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Waldron Mission Fund |
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Under the oversight of the elders of the Crossville church of Christ, PO Box 211, Crossville, TN 38557 |
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BICYCLE CAMPAIGN NETS 3016 WITH PERSECUTION The third campaign for Christ in 2005, in the wake of the December 26, 2004 Tsunami, netted 3016 souls for Jesus. This intensive work of preaching the kingdom of God and the name of Christ (Acts 8:12) took place over the last fourteen days of the old year - December 18-31. There were 1445 gospel preachers involved and the battleground for souls was across the whole state of Tamil Nadu. Besides preaching and teaching in thousands of homes and villages these brothers, having been trained to do the work of evangelists (II Tim 4:5), passed out about 800,000 tracts. In fact, the passing out of tracts was often the manner in which the gospel was introduced into new areas. For example, in a suburb of the city of Coimbatore, on December 20th, one preaching brother and two student preachers were surrounded and attacked by a mob of religious fanatics. They began to beat those three brothers. When word spread about what was happening our other workers in the same locale — about fifteen in all came to the place of confrontation and sought to defuse the situation. One brother used a cell phone to notify a brother KA. Krishnan (KAK) who was in the vicinity with our school van. In the meantime the mob had risen to double the number of our brethren and they began to beat and kick them. One of the radicals drew blood when he kicked brother T. Samuel in the face and made his nose bleed. Another brother was kicked in the stomach. At this point the political thugs using sticks herded the preachers and students onto a lot that was hidden from the road by thorn bushes. Brandishing their sticks they began to say "we are going to beat you and who is the Jesus that will protect you?" When the phone call had reached brother KAK he had taken our van and gone straight to the police station and explained to the Station House Officer (SHO) what was taking place. The Police Superintendent was out of town. This officer gathered some of his constables and came with KAK in the van. Thank God they arrived just as our brothers were being threatened with the sticks. The SHO then required everyone to come to the station. Once there he took our brothers' statements; observed their appearance from the beatings and told them to go to the hospital to get a doctor's certificate. He told KAK this would justify a warrant being sworn out against the attackers. But brother KAK said no, that they would not bring a case against them. Not only, as you will note shortly, was this an extremely wise policy on his part as a Christian, but knowing that a court case in India can drag on for years and the best of things be spoiled because of political corruption, it was a very astute decision on his part. Due to the policeman's fear for our brothers' safety he kept them in the police station from 7:30 p.m. on the 20th until 12:30 a.m. on the 21st. Even then the fanatics were still milling around outside and the police had to escort our brothers away from the building. The SHO asked KAK for the brothers not to come back to that area to pass out tracts until the Supervisor of Police returned. Even after this frightening event our brothers went on to another area on the 21st to pass out tracts and preach from house to house and village to village. On that evening brother KAK and one other brother were called back to the police station to speak with the Supervisor of Police. When they arrived the leaders of the fanatics who had led the mob the day before were there with three lawyers. But rather than a law case against our brethren the hooligans were ready to make peace. In fact, they were apologetic for the actions of the mob the day before. Their attorneys were embarrassed and they, too, offered their apologies. By beating our brothers simply because they were passing out literature this group had committed a crime that can be severely punished. In the end the Superintendent of Police told KAK that our brethren could go where they wanted to teach and that if any problems arose they were to phone him. As you may recall there was an anti-conversion law in Tamil Nadu from 2002-2004, but so much pressure was put on the state government it was repealed. It was, in fact, contrary to the federal constitution of India which guarantees freedom of religion and the right to teach one's religion without fear. SUFFERING ON TOP OF SUFFERING The people along the four hundred mile coast of Tamil Nadu that suffered so severely from the Tsunami was ravaged again by two months of continuous heavy monsoon rains from mid-October to mid-December. The rains and the attendant floods, however, reached many miles further inland than the coastal devastation had and thereby affected many of the brothers who were attending the schools of preaching. My heart was torn on December 20th and 21st as I interviewed 35 current students and listened as they told of the floods that swept away their little mud and thatch houses. To get the picture of the suffering you must try to imagine poverty beyond anything you have ever seen in our country. If you have seen pictures of the jungle huts of the poor in Africa, you have some idea. 1) Brother Jaya Praga Sajgran— "Our house made of earth and thatch was destroyed by the rains. My wife and I have three children—10, 9 and 6." 2) Brother K. Subramani— "Of our earthen house only one wall is standing; the other three and the roof are gone. We have two children." 3) Brother S. Murugan— "The front and back sides of our house have washed down and the roof has fallen in. We have three children." 4) Brother Jacob Kalyen— "The earthen dam broke in our area. My wife, the children and I escaped but six goats were caught in the flood and died. The house was washed away." There were thirty-five of our students who suffered similar or worse affects on their little mud houses. From the funds we had received for last year's flood victims I was able to give each of them some help, but even now I can hardly think of these students without tears. I was re-impressed again with the tremendous poverty of these our brothers and sisters in Christ. Sixty dollars a month provides support, food, transport and school supplies for one student. This is our most urgent need for this current year. Please help! ****A VERY SAD NOTE**** In the late 1980s I was conducting summer Bible camps in the mountains of south India. In the month-long camp I would teach a course like the survey of the books of Moses which has 485 questions in it. At the end of the month when we would have a final examination, out of fifty or sixty students I would have four preachers and Lilly Aruldass who would know the answer to every question. This happened at least two years in a row. Not only was Lilly an excellent Bible student but she was the wife of a gospel preacher, C. Aruldass, and the mother of three sons. Being thoroughly convinced of Lilly's scholarship in the word of God, I was also convinced that she would be a fine Christian woman to head up a Bible training school for women, which was begun in June 1992 This is a two-year school that requires the young women (the average age is 18.5) to study the Bible 22 hours per week in class, with daily memory verses and tests. Each course also is followed with a final exam. In these intervening years more than 550 women have graduated from the Coimbatore Bible Institute for women. It is with a sad heart that I must tell you that Lilly passed from this life on January 9, 2006 at 2:00 a.m. (EST) or 3:30 p.m. India standard time. Lilly was only 50 years old and she leaves her husband and three sons. She had suffered for some time with congestive heart failure. She will be sorely missed and very difficult to replace as headmistress of the girls' school. The building where the school is held is known as Angie Greene, which I wrote about last month. In spite of this sorrow and loss the women's school will continue. Please remember the Aruldass family and our girls' school in your prayers.
In Christian Love,
Jim Waldron |
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Vol. 40 Jan 2006 No.1 |
