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Fear, persecution remain high in Orissa, one year later
Manini, who continues to be under medical care, is doing somephysiotherapy exercises to regain strength in her right arm.
 
 Photocourtesy: Voice of the Martyrs
MANINI Digal knows thewrath of fundamentalists in India.Manini, 17, from a poor family,was caught by fundamentalistslast August during the outbreak of anti-Christian violence inOrissa.They tore off her clothes andattempted to rape her. Then they poured kerosene over her and sether on fire. Her body was severely burned. Manini arrived at ahospital in critical condition.Open Doors co-workerscovered her medical expensesduring her recovery and also prayed with her. She is now praising God for His protectionand recovery.August 23 marked the one-year anniversary of the violence inOrissa, which was started whenVHP leader SwamiLaxmanananda was murdered.Fundamentalists wrongfully blamed it on Christians and usedhis murder as an excuse to attack them. Church leaderscommemorated the anniversarywith 'Peace Day' includingmarches, fasting and prayer vigilson Aug 23.Since the outbreak of violencelast year, at least 120 people have been murdered, 250 churchesdestroyed and over 50,000individuals displaced. It has beenclaimed that this was the worstcase of religious persecution inIndia since the partition of Pakistan and India in 1947.More than 4,000 Christians inOrissa are currently seekingrefuge in relief camps and areunable to return to their villagesfor fear of death or forcibleconversion to Hinduism. Recentreports state that Christiansremain targets of violence and persecution by Hindu extremists.According to Compass Direct News, a reign of terror continuesin the area as the former Hindurioters are issuing death threats towitnesses during trials. Of themore than 750 cases filed invarious police stations inKandhamal district andneighboring Gajapati district,only six people have beenconvicted in two cases. Some of the witnesses are running away tosave their lives after receivingdeath threats.This year India jumped from No. 30 to No. 22 on Open Doors'World Watch List of countrieswhere Christians suffer the mostsevere persecution.Last month, the USCommission on InternationalReligious Freedom placed Indiaon its watch list for frequentoutbreaks of violence againstminorities, especially Christians.The report sharply criticizedthe Indian government for failureto protect the rights of religiousminorities. Eight states in thecountry have passed anti-conversion laws although onlyfive states are currentlyimplementing the law.Anti-conversion laws aredesigned to prevent Hindus fromconverting to Christianity, anOpen Doors release said.
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Page 2 | September, 2009
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 A young Christian wrote:
I aman evangelist and have a friend who has many contacts. One of them is a person who is well known and talented with multi- faceted skills. He is in theministry, knows many languagesand people. He told me he was planning to send aspiring evangelists for training to theUnited Kingdom. After completion of the training, he said he would send us on placement to different countries such as Mexico, Africa, Italy, Europe and the United Kingdom. Five of us believed in him and  gave him about seven lakh rupeesin all. After a few days, I realized that we had been cheated by himand I have lost all my hard-earned money. I am shocked bythis incident and cannot accept the fact of being cheated in thismanner. We could not take anyaction against him. What do I do?
WE live in a world where lying,cheating and extortion has become a common practice andmany of us do not even talk of such things as it has becomecommon place. Such incidentsusually take place in the secular world, but when it happens in theChristian world, it is time to wakeup and take note. More surprisingwas the fact that this incidenthappened to some evangelists!The Bible says in Matthew7:15-16, “Beware of false prophets, who will come to youin sheep’s clothing, but inwardlythey are ravenous wolves. Youwill know them by their fruits.”In 1Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of allkinds of evil, for which some havestrayed from the faith in their greediness, and piercedthemselves through with manysorrows.”In 2 Timothy 3:1- 5 the Wordsays, “But know this, that in thelast days perilous times willcome: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemous,disobedient to parents,unthankful, unholy, unloving,unforgiving, slanderers withoutself-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong,haughty, lovers of pleasure thanlovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power.And from such people turn away.”In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 reads,“Do you not know that theungodly will not inherit thekingdom of God? Do not bedeceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, not adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the willinherit the kingdom of God.”In Revelation 21: 8 and 27 it iswritten, “But the cowardly,unbelieving, abominable,murderers, sexually immoral,sorcerers, Idolaters, and all liarsshall have their part in the lakewhich burns with fire and brimstone, which is the seconddeath.”Verse 27 reads, “But there shall by no means enter it (heaven)anything that defiles, or causes anabomination or a lie, but onlythose who are written in theLamb’s Book of Life.” So we seehere in these verses that all liarsand thieves will never inherit thekingdom of God and will be cutoff.In Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked;for whatever a man sows, that hewill also reap”. These are seriouswarnings from the Word of God.However, in Matthew 10:29,the Bible says, “Are not twosparrows sold for a copper coin?And not one of them falls to theground apart from your Father’swill.” So you must understandwhy this misfortune fell on you.What is the Lord trying to tell youor teach you, or rather, are thereany lessons to be learnt from thisunfortunate incident? Ask God togive you the Spirit of discernment, so that you willknow people and will not be ledaside by their lies.You need to take some practicalsteps and try to get back your money. In Jeremiah 32:27 Godasks, “Behold, I am the Lord Godof all flesh. Is there anything toohard for Me?” The first thing youneed to do is pray. Then if  possible meet this person together with the others who have beenduped by him and request him toreturn your money. Give him areasonable time for this. If thisman keeps his word, and returnsyour money, Praise God!Otherwise, hand him over to theauthorities concerned lest he goeson cheating others.
You must understandwhy this misfortunefell on you. What is theLord trying to tell youor teach you, or rather,are there any lessons to be learnt from thisunfortunate incident?Ask God to give youthe Spirit of discernment.
 
Page 3 | September, 2009
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“Hi, we’d like to talk to youabout Jesus Christ!”Standing tall, two young andwell-dressed American boys atmy door broke the iceinstantaneously. Happy to seethem, I said that we wereChristians too. What happenednext, however, took me bysurprise and left me scramblingfor words. Stating that they weremembers of The Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, theysaid they wanted to talk about a prophet and a book given to the prophet by God. Though a littleshaken, I refused to hear their ideologies — they left only toreturn another day in a bid to coaxme.In today’s world, cults are verymuch a reality. Cults are widely prevalent in our country, in our city too. An unexpectedencounter with cult members canleave us disturbed. As Jesuswarned, during the last days, therewill be many people proclaimingdifferent ideologies in His name.It is our duty to be vigilant andstrong in faith. God’s Word saysthat many deceptive spirits will be on the loose, waiting toswallow the unaware. So do weknow how to discern deceptions?We may know that their claimsdo not align with God’s Word, wemay even understand that their  belief is not the Truth – but howdo we handle encounters with cultmembers? How do we prepareourselves to face the challengesof the last days? One way is to beaware of the different cults andto understand their approach.Take the case of Mormons.Mormonism and polygamy gohand in hand - an attractive proposition for today’s world.‘Mormonism’ has a good number of followers in the US and severalother parts of the world. But theMormons have been in Chennaias well for nearly a decade nowand have slowly yet steadilyincreased in numerical strength.A conversation based on such beliefs can perturb anybody,especially if we are not prepared.
THE CHRISTIANMESSENGER 
spoke to a cross-section of senior church leaders,who threw light on how we couldtackle such encounters. Each of them shared valuable insights onhow to be prepared always, howto answer cult members, and howto watch and pray.Pastor P Vijayaraghavan of theApostolic Church said, “I knowthat the Mormons have beenaround in Chennai for about 10years. They’ve grown a lot andthat wouldn’t be possible but for their polygamous behavior.” Heagreed that as believers, we
How to tell the cult group from the church? Know the Truth!
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Ask any officers in the ReserveBank of India about how theyidentify counterfeit or fakecurrency notes in circulation inthe country. You will get thestandard reply that since theyknow the real one so well, it isactually easy to identify the fakenotes. However, they don’t justgo by their gut feeling. Theyhave guidelines and stipulationsthat are scrupulously followed indetecting and weeding out fakecurrency. Almost all cult groupsdiscourage independent thinking.They claim what their governing bodies say concerning anyscriptural passage should be thelast word on the subject. This isin direct opposition to Paul’sadmonition to Timothy (and toall believers) to study to beapproved by God, so that weneed not be ashamed as wecorrectly handle the Word of God. This admonition, found in2 Timothy 2:15, is a clear instruction from God to each of His children to be like theBerean Christians (Acts 17:10-12), who searched the Scripturesdaily to see if the things theywere being taught lined up withthe Word.
How to identify cultgroups!
Mormons believe in their own book of Mormon (which they believe was given by God to a prophet), some doctrines thatare derived from the Bible, afew other books, and theteachings of their leaders.Interestingly, they claim to believe in Christ as well as the book of Mormon as the word of God. What is disturbing,however, is that none of their  beliefs reflects God’s Word. For instance, they believe that weall are ‘elsewhere’ before weare born and that we go‘somewhere’ other than heavenor hell when we die. But whatdoes the Bible say? Whoever  believes in the Son has eternallife, but whoever rejects theSon will not see life, for God’swrath remains on him” (John3:36). For unbelievers, life after death is eternity in the lake of fire. Jesus said, “I am theresurrection and the life. Hewho believes in me will live,even though he dies; andwhoever lives and believes inme will never die...” (John11:25-26).
What do Mormonsbelieve in?
The sect known today as the Jehovah’s Witnesses started out in Penn-sylvania in 1870 as a Bible class led by Charles Taze Russell. Russellnamed his group the ‘Millennial Dawn Bible Study.’ Charles T. Russell began writing a series of books he called ‘The Millennial Dawn’, whichstretched to six volumes before his death and contained much of thetheology Jehovah’s Witnesses now hold. After Russell’s death in 1916,Judge J. F. Rutherford, Russell's friend and successor, wrote the sev-enth and final volume of the ‘Millennial Dawn’ series, ‘The FinishedMystery’, in 1917. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society wasfounded in 1886 and quickly became the vehicle through which the‘Millennial Dawn’ movement began distributing their views to others.The group was known as the ‘Russellites’ until 1931 when, due to asplit in the organization, it was renamed the ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses.’The group from which it split became known as the ‘Bible students.’
Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Jehovah’s Witnesses believeJesus is Michael the archangel,the highest created being. Thiscontradicts many Scriptureswhich clearly declare Jesus to beGod (John 1:1,14, 8:58, 10:30).Jehovah’s Witnesses believesalvation is obtained by acombination of faith, goodworks, and obedience. Thiscontradicts countless scriptureswhich declare salvation to bereceived by grace through faith(John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9;Titus 3:5). Jehovah’s Witnessesreject the Trinity, believing Jesusto be a created being and theHoly Spirit to essentially be theinanimate power of God.Jehovah’s Witnesses reject theconcept of Christ’s substitution-ary atonement and instead hold toa ransom theory, that Jesus’ deathwas a ransom payment for Adam’s sin.
What do Jehovah’sWitnesses believe in?
The history of Mormon polygamy begins with belief that Mormonism founder Joseph Smith received arevelation from God on July 17,1831 that some Mormon menwould be allowed to practice‘plural marriage’. This was later set down in the Doctrine andCovenants by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints (LDS Church). When alarge number of its membersobjected to it, some splinter groups left the Mormon churchto practice polygamy.Polygamist Mormon churchesin the US are referred to as‘Mormon fundamentalist.’
Mormons & polygamy
‘Some groups propagate polygamy and immoral relationships.’ 
Pastor Arthur Devadoss
should know Christian truth wellenough to be able to decipher cults.“Cult groups have somethingnovel to offer to people andespecially exploit their gulliblenature,” said he said.Pastor Arthur Devadoss of Hosanna Ministries had aninteresting anecdote to share.“The Mormons gave me their  book sometime ago and I didn’teven bother to read it. They came back for the book and fought withme,” he said.However, Pastor Devadoss isworried about another newchurch group.“There is a new group calledthe Indian Church of Christ thatapproaches people with visitingcards; they worry me the most.They speak the local languageand lure youngsters to join them.They, too, propagate polygamyand immoral relationships,” hesaid.He has briefed hiscongregation well about suchcults and has asked them to standup for their beliefs. In case theyare unable to do so, he asks themto just invite the cult followers totheir church or refer them to the pastor. “They’ll never trouble youagain,” Devadoss affirmed.Pastor Jayakaran Emmanuel of Power House Church echoes thisview.“It’s better for you not toentertain them. Since we knowtheir beliefs are misleading anduntrue, don’t encourage them andthey won’t approach you further,”he said. Is there anything else thata believer needs to be aware of totackle these cultists?Rev. D.C. Premraj, Presbyter of St. George’s Cathedral, said:“There are just a few things thatwe should watch out for. First, weshould be strong in our beliefs.We must make an effort tounderstand what we believe in.Second, as our faith and belief grow, we must be groundedBiblically. Our foundation must be clear and strong in God’sWord. Third, during any suchencounters, check for Biblicalcontext. Anyone can quote fromthe Bible, but we must know howrelevant and contextual it is.”Confirmation classes and Biblestudies conducted by churches areaimed at making the believers’steadfast in their faith, Rev.Premraj added.Pastor JagadeesanKalyanakumar of HarvestChristian Assembly quotedEphesians 4:16: “Then we willno longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blownhere and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning andcraftiness of men in their deceitfulscheming.” He added: “The ruleof thumb is that if you know theoriginal, you can identify thecounterfeit. And the more familiar you are with God’s Word, the better you can discern andsafeguard yourself fromdeceptive doctrines.”In all this, the Bible is the finalauthority to check any doctrine.Sola Scriptura, meaning the Biblealone, is the key theme in thechurch’s reformation of the 16thcentury.The Jehovah Witnesses, for instance, proclaim Jesus to be anangel with extraordinary powers.But the Bible very clearly saysthat He is the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God whorevealed God and his love tohumanity (John: 3:16). Another example, the Mormons’ scriptureincludes the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine andCovenants, and the Pearl of GreatPrice.As Christians, Pastor JoshuaJeyaseelan, Tamil Baptist Church,said: “We have one revealedWord of God which is the HolyScripture (II Timothy 3:16). Soany new doctrine or cult has to be analyzed and understood in thelight of the Scripture.”Pastor Vijayaraghavan said,“We must know how to identify acult and that’s by knowing whatthey are. Cults are major deviations from orthodoxChristianity relative to the Bible’scardinal doctrines such as theTrinity, the deity of Jesus Christ,the second coming, millennialreign, and salvation by the graceof Jesus Christ.”It is our responsibility tounderstand our beliefs, our stand.Just like the wise man that builthis house on the Rock, if our foundation is strong and built onJesus, it will not be shaken.Today, it was I who met withthe Mormons, tomorrow it could be you. Let us watch and pray for the salvation of cult members andfor God to grant us the wisdomto stand strong in His Word.
‘Cult groupsexploit  people’s gulliblenature.’ 
Pastor P VijayaraghavanPastor JagadeesanKalyanakumar
 If youknow theoriginal, you canidentify thecounterfeit.‘Don’t entertain or encouragethem.’ 
Pastor JeyakaranEmmanuel
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