B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER #179

From Hindu, to Christian, to Preacher, to Heaven
In the Chennai Dist. of the BELC, India, one of our newer pastors went to be with the Lord. Pastor Christopher,51, leaves his wife Chandra Grace and three older children: Praya 22, Banu 20, Prince 19. We thank the Lord that Christopher moved from an orthodox Hindu background into the Christian Church. He demonstrated his commitment to the Christ by his efforts at preaching and gathering a congregation.

At our Oct.6-7 Joint Leaders’ Meeting in Nellore, India our two brothers from Myanmar  were unable to attend. On the India side of the border there are some insurgencies that the Indian Army is trying to put down. Pastor Kham in coming across the border has been in the past arrested and beaten. Through an army officer’s intervention he was released. We agree with our brothers that it is not wise to try to cross the border now. The border authorities are being very strict on passports and visas. Our brothers did send a report for the conference which you have below. Pray that the border disturbances may be settled by our Lord so that they can come across again. Pray also for a peaceful time in Myanmar with the elections. Thank the Lord that nothing worse happened to Pastor Kham at his last border crossing.

Date: 6 – 7 October 2010

A brief report from CLCM:-

Submitted by: Pastor Kham, Secretary, CLCM

Warmest greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord Christ Jesus, from Myanmar! Though we have a deep desire to attend at respectable the 10^th English Joint Pastoral Conference CLCI, BELC, HCLCN initiated by Missionary Pastor David due to unavoidable circumstance we are so discouraged for failing to attend. The main reason is;

1. Due to insurgencies of underground movements and unstable political condition of the Northeast India (Manipur State), crossing without Passport & Visa is being strictly prohibited and extremely risky for lives.
2. From now on, the government required Passport & Visa to enter Northeast India (Manipur) as a whole for India.

To be afforded such requirements we have to struggle in all aspects that we will be trying our best and please remember us in your prayer.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITION OF MYANMAR

There are geographically seven states and seven divisions in Myanmar. Namely, the seven states are: KACHIN, KAYA, KAREN, CHIN, RAKHINE, MON, SHAN; and the seven divisions are: YANGON, MANDALY, MAGWAY, SAGAING, TANINTALE, PAGO, IRAWADDY.

As a whole, majority of CLCM churches are located in Chin State and our head office is Located at Munlai Kalaymyo, Sagaing Division, where any foreigners are allowed to visit at freely, without any restriction.

There are more than 35 ethnic groups in Myanmar, among them we are so called Teddim Chin and our main objectives, visions and burden is to proclaim the word of God and make disciples all over the Country (Matt 28: 19).  95% of them are the Buddhists and the rest among 25% of them are from various religious backgrounds and among the whole Christian population the Tribal Ethnics are majority. Sadly to see that though the harvest is great the labors are less (Matt 9: 37-38).

LIVELIHOOD OF ETHNIC TRIBAL GROUPS

It is my main concern to share you the livelihood struggle of our daily conditions. There are three seasons so called (summer, rainy, winter) etc. We are living in various parts of the Chin hill and by cultivation all of us are working for our  survival vigorously. We cut the trees and burn, plow the soil and sow the seeds such as paddy, maize, various beans, and all kinds of vegetables. However, the plentiful harvest is uncertain due to wild beasts and animals unexpectedly come and destroy in the field every harvest time. The handfuls of harvest we receive from the fields are not sufficient for the whole year.  Most of us are living in under-poverty line and our government also neglected our tribal groups in all aspects. Thus, we have no regular income in part  from our poorly cultivation and there are unfairly and forced collection made to us by the government. There are few government workers getting salary yet due to low payment and high cost of the goods in our country  the majority of the family pitifully  are struggling for their own survival and even could not send their children to school and as a result many of optimist children are forced to work in the field almost twelve hours a day.

We are in reality, politically oppressed, socially, marginalized, economically exploited, educationally neglected and religiously threatened by our government. Fear is constant and our lives are insecure. Knowing all the reasons behind, our mission work is under the hindrances of all these circumstances.

MISSION WORK

We the CLCM Church have 12 workers, among them there are nine pastors and two Evangelists and one peon. There are 56 congregations (villages) and each Pastor divided 6-7 villages for their pastoral works. Once in a month they visit the villages that they are assigned. The evangelists are permitted to go to every village and conduct camps and conferences as the situation permit. Obviously, Evan. Mang ventured with his level best telling the love of God  among the Buddhist militants in Kalaymyo downtown. There are three schools run by CLCM due to restriction of our government, the schools are closed. However, it is our prayer and vision to get permission to reopen those schools in the near future. It is our wish and prayer that you remember in your prayers of having the Holy Bible (in Teddim chin), by every CLCM church members, many of them are not able to purchase even yet. Due to struggling for survival of daily living many of them are not able to give attention to listening to the word of God which is the main hindrance for growing spiritually. In the fall of earliest year the strong winds swept and attacked several and 38 houses were demolished completely that the CLCM extended some amounts to Houses. Please uphold us for the welfare and development of both our spiritual and physical survivals.

We have been conducting cum Executive Committee meetings and Bible Seminar once in a year and negotiating to pioneer actively for the extension of God’s Kingdom in Myanmar. It was a joy and most pleasant help that we received from CLC; Luther’s Small Catechism (Teddim Chin), Lutheran Agenda (Pastor Khutlet), Doctrinal Teachings (Teddim Chin). And for the Secretary one Laptop computer, Printer, Inverter & battery, one China Motorcycle for the Chairman so far, etc.

Passage Explained
I Corinthians 7:14  “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.  Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy”
(This was written by someone else, but I thought it was good.)
It is used to support the argument that Christians’ children are by nature sanctified.  But if one deduces from that text that the children of believing parents are holy in the sense that they are fit for the Kingdom of God, regenerated and purified, we must also conclude that an unbelieving husband is holy because of the fact that he lives with a believing woman, that he is, consequently, saved through the faith of his wife.  An inadmissible conclusion!  Paul therefore necessarily is speaking about another purity or holiness than the purity or holiness which faith in Christ’s forgiveness obtains.  It can only be a matter of ritual purity or holiness.  The fact of being married to an unbeliever does not soil a woman before God, just as children are not soiled before God from the fact that they have an unbelieving father.  It is also allowed to say that the unbelieving husband and the children from such a marriage participate in the blessings God grants to that home from the fact that the wife or the mother is Christian and prays for her own family and gives them a good example of a Christian life.”
In that sense they are holy or set apart
This ends this series of “Passages Explained” Basically we have looked at some difficult passages and let Scripture explain to us. One principle of interpretation among several that we have used is that of the analogy of faith. This simply is that what one has learned from Scripture cannot be contradicted in what we call a difficult passage. All passages must yield their interpretation to the truths of Scripture that we have come to know.  .

Pastor Koenig