Sunday, February 27, 2005
KOTA GROUP GRADUATES 5000 PREACHERS
Anti-Christian Violence Fails to Halt Celebration.
By: John M. Lindner
KOTA, RAJASTHAN (ANS) -- Emmanuel
Ministries of Kota, Rajasthan, today graduated 5,000 Bible school
students, much to the chagrin of hard-line Hindus.
Most of the graduates are from the Dalit community and have already
accepted assignments among the Dalit--or “untouchable”--villages
throughout India. According to Dr. Samuel Thomas, President and
International Director for Emmanuel Ministries International (EMI),
they will bring the message of Christ to the outcasts of India,
transforming them into vibrant communities of faith, and prompting even
more young men and women to joyously enter the service of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
His father, Dr. M.A. Thomas, came originally from Kerala to Rajasthan
after graduating from Hindustan Bible College in 1960 and pioneered a
work in Kota, then a city virtually without a witness for Christ.
Enduring much hardship, persecution, the martyrdom of several
coworkers, and the death of his beloved wife in 1995, Thomas
persevered, counting it a privilege to suffer for the Lord Jesus.
Today, he and those he has trained and sent out have planted 11,113
churches throughout India.
The secret of his success was to gladly accept the offscouring of the
world—the orphans and children of lepers—and train them to be
missionaries. His goal is to take in a million orphans—and he has
already received a government permit to do so—and transform them into
an army of messengers of the gospel. EMI so far operates 87 children’s
homes caring for some 8,900 children, including 2,200 in Kota.
Some are true orphans, but most of these are semi-orphans, whose mother
or father has died or abandoned or rejected them. Others are children
of leprous parents who have gladly surrendered them to Thomas to raise
in his children’s homes so they will not contract the disease by
remaining in the community of lepers. These will be transformed into
vibrant messengers of the gospel and healthy participants in Indian
society.
That is what disturbs the right-wing, hard-line Hindus. Members of the
RSS (Rashtria Swayamsevak Sangh, meaning National Volunteer Movement),
a radical anti-Christian Hindu organization, did their best to halt or
hinder the grandiose celebration here this weekend.
S.M.J. Rao, EMI Secretary, told ANS members of the RSS met a train at
the Kota railway station on February 19, and took about 270 pastors,
believers and Bible students coming for the meeting to a Hindu temple.
There they were interrogated, beaten and told, “Leave here, or we will
kill you.”
According to Rao, the Christians were then taken to the police station
where they were beaten with iron rods and bicycle chains. M.A. Thomas
and members of the EMI staff were forbidden to see the captives or
bring them food.
After being held hostage for 18 hours they were put back onto a train
headed south and told to go back to where they came from. However, nine
hours into the return journey, railway officials forced them off the
train because they did not have tickets. EMI was making alternate
arrangements to help the stranded believers.
Next, a band of 60 to 70 demonstrators from the Bajrang Dal tried to
stop busloads of 600 believers from reaching the convention site. The
Bajrang Dal is believed to have been the group behind the burning alive
of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa
State in 1999. The police escorting the buses did nothing to halt the
demonstrations until some protestors began hurling rocks at the police.
Then the police charged the demonstrators with their night sticks and
disbursed the crowd.
Meanwhile, Samuel Thomas contacted officials in Delhi to bring order to
the situation. Finally, after the federal authorities intervened, those
traveling to the meeting were allowed to complete their journey
unmolested, and the meetings were held without further incident.
Meeting with authorities, M.A. Thomas gave assurance that no
“conversions” (i.e. baptisms) would take place, and he agreed with
demands by the RSS that American visitors, who numbered about 100,
would not preach at the religious gathering. They did, however, speak
encouraging words to the graduates.
Though about 5,000 graduates received their diplomas and certificates
Saturday night, Dr. Thomas said as many as 6,000 would have been there
had not some turned back because of the violence.
At the commissioning service Sunday morning, Dr. Thomas told the
graduates that natural children are not born without pain or
tribulation, and said if they wanted spiritual children, they must be
willing to bear pain and suffering of childbirth, and even martyrdom.
Virtually every student stood and shouted “hallelujah!”
John Lindner is currently on tour in India with Emmanuel Mission
International, which operates in the USA as Hopegivers International.
John M. Lindner is a missionary
writer with 25 years experience and now heads World Christian
Ministries with a goal of publishing a new World Christian
magazine depicting the tribulation and triumph of missionaries of the
two-thirds world. www.WorldChristianMinistries.org.
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