Monday, December 31, 2012

Manaj

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Slum in Delhi


Ken Shoop and I had a thirty-hour stay in Delhi on our way home in ’92. We had just finished a short trip to Pakistan to investigate some accusations involving a person supported by Woodmont Hills. The elders had given us sixteen questions for which to find the answers, and we wrote up our report while we were waiting to go home.  We stayed in a low cost lodge on the Connaught Circus in downtown Delhi. That morning we were out walking the circle, looking at the handicrafts displayed on the street, and were being asked to have our shoes shined by all the shoe shine boys and men along the walk. Suddenly we heard a soft voice pleading,  “Shoe shine?”
I ignored him and kept walking, careful not to look interested.
“Shoe shine? Very good price, only two rupees!”
Remembering the two Rupee note I kept in my pocket for beggar change, I handed him the dirty, wrinkled bill and kept walking, never breaking my stride.
“Please sir! I am no beggar. At least let me brush off your shoes.”
His shirt carried one month’s accumulation of filth, greasy at the sleeves and collar, and his plaid pants hid the dirt well. One hand had a crusty sore, and his slender body showed signs of too little food. His shoeshine equipment was stowed in a filthy cloth bag. I walked over to a metal rail and propped my foot up for him to brush.
“Sir, business no good. I don’t have a proper shoebox. I don’t have colors.” (Colors are dye pigments used to mix with clear wax to get different shades of polish)
“How much does a shoe shine box cost?” Ken Shoop asked.
“250 Rupees,” the shoeshine boy responded ($10).
Ken and I looked at each other. This young boy was eager to work for money. He was no free loader. He just needed some good equipment. And we were impressed with his bright responses and good English. We asked him where we could get a shoebox.
“Just nearby. I will show you,” he volunteered.
After a brief consultation, we decided to go with him to buy the box, instead of giving him money. After eleven years visiting India, we were aware of the many con games aimed at tourists, but we did not want to miss the opportunity to help someone in great need. We flagged a three-wheeler and began our journey. The boy introduced himself as Manaj, eleven years old, living with his mother in Delhi while his father remained in Rajasthan. He had never attended school, and learned his English from tourists.
“What do you know about Jesus?” I asked.
Manaj smiled and pointed heavenward, his finger stabbing the top of the auto. “Jesus is Lord,” he said happily. “I pray to Jesus every morning.”
Soon we arrived at a squatter’s camp. Manaj led us boldly up the narrow path between mud huts. Ken and I had expected to be taken to a store that sold shoeshine equipment. Instead we found ourselves immersed in a different world from the Delhi seen by tourists. We were surrounded by a host of strange people, imprisoned in mud and squalor. We walked carefully to avoid the human feces that lined the pathway, deposited by children too young to go to the designated toilet areas. The smell assaulted my nose, and the sights burdened my heart.
Mud huts with debris and rags for roofs stretched out into the distance, separated by   barely ten feet, with a narrow pathway in the middle. The hopelessness of their circumstances showed in the faces of the older people. Although it was late morning, many were sleeping in front of their huts, wrapped in wool blankets against the chill of the record cold winter of Feb 13, 1992. Older children tended to the younger brothers and sisters. Snot ran from most children’s noses, leaving crusty evidence of ill health and poor hygiene.
We followed Manaj doggedly, seeing the human misery unfold before us. At last we came to a mud hut where Manaj stopped. The friendly older man and his two sons invited us inside. Stooping to avoid the low overhang of the tattered roof, we sat down on the rope bed that had been leaning against the wall. Trying to avoid exposure to lice or bed bugs, we sat at the very edge of the bed while two shoeboxes were presented for our inspection. They were made from scraps of boards; very similar to other shoeboxes I had seen in Delhi.
“How much is that one?” I pointed to the smaller of the two boxes, which had six bottles of color, the dry powdered pigment used to blend the proper shade of polish.
“Five hundred Rupees,” the old man said ($20).
“Let’s get out of here! They are trying to rob us,” I whispered loudly to Ken.
We rose and left quickly, hurrying down the path on the slick stones that allowed us to stay out of the sewage that ran between the huts along the pathway. The two sons hurried after us waving the shoeboxes and pleading with us to make an offer. When we finally made it to the waiting three-wheeler, I offered two hundred Rupees. They tried to hand me the shoebox, but the six bottles of color were missing.
“Where are the colors?” I demanded.
We waited while a trip was made to fetch the missing colors, and when they were provided; I counted out two hundred Rupees plus another ten Rupees because they demanded something more for the colors.
We three climbed into the auto and headed back to Manaj’s place of business along the Circus. Manaj was smiling and told us that we were smart to offer a lower price. “I will work hard today and tomorrow, and I will pay back 100 Rupees,” he said.
“You do not need to pay us anything,” Ken replied. “You help some other boy to get a shoe box.”
“Yes! I will help another boy. It makes me feel good to help someone,” Manaj answered with bright eyes.
Ken and I were glowing with that good feeling of lifting up Christ in a dark world. We had done a good work for a helpless young shoeshine boy. When Manaj got down where we had met him, he received with quiet dignity the 50 Rupee note that Ken handed him as a parting gift, telling him to buy some good food for himself and his mother. Then we proceeded to the Hotel Marina to finish our work on a report of our activities of the past week. Both of us were burdened with thoughts of Manaj and what his future might be on the mean streets of Delhi.
Ken and I discussed our impression of Manaj, his brightness, his use of English, his desire to work, and his interest in Jesus.
“What about arranging for him to stay at the children’s home at Bikkavol?” Ken asked. We both had been very favorably impressed with the work at Bikkavol in East Godavari, where M. Samuel Raju operated a preacher training school and orphan care center with the help of Christians in Germany and the USA. Manaj could get a good education there, and learn a skill other than shoe shining, and escape from the degradation of life in the streets of Delhi. We hoped that he might become an evangelist, with his brightness and love for Jesus.
“Tomorrow morning, let’s look up Manaj and talk to him about the possibilities. We would need to talk to his mother and see if she is agreeable,” Ken suggested.  “Also I want to buy him some clothes, since he has only those he is wearing.”
Next morning we walked around Connaught Circus to the location where we had found Manaj. As we approached, we saw Manaj standing near four people who were talking together.
“There he is!” Ken pointed to Manaj who was standing by the iron rail as we approached. Why was he so hesitant about greeting us? He came slowly forward to meet us. The enthusiasm of the previous day had disappeared, and a strange reluctance had taken its place.
“Shoe shine?” he said in a small voice.
“Where is your shoe shine box?” I asked, seeing the same dirty cloth bag clutched in his hand. “How much did you get for it?” I asked, assuming that he had sold it for money.
“Oh, no Sir!” he stammered, “I sent it out for painting.”
Ken and I looked at each other knowingly. We turned and walked away. We never remembered seeing a painted shoebox. They were all made of unpainted wood. Why had Manaj been so hesitant to greet us? Our thoughts went back over the events of the previous day. Who was the young man with Manaj who had offered to go with us to purchase the shoebox? He said he operated the business across from where Manaj was standing. Was he Manaj’s manager? Often shoeshine boys are the ones who solicit illegal money exchange, drugs, and prostitution. We had hoped to rescue Manaj from such a life. Apparently he was already in too deep. We realized we had been conned.
“If you are going to be conned, at least it is a change to be conned by someone who is really good at it,” Ken offered.
“Manaj has no idea what his deception cost him” I mused as we walked back to the Marina Hotel.
Seven years later Ken and I found ourselves in Delhi again with a few hours to spare. We decided to go down to the Connaught Circus and see if we could find Manaj. The story still haunted us after many years, and we wondered what had become of him. We wanted to share our story about what we had planned for him, and what he had missed by his deception, and try again to talk to him about Jesus.
We got a taxi and directed him to the Connaught Circus. Ken upbraided me because we did not bargain with the driver before we got in the cab.
“We will pay him what the fare card shows, according to the meter”, I replied.
We had him drive us around the Circus until we saw a place that looked familiar to us. We asked him to stop. He pulled over against the iron railing in an area where there was no opening from the street to the sidewalk. Actually it was a fence of metal pipes about waist high. We got out and asked what the fare would be.
“Two hundred Rupees!” he replied.
I knew that the short trip should have only been about one hundred Rupees, and I realized that he was robbing us because of our white skin. I offered him one hundred Rupees, and he began to argue with us loudly. A crowd of young men gathered, watching as the confrontation unfolded. Suddenly a young man dressed in fashionable clothes jumped the fence and took our side with the driver. We settled on one hundred fifty Rupees, and the driver went on his way. Our new found friend offered to show us around town.
“We are going to the government handicraft emporium,” I informed him.
“Let me show you the way,” he volunteered.
“We know the way,” I replied.
Persistently he walked along with us, and Ken and I both knew that he was trying to get his hooks into some tourists. We marveled at the operation with the taxi driver. Most tourists would have been reeled in by that clever maneuver. But we had been in India many times and suffered many deceptions. We saw through this one right away.
We began to discuss religion. “What is your religious faith?” I asked.
“All religion is the same,” he responded. “You go to a Muslim, Christian, or Hindu temple, and they are always asking money. Religion is a way for some people to get money from the poor.”
It is true that all famous religious shrines in India have stalls where various items are sold to the visitors. Even the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is no exception. Many people all over the world use religion as a way to get money.
“We follow Jesus Christ,” I responded. “He teaches that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Instead of collecting money from people, we teach them about Jesus and try to help them with their problems.”
“Seven years ago we met a shoe shine boy named Manaj in this area. He would be about eighteen now. Do you know him?” I asked our newfound friend.
“Are you the ones who bought the shoeshine box for him?” he asked.
Ken and I looked at each other in disbelief. “Yes, we are the ones,” I said, “And we would like to see Manaj again.”
“I will tell him you are looking for him,” he replied.
“We will be walking around the Circus and will come back through here after one hour. Tell him we would like to talk to him.”
One hour later, as we were walking through the area, a middle aged, heavily built man dressed in plain clothes approached us an asked us if we were looking for Manaj. Then he told us that it was very dangerous for us to be making such inquiries. He represented himself as a police inspector, but he offered no identification. We left without ever seeing Manaj.
How could we possibly have encountered someone who would ask us if we were the ones who bought a shoeshine box for Manaj seven years before? Did he sell a shoeshine box to every tourist who came through Delhi? Or were we the only ones who were stubborn enough to go and buy the box because we did not want to hand over two hundred fifty Rupees to a con man? Often we have opportunities to reach certain people at critical times in their lives. God is able to arrange such things. But we often do not know what we are doing. It is important to see each person as a potential child of God, and to accept every opportunity to teach about Jesus. God is responsible for the harvest.


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Too Much Suffering?



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Too  Much  Suffering?

Mel Gibson’s movie about the last hours of Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem, including the illegal trial and terrible scourging, has produced welcome debate about the facts of Jesus trial and crucifixion. Unbelievers are objecting to the terrible brutality depicted in the film. Humanists like to see Jesus as a great teacher who encouraged people to love each other and to let everyone do as they pleased. They do not like to be reminded of the horrible nature of sin. They do not believe in good and evil, but in time and chance. The suffering of Jesus does not fit nicely into their warped view of the how things work.

Even Christians have difficulty reconciling love and suffering. How can a loving Creator allow such terrible things as the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus to take place? How could Jesus look down from the cross into the tearful eyes of His mother, and refuse to come down from the cross to comfort her?

There is no greater demonstration of love possible than that shown by Jesus in His suffering in our place. The reality of the consequence of sin, its horrible nature, its destructive menace, is fully revealed in the scenes from the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The scourging, the hateful ridicule, the insults, the spit in His face, and the lifting up on the cruel cross at Calvary reveal that God is serious about sin and its consequences, and that God does love each of us.

I hope that we can carry those scenes in our minds,  and that we be always aware that it was our sins that Jesus carried on that day. Mel Gibson held the nail and hammered the blow that nailed Jesus to the cross. He has done a great service to society in admitting that his personal sin, and the sins of each of us, were what caused the horrible suffering of Jesus. How can we know that God loves His people? Because Jesus, the Son of God, suffered like that for each of us.

France decided that the movie should not be shown in their theaters, because of the fear that it might encourage the anti-Semitism that is becoming more problematic in Europe. Much of the complaints against the movie have been from those who fear it will arouse hatred of the Jewish people. 

Hopefully the movie will cause people to hate sin. It was the politicians who were worried about saving their own lives who arranged the crucifixion, John 11:45-50:  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."  

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." NIV 

A mob arranged by the politicians cried out for the crucifixion of Jesus, "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.  
They all answered, "Crucify him!" 
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.  
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"  

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"  

All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"  

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” (Matt 27:22-26, NIV)           

Surely the people got their request, as revealed in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and the following persecution. But ultimately it was God the Father who collaborated with his only begotten Son Jesus to provide the ultimate demonstration of love. 

Through the suffering of Jesus, we are called to suffer also, so that others may live. Pray that all people will be touched by the gospel story, and turn to Christ.  We all caused the crucifixion of Jesus, as He died for the sins of all people.  When we believe in Him, and decide to trust in Him by turning away from our selfish ways, we can be buried with Jesus in baptism and raised to walk in new life.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Battle Belongs to the Lord





The Battle Belongs to the Lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc1gW3Poy4U 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0G4fibAECg 


In heavenly armor we'll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord

No weapon that's fashioned against us will stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory, ho - nor, power and strength
to the Lord (2x)


When the power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord

He's raised up a standard, the pow'r of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord


And we sing glory, ho - nor, power and strength
to the Lord (2x)


When your enemy pressed in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord

Take courage, my friend, your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory, ho - nor, power and strength
to the Lord (2x)



Isaiah 54

11 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your wall of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 If anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”



Graham Staines Story


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GRAHAM STAINES STORY

We were in Orissa when the independent Baptist missionary Graham Staines was killed by a mob protesting the conversion of tribals to Christianity. We met a group of Baptist missionaries at the airport who were leaving because of the danger of the situation in Orissa. We went on with our classes, and had no problems. We did not go out for evangelism at night, as it has been a problem to do that in Orissa for some time. Orissa is probably the most devout Hindu state in India, and this explains the extreme poverty of that state. Indians are very superstitious, and the terrible storm that descended on the coast of Orissa in October of ’99 was thought by many to be a judgment for the horrible crime commited at Manoharpur village. Following is the article I wrote for the North Jackson Progress about the Graham Staines murder.

Christian Persecution in India

Graham Stains burned out Willis station wagonThoughtful people of India are burning with shame after the events of Jan 23. Graham Staines and his two sons, Timothy and Phillip, were burned alive in Manoharpur village of Orissa’s Keonjhar district of India early on the morning of Jan 23, 1999. A politically motivated mob blocked the doors of their ancient Willy’s station wagon where they were sleeping, poured gasoline on the vehicle, and shouted political slogans as the father and two sons were burned alive.

Reportedly the murderers were led by political activist Dara Singh, who belongs to a radical Hindu activist group, the Bajrang Dal, which is opposed to religious conversions of Hindus to Christianity or Islam. They fear that such conversions will change the political structure of India. Presently the high caste politicians have political and economic control, and many of the members of the ruling party, the BJP, have been members of the RSS, which lends support and protection to the Bajrang Dal. This radical group is responsible for encouraging persecution of Christians in India by rhetoric blaming Christians for India’s social and economic turmoil. Repeatedly they have called for the expulsion of Christian missionaries from India.

Graham Staines cared for the poor. He came to India from Australia in 1965, and became involved in the Leprosy Mission work of treating lepers in Daripada, Orissa. He married his wife Glades in the ‘80s, and together they became very involved in ministry to the poor and helpless. He began outreach into villages with the message of the cross, lifting up Jesus among the tribal people of that area. He had gone to Manoharpur village for an evangelism campaign, and was sleeping in the station wagon outside the local church building when the attack by a mob numbering more than one hundred came.
Gladys Staines
Glades Staines and her daughter, Esther, are determined to continue the work. Gladys sang the song “Because He Lives” at the funeral of her husband and two sons. She announced her forgiveness of those who had murdered her family. Because of these events, Christ has been proclaimed from the front pages of the newspapers of India. In the face of persecution, many are coming to Jesus from families that have rejected the gospel for years.

The official census of religious preference in India shows only about three percent of the population to be Christians, but no one knows how many Christians there are in India. Christians have refused to identify themselves to the government for many years because conversion to Christianity changes their political and social status, depriving them of government programs designed to lift up the poor. Christianity has a strong appeal to the very poor masses of India, because it offers them hope and teaches them that they have the ability to rise above their conditions through hard work and helping each other.

Now the Christian community in India has been brought together by the tragic death of Graham Staines and his sons. Many marches and speeches have been organized in support of freedom of religion. Both secularists and Hindu rationalists are crying out against the intolerance of the radical movement.

The action of the radicals has increased the awareness of Christianity among the people, and more are looking to see what is there to make a man expose himself and his family to danger, and what would lead someone to publicly announce forgiveness of people who had burned alive her beloved family. In a culture where people are used to selfishness, the light of forgiveness and care is shining brightly. The burning shame of religious intolerance and political fascism is being overcome by the love of Jesus.

Following is the cover story from India Today which ran Feb 8, 1999.
Burning Shame
The gruesome murder of an Australian missionary and his two sons in Orissa shocks the nation--and rattles the BJP-led government at the Centre.
By Ruben Banerjee

Even in death they were inseparable. Charred beyond recognition and reduced to fragile frames of ashes, the three bodies lay clinging to each other in what must have been a vain attempt to protect each other and escape the mob. But on the fateful night of January 22-23 in the wilderness of Manoharpur village in the sleepy rural outback of Orissa's Keonjhar district, nothing worked for the hapless father and his two sons. Having surrounded them from all sides, a murderous crowd set on fire the old four-wheel drive Willy's station wagon in which the three had retired for the night.

The beastly act done, Australian-born Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines, 58, and his two sons, Phillip, 10, and Timothy, 7, were put to sleep forever. No sooner had its macabre mission been completed than the mob melted away in the darkness as the flames that had leapt skywards simmered. But the heat generated by the senseless killings and the outrage stoked are far from ebbing days after the incident.

With the campaign against Christians, so far confined to Gujarat, making its ugliest appearance in Orissa, the nation went numb with horror. Even as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hung his head in shame, his Government was rattled by the wave of condemnation. President K.R. Narayanan spoke for everyone when he described the murder as "a monumental aberration of time-tested tolerance and harmony. The killings belong to the world's inventory of black deeds". Confronted with the charge that the Bajrang Dal -- a militant Hindu outfit attached to the VHP and with links to the RSS -- was guilty of the horrific murder, the prime minister despatched a three-member cabinet team to Manoharpur and announced a judicial inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge.

But not even the harshest words could measure up to the indignation felt in Baripada, the headquarters of Orissa's predominantly tribal district of Mayurbhanj, which Staines had made his home. "It's as if we all have had a personal bereavement," said District Collector R. Balakrishnan. For the past 35 years, dressed in casuals, sporting his trademark hat and wheeling his rickety bicycle, Saibo -- as he was popularly called -- was a fixture in Baripada where he did "God's work", tending and nursing leprosy patients in a specially run home on the town's outskirts.

Born in Brisbane, as a young boy the Australian became a pen friend of one Santanu Satpathy of Baripada with whom he shared his birthday. The long-distance friendship bloomed and Staines visited Baripada to call on his friend. That was in 1965 and he never returned. Besides the idyllic landscape of the region, what touched him was the Leprosy Home run since the last century with help from the Leprosy Mission of Australia. Having barely finished school, Staines finally found his mission in life. He devoted himself to the Home -- eventually becoming its superintendent -- and also immersed himself in preaching the Bible by virtue of also being the convener and treasurer of the Evangelical Missionaries Society.

His dedicated service won him many hearts. Fluent in Oriya and the local Santhali dialect, Staines and his wife Glades, whom he married in the '80s, were pillars of the local society. Three years ago, a devastating fire in Baripada left at least a 100 dead and scores horribly burnt. The local hospital failed to cope and the Staines couple -- Glades is a trained nurse -- spent nights nursing the injured. Elected president-designate of the local Rotary chapter for 2001, Staines was a leading light in last month's Pulse Polio immunisation drive. He distributed leaflets enthusiastically while Glades drove the jeep that led the procession for creating awareness in Baripada.

But it was his role as a Christian preacher that contributed to his grisly end. Overwhelmed by epidemics, malnutrition and illiteracy, Orissa is low on general expectations but high on religious fervour. Roads may be non-existent and starvation deaths not uncommon, but Orissa has become the battleground involving Christian and Hindu missionaries in a war for the hearts and minds of the tribals. Last year witnessed at least 30 Hindu-Christian clashes in 10 of the state's 30 districts. According to Defence Minister George Fernandes, who was part of the cabinet team to Manoharpur, there were at least 60 attacks on churches in Orissa between 1986 and 1998, "the highest number in any state".

In organising another four-day jungle camp in Manoharpur last month, Staines was courting trouble. For the past 14 years, he visited the village during the annual jungle camps instructing tribals on a range of subjects from public hygiene to the Bible. Says Reverend Pradeep Kumar Das of the Orissa Church of God Association: "Jungle camps are one big step towards development, including emotional upliftment ... Our commandment lays it down for us to preach the Bible and we preach it." A dusty inaccessible village of 150-odd Santhal families, Manoharpur too had been afflicted by the distrust sweeping the rest of the state. With 22 families having converted to Christianity over the years, the village stood clearly divided on religious lines when Staines arrived on January 20 with some fellow preachers and his two sons.

Graham was never into conversions. All he did was to spread the message of the Lord," insists widow Glades. Others, however, believe that his preaching often led to conversions. "He was killed because he was proselytising. People might have killed him in a fit of rage," says state Hindu Jagran Samukhya convener Subhash Chauhan. "Tempers have been frayed for long," admits local sarpanch Thakurdas Murmu. Yet, contrary to what has been claimed, conversion was not the immediate provocation. The last conversion in Manoharpur took place a year ago. Tension was brewing over traditional tribal customs between the converts and other Santhals in recent months. In June last year, during the Raja festival -- the earth is said to be menstruating then -- the converts violated local custom by continuing to till the land. This led to heated exchanges between the converts and traditional Santhals. Things hotted up again early January when conservative tribesmen objected to Santhali Christian carols being played at a Christian marriage in the village.

Known for guarding their customs zealously, the Santhals were incensed by this cultural separation. Only some had land to grow paddy once a year. The rest foraged in nearby forests to retrieve sal leaves and stitch plates out of them for a living. But all had plenty of time to brood and get angry. Staines' arrival in the village gave them a chance to get even with those who dared to go against the traditional customs. Help came readily from Dara Singh, a Hindu fanatic from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh who was active along the Mayurbhanj-Keonjhar border since 1980. While Staines and his sons slept in the car parked outside the village prayer hall -- his companions were sleeping inside -- the mob descended on them. About 100 m away, young Santhal boys and girls were celebrating their attainment of adolescence by dancing the traditional Dhangri to the beat of drums. They witnessed everything but chose to do nothing. Says a senior police official, "The gruesome act seemingly had the collective consent of the Santhals." Adds Utkal University sociologist Rita Ray, "The tribal community is in a state of turmoil. That turbulence makes it easy to fish in troubled waters."

On the face of it, there was little cause for tension. Contrary to general perceptions, conversions number around 5,000 a year and the Christian population has grown marginally from 1.98 per cent in 1981 to 2.9 per cent in 1991. By that yardstick, the religious map of Orissa has not changed. The trouble starts when a handful of converts defy age-old traditions and customs. As missionaries target the farthest and the most inaccessible areas, the violation of tribal customs have ranged the non-converts against the converts. In recent months, Hindus and Christians have clashed violently in Serang, Gajapati district. In Bolangir, Christians stopped visiting the local hospitals suspecting a selective sterilisation programme. In Bargarh, Hindus stopped drawing water from the village well on the suspicion that it was poisoned. And in Kathiguda, Nowrangpur district, 38 Adivasis complained to the police that they were duped into converting on the false promises of jobs. In such a vitiated atmosphere, the work is cut out for the likes of Dara Singh.

With substantial support from Santhals, Kulhos and Bathurias, Singh has been steadily fomenting trouble in the Keonjhar-Mayurbhanj belt since 1996, when the first police case was lodged against him. On June 28 last year, he and his stormtroopers attacked a truck carrying cattle -- meant for slaughter houses in Calcutta -- and set the vehicle on fire after beating up the driver and helper. He repeated his feat on August 16, this time beating up seven Muslims who were in the vehicle. One later succumbed to his injuries. According to a petition presented by 11 citizens of Thakurmunda to the cabinet team last Wednesday, one of the raiding teams flaunted the banner of the Bajrang Dal.

With at least nine cases registered against him, Singh was no stranger to the police. Whenever communal violence took place in the region -- including the attack on a church in nearby Kesidiha last January -- Singh's name invariably showed up in police records. "Dara Singh could be just a zealot working on his own. He was never our primary member," claims Pratap Sarangi, convener of the state Bajrang Dal. But the police tell a different story. Intelligence reports over the past year identified Singh as the kingpin and described him as a member of the Bajrang Dal. "He must be one," insists a senior police official. "The earlier crimes were petty and we didn't have any motives then to fix responsibility on any particular group."

Though the RSS has 1,500 shakhas (units) throughout Orissa, Manoharpur is too inconsequential to have one. The nearest town with an RSS unit is Thakurmunda, a backbreaking ride of over one and a half hours. But here again, the Bajrang Dal is absent. It is, however, present in Anandpur, another bustling town almost 60 km from Manoharpur. Sangh leaders claim they simply lacked any striking power in a place like Manoharpur. With the Sangh Parivar strenuously denying any links with Singh, one possibility is that he was a freelance fanatic who conducted what he thought was a dharmyudh (holy war) on behalf of Hindus.

Curiously, the J.B. Patnaik Government turned a blind eye to Singh's activities despite appeals to the chief minister, home secretary and local MLAs by anxious residents. Worse, the district was rudderless when the Staines' killing occurred. There was no SP for the past three months -- intra-Congress rivalries prevented an appointment -- the additional SP was on leave and the whole area was managed by a DSP. The team of cabinet ministers was also told by some Manoharpur residents about Singh's proximity to state minister and local Congress MLA Jaideva Jena. Naturally, Jena denies the charge. "It's shameful to settle political scores over macabre deaths."

That is undeniable but already the monumental tragedy of the Staines' killing has become an occasion for political one-upmanship. If Chief Minister Patnaik has used the national outrage against the Sangh Parivar to divert attention from the Anjana Mishra gang rape case and secure a fresh lease of life, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani didn't wait for a full inquiry before issuing a clean chit to the Bajrang Dal. Responding to Congress General Secretary Madhavrao Scindia's outburst that it was time for Vajpayee and Advani to pack their bags, Fernandes hinted at an evil conspiracy. "After Pokhran there are many forces that don't want this Government to remain," he said, adding "Someone had decided at some point of time that Staines had to be killed. As of now we have not been able to figure out any motive." But the Government has begged the more complex question as to whether the BJP is now a victim of the forces it had helped unleash.

As the country waits for the harsh truth to emerge, it can only rue the fact that political and sectarian differences can be resolved by roasting a man and his two children to death. The Staines' murder will remain a collective blot on the conscience of India for a long time to come. It has made a great country look small. And ugly.

Erasing a stain

Orissa: A year after the killing of Graham Staines and his two sons at Manoharpur, police finally trap Dara Singh

By Lalit Pattajoshi and Chetan Krishnaswamy

A year after the diabolic burning of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar, Orissa, the prime accused was finally conned into the police net in an election-eve surprise. Rabindra Kumar Pal, alias Dara Singh, 35, was arrested from a forest near Guhira Dihi village, 160 km from Baripada in Mayurbhanj on January 31. Dara carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head.

It was after several aborted attempts that the police could lay their hands on the fanatic who had the unflinching support of the tribals in the area. His desire to possess a gun had finally proved to be his undoing.



Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Battle










Appalachian Log Cabin


Valley of Megiddo

From the peaceful vista of the front porch of our Appalachian log cabin in Bass Hollow, or looking over the Valley of Megiddo in Israel, the same battle looms. The battle between good and evil, the battle between right and wrong, the battle between love and hate, the battle between life and destruction. What a person believes determines which side they are on in this battle.

World events are presently focusing attention on the three major world religions; Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam. All three are monotheistic and claim the God of Abraham as their Master. However, the three are divided over the identity of Yeshua, descendant of David who was born in Bethlehem of Judea about 2017 yrs ago, 3757 by the Hebrew calendar.  Christians believe that Jesus is Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. Many Jews still believe that He was an impostor. Muslims believe that He is a great teacher, but not the Son of God. 

Many unbelievers will admit that Jesus was a great teacher, and even incorporate many of His teachings into their own ethical standards. But they think that people who believe in God are deluded, and suggest that we should believe in nature, the natural order of time and chance.  They reject any of God's moral laws that do not fit their personal standards, and make their own rules.  

King David talks about this characteristic of mankind, that we want to make our own rules, in Psalm 2.  The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break[b] them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.


There are two paths available in this life. One is to trust in human understanding, and the other is to trust in God who created us in His image. Those who trust in themselves will always make fun of those who trust in God, because we remind them of their hopeless condition. As Paul said, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Cor 2:14-16, NIV)

Yes, the unbeliever wants to do as he pleases.  Nature is all there is, for the one who rejects faith in God. Religious faith is a burden that modern humanist want to cast aside, so that one can do whatever he wants, within limits set by society, with rules determined by the majority. 
 
Many have decided that all religion is bad, because differences in religion cause people to fight wars and to kill each other. I am no fan of religions, especially state mandated religions such as atheistic humanism (Communism), Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Paganism, Islam, State Mandated Christianity, and so forth. But I am offended when secular humanist refuse to admit that atheism expressed in Communism is a religion, and has killed more people in the last two centuries than all other religious feuds combined. The idea that destroying religion is the way to peace and blessings is a big lie.

However, the communist claim that religion has been used to enslave the masses is true. Making a sham of Christian religion, and using it for selfish purposes, to exercise power and collect money, is very offensive to our Creator. As apostle Paul explained, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things.” (Phil 3:18-19, NKJ)

Yes, the world's religions have been used as a base for power 
over the common people by the self appointed religious elite, and as a way to collect money from the poor.  Political power and forced taxes were the life blood of the Holy Roman Empire, and such a religion in no way represented the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught that we should be motivated by love, and to do good because we want to help others.  

I will confess that following Jesus is for weak people. Only people who know they are sinners need a savior. Those who are self righteous and puffed up will never submit to Christ. Jesus said this: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matt 9:12-13, NKJ)

Truly no one is well, spiritually, without Jesus. Some think they are well, and trust in their own understanding. But they come far short of the wisdom and righteousness of God working in the lives of those who believe in Jesus.  Recently much research has been done to measure the influence on nations of evangelistic teaching that encouraged people to be followers of Jesus, and taught the priesthood of the believer.  The Baptist missionaries of the British Colonies had a great impact for good upon the people who decided to follow Jesus as a personal decision, by faith instead of by coercion.  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/world-missionaries-made.html

The state mandated Christian religions of Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholic, and High Church Protestant had no comparable blessed effect. People who follow Jesus by personal faith are blessed. People who are compelled by the state to practice any religion are cursed. 

Yes, there is a battle going on, the battle between good and evil. The battle will be won with the power of truth, the Sword of the Spirit that will slay the nations.  Yes, there is such a thing as truth, and truth will win the battle.  Yes, He is the way, the truth, and the life. I am glad to be on His side. 

The Rider on a White Horse, Rev 19:

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 

14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.



 King of Kings, and Lord of Lords