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Trichy Church Meeting
January 2024
Bro. John Kennedy of our church in Trichy told me that his second daughter Benilla had expressed the desire to be baptized, and so, he had arranged a small meeting at our Trichy Church during the Pongal holidays (Tamil Nadu State Harvest Festival) which fell between the 13th to the 17th of January, 2024.
The meeting was finally fixed for Monday, the
15th. And I and Bro. Asten from our church in Coimbatore left for
Trichy sometime around 10:30 am, after our Sunday morning service.
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| @ Bro. William Philip's home |
Bro. William lives in a village off Karur main road – quite a rural and interior part of the region, with his wife and 2 children. He came to the truth some years ago and has been an evangelist in the area ever since.
After a hearty lunch and some good fellowship,
we left Bro. William’s home for Trichy. We had booked a room in the town itself
and would make our way to Bro. John Kennedy’s place early the next morning. We
reached by 7:00 pm that night, had a hurried dinner and went to bed.
The next day we were up by 6:00 am, and at
Poolankudi by 7:30 am.
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| Empty Morning Road in Trichy |
Bro. John Kennedy had arranged for the baptism service first.
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| Pre Baptism Instructions on Faith Life |
We baptized our little Benilla Kennedy, who wasn’t so little any more, in the house water tank. She had grown up in front of our eyes and had formidably faced a slew of health problems with her faith undeterred.
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| Baptism Service |
Bro. James who lived nearby, and his wife, as well as a few relatives and church members were in attendance.
After the baptism, we had a time of prayer and
fellowship.
We wound up the morning service by 10:00 am, after
which we had to travel a few kms away to the outskirts of a little village
called Gabriel Nagar.
The story behind Gabriel Nagar is a big one.
It was in 2009, after the fellowship in Trichy
was established, that Bro. Kennedy’s wife Vimalin, informed me that her cousin
in Gabriel Nagar – Bro. Jerome, had asked for prayer and could I go there to
pray for the family? I willingly agreed, and a prayer meeting was set up the
following week.
The meeting was being held in Bro. Jerome’s
home and mostly all the villagers had gathered inside by the time we arrived
there.
I began the worship, and then led the
congregation in prayer. Sometime in the middle of the service, I saw a woman
come into the gathering. I noticed her distinctly and at the same time felt an
evil presence, and a sort of foreboding enter the place. I discerned that she
had an evil spirit.
As the prayer and singing ended, and the
preaching began, the spirit began manifesting. The woman who had been sitting
among the crowd, hadn’t been able to look me in the eyes once. Every time, I
looked over at her side of the room, she turned her head away jerkily, almost
fearfully. Ultimately, the demonic manifestation burst out and she began
wailing and wringing her arms in the crowd.
I completed the service, and after this asked
Bro. Jerome and the others what the matter was with her. Bro. Jerome said that
this was his mother. Her name was Majula. And she had been afflicted this way
for years.
As I moved forward to pray for the woman, she
fainted. There was a local doctor whom they usually called in when such things
happened to her. They usually attributed it to high blood pressure, or a blood
sugar rise, or weakness, and administered some drugs until she came to. But
this time, as the doctor came in poised with a syringe, I asked him to wait. I
addressed the congregation who were looking on, and explained that the woman
was afflicted with an evil spirit and that it needed to be cast out.
Most of the women there were incredulous. They
said,
“Why Pastor, she is the first one in church
every Sunday! She is part of the choir! And the first one to receive the Host
in Holy Communion from our Father’s hands! How can you say she has a demon?!!”
I assured them that I was right. I told the
doctor that I would pray for the woman, and if the spirit manifested, he should
leave, as then, the work would be mine and not his.
As I began to pray, the sister began writhing
on the floor before us almost snake-like, and then suddenly in front of all
those gathered, only her hips and waist rose, the other parts of her body lying
limp, in an obscene, disturbing way.
The doctor ran for his life, but before I could
pray over her, Sis. Vimalin’s uncle proceeded to come in and break up the
meeting, urging me to leave.
And so I did. They probably thought I was some
sort of magician like the men of Gaderenes, demanding Jesus leave the village.
Bro. John Kennedy was quite upset, as can be
expected, for my having been insulted in front of the congregation there, and
that too by one of his own relatives. However, Sis. Majula’s son Bro. Jerome
came after me, all the way to the bus stop, apologizing on his uncle’s behalf,
and beseeching me to come back again and pray for his mother. I told him that I
couldn’t go back right away as that was not the way things were done, and that
I would come back the next week to see her after spending some time in prayer.
The following week, I travelled from Coimbatore
to Trichy again by Express Train a day before going to Gabriel Nagar, and spent
the next day in fasting and prayer as I was led. I, Bro. John Kennedy, and another brother from
the church made the trip to Gabriel Nagar then. This time Sis. Majula was soberly
awaiting us and in her right mind, so I questioned her regarding the demon, and
whether she wished to be delivered from it. She said she did. So I began
praying once more, and commanded the demon to leave in the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It obeyed instantly and went quietly.
Once the demon was cast out, Sis. Majula said
she was feeling a bit weak. After she had freshened up a bit, we all sat down
to tea. She then told me the story of her possession.
It had happened when she was a little girl
playing in the courtyards of a temple. She happened to get her first period
right there on the temple premises. Now in India, when this happens in or
around temple premises, it so happens, that the girl in question, who has
reached puberty becomes possessed by that particular territorial deity, what we
know as the powers and principalities of darkness. And so it happened with Sis
Majula.
After that day, she began acting strangely at
home, and it soon came to her parents notice that she was possessed. So they
called a local witch doctor to exorcise her. When the swami (witch doctor) arrived, the
evil spirit spoke out of Sis. Majula’s mouth saying,
“Do not attempt to drive me away from this
body. I will dwell in the child and do good to her and the family. If you try
to chase me away, you shall die within the week.”
The swami though refused to believe the demon,
assuming that he had been endowed with greater power, and as he had been paid
to do an exorcism, he proceeded with all the necessary rituals to drive out the
demon. He was of course unsuccessful, and just as the spirit of divination had
predicted, he died of a sudden heart attack within the week.
The family was shocked with this turn of
events, and let the girl alone with her demon. She grew up with it, and it
became familiar to her. Whenever it manifested, she began acting out, writhing,
roaring, using curse words, and working aggressively to expend the supernatural
energy within her.
She told us that whenever she had her periods,
she bled more profusely each cycle, the bleeding sometimes lasting upto 14
days. It increased so much so, that she had to sit on gunny sacks during her
menstruation.
She also told us that whenever she was
possessed she manifested some kind of supernatural strength. She used to scrape
around 50 coconuts within the space of a few minutes, and the village folk
always thought her a strong woman and blessed with some kind of divine power.
As the girl grew older, and approached
marriageable age, the family tried twice again to have her exorcised. Both
times were failures, and both the witch doctors who attempted the exorcism
passed away suddenly as the evil spirit divined.
This is why, she said, she was very afraid of
permitting me to pray over her at first. She thought that something would
happen to me as well, as it had to the witch doctors who had tried to drive the
spirit away, and that she was so relieved that I had triumphed.
She also told us that she felt as if she had
been carrying a whole mountain on her shoulders, and now for the first time,
she felt truly light and alive, as if the weight that had been holding her down
had rolled off into the sea.
I then explained to her about the saving grace
of Jesus Christ, how Christ’s power was not manifest in the rituals and dogmas
of traditional Christianity, how Christ could no longer be found in
denominations, but was now working in the hearts and minds of those who truly
sought after him. I told her she needed to be baptized and that she had to take
a stand for the God who had been so gracious to her to deliver her from this
evil. She agreed to all this.
However, in the course of our dealings with the
people in Gabriel Nagar, in spite of such a great manifestation of the Holy
Spirit’s power there, the folk slowly began distancing themselves from us. The
reason being, the entire area was dominated by Roman Catholicism. The village
folk were either in the employ of the church, or the church run school, or
worked in the fields that also belonged to the church there. The local padre learned
of the deliverance and of our conducting prayer in the area and indirectly told
the people that they would have to move elsewhere for livelihood if they were
to entertain a strange preacher with strange doctrines from outside the
village.
And so our visits to Gabriel Nagar and our involvement
with the people there came to an end.
Cut to this year – 2024, and we had been called
back to the same place we had been shunned from all those years ago. Sis. Majula
remains delivered, and attended our meeting with her Bible under her arm which
was a beautiful sight to see and truly brought a tear to my eye. Her son and
daughter-in-law have since grown spiritually, the Catholic church has relaxed
the reins over the people there, seeking a more ecumenical hold over them I
suppose, and many of the families have moved outward seeking employment.
I was glad to see a few familiar faces in the
crowd. And rejoiced when I delivered the Word, and it was understood and well
received by all those present.
The villagers asked me to come back again whenever I was visiting Trichy, and that they would gladly be a part of the meetings conducted there. I asked Bro. Kennedy to co-ordinate with them, and we all agreed to keep in touch.
We left Gabriel Nagar for Coimbatore at around
5:00 pm. It was 9:00 pm by the time we reached the city.
I later spoke to Sis. Majula and stressed the
importance of baptism, which she has agreed to.
There are many more souls that we need to
labour for in the area, so do keep this little hamlet on your prayer list.
Do also uphold Bro. John Kennedy, Bro. William Philip, and Bro James and their families in your prayers, that they may serve the Lord sincerely and be a witness to the truth of Jesus Christ in Karur, Trichy and the surrounding areas.
Meeting @ Saffron Fields, Valparai
January 2024
It had been a long standing dream of mine to preach in Valparai - the place that I had spent most of my childhood in and that held dear memories for me.
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| Valparai |
It was where I had grown up and enjoyed a blissful time with
my family. For those of you who do not know my story, my father was the Group
Manager of the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation (BBTC) - owned Mudis Tea
Estates. He managed a total of 5 estates in his time with a total of 8,000 workers under his care, and there wasn't any
square acreage he hadn't set foot on and explored to the bone.
At the time, we spent our holidays in a little house on a hill in the
middle of these massive tea plantations, called 'The Green Bungalow' (hadn't
really thought about why they called it that...)
We had a cook, a driver, a butler, a gardener, and a dozen
errand boys and handymen for either this or that task. It was the ‘Lord-of-the-Manor’
life for me until my parents were separated, and we stopped our visits to the hill station which had become my second home.
The house we had in Coimbatore was our own, and due to many debts
and financial constraints that existed after my father left, had to be sold down the line. What
followed was a time of turmoil and insecurity that I found very hard to deal
with, and which caused me to begin rebelling in my late teens. I had been a carefree
boy, and was now being forced to be a man who had to care for his mother,
grandmother, widowed aunt, and two cousin sisters. I had to give up my
education to earn a wage to keep the house running. This was around the same
time the Lord found me and began dealing with me. And the rest is as you know
it today.
Long story short - I was a worldly-wise businessman who had quite a hard time
cutting his losses, and am now in the Lord’s business of saving souls, which
had been my unrecognized purpose all along.
What had transpired in Valparai all those years ago was
history in those parts – ‘the rich little bungalow boy who had lost
everything’. And those who knew me then, knew little of what I was doing now.
So it had been my heart’s burden to one day go back to that place once again
and testify on the same soil that held such bittersweet memories for me.
After the success of our Prophetic Awareness Meetings in Puliyampatti Village, Pollachi, Sis. Daisy and Bro. Babu, who are our neighbours there, requested me to conduct the Memorial Service of Bro. Babu’s mother – Sis Arulmani who had recently passed.
Click here to read about our Puliyampatti Prophetic Meets.
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| Preaching @ Sis Arulmani's Memorial Service |
True to her word, Sis. Daisy called me in mid-December and said that she had informed quite a few people in the area about holding a meeting there in the first week of January 2024, and that I should keep myself free for the same. I agreed, and the meeting was scheduled for the 7th of January, 2024, it being a Sunday.
Since Valparai is not a very great distance from where we
live, and since Sis. Daisy had invited us all, I took my family along with me.
We set off after our regular Sunday morning church service
in Senthamil Nagar, at around 10:30 am on the 7th.
There are 46 hairpin bends on the way to Valparai, curling up the Anaimalai range, enshrouded in mist. The mist got quite thick that morning as we drove through Kavarkal (The CoverStone estate). It was quite a sight to see! (or not see). Kavarkal was the only estate across the range that had mist and fog all the year round, in every season.
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| Aliyar to Valparai |
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| Had to stop @ Kavarkal |
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| Through the mist to Valparai Town |
We climbed the miles up the range and then dipped towards Valparai town which was at a slightly lower altitude. We had booked lodgings there for a night, as we had planned to freshen up before the meeting which was supposed to begin that evening at 4:00 pm. We headed up to our rooms at Mani’s Residency – a homely apartment lodge we had found online.
We got some rest and were ready to leave by 2:00 pm. We made
our way to Saffron Fields and Sis. Daisy’s mother was on the porch waiting to
welcome us in.
The meeting was supposed to have been arranged in the nearby
village Chapel which also served as a Creche for the estate children in the
mornings while their parents went off to work, and a venue for prayer meetings
and village functions in the evenings. However, Sis. Daisy informed us that
there had been a sudden change of plans – the local government was giving out
the annual Pongal (Tamil Nadu Harvest Festival) pay-out and rations and all the
workers had been called in to collect theirs, so it appeared that the meeting
would begin a little later and would be held at her mom’s cottage itself.
We had a hot estate lunch and I spent some time with the family
telling them about my vision and the Prophetic Awareness meets we were
conducting across the country.
We hadn’t brought our projector along on this trip, as we hadn't known much about the facilities in the place, and because of the tentative venue
situation. But, we had brought our usual equipment– our sound system, etc.
which we proceeded to unload just before it started to rain.
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| Outside the Meeting Place |
Sis. Daisy was a bit miffed because she had expected a bigger crowd and when we arrived at the homestead, there was only her family and another few sisters gathered. I assured her that it wasn’t a problem and we began the worship at around 6:00 pm, after a refreshing round of Estate Tea which brought back scores of memories.
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Sis. Daisy’s brother-in-law had set out 25 chairs and tied up a tarp to keep out the light evening drizzle common in those parts. However, what started as a light drizzle turned into quite a heavy shower for a while, and we were all wondering who would actually occupy the chairs outside in this weather.
As the worship session wore one, we found more and more
village folk enter the little cottage, finding corners to sit in, some leaning
on door posts, some making themselves comfortable on the earthen floor in the
kitchen, the kids piling up on stacked mattresses in the next room.
Click here to watch a worship video.
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My message for the little congregation gathered there that
day was ‘Jesus Christ as the Cedar of Lebanon.’ with a reference to The Song of
Solomon 5:15 and Luke Chapter 8.
I spoke about the woman with the issue of blood who was
delivered when she touched the hem of the Lord’s garment. I spoke on Faith, Deliverance, The Need of Salvation, The Redemption of Our Bodies, and Sanctification from the World.
We ended the service by 8:00 pm and all those who were a
part of it testified to being greatly blessed. There had been around 40 people
present for the meet.
A few people came forward for prayer at the end.
This was quite unexpected but we had our rooms booked till
6:00 pm the following day, so we decided to stay on and give the people some more of
the spiritual food they were seemingly hungry for.
We left for our rooms, and got some dinner along the way
before we settled in for the night.
The next morning we were up by 7:00 am, as I had planned a
visit to the Mudis estates to see if my old home was as it was, and if time
permitted, travel to Sholayar Dam.
We had breakfast at an eatery near our lodge and then drove
to Mudis.
The Mudis Group was established in 1926, which today
comprises 5 estates and four factories having 1,863 hectares for tea
plantation, produces over 6.5 million Kgs of tea annually, and employs more
than 3,000 workers daily.
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| Tea-pickers hard at work on the Mudis steppes |
Click here to watch a video
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| Passed harvested tea fields where the tea plants are cut and the steppes left fallow for the season to rest. |
The familiar bakeries and snack shops in Valparai town and the drive down the estate lanes I once knew by heart filled me with nostalgia.
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| Mudis Scenic Beauty |
We
stopped over what once was our estate entrance, we crossed my mom’s old
schoolhouse, my grandfather’s staff quarters, the BBTC Group office, and then
finally made our way to The Green Bungalow which stood just as it had when I
was a little boy. Hardly anything had changed except that the estate was silent
and seemed quite uninhabited. There wasn’t much of foot traffic and we were
wondering where everyone had gone.
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| Reliving the old days with mom |
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| @ the entrance of Mudis Estates |
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| The Old Mudis Schoolhouse |
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| Grandfather's Quarters in the distance |
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| The Mudis Sportsground and Clubhouse where official sports events used to take place and medals and trophies awarded. |
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| The Mudis Group Office |
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| In front of my old home - The Green Bungalow, Mudis |
It was like driving through a carpet of green. The greenery of the plantations on either side of the road, the dew glistening off the tea leaves in the mild sunlight, evening blossoms peeping out from between tea plants, the play of the sunlight on the tea steppes was all just so beautiful. And we found ourselves singing the hymn – “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder…”
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| Picturesque |
The Lord blessed us with the sighting of an eagle. It was a huge bird – so majestic in its flight, circling between the silver oak trees in the centre of the plantations – almost drifting through the misty air currents with such grace and dignity. It was almost like a sign – The Soaring Eagle.
We also got to see the native black squirrels, lion tailed monkeys, enormous kingfishers, and a wild bison smack in the center of the tea gardens.
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| Bison grazing |
As we traveled to Sholayar, we were blessed with another wonderful sight - Clouds resting on a mountain top, and we thought about just how it must have been for Moses going up into the mount and being enveloped in the glorious presence of the Lord.
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| Earth meets Sky |
Sholayar dam is the highest dam in Tamil Nadu, constructed across Sholayar River, completed in 1971 to generate hydropower. Upper Sholayar Dam lies in Tamil Nadu and the Lower Sholayar Dam in the state of Kerala.
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| Upper Sholayar Dam |
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| Sholayar Dam water catchment area |
We had our lunch near the dam and made our way back to our
rooms for an afternoon nap before we packed up and left for the meeting.
The meeting had been scheduled in the Village Chapel for
6:30 pm that evening.
We vacated our rooms and packed up our stuff into our car.
Before we left the lodge however, we were treated to another beautiful sight.
The lodge lay adjacent to a small stream that ran between the plantations, and
a family of Sambar deer had gathered at the edge of the stream for a drink. We
left with happy hearts.
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| Sambar deer near our lodgings |
We made our way to Sis. Daisy’s in time for some steaming Estate Tea.
We had left our sound system and other attachments at Sis.
Daisy’s mom’s place the day before and so we set about carrying everything to
the chapel and setting it up.
Bro. Jeba, my sister Shiny’s cousin, served as an Elder
there, and he led us in an opening Word of Prayer.
We began the worship at 6:30 pm with just a few sisters, and more people arriving by the minute.
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| Worship Session |
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| Prayer Service |
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| Delivering the Message |
Click on any of the links below to watch Message Clips.
RLM SNIPPET 1 - THE GOOD SHEPHERD
RLM SNIPPET 2 - SPIRITUAL BEINGS
At the end of the service, with the leading of the Holy
Spirit, I asked the people to come forward as I do at most outreach meetings we
conduct, and take hold of my right hand as they laid their requests before the
Lord. I prayed for their healing and deliverance.
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| Healing and Deliverance Service |
After the service, a few brethren asked me to visit with
them in their homes, and I complied.
Sis. Benita conversed with the folks from Jharkhand as they
could understand only a bit of Tamil, and were more comfortable in Hindi.
We then packed up all our paraphernalia, and were treated to
dinner at Sis. Daisy’s.
The elders there expressed their appreciation for my time,
and for giving them a 2nd day. They told me that they had no
Spiritual Shepherd for the little rural church. Most of the village folk had to
travel to the bigger church in Mudis to hear a sermon on Sunday. The chapel was
used mostly for common prayer.
They urged me to visit the estate once a month to teach and
preach the Word to them, and said that they were eager to known more. The folk
from Jharkhand, who were all mostly attending service in a Roman Catholic
Church in town also communicated to my wife in Hindi that they would be
interested in coming to attend Bible Studies in the future and would bring many
of their friends along.
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| With Sis Daisy's family |
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| With Bro. Jeba's family |
It was the Lord, lifting up my head, and assuring me of His presence, in the very place that I had to hang it low so many years ago, when the life I had loved was so cruelly snatched from me. Today I see though, that it had all been a part of the Lord’s plan in moulding me.
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| A Word of Prayer before setting off |
We left Saffron Fields quite late, and I was a bit concerned about driving downhill through the mist without fog lights on my vehicle. However, we had a program the following day, and couldn’t stay longer, so decided to chance it.
We put our trust in the Lord and began our descent to the
plains sometime around 9:30 pm.
On the way down wild hares bounced in front of us for quite
a distance teasing us with their bunny ears, and we were fortunate to catch a
glimpse of a leopard slinking through the tea gardens in the darkness of the
foggy night. (which we couldn’t capture on camera because it happened too fast.)
The drive down was quite precarious. When the mist got
thicker, I wasn’t even able to see the road blinkers and fog guides on the
sides of the road. By the grace of God there was another vehicle in front of us
that slowed down enough for me to use its tail lights as a beacon through the
fog.
There was fog all the way to Aliyar, where we touched the plains, and we reached home only by 12:30 am. It was quite an experience, and I remembered my time in Punjab, on a preaching trip in Naba where the fog had been heavier.
Click here to read this report.
The next day, I received a call from another sister in
Saffron Fields, who said that she would be blessed if I could travel there the
following month, and she would see if she could arrange a meeting for me in
Mudis Estate.
This trip was a blessed one, and I ask you all to pray for
the Bible Studies we are planning on conducting there in the coming months.
Do pray for Sis. Daisy and her family, Bro. Jeba and his family, and the estate workers of Saffron Fields, Valaparai, that the Lord may open their eyes to the deeper things of His Word.
Trichy Church Meeting
September 2023
It had been ages since I last visited Bro. John Kennedy and the Church in Trichy.
After handing over the authority of the church to Bro. John, I began reducing my visits there so as to give him time and experience to handle the church on his own, and stand independently.
To read more about how the church in Trichy started, click here
And scroll down to : Prophectic Events Bible Study Poolankudi, Trichy, 9th September, 2013.
Soon after that the Pandemic hit, and it was a gap of 4 years before we actually saw each other personally, although we did communicate over the phone.
Bro. John has been holding down the fort in Poolangudi, OFT, Trichy since 2011.
He lives there with his wife, 3 daughters Briskilla, Bennila, and Karen Betrissia.
Bro. John works part time and evangelizes locally in the evenings. He leads a small congregation in the truth of God’s Word, and has been doing so through thick and thin since 2012.
He had arranged for most of his friends and relatives to come be a part of this prayer gathering in September.
It was raining all along our journey but the roads were good and we made it there in record time.
We reached Bro. Kennedy's place at 10:00 am that morning with all the equipment required for the meet. However, there had been a power cut the night before and there still were some power outages and fluctuations, so our projector did not seem to work.
The meeting began at 12 noon, and went on till around 3:00 pm.
To watch a church praise and worship video click here.
The youngsters who had been tiny tots when we had last seen them were now all grown and bashful.
We had a wonderful time of praise and worship.
To watch a worship video click here.
My message for the congregation mainly centered around the Suffering of Christ on the cross, emphasizing mainly on how, even believers tend to get swayed and swept away by the very things that Christ had come to set us free from.
I appealed to them to examine their hearts for the time for the Coming of Christ was short. I urged them to watch and pray more earnestly, and have done with the cares of the world and the pride of life, lest the great sacrifice that their Saviour had paid for them on the cross would be wasted on them.
To watch a Message Snippet, click here.
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| Bro. James reads a Psalm. Pastor Shadrach delivers the message. |
Many souls came forward for prayer at the end of the service.
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| Post-service prayer |
The family had arranged for lunch after the meeting.
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| SkyShow on the way home |
We shared a good time of fellowship before we departed for home.
We reached Coimbatore by 6:30 pm that evening with the contentment of having followed the Will of God in fruitful ministry work.
Meeting @ Gilgal Church, Gudiyattam
Pastor Sukumar had been calling me to Gilgal Church, Gudiyattam for a while now. And I had kept putting it off, first due to my numerous engagements, especially my trip to the Philippines in May, this year, and then, until the church renovation and repairs there were somewhat done.
I was glad to learn that the renovations were almost complete. There is still a bit of extension work which needs doing, especially since the church premises are on low lying land, and in the monsoon, gets water logged at the entrance. However, it was still good to see our Guddi family once again.
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| 39 degrees in Katpadi |
As Bro. Daniel Saarthi was in town, he asked me to come over for a Sunday meeting.
I and my wife boarded the West Coast Express to Katpadi on the 19th of August at 7:30 am. The 6 hour journey flew by and we were in Katpadi in time for lunch.
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| Bro. Daniel Saarthi receives us @ the train station. |
It was wonderful to see Bro. and Sis. Saarthi again. The last time we had all met up was at our RLM Church Dedication in Coimbatore in 2019.
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| RLM Church Dedication, 2019 |
Click here to see RLMs Church Dedication Service Pics.
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| Sis. Prissy and Baby Jonathan |
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| GILGAL CHURCH |
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| Pastor Sukumar leads the worship, Bro. Daniel Saarthi exhorts the congregation. |
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At the end of the service we had a time of prayer for the congregation.
The gathering ended by 3:00 pm and we broke for a grand lunch which Pastor Sukumar’s mother had lovingly prepared for the entire church.
It was wonderful to fellowship with our Guddi family once again, to see our old friends again, who so lovingly uphold our ministry in their prayers.
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| With Bro. David & Fam |
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| With Pastor Sukumar |
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| Guddi Village |
The next morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Pastor John Pushparaj, who expressed his desire to hold a Pastor’s Conference in the area in the coming months.
We had our train at 3:30 pm that afternoon, and Bro. Daniel Saarthi saw us off at Katpadi railway station.
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| Katpadi Railway Station |
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| Leaving for Cbe |
Tirupur Church 1 year Anniversary Meet
7th March 2023
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| With Pastor Jagdeesh's Family |
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| Prayer for Church Land |
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| Pastor Leo leads the worship - Sis Anita and sisters Song Offering |
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| An Elder prays for the Church Ministry |
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| Delivering the Message |
Following our Chennai ProAw meet, Pastors Jagdeesh and his cousin Leo came to visit me in Coimbatore with regard to joint evangelization efforts in Tamil Nadu.
Read about our Chennai ProAw meet here.
(Scroll down to 'Manapakkam, Chennai')
Pastor Leo shepherds a church in Kumbakonam, and also oversees the late Pastor Rajkumar's church in Thanjavur.
He suggested a one day meet at the Thanjavur church, and it fit into my schedule as I had been planning to visit my cousin sister who lived there, for quite some time.
 Serfoji Raje |
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We had booked lodgings in Thanjavur town, and settled in for the night. We had planned to visit with my aunt the next day.
My cousin Mangala, on my father's side was the daughter of a nobleman, a cousin of the then King of Thanjavur, and descended from a line of Marathas born to Serfoji - Shivaji's lesser known nephew, hailing from the line of Sree Venkoji, Shivaji's half brother. Serfoji was a christian apologetic and a great help to English evangelists pre-independence.
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| Palace No. 9 today |
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| Our family with my cousin Smt. Mangala and niece Girija. |
The meeting had been scheduled to begin at 10:30 am the next morning, and divided into 3 sessions with breaks for tea and lunch, at the end of which we would have a healing and deliverance service for the congregation.
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| Assembly of Christ Church, Mission Street, Thanjavur |
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| Pre-meet jam We had a rousing time of praise and worship led by Pastor Jagdeesh. |
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| Pastor Jagdeesh initiates the service |
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| Pastor Jagdeesh leads the worship |
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| Bro. David Jasper on guitar |
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| Bro. Joshua Clinton on keyboard |
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| Pastor John Arumugam prays for the message |
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| Pastor Leo introduces Pastor Shadrach |
At 11:45 am, we broke for tea.
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| Pastor Jagdeesh prays for the 2nd session |
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| Delivering the Word to a seeking audience |
I continued, touching on the 7 Church Ages, The Importance of the Prophetic Vision for our times, False doctrines and False prophecy and how it was operating to corrupt the church, and then briefly touched on the Beast of Ecumenism before it was time for lunch.
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Thanksgiving Meeting, Udumalpet,
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| Udumalpet - windmill country |
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| Rainstorm Brewing in the distance |
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| Pastor Shaiju |
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| Pastor P. T. John |
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| Pastor Sam shares a blessing |
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| Bro. Shibu sings the Malayalee gospel song - Nanniyode Nyaan Stuthi |
Sister Arokiya Mary has been a member of our congregation since 2010, and much before that, my school mate. I have journeyed alongside her in life watching the ups and downs, the upheavals and curve balls that fate has thrown at her, and how she has managed to hold on to the faith through it all.
It was in the year 2014 that Sis. Mary has spent some time in fasting and prayer in church and had asked us all to join her in a petition to the Lord, that she would one day be able to rebuild her mother’s home.
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| Sis. Arokiya Mary |
It was Sis. Mary’s desire to have a gospel meeting in the front yard of her mother’s home after the construction was complete. Sadly, in the interim, her mother Sis. Mary Subalaxmi passed away at the age of 92 on the 22nd of July, 2021.
As I had previously lived in the area before I moved to Senthamil Nagar for ministry, I knew a lot of the people there. It was good to see a lot of familiar faces at the meeting.
The message was ‘God Introducing Himself’. I touched on how Traditional Christianity was an actual state of Spiritual Death, and that Christians should be aware of the Signs of the Coming of Christ and what they were.
(To watch this message on YouTube click here)
In the course of my associations with various ministers in the faith, I came across Pastor O. Mariappan who had come to the truth in 2006, and had been serving the Lord in Seegampatty Village, Mannaparai district some 46 kms from Trichy since 2017.
I had previously arranged for Tamil Bibles to be sent to him through one of my cousins in Trichy who works in the Bible Society of India.
He invited me to preach at a gospel meeting arranged at the commemoration of his church’s 5th year anniversary in Mannaparai, and I was glad to oblige. The meeting was scheduled for the 2nd of August, 2021, a Monday.
It would be the first ministry trip I was taking after recovering from Covid, and it humbled and encouraged me at the same time.
Click here to watch Pastor Shadrach’s testimony of his Struggle with and Victory over Covid 19.
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| Back in the Father's Business |
My wife, Sis. Benita accompanied me. We had booked a cab to and from Mannaparai as train and bus travel was still restricted at the time.
We left Coimbatore at around 12 noon. It took us around 6 hours to reach Pastor Mariappan’s village in the interior. We were there by 6 pm, just as sun went over the hills.
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| With Pastor O. Mariappan |
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| The Welcoming Committee |
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| Church premises |
I was told that a few souls were ready for baptism, and that there would be many children at the service, the next day.
Pastor Mariappan introduced us to his family, his wife and children. Their house was in the middle of a smattering of village houses. Some of the villagers were their relatives, and most knew them from the time they had been born. It was Pastor Mariappan’s native village, so he was quite well known there. They had a small grocery store, little hall, and a kitchen built adjoining the church. It was the only shop in the village so it brought in some income.
Pastor Mariappan related to me how he had been labouring in Bangalore before he felt led to come and minister in his village in Mannaparai, and so had left his life in Bangalore and settled into rural living with his family in his native village. The going was tough, and it was hard to minister to the villagers. They gathered and heard the Word during special occasions and retreats, but living a life of commitment for Christ was a whole other story, and so far there were only a handful of people who had committed their lives to Christ and were regular church goers. The village abounded with young ones, and they made up the majority of the congregation.
Yet Pastor Mariappan had stood fast all these years, waiting on the Lord and labouring for the fruit of the souls. He had just begun to see the start of the harvest, and he told us there was yet a long way to go.
The church was a substantial structure built with a concrete foundation and walled and roofed with tin sheets. There were sacks thrown on for insulation from the heat, but that could do only so much for the area’s heat in the summer. The floor was mud, neatly swept and laid with cow dung as is the custom in most Tamil villages.
Pastor Mariappan had booked a room for us in the town lodge, so after a bit of conversation, we were ready to have our dinner and sink into sleep. It was a long time since we had been out of the house, and the after effects of Covid were showing – the exhaustion after only a few hours of travel, and the body aches had begun. We both had a quick meal and hastened off to sleep.
The next day we awoke pretty early, and after a hurried breakfast and 2 cups of Manaparai Chai, we made our way to the church – The Lord Jesus Christ’s Tabernacle, as it was named.
After a refreshing and lively time of praise and worship, Pastor Mariappan prayed for the congregation and the message, and handed the service over to me.
Click here to watch Manapaarai Praise and Worship Service
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| Pastor Mariappan leads the worship |
At the altar call, I was a bit surprised when I saw a few tiny little men come forward for baptism. When I asked them how old they were they said they were 13, 14 years of age. They looked real small and I was actually wondering if they actually knew what they were doing, and if they really were that age. On questioning their parents, I found that they were all genuinely teenagers, and their parents had given their consent for the children to be baptized. They all answered my questions regarding why they sought baptism frankly and wisely enough, and I discerned that they were ready. 3 of the adults who were ready for baptism had not shown up that day as they had had to report for work in the next village, so it was just the young people who were ready to go into the water. |
| Prayer for those who came forward to give their life to Christ |
Pastor Mariappan suggested I baptize the young people first as lunch would be served immediately after the baptism service. So a few sisters took the woman aside until after the service was over.
The tank that Pastor had built only a few short months ago, which was now the major source of water for the villagers there, served as the baptismal pool.
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| Baptismal Pool |
I baptized 4 of the young ones who had come forward that day, one among them was Pastor’s daughter Sarah.
After most of the people had dispersed, Surumbayi was brought back again. She sat quietly in a corner, as I prayed in my heart and contemplated how to approach her.
Her mother who had accompanied her to church briefly related to us her condition and how she had come to be afflicted so many years ago. Surumbayi also began telling us about the feelings she encountered before she fell unconscious.
She then suddenly asked,: “Sir, What exactly do you think is wrong with me?”
I said, “Satan you are fallen! You tried to be like the Most High, but you could not. You can never take His place! You shall never be like Him!”
The spirit was aggravated as we claimed, “Victory in the blood of Jesus! Victory in the blood of Jesus!”
The woman had said that whenever the spirit would manifest, she would hear a groaning, humming sound in her ears, after which she would fall down unconscious. Whenever she heard the sounds ringing in her ears she would begin to shout back at the spirit aloud, saying,
“It’s in my ears, get off! Get off!”
And because of these outbursts, everyone in the village considered her to be mentally affected.
Surumbayi had told us that when she had come of age, she had felt a pressure inside her ears, and had suddenly fallen unconscious. She had been this way from that time.
The spirit was very adamant. The Lord revealed that the woman had 7 demons within her, and in the course of casting them out, the woman rose and fell 7 times.
When the demons left, the woman had no recollection of what had happened to her. But she felt lighter and relieved.
I told her to confess with her mouth that she needed the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour, and to ask Him to come and dwell within her. I prayed over a glass of water and told her to drink from it. I instructed her to come to church regularly, learn to pray and read the Word of God, and commit her life to the Lord soon and be baptized in his name, or else the demons that had left could very well come back again.
She checked her ears for the sounds that had been tormenting her and reported that she could not hear them anymore. She had been delivered by the power of Christ.
Click here to see the video of Surumbayi’s Deliverance
After a few words of encouragement to Pastor Mariappan and his family who were sincerely labouring for souls in that little village, I and Sis. Benita left for our lodgings to pack and be off to our home sweet home.
We shall especially miss Pastor’s daughter Sarah who was such a gem, organizing the kids, serving the village folk and tending to us so maturely in spite of her young age.
Do keep Pastor Mariappan, his family, and his ministry in the little village of Seegampatty in your prayers, that he may see a bountiful harvest of souls, and able people come forward to support him in those parts.
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| Pastor Daniel Saarathi |
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| Gudiyattam Church |
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Bro. Sukumar led the worship.
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My subject on Biblical Colours resumed the next day. I especially touched on the Work of God underlined in each colour of the covenant rainbow, The Humanity and Divinity of Christ, and his flesh being the veil rent on the cross for our sins. 
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| Sis. Prissy sings 'Yejamanane' (Lord and Master) |
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| (From Left: Bro. Solomon, Bro. Kumar, Bro. Sukumar, Pastor Saarthi, Myself and Sis Benita, Sis. Prissy, Sis. Rachael, and Sis. Saarthi) |
I and my wife made our way to Vellore by train on the 19th. We had to alight at Ambur and travel to Guddi by vehicle. |
| Pastor Ravi initiates the first day's service |
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| Bro. Sukumar leads the worship service |
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| Special Song by church youth |
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| Pre-service meditation |
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| Pastor Abraham concludes the service |
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| At Pastor Saarthi's home |
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| Pastor Daniel Saarthi |
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| Pastor RaviShankar prays for the service |
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| Pastor Mark concludes the service |
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| With Bro. Sukumar's family at his home |
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| Special song by church youth |
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| With and Bro. John, Pastor Saarthi, and Bro. Sukumar's family. |
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| Left to right: Myself, Pastor Saarthi, Bro. Solomon, Sis. Saarthi, Sis. Blessy, Sis. Benita |
This interpretation of mine was further confirmed when I heard from Pastor Samuel, that the meeting venue was to be the verandah of an old cinema theater in one of the main areas in Thondamuthur. The theater owner had come to know Christ and had stopped showing films there. Instead he was ready to start renting it out for Christian conventions and other such occasions.
He graciously arranged for me to speak at the Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Tuticorin, as a guest speaker, on the 18th of October, 2015.
Bro. Gray had invited a few relatives and friends over that evening for a cottage meeting, along with the Church Reverend and his wife.
There were around 300 souls in attendance.
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| With Bro. Gray Bharathi (left) and Reverend K. Jayasingh (right) |
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| Sis. Benita (left), with Sis. Radhi |
Thondamuthur Church Meeting
30th August, 2015
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| Our God is an awesome God - Praise Dance |
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| LifeHouse's "Everything" |
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| Rapid Fire Round with visiting college students |
Thondamuthur Fasting Prayer Service,
July 2015
This was a great blow for us, on top of all the mounting tensions surrounding the book translation which I had undertaken, and due to which I had closeted myself from February of this year, cancelling every appointment to see it through. I then had to go through the motions of re-informing all the invitees regarding the change in plans. And for a while was stumped as to what to do about the meetings. “Should I go ahead with it? Should I cancel completely? What to do? What to do?”
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| Pastor Babu |
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| Bro. Sukumar |
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| Bro. Milton |
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| Gudiyattam Church Children's Group |
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| Teacher's Colony Deborah Prayer Cell Members |
The music accompaniment was provided by Bro. Stephen, and Bro. Ebenezer (from Lord of Hosts Church) for the first day and Bro. Milton for the next two days.
RLM thanks all those who pitched in with your active help running around making arrangements for the care and accommodation for our guest attendees, for the pick ups and drops, for the kind words spoken at the appropriate moments of desperation, for shouldering the burden for new souls to enter the kingdom of God, for organizing the little known and little seen issues of the meeting, for rendering your hands and your pockets for the furthering of this prophetic awareness campaign, and for your invaluable prayer support without which these meetings would not have packed such a big PUNCH!. God Bless you all! Amen.We had booked a night train to save time and arrived the next morning at around 5:30 am.
Bro. Richard L.S. Gan was invited to preach from the 7th to the 9th of November, 2014 at Pallikonda, Tamil Nadu. It was a pleasure to meet and fellowship with him once again, after many a year.
There were around 250 people in attendance, including ministers from Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gudiyattam, Hosur, Mumbai,Pattu, Tirupur, and Udumalpet.
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Other subjects discussed include the work of the Five Fold Ministry, the surety of a minister's calling, and an explanation of the sequence of the final events before the coming of Christ. Bro. Gan also shared the testimonies of Bro. John Mark, and Bro. Blessing Nice, men of God labouring in Africa, as an encouragement to ministers struggling against hindrances in their own ministry.
Ministers in attendance include Pastors Abraham, Alex, Bhoji Chandran, C.K. Eliezer, Enoch, Hubert D'Souza, Israel, Johnson, Joseph, Shadrach Jairaman, Jairaman, Kripakaran, Leo, Logunathan, Philip Bhaskar, Ravi Matthew, Ravi Shankar Samuel, Daniel Saarathi, Samuel, Satishkumar, Sivakumar, Shekarkumar, Timothy, Vijaykumar, and Wilson. Other brothers who attended include Bro. Lawrence from Coimbatore, Bro. Russell from Mumbai, and Bro. Sukumar from Gudiyattam.
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| From left: Sis. Nancy, Sis. Benita, Bro. Raison |
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| With Soundarvel Sir |
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| 'Ullagor Unnai Pagaithalum' |
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| Pastor Abraham |
The Sunday service carried a special message of Church order and discipline, which was especially beneficial to those who had been newly baptized, and those who were contemplating baptism.
Bro. Andrew Phiri's visit to India -
His book Forbidden Theology is now available on amazon.com
To purchase this book click on the link below:
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| (From Left: Sis.Hilda, Sis. Benita, Bro. Shadrach, Bro. Andrew Phiri, Sis. Baby, Sis. Shiny) |
Jan 2013
The Morning Devotion services were handled by Elder Vally and Elder Thomas.
The late morning sessions were messages of admonition for the church and the evenings held primarily Bible study sessions by Pastor Shadrach.
We released our audio album ‘Aadhi Akini' – The Original Fire, on the 30th of December after dedicating it for the glory of the Lord.
We had an Anointing Service on the morning of the 31st when a few brothers were anointed for the service of the Lord and prayed over.
"Thus saith the Lord, I who have called you have given you power over all power of the enemy. You shall tread on the lion and adder. You shall cast down the works of the devil.
He who endures until the end shall be saved. But I say to you now, more than half of you who sit here today shall not be here in the future. Many shall leave and betray.
But I say to you who remain, Stand strong for the day of the Lord is at hand."
This word was fulfilled in the year 2011.
We had a baptism service on the 1st of Jan. for Sis. Arokiya Mary who dedicated her life to the Lord in the New Year 2010.
It was a time of refreshment for our bodies and minds wearied with the hectic tenacity of our daily routines – a time away from the hustle and bustle of our offices, schools, colleges, and housework – a time of bonding with our brothers and sisters, sharing our love for the Lord, discussing and reveling in the Word, and spending lighter moments in the calm of nature.
29th Mar. to 1st Apr. 2009.
2009
I organized a convention with him as the main speaker in Coimbatore in 1995, when he expounded on the 10 virgins of Matthew 25 and the Five-fold ministry.
To order Bro. Richard L. S. Gan's books, send an email to rlm@gmail.com
Click here to visit his ministry website.
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