Letter from Cody: India – September 2009

A comfortable easy chair is probably something all appreciate. Aching and fatigued, plopping into a favorite easy chair brings great relief; but sometimes easy chairs are a dangerous enemy-beckoning loudly when work is calling. There is an even more dangerous easy chair-Satan’s easy chair. “Do not sit down in Satan’s easy chair of do-little, but arise, and aim at the elevated standard which it is your privilege to attain. It is a blessed privilege to give up all for Christ. Look not at the lives of others and imitate them and rise no higher. You have only one true, unerring Pattern. It is safe to follow Jesus only.” “Do not settle down in Satan’s easy-chair, and say that there is no use, you cannot cease to sin, that there is no power in you to overcome. There is no power in you apart from Christ, but it is your privilege to have Christ abiding in your heart by faith, and he can overcome sin in you, when you cooperate with his efforts, putting your will on the side of God’s will.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 241, Youth’s Instructor, June 29, 1893. We have a work to do: overcoming sin in our lives and helping others to overcome. May we vigilantly resisting the call of Satan’s easy chair.

Pastor Mike doing health outreach with the students

Pastor Mike doing health outreach with the students

One area where our brethren are resisting the beckoning of Satan’s easy chair is the Kalrayan Hills of southern India. Timothy and Anita Tharasingh are working to train youth for the Master’s Service at the Green Pastures School. A group of twenty to thirty young people from various parts of India and with varying levels of English comprehension have come together to become better equipped to be missionaries for the Master. They arrived at the mission training school near the beginning of the year and have been studying intently since. Various teachers come and present different subjects; and when there is a gap in the teachers, they are able to focus on mastering English better. So far the language has been the biggest barrier (since the classes are taught in English); but with translation and practice, it is our hope that this hurdle will be mounted. Classes have focused on understanding the Bible, Daniel and Revelation, church history, health and more. Pastor Mike Bauler has just returned from teaching several weeks on church history, showing the continuum of God’s people from apostolic times, through the Reformation, down to the Advent movement of today. While there, the door opened to do health outreach at one of the Pentecostal churches. Near the end of the church service, Mike was given the opportunity to share Biblically the importance of health, and then afterward everyone in the church wanted their blood pressures checked. Most were found to be in dangerous levels, and thus some brief education about the simple laws of health was given. The people appreciated it so much that the pastor asked Mike to come back the next Sunday and give the entire message. The Lord provided a translator, and once again a message of truth was borne from a Babylonian pulpit! Praise the Lord for His leading. Presently another brother is at the school teaching on conversion and the health message. Desiring to do outreach again, they are holding health meetings in one of the local villages. At first very few came because they feared a rush to baptism; but they have persevered, and the Lord has lead them to individuals to whom they can minister. Their attention was brought to a poor, sick man who was deserted by his family-huddled in the corner of his hut, shivering, covered with sores, and racked with pain. Immediately they began to minister to this forsaken man by washing and bandaging his sores. They brought some warmer garments and a meal and promised to continue ministering to him. This act of mercy has begun to soften the hearts of the villagers, and they have begun to help as well. The Lord is working to soften hearts in this heathen country and seeking to prepare bands of workers for Him. We request your prayers as this educational and missionary work advances.

Daniel & Silvia Pel with the students at the missionary training school

Daniel & Silvia Pel with the students at the missionary training school

Yours in the Master’s service,

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