In The Footsteps Of The Master

The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Pastor

2012-02-29T09:24:00.000+09:00

The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Pastor

2012-02-28T14:33:00.000+09:00

Your Marriage Can Always Be Better Than What It Is Now!

2012-02-27T11:29:00.000+09:00

The harsh winter is about to bid us farewell and there is sign of life everywhere; Spring is around the corner and my wife and I are excited to trace back our paths across some of the mountains/rivers in and around the city of Daejeon.
Walking and hiking has
become one of our best forms of recreation.
When we were younger, we didn't realize how important it is to keep our bodies in shape; we thought walking for hours is a waste of time. Working, studying and ministering took all our times and we hardly had time for recreation, family and for leisure. In fact, taking time for our personal benefit used to bring some kind of guilt; we thought we are selfish to take time for ourselves while there are people who are hurting, there is work to be done, there is a book to be read, there is a paper to be written and deadline to be met.

But when we started to climb the ladder of forties, we began to feel that our size is increasing and strength disappearing; one day my wife exclaimed "look at my weight!", I am ---- pounds more than what I am supposed to be!" As I saw, it was a shock to know that she had left me behind in this area! So, about three years ago, we began our campaign against this enemy called weight and together we have vanquished the foe from our territory.

But as we ventured into the quest of maintaining good health; the thing we discovered has surpassed all our expectations (even imagination). Prior to this venture, we strongly believed that ours was a marriage made in heaven and we have got all that what it means to have a fulfilled marriage. Little did we realize that as we stepped on the walking trails every weekend for 5-7 hours (depending which course we took), we were also stepping into a different dimension of love and marriage that we had never discovered before. After 20 years of marriage we have now understood what it means to say "I love my wife/husband more than when I first fell in love".

My advise to those who are younger than us or who find their marriage becoming monotonous; try to take time off one day in a week and find something that interests both and do it together and if you love walking or hiking...that is the best. I would give up anything on Saturday in order to hold my wife's hand and walk along the trails for hours!

Audio: Living with eternal perspective

2012-02-27T09:10:00.002+09:00

Click Living with eternal perspective

Don't Stop Singing

2012-02-20T22:59:00.002+09:00

He knows my name

2012-02-14T18:13:00.002+09:00

God is faithful to Keep us!

2012-02-06T08:49:00.000+09:00

1Thessalonians5:24

Theone who calls you is faithful and he will do it!

Dear friends,

Quite often you have heard thesaying, "attitude is everything", and to some extent it is true. Our perception of a certain reality candetermine the kind of response we will have toward that reality. For example, Joshua Bell playing Beethovenwith his 3.5 million dollar violin in a Washington D.C. subway station andgetting no attention from the public is a widely circulated story in theinternet. It is reported that in 45minutes of his playing, he made 32$ with no one stopping by to listen/see thisworld famous musician playing the world famous music with one of the mostexpensive violins in the world. Threedays before he played in that subway station, his concert hall was full, each seatcosting nearly a 100$; but there he stood by a trashcan in that station ,playing for 45 minutes and no one bothering to listen…all because the publichas a certain perception toward a street musician.

This can also be true when itcomes to our relationship with God. Howwe approach him depends on our perception of him and that will also spill overinto how we perceive suffering in this world. There is no denying that life comes with fair share of pain and sorrow;disappointments and failures for everyone who has lived enough in this world. Faith and trust in a loving God seem absurdwhen life becomes an uphill battle of unexplainable suffering and sorrow. But if we pause and think the alternative tofaith and trust in a loving God is rather more frightening and terrifying…withoutthe loving embrace of a God who promises to carry us on when we no longer canbear, there is no better hope either. Therefore, as Paul tells the Thessalonians believers that the one whocalls us is also faithful in keeping us, let us also look to him who is able tokeep us in times of difficulties and hardships. Like the Psalmist (Ps. 23), let's believe that God is with us even if wehave to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Let's believe that God is able to protect us,provide for us and restore our dignity in the face of our foes and friends whomight have ridden us off. God is able tokeep us!

2012-02-02T23:55:00.002+09:00

Life Goes On

2012-01-30T16:13:00.002+09:00

Lately I have been occupied with several things, often feel that time is slipping out of my hands. Not just the time, the months, the years, andeven the decades have gone bye. Thesense of belonging to a younger generation has long left me. The role models that I had looked up to for theinspiration and strength have begun to depart and it scares me to hear someonesay "you are my role model"! When I entered the ministry, I was in my late teen years, got married inmid-twenties, and without much warning, here I stand staring at the soonapproaching mountain of fifty. Seeing ourson prepare for the university compels me to finish up my last remaining schoolpost. When the day comes, and it hasalready come, when our son says goodbye for his college, me and my wife willhave to begin a new beginning, new journey that we are totally unpreparedfor. For the last 19 years, three of ushave been the only family members we spent most of our time with. I left my family when Christ found me, and mywife left her family the day I found her, and our son arrived two yearslater. Ever since, three of us havelived, laughed, cried and rejoiced together. Faced unusual circumstances of life together; have over come dark daysand taken advantages of the bright ones together. But now, we have come to a crossroad onceagain; it is still some months away, but I have already begun to feel the quietnessand the emptiness in the house when he would finally venture out to find hisown destiny; destiny that God has prepared for him.

Lifegoes on, children get older, we get older, and I am getting older too is thesong by the Dixie Chicks that describes how we are afraid of changes. Well, I am not afraid of changes, but am justamazed and surprised at the fact that we have arrived here so soon, so withoutwarning; it does not get to my mind that I have been married for 20 years, itfeels like yesterday. Of course early onlife, I had made up my mind to live each day as it comes and I am glad that Imade that decision. Yes there areregrets too and given the chance I would like to change a few things but as awhole I would walk the same road all over again. One thing is sure that twenty years down theroad, there will also be some regrets but I determine to make fewer mistakesand make life more fulfilling each day. Timegoes on, life goes on, and once it is gone; there is no point of regrets. The only way to avoid regrets and creatememories is to live one day at time with Jesus.

Those of you out there, if you have Jesus in your life, you have all youneed to make each day a fulfilling one. But those of you who don't know Jesus, then it is going to be much moredifficult to make sense of this painful world in which there are more regretsthan memories.

My life is well spent becauseearly on life, I found Jesus and he can make your life worth living too; he can takeaway all your regrets and change them into something beautiful. Otherwise life goes on and the reality isthat it is going to go on and on even in eternity either in hell or in heaven -the bitter truth. Without Christ thebeautiful life here on earth is one waste of time but with Christ, even the sorrowsof this world will be traded with joy divine! Don’t let life go on with Christ.

2012-01-17T15:43:00.001+09:00

Spiritual battle inside a believer

2012-01-17T15:39:00.002+09:00

I don't need to be a hypocrite! Luke 12:1-12

2012-01-15T22:03:00.000+09:00

Call to Harvest (Luke 10:1-12)

2011-11-19T06:31:00.002+09:00

Audio: When our faith meets God's compassion (Luke 8:40-56)

2011-10-11T10:05:00.000+09:00

When our faith meets God's compassion

Luke 8:40-56

Daejeon OEM

Bhojraj Bhatta

Testifying the goodness of God (Sermon/Oct.2, 2011)

2011-10-04T13:35:00.001+09:00

Testifying the Goodness of God

Luke 8:26-39

Facing the storms in life (Audio/9/25/2011)

2011-09-25T20:38:00.000+09:00

Facing the storms of life

Luke 8:22-25

Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry

Glorifying the persecution

2011-09-23T22:30:00.002+09:00

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cfkm\gf] Hofgsf] afhL nfP/ ;';dfrf/sf] ;]jfdf nfu]sf kfjn k|]l/ts} ;]jfaf6 sf]l/Gydf d08nL :yfkgf ePsf] lyof]. t/ ;dosf] cGt/fndf cGo lzIff / l;4fGtsf] kl5 nfu]/ To; d08nLsf ljZjf;Lx?n] pgsf] ;]jf / k|]l/tsf] clwsf/lj¿4 k|Zg p7fpg yfn]. To;sf] hjfkm lbg / d08nLnfO{ 7Ls af6f]df Nofpg kfjnn] w]/} d]xgtsf ;fy sf]l/Gysf kqx? n]v]sf lyP. cfk"m Pp6f ;fFrf] ;]js / k|]l/t ePsf] k|dfl0ft ug{ pgn] !sf]l/GyL $,( / @sf]l/GyL ^ / !) cWofox?df cfk"mn] kfPsf b'Mvx? / u/]sf alnbfgx?nfO{ k|:t't u/]sf 5g\. kfjnsf] egfOcg';f/, Pp6f e"m6f lzIfs jf :jfyL{ ;]js, pgn] h:tf] b'Mv / ;tfj6 ef]Ug tof/ x'Fb}g. kfjn ;';dfrf/sf] vflt/ ef]sfPsf lyP, ltvf{Psf lyP, gf+uf] agfO{ s'l6Psf lyP / Hofb} ckdflgt ePsf lyP -@sf]l/GyL ^M#–!#_; h]n–g]n / d[To' pgsf] nflu gf}nf] s'/f] lyPg. /f]dsf Sn]d]06sf egfOcg';f/, ;';dfrf/sf] lglDt kfjn & kN6 h]n k/]sf lyP.1 cfkm\g]f 3/af/ lyPg / hLljsf]kfh{gsf] nflu klg cfkm\g} xftn] d]xgt ug'{kb{Yof]. olt w]/} b'Mv ef]u]sf] k|]l/tn] eGb5g\, æxfd|f] ;]jfdf bf]if ge]6f];\ eg]/ xfdL s;}sf] dfu{df afwfsf] sf/0f /fVb}gf}+, t/ x/t/xn] xfdL cfk}mnfO{ k/d]Zj/sf ;]jsx? xf}+ eGg] b]vfpF5f}+ — Hofb} ;xgzLntfdf, si6df, sl7gfOdf, cfkb\–ljkb\df, s'6fO–r'6fOdf====u/La, tfklg w]/}nfO{ wgL t'Nofpg]. s]xL gePh:tf], tfklg ;a} yf]s ePsf]Æ -@sf]l/GyL ^M#–!)_. o; lsl;dn] tL ljb|f]xL sf]l/GyLx?nfO{ kfjn uj{;fy eG5g\, æo;sf/0f ltdLx? d]/f cg's/0f ug]{x? xf]cf]Æ -!sf]l/GyL $M!^_.

sf]l/Gysf ljZjf;Lx?af6 cflTds jf ef}lts kmfObf p7fpgsf] nflu kfjnn] cfkm\gf] ;tfj6nfO{ p4[t u/]sf] xf]Og, g t pgLx?af6 bof kfpgsf] nflu g}. t/ tL ljZjf;Lx?sf] ;fd' Pp6f pQd ;]jssf] gd'gf ag]/ pgLx?sf] hLjgdf cfpg ;Sg] ;tfj6df ;fx; / an ldnf];\ eg]/ g} n]v]sf x'g\. To;sf/0f ;Dk"0f{ d08nLnfO{ æd]/f] b]vfl;sL ug]{ xf]cf]Æ eGg ;Sg' kfjnsf] lglDt s'g} 7"nf] s'/f] lyPg sf/0f pgL cfk}m o]z"sf] ;fFrf] b]vfl;sL ug]{ JolQm lyP. ;fFrf] o]z"sf] ;]jsn] dfq} To:tf] gd"gf lbg;S5.

kfjnsf] hdfgfsf] d08nL h:t} g]kfnL v|Lli6ofg Oltxf;df ;tfj6n] dxTjk"0f{ :yfg cf]u6]sf] 5. g]kfnsf] PsLs/0fs} ;dob]lv ;';dfrf/n] xfd|f] b]zdf :jtGq eP/ sfd ug]{ df}sf kfPsf] 5}g. @))& ;fn;Dd t g]kfn cGwsf/sf] o'udf g} lyof] hxfF ;';dfrf/sf] Hof]ltnfO{ s'g} xfntdf klg l5g{ lbOPsf] lyPg. @))& ;fnsf] k|hftflGqs jf /fhtflGqs cfGbf]ngkl5 klg xfd|f] b]zdf :jtGq ?kdf ;';dfrf/ k|rf/ ug{ ;fdflhs 9f]sfx? vf]lnPgg\. ;fdflhs / /fhg}lts 9f]sfx? gvf]lnP tfklg k/d]Zj/Lo 9f]sfx? eg] la:tf/L vf]lnFb} uP. k|jf;L g]kfnL v|Lli6ofgx?n] ;';dfrf/nfO{ g]kfn leqØfpgsf nflu k|fy{gf / kl/>d u/] / kmn:j?k g]kfnu~h, kf]v/f / kl5 sf7df8f}+ pkTosfdf klg d08nL :yfkgf eof]. 8cg g]kfnsfcg';f/ lj=;+= @)!) ;fn;Dd, g]kfndf $ j6f d08nLx? :yfkgf e};s]sf lyP eg] @)$^;Dd g]kfndf hDdf @(@ d08nLx? dfq ePsf] tYof+s b]lvG5.2 ;tfj6sf] sf/0f of] ;do g]kfnL v|Lli6ofgx?sf] nflu lgs} sl7g lyof]. gofF ljZjf;Lx? kl/jf/af6, ;dfhaf6 / k|zf;g;lxt tLglt/af6 ;tfOGy] / w]/}nfO{ h]n hfg' k/]sf] lyof] eg] sltn] t Hofg} klg lbP. t/ tL lbgx?df d08nLsf] ul0ftLo ;ª\Vofdf t'ngfTds j[l4 geP klg v|Lli6ofgx?sf] ;ª\Vofdf eg] lgs} j[l4 e}/x]sf] lyof] / 66'{lnogsf] egfO lyof], æhlt hlt xfdLnfO{ dfl/G5 / cf/fn] lrl/G5 Tolt g} xfd|f] j[l4 x'Fb}hfG5 lsgeg] v|Lli6ofgsf] /ut aLpm xf].Æ3 g]kfndf klg o; egfO k|dfl0ft x'Fb} lyof]. o]z"nfO{ ljZjf; ubf{ cfpg] ;tfj6;Fu ljZjf;Lx? 8/fpFb}g lyP. rf]vf] ljZjf; / k|e'sf] cg'u|xdf d08nLx?sf] z'?jft ul/Gy] / l5d]sL d08nLx?;Fu cflTds ;DaGw sfod x'GYof]. d08nLsf] ;ª\Vofdf j[l4 gb]lvP klg k|ltztsf] lx;fan] ljZjf;Lx?sf] ;ª\Vofdf j[l4 e}/x]sf] lyof]. crDdnfUbf] s'/f] of] 5 ls @)$^ ;fnkl5 d08nLsf] ;ª\Vof a9]/ #,))) gfl3;s]sf] 5 t/ klg To;sf] cg'kftdf v|Lli6ofg hg;ª\Vofdf vf;} j[l4 ePsf] 5}g. cGbfhdf / bftfx?nfO{ v';L kfg{ sltko JolQm / ;+:yfx?n] g]kfnL v|Lli6ofgsf] hg;ª\Vof !) jf @) nfv eg]/ ukm xfFs] klg 8cg g]kfnsf] j}1flgs cg';Gwfgcg';f/, @)^# ;fn;Dd d08nLsf ;b:ox?sf] ;ª\Vof nueu @,&%,))) ePsf] cg'dfg ul/G5.4

@)$^ ;fndf ;/sf/af6 k|ToIf ;tfj6 /f]lsof] / ;}of}+ v|Lli6ofgx? h]nd'Qm eP jf nfu]sf d'2fx? klg vf/]h ul/of] t/ pRr :t/df /x]sf v|Lli6ofg g]t[TjnfO{ eg] of] dg gk/]sf] x'g;S5 sf/0f o;n] pgLx?sf] p2]Zo k|flKtdf /f]s nufof]. sf7df8f}+df o'gfO6]8 ld;g 6' g]kfn, kf]v/fdf cfO{=Pg=Pkm, ;'b"/ klZrddf b OefGh]lns cnfPG;\ ld;g -6Ld ld;g_ / cGo c;+ul7t ld;g/Lx? / ;+:yfx?sf] ;+;u{df cfPsf g]kfnL v|Lli6ofgx?nfO{ ;tfj6sfndf oL ljb]zL ld;g/Lx?n] ljleGg k|sf/n] ;3fp k'¥ofP. h]ndf k/]sfx?sf] w/f}6L ltl/lbg] jf k};f lt/L h]nd'Qm u/fOlbg], d08nLdf cu'jfO ug]{x?nfO{ tna lbg] / ltgLx?sf 5f]/f5f]/Lx?nfO{ k9fOlbg] jf ljb]zlt/} nlulbg], 6f7faf7fnfO{ afOan cWoog ug{sf] nflu ljb]z k7fOlbg] / dg k/]sf v|Lli6ofgx?sf lglDt uf8L lslglbg], 3/ agfOlbg] / ld;g/L ;+:yf / c:ktfndf k|d'v kbdf hflu/ lbg] h:tf of]ubfgx? tL ld;g/Lx?af6 pgLx?sf] ;Dks{df cfPsf g]kfnL v|Lli6ofgx?n] k|fKt u/].

;tfj6sfndf ld;g/Lx?n] u/]sf] of] ;xfotfdf t :jfy{ n's]sf] lyPg xf]nf. pgLx?n] Tof] ;xfotf lg:jfy{ g} u/]sf] x'g'k5{, t/ g]kfnL v|Lli6ofg / ljz]if u/L cª\u|]hL af]Ng ;Sg]sf nflu eg] of] 7"nf] cfsif{0f aGg uof]. ld;g/L / ljb]zL bftfnfO{ ;lhn};Fu xftdf lngsf] nflu ;tfj6 Pp6f hfb"do r'Das ;fljt eof]. slxNo} o]z"sf] vflt/ k|x/Lsf] rf}sL klg gb]v]sfx?n] k|x/LnfO{ 3'; lbP/ klg klqmPsf] clego u/L lvr]sf tl:a/x? ljb]zL bftfsxfF k'¥ofpg yfn] / ;f/f sf/fuf/sf s}bLx?nfO{ g} k|e'df NofPsf ujfxLx? ljb]zL ld;gsf j]a;fO6df ce}m klg obfsbf ce}m k9\g kfOG5.

;tfj6n] Voflt / ;DklQ kfOG5 / o;sf] nflu cfk}m ;tfOg' jf h]n hfg'kb}{g eGg] s'/f To; tfsf h]n uPsf sf/0f k|l;4 ePsf u}/–g]kfnL O{zfO{ k|rf/snufot cGo e/f}6]x?sf] pbfx/0fn] cem k|:6ØfOlbof]. o:t} 36gfx?af6 k|]l/t eP/ ;tfj6df k/]sfx?k|lt k|]d / jf:tfsf] efg kf/L ltgLx?sf 36gfnfO{ lj1fkgsf] ?kdf rnfpg To;tfsfsf sltko kf:6/ / k|rf/s egfpFbfx? 86]/ nfu]. g]kfnaf6 bftfsf] b]zdf k'u]kl5 -jf n]v]/} eP klg_ oL k|x/L rf}sL gb]v]sf kf:6/, k|rf/sx? cfk"mnfO{ ;';dfrf/sf] vflt/ cf}wL g} ;tfOPsf] ;]jssf] ?kdf k|:t't ug{ r's]gg\.

;\g !(*^/*&sf] 36gf xf], 8f]6L lhNnfjf;L 8an axfb'/ adn] nfdf] ;dob]lv ef/tdf rf}sLbf/L sfd ul//x]sf] avt o]z"nfO{ cfkm\gf] hLjg ;'Dkg k'u]. cfk"mn] kfPsf] d'lQmsf] ;Gb]z g]kfndf klg lkFmhfpF5' eGg] c7f]6 u/L, ef/tsf] hflu/ 5f]8]/ g]kfn kms]{. nfx'/sf] sf];]nL ;De]m/, cfk"mn] EofP;Dd emf]nfel/ afOan af]s]/ g]kfndf klg ef/tdfh:t} k|rf/ ug{ pgL wgu9Lsf] eG;f/df cfOk'u]. eG;f/ gfsfsf sd{rf/Lx? ef/tdf b'Mv u/L kms]{sf g]kfnLx?nfO{ n'6\g a;s]sf t x'g\ — 8an bfOsf] emf]nfdf afOan / k|rf/sf krf{x? 6Gg} el/Psf] b]v]kl5 ;Lw} pgnfO{ rf}sLdf nluof]. cfkm\gf] uNtL gePsf] / g]kfndf v|Lli6ofglj¿4 sfg'g g} yfxf gkfPsf adnfO{ s]sf] 8/< rf}sLd} ;a}nfO{ k|rf/ u/] / cfk"m Ps v|Lli6ofg k|rf/s ePsf] aofg lbPkl5 ;Lw} tLg jif{sf nflu wgu9L sf/fuf/df k7fOof]. h]n k/]sf] s]xL ;dokl5 wd{ k|rf/sf] cleof]udf 8f]6Lsf s'g} JolQm h]n k/]sf] s'/f :yfgLo klqsfaf6 xfdLnfO{ yfxf eof]. d klg 8f]6Ls} jfl;Gbf ePsf] x'Fbf snj/L d08nLn] lhNnfjf;Lsf] x}l;otn] dnfO{ s}bL adsf] af/]df vf]htnf; ug{ pT;fx lbof]. sf/fuf/df ad bfO;Fusf] d]/f] klxnf] e]6 duhdf ce}m tfhf 5. t/ b'MvnfUbf] s'/f], pgsf] ;dfrf/ rf/}lt/ k'u]kl5 pgnfO{ e]6\g cfpg] v|Lli6ofg 7]s]bf/x?sf] 3'OFrf] nfUg yfNof]. ;dosf] cGt/fndf h]n d'Qm ePkl5 ad bfOnfO{ yfxf x'G5 ls cfk"m t w]/}sf] nflu dfuL–vfg] efF8f] kf] ag]sf] /x]5'. ;'lgG5, cr]n pgnfO{ o]z"sf] af/]df ;'Gg klg dg nfUb}g /].

o;/L csf{sf] b'MvnfO{ a]r]/ cfkm\gf] nflu ;DklQ sdfpg]x? cfh klg v|Lli6ofg hut\sf] cu|kª\lQmdf k};fs} andf gflr/x]sf 5g\. cfPsf] ;tfj6af6 k/d]Zj/nfO{ dlxdf lbP/ ljZjf;Lsf] ;fd'Gg] c;n gd'gf aGg'sf] ;f6f], cfh klg g]kfnL O{zfO{ cu'jfx? ;tfj6nfO{ g} dlxdf lbP/ gfd / bfd sdfpg] k|of; ul//x]sf 5g\. To:t} vfnsf JolQmx?, u[x–o'4sf] a]nfdf dfcf]jfbLn] Hofg dfg]{ wDsL lbof] eGb} hfnL l/kf]6{ b]vfO{ cd]l/sf / c? b]zdf z/0f lng k'u]sf z/0ffyL{ kf:6//k|rf/ssf] klg sdL 5}gg\.

cfh o'jf g]kfnL v|Lli6ofg cu'jfsf] nflu kfjnn] h:t} æd]/f] cg's/0f u/Æ eGg] a'h|'s / k|]/0ffbos cu'jfsf] clgsfn k/]sf] 5. klxnf] k':tfsf oL jl/i7 cu'jfx? cfkm\gf] k]6sf] nflu / w]/} eP cfkm\gf] d08nLsf] nflu dfq jf sdfO{–vfg] lglZrt ;]jfsf] nflu dfq afFlr/x]sf] h:tf] nfU5. s/f]8f}+ g]kfnLn] d'lQm kfpg afFsL g} 5 / d'lQm kfPsfx?nfO{ o]z"sf ;fFrf] r]nf agfpg klg afFsL g} 5 lsgeg] ha;Dd d08nLsf] g]t[Tjaf6 ;fFrf] r]nfkg hGdFb}g ta;Dd ljZjf;Ldf Tof] rl/q cfpg ;Dej 5}g. s'g} klg kf:6/ jf cu'jfn] ;]jf jf ;tfj6af6 ;DklQ g} sdfpg vf]H5 eg], pm o]z"sf] ;fFrf] r]nf x'g;Sb}g, / eP5 eg] klg ox"bf O:sl/of]tsf] ;xf]b/ efO ls bfO dfq.

kf:6/ ef]h/fh e§

cfzf d08nL

dxf+sffn, sf7dfF8f}F

End Notes

1 John R. Willis (ed.), The Teachings of the Church Fathers (New York: Herder & Herder, 1966), 66.

2 National Church Survey of Nepal (NRRN, August 2007), 7.

3 Apology, Chapter 50. Quoted in John R. Willis (ed.), The Teachings of the Church Fathers (New York: Herder & Herder, 1966), 65.

4 (NRRN, August 2007), Op.cit. 7.

How to increase in life (Audio Sermon, September 18)

2011-09-19T00:44:00.002+09:00

How to Increase in Life

Luke 8:16-21

Pastor Bhatta

Please click on the title and take the time to listen this word, I was blessed to listen it again when I got back home. I truly felt that the Lord gave me this message for that Sunday for many of us, including me. I truly want to see increase in many areas of my life....

Three stage spiritual battle (audio)

2011-09-13T23:12:00.000+09:00

Three stage spiritual battle

Luke 8:4-15

Audio sermon preached at

Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry

September 11, 2011

By Bhojraj Bhatta

Forgiveness and Pursuit of Happiness (Luke 7:36-50)

2011-08-30T12:19:00.000+09:00

"The Voice Of Hope" is published

2011-08-28T01:46:00.000+09:00

Click "The Voice Of Hope" to read the half yearly Magazine published by Kathmandu Hope Church.

Change: Price or Reward?

2011-08-20T02:08:00.004+09:00

How naïve it is for man to think that the present condition in which one finds will last forever. Most of the Wealthy, healthy, famous, and powerful people might never imagine their condition in life to be the opposite of what they are now, and so do also the poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak. Yet, history and experience tell us that no human being can avert the impending change in life, be that either from positive to negative or vise versa. Life is bound to bring change and for most people whose present is filled with pleasures; change might come as a way of paying the price for it because the nature teaches us that there is a seed time and harvest; whatever one sows that will he or she reap and does not necessarily need to wait for the after-life to pay the bills. Particularly, if the wealthy, healthy, famous, and the powerful have obtained all these present pleasures at the expense of fellow human beings, then Change for them can be merciless and in a moment of time all the present pleasures can turn into misery.

The poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak may also think that their condition might never change, and most of them indeed resign to a life of misery with no hope for the future. However, change for such people is good news; it is good news because their time of misery might be coming to an end. But this change will not come to them automatically and even if it came, they might never be able to take advantage of it because of their willful resignation; they might never see the change coming their way. But those who see it coming and take hold of it, they will rescue themselves from the life of misery and establish themselves into a life of hope and possibilities.

Behind this change lies the invisible hand of God that guides human history to his story and we are all characters in his story performing our parts; he determines what roles we must play. The Bible claims that God is the defender of the needy and the weak; and if our present pleasures are drawn from the exploitation of other human beings in any form, change means price. Because God is the defender of the weak and the needy; the poor, nameless, suffering, and the weak can have hope that change will come their ways and when it comes, it will be a reward instead of the price to pay.

If we find ourselves into miserable conditions, we need to look to God and begin to understand his will for us. As Christians, we have better chances in understanding the heart God has for us. God gave his only begotten son for us so that we could be free from the bondage of sin, Satan and death. God has translated us from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of his dear son; from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. If anyone is in Christ he/she is a new creation. This is a remarkable change God has brought for those who need God's help. Through God's help, we can bring positive change into our way of thinking and living; we can change our misery into miracle of meaningful life where wealth, health, honor and power are means for a blessed life and not the ends in themselves.

Peter quotes Isaiah and says that man is like grass and James says that we are like mist. Both of these elements remind us that our life on earth is brief. We are going to see amazing changes as we travel out of this world and the Bible is clear that what kind of life we live here on earth has relationship with the quality of life we will have in the other side of time. Therefore, let us not be proud in what we have at the moment; it can just be taken way in no time. Also, let us not be discouraged when we are going through hard times; they will not last forever and through the power of God's word, you can bring in the positive change that you need.

Kathmandu Hope Church, July 2011

2011-08-16T01:56:00.002+09:00

Dear friends,

This ministry is a testament to the faithfulness of God. If you are struggling in any areas of your life; I urge you to be strong in the faith because there is no other alternative to that.

When me and my wife came to Kathmandu in 1993, we had no doubt for what God had brought us there. But because we knew nothing about life in that city, and had no way of making a living, we decided to work for another church run by an American missionary. Within six months of our appointment, the Lord showed us that we had made a terrible mistake. We should have trusted the Lord and begun the pioneering work, but instead we opted for what seemed to be a secure pastoral ministry; and ended up into one of the greatest relational disasters of our lives as a family and ministry.

We could not last there even until the summer of that year and moved out. But moving out did not leave us in peace. That dear missionary made sure that we were attacked by every other Nepali Christian that knew us (During the colonial era, western culture replaced the Bible and missionary replaced God, thus our Nepali friends had to obey what the missionary commanded them); attacks ranged from character assassination, curses (prayer meetings were held for our destruction!) to physical threats.

But we were confident that "he is able to keep that which we have committed to him" and today, as we look back, we can see God's faithfulness in every detail of our life and ministry. He has never abandoned us. There were times we doubted if we could last this long, but the Lord has kept us alive and well.

The reason we were persecuted by the missionaries and their handymen was our boldness to become Nepali Christians with self-respect and dignity. We refused to sell our dignity for dollars and that determination was labeled as rebellion against the authority.

Today, Hope Church is grateful to God for those days of persecution because it has taught us the value of self-respect and human dignity. More than that, we have been able to read the Bible as it is, free from the western stereotype and there is no missionary to cloud our vision of God. We know his word and we have heard his voice.

I urge you to read the Bible as it is and look to God and not to any man; victory will be yours!

Nepali Audio Sermons (From Believers Convention and Leadership Seminar)

2011-08-08T15:01:00.001+09:00

Hope Church Believers Convention (Nepali)

(Please click on the Session to hear)

Session One

Session Two

Session Three

Session Four

Hope Church Leadership Seminars in Nepali

(Please click on the Seminars below to listen in Nepali language)

Cultivating a Crucified Perspective in Life

2011-07-27T11:55:00.000+09:00

Untitled from Daejeon OEM on Vimeo.

Our Cultural Identity in Christ (Tim Im)

2011-07-19T16:21:00.000+09:00

Korean Missionaries and the Image of Korea

2011-07-18T15:03:00.002+09:00

If the purpose of the government about the revised "Passport Act" is to improve Korea's image in the world as a nation with high moral responsibilities; this move has to be commended. Living in a free country where human rights are respected does not mean that one should be exempted from taking responsibility for its abuse. However, if this law is being brought into motion only to limit the Christian missionary activities in communist and Islamic nations due to the pressures from these governments; than it is to be opposed because this would mean that the Korean government is weak and cowardice to listen to its own conscience and is rather being influenced by external pressures. Korea should make its own laws with its own conscience and present an image of a strong nation that has the ability to think its own thoughts.

However, this move by the government should not be opposed without evaluating the role of Christian missionaries in the so called "developing nations". In general, the Church in Korea is proud to claim that Korea is second largest missionary sending nation in the world, next to the US. Some are sent to the developed nations, and their missionary work is limited to the Korean diaspora; the impact of their work is virtually unnoticeable. Those who are sent to the developing nations, a few of these missionaries are doing remarkable work of service to many disadvantageous communities; they epitomize the selfless sacrifice and service to fellow human beings. But these remarkable examples are clouded by many others who have not only failed as "Christian" missionaries, but have also failed to present a good image of Korea to the local people. They have muddied the Korean image in the eyes of the local people and the governments in these nations. We could come up with many factors as why some of these missionaries have failed to present a good image of Korea to the common people in these nations, but I would like to focus on one factor; the misapplication of the concept of "missionary". During the colonial era, the word missionary carried with it an aura of a superman who came from the superior civilization to teach and save the savages in the colonies. All missionaries in those days were white; and everything western was considered superior and thus, the Bible was replaced by western culture and the God of the Bible was replaced by the missionary. Even today, western missionaries are finding it hard to accept the concept of equality with the native Christians, but somehow have understood the need to stand back and leave the way for the natives leaders.

But the problem with the Korean missionaries is that they have taken this superman mentality of colonial missionary and have gone into the post-colonial world with an attitude of being sent by a colonial power. They want to fight for their spiritual, financial and educational superiority to prove the colonial concept of a missionary. The inevitable outcome of such an approach is bitter conflicts with the native people who have already challenged the superiority of the white/western missionary. Thus, some Korean missionaries are indeed creating a negative image of Korea in the minds of many people in the developing nations. So, the government and the missionaries; both should evaluate their actions with honesty in order to create a better image of Korea in the world.

Battle between Pride and Humility

2011-07-12T12:40:00.002+09:00

Untitled from Daejeon OEM on Vimeo.

Battle between Pride and Humility

2011-07-12T00:44:00.002+09:00

Click on the audio sermon: Battle Between Pride and Humility

Withstanding the torrents in life

2011-06-29T22:39:00.002+09:00

In God We Trust

2011-06-29T13:41:00.002+09:00

In God We Trust

Bhojraj Bhatta (August 21, 2009)

The national motto of the most powerful nation on earth reads “In God We Trust”. Out of the ashes of a terrible civil war, this nation longed for some sense of hope and security and this motto first appeared on the United States’ coin in 1864. Nearly a century later in 1956, President Eisenhower approved this motto into a law passed by the US Congress to provide a calming assurance from the looming danger of communism and a new kind of imperialism hiding behind the shadow of cold war. The congress insert reads: “In these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, it is proper to remind all of us of this self-evident truth that as long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail”. ^*1

The wisdom and the commitment to recognize human limitations in the affairs of a nation by the historical leaders of the United States has stood the test of time, and today the nation reaps the reward of their faithfulness. God said to Moses in the second commandment that he will punish the children for the sins of their father until the fourth generation but he will show love and kindness to a thousand generations of the righteous. Psalms 33:12 says “blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh”. In spite of the carnality and heathenism that we see coming out of the United States of America, this nation still has a divine hedge built around it because God is ever faithful to his promises made in covenant with his faithful servants. The carnal children of the US still benefit from the faithfulness of their forefathers because their forefathers chose to trust God, individually and nationally, and left behind a blessing for a thousand generations.

The same story can be repeated for many of the European states whose forefathers trusted God and the children still reap the blessings of peace, prosperity and freedom which the world is in great need of. China and many of the Islamic nations are now wealthy and prosperous but with great cost to peace and human freedom. God created man with free will but in these nations the free will of man has to be regulated by manmade rules. Man has become the master in these nations even though there is plenty of prosperity. Japan and South Korea have enjoyed peace, prosperity and freedom; thanks to their association with a nation that carries God’s blessing. It is the American money, manpower and prayers that have made what these two nations have become. The rest of the nations in the world has a long way in recognizing Yahweh as their God and thus deprive their citizens of the blessings of peace, prosperity and liberty. They have lived in misery for thousands of years and will continue to do so until they recognize the Lordship of Yahweh.

Now, as a citizen of a nation like Nepal, what hope do I have? What blessings can I expect from my forefathers who broke the very first and second commandments of God and worshiped the creation instead of the creator? The first book of the Bible is named Genesis, which means “beginnings” and in the very beginning of this book, Satan is represented by a snake that deceived the first man. The Bible also tells us that Satan fell from heaven because he refused to worship God; he wanted to be God and wished the angelic beings to worship him. He wanted to set up his throne higher than God’s. But God cast him down and replaced him by the creation of man. But we see him in Genesis chapter three as a snake and today there is no household in Nepal (except Christians and Muslims) on whose doorpost they do not post a picture of five, seven or sometimes nine snakes entangled together. Every year on Nag-panchami (Day of the snake god), the Hindu households will replace these pictures with the worshiping ceremony of the snake god. The snake posters will be posted on the top horizontal post of the door frame so that when a person goes out of the house, the head has to be a bit bent down to worship the snake and the same thing when one enters the house (traditionally, the doors in a Nepali house are slightly shorter than the average height of a person so that one has to bend the head to enter in and out of the house and therefore, the best place to put the snake god). In a devout Hindu home, every door in the house must have one of these snake posters. This tells us that what the Bible symbolizes as evil, Nepal worships as its main god. In Egypt, the blood of the lamb that symbolized Jesus Christ was put on the doorpost for the deliverance, but today Nepal replaces the blood of the lamb with the symbol of Satan itself. What blessings will we hope for?

On the national level, there is no hope now for Nepal. Unless the rulers and the general population turn to God and repent from the generations of violating the very commandments of God; our nation has no hope of prosperity, peace and freedom. The atheistic Maoists might be able to bring economic prosperity (that is because in my assumption, God prefers an atheists than an idolater), but this economic prosperity might come with a high price of peace and human freedom. In their pursuit of absolute power, they will not be hesitant to kill any number of people and once they have the power, there will be no liberty left for the common man. But because poverty is such a terrible task master, the general public might be happy to live under the political tyranny than the tyranny of poverty. So, there is no hope of a national blessing for Nepal.

But on the individual level, there is hope. There is hope because God in Jesus Christ transcends the national and collective boundaries and brings his blessings to every individual. Any Nepali who has accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal savior from sin and satanic bondage has the power to break free from all generational curses. If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he or she becomes a new creation (2Cor.5:17) and Jesus has covenanted with such people a new covenant by his own blood (Luke 22:20). He has become the lamb that was slain and his blood on the doorpost of their hearts protects them from the angel of death and destruction. They are born again and all their past has been wiped away and now they are free to create a new genealogy for their posterity that will last for eternity in the blessings of God.

But this new beginning has to begin by trusting God just like Abraham trusted and he was declared a friend of God (Romans 4). Hebrews 11:6 says “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”. David says in Psalms 40:4 “blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust”. This picture of blessedness is beautifully painted by Jeremiah in the context of a man who trusts in man. The one who trusts God is “like a tree planted by the water…does not fear…leaves are always green…has no worries…and never fails to bear fruit” (17:7-8). But “cursed is a man who trusts man…will be like a bush in a wastelands…will not see prosperity…dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (17:5-6). This is a very scary picture the prophet paints for the man whose trust rests on man. But the one who trusts God, he or she shall be free from lack, fear and worry and will live in the land of prosperity. This land of prosperity does not have to be some other nation or geographical location. In fact, regardless of a national boundary, one can enter into this blessedness on the basis of one’s trust in God, and therefore, Nepali followers of Jesus Christ do not have to bear the burden of generational curse from their forefathers. God in Jesus Christ is able to come to their aid and bless them spiritually, physically and materially.

But have we seen all these blessings (spiritual, physical and material) come to us in the last 50+ years of Christian history in Nepal? Yes and no. Yes, because, first, many Nepalese have come to the Lord and spiritually they have received eternal life. With the handful of Christians in 1960s, today some estimates claim that there are a million Christians in our nation. So, let’s say that all of these one million Christians have received the forgiveness of sin and eternal life; that is the greatest spiritual blessing we can ever imagine. The Nepali church is strong in preaching the message of salvation; Jesus Christ saves. Second, we also have received physically blessing of healing. The highest cause of the growth of the church in Nepal is physical healing. Even the cessationist Baptist and Presbyterian ministers in Nepal are still preaching that healing is possible when they pray (in their seminaries they teach that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased after the death of the apostles). So, the church in Nepal preaches that Jesus saves and Jesus heals, but the third aspect of the blessing, which is material, is the biggest issue now. Salvation is not possible apart from Jesus Christ and they trust him for that. Healing is also not possible apart from Jesus Christ and they trust him for that. But for the material blessings! Because, right from the early days, Christian leaders found out that man can meet their material needs and because of that, this faculty to trust God for material blessing never developed in their newly formed spiritual brain. Because the leaders did not have to worry for their material needs (their needs were met by outside donations), they did not know how to teach their members to trust God to meet their material needs.

The Christian population even today comes from the lower end of social stick and they have tremendous needs. They cannot send their children to school, they never have the luxury of seeing a doctor when they become sick, and they do not know what it is to have a vacation in life because if they do not work for the day, there would be no food in the evening. Life in this world to them becomes a burden from which they wish to be free and that’s why they trust the Lord Jesus for their eternal rest. But unfortunately, they have never been told that God has the ability to give them the glimpses of that blessed rest from the tyranny of poverty right here on earth if they could exhibit the same trust that they have for salvation and healing. Until today the Nepali Christian leaders have blinded the Nepali believers from trusting God for the material blessings by demonstrating that without the outside financial help, Nepali church cannot exist. But, like the motto of the US, it is not the money that would give us the rest and peace and freedom in this world, but it is our trust that puts us in a higher plane of life where every need is met by the power of God. And therefore, Nepali believers need to learn to trust God to carve their new course for their own lives as well as for their posterity by placing their trust in God’s goodness and his ability to bless them and meet their needs. The God who is able to save them and heal them is able to meet their material and financial needs; and thus individual Christians can be free from the national curse that comes from breaking his commandments.

[*1] Steven B. Epstein, “Rethinking the Constitutionality of Ceremonial Deism”, Columbia Law Review, vol. 96, no. 8 (1996), 2083-2174. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust.

Withstanding the torrents in life (June 26, 2011, Click on the picture to listen)

2011-06-27T01:09:00.001+09:00

Withstanding the torrents in life

Sermon preached at Daejeon Onnuri English Ministry

Geert Wilders is a voice we must not ignore whether in the West or East

2011-06-23T22:02:00.000+09:00

Is Money The Answer For Everything?

2011-06-22T14:40:00.000+09:00

Is Money The Answer For Everything (Eccl. 10:19)?

Bhojraj Bhatta (June 22, 2011)

"A feast is made for laughter,

and wine makes life merry,

but money is the answer for everything"

Have you ever taken the time to reflect upon the claim Jesus made when he said "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14)? What must he be thinking when he said this? Does it have any relevance for us today as we face daily challenges of living a life in a world that is so hostile to everything we wish or desire? The world and its system appear to be at odd with the kind of life and living we desire; if you don't fight and strive for the quality of life in this world, the life you desire would simply not come to you. The very things that would have added quality and meaning to a life in this world, if left unchallenged, will eventually take life away from the living. Things such as wealth, property, power, knowledge, pleasure, fame, freedom, security, love and such have great potential to make life worth living in this world; and they can also be the cause of destruction of life.

According to the author of Ecclesiastes, "money is the answer for everything" (10:19), and how true it is in today's world! Money does answer a lot of things, it does make life easier to live. It can help you add material things or property to your life, it can give you power, it can even provide you the opportunity to increase your knowledge, it can bring you health and pleasure and even give you fame, it has the ability to give you freedom and security and even love and friends; there are so many things money can do. Stephen Hawking can live and do what he is doing primarily because of the power of money and the opportunities it provided him with the scientific advancement because he was fortunate to be born in an affluent nation. Had he been born in one of the poorer nations, we might have never heard his name; he might not have had the chance to live even the quarter of the length of life he has lived so far.

As much as money is the answer for good things in life; it can also be the answer for bad things. Osama bin Laden became such an icon for the Islamic Jihadists primarily because he had the power of money at his disposal when he began his terrorist pursuit, and even after his death, his terror group continue to run havoc once a while because they still have the flow of money from their sympathizers. But LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers Elam), once a fierce terror group, saw itself disappear from the face of the earth because the flow of money was cut into it. As long as the flow of money was on, there was no way of controlling its activities. Therefore, either for good or bad, money is the answer in this world. Money can do a lot of good and it can also equally do a lot of evil. Most of the evil that is in the world appears to be due to the human desire to have money as it promises to give life, liberty and dignity.

Jesus also recognized the power and the place of money in human life when he said that man can only serve one master, he said "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money" (Matt. 6:24). Jesus never says that money is evil, but he recognizes the power of money. Money can meet almost every material needs in life and thus blind a person so much that he or she will start worshiping it, loving it to the end where one will be willing to forfeit even the eternal life if it requires one to give up money. The best example is found in the life of a rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking as how he could inherit eternal life and when Jesus told him to give up the money, he rejected the offer of life and went away sad (Matt. 19:16-22). One is willing to give up eternal life instead of money because money appears to be the answer for every issue in life, but unfortunately the life that money can give is life without the "truth" and the "way". It may meet the material needs, but when it comes to the questions of eternity and spirituality; man is left without the instructions and the way forward. As there are no instructions to the way of life, no commandments to guide his path, no absolutes to rule his mind; man is left at the mercy of his fallen and sinful nature to tell him how to live and for what. Because he loves the money, he hates the truth and the way God has provided for him. Instead of turning away from evil, he devises evil plans to gain more money and eventually his evil gets to him and is destroyed. Thus, the Bible becomes right when it says "love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (1Timonty 6:10).

Bible never says that money is evil; nor does it say that money can give you life. It only says that money can be the answer for many things in life and recognizes the positive side of having it in one's life. Bible has never hesitated in appreciating the power of money in life so long as the money was not the object of one's worship and devotion. God is and ought to be recognized by all who believe in him to be the ultimate source of everything in life, including money. When Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life" he said this in the context of comforting his disciples whom he was about to leave in the world. He asks them to live between the two ages; one is the present age and the other is the age to come. He was going to prepare a place for them and then will come back to take them there. While they were in this world, they had to walk in the way he has shown them, live by the instructions he had given them and by living according to his words, they were to live in him. This was the only way to live for the disciples of Christ. He promises them the Holy Spirit who will help them live this life in Christ and encourages them to pray whatever they need and he will hear. In fact, he promises them that they will be able to do greater things than what he had done while on earth. They were to live a life that is marked by supernatural provision and power.

In Matthew 6 when Jesus said said "no one can serve two masters", he told his disciples that they were not suppose to worry for the material things in this world; not because they won't need, not because they should live in lack and need and poverty, but because their heavenly father knows what they need and he will supply all that they need or ask from him. Thus, for the believers, money is not the source, God is the source and money is a means. God will provide the money so that a believer will be able to live a life that is marked by truth and lived in Christ as he or she journeys in this world until his second coming. As money is the answer for everything in this world, Jesus promises to provide everything to the disciples who would live in "the way and the truth and the life".

Apostle Paul also has left us with no doubts about God's intentions regarding this divine provision when he said "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2Cor. 8:9), "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2Cor. 9:8), "you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God" (2Cor. 9:11). The ultimate purpose of God's provision in this passage is that we might become generous on every occasion. God wants us to live a life that is marked with generosity and thus he promises to provide whatever we need; specially the financial needs. The Bible does not promise the financial blessings for the purpose of being generous only, it also takes into account our personal needs and wants. Paul says "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1Timothy 6:17). God is a father who delights in his children's happiness and thus he provides us with every good things so that we can enjoy life. There is nothing wrong for the believers to enjoy life because God intends us to live a life that is filled with joy and peace and love. Once we have found the joy of life in God's blessings, then we become generous as Paul continues to admonish the rich to be rich in generosity and good works. He says, "in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life" (1Timonty 6:19). The true life is a life that will keep on living long after we are gone from this world and money is unable to give us that kind life; only God can give us. But at the same time, money will not be able to hinder us to enter that life if we allow God to rule our life. If Jesus is the way for us to walk, if his word guides our affairs in this world, then money, instead of becoming a curse, it can become a blessing, a means to lay up treasure in heaven. God desires that we live in this supernatural provision and financial liberty in which we are free to be generous in every occasion. If you lack your basic necessities for life; it is hard to be generous and thus you cannot experience the joy of being generous. As a child of God one must know what it is to be generous and for that to happen, one must come to a place where God meets all the urgent needs so that there is something left to give to those who are in need.

Material poverty is not a sign of spirituality; it is a sign of sin and curse resulting from individual or corporate sins. When Jesus said "blessed are you who are poor" (Luke 6:20), by no means did he bless the state of poverty as a universal human condition. Neither the Old nor the New Testament sees poverty as a preferable state to be in compared to the wealthy state. In fact, poverty or wealth is meaningless without God. However, Jesus knew what it is to be poor right from the birth and thus in God's provision we are told that as he lay in a manger as a son of a poor man, three wise men from the east had to travel with gold, precious incense and myrrh. This tells us that God had provided all that Jesus needed from the birth to death. He would need gold to live, healing aroma of incense for a baby and mother to be of good health and myrrh for him to be used when he would eventually die and be buried for three days. Joseph and Mary might have been poor in the eyes of the world, but the God they believed was a God who keeps his promises and thus we must get rid of the mentality that Jesus was a poor teacher longing for a meal and a place to lay his head at night. He was the only sinless man who walked on the face of this earth and he was free from the curse of poverty; yet he took that curse upon himself so that through his poverty all mankind could also come into the life of blessings he knew.

Most of the nations that are poor today are poor because of the rampant corruption and stealing from the people and as a result the multitudes are living a life that has lost all color; there is no dignity in begging for a bowl of soup, there is nothing desirable in distributing food to the multitudes who can't afford a meal a day. Such a charitable work done by many Christian nations and organizations (most of today's humanitarian INGOs are or were founded by Christians) is a shame on the face of a world that is greedy and wants everything for self. A world that knows nothing about being generous and is willing to let its people starve to death while the corrupt rulers enrich themselves. Ironically most of these rulers are very religious and it turns out the more gods and goddesses they worship the deeper in sin they sink, the more corrupt and cruel they become to their subjects.

Thus, poverty was a curse, is a curse and will always be a curse if the issue of sin is not settled first. It takes away dignity, respect and quality of life for many in this world. The only solution is to repent from personal and corporate sins and turn to him who became a curse for us so that we might receive the blessings that God has intended for us (Galatians 3:13-14). Once we turn to Jesus, he becomes our way of life, his word becomes our guide and we begin to experience the life that is truly life.

When a person tastes the true life in Christ; even as he or she stands in line for a bowl of soup in some sub-Saharan nations, he or she does not stand in that line with disgrace and humiliation but with dignity and self-respect knowing that it is just a matter of time when Christ will set him or her free from the bondage of poverty and curse. Such a person's eyes are opened to the reality of what God has done in Christ and the person begins to realize that the source of the soup that he or she is holding in his or her hand is not the donating agency but God himself. God had ordained that such an agency would be there at such a time to provide a means to survive and if God was able to command an agency to come to meet that need at that time, he can also do so without being forced to stand in line with humiliation and disgrace; God can meet that person's need supernaturally and give him or her the ability to experience such blessings naturally.

But, first, the issue of sin in life has to be addressed and confessed. Any amount of blaming the rich, the fate, and the place of birth will not help. Any amount of lamenting won't help. The only thing that will set a person free from the grinding curse of poverty is the turning away from sin filled life. Turning from sin and turning to God will lead that person into a quality of life whose needs are supplied from heaven's gates. In Malachi the word of the Lord comes from the prophet that God is willing to open the floodgates of heaven to pour out a blessing that one cannot contain if the people would turn from their wicked ways and honor God their creator (Malachi 3). Such promises of God are not relative to certain nations or continents, but they are relative to a nation, a continent and a person that will turn from sin and turn to God. God gives us true life and that life ought to be lived here and now as a sign that we are on the pathway to a greater life in the age to come. Sufferings and sorrows are part of this life here in this world but the Lord promises to carry us through them all! God never promised to leave us in our misery; he promised to bring us out of our misery and our later life will be better and greater than our former when we make Jesus as the Lord of our life. Spiritual transformation will also result in our physical and material transformation and a wealthy believer in Jesus Christ will be a blessing to many around him or her while he or she herself will rejoice in the quality of life that money brings because a believer will always be aware of who the true master is. Thus, to answer the question, is money the answer for everything? No, money is not the answer for everything, it is only a means to everything; Jesus is the answer. He is the way the truth and the life that will never perish and while we are here in this world, he will provide all that we need in order to live a generous life.

We are not the judge (Luke 6:37-45)

2011-06-20T12:31:00.000+09:00

From this day!

2011-06-17T14:07:00.001+09:00

"From this day on I will bless you" (Haggai 2:19).

For whom is the Short Term Mission Trip?

2011-06-17T11:51:00.001+09:00

As I sit in the staff meeting of one of the most influential churches in the world; I see leaders of various summer outreaches (short term mission teams) to different nations reporting to the senior pastor about their success stories. Video clips and slides, with fitting music, of their spoils in foreign lands are projected to the meeting with intermittent clapping of hands by the members of the meeting in celebrating their victories. The slides and video clips take us in a ride with them to the place they have just conquered for the glory of God (wonder if it is really for God's glory). We start with them in their cameras from the very beginning till the end; the departure from the church, the bus to airport, the plane, the welcoming in the foreign land by their resident missionary along with some local helpless hands who are forced to present the bouquets to the incoming dignitaries. As the team moves from the airport; the pictures and the clips continue to take us to the house settings of the missionary in the land, and gives us a sense of visiting some mansions of multimillionaires of the land or to the corrupt politicians because the economy of these nations tells us that life in these mansions is only possible with extra-ordinary amount of money which is only available to the multimillionaire businessmen or to the corrupt politicians but now it appears that we can also add certain missionaries in that list.

As the team enters the mansion, almost every member is seen falling on the knees as if they have entered the most holy place on earth. The mansion has enough space for 10 to 15 members who start unpacking their bags; some start putting the local outfits in order to be able to touch the local population within the period of time they have in their hands; one week or 8 days at the most. As they move in and around the compound of the mansion; they run into the drivers, watchmen, gardeners and other servants of the missionary and immediately start putting to the test the language they had learned while they were preparing for this mission trip back in their homeland. These workers of the missionaries are very kind to these ignorant, foolish and gullible team members who cannot comprehend whether they are being treated with kindness or craftiness; they cannot tell whether they are treated with kindness because of who they are or what they can leave behind for these people when they return.

Soon, some of the local church member (leaders) appear at the mansion and with the pleasant smile on their faces start familiarizing with the team. Together, they begin to give a final touch to important aspects of their missions to the nation; worship dance with various cultural elements, stationeries, balloons, some gift items for every member who will be attending tomorrow's church worship. They also have brought some boxes of old clothes, medicine, and some musical and electronic materials but these things are handed to the missionary who can use his or her discretion as what to do with them.

Its time for the church; local people begin to pour in regardless of whether they are Christians or not and otherwise half empty hall, today it is jam-packed. You could tell the difference between believers and non-believers the way they behaved. The believers had some kind of a depressing look on their faces and mostly kept their heads down, either praying or avoiding the cameras whereas the non-believers were smiling and making sure that their faces were in as many pictures and videos. Most of the members are shabbily clothed; only the leaders and missionary's workers have some good clothes on them; these are the most active members in the church. They never sat in worship; they were busy in helping the mission team to perform.

The worship began, fewer songs today because the visiting team also has to sing, they had been practicing these songs and dances for weeks if not months; but these songs are not in the local language, no one understands except the team and the missionary family. The leader of the team preaches, local pastor is not seen in the pulpit today (may be he was told to cook); the missionary introduces the speaker and then translates the sermon but the look on the face of the believers tells that there is nothing to be blessed with that message but the non-believers continue to smile and even respond with "Hallelujah" and "Amen"! In the children's worship, there is much fun; candies, toys, balloons and some stationeries and even a school bag! As the worship is over, the visiting team is already at the door standing in line; handing something to every church member as one leaves the hall; it is a small towel with the name of the church printed! There is food today in the church; everyone appears to be having a great fun and the major part of the mission trip done!

The next day the team heads to an orphanage; hands over some clothes, balloons, and toys. They even venture outdoor evangelism but local people give them some quirky looks and move on. The day is done with that; team takes rest and the missionary then takes them to an exotic restaurant in town for the dinner. As it is now too late at night, the team crashes because tomorrow they have to teach to the local leaders that the missionary has invited from various churches; some of these leaders the missionary supports financially because they have lately joined him along with their congregations and others are invited with the possibility of future support if they bring their little congregations with them and join the missionary's growing church planting ministry. As the training session ends, with only about 25% of teaching being understood; the local leaders who are surviving on missionary's mercy claim that they had been greatly blessed with such a great learning experience! When they begin to say goodbye (some of them had come from very distant and remote areas of the country) to the missionary; they tell him "please when the next mission team comes, bring that team to my church"! The missionary gives them a look of appreciation and thanks them for being such a faithful bunch of followers and promises them that he will try to bring the team to their churches as soon as possible.

After two days of sightseeing, the team is back to the homeland and ready to edit those videos and pictures to be presented to the main church and also the the members who helped them financially for their mission trip. After the reporting, senior pastor is greatly pleased and asks everyone in the meeting to thank God for such a great success of his church's outreach! I also slip out of the room and start writing this blog!

Three questions to Nepali Christians

2011-06-16T12:45:00.002+09:00

A Window into My Past

2011-06-14T17:02:00.000+09:00

A Window into My Past

I was born in a middle class Hindu Brahmin family that was very proud for their higher social and religious place in the society. The Bhatta caste in Hinduism comes from the higher priestly family. In addition to the priestly caste, my father was very much into astrology. For him, everything and everyone on earth has astrological correspondence. Generally, in a traditional Hindu family, when a son is born, the parents should call their local priest (skilled in astrology) to draw up the horoscope that forecasts child’s personality and future based upon the position of the planets in relation to the zodiac sign under which the child is born. It so happened that I was born in a time that meant the imminent death for my father. The only way for him to avoid his death was for both of us never to see each other. In such a case, the priest would advise the mother not to feed the infant or give it away to someone far away. My mother fed me up for nine days and finally told her mother to come and take away.

My grandma took care of me until I was 11 years old. Meanwhile back in my home, another priest had a new look at my horoscope. He discovered that the previous priest had made a mistake in calculating the position of the planets in drawing my horoscope. He convinced my father that he would not die if he sees me. Finally, with great hesitation and reluctance, my father agreed to bring me home in my 11th year. When I heard that I had parents and that I was going home gave me a new kind of hope because from the age of seven, I had been asking questions about my life and had never found any answer. I had visited many temples around our village, tried to read Hindu Scripture that my grandfather and mother made me to read for them as I learned to read and write. But there was no answer as who I was and where I had come from. So, the news about my origin was a great relief and thought that my prayers had been answered.

The day I came home, there was a big religious ceremony going on in my home; villagers were gathered and my family was busy with all kinds of rituals. As I arrived, I was washed, and was given white clothes to put on and they made me to enter the sacred room where my father was performing the religious rituals with many other priests. Someone guided me to the entrance of that room and told me to go and bow-down to father. As I entered the room, there were about seven men and did not know whom to bow to. So, I went to the man sitting nearest to the entrance; he happened to be one of the priests and kindly showed me who my father was and for the first time I saw my father and bowed to him as they made me to sit on a mat next to him and take part in the rituals for appeasing the deities so that my father would not die. As I sat there in that room, I tried to steal some glimpses from my father, but I saw him only focused in the rituals and never turned an eye towards me. He seemed to be very much full of anxiety and uncertainty.

As the day died down and all the villagers went home, I was hoping that my family would gather around me and welcome me. I was told that I had two elder sisters, two younger sisters and one younger brother. Except mother, everyone seemed to be afraid to come near and my father went out with his friends and came back home very late. I was given a place to sleep but could not fall asleep and knew when father came home. I gave him the benefit of doubt, thinking he must be tired and may be from tomorrow he will speak to me. But the next day came and went, but my father never looked at me and never said a word. Finally, without realizing a year had gone by without my father speaking to me and having any kind of conversation. In an agrarian society, life for the children can go on without much social interaction and my life took a lonely path. After a year of silence, I found my father to be very angry man and soon his anger was expressed with sever beating. I found out that he loved his younger son so much that no one was allowed to mistreat him. My inner loneliness was turning into an expressed anger but I was afraid of my father, so I expressed my anger over my younger brother. This brought the wrath of my father on my head and since then, it was a constant beating and mental and verbal abuse that left me totally detached from reality. My emotional, mental and physical condition began to deteriorate.

One day, when I was 13 years old, a group of young people visited our school and were selling bags of books with fraction of money. I too bought a bag of books, but when I brought home, father saw the books and he destroyed them all. Somehow as he was burning them, I had hidden one book along with my school books. The title was “friend of all” and it had many pictures in it. But the book remained unread somewhere in the house until I was 17 years old. By the time I was 17; I had abandoned my faith in religion and got into the company of communist friends who taught me the Darwinian view of life and Marxists system of politics. After spending two years with them, I thought that I found the meaning of my life. But deep in me, I was far from real meaning and peace of mind. I was so angry with my father and my anger turned into depression and began to contemplate about suicide. I saw no end to my misery. As I contemplated on taking my own life, I had this urge to take revenge on my father who had brought this misery in my life. I became a violent man and finally left home because I could not stay without trouble anymore. I went and spent most of time with my communist friends.

When my father saw that I was determined to destroy my life, and was also afraid that on the process of destroying my own life, I might harm him as well. So, he sent message to his eldest daughter who was married in a far way town. He asked her if she and her husband could do something about it. I had never met her husband, but when they heard about me, my brother-in-law came to the place where I was living because I had refused to go home. As he met me, he said “I heard you like books” and he pulled out a book from his bag and handed to me. To my amazement, it was the same book that years ago I had bought and saved from being burned by my father. We had never known that he was a Christian; he had married my sister in an arranged marriage in a fully Hindu religious way. But the title of the book “friend of all” once again drew my attention and this time I was able to read it with full attention. It was in this book that I saw a man named Jesus reaching out and touching people who were lost and forgotten by the society. Years later would I know that this was the gospel of Luke! That day, my brother-in-law offered me the chance to come and live in his house so that I could finish my high school because I had already decided to leave the school and join the communist underground movement even as I tried to get some job in a road construction site.

As I read the book, I was greatly attracted to the person of Jesus Christ and even then had no idea that my brother-in-law was a Christian and that he knew about Jesus. I had never thought in terms of that book or Jesus Christ having any kind of relationship with the religion called Christianity. I thought that my brother-in-law randomly got the book to give me as a gift. One day I took the book to a friend who was much older to me, had finished university education, had a good government job, and was considered to be the wise and successful man of the village. I wanted to ask him if he could help me to know more about the man called Jesus. As I gave him the book, he was shocked to see it and tore it into many pieces and threw them into the village air that took away the pieces of my dear book to many different directions. As he tore the book, a cold chill went into my spine and an unknown fear hit me. He warned me that the book had some kind of magical power and if someone reads such books, the person will be either insane or lose mental stability. I left him there screaming at me, feeling sad that the book I was in love with was destroyed (In a few month, the young man died with no apparent reasons and my desire for the book grew stronger).

Finally, I came home and found the same old book, hidden in the midst of all our school books. It was already dirty and dusty but the message of the book started to hit me home every time I read it. The old book had a contact address for further information and the address was of a bookstore in the same town where my sister’s family lived. I decided to go and live with my sister’s family. It was the first time I had visited their house and saw that there were many other books. I asked my sister what these books were all about and she explained to me that her husband was a secret Christian when he married her, and secretly he had been evangelizing people and leading a fellowship of new believers in their home. But my sister was not a believer until then even though her husband had compelled her to take baptism. As I stayed with them and the first Saturday came (Nepali Churches worship on Saturday), three more men came to their home and sat in a room and called me too. As we sat there, they began to pray, sing and some one gave a brief speech. I still remember the first speech, it was “where does my help come from? My help comes from God” (the preacher has now gone to be with the Lord). There I was asking the same question from my early childhood and the man there says that there is a God who is interested in helping us and this God has come to us through Jesus Christ. In my heart, I decided to find out about this God and they gave me New Testament. In one week, I finished reading it and the only verse that stuck in my mind was Matthew 7:7 where it says “ask and it shall be given to you”. I had many questions and here there was a possibility of my asking being answered.

Secretly, I began to talk to Jesus, but the longer I stayed with my sister’s family the more confused I became. The kind of Jesus I saw in the Bible and the kind of Jesus they believed in appeared to be detached from each other. The family life, the kind of controversy about the finances being misused in the name of church and mission had infected this group of new believers who were fighting with one another for money and power for leadership. On top of that I had brought all my troubles with authority figures along with me and my relationship with brother-in-law broke down. I accused him of being the agent of west in the name of religion (this is how I was taught during my communist indoctrination). But one day I found another book in that house, the title was “God who answers by fire”. Somewhere in all these coincidences, I began to see some kind of mysterious pattern. This book opened my eyes to see how God has a plan for every person, and the things that had happened in my life were not by accident, but were ordained by God. I wanted to know this God but had no idea. I had said that Jesus was the best human being to follow, but there was no proper understanding of him being the Son and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Then, God brought another incident; an English preacher by the name of Norman Mitten came to visit my brother-in-law and he spoke to our group. His text was from the gospel of Mark 1:1 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.

As Norman began to expound the gospel to a group of seven of us, I had a strange burning sensation on my chest. Whatever he said, it was as if he was reading my heart with absolute certainty and for the first time I recognized that my biggest problem was not my father, but my sin. The way to God, his help, and answers to my questions is made possible by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That day, alone in my heart, I asked Jesus to come and save me from my sin. The meeting finished without any fanfare. There was no alter-call or prayer for anything or anyone. But a fire had begun in my heart and did not know how to quench it. Since my relationship with brother-in-law was already broken, I could not ask his help. So, I asked other members of that group as what I must do in order to be fully forgiven of my sins. The person said that I had to take water baptism (this was a group that placed a high value on baptism by immersion for salvation). When I said to the group that I want to take baptism, they were taken aback. For them, I was anti Christian because I had opposed their leader and had expressed certain views that were contradictory to what they thought. It was a great danger for them to baptize me because if I was not a genuine believer, I might report to the police of my becoming Christian which then can put the leader into seven years in prison. When I saw their reluctance, I decided to go to a river and baptize myself. When I told them, they were laughing and said that it was not valid. Finally, they arranged a baptismal program along with two other candidate and took us to an Indian border town in North India. In the year 1985/6 (can't remember exact date due to the dual dating system in Nepal), I was baptized in an old Indian (Church of North India) at the age of 18 and since then, it has been a life of adventure filled with joy and pain, laughter and sadness but in everything, God’s amazing grace provided the strength needed.

Right after baptism, I went home and asked forgiveness from my father and forgive him. But he could not take in the thought of his prodigal son turning to Christianity. It took 10 years for him to speak to me when I went home in 1996. In order to break the ice, I took my Indian wife and three years old son to home, hoping that when he sees the daughter- in-law and grand child, his heart may melt. It did melt, but only to the point of general formality. I could feel how uncomfortable he was with us being in his house. By now he had already titled all his property to his younger son so that I could never come and claim my share. And it took another 10 years for him to admit his mistakes. In 2007, we heard that he was very sick and had become very old and frail. I and my wife visited him. As we arrived at his home, it was about noon time. There was no one else in the house, children had gone to school and my mother and brother’s family were working in their field. As we went about the house, we saw the old man sitting way back in the garden, turning his face away from home. I went from behind and called him; he was surprised and tried to get up but could not. I grabbed him in my arms and helped him to walk back home. It was the first time that I had held my father; I had never known his touch or embrace. Within me, I was weeping, but had to put up a brave face so that the old man would not faint to see me crumble. For the first time, the old man confessed his guilt and released me to do whatever makes me happy. As I saw his painful tears running down his boney chicks; I also did not hold anything back and told him that the only thing that would compensate me of my robbed childhood is when I see him confess his sin to Jesus Christ and accept him as his personal savior. He neither denied my wish nor accepted; and realizing his social stature, I gave him an easy and wishful suggestion - “even if you cannot accept him in public due to the fear of your religious society, accept him in the privacy of your heart”. I am not sure how long my old man will live, but it is my prayer that when he leaves this world, he would have made his peace with his creator.

For whom is the Short Term Mission Trip?

2011-06-12T09:52:00.001+09:00

Three questions to Nepali Christians

2011-06-12T02:26:00.003+09:00

Life in a changing world

2011-06-09T22:18:00.003+09:00

Life in a changing world

Over a period of time, everything changes in our physical and social environment. We say, "times have changed" to indicate the differences between the present and the bygone days. Sociologists and psychologists talk about "generation gap" in explaining the difficulties parents have with their children where neither can understand the other. We are born, we grow and go on to be the individuals that we can until death greets each of us at the door. Change continues unabated in this world whether we live or die. Families change, relationships change, occupations change, social networks change and religious convictions and worldviews change too. Even the geography changes; nations change their borders, rivers change their course, landslides change the shape of the mountains, lakes dry, creeks disappear and so on. Some of these changes are manmade but others are not; manmade changes rather permanently destroy the ecology and environment (deforestation being the primary cause of the landslides and drying of rivers, lakes and creeks) whereas the nature has its own way of restoring or adapting to the changes it has brought upon itself. Whichever way change comes, it is certain that change is a permanent process in this world and no one can stand against it; it will take everything on its way along with it.

The Bible says "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", implying that what he created in the beginning has also an end and thus in the New Testament we see people longing for the new heaven and new earth because the world "in its present form is passing away" (1Cor.7:31). Not just the material world that is passing away; the NT also talks about a world that is immaterial and this too will pass away and therefore gives following admonition;

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1John 2:15-17).

Less than a year ago Christopher Hitchens was a robust and a handsome looking man who even reaching 60 looked as if in his mid-forties. His physical look matched to his intellectual ability to tear down opposing arguments and destroy the faith of the simple minded believers in any form of god or divine. The last book he published as his memoir (Hitch 22) was selling like hot cakes and in his own words, Christopher was in for the glory days ahead of him; he was now ready to ride the tidal wave of fame and popularity that he had worked for so hard until then. Unfortunately for Christopher, his glorious world came crumbling down too soon while he was on a book signing tour last summer; the cruelty of cancer was so harsh, and even for a man of strength like Hitchens had to pause and think. As the emergency crew came to take him to hospital, Christopher in his typical linguistic beauty puts like this;

They arrived with great dispatch and behaved with immense courtesy and professionalism. I had the time to wonder why they needed so many boots and helmets and so much heavy backup equipment, but now that I view the scene in retrospect I see it as a very gentle and firm deportation, taking me from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady. Within a few hours, having had to do quite a lot of emergency work on my heart and my lungs, the physicians at this sad border post had shown me a few other postcards from the interior and told me that my immediate next stop would have to be with an oncologist. Some kind of shadow was throwing itself across the negatives. (Vanity Fair, September 2010).

Christopher has crossed the border from the land of the well into the land of the maladies and sadly even lost his voice to speak; what a change has come in his life. As a devout Atheist, he continues to fight for every precious moment he can have in this world and I wish him many more.

But over half a century ago in the Netherlands, there was a young 15 years old girl by the name of Annie Frank. Her parents gave her a diary for her 13th birthday and began her entries in it. Soon thereafter, the whole Frank family along with few other friends went into hiding from the Nazi's purge of the Jews. After spending two years in hiding, Annie completing her 15th birthday, and two days after her last entry in that diary, the hiding place was raided. Everyone was sent to various concentration camps, everyone perished in a short span of time except Annie's father. When the war ended; Annie's Father visited the place where they had hid themselves; got his daughter's diary and later published it; Dairy of Annie Frank has since become a household name in much of the western world.

The interesting thing about Annie is that even in her young age she was able to look beyond her age and environment; she saw the changing nature of life and everything in this world; including suffering. On July 11, 1944 she wrote,

In the eyes of the world, we’re doomed, but if after all this suffering, there are still Jews left, the Jewish people will be held up as an example. Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that’s the reason, the only reason we have had to suffer. We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. And we’ll have to keep on being Jews, but then, we’ll want to be. God has never deserted our people. Through the ages Jews have had to suffer, but through the ages they’ve gone on living, and the centuries of suffering have only made them stronger. (Dairy of Annie Frank)

While hearing about millions of Jews being gassed across Nazi occupied Europe; Annie looks beyond the sad post of suffering to a land of goodness and God; a land where evil shall be conquered by good, where weakness shall turned into strength; a land where there is no shadow coming over the negatives but light wiping away every trace of darkness and fear. What a contrast between Christopher and Annie's world! Christopher fights for a world that is passing away but Annie looks to a world that will never pass away. The world and its passions will pass away said apostle John; "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1John 2:17).

Unfortunately, most of us who claim to be living for the world to come are often pre-occupied with the things of this world. Whether we are from an affluent nation or an impoverished one makes no difference when it comes to the things of this world; the passions that attempt to imprison us in this world are the same everywhere and for everyone regardless of one's position in life. Lust, greed and pride continue to create havoc in many Christians' life and particularly in Christian leaders' life. We hear of news such as a mega church pastor in the US having secret homosexual partners; a mega church pastor in Korea sexually exploiting secretaries in the church offices. We hear of MBB (Muslim background believers) faking their persecution so that they could gain sympathy and dollars for a better life. We hear of missionaries writing fake reports of what they are doing in the mission fields so that the flow of finances continues for their royal life-style in some third-world nations. We hear of third world pastors and Christian leaders selling their churches, orphanages and ministries to highest bidder from the affluent nation even if it is a false teaching like Jehova's Witness, Mormons, Manmins, or anyone. Lust, pride and money become the objects of worship for such leaders and they can change their vision, calling and doctrine depending on the monetary and the sensual pleasure of this world. The things of this world continue to win the affections of many of us and we don't want to think about the kingdom of God. For this case, we are worse than Christopher Hitchens; in fact Hitchens deserves better respect because he is not a hypocrite like us. He claims that this world is all that he has got whereas we claim that we live for the world to come; but in reality we find it hard to detach from the things of this world and continue to crave for them; we cheat, lie and quarrel for them. We have witnessed how these Televangelists have deceived the innocent folks; we have seen how pastors in third world nations have built palaces for themselves by the money that was given for the reported mission work; we have seen how a pastor's desire to make his name great has gone on to suck life out of his church members by constantly asking them to pay for his mega-building projects.

It appears that such a mindset of Christians and their leaders has forgotten the changing nature of this world. They have fooled themselves by believing that this world will last forever and therefore, having an affair, buying a private jet or an expensive car with the money received by fooling the believers, building a beautiful house with the mission money perfectly makes sense to them. Sadly their sense of pleasure and security will also come to a place where everything will be changed; like Solomon they will say that it was all in vain and what is more terrifying is that Christ is going to ask for an account of what we did with what was given to us while here on earth. But long before we get to that place where we meet Christ, the price of such a life has to be paid here and now; we have seen how their lust, pride and greed cost them everything right here on earth.

Unless we live with one eye in eternity, we will all be tempted to do what we have described above; if we focus on the things of this world with both the eyes, we will make wrong choices and miss the view of heaven; one way or the other this changing world will get to us. Therefore, like the author of Hebrews said, let us focus on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Like Annie Frank's conviction of goodness; lets make our ambition to live as an examples of good instead of greed, lust and pride; let us live for the world to come in this world and beyond.

Love your enemies

2011-06-09T01:11:00.002+09:00

Reasons for the disappointment among some Nepali Christians

2011-05-28T02:05:00.002+09:00

Bhoj Raj Bhatta

2011-05-14T02:18:00.002+09:00

A Plea for Genuine Prayer among Nepali Christians

2011-05-10T18:27:00.002+09:00

Three questions to Nepali Christians

2011-04-14T21:15:00.004+09:00

1. Why did you believe in Jesus Christ?

2. What difference did it make?

3. What kind of leader are you sitting under?

Scenes from Kathmandu Hope Church

2011-03-24T03:59:00.005+09:00

Prayer Retreat 2011

2011-03-14T13:48:00.000+09:00

Hope Church

2011-03-09T11:23:00.003+09:00

Worship song from Hope Church from BR Bhatta on Vimeo.

Worshiping community of Hope Church

2010-11-23T09:52:00.000+09:00

The ones who are leading the worship grew up in our Sunday School and today the Lord is using these precious young people to lead our congregation into this beautiful melody of worship with their talents and anointing. Hope Church has always inspired members to seek God's kingdom and righteousness with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. The Lord has truly been good to us!

When God Ran lyric version

2010-08-31T11:21:00.001+09:00

This is so amazing to know how God's love never changes. How many times we have to be reminded of this love because we know the depth of our own sinfulness and find it so hard to believe that God still loves us. But that is what God has demonstrated in his story of love for fallen humanity. If you are there struggling with the question of whether God would still love you; yes he does. This love is only a Repentant heart away; the moment you turn from your futile life and take your steps towards the Love of God; he will be there because he runs, and runs so fast that you will be surprised. If it had not been this kind of love of God, I wonder where I would be today!!

Glimpses of Hope Church, June 2010

2010-07-16T23:55:00.000+09:00

Mrs. Bhatta was able to visit our church in Kathmandu this summer and ministered there for two weeks. These are few glimpses of her visit and ministry

But Because You Say So!

2010-07-16T21:42:00.000+09:00

“But Because You Say So” (Luke 5:3-5)

As a professional fisherman, Peter knew how to fish, when to fish and when not to fish. But there was a night when he had caught nothing even after trying the whole night. As the morning came, people began to come to the shores of Galilee. To make matter worse, Jesus also had come along and many people were crowding to listen to his words. The worst came when Jesus chose Peter’s boat to sit and speak to the people from afloat the water so that they would not press him down to get a glimpse of him. Here was Peter and his friends, tried all night and without any fish in their boat, listening patiently to the man called Jesus of Nazareth.

As Jesus took longer than they expected, there may have come a feeling in Peter to tell Jesus to stop and go away from his boat because by nature Peter was an impatient man who could not wait for the things to happen, he was a kind of man who made things happen. But this morning, he was tired, he was disappointed of not catching any fish and now all hopes for the day were gone due to the crowd and there was no chance of any fish remaining near the shore there with that kind of noise.

Just as Peter was getting agitated and about to tell Jesus to go out of his boat, Jesus stops preaching and looks to Peter, seeing the frustration in his face asks him to put out the net into deep water for the catch. This would have really surprised Peter, not because of the catch but because of the absurdity of the command. May be there was a sarcastic smile in his face when he said “we have tried it all night”. But something in Peter made him to obey…he had been listening to Jesus just before the command came. Jesus was teaching to people and something in his teaching must have made him to think differently. That is why, when Jesus asked him to put out the net, he said “But because you say, I will put out”. Well, as he put out the net because of the words of Jesus, we know the result.

Just like Peter, many times we are also in that kind of situation. There may come a time when all our hopes are gone, when whatever we try does not work; we too become so cynical of anyone who tries to help us out. We say, what is the use of prayer, what is the use of trusting God, what is the use of going to church? What is the use of trying anymore?

Well, just like Peter, if we can listen to God’s word, if we can say like Peter, “because you say so…I will…(you can fill in the blank). Whatever situation you are facing, find out what God’s word says about it and then put that word into practice by saying “God, because you say so, I will obey, I will do”. If you can put your trust in God’s word, God will surely make your path straight. In proverbs 3:5-6 God’s word says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”.

The situation might not be turning around in a moment, but just like Peter, if you can be patient and listen to Jesus and then when he speaks to you, you obey what he says; things will change for the better. God will surely bring salvation to your way, he will bring deliverance to your way and he will bring victory over the circumstances of your life. Life is victorious when we live in obedience to God’s word!

I pray for God’s victory to come your way!

God will make a way where there seems to be no way- Don Moen

2010-07-05T19:44:00.001+09:00

Life of faith always requires new level of faith. So far as our life in Christ is concerned, we are sure of our salvation and we know that heaven is our home for sure. But, living down here on earth requires a different kind of faith; it is a faith for small things of life, the mundane things of life. It is a kind of faith that looks to God for each new meal, for each new pair of clothes, for each new cup of water and a new ounce of oxygen for us to make one more moment ahead in this world. For those of us who are sure of heaven and life eternal, we will always have faith for the bigger challenges of life such as facing all kind of persecution and even death for Christ. But such faith becomes more wanting when it comes to meeting our smaller challenges in making through this world. Having worked so hard, you come to a place where the bills are not paid, car is broken down, roof is leaking, and the kids are outgrowing their clothes. You sit in your living room, not knowing how you are going to pay the bills, how you are going to repair the car and the roof and when you really can buy new pair of clothes for your growing children. You hate to see yourself becoming so weak and helpless. It is in times like these we also wonder if God really cares for us because you did pray, you do have some kind of prayer time in your home either at the dinner table or before the bed time, you go to church, you try to put some kind of offering and once a while you may also pay your tithes, you do read your bible often and you love God with all your heart. You won't let any sin control you because the moment you know you have made mistake, your hearts breaks before God and you beg him to forgive you of your sin and a new faith rises up in you and you begin to appreciate the cross of Christ and the grace of God more in your life.

But then, now you are sitting your living room, may be alone, and you don't have a clue whether God really cares for you. You have heard many prosperity preachers telling you how God wants to bless you financially and sometimes you tried to believe what they preached, you tried to memorize some of the famous promises of God, confessed them. You heard many people giving testimony of how God miraculously provided their needs...but when you look around your living room and every object in the house tells you that you are in deep trouble and there is no help coming out from anywhere; they are telling you that you are broke and busted. Because of such financial pressure, lately, you have not cleaned your house and many of these objects are covered with dust.

You have thought about sharing your situation with some friends, but somehow there is a sense of shame and loss of dignity...honestly, you have no other way out of your situation.

Finally, one more time, you gather the courage and instead of going to your friends or relatives for help, you begin to look to heaven, you begin to pick up your Bible and you begin to turn to pages that you had read many times over and with heavy heart, you start reading verses like Matthew 6:33; 7:7; 17:20; 21;21-22, Mark 9:23, John 15:7, 16 and many more from the Old Testament; specially from Psalms and Proverbs, a new kind of faith begins to take shape in your heart. You begin to really believe that God's word is true and if you allow it to rule your thinking, it will produce the kind of fruit it says it can. You begin to speak to your bills to be paid, you begin to your car and roof to be repaired and begin to speak for your children's clothes to come in existence not because you think that is right but because you have taken God's word very seriously; you have taken Jesus' words in Matthew 6 very seriously and are convinced that God does care for you, he cars for your bills, he cares for your car and roof, he cares for your children; he cares for you. A holy boldness wells up within your heart and you begin to look to God with a different attitude knowing that he is a father who delights in giving good things to his children and from Romans 8:32 you realized that he did not spare his only begotten son, then why would he spare any other good things from you...your faith for the daily living begins to come to the fore and you jump from your chair, start praising God, start singing, knowing that God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Now, you are not concentrating on paying the bills, but on God meeting your need, you are not concentrating on what is broken but what God can do for you...you also begin to remember about the past...you remember in time past as how God had met your need miraculously!

Instead of gloom, there comes a smile in your face, instead of depression, you begin to rejoice for the fact that God in heaven cares for you and he has promised in his word to take care of all you need and with Paul, you begin to say that my God will supply all my needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus!

For the first time, you begin to take God's word very seriously, not because some prosperity preachers told you but because you read in the Holy Book and the Spirit of God quickened your heart and granted you faith to overcome your daily, mundane and ordinary needs of life...and to your amazement, you begin to see answer coming to you in many forms. Long before you shared you needs with anyone, someone comes to you with new pair of clothes for your children, some even can approach to you with hard cash, not knowing why you need them for! As such evidences begin to flood you, you begin to move beyond the shadow of doubt that God does care for you...the reason people come to your aid is not because you were poor but because when you looked up to God and trusted his word, he also began to speak to the people about you...God always uses people to meet his children's need (of course he can miraculously drop help from the sky, but he chooses people to be his instrument). When God begins to meet your need, don't feel humiliated, but rather praise God and pray for those individuals...and when you have experienced such provisions, then, it is your time to be sensitive to the voice of God about the needs of people who might be around you. When God begins to show you, prompt you or direct you, be obedient to him to be his agent of blessing to some one because in this way, your life of faith takes a new heights and you are no longer afraid of the small challenges in your life! God will make a way either for big or small things in our lives!!

He Will Carry You - Jonathan Moore

2010-07-02T00:37:00.001+09:00

This is one of those classic songs that would instantly minister to our spirit when we feel bogged down by the problems of this world. God does care for us! Sometimes when things get tough in life, it is natural to wonder if God really cares for us? But then, when we stop and look around, we soon realize that if it was not the care of God, we couldn't have made even that far. So, if you are feeling down today, I want you to look over your shoulder and know that God is watching over you; he cares for you so much that he gave his only begotten son. There is nothing God would spare to give you and thats why Romans 8:32 says, "he will not withhold any good things from us".

If you are facing a mountain today, just know that God has the ability to take you over that mountain. Believe in his goodness for he will surely come to your rescue. As a loving father, he does not take pleasure in your suffering, Jesus has suffered all for us and he has redeemed us from the curse that kept us in the bondage. Jesus took upon himself all our infirmities and sickness and by his stripes we are healed. Jesus because poor for us so that through him we might become rich in every way so that we can become generous in every opportunity. He bore our shame and sin so that we might not be ashamed and have life. No, my friend, God does not take delight in your sorrow and pain, he sorrows with you, he suffers with you and soon he will take you out of this suffering and sorrow because he is God and he has already overcome the power of sin and death.

Even if there is no one to give you a shoulder to cry, know that Jesus stands tall beside you in the power of his Spirit. His love is so deep that we cannot comprehend, he is am amazing and loving father. So, just as Jesus said, if anyone is heavy and burdened, let him come to me and I will give you rest. Right now, you can come to him, pour out your heart to him with trust and gratitude and you will be amazed to see how he will be so real to you in times of your troubles and difficulties. He will never let you be there for too long. The sooner you come to him the quicker your problems will be solved.

Sunday is my best day!

2010-06-27T18:29:00.000+09:00

Sunday for me in Korea has always been a tiresome day. In my early days in Korea, I used to travel from one city to another to help begin Nepali Churches; there are now three such congregations and all of them I ministered by travelling every weekend. In those days when the weekend came, I felt two kinds of emotions; on the one hand I was excited to meet new people with whom I would spend long hours to share the love of God and also with the believers to teach from God's word. But on the other hand, I had to leave my family behind since it was not practical for them to travel with me for long distance every week. I wished for the day when I would be able to go to the church together with my family.

From this year beginning though, my wish came true. An English Church in Daejeon asked for my service while the Nepali Church in Seoul was also wishing for my return. I choose Daejeon and finally we all could go to the church together; well not together. The thing in Korean Church is that a minister must be present in the Church from wee hours of Sunday and remain in the church until the midnight. Fortunately for me, the church asked to come only from 7 in the morning to attend the staff meeting and then plan for the International worship and go home whenever it was done! So, even if we cannot go to the church together, we can at least come home together! This has also helped us grow spiritually and by the time we are home on Sunday, I feel a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. Unfortunately, not many Korean pastors and ministers can have the luxury that I have to spend time with my family. They are there in the church all the time while the spouse and children create their own kind of existence at home. I have met many individuals who are so tired of being a pastor's wife or husband and the same thing goes with the children. How true is God's word that if we fail to take care of our own home, how can we take care of the family of God?

Pastor's job is not without challenges, but for me, I would not give up this calling for a world of other things. It is in this calling that you get the privilege of entering in the world of other people where there is sorrow and joy, loss and gain, tears and cheers. When I see someone being touched with God's word and smile coming back on their faces, my mission is accomplished. In my early years, I never knew that what I say would make a difference in anyone's life, but may be the kind of experiences I have come from has accumulated something in me that finds resonance with those who are hurting in some ways. Even after staying years in Korea, I can never get hold of Korean language, but am so grateful to God for opening an opportunity where I could minister to Koreans and foreigners in English. Sunday has finally become the best day, not just for the ministry but also for the family!

It has bee a while

2010-06-26T18:27:00.002+09:00

For those friends who were looking for us as what we are up to, sorry to say that for the last few months we really had no time for the blogs and things like that. Life seems to have its own seasons in which you have time for everything and then suddenly you freeze in the business of this world. Once this business gets on the way, even the mind does not have words to put forth.

Yesterday my wife reached Nepal and today she is ministering in the church. Me and Martin, two men without a woman in the house seem to have a lot of time but only to make the house dirty. Whatever we cook, tastes terrible and I could not sleep the whole night...got up in the morning to find my head splitting with aches. I never knew that I was this much dependent on my wife...can't imagine life without her.

It will be another few weeks until she comes back and wonder how we are going to manage...in two days we have already started the signs of panic in the kitchen. But the good thing is that Martin has begun to take things seriously, he makes his own bed, even made breakfast for me. Poor fellow, he can't sleep late in the morning because he has taken up the responsibility of looking after two dogs and two cats along with one hamster for his teachers who are on a long summer vacation. Every day twice he has to take the dogs for walk out in the woods and then change the litter for the cats and feed them. Sometimes I too accompany him to see those animals and how sad to see that even the animals feel lonely and depressed...unless Martin stays there, one of the dogs won't eat...when I see these pets, I am upset with their owners...why did they buy in the first place if they can't be with them always? Poor animals really feel abandoned...wish they knew that their owners will surely return. So, if the animals have the right to feel lonely, I think I have more to do so...only thing is that I know my wife will come in a few weeks, but wonder if these animals are so sure. They may have waited a few days thinking the master is returning, but now it is already two weeks and they have kind of given up hope and are just happy to see at least Martin coming to see them twice a day.

This feeling tells me that life is all about relationships and even God is a Trinity, indicating that he is also a relational God. The very reason he chose a human heart to reside also tells us how much God values our relationship with him. My body is the temple of God where he dwells by his Holy Spirit...it is God's temple and I must treat it well and take care of it, keep it clean so that God can make me his dwelling place, so that I can feel his presence in my lowly body.

Ok, with his I hope to be posting few things daily in here and let the friends know that I am here and doing well even though am missing my wife. Tomorrow is Sunday and I must be ready for the service but since tonight Korea is playing, I might stay up late once again.

A friend of mine left this car with me; an old DAEWOO but after repairing twice, its now running well...hope it does for a while. We always wanted to visit surrounding areas of Daejeon and hopefully with this car, we can do that as a family...but the mileage is terrible!

Power of Asking Prayer (video)

2010-03-08T18:46:00.000+09:00

http://www.cgntv.net/cgn_player/player.asp?bit=medium&vid=61890

Sermon Series from Philippians

2010-02-02T09:30:00.001+09:00

Reasons to rejoice in adversities (Philippians 1:12-21)

Introduction: From verse 1-11, Paul expressed his heart to the Philippians. He thanks and appreciates them for supporting him in his mission from the very beginning. As he is the servant of Jesus Christ, but his service is rendered to God by serving the saints in places like Philippi. When he addresses them, he has highest respect and affection toward them; is filled with compassion when he remembers them. He just longs for them and wishes that they would know the best way to live while here on earth and when the time comes for them to appear before God, they would also appear as blameless and holy in the sight of God, bearing the fruit of righteousness for the glory of God. The way Paul writes to them, it appears that there had been a constant communication between Paul and Philippians all along the way; they knew what had happened to Paul and how he was in Rome. They were aware of his suffering and adversities.

Therefore, in our text today from verse 12-20, Paul explains as how he rejoices in the midst of all the difficulties that they have heard; all the suffering that Paul went through, the Philippians were aware of and therefore, he encourages them to be joyful in all adversities, sufferings and difficulties by giving his own example as how he rejoices in it.

Suffering, adversities and difficulties are the part of our life. Yes, we long for a smooth life with no bump along the way; we wish things would just work out well for us so that we would not have to worry for the next day. May be when we are young and haven’t faced many difficulties, then such wish and longing may not be there as strong as in many of us who have spent more years on this earth. We wish and long that our bodies were perfect with no pain or sickness, we wish that our families were perfect and our finances would always be plentiful, our relationships with people would be always joyful, our jobs would be always delightful without any stress. We all long for an easy ride; it would be either foolish or ignorance to say that I like sufferings, difficulties, adversities and all kinds of problems in my life. No, any human being who knows about life would like to have easy and comfortable like and that is why we work hard, we do all that we do in order to make our lives livable and comfortable. But the fact is that we all face one kind or the other kind of sufferings, difficulties and adversities in our lives. There is suffering; there is difficulty and adversity and when they come our way, we cannot avoid them.

When we face such adversities in life, then we begin to ask many questions. As long as things go well in life we don’t ask these questions, but the moment sufferings and adversities hit us, we begin to wonder and ask questions as countless people do; why is there suffering in the world? Why do we suffer? What is the reason for suffering and how can we avoid it? What relationship does it have with God? Why does God allow suffering in human life? Why can’t God take away all suffering from this world? I don’t have the time to dwell in all these questions for now, but I would like to touch the question of “why is there suffering?” before I go into the text and see the reasons for rejoicing in the suffering and adversity. To shed a little more light on this question, we need to see that there are various kinds of suffering and all of them have their origins and solutions. But these origins and solutions might not be what we wish them to be. So, I would put the suffering basically into three categories;

One: Suffering because of disobeying God. What I mean by this is that God is the creator and when he created the material world, including man, he set this world into motion and laid down the laws that would govern its operation. When the creation was perfect, and without sin, there were no suffering and no laws of nature were broken. But the fact of the matter is that these laws are still there and the moment we break these laws, we invite suffering. Our body has certain ways in which it works perfectly, but if we don’t eat and sleep in time, if we abuse it, then we are headed for myriads of diseases that can inflict unbearable suffering in our life. Even after the fall of man, when man became sinful and lost the right relationship with God, God still wanted man to live and therefore he gave him the moral law. With the natural laws and moral law, God wanted man to overcome the suffering that had come after the fall of man. The only condition was that man was supposed to obey these laws and if man disobeys these laws, suffering is the only outcome. This suffering can come in one of the three ways; it can come from self, others and nature. One can bring a lot of suffering on himself or herself. Others can bring terrible suffering on the innocent people and even the nature if tampered with can case unbearable damage. If the people of Haiti were careful and had built stronger homes and lived in safer environment, many would have survived the earthquake and the same thing goes with people in Bangladesh where every year thousands die of flood because of the deforestation in all the mountains surrounding the nation. So, sin bring all kind of suffering on self and others.

Two: Suffering because of obeying God. This world has become so hostile to God and every time you want to live for God you face a lot of suffering and adversities. When you want to believe in Jesus, your family, friends and co-workers can cause a lot of suffering. Even in Christian families, when you want to live for God, at times the family members can become very harsh on you. People in the world who have decided to disobey God will do anything they can in order to make your life miserable. This suffering primarily comes in two ways; one from the people and the other from Satan himself. Some times we blame all such suffering on Satan, but the reality is that people do have the freedom to choose to make us suffer when we believe in God. But other times, Satan himself will try to cause you to suffer so that you would abandon God.

Three: Suffering because of unknown reason. There are times when we have no idea as why we have to suffer. May be being human itself is the reason for this kind of suffering. In such suffering, it is possible to become bitter and blame God, but the best thing in such times is to trust God and believe that he is able to change our suffering. Suffering is not the will of God but when we face it, we must believe in and hold on in the goodness of God. God does not enjoy when we suffer, in fact if we suffer for doing good, God suffers with us. Suffering and adversities may come to us, but they are not supposed to be our life long lot; even in suffering, we must always believe that God wants me out of this suffering but I don’t know why I am in it right now. My suffering, my adversities will come to an end, even if it means that I have to go to heaven to see its end.

So, if we suffer because of disobeying God, it is time to obey so that we could be delivered from the suffering either in this life or in the life to come.

If we suffer because of obeying God, it is time to rejoice because great will be our rewards in earth as well as in heaven and if we suffer because of unknown reasons; it is time to trust God to see us through this suffering.

But today, I want to talk about Suffering because of obeying God and what are the reasons that we should rejoice in suffering and adversities when we suffer for God. Peter also talks about rejoicing in suffering for good. If we suffer for our evil actions, we deserve it but if we suffer for doing well, we should rejoice (1Peter 4:12-16) instead of being ashamed of it. Paul is also talking about suffering and adversity that come because of obeying God. Suffering and adversities themselves are not the reason to rejoice, there is nothing good in suffering itself. But what Paul is telling us in this passage is that we can rejoice in spite of suffering because God is able to use our suffering for our own good and for his own glory. When we suffer because of obeying God, there is possibility of being delivered, but when we suffer because of disobeying him, and then unless we repent, there is no solution for our suffering. Now, let’s see today’s text verse by verse and see how Paul faced adversities in his life for obeying God?

Paul was attacked and arrested in Jerusalem, and at one time they nearly tore him apart. The Jews wanted him to try and put to death in Judea but because he appealed to Caesar, they had to send him to Rome as a prisoner. To be a prisoner in the ancient time was not a pleasant thing. In his old age, he is now living in prison and writes this letter. Paul is not rejoicing because he is in prison, because he faces all kinds of adversities but why is he rejoicing? He rejoices…

1. Because of Paul’s suffering in Roman prison, Christ is preached and because of this, Paul rejoices (Phil. 1:12-13).

a. Paul’s suffering helped in advancing the gospel. How?

i. All palace guards know that Paul is in prison because of preaching about Jesus Christ. Every time Paul testified in the court or he met the guard keeping watch over him, he did not fail to explain the gospel. Whenever Paul was brought before the officials, he would explain his conversion testimony and they would listen and possible many of the believed.

ii. Everyone knew Paul was in Prison because of the gospel. Paul realized that God had allowed him to be in chains so that he could testify to the powers in Rome and therefore, he rejoices.

b. What about us? Every time we suffer or face some kind of adversity, that can be either the reason to be bitter and grumble or we can rise up to the occasion and show our character as true believers in Christ and allow others to see how we can turn the suffering as a witness for Christ. If Christ can be preached because of our suffering; that should be reason to rejoice. So, we must be in the look out as how we can testify for the name of Christ. We must live for preaching the gospel. Paul never let any opportunity to slip by whether in good time or in bad time to be the witness for Christ. Jesus said, “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, then you shall be my witnesses”. We are to be the witness of Christ, even if it means through suffering and when we do that, we can rejoice. Secondly…

2. Paul’s suffering helped the brethren to be bold in their witness of Christ (Phil. 1:14).

a. They saw their Pastor turning every hardship into opportunity to witness for Christ. They saw the grace in suffering and also realized that what Paul was preaching, he was actually living what he preached. They saw how gospel was reaching to the highest office in Rome and they were not afraid to die for Christ.

b. Example from my Pastor: When I was a new believer in Christ, I was arrested and put in Police custody for being a Christian along with 24 others (Christians were severely persecuted in Nepal in those days). Our pastor, Rev. Joseph Shrestha, was one of us in the custody. He was just about forty with three young children at home with his wife. He had a good government job and a house and with a middle class living standard, was enjoying the best time of his life. But then, we 25 were arrested and the next day, we would be sent to the district court to be tried and if convicted, we all would go to jail from 3- to 7 years in Prison and possibility was that Pastor and some of us would be sentenced to 7 years. But the place where they locked us in was not very secure. Since they did not tie us down, if we wanted, we could make our way out of the station in the middle of the night. On top of that, as the evening darkness fell, all the guard on duty were drinking and all of them fell headlong fully drunk. When we saw that they were not moving and when we teased them, they could not even move from where they were. Realizing the opportunity, some of our brothers began to urge us to run away. If we ran away, it was possible that we could avoid being re-arrested by hiding or going into India. But the Pastor urged all of us not to be afraid even if we had to go to jail. For a while all of us sat there in the dark but one by one the brothers began to disappear through the back hole. Some said that they had young children to look after; others also gave many excuses. Some even used Jesus’ words “run from one city to another”. So, the Pastor could not convince them to stay on. Finally, four of us and the pastor decided that we would stay there and suffer for Christ instead of running away and bring the name of Christ and Christianity into disrepute as cowards, criminals who run away from police custody. I too was wondering about my future, I was ready to go to Bible College and there in that night, was staring in the face of at least three years in jail, and even had thought about running away and going to India where I was already accepted in a Bible college. But when I saw the dedication and the commitment of my Pastor, I was ashamed of thinking of running away. He was a man of God who was willing to lay down his family, his good government job and comfortable life for the life of prison for the sake of Christ and his example gave me the courage to stand on trial for the sake of preaching the gospel. Somewhere late after the midnight, the guards came out of their drinking binge, and when they saw the room empty, only five people remaining there, they were furious and gathered all five of us and brought to another room. They called their senior officer and began to threaten of charging us, in addition of preaching the gospel, for helping the prisoners to escape. They harassed us nearly for one hour and then the sober officer really began to listen to us. My pastor showed him the government servants Id and explained to him what we were doing in that place. It is not that easy to charge a government employ. Finally after listening our stories; the man calmed down and said that if we would sign a document saying “we will never come to this district for preaching Christian religion”, he would release us. We agreed not to come there because we had come from a different district (we had gone to that district for a funeral of one of the members of our branch church), and all those who were from that place had already run away. So, he wrote the document and as we were sitting in a row in front of the officer, he read to us before asking us to sign. In Nepali language Christianity is called “Isai”. This police officer after the drinking and all, messed up his writing and instead of saying “we will not come here to preach “Isai” religion”, he wrote, “we will not come here to preach “Islamic” religion. Oh, when we heard that, we were willing to sign ten times! The first brother signed, the second was Pastor, he signed, I was the third and the fourth brother also signed. The fifth brother was a bit slow in comprehension. May be when the officer read, he did not pay attention or something, and also when we were speaking with our eyes, he never really understood. So, he wanted to read the document for himself, and blurted out “No way, we are not Muslims, we are Christians, how come you accuse us of being Muslims, you must change this “Islamic into Isai”. All of our shoulders collapsed and how mad we were with that bone-head. But than, may be the Lord only gave me the courage to speak. Words came out, “Sir, do you know why you have arrested us in the first place? How dare you accuse us being Muslims? Don’t you have any idea as what Islam is? What proof do you have that we are Muslims?” As I was on and on, the man got so mad and I still remember his shouting “shut up or I will burry your spectacles in your eyes”. He was so furious because he did not know the difference between Islam and Isai. Out of his anger, he tore the paper and shouted at us “get out of my sight, go back to where you came from and never visit my district again”. Praise God, by the wee hour of the morning we were back in the home of the person whose daughter we had gone to burry. The end of the story looks humorous, but the beginning was not and the courage of my pastor still becomes the reason for my strong faith in God even in the midst of adversity. So, we must live not only for our faith, but also for the faith of the fellow believers. Thirdly…

3. Paul rejoices because what people intended for his harm, God used it for good (Phil. 1:16-18). There were Christians who were opposing Paul and they wanted to cause more trouble for him. But Paul says that even in their selfish and wicked intension, they had actually preached Christ and therefore, Paul rejoices.

a. Some preach with good motives. They were the brothers who were encouraged by seeing Paul’s example and were willing to lay down their lives for preaching the gospel. Even though Paul was confined in Prison, God was using other brothers to spread the gospel as they were becoming bold from watching Paul’s example and courage.

b. Other for selfish and envious motives. They were Christian people who were against Paul. Instead of being bitter, Paul rejoices because God is able to use for our good what Satan or people intended for our harm.

c. When we face such people, we must seek God in such a way as how their evil actions could be used for our good and for God’s glory.

d. God will always give us victory over our adversary if we live for the purpose of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ by our words and actions. Fourthly…

4. Paul rejoices because there are people who love him and pray for him (Phil. 1:19-20).

a. Philippians prayed for Paul.

b. When people pray for us, God does answer. Paul believes in the prayers of saints on his behalf.

c. Because of their prayer, God will not allow Paul to be ashamed but will see deliverance. When we suffer for God and for good, we will not be ashamed. Eventually we will see the victory. God will hear the prayers of saints on our behalf. We also need to pray for our leaders so that they would be delivered from the enemy; either physical or spiritual. Fifthly…

5. Paul rejoices because whether in life or death, God will be gloried (Phil. 1:20-21). Our ultimate aim is the glory of God. If we have a kind of life that does not glorify God, it is of no use. But even when we die, if that will bring the glory to God, that death is worth dying for. It is easier to die for God but harder to live for God. Paul wants to see God’s glory whether he lives or dies in Roman prison.

Conclusion:

So, there are many reasons to rejoice when we suffer for obeying God.

1. Christ will be preached and people will be saved. Our aim in life is to save as many people as we can. Whatever we acquire in this world, it will be left behind. Houses, cars, and any material possession, that will be left behind. What good it is to acquire material wealth whole of your life and then die at the end; leaving behind all that you spent your life for? But if we live to be the witness of Christ, we shall be instrument of God in saving someone’s life from hell and will take these people with us to eternity. Paul lived for that purpose and we too need to live with this purpose in our heart. If you have non-believers in your working place, they should be in your heart, in your prayers and you should look out for every God ordained opportunity to share your life and testimony so that they would be saved. Also, we must use our materials possessions very wisely, and invest them into God’s kingdom where no thief can steal; no rust and moth will destroy it. Jesus said “where your treasure is there your heart also will be”. So, not only we should be witnesses, we also should use our material possessions for the work of God in which the gospel is preached and people are saved.

2. Secondly, we must live to strengthen the fellow believers. We are not to live all for self and self alone. We are to do good to the household of faith. We must encourage the fellow believer. If you want to grow in faith, you must start thinking about others. Surrender yourself to God and then trust him to take care of you while you try to pray for your fellow believer. We all need some one to give us a hand once in life and should the opportunity come, we must extend that hand of help. This can start from praying for the fellow believers, praying for your church leaders as the Philippians were doing for Paul.

3. Thirdly, we must live for the glory of God. Actually, dying for God is easier but living for God is rather difficult. There are too many difficult people, too many difficult situations and circumstances and often time, we lose sight of what we are here for and do things that do not glorify God. Some of us if we have to choose between life or death for believing in Christ, we may not be afraid to die. But if we have to forgive, if we have to surrender, if we have to be humble, if we have to be holy and if we have to sacrifice, we may back away from that demand and look for easier way. Therefore, we must live for God as Paul says “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

If we live for the purpose of saving the lost souls, if we are living for helping the fellow believer and if we are living for the glory of God, than only we can rejoice in all kind of adversities. Than only we can find reasons to rejoice as Paul commands us in this passage. Let’s be willing to suffer for obeying God and when we face adversities, let’s use that opportunity to be the witness of Christ by demonstrating godly character and by utilizing every opportunity to share the gospel. Let’s rejoice in our adversities and suffering knowing that God can turn that into his glory and our deliverance. Amen!

Sermon Series from Philippians (Pastoral Heart)

2010-01-25T23:12:00.000+09:00

The Pastoral Heart (Philippians 1:1-11 )

Introduction:

Paul wrote this letter from the Roman prison to a church he had helped to be established. Paul and Silas (including Timothy and others) preached in this city and a prominent lady by the name of Lydia believed. Then Paul and Silas were put in Prison for casting out a demonic spirit from a slave woman who was being used as a medium by her master. This angered her master and attacked Paul and Silas, beat them up and finally put them in a high security prison. In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas began to sing songs and hymns to God while the other prisoners were listening and a strong earthquake went, breaking open all the Prison doors. In those days, they would not have the lights like in our days and it must have been pitch dark when the Jailer came out, believing that all the prisoners must have escaped. But in an amazing way, Paul was in control of the situation and none of the prisoners escaped. As a result of such a miracle, the Jailer, his household and possibly many other prisoners and guards believed in the Lord Jesus and a strong church was established in this very important Roman city; church at Philippi was possibly the first European Church to be established. It is likely that the first church met in the house of Lydia, a successful businesswoman, and being a commercial hub of and prominent city that bore the name it’s founder, the Philippi of Macedonia, who was the father of Alexander the Great; this church became the driving force for Paul’s further mission work in and around Southern Europe. Several times, they had financially contributed to Paul’s mission work and they continued to do so even after Paul was arrested, sent to Rome and put in prison. The church at Philippi may have begun some times in AD50 and may be it was after ten years that Paul was sent to Roman prison.

Hearing the news of their beloved founding pastor, the church of Philippi once again collected financial aid and chose a faithful brother by the name of Epaphroditus to take that money to Rome for Paul. Finally, Epaphroditus found Paul, but then he himself fell ill and nearly died. When the news of his sickness reached to Philippi, the believers were worried and Paul wanted to send this brother back to Philippi. When this brother was recovered from his illness, Paul sends him back to his home and along with him sends this letter of joy and thanks giving. It is a letter written by a Pastor and a missionary who deeply loves this congregation and the reason is the continuous partnership of sharing their finance with Paul. Paul is filled with joy every time he remembers the kind of maturity and the fruit this church was bearing. That is why this letter is also called a letter of Joy where Paul expresses his own joy while urging the Philippians to be joyful all the time; even in the midst of suffering. 16 times the word joy and rejoice occurs in Paul’s expression.

With this background, let us now go back into the text itself and find for ourselves what Paul the apostle has to say to us from this letter today.

For today’s passage, I have titled my sermon as “the pastoral heart”. I could have said, “A pastor’s heart” but then when I say a Pastor’s heart, it becomes limited only to the Pastor. Therefore, instead of focusing on a Pastor’s heart, although this section comes out of a pastor’s heart, I wish to find in this passage the Pastoral heart that we all can aspire to have. We may not be called to be in the full time pastoral ministry but we all can have the pastoral heart.

What do I mean by Pastoral heart? The word “Pastor” comes from the Greek word for “a shepherd”, a person who takes care of the sheep or cattle. The bible often pictures God’s people as sheep and God as the great shepherd. Sheep are the kind of animals that cannot survive without a guiding shepherd. That is why you see even today there are many shepherd dogs watching, guiding and warning the sheep to find their way and protect them from wondering. In Old Testament, especially in the book of Ezekiel, God’s calls himself to be the shepherd of his people, the sheep of his pasture. The famous Psalm of David, the Ps. 23 also pictures God as the great shepherd who tends his sheep in green pastures and beside quiet waters. The sheep need plenty of grass and enough clean and quiet water, not violently running river; they like to drink from a peaceful stream or a brook. In Ezekiel 34:13-17 (whole chapter), God promises to be the kind of shepherd who will graze his sheep in such a place.

Jesus also applied that title to him in John chapter 10 and said that he is that great shepherd Ezekiel prophesized. Jesus came to give abundant life and every time he looked at people who did not know God or did not hear his call, he was filled with compassion and in Matthew 9:35-36 said “People are like sheep without a shepherd” Lets read that passage “35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

So, a Pastoral heart is the heart of a shepherd, a heart filled with compassion. Jesus was the great shepherd. Even though he was the king, the prophet, and the priest, but in all of that he had this great shepherd’s heart. A heart that does not condemn people but calls them to a place of rest and peace; even the rebuke and condemnations spring from the compassion towards the people who otherwise are prone to destroy themselves.

Therefore, a pastoral heart is a heart filled with love and compassion towards all people but especially towards the people who are under the care of the pastor. It is God kind of heart. In this text, Paul expresses his loving and compassionate heart towards the Philippians believers, but we will use his expressions to find our own heart so that we can check if we have what we call the pastoral heart; a heart for others, a heart given to help and nurture of others. Now let’s see how this heart is expressed in his writing to the Philippians.

1. Pastoral heart is a heart of a servant (1a): the word servant is better translated if we put the word “slave”, Paul says that he and Timothy are the slaves of Christ. In those days, everyone understood what this word meant and even for the modern world, we are still living the painful memories of what it is to be a slave. I come from the Indian sub-continent where there is one kind or the other kind of slavery still in existence and people are still struggling to free themselves. But the ancient world was rather crueler and slaves had no freedom at all; they were master’s property. Paul himself was not a slave of any human beings, but rather he came from a well to do family. But when he met Jesus Christ, he chose to become the slave of Jesus Christ and since then he always identifies himself with this title. A servant or a slave is a person who is there to serve; this servant hood is not limited to serving Jesus only…it is serving Jesus by serving his people. Jesus very clearly told that whatever we do to the needy, the poor and the helpless, we do that to him. This heart of a servant is not motivated by anything other than the love and gratitude to God. A Pastoral heart has no other motivation in serving one another and that is why in Romans 12:3-8, Paul urges every one with whatever the gift God has given for the betterment of others, even if it is in serving, do it for others; and in Colossians 3: 17 and 23 again Paul says “whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord”. As far as pastor is concerned, I think it was Martin Lloyd Jones who is reported to have said to his congregation “I am your servant, but you are not my master” and this phrase has been a kind of catch phrase to many, but times have changed and Pastor is often considered to be the employee of the church. Church becomes the master of the pastor and therefore the very heart of a servant gets lost on the way. But the biblical mandate is for all of us, including the Pastors are to be the servants to one another; to build one another, to lift up one another. This task is given to us not by churches or organizations but by God himself. We serve and we are servant because we love God and we want to be part of what God is doing in saving the lives of many people. Jesus is our best example and he is also known as the servant of God. Sadly, there are times when we see all kinds of competitions in and among the people of God for power and position in the church and ministry. Even the 12 apostles were not free from such kind of a faulty idea of being a servant of God…James and John wanted to be the main leaders of the group but Jesus said to them “if you want to be great, learn to be the servant of all” (Read Matthew 20:25-28 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."). Jesus corrected their faulty sense of serving God by putting his own example where he lays down his life for others. People with the pastoral heart are those that are willing to lay down their times, their resources and even their lives for others…and Paul calls himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. What an honor it is to be a servant of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings…how wonderful it will be for us to hear “well done thou good and faithful servant” when we finally see him face to face! So, the pastoral heart is the heart of a servant… Secondly…

2. The pastoral heart is the heart of Respect (1b): After addressing himself as the servant, Paul then addresses the Philippian believers as “Saints”. Saint means a holy, righteous and perfect in character. Just as he likes himself being called a servant of Christ, Paul prefers to use the word saints when addressing the believers. For example even in writing to Corinth, a church where there were too many problems and believers were caught in many kinds of sins and division which he calls carnality (see 1Cor.1:1-3; 2Cor. 1:1-2), while addressing them, he calls them holy and saints! A Pastoral heart need to see others better than himself or herself. The believers might be far from perfect, they may have come from a lower section of society, yet a pastor ought to respect the members in the body of Christ. In many church traditions, the word saint has a high degree of respect. Today when someone address you, Hi! Saint Andy…..and so and so! How would you feel? Do you feel worthy of being called a saint? I don’t think so, we all are imperfect people but God see us in a different light, he calls us saints. Therefore, as a person with a pastoral heart, instead of seeing the failings of the people and disrespecting them and calling them with all kinds of derogative names, we need to address them with respect. We need to see them the way God sees. Thirdly………….

3. The pastoral heart is the heart of compassion (2): Paul wishes grace and peace to them. Grace is what we need from God because; even though we are called saints, we still are far from being a real saint in our actual experiences; we make terrible mistakes and fall short and therefore, a pastor needs to wish for the grace of God to those who are failing. Also, we need to wish peace with God and fellow human being. As good as the Philippian church was, they still had their struggles. There were two good women who were not getting along well with one another and possibility was there that there were also some false teachers. So, the thing that is most needed in a church is peace with one another. Grace from God and peace in our heart and peace in our relationship with fellow human beings. Just think how difficult it becomes when you do not have peace with your fellow co-worker? We all need God’s grace and peace and as pastoral people, as people who know God’s grace and peace need to have compassion on those who are under our care. Fourthly…………..

4. The pastoral heart is the heart of remembrance (3-6)

a. Remember to pray for the people with joy

b. Remember their contribution: no one can become who he or she is without the help of many people in life. Here in this passage, Paul was assisted greatly by this church and Paul never forgot their contribution. They were partner with him from the very beginning. They did not stop giving and for that Paul continued to pray for them. We ought to recognize other’s contributions in our lives and pray for them

c. Make them to remember to continue to carry one the good work: we all need each other’s help until we see Christ face to face when he comes in his day. Paul here helps them to remember that they are to continue in doing what they were doing and God himself will help to be able to do what they have already begun to do.

5. Fifthly, the pastoral heart is the heart of affection (7-8): Deep personal relationship comes out of the pastoral heart. People who do not have the pastoral heart cannot develop deep and lasting friendship because they are caught up in their selfish desires, but a pastoral heart longs for relationship. Paul longs for this church, he wants to come.

a. They share in Paul’s suffering and success because they are in it together

b. Paul longs for them with the affection of Christ

6. Pastoral heart desires the best for others (9-11)

a. Love may grow in knowledge and depth

b. That they may know the best

c. That they may be true saints

d. That they may bear the fruit of righteousness

In conclusions; Pastoral heart is a heart of a servant, it is a heart of respect, heart of compassion, heart of affections and it is the heart that desires the best for others. As a body of Christ, let is pray for this heart to be given to us. That in this place, we may have the heart of a servant, heart of respect, compassion, affection and that we may always pray for others to achieve the best in their lives. Amen!

2010-01-15T23:23:00.000+09:00

Summarizing the year 2009

Time of change

2010-01-12T09:17:00.003+09:00

It is indeed a challenge to transition from Nepali speaking church to an English speaking one. But the Lord has been good! Click and See the link

Hope Church; one of the Nepali churches in Nepal

2009-12-04T22:37:00.000+09:00

We began in 1993 as a prayer meeting in Pastor's home. After three years, in 1996, we were formerly known as Hope Church. The nation at that time was losing all hopes and we saw that apart from God, there was no other hope. The situation is still the same but the power of the Cross of Christ is able to give hope to many Nepalese. Currently, Hope Church in Kathmandu is able to pioneer four more daughter churches outside of the the capital.

When Charity Married Christian Missions

2009-11-25T01:12:00.000+09:00

Bhojraj Bhatta

Charity (giving to the poor and needy) is an ancient Hebrew concept recorded in their Scripture and practiced from time immemorial; not a philanthropic concept but a concept rooted in the very idea of the justice of God. God is a just God and therefore he demands his creatures, the humans, to practice social justice by extending charity to the poor because no one chooses to be poor but happens to be poor due to the circumstances beyond one’s control. Therefore, a Hebrew, i.e., as the people of God, has a God ordained responsibility to look after the welfare of the poor and the needy in order to maintain the privilege of being the people of God. The key scriptural teaching on the topic is recorded in Leviticus 25 and particularly the verse 35 captures the concept of Hebrew understanding of tzedakah, which the Amplified Version attempts to translate it with its full force as; “And if your [Israelite] brother has become poor and his hand wavers [from poverty, sickness, or age and he is unable to support himself], then you shall uphold (strengthen, relieve) him, [treating him with the courtesy and consideration that you would] a stranger or a temporary resident with you [without property], so that he may live [along] with you”.

Starting from this verse as the highest degree of charity where the self-respect of the beneficiary is not taken away, Moses Maimonides, a 12th century Jewish philosopher and the expert of the Law of Moses, categorized the eight degrees of charity that vary in their level of nobility. According to Maimonides, the lowest form or the first degree of charity takes place when one gives to the poor and needy grudgingly. Second degree is when one gives less than what is supposed to be given but gives it cheerfully. Third degree is when one gives only after being asked by the needy. Fourth, when one gives before being asked as he sees the need. Fifth degree is when the beneficiary does not know the benefactor. Sixth, when the benefactor does not know the beneficiary. Seventh, when neither the benefactor nor the beneficiary knows each other. Eighth and the highest form of charity takes place when there is a sense of mutual partnership based upon mutual respect in which the benefactor strengthens the hands of the beneficiary so that the weaker party does not fall into poverty. This highest form of charity also can be done in three different orders; first, it can be done by offering help without any condition so that the weaker party can stand on his/her own feet. Second, it can be done by offering a job or a share in one’s business, and third, by offering a loan so that the weaker party can become strong enough and return the favor without any loss of self-respect and dignity.

In all these degrees of charity, the most important element for Maimonides was the preservation of human dignity and self-respect of the beneficiary. Just because one becomes poor due to the circumstances beyond one’s control does not take away the God-given human dignity from that individual and therefore, the one who is not poor needs to realize that human worth does not consist on material possession but on how one relates to God and fellow human beings as Hillel the great Jewish teacher had said that the sum-total of Torah is to love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, Charity to the poor and needy has continued to be one of the cardinal pillars of Jewish society in every age, and Christian concept of giving is directly derived from the Jewish traditions and writings. Jesus made this principle crystal clear when he put himself in the place of the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and the prisoner and whatever the people did or did not do for any of these above mentioned categories of humans, they did it to him (Matt. 25:35-40). Jesus never failed to emphasize the need to give to the needy, and remembering the words of Jesus on this topic, Paul quotes his words “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts. 20:35) because somehow in the practice of charity there are only a few who can do it in the sense of the highest degree as defined by Maimonides where the recipient’s self-respect remains intact. Otherwise, in one way or the other, the recipient feels falling short of the dignified humanity when s/he finds the self in the state of a beneficiary.

But the fact of the matter, as Jesus said, is that we will always have the poor and the needy among us (Matt. 26:11) and therefore, the act of charity must continue regardless of its varying degree of nobility until the complete justice of God is achieved in the coming reign of God. Until the kingdom of God is fully realized, we must do all we can to practice the act of charity with the aim of doing it from the highest degree and history is filled with examples of such charitable works. The Roman Catholic Church is better credited for this noble task and examples of many saints like Francis of Assisi, who, while selling his father’s merchandise, saw a beggar, ran after him and gave away everything in an act of charity for which he was painfully ridiculed by peers and badly scolded by parents that broke his heart. But he went on to inspire millions of others and today we hear names like Francis Xavier, Mother Teresa and so on.

Protestant church is also equally filled with people who achieved great feat of remarkable charitable work even though at times the over emphasis on the doctrine of “justification by faith alone” minimized the value of charity and ethical works. People like William Colgate (Colgate-Palmolive), whose business brand covered the globe, is known to have given ten to fifty percent of his profits to various charitable institutions. George and Richard Cadbury inherited their father, John Cadbury’s small chocolate enterprise and turned it into a worldwide business. Cadbury brothers not only inherited their father’s business, but they also inherited his strong faith in God and dedication to charitable works. Unheard in their times; they treated their employees with utmost respect and provided them with everything that a normal business owner would need to have a loving home and healthy family with full access to life and leisure. They also saw that their father’s wish to make their locality free of alcohol was a way of serving wider community because John Cadbury believed that it was alcohol that made people poor and rob them of joy and happiness from their families and therefore, the Cadburys committed their lives and earnings in replacing the alcohol with drinkable chocolate and tea; after a century of George’s death in 1922, their desire to make their locality free of alcohol lives on and even the giant of a departmental store like Tesco cannot sell it in its local units there. Such stories of great charitable works by Christians could be found in every nation of the world; the difference might be that they had no one to document their story.

But the dawn of modern Protestant Christian missionary movement brought a new dimension to the age old concept of charity; a new dimension in which the innocent and the noble face of charity has been badly marred or destroyed. This modern missionary movement primarily began in societies where the protestant doctrine of God’s election and predestination was dominant; these societies placed a higher value on themselves compared to those which were non-Christian and considered as either heathens or savages. When William Carey tried to persuade his home church for the evangelization of the inhabitants in the islands of South East Asia and Oceania (he was touched by the writings of James Cook, an explorer who discovered and described about the inhabitants of these Islands on his journals as savage tribes so different and lost from the rest of civilization), an elder stood up and yelled at Carey saying, “young man, if God wants to save the savages, he does not need your help, he can do it himself”.

But people like Carey, Judson, Hudson, Livingstone and Brainerd were the ones who took upon themselves the God given mandate of evangelizing the heathens in every possible land, it was a sense of knowing that all men are equal and are in need of a savior who can not only see them free from sin but also from the savage life style. These early trailblazers of modern mission did not care so much about material possession; rather they gave their very lives for the sake of the people of their dream. But as the fruits of such missionaries work began to reach to the civilized world (western world), the disparity between the savage and the civilized also began to come to the fore. Wherever the colonial conquers went, they were only interested in exploiting the savages, but when the missionaries came along, they saw the exploitation and the suffering of the inhabitants in the colonies. Prior to the arrival of the colonial rulers and their missionary companions, these savages and the natives of the lands had their own way of life and sense of identity. The Chinese, Indian, African and the Native American civilizations had been in existence for thousands of years before they saw the faces of European conquerors and missionary compassion. These civilizations had their own set of values and worldviews, but when the European civilization, empowered by the biblical revelation and scientific discoveries, confronted them, the futility of their value system and the credulity of their worldview became apparent. The missionaries from the European civilization saw the sufferings in these lands and attempted to alleviate it through possible charitable contributions from the people in their homeland. In order to enlighten the populace in their homeland for the great need of charity in these colonies, the missionaries began to look for ways and means of communication; they began to write about these needs and the backwardness of these savages. As the means of mass communication developed over the centuries, the missionaries used them to their best effect and the whole western world came to know the limitations of these people and the limitless possibility of helping them wherever they may be found. The age old Charity found herself being married to modern Protestant Missions and the result was the birth of Inferiority followed by Deception.

The trailblazing missionaries like Carey, Judson, Hudson, Livingstone and others accomplished their monumental missionary achievements by maintaining utmost respect for the natives in their mission fields. They literally laid down their lives in the mission field (For example; Carey came with one way ticket and never returned to England for the rest of his life). They buried their children and spouses in the lands they felt called by their God. So long as these kinds of missionaries were in the mission fields, they embodied the highest form of Charity that Maimonides described. They did it for the love of their fellow human beings with utmost respect. As long as they were alive, they refused to give birth to either pride or pity; superiority or inferiority.

But as the romance of these early missionaries faded away, a new breed of missionaries began to arrive in these lands with their ship loads of western material comfort that exposed the nakedness and the destitutions of the natives in the mission fields. The charity became institutionalized and the missionaries became the mediators between the benefactors and beneficiaries. Mutual love and respect died, but inferiority and deception came alive in the minds of the natives while the missionaries tried in vain to wear the garment of Charity. The missionaries enjoyed the garment of Charity because it gave them immense sense of self-worth and leverage over the lives of their spiritual subjects. Over time, the distinction between a missionary white man and non-missionary white man disappeared.

In the language of science; after knowing for centuries that the Sun is stationary, every morning we call it a Sunrise. Likewise, white missionaries wore the garment of Charity for so long that even today when a destitute white man walks in the streets of India, China, Africa or anywhere else in the so called third world or former mission fields, he ignites a powerful spirit of expectation in the minds of the natives. In my own nation, when a wealthy Nepali family walks in the restaurant or hotel, the reception would be very cold. But when a white back packer hunts for a cheapest meal and a room, s/he would be surrounded by the whole staff willing to offer anything s/he demands. Such reception is not from the heart of hospitality but from the mind of expectations because when Charity had married with European Christians missions, inferiority was born and deception was the second child. After the death of Charity, their mother, Sister Inferiority and brother Deception have been most successful in modern native Christian missions.

A Window into My Past

2009-11-06T13:19:00.004+09:00

Story of Bhojraj Bhatta

Hope Church Soccer Team

2009-11-03T23:50:00.002+09:00

Illegal Nepalese Dilemma

2009-10-21T23:44:00.003+09:00

Dilemma of illegal Nepalese in Korea

Many Nepalese come to Korea with the hope of earning money and securing their future, but the three year time period for their stay here as legal workers is just enough for them to pay back the debt by which they came to Korea and send some for their families to have few new items in their homes. The first year is simply spent in getting used to the basics of life and work environment in a foreign land and some give up their dreams and return. But those who manage to stay for three years; they get used to the culture and society and become accustomed to the way of life. They pick up the language, and know in and out of their working environment. When they are just about to live and work in

Korea

without much difficulty in terms of language, food and culture, time comes for them to go home.

At the same time, the home country continues to go from bad to worse every year. As they communicate to their family members, everyone suggests them that it is better for them to stay in a country like Korea illegally than coming back to Nepal where there is no hope of doing anything. As the three year period comes to a close, they run away from their working places and start working as illegal workers. Many companies do prefer the illegal workers than going through the hassles of hiring the legal ones; beside, the illegal ones already are good at work, language and adjustment where as the new ones will have to be trained all over again. So, the illegal Nepalese workers have no problem of finding the employment.

There are about 3 thousand or more illegal Nepalese working in Korea, but the latest crackdown by the government has become so painful for these friends whose hopes lie in their being here so that they can continue to work and send money for their families in Nepal. They wish to stay here for few more years so that they could save some for their future and at the same time wait for their nation to be a place where they could live and work without fear and uncertainty.

However, many Nepalese are caught by the immigration officials these days and some are already held in detention centers, waiting for their time of deportation. They had plans, hopes and wishes, but all of them are now dashed, not because it is a bad thing to go home, but because, for Nepalese, home means, absolutely no job, insecurity, extortion by the Maoists and criminals and even kidnap and death. The Maoists and criminals know that a worker from a country like Korea does have some money for them to extort. As they wait in the detention centers, their minds become restless. On the one hand, they hare happy to see their family members and loved ones that they have missed so much, but on the other hand, when they think of the over all situation in Nepal, they feel helpless and lost.

The political situation in

Nepal

is getting nowhere and there is a strong possibility of bloodshed and perhaps a total control by the Maoists. Economically, there is absolutely no condition for any investment or entrepreneurship. Except in the monsoon season, there is no electricity for more than 15 hours everyday, constant transport strikes and closers of normal life have completely paralyzed the nation. Factories and businesses are being taken over by the workers who are being brainwashed by the extreme communistic ideology of Maoism; businessmen are running away from the nation for their lives. Departmental stores and shopping centers have become like hunted houses because the workers demanded more than what the owners could pay them and government loathes them with heavy taxes. Security wise, when one leaves home, one does not know when or whether he/she will be able to come back, and for those who do have wealth and property, life is very uncertain; the constant news of kidnapping and killing for ransom have taken away their sleep and hunger. Parents wait anxiously for their children to return from school and breathe a sigh of relief when they see them safely home.

With this kind of a picture in mind, a Nepali feels safer in Korea even if it means living like a fugitive, but a thought of going home creates a panic. Deep down in the heart, everyone wishes to go home but the present reality of Nepal sends a chilling sensation in the spine every time the thought of deportation comes to mind.

Academics with Affections

2009-10-14T16:21:00.000+09:00

Academics with Affections

Coming from Hindu religious background and atheistic (communist) indoctrination, my journey into Christian faith was an adventure of academics and affections. I was born into a devout Hindu family that faithfully observed their religious duties and astrological signs. My father would not leave the house for any emergencies unless the signs in the sky were right for him to do so. For a man like that, the birth of the first son was a major event and every detail surrounding the birth had to be recorded in the birth-scroll (horoscope) as soon as possible. Two meters long scroll was prepared for me and unfortunately, the priest discovered that my birth had taken place in one of the most inauspicious moments in the Hindu calendar; my birth ushered father’s death. The only way to avoid his imminent death was for him not to see me (a Hindu father generally would not see his new born child until the priest prepares the horoscope). The priest explained that so long my father does not see me, he would live and gave them two options; either the mother should stop feeding the infant or give the infant away to someone never to be remembered again. I was lucky! When I was nine days old, my maternal grandmother took me away; eight hours’ journey to her distant village. I stayed with grandmother until I was 11, never knew where I had come from. By the time I was seven, I had begun to pray to various Hindu gods about my origin and destiny. Meanwhile back in my home, a different priest had a look at my horoscope, and he discovered that I was not at all a danger to my father! The first priest had made a horrendous mistake!

In my eleventh year, the news came that I had parents and I was going home! Reluctantly they did bring me home and for the first time I saw my father, brother and sisters! About mother, I had seen her before many times but nobody had told me that she was my mother. She used to visit her family and then take me in her arms and silently cry and I had no idea that she was my mother. Sadly, even after I came home, my father refused to look at me and talk to me and my joy of finding my family ended there.

As a bewildered teenager, I lost my faith in religion and got into a communist group. Spending few years in their indoctrination campaigns, I thought that I had found my destiny. But in an amazing way, I met Jesus Christ (which is a different story all together) in my 17th year and did I realize what life was all about; questions of my origin and destiny were settled forever and from the age of 19, I entered into the full time ministry as an itinerant preacher without having any formal theological training. Later I was persuaded to go for formal theological education which then led me to a reputed Bible College in a Southern Indian city of Bangalore. It was there in that college that my life was refined for a lasting Christian service; after four years I received my Bachelor of Theology degree along with academic excellence award. I had the privilege of being mentored by wonderful men and women of God from various parts of the world whose influence still adds new impetus every time I am reminded of. Some filled the place of my father and others filled the place of a brother but not every one of the mentors under whose ministry I sat was able to leave a lasting legacy behind; some were dry and detached from what they taught.

After 8 years of full time ministry in the area of theological education and church pioneering, I had another chance to go for Master of Divinity course at Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology in Seoul where once again had the privilege of meeting many more men and women of God, some of whom had great academic achievements in their lives. But there were others, who also had great academic credentials, but their academic credentials were coupled with deep emotional affection for their students. As a mature student after years of ministry experience, I was greatly touched and impacted by their personal affections and academic excellence. I was able to re-evaluate and correct my own way of learning and teaching to my students.

Finally, another opportunity to further my theological education came my way and the Lord led me to do Master of Theology and Doctoral studies at Asia Life University in Daejeon. The university is relatively young and much of the infrastructure is still developing, but compared to the schools I have studied in and taught at, the ALU leadership and the professors possessed higher degree of affection for their students. The affection I found in ALU is coupled with high degree of respect toward students as co-workers in the kingdom of God regardless of their nationality and level of learning (which is a rarity in Korean context). Almost all of the professors have earned their doctoral degrees from prestigious universities in the US, UK and elsewhere, and have the reason to boast for their academic achievements. But they demonstrate such a depth of humility and camaraderie inside as well as outside the classroom that demands highest respect from their students. I am grateful to God for the privilege of being a part of such a wonderful place and I am sure the Lord will use these men and women of God to impact countless lives. It is my prayer that the professors that I have studied under in many of these schools would continue to strive for their academic excellence but would not forget to cap their academic caliber with affectionate countenance; without the affections of the heart, the dry and cerebral academics alone will not be able to leave a lasting legacy behind for their students to cherish.

As I reflect on the influence of my professors in my life, I am reminded of the two great Jewish Rabbis; Hillel and Shammai who had titanic struggles with one another for ascendency and influence during the either side of the first century. Hillel was known to be a man of great affection and tremendous influence among the Jewish populace while Shammai was a strict legalist who lacked compassion and wider following, but both were among the finest minds of their time. Shammai outlived Hillel and tried to eradicate Hillel’s influence by weakening the house of Hillel through all means, but according to the tradition, a voice from heaven nullified Shammai’s position on the Law (Yerushalmi Berakhot, 1:7) and till today, it is the position of Hillel that has survived as a testimony to the power of a teacher who possesses academics and affections.

One of the reasons why scholars and theologians lack affections in their academic life can be understood on the basis of their relationship with suffering. Hillel was born in Babylonia, and at the age of 40 he went to Jerusalem to study the Torah and for the next 40 years (Hillel is thought to have lived 120 years) he went through a lot of opposition, rejection, suffering and pain where as Shammai was on the side of persecuting Hillel and had relatively comfortable life compared to him and failed to express compassion to his fellow human beings. Most of the arm-chair scholars who have never faced suffering of any kind in life are wonderful to read but terrible to have relationship with. Such theologians neither can adjust in any local church nor are they able to run theological institutions and thus they resign themselves away from people in the company of their books. But of course in the area of scholarship, affection void of academic depth is equally ineffective to impact students’ life. I am fortunate to have met many wonderful people of God who have touched and transformed my deranged mind and damaged emotions so that today, every time I stand behind a pulpit, a podium or a lectern, I too wish to leave something behind.

Korea Nepali Christian Fellowship

2009-10-12T10:10:00.000+09:00

कोरीया नेपाली ख्रीष्टीयान फेलोसिप

Korea Nepali Christian Fellowship

आफ्नो देश र परिवारबाट टाढाभई कोरीयामा जीवन बिताईरहेका नेपाली दाजु-भाई तथा दिदी-बहिनीहरूको जीवनमा केहीहदसम्म भएपनि भेटघाट, आपसी परामर्श, र दु:ख सुखको बाँडचुँड गर्दै प्रवासको जीवनमा खुसियाली ल्याउने यो फेलोसिको प्रयास हो। हप्‍तादिनको थकान मार्न र अन्य मित्रहरू सँगको भेटघाटका लागि हामी हरेक आईतवार पायक पर्ने र सहयोग गर्न चहाने कुनै नजिकैको चर्च भवनमा भेला हुँदछौँ। चर्च भवन नमिलेको खण्डमा हामी अन्य कुनै पनि स्थानमा भेला हुनसक्दछौँ।

सबै मानिस एउटै परमेश्‍वरका सृजना भएको हुँदा हामी धार्मिक, जातिय, वर्गिय, लैङ्गिक, क्षेत्रिय र वैचारिक भेदवाभलाई स्वीकार गर्दैनौँ। हाम्रो फेलोसिपमा पहाड, मधेश, पूर्व, पश्‍चीम र नेपाल बाहिरका नेपाली मित्रहरूलाई पनि एउटा नेपाली जातीको रुपमा स्वीकार गरिन्छ। मानिस परमेश्‍वरको सृजना भएको कारण आफ्नो सृष्टीकर्तालाई चिन्नु मानिसको कर्तब्य हो भनि हामी ठान्दछौँ। त्यतिमात्रै नभएर हाम्रो यो पनि विश्‍वास छ कि हामीलाई बनाउने परमेश्‍वर हामी सँग ब्यक्तिगत सम्बन्ध राख्‍न चहानुहुन्छ, हामीलाई हाम्रा दु:खमा साथ दिन चहानुहुन्छ र हाम्रा पापबाट मुक्ति दिन चहानुहुन्छ। तर मानिस आज पापले भरिएको कारण परमेश्‍वरबाट टाढा हुनगएको छ र परमेश्‍वरसँग सम्बन्ध विच्छेद भएको हुँदा उ परमेश्‍वरीय सहायताबाट पनि वन्चित भएको छ।

आफ्नो सृष्टीकर्ताबाट अलगिएको मानिसलाई परमेश्‍वरले कसरी पुन:मिलापमा ल्याउनुभएको छ भन्ने सन्देस हामी पवित्र शास्त्र बाइबलबाट थाहा पाउँदछौँ र यो सन्देस आम नेपाली दाजु-भाई तथा दिदी-बहिनीहरुलाई सुनाउन चहान्छौँ ताकि उहाँहरुले पनि आफ्नो जीवनमा परमेश्‍वरले दिने शान्ती, स्वतन्त्रता र सम्व्रिध्दी प्राप्‍त गर्नसकुन्।

बाइबलले भन्दछ,“परमेश्‍वरले मानिसलाई धेरै प्रेम गर्नुभयो”। त्यसैकारण नेपाली मित्रहरूलाई पनि त्यो प्रेमको सन्देस हामी सुनाउन चहान्छौँ र यो परमेश्‍वरको प्रेमलाई अनुभव गर्न कसैले धर्मै परिवर्तन गर्नुपर्दैन, केवल परमेश्‍रलाई ब्यक्तिगतरुपमा चिनेर उहाँले दिने शान्ती, स्वतन्त्रता र सम्व्रिध्दीलाई जो कोहिले पनि स्वीकार गर्नसक्छ।

यो फेलोसिपमा भागलिन चहाने जुनसुकै मित्रलाई पनि हामी स्वागत गर्नचहान्छौँ।

सम्पर्क/Contact

Bhojraj Bhatta - 011-422-0644, 070-8754-6767 (home)

Email: brbhatta@gmail.com

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याङ्जु नेपाली ख्रीष्टीयान फेलोसिप

Yangju Nepali Christian Fellowship

सौलको उत्तर-पूर्वी (उइजम्बु) इलाकामा छरिएर काम गरिरहेका नेपाली मित्रहरूका लागि कोरीया नेपाली ख्रीष्टीयान फेलोसिपले याङ्जु चर्चसँग सम्बन्ध राखी “याङ्जु नेपाली ख्रीष्टीयान फेलोसिप”को स्थापना गर्ने प्रयास भैरहेको छ। त्यसकारण उइजम्बु र आसपासमा बस्ने नेपाली मित्रहरुलाई याङ्जु फेलोसिपमा भागलिन हामी हार्दिक निमन्त्रणा गर्दछौँ। यो फेलोसिपको औकातले भ्याएसम्म भविस्यमा निम्न तथा अन्य भैपरिआउने क्षेत्रहरुमा यहाँहरुको सक्दो सेवा गर्ने प्रयास गर्ने छ। If it is possible, the Yangju Fellowship will try to serve its members in the following areas:

1. पिक-अप र ड्रप (चर्चको गाडि उपलब्ध भएमा)। Pick-up and drop if there is vehicle available.

2. बेरोजगार र बिरामीका लागि सेल्टर। Temporary shelter for the sick and unemployed.

3. रोजगार खोज्नमा सहयोग। Help in finding employment.

4. नेपाली कार्यक्रको लागि स्थान। Provide place for Nepali programs.

5. सामयीक निशूल्क श्‍वास्थ्य परिक्षण/उपचार र हजाम सेवा। Occasional free health care and hair cutting.

6. कोरीयान भाषा सिकाउने। Teach Korean Language

7. अन्य/others..................

साप्‍ताहीक कार्यक्रम

Sunday Weekly Program

स्थान/Place: याङ्जु चर्च/ Yangju Church

समय/Time: ४ - ६ बजे साँझ/ 4 to 6 PM

संचालक/Leader: पास्टर भोजराज भट्ट/ Rev. Bhojraj Bhatta

1. परिचय /Introduction

2. प्रार्थना /Prayer

3. गीत भजन /Songs and Hymns

4. प्रवचन /Sermon

5. चंगाई र सहायताको लागि प्रार्थना /Prayer for the sick and the needy

6. प्रश्‍नोत्तर/Q&A

7. आशिषको प्रार्थना /Closing Prayer

8. खना /Dinner

सम्पर्क/Contact:

Yangju Church

1. Ahn Jipsanim --------- 010-5494-6841

2. Chung Moksanim ---- 019-280-0174

3. Bhatta Moksanim ---- 011-422-0644

Ministry at Sooyoungro Nepali Church, Pusan

2009-10-07T01:11:00.000+09:00

During Chusok holidays, we were invited by Sooyoungro Nepali Church in Pusan to share the word of God. Our theme was "Living as Aliens", not just from one country to another, but our life here on earth is a pilgrimage, we are strangers in a foreign land until we reach our final home, a city whose builder and maker is God himself.

We also spent a day in a famous Heundae beach in Pusan!!

One Life to Live and One Wife to Love

2009-08-26T21:48:00.000+09:00

Former president of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, died on August 18 at the age of 85. Born in a remote Island of the South-western seacoast of Korea, DJ (affectionately called by common people) made his way up to the highest office in the nation but his journey was full of ups and downs as he becomes nostalgic in his diary. For him to say that his life was full of ups and downs is a very mild way of putting the perilous journey into a lighter tone. His was a journey filled with sufferings, sorrows and death itself. But his dedication and idealism for democracy in his homeland paid at last and he became the first democratically elected 15th president of South Korea, brought his nation out of the Asian economic crisis and nearly succeeded in uniting the two Koreas after a half a century of hostility. It was during his administration that the world actually got to know what Korea is really like; the resilient spirit of Korea coupled with love and forgiveness was personified in the life of the man Kim Dae-ung. Nobel Peace Prize added just a little flavor to a man whose life was already an aroma of inspiration for any aspiring politicians and civil servants. He carried this aroma of inspiration around him primarily because of his strong faith in God as a devout Catholic which undergirded his moral convictions that man must live to love God and serve fellow human beings. Such faith in God sprang from a tragedy when his first wife died suddenly leaving him behind with two young sons. His faith was again tested and affirmed when he was kidnapped from a hotel in Tokyo, bound and bundled in a boat to be drowned in sea by the Korean secret servicemen. In that moment of death, he had a mystical experience of Christ and miraculously with the help of US government, was spared from drowning. With this strong Christian conviction, in a culture where bribery, corruption and power grabs are considered normal, DJ exhibited a different moral standard of humility, forgiveness and reconciliation. His second marriage to a strong Christian activist only strengthened the faith that had already led him through many troubles and he led the nation from the economic miracle story of the 80s and 90s to a miracle of one of the most democratic and free societies in the world.
In retrospect, one can say that DJ was a successful man who lived his life to the full. On January 11, 2009, six month prior to his death, he wrote: "The relationship with my wife is now the best it has been since we got married. I love and look up to my wife. If it wasn't for my wife, it would have been hard for me to stand where I am right now. But I can't imagine myself without her, even at this point of time. I pray every day to God that we could live happily together for a long time."
At the grand old age of 85 he says, “The relationship with my wife is now the best it has been since we got married”, and he prays everyday that God would allow them to “live happily together for a long time”. This was not a wish of a man who had squandered loving relationship with his wife and was regretting at the end of his life; it was a wish of a man who had very fulfilling and richly blessed marital relationship with his beloved wife. Theirs was a story of a marriage filled with love and mutual respect. In a typical Korean society it is not a common thing to hear a husband confessing his respect for his wife, but almost all the letters he wrote to his beloved wife from the prison begin with “To you with love and respect”, and till the end he kept his love and respect for his wife and only wished to deepen it. Sadly, his wish to live happily together for a long time with his wife lasted only about six months in this world, and God willing, eternity awaits them for that. But here is a lesson for us who are still much younger than DJ to make that wish come true. As we come to the end of our lives in this world, may our wish to love and respect our wives and husbands be not from the regrets of failure to do so while in good time, but may it be a desire only to deepen the life-time of cherished love and respect because wife and husband will be the only person that will matter the most when we come to the end of our journey.
Sometimes, when we are in pursuit of ambitions, it is easy to neglect this part of life. Other times, our stupidity, selfishness and greed may destroy all the beauty of a marriage and a home. But from the life of a man who was never free from the challenges and dangers, we learned that he never forgot who mattered the most in his life. As he grew older, his love for his wife grew deeper as his prayer tells it all. He died as a man who loved his wife and reaped life full of contentment; he died with no regrets. Surely, he was not an angel or a saint, in their marriage they may have had their fair share of struggles, but judging from his words, it is easy to see the heart of a man who truly loved his wife and if given a chance for another life would have asked for no other person.
From Kim’s diary, if there is one thing we need to learn to have a happy ending; it is to have a hope for the better marriage every single day of our life in spite of all the struggles. It is to wish to love our spouses more than yesterday, respect them more than they deserve and if we can do this, every marriage will last a life-time with flames of love still blazing. Our romance does not have to be buried after the birth of our first child and respect for wife does not have to be equated with “joitingre” . Extended families and in-laws do not have to replace our spouses and economic hardships and suffering of any kinds do not have to be the messengers of doom for our “happy ever after”. If there is love and respect for each other, in the midst of all hell, we can still have a wonderful marriage filled with love, respect and romance as demonstrated by beloved DJ and his wonderful wife.

In God We Trust

2009-08-21T13:31:00.001+09:00

The national motto of the most powerful nation on earth reads “In God We Trust”. Out of the ashes of terrible civil war, the nation longed for some sense of hope and security and the motto first appeared on the United States’ coin in 1864. Nearly a century later in 1956, President Eisenhower approved this motto into a law passed by the US Congress to provide a calming assurance from the looming danger of communism and a new kind of imperialism hiding behind the shadow of cold war. The congress insert reads: “In these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, it is proper to remind all of us of this self-evident truth that as long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail”. The wisdom and the commitment to recognize human limitations in the affairs of a nation by the historical leaders of the United States has stood the test of time, and today the nation reaps the reward of their faithfulness. God said to Moses in the second commandment that he will punish the children for the sins of their father until the fourth generation but he will show love and kindness to a thousand generations of the righteous. Psalms 33:12 says “blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh”. In spite of the carnality and heathenism that we see coming out of the United States of America, this nation still has a divine hedge built around it because God is ever faithful to his promises made in covenant with his faithful servants. The carnal children of the US still benefit from the faithfulness of their forefathers because their forefathers chose to trust God, individually and nationally, and left behind a blessing for a thousand generations.
The same story can be repeated for many of the European states whose forefathers trusted God and the children still reap the blessings of peace, prosperity and freedom which the world is in great need of. China and many of the Islamic nations are now wealthy and prosperous but with great cost to peace and human freedom. God created man with free will but in these nations the free will of man has to be regulated by manmade rules. Man has become the master in these nations even though there is plenty of prosperity. Japan and South Korea have enjoyed peace, prosperity and freedom; thanks to their association with a nation that carries God’s blessing. It is the American money, manpower and prayers that have made what these two nations have become. The rest of the nations in the world has a long way in recognizing Yahweh as their God and thus deprive their citizens of the blessings of peace, prosperity and liberty. They have lived in misery for thousands of years and will continue to do so until they recognize the Lordship of Yahweh.
Now, as a citizen of a nation like Nepal, what hope do I have? What blessings can I expect from my forefathers who broke the very first and second commandments of God and worshiped the creation instead of the creator? The first book of the Bible is named Genesis, which means “beginnings” and in the very beginning of this book, Satan is represented by a snake that deceived the first man. The Bible also tells us that Satan fell from heaven because he refused to worship God; he wanted to be God and wished the angelic beings to worship him. He wanted to set up his throne higher than God’s. But God cast him down and replaced him by the creation of man. But we see him in Genesis chapter three as a snake and today there is no household in Nepal (except Christians and Muslims) on whose doorpost they do not post a picture of five, seven or sometimes nine snakes entangled together. Every year on Nag-panchami (Day of the snake god), the Hindu households will replace these pictures with the worshiping ceremony of the snake god. The snake posters will be posted on the top horizontal post of the door frame so that when a person goes out of the house, the head has to be a bit bent down to worship the snake and the same thing when one enters the house (traditionally, the doors in a Nepali house are slightly shorter than the average height of a person so that one has to bend the head to enter in and out of the house and therefore, the best place to put the snake god). In a devout Hindu home, every door in the house must have one of these snake posters. This tells us that what the Bible symbolizes as evil, Nepal worships as its main god. In Egypt, the blood of the lamb that symbolized Jesus Christ was put on the doorpost for the deliverance, but today Nepal replaces the blood of the lamb with the symbol of Satan itself. What blessings will we hope for?
On the national level, there is no hope now for Nepal. Unless the rulers and the general population turn to God and repent from the generations of violating the very commandments of God; our nation has no hope of prosperity, peace and freedom. The atheistic Maoists might be able to bring economic prosperity (that is because in my assumption, God prefers an atheists than an idolater), but this economic prosperity might come with a high price of peace and human freedom. In their pursuit of absolute power, they will not be hesitant to kill any number of people and once they have the power, there will be no liberty left for the common man. But because poverty is such a terrible task master, the general public might be happy to live under the political tyranny than the tyranny of poverty. So, there is no hope of a national blessing for Nepal.
But on the individual level, there is hope. There is hope because God in Jesus Christ transcends the national and collective boundaries and brings his blessings to every individual. Any Nepali who has accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal savior from sin and satanic bondage has the power to break free from all generational curses. If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he or she becomes a new creation (2Cor.5:17) and Jesus has covenanted with such people a new covenant by his own blood (Luke 22:20). He has become the lamb that was slain and his blood on the doorpost of their hearts protects them from the angel of death and destruction. They are born again and all their past has been wiped away and now they are free to create a new genealogy for their posterity that will last for eternity in the blessings of God.
But this new beginning has to begin by trusting God just like Abraham trusted and he was declared a friend of God (Romans 4). Hebrews 11:6 says “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”. David says in Psalms 40:4 “blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust”. This picture of blessedness is beautifully painted by Jeremiah in the context of a man who trusts in man. The one who trusts God is “like a tree planted by the water…does not fear…leaves are always green…has no worries…and never fails to bear fruit” (17:7-8). But “cursed is a man who trusts man…will be like a bush in a wastelands…will not see prosperity…dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (17:5-6). This is a very scary picture the prophet paints for the man whose trust rests on man. But the one who trusts God, he or she shall be free from lack, fear and worry and will live in the land of prosperity. This land of prosperity does not have to be some other nation or geographical location. In fact, regardless of a national boundary, one can enter into this blessedness on the basis of one’s trust in God, and therefore, Nepali followers of Jesus Christ do not have to bear the burden of generational curse from their forefathers. God in Jesus Christ is able to come to their aid and bless them spiritually, physically and materially.
But have we seen all these blessings (spiritual, physical and material) come to us in the last 50+ years of Christian history in Nepal? Yes and no. Yes, because, first, many Nepalese have come to the Lord and spiritually they have received eternal life. With the handful of Christians in 1960s, today some estimates claim that there are a million Christians in our nation. So, let’s say that all of these one million Christians have received the forgiveness of sin and eternal life; that is the greatest spiritual blessing we can ever imagine. The Nepali church is strong in preaching the message of salvation; Jesus Christ saves. Second, we also have received physically blessing of healing. The highest cause of the growth of the church in Nepal is physical healing. Even the cessationist Baptist and Presbyterian ministers in Nepal are still preaching that healing is possible when they pray (in their seminaries they teach that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased after the death of the apostles). So, the church in Nepal preaches that Jesus saves and Jesus heals, but the third aspect of the blessing, which is material, is the biggest issue now. Salvation is not possible apart from Jesus Christ and they trust him for that. Healing is also not possible apart from Jesus Christ and they trust him for that. But for the material blessings! Because, right from the early days, Christian leaders found out that man can meet their material needs and because of that, this faculty to trust God for material blessing never developed in their newly formed spiritual brain. Because the leaders did not have to worry for their material needs (their needs were met by outside donations), they did not know how to teach their members to trust God to meet their material needs.
The Christian population even today comes from the lower end of social stick and they have tremendous needs. They cannot send their children to school, they never have the luxury of seeing a doctor when they become sick, and they do not know what it is to have a vacation in life because if they do not work for the day, there would be no food in the evening. Life in this world to them becomes a burden from which they wish to be free and that’s why they trust the Lord Jesus for their eternal rest. But unfortunately, they have never been told that God has the ability to give them the glimpses of that blessed rest from the tyranny of poverty right here on earth if they could exhibit the same trust that they have for salvation and healing. Until today the Nepali Christian leaders have blinded the Nepali believers from trusting God for the material blessings by demonstrating that without the outside financial the Nepali church cannot exist. But, like the motto of the US, it is not the money that would give us the rest and peace and freedom in this world, but it is our trust that puts us in a higher plane of life where every need is met by the power of God. And therefore, Nepali believers need to learn to trust God to carve their new course for their own lives as well as for their posterity by placing their trust in God’s goodness and his ability to bless them and meet their needs. The God who is able to save them and heal them is able to meet their material and financial needs; and thus individual Christians can be free from the national curse that comes from breaking his commandments.

Church With No Songs

2009-08-16T16:44:00.000+09:00

The Sunday came; I was not engaged for any ministry related matters. I decided to visit a church that I had ministered in a few years ago when I was a student. It was a lovely congregation of people coming from different nations, but mostly the English speaking Koreans or the Korean Americans. They had a pastor from an English speaking country.
This morning I arrived there early because they had moved the time half an hour late. The deacon that I knew was still there, fixing the place for worship. But when I saw a bewildered look into his face after shaking my hand, I did not know what to make of it. But he politely informed me that the church is no longer the way it used to be and not many people come. In Korea, most English or international congregations are either branches or the department of strong and powerful Korean churches. This particular church was no exception.
As I was sitting there for nearly 40 minutes, four mid thirties ladies came in and then three more men. The deacon had fixed the microphone and the chairs, in the bulletin, the name of the preacher and the presider was printed. Well over 15 minutes of the starting, no one showed up. Then a little girl of about 10 years old came in. She sat on the front row and called someone from her mobile phone. As she finished the call, in came the English department pastor, not the person from an English speaking nation but a Korean educated in UK with zero level of English communication. He fixed a small microphone for the little (apparently she could be his daughter, but we never had a chance to meet them) girl sitting in the front row. Neither was there any opening prayer, nor was there any one to play music, and believe me, this was the first time in my entire life that I attended a church service without singing a one line of hymn or a chorus, I mean not one song or a prayer (except benediction). The pastor went to the pulpit and motioned towards the deacon who was way back controlling the sound system. The pastor muttered a few words in Koreans and the deacon replied likewise. The first word in English from the pastor’s mouth was 1 Corinthians 1:1-3. After that he began to preach in Korean…and a sweet sound of English translation came from the PA system (I was the only foreigner there today), and it took me for a while to figure it out as what is happening and finally I saw the little girl in the front row reading the notes for her apparent father. He was reading in Korean from the pulpit and she was reading it in English from the chairs. He took about 20 minutes and sat next to the girl translating for him. I was so impressed with the little girl as how beautifully she read and had decided to meet her at the end and tell her how blessed I was to hear her read the sermon. The content of the sermon was…Corinthian church was full of division and immorality but still Paul called it “the church of God”. “The church of God” was the title of his sermon. While the preacher sat down, the deacon went forward and took the offering without any song. After the offering, he asked the pastor to pray and close with benediction. In Korea once the benediction is pronounced, you just don’t shoot yourself from the seat; you sit with eyes still closed and wait for the pastor to come to the exit so that he or she can meet the members as they go out. So, as we said “amen”, with eyes closed for few seconds and I looked around to see if the pastor was there. They were nowhere to be seen, the pastor and the little girl well. This church had the practice of having some snacks after the service, and nine of us who were still in the room, we gathered around the snacks table…and I could not help but told the deacon that this was the most bizarre church service that I have ever attended. With apology, he told me that the church is going through division and there is no communication between the pastor and himself. He said, “we are playing wait and see, hide and seek game”. As I moved out of that room, my heart became so heavy, knowing that I have witnessed the most destructive weapon of the devil in the church being fully used. Division has totally paralyzed and now possibly the English church will cease to exists and what kind of ministry will the pastor that can come, preach, and go without meeting his congregants can have in life. How could he come and preach? I just cannot fathom. How could he?

Life comes with its own storyline

2009-08-01T21:00:00.000+09:00

Cry from the Far West Nepal

2009-07-31T11:56:00.000+09:00

I was born in Doti, and was supposed to be living the life my friends and neighbors are living even now. But I met Jesus when I was 18 years old and that changed everything for me. No, as some of you might be thinking that becoming a Christian helps you to go abroad; thats not how change came in my life. Change came when I came in touch with the one who created me. Only the maker has the power to bring change, and therefore, God in Jesus Christ has been my guiding light to see changes along the road that has made my life more fruitful and meaningful. We have one life and it should not be wasted on looking for food, but rather loving God and loving our neighbors. Today, many of our talented young and old people are leaving the nation to find more food in the affluent nations. But if we ask God to come into our lives, he can bring the end of all such suffering that we are witnessing in this video.

You Cannot Serve Two Masters

2009-07-31T00:34:00.000+09:00

Nepali Church leaders are now crying foul against certain terror group for demanding to pay huge sum of ransom for their security and some seemed to have bought their security with the hard currency. This group chasing the wealthy Christian leaders appears to be well aware of the corrupt practices among the Christians leaders which otherwise go unnoticed by the simple minded Nepalese in general and Christians in particular. It is possible that the group members or the leaders of this outfit might even be some of the disgruntled former Christians themselves because there is half truth behind the rumor that becoming a Christian fetches dollars. This half truth behind the rumor is evidenced in the life style of some of these Christian leaders who have embezzled mission funds to build their own houses, start their businesses and buy visas for their children to live and study in some other developed nations; this is no different than the news which we hear from Pasupatinath and other temples. The only difference is that the Hindu temples get money from the Nepalese (Indians as well at times) where as these wealthy Christian leaders deceive the foreign donors. Just as it is not the devotee with bheti (offering) that is to be blamed for the corruption in the temples, so are the Christians, whether foreign or national, in putting their hard earned money in the hands of these Christian contractors in Nepal with the hope of seeing someone in need being helped.

Because these Christian leaders have demonstrated well, the half truth remains the full truth for the outsiders (non-Christians) who have never really understood what it is to become a Christian. Becoming a Christian and becoming a Christian religious leader in Nepal are two very different things. These Christian leaders who have become wealthy today by deceiving the foreign donors might have become Christian at a certain time in their past and might have endured some of the suffering that comes with becoming one. Until few years ago and even today, becoming a Christian is a very challenging thing in our nation. Our society is still very religious and conservative when it comes to other religions and even the caste system is very much a reality in Hindu ceremonies and rituals (except with Maoist forced exceptions). In a society like this, becoming a Christian means a total ostracism from the family, friends and local community. Sometimes wife is divorced or a husband is abandoned and parents are chased out by the children just become they believe in Jesus Christ. But if someone hears the truth about who Jesus Christ really is; the chances are that he or she will desire to be the follower of Jesus Christ regardless of the price to be paid. When someone really understands the message of the Bible, there is no power or threat that can stop that individual from accepting it. Once the choice is made to be the follower of Jesus Christ, then comes the inevitable case in our nation; the family gets upset and shuns the person regardless of who the person is. If the person is an unemployed young man or a woman, things become more complicated. But it is also not easy when one family in a village decides to become Christian and the whole village comes against them, they are not allowed to drink the water from the same tap, no one goes to their house and no helping hand is given in their times of tragedies. Even in death, most local villages come against the Christians and do not allow their dead to be buried in the same burial jungles. In circumstances like these, the already existing Christian community tries to minimize the suffering of their new brothers and sisters by offering any help they can find. In some cases, they would ask to their known contacts in affluent nations to help these suffering Christians. Such help, not always, comes and suffering is sometimes relieved. But then the real cycle of greed begins by those watching the help come; it is because of the merciless poverty. A non-Christian sees the help from the Christians and becomes tempted to go the easy way, thinking that if he or she can find financial help, it is worth the risk. Poverty is such a powerful task master that it reduces human dignity to the dust and no religious convictions are worth cherishing while in its grip. If there is some relief, it does not matter what religious clothes one wears, and some people do choose Christianity with this false hope and who later become disgruntled if they do not succeed in getting what they came for. Some do succeed.

It is these people who we have to be weary of and make sure that they really know why they want to become Christian. Why one becomes a Christian in the first place will determine the kind of life that person will have. If we see a Christian leader whose conscience is dead, it is possible that he or she had come to Christianity with such a wrong motivation. The right motivation of becoming Christian is to recognize that Jesus is the only way for us to be saved from our sin and restore our relationship with God our creator. It is to recognize our sinfulness and repent from it with a desire to be a better person of honesty, integrity and credibility. It is to be a human with love and compassion for the fellow human beings. But some of these people who are now wealthy and control the church in a nation like ours do not exhibit any of the right motives of becoming a Christian. They appear to have become Christian for the material motivation only.

Since their aim is to gain material success, they do not mind to compromise their doctrinal and moral convictions to please any foreign donors. On the other hand, because they are good at pleasing the human beings, the foreign mission leaders trust these people with their life and resources. Once they have the backing of the foreign Christian leaders and the power of money in their hands, these leaders climb the leadership ladder to the top and control the local church under their vice like grip. They want to attend any world level Christian gatherings, they want to be the main body of Christians with whom the government should deal, and they want to be the main body for any possible donation to run NGO and INGOs. But these people have no concern for the welfare of the Church and the Christians in Nepal. Nepali Christians have now become victims from both the sides. They have been cheated and betrayed by their so called leaders. In the name of these real Nepali Christians who have shown great courage in following Jesus that these wealthy Christians leaders have collected enormous amount of money for themselves. From the other side; the terror group threatens to attack these poor and defenseless Nepali Christians while these wealthy Christians leaders will flee the nation and live in the security of Europe or America. Some of them have already done so and others will follow soon and the rest can pay the ransom, but the innocent Christians will have to pay for the sins of these wealthy Christians leaders all over again.

When a nation crumbles, everything crumbles along with it and the church is not immune to that. The level of corruption in the government is now matched with the Christian mission work where the innocent are only used as baits to catch for the wealthier ones. Some of the foreign missionaries are also achieving great success because they have realized that these poor Christians in Nepal can never voice their grievances against them. A foreign missionary went so far as to tell (to the seminary president where I studied) that the Nepali Christians should not be given admission in seminaries in his country because after their education they know more about the missionary and they do not obey. With this kind of religious betrayal and a real threat from the terror group, Nepali Christians need to voice their concerns and let it be heard from one way or the other. The real Christianity in Nepal is not represented by these gospel agents either national or foreign, but by believers who live in the simplicity of life with all its suffering; from the plains of Madhes to the foot hills of the Himalayas, from the far west to the far east. In order to redeem the face of Christianity, every local church needs to rise up and evaluate its leader because due to the influence of these wealthy leaders, the low level Christians leaders are also contaminated and they are using their congregations for their personal gains. Some of these leaders do not want to be paid by their local congregations because that hinders their freedom to beg from multiple others. But the local congregations need to be given authority to choose their pastors and take care of the needs of their leaders. Unfortunately, some of these congregations are entirely infected with this false Christianity of greed that it is hard for them to think that they are supposed to feed their leaders. This is because for years, these corrupt Christian leaders used such congregations for their advertisement and now the damage to real Christianity is irreparable.

Yet, if there is any hope for the Church in Nepal, this cycle of greed needs to be broken and Christians must take responsibility for their own destiny. It is going to be difficult and sometimes, it may cost lives. But there is no alternative to the authentic Christianity because we are now witnessing the consequences of a false Christianity. If from the beginning days, these leaders were honest and were content with the support from their own local congregations, the rumors of dollars might not have become a problem today. If the Nepali Christians still do not learn the lessons, then God might have to use anyone or anything as he did in China because Nepal is dear to God. The Nepali believer in general is still one of the finest Christians in the world today and God will not abandon him or her because compared to the godless Christianity of Europe, pagan Christianity of Americas and the ritualistic Christianity of the Far East Asia, Nepali Christianity is much closer to the heart of what Jesus taught. May be these greedy leaders will now flee the nation and the real Christianity will take root and hopefully the foes also will realize that the cause of Christian growth in our nation is not money but something else which is also equally attractive to them as well. May be we might have to pay the ultimate price until every Nepali sees the real face of Christianity and experiences the love of God.

Prayer for Kathmandu from a mountain top

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000+09:00

Men's group climbed a mountain to pray for the city of Kathmandu

Poverty, Patriotism, and Immigration: A Biblical Reflection

2009-05-02T15:21:00.000+09:00

Human dignity is a God-given privilege of man. He is made in the very image of God; has the honor of being called a friend of God! When that image and friendship was marred, Jesus abandoned everything pertaining to his glory and came down to earth to rescue this man who had lost that privilege and honor to the schemes of the Devil. What a price Jesus paid to deliver his friend! What a wondrous work he accomplished to bring back that image in man; restore that friendship and fellowship with this fallen creature who does not know how low he had gone! The story of the prodigal son captures the indignity and shame of this man; yet he refuses to recognize his condition unless the God above, in his divine grace and mercy, would send his Holy Spirit to open the eyes of this blind man to see his indignity and shame, wooing him to come back into that glories companionship. When the eyes of this blind man are opened by grace, he sees the filth he was living in, he realizes how rebellious he had become, and how he had adorned the mask of pride to hide his multitudes of sins. Inside, he was rotten and stinking, but outside, there was an apparent calmness and how he longed that this outward calmness would be real and true even in the inside. How he longed that his soul would find rest from the constant hankerings of sinful passions. But one day he saw Jesus extending his arms of love and heard him say “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”; eyes opened by God’s grace, the man plunges into that divine embrace, still stinking though. The loving eyes of Jesus look into the misty eyes of this sinner as he wipes out the tears of remorse and sorrow; the love of God is poured into this broken heart by the Holy Spirit because without the Spirit pouring God’s love into this parched soul, he cannot accept the fact that Jesus accepts him in spite of his stinking past. Finally, with his past behind him and eternity ahead, the image of God begins to appear and the dignity restored and fellowship with God re-established; man is once again a dignified jewel among all of God’s creation.
But not yet! As the whole creation awaits for the final redemption, man has a long way home. It’s just the beginning of that glorious restoration! We live in a world where not every human being has come to his or her senses. Even those whom Jesus has embraced, the residue of the old perspective continues to linger beneath the new perspective. The full impact of the glorious change taking place in our lives is yet to be fully realized. When time shall come, we will enjoy that blessed walk in the cool of the garden with the master himself and all shall be well once again! But not yet.
One of the many evidences that indicate that we are still a long way home is the stigma of being citizens of any of the poorest nations of the world. The discrimination and mistreatment one gets for being a citizen of a poor nation manifests in many different forms; sometimes the discrimination and mistreatment is self-inflicted or invited by the citizens of such nations by their actions, attitudes and appearances, but other times, it is deliberately inflicted upon them by the superior race or nation. Poverty is such a powerful task master that completely takes away the dignity of a human being, not only in the eyes of the other, but in his or her own eyes. Man begins to rationalize his lower and inferior status, and seeing no way out of it, he or she accepts the lot and begins to act and behave in certain ways in order to survive. For example, the legal or illegal immigrants in rich nations who do not wish to return to their native homelands have in most cases lost self-worth and patriotism because they know the power of poverty. Against their conscience and natural tendencies, they try to imitate the life of their adopted nation. The first generation usually goes through a constant period of longing to be back home and at the same time tempted to stay in a foreign land for the hope of achieving material success. Against the ravaging poverty in their homelands, they are rather willing to live with humiliation of another kind than going back to the grinding yoke of poverty. They are willing to set aside their individual human dignity and be treated or mistreated by the natives of the land of their sojourn at their mercy. They are willing to forget their language, culture and even willing to break all ties with their homelands if they can have a chance of gaining the citizenship of their land of dream. Initially such immigrants entered their dreamland as students, professionals, and tourists. Some of them even had contracts to return back to their homelands, but the temptations of materialism overcome the faithfulness and patriotism. But of course, there are those few remnants that after completing their legal stay for either a job or education return back to their countries with respect and dignity intact.

This stigma of being a citizen of a poor nation is nowhere more apparent than in the airports and immigration check points of the wealthy nations. Long before the threat of terrorism and the 9/11, the practice of harassing the passport holder of a poor nation at the airports and immigration check points was prevalent, and more so now due to the fear and in the name of terrorism. That is why the ultimate aspiration of such immigrants is to gain a citizenship in the land of their sojourn so that they no longer would have to be humiliated when they travel to other destinations. Same person holding a passport of a wealthier nation makes a world of difference at the check points, opens doors which otherwise would be impossible and provides a better respect and reception even in a hostile situation. Because of this human need to be recognized and respected, for the people in the poorer nations, immigration to the wealthy nations appears to be the shortcut in finding the fulfillment of that need. But the road to the actual summit of that attainment is not as simple as it seems; few lucky make it to the top but the most are left panting at the foot of that insurmountable mountain. Back in their homelands, many of them might have had a decent job, good family, and an honorable image in the upper end of their society, but the dream of achieving more at times becomes costlier than expected and finally they end up being in the lowest end of their newfound social settings. Back in their homelands, they might have had house maids to work for them in their homes and fields, but because of their dream of achieving more, they themselves end up being the house maids for others in their new and wealthier nation. This desire to look for a greener pasture comes at a price, not only for them individually, but also for their homelands. Instead of developing a healthy patriotism for the well being of their nations, they develop and communicate a defeatist mentality to the rest of their fellow countrymen and soon everyone looks for ways to get out of the forsaken land perpetuating the poverty and regress. This mind set of looking for a greener pasture and abandoning one’s homeland has more ethical implications than it appears. From a biblical perspective, it is a violation of God’s divine order in which every nation’s boundary is set by God and one is placed there for the purpose of glorifying God and bringing his kingdom there by his or her doing and being. Citizens of any nation are to love their lands, defend it, work for its progress and uphold their political leaders so long as they do not contradict the superior laws of God. The citizens who are infected with this desire to immigrate to a better nation need to realize that they are driven by their selfish ambitions at the cost of their native lands, and need to overcome the selfish ambition of personal gain and look beyond the temporary satisfaction for the betterment of their nation and their people. Selfishness is the root evil of many other evils, and the desire to abandon one’s nation for personal gain cannot be taken lightly. But true respect and dignity is only achieved when one’s nation achieves success, but a shortcut to that through immigration is a mirage, so illusive and when it comes, it is too late to enjoy. Whenever a poor nation achieves developmental success and prosperity in a short period of time, those who left the land when it was poor begin to return back to their homeland, and this indicates that true respect, dignity, and satisfaction is illusive in a foreign land; unless the whole land is comprised of immigrants who have equal share in forging their new identity.
There is another side of poverty and patriotism in these times of economic imperialism and colonization and that is the export of human labor. The number one export item of many of the poorer nations is human labor; a new form of slavery of modern time. As far as it is possible, nobody in the wealthy nations likes to work in the so called 3D jobs; the dirty, the difficult, and the dangerous. So, they import laborers from any poor nation that is willing to export their brightest and the best for such tasks as those 3Ds. Life in the poorer nation is difficult, but the television and the modern communication have made the world a village and the general public in these genetically leveled as third world nations are bombarded with all the glittering of the first world . The illusory images created by the world of media could hardly match the reality in the ground, but the young and brightest of these nations flock into the labor market with the ideal image of a wealthy nation presented to them through movies, media, and television. They leave their homeland in the prime of life with the hope of making good money with relative easy, because for them, the image of working in a developed nation was formed from movies and television. The scenes at transit airports like Bangkok and Dubai cannot be described in less than slavery terms. Hoards of these migrant workers are given the same uniform (same color of caps or jackets), with their work document folder in their hands, they are huddled together from one place to another with security guards in front and behind them, transporting them like as if they were a dangerous herd of cows. Some of these workers come from so remote part of their homelands and had never entered an airplane prior to this new experience. Most of them coming from rural upbringing, become confounded with the view of the new world, willingly bear the shame and inhuman treatment at the hands of their masters. When they finally get to their working destinations, very soon, they realize that all that glitters is not gold, all the images of that nation that they had seen from movies and TV was not real, and the promise of easy money was a myth they refused to believe when it was first told them while they were making the decision to leave their countries. Working conditions and the treatment at the hands of their masters breaks their spirit, but having no choice, they endure the hardship with the hope of returning soon. As they pick up the local language, their pain multiplies as how they are despised as the 3D workers and they find out that if the same job is done by the native of that land, the company would have to pay three to five times more than what it pays to these migrant workers; the value of a migrant worker becomes five times less than a native. But the power of poverty is such that it makes humans lose all hopes and dreams; after they overcome the initial shock, slowly they get used to the mistreatment and lack of respect. They develop this inferior image of themselves and when they finally come back to their homelands, the inferiority takes different forms. Some exhibit pride, others violence and some turn out to be sensible human beings and make use of their bitter experience to achieve something good for themselves and others around them in their homeland. The sensible ones become the inspiration and warning for the new generation to work hard in their own homelands than selling themselves as slaves to foreign nations.
Bible does speak a lot about poverty, and no where it says that it is God’s will for man to live in poverty. The Roman Catholic vows practiced by Benedictine and Franciscans; of chastity, poverty and obedience is accepted by the protestant church without qualification. Especially the poverty is seen as a sign of piety, but Bible nowhere confirms such assumption. Rather, there are plenty of texts that promise material blessings to the faithful and the righteous, and the way God brings a person out of poverty is when a believer finds his or her dignity in God and believes that his or her life is in the plan of God and therefore, his or her citizenship in that particular nation is God ordained. Once this issue of citizenship is settled with confidence; the person begins to work not for food, but for God. A farmer begins to glorify God when he works, a clerk believes that it is God who sent him or her to work there and serve God in his or her working environment, a teacher aims to please God in his teaching, a politician aims to bring God’s kingdom in his sphere of rule and soon these individuals begin to experience divine breakthroughs and amazing results in their work places. Because they no longer work for stomach, the power of poverty is broken in their minds and they are liberated from greed to generosity, from selfishness to service. When a person has achieved a sense of generosity and an attitude of service, the divine doors of God’s favor begin to open up and soon, God’s blessings not only satisfy his or her needs, but the needs of others around.
So, the only solution to a dignified humanity in one’s own homeland is to know the God of the Bible and believe his word and decide to work for him to create a better country and fulfill the patriotic duties of a good citizen. There is no other way out of poverty, not even immigration to a wealthy nation.

2008-02-05T19:52:00.000+09:00

Translated by Bhojraj Bhatta, from the English Hymn “There is a fountain filled with blood” by William Cowper (1771), 1932-1800. He was an English poet who worked with John Newton and others of his era.

१ देख्छु म बगेको मुहान, येशूको रगत को
पापीहरु स्नान गर्छन् जहाँ, मेटिन्छन् पापका दागहरु
मेटिन्छन् पापका दागहरु, मेटिन्छन् पापका दागहरु
पापीहरु स्नान गर्छन् जहाँ, मेटिन्छन् पापका दागहरु

२ त्यो मुहान देख्दा रमाउँछ, चोर पनि क्रूसमा
उ जस्तै पापी म भएनि, धुँदछु पाप सबै
धुँदछु पाप सबै, धुँदछु पाप सबै
उ जस्तै पापी म भएनि, धुँदछु पाप सबै

३ प्यारो थुमा तपाईँको रगत, अशक्त कहिल्यै हुँदैन
जबसम्म तपाईँको मण्डली, पापरहित हुँदैन
पापरहित हुँदैन, पापरहित हुँदैन
जबसम्म तपाईँको मण्डली, पापरहित हुँदैन

४ येशूको रगतको मुहान, विश्‍वासद्वारा देखे देखि
उद्धारक प्रेम मेरो गित भयो, गाउँनेछु बाँचुन्जेल
गाउँनेछु बाँचुन्जेल, गाउँनेछु बाँचुन्जेल
उद्धारक प्रेम मेरो गित भयो, गाउँनेछु बाँचुन्जेल

५ गाउँने यी तुच्छ ओठहरु, चिहानमा जब सुत्‍नेछन्
थुमाको मुक्तिको गित म, स्वर्गिय धुनमा सधैँ गाउँनेछु
स्वर्गिय धुनमा सधैँ गाउँनेछु, स्वर्गिय धुनमा सधैँ गाउँनेछु
थुमाको मुक्तिको गित म, स्वर्गिय धुनमा सधैँ गाउँनेछु

I Remember

2007-04-26T17:20:00.000+09:00

I remember the day when I first heard that I had my parents (I was 11 years old). I remember the day I first saw my parents, brother and sisters. I remember the day I bought a bag full of books from an itinerant book seller with a fraction amount of a rupee (he had come to our school, I was a forth grader at that time, and later he was chassed out of the school by the teachers when they knew those were Christian books!). I remember sleeping over in my aunt’s house (because by then my home had become a prison for me). I remember running away from my home and traveling to India (I was 16, and had developed a severe mental depression and home had become unbearable and running away was the happiest moment). I remember passing 9th grade (because that year had been the most troublesome year, quarrels at home and I had runaway to India, after visiting those holy places had once again returned home right empty handed for the time to write my final exams without any study). I remember my sister’s family offering me to stay in their house and finish my 10th grade (10th grade is the most severe test for one to enter a college in Nepal, but I brought my problems along with me to sister’s house as well and there was no way that I could make it past 10th grade). I remember the night I decided to surrender my life to Christ. I remember my school teacher shouting at me (in a loving way) and asking me to buy chocolate for passing the 10th grade (the result for the SLC = school leaving certificate are published in a national daily news paper and somehow my number was mistyped and for three month I thought I failed and did not go to school, after three month I went to school for the failed transcript and that’s when I got my loving teacher’s scolding, sadly I had no money to buy my dear teacher any chocolate). I remember the day I took baptism. I remember the day I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I remember the day I decided to serve the Lord for the rest of my life. There after there are so many fond memories that I cannot list all of them here…I remember when I got the academic excellence scholarship when I was the senior in a Bible College in India. I remember the first day I met my wife. I remember the day she said yes to marry me…I remember the day when doctor told me that my wife was pregnant…the day when I first held my son in my arms…the day he spoke the first word “papa”, the day his first step to walk…the day we began our first church…the day we first laid the foundation for our church building…the few more graduations along the way towards my educational pursuit…
There are so many good memories and there were also equal or even more horrible things along the way that had happened, but they are not there in my memory with the same freshness. May be I have a gift of Manasseh from God so that I would not be crushed with the weight of all the bad things that had happened all along those years. Jesus when he was leaving his disciples, he told them “do this in remembrance of me” indicating to the fact of his death on the cross for our sins. This “remembrance” is such a blessed gift from God that every time I fall short, I am reminded to “remember” the cross and the blood that guaranteed my entrance into the Holy of Holies. It reminds me of the fact that it’s not about me or my goodness, but it’s all about Him and His goodness that I am who I am today. Even the heaven sings of the importance of the event of the Calvary when they say “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony”. We remember the Calvary and confess our sins and move on to the place where we shall join the chorus in singing to the Lamb upon the throne.