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.)

This Sin-Stained World, a Fool’s Paradise

God is cruelly blasphemed, man exalted, and false religion abound. Christ said, “Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

— Matthew 4:10

Literature and evil television programmes are crawling with sex, birth control and abortion, and dripping with murder, causing people to flirt with sin, and then weep when it embraces them with its filthy corruption. God says, “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

— James 1:15

Holiness of character is called abnormality, but God says, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.”

— Isaiah 6:20

Lust is called love, and virgins old maids. Some men propose to women, saying, “I long to have you, because my heart is filled with love for you, when they really mean,”lust for you.” God says, “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,”

— Galatians 6:8

Many coarse women tempt men by shameless exposure of their form and nakedness, and then wonder why men insult them. God says, “They were not ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall.”

— Jeremiah 8:12

Illegitimacy abounds, even though God’s Holy Word says, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

— 1 Corinthians 7:1,9

“The works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness - they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

— Galatians 5:10,21

Remarriage, after divorce, when the first partner is living, is not called adultery, but Christ said, “Whosoever putter away his wife, and married another, committed adultery: and whosoever married her that is put away from be husband committed adultery.”

— Luke 16:18

“What God bath joined together, let no man put asunder.”

— Matthew 19:6

Many say that they inherit their character from their physical relatives, but if that was true, our salvation would depend on the character of our ancestors, and an individual would not be solely responsible to God for his actions.

Many people self-righteously refuse to admit that they have any sins to repent of, or they say they are good enough, or have reformed, meriting salvation, but God’s Word says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

— Romans 8:23

We can change our actions, but we cannot cleanse our nature. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanse us from all sin.

— 1 John 1:7

Some people descend right to the bottom of the muck and mire of sin, before they begin to despise their evil condition. Then, when the quagmire of filth is drawing them under, some will heed Christ’s loving warning, “Except ye repent, ye shall - likewise perish.”

— Luke 18:9

And cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

— Luke 18:18

Even the worst sinner will say that he wants to go to heaven when he dies, but that is where he would be most bitterly unhappy, because a holy heaven is not a sinner’a paradise. Only those who are cleansed by “the blood of Jesus Christ” can enter heaven, for “there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth - or maketh a lie,”

— Revelations 21:27

“The devil is the father of liars,” Christ said in John 8:44, and yet deceit is regarded so lightly that it is called a little white fibbing. God’s Word says, “Be not deceived: God is not mocked.”

— Galatians 6:7

“All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”

— Revelations 21:8

Many people will harmfully waste many precious hours absorbing cheap, vulgar television shows, but will not use even a few minutes of their time to study their future destiny, as revealed in God’s Holy Word, which says, “Prepare to meet thy God.”

— Amos 4:12

God holds each person responsible to “search the Scriptures,” for themselves, for “this same Word shall judge you.”

— John 5:89; John 12:48

People boast of their superior intellect, but God’s Word says that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

— 1 Corinthians 3:18

A really intelligent person realises how little he does know, and that came from God.

Many boast of their great strength, but they are so weak that most of them are addicted to the nicotine drug, living in sensual last and killing their own souls, and they whine worse than children when the drug suckers are denied them.

Many people live to eat, instead of eating to live, and children are taught love for candy instead of love for Christ. About the only time they hear the Lord Jesus’ name is in evil profanity. This unholy influence harms their bodies, developed their sensual lusts, and deadens their souls. God says, “Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”

— 1 Peter 9:11

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reapth.”

— Galatians 6:7

Many people drug their bodies to fulfil their sensual lasts, and try to drown their conscience by taking intoxicating liquor, but when they recover from this mental impairment, their conscience, unless too badly seared and scarred, hurts worse than ever. God says, “Make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

— Romans 18:14

“The works of the flesh are - drunkenness, revelling, and such like,” and “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

— Galatians 5:19,21

The person who offends people living in sin, by refusing to partake of their sins, is called a sissy and a poor sport, but the person who offends God by partaking of their sins, is called a jolly good fellow, and is readily approved. God warns, “If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

— Proverbs 1:10

“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.”

— Exodus 23:2

People can curse God and others laugh, but if someone says that an earthly king was also “shape in iniquity, and conceived in sin.”

— Psalms 51:5

Like any other human, he is immediately despised, hated, and accused of disloyalty to his own race. Christ said, “Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humble himself shall be exalted.”

— Luke 18:14

Christ loved us so much that “He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”

— 1 Peter 8:24

Suffering agony to save us from sin, death, and hell, for “without shedding of blood there is no remission” of sin.

— Hebrews 9:22

But even the “precious redeeming blood” is trampled underfoot, for many say that “God is love,” and He will not punish them, but he who plays with the mercy and grace of a just, holy, and long-suffering God, “being often reproved, hardened his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

— Proverbs 29:1

Anything which is not modern, (informal and unconventional), is labelled old-fashioned, and is mocked and rejected. Even the Gospel of salvation is called old-fashioned, because God has never revised it since it was written. It proclaims the same remedy for the same ills, caused by the same old disease, sin. Truth is absolute and denying it will not change it. God’s laws are perfect and, therefore, immutable. There is no salvation apart from “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

— Acts 20:21

“For godly sorrow worked repentance to salvation.”

— 2 Corinthians 7:10

“Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

— Acts 8:19

— DORIS GUINUP

The Cost of Discipleship

The simplest (although not necessarily the easiest) thing to do in a courtroom is to tell the truth. Once you tell a lie, you must tell a hundred more to cover up. Is it not the same in the spiritual life? It is a simple thing to be a Christian, but for most of us it is far from easy. The cost of being a true follower of Christ is higher than most of us are prepared to pay. And since we want to be Christians without paying the price, we confuse the issue with our complicated theologies and dogmas, that we might successfully hide from the truth. Adam and Eve hid from God. We succeed in fooling ourselves, but of course we don’t fool God.

To be a true follower of Christ does not require the drafting of some great programme of social service, or giving formal assent to some credal statements. Jesus did not say ‘come and join my religious society’. He did say ‘Follow me.’ We are not called to join institutions - some man made, dismembered substitute for the body of Christ. We are called to share a Living Experience. To be a Christian means to be totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit - not in theory, but in practice. Not dependent on the Spirit regarding important matters for decision, but dependent in all things, at all times. We are called to perfect obedience to the Spirit of God; to be a weather-vane which automatically keep itself pointed directing into the wind of the Spirit, and changes direction when that Wind changes direction. How many Christians can we find who are totally dependent upon the Spirit?

Most of us act as if we really want to do the will of God, but we are not sure what it is in specific stations, we lack guidance and must do the best we can. We confess we do not often have a sense of the ‘Power of the Kingdom’ so clearly demonstrated by the early Church. This of course is nonsense. If we lack guidance, if we do not live in the power of the Spirit - it is because we do not want it.

Are we better than God? “If you being imperfect, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him?” We generally keep our promises. Will our Lord fail to keep His? We speak of unanswered prayer as if God was such an uninterested Father that He has to be coaxed or even bribed to listen to us. More nonsense. What shallow trust we have in He Who fashioned us with such care in our mother’s womb and Who continues to sustain us every moment of our existence. If we suppose our prayer has been unanswered, it only means that we did not have the faith and take the trouble to listen.

Do we want to know clearly the will of God? Do we want to follow Jesus? Do we want to live in the power of the Spirit? They are freely offered to us. God needs no encouragement. It only requires that we really want them-want them above all else. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for that shall be filled.” And here is the truth of the matter. We only have a lukewarm interest in the gifts of God. We do not hunger and thirst for them. We are not like the man who wanted the pearl of great price so much that he went and sold all that be had that he might obtain it. We are not prepared to seek first the Kingdom of God. If we were, we would and it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Cost of Discipleship say: “When Christ calls a man, He calls him to come and die.” This is just what we refuse to do. We cling tightly to what we suppose to be life until we die in our sins. Those of us who suppose we are Christians are prepared to make great sacrifices for our Lord: we may undertake lengthy preaching tours, we may give up our wealth and possessions; we may, as Paul says, even give our bodies to be burned, but without love it is nothing. We can make all these great sacrifices, and yet hold on even more strongly to our most precious possession - our self, our ego. And what great sacrifices have been made by man for the sake of egoism!

Jesus clearly states the cost of discipleship: “He who would be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Until we do this, we achieve nothing, in spite of the many times we say ‘Lord, Lord.’ When we fulfil those requirements, then we will be like those early Christians who turned the world ‘upside down.’ The cost of discipleship is simple, but not easy, for it means wanting above all other things, even above the interests of the ego, the Lord - with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

— Arunodayam

Bangladesh

(We publish below some reflections on the tragedy of Bangladesh contributed by a Christian, who with millions of others has been compelled to leave the comfort of his home and the land of his birth and become an exile. He is trying to describe the spiritual struggle through which he and others are passing, and so raises questions which concern us all.)

The Political Background

It is necessary to speak briefly of the political background of the terrible things that have happened. Many parties were competing in the election of 1970, the first real election based on adult franchise. Since the establishment of Pakistan. Party after party emerged as the reins of martial law were relaxed, and the election drew nearer. For most people the result of the election was dumbfounding. The Awami League won a resounding victory in what is universally admitted to be a very air and just election. What was the reason for such a sweeping victory? During the later part of President Ayub Khan’s regime, and particularly at the time of the election campaign, certain reliable statistics were made public which presented the almost unbelievable picture of the way in which the racing clique of West Pakistan had deprived the people of the East of what was justly due to them. The Bengalis (irrespective of their religious allegiance) realised that their only hope lay in capturing power through their use of the franchise. The Awami League symbolised this hope.

It is obvious that the military authorities were not at all pleased with the overwhelming victory of the Awami League and refused to accept the decision of the people. So the forces of evil were let loose in East Bengal from the time when the election results were made public, and especially since March 25th, on a people which had determined to put an end to the deprivation and suffering that had been imposed on them in the name of religion and Islamic brotherhood in the past years. Countless lives, many of them of great promise, have been sacrificed for the cause. Hundreds of thousands have been rendered homeless. And many are still being compelled to leave their homes as the Pakistan army authorities and those who collaborate with them for selfish purposes continue to impose their reign of terror. Life in the camps has become intolerable, in spite of all the Indian Government and various humanitarian organisations have done to relieve their sufferings. Now we understand that the military dictator of Pakistan is trying to undo the election, by declaring that only some of those elected are fit to retain their membership of the national or provincial assemblies, the election of the others being cancelled. He has also put the undisputed leader of East Bengal, Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman into confinement and is now staging a mock trial in secret.

Why This Suffering ?

How incredibly complicated world politics are? Many countries are too busy with their own interests and achievements, others are concerned with preserving the balance of power. High-sounding words like ‘human rights’, ‘freedom’, ‘justice’ may be on their lips, but they do not seem to make any difference when it comes to action. So most of the nations have been very hesitant to speak out boldly in favour of Bangladesh or to come to a clear-out decision. All big is very frustrating, especially when the country is engaged in a life and death struggle and the desired goal seems far ahead. Many evacuees have become very impatient with the sub human existence which is forced upon them. They eagerly ask, When shall we be able to return? But they do not dare to accept the invitation to return put out by President Yahya Khan, knowing that it is an invitation to be massacred or harassed. Some ask penetrating questions. ‘Is there a loving God who cares for us?’ Why should we be the objects of so much suffering, fest the cyclone of last year and then this terrible political tragedy?

The problem of suffering is a very delicate subject, and it does not always seem that so much suffering invariably follows so much sin. We are not just individuals, we belong to a wider circle of existence, human society. There are certain physical and moral laws which seem to direct this world of ours. But to try to find reasons for every case of suffering is not within the intellectual capacity of man. It is true that any disaster which brings suffering should remind us of our sinfulness and make us realise how often we frustrate God’s will for us. This is the testing time for all in East Bengal. This struggle for freedom will make our people love their motherland more than ever, the sacrifice will burn out the many corruptions which have hitherto spoilt our land. This revolutionary struggle will give birth to a new polity based on human dignity and mutual respect, free from religious bigotry.

This time comes as a challenge to those who claim to be men of religion. For some it has been a time of spiritual growth, teaching the lesson of reliance on God when all things and persons seem to have failed. For some, indeed, it has worked in a reverse way. They have grown bitter and their moral standards have degenerated - camp life is full of temptations and there are innumerable frustrations. It is a disturbing thought that many, when they return to their ancestral homes, may carry with them this new outlook on life

Our Hope

What is our hope? Is it possible to harbour any hope in these very uncertain circumstances? Yes, there have been signs of hope. We have only to think of what India has been doing. She has done her utmost, in spite of her own poverty and innumerable problems to feed seven and a half million from a country which had hitherto been her enemy. Is not this God’s doing? And now it seems that the world is slowly waking out of sleep. Many humanitarian organisations have come forward to alleviate the sufferings of the helpless. Many nations seem to be coming to their senses and are beginning to voice their concern and show their sympathy in a more practical way. Are not these indications that God has not forgotten His suffering children and will never forget them? Surely there is much that speaks for His loving care and encourages us to rest our hope on Him. Moreover, as Christians we know that the forces of evil will never have the last word. Hope was found in the most hopeless situation, in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. To the disciples is seemed that all was lot, but three days later they knew that exactly the opposite had happened. This great judgment of God assures us that no human sin, hatred or any other evil force can every turn aside God’s loving purpose. There will be a cross of suffering, but it is the prelude to a glorious and victorious resurrection. In this world Christ reigns from a cross. May God grant to all His suffering children this victorious faith and the courage to sustain it.

— Epiphany.

Oh, Calcutta

Oh, Calcutta! They stage you who have never seen you.
They film you to inform the world who know you not.
They defend your reputation: have they fought your pain?

You stand massive, moving city, in your grief and your glory,
    a tomb and temple, queen and leper, mother and monster, an enigma.

Oh, Calcutta! Who can know you? Who will love you?
  How many applaud you? Who will bind your wounds?

Your beautiful buildings; monuments from myth; those of a
  purple time and purple age: buildings of today and tomorrow.

Your vast expansive greens, braces of paradise in Sodom -
  friend of the wind which caresses those who seek the
  green's intimacy, and carries its laughter across its face as a
  simple symbol of profound achievements - happiness.

Your clubs and nightspots of the East, of entertainment, cuisine and colour.

Your points of focus for the muses which thrive vibrantly, resplendently.

All these course through your veins on one side of your body.
What of the people in your bosom? How many cares enough?

Your beautiful expensive women like flowers on a dung heap,
  your rich opulent men, 'vulgar' working millions, prophet-politicians,
  scholar-revolutionaries: all those and others in
  your kaleidoscopic patterns.

Do they know the pain and passion, pleasure and prosperity,
  succour and salvation: the civilisation that is born from
  sufficient real caring?

What of your maimed sub-humans, definers of humanity, of all
  ages, races, diseases, like skulls on pirate flags, parched
  skeleton in the sands, alive! Children of God with faces of Devils.

  Calcutta Liocesan Magazine

(Are London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Cairo very different? - Editor, Church of Christ.)

Christian Ashrams and the Kingdom of God

Dr. M.M. Thomas, Chairman, W.C.C. Central Committee

We are gathered here to celebrate the Jubilee of the founding of the Christukula Ashram and to honour the memory of the pioneers Dr. S. Jesudasan and Dr. E. Forrester Paton. The Christian Ashram movement came into being at the time of the national awakening of the nation under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and when the whole nation was orienting itself to rural India in a new way. Today, of course the situation of India is different. We have attained national independence and had over two decades as an independent nation. The pioneers had a vision of witnessing to Christ in another situation. And loyalty to that vision today means not just continuing the same things they did, but re-thinking the Christian task in contemporary India, which in many ways will be different from the earlier one.

The Kingdom of God is a most difficult Biblical theme. Most of the theological debates centre round the way in which we understand it. Proclaiming the Kingdom, witnessing to the Kingdom, extending the Kingdom, building the Kingdom, realising the Kingdom, waiting for the Kingdom, experiencing the Kingdom within - all these are based on different ways of understanding the Kingdom of God. There are two or three things that can be said about the Kingdom on the basis of 1 Corinthians 15:19. First that the Kingdom of God is the destiny of man and the goal of human history. Second, that the Risen Christ is the first fruits of the Kingdom on earth. He is not only the first fruits but also the guarantee that the Kingdom will finally be established. For the Divine power which raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him on the right band of God, shall subjugate all things to Him. It means, not only that His love will be acknowledged by men, but that all the spiritual powers which make inhuman structures of society and politics so powerful, will come under His domain, liberating men from everything that enslaves. Spiritual liberation includes liberation of men from the cosmic, social and historical powers which enslave them. Thirdly, the Church is called to discern and acknowledge the work of Christ in the world and to participate with Him in His work of total liberation of man. In so doing the Church will also become “a kind of first fruits” of the Kingdom as the Epistle of James puts it. The Ashram as part of the Church is therefore expected to become also a foretaste of the Kingdom and manifest the power of Jesus Christ for woman liberation.

What does it mean concretely for the Christian Ashrams? Basically it means Ashrams must be Christ-centred. There is nothing, wider and more inclusive than Jesus Christ and His Humanity. Principles and ideas which seem more universal are not really so, because they are sinful men’s creations and the products of their religious and ideological imaginations, and contain the limitations and frustrations of self-centredness in them. Only Christ, who is the initiative of God for the gathering of all mankind into one is all-inclusive. But Christ centredness is not necessarily Christianity centredness. In fact Dr. Jesudasan’s main topic of writing was “Unique Christ and indigenous Christianity.” He was prepared to see Christ as transcending Christianity of the day and to sick new paths of expressing the truth and meaning of Christ. Not that we can have Christ without expression in some kind of Christianity, but there is no absoluteness about these expressions. Jesus Christ is the bearer of the Kingdom of God. So then the Christian Ashrams must be a Christ centred fellowship. The fellowship part is important for the Christian Ashrams. As Sadhu Mathai used to say, “One man is no man”. There must be a fellowship of more than one, centred in Christ as the Guru.

Let me spell out then a few of the things which Christian Ashrams should be to become the participants of Christ and His Kingdom.

Firstly, Ashrams must remain or become centres of experimentation into the truth and meaning of Christ. Such centres of experimentation are necessary if the Church in India is to advance in its life and mission in this country; and therefore the Ashrams should not be under such control of the Church which may make experiments impossible. There are various areas of experimentation. The area of spirituality and liturgy needs new experiments. The devotional resources of India should be absorbed and transformed in Christ for the Church. There is need for pioneering in theological thoughts in India. Thanks to the Ashram movement, the idea of an Indian Christian theology was come to stay, but the Ashrams have yet to become centres of pioneering theological reflection. Further, the freedom of the Ashram should be used in the words of Sadhu Mathai “to foster the prophetic ministry of the Church.” There is too much emphasis today in the leadership of most Indian Churches on conformity by youth to the Establishment. This tendency grows with united Churches. We need Christian centres outside the control of the leadership of the Churches to foster self-criticism within the Church without which there cannot be advance. There is need also for prophetic ministry in the sense of speaking truth to power in society and State. Of course prophets cannot be created by fiat. But where there are genuine prophets the Ashrams can encourage and give moral and spiritual support by providing a home for them, and then foster their ministry.

Secondly, the fellowship of the Ashram should in Christ become the first fruits of a new community transcending the divisions natural in a pluralistic society like India. Indeed, it was in the wake of nationalism, where there was real danger of it distorting relations between Indians and Britishers, that the Christian Ashrams showed that in Christ racial division could be transcended. Several of the Christian Ashrams started with an Indian and a westerner as members of the original fellowship. This was the case in Tirupattur. Though the Church in principle repudiated caste, linguistic and other divisions in the Christian fellowship, they are very solid realities in the life of the Churches. And here again the Ashram could become the place where the fellowship in Christ could be manifested as really transcending such divisions. The denominational divisions are still present in many areas of India. But Ashrams should be able to transcend them. More than all these I would suggest that the Christian Ashrams should become a place, where there could be not only dialogue between Christians and men of other religions and of no religion, but also the building up of a Christ-centred fellowship transcending religious divisions. Dr. Devanandan used to insist that just as the coming of Christ broke down the wall of religious partition between the Jew and the Gentile, it should break down today the wall of partition between Christianity and other religions. We do not know what this would mean eventually to the form of the Church. Christianity at present is presented as one religion among many religions, and even as one religious caste among many castes. This is complete distortion.

Address Delivered at the Jubilee Celebration of the Christukula Ashram, Tirupattur.

Who Is Christ - Reply to a Hindu

By Paul Sudhakar M.A.

You talk of similarities between Gandhiji and Christ. The former during his lifetime felt himself far below Christ. Read Gandhiji’s book and his autobiography. Then read the New Testament. You will discover that the differences between Christ and Gandhiji are far more than the similarities between them. The tomb of Jesus is empty because He rose from the grave. Gandhiji’s body was burned and the ashes thrown into the various rivers of India. Christ spoke with authority, without drawing from the sources of man’s knowledge. He always began His words with: “I say unto you,” His authority being Himself. He never confessed His sin, being sinless; but Gandhiji confessed his mistakes. Gandhiji described himself as a seeker of truth; but Jesus said He was the Truth. Gandhiji wrote a book titled: “My experiments with Truth”, but Jesus never experimented with truth. He came to reveal and live the truth. The death of Christ was planned and predestinated in the counsels of God, and Christ came with the awareness that He had to die on the cross. So Christ did not die by accident, but laid down His life … consciously … But Gandhiji was shot suddenly, and he himself did not know that he would die that day … I write this, not to demean Gandhiji who is the greatest human in the 20th century, but to correct the tendencies in some who would attribute more qualities to Gandhiji than he would have accepted for himself.

You say that Jesus was a Man of great love and sacrifice. The Bible says that God is love. It also says that God so loved the world What He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The cross of Christ is the demonstration of the love of God. There you find Christ suffering for the sins of the world, so that man may be forgiven and changed. Christ died for you that you may be accepted of God. Christ was not a martyr. He willingly laid down His life to open a way for man to approach a righteous and holy God. His death was expiatory and substitutionary. The Bible calls Jesus the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. It also says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

This Man, Jesus, who held and still holds sway over millions; this Man for whom and for whose kingdom millions have chosen the way of suffering and persecution; cannot be lightly set aside. The world marred by cruelty and greed, selfishness and Borrow, has yet to find another like Him, who can real the broken-hearted, and bring hope to the lost and desperate. Integrity and sincerity require that a seeker of troth should take into account the impressions of those who came into contact with Jesus in the days of His Palestinian ministry, before a final judgment can be passed on Him. We who live twenty centuries after Christ know far less than did the people who saw Him and watched Him as He lived the life of a man on earth. So I request you to read the New Testament accounts of Him before you decide your attitude towards Him.

You have asked whether it is necessary to worship Christ. Any worship, if it is forced, is not worship. Worship is an act of the acceptance of our inferiority to the object of worship. It is voluntary. All mankind worship. Some are hero-worshippers. Some are self-worshippers. Some are nature-worshippers. There are those who worship an idea. Now Christ is worthy of worship, for what He is, and for what He has done. All worshippers tend to become like the objects they worship, and the Christian worshipper, therefore, tend to become like Christ, who is the greatest human the world has ever seen. Moreover, Christ is worshipped because He is God.

You have also asked whether Heaven is shut to those in non-Christian religions who follow the path of truth and love, The Bible says What God is righteous in judgment. So He will not hold a man guilty of what he did not know. On the Judgment Day no men will complain that Goa has made a mistake in judgment. There are many parables which Jesus taught, that give the impression that every man will be judged according to the light he has received. We will be judged for disobedience to what we already know as true, and not for what we did not know. “To him who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him, it is sin.” When we do not do what we ought to do, and do what we ought not to do, then our consciences condemn us. But God is greater than the conscience, and so bow righteous will be His judgment. “If our heart condemns us not, then have we the confidence toward God.” So every man in his conscience knows whether he is honest or dishonest towards truth. No man can judge another. The Judge of all the earth knows all. A Christian has no right to say that a particular person will not go to Heaven; but the Christian will point Jesus as the Way to Heaven. Heaven and Hell are peopled by those who have deliberately chosen to go there.

It is the rejection of Christ that is dangerous for man. He who has done nothing worthy of rejection, who has done only good and never evil to man, who wants to make man happy, who is the very embodiment of truth and love, who is the Lover of the unlovable, should never be rejected. What reason would man ever be able to give for refusing Christ, except that Christ’s coming into his life would drive away the sing he has fondled in his bosom!

Christ was not only an historical Reality. He is a present Reality because He rose from the grave. Thousands have known Him from the time of His resurrection till now. I would not have decided to become a disciple of Christ if He had not risen from the grave. Not only so, He is coming again !

Christ is therefore the Fact of history, the Fact of experience, and the Fact of ETERNITY.

May this Christ bless you as you read this and give you His grace, so that you may also join the joyful throng of the pilgrims who have chosen the straight and narrow path that leads to Heaven.

Yours for Christ’s sake,

Paul Sudhakar

Jesus Christ said:

“If you dwell within the revelation I have brought, you are indeed my disciples; you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

— (Bible - John 8:31-32)

“I am the way; I am the truth, and I am life: no one comes to the Father except by me.”

— (Bible - John 14:6)

— Arunodayam.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Indian Renaissance

Vidwan P. Krishnayya.

Thousands of years back, that is in the Vedic times, our Maharishis published their philosophical views by experience and practice in the form of Upanishads. As time passed on the philosophical and spiritual heritage was gradually lost sight of. Not only such philosophical works were not again formulated but the Upanishadic teachings could not be understood well and followed. Some of the teachings were even considered contradictory and unpractical. The poverty of philosophical culture (Atma vidya) is the cause of the inability to find and appreciate the truth of the Upanishads.

The knowledge of Brahma declined and gradually idolatry and the worship of many gods, the sacrifice of animals, the throwing of firstborn child to the Ganges, sati sahagamanam and such the superstitions and blind customs spread in our country. The foreign British Government which ruled over India did not like to interfere with the religion of the country. So man’s daily life morally degenerated. At this juncture Ram Mohan Roy was born. He began to study the religious views of his parents and the superstition of the Hindu community. To add to this he had to travel in upper India for some time. The ignorant customs followed in those days in the name of God shook Ram Mohan Roy. He already wanted to get rid of those blind customs.

Just as Buddha, though born to be a king, gave up all and served his fellowmen, so also Ram Mohan Roy resolved to help his fellowmen from their blind customs.

For that purpose Ram Mohan Roy learned many languages and read the original books of many religions and learned the truth therein that God is one. This path of truth he followed and preached. He revised the religion of Upanishads as handed down by the Rishis. Thus, he established Brahma Dharma and the worship of the one and the only one God (Ekeswaropssana). He silenced his opponents with arguments based on the Upanishads. He preached the worship of one God and brought together men of different religions into a common brotherhood of prayer.

The countries in the world are getting nearer, and closer due to the facilities of travel and the spread of news quickly. There is no scope of mutual hatred and intolerance. The world is becoming one world and all men the members of one family. Religious disputes are peacefully settled by the Brahma Dharma.

Sooner and later the Brahma Dharma would become the world religion and faith. And that is the goal aimed at by Raja Ram Mohan Boy, who may rightly be called the Father of the Indian renaissance and of the revival of the Upanishadic faith in the oneness of God and the fellowship of mankind.

Though the Physical and Chemical sciences may develop by hard research and though may be power is attained, still the more important for man is to attain the knowledge of Brahma or Atma-Vidya or the knowledge of supreme self or the Supreme Reality.

— The Indian Messenger.

A Personal Testimony

I was born and bred in a Syrian Christian (Mar Thoma) family in Kerala. I had my school and college education under the patronage of my God-fearing parents, but I had no religiosity in my life. My family took an active part in the Church activities, but I was never brought under the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Since this Church association could not provide me anything substantial, very soon I bade farewell to Church life and grabbed the fast-moving political ideology - Communism. Though this is my political affiliation seriously wrecked my educational career. I graduated in 1960 in commercial subjects. In the same year I went to Calcutta to join the Reserve Bank of India as an Accounts Trainee. Later on I left that job and served in an American Company.

As the years passed by I became successful in my profession in Calcutta and my financial position became more stable. I tried to become an ultra modern young man, and I was far from God. I found that everything in this world was spurious and counterfeit. It was in the year 1962 I once again started going back to Church after an interval of several years. While I was attending a service in my present Church - Carey Baptist Church, Calcutta - on the 15th August 1962, a humble friend of mine pointed out to me 1 John 5:12 and showed that I can have life only through Lord Jesus Christ. Then and there I knelt down and accepted the Lord not only as my personal Saviour but also as my only Redeemer and my only hope of salvation. It proved the turning point and the greatest event in my life. I praise God for his wonderful plan of salvation. And, thus, the resurrected power of Lord Jesus Christ delivered me also from the clutches of communism and I have renounced this ideology once and for all.

Ever since my conversion I have given myself wholeheartedly to my Lord’s service. During the years 1964-1968 the Lord greatly used and blessed me in His ministry in my own Church as a leader of the Young People’s group. I also took an active part in witnessing in the campuses of the local colleges and hostels. Since 1965 I felt that the Lord was calling me for fall time Christian work, but I put it off due to my heavy family commitments. However, in early 1968 the Lord spoke to me very clearly through Hebrews 11:24-26 and since then I have accepted these three verses as my life verses for Christian service. In June 1968 the Lord gave me the real conviction to resign my job and go for a three-year theological training at Yeotmal. Daring the past three years the Lord proved to me that “faithful is he that called me.” Today as I live in Varanasi I know that He will still be faithful to me even in the day to come. I give Him all glory and honour.

— Brahmanand Thomas, B.A., M.Com., B.D., Khristpanthi Ashram, 129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi (U.P.)

“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Indigenous Worship

(Some suggestion as to Forms and Methods)

By R.C. Das

These are external features referring to postures, movements, actions - music, dress, ceremonies, buildings etc. Without an Indigenous mind and spirit - internal attitudes - it will be mere imitation worse in effect than imitation of foreign methods. For a Christian, not a convert from any Indian faith, it is necessary to be soaked in the religious literature of the country and its observances and in the fellowship of sincere devotees in various sects to derive any benefit from use of these methods or to see any value in them. Certain methods are peculiarly site to Christians of Hindu origin and others to those with Muslim background. Some are common to both.

All these suggestions should not and need not be tried at once or in one place. They should be implemented naturally by consecrated men and not by way of amateurish experimentation. One should go into it with a sincere and deep conviction.

Common to Christians with Hindu and Muslim backgrounds.

1. Washing and bathing before prayers.
2. Squatting or standing or kneeling or prostrating for prayer with folded or open, outstretched hands.
3. Removal of shoes or sandals outside before entering a place of worship.
4. Sitting on the floor for prayer, rather than on any high seat, except for invalids.
5. Teaching while sitting on a slightly high platform with a low desk in front. Prophetic preaching might appropriately be done standing or moving about slightly.
6. No distinction in seating arrangements between rich and poor, high and low, touchable and untouchable.
7. Clothes worn during worship should be simple and clean. Expensive and gaudy dresses and her me decided.
8. There should be a definite place in worship for Aradhana (adoration); and Stuti (praise), standing.
9. Silence and meditation, free or slightly directed, must have an assured place in public and congregational worship especially in group meetings. Individuals also should be encouraged to observe periods of silence in the house of prayer.
10. Music with Indian tunes and with the accompaniment of Indian instruments-both solo and choral or congregational. Up-to-date Muslim converts have not objected.
11. Among the various elements and features of worship-scriptures, sermons, prayers, praises, intercessions and creeds will be common and universal.
12. A building or a place in the open air, in the shade of a tree or private house may be the place of worship. If in a building, any style even Hindu temple architecture, without pictures or images of any prophets or saints or sages. It is significant, however, that Catholics of Muslim extraction have had no difficulty.
13. Flowers, lights and incense may be used according to fast.
14. Whatever may be the place of worship, simple beauty, order and cleanliness must be there.
15. Everything to be carried on in Indian languages. A non-Indian preacher may be accommodated on occasions.
16. Different kinds of services in the church building - its cleaning, decoration and seating arrangements - should be done not by paid servants but performed in cooperation by different individuals or groups in the congregation especially by young men and women who should learn to serve God and the church from their childhood.
17. Offerings should be laid at the altar by the congregation in an orderly manner and not collected in a bag in the middle of worship or in a box at the door. Offerings may be in kind or cash through vows or as thank offerings, or as birthday gifts, or as the first fruits of the garden, the field, the cattle.
18. Persons, object or things related to the church or its worship services and activities should be dignified by terms of Indian languages, however imperfect some of them may be at present.
19. Normally, ordained ministers will use an approved type of special dress on public occasions.
20. The services through the month or a longer period should be varied. On one Sunday, emphasis should be on songs, on another Sunday upon Meditation, again on admonition or interpretation of Scriptures and so on.
21. Along with worship there should be room for distribution of charity for the poor and for healing services. As there is for the purification ceremony for women after childbirth and for the dedication and naming of children.
22. Avoid having feasts or other secular meetings such as committees inside the house of prayer.
23. To foster the spirit of sanctity and reverence there should be no conversation allowed inside the church.
24. The church building should be open and accessible to devotees during the greater part of the twenty-four hours of the day, or at least at sunrise and sunset.
25. Encourage and teach the practice of tithing, Dakshina (voluntary gifts offered in gratitude), legacies through renunciation etc.
26. Let the church compound, wherever possible, be a garden of flowers, fruits, and even vegetables and grain crops, on howsoever small a scale.
27. Our worship to be truly indigenous and vital, the economic position of the church must be sound and respectable. We cannot worship with joy and freedom in a house or on land belonging to others. For a permanent source of income we must acquire and attach to the church crop lands and gardens and in cities horses to let etc.

(To be continued)

Some Letters of Appreciation and Concern the Indian Missionary Society

17 July 1971

Christ Nagar P.O. VARANA8I-2.

Dear Reverend Das,

Appreciate your thoughtfulness in sending me your periodical, “The Church of Christ.” Thank you for the same.

I am very happy that our Father Iswar Prasad is collaborating with you in the wonderful work you are doing in Varanasi.

May the blessing of the Almighty God descend upon you and remain with you forever.

Sincerely in Christ,

(Very Rev.) Prabhu Prasad, IMS Superior General.

21st July 1971
Ashram Fellowship,
Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

Dear Brother-in-Christ,

I am always interested in receiving your publication, “The Church of Christ.” I have always admired your persistence in the important matters of conscience. I have appreciated your fellowship with those who have been struggling for a more faithful obedience to Jesus Christ in India.

As you no doubt know, I was on my retirement furlough during the past year. It was a privilege to be in 15 countries and share some of these rich experiences with those who are deeply interested. However, I returned to India with a great joy.

I seek your prayers as we seek a more faithful contemplating and prayer here at the “Rock of Vision,” Kodaikanal Ashram Fellowship, Kodaikanal. All these years, this has been only a summary Ashram Fellowship. Now we want to make it into a real Ashram. We want to make it a place of seeking, contemplation on the great frontiers of God’s Kingdom. I need not say to you that the in no simple matter. There are two of us now. Two more have joined us at least for the time being and are seeking. We are Protestant and Catholic. I hope Hindus and Muslims may join us. If you know of anyone at any time who is seeking such a spiritual home please get them into contact with us.

I am enclosing a humble gift to help you in your efforts. May the rich blessing of the Lord be with you.

Sincerely yours,

R.R. Keithahn

6th May 1971,
6, Circus Market Place
Calcutta.17

My dear Rev. Das,

I was very glad to hear that you had some very genuine Sadhu taking up your work which you had been doing all through you life, in spite of many handicaps. God’s purposes are fulfilled in mysterious ways, although we may feel frustrated in our own ways. You can very well look forward with the feeling that you had done your best to glorify your Master. Many of us do not have the much comfort to fall back upon.

We are all very much disturbed because of the situation in Bangladesh. We are all conscious of their great sacrifices for the great cause. Hope the Christian conscience of the world would come to their rescue and save them from great disaster. The inhuman torture and cruelties practised by the Western Pakistanis cannot be described. Hope God will come to their rescue at this critical hour and save the country from utter devastation.

Hope you are keeping fit inspire of your age. You have an indomitable Christian spirit to sustain you.

With the warmest greetings and regards,

Sincerely,

S.C. Nandy.

We Wish All Our Readers the Happiest and Prosperous New Year 1972

Notes

1. The Most Barbaric and Cruel Tyrant of History

The facts as to Bangladesh (East Pakistan) are by now widely known in all the countries of the world and to the current session of the U.N.O. Such massacres on a vast scale, such atrocious and shameful military repressions have not happened before. Yahya Khan ordered general elections in December 1970 to end the military regime and evolve a democratic Government. Mujibur Rehman, leader of the Awami League Party, won the elections by a vast majority both in the whole of Pakistan and in its eastern Wing - now called Bangladesh. The President of Pakistan realised rather suddenly that his own future was in jeopardy and with the advice of his military clique and inspiration from the wolfish and selfish Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - second to Mujibur (but very much below him) in popular leadership, Yahya Khan decided to nullify the election consequences and banned the Awami League as treacherous, arrested and imprisoned and put to military trial, its leader. He is pining in jail and is being farcically tried. His family is in military custody.

Along with this, the heartless tyrant cracked down the army on the 25th March 1971 upon innocent civilians - first in Dacca, the capital city, and gradually the whole country - killing students, intellectuals such as professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, young girls, babies, younger in general. His special target has been the members and supporters of the Awami League and all Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. He considered the Hindus and Christians as sympathisers of Mujibur. It is a plain, simple and naked genocide of the Bengali race so that West Pakistanis - Punjabis, Pathans, Baluchis and Sindhis might colonise Bangladesh and exploit its natural resources to the advantage of West Pakistan. For the last 23 years since Pakistan was created by the British, West Pakistan has ruled politically and financially and fleecing Bangladesh and bled it white. The growth of democratic rule was not in the interests of the military Junta, the monied and propertied classes of West Pakistan. Hence, the unprecedented repression to save and maintain the military dictatorship and overlordship over a PUPPET DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM which the President is spasmodically trying to set up.

The form and method of decimating the Bengali Mussulmans loyal to Islam like any other Pakistanis, are most vulgar, oral, saddest, shameless and barbarous. Babies were snatched from their mothers breasts, hooked on bayonets and turned round and round in the sky or smashed against walls or on the ground. Young girls and married women have been raped in the presence of their parents, husband, brother and sisters, and bayonets thrust into their genitive organs. Young men have been sapped of all their blood (for the benefit of Pakistani wounded soldiers) and either shot or thrown en masse into river. The Pakistani army has been supplied with healthy young Bengali women to be used as concubines in order to bring into being a sturdier race than weak, rice eating and cowardly Bengalis for colonisation and administration. Hundreds of University students have been shot, girl students jumped to death and hundreds carried off by sex hungry Pathans and Punjabis. Babies, younger and girls have been particularly chosen for massacre so that the Bengali people may be reduced to a negligible minority and there may be no future for the Bengali race. Intellectuals, students and younger and Awami League leaders have been either killed out or jailed or tortured into submission to Pakistani regime. Houses in cities and towns and remote villages have been burnt. Whole villages have been and at this writing (20 October 1971) are being strafed by jets.

This vast repression, of a people numbering 75 million, larger than the population of West Pakistan, unknown in past or present history, has produced two inevitable results:

1. It has driven over 9 million refugees across the Indian borders out of sheer fright and dazing frustration. It has become an unbearable economic burden to India. World supplies of relief are very inadequate. Even after six months of barbarous oppression of a docile people the conscience of the world has been awakened only partially and rather dimly. The richer and more powerful countries are rather indifferent (and deliberately so) and still sending arms to Pakistan directly and indirectly. Many of these countries are called Christian countries and conniving as the largest Massacre of Innocents. Some Arabic countries are openly sympathetic to Pakistan and hostile to India. U.S.A., the greatest power on earth today, which has a constitution shot through and through with Christian principles of humanity, justice and democracy, is prevaricating, double-talking and lurking sympathy for Pakistan. The only ground for this indifference and apathy to the urgent situation, that has been trotted out so far is a technical point of law - non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. Such legalistic necessity stands in their estimation bigger than the savage genocide of a whole bug and intelligent race. No legalistic quibbling can dilute the terrible moral verdict endorsed both by Hindu and Christian ethics.

That for sheer selfish gain the western powers sell arms to other countries (especially to Asians and Africans so that they may kill one another) is obvious to any clear political thinker. (b) The other result of the horrible repression has been that it put the peace loving innocent populace on their true mettle. The younger people got furious transformed themselves into some sort of soldiers gripping themselves with whatever rough weapons they found handy. Mostly as Guerillas they gave a fight to the abominable Pakistani soldiers. They slowly formed themselves into a Liberation Army. Thousands joined. Now their number is not less than fifty thousand. They have badly interfered with communication and transport system. They have made shock attacks on cantonments or group of soldiers wherever found. They have burst bridges, breached Railway tracks, sunk ships and boats, killed hundreds and thousands of Pakistani army many of whom have become panicky and frustrated and some have deserted. Mukti Bahini or Mukti Fonz as the Liberation Army is called has achieved some notable success against the Pakistani army and against West Pakistani residents inimical to Bangladesh. This suffering struggle was effaced “Pakistan” and its ideology forever from the hearts and mind of the people of Bangladesh, and they have demanded and want to achieve absolute independence and freedom from Pakistan. They have said ‘goodbye’ for good to the most unholy and satanic land.

How can Bangladesh attain a national status without being recognised by other world states especially by India? It is apt to be a long-drawn-out affair without arms and strict military discipline. Why does not U.N.O. take action against Pakistan on the basis of its charter on Human Rights? Why does not the Security Council adopt measures that will deter and halt mad Yahya? Why does not U.S.A., interested friend of Pakistan, or U.K. maker of Pakistan, bring pressure upon Pakistan to stop its lunatic pursuit? As things are the Holy Land may disappear from the map of the world. Troubles have been brewing in Sindh, Baluchistan, Pakistan, N.W.F. now has occupied Kashmir been treated well during military rule. Democratic forces, mainly led by Bhutto, provide the real dynamite against the whimsical government of Yahya Khan.

It should be clear to all that India is not politically interested in this struggle between the east and west wings of Pakistan. She is interested in peace and voluntary return with honour and safety of be nearly one crore of miserable and helpless refugees to their homes and lands. But a puppet Government under the military cannot ensure that. The world body must see to it that this terrible and dangerous burden on India is soon lifted off her shoulders. But Yahya Khan is marking time, delaying and making all sorts of foolish proposals instead of taking the honest and straight course of democratic rale with popular ministers freely and fairly elected in December last. This is sheer idiocy and hypocrisy. You may suppress Mujibur and some of his leading stalwarts, but you cannot kill the spirit of the Awami League and crush the determined will of the people.

2. Simple Communalism in Disguise

A Bengali Christian monthly with limited circulation priding itself on its being the only independent and impartial paper aiming to lead the community - has in its issues of July, August and September has been accusing the Central Government of letting down the minorities of India because the Government have undertaken the amendments of the Constitution. In this the Editor has thought fit in its editorial comments to follow a man like Frank Antony, the notorious Anglo-Indian communal leader who raised almost a lone voice against the Constitution Amendment Act. It ought to have been known to the Editor that the Centre has been disabled from advancing socialistic legislation to curb excessive property and earning in the interests of the poor by unfavourable verdicts of the Supreme Court, and verdicts that were based on nice and formal points of law in interpreting the Constitutional provision, ignoring the great and serious moral issues involved. The paper “Bishwajyoti” is not showing any true light on the path of justice, equality and freedom to its readers. On the contrary, it has misled the Christian community into ideas of commune narrowness, instead of leading them into the broad streams of national life.

In the Fellowship of Faith and Work

1. SADHU A.N. SIRCAR, after his great work in Andhra held his ministry in Madras. In Nellore and other centres thousands of men and women flocked to hear the Gospel and to be healed of multifarious ailments through faith in, and in the name of Jesus.

2. MRS. B. DUTT OF CALCUTTA has been ailing for some time. A change in Simla has not helped her much this time. She is not able yet to finish writing her book on Christ. Let us remember her before the throne of grace. Her son - Pastor Dutt has many invitations to preach from parts of the country.

3. ISHANAND has been making some arrangements to erect his humble Ashram at Puri. But his main handicap is lack of sufficient funds. Friends willing to help in this venture of faith may kindly send their contributions to Acharya R.C. Das at 129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi.

4. ACHARYA DAS spent the two summer months in Dum Dum near Calcutta and came face to face with some of the terrible realities of Bangladesh. From July, he has been resident in the Ashram at Varanasi, and studying some Hinduism and approach to Hindus with Brahmanand, while Ishwarprasad was away in Bangalore for 4 months training arranged by the Church. In spite of some minor ailments the Acharya has been fit, and it is a matter of thankfulness to God that he has been enabled to reach the 85th year of his earthly life on the 10th September last.

5. SATYEN CHOUDHURY OF TRIPURA STATE met some of his Hindu relatives in one of the Refugee Camps of the state. In sheer terror they fled from East Bengal (Pakistan), Brother Satyen has been running a hotel for the time being while preparing for admission to Serampore College for Theology.

6. AN EDUCATED HIPPIE of quiet and humble nature visited the Ashram for a few days. He came from Simla with a letter from Sister Dutt. He made a good impression. He has gone to Ranchi for the time being and expects to return to the Ashram in December. He would like to be baptised in Ganga and then start witnessing among Hippies. Please pray for him.

7. Brother HENRY RODRIGUS of Christ Nagar Mission is having regular contacts with the Roman Catholic Priests and Nuns. All those who boycott celibacy are given in marriage and sheltered in CNM. He has to secure jobs for them for their living. For the fire time he sent one of the ex-Priests to U.S.A. for a job and higher studies.

Executive Secretary,
Bharal Khrist Sangh

Christmas and New Year

(Eventful 1971 - Pregnant 1972)

The echoes of booming guns on our borders could be heard by all true citizens of India and even overseas by honest men. Millions in the border areas have lived, and are still living, in fear, tension and scare of a great man-made catastrophe. Needless to mention the untold suffering, misery and helplessness of ten million of uninvited, but unrefusable, guests in the hundreds of our camps. For the last nine months it has been an intolerable strain on our economy and a heavy burden on our social conscience. But think more of the tens of thousands who have been, and are still being, slaughtered, burnt and raped daily in this long period in Bangladesh.

This is the dark context in which we are going to commemorate the coming of God in the form of man. In such a situation millions are apt to ask - Is God really relevant today? A traditional “merry Christmas” or “Happy New year” is out of place and almost hypocritical when the vast masses of humanity are far from being “merry”. Yet, the presence of Immanuel (Antaryamin) is meaningful to those who believe in the unseen working of the Spirit of God in the events of history however manipulated by selfish human ingenuity. Despite horror of war and gloom of despair prevailing around us, let us take courage in the faith that God is with us and at the helm of human affairs and in that confidence we in the Khristpanthi Ashram join with our friends and with all followers and lovers of the Prince of Peace in realising and propagating the spirit of this blessed season and in hoping for the best in 1972.

In the midst of atrocious repression of the weak and innocent by the strong, of exploitation of the poor by the rich, of sprawling power of money and lethal weapons subduing the ignorant and backward, of forcible suppression of democratic freedom all over Asia and Africa and in the midst of the resurgence of the colour prejudice in countries with a Christian majority population, of the rising spirit of the hydra headed monster of caste and class struggle - in the midst of all these evils and problems how can the church representing of the world’s population remain lukewarm and complacent, deeply engaged in worship, preaching and study, passing ineffective resolutions, but not lead a crusading struggle for justice, equality, peace and love? A successful fight for good and against evil is possible only when the grace and over of Jesus Christ is creative in the hearts and minds of men in a personal way and his principles operative in the counsels of authority. The church as an institution and Christians as individuals have a sacred and terrible responsibility of establishing the rule of God in the hearts of men and in the policies of the governments of the worlds.

Rajendra Chandra Das (Acharya)
Ishwar Prasad (Upacharya)
Brahmanand Thomas (Brahmachari)

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