Christianity in India
I LOVE INDIA FOR GOD LOVES INDIA
By: Dr. Hem Sagar Rasaily
I was born
in India, so I love India, but it is not the only reason friends. I love India because God loves India. It is common; that everyone should love his or her own nation that
they were born in. This is very important. That does not mean that I do not
love other nations. I love other nations too. I have a list of nations I am
praying for. I receive many Emails from other nations saying,
?Please pray
for our nation.?
I take this as a privilege to do so.
God loves India very much. The word
India is found two times in the book of
Esther 1: 1[1]
and
Esther 8: 9 [2] which were written around the 5
th
Century B.C. This word is unchanged even after 7000 years. So, India was in the heart of God. In those days, India was one of the leading nations. What a
privilege to have this word in the Bible! You will not find the word INDIA in any religious book of the Hindus, where Hinduism was born.
Our Lord Jesus Christ loves India. His own disciple (He had twelve) Thomas (Saint Thomas) came to India in 52 A.D. Why was this done? There were many reasons. The Gospel was not yet
preached in the whole of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria as He commanded. I feel
there is a great need for Evangelism in India. India was in His heart. When
Christianity came to India many leading nations were uncivilized, history tells
us.
Many of the world?s major religions,
Hinduism, Sikhism, Brahma Kumari Samaj, Arya Samaj, were started in India. Even Buddha was born in Nepal, but his religion was first propagated in India and flourished in India and through India to the rest of the nations. Islam came to India soon after the death of Muhammad. India is the center of many religions. In this
nation, the TRUTH must be preached.
Though Evangelism came to India in 52 A.D., only 2.3% of India is Christian. 3372 languages are spoken in India. It is said that every six miles the language changes and friends it is true.
1.11
Billion is India?s present population (2006 A.D.). India is the seventh largest country, but the second largest nation in population. By 2015,
India is going to surpass China?s population. There are
4,365 Ethnic Groups
in India.
In the past, India has been the land where
missionaries like Thomas (who doubted Jesus), Saint Francis Xavier, Roberto De
Nolibi, Sir William Carey, Alexander Duff, Anthony Norris Groves, Henry Martin,
John Hyde, Amy Carmichael, James Hudson Taylor, William Taylor, William Butler,
Mother Teresa and Graham Stains and many more came and spent their lives. Many
missionaries from other nations have come to India and breathed their last
breath to show the love of Christ and to preach the Gospel.
God is using Indian missionaries mightily.
The Lord is using them even in other nations too. Sadhu Sunder Singh and Sadhu
Kishan Singh (not alive now) were regarded as apostles of Christ to many
worldwide Churches.
Presently, hundreds of worldwide Churches
and Organizations are showing Christ?s love in India because they felt that
this is a need. India needs SALVATION: the salvation of Christ. This will not
be an easy task. Only 2.3% of India is Christian, and there are very
few Christian workers. Missionaries work day and night. Though there is good
effort in the harvest of souls, still I see the urgency of other worldwide
missionaries to join with Indians missionaries and labor together.
If God loved India so much than shouldn?t
we all love India? God?s concern for India so beautiful and we can see many
things are happening for Christ in India. This is the reason: I love India for God loves India.
[1] Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this
is Ahasuerus which reigned, from
India
even unto Ethiopia,
over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
[2] Then were the
king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that
is, the
month Sivan, on the three and twentieth
day thereof; and it was written
according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants,
and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which
are from
India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven
provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every
people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and
according to their language.
"LEAVE TO WEEP ALONE or WEEP ALONG WITH?"
Article by: Dr. Hem Sagar Rasaily
Director, LOGOS STUDY CENTRE
www.freewebs.com/logos_bible_college
Once I was traveling in a train and saw a young man reading a book. It was a
good book on building up a Cheerful Nature, I started reading. As I was going
through the book, my eyes I was drawn to a famous idiom,
"Laugh and the
world laughs with you, Weep and you weep alone . . .. --Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, Solitude(1883)" and then I could not
read further. I started thinking how true this statement is. Then I came to a
decision when I asked the Lord to teach me.
Partially, I agree with Ella Wheeler Wilcox, great American Poetess and
author of the Nineteenth Century from America. In a worldly sense this saying
may fit, but if you consider the Biblical aspect, then a good Christian will
not agree fully with this saying. Please don't misunderstand me. To agree
with me you need to read my short article.
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Everybody can
easily do this and are doing this. I would like to take your attention to an
incident that recently happened:
A few days ago a very poor man won the Lottery Prize money of 450,000 US
Dollars (2 Crores) in India. He was a sweeper (toilet cleaner) in a Govt.
Hospital. He had taken out many loans for the education of his children. He
was deeply in debt. He himself testified before the Media saying,
"Today I
have realized when I have everything, all are coming and joining me to share
the joy with me (there was a
big crowd gathered in front of his
house);
but when I was in deep need, people used to mock, no one loved me
or liked to talk to me." And while saying this he was bitterly crying.
Weep and you weep alone. This is also a true statement
to which I agree. Now, you may ask, then what is your problem, brother? Sir,
I do not have any problem with this great saying. I just want to make today's
Christian realize, this is not 100% true. At least for a Christian or
believer who accepts the Bible as the only true Word of God.
Come, let us reason what the Bible says about this,
"Rejoice with those
who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." ROMANS 12: 15. I
personally feel one scripture is enough to open our eyes. Weep and you weep
alone. If you are a true child of God, you will not leave a person weeping
alone. The Bible says, weep with him.
Weep with those who weep
means, not only to
weep literally, but also to comfort
him, and help him in whatever way you can. Rejoicing with a person who is
rejoicing is very easy. Even the animals do that. If you are materialistic
minded then leave your friend weeping or leave him in sorrow. The Church of
God and the Bible will not allow you do this, if you a born again child of
God.
If a person is suffering, then, it may not be his mistake or God's curse. If
so, still you are bound to His precious word,
"and weep with those who
weep" My friends, if you have this attitude then there will no
weeping or wailing, The devil will not have opportunity to rule a defeated
Christian.
"So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men and
especially to thosewho are of the household of the faith."
Galatians 6:10 say
In my sermon to the Church, I try to emphasize specifically on one of the
natures of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I feel compassion Matthew 15:
32. When Jesus saw the hungry multitude, he had compassion. Friend, how
about you?
John Wesley-
An Apostle of England
Article by Dr. Hem Sagar Rasaily
Director "Logos Study Centre"
John Wesley is known as the Apostle of England and
Father of Methodists. When Lord Baldwin was the Prime Minister of England, he
said about John Wesley, "I am supposed to be a busy man, but by the side of
Wesley, I join the ranks of the unemployed." Imagine,
what kind of man he was?
John Wesley was born on June 17, 1703 and went to be with
the Lord on March 2, 1791. Everyone should study his life and learn to face
hardship, toil and be a humble minister of God.
Every Christian and every denomination should have
great honor for John Wesley, whether they are a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, a
Pentecostal, a Charismatic, or belonging to any faith. And why not to honor
this man great man of God? Can you imagine, he traveled 250,000 miles in
his lifetime to preach the Gospel- a distance equal to traveling nine times round the globe. I?m amazed at this because in those days there was
no fast mode of transportation like the airplane, or faster ships like today.
John Wesley became the most traveled individual in history.
When
he turned 81, he spoke of himself as,
"My sight is considerably better
now and my nerves firmer that they were 40 years ago." This shows that
John Wesley was in perfect health even in his old age. He used to get up early
in the morning at 4am. He used to start preaching at 5am in the morning and he called that most healthy exercise in the world. And every year he traveled
by land or sea not less than 5 hundred miles. This should be a great
inspiration for the men and women of God, at least for me.
He
believed in simple living, but maintaining a high standard of faith and
holiness. He gave a wealth of wonderful knowledge and living literatures to the
Christian world. His great
"A Plain Account of Christian Perfection"
containing 38 Questions and Answers is advised to be read by every believer
today.
Some
of his quotations I liked the most are:
"Make all you can, save all
you can, give all you can."
"Do all the good you can, By all the mean you
can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the time you
can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can."
"Once in seven years I burn all my sermons;
for it is a shame if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years
ago."
"My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a
Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small."
"The best of all is, god is with us"
"I look upon all the world as my parish"
The life of John Wesley has inspired and challenged me a
great deal. He was a gift to mankind. He did the things that money cannot do.
His prayer always was, "Lord
let me never rust out, let me burn out and let me never live to be useless." On March 2, 1791, around 10 O?clock John Wesley
whispered his final, "farewell."
This
man of God shaped Christian history. The life of John Wesley has inspired me to
be like him. He was a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
