DIVINE POWER YEAR

NOVEMBER 2002        

Volume 31 Issue 11  No. 320

All creation anticipates the day

when it will join God’s children

in glorious freedom

from death and decay!

The manifestation of God’s power during the first advent of Christ was unparallelled. His virgin birth was possible because "the power of the Highest" overshadowed His mother (Lk 1:35). The truth that nothing is impossible for God was stated for the first time in the New Testament in this context (v 37). The earthly ministry of Christ was literally a power explosion. God the Father anointed Jesus not only with the Holy Spirit but also with "power" (Acts 10:38). Demons trembled before Him. Diseases disappeared at His Word. Death loosened its grip when He called the dead back to life. Difficulties though mountainlike melted before Him. Darkness exited from the hearts of His hearers. Deep seas obeyed His Command instantly. The witnesses of His acts of power exclaimed, "We have seen strange things!" (Lk 5:26b).

Even during the trial and torturous death of the Son of God, the power of God was mighty in manifestation. When Jesus told the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane that He was the one they had come to arrest, they all fell back to the ground! (Jn 18:6). When He breathed His last on the Cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks were split, and many graves were opened! (Mt 27:50-52).

The resurrection of Christ was another mighty manifestation of God’s power. To know and experience the power of Christ’s resurrection was the deepest longing of apostle Paul (Phil 3:10). With the understanding of the prophecies of the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament, Paul concluded, "Christ (Himself) is the Power of God!" (1 Cor 1:24).

In the first advent, Jesus came in flesh and blood, emptying Himself of His heavenly status and glory. When He comes the second time, He will appear with all power and majesty! If the first advent had been characterised with so much of power, how much more will it be in the Second Coming! In God’s economy, the glory of the latter shall always surpass the former! (Hagg 2:9). The best is yet to be!

We shall study how and where the power of God will be manifested in the Second Coming of Christ.

There was no sickness before sin entered the world. Eventhough sin is not the direct cause of every sickness today, if man had not sinned he would have never become sick. That’s why alongwith our sins Christ bore our sicknesses also on His body. The Bible says that His blood cleanses us (1 Jn 1:7), and His wounds heal us (1 Pet 2:24). However, a question arises here. If Christ has borne my sins, why do I still have to struggle with sin, having believed on Him? (1 Jn 1:9). If He has borne my sicknesses, why do I still have to suffer from sicknesses? (1 Tim 5:23). No one except Paul among the Biblical authors seems to have given a satisfactory answer. He was a senior theologian but not simply a theoretician. He painstakingly dug into the Scriptures for puzzling questions of life, and patiently depended on God with supplications for pertinent revelations. Here’s what he found out—

"We know that the entire creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now. And not only they, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:22,23).

On the Cross, Jesus did finish the work. He paid fully the penalty for our sin. He purchased for us all that mankind had lost because of transgression. But the total realisation of the benefits of Calvary in our lives has not come "until now." We are enjoying the "firstfruits" only. We are still "groaning." The perfect and permanent healing of our bodies is still awaited. We will receive it only at the Second Coming of Christ. The body we now have is earthly and mortal. Life in this body is a journey from birth to death. Just like the resurrected Christ we will be given a glorious body at His coming. If we would be alive when He returns, we will be transformed. If dead, we will be resurrected. It will be a demonstration of power. Apostle Paul prophesied the events sequentially in his first letter to the Corinthian Church—

"Let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die" (1 Cor 15:51-53).

Think of a country where no citizen has any disease, deformity or defect! No invention or power on earth can accomplish this. The power of God will bring it to pass at the Second Coming of His Son. "No more death... nor sorrow... nor crying... nor pain!" (Rev 21:4). Hallelujah! C. S. Lewis the great Christian thinker put it this way: "If we were to see our glorified selves coming down the street, we would be tempted to fall at our own feet and worship ourselves!"

Those who have organized or attended international conferences know what amount of time, money and energy needs to be spent to bring delegates from all across the globe. Imagine what it would take to collect all the believers in Christ in one place! God’s power will do it! Jesus explained the event thus: "As the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be... All the nations of the earth will see Him arrive on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they will gather together His chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven!" (Mt 24:27,30,31).

Sanctification has to be understood in three stages. The first stage is a crisis experience, the second one is a process, and the final one is again a crisis. We go through the first stage of sanctification at the time of justification. It happens when a sinner turns to God and believes in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. He is instantly cleansed. His rags of self-righteousness are replaced by robes of salvation. In the sight of God he is no more a sinner but a saint, accepted fully in the Beloved. The believer is made as clean as freshly fallen snow, and as white as wool (Isa 1:18). This is called "positional" sanctification. This is based on the believer’s "standing" before God.

From the point of justification starts the process of "practical" sanctification. God made the believer a saint at the time of justification, and now God calls him to behave like a saint. The saint is to walk saintly. "Let the one who is holy, continue in holiness" (Rev 22:11). Positional sanctification is a privilege, whereas practical or progressive sanctification is a responsibility on the part of the believer. This is his "state" before God.

During the process of practical sanctification, we keep growing in holiness. We go from holiness to holiness. "The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day" (Prov 4:18). We reach the climax of sanctification at the return of the Son of God when the Sun of Righteousness will shine from the zenith! The final work of sanctification is exclusively by the power of God. The Scriptures elucidates this truth abundantly—

Having exhorted the believers to keep themselves away from every kind of evil, Apostle Paul encouraged them by telling what God would do for them at the return of Christ: "May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again" (1 Thess 5:22,23). He added, "God who has called you is faithful; He will do this" (v 24). In other words, God who has called us to holiness will accomplish it fully in us! God who has begun the good work of sanctification in us will continue His work until it is completed on that day when Christ comes back (Phil 1:6).

Several forces and powers may be working against us, discouraging us in our endeavour to walk holy before God. But if God is for us, who can be against us? "Whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son... whom He predestined, them He also called; whom He called, them He also glorified!" (Rom 8:29,30,31,38). O to think that one day I will be exactly like Jesus! See how John was excited about this truth: "Dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when He comes we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is" (1 Jn 3:2).

The perfecting work of the Lord at His coming will be both for individual believers and the Church as a whole. The Church is the Bride of Christ. He wants her to be perfect in the beauty of holiness. He keeps cleansing her by His blood and His word in order that He may "present her to Himself as a glorious Church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish" (Eph 5:26,27). The Church that is, is not the Church that was, or the Church that should be! Looking at the Church as it is today, we are depressed and we turn pessimistic. But let’s believe on the promises of God which are as sure as God Himself! The Church is going to experience at the coming of Christ a power greater than what she received at Pentecost!

Holiness has two sides. One is walking blamelessly before God. The other is maintaining genuine love in our relationships with men. One is not complete without the other (1 Jn 4:20b). Progressive holiness means growing in both. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews blends these two aspects beautifully: "Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord" (Heb 12:14). Many of us fail miserably in our interpersonal relationships in spite of sincere efforts. We need not give up. Here’s a specific promise in connection with the Second Coming: "May the Lord make your love grow and overflow to each other and to everyone else... As a result, Christ will make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy when you stand before God our Father on that day when our Lord Jesus comes with all those who belong to Him" (1 Thess 3:12,13).

At the Mount of Olives the disciples of Jesus asked Him, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Mt 24:3). He listed a number of endtime signs and then concluded, "The Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come" (v 14).

While Peter was defending the strange experiences of the disciples when the Holy Spirit descended on them, he quoted from Prophet Joel, "In the last days, God said, I will pour out My Spirit upon all people... and I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below... before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. And anyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:17-21). The endtime harvest which began at the coming of the Holy Spirit will have its final phase just around the Second Coming of Christ.

The Devil is more furious than ever because he knows that he has little time (Rev 12:12). He stirs up all the powers of hell to work against soulwinners and evangelists. He instigates rulers to persecute missionaries. Persecution has always been there, but it will be intensified towards the end (Mt 24:9,10). The promises of Christ to the Church in Smyrna and the one in Philadelphia are for all missionary-minded Christians to claim. "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer... I have opened a door for you that no one can shut... Look, I am coming quickly!" (Rev 2:10a; 3:8a, 11a). A missionary evangelistic revival is widespread all over the world. Church growth has never been so rapid in all these twenty centuries. The Lord of the Harvest is recruiting workers even at five in the evening because the harvest is still plenty (Mt 20:6,7). If Pentecost is compared to former rain, we will have the latter rain now, just before the return of Christ so that every field becomes a lush pasture (Zech 10:1). The Holy Spirit will manifest His power in an unusual manner at this last hour.

The primary motivating factor in the life of Paul for evangelism was the Return of Christ. He loved souls because he loved the appearing of the Saviour. He desired his son Timothy to imbibe the same spirit. When he reminded Timothy of the Great Commission, he oftentimes referred to the Second Coming. See for example, 1 Timothy 6:12-15 and 2 Timothy 4:1,2. Eventhough the Great Tribulation has not yet come, the troubles faced by nations of the world are already great! The future is bleak. Leaders are baffled. The Church of Christ alone has a valid reason to lift up its head in optimism. Nations are boasting emptily of their past glory, but the Church can boast expectantly of its future glory! The main reason is that the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!

The State of Bihar in India was once called the graveyard of missionaries. No more so! It’s now the vineyard of missions! Over 75000 souls are added to the Church worldwide everyday. In China, the Church membership is growing by an average of 30,000 everyday. The African continent which was 3% Christian in 1900 is over 45% today. In AD 100 the ratio of Christians Vs. non-Christians was 1:360. Now it is 1:6. All these are not accidental. Evangelisation of the world is getting accelerated as we get close to the Second Coming. The Church endued with the spirit and power of Elijah is calling and compelling men and women to come back to God lest God’s anger comes on them (Mal 4:5,6).

John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus Christ introduced Him as the one who will burn the chaff with never-ening fire (Mt 3:12c). In His life Jesus did not stop with loving what was right. He also hated what was wrong (Heb 1:9a). With the power of the Holy Spirit He went about doing "good" and delivering folks from (d)evil (Acts 10:38). But during His ministry He did not eradicate all evil from the world. He repeatedly acknowledged that Satan was the prince of this wicked world system (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Even after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, apostle John observed, "The world around us is under the power and control of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:19b). The Second Coming of Christ will ring the death bell for evil.

The Lord Jesus will consume Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, and destroy him by the splendour of His coming (2 Thess 2:8). At His return He will deal not only with Satan but also with his followers. "The Lord Jesus will come with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgement on those... who refuse to obey the Gospel. They will be punished with everlasting destruction" (2 Thess 1:7-9). Anyone who has not kissed the feet of the Son of God will be consumed by His fury (Psa 2:12).

Satan will be bound for a thousand years and thrown into the bottomless pit so he will not be able to deceive nations (Rev 20:1-3). Finally he will be thrown into the lake of fire prepared for him and his angels. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:10). Think of a land where Satan will not be! Even in the Garden of Eden he could play havoc. There’s no country without corruption. No system of government is foolproof. The power and authority of the King of kings and the Lord of lords can alone establish a system, free of all evil, where righteousness alone dwells!

Demonic spirits will inspire the rulers of the world to gather and fight against God. This is called the battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:14-16). "Together they will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because He is Lord over all lords and King over all kings" (Rev 17:14). The evil and ungodly system of the world, called Babylon, will be fallen, and fallen for ever! (Rev 18:2). There will be a shout from Heaven, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour and power to the Lord our God! His judgements are just and true" (Rev 19:1,2).

Today I become proud when I am preferred, and envious when another is exalted. When Christ comes back and distributes His rewards, the recipient will not become proud and the onlookers will not become jealous! Heaven will be a place of surprises. The first will be last, and the last will be first (Lk 13:30). Many whom I expect to be there may be missing, and many whom I had written off here would be merrymaking there (Mt 21:31). No surprise will make us unpleasant, because there would be no presence of sin! What a place!

In order to establish the New Heaven and the New Earth, God will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames (2 Pet 3:12). We will then understand the meaning of the statement, "Our God is a consuming fire!" (Heb 12:29).

We now come to the final scene in the story of God’s omnipotence. Here’s a piece from John’s narrative of his vision: "Then I heard what sounded like the shout of a huge crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder: Hallelujah! For the Lord God OMNIPOTENT reigns!" (Rev 19:6). This is a call for celebration. "Let us be glad and rejoice and honour Him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and His bride has prepared herself" (v 7).

This end-of-the-age celebration had been anticipated thousands of years ago. Isaiah prophesied, "On this mountain the Lord Almighty will spread a wonderful feast for everyone around the world. It will be a delicious feast of good food... He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign will wipe away all tears... In that day the people will proclaim, This is our God; we waited for Him, and He saved us!" (Isa 25:6-9).

Today we as believers in Christ are seated with Him in the heavenly places, in the "spiritual" sense (Eph 2:6). But in the ages to come God will show us "literally" the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus (v 7). "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). True the Holy Spirit has revealed some of these things to us today (v 10). But when we will literally join the celebration, we will exclaim, "Not even half of this was told us!" That’s why Paul in the midst of his writing to the Ephesian Christians broke out into rapturous worship and said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages!" (Eph 3:20,21).

Do you still wonder why the Book of books ends with the prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus!"?

To the Tamil Christians

Can conversions be stopped?

The stringent ordinance the Government of Tamilnadu has come out with to ban forcible religious conversions has triggered controversy all over the State and the Country, both within Christian circles and other communities. The reactions of the leaders of the various sections of the Church are varied. There are talks of protest fasts, marches and closure of Christian institutions. The simple-minded and sincere Christians are thrown in a wilderness of confusion as to how they must respond to this Ordinance of Prohibition of Forcible Conversions. As a Bible teacher and a Mission mobilizer for over three decades, and as a Tamil Christian, I present here my viewpoint. "I think I also have the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 7:40).

Ordinances against conversions should not surprise Christians, especially those in India. Anticonversion bills have been in force in the States of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh for many many years. Pioneer missionaries working in these States are used to all these bills. In fact, Church growth is only vigorous in such places. Immediately after mentioning the word "church" for the first time, Jesus declared, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it!" (Mt 16:18). The building of the Church and battling against Satan will always go together (Neh 4:17). We must not forget what Pharaoh and his taskmasters did to the people of God in Egypt. "The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Ex 1:12). Mr. C. Rajaji that great statesman had the wisdom to understand this. He admonished antichristian leaders, "Don’t crush Christians; they are bed-bugs!" There was not a single period in the entire Church history when evangelism was not opposed.

The ordinance says that no one should be converted from one religion to the other "by force, allurements or fraudulent means." In a country like India where superstitions and sentimentality overrule rational thinking, how will anyone give up his religion if he is forced? It would have been sensible if an ordinance to ban defections from one political party to another had been promulgated! Only politicians are telling outright lies and giving false promises to the illiterate masses of the country and "allure" them to their parties for self-interest.

Jesus promised peace, joy, forgiveness and eternal life to the people. If this is called "allurement," sorry, we can’t help it! All Christians are commissioned by Christ to proclaim the Gospel of these blessings to everyone on earth. The authority for this proclamation is given to them by Jesus the King of kings (Mt 28:18-20). No government can take away this authority from them. Preaching the Gospel to the non-christians is statutory and obligatory for Christians. Missionary work and evangelism are not optional for the Church. A Christian who does not make others Christians has failed in his calling. Any follower of Jesus has to be a "fisher of men" (Mt 4:19).

We are not doing acts of charity to convert people but to comfort them in their suffering because they are helpless. Why did Mother Teresa pick up babies from garbage, and the dying from the streets, and treat them in her home? Why did Graham Staines leave his country and work among lepers in Orissa? We are imitating our Heavenly Father who "makes His sun shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:45). If folks are attracted to Christianity by its selfless and sacrificial service, and love for the poorest of the poor and the downtrodden and the untouchables, is it "allurement?" Undoubtedly this law will become a hindrance to the yeomen services rendered by several Christian relief agencies for the poor and the marginalised. In fact the Gospel of Christ enlightens the illiterates and protects them from being exploited by cunning businessmen who fund corrupt politicians.

God who sits in the heavens laughs at the antichristian rulers because they are fighting a losing battle. I sincerely urge all of them to read the second chapter of the Book of Psalms in the Bible and be instructed.

I predict that the anticonversion law introduced in Tamilnadu will usher in an unprecedented revival in the Tamil Church. In order that God’s ultimate purpose in letting the rulers promulgate a law like this may not be defeated, I present here some practical counsel for all Christians to follow.

1. Let prayer for missions and evangelism be our top priority. When the first century preachers of the Gospel were threatened, the first thing they did was bending of their knees before the God of heaven and earth (Acts 4:23-30). This prayer is worth memorizing. God honoured this prayer by filling the believers with sublime boldness through the Holy Spirit (v 31). Preachers and people have spent too much time in praying for head aches and stomach pains. It’s time we bring the proclamation of the gospel and salvation of men and women to the top of our prayer list (1 Tim 2:1-7).

2. Let the entire Church be mobilized for soulwinning and evangelism. Teach every Christian how to win souls for Christ. The results of personal evangelism will outwit that of public meetings. Conduct more missionary conventions and soulwinning classes than healing campaigns. This may be the final hour of the endtime harvest in Tamilnadu. Give the Sunday morning pulpit to a frontline missionary or a mission leader atleast once a month. Let each member of the congregation catch the missionary vision.

3. Don’t keep on addressing Christians in public meetings, broadcasts and telecasts. The Tamil Church has been guilty of evangelising the evangelised, comforting the comforted, blessing the blessed, but neglecting the neglected. The Hindu convert preachers must specialise on speaking to and writing for the Hindu majority. The percentage of Christians in Tamilnadu is just about six. Do you know that over 90% of offerings received from people is spent on this small group only? Gross injustice and subtle imbalance!

4. Increase work among youth. College students and other youngsters are enslaved by sex, drugs and movies. They are tired of the hypocrisy and humbug of the politicians. The Church has failed to address the issues of young people specifically. When nearly 50% of the population is below the age of 20, why not one of the 4 or 5 Sundays every month be observed as a Youth Sunday in our Churches? As long as the youth meeting is conducted only as an extra-curricular activity "after" the Sunday Service, we will continue to lose our young men and young women to Lucifer. See how many times the aged John refers to young men in his short epistle (e.g. 1 Jn 2:12-14). Who should be the main actors in God’s last day outpouring?—"sons... daughters... young men" (Acts 2:17).

5. Avoid using militant language in gospel preaching. Don’t shout, "India for Christ!" but say "Christ for India!" Christ has not called us to christianize the world but evangelize it. Don’t call the gospel meetings as crusades! The word "crusade" means a military expedition. Don’t attack other religions. Don’t preach in front of temples and mosques, and distribute gospel pamphlets in religious festivals of non-christians. Respect the sentimentality of others. Because of the blasphemous remarks made by the leading Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell of USA in October 2002 against Prophet Mohammed, riots were ignited in Maharashtra in which nine people were killed. He later apologised in public and assured that he would always show respect for other religions, faiths and denominations. Preachers, beware of lighting fires that could grow into a terrible conflagration! Jesus grew not only in "favour with God" but also in "favour with men" (Lk 2:52). That was the secret of the daily phenomenal growth of the early church too (Acts 2:47). Tolerance is a Christian virtue and it is not compromise. One of the greatest lessons of wisdom in Solomon was that he ruled for 40 years without war. He had the same enemies that Saul and David had, but was at peace with them. They favoured and respected him, which helped to make him great. That’s why God chose him, and not David, to build the temple (1 Chron 28:2,3,6).

6. As far as possible, don’t use non-Indian preachers in public meetings. Christianity is already considered as the white man’s religion in India. Don’t we have enough evangelists in India who can preach with cultural understanding and sensitivity? It is only practical wisdom that we don’t use foreigners in direct evangelism in India. They can help as trainers and equippers in seminaries and seminars. Christianity in India, especially in Tamilnadu, is highly westernised. Apostle Paul released the gospel from the Jewish clothing. Martin Luther released it from the Latin clothing. Let’s do so from the Western clothing. I often wonder why Tamil Christians celebrate English New Year so enthusiastically, but they care the less for the Tamil New Year! We the Tamil Christians speak a Tamil that sounds like Greek and Latin to the Tamil non-christians. We are yet to realize why God got the New Testament written in Greek the market language and not in Hebrew the religious language of the Jews. Use updated and simplified versions of the Tamil Bible, atleast while addressing non-christians. "Unless we speak words easy to understand, we will be speaking into the air!" (1 Cor 14:9).

7. The Church in Tamilnadu is divided and fractured. Jesus said that a kingdom which is divided against itself shall not stand. Satan is not divided. All his workers and agents work in perfect harmony. Shame on us! Stop stealing sheep from other folds. Put an end to fighting over matters which matter not. Don’t attack other churches or preachers in pulpit or print. We quote Paul and argue, "Did he not openly warn people against men like Alexander?" (2 Tim 4:14). This was a personal letter written to an individual. Even the epistles to Churches were letters for private circulation only. But our magazines are registered with the Registrar of Newspapers in India, and the copies fall in the hands of so many antichristian folks. What foolishness that we attack our own preachers and ministries in our magazines and periodicals! It is betrayal.

8. God is looking for Josephs and Daniels to be placed in high positions in civil administration. Years ago there were so many Christian IAS officers in the Tamilnadu Secretariat and District administration. Nowadays we hardly come across Christian names in IAS cadre. Christian youngsters are interested in computer science and overseas jobs only. I call upon young people to work hard and aspire for administrative posts. We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. The society will decay and die without salt and light. Parents, pastors and preachers must motivate their youngsters to face this challenge. Strong Christian presence in the government will influence the decision-makers. The impact left in Collectorates, Directorates and the Secretariat by Tamil Christian IAS officers like Mr. S. P. Ambrose, Mr. Daniel Gunanithi, Mr. Wilfred Davidar and Mr. Jagadeesh Pandian is still sharp.

9. Let’s multiply our evangelistic activities but do so with wisdom. Preaching of the gospel is not banned. If such a law would come up, we will have to obey God rather than men (Acts 4:19,20). Under the present ordinance, there are certain legal formalities to be done before baptising non-christian converts. Let’s go through them. Who knows, this may be God’s way of stopping fake conversions! We already have in the Church more nominals than those really born again. I urge evangelists not to do anything hastily and get everyone into trouble. Zeal without knowledge is dangerous.

10. The Tamil Christians have perhaps sent more missionaries to North India and spent more money for missions than the Christians of other States during the last three decades. "God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His Name" (Heb 6:10). However, in the recent years the Tamil Christians have started to substitute praying and giving for going. When the early Christians lingered on in Jerusalem without moving out to Samaria and other regions beyond, God sent severe persecution among them. The result was, "They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria... Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word" (Acts 8:1,4). Chennai is the Jerusalem of India. If it is to scatter Tamil Christians and preachers all over North India that God has stirred the rulers to come up with this anticonversion ordinance, it is welcome!

(From www.stanleyonbible.com)

top