Bro. Sanjiv Emmanuel and I had already talked about having meetings at his place in New Delhi in the month of December. It was supposed to be part of my trip to Rajasthan to see how the believers there were faring. However, due to certain anti-christian issues going on in the area, my trip to Rajasthan had to be cancelled. Bro. Sanjiv told me to keep my plans for Delhi as they were though, so I left for the capital with Sis. Benita on the 30th of November.
The
meetings had been scheduled every evening from the 1st to the 3rd
of December.
30th
November, 2023
We left
Coimbatore at 8:45 am that morning, and were in New Delhi by 12 noon.
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| With Bro. Aaron Calistio @ Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi |
Bro. Sanjiv
lives in Dwarka, a suburb a little on the outskirts of the capital.
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| Cab ride to Dwarka |
Bro.
Sanjiv’s father had come to the truth in 1994, and the family had been a part
of Bro. Pratap Singh’s fellowship in New Delhi, where Bro Emmanuel Calistio and
his son Rajeev had served as evangelists.
In March
2014, Bro. Sanjiv received his call to independent ministry and branched out
with his family, as a fledgling assembly. The new fellowship began in September
of 2014 at his parent’s house in Bindapur, New Delhi.
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| Bro. Sanjiv's place in Bindapur |
Bro.
Sanjiv’s mother passed away in January of 2016 and his dad has lived with him
ever since.
We were
welcomed with the familiar Dilli gusto. We got settled in Brother’s spare room,
and then sat down to a hot lunch. The weather was not as chilly as expected but
we had to keep up the tradition of hot chai drinkers, and the tea kept coming –
literally ‘running over’.
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| With Bro. Sanjiv Emmanuel |
We managed
to get some rest and meet up with the rest of the family that evening – Bro.
Sanjiv’s brother – Bro. Rajeev, his wife Sis. Naina, their daughter – Rebecca,
and Bro. Azariah who helps Bro. Sanjiv in the ministry.
Bro. Sanjiv
related to me how since my last visit, more souls had begun frequenting
fellowship there. Sis. Naina had also reached out to a few women in the area,
and there was now a small group gathering each Sunday in Bro. Sanjiv’s place in
Bhagwathi Vihar, Bindapur. They also hold Bible Study meetings at Bro. Rajeev’s
place, a short distance away, every Wednesday.
It is to be
noted that the pure unadulterated love of believers for one another in the family
of Christ is as balm that soothes the weariness of the soul and eases the
frustrations of missionary life. A joyful heart is good medicine, and so with
the Word fellowship that evening, we felt our hearts renewed and rested.
We found
our spiritual discussions stretching on till around 2 am, before we called it a
night.
1st December, 2023
The next
morning we had a chance to talk some more after breakfast before I began
preparing that evening’s message.
The meeting
was to begin at 6:30 pm after most of the folks who would be attending finished
with their jobs and came home, and would wind up around 9:30 pm. Dinner had
been arranged for the crowd as it would be quite late for them to get back to
their respective homes.
Our little Sis. Rebecca came to pick us up around 5:30 am.
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| With our dear Sis. Rebecca |
The roads
in Dwarka interior were not like the main streets of New Delhi. This part of
the capital was a bit undeveloped, and the little winding streets were patched
up and bumpy. The rickshaw-walas of Delhi are to be commended though for their
manoeuvring these precarious roads with all the ease of rally drivers.
Bro. Rajiv
and Sis. Naina welcomed us into their home with big smiles.
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| With Bro. Rajeev and Sis. Naina @the meeting venue. |
The meeting
was arranged on the terrace outside their home. The roof was covered with a tent to keep out light rain, if any.
We had
brought along our projector to put up visual presentations to support my Bible
Study for the meetings, and we began setting up.
The meeting
began at 6:30 pm.
Bro. Sanjiv initiated the prayer service.
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| 1.12 - Prayer Service |
After a
wonderful praise and worship session, and some special songs by the children, I
was welcomed to speak.
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| 1.12 - Praise and Worship |
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| Special songs by Juniors Priyanshu, Nandini, and Ankita |
Bro. Sanjiv would serve as interpreter.
My theme
for the meetings there was – The Mystery of Iniquity, of which my message for
the few members who had gathered that Friday was ‘False Worship’.
Since most
of those gathered were new to the Word, I began with texts from Genesis,
Ezekiel, and Isaiah, taking them from the Creation of angels and the garden of
precious stones, to who Lucifer was, his fall from the position God had
bestowed on him, and his plot from then on to destroy the Son-ship that God had
planned to bestow on mankind.
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| 1.12 - Delivering the Message |
I
emphasized on knowing and recognizing the God we serve and worship in truth,
and presented the history of false worship which had been first instigated by
Lucifer, and was an integral part of the Iniquity that Paul preached about in
II Thessalonians 2:7.
I explained
that every corruption and adulteration of pure worship of the One True God was
borne out of the deceptive worship that Satan had concocted as a means to control
the whole world and divert mankind’s gaze off the Creator.
I urged the
congregation to seek the truth with their whole hearts for it was only in true
seeking that they could find their Creator.
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| 1.12 - Concluding the service |
The meeting
ended by 9:00 pm that night, and we were served dinner before we took a bike
ride back to Bro. Sanjiv’s place.
The Emmanuel
family is a giant-hearted, gregarious lot and our dinner table conversations
almost always went past midnight.
Our
mornings were spent contemplating and discussing the Word, and our evenings on
delivering and feasting on the message our Lord was faithful to deliver.
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| A moment of family prayer |
2nd December, 2023
Click here to watch a Praise and Worship Video.
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| 2.12. - Prayer and Song Offerings |
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| 2.12 - Post Worship Prayer Service |
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| 2.12 - Delivering the message |
I spoke
about the revivals that had taken place through the ages, and how Christianity
was being perverted and its face being marred by the Balaams and Korahs of
today.
I also
touched on how the ‘isms’ of denominational Christianity had created so much
division and confusion in the world with the introduction and mandating of
man-made rituals and dogmas.
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| 2.12 - Praying for the Congregation |
A brother
came up to me after service and said he had been deeply touched. This brother
had been running from one church to the next seeking something that would
fulfil his soul, and he said that he had found it here.
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| With Sis. Rebecca and Bro. Aaron after service |
3rd December, 2023
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| 3.12 - Bro. Sanjiv initiates the prayer service. |
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| 3.12 - Worship and Prayer |
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| 3.12 - Song Offering |
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| 3.12 - Delivering the Message |
I touched
on the origins of paganism from Babel, and how these rituals and beliefs had
permeated into modern day Christianity and were blindly believed and followed
unquestioningly by all.
Click here to watch a Message Snippet.
I spoke on
the introduction of many traditional beliefs into Christianity by the Roman
Catholic Church between 325 and 450 AD, which were an exact duplication of what
had been followed in ancient Babylon.
I knew
there were people of other religions in the congregation, and so I expounded on
how each religion was based on the worship of Christ, but leading away from it
as per Satan’s plan to place the entire earth’s belief system in a state of
confusion and chaos, thereby preventing man from seeking the One True God.
Click here to watch a Message Clip.
I finally
expounded on the doctrine of Baptism in Jesus’ Name, and how the Apostolic
pattern of faith as per the Word of God had been tampered with and altered
until it no longer resembled the truth.
This
brought us to the end of our 3-day fellowship.
After the
preaching we had a small healing and deliverance service. I walked into the
small crowd of believers as the Holy Spirit led, and asked them to beseech the
Lord with their requests in the name of Jesus Christ, and that they would be
granted. I prayed over the little congregation as they offered their petitions
to the Lord.
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| Instructing the congregation regarding the Healing Service |
Bro. Rajeev
concluded the service with prayer and we dispersed but not before getting to
hear some amazing testimonies.
A) Bro. Sanjiv’s cousin sister who had been suffering with asthma and breathing issues had come forward for prayer. I had felt inspired to move towards her and pray for her specially in the spirit. The sister told us that she had felt her breathlessness leave her body, and that she could now breathe freely and was delivered from all the congestion she had had all these years. Later Bro Sanjiv told me that this had been a serious hereditary ailment in their family and that the sister’s mother and grandmother had died because of it. So the sister’s deliverance was indeed a miracle.
B) A woman
whom Sis. Naina had invited to church had prayed in her mind that her husband
who had been 4 months absent from the home without a trace or even a call as to
his whereabouts, suddenly received a call on her cell as soon as the service
ended. When she attended her call, she was shocked to hear her husband’s voice
asking where she was, saying he had come home and was standing outside the door
which was locked! This was quite a testimony and the woman went away rejoicing
promising to come back for church.
C) A little
boy in the crowd – Priyanshu, aged 11, also testified that during the
deliverance service, he had felt a heat within him – almost like a small fire
burning inside him. This made him so excited and joyful, he said he did not
know what was happening to him, but it was as if he was filled in some way.
D) 2 of the
families who had been contemplating baptism came up to me said that all their
doubts had been clarified and their questions answered, and now they were
confident about their decision to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ.
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| After service pics with the brethren |
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| With The Church of the Apostolic Faith, New Delhi |
Out of all
those souls who had gathered during those 3 days of fellowship, 9 decided to
give their lives to the Lord. Bro. Sanjiv tells me that 2 out of those have
been baptized till date and that they are still waiting for the others. The
little boy Priyanshu is to be dedicated to the Lord soon.
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| Baptism - Bro. Anjan |
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| Baptism - Sis. Parineeta |
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| Ugrasen ki Baoli |
We just walked around the city, had some lunch, did some shopping, and visited a nearby historical site which we were both quite interested in. It was an old stepwell or Baoli built by Raja Ugrasen of the Agarwal community mainly constructed sometime around the 14th century, to cope with the seasonal fluctuations in water availability.
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| A wonderful surprise |
After a
hearty dinner and some wonderful chocolate cake, we gathered round the table
for our last bits of conversation before we turned in for the night. It still
felt like the time we had had together had not been sufficient.
Although we
tried, we somehow got past the 2 am mark before we got some shut-eye.
Our bags
were already packed and we were up early the next morning preparing for our
flight back home.
We bid
goodbye to Bro. Sanjiv and his dad promising to be back soon.
Bro.
Azariah saw us to the airport, almost a 45 - minute drive away.
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| With Bro. Azariah @ New Delhi Departures |
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| Coimbatore Airport |
It had been a fruitful trip and with jubilant hearts we boarded the 9:45 for Coimbatore and were there by 12:30 pm.
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| 3.12.2023 - With Bro. Sanjiv |
Do keep the Church in Bindapur, New Delhi in your prayers, that it may soar to great
heights, that more souls may be added to the assembly, and that the Lord may
raise up many able witnesses in the area.
Keep Bro.
Emmanuel Calistio in your prayers. He just turned 83 this December.
I do
appreciate Bro. Rajiv and Sis Naina who are such a great support to the
ministry, Bro. Aaron and Bro. Azariah who I pray may grow more in the wisdom of
the Lord that they may lighten Bro. Sanjiv’s burden in the days to come, and
our little firebrand Sis. Rebecca whom we shall miss dearly.
We are so
grateful for the hand of fellowship extended to us and the magnanimous love and
care shown to us during our stay.
If you happen to live in or around Dwarka or Uttam Nagar, New Delhi, and are seeking fellowship, The Church of the Apostolic Faith meets every Sunday in Q-162, Bhagwathi Vihar, Bindapur, New Delhi 110 059, @ 11:00 am, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 8:00 pm.
Contact Bro. Sanjiv Emmanuel: 987 313 9090
Wonderful meetings. May the Lord bless the brethren.
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