All of us are aware of the meeting that was held on 08th October 2010. A write up by Johnson C. Philip (“JCP”) on his Facebook site reads as follows:
“Close to 1200 Brothers form Brethren Churches in Kerala (India) prayerfully came together today, the 8th October 2010 at Kumbanad (Kerala) to discuss the legal problems that Brethren Churches have been facing lately. The meeting started with Dr. OM Samuel as the Chairman. Several senior brothers, church leaders, and Bible teachers were present on the stage with him. The meeting started with a presentation of what it is and what it is not. The problems faced by the church at Angamally, the arrest of brothers in several places in Kerala during witnessing, and similar problems were presented. The brothers discussed the problems in 26 groups and the majority was of the opinion that a collective work needs to be done. It was also felt that the assemblies need to get more information about all the legal formalities that the government now expects them to fulfill under the changed laws.”
On www.brethrenassembly.com, the same matter was published but the headlines read “Brethren Christian Coordination Council Formed!” (see attached screenshot below)
Snapshot of www.brethrenassembly.com published on 9th October 2010
If you closely examine what has been published and what has happened, you will find that there are a lot of disparities. And that is what I would like to address through this article. There are other issues relating to the same case which I will address in later posts.
Very interesting, today I came across an e-book published by JCP – “Analysis of Propoganda Techniques”. Not surprisingly, a lot of the techniques mentioned in this e-book has been used by those in the adhoc committee and those related to it to create a lot of confusion amongst people and also to try and create divides in churches. Before I go into an examination of the techniques that has been used in this case, let us look at the above declaration made and its validity.
1. Close to 1200 Brothers form Brethren Churches in Kerala (India) prayerfully came together today, the 8th October 2010 at Kumbanad (Kerala)
There has been a lot of dispute on the actual number of people who attended the meeting. There are claims that records have been kept of who all attended. But none of that was made public. A person who has published the results of the responses received has stated that 1127 registration forms were received. However only 936 response forms were received at the time of tallying. I do not know and so I am not going to comment on the same. Whatever the number, the fact remains that all the brethren churches in Kerala were not represented at this meeting. The publication of this count is just to make the reader feel that there was a wide cross section representation from all the brethren churches. Infact, if they actually wanted a wider representation, they could have kept the meeting for a later date and ensured that the participation of all assemblies were there.
2. to discuss the legal problems that Brethren Churches have been facing lately
From the videos, that I have seen, not much time was spent on discussing the legal problems that the churches have been facing. “Legal problems?” denotes more than 1 issue. What were these issues that were discussed? These are coming later on in the write up and so let me leave this point at that.
3. The meeting started with Dr. OM Samuel as the Chairman. Several senior brothers, church leaders, and Bible teachers were present on the stage with him.
Dr. O.M.Samuel was an unfortunate scapegoat to have been made as the chairman. He was not the person who was supposed to be the chairman. Unfortunately for the ad-hoc committee, the person that they were intending to make as the chairman was restrained from doing so by the organization that he was representing and working for in Kerala and so OMS was a last minute replacement. But note the mention of “Dr OM Samuel”. Gives the whole write-up a more legal feeling and a feeling of approval by eminent people of all the things that took place during the meeting.
4. The meeting started with a presentation of what it is and what it is not.
A statement was made by the chairman that this is not about forming a committee or council of any sort and if anything of that sort was there, he would be the first one to object it. If this was not about forming a committee/council, then what was this about? The next point states that.
5. The problems faced by the church at Angamally, the arrest of brothers in several places in Kerala during witnessing, and similar problems were presented.
Those who watched the videos will know that the representative from Angamally was given 5 minutes to present the issues pertaining to their assembly. But then, wasn’t the meeting called to discuss the issue of the Angamally assembly? Then how come only 5 minutes was given to the brother? That’s because the Angamally assembly problem was only supposed to be the front cover for their own devious plans which were behind the scene.
And if I am not mistaken, barely 2 minutes was given to discuss the other problems regarding incidents faced during witnessing in Kerala. Except for one incident mentioned about North East India, I do not recollect any specific incidents that were presented before the people. Do correct me if I am wrong. It was all generic references to such incidents. If they were so burdened about it, they could have had actual victims testifying the problems that they had faced. There was none of that. Why? That because that was not the main aim of the ad-hoc committee. Let’s move on.
6. The brothers discussed the problems in 26 groups
This is what I found most amusing. It was like a joke to me.
Lets do some mathematics here.
The claim is that 1200 people attended the meeting. They were divided into 26 groups. Now this division happened based on areas and so they were not evenly distributed. However, for discussion sakes, let’s assume that the people were evenly divided. So we have 46 people per group. They were given 15 minutes of discussion time. And if we were to give an equal opportunity for everyone in the group to speak, with 15 minutes in hand and 46 people in a group, each person would get 20 seconds at the max to make his point know. And given that there were 6 questions to discuss, that gives the person just over 3 seconds per question to make known his view point.
So its 3 seconds to give your view point on supposedly important legal issues that are facing the brethren people.
So then, what kind of a discussion did take place? The group leaders were all preselected by the ad-hoc committee members and no doubt they would have been given instructions on how to lead discussions in the groups. Not everybody would have been able to voice their opinion but since they attended and they were in the group, no matter what their opinion was, whatever was said from their group on stage was what counted as their opinion.
7. and the majority was of the opinion that a collective work needs to be done
No where in the 6 questions that were listed was there any question which talked about a collective work that needs to be done. The question that would come closest to even remotely suggesting such a formation would be question 4. “Is there a need for a mechanism to provide legal assistance when one faces troubles?”
No doubt a lot of people answered “Yes” but a majority of them also very clearly stated that if this mechanism meant that a committee of some sort had to be formed, then they were against such a committee formation.
Not surprisingly, if you look at all the 6 questions, which of those questions would you answer a “No” to? Let’s just have a brief look at the questions
i. Do you agree with the opinion of the legal experts that our local assemblies should adopt the name “Churches”? There is no evidence to this statement of the legal experts. To my knowledge, such a statement is foolish. The law of the land does not decide that you are a church just because you have that included in the name. But to someone who is not literate about such things will definitely answer “Yes” because he thinks that will solve the problems.
ii. Do you agree with the local assemblies registering themselves with the local authorities? Many churches within and outside Kerala are registered as trusts in accordance with the law. And so people would definitely answer “Yes”.
iii. It is mandatory to maintain registers with details of birth, death, wedding and baptism details along with details of church members. If these registers are not there in your churches, will you start maintaining such records?I am not aware of any such mandatory law. Most churches already maintain wedding and death registers. And since it’s a positive thing, people will definitely give a positive response.
iv. Is there a need for a mechanism to provide legal assistance when one faces troubles? Who in their right mind would refuse assistance when in time of need? But do you a need an all Kerala brethren church committee to do that for you? Majority of the people made clear their reservations to any new committee forming just for this purpose.
v. On the basis of the current events, do we need to hold regional gatherings to inform the brethren of the details of events? Of course people will think that it’s a good thing that everybody is made aware of the happenings and so that people can pray for these things. So why would anybody say no?
vi. Do we need to maintain a register of addresses of all the assemblies in Kerala? People wouldn’t say “No” especially after the point was subtly raised that invitations could not be sent to all the assemblies since the addresses of all the assemblies were not there.
As seen above, none of the questions addressed anything specifically about the formation of a committee. This was just a front for creating such a committee.
And if there were people who were burdened to help those in trouble, my question to them is
i. Why couldn’t you have started something private and then made yourself available for assistance to those who needed it?
ii. Why was such a big meeting called for this purpose?
iii. Why was the media invited?
iv. Why was false and misleading reports given to create confusions in the minds of people?
v. Why was it made to look like you had the approval of all the brethren churches?
This was just because the aim was not for the welfare of the brethren people or those actually in need of help but for personal gains.
For sometime now, there has been a move in India to create a hierarchial system for the brethren people and to have so called bishops and heads of this structure. The reason for this is that there are funds available from sources outside India but for which there has to be a single channel of flow of these funds in India. These top representatives will decide who gets what and how much. And this “committee” is just a continuation of that effort. It just so happened that the Angamally case happened at the right time for pushing such a mandate forward. IBCM also intends to bring in national leaders of the brethren churches for international discussion. Their mission statement on their site www.ibcm.net reads “The purpose of the International Brethren Conferences on Mission (IBCM) is to bring together every four years the national leaders of local churches connected with the Brethren movement across the world for spiritual reflection, fellowship and, we pray, renewed experience of the Lord. The overall goal is the mutual encouragement of leaders in the movement in the different countries.” If there is no hierarchy, then who can rightfully claim the post of being national leaders in India of the brethren churches? This is where this is headed. This has started at state level and will move national shortly.
My dear readers. Beware of the wiles of the devil. He appears as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We have to be wise.
Lets go back to questions 4 through 6 of the discussion material keeping this need in mind.
iv. Is there a need for a mechanism to provide legal assistance when one faces troubles? Having such a central representative committee and providing legal assistance will make it seem in front of the government that this “BCCC” is the elected legal representative of the brethren people in Kerala and is empowered to represent them. Subsequently, this committee then can be presented to the outside world as a representative of the brethren movement in India.
v. On the basis of the current events, do we need to hold regional gatherings to inform the brethren of the details of events? People have answered “Yes”. But then, who will hold these meetings and do the presentation and talkings? BCCC. They will control what people will know and hear. Once again, they will appear before the brethren people as those elected and mandated to hold meetings and to inform brethren people of what they want.
vi. Do we need to maintain a register of addresses of all the assemblies in Kerala? Definitely such a register would be favourable for the BCCC committee as this would be proof that they are the only ones with records of all the churches and that is because only they have the mandate to represent all the churches.
So like I said earlier. Things are not what it seems to be on the face. There is a hidden agenda behind all this. Be wise of these techniques.
-Thomas Abraham
Oct 20
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19 Comments What was the October 8th meeting all about? – The truth behind the scenes
A critic
October 20th, 2010 at 9:55 am
1I dont quite understand your vendetta, Mr Thomas Abraham… Do you have any personal issues with Dr JCP?
I am amused to see to what great lengths, in various forums, you go to strongly criticise his report… I dont see anything false in his story. ‘Majority’ are in favor of such legal rep body… ofcourse, there will always be opponents to any constructive ideas…
that’s life, buddy..lol… your constipations online is creating a stench for others… fyi.
Come on man, we are fed up with your non stop nonsense…
Mammen Mathew
October 20th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
2One simple question .
If this is not a centralized committie that they are forming , why do they need a name ‘Brethren Church Coordination Committie ‘ . They can pick any name like KEM Coordination committie or Steward support committie or anything .. but spare the ‘Brethren Church’ .All Bretheren churches are independent .If any church says we dont recognize such a committie in our name , how can anyone morally or legally take up such a name ?.If any Brethren believer says i do not endorse the committie because it is against our beliefs, why do this backdoor entry in the name of churches.
Majority of the bretheren are against this committie and they protest with their prayful silence . This is not a mandate to startup a committie.
Mammen Mathew
October 20th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
3When was the so called Brethren Church Coordination Committie formed ? I know about a Brethren Church Coordination ‘Adhoc’ committie which was dissolved on oct 8th.
Someone created a letterpad ,newsletter , round seal and a permanent P.O Box at Kumbanad in the name of a committie that was never created !
Annie Wilson
October 20th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
4I’m wondering why so many junior and senior brothers gathered to discuss on the problem at Angamally and the persecution on Evagelists and believers. I didn’t see any such kind of political gathering among the deciples or followers of Christ when they were persecuted severely, they gathered and prayed to the Lord and the Lord delivered them. Take the example of Apo.Paul Where are we heading toward. Why don’t we let the Lord solve this problem. It is true what the Bible says that it would be hard to find faith at the coming of the Lord. Now the report is focusing on who was the chief among all of them! It’s shameful to write this kind of reports on the facebook. When do we grow spiritually and live in faith??????
Mammen Mathew
October 24th, 2010 at 2:02 am
5Mr Critic,
You are so irritated to see Mr Thomas Abraham speak out. You are so pleased to see JCP spreading lies .
He said a 75 member central committie was formed which forms the first bretheren churches committie.
Where was this decided ? How can anyone spread such lies that was not discussed ever by any church or churches representatives .
You talk about majority to favor the legal body – majority of what ??? Did anyone ever discuss having a committie of Brethren Churches ? If one church say no ,you dont have the mandate . How will you answer churches from Idulkki, Kozhikode,Kumbanad and many other places.
Constructive ideas – we dont see this as a constructive idea . Rather your idea would shake the foundation of Brethren beliefs.
Kochumon
October 24th, 2010 at 6:21 am
6Mammen and Critic,
It is all about Integrity and Ethics in a Christian’s life and activities. You guys are arguing for no cause. What has to be done is already decided by the leaders. Hopefully the next meeting and agenda will come out soon…heard it is a mega event at Ankamali. As critic told of the stench, it would be good to arrange alternatives like cotton (for nose) – the stench would now only increase
Annie, we are a denomination now, Our Lord is outside the assembly gathering; You put it right – Let us seek the Lord
Thomas Abraham
October 24th, 2010 at 11:27 am
7Dear Critic
It’s always possible to show such bravado hiding behind the name of a critic. You have to learn to speak out your opinions in your name and not hiding behind other personnas.
With regards to whether I have a personal issues with Dr. JCP……no personal issues with him……
But I do have issues with the information that is being spread around and the course of action that is being taken and the false propoganda that is being aired on the net. No single body has the right to use the name brethren churches committe and give the feeling in the public that they represent all the brethren churches….
Its good to know that you read all the websites and are aware of all the discussions that are taking place on these sites.
I stand for what I believe is true and I will make it known on any forum that is available out there…….
I would recommend that you stop reading the sites if the stench is too much for you to bear…..it would’nt do you any good anyways……
if you disapprove of my views above…feel free to write what you don’t agree with and why you feel so about it…..instead of hiding behind annonymous names and criticizing the fact that there are opposing views……and having nothing constructive to add to the discussion….
Thomas Abraham
October 24th, 2010 at 11:31 am
8Dear Mammen Mathew
This is the very question that I have been asking. None of these questions even give them a mandate to create a committtee.
This is just the front for a greater plan.
Thomas Abraham
October 24th, 2010 at 11:34 am
9Kochumon
While it is true that the so called leaders have decided on what they want to do, that does not mean that those who oppose these things do not speak out.
One thing that you can be rest assured of is that they will never give you the real agenda of the meeting just like they did on 08th October 2010.
So if you believe that they are wrong, make sure that you tell others and also let your views be known so that people are made aware of the truth.
Philip John
October 24th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
10Critic,
Have you heard about a trinitytheology college in kochi. You may find out if they have any accreditation. Are they accepting fees to give out Phds? Are these phds valid ? . I heard there is a request being send out to the Education Minister of Kerala requesting an enquiry if these degrees are valid.
This comment has nothing to do with the article being discussed . So Let us leave behind credibility of any person and discuss the matter .
Is the BCCCC a credible one ?
When was such a committie formed ? Why are permanent instruments (Letter pad, Round Seal, P. O. Box ) made even before Oct 8 th where the Churches rep were invited in the pretend to discuss about forming such a committie.
Do we need such a committie – let the local churches discuss . If any church disagree (or silently ignore the BCCCC letter to gather for a prayer on 22nd Oct) ,that clearly shows what the mandate is.
George Mathews
October 27th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
11@ A critic, “‘Majority’ are in favor of such legal rep body…”
a. On what basis are you saying this? Any referendum was taken place?
b. democratic setup(majority / minority) is not a pattern for any decision in God’s house
If anybody has vision to help any brethren in legal issues, they are always welcome; Definitely God will guide them the path how to proceed. But please don’t by pass God’s wisdom with human wisdom. Trust in God!
muthu
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:34 am
12Shastri’s famous Facebook page is now missing!?
Vadavana
November 9th, 2010 at 11:56 am
13Is this website formed for the only purpose of humiliating Shastri? I like it. Keep it up my dear brothers, Let us hold the Truth up.
A Critic
November 9th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
14Philip John,
I don’t know of any trinity college, must be some college in your village.
You will have to accept Reality one day. Till then let me allow all of you to enjoy yourselves in this little forum of yours. hahahaha..good luck.
Philip Verghese 'Ariel'
December 13th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
15ബ്രദറണ് സമൂഹത്തിന്റെ പ്രത്യേകിച്ചു പുതിയ തലമുറയുടെ ഈ പോക്ക് എങ്ങോട്ടാണോ?
കമ്മറ്റിയും, സബ് കമ്മറ്റിയും, പിന്നെ ഒരു അഡഹോക്ക് കമ്മറ്റിയും പിന്നെ കുറെ കമ്മട്ടിയും ഇല്ലാതെ ചിലര്ക്ക് ഉറക്കം വരില്ല എന്ന ഒരു അവസ്ഥയിലേക്ക് മാറിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന …ഈ സ്ഥിതി വിശേഷം കഷ്ടാല് കഷ്ടതരം എന്നല്ലാതെ എന്ത് പറയാന്, ഇപ്പോളിതാ ഒരു പുതിയ ഒമാനപ്പെരുമായി മറ്റൊരവതാരവും! BCCF
എന്റെ ദൈവമേ ഇതെവിടെ ചെന്നവസാനിക്കുമോ?
ഇതിന്റെ എല്ലാം പുറകില് എനിക്കും നേതാവാകണം എന്ന ഒരു മോഹം അല്ലെ പ്രതിഫലിക്കുന്നത്?
ഇതേ മോഹം ഒരിക്കല് മനസ്സില് മുളച്ച തന്റെ ശിഷ്യന്മാരോട് നമ്മുടെ കര്ത്താവ് പറഞ്ഞ വാക്കുകള് ഇക്കൂട്ടര് ഒന്നോര്ത്ത് ങ്കില് എത്ര നന്നായിരുന്നു. ഇത്തരം വൈതരണികള് ഒരിക്കലും ഉയരില്ലായിരുന്നു.
കര്ത്താവ് ഇവര്ക്ക് നല്ല ബുദ്ധി കൊടുക്കട്ടെ എന്ന പ്രാര്ഥനയോടെ.
ക്രിസ്തുവില് സ്വന്തം
ഫിലിപ്പ് വറുഗീസ്
സെക്കന്ദ്രാബാദ്
PS: @A critic, You are wrong at the statement “‘Majority’ are in favor of such legal rep body…”
instead its the other way round. Majority are against for any such committees, in that case small or big.
If anybody is opting for such things, no doubt Its purely going away from the New Testament pattern.
Best regards,
Philip Ariel
Philip Verghese 'Ariel'
December 13th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
16Dear Thomas Abraham and others,
If a person do not want to reveal his or their identity and write what they want to write, just ignore such comment or delete it, I think you need not provide facilities to such anonymous feedback.
Philip Verghese 'Ariel'
December 13th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
17ha, yes, let us not use this forum to condemn or criticize individuals. instead let us concentrate on a constructive way of dealing the things.
Thomas Abraham
December 20th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
18Dear PVA
Thanks for your response. This article of mine was not intended to condemn or criticize any individual in particular.
My article was to look at the real picture behind the scenes.
Philip Verghese
January 8th, 2011 at 9:51 am
19Thanks TA, for the response to my letter, I appreciate your intention, but the dear ones who respond to this write-up should keep this in mind when they comment or respond to it.
May the Lord keep up your good intention behind this.
Thanks for sharing.
Pl. read an article written by me way back in 1981 on this subject: Central Administrative System for Brethern Assemblies. This is published in M E Cherian Sir’s Suviseshakan Magazine.
and is published in Google’s Knol, Brethrenet.com, and now in my blog. Read more in this link. http://pvariel.blogspot.com/2011/01/do-christian-churches-need-central.html
Thanks for your time
Best
Philip
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