When Mom's lifted Up

Oh! How I wish that everyone’s mom dies. Oh! How I wish that everyone is brought to such a desperate condition as I was, and still am, brought. I’ve realized the futility of life. I do not long to live. I have a tremendous longing to see my mom, to kiss and embrace her. This heartache, agony, and her absence are immense. I suffer bouts of depression. I have cried a lot and often, praying to God, in my desperation and emotions, to raise my mom from the dead, lift her out of the grave and bring her back to me. That is the immenseness of my emptiness, the vacuum created by her demise.

I've known few who have been emotionally destroyed by their mom’s death, particularly, when their marital status is ‘single’. Individuals have suffered depression, gone into isolation shunning the world and some have attempted or committed suicide. My mom’s death has devastated me. I’ll never be able to recompense this loss. Her death is a huge blow to me, much greater than the blow inflicted by my termination from IBM.

But I thank my God that I’ve known Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I am glad that I’d put my faith in Him. He is my hope and refuge. When I feel her absence, when the agony overwhelms me, when I am possessed by the desire to see her, I find my refuge in Him. He consoles and comforts my soul. In Jn 14:18, Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” Everyone who puts his faith in Christ for the forgiveness of his/her sins, God sends His Spirit to reside in them as a guarantee of their being saved from their sins, as is written in Ephesians 1:13, 14, ‘In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.’ Bible calls Him, the Comforter. It is through His Spirit that the ‘peace of God which surpasses all understanding guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus’. Phil 4:7.

In Christ, I’ve hope to see my mom in heaven. I’ve this hope because she too had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She too lived a life in conformity to God’s standard, though she was not perfect. I’ve this hope because of the promise of Jesus, when He said, “that where I am, there you may be also.” Jn 14:3b. I’ve the hope that when Jesus comes back in the sky, my mom will be raised up from the dead as it has been written in I Cor 15: 51, 52, ‘Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.’

My mom’s death brought me back to Christ. Her death brought me closer to Christ. Jesus said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth (signifying by what death He would die), will draw all people to Myself." Jesus' death on the cross will bring you near to God. I wish and pray that you too would be brought to a desperate state as me and come to Christ. For years I lived a casual life. I am sorry for the years lost. I am sorry for having not understood the vanity of life and that I did not value time as it slipped past. In Christ I’ve been, and still am, able to understand and cope with the loss of my mom. If it would not have been for Christ, I wouldn’t have been and won’t be able to understand the reason of her death. I wouldn’t have been and won’t be able to bear the continual sorrow of her death. But having known Christ and the hope that I would see her in Heaven, give great satisfaction to my soul.

Are you living an uncertain life? Are you uncertain of your own future as well the future of your loved ones? Is your faith for the future based on the figment of imagination of humans and tradition received from your fathers? When it the question of eternity, wouldn’t you want to be certain of your belief? Do you love your sins over and above the love for your parents who are and will perish in their sins along with you?

False Teachers Exposed, Part 4

For part 1 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 1
For part 2 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 2
For part 3 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 3

To make it simple to identify these false Christians and teachers, let me show you who they are like, who they are similar to:

A false salesman and a false Christian teacher have the same characteristic: both emotionalize their presentation/preaching. Their message solely touches the emotional part of a human, numbing the prospect's/hearer's decision making side of the brain, to make an objective decision. Every time I hear 'I Surrender All' sung/played at the end of message, my alarm bells starts ringing-false teacher, false teacher. Decision or commitment made under the influence of emotions lasts as long as the emotions.

A pickpocket (PP) and a false Christian/teacher have the same characteristics: It is difficult to distinguish/identify a PP. He strikes when you are off guard. You realize your loss later.

Likewise, it is diff to distinguish a false teacher/Christian. Jude 12. They rub shoulders with you in the church. They eat with you, dine with you. They entice, allure, beguile you by their religious talks, false piety. II Pet 2:18. II Tim 3:5.They are immoral, filthy, unclean, greedy, and lewd. II Pet 14-18. They may never be caught but they will wake up in hell. Jude 13.

A false Christian/teacher and a forged currency note has the same characteristics: Unless you are trained to locate the marks, it is impossible/very difficult to distinguish or identify a forged note. They are not printed in the country's Reserve Bank. It is to destroy a country's economy, that a forged note is printed and circulated. It has no inherent value and is ultimately thrown into fire, when identified.

Likewise, these false Christians are very difficult to identify. They are not of God's factory, they do not belong to Him. They are of the devil and thus can only be identified by cross verifying them with God's word. They have crept in only with the purpose to destroy the church, to entice unstable and immature Christians. To lead them to hell. They roam freely and without fear in the church and are involved in church activities. In the end, they will be thrown into the eternal hellfire.

A prostitute and a false Christian/teacher have similar characteristics: Both are in it because of greed, for money. False Christian is in it for the position, flattering their way into people's lives and causing division. Both are bound in their sexual desires. They cannot control their passions. Their passions control them. They are liars, lacking integrity. Both are abominable, filthy, and unclean; do not have the Spirit of God, seducing people to fall in their trap. Both are damned to eternal hell.

To whom should I liken a false Christian/Teacher? A false Christian/teacher and a Mamba snake have similar characteristics: Both camouflage themselves in their surroundings, successfully. Both are deadly poisonous. Both defy God's authority. They kill your souls, damn you to hell. Both allow themselves to be used by the devil. Both entice, seduce, cheat, confuse, create doubt, dupe, and beguile believers who are weak and immature in faith and in the knowledge of His word. Both are devils icon, representative. Both have been destined for eternal darkness.

Who should I liken a False Teacher/Christian: They are like a monkey, who when a mango is thrown at it, will instead of gaining nourishment and nutrient out of it, will strike back or retaliate. False teachers retaliate when they are exposed and do not repent because they do not have the Spirit of God (Jude 19) who causeth us to repent, who enables us to have the longing to be holy, desire to be holy and to please God.

Paul in Eph 5: 11 says 'expose them'. I am in obedience to God's word, have exposed false teachers. I do not speak to the false teacher because Bible does not speak to them. Bible says, 'Beware of them' (Matt 7:15), that means, God is speaking to His redeemed ones, not to the false teacher/Christian. The Bible has nothing to say to the false teachers. They are the sons of perdition. They are reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 13.

Do you know why you do not accept what I say? Because you do not have the love of God in you. Jn 5:42 You do not listen to me because you do not want honor from the Father above but love honor of fellow men. Jn 5: 44

False Teachers Exposed, Part 3

For part 1 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 1
For part 2 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 2

What is a sure sign of a false Christian/teacher?

1. He/she is sexually immoral. Jude 18, 19. In II Pet 2: 14, ‘Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease to sin..’ All forms of sexual impurity. Nothing excluded. Pornography, premarital and extramarital sex, adult chatting, anything that arouses your sexual desire, passions. A false Indian Christian/teacher indulges in pornography because it is the safest, easiest and cheapest way to fulfill his/her lust of the flesh. They watch filthy programs on the TV, movies, view pictures of semi-clad women/men in newspapers, magazines, hoardings, and TV advertisements.  They walk in their own lusts. Lusts here do not refer to some lofty, good engagements pursued with great passion, intensity. Lust here is the same as referred to in Rom 6:12...Rev. Joseph S. Exell says, 'the root of their character is a love of sin, some form of gross immorality.'

They always argue, why not movies? What's wrong with movies? What’s wrong with so and so program? The acid test is given in Phil 4: 8, 'Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on those things.'

So, if that thing that you desire to watch or do, is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue in it, praiseworthy, then do it. I Thess 5:22, 'Abstain from every form of evil.'

2. He/She mouth great swelling words. Jude 16. They boast of their knowledge, their great ostentation of learning, their vain and empty doctrines, their high flights, their rhetorical style, and bombast language. http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/jude-1-16.html

False teachers have a large vocabulary. There is nothing wrong in itself with a large vocabulary when it expresses true or exact thought. However, their objective is to impress people with their teaching. In their teaching, they cater to the prevailing opinion. http://versebyversecommentary.com/jude/jude-16/

A kind of speech full of high-sounding verbosity without substance.

3. He/She is a dreamer. Jude 8

Anyone who say the following statements are false Christians, false teachers and devils agents: 'I dreamt God/angel saying to me', 'God spoke to me in a dream', 'I saw angel(s) in my dream', 'In my dream I received a revelation from God'.

He/She/They reject the authority of God's word, the Bible. They follow, believe, teach, profess, and preach their own figment of imaginations.

4. They reject authority. Jude 8. Both, the Biblical as well as the world authorities. They do not have reverence. They make God's house, His church into a second hand books give away/take away/trading spot.

They do not believe that Bible is inspired by Holy Spirit. They won’t be verbal about it but during their preaching, any spiritual discussion, during any cross-examination, it is revealed. They do not believe that God, Jesus and Holy Spirit speak only through Bible. They believe there are many other sources which are equally inspired. They reject Bible as final authority.

5. They do not have the Spirit of God. Jude 19. If you do not have the Spirit, it opens a whole pandora box. That is why they do not understand God's word. God's word does not make any sense to them. And because it does not make any sense to them, they distort it. How will you understand God's word, since it is the work of the Spirit of God. II Tim 3: 16 says, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…’ II Pet 1:21, ‘For prophesy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And it can only be spiritually discerned. I Cor 2:14, ‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’

If they do not have the Spirit of God, then, they are none of His. Rom 8:9, ‘…Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.’ If they are not His, then they have to be the children of wrath (Eph 2:3) and sons of disobedience (Eph 5:6). They belong to the devil. They are still in their sins, unredeemed. They are destined for hell. The wrath of God still abides on them. They are cursed. They are still unforgiven.

If they do not have the Spirit of God, then they do not have the gift of the Spirit. Gal 22 and 23. They are a can of worms; they are tombs full of dead men’s bones.

For final part of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, Part 4

False Teachers Exposed, Part 2

For part 1 of the series, please click, False Teachers Exposed, part 1

There are many who think that all preachers, teachers, pastors are from God. All that is being preached in the church by the pastor, preachers, TV preachers, fly-by-night preachers are from God. No, it is not. You need to test the spirits as John says in I Jn 4: 1 says, 'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ What is he saying here? Let’s see Prov 14: 15, ‘The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.’

It simply means do not believe in all what the preachers preach. Verify whether what they are preaching is in accordance with God’s word, God’s doctrine.

Acts 17: 10-12: Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

The saddest part is, still you do not want to study God's word. To study God's word and understand it, you need to be saved. It is not written for the unbelievers. An unbeliever like Gandhi may read it, but it is foolishness to them, for it is written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God (II Tim 3:16) and is thus, spiritually discerned. Another reason, for not studying God's word, even when you are an active member in the church, part of a choir group or hold prominent position in the church is, because you are not a child of God. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice". Jn. 10:27 Again He said, "You do not hear my voice because you are not of God". Jn. 8:47. He was referring to active disobedience on the part of the Jews. They heard the truth, they saw the truth but they wouldn't believe. You neither read or study God's word nor obey it when you read it or when you hear it, because you do not have the source, the indwelling Spirit of God to generate in you the desire to obey. The Spirit of God resides only in God's people. Rom 8:9b

There are many Christians who have been in the church for years, 40 years, 30 years, 20 years, 10 years, but still are spiritual babies, immature, unstable souls. How is it possible that you have been going to the church weeks after weeks, months after months, and years after years and still do not understand the basic tenets of Christian Faith? How could you be a Christian and not know God's word? You defend your doctrine, your church, your pastor but you do not want to defend Jesus, His teaching, His doctrine. You live a life of sin and then heap up preachers, teachers and pastors for yourself who do not condemn your sin, who do not criticize you of your sinful life, who distort God's word to make you feel good, who let you push your sins under the blanket and never confronts it, nor let you confront it. Then, you come to the Bible and seek the verses that correspond with the doctrine you heard, you want to believe, which is not condemning you for your sin and you conveniently ignore the true doctrine, and teachings of God's word.

For part 3, please click, False Teachers Exposed Part 3

Eating with Hands, Oprah Winfrey and Jesus Christ

Oprah Winfrey in one of her shows on India being aired on Discovery channel has ruffled few feathers by commenting on Indian's custom of eating with hands. We Indian's forget that she is not the first one to comment on our shabby state of affairs, prominent among those who commented against Indians would be the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr. Winston Churchill and former Indian cricket coach, Mr. Greg Chappell.

Some learned and not-so-learned Indians have taken the comment personally and have tried to defend themselves by seeking shelter and solace under the banner of the Great Indian culture. I had hardly scratched my head to figure out what's the whole cry is about when in an instant I realized that eating with hands has got nothing to do with our Indian culture. In my personal opinion, I find eating with hands as a reflection of an uncivilized society. It is unhygienic and disgusting.

The custom of eating with hands is prevalent in third world countries, among tribal, economically and socially weaker sections of the society. It reflects the deplorable state of the society. Eating with hands reflects a pre-medieval custom still practiced by people living in forests. If I dig further, it also reflects that we have still not learnt to enjoy the fine art of dining. Eating is not about filling our bellies; it is much more than that. When you are still scrounging, you would only be content to survive rather than even ponder about luxuries and eating with hands, in my personal opinion, epitomizes the fact that we are still trying to meet the most basic of our needs. We neither have the resources nor the will to experiment with spoons and forks.

This raises another really serious question about our attitude towards good and better things in life. We Indians are obstinate, perverse, stubborn and adamant people who due to ignorance, false pride, ego and fear do not want to change for the better. Bible refers to us as stiff-necked people. For centuries, we continued the despicable practices of child marriage, sati system (the burning of widows alive on her expired husband's pyre), thugi ritual (the ritual murder of travelers as human sacrifices to the mother goddess kali, by gangs of men known as thugs), casteism, and untouchability. We still practice the abhorable dowry system. Britishers used stick to implement and enforce the law enacted to abolish the custom of child marriage, sati, and thugi. It took the Britishers along with some enlightened Indians to ban these customs. Casteism, untouchability and dowry system is still advocated and practiced all across India, even among learned, educated and rich Indians.

This attitude runs deeper. This malaise goes way down deep right into the human soul. We are so hung up on our rituals, tradition, culture and practices that we have rejected the True and Living God. Jesus said, 'I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.' Jn 10:10 He again said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through Me.' He has very categorically made it clear that He's the only way for the salvation of mankind. In Acts 4:12, Peter the Apostle proclaimed, 'Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.' Again Paul the Apostle reiterated the same in Acts 13:38, 'Therefore let it be known to you, brethren that through this Man (Jesus Christ) is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.'

You do not accept Jesus that you may have life because you are, as the Bible rightly says, 'the children of the devil', 'the children of wrath', 'the children of darkness' and 'sons of disobedience' who have been kept for the great and terrible day of judgment before the Great White Throne of the One and Only True and Living God. For you have rejected the True and Living God, who became man and suffered the shame of cross and died for your sins. You have rejected Him who rose up from the dead. You have trampled underfoot the goodness, love, sacrifice and grace of the One and the Only One, Jesus Christ.

Sex and sensual pleasure: Biblical Perspective

I find it very disturbing when I listen to the talks of some Christians, even elders of the church so engrossed in the discussion of a movie and its details. They have no qualms in going over to a theatre or screening a movie at home or inviting their fellow believers for so-called outing, which in essence is just to expose you to sin in the form of a movie. And it reminds me of my days when I lived a sinful, disobedient life. A life that only sought physical and sensual pleasures. All the thoughts and deeds were to satisfy my sexual desires. During the week offs, all I did was watch movies for hours. There was no concept of reading the Bible. There was no concept of prayer in my life.

There was no concept of Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life. My passions were sinful, my desires were sinful, my longings were sinful. Not only was I living a life of sin, I was continuously exposing myself to sin and fanning my sinful and sexual passions by watching movies, listening to secular music, with all their sexual undertones and overtones. I was listening to music which were generating in me the emotions designed by God to be exercised inside marriage. They were generating in me a desire and longing for the opposite sex. There is nothing wrong in being attracted to the opposite sex but to let myself engulf with the desire for sensual pleasure is sin. During this phase, I had no longing to live a holy life. I had no desire to live a holy life. There was no guilt for the sins I was committing. There was no remorse. I was enjoying the pleasures of my sinful, sexual and sensual passions. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Rom 8:5a

 And then I came back to Christ. All of those desires and longings to watch a movie, listen to those songs are gone. It's just gone. Those feelings are just not there anymore. I did not struggle to leave them. I did not do anything. That's the work of the Holy Spirit who through His indwelling fills us with a new desire and longing. All I did was repent of my sins and come back to Christ and accepted His Lordship. When I see these so called Christians and elders of the church so zealously discussing movie, I know they are where I was when I lived a sinful and a disobedient life. They may fool the world but not me because I've lived the life that they are presently into. What they are indulging in, I've already indulged in. And I've been saved from that sinful life. I am a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. II Cor 5:17 They who are of Christ's have crucified the flesh with all its lusts. If anyone loves the world or the things of the world, the love of the father is not in him. The Bible is so plain and clear in this matter. There has to be an outward evidence of the inward transformation that we claim to have.

The acid test to do a thing or watch or listen a thing is given by Paul in Phil 4:8, 'Finally Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on those things.'

So, if that thing that you desire to do or watch or listen is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, is of good report, has virtue in it, is praiseworthy, then do it. I Thess 5:22 says, 'Abstain from every form of evil.'

Death Sentence: To Them or Us too?

Guwahati India. Monday July 9, 2012. Around 10 PM. A 20-year old girl is molested, slapped, beaten, groped, and stripped outside a bar in full public view by a mob of twenty and more persons. The crime was caught on camera and uploaded on social networking site. Due to the outrageous and ghastly act, people are demanding a death sentence for all the accused involved.

Is the mob consisting of twenty and more people the only ones who are guilty of such a heinous crime? Are they the only ones who are to be sentenced to death? Are we not in the same league? Have we not committed the same offence?

Every male, who has attained puberty, has, in his lifetime, raped girls and women, with his eyes. Every male, including you and me, in our thought process and imagination, have lusted, molested and raped innumerable girls and women. Are we not guilty of the same offence of which these guys are guilty of? Should not the death sentence be pronounced on you and me who are guilty of the same offence?

Now that the Indians themselves have voluntarily demanded a death sentence for the accused and they themselves are not excluded from the guilt, they themselves are the accused, should all be acquitted or all be sentenced to death? If those twenty guys only be punished, then it would be an unjust judgement. It would be discrimination. It would be a partiality. The judgement would be tenable to appeal as it acquits us for the same crime and convict the other few.

Should all be set free because we ourselves are guilty of the same crime? If that be the case, then we accuse ourselves of lowering the standard (that we set ourselves-Death Sentence) since we are not able to meet the standard. It should not be that way. Just because we do not meet the standards, does not mean, we lower the standard. Bible says in Romans 6: 23, 'For the wages of sin is death.' We sin, we get death. That's God's judgement too.

Should all be punished? How could all be punished since the one who passes the order of punishment is also guilty of the same crime? Should a woman pronounce the judgement? Is she not guilty of the same offence? Is she not guilty of lusting, raping and sexual assault on men through her eyes, thoughts, imaginations and fantasies? Bible says in Romans 3: 23, 'For all have sinned and fallen short of the standard set by God.'

Is God capable of pronouncing the judgement, convicting us, the accused and sentence us to death? For Him to be capable of doing that, He has to be holy, pure and sinless. Bible says in I Jn 3:5, 'in Him there is no sin.' In II Cor 5: 21, it is written, 'He knew no sin.' In Isaiah 6: 3 and Revelation 4: 8, the angelic beings are always saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"


But God does not take delight in the death of the wicked. He does not want to kill us. In Ezekiel 18:23, God speaks and says, "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" Why would He not kill us? Because He loves us. Bible says in Jeremiah 31: 3, God speaks, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

Since we all have sinned and are worthy of death sentence, since God is capable of pronouncing the verdict but He does not want us to die because of His immense love for us, He became man and bore the punishment of our sins on the cross and died as He Himself had commanded and forgave us our sins who accepted this wonderful work of God's grace towards us.

This man is Jesus. Bible says in II Cor 5: 21, 'For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' When you accept the work which Jesus did on the cross, then, God looks at you through Jesus and finds you, innocent. Jesus acts as a prism, as a filter, as a mediator. Bible says in Jn 3:15, 'That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.'

You do not have to work towards proving yourself innocent. You do not have to suffer the pangs of guilt for the crimes you have committed. You do not have to suffer the ordeal of not knowing there is a way out. You do not have to walk through a dark alley not knowing that your sins, your crimes, your shame, your guilt has already been taken care of by God Himself through the death of Jesus Christ.

You do not have to make the treacherous trip to Amarnath. You do not need to go to Shirdi, Vaishno Devi, Gangotri, Ganges, Tirupati, Velankani, Mecca, Ajmer Sharif, satsanghs, meditation, self-realization camps.

What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that He alone is God. Ask forgiveness of your sins from Him. Accept Him as Lord and Master of your life. Turn away from all your sinful ways.

How will I live a new life? On the third day, Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. God raised Him from the dead. The power with which He raised Jesus from the dead is the same power He gives us to live a pure, holy, sinless, spotless and blameless lives. God's Holy Spirit comes to reside in our bodies who helps us creating a longing, a desire, a passion to live and lead a holy life. He helps us in revealing God's truth to us hidden in Bible. He speaks to us through Bible and Bible alone. All other teachings, preaching, books, articles, leaflets, audios, videos, and talks have to be verified with the Bible to ascertain if they are in accordance with Bible's teaching. If they are not they are false. They are lies. They are fraud.

Bible says in Jn 3: 16-18, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ), that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.'

The Corruption Within

In school, every morning I along with some hundreds of other students used to take a pledge. I am sure you remember yours. I do not remember it all but here is what I remember:

'India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage...I will strive to be worthy of it....I will treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness. Jai Hind.

I believe, every Indian takes that pledge during their lifetime, in one way or the other.

But today, as we look around, we find the roads broken, potholed, load shedding, grid failure, transformer blasts, acute shortage of drinking water, near absence of sanitation, gutters overflowing, total collapse of transportation system, pollution, both mass under and un-employment, poverty, corruption, scams, and law and order failure.

We are hopeless as well as helpless.

And we blame our politicians, government, police, those in authority and in control. But we are one of them. They are our representatives. They are what we are. We chose them in a state of complete sanity in a democratic India.

Also, we blame our history, the Britishers, and western culture. We blame every one but ourselves.

Are they the only ones to be blamed? Are we not the ones who cheat in the payment of taxes, travel fares, pricing of products and services? Are we not the ones who are immoral and who don't care about India? Are we not the ones to be blamed, too? Can we say with honesty in our hearts that we are innocent, blameless and loyal?

We are the ones who steal, rob, cheat, betray, fraud, murder and rape. We are the ones who are liars, corrupt, and dishonest. We take what does not belongs to us. We bribe and accept bribes. We are so selfish that we consume resources, people, public property and every thing for our own gain.

We all have corrupted our ways. Our hearts are wicked.

The Bible say, "The heart is deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?"

Jesus said, "For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness (lies) and blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man/woman."

The Bible says, "There is none who is upright, no, not one. There is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way. There is none who does good, no, not one."

"All have sinned." God sees us as sinners. Yes, man is totally depraved.

His heart has to change for him to do any good. But God is a loving, gracious, merciful God who wants to forgive sinners. He does not takes pleasure in the death of any wicked.

But we can not change ourselves. We have to be born from above (born again).

So, God became man. He was called Jesus who paid the penalty of our sins through his death on the cross. Jesus became guilty of all the sins that you and I ever committed. He died and rose again to give you the power, the strength and grace to live a new life, if you'll trust Him.

Jesus is ALIVE.

To make your pledge true, come to Christ. Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing.'

Do you want to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord? Pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I am sorry. I am willing to turn away from my sins. I openly receive and acknowledge you as my savior. I confess you as my Lord. From now on, I will live for you and serve you. Amen.

I would be pleased to help you. Email me at isaacmani2006@gmail.com.

Written in 2000.

I Loved Her

Shamelessly, unabashedly,
like a man, fearlessly.
Sure she was the first one,
and so I loved her, oh so completely.

Through upheavals and storms,
she's still the one for me.
All that she heard was a lie of me,
when I've loved her, oh so truthfully.

Only if she had cared to listen,
the words I longed to say,
I would still have been
down on my knees, forever.

I ain't got no fear to tell the truth,
when I've been so misunderstood.
I ain't fear the world,
when I've loved an intelligent girl.

She's misunderstood me all along,
yet, I've pursued her for so long.
I've waited for the time to come,
and tis the time to say it all.

She's made her mistakes,
like I've my own.
She's got her plans,
like I've got my own,
why should we walk alone,
when we could merge it as one.

I ain't gonna forget,
cos she's all that I have,
she ain't gonna talk,
though it doesn't really matter,
cos it isn't the end of it all.

(Written many years ago)

Walking the Faith, still

Born in a Christian family with dad being a Hindu convert and both he and mom attending the same orthodox Bakht Singh Assembly, I grew up being exposed to godly men and women, who contributed to my knowledge of Jesus Christ, my mom being the chief of them. As far as I remember, way back, it was her sheer dedication to us and commitment to Christ, that in spite of her illness, she used to gather all five of us (her children) and hold a Bible class. She is the one who brought me to Christ. She is the one who through her repeated holiday trips to Hebron Hyderabad, introduced me to this young godly lady, who took the pain to help me memorize very important and precious Bible verses, like Is 9:6. The walls of Hebron were plastered with verses from the Bible which were another source for bringing beautiful verses to my knowledge, like Ps 46: 10, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’

My dad’s persistent and consistent effort to always make it to church on every Sunday, despite acute financial crisis, has yielded its result in that all five of us have a deep love for Christ. It was due to his undying loyalty to Christ, unwavering faith in Christ that I was exposed to some of the greatest truths in the church and from ‘Daily Bread’ magazine/booklets. He used to haul all five of us to the church which was more than 30 kilometers away from Air Force facility. When the country was kept captivated and glued to television by serials like ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’, we were the only ones to walk the roads to church.

For as long as I remember, I have always been in love with God’s word, the Bible. There has always been a burning desire to know more and more of God’s word, to conform to His standards as espoused in His word. It was greatly fuelled by my Sunday class teacher, Mr. Robert, a very godly man, who took pain to impart to us the great biblical truths from the lives of Moses, Samson, Samuel and Jonah. These are my memories of my first five to seven years of my life. That exposure laid a strong foundation in my Christian faith.

During my early growing years, I was greatly inspired by the testimony, life and ministry of Mr. Sadhu Sundar Singh through reading a book on him. I do not remember the name of the book. It catapulted me to a different level altogether. Also, my eldest brother, Noah Mani introduced me to FEBA radio ministry and ‘Back to the Bible’ ministry of Woodrow Kroll and ‘Plain Truth’ magazine. He played a pivotal role in building a strong structure on a strong foundation laid by my parents and others. Every morning would start with tuning to Sri Lanka Radio Broadcasting Association and listening to Mr. Warren W. Wiersbe or Mr. Woodrow Kroll on ‘Back to the Bible’ radio broadcast.

My childhood was spent in the environs of giants in Christian faith. A life of learning and growing in this faith introduced me to Dr. Billy Graham and his wonderful radio ministry, evangelical videos and his books. For a considerable number of years, I was captivated by his honesty, his reach to millions, and his style of preaching. I used to borrow His evangelical videos from a church member and rent VCR and invite my college friends over to home and show them the gospel preached, in all its beauty. In the year 1999-2000, when I took to the pulpit in CSI, Tambaram Madras, the only message I preached there, I followed the preaching style of Mr. Graham. It was in this church that I worked as a Sunday school teacher for adolescent children.

Back in the school days, my eldest brother, Noah, who was very active and outgoing in participating with OM and other ministry people, would tag me along to their gospel outreach. That laid the foundation for my love for gospel outreach.

By the year 1993, I had read the whole of New Testament, excluding Revelation (which I read in 2008). It was during the summer holidays of 1993, I started and completed a deep study of Book of Acts and Romans. I studied those two books exhaustively. It was during my study of the New Testament that I came across a verse in I Jn  1: 9, 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' and 2 Tim 2: 13, 'If we are faithless, He remains faithful.' Both these verses helped me to tide over my youthful lusts, sins and fall. 

During my college days, in Brethren Assembly Ratanada Jodhpur, I was given the opportunity by Pastor Cherian to preach every Sunday, short messages leading to worship. Once and only once, did I request Pastor to allow me to preach the final message, which he acceded to and I went on to deliver a strong message from my study of the book of Hosea. On the pattern laid down by our Lord before He made His great decision to select His twelve disciples, I used to spend hours praying to Lord to seek His hand in my time on the pulpit.  Though I had the complete text written, word for word yet, to enable His Spirit to work in the hearts of the hearers, I pleaded to God to bless my preaching. This was the church in which I spent years as a translator for English preachers, even for my dad. It was here that my love to disciple Christians and to enable them to grow in the faith laid its roots.

All through my college days, I was involved in gospel outreach, individually. I have shared gospel knocking on door to door, in my own locality. It is always easy to preach and share far somewhere where people do not know you personally than in the very place where people see and observe you day in and day out. I have preached to a group of women who had gathered for kirtan, a women’s gathering to worship their idols. I requested them that I have a message to preach and to allow me to preach, which they curiously and lovingly did. I then preached to them the love of Jesus and at the end walked away, feeling rather embarrassed at the situation but pleased that God had given me the boldness to speak about Him in public. God had given me the confidence and boldness to preach the Gospel to the temple priests right inside the temple. I was also involved in personally guiding a young unbeliever, a friend of mine, to come to faith, which he did, but I was not sure of his transformation. Anyway, I used to meet him to study God’s word at his home and help him in his studies. When I left Jodhpur to stay with my brother in Gorakhpur, I lost all communication with him.

It was during the college days, that I went out of the way to show God’s love to few believers from North-East, who were working and staying in abysmally worst conditions. I spent time with them in studying God’s word and even went far as to stay with them, to show my love and concern for God’s downtrodden people. It was during this phase that I used to share gospel tracts during my ride to and from college. After college, from 1998-99, while staying with my eldest brother in Gorakhpur, I actively preached the gospel with missionaries working in remote villages, for weeks after weeks.

In 1999, I moved to Madras with my parents when I started writing gospel articles and also wrote a poem titled, 'Remember', which is posted on my blog. Due to my desire to preach and teach God's word, through my girlfriend, I was invited to give a talk to a Christian youth group in Madras Christian College. In 2000, I went a level higher when I accidently heard Pastor John MacArthur of ‘Grace to You’ on the ‘Grace to India’ radio broadcast and I was instantly hooked. His devotion to Bible and exhaustive background homework he used to do for his teachings really inspired me. I would rent the tapes of his messages from their tape library. His exposition of the Bible, verse by verse, has changed my life by giving in me a desire and longing to teach and preach God’s word. It was due to him that I came to know about great biblical truths like ‘Knowing God’s will’ rather than ‘finding’ it. Although it is expressly written in the Bible yet has never been taught and still not taught today. Even today, believers struggle to ‘find’ God’s will, rather than 'do' God’s will which has already been revealed in the Bible in Paul and Peter’s teaching. In 2001-2002, I bought a book written by him titled, ‘Whose money is it anyway?’ which enabled me to be responsible with my money, how I use it and spend it.

All these exposure, people, truths and the Bible have helped me to tide through difficult situations. The deep and strong desire to hold true to my principles and belief, I never once touched alcohol, being a very strong witness for Christ, at my workplace, parties and outings. Though I smoked for a while, I quickly quit it. I have walked my life in integrity and honesty.

Every time, I was down and out and far away from God, my only way back was by listening to God’s word from Pastor John MacArthur on his website, ‘gty.org’. God has used him to bless my life in a considerable way. I also introduced his messages in my DBF Noida church but they would have nothing to do with him, even after Pastor announced it in the church of the availability of CD's and DVD's on rental basis. Due to their lack of love for a great man of God, his ministry and mockery of God's word taught with power backed by a life of integrity and consistency, I called it quits from the church.

Since my mom’s demise on May 03, 2012, I have once again found my dependence, strength and anchor in His word. From the first week of May to the middle of June 2012, I went crashing through the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah as I had never read them. I had just completed few chapters in Isaiah, when I had a desire to complete New Testament to understand God’s call for holiness. Within two weeks of the start, I finished my reading from Jude to Galatians, backward. In the month of September 2007, when I met with an accident and was unable to walk due to injury, I used the time, divinely given to me, to study the Pentateuch, which I had never read. It was then that I realized the importance of these first five books in building faith.

To call Christians to live a holy life, pleasing to God, I had written an article titled, ‘Demand to be Holy: Bible’s Perspective, Part I and II’. To express my thoughts and to bring awareness for the falsehood practiced by false teachers and Christians in the church, I have written an article titled, ‘False Teachers Exposed’.

I have come a long way and have come a hard way. In all, I have been zealous for Christ, His word. I have zealously guarded His word and defended it. My writings are posted on my blog, http://isaacmani.blogspot.in/.