The Story of the Doctrinites - Short Story

The Meeting

Jairaj and Suraj met one day when Jairaj moved into the neighborhood. They were neighbors in a little countryside town, with sprawling green lawns and exotic pretty flowers and white bungalows.  They were both happy to know that they were both were of the same faith.

"Great!" exclaimed Suraj, "You must come home for tea; it is wonderful to have you for a neighbor.  I have members in my congregation here too, but they live quite far, not in the neighborhood!"

Jairaj replied "Me too, glad to have you as a neighbor, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find a good neighbor because I have travelled so much and shifted houses, and frankly, I am looking forward to having a believer as a neighbor after a long time!"

They often met in each other's homes while their wives would make coffee and enjoy a good discussion, or even sometimes met for dinner.

Suraj was a pastor of a church and soon asked Jairaj to join their church, which was a solid Bible-believing church and Jairaj and family agreed to join. 

One day, as they were drinking tea out in Suraj's lawn, Suraj happened to mention, "The days are very evil, I shudder to think of the Christians who will suffer on earth during the tribulation!"

Jairaj replied, "But the believers in Christ will not be on the earth during the tribulation, they will be raptured up!"

Suraj replied, "Many will be on earth for a great part of the tribulation."

Jairaj shook his head and said, "I have yet to see that verse in the Bible which clearly mentions it."

Suraj replied sharply, "And I have yet to see the verse that mentions that all the believers will be raptured together in one time."

Jairaj replied, " Corinthians 15:52: We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." And we the believers will be transformed to receive glorified bodies and rise up in the air, and the dead will rise up with new bodies."

Suraj kept silent for a moment and said gruffly, "These are all theories, and I don't agree with that."

Jairaj did not want to argue further so there was an uncomfortable silence and finally he left for home.

The next day, they talked with each other, but it was clear that their relations were strained.  Suraj's wife suggested, "Let's call Jairaj and family for dinner, it is clear that his doctrines are muddled, and perhaps you can expound some doctrines and teach him more clearly."

Suraj brightened up and said, "Great idea, we'll get them for dinner!"

On Saturday night as they were enjoying a sumptuous dinner together in Suruaj house, Suraj mentioned,  "All the power is in the Word, without the Word, there is no power in anything we do.  Jesus said I am the bread of Life, the Word, we need to meditate on the Word all the time to have spiritual power."

Jairaj interrupted, "This is true, but I also think the power lies in the Spirit, we need the power of the Holy Spirit all the time.  We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit as believers.  He is the one who empowers us, and sometimes we may forget the Word or may not always carry our Bibles, but the Spirit is always with us.  Jesus said I am giving you the Holy Spirit because I am going away.  It is also written, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life!"

Suraj interrupted, "The Word is more important than anything else.  We automatically get the Spirit when we are saved and read the Word.  It is the duty of every Christian to know the Bible cover to cover, no excuses, the spirit can be subjective, but the word is objective!"

Jairaj said sharply, "I agree we should know our Bibles, but some Christians know their Bibles cover to cover, but are still mean and petty minded!"

Suraj said, "Nonsense, this can never happen!"

Jairaj said, "All believers need the baptism of the Spirit to serve in God in the Kingdom."

Suraj replied sharply, "We automatically get the Holy Spirit on our salvation."

Jairaj replied, "The Bible teaches of the saved believers who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit later on."

The Battle

Suddenly for the first time, a sharp argument interjected, and they argued and argued quite bitterly into the night.  In fact, their wives and children were quite embarrassed with the fierce battle of words.

Jairaj left his biryani on the plate half eaten, and the children stopped eating due to the tension in the air.  After around 45 minutes, Jairaj stood up and said to Suraj "I have to go!"

He and his family left and there was a still cold silence in Suraj's house.  No one slept that night.  The unpleasant argument had shaken up both homes, wives and children.

The next day, Jairaj happened to be in his garden watering the lawn and noticed Suraj sitting on the lawn reading.  The two men viewed each other coldly over the little wicket fence.  .A few days later, Suraj got some men to build a high brick wall around his home!

Jairaj stared at brick wall coming up and shook his head.

Jairaj immediately left Suraj's church and started his own Bible study at home.   He actually gathered a lot of people around the area.  Jairaj' Bible study was very effective.

When Suraj found out about that, he quickly spread word around the church that Jairaj was a heretic, did not believe in the Bible and only in subjective spiritual experiences, and everyone should avoid him.

Soon, the church members of Suraj's church shunned Jairaj and his family completely.  They would see Jairaj walking on the road and would quickly walk on the other side.  If they saw Jairaj in the supermarket, they quickly turned around and disappeared in another part of the supermarket and some of them actually walked out.  After all, who wants to be associated with a heretic?  Certainly not them!

The group of Jairaj's Bible study grew and were called Spiritites because they believed in the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit.  In fact, the Spirites were were effective and powerful, filled with the fire of the Holy Ghost.  The group of Suraj's church' name was changed to be called Wordites.  The groups became stronger and over time grew into two huge denominations.

One day Jairaj came across a website, it was a website made by Suraj called Wordites.  The entire website spoke against the Spiritites and calling the Spiritites heretics and this website was set up to "expose"the Spiritites' heresy and theories.

When Jairaj saw this, he was furious.  In the meantime, the Wordite denomination members joined this tirade, furious and wrathful against the "heresy" of Jairaj.

Suraj started teaching that connection with other Christians would corrupt his church.  So basically, the Wordites just lived and communicated among themselves and were terrified if they ever spoke to any other Christian afraid of being polluted.

The Wordites slowly lost their original fire for God and got caught up in the battle against the Spirities, tired exhausted and burned out...they stopped praying much. In fact prayer was fading out of their lives.  In the bargain, the Spiritites were being attacked spiritually, and got worn out in the spiritual battles, and could not pray effectuatively.  They realized it was a spiritual attack, but they did not seem to be able to do much and collapsed.

In the meantime, something new started happening.  People of other faiths rose up strong, got up at dawn praying, and suddenly the world was filled with people of different faiths whose faith was very strong in what they believed in. Their temples and mosques were full and overflowing and they were having quite a mighty revival among themselves.

In contrast, the Wordites and Spiritites were getting weak, exhausted in their growing petty battles, ineffective and hardly prayed at all.  They just kept having more and more Bible studies, teaching, teaching, teaching, or praying prayers with a lot of asking and wanting but hardly talked to God or worshiped Him.  Nothing much happened and no one came to know God because there was always war in their hearts.

Now, even among themselves in their own denominations, they would have further discussions among themselves and break into tinier groups and fragments.  There was so much strife within themselves and in their own groups.

In the little town, all the little groups were split up, arguing about some doctrine or the other and they started ignoring the others who did not agree with them, not speaking to them and turning their backs on them, warning others not to speak to anyone who begged to disagree in fear of spiritual pollution and excommunication.

One Winter's Night

One cold winter night, they heard a powerful airplane flying very low over their town…. The next moment, the town was in a sea of roaring fire, smoke and chars.  An enemy from their neighboring country had dropped a bomb hitting the town!

Horrified, they realized many people in the town were killed in the tragedy.  Most of the town beautiful country houses were destroyed, the water pipes burst, water was a scarcity, medicine was nil, and help was far away.  It was war!

The bomb was dropped by an enemy!

As people were dying around them.  There was weeping, wailing, screams and cries. 

Jairaj saw Suraj' house in flames and heard terrible screams.  He rushed to Suraj's house and saw Suraj's wife and children outside, but Suraj inside surrounded by flames, semi conscious.

Jairaj called out, "Suraj, take my hand!"  Suraj looked at Jairaj outstretched hand and took it and Jairaj pulled Suraj out, who was choking in the thick swirling smoke.  He put him on the lawn.  Suraj collapsed unconscious, and Jairaj resuscitated him and eventually, Suraj started to cough and get up.

Suraj realised that Jairaj had saved his life and he was overcome with gratitude.

As people were dying around them.  There was weeping, wailing, screams and cries.  In that pain and sorrow, everyone suddenly became closer and more compassionate.  There was a doctor in the group of the Wordites.  The whole town needed that doctor's help for the dying and wounded.  He had the medicines stacked in his home clinic. It happened that a member of the Spiritites had a godown (warehouse) stacked with food and bottles of water, as he was a shop owner in the local market.  He shared water and any food or commodities from his warehouse.

In that heartbreaking realization, the Spiritites and Wordites were forced to help each other and other people in the town sharing food, water and assisting with medical help.

They realized they would need to work together to build trenches as fast as they could because now there was a war.

In this war, as they reached out a helping hand to each other, something wonderful happened within them, a warm ball of fire lit up their hearts with joy.

That night, they jettisoned to the realization that they were very similar except that they placed emphasis on different things as they way they understood.

They finally realized that the greatest enemy was outside, Satan, and also within themselves, their pride.  The greatest enemies are not people.

Suraj learned that to view other believers as heretic when they actually read the Bible is cultic and dangerous. Suraj with horror realized that they were heading towards becoming a cult because they had no tolerance for other Christians and on the whole ignored them, and avoided interaction with contemporary believers of other churches.  Suraj repented of his attitude.

That night, the bomb used by Satan to destroy them had backfired in Satan's plan and conquered in God's purposes by uniting them and causing them to fall down on their knees and pray and pray and pray.

As Jairaj said "The Word of God was like a glittering diamond with many dimensions of Truth, so deep, that we humans sometimes fail to understand its depths or catch it's glitter, so we end up arguing about the different dimensions of Truths that we receive  Scripture is simple and powerful.  Let scripture interpret itself to us through God's Spirit to our hearts simply, instead of being influenced by different doctrine teachers over the centuries who want to sway us to their way of seeing things."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Now, with this new acceptance, love, and repentance within their own hearts, something wonderful was happening, revival was beginning its first flickers of fire…

 ******************************************************************************************************

In the light of eternity, perspectives change and our pettiness fades away!

2 Timothy 2:23:  Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.

Doctrine does not define us but Christ within us!  This is a story of how doctrine divides and breaks up believers in fragments – a plan of the enemy…Scripture is simple and powerful.  Let scripture interpret itself to us through God's Spirit to our hearts simply, instead of being influenced by different doctrine teachers over the centuries who want to sway us to their way of seeing things.  

In the beginning when the world began, the Word was given to the people who followed the Creator.  They followed Truth simply and obeyed.  Later, they interpreted it in the light of their own minds, rejecting many things they could not accept in their understanding.  They wanted to accept some truth and reject some truth, and this was the cause of all the turmoil in the Christian church, which threads down to our times now.

Psalm 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;  Psa 133:3  As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing even life for evermore.  Peace and harmony and love between believers of different demolitions is essential to bring healing, revival, blessing and touch the hurting world through the power of His presence and the power of His Living Word. 

© Rita Farhat Kurian

The Minister's Daughter - Story based on a true incident

Based on a true incident!

Ministry Days

 Pastor Rai and his wife lived in a busy city.  They were the founders of an extensive crisis intervention ministry called Help a Call Away.  Many people in distress, suicidals, families breaking up, children on drugs and the depressed and broken-hearted could give a call and help would immediately be at their doorstep.  A counselor would start talking to the distressed on the phone and encourage them to come over to Help a Call Away Center.  If they were in a severe crisis, someone would take them to the Help a Call Away center.

Help a Call Away was a huge bungalow with a beautiful garden.  There were several rooms used for counseling in the bungalow plus counselors.  A cook resided in the bungalow, cooking good food as well as made coffee and tea throughout the day for the distressed.  Pastor Rai and Sarah believed that food and beverages helped distressed people to de-stress, unwind and talk about their problems in well-aired pretty rooms.  They even held Bible classes once a day, and helped the jobless by placing them in jobs through placements once they were better.

Pastor Rai and Sarah were busy throughout the day, helping, counseling and putting broken lives back together.  Help a Call Away Ministry soon started becoming famous.

Pastor Rai and Sarah had two daughters, Piyah and Sunaina.  Piyah was older, beautiful, vivacious and bright and Sunaina, the younger was pretty with a gentle personality.

While Sunaina was kind and gentle, she was also very wise, clever and sharp and in a sweet way over the years, she learned how to get her way through great diplomatic skills without hurting or crossing swords with anyone.  People grew to adore Sunaina as she was sweet, dropped pearls of wisdom whenever she spoke, and was also very generous and shared things easily giving tiny pretty gifts to people. Piyah on the other hand spoke her heart out and people did not like that very much, finding her tactless and clumsy. 

The Conflict

 Pastor Rai and his wife Sarah had faithful workers.  One of them, Sunny did not get along with Piyah and one day, they had a tiff.  Sunny was afraid that Pastor Rai and his wife would fire him, but to his great relief they did not.  Pastor Rai's wife Sarah later spoke with Sunny and told him, "This Piyah just does whatever she wants and says whatever comes to her mind, she deserves that quarrel you had with her, she needs to calm down and someone needs to put her in her place!"

Sunny was relieved.  The next time it became easier to find himself in a battle of words with Piyah without being afraid of getting fired.  He soon discovered that Pastor Rai and Sarah were finding Piyah "difficult to control" and would readily stand up for Sunny if he had a quarrel with Piyah, so he mercilessly set Piyah up in different situations, and then would report her "misdeeds" to her parents.  In retrospect, her parents would fly into a fury with Piyah.   Meantime, Sunny did not understand why he disliked Piyah so much and why he wanted her parents to thrash her verbally, but he knew the parents would listen to him over Piyah and he liked the way it made him feel.  Perhaps he was afraid that Piyah would override the ministry and if she did, he knew he would be nowhere, so he wanted to keep her down.

Very soon, the other people in the ministry caught this thread and often reported Piyah to her parents.  They were relieved to find especially Sarah constantly telling them to pray for Piyah because "she was getting out of hand." It made them feel better about themselves.

The Doldrums

 Over the years, Piyah met a man, and they were about to be engaged.  Her parents were not very pleased with the young man. In time, the young man walked out of Piyah's life because he said her parents were impossible.  Piyah was broken-hearted after the breakup and began to be afraid that she would never get married because her family was so complex and she too was becoming afraid of her own complexities.

On her road to healing from a broken heart, Piyah wanted to help in Help a Call Away as she wanted to serve in the ministry.

When her mother heard that, she shook her head and said, "Piyah, the board of directors have some questions about you, your relationship with that man was most unbecoming, and then you are always in a fight with Sunny.  We are afraid that it would not be appropriate for you to work in the ministry.  In fact, many people are saying your character is questionable."

Piyah looked at her mother with tears in her eyes and said, "Mom, I just want to do something for the Kingdom, whatever it be."

Her father, Pastor Rai who came in at that time said, "We are helpless in this situation.  The ministry had grown so large and we are dependent on the help of others, even our financial supporters, if they are not okay with you being in ministry, we are afraid there is nothing we can do."

Her parents were entrapped by the enmeshment of their own ministry and were not free to do things in the spirit.  They would say, "We have great accountability to the board members and others who invested their money in the ministry."

With that, the matter was closed.  Piyah was not allowed to help in the ministry.  They told her to take up her teacher's training and become a teacher.  Piyah was miserable with the idea.  She never wanted to be a teacher, but her parents felt it was best for her saying she would be a good teacher because she was lively and animated and the children would love her.

Piyah sadly started her teacher's training.  She finally finished her training.

One Sunday afternoon after church, there was a big family fight.  Piyah had said something that really upset her mother and her mother was furious.

Her mother yelled, "Get out of the house!  You are a smart girl, you will survive anywhere.  I do not want you to sit in my house and criticize what I do and make a mess of things.  You can look after yourself, go out and work, get a job as a teacher, you are capable, and this is not your home anyway.  Other children of your age have their own homes, and are married too, go, Piya, go!"

Sunaina was in the house and seconded her mother screaming "You always make trouble, go!" Sunaina no longer looked sweet and gentle and in fact looked quite ugly with her face contorted at that moment.

Piyah stared at her shocked, but deep in her heart, she always knew Sunaina had a conniving cunning streak and today she was only showing her true colors.

Piyah packed a small bag left the house, aware that Sunaina was watching her from the steps.  In deep pain of rejection not really knowing where she would go, she went to Help a Call Away.  Sunny came up and gloatingly gave her some money saying, "Here, your mother said to give this to you."

Piyah would normally not have taken it but she was so helpless that she took it silently.  She decided to leave the city, go to another city and stay with a relative for a season.  Her relative readily welcomed her for a short season, but it soon became clear that Piyah was not welcome to stay very long.

She ended up working in a large company in another city.  From then on, Piyah fell into series of relationships, one would break up and then she would get into another relationship.  She always needed to be in a relationship as it made her feel wanted and special while she was in it.  Deep down, she had craved that love from her parents.  None of her relationships ever worked, however.

Piyah did not do very well in her jobs as she did not really like the work, so she found herself losing her jobs very quickly.  This news travelled fast to her parent's through common friends.  Her father, Pastor Rai would sometimes wire money to her as her bank account was now known to them as they knew she was struggling financially.

A time came when they stopped sending money, saying, "This can't go on, she is old enough, she needs to hold on to her jobs!"

Sunaina would shudder and say to friends and people in the ministry, "My sister is a gone-case, she can't even hold a job, a disgrace, and right now she is in a relationship with a non-believer, I feel embarrassed to call her my sister!"

Another girl, Neena, piped in and said, "Why can't Help a Call Away help Piyah?  I mean, since you help others, you could also help her too!"

Sunaina ignored that comment.  She kept a safe distance from Neena from then on and told her mother, "Neena is slandering the ministry and speaks ill of us!"

In the meantime, back home, Sunny rose in power, a shinning knight in armor next to her parents, their trusted confidante.  Sunaina was now happily married with two children living in another part of the city.

When people asked where Piyah was, the national and international network of friends of Pastor Rai and his wife Sarah were told that Piyah was a mess and she was no longer in ministry, working in secular companies, and was in an ungodly relationship.

Noone ever verified whether it was true or not as everyone loved a good juicy morsel of gossip to gulp down.

Piyah was not even welcome to churches because many people knew her as the fallen daughter of Pastor Rai and Sarah.  On the streets and in churches and Christian circles, she was cold-shouldered by everyone.  Noone wanted to associate with a sordid girl.  The rumor even went around that Piyah was mentally unstable and no one even wanted to confirm if these rumors were true.

Her mother, Sarah would tell her friends in the Christian ministry, "What a state that girl has fallen into. I cannot believe that she has fallen so low, what a mess!" and they would give sympathetic clicks and say, "What a terrible girl, what sin she is in."

Piyah eventually left each city and settled in a small seaside town and worked as a receptionist in a local hotel.  She prayed to God, but her prayers were now more for survival and self centered all the time.  She had no capacity to think or pray for anyone anymore.

The Meeting

One cool October, Friday morning, a strange lady knocked on the door of Pastor Rai and Sarah.  A lady introduced herself at the door.  She wore a clean crisp green cotton sari.

"Good morning!" she said pleasantly, "My name is Ms. Madan"  I have come to meet you, I have been praying for you and your ministry for years, though I do not know anyone personally, but God gave me a burden."

 Sarah politely asked her in and gave her a glass of chilled lemon juice.  In the crisis intervention ministry, they were used to all sorts of people coming to their home, though they were always warned to be careful.

"I have a strong compulsion to tell you something, I feel it is my duty, I feel God is making me tell you" began Ms. Madan, wrong start unfortunately.  Sarah was usually and naturally wary of people with messages from God, but the lady had burning brown eyes, and she looked somewhat pure hearted and sincere, so Sarah listened on.

Mrs. Madan said, "Your children are loaned to you by God, they are not yours, you have a responsibility to bring them and help them, even more than the others, God gave Piyah to you, she really needs help.  More so, you need to forgive her if she has slipped and done things wrong."

Sarah stiffened, she did not like people telling her what to do and she snorted almost rudely, "You do not know anything and honestly, you don’t have the right to interfere in our personal lives.  However, let me tell you we love her and have forgiven her whenever she had fallen, and helped her time and time again, now I leave her up to God, in His hands, I can't do more than what I am doing!"

Ms. Madan continued, "You need to help her walk again, your own daughter, as you help people in Help a Call Away"

Sarah shook her head and closed her eyes and then stood up abruptly and said "Ms. Madan, today I have an important meeting, I am on my way out, so I will have to go, but thank you for telling me this message."

She coldly showed her out to the door, besides herself.  Noone ever told Sarah that she was wrong because she was perfect, an epitome of love, kindness and grace crowned with generosity.  Internationally, she was greatly loved by all the women.  Sarah could never go wrong."

Just before Ms. Madan stepped out she said, "You could have prayed for Piyah, and all would have fallen into place, but you drove out prayer from your ministry, your ministry is Good Works, not empowered by prayer!"

"Nonsense," snapped Sarah, "we pray much, we are a praying people"

Ms. Madan shook her head and said, "You don’t understand real prayer, with forgiveness cleaning your hearts, not only for Piyah but hundreds of others who have left your ministry, your unforgiving spirits have blocked your prayers and your self-righteousness has been your robes, not the blood-bought robes of Jesus.  While each human is responsible for choices,, actions and consequences of their actions, there is another side to this as well.  The Bible says, "Do good when it is in your hand to do so."  Many times, Help a Call Away had opportunities to help Piyah out, and help to establish her in some direction, but you helped her just a little but never helped her enough to stand up on her own.  The truth is she is not strong enough to make it on her own, so she is talking the help of strangers who are using her in bad ways.  It is a spiritual thing, like a demon opposing her, as if someone had sent something on her way to destroy her.  Seeds of unforgiveness brings a curse in a family.  Unforgiveness from the family is keeping her in greater bondage.  You did not protect her from people in the ministry and allowed them to verbally attack her and ill-treat her.  Other people took advantage of her because you did not openly stand with her.  They started to tear down a person who is already down making sure she would never rise again.  Forgiveness is a spiritual law, it sets us free and sets the unforgived person free, and then only curses are broken.  In this case, unfortunately, most of the Christians just got judgmental and kept her out of the "club."

Sunaina who happened to be visiting home at that time came out of her bedroom and told her mother in front of Ms Madan, "Get this witch out of our house!"

Ms Madan shook her head and walked out and they shut the door sharply after her, trembling.

The Lamp in the Dark

Ms. Madan was a strong lady and she was not deterred.  She had a mission to accomplish.  She had to go and meet Piyah, who was presently living in Goa.  She knew Piyah needed someone to talk truth to her soul.  She took Piyah's address from her only friend Gina who had her address.  Ms. Madan had done quite a bit of investigation to find Gina!

Now, she was on her way to Goa.  When Ms. Madan knocked on Piyah's door.  After Ms. Madan introduced herself, Piyah was glad she had come.  She shared many things over the few days they were together and had a delightful refreshing time together.  Piyah gleaned much from Ms. Madan's wisdom.

Ms. Madan told Piyah, "God has better plans for you, where you will be greatly blessed and a greater blessing.  In Help a Call Away, you will always be a shadow serving a dream that was never really yours.  Let us pray today and ask God to open new doors in your life, but first, forgive your parents."

Piyah replied, "All this is strange and new to me, I do think I have already forgiven them, because I do love them, but let me think, if I did not really, may God show me."

The Ladder

 A couple of nights later, Piyah could not sleep, she drew the curtains and looked out at the silver stars, they shone mysteriously against the black sky and Piyah wondered "Why is life such a mystery, why is God such a mystery?  How long will I go on like this, distrusted and mistrusted by all, unloved, un-cared for, and even slandered by many Christians?'  As Piyah wrestled all night with these thoughts, what she did not know was Ms. Madan was wrestling for her soul before God…. As she did so, suddenly a light broke through Piyah's soul.

Piyah she got an answer.  First, she had to release all things, even Help a Call Away to God and not look back.  Then she had to release her parents in surrender.  If they did not want to contact her, she decided she would praise God for the situation as it was because she trusted that God was in control, and He allowed it all to happen for a bigger plan and purpose.

With great effort of her will, she started praising God for the situation as it was, she stopped pleading with God to change her situation.  She praised God for her parents, as they were because God was in control of that too.

Next, she asked God to give her a vision of what He wanted her to do.  In the next few weeks, Piyah got a clear understanding that she needed to walk before the Lord always.  Her call was Being, not Doing. Being in the Presence of God where great things happen and enabling begins. In Christ, she started to be the person He created her to be in His original plan.  She had a great call on her life, that would set people free, but she was never to establish a ministry or organization.  If she did it, the call would dry up, as it did with her parents.

After Ms. Madan left, Piyah got a job in management of the parish in the town. In the cool calming atmosphere of the parish, she found her thoughts clearing up.  She started constantly praising and praying, her life began to change, she got new connections, and new doors started to open.  Piyah prayed with people, and things started changing.  Practicing the presence of God changed her life completely!

 

Soon the Christian circles saw Piyah doing well and the people who had snubbed and mocked Piyah pretended that they never snubbed her or derided her.  They acted as if nothing had happened in the past and greeted her warmly, If Piyah hesitated to smile back, Jesus seemed to nudge Piyah, "Piyah, forgive them as I have forgiven you."

When Piyah forgave them, God added riches and blessings to her life.

She eventually got married to a strong, stable man called Ken who loved her and stood with her, in the calling God put on her life and also had his only personal walk and calling.  They prayed with many broken people, helped in whatever ways they could, and their prayers were answered simply because they practiced the presence of God.

Later, Piyah had a daughter and she vowed she would never do what her parents did to her.  She vowed never to "expose" her child to the other people in ministry during their tough times in order to garner more prayer and support.

Piyah said, "In telling everyone to pray for your children when they go wrong is in reality exposing your children to people who do not pray for them.  You will shatter down the protective walls of the children's lives …in the end; all that people do is judge ministers' children, gossip and hardly pray for them at all."

In a couple of years, Pastor Rai and Sarah started to talk with Piyah and met up with her acting as if nothing was wrong.  They never mentioned once about throwing Piyah out of the house or bad naming her everywhere.  Sunaina also met Piyah and acted as if nothing had ever happened.  Piyah forgave them all as the Bible taught her.  Ms. Madan had become a close friend of Piyah and Ken.

Piyah lived by this principle "Never make ministry an organization or the whole vision will collapse and always put God and your family before your ministry.  Be occupied with the Caller and not the call!"  The calling is being and not doing, being in Christ, who makes all things happen!"

Sometimes, ministers' children are placed on a plateau of high expectations, which they may not be able to meet in some seasons in their life.   When they fail in the eyes of the people, they are judged so severely, which makes it very hard for them to get up again, unless of course God intervenes.    We should always remember to pray and intercede for those who are down, not judge them, so they may be able to rise again in victory.  God is also testing our hearts in how we treat them when they are down.

© Rita Farhat Kurian

One Sunday Morning - Short Story

Sunday Morning

It was a wonderfully breezy cool early Sunday morning.  Mrs. Dawson got up early ready to go to church. She was soaring with happiness that morning.  Life could have never been better.

She kept singing "Thank you for the cross, Lord / Thank you for the price You paid/Bearing all my sin and shame /In love You came / And gave amazing grace…."

Later, early morning, she and her husband got into their black Ford car, and her husband drove through silent empty roads with no traffic.

They were on their way to their church, the Love, Joy, Peace Church.  Mr. Dawson said, "Early Sunday mornings are great, no traffic!"

As Mr. Dawson drove the Ford smoothly through the cool grey clean streets, Mrs. Dawson patted her hair afraid the breeze would ruffle her hair.

 She was dressed beautifully with her hair coiffed and groomed with an aroma of a sweet garden perfume exuding from her.  She browsed through her walnut-brown Hidesign bag looking for her List.

The List was an important appendage to her life with names of people she had to target.  Without it, she felt her world would crumble as she was leading the Mercy Missions Ministry, so she was an extremely busy woman.

This morning she sang gustily again in the car, "God is good to me, using me in a wonderful way, praise you Lord."

Her husband was quite amused at her radiant joy that Sunday morning.

He remarked, "Well, that’s nice to be so happy early in the morning, better than the grumps."

Mrs. Dawson replied, "Life is good, so I got to be happy."

They finally reached the Love, Joy, Peace Church.  As they were walking in, they noted a new girl and smiled at her and she smiled back a little nervously.  They went forward to find a good seat in the front, but the front seats were taken as a famous preacher was visiting the church.  Disappointed, they sat towards the back.

The girl they met at the door walked slowly and sat somewhere in the corner in the back.  Her name was Sheila.  She was a young girl who just moved to the city and was living in a hostel.  As Sheila was new in the city, she had specifically sought out a church as she was homesick and hoped to find some comfort in the church.

Sheila suffered from paranoid fears that sprung deep within her, uncontrollable panic with no reasoning and pounding racing thoughts.  No counseling had helped her.

She had asked God that Sunday, "Do you hear me?  Do you care?"  There was silence from the Heavens.

Soon the church filled up and the worship team took their place on the pulpit.

Distractions Abound

The song leader sang beautifully, his eyes looking heavenward, occasionally lifting up his hands.  He looked a picture of serene holiness.  Suddenly, he looked down and noticed many people not lifting their hands, clapping or singing in a half-hearted way.

Irritation hit him, and he started bellowing at the people, "Worship God, church!   Is that all you got church, did you eat your breakfast this morning? Come on louder, clap your hands, clap your hands!!!!!"  Some people laughed politely and tried clapping..

Some people who had not been lifting up their hands were in deep pain with a lot of troubles.  At the same time, they were silently concentrating on the words of the song in a heart relationship with God.

Some others who were lifting their hands were doing it out of routine habit and their thoughts were far away from worshiping God.  One lady was even wondering what to make for lunch as she sang gustily at the top of her lungs, "Our God is an awesome God!"

Just then, a family trooped in, and some chairs were moved around noisily.  The noisy racket jarred the senses of many people in the church.

Half the people in the church turned back to see who this noisy family was and frowned at them disapprovingly.

After the worship, they all sat down.  Mrs. Dawson got into a mode of distraction.  She stained her eyes towards the left hand front corner of the church as she caught sight of a new lady and was trying to make out who she was, "Who is that lady, someone new, with a hairdo like a bird's nest, must find out who she is," she thought curiously.

Mr. Raj, the church treasurer, sitting a few rows ahead in the front turned back to smile at some people he knew coming in.

A little later, a shill-sounding short man announced the events for the week.  He stood in front and sort of squeaked out all the events.  He then paused and said, "I have a special request, church.  The church's Whatsup is not meant for any other news except the events concerning the church.  Last week, someone sent a message of a kidnapped girl.  I mean, if church members send messages like this, important events in the church will get missed out, please restrict the Whatsup news to church events only!"

A tall new man in the church stood up and said loudly, "I had sent that message last week because this child was kidnapped.  In fact, many churches sent the same messages of this girl on Whatsup and the wonderful miracle was that girl was found because of the high alert!"

"Yes, yes, yes," said the shrill announcer fussily, "but you should send this in your private Whatsup, not on the church Whatsup!"

The tall man looked at everyone and said "Would you say the same thing if it was your child?  Do you realize this child was saved not only because of the prayers, but also the vigilance of everyone looking out for her?"

The announcer glared at the tall man and left the pulpit indignantly.

The church squirmed in discomfort at the embarrassing situation and verbal exchange of words between the two.

The new powerful preacher got up later and preached a heart-warming message about God's incredible love and how that love must be shared between one another.  Everyone felt greatly uplifted at the end of the message.

The Sudden Shift

After one hour, service was over.  The minute service was over a strange shift took place.  People were instantly transported towards a people's consciousness, busy seeking out one another.

They had not met for a week or more and had a lot of catching up to do.  Very few did seek out the lonely and new or quieter people who stood in corners like wallflowers.

The music ministry team congregated together...and did not speak to anyone else.

A new lady, Zarine, stood in the corner.  Many people smiled at her briefly and then hurried past to catch an old friend.  A little later, two girls came up, smiled at her, and gave her a card to fill in for contact information and before Zarine could say "Jack Robinson", they disappeared.  They took the card with them.

The pastor of the church came up and spoke a few kind words to Zarine and went off.

Zarine retreated to a corner.  She watched the people in the church quietly.  They were rushing around busily and talking to one another.  As she watched a group of 4 women talking, she heard cacophonous noise that sounded like clacking hens, talking like tins and laughing like tinkling bells with artificial joy.

Ram, a new boy also stood in the corner and smiled nervously around.  He looked like a sweet thin rag doll, small in stature with hair spiked up and enormous glasses.  Mr. George, leader of the men's ministry spotted him. He patted him warmly and said, "Wonderful to have you here my boy, wonderful, what is your name?"

"Ram," he replied.

"How are you Ram this morning?"

Ram lit up; he particularly felt he needed to talk to someone that morning as he was having a hard time at work so he answered," Not too good, sir, some difficulties in work…."

Mr. George interrupted quickly, "I'll catch you later, I just have some work to do!".  Mr George hurriedly made his way up to Mr. Sinha, an important CEO of a company.  "I can't have Ram waste the time talking about his problems at work, I need to talk to Mr. Sinha before he leaves the church," he mumbled to himself.

Ram felt snubbed and was embarrassed.  He shrugged his shoulders and decided to go home, but just then Jordan, another young man came up.  Jordan had a look of warmth and he really spoke with Ram with sincerity, so Ram started to feel better and the smoke in his heart subsided.

Geeta, carrying her 3-month old baby came to church.  Geeta had come to the church a year ago.  No one seemed to know her much.  They vaguely remembered a new lady coming to the church and after her pregnancy, she could not come much as she had severe bouts of morning sickness.  "Oh, how sweet" cooed the ladies seeing the new baby.

Mrs. Joye recognized Geeta.  "Nice to see you Geeta, I was just going to call you on the phone yesterday, I was just thinking about you."

"You should have, Mrs. Joye" replied Geeta a little tiredly.  Geeta had been hearing this from Mrs. Joye whenever she met her the few times that she had attended the church.  Geeta stopped believing it.

Just then, another lady Mary came running up.  "Hi Geeta, how are you?  What a sweet baby!"  I wanted to ask you something.  My husband and I started a ministry for orphan children, started six months back.  We are building a new better unit for the girls.  Can you donate some money for the new orphanage we have started?

Mary had a piece of paper with the donation amounts written on it.  On top was a donation of Rs. 1000.  Geeta felt anything less would be inappropriate, she happened to have Rs.1000 note in her bag and pulled it out and gave it to Mary.

"Thanks" gushed Mary.   "So lovely to see you, and how are you and the baby", and before Geeta could reply, Mary spotted Mrs. Dawson and rushed to her.  Mrs. Dawson would definitely give a generous amount for the orphanage.

Geeta did not understand why she suddenly felt hurt.  She tried to talk herself out of her hurt.  "No one meant any harm!  Stop feeling so bad," she chided herself.

In the meantime, Mrs. Dawson was gliding along the church as she needed to catch the crucial key people before they left the church.  She had important tasks to accomplish to meet targets on her List.

Going Home

Zarine continued to watch every one merrily chatting and felt very out of it.  She decided to go home; anyway, she had to warm up her lunch and eat it.  She felt weary and defeated inside as she walked out slowly from the church, oblivious to all the people.

 As she stepped out of the door, she nearly bumped into another girl who was also going out.  "Oh sorry," she gasped, "I didn't see you!"  She looked into the face of a girl with the saddest brown eyes she had ever seen.  Zarine was shocked.

"What's your name?" she asked her, wondering how anyone could look so sad.

The girl replied, "My name is Sheila".

"Are you going home, Sheila?" Zarine asked.  Zarine did not know why she was being so probing but something made her feel Sheila was broken and lonely and really needed help.

"Not home, I live in a hostel, yes, I was going back," replied Sheila.

"If that is the case, why don't you join me for lunch if you wish?" suggested Zarine.

Sheila looked surprised and then a little fearful.

"Don't worry" replied Zarine, "I live close by, just if you feel okay with it".

Sheila looked into Zarine's kind eyes and felt safe.  She felt there was depth and love in this young lady, unlike many of the people she had met that morning.

Sheila agreed and said, "Okay, I will, what is your name?"

"Zarine", replied Zarine.

The Breakthrough – Beauty Out of Ashes

The two went together by bike to Zarine's tiny, clean well-furnished pretty apartment.  Zarine changed her clothes and insisted Shiela wear something comfortable, and gave her a T-shirt and cotton skirt to wear to feel fresh and relaxed.

Zarine headed straight for the kitchen, lunch was ready, and she just had to warm it up.  She came back to the drawing room and flipped on the TV in the drawing room for Sheila to watch.  In the news, the horrific story of a 5-year-old child brutally raped was flashing.  When Zarine heard this, she turned white, and bowed her head, after a while, she said softly, "Lets pray for the little children to be delivered by such evil people, and also for the tide of evil in this nation to be stopped, may God send more angels to intervene and also help people turn to God as never before."

Sheila was uncomfortable.  She never saw anyone praying over the news even though it was a disturbing evil event.  She said, "Will that really make a difference?  God knows it all, He can stop it if He wants, what can our little prayers do?"

Zarine replied, "Have you heard of the dark ages?  People lived prayer-less lives at that time.  There is a commandment to pray for the people of the nation" she then quoted, 1 Timothy 2: 1:2"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity."

Zarine continued:  "We also need to pray for the intervention of God's angels to deliver little children from evil. The tide of evil will be reduced through our prayers, for more angelic intervention in worldly affairs to bring eternal change for God's Kingdom.  If we do not, more evil will overtake the nation.  If we did not need to pray, the Bible would not be commanding us to pray for our nation and governments and to pray without ceasing.  Our prayers will make a difference.

Sheila asked slowly, "Do you really think that will make a difference?"

Zarine replied, Definitely, see history and the people that prayed and the differences that happened in those nations, Sheila, it is recorded in history.".

Sheila said wonderingly.  "It seems you know a lot, Zarine."

Zarine replied, "Not really, but I depend on God for everything.  Come let us pray!"

They joined hands and started praying.  They both were praying for the protection of little children and God's intervention in the nation, on the leaders and government and the people of the nation.

Sheila suddenly felt some off her soul start to lift and something snapped and she saw a dark ominous shadow leave her.  She gasped in shock.  She then felt a deep peace surround her like never before.  She could not help shouting, "Something just left me, a dark shadow!"

"What happened?" asked Zarine in wonder.

Sheila exclaimed, "For years, I had a fear that something horrible was going to happen.  I used to feel it all the time.  I was so frightened and no one understood how I was feeling.  They call it a panic disorder in medical terms.  Today, I saw this black shadow leave me and for the first time in my life, I feel so light and so much peace inside!" Sheila started weeping with joy.

Zarine held her and then quietly said after a while.  "I think I know what we should do from now on".

"What?" asked Sheila.

Zarine replied, "From now on, we will be prayer warriors, intercede for one another, intercede for the church and intercede for the nation and nations and governments as the Spirit of God leads us, not through programmed prayer."

Sheila nodded her head, she understood for years she wanted someone to pray for her, but no one was able to really help her because perhaps they were not spiritually tuned in and did not understand what she was trying to say.

Zarine continued, "I think we should be praying for one another and genuinely care and carry prayer burdens for people we may not meet everyday, or speak to regularly."

"How can that be?" wondered Sheila.

As you continue to talk, walk, and obey God, He will speak more to you and direct you.  You can go to another level and fast and pray.  Fasting breaks chains and opens locked doors and set's people free.  It is very powerful, it can bring revival in a mighty way!" replied Zarine.

They thoughtfully ate their lunch together and drank some ginger tea a little later, sharing their lives and situations.

As Sheila was ready to go, they both made a solemn pact; they would go to church early the next Sunday and spend time praying for the people in the church and even fasting as the Spirit led them to pray and fast for nations.

Ultimately, Zarine and Sheila started to experience this new wonderful way of life of intercessory prayer, which was exciting, refreshing and challenging, and it started to spread like fire to other people in the church.  People started to come out of their cozy club comfort zones and came into a new relationship with God.

The church was revolutionized in a year!  Mrs. Dawson was the first to experience this awakening.

This only started because prayer was revived in a Spirit-led way when two girls took a decision to pray and fast for others.  Because of that obedience, they experienced beauty out of ashes.

© Rita Farhat Kurian