work “The Indo Danish Mission”. We had no Church and did not want to have any church in the Western form with its dogmatic teaching coined in terms of Greek philosophy and the organisation on Roman models, but if any Indians learned to love Christ and joined together in worship they should of course find their own forms of worship and express their faith in terms of the Indian languages, often coined in Sanskrit terminology. But this problem was to be resolved by Indian lovers of Christ without any leadership from Western Christians. I attended during those years the meetings of the Christo Samaj being in full agreement with its views as expressed by Chenchiah and Chakkarai.

With regard to Baptism I used to say that Baptism did not mean joining any Church as known in India, mean being one with Christ and with all those that belonged to Him in truth and faith. I found that the best approach to have to all in our Christian work was the Quaker approach I found that the National Missionary Society of India should change its policy and instead of advising converts to Christ to join the present Mission Churches should try to form genuine Indian True National Churches.

From this you will see that it is quite natural and necessary that I should support Dr. Baago in his views of the situation. And also that I should become a near friend of Manilal. We even agreed to work closely together when I after having left the Porto Novo Mission in 1927 should return to India. We thought of an Ashram on Indian lines. But for a number of reasons I was not able to return to India and had to take up educational work in Denmark, for many years as the principal of secondary schools.

It is deeply to be regretted that you have not been able to find a young partner in the conducting of the Ashram. It is also to be deeply regretted that the fair name of “Ashram” is being used to institutions that are neither Indian nor Christian. The work and the idea of our friend Baago is, of course, not to be any sort of leader in any new Indian Church but to support in all ways possible Christian Indians in their endeavour to start and to conduct their own Churches in their own Indian Christian way. One of the severest and most difficult problems has arisen because the Churches in India have been conducted by the leading Western missionaries in such a way that Baptism has become the sign of joining a new sort of foreign “caste”. That is why Christ Himself now is working through His spirit in His own way in India outside the nominal Churches. I do not say that He is not working within the Churches also, for are there not some signs thereof? And do not many thinking Indian Christians within the Churches agree with the views of Baago, although the bulk of Indian Christians do not, westernised hopelessly as they mean to be more loyal to their Western leaders than to the free spirit of Christ.

Christ Himself was, according to the Synoptics, baptised, but He himself did not baptise. So the Indian forms of Churches of Christ would be looser organisations than the present churches. Some may be like “The Society of Friends” without any outward baptism. Some would feel that some sort of initiation into His Church should be given to those wanting it, that is to say a form of Baptism, but that is for the friends of Jesus themselves to decide. The whole problem of Sacraments must be taken up for their own solution along with study of how it has been solved in Christian History of the Christian Churches but with full freedom to be inspired by His spirit to find genuine solutions thereof in India, true to the Indian spirit, and true to His spirit. Intellectual formulations of the Christian Faith are bound to be made with the only available terminology partly in the Indian languages and in the old Sanskrit philosophic terminology.

When the printed matter you so kindly are sending me has been received, I shall write again.

With my best wishes for your Christian work, and my best Christmas greetings, I am affectionately yours in His service.

— AKSEL J. KNUDSEN

(Are Christians today surprised that indigenous ideas and even action are so ancient, operative in the teens and twenties of this century? They were shared and encouraged by foreign missionaries even before Brother AKSEL. Your editor along with a few other converts had initiated such a movement since 1909 and promoted the cause of indigenousness ever afterwards. It has been uphill work. But for the impact of alien forces in the shape of money and personnel upon the Indian church which persists even today in its prejudice, deliberate hostility and malignant purpose. Indian Christianity with its inevitable Indigenous Body - a church at once orthodox, catholic and evangelical would have been a force to reckon with - a church not simply a repository of truth and wooden tradition but an agile organism communicating the faith and uplifting humanity. The opportunities are being lost, What about the immediate future?

Will a modern Christendom prevail in India on the basis of powerful money and organisation?

Is it not tottering in the west making its members disillusioned and desperate? - Editor.)

Unto a Christian Acharya and Yati

Among the few Christians who ‘checked the counter’ and followed Mahatma Gandhi the late J.C. Kumarappa was easily the tallest and most redoubtable. The high esteem in which he was held could be gauged by the highest in the land who made a public appeal for a memorial to him, naming him the Gandhian Saint - high praise indeed. He won international repute for his work on Economics and for his ascetic life. With all his nationalism he remained a simple follower of His Lord Jesus Christ, though Kumprappa’s understanding of the meaning and value of Christian faith was different from what the usual run of Christians held. Christians themselves have been slow to recognise the worth of their own great, except when they happened to be on “the establishment”. But we are glad to note that the small effort in the direction, made a few years ago by the friends and relations of Kumarappa, is taking root and bearing fruit. We refer to the Sanctuary of the Cross of Thiru J.C. Kumarappe, of Kottivakkam, Madras-41. It fell to the lot of the octogenarian Mr. C.P. Michael, a kinsman of Kumarappa, to inspire a few of his friends and relations to set up a Rural Service Centre to the memory of the saint. Today it has grown beyond the initial expectations with a medical wing in which the CSI Kaiyani Hospital staff are co-operating. We would commend this venture to our Indian Christian brethren hoping that they will not loiter or fall back when the Hindu brothers are so willing to sponsor a worthy cause. We might say that the measure in which we uphold causes like the Kumarappa memorial is the measure of our own perception of what is noble, what is worthy and what deserves being cherished at some sacrifice to ourselves.

— Guardian, February 8, 1968 - M.S.R.

The Church Unapostolic

It is becoming obvious to many thinking Christians that the church as it is organised at present is deeply in error - from a New Testament and even from a “Catholic” viewpoint. This is true not only with regard to the division of the Church, it is true of the structures of every major denomination and most of the minor ones; and of none is it more true than it is of the ‘Anglican’ Church in North India.

What are the principal forms of the Church’s life, the forms through which it acts? The parish? In fact the congregation, rather than the parish, is the constituent unit, and the congregations of our church are typically associations of people who meet to worship and to occupy themselves with the usual internal polities of any small community. The typical congregation is in no way organised for what might be called ‘Christian action,’ for producing a distinctive Christian impact on the world around. The congregation, through its representation in the wardens and the parish committee is concerned exclusively with its own affairs.

Of course the congregation is in some sense part of a diocesan structure. The diocesan organisation, under the leadership of the bishop, has a manifold function. But could anyone deny that the concerns of this organisation also are almost exclusively ‘internal’ - and often severely practical, the administration of properties and institutions. It may be argued that someone must look after the ‘business’ of the Church. But by what right does ‘business’ of this sort become the principal occupation of the church’s highest organisation.

Does the ordained Ministry serve to organise the Church as the Body of Christ, to lead it in apostolic tasks? Most priests administer more than they minister; some spend a significant proportion of their time in fund-raising of a questionable nature; this is what is expected of them. And neither their administration nor their pastoral work contributes, in most cases, to any organised effort of the congregation as such to minister to the world around - though Christian individuals might presumably have come influence (a North American sociologist tried recently to estimate what this might be and expressed it as “two percent effective”).

We do not even have a genuine Diaconate, that is, a branch of the Ordained Ministry set aside for the ministry of practical help; the ‘Diaconate’ with us, is a year’s probation before a man is ordered Priest. The training of the clergy, by and large, does not have this or any other apostolic end in view. The aim of the theological education in most seminaries is to produce teachers and pastors of congregations; such education, at best, seeks to render men intellectually and morally competent to be servant of the congregations to which they will be assigned. It does not teach them very much about ‘practical help’, and it is not directed to produce men who can lead a congregation in the organisation of Christian action.

And all this, though it may be established by the habit of centuries, is error from a New Testament and even a Catholic point of view.

The Church Apostolic

In the Catholic tradition the Church has always been described as ‘apostolic.’ On the one hand this ‘note’ of the Church refers to the Church’s dependence on and continuity with the first apostles; it indicates a reliance upon the testimony of the apostles and continuity in the life of the fellowship which was gathered round them. But, on the other hand, this note of the Church refers to a ‘style of life’ which was first seen in the apostles, its ‘sentness’, for that is what apostolicity means or ministry or mission. As the first apostles were scattered abroad and bore their testimony to many lands, so the Church is a movement which exists to communicate its hope, its truth and its fellowship. This is central. The Church ‘apostolic’ is the Church moving on and moving into the life of its time, not merely to say but to do the truth. This is traditional teaching, but it casts a strange light on the ‘traditional’ organisation of the Church!

The letters of St. Paul define the Church as ‘the Body of Christ’ - with the clear implication that the Church begins, at least, to do what Christ did. The metaphor of ‘the Body’ is not primarily a spatial metaphor, it refers to function. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians condemns those who come to Communion ‘without discerning the body’, by which he means, as the context shows, the relation of care and mutual service among believers. And this relation and function is not to exist merely among believers, within the Church; all the gifts of the Spirit serve to build up believers in a fellowship wherein the ministry of Christ is extended and realised. They are “for the equipment of the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12, the comma in the RSV is not required). Baptism represents a beginning in the life of ministry, for to be baptised is to begin to walk (Romans 6:4b) with the One who came to serve.

It follows from the New Testament teaching about the Church that the Church should be ever more effectively organised to minister, as Jesus ministered and in the ways in which He ministered, though with the new means (such as democratic political action) that history has brought to hand. If this is so it is time for some drastic reforms in the organisation of the church.

It is not yet possible to say what will be the new structures through which the Church may more fully live its apostolic life, but some things at least are clear. There must be a new attempt on all levels to grapple with the problems of people in the society in which the congregation is set. There must be a thorough reformation and redirection of the ‘parish’ and diocesan organisation to these problems.

The revival of a genuine Diaconate might be the first step in the development both of valid insights and of new structures for congregational action. Such a Diaconate would require (i) the training of men not only in theology, but also in the social sciences and social work - and above all in practice as well as in theory, and (ii) the appointment of Deacons in congregations with the commission to spearhead the ‘caring’ work of the congregation both inside and outside the congregation - for only such an ‘outward-looking’ Diaconate could be an expression of the Ministry of Christ.

The measure of the life of the Church is conformity to Christ. Its error has been the development of selfish and static structures. Its cure must be renewal by the Spirit and a now practical effort to do the work of the Ministry committed to it.

— Cal. Diocesan magazine January 1968. (The Rev.) A.F. Thompson, Ph.D.

Quotes and Comments

1. World Church News

World Vision Leader Cites Disillusionment With West

MINNEAPOLIS (RNS 26-12-1967). According to world evangelist Paul Rees, “Those of us who represent the Christian West are very much in danger of living in a world of illusion of about how influential we are, even with Christian counterparts in Asia and Africa.”The sooner we wake up to the fact that the Christian communities of Asia and Africa have to be treated with the fullest acceptance and respect, the better it will be” - Guardian February 8, 1968.

(The illusion persist to the perversion of the noble missionary motive of bringing man to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and the degradation of Asian and African converts nothing less than full freedom - spiritual, administrative and economic - these Christians will be the fullest acceptance and respect. Paternal attitude is not justice. Equality, Fraternity and Liberty are fundamental rights.) - Editor.

2. Excerpt From the Message of His Grace the Metropolitan of India - Church of India P.B.C

Published in the Calcutta Diocesan magazine. December 1967

Let us thank God for so many men and women from other countries who once came to work and worship with us. We are an international society in the Church. These links have to be maintained. We can never forget the services of Christian missionaries to India and to the other parts of the world in the realm of learning and social service, in the course of preaching the Gospel. The time has now come for us to take up a great many responsibilities locally. The greatest tribute to the missionaries of the past would be the carrying on of their work by the people of the land. Even then there is room for those from abroad, with special gifts who wish to come and serve our Church under local leadership.

(We heartily agree and commend to all Churches the sound, constructive, and weighty opinion of the metropolitan on the missionary situation in India. - Editor Church of Christ).

Testimony of the Rev. Rajendra Chandra Das, M.A

(Of The Benares United City Mission)

February 1931

Since I joined the Benares United City Mission in July 1930, I have had much joy and encouragement in the Lord’s work in this field. The charge often brought by Christian workers against educated Hindus that they do not care for religion or Christianity is not true, at any rate, of Benares. There is genuine inquiry and interest in the hearts of many. I will confine myself to cases in illustration of the fact that the spirit of Christ is abroad, that His influence is changing men’s outlook and life, though quiet, is very real; and also that the genuine seekers after the truth of God find Hinduism sadly lacking and very weak.

An old bearded Bengali gentleman is seated in a public park one evening. I quietly sit beside him after the usual salutations. The conversation turns on nationalist topics. In every turn he shows a distinct bias for Christ and his standards of value, and he gives the impression that he is a Christian. When, however, he learns who I am, the conversation stops and a genuine sign of pleasure appears in his face, but he leaves. A case like this reminds one afresh of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s claim that there is a Secret body of Hindu Christians, not necessarily all Sanyasis, working all over India. I have had glimpses of the truth of this in many other places. One young Bengali sadhu, very bright and intellectual, living in one of the Ghats, says he did not know there were Christians in Benares, that he observed Christmas alone on the bank of the Ganges by reading the Bible and meditation on the mystery of the incarnation. He is studying our books. A young Hindustani Sadhu absorbed in the study of Tilak’s Gita was one day reminded of Christ and the Bible. He appeared to feel a great relief. He has since taken a New Testament, and after reading Sundar Singh’s “With and without Christ” has admitted that the book has “gripped” him. Here is another young Bengali Sadhu - very humble and good-natured. He says he has “realised himself.” On being bluntly put the question “Have you realised God?” he becomes thoughtful, and a very fruitful conversation follows. He has been studying our literature and there is a distinct sign of his having gradually shifted from the position of a Vedantist. Then again, the head of a big religious settlement of the Vaishnava (Chaitanya) sect seems to be a much better Christian than any professed Christians, as he describes his life and the life of his Ashram. He was probably a good man like the rich young ruler but has not yet felt the need of personal salvation. On presentation of the Gospel message he becomes thoughtful. The man in charge of another modern Vaishnava sect who is doing propaganda work in this city, on hearing what the true Mission of Christ is on earth, has deeply interested himself in studying Christianity. His idea was that missionaries were out to increase the size of the Christian community. Another old retired man - a writer of many books in English and Bengali - an avowed Vedantist - acknowledges that Christ’s path is the easiest and good for most men. These men have not come in contact with Christianity in their earlier years, and yet they are open and eager for the truth.

Here is a list of men who were educated in Mission schools or colleges or came in touch with missionaries in their youth or boyhood and have a most appreciative understanding of Christianity. An elderly man - publisher and stationer - married; a pensioner and now practising doctor; an old man struck With paralysis - wife dead - though sons living yet uncared-for - finding solace in his misery in the Master’s words; an intelligent Hindustani silk merchant finding strength in St. John’s Gospel; a youth - a Sanyasi member of the Hindu Ram Krishna Mission - sometime my own student in College - half consciously deriving his inspiration for social service work from the Christian instruction he received in college; a Theosophist Swami greatly impressed by the healing power of our Lord; two old and retired men knowing Christ to be Saviour and Lord stopping short of open confession from social and political considerations.

I have so far met quite a number of university students and young nationalists - who though practically atheistic and agnostic in life and outlook, bow before the name of Christ acknowledging that if religion is to be at all real in present day conditions, only Christ has claim to our loyalty, Among these are doctor, businessmen, contractors, etc., who have had a scientific training.

It is sometimes claimed by Hindus that their men may give up religion, but their women will stick to it and even to its dry externals. This is not true of present-day Hinduism. Hindu women have begun to apply their intuitive faculty and practical common sense in religious matters. I have met widows and others who would fain be Christians. One woman pilgrim, one morning after her bath in the Ganges, was overheard loudly denouncing the all-round hollowness of Kashi and the internal and external misery she had come to. One morning a woman who with several children and her husband came to Kashi for rest of their life, visited us and remarked that she does not see the glory and power of Baba Biswanath (the presiding Deity of Benares - Shiva) and Ma Annapurma (his consort) as painters and poets have put them in their pictures and writings - that there was much deceit and falsehood. She had come in touch with Bible women in far Eastern Bengal and knew the Gospels fairly well. Another old woman who had been in a Mission school showered blessings on me and on my work one morning in one of the Ghats. Another who had also been taught by Christian women teachers bought several books specially of the devotional type.

Most of these persons are highly educated and are in Benares for religious purposes. Among the passing pilgrims quite e number have taken our literature and our addresses and have sought the addresses of missionaries in other centres. One is constrained to believe that the seed that has been or is being sown in various ways will bear fruit.

Notes

1. Religious Freedom in India Today

(Editorial, National Christian Council Review, March 1968)

The Orissa Freedom of Religion Bill has caused considerable protest from various groups in different parts of India. In all fairness, the State Government should have sought the opinion of all the religious groups whom this Bill was bound to affect. Not only was this not done, but the Bill was passed in a great hurry as if it were an emergency legislation.

The title of the Bill is a misnomer. The purpose of the Bill is to regulate and curtail freedom of religion and not to guarantee or enhance it. It is obviously directed against the work of the Church … No sensible Christian would approve of forced conversion or of so-called conversion influenced by inducements. Such ‘conversions’ are against the very genius of the Christian faith, and they stand - condemned before man and God. Further, the Bill as it stands gives unlimited power to officials of all sorts to harass any person who genuinely wants to change his religion, or anyone who is influential in another’s change of religion.

We are equally concerned about some of the fundamental questions which the Bill has raised. The Bill has openly questioned the whole concept of conversion. ‘Conversion in its very process involves an act of undermining another faith’, the Bill says. This is a gross misunderstanding (or is it a deliberate mis-interpretation ?) of what conversion is. Conversion is not confined to religion nor to Christianity among the religions. Nor does it necessarily mean a change of religion. Conversion in the religious sense is a spiritual experience which involves a new vision and which results in the rearrangement of one’s values into a new value system. In conversion human beings choose their ultimate ends and so freedom of conversion is the most important freedom for all men.

The right of conversion is closely tied to the right for the search for Truth, without which human existence is meaningless. To the Hindu mind, which is basically syncretistic, this is not a valid or convincing argument. All religions are the same and conversion is unnecessary. It is part of our task to meet this argument both philosophically and theologically.

Our Constitution guarantees that ‘subject to public order, morality and health, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate their religion.’ The Orissa Government argues that freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion does not include the freedom to convert. This is the crux of the problem and involves an interpretation of the Constitution. Obviously the Bill contravenes the fundamental right guaranteed in our Constitution. Hence, it must be challenged. It also contravenes the Charter of Human Rights to which the Government of India is a signatory, and on this count also, it must be challenged.

Recent history tells us that curtailment of religious freedom is often the first step in the curtailment of all freedoms and human rights. We have won liberty at great cost and the whole world is looking at us with anxious eyes to see if we are going to succeed in our experiments with freedom and democracy.

Every age has its preoccupation, and freedom for many reasons, is the preoccupation of our age. Organised liberty is the basic demand of our age, and we do not want to see our individual freedom swallowed up by a totalitarian system, as happened in the Fascist countries. We surely want to guard our country from stepping on to this path. Therefore, the cause of religious liberty must be fitted into the broader effort for the civil liberties of men.

Let the larger struggle for general liberties increase the religious liberty of men.

2. Late Miss Muriel Lester

Muriel Lester, formerly a Travelling Secretary of the I.F.O.R., died in England on February 14 at the age of 84. She was known and deeply loved by many members of the F.O.R. in India, and she maintained a wonderfully sensitive concern for us and our work, and kept up the fellowship of correspondence almost to the end. We thank God upon every remembrance of her. - Arunodayam.

(Some years ago we had the valued privilege of having the hostess of Gandhijii (in London in her Ashram) with us in the “Khristpanthi Ashram,” Varanasi and arranging important meetings for her and her companion Miss Gladys Owen of Sat Tal Ashram in the city and in Hindu University. May her example in life and activity be widely emulated by others in the world. - Editor Church of Christ.)

In the Fellowship of Faith and Work

1. The Rev. S.J. Pramanick-Pastor of “Jamshedpur Khristiya Sangha” writes as follows:

   1. Sponsored by the Indian Christian Association, we had combined Christmas service on the eve of the 19th Dec. 1967. Members and pastors of all denominations including the R. Catholic Bishop of Jamshedpur - Rt. Rev. P.T. Picachy took active part in it.

   2. On the 25th we had Christmas service as usual and this time Mr. B.B. Das from Calcutta inspired the congregation with his impressive message.

   3. As usual a week of prayer for the unity of Churches was observed commencing from the 18th January 1968. The opening service was held in the Baptist “Church of Christ”. All pastors, nuns, and Bishop were present. Similarly, the closing service was in the R.C. Cathedral in Hindi. Non-Catholic Pastors and choir party took the major active part. The collection received in these two services amounted to Rs. 138/ which has been contributed to the Relief Fund of Koyna Nagar and Bombay for the tragic earthquake sufferers.

   4. On the 20th we held an Exhibition and discussion for solving the education and social problems of Jamshedpur city. Two action committees were appointed.

   5. We had our annual picnic on the 28th January in the vicinity of the forest on the bank of Subarna Rekha. Sports, prizes and devotional services featured the occasion.

   6. Because of my eye trouble I am not inclined to read or write. I feel quite so weak. The local specialist fails to give any relief. Presently I am using Homeo medicine. Kindly pray.

   7. Once a week on Thursday evening, I attend a clinic to give free treatment to patients in collaboration with one Hindu friend of Andhra Pradesh, who bears all the cost of medicines. It gives me so much joy when I find the people are cured and happy. Kindly pray that I may be used by our Lord in an all round way. (Brother Pramanick is a Homeopath himself. It may not be generally known that all workers - ordained or not - under the auspices of the “Bharat Khrist Sangh” are honorary - Editor)

   8. Old mother is patiently waiting for the Lord’s peace. I have not found any boy for my daughter yet. I keep on praying.

   9. There is no further sale of “Bharater Yisu”. I have received Rs. 10/- from Ishananda of Cuttack, He still has 15 copies with him. In 1967, 14 copies were sold in Jamshedpur.

   With my kindest regards to you and sincere greetings to all the members of the Ashram. (S.J. Pramanick).

2. Rev. Rajan T.S. Claudius (who had spent some years in the Ashram and whose dear father, a retired Railway man, was my evangelistic volunteer colleague for many years in Varanasi) is the secretary sponsor of All India Evangelical Crusade - interdenominational faith ministry for revival and renewal based at 111A/124 Asbokenagar, Kanpur (U.P.). He has published an Occasional news Bulletin Vol. 1. No. 1. January and February 1968 which gives an idea of the extensive programme of evangelistic efforts in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It is said that in different centres in these states “hundreds of souls have been dynamically revived by the moving power of the Holy Spirit.” In Rajasthan besides hundreds of Christians many non-Christians attended his Gospel meeting. He is reported to be a “favourite to Hindus.” Rajan writes a personal note to Acharya Das as follows:

   “Respected Baba,

   The Lord brought me again for evangelism with greater opportunity. This time moving towards South. Writing from Itarsi (7.3. 68.), staying till 12th. Then Bombay, Ambarnath, Vellore, Madras. Do pray for me. You can write me at Vellore (c/o Sadhu A.N. Sircar, P.O. Katpadi, N.A., Madras State). With humble love and regards,

   Yours affectionately, (RAJAN)”

   Dr. Claudius, who is quite young yet, is an all round talented man. He is a host in himself. He is a medical doctor, an educationist, a pastor, an evangelist, a musician, a good speaker - all in one. Though he has a fairly large family of children and wife he finds opportunities and utilises them for the spread of the Gospel. He indeed needs our earnest prayer. His motto is: “Today the spirit of the Lord is calling us to prayer for World Revival, World Evangelisation and the World Return of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.”

3. Pastor D. Dutt, who spent well over a year in U.S.A., Canada and Germany returned last year and for the past few months has been visiting far off places like Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Shillong, Varanasi, Lucknow and stations in the Punjab, is leader of an international team for preaching the Gospel in India. Such trips and intensive preaching cost a lot of physical and spiritual energy. Our prayer is that he be given wisdom from above and sustained by the grace of the Lord.

4. Ishananda S.K. Paul was busy in January in his paddy fields for harvesting work in Jambu area; for the rest of the winter he has been touring different centres in Orissa preaching and selling gospels and many other books some that he has himself written in Oriya and several other Christian books on behalf of friends.

5. The Rev. B.K. Mundle, late Vicar of St. Thomas Church and Rector of St. Thomas school and lone representative of the disappearing St. Thomas brotherhood. Howrah, came to the Ashram on the 8th March. For over three weeks he had tried to understand something of Hinduism in the light of Christ (especially the Ashram and other religious institutions and the popular devotions so openly and widely practiced here) and also discuss matters relative to the Church and its mission in the context of Hindu faith and culture. He has left for a brief visit to Calcutta on urgent work but would be back soon in Allahabad for holy week. He looks forward to visiting U.P. centres including Sat Tal Ashram for another month and a half. Our good wishes blessings accompany him in his ventures of faith. (2.4.68.)

6. Our revered friend - the most Rev. Ram Krishna Sahu Modak D.D., who returned from New York after a long sojourn there and landed at Bombay rather ill on Christmas Eve has not yet recovered his full health and strength though he is reported to be on the road to complete healing at this writing (2.4.68). He is the President of the All India Federation of National Churches and would fain engage himself in his labour of love for TWO HUNDRED (as reported) Churches in India. We assure our Brother of our earnest prayer for his speedy recovery. Our good wishes, blessings and greetings to him and Sister Manorama for their happiness, success and prosperity in their contemplated service of India.

7. Acharya Das spent two months - January and February in St. Thomas Church compound, Howrah, under the kind care of the Rev. B.K. Mundle. During this period he made personal contacts with some Christians and many Hindu enquirers. It was a happy privilege for him to be present on the occasion of the Festival of the Epiphany at the Oxford Mission, Calcutta and also to attend the united worship service of the Protestant and Catholic Christians in which several thousands of men, women and children of different races and nationalities participated. The Catholic Archbishop and the Metropolitan of India took part in the corporate service. It was an expression of fundamental unity of all Christians in Christ. When will corporate Communion confirm and establish this unity and make it authoritative and manifest to the world though necessarily many differences in Theology, Church policy and worship system are bound to persist to the end of time. If our unity (rather uniformity) is to be achieved in these latter respects by steam-rolling real differences and crushing God given and natural diversities, we had better wait, remain separate, hate, condemn and tear one another to pieces until Dooms Day. But if we have the honesty and courage to recognise and confess the true moral and spiritual unity in our loyalty to, and faith in, Christ the Saviour and Lord, then we stand united Today and this very hour. Those who fondly cherish the false hope that we shall attain unity in theology, in the interpretation of Scripture, in ecclesiastical order, in the methods of worship and evangelism, whether they are among Protestants or Catholics - one is destined to painful disillusionment or will be absorbed in blind delusion. We assert this with a sense of responsibility and with all the authority of Holy writ behind us, and inspired by the authentic voice of Indian spiritual heritage we assert again that in and through Christ the Church has been, is, and shall be one. It is man who in his pride and prejudice, his ignorance and misunderstanding and in his natural passion for power and authority has perverted this perennial truth. Now it is for him to make enough amends and acknowledge it. This has been a digression, but the writer could not help.

   Since his return to the Ashram on the 28th February, Acharya Das has received for conversations a few casual visitors from the West. Apart from Fr. Mundle we have in the Ashram a retired Hindu Headmaster and his wife.

   As we write these words, the Holy Week is facing us with its tremendous significance, responsibility, its power and hope, let the message of this august occasion sink deep into our hearts and make us bold to take the future of our lives, our country and the world into our hands to mould them according to the will of God.

8. At last Johnson has had the courage to order a large de-escalation of the war in Vietnam and announced his decision not to stand for re-election. This is true Christian humility. Humility shines and is effective in strength. If implemented his decisions may yet turn the world tides and make Easter message of Peace and Love ring realistic in the hearts of men.

9. A Retreat and business meeting under the B.K.S should be held this summer. We should like to have our Ex-President Dr. V.N. Sharma present on this occasion. But at this writing (3.4.68) there is no information as to when he is to visit Calcutta. Delegates ought to be ready to attend when the dates are fixed.

10. Our beloved friend and saint - the Rev. P.A.N. Sen - waiting in his Ranchi Ashram for a call from beyond - again arranged his annual New Year’s celebration of the Holy Communion and preached another sermon now printed and distributed among friends. If we are correct he is 93. We thank God for his long witness to truth and love through life and service.

11. Brother Jagdish Biswas, after retirement from official work some years ago, settled down at Araria (District Purnea, Bihar). He has visited the Ashram several times in the past. Since then, he has been catering to the spiritual needs of local Christians and many a Hindu with zeal and devotion. May the spirit of God inspire and guide him.

12. The home of Dr. Chittaranjan Mandal of Siliguri has been always open to the servants of God for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few years ago he lost his doctor father. He has resolved to live a celibate life and serve God and man through word, prayer and medicine. We offer our good wishes and greetings for his success and happiness.

13. With deep sorrow and grief we record the sad death due to heart failure of Shri Prafulla Kumar Sen, B.A., B.L., in Calcutta recently at a comparably young age while his wife was on a study tour. He was a successful lawyer in the service of the Corporation and built a house in Park Circus area. He was a dear old student of Acharya Das and was recently chosen as Hon. Treasurer of the B.K.S. succeeding the late Professor M.L. Sircar, M.A. Our prayerful condolences for the bereaved family.

    We have yet to find our Assistant Secretary and a new Treasurer as well for the B.K.S.

14. Dr. E. Stanley Jones - the famous world Evangelist is back again in India preaching the Gospel of love and peace in the cities and towns of our land. He writes from Tuticorin that as many as 5000 people gave him a warm welcome there on the opening day. This and many other circumstances indicate that there is a vacuum in Indian life in respect of character, direction and destiny which can only be filled by the real Christ of the Bible and of Palestine with any permanency and spiritual satisfaction. He not only preaches the Gospel but also tries to apply his ideals to life. In consultation and co-operation with Dr. Radhakrishnan, late President of India, he is trying to persuade leading Asian countries to establish and maintain peace in Vietnam.

As usual Dr. Jones is to be at Sat Tal Ashram in May and June next.

— Secretary: B.K.S.

National Failure on All Fronts

We are slowly moving to the brink of disaster, heading towards danger. Because of inefficiency due to lack of experience, our rulers are hiding their faults and weaknesses and feeding the public with words - pledges, promises, assurances, hopes, equivocations and even untruths - words and words and no deeds. All parties are behaving the same way. The simple truth is that Congress and Leftists alike are running a race for position, power and pelf. Selfishness and greed mark their daily conduct. Our politicians and public leaders also go the same way. There is an all-round loss of character, vision and idealism. Since Independence patriotism has disappeared, Disunities-racial, caste-wise, linguistic, provincial and political kept suppressed under the iron heel of British imperialism have shot up in luxuriant foliage and flower in the favourable atmosphere of freedom i.e., licence. We have arrived at such a stage in moral degradation that no emergency is likely to revive us to new life. We have been controlling prices for the last twenty years, and they are now six times higher. Not a thing can be got done without paying bribes - great and small in any department of life in the private or public sectors. Law and order has become a by-word and a curse. Life is not safe. Open daylight dacoity, murder, rape, kidnapping, forcible occupation of property, shootings, arson, pillage, theft, looting, intimidation, etc. are common daily occurrences everywhere. Police do next to nothing. In many cases Police themselves are involved. Our frontiers - especially Kashmir and NEFA are explosive. Secessionist moves are in the air - in the North, South and Northeast. Conspiracies are brewing. Important National documents are stolen under the very nose of ministers or officials, smuggling goes on merrily. Our security forces seem unable to thwart political and military raiders. Our armed forces especially the Jawans are praised to the skies, but our blood is being spilled on the national frontiers, where life has become unsafe.

The Centre has been most complacent and exhibiting a happy-go-lucky spirit in handling the problem of the hill tribes. Good opportunities for solutions have slipped away. Differences and squabbles have resulted in no consistent or strong policies. Lack of foresight is manifest. Our armed forces and peoples have been wanting leadership which is not forthcoming.

Big business, landlords, Jotedars, princes, reactionary congressmen have been given a long rope. Mention of socialism or democracy in this context is nauseating. When the masses go hungry, malnourished, unhoused and even unclothed and when they are suppressed by force at the slightest gesture of discontent, socialism is a joke and an irony.

Youth are on the rampage, our educational and training institutions are turning out fools and brutes. They are our children and pupils. We are their parents and Gurus. We - parents, teachers and policy-makers are responsible for them. They are tearing to pieces the structures of our economic, social and political life. Parliament and legislatures are in a pandemonium and have become rendezvous of gundas.

Our Foreign Embassies have been wasting huge funds collected from poor people and have not enhanced the reputation of India. Our expensively built political capitals, our huge and numerous projects in the public sector, our buildings for offices, residences for governors, ministers, and officials and officers in the armed forces are white elephants, and maintain the old feudalist and imperialist glamour, dictatorial glories and ancient Badshahi and Nawabi style intact. Ever since independence (which is another name for licence to loot, to oppress, to litigate, to murder) the socialist sense has been rapidly waning.

Corrupt ministers and officials, black marketers and hoarders are named but let go under some pretext. Only some small fry are punished, and it is never a deterrent. It is awesome to contemplate that our vital medicines and drugs are adulterated. Food adulterers go scot-free. Our health and hygienic situation is terrible. Hospital doctors are so degraded that no proper care is taken of patients and even of accident sufferers. The panchayat system is corrupt. Thousands of cases have been accumulating in the law courts over the years and parties are dead before any hearing begins. There is mal-administration and mis-ministration and simple non-administration of Justice. People are despairing of any lawful remedy. The legal system has become so complex and oppressive that open quarrel and riots would be more tolerable. Religious appeals have lost their attraction as they do not pay; spiritual cultivation has been too abstract and unrealistic. Morals have been thrown to the four winds as they do not fill empty stomachs. Social codes have become meaningless as they are irksome in present day life.

Have we a government in this country? We are indeed under serious misrule, in dangerous chaos and confusion, in darkness and illusion. Our rulers and leaders are trying to console us with sermons, soft counsels and by patting us on the back with their velvet fingers. We should be seriously warned if we want to achieve even now our socialistic and democratic objectives and to save our nation for progress. We must realize that such traditions in a country forebode the evil of a destructive revolution impelled from within or provoked by extraneous forces. Whatever forces and instruments are still there for cleaning the Augean stables, for forging unity, for purifying administration and public life, for removing unbearable economic inequalities - they must be used and sharpened in the right direction with faith and honesty, courage and firmness - qualities that seem to be absent in our rulers and leaders. The people, the masses, the backbone of the nation have lost patience and become desperate. They are not likely to be satisfied with mere words much longer.

Israel and Christians

There is serious misunderstanding among certain Christian sects and individuals in the west and among some Christian groups and individuals in India regarding the position of the tiny nation called Israel in the Middle East. These friends innocently think (in some cases it is a wishful thought) that Israel is Christian. They therefore further believe that the Biblical prophecy of their return to their country in Palestine has been fulfilled by the establishment of the State of Israel and also further that the recent victory of Israel over Arab land and occupation of the whole of Jerusalem is an act of God in vindication of his will for Israel.

Nothing can be further from truth - historical or biblical - than this naive belief of these gullible people. The fact is that the people of Israeli State are Jews whose forefathers killed Jesus and who, having been cursed, were driven out of their own country by the Roman Army, and they scattered all over Europe for an asylum. But they have never been integrated into the life of the countries they adopted in Europe and in America. So distinctive has been their culture and so angular their manner and so insular their attitude. On the other hand the white Christians have hated them, and they have deeply lived in ghettoes. They have been persecuted off and on during the centuries and more recently during the world war, millions of them were killed, and a large number were thrust upon a strip of the coast of Palestine through the intervention of the United Nations dominated by big U.S.A. and the European powers. Palestine for centuries has been Arab land. The Arabs have never reconciled themselves to this almost forceful occupation of their land by a new though small nation - Israel - of people who are rich and educated and resourceful backed by the rich Zionist movement of America and the powers of the West.

The whole act has been politically motivated and reinforced by the religious belief of the return of the chosen people. Now the truth is that the biblical prophecy applies to New Israel chosen under the New Covenant through Jesus’ blood and not to Jews who are still under the old covenant does not accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah - the Ordained King - nor as the Son of God who is equal to God. The prophecy remains to be fulfilled by the reappearance in Palestine of true Israel i.e., true disciples of Christ. So the jubilation of some Indian Christians (c/o the Bengali Prahari magazine of the group led by Shri Hriday Ranjan Samaddar) over the recent victory of Israel against Jordan and Egypt is misplaced and mischievous. They should not dabble into this political affair but rather pray for the rehabilitation of over five lakhs of Arab refugees driven out of their homeland by Israel.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

There was a time when decent Christian Churches of protestant alliance used to be harassed by the peculiar sect of the Seventh Day Adventists preaching observance of Saturday by Christians as the Sabbath being the valid practice, and foretelling (with dates etc.) of Dooms Day. They were further fleeced by Roman Catholic priests not known to be very scrupulous in their methods. Then appeared the Oxford Mission who also stole some sheep from the Protestant fold. These latter two sects justified their action by the claim that they alone represented the true church, even though the Romans did not accept the Anglican church as valid.

In these latter days, after the claims and beliefs of the above-mentioned sects have been demonstrated to be hollow and shallow in the light of the Word of God, other small sects have appeared on the scene. e.g., Some Pentecostal Groups (Let us publicly confess here that we count many Pentecostals of the right type according to scripture among our best friends) who have been trading on certain doctrines and practices of American manufacture again inconsistent with the teachings of the N.T. such as speaking in tongues, ‘baptism’ of the Holy Spirit as contrasted to ‘filling’ by, or descent of, the Holy Spirit.

They have been receiving enough dollars for themselves and for those whom they have netted. Certain other (again American) so-called evangelical sects see nothing good or true in the big organised churches who are condemned as apostates in their faith. These sects think that all wisdom, science, philosophy are wrong only their brains have the magic power to interpret scriptures aright. These hordes from America and from the continent of Europe are dividing the church in the interest of ‘truth’, spreading hatred and lies against others. They have no idea of the Church according to the Apostles except that it is a club based on payment of a subscription or a compulsory tithe and an acceptance of certain dogmas borrowed from western countries. India has been riven by caste for centuries and there is no social peace in the country. Christians could have by now mollified the rigours of caste by the harmony, order, unity and brotherhood of true Church if they understood Christ and His Kingdom. Instead, they have brought further disunity and even hatred in the already unhappy community. Right-minded people of all sections will do well to resist the growth and influence of these divisive sects. One wishes that the Government would firmly tell Christians to either form one church for the whole country (as in Japan) or quit and go over to America - the breeding ground of these mutually exclusive, broods of hating and hated Christian castes. Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of the latest arrivals. Young girls of beauty and winsome manner and young men and elderly persons of zeal and persuasive speech have been going about in the homes of unwary housewives and young daughters and have given the impression of their sincerity and biblical knowledge. So, many protestants, especially women have been attracted to them and joined their groups. Let us warn one and all that these witnesses are of Jehovah of the Old Testament. They follow the religion of law - of Moses and not the religion of grace of Jesus - they ere not Christians but Jews in Christian garb to beguile and lead away the lambs. They do not accept the deity of Christ, regard him only as a prophet. They teach the supremacy of the law and not of Jesus - the Saviour and Lord.

Then, who knows that in these days of political upheavals and national rivalries, under cover of religion some of them are not doing spying work for their countries? Our Intelligence are not unaware of the situation. These witnesses are doing an immense harm to the cause of the true faith of Christ in India. Let decent people make their existence in this country uncomfortable so that they may return to the countries of their origin bag and baggage.

Some Indigenous Growths

With much reluctance and even pain in our hearts we make mention of Christian groups who are very spiritual, prayerful and zealous. But they are not well grounded in the lore of Holy writ. Nor do they have enough of common sense and general education. They are, of course, almost wholly ignorant of the meanings and purposes of the religious customs and manners of this country or of its deeper faith, knowledge and devotions. Such are (1) the Church of God, (2) Sevak Samity, (3) Dhanya Budhwar (The band of Blessed Wednesday), (4) All one in Christ Church (leader Mr. Hriday Ranjan Samaddar) etc. Let us assure our readers that these have their counterparts in other States of India than Bengal, Orissa, and Assam that they are very indigenous in certain respects originating from Indian congregations and so far we have the highest regard for them. But they suffer from certain defects, thoughtlessness, lack of wisdom and knowledge of human nature. e.g.,

1. They are narrow-minded in the spiritual field. They do not extend leadership or vital participation in their meetings or functions to those (however worthy) who are not in their formal group. They cut the roots of true fellowship and of the Catholicity of the Church of Christ.

2. Their meetings last for too long a time (even up to 5 or 6 hours) at a stretch. Children are out of the question of who cannot bear anything for more than 1/2 hour or so. Even elderly persons, used to sit at or speak in meetings, cannot remain intelligently active for much longer than an hour. Tired brains are the Devil’s workshop. This unsound practice is due to want of knowledge of ordinary working of the mind-psychology.

3. Untimely meals are unhealthy for body, mind and spirit - integrated human personality. Mens sana in corpore sano, ‘Shariramadyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam’, “Healthy (sound) mind in healthy (sound) body.” “Body is primary: apart from it, without it being strong and harmonious, cultivation of religion or spiritual exercises are in vain.”

   Fasting for long hours or days and then over-eating is a baneful habit. We have observed too much of it both among Christians and Hindus. Fasting should be undertaken from the highest motive - self-control - not for a parade of religiosity or self-righteousness before God or man.

4. Special meetings are hurriedly called compressed into a couple of days or less. This defeats the very purpose and spirit of the meeting. Such meetings should be held in the manner of a Retreat at ease and in leisure. Activism is a harmful by product of western brand of Christianity.

5. Many of the testimonies are obviously exaggerated. It is evident from the language and manner of speech For in honest testimony extreme humility and utter truthfulness are essential. It would only be wise not to emphasise this aspect of the function.

6. Men and women of deep devotion and silence, and not people of aggressive nature or garrulous speech, should be sought out to form the gathering. Children may wisely be dropped.

7. Kirtan or Sankirtan to the accompaniment of musical instruments of indigenous make should also be regulated as to length of time and quality or standard. Foreign instruments and tunes make the performance artificial and give strange satisfaction to the detriment of spiritual life.

8. Invocation of the Holy Spirit should be more in the form of ardent desire and with one mind than crying out or loudly praying - all together, drowning one another, minds working in different directions this latter unscriptural practice leading to hypocritical utterances of “tongues.” A close and respectful study of 1 Corinthians 14 will restore order and discipline. Artificial efforts to ‘baptise’ one self or others with the Holy Spirit will lead to unnatural living - a most dangerous thing to happen - when immorality is apt to arise.

The groupishness, clannishness or parochialism of these parties make them real sects - practical heretics in the church. Indian Christians are aping the evil results of western emotionalism. The religion of Vaishnavism in India-of faith and love and grace - so pure in the beginning was vitiated by similar abuses. It is not surprising that similar causes have led to similar effects in church life. But miserable and unfortunate Indian Christians are helping in the spread of such nonsense and poison in the life of the indigenous church. Let the Leaders of these movements beware and adopt a better way of spiritual life.

All Hindrances to Revival in the Church - Are Due to Sin

It Is Sin in Individual Church Members Which Grieves the Holy Spirit

We would lose much of our self-righteousness if we were to find that pride, jealousy, envy, greed, bad temper, backbiting, gossip, tale bearing criticism and all their kindred - are just as heinous in God’s sight as the so-called grosser sins.

All sin in the believer, of whatever kind, mars the redemptive work of Christ.

The filth and blood guiltiness of the churches can only be swept away by the Spirit of judgement, and of burning. - Isaiah 4:4.

— By Jonathan Goforth, former Presbyterian Missionary to Manchuria and China.

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