T. P. Kurian
Editorial: Ramani Kurian & &&
UNITY AMONG BRETHREN: RECONCILIATION AND REVIVAL - THE NEED OF THE HOUR
Psalm 133: 1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
When brothers are living in unity, it is a foretaste of heaven on earth, and the heaven is well pleased. Then there will be showers of blessing fall from heaven. When brothers prayed in the upper room with one accord in the first century they have received the Holy Spirit. And this message reached the whole world in the first century itself, breaking the strongholds of Satan. Today, covetousness, jealousy, hatred, racism etc. are spreading like wildfire in the church. Unless we unite together and forgive each other and live in unity, we cannot restore the old path that was broken. For this to happen, we need a real revival in the church. Prayer is the heart beat of revival .Without it, we are dead. Fasting and prayer are prerequisites for revival. When this unity will happen through prayer, the Lord will send the latter rain abundantly. Real conversion and revival take place in the lives of His people that will lead to unity and harmony among the members. Together, they can stand for repairing the breach and to build up the old paths so that others also can experience revival and reformation in their lives.
Our relationship with our heavenly Father will open the way to love our brothers and sisters around us. Then we'll be able to live in harmony with our fellow men in this earth. All the signs indicate that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at hand. Malachi 4:4-6 says that the reconciliation is the need of the hour, between the heavenly Father and His prodigal sons. Otherwise, none will be ready there to follow Him to heaven in His second coming.
“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer. While the people are so destitute of God’s Holy Spirit, they cannot appreciate the preaching of the W but when the Spirit’s power touches their hearts, and then the discourses given will not be without effect. Guided by the teachings of God’s Word, with the manifestation of His Spirit, in the exercise of sound discretion, those who attend our meetings will gain a precious experience, and returning home, will be prepared to exert a healthful influence”. {1SM 121.1}
The old standard bearers knew what it was to wrestle with God in prayer, and to enjoy the outpouring of His Spirit. But these are passing off from and who are coming up to fill their places? How is it with the rising generation? Are they converted to God? Are we awake to the work that is going on in the heavenly sanctuary, or are we waiting for some compelling power to come upon the church before we shall arouse? Are we hoping to see the whole church revived? That time will never come. {1SM 122.1}&&&&&
There are persons in the church who are not converted, and who will not unite in earnest, prevailing prayer. We must enter upon the work individually. We must pray more, and talk less. Iniquity abounds, and the people must be taught not to be satisfied with a form of godliness without the spirit and power. If we are intent upon searching our own hearts, putting away our sins, and correcting our evil tendencies, our souls will not be l we shall be distrustful of ourselves, having an abiding sense that our sufficiency is of God. {1SM 122.2}
Ministers must arouse and manifest a life, zeal, and devotion to which they have for quite a length of time been almost strangers because they have failed to walk with God. The cause of God in many places is not improving. Soul work is needed. The people are overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life. They are entering deeper and deeper into a spirit of worldly enterprise. They are ambitious to get gain. Spirituality and devotion are rare. The spirit that prevails is to work, to accumulate, and to add to that which they already possess. “What will be the end of these things?” was the burden of my inquiry. {1T 469.1}&&
Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming. {GC 464.1}.
The enemy of souls desires Therefore, as children of God in the last days, we need to study the word of God diligently to follow His ways and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the message of salvation to all around us before the terrible day of His appearing to destroy the wicked and to receive the righteous into His heavenly kingdom.
Children Ministries: Southern Asia Division
“Jesus In My Heart”: VBS Teacher Training
Men and women are objects of God’s love. Children are God’s gift to human beings. Man’s love for children flows naturally. But sin has caused the damage. The filial true love is lacking, it is an important ingredient to maintain relationship, it is created by God. It is either perverted or seen less practiced. When Christ asked Peter to feed the lamb, Jesus meant that God’s people were to be intensively brought in loving, saving relationship with God. The children ministries department is entrusted with this sacred responsibility of assisting parents, teachers and others to love children and lead them to Jesus who is the Savior and Redeemer of the mankind. As Scott Peck puts it, to love simply means to lead others/children to Jesus Christ. Love him intimately, thus empowered by the Holy Spirit lead sin free life and share this truth with others in the society.
&Vacation Bible School is one activity of the department that attracts and involves thousands of children every year. It is a golden privilege for children to know Jesus and fall in love with Him. Having known the importance of VBS, Dr. Deborah Samraj, assistant director, children ministries, SUD has initiated to develop a new syllabus for children. The Bible lessons, health, nature, moral stories, crafts and games are the features highlighted. The colorful version of the activity book, for sure, would impress any child to get involved.
To make this year’s VBS program effective, Deborah Samraj with her husband, Franklin Samraj, who was promoting his department of human resource by conducting forums in different places, went around all over the division field and conducted VBS teacher training workshops. The training program started from Spicer Memorial College where 68 college students received the training. &From five locations in SCIU: Raichur, Belgaum, Bangalore, Bagepalli and Bidar, 153 teachers got training to conduct VBS in their union. Then the Samrajs proceeded to Bhatpara
church in Bhutan to train church leaders and volunteers to conduct VBS program in their respective areas. 35 people attended the workshop. In the words of Madhan Acharya, director, East Himalayan Field, “ We all learnt many new things from this training program. They also taught us how to reach the un-reached through children ministries especially through VBS”. Their next destination was Nepal Section. 89 adults and 26 children attended the workshop. Leaders from different churches attended the well prepared program and learned many things through practical experience.
Motivated by Deborah Samraj, Chennai Metro Section Children’s Ministries department &&conducted a VBS workshop under the leadership of Jegatha Johnson and trained 86 teachers and a few pastors at Annanagar Roundana. Leading from the front, Deborah Samraj equips and strengthens the children ministries leaders to care for the children in our churches. Her dedication and commitment to the cause are highly appreciative and she is to be commended for the good work she is doing for God’s cause.
RamaniKurian, asst. director, communication, SUD
Spiritual Understanding and Revival: A Weekend Service in Vellore Church
& & & & & & && The CMC Vellore SDA church would like to thank Sam Shadrach and the Southern Asia Adventist Community church in Redlands, California and express appreciation& in helping to arrange David Machado &to spend an inspiring weekend of spiritual understanding and revival/renewal with the&Vellore church from March 28 - 29, 2014. He was& a blessing to the church.... His life's testimony and messages were really powerful and scriptural. All the principles of the Bible expounded translated into his life and it spoke messages larger than any theological exposition. May the church members be transformed into God's image as we journey our lives. We would like to testify and acknowledge the wonderful way in which God has touched the lives of those&who were able to attend the Sabbath weekend service of March 28 & 29, 2014. During the vespers, the speaker, David Machado from the Light Bearers Ministry from US called the audience to the true purpose of life which worth living for and to which G to glorify Him and to please Him. Sabbath morning, he outlined the basic steps of conversion experience and what it means practically. The divine service message was a call from God to His
people to live a life of holiness. He clearly explained how God is working in the lives of His children to perfect them and purify them in their daily lives leading them in the path of holiness. Sabbath afternoon session was made lively as &the preacher gave a brief account of his conversion and revealed to us how God is real to him in his daily walk with God.& He went in detail on the Biblical principles to be followed in all true relationships which He maintains in His children. The sundown message was a challenge to all to be a true witness to allow Him to work in their lives powerfully demonstrating to all around who the true God is as He creates and recreates, as He saves His faithful ones. He alone can predict the future in contrast to the false gods of Babylon. The effect of the message was very evident to all who attended. The youth were inspired and many of them for the first time committed their lives afresh to uphold the truth which were presented. The older people were rejuvenated as they recommitted their lives to the cause once they espoused but were lagging due to various causes which were stealing into their energies. The word of God was powerfully served through the servant of God and the whole church unanimously said Amen as the meeting closed with a prayer of thankfulness to the Lord for the ministry of Machado and earnest appeal to God to continue blessing his ministry as He uses him. We want to thank the sponsors of Pr. Machado for sending him to us and for remembering us. &&& Dr. David Mathew, Nuclear Medicine Department, CMCH &&& ---Vellore English SDA Church
The Hour of Opportunity: Pioneers’ Predictions of the Triumph of the Gospel in India
Benjamin Baker
India now has more Seventh-day Adventists than any other country on earth with over 1.5 million and counting. The number alone is remarkable, but it is astounding when considering that the Adventist missionaries who first entered India in the early 1890s were endeavoring to win over a population overwhelmingly Hindu and Muslim, with no common Christian foundation from which to appeal, as in Adventism’s birthplace, the United States of America. Early Adventist missionaries had a tough time winning converts, and many became discouraged and left, complaining that they had nothing in common with the people of India. In the early years progress was painful slow. But despite meager success in the world’s second most populous country, the pioneers of the work there foresaw the eventual explosion of the gospel in India. The following are predictions from some of the earliest missionaries to India about the taking hold of the gospel message in the great nation.
Ellen White: Cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church “God is doing a great work in France, Prussia, and India.” (1886)
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& “From India, from Africa, from China, from the islands of the sea, from the downtrodden millions of so-called Christian lands, the cry of human woe is ascending to God. That cry will not long be unanswered.” (1900)
William Lenker: Began the colporteuring work in India “Indeed, as we look upon the masses, many of whom are afflicted in various ways, it tells us plainly that this is a very needy field, and that there ought to be a thousand workers where there is one. So far as I know, there are but four Sabbath-keepers in this important field of hundreds of millions of people….Yet we know that this field has been and is remembered in many prayers, and the Lord will provide a way for the precious truth to reach the people.” (1894)
D.A. Robinson: One of the first missionaries to India, died there four years after he arrived
“The one great object of Seventh-day Adventists in India…is to teach the people that one thing — that Christianity is a life, a life conformable to all the requirements of its divine Author. What a work is that! Well may we say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things ?’ Certainly we — the weakest, poorest, smallest people in the world— are not. But we need not despair, for ‘our sufficiency is of God,’ who is an all-sufficient Saviour and an all-sufficient Helper in every time of need…. The message of truth is still to go millions [of India] who have not heard the glad news of the risen and living Saviour, who is able to save the uttermost all who come to him.” (1896)
W.A. Spicer: Early missionary to India, later a GC president “My wife and I did not wish to come to India unless this was the place where the Lord especiall and at first we would have chosen to stay in London, or to have answered a call
but the burden was to come to India, and we are glad to be here. I am glad that God's word to every soul in this heathen land is, ‘I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.’ The Spirit of the Lord has told us that in some of these countries called heathen, which have had little light, the Lord, when he comes, will find, in proportion, greater fruit of the third angel's message than in countries which have had greater light and a greater amount of attention. To be face to face with so great a mass of darkness causes one to thank God that his is the and we know that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.” (1898)
Georgia Burrus: One of the first missionaries to India, spending 40 years there “The message of the soon coming of Christ stirs the people of India as nothing else seems to do.” (1901)
Anna Knight: First black woman of any denomination to serve as missionary in India “The work is gaining ground in India, and the health principles are being more widely disseminated....We need workers in all the cities. We must reach thousands where we are now reaching one — and we shall in the near future.”(1904)
W.O. James: Pioneer of the publishing work in India “India is a large field, and needs are seen on every hand. It is a place which becomes more interesting day by day. And every day brings fresh evidence to us that a great work can soon be accomplished, if God’s people are only prepared to let him work.” (1903)
J.L. Shaw: Pioneer administrator of the work in India “This is the hour of opportunity in India. The hand of Providence has opened wide the door.” (1905)
H.L. Menkel: Pioneer of the medical work in India “Keep a watch on India, and your hearts will rejoice in what the Lord is able to do.” (1908)
J.S. James: Early evangelist and leader in India “There is no question but that our part of the field is ready for the spread of this message. We can scarcely go anywhere and work a few days but that an interest springs up, and calls are sent to us to send men to teach the Bible and establish work.” (1912)
S.A. Wellman: Early leader in India “Once a good strong church is established in this city (Simla), it will be a center of light not only to the north, but the entire empire of India, and its influence will be strongly felt.” (1914)
G.G. Lowry: Spent decades working in India, as an evangelist, editor and leader “We feel that there is a bright future for the work in…India….The message is finding its way into the dark corners of the field through our literature.” (1916)
G.F. Enoch: Early evangelist in India& “Let us be of good courage. The Lord is establishing this work of His in the midst of the nations of India.” (1921)
A.H. Williams: One of the leaders of the second wave of missionaries to India “…the message of our Lord's soon coming is gathering out a people (in India) in readiness to meet Him.” (1926)
W.W. Fletcher: Early leader in India “The word of God is like a fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. No barriers and no conditions will be able to hide from India the light of that angel with whose glory the whole earth is to be lightened.” (1921)
I.F. Blue: Spent decades as a missionary in India “The work in this part of the great vineyard is prospering. There are omens of still greater success in the future, and we look with confidence to the work that God is doing for us.” (1921)
C.H. Watson: GC president “…fields now unoccupied will yet be entered by trained Indian evangelists, and thus will the work be done.” (1924)
O.W. Lange: A leader of the second wave of missionaries to India “The third angel's message is advancing in India today. Great changes are being noted throughout the whole country. Yet thousands of villages stand as great unentered mission fields — mission fields whose doors have been closed. But, thank God, the gospel of Jesus is opening these doors. The day of opportunity is breaking over old India.” (1937)
L.G. Mookerjee: Among the earliest Indian converts and an important evangelist and leader in his country “Up to the present time our mission work has been carried on unhurriedly, but the sands of history are running out. It is desperately urgent that the millions of India should have the message of the soon-coming Saviour. We must work with great zeal and earnestness now while we have the opportunity. The night cometh when no man can work.” ( 1947)
With a current population of over 1.2 billion, a great work remains yet to be done in India.& We must approach this seemingly impossible task of reaching these precious souls with the same assurance that led the pioneers to see by faith the eventual triumph of the gospel in this great nation.
~Benjamin Baker, PhD, is the assistant archivist of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Jesudas Bhaggien Addresses 98th Graduating Class of AIIAS& Manila, Philippines
&Jesudas Bhaggien, former associate secretary of Southern Asia Division having a long and dedicated career as a teacher, educational and church leader for many years in the territory of Southern Asia Division, was invited by Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS), Manila on March 8, 2014 to be a baccalaureate speaker to 151 graduates represented from 27 countries on the topic: “Launch out into the deep”. He was privileged to have witnessed his son Paul Bhaggien conferred with a PhD degree in religion and daughter-in-law Shirley with a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) during this graduation exercises.
Currently among the ranks of the “retired”, Jesudas Bhaggien continues to preach, lecture and publish in the field of religion, Christian education and is trying to keep up with issues relating to the Adventist faith and life style. He is blessed with several outstanding students who are now serving in various leadership positions across the division and continues to be an inspiration in the development of men and women in the context of Adventist education.
J &Robert Donald, Public Affairs & Religious L, SUD
BRITISH ASIAN ADVENTISTS CONDUCT SEMINARS IN INDIA FOR PASTORS&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Eighty pastors gathered in Kochi, India for a seminar in the book of Revelation. The gathering was organized by British Asian Adventists under the leadership of John Varghese from May 6 -11, 2014. Mammen Mathew, pastor, Ottapalam church was the main presenter. He provided in-depth study of the book of Revelation. O P Chackochen from UK who happened to be in the area provided challenging and inspirational
&devotional talks. Other presenters were Y. Selvamony, U Sekhar Philip,
vice president,& Lowry Memorial College; Victor Sam, vice president,& Southern Asia Division and John Varghese, director, International Everlasting Gospel Ministry. The meeting was financed with donations from generous Asian Adventists from around the world. Future meetings are planned for lay people in September 7-12 and youth December 26-31, 2014. Please contact John Varghese for more details and if anyone would like to help.&& <a href="mailto:
General Information
Sister Sites
generalInfo