Time to Smile

This  is  a  hillarious  ad. In  the  end   he  says ;What   to  see  is  what  you  get.

First birthday in heaven

Today  is  my  mother 's  first  birthday  in  heaven. I want  to  share  a  childhood  favourite in  her  memory.  A  song  I  sang  from  a little  paperback  booklet  I  had.It  talks  about  the  hope  and  confidence  we  have  as  Christians.

A Voice for the Disabled People of India

Aamir  Khan  is  a  popular  Bollywood  actor. He has made  several  films on  social  issues. These  days  he  is  hosting  a  TV  programme called Satyamev Jayate in  which   he  takes up  various  social  evils and  mal practises  rampant  in  our  society,issues like the  killing  of  the  the  female  child, brides  being  killed  for  dowry, violence against   women and  child  abuse. He  has also  given  a  voice  to  millions  of   disabled  people  in India. today   Today,  he  was  invited  to  the  upper  house  of  the  Parliament  to  talk  about  medical   mal practises. He wrote  the  following  article   for  a  leading  Indian  newspaper.

One  simple  step  to  increase  our GDP
by  Aamir Khan

In America, 12 per cent of the population is counted as disabled, the corresponding percentage in England is 18 and in Germany, nine. In India, government statistics claim it is two per cent. Javed Abidi of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People has a very poignant question with regard to the above numbers: what is so amazing about the Indian environment or climate or gene pool that we have only a tenth or a fifth of the number of persons with disabilities when compared to other countries? Or is it that something is wrong with our counting?

Until the year 2000 — 53 years after Independence — the Census did not record a single disabled person in India! In other words, in the minds of the people making policy, taking decisions and allocating funds, the disabled did not exist. And if they did not exist, obviously we did not do much for them. So in the first 53 years of Independence, while we were building the infrastructure of our country, we did little or nothing to include them in our thoughts and actions. Therefore, the bulk of our infrastructure is not disabled-friendly, leaving them further marginalised, and disabling them further.

How we behave with the disabled among us tells us what kind of a people we are.

Ketan Kothari, another expert, explains how, by and large, we have two kinds of reactions to disabled people: one, that they must have done something wrong in their previous birth and therefore deserve what they got; two, let us use them as a ticket to heaven — make a donation to an organisation working for the disabled, or give money to a disabled person asking for alms, and score some brownie points with God. If this is how many of us behave towards the disabled, it is a sorry picture that we paint of ourselves.

Time to change, guys.

So where and how should this change begin? Education.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme and the Right to Education Act say that every child in India is guaranteed an education. Despite that, most regular schools in India deny admission to children with disabilities. They cite lack of infrastructure and trained special educators. They are probably right. But what stops so many schools across India from becoming inclusive and disabled-friendly? Who is putting a gun to their heads, not allowing them to do this? I'm afraid it is our own lack of thought, application of mind, and maybe of heart. Let's change that. If we start today, each school (if it really wants to) can become a truly integrated school within a period of two, or at most three, years. Let each school make this its target.

Currently, an alarmingly low percentage of children with disabilities are educated. Without the foundation of a strong education, no child can reach his or her potential in life. By denying children with disabilities admission in regular schools, we are denying them their right to education and, therefore, their right to make their lives productive.We are also denying other children the right to intermingle with, learn from, and grow up with friends with disabilities, and vice versa. With education for our persons with disabilities, we can prepare them to be productive, look after themselves, and their families.

The government says two per cent of our population is disabled. Various experts and NGOs say it is six per cent. I think it is safe to assume that the number is somewhere between six and 10 per cent — let's say eight. Now eight per cent of 1.2 billion is 96 million. That is more than the population of England (51 million), France (65 million) and Germany (80 million). As Mr. Abidi puts it, what we as society need to decide is, do we want 96 million of our population to be uneducated, unemployed, unproductive and left with no choice but to be a weight that the rest of us carry? Or do we want them to be educated, employed, productive, able to look after themselves and their families, contributing to the growth and wealth of our nation? If we want the latter then we simply cannot achieve that without including them in our mainstream education system.

That's the bottom line.

(Scource The  Hindu)

It is not our responsibility to judge others or to set ourselves as the standard of holiness and devotion. The duty pressed on us is to live in the light of the truth and thereby make Christ known to others.
 Frederick  L. Kosin

Togetherness

I  found  this  image  on Facebook  and  want  to  share  it   here.The  smile on  each face tells  how   happy  they  are  to  be  together. Lack  of  their  own  space  or  comfort does  not  bother them.

I  love  the  baby  sleeping  in  the  dresser drawer.

What  do  you  like   about  this  painting?

What  title  would  you  give  it?

Courageous Christianity

In his book, Courageous Christianity, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote about living for Christ in a hostile society. "Why do I preach the Gospel when people do not want to hear and I face many hardships and discomforts in doing so?" he asked. "I will tell you why. Take this world of ours. We have already had two world wars, and look at the present international situation. What is the matter with this world? What is the matter with men and women? Is there nothing that can put things right? I say that only one thing can even touch the problems of the human race--it is this Gospel."

(quoted  by  Dr  David  Jeremiah  in  his   devotional  magazine  Turning  Point)

Yesterday ,  two  sisters ,  (young  girls)   came  to  see  us  requesting  prayer  for   their  father   who  is  a  heart  patient.

Please  pray  with   us   for   the healing of  Shuba  and Vibha 's  Dad.  Also   pray  that this  family  may fully  surrender  themselves  to  Jesus.

No lofty claims

1 Corinthians 2:3  “And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling.”

 This is how the great preacher, the Apostle Paul described himself.
  No lofty claims, no history of all the degrees he had, and all the schools he attended.
 We don’t see this type of promotional campaign these days.

Denise  Jeter

Sunday Blessings -Evening Meeting

I  want  to  share  some  pictures  from  our  evening  Gospel  meeting.

Today  we  started  using our  new JBL  sound  system. This  professional  system  is  very  expensive  and  was  ordered  from Delhi. It  rocks.

People  coming  forward  for   prayer.

Rev. Prof. Dr. Herbert praying for  healing  and  deliverance.

Assistant  Pastor Brijesh.

A  mom with  her  6  month  old  son.

Jesus is  the  reason  they  found  happiness.

Today  after  morning  service  my  sister Sonia

(visiting  from  Lucknow) served  lunch  to  60  people.

Everyone  enjoyed  rice , egg  curry and  paneer curry (paneer  is  similar  to  ricotta cheese) and  rotis (flat  bread).

It  was  a great  labour  of love  cooking  in the  115*  heat.  Sonia  had  5 people help her.

Sonia  has  a  serving  heart. She    served Christ   through  feeding   people. Everyone  blessed  her  in  return.

A  newly  married   couple  served soda  pop  and  sweets after  church.

It  was  a  great day.

"We  love  because  H e loved  us   first. "

1 John 4;9 (BIBLE)

The Building of Modern India

I  would  like  to  share  an  email  I  received  from  philosopher,  writer  an d international  speaker Vishal Mangalwadi

How Protestantism Built Modern India
Vishal Mangalwadi


June 8, 2012

Dear Friends

It is a year since The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization was published. During these 12 months I have travelled around the world presenting the thesis of the book, which already has over 200 reviews on the internet. It is being accepted as a text book in many universities and educational institutions.

Today, with a Day of Prayer at British L’Abri, in Greatham, I begin a season of retreat, waiting upon the Lord for the next phase of my ministry. Andrew Fellows, the head of International L’Abri, is personally supervising my retreat, for which I am very thankful.

Last month, in India, I was humbled to discover that a businessman had flown from Mumbai to Delhi three times to personally hand over the above book to key national leaders. Because of the enthusiasm of people like him, a special edition is now being considered for India. Please pray that it may open the doors for a nationally televised discussion of the thesis that the Bible created modern India.

While in India, I wrote a short essay, “The Suppressed History of Hindi.” It’s abridged version has been published, in Hindi and English, in the June edition of FORWARD Press. The full version has been posted on www.RevelationMovement.com


Protestant missions blessed India (among other ways) by turning our dialects into literary languages. They followed a God who had given a text to illiterate slaves – to oral learners. That made it possible for His word (“It is written”) to become the solid foundation for truth-based freedom. The oppressive kingdom of Satan could be opposed because God had revealed the truth.


I am sending the following extract to you because, sadly, evangelical missions are now pushing our literate cultures back towards “Orality.” This is being done in the hope of speeding up the Second Coming.

Protestantism built history’s greatest nations because it took seriously God’s promise, “I will make thee a great nation.” As my book and this article document, Protestant missions fulfilled God’s promise by cultivating the languages of the people, from German and English to Bengali, Urdu and Hindi.

In contrast, many evangelical missions are losing interest in languages and literature because they are not serious about nation-building. They don’t seem to think that God is interested in “healing” or “blessing” nations. They assume that the nations are about to be burnt up along with the planet itself. They believe that the New Jerusalem is being built beyond the blues and that that it will descend like a gigantic UFO. Then there will be no nations in darkness that will need to walk by its light (Revelation 21) or will need the leaves that are for the healing of the nations (Rev 22). In due time, I will discuss these faulty eschatological ideas and their impact on missionary strategy.

For now, it is enough to say that the contemporary loss of Christian interest in language and literature is a consequence of the Post-Christian loss of interest in “true Truth.” As Francis Schaeffer pointed out in 1960s & 70s, without Logos (The Word, Sense, or Reason)the secular worldview has no option but to usher in the “Age of Non-Reason.” It has to replace Truth with myth. It has to turn “witnesses” of Truth into “story-tellers.”

Neither the following extract nor the full essay discuss Protestantism’s decline into contemporary Evangelicalism, which is undermining the West’s great Christian heritage and marginalizing the Gospel from what it used to be – a powerful culture-shaping force. The purpose of the extract is to encourage you to read the entire essay and, thereby, increase your appreciation of the power of the now eclipsed Protestant Biblical worldview.

Protestantism and the Birth of Modern Hindi

Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885) became the father of Modern Hindi Literature, because he understood Lord Macaulay, better than Hindu intellectuals of today, who condemn the Macaulay Minute (1835) without having read it. Bhartendu grasped Maculay’s Protestant view that a mother-tongue is far more important a tool of nation-building than a sacred but dead language, such as Sanskrit. He agreed with the Vernacularists[i] in his time that dozens of dialects collectively called “Hindi” could to be enriched by ideas adopted from more developed languages such as English and French. Therefore, he was transmitting the Christian view on nation-building to his fellow countrymen when he said,

Nij Bhasha Unnati Ahe, sab unnati ko mul.
Bin nij bhsha-gyan ke, mitat na hiy ko sul. Vividh kala shikha amit, gyan anek prakar
Sab ddesan se le karhu, bhasha mahi prachar

Progress is made in one’s mother tongue, the foundation of all progress.

Without the knowledge of the mother tongue, there is no cure for heart’s pain. Many arts and education, infinite knowledge of various kinds,
Should be taken from all countries, but propagated in one’s mother tongue.

Sadly, until Bhartendu’s time, caste prejudice and cultural arrogance had prevented Hindu religio-intellectual aristocracy from developing the language of the people that we now call “Hindi.” It was the painstaking toil of the Christian movement that gave us what has become our unofficial “national language.” Protestant Christianity, with help from some Roman Catholics and many enlightened Hindus created Hindi because it was committed to moving the “Backwards” forward.

The Older Meaning of “Hindi”

During Bharatendu’s time, the term “Hindi” was a generic name given by Muslims to dozens of languages.

….Hindu sages did not lack linguistic abilities. They had already done a superb job in refining Sanskrit and its grammar. Their problem was that their religious worldview prevented them from sharing Sanskrit. The secret of their cultural power over fellow Hindus lay in keeping the common people ignorant of the language of the gods. The secrecy or monopoly of “knowledge,” turned Sanskrit, an otherwise scientific language, into a vehicle of religio-magical mumbo-jumbo.

Nor did Muslim Maulanas lack talent. Their difficulty was that their theology and religion also prevented them from developing the dialects of the downtrodden. Islam was as interested in converting Hindus as was Christianity, yet Islam did not develop our dialects because Islam’s culture values submission, more than intellectual freedom, to pursue truth.

It is estimated that a relatively weaker European country such as Spain publishes more books in a year than the whole of the Arabic world has published in a thousand years. The West’s vibrant literary tradition emerged because the Bible said that the Lord Jesus brought grace and truth (John 1: 17). The first two of the Ten Commandments required Jews and Christians to refrain from making myths and idols but seek and believe only what is true. Those Commandments became the seed which produced a passion for truth, enabling Christian culture to cultivate languages, libraries, schools, universities, and research labs, as it developed technology and modern science. This intellectual tradition made the West powerful.

Christ’s Spirit

Why did the West empower our languages and share its secret of power so liberally and sacrificially? The Bible said that the Lord Jesus came from heaven to save this world, enslaved by sin and suffering. His incarnation inspired Christian scholars and saints to also dedicate their lives – leaving the comforts of home, to go to the remotest parts of the world, live with Stone Age tribes and develop their mother-tongue. They gave to the marginalized of the world the opportunity to acquire the secrets of intellectual power – including the power of truth – generated in more developed parts of the world.

The Macaulay Minute, so hated by our bigoted elite, asked the East India Company to prepare a class of Indians, who would learn English, in order that India might acquire access to European sciences, arts, laws, governance, organization, values, and management. Understanding the nobility of this mission, writers and poets such as Bhartendu tried to make Hindi capable of receiving Western knowledge.


The Birth of Modern Hind

…. In 1875,when Bhartendu was 25-years old, Rev. S. W. Kellogg published A Grammar of the Hindi Language: In Which are treated The High Hindi, Braj, And the Eastern Hindi of the Ramayan of Tulsi Das, and the Colloquial Dialects of Rajputana, Kumaon, Avadh, Rewa, Bhojpur, Magadha, Maithila, Etc. It was Kellogg’s labor that made it possible for “Hindi” to become one language – the Lingua Franca of “North India.” . . .

The “High Hindi” or Khari Boli was the dialect spoken in and around Delhi. Premsagar, was its standard text. The suffix “high” was transported from “High” German, the language created by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, through his translation of the Bible and Hymn-book. Luther’s literary effort enabled the German speaking masses to free themselves from a bondage to Latin and an unscrupulous religious hierarchy thatkept Europeans in the darkness of ignorance. By translating the Bible into German, Luther gave his people, the Bible’s liberating message in their own heart-language. This transformed their dialect into a language of learning and governing. Luther’s literary work became the linguistic foundation that made it possible for Germany to become a great power. Following his example, missionary grammarians-translators empowered Indian languages so that the Bible and other history-changing books could be made available to us. . . .

… Without Kellogg’s effort at integrating different Hindi dialects into one Grammar, Bharatendu would not have had a Hindi language capable of uniting North India emotionally and intellectually through one mother-tongue.

Why Did Christianity Develop Hindi?

Did western traders, diplomats, civil servants, judges, military officers and missionaries develop Indian languages in order to just “convert” Hindus, as is claimed by our elites?

All these Christian linguists, whether missionaries or not, wanted Hindus to be delivered from Brahminical idols, myths, superstitions, and social evils such as the caste system. These myths and evils have corrupted Indian character and enslaved our minds. Indeed, to convert means to turn from sin and falsehood and seek truth and righteousness. But how, you might ask? Well, language is the software that enables us to think, learn, and communicate. Remarkably, the Bible says that when we come to God, we must take with us offering of words – words of repentance for our sin as well as praise for God’s goodness: “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips [i.e. praise].’” (Hosea 14:2)


The Hindu-Buddhist traditions have emphasized meditation and silence. In contrast, Christianity has been interested in language because the God of the Bible has revealed Himself as a person who communicates. The Bible also makes clear that He made us in His image so that we may know and love him – and, love includes communication. Words are important because they express our hearts: and our hearts need to seek truth, including truth about our own moral corruption and our need of redemption and spiritual rebirth.

The sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, started by Martin Luther, used the Bible to free much of Europe from the religious tyranny of a corrupt church and more importantly from sin’s tyrannical control over individual sinners. Likewise, the makers of modern Hindi followed European reformers in using the Bible to free the Indian mind from the tyranny of sin and corrupt Brahminical socio-religious order.

Contrary to what the suppressors of India’s history tell us, missionaries empowered our mother-tongue because they wanted us to think. They wanted us to study Brahmanical Scriptures along with secular and sacred literature that had turned England into a mighty nation. Unlike our corrupt elites, who are obsessed with power, Christian reformers were concerned about helping us grow into a freedom with justice and morality. Reverend Kellogg explained his reason for preparing his grammar for missionaries as well as for magistrates. He wrote, "Still it is very desirable that the magistrate in his court should be able to understand the rustic witness ... Without the aid of a third, and not always disinterested party." (Kellogg, A Grammar of the Hindi Language, Second Edition, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trunbner, and Co., 1893, p xvi). A poor peasant is unlikely to get justice if he can speak to his British or South Indian or North-East Indian judge only through a translator. After all, what if the translator misinterprets witnesses because of bribes, caste-connections, or simple misunderstanding.


[i] William Carey (1761-1834), the pioneer of the British and Protestant Missionary movement, who became the Father of Modern India had championed the development of the vernaculars. His work raised the question: which classical language is best suited to enrich the vernaculars. The Orientalists answered: Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. The Anglicists, led by Macaulay’s brother-in-law Charles Trevelyan, argued for English. Lord Macaulay, who lived with his sister and brother-in-law, ruled in favor of English as best equipped to enrich our mother tongues.

Bind Up the Broken Hearted

Rakhi, Kunal(8)  Karan(4)

Rakhi  fell  madly  in  love  with  rich  and  successful Dr Praveen who  promised  her  the  world. Her  Christian family  advised  her  against  being  unequally  yoked  with  a  man who  was  not  a  Christian , but  she  paid  no  heed  to that. All  she  wanted  was the  love of  a handsome,  rich  and  successful  man and  she  got  it. Her  husband  loved  her  deeply  and  they  lived  an  affluent  life . For  Rakhi  and  her  two small  boys  aged   , the world was  their  oyster.

Their  rainbow hued  sky  suddenly  turned  black when  Dr Praveen  fell  ill and  it  was discovered  that  he  was   battling   the  last  stages  of  cancer.
Treatment  and  chemo  therapy  could  not  help  him. . But  the  doctors  told him  it  was  too  late  and he  had  only  a  short time  left.
Dr  Praveen  followed  another religion and  to  please  him Rakhi  had  given   up her  Christian  faith,  in  fact  she  became  an  atheist. Her  in-laws  had  never  accepted  her because  she  did  not belong  to their  religion.With  the  last  traces  of   hope   gone,  Praveen  refused  all  medical  help  and  treatment  in  order  to  save some  precious  money  to  leave  for  his  beloved  wife and  sons,  he  knew  that  after  his demise they  would be  rejected  by  his family.

After  Praveen  breathed  his  last, his  family,  specially his  father and  mother  unleashed  their  pent  up  anger  and hatred  against  Rakhi  and  her  sons. Daily  they  were physically  and  verbally  abused. Extreme  pressure   was  applied  on  them to  leave  the  large  ancestral house  which  they  legally inherited  from  Praveen.

Going  from  riches to  rags  Rakhi  was  left  a  destitute ,  penniless widow with  a  little  support  from  her  husband 's   savings which  they  manged  to  salvage.The  cruelty  and brutality  of  her  father  and  mother in law  made  life  unbearable  for  them. Kunal, the elder  son  who  was then  5  years  old  called the  police  3  times  to  save his  mother  who  was  being  violently beaten. He  told  me    he  has  nightmares that his  grandparents  are  killing  his  mother.

In the  midst  of  this  domestic  holocaust, Rakhi 's  family  came  to  her  rescue. Her  mother  and  2  sisters  gave  her  moral  and  financial  support (and still  do). Friends  advised her  not  to  leave  her  husband 's  house but to  fight  against  injustice.

Fearing  for  their  lives,  Rakni  has  appealed to  the  law seeking protection  from  the  courts. Since then the physical  abuse has stopped  although  the  parent 's in-laws are  malignantly cruel  to   the  three  of them. The  two  boys now  8 and  4  have  suffered  unimaginable trauma which  has  made  deep  furrows  in  her  impressionable childhood.

With  help from  her  family and  against  all odds  Rakhi  managed  to  do  her  teacher 's  training (B Ed  and  M Ed) Now  she  is  seeking  a job to  support  herself and  her  boys.

Two  Sundays  ago  Rakhi  and her  boys  came  to  our  evening  Gospel  meeting   with  her  younger sister Renu who  introduced her to us.   Renu   is  a  friend  of  my  sister Sonia,  who  is  visiting   me  this  month. She  is  very  eager that  Rakhi  should   have  fellowship  with  God 's  people.
After  the  meeting  Rakhi  stepped  forward  requesting  prayer for  healing  and  restoration. We  asked   them to  stay  for  dinner.

Last  week  Sonia  and  I  visited  Rahki  who  lives  in  the  old  part  of  the city. We  immediately  sensed  the  oppression  and  gloom in  that  place. The boys  were  overjoyed  to  have  visitors  and  played  with  Abner  (Sonia' s  son).

They  shared  their  story  of  suffering  and   terror  with  us. We  prayed a  prayer  of blessing and  release  for  them.

They live  in the  crowded  old  city, commuting  there  is    very  difficult  through  narrow  sometimes  unpaved  streets.  But the  Good  Shepherd  is  with us.

Rakhi  wants  to  sell  some  old  gym equipment which  belonged  to  her husband we  are  trying  to  find  a  buyer.

Please  remember  Rakhi and  her  two  sons  Kunal  (8)  and  Karan (4)  in  your  prayers. Pray  for  release from the  evil  designs  of  Satan, that  their   faith  may  grow  and they  may  seek  God   and  his  righteousness, for  their  protection  (  their  sympathetic   neighbours  are  alert and  have  said  if  they  don 't  see  them  around  for  a  certain period  of  time   they  will  inform  the  police).Pray  that Rakhi  may  find  a  job.

Isaiah 61 (BIBLE)
 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.