Waldron Mission Fund

 

Under the oversight of the elders of the Crossville church of Christ, PO Box 211, Crossville, TN 38557

 

Vol. 42                                                       April  2008                                                                                 No. 4

GOING TO MANIPUR

 

On Sunday morning, March 23rd,  Laura and I attended worship with the Maryville, TN congregation as it is close to McGhee –Tyson Airport at Knoxville.   We lunched together, then she dropped me at the departure hall. 

My flight for Newark, NJ left about 2:00 p.m.  The Continental Airlines jet left Newark at 8:30 p.m. on a non-stop flight of 14.5 hours to Mumbai on India’s west coast.  I was able to sleep about six hours during the trip.  The plane was a new Boeing 777 with a cruising speed of 550 miles per hour, but by flying west to east high over the northern hemisphere it picked up a tail wind and at times the speed was more than 660 mph.  India time (IST) is 9.5 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight time.  It was about 8:30 p. m. on Monday (24^th) evening when we landed.

After clearing immigration and customs I reserved a room for the night at a local hotel. On Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. I flew 1,300 miles east to the Guwahati airport in the state of Assam.  When I arrived at 2:00 p.m. Mark Bass of the Alkire Road (Grove City, OH) church was waiting for me. In fact he had arrived by helicopter from Shillong that morning at 9:30.  The two of us got a taxi from the airport that took us the 15 miles to the city (Guwahati) where we made reservations for Don Iverson and ourselves.   The latter was to arrive at the airport at 6:30 p.m.  

In the evening we hired a taxi to take us back to the airport to meet Don. This project turned out to be a rather humorous incident that happens with language barriers.  The taxi with the driver was parked in a garage under the hotel. As Mark and I walked down I said, “I must run back just a moment to the restroom.”  Mark went on and got into the taxi, expecting to wait till I returned. However, the driver started the engine and took off, headed to the airport.   Mark protested in English, “my friend is coming!”  “He is going to the airport too!”  The driver who knew little or no English replied. “Yes, Yes, the airport!” and kept driving.  Mark kept protesting and the driver kept saying, “Yes, Yes, the airport.”

When I came out the taxi was nowhere in sight, so I went to the hotel desk and asked the clerk to phone the driver on his cell phone. She did and thanks to the Lord, she was able to get him to return to the hotel for me.   This delay, however, made us more than an hour late meeting Don. In the meantime Don had phoned Laura to inquire if she knew where Mark and I were staying and if anything unforeseen had happened that we were unable to meet him.  She advised him to just wait at the airport because I had told her that we were meeting him that afternoon.  

We got to bed early as jet lag makes that a necessity when you first arrive in the country.  The next day, Wednesday (26^th) at 11:00 a.m. we went back to the airport to meet Garry Jones of Clinton, TN and to get a flight by Jet Airways to the city of Imphal, which is the capital of the state of Manipur.  

We were not sure of the exact time of Garry’s arrival, but we learned that it was scheduled at 12:25 p.m. and our flight was to leave at 1:00 p.m.  We got our boarding passes and Don and Mark went through security and got ready to board. I suggested that I would wait in the outer hall for Garry and guide him through the routine. Garry’s flight from Delhi was late and didn’t land until about 12:35.  At 12:40 the Jet Airways’ staff insisted that I should go through security and board myself as the others had done, and they would get Garry off the Delhi flight and on to ours. 

At 12:57 we were a bit anxious for there was no Garry and the captain of our flight called over the intercom for the attendants to close the door for take off.  We could not see the steps leading up to the cabin door, but the staff could, thus they paused, not more than a minute, and Garry walked in.  It was 12:58; he was the last through the door and was greeted with our clapping.

The main purpose for our travel to Manipur was to ascertain the opportunities for establishing a school of preaching, but the reason we went together was necessitated by the government’s requirement that foreigners not visit the state except in groups of four or more.  They fear a kidnapping or worse for tourists.  This is due to the activities of guerrillas/insurrectionists, who for years have agitated to have Manipur as their own separate country. This they have done through murder, extortion (shake down of shop owners to pay money or be bombed or killed), kidnapping and other forms of violence and political unrest.

We arrived in Imphal (Wednesday 26^th) at 2:00 p.m., picked up our entry permit and went to the Khristina Hotel where a local brother had reserved rooms for us.

In the city there were soldiers in every street to protect the public and shopkeepers. Later as we traveled by van on the national highway we observed army riflemen stationed about 100 yards on each side of the road and about 200 yards apart to protect trucks and cars from being high-jacked.  Due to the banditry the infrastructure of city and state, including roads and public services, are in extreme disarray.  One brother (54) who works for the state government said he had not been paid in 22 months, but he keeps the job for without it there is nothing for him to do or for any job for which to hope.  This brother insisted that we come to his home and take tea.

As horrible as the rebellion is that has gripped the state it is not the worst thing we observed.   The terrible division among the churches of Christ is the saddest of all.  Of this we had heard about prior to making the trip, but we were to see first hand the deep animosities that it had brought.  The church has been in the region for more than fifty years and had excellent growth in previous times, but in recent years it has been racked with division from both the left and the right.  In fact in one area the tension is so bad that one large building has been locked, and one faction turned the keys over to some of the underground, and another has taken the matter to a secular court.

One of the issues has been the question of using drums or other instruments with sacred music (psalms, hymns and spiritual songs) in a “not worship” service.  The idea of those who favor the instrument is that one should sing a song like “Does Jesus care?” in what is designated as a “worship service” without a drum or other instrument, but if it is designated as a “not worship service” then a drum or other instrument may be used.  It hasn’t seemed to dawn on them that to sing praises to God or Jesus and not mean what one says is to deliberately practice vain worship (cf., Matt. 15:9).

Yet, the most severe division that has come about is over the doctrine of “saints only in benevolence.” As noted the Lord’s church has been in the Northeast of India for more than fifty years, but the doctrine of church benevolence being limited to members of the church only was not introduced until June 2005, when one Mark J. Ward of Brunswick, Georgia, USA introduced it to Shillong.  This he did after being brought to Shillong to hold a meeting for the Liet Um Krah church by their local preacher, Thang Guite.  Ward left, but the seeds of division had been sown and the local brethren recognized it and spent more than six hours trying to reason with Thang, but to no avail.  He resigned and the church put him out of fellowship, but true to form he went and started his own church in Shillong with the aim of promoting the “saints only doctrine.”

This is the doctrine that has torn up the churches in Manipur in the worst manner.  Brethren who stood shoulder to shoulder against the innovation of instruments in worship are now at the point of coming to blows with one another. I had to actually admonish some if they wanted to attend the lectures they must stop pushing and shoving each other, which they were doing in anger.

Knowing some of these things before hand the three brothers and I planned not to go to Manipur to simply hold a gospel meeting for any one group, but made preparation to give lectures dealing with the need for unity in Christ (John 17:20-21). To this end we secured two “neutral halls” in two cities and invited any and all to come.

All speeches had to be translated into the Piate language, which was ably done by one brother Thang Lain, but four of us were able to speak a total of nine times.  Here is a brief summary of the speeches by each 1) Garry Jones dealt with the urgency of unity in Christ based on the words of the apostles. 2) Don Iverson exposed the foolishness of saints only in benevolence and the right of the congregations to support restored homes for homeless children. 3) Mark Bass spoke on innovative errors being pushed in the worship and work of the church like making sports and games a part of the church’s work, of squandering God’s money on gymnasiums, clapping in worship (one Canadian brother, Ray McMillian has sought to introduce this in worship here) and the denominational tendency to create “children’s church” and thereby lower the esteem on the Lord’s day worship in the eyes of the young people 4) It was left to me to fill in some gaps by showing that sacred music (psalms, hymns and spiritual songs) is to be acappella for such is named nine times in the New Testament and all are singing; never playing.  I also pointed out that it was not the work of the church to send funds for organizations like Christian Colleges (those that are sound ought to be supported by parents and friends, but not put in the church budget), but that the churches have an obligation to conduct schools of preaching (2 Timothy 2:2) as the Northeast Bible Institute in Shillong is.

Beloved, it is sad to have to write of these things, but I have great confidence in the brothers who went with me on this trip, the other American brothers who come over to teach in the schools of preaching and the many native brethren with whom we work.  And it is necessary that you know that we, as Paul was, are set for the defense of the gospel (Phil. 1:17).  The need is great, your help, sacrifice and prayers are very much needed at this time.

With love to all,

 

Jim E. Waldron