TruthAlive:: March 2015

Volume 5

Issue 3

March 2015

40

A TRUTH FOUNDATION PUBLICATION

“Being unwanted, unloved, un-cared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat” - Mother Teresa

T

he spring season in India starts around March every year. The sun starts warming up and days become longer and nights become shorter.

As in summer, the axis of the earth is tilted toward the sun, and the length of daylight hours rapidly increases as latitude increases. The hemisphere begins to warm significantly, causing new plant growth to “spring forth” Springtime is seen as a time of growth, renewal, of new life (both plant and animal) being born, and of the cycle of life once again starting.

The Spring Equinox Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

(Psalm 51:10, KJV)

Even as spring, with its warm sunshine, wakens the sleeping earth to renewed activity and new birth, we all may experience a joyous awakening and blossom forth with new hope, new freedom, new health, and new happiness. Christian doctrine enables each one to claim for himself, here and now, man’s divine inheritance — the ability to reflect the perennial newness of life in and of the Spirit.

Man as God’s expression is the embodiment of the newness and freshness, the joy and harmony, the vigour and power, of endless life. If our hearts are weary and heavy laden, our bodies ailing and painful — if it seems impossible for us to rejoice — we need to awaken! We need to claim man’s divine heritage of the joy, newness, and freshness of life divine. By letting go of the false concept of man as mortal, and knowing that man is exactly what God causes him to be — the perfect spiritual reflection of life; by wholeheartedly and joyously acknowledging that God is good and that His government is supreme on earth as in heaven, our lives can be transformed, even as the face of the earth is transformed, into freshness, beauty, color, joy, order, and harmony. Let us turn completely away from the false concept of man as material and imperfect, and gratefully acknowledge that God is the creator of man; that He made man in His own likeness — perfect, whole, beautiful, complete — and we are that perfect man!

A creative mind is always ready and always willing to make all things new.

We experience the fulfilment of the Bible promise, “Behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians). As we begin to understand the perfection of man as God’s likeness, we can know and enjoy something of the perennial newness and freshness of life, its inexhaustible energy, irrevocable vigor, fadeless beauty, and immeasurable joy daily, hourly, and moment by moment.

Sam Vadavana Chief Editor

EDITORIAL BOARD A V JOHN JOJI A MATHEWS DR C V VADAVANA DR ALEXANDER KURIAN DR THOMAS KULANJIYIL DR SUNNY EZHUMATTOOR CHIEF EDITOR SAM VADAVANA PUBLISHED BY MARYKUTTY P J MANAGING EDITOR LANITA CHARLES OPERATIONS MANAGER BINOY VARGHESE PUBLIC RELATIONS ISSAC C VADAVANA DESIGN PHILIP SOLOMON

Winning and Losing......................4 Bob Shank God Answers Stress........................5 Annie George Pathalil Curing Your Negative Personality......................................7 John Stanek Religion -Freedom Campaign....19 Jamie Dean Why is the Way of Jesus Perfect and Complete?..............................25 Albert Daniel

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Dear Winners... and, losers.

This morning, ISIS has been crowded out of the headlines. Terrorist threats to America’s cathedrals (our retail shopping malls) over the weekend have been taken in stride. In a culture more inclined to entertainment than engagement, Oscar trumps the field of nasty news makers...

Super Bowl features one big half time show, with a featured musical guest to create a break for beer and bathrooms.

The Oscars depend on serendipity for highlights: last night, it was host Neil Patrick Harris in his underwear, and presenters and winners taking their unscripted moment to make passionate political declarations.

Winning and LOSING

By Bob Shank

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary association, with just under 6000 members. No one volunteers to be part of the Academy; membership is by invitation by the Academy Board of Governors. The roster is a guarded secret, but in 2012 the Los Angeles Times managed to identify 88% of the membership: 94% were Caucasians, 77% were men, 54% were over 60, 33% are former nominees, and 19% are past winners.

If the size of your television audience is any indicator, there’s no contest between the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl. It’s too soon for numbers from last night, but last year saw an audience of 111.5 million watching the competition March 2015 between the Seahawks and the Broncos for the 4

Lombardi trophy, and 43 million watching the competition between American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash for the Best Picture statuette. Young, buff men in uniforms on astroturf out-draw young, buxom women in designer gowns on red carpets by 2:1.

Oscars. Super Bowl. Presidential Campaign 2016. Global Terrorism.

Promotions at work. Contracts for future opportunities. Proposals for lifetime matrimony. Upgrades on long flights. Recognition for extraordinary efforts that benefited someone else.

You can’t go through a day without being reminded that winning and losing is embedded in the rhythms of life.

There are 24 Oscars awarded each year; there are dozens of nominees competing for them.

Thousands of professionals in the movie business spend a lifetime in their careers without nomination. Reality: most winners progress to a future where they’ll be forgotten in their achievement and assigned a place on the Netflix backlist.

Paul - one of the lead actors in the History of Humanity (you know it as The Bible) - had a pretty clear sense of the field: “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10). People?

Fickle creatures, whose approval was not that important to Paul. (continued on page 11 ...)

GOD ANSWERS STRESS

In front wall of my study room hangs a writing, faded in italics, with the background picture of a girl with her face on her knees, but quite familiar to almost all of us. By placing the sign where I have, it conveniently appears just above the head of anyone who sits across from my table.

Are you Stressed?

Do you feel that you are overloaded??

Do you wonder whether you can cope up???

We all are familiar with stress. It’s that unstable or loose pothole that, when hit, sends reverberating shock waves throughout, often distracting our focus and derailing the wheels of ministry.

The following stress test can surely determine the severity of your pothole.

1. Do you have Prayer Help contact on speed dial?

2. Is your staff/followers confused because you’re lacking communication with them?

3. Does your schedule include a yoga class?

5. Have your staff members arranged their schedules to work on your day off ?

6. Have you mistakenly placed your personal file in an open book shelf ?

7. Are you looking forward to retirement … and you’re only in your 30s?

A yes to any of these questions might indicate a stress problem. Despite its public image presented,, ministering is filled with stress. It’s an established drug that saps our strength; a stubborn but painful pimple on the face of the church; a woodpecker that beats on your office door with its hard beak. At times our stress is like the fox dressed in grandma’s clothing, pretending to be the grandmother; but often, it’s just crooked fox being crooked fox. Either way, it’s a workplace fastener and the single biggest drain to our personal happiness.

How Annie George Pathalil ever, dealing with stress may produce the greatest sermon we ever live. Want proof ?

Ask Moses. His 40 years of leading God’s people in the wilderness was a constant battle against popular opinion.

Never should a leader have to endure his load. Yet, Scripture labels him “the most humble man on the face of the earth.”

Ask Samuel. He had the unenviable job of cleaning up the priesthood corruption brought on by his mentor’s reprobate sons.

Nepotism had run amuck! Yet Scripture says, “The Lord let none of Samuel’s words fail.”

Ask Jonah. Though he was a prophet of God, he had no heart for saving Nineveh. Those deplorable Ninevites deserved the wrath of God, not His forgiveness! Yet when this reluctant prophet obeyed, the largest city in the ancient world was saved.

Ask Habakkuk. His faithful service to a rebellious nation seemed fruitless. In frustration he demanded answers from God. Then, God responded. With that, Habakkuk’s complaints turned into worship.

Ask Paul. Whereas he was a great church planter, he was also a real troublemaker, causing riots March 2015 in at least 10 cities. (continued on page 10 ...)

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CURING YOUR NEGATIVE PERSONALITY

By John Stanek

I

am amazed how lying in bed and allowing one’s mind to wander is an open door allowing so much negativity to ooze from our subconscious thoughts into our conscious minds. These thoughts have been pent up so long in our subconscious that they are always ready to burst forth at a moments notice and with great force and obliterate our normal and even our positive thoughts and goals as easily as great flood waters taking out everything in their path and causing much destruction of good and purposeful thinking .

Soon our thoughts become so polluted they become dangerous to our health and well being and to the health of others around us. These destructive thoughts dredge up all sorts of negative, hateful and bitter thoughts that have long been forgotten, but not wiped out. And if left unchecked they, like a plague, affect all people they comes in contact with, even loved ones. These thoughts all have one focus- one’s self to the exclusion of all others. They do not build up, but tear down. They do not create, but destroy all that is right and good. And it all comes about from many careless moments in the past that should have been controlled by righteous thought. The evil One plants the seed, we water it, and one day it suddenly springs forth a mature, poisonous plant that makes ill or kills all who eat from its fruit. If we are to have any relief from it, we must daily cut it back with positive and righteous thoughts and actions and with faith in our God to wean us from its allure.

This then is a snapshot of a negative mind, which is very complicated and self defeating. I must admit that this is shocking and repugnant to my Christian mind, but I also remember that these thoughts were formed long before I became a Christian and they did not seem all that bad to me at that time. In fact, they seemed normal to me.

If your sin is negativity and all its associated sins (such as: gossip, hate, anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, distrust, doubt, etc), you will need to progress towards a more positive attitude towards life, just as we were designed by our Creator to have. Here are the things that I and those I have mentored have found works for us: 1. Start each day by getting out of bed as soon as you awake. If you lay there negative thoughts will pop up into your mind. Make sure you are fully awake and then, 2. Praise God as you pray. Do not pray anything that will bring up negative thoughts about yourself or others. You must do this in order to start your day off on a positive note. You should praise God in prayer and in song (use a hymnal if need be), read God’s word and note positive promises or passages that you find.

3. Tell someone else about your plan to be positive in your thinking and ask that they pray for your success. You must bathe all these steps in prayer and enlist the Lord’s help to accomplish it. Have someone keep you accountable and point out when your conversation turns negative and encourage you in your efforts by praising you when you are positive in your thinking.

4. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of His leading in. This and you will become sensitive to Him at times when you are negative in your thinking or speech.

Whenever you are convicted of being negative, then replace your negative thoughts or March 2015 words with positive ones immediately.

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5. Be sensitive to negative talk that comes naturally to you like: “I don’t think that will work for me.” “I tried that and it didn’t work for me.” “Maybe that will work”(sounds positive but is not.) Never conclude, “I’ll never master being positive.”

6. From time to time tell God, “I love you and trust you to help me change. I know I will succeed at this.”

7. Keep busy so as to give no time to negative thoughts. Don’t allow yourself to become discouraged.

8. Try new things each day. Make this an enjoyable journey with God, but don’t take failure personally. Just try again anew each day. See each failure as another way not to do it.

9. If you can, keep a diary of your successes and failures. Encourage yourself with positive thoughts and actions and see how you can change the negatives into positives.

10. Instead of finding the faults of people (which takes no skill) look for their good qualities (Love covers a multitude of sins- I Corinthians 13). Be merciful as God is merciful. ** Remember -it took you a life time to become negative, and that success is not a destination but a journey, life’s journey. See this as your life’s work that you will present to God your Father one day. And learn to wait on the Lord with patience. He has promised to deliver you and He will.

11. Exhaust yourself each day with positive activities of doing good, so that you will sleep the wonderful “sleep of the righteous” and you will awake full or energy and grace.

12. Meditate often on the positive verses of scriptures and memorize verses such as: Philippians 4:8; I Thessalonians 5 :18; James 1:2-4, etc. Be like David, “I have hidden Your Word in my March 2015 heart so I might not sin ag ainst You.” Ps. 119:11 8

13. Work on developing a positive self image.

Words are very powerful conveyers of images that affect our self image. Politicians and preachers can greatly affect how we view things. We see our peers and others as mirrors of who we are inside, just like we use a mirror to reflect who we are outside. If we have negative attitudes about ourselves they must be extracted just like bad teeth. It will be painful, but necessary for obtaining a positive attitude towards ourselves and others.

14. We must deal with our feelings about ourselves and others to see if they are based on truth. The problem with negative thinking is that it distorts truth. Therefore, we must clarify truth by the Word of God. Truth, not feelings, must guide us.

15. Make the commitment to change your negative attitude to a positive one. You must be strongly committed to this or you will not accomplish it. Do it for yourself and to glorify God. Write down exactly what you hope to accomplish each day.

16. Learn to live one day at a time. Let go of the bitterness of yesterday and the dread of tomorrow. This plan is for life, don’t take a vacation. There are no days off. And never think you have it mastered or it will come back and bite you.

17. Experiment with how you go about mastering negativity. No one step works for everyone. Focus on your strengths. Look to your strengths not your weaknesses. Vary your approaches. Bounce back after an error or a mistake. Always keep your purpose before you. Concentrate on continual improvement.

18. Focus on the future not the past. Negative people normally concentrate on the past and it immobilizes them. * If you stay faithful to these principles you will change for the better. You will be blessed and in turn become a blessing.

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March 2015

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Opportunity There are no times in life when opportunity, the chance to be and do, gather so richly about the soul as when it has to suffer. Then everything depends on whether the man turns to the lower or the higher helps. If he resorts to mere expedients and tricks, the opportunity is lost. He comes out no richer nor greater; nay, he comes out harder, poorer, smaller for his pain. But, if he turns to God, the hour of suffering is the turning hour of his life. -Brooks Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. Everyone must be challenged. A day dawns, quite like other days; in it a single hour comes, quite like other hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us. To face every opportunity of life thoughtfully and ask its meaning bravely and earnestly, is the only way to meet the supreme opportunities when they come, whether open-faced or disguised. -Babcock If you want to succeed in the world you must make your own opportunities as you go on. The man who waits for some seventh wave to toss him on dry land will find that the seventh wave is a long time in coming. You can commit no greater folly than to sit by the road-side until someone comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence. -Gough If sorrow could enter heaven, if a sigh could be heard there, or a tear roll down the cheek of a saint in light, it would be for lost opportunities, for the times spent in neglect of God which might have been spent for his glory. -Payson There is an hour in each man’s life appointed, to make his happiness, if then he seize it. -Beaumont

GOD ANSWERS STRESS continued from page 5

Though he usually faced his accusers alone, he declared, “The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.”

David testifies, ‘I have no fear or no anxiety or no worry about tomorrow. He is facing the future with absolute confidence.‘ surely, goodness & Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’. where do we receive such confidence?

If we are a christian there are 3 reasons why we do not have to fear the future.

1) BECAUSE GOD IS WATCHING OVER ME: 2): GRACE IS WORKING WITHIN US: 3) HEAVEN IS WAITING FOR US. A quick scan of Jesus’ ministry March 2015 reveals His own timeless stress management 10

techniques: His goal was the finish line, not the hurdles. He ran the race to please the Father, not the mercurial audience, not for public approval.

He used the potholes as locale to do His work.

He would not be discouraged by the crisis particularly crowd pleasing, including the crisis of the cross. He was focused on one thing: “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Days after I hung another board on the other side of the wall, the writing in Italics silver, which stated “this too shall pass away”. A suggestion which works in every situation, in every circumstance, in every place and in every time, n every joy every defeat and in every victory. How refreshing it is to think of stress like that.

The person who gave me the sign hanging in my room, also gave me a great stress management verse: Luke 2:1, “And, it came to pass…”

Thank God it didn’t come to stay.

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WINNING AND LOSING continued from page 4

If the trophies of the temporary aren’t compelling - for people who are wired to win - how do you give meaningful attention to the competition that matters? “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things...”

(Philippians 3:13-15).

Winning does matter, clearly. But, picking your arena of approval is even more important. Better to finish in the pack in the right race, than to win the trophy in the race that doesn’t matter.

March 2015 May you win your race: the one that matters. The only vote that will be cast - for winner or loser - is from the One who has the only agenda worth serving...

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March 2015

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YOUTH Y o u t h

Encounter REMAINING CHILDLIKE

H

ow would you answer the question, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

When you first think about it, you might say someone who is... ?

Deeply religious ?

Highly disciplined ?

A serious Bible scholar ?

A famous pastor or teacher

In other words, we often think the greatest person in the Kingdom of Heaven would probably be a wise old man. But let’s see what Jesus said when he was asked this same question...

The disciples asked Jesus, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-4 NIV) Childlike Faith What is it about little children that Jesus is trying to say we should be like in this passage of the Bible?

I don’t think he was saying we should be immature or silly like kids can be. But here’s a couple of things he might have been suggesting: ?

Children depend entirely on their parents ?

Children accept and believe things quickly ?

Children know they need the help of other

people

?

Children live in the moment and enjoy what

they have ?

Children trust those who care for them So what could that mean for you and I in our relationship with Jesus?

Growing up with God When we grow up, we are often told that the goal is to become independent. We are trained to leave our parents, get a job, make a living and stop depending on other people for what we need.

However, our relationship with God is quite different. ?

Growing up with God means we depend

more on him every day ?

Growing up with God means we learn to accept what He says quickly and without questioning ?

Growing up with God means we admit we can’t do things on our own ?

Growing up with God means we learn to be thankful what he has given us, and enjoy each day he provides ?

Growing up with God means we trust Him, because we know he cares for us So don’t grow up too quickly. Don’t give in to thinking the goal of life is to become independent. Just like a child depends on their parents for everything they need, we need to remember that we depend on God for everything too.

March 2015 (Courtesy: FERVR) 13

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The Uniqueness in the Difference od knows what He is doing by making man and woman different, yet one in Christ. The difference make up much of the magnetism that draws men and women together in marriage. But we have something in common and that is the image of God. We must never use our maleness or femaleness as an excuse for taking advantage of the other. Instead we use our uniqueness to meet one another’s needs, help and encourage each other.

G

The better we understand the differences, the better we will appreciate each other’s strengths. Rejoice that you are created male or female and your spouse compliments you.

Generally, women appreciate men who can communicate as well as demonstrate their feelings. When a woman speaks she says what she feels. A man speaks what he thinks. A woman speaks in circles; a man speaks in straight lines. He expects her to just come to the point. Women want to know what men think, how they feel, what they need, not just through words, but also through actions.

God endows women with certain qualities that are essential, qualities that speak of God. A woman is tender, loving, she embodies mercy. Look at Eve. She has an irreplaceable role to play. Most women want to be a part of something grand, something important. Most women sense that they have a vital role to play; they notably believe there is something in them that is needed. A man needs her; his world is not complete until she becomes a part of it. She brings along her courage and her creativity.

March 2015 A woman in the presence 14

of a nice, respectful man, a real man, loves being a woman. His strength allows her feminine heart to flourish. His pursuit draws out her beauty. And a man in the presence of a real woman loves being a man. Her beauty arouses him to play the man, it draws out his strength. Women don’t fear a man’s strength, if he is a good man. The longings God has written deep in your heart are telling you something essential about what it means to be a woman, and the life He meant for you to live.

You can find that life—if you are willing to embark on to the adventure of living.

Relationships are like gardens that need to be nurtured with the manure of love and mutual respect to blossom. It is all about give and take, you get what you give. One has to work towards goodness and a soul connection. The simpler a relationship is, the more successful it is. A person should always try to keep things less complicated; no overloading with burden of expectations. The moment you start doing that, relationship becomes a heavy baggage that you have to drag!

Relationships are very necessary for personal growth, because human beings can never grow in isolation. Everyone needs one another. With a pinch of flavour of support and understanding any relationship can get delightfully ideal.

Almighty Creator God is at the center of life and everything should revolve around the divine will and plan. Therefore life has meaning only in relation to God. Man and woman need to fall into His divine will and the roles he has assigned each. Discover His plan for you, and you will know your purpose in life.

having named Jesus as his co-driver in his log books.

s

Snippet

Christian Mother Meriam Ibrahim to Receive NRB Award Mariam Yahya Ibrahim (C) and her husband Daniel Wani (bottom) are greeted by a cheering crowd of people as they arrive at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire July 31, 2014.

Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian mother who was held prisoner and initially sentenced to death in Sudan for her faith, is set to receive the National Religious Broadcasters’ President’s Award later in February for showing “what it means to not be ashamed of Christ.”

“Mariam Ibraheem is a modern-day example of what it means to not be ashamed of Christ,” said NRB President and CEO Jerry A. Johnson. “We are honored to welcome her to NRB15 as we rejoice with her over God’s protective care in her life.” (The Christian Post) Trucker fired for naming Jesus as his codriver A Texan truck driver has lost his job after being accused of “falsifying leg al documents” a ‘crime’ he attributes to

Truck drivers are required by law to keep a record of the number of hours they are on the road, and who is with them. Ramiro Olivarez, a devout Christian who has been in the profession for years, says he has always listed the Son of God as being in the front seat with him.

“Jesus is my co-driver, and that’s my belief. That he’s with me,” he told KRGV-TV. “Jesus is my co-driver, and I have no shame in that.”

Olivarez received a letter of termination from his employer last month, which claims that he had been asked to stop “submitting incomplete documentation and falsifying legal documents.”

It reportedly also warned that naming Jesus as a co-driver was a violation of law.

Olivarez says he never received a request to stop, however, and is now calling on other Christian drivers to follow his lead.

“I strongly encourage you to put Jesus as your co-driver. Let’s make a stand,” he said (Christian Today) Archaeologists Identify First Century House Where Jesus May Have Lived Archeologists in Nazareth say a first century house discovered in the 1880s could be the home of Mary and Jose ph where Jesus was brought up.

“Was this the house where Jesus grew up? It is impossible to say on archaeological grounds,” writes Ken Dark, a professor at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, in Biblical Archaeology Review, referring to a first century “courtyard house” containing limestone pottery that was first uncovered in the 1880s by nuns at the Sisters of March 2015 Nazareth convent, according to Live Science.

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The team also discovered that the people who lived there centuries after Jesus’ time believed Jesus was brought up in that house.

The house “had been constructed by cutting back a limestone hillside as it sloped toward the wadi (valley) below, leaving carefully smoothed freestanding rock walls, to which stone-built walls were added,” Dark added.

“The structure included a series of rooms. One, with its doorway, survived to its full height.

Another had a stairway rising adjacent to one of its walls. Just inside the surviving doorway, earlier excavations had revealed part of its original chalk floor.”

After another Jesus-era house was found in Nazareth in 2009, The Associated Press reported that the dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about 1.6 hectares.

In Nazareth, Jews of modest means lived and they kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority, was quoted as saying.

“This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,” Alexandre went on to say, adding that Jesus as a child may have played around the house with his cousins and friends. “It’s a logical suggestion.”

RSS Chief Bhagwat is “Ill Informed” on Mother Teresa: Missionaries of Charity The Missionaries of Charity, the organisation set up by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mother Teresa has responded Tuesday to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s controversial remarks on the Mother, slamming him as “ill informed” who should learn more.

March 2015

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“Mohan Bhagwat is ill informed. He should come and visit the

mission to know more about our work,” Su-nita Kumar, the spokes-person of the organis-ation said.

“The mission works for the poor irrespective of their religious background. The people of the country and especially Kolkata remembers the Mother for her compassion and love for the poor. People in Kolkata and across the world cutting across religious affiliations revere the Mother,” she added.

Earlier, the RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had allegedly said that the motive behind Mother Teresa’s service to the poor was converting them to Christianity.

Bhagwat said, “Mother Teresa’s service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian,” he said while speaking at a function organised by NGO Apna Ghar in Rajasthan.

“The question is not about conversion but if this(conversion) is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued,” he said.

The remarks invited sharp criticism from opposition parties.

Albania-born Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity with its base in Kolkata was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. A year later, she was also awarded India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980.

Mother Teresa went to the Lord in 1997 in Kolkata.

k c ba

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F

Thank u so much for your magazine TRUTHALIVE. It is very encouraging and wonderful spiritual nourishment for my ministry. Specially Jan & Feb editorial touched my heart; especially “DIRTY FEET” by Dr. Daniel Borg opened my eyes and truely helped in the ministry.

I would like to hear from u.

Thanking you Yours in Him Rev. A. Prasanth Kumar.

His Kingdom...and one of the work is preaching Gospel...your magazine always help me to prepare the messages.

Is that possibility that you can subscribe this magazine to me? I will be grateful to you always....

Do you print this magazine or any other magazine in Hindi....if yes then please send the Hindi version...if no then English will be OK for me.

May the Lord God richly bless you, your family as well the print ministry.

In His Grip

Greetings in His Precious Name...

I am regular reader of your respected magazine...and I must say that your magazine always help me to know the word of God in True Way...and also how to apply the Word of God in our daily life....

The reason to write a mail to you that I always get this book form someone else...mean I always borrow your magazine from one of my friend.

I am Keshav Kumar, work in an Ad agency in New Delhi’s CP (Cannought Place) I am the only saved person in my family by His Grace....from then on I am doing His work....for

Keshav Kumar New Delhi-110001 Hello, I have received a copy of Truth alive volume 4 issue 12 on my address in Navi Mumbai.: C202, Haware gulmohar, sector 20, kharghar, navi Mumbai 410210. I have not subscribed this magazine. Please let me know how it reached me. I found it really great...

God’s name being glorified. We have now shifted to Bangalore. We will think about subscription of this magazine.

Shreelekha Dathan Bangalore

New “Bank’’ Account Daily If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with986,400, that carried no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and finally every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent-of course!

Well, you have such a bank anf its name is “Time,’’ Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every nightit rules off-as lost-whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries no balances. It allows no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day the bank named “Time’’ opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits the loss is yours.

March 2015

Robert G. Lee 17

Advertising, catching the eye of the readers and making the consumers go for your product‌ If you have a matter to announce, meetings, Conventions and theology courses, effectually reach out to 12,500 readers in India, UAE, USA & UK. Book your adverts in advance for May in Truth Alive and get the matter published free in April. A discount in advertisement tariffs will be considered for those in ministries, worship houses, etc.

Call: 97310 51360 / 096050 39000 Email: truthalive@sathyam.org January March 2015 2015

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Religion-Freedom Campaign

By Jamie Dean

SAN FRANCISCO–For Gao Zhisheng’s family, visiting the imprisoned Christian at his remote exile in western China takes days.

Gao’s father-in-law and older brother made the trek in January: The pair rode a train nearly 2,000 miles from Shaanxi Province into the craggy mountains of the desert region of Xinjiang after obtaining clearance from prison officials to visit Gao. Then they took a public bus to its last stop, where they hired a motorcycle driver to travel the lone road to Shaya Prison, where the dissident has been jailed. When the father and son reached the first security checkpoint, a guard delivered cruel news: Despite official assurance to the family, no one could see Gao. The dejected men tried the trek again in March.

This time officials allowed a visit, but gave strict orders: Don’t talk about Gao’s case. Don’t mention his lawyers. Discuss only family and health. Finally, after the days-long trip, and the hour-long orientation, prison guards allowed the men to visit Gao for 30 minutes.

Nearly 6,000 miles away, Gao’s wife, Geng He, can recount that story openly near her home in north-ern California.

Geng fled to the United States with her two children in 2009 after Chinese author-ities harassed her family for years.

Here she’s free to bring attention to her husband’s plight, but she’s deeply lonely without him. And she struggles to explain the ordeal to their 8-year-old son: “It’s very hard for him to understand why daddy disappeared.”

Gao’s disappearance into the Chinese prison system is a mysterious saga. But at least one thing seems clear: Chinese officials remain determined to silence the Christian attorney who challenged an oppressive system.

Like other dissidents in Communist China, Gao, 48, has contended publicly for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and justice for the oppressed. And like others, he’s paid a steep price: prison sentences, abuse, and separation from family.

Millions more Chinese Christians aren’t activists, but some suffer for embracing a faith outside government control. During the past 18 months, harassment against Christiansincluding hundreds of arbitrary detentions- has risen sharply in some regions.

Though a growing number of Chinese have decried government abuses-including forced abortions and the country’s one-child policy-a November change in Communist Party leadership hasn’t held out substantial hope of fundamental reforms in the near future.

March 2015

Gao Zhisheng’s family 19

But despite a year of intensified crackdowns, increasing arrests, and a renewed government call to exert control over Christians, scores of believers have refused to retreat from the mouth of the lion’s den.

Indeed, many remain firmly planted inside it.

Christians like Gao Zhisheng and others profiled here are examples of believers showing courage under painful oppression and lifethreatening circumstances. For pressing on-and speaking up-while suffering abuse and escalating threats, WORLD honors China’s persecuted Christians as our 2012 Daniels of the Year.

Speaking up wasn’t always Gao Zhisheng’s calling. Born into a poor family in a rural village in Shaanxi Province in 1964, he remembers his father lamenting: “When will we ever have enough to eat?”

His father died when Gao was 10, and the boy’s mother struggled to care for her seven children.

In his memoir, A China More Just, Gao writes: “From then on, our family had nothing.”

Gao spent his childhood working in coal mines and begging for food, but he found a way out in 1985: Gao enlisted in the People’s Liberation Army. During his service, Gao discovered the outside world and a new future: He met his wife, Geng He. During our interview in California, Geng’s furrowed brow softened when she remembered meeting Gao in the military. She was in a training program for new soldiers. Gao was the head cook for the base. Her supplies were limited, but Gao gave her apples, cookies, and sunflower seeds. “He was very kind,” she says. “Very thoughtful.”

The couple married in 1990, and Gao sold vegetables in a local stand. A year later, he read a small ad in a newspaper wrapped around his March 2015 produce: China needed lawyers. Gao began taking 20

classes, and by 1995 he passed the bar exam.

It was time for Gao to begin speaking up.

He initially handled medical malpractice suits and economic law. He was a Communist Party member, and the Chinese government lauded his work. But Gao’s interests soon broadened: The attorney began taking human-rights cases and defending property owners harassed by government officials.

A local pastor offered spiritual support to some of Gao’s oppressed clients. He offered the same gospel message to Gao, and eventually the young attorney embraced Christianity.

Gao began defending pastors against government harassment, including a minister sentenced to three years in prison for printing and distributing Bibles. He joined a legal defense team for a house-church network in Beijing, but he also advocated religious freedom for others, including the Falun Gong—an outlawed and heavily persecuted sect in China whose members have faced torture and imprisonment.

“As a Christian attorney he represented the weak,” his wife says. “He represented freedom.”

Gao also represented a threat to the Chinese government. Officials directed him to stop taking Falun Gong cases, and security agents began following him and his family. Instead of retreating, Gao wrote an open letter to China’s prime minister and called for greater religious freedom. Chinese officials suspended his law license in 2005.

Later that year, Gao formally broke from the Communist Party. In a letter dated Dec. 13, 2005, he said the Party tries to “torture people out of their conscience,” and he declared: “Today, I, Gao Zhisheng, a Party ‘member’… formally withdraw from this inhumane, unjust, and evil Party.” He concluded: “This is the proudest day of my life.”

Less than a year later, Gao would disappear. (to be continued...)

March 2015

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DYING TESTIMONIES The Martyr Patrick Hamilton On the first of March, 1528, some eight years before Tyndale was betrayed by a Romish spy, Arch bishop Beaton condemned Patrick Hamilton to be burned because he advocated the doctrines of the Reformation and exposed the errors of popery.

The principal accusations were that he taught that it was proper for the poor people to read God’s Word and that it was useless to offer masses for these charges, and boldly defended his doctrine. But his judges, Arch bishop Beaton and the bishops and clergy associated with him in council, could not endure the truths presented by their prisoner, which indeed were greatly to their disadvantage; for a people before whom an open Bible is spread will soon test by it the lives and teachings of their pastors, and to abolish masses for the dead is to cut off a chief source of the revenues of Rome’s priesthood. Hamilton therefore was quickly condemned, and in a few hours afterwards, to avoid any possibility of his rescue by influential friends, the stake was prepared before the gate of St. Salvador College.

When the martyr was brought to the stake, he removed his outer garments and gave them to his servant, with the words, “These will not profit me in the fire, but they will profit thee. Hereafter thou canst have no profit from me except the example of my death, which I pray thee keep in memory, for, though bitter to the flesh and fearful before man, it is the door of eternal life, which none will attain who denies Christ Jesus before this ungodly generation.’’

His agony was prolonged by a slow fire, so that his execution lasted some six hours; but, through it all, he manifested true heroism and unshaken faith in the truth of the doctrines which he preached. His last words were, ‘‘How long, O Lord, shall darkness brood over this realm? How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of man? Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’’

Thus, in the bloom of early manhood, died Scotland’s first Reformation martyr, and his death was not in vain. A Romanist afterward said, “The smoke of Patrick Hamilton infected all it blew upon.’’ His mouth was closed, but the story of his death was repeated by a thousand tongues. It emboldened others to seek a martyr’s crown, and stirred up many more to defend the truths for which he died, and to repudiate the hierarchy which found it necessary to defend itself by such means. “Humanly speaking,’’ says the author of “The Champions of the Reformation,’’ to whom we are chiefly indebted for the of our sketch, “could there have been found a fitter apostle for ignorant, benighted Scotland than this elquent, fervent, pious man? Endowed with all those gifts that sway the heads of the masses, a zealous, pious laborer in season and out of season, what herculean labors mights he not have accomplished! What signal triumphs might he not have achieved! So men may reason, but God judged otherwise. A short trial, a brief essay in the work he loved and longed for, was permitted to him, and then the March 2015 goodly vessel, still in sight of land, was broken in pieces.’’- Heroes and Heroines 22

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March 2015

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Why is the way of Jesus perfect and complete?

By Albert Daniel

The uniqueness of Jesus Ø Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me.” Ø Through the word of God, it is obvious that there is no match for Jesus in world history Ø The God of the Bible says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” Ø The true living God the Father has truly revealed Himself in Christ 1. “…in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” 2. Jesus is the exact representation of God Ø “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation.” Ø Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Ø No one has seen God at any time, except the only begotten Son who has declared Him (the Father). Ø Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and Omega.” Ø “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Ø We are created – “of Him and through Him and to Him…” The purpose of Jesus’ first coming as fully God in Spirit and fully man in flesh (while on earth)

John 14:6

Isa 46:9 Heb 1:1-5

Col 1:15 John 10:30 John 1:18 Rev 1:8 Heb 13:8 Rom 11:36

Incarnation Ø “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God…taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men…humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Ø Jesus came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Ø “…Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Ø As Jesus was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, he did not inherit the sin nature from Adam’s blood Ø By the birth of the promised Messiah, our omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God worked through all of the events of history to fulfill His promise of salvation Ø Jesus came to fulfill the God’s promise of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles Ø Jesus came to fulfill prophecies Ø Through Jesus God introduces a new covenant which is better than the old legalistic covenant (law). This fulfilled God’s promise of salvation through His mercy. Ø Jesus came to do the will of the Father to take away the first (covenant of the Law) and establish the second, (covenant of salvation through Grace) through His sacrifice once and for all. He paid for our sin-debt on the cross that redeems us.

Heb 10:5-10

Phil 2:5-8

John 1:29 Mark 10:45

Isa 49:6 Luke 4:21 Heb 8:12-13

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