Dear Ones,
“… If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” ( 2 Chronicles 7:14).
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord …” (Psalm 33:12).
In these troubled times, what lies in store for our country and for the Lord’s church? We cannot know. Deep apprehension is there because of the growing percentage among Americans who blatantly deny God and defy His laws. For these many years, the murder of innocent life in this country has come to almost 1/7 of our current population —45,000,000 lives. And the homosexuals are getting bolder and more demanding every day. With the stated policies of our new President, these problems will be compounded by the appointment of supportive judges and justices. On the one hand, we have this sobering scenario of continued degradation among us. On the other hand, we have the hoards of militant, radical Muslims poised to destroy us; and, in between, we have God’s stern warning to another nation that He had blessed richly:
“And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:21,22). “So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.” (Numbers 35:33,34)
Our nation was founded on the principles of Christianity, with much prayer for God’s guidance in its formation. Never before in history has a people been more greatly blessed in every way. God has surely worked with us as a nation, and certainly with His church within this nation. Humanism’s conquest of our media, educational system, the entertainment world, and much of our government has, in the past fifty years, changed us from a predominantly God-fearing nation to a God-defying nation. He promises, “…to whom much is given, from him much will be required…” (Luke 12:48)
J.C. and I had believed that, regardless of the corruption of the secular America, if the church was genuinely trying to do its work of preaching the Gospel, both here and abroad, then surely God would preserve the nation as the vehicle through which the church could work. However, with the apathy among many who are Christians, content to attend the “social/religious club” and do little else, and with the number of congregations falling to the current apostasy of making the church just one among many denominations, how long will God preserve us? And is it the case that a dreadful purging would be the saving of the nation and of many in the church who would be pulled back from their lukewarmness by the challenge to their faith? I don’t know. But I pray for us, for our strength to endure whatever the future holds.
And, in the meantime, there is work to do.
The report for July and August was greatly abbreviated because of so many things that had to have attention at that time. Would you believe that the pressure has not lessened?! But the catalog is finished and ready to turn over to the printer, there are very few pages remaining to be done on Global Harvest — it has been exciting to read the stories in it, as I’ve been setting up the pages; I know you will be encouraged by all that is going on in the world and Volume 59 of The Voice of Truth International is to be finished this week. So, good and useful things are happening on this side.
And there is a lot to report that is encouraging about the work taking place among the brethren overseas. I can’t take the space to cover everything, but I do want to include some of what Jerry and Paula said about the brethren they worked with during their trip in September and October. The Rushmores have been in India and Myanmar for the past several weeks. I will tell you more of what they experienced in the next report.
Jerry and Paula
Paula and I recently returned from our second trip to India. We have spent a total of three months in 2008 overseas, and have personally witnessed some great examples of Christ’s church flourishing. There are problems and persecutions in some parts of India, but the church is also growing, particularly in South India, in spite of opposition.
Joshua and Ricky Gootam in Kakinada have a tremendously successful ministry. World Evangelism sponsors their TV and radio programs from which they receive about 300 responses per day. They send Bible correspondence courses to each of them, and the results are several hundred baptisms a year. Many responses come from the state of Orissa in which beatings, burnings, and deaths have taken place. This shows that persecution does not necessarily stop the church from growing.
Rajanayagam in Kangayam of the state of Tamil Nadu is also enjoying the fruits of spiritual growth. He is the director of a school of preaching, preaches at a local congregation and is a TV speaker. He regularly sends reports of baptisms throughout his area. He recently had a two-day lectureship at his school, attended by 400 people, and four people were baptized. He also reported that a denominational group in Sri Lanka is studying his Bible correspondence courses. They have already invited him to come to study further with them, hence prospects for some future conversions are good.
Congregational meeting in India
We spent two weeks working with Philemon Rajah in Madurai. We at World Evangelism helped him start a School of Evangelism in March of this year. The purpose of the school is to motivate and train the Christians in the pew to be evangelists. The program is reaping huge results, greater than Philemon even hoped. In the last six months, about 400 Bible courses have been passed out. Just in the last month, eleven souls obeyed the Lord in baptism. In addition, while in South India, I was privileged to speak at many Gospel meetings in many places, attended by hundreds of people, many of whom were non-Christians. You will find in India as well as in numerous other areas of the world that people are willing to listen to the preaching of the true Gospel.
Myanmar is also witnessing the fruits of spiritual growth, especially in the last 10 years. I recently returned from a two-week session teaching in a Bible school attended by about 55 people. Some of those people traveled 2-3 days to attend the school session. It is hard to find such dedication here in the States, isn’t it? Remember that Myanmar is a country ruled by a military government that severely restricts the freedom of its people. However, it cannot restrict the growth of the Gospel.
About a year ago, this country experienced a devastating cyclone in its southern delta region. Approximately 1,300,000 people lost their lives, in addition to countless others losing all their material possessions. The church around the world sent money to help them in their affliction. Chito, a brother from the Philippines, has taken the lead in the relief effort. I met him for a few days in Myanmar and he reported that a spiritual door is now open in that region. Due to the love for the people that the church exhibited, the inhabitants of that area are now open to the saving Gospel of Christ. Pray that the great harvest can be reaped.
Sunny David
For months I have been trying to reach a family of eight with the Gospel, going regularly and studying with them and some of their friends and relatives for hours each week. The family consists of father, mother, four sons, wives of the two married sons, and two grandchildren. They live in a village area in Southeast Delhi. We would meet in the courtyard or verandah, as they call it, of their house, in the open. Finally, six of them decided to obey the Gospel, so I took them and baptized them into Christ.
The first worship service afterwards was conducted in their house or in their courtyard, and since then the church is regularly meeting there. I am thinking now that we need to rent a place for meetings because they live in just two small rooms,and the courtyard is too small to accommodate all who come. I am sure this congregation will grow and we will be able to reach others in the area.
In addition to the six who were baptized on Sept. 13th, two more, a couple, Balram and his wife Ahilya, were baptized into Christ on Oct. 10th. They have been attending all Bible classes from the beginning there. Then yesterday, Oct. 23, Nargis and I went to Jagmal Enclave where the new congregation has been meeting and we brought the head of the family, Wilson`s father, Mr. Sunil, and his another brother, William, and they were baptized into Christ. So, now, altogether, ten new members of the church are there. Brother Shyamlal and his wife, Maya, also worship with them as they do not live very far away, and of course, a few other neighbors attend.
A Gospel Meeting in Jharkhand
The last week of September I was in the state of Jharkhand (which means “the state of jungles”), for some meetings. Brother Jaswant Guria had planned a Gospel Meeting there and he had also invited some Christians from the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh.
Baptisms marking the beginning of a new congregation in Delhi. Pictured on the right are Sunny and Francis David, with one of the men who had been baptized.
Brother Jaswant was baptized in 1976. He had heard me preach on the radio, and at that time he was in the Lutheran church where he played the organ in their services. He wrote me and we began to study through correspondence, and I also sent him Hindi literature to read. When I was going to conduct a Gospel meeting in Ramgarh, about 12 hours journey by train from Jaswant’s place, I informed him, and he came there and attended the meetings. Before the meetings were over, he said, “I want to be baptized.”
When he returned to Jamshedpur, brother Jaswant had a hard time facing the religious leaders of the Lutheran church, but he stood his ground. He taught his wife and two daughters and they, too, were baptized.
I returned several times in the eighties and nineties to Jamshedpur for meetings, and others obeyed. The church meets in brother Jaswant`s house. He constructed a baptistry on the roof of his house where two were baptized during the most recent meetings there.
The man, Bhagirath, who was baptized, was brought from Chhattisgarh by brother Winfred Lakra to attend the meetings. Winfred, too, was reached through literature in a place called BALCO, and the church is meeting there, too. Brother Winfred brought with him another man, Devangan, whom he had recently baptised.
In 1996, I had made a trip to a remote place called Barojharia in Chhattisgarh state with brother Winfred and brother Subodh Gual and their family members where I conducted Gospel meetings and several were baptized. Some of them were members of brother Winfred`s family, and I was glad to learn that the church in that remote place is going strong and that they are considering building a place of worship now.
All of these Christians had one special request: They need more literature in Hindi. In fact, they say, the same Hindi books which led them to know and obey the Truth should be reprinted and made available to them for distribution. They also need song books in Hindi. I am sending what I can, but we need to print more.
S. Rajanayagam
By the providence and guidance of our God Almighty and by the mercy and love of our Lord, the 11th Annual Bible Lectureship in Kangayam went very well. The God, who answers our fervent prayers, did wonderful things for us, to make this spiritual event a success in all possible ways.
As we expected, we had a gathering of more than 400 who thronged from all the directions of the state, with representations from at least 50 congregations. We always thank God for the encouragement and support we receive from the sister congregations of our state of Tamil Nadu, not only for the lectureship, but also in the Summer Bible Camps we conduct every year in the month of May.
We had six speakers on the first day and four on the second day. Each one was allotted different topics well in advance, relevant to the Theme and everyone did a wonderful job. We also had a Gospel meeting on the evening of the first day. Things were so hectic on both days and we thank God for allowing us to keep ourselves busy for His cause. We consider working hard for Him is a rare blessing and only limited people in this world have this privilege.
It is true that we had tough times to provide boarding and lodging to all who came from outside in the limited facility we have in our campus. But it was a joyful challenge, to have too little space rather than too few attending! The church here fed all the participants for two days without any outside help. We never received any penny for conducting Summer Bible Camps and Annual Bible Lectures from abroad. It is the work of the church here and we feel proud to meet the challenge and do something on our own for Him. It is a joy to have so many Christians in one place and to share our fellowship. This is the beauty of New Testament Christianity.
On behalf of the church that meets here in Kangayam, I am extremely happy to announce the conversions that took place in the lectureship. Yes, 12 precious souls have been snatched from the clutches of Satan and were added to His church by Him and by the power of His wonderful Gospel. Of the 12, two were our magazine readers and one young man was our TV viewer. By this, seven congregations were benefitted numerically and, above all, one new congregation was started.
Back at Home
Brother Rajanayagam, addressing the group gathered for the 11th Annual Lectureship in Kangayam. Approximately 400, from 50 congregations in the state of Tamil Nadu, participated.
In October, before the Barriers and Rushmores left for Asia, we had the third session of the World Evangelism School of Missions here at Winona. Everything is progressing on schedule, and we are thankful for that. Gordon Hogan, of Pakistan and Singapore experience, was the visiting missionary in the first session. Colin McKee, who works for and in Indonesia, taught in the second session. Loy Mitchell, who spent many years in the work in Zimbabwe, taught in the third session. Our fourth meeting will take place the first week of December, with Don Petty and Dennis Larson doing the teaching. We are grateful for the valuable participation of these experienced brethren.
As I had said earlier, the contributions made as J.C.’s memorial have been deposited in the fund to cover school expenses and the cost of printing materials for use in the school. J.C. must be so happy with the good that will continue to be done in the months and years ahead through those precious gifts. The needed books are now being prepared for printing. Soon…
On Dec, 2 and 3, before the fourth session of the mission school (4th and 5th), we have scheduled two days of meetings with several brethren to work out the topics and detailed lessons for the Seminar/DVD program we want to develop, believing that it will be the means of encouraging greater vision, zeal, and personal involvement of Christians and congregations in serious Christianity. Please pray for us in these efforts.
Conclusion
We frequently receive emails from people overseas to whom The Voice of Truth International is sent. This one came as I was writing the report:
Volume 58 of The Voice of Truth, and printings of three Spanish books, and the English version of The Church of the Bible came in while the school was in session. We were thankful for the great help!
Dear Sister Betty Burton Choate,
Greetings in the name of our gracious Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Please accept our deeply heart felt condolences over the pasing on of our beloved brother J.C. Choate. We learnt about it through the Voice of Truth International, volume 57.
We had the rare previlege of meeting with you and our late brother J.C. Choate in 2002 at the “Jabulani Africa - 100 Years of Mission work.”
We pray the Lord to continue giving you the strength you need to carry forward brother Choate’s work which continues to inspire, educate and equip thousands if not millions the world over in the church and the work of God. We pray blessings and the Spirit of peace from above to always be with you and the family.
We have continued to cherish the supply of the The Voice Of Truth books ever so often which we continue to share with as many brethren as posible within the country of Zambia. Our brother has gone before us “He will not return to us, but we will follow him.”
God Bless you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rabson and Regina Mhango. Church of Christ - Chilenje P.O. Box 31666, Lusaka Zambia
Brother Loy Mitchell was the visiting missionary in this session of the school, with Jeremy Barrier sharing in the lessons. The Mitchells are currently in Zimbabwe.
Brother Victor Durrington has paid for the printing of Louis’ study on the use of alcohol, Beverage Alcohol, for free distribution. It is being offered freely upon request. We encourage congregations to order copies for each family, guarding against the growth of this problem in our culture, and even in the church. You may call 662-283-1192.
We would say, again, that we want to visit all supporting congregations and give personal reports to the church, or to the elders, so that you can know more of the details about the work that is being done.
There are no words to express my personal gratitude to each congregation and each individual that is continuing to support the radio, TV, literature, and general program of work that J.C., with God’s oversight, had begun. Sometimes, sitting here at the computer and working on the things that are my present responsibility, joy wells up in my heart and I have to stop and just say a prayer of thanks to God that He is allowing me to continue with this work that we love so much. And I thank you for that blessing, too.
With prayers and love in Him, Betty (J.C.)